Remington winced as the slashes criss crossing his stomach and chest pulled a little. People were staring and whispering to themselves, hurrying by him with furtive glances. He knew he must look positively dreadful, but what did one expect when fighting the Angel of Death? He rested himself against the door of the house briefly, closing his eyes to try and stop the adrenaline from coursing through his head, before trying the knob and finding it unlocked. Someone had to be here then. He drew his fingers back when they felt something sticky, coming away with flakey bits of dried blood. Whoever was here was hurt. For a fleeting moment, his hope that it was Tegan surfaced, even though his gut told him she wasn't here at all. Slowly, he pushed the door open, shoving it flat against the wall before stepping in quietly.
"Rosette? Chrono?" He reloaded his guns, keeping them out and ready in case it was another trick, moving slowly and at a crouch toward the stairs going up, pausing before he rushed around corners, guns first. No strong amounts of power that he could feel, no stirrings of evil in the air. The house was entirely still and silent...
Thud!
Eyes narrowing, Remington walked up the stairs cautiously, trying to keep to one side and out of the creaking middle section. He kept his breathing low and controled, moving cautiously down the hall, switching from one side to the other depending on where the doors were spaced. Another thud sounded, coming from Asmodius' room. And... voices. Whispered, so he couldn't understand them completely. He paused outside the door, listening.
"Chrono!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Now I've got a hole in my shirt!"
He relaxed instantly, shoulders hunching forward and a relieved sigh breaking his lips. It was just Chrono and Rosette. Remington opened the door and stepped into the room quickly. They had to hurry if they expected to find Tegan. "We have an emer- may I ask what exactly you two have been doing?" He blinked, looking from one to the other of them. Oh, dear...
Rosette's cheeks were nearly as red as Chrono's, who was in his smaller form again. Neither one would look at him or each other. Chrono was trapped in the struggle to get his shirt untangled from around his shoulders, belt hanging loose from his jeans. Rosette had obviously just gotten her jeans back on and was trying to turn her shirt right side in. No one moved for the longest time.
Rosette finally snapped out of the startled trance enough to blush even darker and quickly cover her bra with her shirt, a nervous sweat beading her brow. "F-Father... I mean, Ewan... what a... what a surprise! See, it's like this, uh..."
"... We... got hurt," Chrono filled in quickly, finally managing to tug his dark t-shirt down in place. "We went into the Catacombs and..."
"...And got attacked," Rosette supplied helpfully.
"Yes! Then we had to make a dash for it, back here-,"
"-Where we had to take care of... our... injuries?" She gulped as Remington stepped further into the room. Her eyes squeezed shut as he tilted her head to one side, exposing the dark red spot on her neck with two tiny puncture marks. Fangs if ever he saw them.
"And I'm only going to assume one of these injuries came from... a Devil who leaves hickeys?" he asked in pleasant enough tones. Pleasantry was such a nice way of covering up his own embarassment for having nearly walked in on... THAT.
"Ahahaha..." Rosette laughed nervously, quickly ducking ehr head back down. "About that..." Chrono smacked a hand over his eyes, but it did nothing to hide that his cheeks now rivaled the color of cherries.
"We can discuss this later if you wish, but right now we need to get back to the mansion," he cut in quickly, stopping any further explainations on her part. He truly did NOT need to go in in their private, married life.
"What happened?" she asked, quickly getting her shirt on so she wasn't cowering in nothing but her bra, shoes and blue jeans.
"That's what I'm not sure about. I believe something's happened to Tegan, and if we don't hurry, she may die. Chrono, can you get us there?"
The Devil nodded once firmly, passing Rosette her guns and thigh length brown leather jacket.
"Then let's not waste anymore time here."
All three of them hurried down the stairs and out the back of the house into the alley way. Rosette opened the seal for Chrono to change forms once again. It was pitch dark now, so they didn't need to worry as much about prying eyes. Remington swallowed heavily and closed his eyes tightly, fingers digging into the leather over Chrono's shoulder. "Just make this as quick as possible, please," he muttered, not at all relieved to hear the Devil laugh softly to himself. The sharp jerk of them leaving the ground sharply made his stomach lurch and churn, the lack of concrete under his feet momentarily horrifying. Once this mission was done, he would see to it that he NEVER flew again!
Aion knocked softly on the partially opened door, waiting only a few polite seconds before pushing it open enough for him to step in. Joshua was still curled up on the bed, back to him and fully dressed. He'd told the boy to at least take his shoes off, but, as usual, Joshua had decided to ignore him. No matter, it wasn't his bed getting dirty and having Satan-knew-what dragged into it. His gaze flickered over to the tray of untouched food one of the human slaves had brought up. The soup had long ago cooled and congealed into a thick paste with skin over it. The chicken looked withered and dry. The pistachio ice cream was a melted mess. That irritated him a little. He'd scoured every 7-11 personally for that particular brand of ice cream. It was Joshua's favorite... and all his efforts had been ignored.
"Joshua?" he asked, putting just a bit of an authoritative edge to the question. He understood why the boy was upset, but this wasn't good for him, not by any means. Joshua had gained eternal life and youth through their contract. That didn't mean he could go without eating, however. "Joshua, look at me."
"She didn't come, Aion," Joshua mumbled, still refusing to roll over and face him. "She was right there, right within reach of saving... and she still went with him!"
Aion allowed a brief, triumphant smile before sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking his clawed hand carefully down the back of Joshua's jacket. Joshua was always so easy to pursuade. The boy truly believed his sister was being held captive by Chrono. How marvelous. Oh, he did feel a little bad for having deceived Joshua. After all, despite what others may believe, he did care for Joshua a great deal. Such wide eyed innocence of the world, such a carefree and happy boy... it was refreshing after so many years of being jaded. Joshua was a breath of fresh air in his life, from the very start of things. And now, with one little lie, the boy was completely and utterly his.
"Why did she run from me? I'm her brother, Aion! Why did she run from me to him?"
"Joshua, try to understand that your sister is not in full possession of her wits. She's been conditioned for years that when Chrono beckons, she responds. We can fight his power over her, but we can't fight her mind. Only she can win that battle." Utter rubbish! He understood better than anyone how unique the contract between Rosette and Chrono was. Any other Devil would have exerted their dominance in the relationship years back. Chrono didn't, and that was his downfall. He loved his contractor. He would die with a smile on his face for her. Love couldn't move mountains, but it could kill your enemy.
"How are we supposed to get her back then? She won't come willingly, and Chrono won't let her go," Joshua complained bitterly, finally rolling over onto his back. His blue eyes, a slight shade lighter than Rosette's, were gleaming angrily in the moonlight.
Aion smiled down at him, ruffling his hair. "We just keep trying," he replied. "Don't worry, Joshua, we will get her back. Even as we speak, she's heading this way now, intent to destroy all that the Seven Sinners have created. All we need to do is be patient and wait."
Joshua finally smiled, pulling his head free from Aion's hand. "If you say so, Aion."
"I do. Now, I'm going to send someone up with fresh food, and you're going to eat it. We can't have you wasting away, now can we?" He stood up, smiling down at Joshua quickly before leaving the room.
"What... the..." Rosette never finished what she was about to say as they discovered the lab and mansion in complete ruins, the building and ground still smoking from an obvious fire. Almost the entire eastern wing siding had been ripped clean off, like a giant jaw full of razor sharp teeth had taken a bite and spit it out almost a hundred feet away from where it originally stood. Inside the large, formal dining room the was exposed on the ground floor, the enormous crystal chandelier dangled precariously from the ceiling, still held in place by the electrical wires, which here popping and sparking from the strain. The long cherry wood table was smashed in three different places, the antique china strewn across the remains of a Persian rug. Rosette took Chrono's hand when he offered it, helping her step over the remains of a wall and inside the disaster zone.
Remington was already shoving his way through the rubble, kicking the burned out door easily from it's hinges as he called loudly for Tegan and Asmodius. Rosette continued to gape around the massacred mansion, closing her eyes briefly when she saw the arm of a maid that looked like it had been ripped off and stuck onto one if the fireplace tools. Other pieces of bodies, some still connected to the rest of the body it belonged to while others were scattered throughout, peeked out from the mess and chaos of destroyed furniture and crumbled plaster walls. The air was so cold it made her skin crawl. Something was still here, something not-so-nice. It didn't feel like a Devil or a Demon. This was something she'd never come up against before.
"Chrono?" she whispered softly, knowing he had to have felt the strange aura, too.
"Ghouls," he whispered back, crimson eyes narrowing. His entire body had a tenseness to it that said he was expecting an attack at anytime.
"Ghouls?" That was something new! "How'd they get here?" Rosette turned, gun pointed when she heard a noise come from further in the dining room. Rats or mice. Or maybe even crows. There was no way anything could have survived this.
"There's a theory that wherever a necromancer's body lies, unless the grave is blessed and consecrated with salt and holy water, the dead around it rise and go mad. They become ghouls."
"Then what's the difference between ghouls and zombies?"
"Zombies are controled. Ghouls aren't."
Oh. That made a heck of alot of difference! "So, does this mean Tegan..."
Chrono let out a soft trickle of a growl before following after Remington quickly. Rosette scurried after him, glancing back again when she heard another noise. Was that someone moaning? Any thoughts of going back to check were stopped when gun shots echoed, coming from the stairs that used to lead down into the lab. They both broke into a run, Chrono moving in a blur of speed that she was struggling to match. Usually he ran alot faster than she did. Maybe she was just getting faster herself?
"Stay here, Rosette!" Chrono shouted as he leaped down into the hole down in the lab. Shadows flickered in the occassional light of more electrical sparks, showing that there was alot more than just a few people down there. Gunshots registered again, making her jump, fingers twitching around her own gun. She waited a few more seconds, listening to the shouts and the high pitched screeching sounds from below before, lips pressing together firmly as she holstered her gun, she jumped down herself after saying a quick prayer that the bottom wasn't too far away or full of sharp rocks. She hit the ground and instinctively stayed low as she somersaulted away from the thick arm swinging at her head.
Rosette rose into a kneeling position, firing six rounds into the chest of the person in the shadows. It screamed, the sound so high and sharp it hurt her ears, before lunging at her, hands covered in greyish, peeling skin, eyes wide and tinged yellow around the edges. She quickly dove backward again, pushing to her feet with her attacker right in front of her. It leaped out into the dim lights of the broken wires and red emergency lights, snarling with fingers curved as if ready to rip her face off. Her eyes widened when she recognized what used to be a white lab coat on the ghoul.
"ROSETTE!"
Chrono rushed by her tackling the ghoul around the waist shortly before ripping it to pieces with brutally accurate slices of his claws. When he whipped back around to face her, eyebrows drawn together fiercely over glowing crimson eyes, he had bits of grey flesh clinging to him all over. "Rosette, you can't be down here! They're drawn to human flesh and blood!"
"Well, you should have said that BEFORE hand," she snapped, getting to her feet angrily. "You know there's no way I'm staying out of a fight, not without a good reason! And that's a VERY good reason!" She spun around, guns blazing as another ghoul came up behind her, jaw practically unhinged and plunging for her shoulder. She fired directly into it's gaping mouth, blasting through until the upper portion of it's head fell free from the lower portion.
A machine gun rattlled, every fifthe bullet marked with a tracer so it lit up and the line of fire could be followed. Rosette and Chrono both ducked as those bullets came slicing in their direction. Remington was backed into a corner, firing away in a half circle directly through the bodies. The two halves of each ghoul fell away, the lower half twitching while the upper still tried to claw toward him. Normally, cutting a body in half with a gun was impossible, but with a high powered machine gun like the one he was toting, not only was it possible, it was incredibly messy as well. Entrails splattered on the ground, all of them distended and bluish from the lack of regular blood flow in thei former shells.
"A little help would be greatly appreciated," Remington called over to them, kicking the first ghoul's jaw clean off as it layed a boney hand to his ankle.
Chrono responded, rushing to the first ghoul and ripping it's head off completely before moving the the next and the next after it. Remington ran through the path Chrono formed for him, tossing the now empty machine gun aside and pulling two smaller hand guns from his belt. "Let's get out of her, and fast," he ordered, taking a runing leap up a slab of concrete to grab hold of a metal pipe that had snapped from the floor above. He pulled himself up onto the ground floor, disappearing directly from sight. "Oh... lovely!"
Rosette was up after him, Chrono jumping without aid of the pipe to land beside her. It wasn't long before they noticed what was so 'lovely'. Before them was an army of ghouls. All the former maids and butlers, cooks and grounds keepers. All of them had been rendered into ghouls, eyes burning yellow and skin a sickly ash color. From below in the lab, they could here groaning, the scrabbling of nails on rock as the shredded ghouls from below still tried to pull their way toward them. Rosette swallowed heavily, gun pointed before her at the shuffling, insane corpses slowly closing in around them. Corpses... that's all they were. She couldn't think of them as having been living people, or she might not be able to shoot them. Just walking, groaning, drooling... corpses.
Her finger was about to squeeze down on the trigger when a strong arm circled her waist tightly, pulling her in against a hard chest. "Hey, Chrono, what's the big idea?"
"Hold on!" he cautioned moments before they were airborn, heading for the gaping hole in the roof. The whistling of hands snatching through the air where moments ago they'd stood brushed her ankles, followed closely by Remington muttering the Lord's Prayer assailing her ears. Glancing over at the older man, she noticed his eyes were squeezed shut tightly, hands clinging so hard to Chrono the knuckles were white. It was a strange thing to see someone she'd thought wasn't afraid of anything this scared of flying.
"Where to?" Chrono asked as he surged upward into the astral lines, the shock of those great rivers of power rushing over her skin like static electric shocks.
"New York," Remington said between praying. "We need to contact the Order immediately.
"What happened to Tegan?" Rosette asked, unable to wait any longer for the answers. Chrono had said ghouls come out when a necromancer dies. But surely...
Remington's eyes opened, and the deep rooted sadness there was answer enough. "I'll explain when we land," he said softly.
Rosette tucked herself in closer to Chrono, letting the warmth and closeness of him comfort her. His arm tightened around her just as the first tear slipped down her cheek.
Mary grumbled and rolled over in bed, ignoring the soft, persistant sound of someone knocking on her door. It was 3 in the morning, for crying out loud! It seemed the more she tried to ignore the sound, the louder and more insistant it got. Finally, scowling and promising an extra load of chores for whoever woke her up, she sat up, ignoring the aching of her protesting joints, cinched her robe tight around her waist and shuffled sleepily to the door. "What, and make it fast and important. Even nun's need their beauty sleep," she snapped, yanking the door open.
One of the stationary nuns dressed in the traditional blue habit practically bowed as she held out the cordless phone for her. Mary blinked from the girl to the phone and back again. "Forgive me, Mother Superior, but the man on the phone said it was important and that you would take his call."
"It's always important when they call up," she muttered, still staring at the phone. "Did he say who he was?"
"Yes. He said his name was Remington. Father Ewan Remington."
Mary felt the breath almost leave her at that. For a second, she could almost swear she was having another heart attack. "Did... did you just say... Father Remington?" She hadn't heard that name in almost seventy years! It couldn't be him. He would be well over a hundred by now.
"Yes, Mother Superior."
Hesitantly, as if the phone were a snake with long, pointy fangs, Mary pressed it to her ear, cleared her throat, and asked softly, "Hello?"
"Good morning, Sister Mary! Sorry to disturb you so early, but I was wondering if you would mind having a brief chat with myself and a couple of colleagues."
Mary nearly dropped the phone in shock to hear that familiar voice again.
Rosette stared up at the plain brown brick building, up six stories at rows of dingy, barred windows. A wrought iron fence complete with curved spikes ran around the entire complex, the only thing showing that the building was cared for being the well trimmed lawn leading back. her back stiffened as a figure emerged from the door, walking down the sidewalk path. The shadows cast from the light over the front door hid her features, but it was obvious the girl was wearing the blue militia uniform of the Magdalene Order. Rosette swallowed heavily, memories circling back from the time she used to wear that exact same gear.
"Welcome," the girl said, surprisingly cheerful for almost four in the morning. "My name's Sister Clarise, I'm the Mother Superior's assistant." All the while she spoke, she was sorting through a massive ring of keys attached to her belt, trying to find the one that would unlock the gate. She finally found it, pushing it in and turning it before the rusty hinges creaked open. "Please, if you would follow me. Mother Mary is waiting in her office."
The three filed in, Chrono now in his small form again. He'd transformed as soon as they'd touched down in New York and Rosette had been over come with dizziness. He'd been in his true form for more than twelve hours nearly straight. That was the longest they'd ever gone without her getting weak. Rosette hesitated outside the gate as Remington and Chrono started forward. Sister Clarise remained at the gate, smiling patiently as Rosette stalled.
"Rosette?" Chrono asked softly, turning to look back over his shoulder.
She hugged herself, rubbing her arms as a chill that had nothing to do with weather and everything to do with nerves sank into her bones. "Sorry, just... you know. It's been a long time," she explained, offering up a tentative smile.
Chrono smiled back as he walked over to her, holding his hand out. She took it, her smile softening as he twined his fingers with hers, pressing their palms together. He surprised her by leaning in for a quick kiss on the cheek, shocking the heck out of the young nun standing not even two feet from them. "It's jake," he said softly. "I'm kind of nervous, too. The last time we saw Mary, she was younger than you."
Rosette laughed faintly at that, blushing when she realized she could still feel his lips against her cheek. After what happened at the house... Thinking back on that made the blush spread even darker. "And what's with the whole kissing me in a convent thing, huh? You're such a dirty Devil!"
He chuckled, knowing she was joking to lighten the mood. "I guess I didn't think about that. Sorry."
"It's jake, I forgive you."
"I was apologizing to Sister Clarise, actually."
Rosette glared at him as he stepped away, all argument dying when she saw the teasing smile on his face. It was the one that brought out the dimple in his younger face, the one that made his eyes light up like rubies caught in the sun. Answering his smile with one of her own, she pushed passed him, waving absently over her shoulder at the still startled nun. "Yeah, sorry about that! He just can't keep his hands off me, y'know?"
"ROSETTE!"
"Well, it's true! After all, I'm just soooo irresistable?" She tossed a coy, flirty look over her shoulder at the two horrified expressions behind her. "Well, Pookie-Bear, are you coming or what?"
Mumbling about the ridiculous nickname, Chrono glowered up at her as they followed Remington inside. The older man was waiting outside a set of double doors, probably leading to an elevator. He smiled at them, but it faded around the edges when he noticed the glare being directed at Rosette from the Devil beside her. "Did I miss something?" he questioned.
"Nope, not a thing!" Rosette replied cheerfully. "Isn't that right, Shmookie-nookums?"
"That's even worse than the first one," Chrono exclaimed.
"Oh, sorry Diddly-Dums."
"Rosette, come on!"
"What's wrong, Bunnykins?"
"I MEAN IT! THOSE ARE JUST AWFUL!"
Remington rolled his eyes before rubbing them as the beginnings of a headache came on. The doors slid shut on Rosette throwing yet another disgusting nickname at Chrono, only to have him deny it even louder than before. This was going to be such an exhausting reunion, he decided. Perhaps Mary had a stash of sacrificial wine somewhere...
The doors grinding open stopped the name calling, which had started to reach it's most Godawful with 'Wittle-Ittle-Devidoodle'. Even Remington had cringed at that one, glancing down at Chrono begging Rosette to stop and sounding very near tears at the horrendously creative nicknames. The girl was absolutely without mercy! He hurried off the elevator, glad to be leaving the argument behind, if only briefly.
Rosette and Chrono stared at the open doors for a second, neither of them making a move to follow Remington. Neither one had to ask what the other was thinking, they were both on the same page. This was Sister Mary. The one who used to swoon over stories of Chrono. The one Rosette used to chase around with frogs she'd caught in the creek. This was ten-year-old Mary... eighty years later. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Rosette reached for the hand she already knew would be there, fingers squeezing tightly around his. "Well, this is it," she said.
"Yeah," Chrono replied.
Glancing at each other one more time, they stepped out at the same time and walked down the hall to where Remington was waiting outside a closed door.
The door knob jiggled a little before it finally opened onto a well lit, comfy looking office. And, in the door way and dressed in the full out habit of the Mother Superior, was Sister Mary. A wrinkled hand came to lips thinned with age, the deep furrows under her eyes making the dulled-down blue shade look sunken into her face. Tears trembled along those bleary eyes as she took a step forward, reaching a shaking hand out to them.
"Oh, my... Rosette. It's you! I... I can't belive... after all these years... It's really you!"
Rosette froze as thin, frail arms circled her waist tightly, pulling her into the small frame that shook with tears. Slowly, awkwardly, she put her own arms around the slightly hunched back, jaw still dropped in surprise at the change in her old friend.