A/N: Welcome back everyone! Oh boy, this is gonna be an action-packed chapter and I am a little anxious to share it! So far, Maze had had just a tiny bit of appearance and in the last chapter you already saw her do some kicks. Well, ladies and gentlemen, among some other things, we are letting our favourite demon have some more fun in this one! Be warned, there will be blood!

Now, sit back, have some popcorn and enjoy your read! :)

Recommended Songs:

The Satellite Station - Satellites

Ninja Tracks - Expanse

Audiomachine - Imperium

Wordclock - Endless

Chapter 22 – Family

[The Satellite Station - Satellites]

Chloe and Lucifer kept waiting. After Lucifer's explanation of the possible necessity of him incinerating Alastor and thus, inevitably, turning Glover to crispy-Butcher as well, the two of them had settled into a heavy silence once again.

Until it was a disturbed by a quiet voice from behind.

"Mom?"

Peering over the back of the couch, Chloe saw her daughter standing in her room's door frame, shyly tugging at the sleeve of her PJ's while her other held onto Miss Alien. "Oh, hey, monkey. Is everything alright?"

Trixie looked down to her fumbling fingers. "I had a nightmare."

"What was it about?" Lucifer asked softly, getting up into a proper sitting position on the couch as Chloe waved her to come over.

Trotting over to them, the little girl dropped in the small space between the adults and pulled her knees up to curl into a ball. "I was flying," she began timidly and a shiver shook through her body.

"What? How is that a nightmare?" Lucifer blinked, looking at her, confused. "Flying is amazing. Very liberating, actually."

"But I suddenly couldn't fly anymore and then I fell," Trixie went on with a tearful sniff, tucking her chin between her knees.

"Oh." His lips parting in surprise, he felt his heart clench from the knowledge of what that experience must've felt like for her. "Ooh…"

"Oh, sweety, it's all good. You know, when I was a child, I had that dream as well," Chloe said quietly, leaning in and lovingly kissing into her hair.

Both Lucifer and Trixie looked at her, eyes wide and shimmering with surprise. "You did?" they simultaneously asked, stared at each other, before Lucifer harrumphed and went on, "You did? You never told me."

Curiously, Trixie focused on her mother while snuggling backwards against Lucifer's side, and both of them listened attentively.

Nodding at them, Chloe pressed her lips together in a sad smile. "Yeah… It started after my grandma died," she explained, pulling one of the cushions to her lap, her hooded eyes showing how she was lost in a memory. "I loved her very much. It was the first time I lost someone and I was so sad when she passed away and I felt really powerless."

Moved and captivated by her story, Lucifer's arm slung around Trixie' waist, not minding her contact, but to the contrary, searching for it, feeling soothed by the fact the little girl was also searching for comfort in his hold as she snuggled even closer.

After a moment of silence, Chloe continued. "So after her funeral, I suddenly started dreaming that I was flying with Granny. It always started out with her guiding me to amazing places. It was fun. But then it always changed. She would fly upwards, telling me goodbye and I would suddenly fall. It felt endless and I was so scared, like someone had just pulled the floor from beneath my feet."

Unaware of it, Lucifer swallowed thickly. Whilst endless falling was not only his personal traumatic life-theme as well as a frequent Hell-loop theme, he didn't know that it had been a theme in Chloe's life, too. Although he imagined her falling was not as physically painful as his own with its rather galactic measurements, he was certain it must have still been traumatic in its own way for her, especially since she had been but a child.

"Yes!" Trixie agreed with more energy than before in her voice. "That's how it felt like for me, too! My dream started out with you, dad, Lucifer and me flying. We flew to Rome and ate gelato in the air. That was awesome. But then you all flew faster and I couldn't keep up anymore. And then suddenly I couldn't stay in the air anymore and I was falling. It was getting all pitch black around me! I was so scared… I screamed for help, but you weren't there, and… and—" Out of breath and utterly overwhelmed, she started crying and turned herself into Lucifer's chest.

Touched by the little girl's experience and sharing the pain of that horrible feeling from her dream, Lucifer slipped his other arm around her as well and held her close. He enveloped her body with his own, wishing to shield her from all the bad in the world. "I'm sure your mother and father would agree when I say that none of us would ever leave you behind, urchin. And we would never let you fall like that either."

Her heart swelling with love for both Lucifer and her daughter, Chloe leaned closer and got thoughtfully pulled into Lucifer's embrace. "He's right, Monkey. We'll always be there when you need us. You call for us, we'll be there," she assured and kissed her girl's head again, snuggling close. "And if you ever fall and hurt yourself, we'll be there to help you heal."

"Really?" Trixie asked, tilting her head to look up, first at her mother, then at Lucifer.

Sharing a look with Chloe, Lucifer's eyes glistened. He was beyond grateful for having had her and his friends being there for him during his time of need and it stood without a question, that he would do the exact same for all of them as well.

"Really, spawn," he confirmed and pressed a light kiss to the top of her head.

"Okay…" Trixie's eyes fluttered tiredly and her sad expression turned into mere sleepiness. Not hiding her yawn, she sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Can I stay here with you for a while? I don't wanna be alone…"

Squeezing her girl, Chloe nodded. "Of course, monkey." Reaching over towards the right-sided couch, she grabbed the white quilt and draped it across Lucifer's legs and letting Trixie snuggle down comfortably. With some wiggling around, Trixie eventually settled, resting her own legs above Lucifer's and her head on Chloe's thigh.

Securing her cooled feet in the comforting warmth of the blanket's wrapped bottom-side, Trixie let out a long, content sigh, smiled and pressed Miss Alien against her chest. "You know… if it weren't about the falling, I'd really like that dream… I'd like to be able to fly again," she mouthed in a heartwarmingly innocent and thoughtful tone, pulling her plushie a little tighter.

The sudden lump in Lucifer's throat was difficult to swallow as her words resonated so deeply within him and he was surprised to find himself so quickly at the verge of tears. "I can certainly relate to that desire, Beatrice," he whispered, intentionally using her name and affectionately giving her tucked-in legs a light squeeze before adding more to himself than her, "Even more so when it's not a dream."

Looking over at Chloe, he shared a soft smile with her, reaching his left arm out to hug her close to his side. With Trixie snuggled across their laps, and him holding his Detective close, her head leaning against his shoulder, Lucifer blissfully closed his eyes.

It was quite odd. Things weren't going too well with Glover somewhere out on the streets, likely with a demon stuck inside of him, having murdered a human as well as an angel, and his wife still being searched for —although now the search was narrowed down with her newly acquired identity. But somehow, all the negatives, as horrible as they were, were able to be calmed and dimmed for the time being, as the room was filled with a soft, quiet peace and he felt the love of Chloe and her offspring lingering in the air, enveloping him and filling him with a sense of home.

Smiling, content that he was exactly where he belonged, where he wanted to be, he let the exhaustion of the day take its toll and finally gave way to falling asleep.

[Ninja Tracks - Expanse]

Her dagger sliced through the beast's throat with ease, but Maze was not done with the alpha yet. As it burbled and rasped for air with its blood gushing from its wound, she gripped the hair on the Varcolac's head tighter and aligned her dagger to its throat once more.

Glaring towards the rest of the pack with a wild spark in her eyes, she slashed into the flesh and released with it a demonic scream. Her lips curled in a twisted, bloody smile, satisfied to feel the resistance as the blade cut through muscles and sinews and bones. The blade together with her whole blood-covered hand disappeared as it sunk deep into the beast's body until eventually the hell-forged blade severed the head off completely and it dangled by the hair in her tight grip.

Maze got up on both feet, her chest broadening from heavy breaths. Her left hand holding her blade, blood covering it up to her biceps, she lifted her right up with the hound's visage distorted in its final vicious growl, displaying her triumph towards the other Varcolacs.

This language they understood.

Intimidated by her display of power, the leaderless pack retreated, one by one disappearing between the dark patches of basalt.

Releasing a sigh through gritted teeth, Maze tossed the alpha's head aside, watching it roll a few metres until it was brought to an abrupt halt by a set of strong claws stepping on top of it. Her eyes followed the leg upwards to see a familiar being that was, although related to her in some way, still so absolutely nothing like her. It was one of her cousins.

A bulky demon walking on four extremities of which all of them looked like grotesque, deformed arms, each ending in a set of five wide-spread clawy fingers. Deprived of skin, its dark-pink flesh glistened wetly. The demon's face consisted of one huge, circular maw that was equipped with a revolver dentition, and about a dozen tiny pop-eyes that were spread out around its maw. On top of its broad corpus, several skeletal torsos emerged in terrified, frozen states, looking as though they were coming out from the demon's back but were glued to it, unable to break free. She knew they were human souls, children's souls, that were trapped inside. A truly terrifying fate, even for Hell's standards.

In short: The demon was monstrous and its —or rather his— name was Slorgoth.

"Grrr… Daughter of Ophur and Lilith…" Slorgoth's voice rumbled and turned into a condescending hiss as he continued, "Lilim-scum… Mazikeen." His disdain dripped from his mouth like his slaver, and the grotesque, half-stuck humanoid torsos in his back wailed in disharmony.

"Slorgoth," Maze sighed her cousin's name. Although she tried to dismiss his insults and didn't feel hurt, she could still feel anger boil inside her. "Took you quite a while to show up, but I didn't have high expectations for you and your lot anyway. Where's the rest of you, hm? Going to pot in the tombs?"

She knew that if they weren't striding around, joyfully smashing each other's heads, they most likely resided in the tombs of the depraved children. At some point on her way into this region of Hell, the tomb system had changed quite a bit from the ones that made up the vast majority in Hell. Here, the tombs were no longer accessible directly from the upper landscape, but were positioned much lower, hidden under tons of basalt within a deep labyrinth of catacombs. If she wanted to get to her cousins, she would need to enter the catacombs through one of its entrances, one of which she could see in the not too far distance behind Slorgoth.

Her cousin's clawy hand-feet squished the Varcolac's head beneath it with a wet, cracking sound. "You idiot for coming here, Lilim," Slorgoth growled. "You never able to leave again… I go make sure that—"

Although Slorgoth was big and an absolute monstrosity, he was not the quickest thinker among the demons and while he was still about to boast and threaten her, Maze had already closed the distance towards him in three wide steps. Leaping up, she made a quick climb onto Slorgoth's back and slashed her daggers into the children's soul torsos sticking out of it, aware that it was his weak spot. It seemed cruel to hurt the souls, yet Hell worked so differently. She knew that if she'd kill them in Slorgoth's body, the souls will reappear in the catacombs. A never-ending cycle of torture. This, the sheer madness and brutality that Hell showed through its own way of functioning,was why she wanted for Amenadiel to stay away.

The souls' skeletal mouths tore open with high-pitched screams and Slorgoth released a guttural, pained cry. Prancing and shaking his body, he tried to throw her off, but Maze stuck her daggers into thick muscles and held onto what felt like a wild rodeo ride.

Again and again, Slorgoth shook his body, tried to reach for her and even slammed his own back against the nearest basalt wall, but to no avail. Maze stayed on top and put her daggers to work until eventually her demonic cousin broke down to the ground. Making sure Slorgoth was not going to be able to get back up again, Maze pulled away from him and wiped her daggers clean. "You've got too big of a mouth, Slorgoth," she quipped drily and began to turn towards the entrance, but a set of voices and animalistic sounds from behind made her still.

"And you have just signed your own death warrant!"

"Nuuuurrgh Nuuuurgh! Groooaagh!"

"Mongrel-scum!"

"Lilim-pussy!"

"Graanghh! Graaarrrr!"

"The Devil's little demon-bitch!"

"Scarface! Muahahaha!"

"Roooaaargh! Roaargh ungh graah!"

Her arrival in the Silent Rifts seemed to have rung through to the rest of her cousins, making them crawl out of their favourite torture region. Maze's teeth clenched in anger, the grip on her daggers tightening. Her offendedness, she knew, came from her own weakness of just caring too much. Caring about her appearance. Caring about her origins. She knew about it, but could not change it. Her demon blood ran hot with impulsive aggression to any kind of insult about her being a half-breed.

Turning to face them, she saw them approaching. Thankfully her father's brother had only begotten ten of them. One of them she had already put down to the ground, leaving her with nine abominable demons coming her way, but she was quick to spot that it were only eight. One cousin was missing: Alastor.

Good… Less time spent searching for them… More time to beat the crap out of them…

"There you are," Maze muttered, skilfully swinging her daggers around her index fingers. "Had to drop your little playthings, huh?"

The cousins, all looking distorted in their own horrid shapes, twisted, with strange limbs, horns, tails or even heads —plural—, began surrounding her.

"I'ma bite off that tongue of yours 'n smash your teeth in," the demons called Vanthox hissed. His shape was that of a Minotaur bull. He was large built with a set of wide arched horns coming out the side of his head. Patches of thick armour adorned his arms and waist section and a thick chain with bones hung like trinkets across his chest. His dark eyes sparkled malevolently and his nostrils huffed with sinister anticipation. "Then I'll take ya petty skull and give ya mouth a nice treat to choke on. BWAHAHAA!"

The other cousins chimed in with laughter, teeth bared and claws drawn, shimmering in the dull bluish light of Hell. Maze's senses turned hyper-alert. Every step, every twitch of an arm, every slap with a tail, she took note of. While they, too, were not the brightest, they were strong and relentless.

"I'm here to see if your maggot of a brother Alastor," she announced as her eyes scanned the group, letting Vanthox's threat towards her pass without comment.

The demons growled and hissed in response, making small, predatory steps towards her, closing her in further in their circle.

"Whatsss…. you wantsss from Alassssstor?" Juxghal, another of her cousins, asked. His grey insectoid shape hovered in the air, and long, needle-like spikes on his tail dangerously spread in tension and alertness. Along his belly, hidden by several sets of long limbs that ended in claw-set of one long and one short claw, was a strange looking bulge visible. Another child's soul immured in the demon's body, rotting away inside until Hell itself would make it appear in thee catacomb system down below.

"I want to see if he's still as ugly as all of you," she mocked with a confident smirk.

She knew they would not answer. Wouldn't give her what she needed to know. Not until they'd have their limbs scattered all across the Silent Rift's landscape. Not until they had bled out and come back alive through the essence of Hell itself. That would be their ultimate defeat.

As her cousins began to move around agitatedly, Maze widened her stance and prepared herself for a fight. And just as she predicted, Juxghal called out.

"Kill her. KIIIILL HEEEEER!" he snarled, furiously, and the group of demons attacked.

[Audiomachine - Imperium]

A wave of grotesquely shaped demons lashed out at her with claws, tentacles, teeth and spiked tails.

In a sequence of swirls and slashes, Maze let her daggers cut at whatever she could reach.

Flesh tore, blood splattered and screams tore through the realm as she set free an avalanche of attacks in her own defence. A slithering group of tentacles latched on her right calf, and something sharp pierced through her skin at the points of the suckers. "Get off, Davy Jones!" she hissed and forcefully pulled her leg away, feeling that her calf kept stinging as the suckers plopped off her skin.

The demon, named Dagonos, whose lower body consisted solely of thick, palish-grey, swirling tentacles, slithered back a few meters and coiled himself upright, gaining an extra meter to his height. His upper body was mostly humanoid-looking, if you dismissed the clawy fingers, the Voldemort-nose and the deformed mouth with teeth sticking out into all directions. But what was most in Maze's focus of attention, aside from the Octopus-abdomen, was the weapon it wielded in its hands; A giant, hell-forged sickle.

Releasing a wave of clicking and screeching sounds, Dagonos swirled his sickle at her. Maze quickly shifted her weight and leaned left, managing to dodge the attack, but the next lash from a set of claws from yet another of her cousins landed a hit on her arm. Three thin slices into her flesh pooled with deep-red blood.

Gritting her teeth, she backtracked, trying her best to not be further surrounded and tackled from all sides, but the throng of cousins just kept coming at her: Juxghal slashed at her from above with his long claw-set arms and whipped at her with his tail. Vanthox tried tackling her with his horns and stomped at her with his big hooves. And all the other horrid-looking monstrosities of her cousins cut down at her with feral growls.

A quick glance around as she sent out another wave of kicks and slashes to keep her cousins at bay told her that she had nothing in her immediate surrounding to support her position, to shield her in anyway or give her an additional way to attack.

She was not only outnumbered, but also strengthwise inferior, at least when fighting against the whole group.

So she made a split-second decision.

She needed to thin out the rows and the easiest way to do that was by making short work with one of the weaker shaped cousins.

Juxghal was one of them. Although he was able to fly and was more on the agile side of the demons, he had probably the easiest accessible weakness of them all: The soul of a child trapped inside his stomach. His belly's skin was thin and she could easily make out the child's shape as it pressed itself against the barrier with its face, hands and feet, like the twisted version of an unborn baby's handprint showing on its mother's belly.

Checking her surrounding, Maze spotted a long running ledge of basalt to her left and with powerful, wide strides, she raced along the rim. It curved just the right way to give her a perfect angle, causing Juxghal to sway sideways to adjust his position and in turn exposing his soft belly. Pushing herself up in the air, she slashed her daggers in an upwards cut as she brushed past her cousin, feeling hardly any resistance as the blades carved themselves through demonic flesh.

Juxghal screamed.

Twisting himself in the air with his tail and long arms flailing around, sprays of blood gushed from the wound onto the ashen ground and the heads of his siblings. The soul in Juxghal's belly pressed itself through the opening, completing the look of a C-section out of a horror movie.

The soul, a boy from the looks of it, with dark hair plastered against his head by slimy goo from Juxghal's stomach, plummeted to the ground with a spine-chilling cry, but just a moment later, he began to fade and disappeared in the ground— Hell had quite literally swallowed him back into its catacombs.

While Juxghal released more shrieks and other abominable sounds, he swirled around in pained disorientation and eventually collapsed on the ground several meters behind his cousins. His tail flicked weakly from side to side, his claws grating over the ashen ground as if he wanted to pull himself up, but with a last grunt his head slammed back down and his muscles went slack.

One down. Seven more to go. Hopefully I get em down fast enough so they don't all replenish their health again too quickly…

The diminished group of demons narrowed in on her, not giving her time to breathe. Skilfully dodging a slam of a thick tentacle from Dagonos, she put some distance between herself and her cousins, waiting for the right opportunity to pick out the next one.

Slowly dragging himself across the bleak landscape, she spotted Carnox, a hulk of meat, tendons and sinews without skin, whose head was embedded in his chest and reminding her of Quasimodo. Thinking about the Disney character, her mind immediately drifted to Trixie with whom she had watched the movie with at least three times before watching it on her own again another two times, secretly.

Sizing Carnox's up from head to toe, she saw that, although the clump of flesh was slow on his feet, he was having arms as thick as a bull's neck and were certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Concentrating, she dashed left and right, doing her best to pull the members of the group apart so that she could single out Carnox from the others. It took her several attempts, but eventually she spotted the opportunity and launched an attack from behind. Aiming at the back of Carnox's right knee, Maze cuts her daggers across the exposed tendons and muscles.

Taken by surprise, Carnox released a guttural cry and, losing his strength to stay upright, crashed down on his knees. Bellowing out roars of otherworldly intensity, physiologically incapable of speaking in an evolved way, he twisted his thick torso and lunged out with his left arm in a powerful blow.

Maze, aware of an incoming critical hit, made a quick sidestep. The arm, she could see more detailed up close, consisted of a warped rib cage with each bone sticking out with pointed ends, effectively turning the whole lower arm into a demonically spiked mace. The attack missed her barely by a few inches and the ground cracked as Carnox's balled fist smashed against it.

From the corner of her eyes Maze saw the other cousins closing in on her once more. She had little time left to take care of Carnox. Using the heavy weight of Carnox's arm as well as his slow movement to her advantage, she struck at him in a second attack, this time sending her blades straight down into both of Carnox's traps.

The response of Carnox was as close to a scream as he was able to produce. Viciously dragging the blades through the muscles, Maze rendered the demon's arms completely useless and with a heavy grunt, Carnox upper body collapsed to the ground as well.

"Time's up, bitch!" Vanthox's deep voice growled, suddenly sounding far too close to Maze's liking, and before she could push herself back up, felt the ground shake from incoming, stomping hooves. Huffing a steamy cloud from his nostrils, the Minotaur angled his head downwards.

Despite her starting to push herself aside to avoid the impact, Maze realised mid-movement that she was too slow for the giant bull, and the pointed horns sank mercilessly, several inches deep into her left side. Whirled up into the air with a nudge of Vanthox's head, Maze cried out and cursed at her siblings in a deep-roaring Lilim slur, "Ek sal julle walglike maaiers uit die bestaan slaan!"

Her cousins, the ones still standing, barked in laughter at her threat. They cheered as she was moved through the air in a circle and watched in ecstasy as her body was hauled off Vanthox's horns, slamming into the nearest basalt wall.

Coughing, her bones aching all over, Maze laid sideways on the ash-covered ground, blood pooling at her waist.

Urgh… sh-shit…

Teeth clenched, she blinked, her fingers curling, checking. Her fingers were still tightly wrapped around her daggers. Glancing ahead, she saw the blurry shapes of her cousins' approach. She needed to get up.Quickly.

Pushing aside the tearing ache in her guts, she pressed her palms to the ground and raised her right leg to stand, feeling another dull pain as she remembered it was her leg which's calf had been pierced from Dagonos' tentacle suckers. Hissing, she stumbled, but managed to catch herself on her left leg instead, willing herself to stand up and face her cousins. She squared her shoulders, the left half of her face tingling, shifting.

They came closer, spreading out in a half-circle, surrounding her again. She looked left and right, her breathing ragged, blood seeping into along her leather pants and down her leg. There was not much room for her to move, a long slab of basalt blocking her way in her back.

Not good… shit…

"MAZIKEEN!" the rich filled voice of Amenadiel suddenly echoed from above.

You gotta be kidding me…

Badass angelic timing…

Tilting her head, she looked skywards, finding Amenadiel gliding over the edge of the slab, dark-brown wings spread widely. She spotted him glance down and lock eyes with her, his expression a mixture of grim and concern, before he turned his attention to the group of approaching demons.

Flapping his wings a last time, Amenadiel aligned them against his body, causing himself to dip forward into a sharp dive. The demons came to a halt, their eyes rising in momentary bafflement. Snarling and hissing, they readied themselves as the angel approached.

Amenadiel's eyes stayed on the group, calculating and filled with determination. His speed increased as he darted like a hawk towards them and, once he was in close enough, spread his wings. He used his wing's arches to slam right into the group, effectively shoving them backwards and flattening them to the ground. At the same time Amenadiel grabbed the biggest of them in the middle —Vanthox— and ripping him along, pulling him away from his siblings.

Vanthox roared in rage and furiously thrashed around in Amenadiel's grip, punching into his side and kicking, trying to land a hit against the angel's legs. "Let me down, angel-scum!"

But Amenadiel kept his grip iron around Vanthox, using his own broad frame to keep the bull as trapped and immobile as possible. The punches from Vanthox were powerful, even though he had little space to lunge out much, and Amenadiel had to bite through the pain of them as directed them upwards, gaining altitude.

"Let me down!" Vanthox growled again, adding to his flailing around with a bit into Amenadiel's shoulder.

Grunting, Amenadiel stopped his ascent, stayed level, grabbed Vanthox by his wild hair and began whirling him around, gaining momentum. With each turn, he felt the gravitational pull increase further. "That's… what I'm about… to do!" he remarked through clenched teeth and let go of the Minotaur, sending him into an accelerated free fall towards a field of spiked basalt structures.

Arms and hooves swirling and searching for anything to hold onto, Vanthox's scream was abruptly cut off and replaced by a gruesome crunching sound when his body thundered into the ridge below.

Meanwhile Maze was faced with another five of her cousins:

Daganos, her sickle-wielding, tentacle cousin.

Unumar, who's most disturbing detail was that instead of a face, he had only a massive, wide-open maw with spiked teeth standing out, making him almost look like a demonic version of a Venus flytrap.

Orison, who's head looked like it has been squished together, was equipped without eyes, nose or even teeth, but had a venomous tongue hanging out of his mouth the length of Maze's forearm.

Bradura, a small cousin who was a mixture of a rat, a bat and a poodle.

And lastly there was Gamoc. A six-legged, raptor-like demon, deprived of skin, and using all of his claws as well as his long tail to cut down and bludgeon his prey.

With all of them being flattened to the ground still from Amenadiel's prior attack, they began to scramble back on their feet —and tentacles—, but Maze was quick to use the given time of their daze to her advantage.

Rushing as fast as she could to the most threatening one of them, Daganos, she sheathed one dagger in her belt and reached for her cousin's sickle. Prying it from Daganos' claws, she swung the sickle around in a wide arch, putting all of her strength into it, aiming at her cousin's throat.

The weapon's dark-shimmering blade sunk into her cousin's grey flesh with ease, severing off the Voldemort-like head with a loud, wet chunk. Daganos' arms dropped to the ground as his head flew several feet to the side, landing and rolling on the ashen ground before coming to a halt, eyes and mouth ripped wide open. The tentacles of his lower body kept twitching in confusion, the last bits of muscle- and neural activity shooting through the system before they, too, stopped moving.

Four more to go…

Gritting her teeth, the wound in her side throbbing in a blinding buzz, Maze swirled to the next cousin close by— Orison.

The smash to the ground had the demon troubled to move his long limbs to get back up any sooner. He arched his back and shook his head to collect his bearings, his long tongue flapping from side to side. Just as Maze was about to cut down on him as well though, Orison spotted her and his tongue snapped out at her wrist.

Venom began to sizzle on her skin, biting and burning its way into it. "Gargh!" Her scream tore angrily from her lungs. The pain stung into her fingers and palm and in an instant her grip on the sickle loosened against her will. Hand trembling, fingers cramping, the sickle slips from her palm.

The corner of her cousin's wide mouth curled upwards in a twisted smirk.

Growling, both, her dull and intact eye glaring furiously at him, Maze quickly flexed her biceps and pulled back her forearm.

Surprised by her movement, Orison's tongue extended several more inches until he choked and groaned, his head trying to ease the painful tension by stepping closer. "Nggghh! Nngggh!" he grunted, persistently, unwilling to let go.

"Yeah, I don't think so, Licky!" she snarled, yanking back her arm.

The brutal pull on Orison's tongue caused the muscle to rip from his mouth. His pained howl echoed over the Silent Rifts ridges until they ended in a bubbling gurgle. "'ou fuck'n bish! I'm go'a ki' 'ou!" Lashing out with his hands, he was about to land a hit, but missed the feather-shaped demon blade that cut down at his head from above.

With a wet shunk Maze slammed the blade deep into Orison's skull. "Too late," Maze commented drily, and gave her cousin's chest a powerful kick, sending him several feet backwards. The venomous tongue slipped from her wrist and dropped to the ground, continuing to sizzle quietly. Glancing over towards the pile that was Orison's remaining body, she saw his fingers twitch a final time before he stilled completely.

But before she could relax and take a calming breath to another victory over a cousin, the growls of the three remaining ones made her spin around with a groan, the wounds in her side slowly but surely taking their toll. She could feel the blood loss affecting her. It became harder to breathe, to stay upright and have a firm stance. Teeth bared, she pushed her feet into a wider stance, bracing herself.

Unumar stumbled towards her with wide strides, a deep rumble coming from his hole-like maw. Bradura shook himself and flapped his wings, bringing his rat-like body back into the air. And Gamoc, the skinless raptor cousin, increased his speed with his six legs, his long snout open to take a bite.

"Back to the ground again, you stinking maggots!" Amenadiel's roar sounded from above, diving down towards the attacking demons for a second time. The demons ducked and scattered left and right, try to avoid another hard blow from his wings. But as the demons tried to shield themselves and evade an impact, Amenadiel let his feathers harden, turning them into heavenly razors.

The feathers sliced into the group, causing the three grotesque demons to stumble and howl in pain. Bradura got hit worst. His rat-like body was cut in half at his waist. While his lower body was dropping limply to the ground, his upper half that had his little wings connected to his shoulders was wiggling on the ground, his wings flapping and snout snapping. But with his balance being completely off with half of his body missing, Bradura was no more a threat than a stranded fish.

The other two demons, Unumar and Gamoc, however, were both hit only superficially across their backs, but in the time they tried to regain their balance and muster up new strength for an attack, Amenadiel landed in front of them, blocked their way and thrusted the tip of his wings forward.

Mouths ripping open from thundering growls and whines tearing from them, the demons stared down at their bodies, watching in disbelief as the long feathers were half-sunken into their chests.

"Nice. You got them pinned good," Maze commented, pressing her hand against her seeping wound with a stubborn smirk.

Withdrawing his wings, Amenadiel let the two demons drop to the ground where they kept on whining but didn't make an attempt for another attack.

"You know I could've taken care of them myself, right?" Maze went on with a shrug, playing cool, but she figured it was hardly believable with the way she needed to fight for keeping her balance.

"You're welcome, Maze," he countered with a little smile, knowing how bad she was at saying thank you for saving my ass. He quickly stepped up to her, slipping her arm over his shoulder and helping her to stay upright. He took in the surrounding battlefield with her cousins laying scattered across the landscape, beaten, dismembered, or otherwise deeply wounded. "What about these relatives of yours?"

"Oh they? They will be pieced back together by Hell's powers sooner or later."

"And Alastor?" he asked, his tone darkening with anger.

"He's not here. And I'm certain he's not in the catacombs below either, otherwise he would've come up for payback for what we just did to his brothers." Wiping her dagger on her pants, she sheathed the blade and growled, realising just now that she was still having her demonic face revealed. Willing the intact flesh to cover the left side of her face again, she grit her teeth. "It's him. He's on Earth in that scumbag's body, whispering his crazy shit into the human's head."

Spreading his wing, he carefully pulled closer, mindful of her wounds. "Luci will get him out and send him back down here—"

Holding on tight, she prepared for a rough travel. "Not that easy, big boy. Lucifer can't just command him to do as he says and Alastor follows suit like a good dog. Alastor is persistent and not that easily convinced. I dunno how Lucifer can make him get back to Hell, but I'm quite sure it won't be pleasant. For neither one involved." Huffing and groaning quietly, she motioned to the dark, threatening sky of Hell. "Come on, hurry up. I'm kinda leaking. Ready for takeoff."

Rolling his eyes, Amenadiel pushed them into the air and with a dozen heavy flaps of his wings made them thunder through the barrier between the planes.

[Wordclock - Endless]

He had certainly been reluctant because it was Sunday. He had wanted to rest, because it was the holy day, the day of the Lord, but she was absolutely perfect and it was like he had found the needle in the haystack. He just had to pick her. He was sure the Almighty would smile upon him.

Glancing over at her, he was in awe.

Her face was so pretty, so young. Her eyes had a soft almond shape and were adorned by voluminous, black lashes. Her eyebrows stood in sharp contrast to her eyes— thick, sharp and edgy. Precisely styled. Her lips were full, perhaps a little pale, but that could have happened because of the added substances still flooding through her system. She had an adorable button nose and a smooth chin, both of which reminded him of his little girl.

She was beautiful, but what the feature that had made him pick her in a split-second-decision was her hair.

She wore her long, softly wavy hair open. Only a small segment of it, which was at the back of her head, was braided into an elegant fishbone braid. Her hair radiated almost magically with vibrant dark-green and black shades that turned into a lighter, faded mint-green at the tips.

… A great gift for the Almighty indeed… I'm sure He'll be very pleased…

His lips curled in a satisfied, confident smirk as he parked the car. The streets were empty. Understandably so in this part of town. There were gang shooting almost on a daily basis, the poverty rate was enormous and the houses were worn down with no money for repairs.

Turning off the engine, he switched off the lights and pulled the hood of his jacket over his head. Although it had gotten dark enough, the lights of the lamps on the main road were able to shine into the side street a little bit, and an observant passerby would potentially be able to get a glimpse.

… You have to be smart… There's a lot more work to do… Don't let them find and stop you or you will never be with her again…

Swallowing thickly, he complied with the voice. He took an extra minute to make sure there was nobody in sight and got out of the car. Opening the slide door on the driver's side, he looked at the feathered appendages with a fluttering heart, tears filling his eyes.

Yes. Perfect.

It was not too difficult to move her— she was a little thinner than the previous one. And he was rather thankful, because the preceding hours had been extraordinarily arduous and he knew the next hour would be quite exhausting as well. Making sure to not wedge the heavenly features, he carefully curled them as best as possible and pulled them out one after another, before slinging the young woman's arm around his neck and supporting her with his shoulders. Another quick reach into the car and he could grab the bag prepared with the tools he needed.

The distance to the side door was just a few metres. Thankful for the door to be double-winged and provide him with enough space to manoeuvre his present, he opened the doors left and right with a quiet creak.

Once inside, he took a deep breath, letting the scent of incense fill him and give wings to his soul. He looked forward to the task. It was right. Truth be told, it was holy.

The toes of the woman's bare feet dragged over the tiled floor as he made his way over to the altar. The red velvet cloths on the altar as well as the cushions on the benches behind it were contrasting her green-coloured beauty magnificently. She would look absolutely stunning once she was positioned.

…Don't forget the doors, Warren. Never forget the doors…

"Yes, yes, of course," he hastily responded out loud to the voice in his head and carefully sat the woman onto the ground, letting her rest back against the altar. Reaching for the prepared signs and two shorter pieces of rope, he rushed to the main door first. The sign was easily plastered against the outside of the door and once he had shut it again from the inside, he wrapped one of the ropes tightly around the handles, making an entry without much greater force impossible. The side door followed right after and finally he let out a small sigh of relaxation.

Another difficult hour was ensured with the next task at hand, but he went to work with a smile on his lips and a shimmer of joy in his eyes.

When he was done, and wiped the sweat from his forehead, he took a deep breath and looked up at his work.

She was truly beautiful and perfect— A fitting present for the Almighty, but still a humble offering in hopes for his forgiveness.

He had seen on the news what happened last time and knew it would happen again. People would soon flock to this place like sheep following the call of their shepherd, their Lord.

…Yes… They will see your beautiful work… just like He's going to see it. Everyone will praise you and soon the pearly gates will open for you…

"Yes… soon… And then I'll be able to see my dear Samantha again," he breathed with a tearful smile.

A/N: ... Bet you didn't see that coming!

For those of you who are curious about what Maze yelled at her cousins— It was Afrikaans (as used in the show) translating to a heartfelt "I will kick you disgusting maggots out of existence!". Typical Maze, am I right? :D

You might have noticed that things are not taking long anymore for our characters… Things are happening much more rapidly! The end is near! Muahaha! The finale is so close!

I'm excited for your reactions! Let me know what you thought of this chapter are and what you think will happen next! :D Love you all! Stay tuned and see you in the next one!

-Luni

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