By Hydraa
This is the sequel to "Temptation".---000---
From darkness and sleep, power came, exploding through him on a tidal wave of force.
Chrno bucked, shifting from boy to demon in an instant, mouth gaping open with a gasp as the power convulsed within him. Back arched, he couldn't see what was happening for a moment, but he could feel it going through him, energy writing in runes across his skin, and he could hear the screaming. It was deafening, a cry of pain and terror both at once.
It wasn't him who was screaming, he realized. It was a woman. A woman whose hand was on his chest, lighting the fire within him while his own fingers dug unrelentingly into her breast, buried deep within her and feeding, sucking the soul straight out of her.
Mary! He realised. Rosette! Both of them had screamed this way, both of them had lit the Contract within him, making him theirs. But Mary was dead and Rosette didn't need a Contract. Who?
Chrno forced the muscles in his body to obey him, to let him drop out of the bowstring shape he was in and sit up. The hand moved with him, locked against him, even as his own hand remained embedded in her. He sat up and looked at the face of a woman that he didn't recognize for a moment with her short hair and pain-filled face. Not until he saw the little round glasses she wore on her nose. Even then he could barely see her in the cataclysm of light and energy swirling around them, drumming against the walls like thunder.
Kate! He thought. Kate had made a Contract with him?? When had he ever agreed to this?! He never would have agreed to this! Not to another woman sacrificing herself for him. Only it was happening, and the watch was running backwards, glowing as it charged with her life force and he could feel it draining out of her, barely held back from filling him completely by the watch itself.
His mind blew wide open and he felt her agony while she experienced his confusion. He shuddered, trying to get his hand to move and grab hers, to break the link somehow and free her, no matter what happened to him. The Contract wasn't complete though and they were both screaming, her in agony, him in denial, only it wasn't something he could deny. Kate had him as surely as Rosette and Mary before her.
Alerted by the screams, men appeared at the doorway to the room, Remington shocked at their front. Chrno tried to warn them, but he couldn't stop screaming and Kate didn't even know they were there. Remington lunged forward, trying to break them apart, but that only increased Kate's pain and he lashed out at the priest, forcing them all back. Remington jumped out of reach and then several men had the demon, others holding Kate, trying to pull them away from each other. Chrno could tell they were saying something, but he couldn't hear them.
This was far worse than the last two times, agony now flowing into him instead of the ecstasy he remembered. Kate was nearly unconscious from the pain. He was fighting her, he realised. Both of the other times, he'd been willing and the Contract had been quick. This time he resisted, trying to beat back her energy, and he was killing them both trying to stop something it was already too late to halt.
Sobbing, Chrno lunged forward, throwing the men off as he wrapped both his free arm and his wings around the woman, pulling her hard against him and just letting it happen, encouraging it to happen, surrendering himself to her. The pain diminished then, still there but nearly orgasmic in comparison, and with a horrendously normal sounding click, the watch closed.
Kate sagged, out cold, and Chrno held her closer to him, his face buried against her neck. "Why," he whimpered. "Oh, God, Kate, why??"
Gently, Remington put a hand on his shoulder. "Chrno? Are you all right?"
"No, I'm not!" he yelled, not letting go of the woman in the slightest. Instead he took the hand that had been buried in her, well aware of the five bruises now standing on her pale skin, and put it around her as well. "She made a Contract with me! Why did she go and do that? I didn't ask her to!"
"Chrno." Remington paused and then his hand tightened. "You're still a demon, Chrno. Change back to a boy."
He was. He was in demon shape, sucking even more life out of her. Chrno sobbed and changed, becoming a boy, and suddenly her mass was too awkward for him. Remington took her and lifted her in his arms. Kate was grey, her face pallid and her body shivering. Chrno had never seen her without her headdress before.
"I didn't ask her to," he whispered. She was going to die, she was going to die like Mary did and like Rosette would have, and it was all his fault.
Remington looked at him evenly for a moment and nodded. "I know, Chrno. Kate always makes up her own mind. I'll take her to her room." Gesturing for the shocked men to stay back, he left the room.
Suddenly, Chrno couldn't stand to be away from her, not from his Contractor. Hopping down from the table, he hurried after them.
---000---
Aion pushed deep into Rosette's mind, forcing his dominance on her. It wasn't anything like the gentle stroking of depth she did to Chrno's psyche when she made love to him. Aion didn't dare leave any part of his own mind open and that meant there was no real penetration of her mind. He just pushed on it whole force, crushing it under the awareness that he was stronger, he was more powerful. He was the master and she was the slave, and there was joy in that, contentment, peace. She was his and always would be. Chrno had crumbled under that pressure, taking his place as the subservient, wanting that control and harmony. It would be heavy at first, Aion promised, but in time the touch would become lighter, become pleasurable. Chrno had felt it and given in willingly. All of the Sinners had, every one of them relaxed and happy on the leash.
Rosette hauled off and punched Aion in the nose.
Aion reeled back, stumbling over his own feet and sitting down hard, his robe flying up. After so long touching Chrno's mind and actually going into it without harming him, Rosette had a lot of strength and she used it to lash back at the demon, slamming him with her own disgust, right before she kicked him in the head.
"You bastard!" she screamed. "You lousy piece of shit!" She didn't know exactly what he did, but she knew she didn't like it. "Nobody tells me what to do!" Shrieking, Shader came at her, to do what the cat demon didn't know, and Rosette hit her with her anger as well, jerking the scientist to a halt in her tracks before she punched her in the jaw as hard as she could. Shader spun and went down, stunned.
On the floor, Aion snarled, shaking his head and trying to get his thoughts together. Of all things, he hadn't expected the girl to be able to fight him on this battlefield. What had Chrno been teaching her?? He couldn't have taught her this, he realised. He didn't know how to attack with his mind or be dominant. He hadn't even been able to resist until Mary shielded him. But Rosette took to it as easily as Pandemonium.
Oh, shit, he realised, suddenly cold. Pandemonium had been made into a demon from a human too and no one had ever been able to beat her in a psychic fight.
He spun around, abandoning the mental attack and fully preparing to gut her with his claws. She'd grabbed Shader's chair though and slammed him across the head with it as hard as she could. Aion dropped again, unconscious.
"Applesauce," Rosette growled, panting for breath and furious. He'd tried to do something to her, tried to change the way she thought. Not being the submissive type in any aspect of her personality, she'd met his invasion with a sudden rage and denied him. It seemed to have worked. He was insensate, but already starting to twitch.
She might have beat him on the mental level, but she had no doubt she wouldn't do so well on the physical. She was a demon herself and immensely strong, but this guy could beat Chrno unless he had his horns. She had no desire to take him on without a lot of ammunition on her side. Now was the time to run.
She started for the door and Shader stirred, her ears flat as she pushed herself up and looked at her, her glasses askew. Rosette thought about kicking her again, but she was dressed in her nightgown still, covered in slippery goo, and she was lucky she hadn't broken her toe or landed on her butt last time.
Shader gaped at her, shaking, and scrambled for the alarm. Rosette swore and tried the same trick Aion just attempted on her.
She hit Shader with her dominance, her absolute right to rule. It was the total essence of her authority that she used on Chrno in their lovemaking, but she was gentle with him, deep inside him but soft. He loved it. Shader she didn't go inside, but she slammed the exterior as hard as she could.
Shader screamed. Rosette could feel her, she realised. The cat demon wanted to resist, but she was small and submissive. She needed a master, had been born for it as much as Chrno, and she wanted Aion. Aion had taken her from Pandemonium, he had become her master and been much better at it in that he was almost always kind.
He'd done exactly the same thing to get her that Rosette was now, she realized, and with a smirk she increased the pressure. You are mine. You are mine. "Obey me," she ordered, advancing on the cat. "Obey me." Shader shook her head frantically, her tail lashing, but Rosette swallowed her, surrounded her, and demanded it of her. "Obey me now."
In that moment, she felt the shift, felt Shader's mind move and lock onto a new master. The cat flattened against the ground, mewling. "Don't hurt me!"
Rosette blew out a breath, her head aching, and shot a look at Aion. He was still out cold, twitching a bit still. She had no idea when he'd wake or even if he'd realise what she'd done. According to Chrno, he hadn't when Mary took him away, but she'd been so subtle Chrno hadn't realised it happened. Rosette doubted what she'd just accomplished could be called subtle by any stretch of the imagination.
"I won't hurt you," she told the cat, kneeling beside her. Shader looked at her with desperate fear. "What's your name?"
"Shader." The answer came automatically and the cat looked shocked at it, even as she started to relax. She was accepting the change, Rosette realised. Just that easily. Of course, she had no choice and the blonde tried not to feel guilty.
"Are you mine, Shader?" Rosette asked her.
The cat's eyes softened. "Yes."
"Will Aion be able to tell?"
Shader considered that. "I don't think so. I can still feel him a little."
"But you obey me?" Rosette stressed.
"Yes."
Rosette smirked. "Then I have some orders for you."
---000---
Kate woke with a headache. She felt like a sharp spike had been driven into her brain, right between her eyes, and she lay there for a moment, just breathing deeply and evenly until it passed.
She clearly remembered everything that happened. She had bound herself in a Contract to the demon Chrno, giving him her own life so that he could wake again. She hadn't realized it would be quite so painful though.
Now that it was done, she didn't feel much of anything. She certainly didn't feel like she'd given a demon access to her life force. Nor did she feel like she was going to go to Hell.
Kate sat up slowly, just in case her head started to spin. The sacrifice would be worth it if Chrno was able to defeat Aion. She told herself that, going over all the logical arguments in her mind again as she rose and walked slowly across her room to the mirror that hung on the back of the door. She wasn't a vain woman, but her position did require her to maintain a perfect outward appearance. The floor length mirror was there so she could be sure of it before she went out before the other sisters. Her station also resulted in her having a larger room than most, and with the only light coming in through the window on one wall, much of the space remained in shadow.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror sombrely. Whoever brought her back had left her wearing her usual dress, though it looked odd without the headdress and with her short hair showing. She looked at her face, wondering if she could see signs of her diminished life force, and started as a shape moved in the mirror behind her.
"Kate," Chrno murmured, stepping up behind her and sliding his arms around her.
The Sister was nearly floored by shock. He was taller than her in his adult form, his body warm against her back and his eyes glowing in the dim light. His arms came fully around her and he pulled her back against him, head bending down to kiss her on the neck. It felt like fire and without even realising it, she shuddered.
"Kate," he repeated and nipped his way up her neckline, breathing warm air into her ear before he closed his mouth on it, tongue tracing along the whorls inside. She had never had any idea that her ear was that sensitive. Her breasts, she discovered a moment later, were far more as he drew his hands up along the sides, gently stroking them with his fingers before cupping them and rubbing her nipples with his thumbs.
He was seducing her, she realized with hazy fright, and doing a truly impressive job of it too. Parts of her she'd shut down decades before were waking up with a vengeance, and as he reached down to start parting her robes, she realised how terribly close she already was to letting him take her, right there in her room on the Order's grounds, where she could look out her window each morning and see the church.
Kate took a deep breath, feeling his hand reach her, exciting her, and turned around, slapping him across the face with all the strength she had. Chrno froze, his head turned away from her with the force of the blow, and then shimmered, shrinking. He was back to being a little boy again a moment later, his long violet hair hanging loose around his white shirt and red shorts.
"What do you think you're doing?" she snarled, truly enraged.
Slowly, he looked up at her with miserable eyes. "I don't want you to die."
Kate started, much of her anger bleeding out of her as she realised exactly what he'd been doing. He'd been trying to save her the only way he knew how; by turning her into a demon the same way he had Rosette. Sighing, she readjusted her robes and crouched down before him. "Don't do that again," she told him bluntly. He opened his mouth to protest and she raised a finger to silence him. "I mean it." He faltered, his brow tensing, and her anger rose again.
"DON'T TOUCH ME, CHRNO! THAT'S AN ORDER!" She'd made her choice. She wouldn't skip out of it through his kind of salvation. His eyes widened and then he shuddered and all the fight went out of him.
"Yes," he answered lowly.
She settled back on her heels. "You'll behave?"
"Yes."
"Good." She stood, straightening out her robes. "And I won't tell Rosette what you tried." He shivered at the thought, but he didn't contradict her. Nor did his gaze leave her while she collected her headdress and put it back on. It made her somewhat uncomfortable to be watched so intently and she found herself wanting to lash out at the little demon again, even as she told herself that this had to be terribly hard on him. He'd lost Rosette and now he was bound into a Contract with her, without giving his consent for any of it. She was amazed he wasn't yelling at her for her presumption.
Instead of taking her own discomfort out on him, she lashed out at something a little easier to handle.
"Do something about your hair," she snapped. It was hanging all around his face and down to his knees, longer by far than even many of the girls. "Why haven't you braided it?"
He looked down at it uncertainly. "I don't know how," he admitted. "Rosette always braided it for me."
He said the last sentence very quietly. Kate sighed and went to her desk, taking a comb out of one of the drawers and sitting on the stool there. "Come here." Chrno walked over obediently and she turned him around, making him stand there while she combed out his long hair.
"Your little attempt wouldn't have worked," she pointed out to him. "The wards in the Order would have prevented it."
"No. They were broken in the attack. I can feel it." He looked back at her over his shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"You should be," she sniffed, her thoughts focused less on his seduction attempt and more on the fact that the Order was now even more vulnerable. They had to move Raul. The boy was still safe for now in the timeless cell, but they could hardly leave him there for the rest of his life. Not that any of his life would pass while he was in there, but his parents' would and the entire family was frantic to get back together.
Gently, she combed his long hair out, amazed at how soft it was, and began to braid it. He didn't move throughout it, his head jerking back a few times only when she tugged too hard. She braided it to the end and dug through her drawer for something to tie it with, finally coming up with a broken shoelace for her boot. It was better than nothing and she tied the end off firmly. Chrno lifted it and looked at it.
"No ribbons?"
"Are you a girl?" she snapped and stood. She was still somewhat mad at him, but she doubted he'd make any sort of attempt like that again. He looked too oddly eager to please instead. She sat down again. "Chrno, before I get distracted by something else, tell me. What is Aion after?"
The little demon frowned. "He wants to trade Hell for Heaven."
She'd heard that before. It sounded horrific, but right now, tactically vague. "What does that mean?"
He blinked in confusion. "Huh?"
"What does it mean," she repeated slowly. "What exactly does he plan to do?"
His eyes widened and suddenly slitted to lines. "He said not to tell anyone."
Kate was stunned. "What? Aion told you not to tell anyone?"
"Yes."
"What are you doing obeying him??"
He opened his mouth to answer and closed it again. "I don't know. He ordered me not to tell anyone."
Were all demons crazy? "You can tell me, Chrno. You have to."
He shifted uncomfortably. "You don't understand. He ordered me."
She frowned, remembering the half dozen or so Oaths she'd imposed upon him when Rosette first brought him to the Order. He had been completely incapable of disobeying them. Could Aion have done the same thing?
"Did he bind you?"
"No. He just ordered me."
He said it so casually. Kate wished Rosette would follow instructions so well. Still, if he wanted orders…
"Chrno," she said clearly, looking him straight in the eye. "Listen to me. I am commanding you to tell me what Aion is doing. Do you understand?"
He hesitated, making her head throb.
"Do you understand?"
He shivered.
"I'm ordering you, Chrno."
Her head started to hurt.
"You will do what I say. Now!"
It felt like she was having one of her worst fights with an obstinate Rosette. Like she was beating on a wall of stubbornness with both fists. Kate was just realizing that the wall was actually there in fact, somewhere in the ether between them, when it cracked and came down.
Chrno dropped to the ground. "I'll obey, I'll obey!" he wailed. "He's using my horns on Joshua as an upload link between Pandemonium and the astral line that he and the other Apostles can control. Since Joshua isn't a demon, she won't have access to him and using that much power, he can overwhelm both her security systems and fail-safes to take control. He's going to reprogram the Legions to not self-destruct when away from their host and to keep recreating themselves indefinitely. They'll overwhelm and subsume the entire planet, remaking everyone and everything into demons, with him as the primary controller!"
He felt silent, shuddering and weeping, and Kate sat there in shock. She didn't have the vocabulary to understand half of what he'd said, but she grasped enough of it. Aion wanted to turn the world into Hell with himself as Satan. Shaken, she stood, intending to go and inform the council of this.
"Kate?" She turned and looked back at the whimper. Chrno was still cringing against the ground, but she had no time to console him.
"What?" she asked, trying not to snap at him again in her impatience.
He lifted teary eyes to her. "When we find Rosette… if we find her…? Will you give me back to her…?"
She started to ask what he meant, but didn't. She had a horrible feeling she wouldn't like the answer. "Of course," she told him and hurried out, leaving him broken behind her while she went to save everything else.
---000---
Filthy with transparent goo and all the dust and crud that stuck to it, Rosette sprinted up the stairs and into the hallway on the main floor. She could see windows framing the entire side of the house, overlooking a beach and ocean, and ran for the door in the centre of them. Swearing, a heavily muscled man lumbered to intercept her, his long hair pulled into a high ponytail and his ears pointed like every other demon's. Rosette didn't bother trying to fight him. She hit him the same way she had Shader, bellowing obedience to him without saying a word.
The demon screamed, his head flinging back as he thundered to his knees and fell onto his front. He had a taste to his mind, Rosette realised, just like Chrno and Shader did. Shader was quicksilver honeysuckle. This man was slow flowing molasses.
Chrno was hot chocolate, all the way.
"You're mine!" she yelled at him as she vaulted his body, still headed for the door. She didn't know how long it would take to get control of him or even if she could do it again. More, she didn't know how long it would take Aion to wake and she really didn't want to face him again. She also knew how many other people were in the house and she didn't know if she could take them all at once.
There was one she knew she couldn't take at all.
Two, actually. A woman appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, dressed in a maid's uniform with a collar and blank eyes. "Please return to the lab," she said calmly and raised a jewel that looked just like the ones Satella used. She shouted something and an armoured knight appeared before her.
Rosette dodged for the window, cursing. The knight rushed to intercept, halberd swinging, and she dove, crashing out through the heavy glass and rolling onto the deck. A third demon who'd been sitting there, his eyes covered in scar tissue and shadowed by a hat, started to his feet in surprise. Someone sitting on the other side of him started as well and a bird screamed in protest.
She couldn't fight them all. Instead she dove off the deck, well aware that knight was right behind her, and transformed herself.
Chrno hadn't given her any lessons yet. He'd been sick ever since she became a full demon and it had been winter, too cold to do anything even if he had been well. Moreover, she hadn't really wanted lessons. She could do this if she had to, but it frightened her in ways she didn't really want to admit to anyone. Heights always had.
Rosette spread her wings and flew, beating down heavily as she arched up to gain altitude, trying to go as fast as she could. It felt like her feathers actually were pressing on something and she hit a hot patch over the beach sand that abruptly threw her upwards for thirty shrieking feet. That put her out of the range of the knight, but not the eyeless demon who arced towards her, far more agile in the air than she.
Rosette opened her hand, looking at the gift Shader had given her. Three small stones glinted there, each containing the trapped soul of a person foolish enough to summon Aion and make a contract with him. They got what they wanted, but he got what he wanted as well, and the fine print for his deals always included their soul trapped in a stone for his use. The thought of using them made her cringe, but as Shader pointed out, what other choice did she have? There were too many for her to fight on her own, and if she didn't escape with what she knew, there would be no stopping them.
So she focused on what the cat demon told her. A place she knew. A place that would not have changed and that she knew intimately. Focus on it hard enough and will herself there. She didn't have the power to do it on her own; only demons of soldier status and higher could do so, along with specially bred messenger demons, but she could do it with the stones. She just had to will herself there and the stones would do the rest.
Rosette closed her eyes and imagined herself there with all the strength in her heart. She was there, she had to be there. Her determination surged, the stones flashed, and the world changed.
She felt it. The temperature dropped twenty degrees in an instant and the air pressure was different. Rosette opened her eyes, gasping, and saw she was headed at high speed right towards the only place she'd been able to think of that was high up enough for her to fly and stable enough not to change.
She was about to crash into the side of the Empire State Building's steeple.
"Oh, Applesauce!" she shrieked and wrenched her wings to one side. That had the effect of flipping her over and sending her tumbling head over heels, before she hit another air current and was suddenly going the other way, bucking on the tangled waves like a dolphin in a storm. How the crap did Chrno do this? How had he managed to do this with her on his back??
Something snarled close by. Startled, Rosette looked over her shoulder, throwing herself off balance again, and only the sudden tumble she took saved her from the sword swung by the eyeless demon right behind her. He'd followed her, she realised in a panic. Somehow he'd tracked her here.
Frighteningly, being eyeless didn't seem to bother him any. Rosette plummeted out of control, zig-zagging on air currents she couldn't see and falling at a steady rate, but he tucked his wings and dove after her as easily as a bird in a backyard, his lips drawn back in a snarl.
She was so close to getting away. Suddenly pissed off, Rosette slammed him with her demand for obedience and he gasped, smashing into her in turn a moment later. The breath whooshed out of her and she fell again, tangled with him.
This demon tasted like black liquorice, but he was fighting her, trying to get his sword around even as she tried to rip large holes in his mind. She had to be causing him terrible pain, but he snarled and struggled on, wings spreading involuntarily as they rolled together. They hit a current at the same time and shot sideways, angling down. Fighting him physically now as well as mentally, Rosette bashed an elbow in his face and brought a knee up into his groin, rolling him around just in time for him to hit first when they slammed into a building neither of them were expecting.
They crashed through the heavy window to screams of breaking glass and frightened people. Knocked away from him, Rosette rolled a half dozen times and fetched up against a pillar, her shift yanked up to her midriff and her goopy body now covered with a layer of broken glass and beads as well. They'd crashed into the haberdashery floor of a shopping mall and she'd gone through a bead counter.
He'd gone through several hat racks. Rosette had to laugh as she scrambled up at the sight of the other demon stumbling clear of the racks, one shoved up through the leather straps criss-crossing his back and a hat crammed down so far over his head that he couldn't get it off.
Belatedly, she remembered that he didn't need to see at all as he turned towards the sound of her laughter and lunged, claws outstretched. Rosette dodged out of the way and he twisted around to land on the pillar and launch himself at her again. He'd forgotten about the hat rack stuck through his clothing though and it tangled in his wings. He fell, cursing as he crashed into the floor.
Rosette ran barefoot across the marble floor, chasing after the fleeing shoppers in the hopes that they were headed for the exit. They ran from her as much as the other demon and she fled behind five of them as they opted to jump into the open elevator instead of taking the stairs.
Heaving for breath, Rosette stood in the elevator and leaned against the closed doors as the car descended, her face red as she looked at the frightened shoppers staring back at her with her wings and nearly decimated shift.
"Mommy," one little girl whispered. "That angel is all mucky."
Great, Rosette thought, rolling her eyes. At least she made an impression. A moment later, there was a heavy thud on top of the elevator car above them.
---000---
Aion came around to Shader holding something truly horrendous-smelling under his nose. He shot upright and instantly regretted it as his head threatened to split right down the middle.
"Aion!" Shader cried as he buried his face in his hands with a groan. "Are you all right?" Her astral signature felt odd, but he didn't have the time to wonder about it. She'd probably had four or five lives scared out of her. At least she was alive.
"Where's the nun?" he grated.
She shook her head, her ears flat. "I don't know. She ran. She took some of your stones."
She took what? She did what? She knew about the stones? Aion couldn't remember if Chrno had known about them or not. He snarled and leaped to his feet, skidding on the goop on the floor before he ran up the stairs. His sword and more of his stones were in the living room and he grabbed them as he ran in.
Viede was lying on the couch, his face ashen while Fiore tended to him. Joshua stood behind them, his horns fully out and the air around him trembling. Time itself was screaming about the boy.
At that precise moment, Aion didn't care. "Where'd she go?" he grated.
"She teleported," Fiore told him flatly. "Genai is tracking her."
Which meant she could be anywhere, but Genai was Aion's, without any of Chrno's resistance. He could track him everywhere. "Get him to Shader," he ordered, pointing at Viede, and started towards the door, his mind already reaching out to Genai's.
"I want my sister," Joshua said suddenly.
Aion didn't care about that either. "I'm going to kill that girl and tear her-"
"I WANT MY SISTER!"The words were a scream, one in the mind and the soul as well as the air. Aion looked back at Joshua to see his wings were out and suddenly he was using his power to restart the time that was freezing all around them. The air was a storm, the house creaking, and everything threatened to become stone.
His people threatened to become stone. Aion had seen what happened at the orphanage he found the boy at and he screamed himself, countering it with his own power. Time stopped, time started, time froze, time flowed. Back and forth, in an instant, for years. Absolutely nothing happened in the room and everything threatened to happen, reality itself screaming and threatening to come apart from the strain.
"Master Aion is going to get your sister now!" Fiore shouted suddenly. The struggle stopped abruptly and she folded her hands in a docile fashion before her. "Isn't that right, Master Aion?"
"Yes," Aion heard himself saying. He and Chrno had never had a battle like this. Not with those powers. He didn't know which of them could win it if they did and never wanted to find out. "I'm just going to get her now."
"Oh, good," Joshua said happily and wandered towards the kitchen. "I'm hungry, Fiore. Do we have anything good to eat?" Fiore bowed deeply and followed him.
Shaken, Aion looked towards his Sinners. Viede still lay on the couch, hurt and not understanding what just happened. Shader in the doorway did understand though and her ears were flat against her head with terror.
"I'm going now," Aion told them, his mouth dry, and neither of them questioned him as he stumbled out of the house. Genai, he had to find Genai, and in the corner of his mind, he found him, felt his anger and his hurt. The bitch had hurt him badly and he was running on instinct, determined to stop her but wanting Aion there so badly.
"I'm coming," Aion breathed, palming a stone. A moment later, he was there.
---000---
The demon pounded on the roof of the elevator car, his blows hitting it hard enough to dent it inwards and making the whole thing sway. The people in it screamed, cowering, and Rosette cursed, staring upwards. At this rate, everyone was going to get killed. She turned, hitting the button for the closest floor and the car shuddered to a halt, the doors opening onto a floor filled with furniture and even more people. There was no help for it though as the roof started to peel upwards with a horrendous scream of metal.
"Get out!" Rosette yelled, gesturing at the people. They fled past her, terrified, and she leaped out of the elevator after them as the demon slithered into the car behind her.
She sprinted away from the elevators and across the floor, leaping over couches and sliding over tables, her shift hanging off her and the demon chasing right behind. They ran faster than many of the humans could move, leaving them staring after them both as she fled, looking for somewhere to make a stand. Did the store sell weapons? She didn't know.
She didn't feel like she had it in her to attack with her mind again, not after taking Shader and hurting the other one. Her brain felt like it had all been squeezed out. She leaped over an ottoman and out onto an aisle between departments, her wings folded to prevent drag as she ran flat out.
Genai was only a few metres behind her, his own wings folded. He was enraged. He'd felt her hit his mind, felt her hit Viede's and he wanted to hurt her with every ounce of his being. His head hurt though, ached terribly, and his mind kept sensing double as he chased the girl. He nearly ran into a column at one point, letting her put on more of a lead, and he snarled as he raced after her again, uncaring of the humans around them or any thought except one.
Kill the girl, kill the girl, kill the girl…More windows loomed ahead, a sign hanging before them that pointed to the stairs. Knowing it would be suicide to go through them and let him get at her in the air again, Rosette sprinted towards them anyway, intending to turn and follow the corridor to those stairs. The more restricted the space, the more chance she suspected she would have.
She was nearly there, humans still scrambling to escape as they realised what was happening, when a shadow covered the windows. An instant later, Aion crashed through it, now in his demon form with white armour, and she skidded on her butt, trying to stop her forward momentum.
She nearly slid into him. Scrambling to her feet, she started to bolt back the way she'd come, but Genai was there, leaping for her. He slammed into her and she screamed, thrown backwards. She landed on her back, painfully crushing her wings, and he came down on top of her, pinning her legs to the ground. A moment later, Aion's hand came around her throat, holding her the rest of the way down.
"Bitch," he growled and punched her as hard as he could.
---000---
Breathing heavily, Aion looked down at the unconscious girl. He wanted to kill her, but without Joshua… Perhaps he could still use her as bait for Chrno. Somehow, he could feel the other demon now, awake again; just like he could feel another, closer demon in a lot more pain.
"Genai?" He turned in time to see Genai roll off the nun, shaking and vomiting. "Genai!" Uncaring of the humans still staring at them, he grabbed the lean demon, forcing him to look at him with the motion-sensing eyestubs on his forehead. Genai's real eyes were long gone, destroyed by Pandemonium, but his mind was sensitive enough to know his surroundings.
That sensitivity also left him wide open to Rosette's attack. Aion felt the pain and the damage, the battered obedience and confusion. Grabbing Genai's chin with both hands, he looked deep into those eyestubs and pushed his own pain aside as he let his mind flow over the other demon.
Genai sagged against him in relief, his wings drooping as he surrendered completely. He let Aion's dominance soothe around his mind, enveloping it completely. You are mine, you are mine, you are mine. "You're mine, Genai," he cooed. "You're mine."
"Yes," Genai breathed, his focus returning, his pain fading.
Nearby, footsteps sounded, police summoned to deal with them. Aion might have worried a bit if they'd been from the Order, but these were just normal men. He leaned forward and kissed Genai on the forehead.
"Kill them for me, Genai."
He let him go and the eyeless demon leaped to the attack while he turned to deal with Rosette.
---000---
Chrno followed Kate into the department store, his heart in his throat. A girl with golden wings had been taken by two demons there, one in white, the other with no eyes. Aion and Genai. Somehow, Rosette had got away from them and they'd retaken her.
If only he'd been there.
They went up in one of the elevators, Kate talking with a policeman as the car rose, and the doors opened onto a horrific scene. Bodies of policemen and shoppers lay everywhere, tore apart. It looked like Genai's work. Whether he'd felt threatened by the police or not, he'd killed everyone. Chrno swallowed and followed Kate out of the car.
He didn't want to be away from her, not while she wore that watch around her neck and her life was tied to his. He wouldn't try to seduce her again, but he had to protect her. She was his Contractor, he had to be with her. He didn't love her, but the bond was there.
She was his master. He'd tried to resist, but she'd broken him, just like Aion had broken him, before Mary came and put him back together.
He didn't think Kate even realised what she'd done to him. She ignored him much of the time and it hurt. Even Aion had never ignored him. He didn't neglect any of his people and Chrno had to push away a sudden loneliness for him. It was Rosette he missed, Rosette he loved, Rosette he wanted to be his master. Not Kate, who recognized him as a person but still used him as a tool. A tool she'd sold her own soul for, but a tool nevertheless.
Slowly, they crossed the floor, Kate commiserating with the police, Chrno leaving her side to follow the aisle, heading towards the broken windows on the far side. A single golden feather lay there, surrounded by police tape that warned not to touch. Chrno ignored the admonitions, picking the feather up and holding it to his nose.
He could smell her on it. It was hers. Chrno inhaled deeply, losing himself in that scent. She smelled so good. He'd follow that scent if he could, go to where she was and bring her back. He'd do anything, even if Kate ordered him not to. He hoped.
"Chrno," Kate called. "Put that down and come here."
His hand trembled, wanting to defy her, but still he lowered it and let the feather fall back to the floor, turning and walking over to her side. Once, she'd had Oaths put on him to control him and he wondered if she had any idea how much stronger her hold was on him now. It didn't matter. In the end, they had the same goal and he'd be a tool for her to get Rosette back, even if the tool was destroyed in the process.
---000---
Shader watched with keen interest as Aion and Genai returned with Rosette. Genai was sent to bed, just as Viede had been, and Fiore helped carry the girl in.
"Get wards," Aion growled at her, looking tired. "I don't want her screwing with anyone's mind. I had to fix Genai. I'll check Viede once we're done here." He looked at her intently. "Did she hurt you?"
Shader shook her head happily. "Nope nope nope. Punched me." She pointed at her bruised chin. "Ouchie. I'm okay though." She skipped off to get the wards. Normally they used them on any demon they captured for information, and then only sparingly. They weren't so easy to get.
Aion watched her for a moment, but he didn't question her answer. If she'd been hurt, she'd be in pain, just like Genai had been and Viede was. He could feel him even from the basement and ached to go to him. After that, he'd take a shower.
"Keep her under control," he ordered Shader. "Don't take any chances. Understood?"
"Roger dodger," she chirped, saluting. Wings sagging a bit, he turned and went out.
Shader looked at Fiore. "Help me, would you?" she asked. The doll bowed and together they put the wards on Rosette. Enough to hold her shape and secure her mind so she couldn't lash out at anyone again. "Weak as a kitten," Shader cheered, her ears swivelling to listen in different directions.
"Her brother will be pleased," Fiore nodded. "He'll want to see her. After she's cleaned up, of course."
"Yup yup. Why don't you go draw her a bath?" Shader smiled.
"You'll be all right alone?"
"Sure sure. You go." She waved her out, chattering, and returned to the lab, staring down curiously for a moment at the unconscious girl. Bending over, she sniffed her face and straightened up, satisfied. Then she skipped over to the computer and tapped it into the phone line, setting it to dial a number.
"This is the Order of Magdelena," the woman on the other end said wearily.
"Hi!" Shader answered. "Rosette told me to call. Can I talk to Father Remington please?"
THE ENDMore coming.
I always thought Aion subsuming Rosette's mind and turning her into his minion in the second half of the animated series was a load of crap. In my mind, this was a lot more likely.