A/N- sorry I've been a bit lazy about updating---I've been busy. Again. First time I've had a chance to sit down at a computer since the last time I updated. Neh. Anywho, thanks (again) for all the great reviews! You guys rock!
" Liz, Gabriel, bonjour!" Alison opened the door, smiling broadly. "It's so nice to see you two again!" She stepped away from the doorframe. "Come in!"
Elizabeth walked in first, Gabriel behind her. As soon as they were in, Alison closed the door and began locking it, then bolting it, and latching it. Everything was made of heavy iron. When she was finished, she turned around and hugged Elizabeth. 'I'm so glad you're well!"
"Uhh…merci. So am I!" Elizabeth returned her hug as Kal limped into the room.
"What're you doing here?" he grumbled, directing the question at both Gabriel and Elizabeth.
Alison let go of Elizabeth and turned on her heel. "Kal, remember those things I told you about, not that long ago? They were called 'manners'. Say hello!"
" 'lo," he muttered, then sat down in a chair at the square wooden table. It was the only furniture in the room, which seemed to be the kitchen/dining room. There was a stove at the far end of the room, along with a sink and numerous cabinets.
Alison rolled her eyes and smiled, as she would with an unruly child. "And Gabriel, glad to see the charm's working!"
"Yes, it is. Thank you very much."
"No problem at all! I just made some tea, would either of you like some?"
Elizabeth nodded, but Gabriel declined politely. "No, thank you, I'm not thirsty."
"Well, both of you, take a seat!" She waved an arm at the table, where Kal was sitting, watching (well, he couldn't really be watching, since he was blind) them. They both took spots opposite to the demon.
"You're better, I see." Elizabeth said, at an awkward attempt to make a conversation.
"Thank you ever so much for pointing that out to me, Mademoiselle Elizabeth. I never would have noticed without your aid."
"Forgive Kal, he's not very well this month," Alison called over her shoulder, pouring the hot water into tea cups.
"And forgive Alison for not being able to keep her mouth shut, she's not very well this month, either. In the head."
Gabriel hid a smile behind his hand, though Elizabeth was not as quick. She laughed before turning it into a cough.
"Well, pardon me, Oh Great Master of Doom." She put a cup of tea in front of him, then gave one to Elizabeth, putting the last in front of an empty chair where she sat down, next to Kal. "And please drink that this time."
Elizabeth looked cautiously down at her own cup. The contents looked a watery, brownish-green. "If it's not rude for me to ask…what's in it?"
"Oh! You needn't worry, it's nothing but mint tea! Kal's has different herbs mixed into it, though."
" 'To help with my ailments'," Kal drawled, rolling his blind eyes in a perfect imitation of Alison. "Humans," he muttered under his breath, then drank the contents of his cup in one gulp. "Happy, Princess?"
"Yes. Good raven." She sipped a her own tea, then looked at Gabriel's necklace. "May I see that for a moment? Just to refresh the spell."
Gabriel nodded then drew it over his head, the illusion of a human immediately dissolving. He slid It across the table to her, and she held it up in one hand, the other wrapped around her cup.
"Don't over-do it, Princess," Kal growled. "I don't want to have to carry you back to your room to-night."
"Worry-wort." She raised her hand and passed it over the iron bead at the end, which glimmered blue for a moment, then returned to its customary, cool grey. She tossed it back to Gabriel, then elbowed Kal in the ribs. "See? Easy."
Elizabeth sipped her tea hesitantly, then found it was actually quite good. After taking another sip, she looked across the table at Kal. "Alison said that you helped with my pendant. Thank you."
"Don't thank me, it was her idea. Nagged me about it for hours before I agreed." He tossed his un-even bangs back from his face. "You," he said, addressing Gabriel.
"Yes?" He held the necklace loosely in one hand; no need in using it in front of people who could care less.
"Get around to fixing that curse of yours yet?"
"No…"
"It can't be fixed. The demon who put it on him sealed it permanently," Elizabeth told him.
Kal snorted. "Nonsense. No curse is unbreakable."
"Aha! Changing your mind on that subject, are you?" Alison said triumphantly.
"Keep dreaming, Princess. I'm the exception to that rule."
"Stubborn."
Kal shrugged and turned his attention back to Gabriel. "All you need is to find a sorcerer, or sorceress, more powerful. Or maybe just actually try to break it."
Gabriel felt his face heat up. "What are you…"
-be happy you have emotions. Use them.-
Alison tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Enough, Kal. You're scaring our guests."
"Yes, your Highness."
Elizabeth finished her tea.
"Like it?" Alison asked.
"Yes, it was very good. It tasted better than it looked."
Alison giggled. "So true. Here, I'll get it." She collected all the empty cups and returned them to the sink. On the way back to her spot, she tapped Kal on the head. "Where's Death, by the way?" At Elizabeth's shocked look, she quickly added "That's short for 'Death's Flyer'. He's Kal's raven."
"He's around, somewhere."
"You locked him in your room again, didn't you?"
"Ask me no questions, Princess, and I will tell you no lies."
She sighed. "Was he bothering you again?"
"Is the sky blue?"
Elizabeth and Gabriel watched them talk.
Elizabeth thought to herself that they were like a married couple: always squabbling, but making up after a scant minute.
I wonder how he knows he's even looking at her, she thought curiously. Kal's head snapped away from Alison and stared at Elizabeth with his mis-matched eyes. "I can hear her and smell her, that's why. I may be blind, but I'm not a total cripple."
Elizabeth blushed. "How did you--?"
"Kal has a weak form of telepathy: he can sense what others are thinking," Alison explained.
" 'Weak', is it? I'm glad I have you to boost my self-esteem."
"Like you even need it. If your ego was any bigger, you'd need to bend in half to get in and out of rooms!" She smiled apologetically at Gabriel. "No offense to our fellow stilt-walker here."
"None taken."
Elizabeth looked back and forth between Alison and Kal. "You two have such amazing magical abilities…what's your story?"
Alison shook her head and laughed. "It's much too long-- we could talk the sun up and still only be half-done."
"And a good deal of it is written in blood," Kal added.
Alison rolled her eyes again. "And guess whose fault that is?"
Elizabeth recalled the last line of Alison's letter: I have to check up on Kal, to make sure he hasn't snuck out of the house and gone on another one of his killing rampages. "Maybe you could tell it to us another time? It sounds really interesting."
"Of course! I'll make a deal: a few months from now, Kal and I will write it down our accounts of our past, and we'll send it to you at your castle."
"We will?" Kal asked, at the same time Elizabeth said "It's a deal!"
"But there is a catch," Alison continued, with a straight face.
"What is it?" Gabriel asked, now interested in the conversation.
"That you both keep in touch with us--well, me, at least. I've fallen out of touch with all of my old friends, and I'm sure Kal would like to talk to someone other than me and that annoying bird of his--right?"
"Hm? Of yes, of course." Kal got out of his chair. "It was…nice seeing you two again, but I think I'll be going back to my room. I may go to bed early to-night."
"You're actually going to sleep?" Alison raised an eyebrow. "Who are you, and where did you put that paranoid raven demon?"
"Unconscious and gagged in the cellar." Kal limped back the way he had came, raising a hand in farewell.
After he had left, Alison leaned back in her chair, frowning. "It must be bad for him to voluntarily sleep."
"What must be bad?" Gabriel asked. Elizabeth was thinking the same thing.
"He just gets a little weaker around the time of his birth. He can't hold off things like fatigue and pain around that time."
"I heard that!" Kal called from a room that they couldn't see.
"Then kindly allow me to go on!" she yelled back. "Anyways, the truth is that I don't know that much about it, but I try to help him out the best I can."
"I don't need any help!"
"I'll remember that next time you pass out on the floor!" She grumbled to herself then smiled at Elizabeth and Gabriel. "I don't mean to kick you out so early, but he usually gets murderous when he's like his. If he forgets himself, I don't want anything happening to you two."
"What about you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Oh, he can't harm me. I'm his charge; if he raises a hand against me, it just does damage to himself."
Gabriel put the necklace back around his neck and they both walked to the door. "Thanks again, Alison."
"Always the thanking…how can you live with him?" she whispered loudly (and sarcastically) to Elizabeth. "I would die spending so much time with one so polite!" she unlocked all the mechanisms on the door and opened it, letting in the cool summer air.
"Au revoir, Alison." Elizabeth hugged her, then stepped back. "We'll come again soon.
"Au revoir, Liz, Gabriel. And you can call me 'Allie'. 'Alison' is quite tiring to say after a while."
"Allie it is, then. We'll see you soon." They left the house and heard Allie locking the door up behind them.
"I wonder what they're trying to keep out…the humans, or the demons?" Elizabeth asked as they made their way down the narrow path to the dirt road, where a black horse (they had borrowed him from Pierre) was tethered.
"I would hazard a guess at the humans: some of the most terrifying creatures there are." Gabriel lifted her easily into the saddle, despite her protest at being perfectly able o mount a horse on her own, and un-tethered it.
Elizabeth braced her fists on her hips in mock-anger. "Is that an insult I here?"
"Of course not. I was referring to humans, not angels." He handed the reigns to her. "I'll race you back."
"Meet you there!" She gave the horse his reigns and kicked him lightly in the ribs, galloping down the road. Gabriel waited a few seconds behind, giving her a decent lead, then sprinted to catch up, keeping an easy three feet ahead.
Jason strode confidently through the cobblestone streets of Paris, broad black hat casting a shadow over his face. The streets were lit by tall black lamps, each with a candle inside, casting yellow light.
A breeze caught a lock of his hair, bringing it into his range of vision.
Brown…why did I choose such an ordinary color? But, of course, he had to blend it with the rest of the crowd, come morning. He had even discarded his black robes, replacing it with brown breeches and a flowing white shirt. He had softened his features, making them less cat-like, and changed the color of his eyes to the same mundane brown as his hair. Such boring creatures, these humans are!
He looked up; he had arrived at his destination.
The church the humans referred to as the Notre Dame.
He raised a hand as he walked up the stone steps, and the large wooden doors swung inward.
His footsteps echoed on the marble floor, the only sound in the building. He stooped when he had reached the magnificent stained-glass window (or rather under it), and looked up at it, smiling.
The foolish humans had made the window in a circle. Didn't they know that circles were ideal for spell casting?
And, to be more precise, for portals?
He lifted both his hands towards the window and lowered his head, whispering the proper incantation to turn a window to the outside into a window to the Other side. When he finished it, he snapped his fingers three times.
At three o'clock exactly, tomorrow afternoon, the portal would open and demons would come out.
It was a simple solution in getting both Gabriel and Kal out of his way at the same time; killing two monsters with one stone, so to speak. They both would come to the church when they heard of the demons, try to defeat them and save the humans, and die in the process. Quick, efficient, easy.
And that will leave Elizabeth helpless, for me to sacrifice for Marie.
Not to mention destroying a powerful ally to her, he added, meaning Kal. Though he doesn't really obey anyone except his Princess.
And at three o'clock tomorrow, he won't be obeying anyone!
Smiling to himself, Jason turned to leave and almost ran into a person.
"Beg pardon, Madame," he said, bowing to hide his surprise. Who, other than himself, would be at a church at this time of night?
The lady smiled faintly. "No, it was my fault." She was wearing a soft green dress, and her green braided hair fell into her face.
A faery? "Then I'll be on my way," Jason said politely, stepping around her and making his way down the center of the church, Before he got half-way, the faery-girl called out to him.
"Wait!"
Jason stopped and turned around. "Yes, milady?"
The faery was frowning, soft eyes looking troubled. "Do I know you?"
"I'm certain you do not, milady." He made a point at staying away from fey like her; they were pitiful, annoying creatures, barely enough magic to change their shape. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be going." He turned his back on her and left, closing the heavy doors behind him with a flick of his hand.
The faery stood where she was, in a daze, Unknown to her, she had started crying. When she realized it, the tears stopped, and a pounding headache took its place.
She looked up at the window, where traces of demon-magic, invisible to the human eye, flickered around like small flames.
The magic had a heavy feeling of doom to her. It would spell chaos for everyone.
"Oh, Jason, whatever have you done now?" she whispered, she shook her head in confusion,
Where had that come from? She had never met a person named Jason in her life.
A/N- I know, I know, this chapter's a short one…I just had no idea how to continue it from here.