Judy was frozen. Utter terror gripped her in every sense of the word. Her breath was meager, her muscles strained, and her mind shuddered under the pressure of the mere presence of the goat before her. She knew who it was. Anyone sane would. Unnecessary confirmation came to her from Nick.

"Hello, Satan."

"Hello, failure." Before Nick could respond, the ram waved a hoof and a band of twisted black power coiled itself around the todd's muzzle, silencing him. A pair of bands wrapped around his paws at the wrists and another at the ankles.

A supercilious sneer curved the goats muzzle to reveal a set of elongated canines and teeth far sharper than should be found in the mouth of normal ruminant. "Did you truly think that killing my underlings would do me harm? They were a worthy expenditure to lure you out and their deaths merely allowed me to manifest. Now, sit still like a good pet. I'll attend to you and your thieving shortly."

Fear coiled in her gut as Judy realized how hopelessly outclassed she was. Her demon still stood, but was bound, muzzled and immobilized. He didn't seem overly upset, but he hadn't moved since the Devil himself had appeared. Of course, neither had she and, if his reasons were anything like hers, it was due to abject terror. Even with her full armor and its reinforcements, she felt like she was being crushed under the weight of the goat's presence.

Said demonic overlord took a slow step forward, addressing Judy as she trembled. Holding out a hoof, he crooned, "Come here, little angel. Come here now and all will be well." The goat's eyes glowed with self-assurance around the horizontal pupils; black depths into which many had sunk.

Judy swayed on her feet. The voice was a whispered narcotic. She knew it was demonic magic. She'd felt such effects on campaign; voices that could lure and beguile, leading angels into ambushes or worse. She'd been trained well and learned to resist such tricks, but this was an ocean, where the others were puddles. The pressure clouded her intellect and drowned her will, leaving her mind gasping.

"What is it you desire, Judith?" he asked in a voice like warm honey; tones one only heard from a parent or lover. "Any wish, I will fulfill. Any dream, I will grant you. Any hunger, I will sate. Anything you desire. Wealth and power or endless pleasures of the flesh will be yours. Just take my hoof and I will give you all." Judy swayed as she stood, struggling to resist and succumbing. She reached out for Nick, but she couldn't find him. The voice was whispering right beside her ear, close enough to tickle the sensitive fur. And the Devil hadn't moved an inch. "Would you like the little fox as your pet, perhaps? He would fit well there; to serve you in any manner you wish. Endlessly."

Judy fought; struggling to stay on her feet, but every moment she stood, her feet itched to move. If she did, she would lose herself. If she fell she would be taken regardless of her wants. Her heart ached and all she wanted was what the voice offered. She wanted it and hated herself for it.

"Take my hoof. Swear yourself to me on your Name and all that exists will be yours. The fox, the Throne of Heaven, endless joys and eternal pleasures. Everything your heart craves and any want you could ever imagine..." The honeyed voice and pretty words wormed their way into her mind. Flashes of all he promised flitted behind her eyes and there was nothing she could do to keep them out.

"All yours," the insidious voice urged, oh so gently. "Just give me your paw."

Judy's feet began to move, a slow, shuffling progression, and the voice grew insistent. "Come, come, my dear. We haven't much time and there is an eternity of pleasures waiting for you. Reach out. Now."

The voice echoed off the walls of her reality; the last word booming through her and Judy felt her paw rise of its own volition. Tears were welling in her eyes and she felt close to vomiting as she realized she couldn't stop herself. She was lost and there was nothing that she could do. Laughter, deep and rippling with triumph, rolled through her world and Judy was sure she would faint dead away. The pressure was murderous, crushing her consciousness, making it painful to breath…

And suddenly, the pressure on her eased. She was floating; her feet were no longer touching the ground. It no longer felt like she would be sick and her breath was heaving in and out of her lungs, leaving her ragged and quivering. Her eyes creaked opened, expecting a goat with a death's head grin leaning over her, only to see red fur and a muzzled face.

The face was inert, passive, blankly staring over her head. Then a blazing emerald rolled down to look at her and winked. Judy could have fainted in relief. A slow smile grew on his mouth, under the muzzle, until his familiar, easy smirk was there. Judy was too conflicted to do any of the things she wanted to. She wanted to punch him, to slap him for letting her be so scared and alone. She wanted to thrash him; scream at him; beat him until he begged for mercy. The relief she felt was so intense she wanted to weep.

She burrowed her face into his chest and allowed herself a ragged breath as the fabric of his shirt strained tight in her grip. A moment later, her feet touched the ground. She was loath to release him, but they weren't out of danger, yet. The feeling of heaviness was still thick in the air, coating the back of her tongue, but she no longer felt crushed by it. Hope started to grow in her as she saw the monster called Wraith, now someone she trusted, shake off his muzzle as if tickled by an annoying fly and stand between her and the Devil himself.

"Buffy! What an unpleasant surprise."

If the Devil hadn't been staring slack-jawed before, he certainly was now. Nick was pleased at the result. Baphomet was flatly stunned that his bonds hadn't held. The fact that they'd been so easily shaken off by a mere incubus left him speechless.

"Nothing to say, your Royal Uselessness?"

Quickly composing himself, the Devil lightly snorted. "What cheek."

"I yawn." Nick put action to words and made his boredom clear to all present. "You took forever, getting here. Did you have to take a pit stop, or did I use words that were too long in my note?"

"Gloat all you wish," Satan sniffed haughtily. "Your pathetic attempt at theft will soon be remedied and what you stole, restored."

"Fat chance of that, Buffy. I must admit I am impressed, though. You worked out that I robbed you and it only took…" Pause for dramatic effect. "Five hundred years." The only indication that Nick's barbs were finding their mark was a slight narrowing of Baphomet's red eyes. "And you got off your backside to come deal with me yourself. Look at you being proactive!"

The once honeyed voice was quickly growing soured, like curdled soy milk. "If you think you are doing anything but earning further torments, you are sadly mistaken."

"Am I?" Nick asked with faux innocence plastered across his face and laughter in his voice. "I'm surprised you ignored me once I was bound, honestly. I mean, I robbed you blind. Cleaned you out completely. Then you get up here, and ignore me. I have to admit I was surprised. And a little insulted."

"There are greater concerns to me than a peon, like you, and a petty theft."

Nick pulled a cigarette from some hidden place on his person and raised it to his lips. A flicker of indigo flame sparked the tip of his middle digit to light it. "Greater concern to the archdemon of Pride than to have your treasury emptied under your nose? My my…" He took a long drag, held it for a moment as his gaze met that of the pitch-black goat, then slowly blew released it into the air. "Do tell."

"If you are too dim to know, I will not deign to enlighten you. Now, be silent."

The Devil's words were growing slightly sharper and the narrowed eyes had been joined by a minor twitch in one ear. Nothing anyone would notice unless they had spent a very long time studying the demon who sat on the throne of Hell. Nick had done exactly that and for longer than anyone could remember. He was making progress.

"I don't think I will, Buffy." Nick purred around his cigarette. "It's not as though you could actually silence me, anyway."

"You will address me by my titles when you are permitted to speak, at all." Annoyance and disdain tightened the Devil's voice.

"Or what, you'll cry at me?" Nick asked around a laugh. "Very well." Lifting the burning tobacco from his lips, Nick assumed a mockery of the salute he had learned in his first House and withheld no mockery from his voice as he crowed. "All hail Baphomet, arch pansy of House Superbia. Holder of the Throne of Hell, by virtue of poisoning. Combat was too dangerous, after all. Bearer of the Luciferian Mantle and Banner of Lost souls, when they aren't too heavy for him. Keeper of the Key of Wards, as it came with the chair he uses. Grand Satan of the Legions of Hell, because the work is all delegated and Custos Auream of Tartarus, because no one remembers what it means, but it sounds good. Long may he cower!"

"Arrogant peon..." A frayed thread of irritation crept into the devil's voice. Was that a hint of bleating?

"Says the archdemon of Superbia... Oh, the irony!" Nick returned his cigarette to his lips and exhaled a cloud of smoke. "And name-calling? Way to prove me right, Buffy! Do you need a snack before naptime?"

"Your feeble attempts to goad me are pathetic. Do you truly believe anything you have to say would cause me even the slightest discomfiture?

"You tell me."

"I will tell you nothing." The burning carnelian orbs turned back toward Judy. "I will tell your little… friend, there, a thing or two.

"My dear, I'm sure by now you know the sob story of the poor little angel who was "tricked" into falling. What he hasn't told you is that falling isn't forced. What he did to earn his exile to Hell was his choice. And what choices he has made."

The Devil offered Judy a rictus grin, his laughter scraping at the walls of her mind as he continued. "Did he tell you what he's done? All the things that aren't in the files you pure little angels keep? The horrors he's visited upon angel and demon alike? He's corrupted dozens of your kind. Slaughtered more. Before he got uppity and tried to take Hell from me, he had a cape made from the wings of all the angels he'd taken prisoner. Most of them he broke himself either in the arena as an entertainment to feed his pride, or in the bedroom for his pleasure," the goat murmured as his power left his eyes burning like coals. Judy could feel their warmth singing her fur and caught a whiff of sulfur on the air.

"And you?" Satan sighed. "You'll be another notch on his belt and nothing more, unless you come with me. Swear yourself to my service and you will decide his fate. Revenge for your dead comrades, his servitude for all time. Anything you desire."

"You're repeating your sales pitch," came Nick's droll interjected, breaking the building pressure, again.

"You are an insufferable nuisance!" the goat bit out.

"Ooh, big words! That calendar Izzy got you is paying off!"

Baphomet gave the fox a greasy smile. "Speaking of Asmodeus, he will be very pleased to get his claws in you, again."

"You sure you don't want to give another House a shot? You failed to break me in Superbia, Izzy failed in Luxuria. How about Invidia, this time? Or Gula? Misery knows Belphegor could use the exercise… Just keep trying until one of you manages to show a little competence." Nick took another long drag and nonchalantly released a cloud of smoke before continuing. "Of course, you'd have to subdue me first."

"A simple matter," assured Baphomet.

"Not when you don't have someone else to do it for you."

A light tremor of repressed anger caused the Devil's arm to twitch. "I should have killed you the last time we met."

A vaporous fist corralled a pawful of pebbles and lifted them to its master's palm before dissipating. "You haven't had the spine to stand in my presence since you had Asmodeus do your dirty work, all those years ago."

Baphomet's lip rose slightly in a snarled moue of displeasure.

"Do you need a little incentive, still? Here." A pebble shot from Nick's paw and ricocheted off a black horn with a thunk. "How's that?"

Judy watched in stunned silence. It was matched by the shock Baphomet was experiencing.

"I've got more." Another three pebbles bounced off the ram's horns in quick succession and the fourth slapped the center of his nose, followed by a sharp snort. "Seriously? You're still too scared?" Nick continued jauntily. "Here, I'll make it easier for you."

The fox, who Judy was absolutely certain was insane, dropped the rest of his pebbles and did a smart about-face. "There you go! This is how you usually fight, isn't it? Too afraid to face your opponents, so you stab them in the back? I'm unarmed, too! Or do you need a dozen real demons to put me on my knees before your grow the stones?"

The Devil's snarl became a roar and he lashed out. Judy's mouth, which had been hanging open since the start of the exchange, was instantly covered by her paws. The blow never landed. Nick slipped out of the strike's way with an ease that could only be described as lackadaisical. The follow up sweep was neatly hopped over and the thrust after that was batted away with a dagger that appeared suddenly in the fox's paw.

"Look at that! You've managed to get me to draw a weapon! Aren't you proud?" Nick taunted sweetly.

The ram wasted no breath and attacked in earnest.

Every strike was dodged or parried with ease by the fox, who wasn't even wearing his armor fully. Judy watched with increasing confusion as Nick refused to use his armor. He didn't appear to need it, but she didn't understand. Baphomet had smacked him down in their last encounter, or so Nick had said, so why not use every advantage?

Her answer came a few moments later; in a moment of cruel theatricality. His armor was there, but hidden under his clothes.

After dealing out what should have been a series of punishing blows, Baphoment was tiring and hadn't landed so much as a firm breath on his target. His opponent, however, seemed fresh as a daisy. It enraged the ram, sulfuric smoke curling from his flared nostrils. All the more so when Nick tossed aside his dagger and taunted him.

"Come on, Buffy! This is as easy as it gets! I'm unarmed. Again! Think you can scratch me this way?"

Baphoment bellowed his fury and poured his strength into one last strike. He was sure to impale the upstart and be done with him. Then, he could collect the angel and be leave this accursed plane. With all his strength and weight behind it, the trident moved faster than sound and he was assured of victory when his thrust was brought to a jarring end. The instant the sharpened tip of his weapon touched the fox's chest, it turned to liquid and slithered from his grip. The Devil overbalanced and crashed to his knees at Nick's feet.

Nick's grin was a mirthless rictus as he claimed the final piece of his armor. It joined with its fellows the instant the tip touched the chest plate through his shirt. He felt the tremor as they acknowledged each other and then the weapon flowed under his clothes as a liquid and joined with the rest as one for the first time since before lizards walked the earth. The disbelief on Baphomet's face was comical and compounded when the armor flowed briefly over Nick's body in full, getting its new voice acquainted with its bearer.

Humor faded.

The tables were turned and the demon responsible for Nick's fall and all his suffering since was disarmed and defenseless before him. It was the simplest of acts to send a ribbon of sentient metal from his arm to impale his enemy.

There were words Nick had prepared for this occasion. So many things he thought would be a sufficiently cruel irony. But in that moment, there were no words. There was only pain, and fury, and the memories of one night where a kindly old goat had advised him to stand up for what he believed was right. The words that led to his court marshal and exile from the heavens for daring to disagree with the Divine's orders.

Jagged tendrils of metal sprouted from Nick's armored paw and flew at the goat before him, punching through armor and flesh alike. The first pinned one leg. The other leg followed an endless instant later. The arms were next and Baphoment, the Devil, was pinned for display as a butterfly would be in an entomologist's case.

Ribbons, threads and ropes of jagged metal fell like rain.

It was a matter of moments only, before the ruler of Hell was a ruminant-themed pincushion; every part of him but his heart and head riddled with metal and vulpine malice. In a final act of vindictive wrath, Nick willed his spear to twist. Every tendril nestled in suffering demon's flesh grew spines and hooks, snaring and rending. As each thread torqued and was evulsed, they shredded what was left of the body they had used as a sheathe, reducing the devil to a mass of pulverized meat in his own skin.

The armor retracted, shedding ichor and effluvia as it did. By the time it returned to its bearer fully, it was clean. Nick stepped up to what was left of his former master and backhanded him across the face, painting the floor with another splash of black blood.

"Before I let you die I want you to know…" Nick whispered into the ragged ear as though to a lover. "I want you to know that I have everything you could dream of. Power beyond your petty mind's comprehension; the rule of Hell, too. I know that you came here for her, not me, so I know that she's important. If she's so valuable that you came all the way up here, I'll find out why," he purred tenderly. "And I'll have her too."

Pulling away, Nick saw what was left of the ram try to rally.

In a deep, ritual voice, Nick began to speak. The words were as old as Hell itself and he relished each one as they poured from his lips. "The Devil is slain! His slayer reigns! All Hell revels! Long live the Devil!" So saying, Nick punched his clawed paw through the goat's shattered ribs and wrenched put a blob of black meat. With his heart removed, what remained of the arch demon's body withered away and turned to dust.

"Ah... the Devil's heart, such as it is. Consume it and take his power..."

Judy had seen enough. More than enough. Enough to cripple her.

The mind enveloping power that Baphomet had wielded had been bad enough, but what had happened afterwards was inconceivable. Very near to incomprehensible. She had thought for a moment that taunting the devil was Nick's way to arrange an opening for them to escape. She had not expected him to square off with the ruler of Hell, let alone to do so and win. There were a million things she needed to ask; questions screaming in her mind, demanding answers, but one thought overrode them all.

He could not be allowed to eat Baphomet's heart.

"I won't let you." Judy's voice barely sounded like her own and she forced herself to swallow the bile she could feel rising.

"Please, Carrots, you couldn't stop me and you know it," he replied in the same calm tones he had used while flaying the goat alive.

"No."

"You are a gutsy rabbit. You're welcome to try."

Judy's short sword rasped out of its scabbard where it rested on her back and a she summoned a buckler to her other paw. She had faced him once already and been bested easily. Then, she had been ignorant; unaware of what he was and severely under prepared. Now, she had her full complement of armor and weapons, matched with a greater understanding of his nature. And one last thing that changed the entire complexion of the circumstance; his Name. A demon's name would bind them to the speaker's will, in the case of lesser demons. In his case, it should at least slow him, possibly painfully. It felt bitter in her mouth as she fortified herself. This was something he would likely never forgive.

"You won't have that, or me." She pulled power together and willed it into her voice as she spoke a final word. "Piberius."

Nick blinked. "That's what you're upset about?"

He hadn't even flinched. Not a shred of change in his power, the mana around him, or anything else. Not even the bond reacted. Relief flooded her alongside anxiety and then anger. "No more lies."

"I can't lie, remember?" he pointed out while eyeing her as if she were a particularly dense cadet.

Not trusting her voice, Judy launched herself at him. This would not be like the first time she fought him. She had her full hunter's armor and her best weapons. She also knew better how he fought. She wouldn't be able to break him. She knew that much, but that was not her goal. If she could destroy the heart, she could save him. The fear that drove her to challenge him was not just to prevent what he would become for the sake of creation, but also in fear of losing him to the corruption.

To her distress, he seemed even less concerned than he had in their first encounter. Her first strike was stopped by the haft of a spear before it even came close to connecting with any part of him.

"This is delightful!"

His comment didn't help.

Nick was happy with his complete armor. The thousands of years he'd spent collecting them were worth it in every way. In the first moments he had possessed it the spear had proven its value, not just as a weapon, but as every weapon he could imagine.

As the rabbit rained blows and strikes on him, the spear shifted at his whim to be whatever he found most useful in that moment. All it required was thought. One moment it was a broadsword, the next a tonfa, then a scimitar, a rapier, a poniard, a staff, a shepherd's crook. With every moment's thought it became something new and beautiful in his eyes. It required a touch of focus at first, but he quickly found the same rapport with it that he had with the rest of his armor. Its glee at being whole again, lending its own enthusiasm and flair to the changes.

While he fended off slashes and blunt force attacks from the rabbit's shield, Nick let himself relax. He knew that this little spat would be over soon and then he could placate her as he obviously had to. She would wear down and slowly get tired enough that he would be able to talk some sense into her.

Only, that didn't happen.

It took a moment or two, but Nick became aware of how very different this fight was than his first altercation with the angel. The first time, she had demonstrated her skill, yes, but the tools she had possessed had been paltry to say the least. A short sword, a dagger, a taser and a Kevlar vest… hardly the raiment of a huntress of his kind. Now, however, she was properly outfitted and when her short sword was knocked from her grasp, he was delighted to see the buckler vanish as well; a karambit and a tomahawk taking their places.

Just as Nick's weapon flowed from form to form, so too did his adversary's technique. He was pleased to see her strength coming to the fore as she hooked his spear to the side with her tomahawk and struck at the heart with her other paw. She missed, of course. He was not about to allow her to dominate him, not after feeding his Pride so deliciously. However, as the battle raged, his pride mellowed as it always did after a feeding. To his surprise, he found himself filled with respect; not just for her tenacity, but the willingness to not back down despite the odds. If she had been so armed in their first tet-a-tet, he would have been much harder pressed, possibly to the point of doing her serious harm out of lack of choice.

After the second set of weapons were batted from her paws, another set took their place. Two short, wide war daggers. Held to stab in a reversed grip, Nick watched as she slipped in close and began to hammer at his defenses like a dervish of divine steel. The attacks grew wild and fervent, even as they came to nothing against his parries and blocks.

In a moment between flurried engagements, he took a moment to really look at her. Her heart was as plain for him to see as the sea on a clear day.

She was stressed, fearful and… desperate? Her form glowed with tapped divine light, indicating she was at the limit her bangles could allow. He was surprised to find that she was tapping her own power through her armor, as well, and putting as much force as she could manage behind her assaults. It dawned on his previously distracted mind that every attack had not been aimed at him at all, but only what he held.

The final proof came when, in a final act of reckless abandon, she tapped her bangles and her full power flooded out, raging through her to no avail. Twenty seconds later, she was panting on her knees, drained and defeated, but unharmed. Feelings he did not want to name tickled at the edges of his awareness and he shuttered them for another time. Now, he needed to be calm and even keeled. Giddiness was unbecoming, for one thing.

"Now what was that all about?"

"Please don't," she pleased through gulped breaths.

"Don't what, angelfluff?" He seemed genuinely confused as she eyed him.

"Don't eat his heart. Don't fall further."

"Sweet misery… You really should let mammals finish speaking before you act." On the heels of his words, Nick summoned hellfire to his paw and burned the heart to ash. "Hell and it's throne can kiss my red furred backside. All I did was kill him. I haven't taken his place. Just his weapon."

Judy gaped as she watched the black organ vanish into nothingness. Creases formed on her brow and muzzle as she looked from the now empty paw to his face in confusion. "That makes you the Devil."

"Yes and no. That makes me owner of the last piece of my armor. A lovely one too, might I add. It also makes me the Devil by right of assassination and possession of the Mark of Rule, but it won't be official until I actually claim the throne," Nick explained, giving the trident a twirl for emphasis. "That can wait, as far as I'm concerned."

Climbing back to her paws slowly, Judy listened for the catch. "I don't understand."

"To become the Devil the one who kills the previous ruler needs to eat their heart and take his power. And let's face it, that would only weaken me so I'm skipping that part. Then, I'd have to go to Hell, allow challengers to come and try to best me… Blah blah blah… It can all wait. Let them stew with an empty throne for a bit. The panic will do Hell some good. Besides, I recall that I gave my word to a certain little grey angel that I'd help with an investigation. Until that's resolved, I couldn't possibly find time to rule Hell." He winked at her wide-eyed bafflement. "Even the Devil is bound by his word. I gave you mine and I will keep it."

Judy was in tumult. She was exhausted and annoyed with herself for wasting her strength. She was also itching to thrash the red-furred jerk who misled her. Scared was also in there and growing as she realized how happy she was that he wasn't going to vanish on her.

She was almost immediately panicked again, however, when he said, "This, however, will not wait."

With a flick of his thumb, a platinum coin flew into the air and vanished. Judy watched as the fox snarled and thrust his spear into the air before him. The head of the weapon vanished into the air and he twisted it, as though turning a key... or opening an enemy's wound.

Reality screamed. Judy barely resisted covering her ears, knowing it wouldn't help.

A portal opened in the air. Nothing grand, or flashy. Just a hole in the skin of creation, which Nick strode through with a purpose. Moments later he returned bearing a long, thick bundle; thicker than his frame, but apparently very light. To her eyes, Nick held it with a sense of reverence, and awe overtook her. Whatever it was that he now had was very important to him.

The portal snapped shut as Nick knelt and gently placed the bundle on the ground. Quietly, as the moment seemed to call for such, Judy asked, "What is that?"

"My wings."

Her gorge rose in her throat.

"They were taken in Luxuria. A literal trimming of my wings," he continued by way of explanation for his perpetually curious angel. "I finally have the power and the Key to get them back."

"Key… The spear?"

"Yes. One of the privileges of bearing this weapon is that it can open any door; bypass any barrier. That includes the ones protecting the vaults of a demonic House and the treasures they hold. I had a small advantage over Buffy. Having the rest of the armor made it easy to take the Spear." The fox smirked as the reminder of his newly acquired power tickled his Pride.

"I don't understand."

"Ever hear of the Phosphorus Pieces, fluff?"

"Yes…" She tilted her head as she looked his armor over more closely. "The last surviving piece of the Promethean Legacy, forged in the time before the War. You found them? All of them!?"

"It only took a few dozen millennia, but yes. I knew if I could claim the rest the Spear would be easy, so I started as soon as I figured out what the Trident was while in Superbia. I knew it would be my chance at revenge."

"Are you telling me that this was all a con?" she squeaked.

"Angelfluff, this has been the longest con in history," Nick agreed cheerfully. "Buffy engineered my fall and I swore the day he claimed me for his House that I would bring him down. Challenging him for the throne so he would throw me to another House was a calculated move to get out from under his watch. He would have figured out what I was doing if I had stayed. Thousands of years in Luxuria hunting for the Pieces and, finally, helping a few stupid lesser ranked demons stage a coup-d'etat," he chuckled. "That little decoy let me use the few coins I had collected to slip into Lightbringer Palace and rob the Devil blind."

"You staged a coup," Judy stated slowly for her own sake. "So you could rob the Devil. You do realize how insane that is, right?"

"Madness in Hell is as common as dust."

"So, you robbed him and lured him to the Mortal Plane?"

"I did. Five centuries in prison was easy to take, especially in Hell, where time means less. I knew they'd take me out of mothballs eventually and get me out of Hell, so I wouldn't cause trouble. I also knew Buffy would be too busy dealing with the mess I helped create to check the vaults until after I was gone. Then, all I had to do was wait."

"That's why you haven't been taking anything seriously."

"That's why I wasn't at first. Things are a bit different, now." Nick ended his statement with an expression Judy couldn't decipher.

Judy wanted to be horrified, but she felt too sickened to do so, especially when the cloth around the wings was slid away and she saw what had been done to them. Mummified, mutilated black sticks. She felt a sympathetic pain in her own back as images flashed in her mind of what had happened the day they had been removed. An obsidian blade pretending to be an axe, biting into her flesh and tearing the bones from her body while she wailed on bloody knees.

Before she succumbed to the reflexes to weep or vomit, Nick's voice cut through the haze of memory.

"I'm sorry, Judy, but I need to borrow a little of you."

Only then did she notice the little vial in his paw filled with weakly glowing motes of fluff.

Angel down. Her feathers.

There was nothing she could do but watch as the demon who had just annihilated the Devil in single combat stood. His collar was glowing a weak yellow in the dull light. His eyes blazed green and indigo while all the light seemed to be pulled from the world.

Six platinum coins and the same number of her feathers vanished into nothing. Judy felt the force of divine and demonic powers screech in agony as they were forced together by an impossibly strong will. Slowly, very slowly, golden threads began to form on the desiccated ends of the wings. Seeing it, Nick shredded his clothing from the waist up with a wave of his paw and willed his armor to uncover him. Once he was bare, he exerted his will again and the threads of light found their other ends in the puckered flesh of his back.

The scars were easy to match up. One wing for each ragged, white mark on either side of his spine. When they found their marks, he knew. The pain he had expected. The flesh of his back knit into the wings and Nick screamed from it. Bones snapped into place and tendons crackled while the meat of his back tore and shifted.

Judy was beyond fear. Awe and the inexorable understanding that she was bearing witness to a momentous event were all she had room for in her mind. Then her eyes shifted to the shadows on the wall behind him. It was not of a fox, or even a winged fox. What she saw frightened and thrilled her in a way that stole her breath.

Indigo hellfire sparked from the wounds to the wingtips as they once more filled with life. In the wake of the fires, Judy saw for a moment the true reflection of the being she was bound to; a hulking form of obsidian flesh in vulpine silhouette, long and lean, dripping with corruption and masculinity. Long horns swept back and over between his ears, curling slightly then curving together behind his head, while a smaller pair curled back under his ears and smaller protrusions dotted his forehead. It gave the impression of a crown, making him seem regal in the chaotic light.

Six great wings that dwarfed their owner sprouted from his back and a nimbus of power wreathed him, turning him into a pillar of night. Golden light shimmering through his flesh made him luminous against the dark and he was beautiful. Beauty and horror with a heart brighter than the sun itself.

At length, light returned and Judy blinked in it. Nick was standing, much as he had been before they had been waylaid. The greatest differences were that he was bare from the waist up and his collar was glowing an angry red. Tension bled from his frame as she watched him take long, deep breaths. After a handful, the collar dimmed to a low, ashen yellow light.

"I guess that's as good as it's going to get for now," he commented aloud.

He turned and collected the dagger he had discarded in his fight with Baphomet. From the wrapping that had held his wings he withdrew a tarnished circlet of metal and a sapphire the size of her fist. Judy realized it was his halo and touchstone, the resting place of his power and memories.

After a moment of thought, he let a pair of his wings unfurl and they wrapped around him, creating the illusion of a beautifully crafted suit and long coat. With a surrus of movement, his armor shifted from where it had hidden itself and adorned him. Lefty sparkled on his wrist and on his right wrist a matching bracelet appeared. At his neck, a torque of matching metal formed and just to complete the picture, the spear shifted to form a cane. The sapphire that had been in his paws found its way to his throat, between the knots of his torque and the shirtless vagabond dripping sex appeal was no more, replaced by dapper elegance. Somehow is only amplified what had been there previously.

Once he was dressed and his armor settled into its resting forms, Nick slipped his halo inside his coat and turned to his companion, chiming, "Come on, Carrots. Dinner is on me. We need to celebrate!"

For long moments Judy could only stare. When she found her voice again it was to point out, "You are playing with fire. You're a hair away from breaking your last binding."

"I've been dancing on a razor's edge for longer than life on this planet," he replied jauntily. "I can handle it. And no, I'm not."

The angel looked at him askance. "Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

"Most of the time, but just to help you sleep better, let me explain. Now that Buffy is dead and I am the last demon on the Plane, other than Finnick, I want to keep the rest of them out. With as powerful as I am and wearing the Collar, two of my wings out takes the tolerance for demonic presence right to the ragged edge. They can't send anyone up to see what's going on at all and the rest of me is bound, so no threat to reality's integrity, or the balance. Besides, wouldn't it be better for you if Heaven won the Wager?"

"Considering everything else that's happened, I am suspending my judgement on that."

"Most wise of you. Now," Nick snapped his fingers and the rot that had accompanied Baphomet's arrival vanished. Time began moving again and Nick hummed in appreciation of his new powers. "On to food! After we eat, we have a lot to discuss. Why Buffy wanted you, for a start."

Judy followed uncertainly as the Devil-apparent strutted off ahead of her. There were many, many things that concerned her, not the least of which were the collar's reactions and the fact that she'd seen him rip a hole in the world. Judy was reexamining the term "outclassed".