Ok… Andi's killing my fingers today! She's literally got another three or four notebooks for me to type out!

Less talkie more writey!

Slave driver! But I love her like a sister anyways…. Onward!

-John POV-

"Have a seat son. And hold your bitch. I don't want his hide on my chairs." The man said and he leaned and elbow on his desk and rested his cheek on his face as his other hand stretched out to the other side of the desk, his fingers tapping his desk. I moved to do what he said, but a red hand stopped me.

"His name is John pops. Not 'your bitch'." He growled out.

"Show some respect for your elders' boy." The taller man growled.

"Fuck off ya crusty old son of a bitch." He growled back. I watched them glare at each other and felt the tension in the room before the bigger demon cracked a smile, well, more of a sneer, and nodded.

"You've gotten better boy. Used to be that I could glare at you and you'd cower from me."

"Ha! Funny old man." He grumbled and pulled me towards a high backed chair and sat before me, then pulled me into his lap. "Now, what the hell do you want?"

"I've heard disturbing news son. Orpheus said you dragged a human that was practically a saint down to the lowest pit of our home. I am ready to punish him for speaking lies about his Lord, if it were a lie… Is it son? Surely you would not risk the wrath of the heavens to simply amuse yourself?"

"Oh I wouldn't? Why not? Hell you did it too and you didn't seem to mind it. Seemed like a pretty good idea to try it out." Red said snidely. The bigger one snarled and slammed his fist on the table, his eyes turning red.

"Yes or no!?"

"Yep."

"Anung-un-RAMA! How in all seven levels could you?!" He shouted. "You've put the entirety of Hell, our home, our PEOPLE in danger to satisfy yourself?!" He yelled, pushing himself up angrily. I saw the smirk on Red's face.

"Proud of me Pops?" He asked. The man's lips curled up over his fangs, making me shrink against Anung.

"Proud of you? PROUD of you?!" He walked around his desk and took his son's chin in his hand and shoved his face up to force him to look at him. "Anung-un-rama…" I felt my eyes widen as the snarl turned into a full blown smile. "I'm ecstatic!" He laughed and even went so far to tilt his head back towards the ceiling. "We need to have a celebration! I'm so glad you finally have done something so selfish and un-needed that it's jeopardized us! It proves you are ready to be the High Lord of Hell completely when I'm ready to step down." I looked at the man I sat on and tilted my head. "And of course, with you already having fucked your mate,-"

"Uh…well we haven't exactly gotten to that yet…" He said, causing his father to pause. "See, he's still a bit nervous and-"

"So was your mother. Didn't stop me."

"Cuz you raped mom you bastard." He growled at him. "I'm not gonna do that with him."

"You'll do what I say Anung." He growled. I felt an arm slide under my legs and one supporting my back as we stood. He got so close I could smell the cologne he wore.

"I won't." He snarled and walked out of the office. We didn't go back to the room though. He put me down and we started walking towards an acoustic guitar playing. He barged into a room that seemed really sparse of anything except a bed, a table, and a music stand. "Tayan! Dude, put that thing down. You need to meet someone!" I watched as the blue man looked up and grinned, surprisingly showing normal teeth.

"Toasty! Nice to finally see you again!" He said on a laugh. He stood, showing me that he was a few inches if not just as tall as Red, although not quite as built, walked over and pulled Anung into a hug before looking at me with a grin. "This fiddle boy?"

"Um, I'm sorry, even though my instrument may be played as a fiddle I prefer it to be referred to as a violin." I said softly but firmly. My violin was my pride and joy and, whereas I have occasionally played it in the traditional country way, slung around to the front of my chest and my bow moving so fast you could only see the hairs splitting, I prefer to play it in the soothing way of the classics and will not have it oh-so-commonly referred to as a "fiddle". Tayan grinned and nodded.

"John, this is Tayan. He's the closest friend I have that won't stab you in the back. Tayan, you remember John from…ah…I mean, Tayan this is John who you've never met before in your life ever…" He said and looked at Tayan who nodded a bit.

"Nice to meet ya Johnny." He said and held out his hand. I looked at it and then back at Red, who nodded a bit, and then shook it. "We'll have to get together and play sometime kid. I hear you're good at what you do." I smiled so wide it actually hurt my face.

"That would be amazing."

"Alright Tayan, can you change the room? It always makes me feel like a cell." Red said as he looked around the sparse room.

"Oh, sorry Anung. It helps the creativity flow… if you would try playing an instrument you would understand."

"Can't. Fingers remember?" He said with a smirk. I looked at him and actually felt my eyes widen a bit at the sadness that was just hiding behind his eyes. I reached up and softly placed a hand on his shoulder. His normal hand covered mine and he smiled at me. "Thanks kid…" He whispered to me. "Anyway Tayan, I was wondering if you'd mind watching him for a few minutes. I need to go take care of something."

"Sure. I have another violin around here-."

"No. I only play my violin… it's not that I'm snotty or anything, but I feel like I'm cheating on her if I touch another one…" I tried to explain. Tayan just smiled and nodded.

"I know man, I hate playing any other guitar but my Gibson… I had her custom made for me when I was twelve." He said as he waved his hand in a slow arch, melting the sparse room to show what could only have been described as the size of a Studio apartment in New York. The walls were a burnt orange and the floor was hard wood, something I suspected had a hell of a varnish on it if it was down here. "It's special hell wood kid." He said with a smirk. I nodded and looked at Red as he moved my hand away from him. I felt my heart start to beat faster as he looked down at me before he leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

"Be nice to Tayan babe alright? I'll be back in about an hour or so." He whispered. I nodded and shivered a bit. Damn this place for being so hot, I couldn't blame it on the cold. I watched as he walked away and shut the door.

"He's a good guy Johnny. He's nothin' like his dad." Tayan said as he walked into the kitchen. "Want some water?"

"Please." I said and walked around, mindful of the guitar case that was propped up in the corner. "This is quite a collection of guitars Tayan… do you play them all?"

"Yep, every last one of them. The ones up on my wall are the ones I played in my band I had before we all broke apart. I think I have about ten up there and then I have another twenty stashed in my room." He said with a smile, chuckling when my eyes widened at the cold water bottle. "You know, it is possible to keep things cool down here kid… Just takes an ice demon." He said with a wink. He walked over to a chair and motioned to the couch. "Have a seat… I think we need to have a talk about Toasty." I sat down slowly and nodded.

"Well, I was thinking the same thing, but you go first."

"No, no wifey man you first." He said with a smirk as he took a swig of water.

"Ok, first off never call me that again or I'll have your head in that guitar case." I said on a growl. "Second, I was watching his face and he gets this kind of sad look on his face whenever someone asks him if he plays…"

"Yeah, but you've seen his hands kid. Stone doesn't make well to play instruments with. He can't play the piano, the guitar's useless with him, and any sort of violin would be crushed the second he pressed down on it. We've tried almost every single instrument that exists, human and demon, and none of them work out…"

"What if he had a custom?"

I was met with a wide eyed stare. Tayan slapped a hand to his head and shook it.

"Well hot damn Johnny! We've tried everything…except that… Fuckin' ass! Now, which would he want to play?"

"We can find that out later, for now let's come up with some custom ideas for him and see what we get!" I said, getting excited as he pulled out a sketch pad and knelt on the floor when he placed it on the table. I knelt down with him and went to work.

This was going to be amazing!

-HB POV-

This was fucking ridiculous…

I growled to myself when I walked back into my dad's office and saw my siblings and my mother sitting around the room. I quickly took off my shirt and balled up my hands, ready for the fight that was sure to come. I ducked as a giant tail whipped out and tried to slam into my head.

"You dare to tell me no in front of a lower being?" Came a low snarl from behind me. I felt his claws rip through my thick skin and toss me into a nearby wall and being slammed to the floor when my stone hand started to get pulled down towards it. I grunted a bit as a foot was driven into my back. "You will do what I tell you weakling. I am still in charge here. You are merely an heir to the throne of hell, and that is only because it was unfortunate enough that you were born before your brother Drake." He whispered and grabbed my tail, getting a sympathetic hiss from all of my siblings except Drake. "He would gladly wear the crown that you detest, he would have picked a demoness from the selection, he would be a good ruler of Hell!" He shouted and slammed me into a wall by my tail, closest to my youngest sister, the appointed guardian of the first level, and her eyes widened. I even saw tears in her pretty green and gold eyes. I tried to smirk at her and stand, only to fall back on my face. I heard his foot steps coming closer to me and winced. God damn he was fuckin' pissed if he was doing all this.

"Daddy no! Bubba's hurt!" She said and jumped out of her chair to hold me up a little.

There was a collective gasp around the room and my mother's face went white as snow as the foot steps stopped. I heard the crack of his tail, no less then two inches away from the top of her black haired scalp. She yelped, but didn't let go of me. Her face was softer then the rest of ours, easier to give emotion, we all think she was persecuted because she took more after mother then father.

"Cassi… move out of the way!" I heard one of my brothers whisper to her. She glared at him.

"My name is Cassiopeia! And this is wrong! Bubba didn't do anything!" She shouted, her tan skin going a little red. I couldn't help but smirk at a memory. When she was younger and couldn't control her demon side we all used to call her chameleon.

"Move child." Came the hiss from father. My eyes widened as I was able to turn over and see him, claws out and dripping with my blood, walking toward me but his eyes on her.

"Cassi!"

"Daddy you have to stop! This is wrong!" She still shouted at him.

Damn it, she got everything from mom but the stubborn streak!

I heard the roar and saw him reach out his hand and grab her shoulder, the claws that were tainted with my blood digging in and being coated with hers as well. She screamed, a youngling in pain. Being only twelve her skin hadn't toughened yet, so him digging his claws through skin and bone was like a hot knife through butter. I felt the tears spring to my eyes, her cries had always cut into our hearts, but those had always been out of sorrow from a fight with pops, never ever in pain. It was like the sound of a siren, a crying child, and a whimpering animal all rolled into one.

"Stop!" Came the scream. We all looked at mother, this was the first time she had ever said anything against father. I saw him glare at her and look back at his spawn. I pulled myself to my feet and tackled him, my stone fist driving into his abdomen.

"Let her go you bastard! It's my blood you want, not hers!" I shouted and punched him in the face. He snarled and retracted his claws from her before slicing the right side of my face open and shoving me off.

"Take her to the infirmary, we will talk more later." He growled at me as he picked her up and softly put her into my arms. My eyes teared up again as I walked out and toward the hospital. My mother walked beside me and the other five walked in a V pattern behind me…

I have never wanted so much to get the blood of an innocent off of me as right this second.

O.o… this was… interesting to type Andi…

I blame the power of sleep deprivation and the evilness of the rampaging plot bunnies.

Uh huh… review please!

Love,

Dana & Andi