A/N: Okay here is the second chapter of your deal. Sorry it took longer to upload than I expected. Now as it was initially designed to be part of the same chapter, it might be best if you read them together. Still I hope you enjoy and I hope you don't find it to surreal or reparative at parts.
And don't worry, I probably won't do this again, when I get to Ten Thousand Views. Well enjoy.
(Okay looking over this chapter, I realised that in efforts to get it uploaded, I hurried and rushed through it somewhat, and thus hurried up the story and missed outa few things I wanted to include out. As such I've slightly rewrote it and made it a bit longer. Sorry about this, I know a number of you have already read it. I'll try to make certain it doesn't happen again.)
Chapter Eleven: Complications
Leonard looked at his watch, it was only Two O'clock. He stared down at the clocks face. How could it only be Two O'clock? It felt like weeks had gone by. The last three days had moved very slowly. But eventually Saturday had finally arrived, but now it seemed to be taunting him, the day was going by so slowly. He shivered slightly; it was getting cold in here. He walked over and closed the window. For some strange reason the temperature had seemed to drop dramatically over the last few days.
He needed to find something to do, he needed to distract himself. That was the only answer. Sitting down he tried to read, but he could not focus on the words, they just got jumbled up and he soon found himself once again watching the clock. Sighing Leonard but down the book, he need to find something else to distract him. After thinking for a moment, he decide to go to Penny.
He walked into her room. Penny had actually gotten up today and now she was sitting on her bed watching the wall. It was strange really; it was almost as if she could sense something was going to happen. Leonard once again felt sadness overcome him as he looked at her, Penny had somehow gotten worse. Her face was blank and her eyes were empty. It was almost like looking at a corpse. He gulped slightly "Hi Penny," he said softly.
Penny of course didn't reply, she just continued to stare at the wall. Leonard sighed; he sat down next to her. "It's okay Penny," he said softly, "it will all be okay, I promise it will be." Once again Penny didn't reply. "Well it's good to see you up." Leonard said, this wasn't working, it just made him feel worse. He moved to leave. Only for Penny to suddenly grab his hand and pull him back.
Overcome with surprise, Leonard spun round on the spot, Penny was now facing him, her eyes were focused for the first time in days. "Don't go Leonard," she mummed softly.
"Okay, okay, I won't." Leonard quickly sat back down. But Penny continued to stare; her eyes had gone blank once again.
"Don't go Leonard," she repeated.
"I'm not going; I promise you I'm not."
"Don't…go…Leonard…Don't…go…" Penny's hand slipped off Leonard, she was no longer looking at him. It was like she was looking through him.
Leonard didn't leave he just sat there next to her. Penny didn't say another word but he didn't dare leave.
Sheldon and Amy looked at each other, before walking into the gym. They had agreed it was about time they started working on improving Sheldon's physical strength. They had already examined his stamina, speed, flying, wing dexterity and so on, as such physical strength was logically next on the list. How to do that had been a source of difficulty, as finding something he would have difficulty lifting, without drawing attention to their activities would not have been easy. But then Amy had had an idea. Maybe if they raised his normal level of strength, it might raise his maximum level as well.
So here they were at the gym. It was quite a small gym, taking up only one level. At the same time, it was quite full, filled with nearly every machine and device that you could imagine, although there condition was clearly less than best. There was a huge glass window on the left side that went into the street. Seemingly so passer's by could stop and watch the people inside straining.
Sheldon walked up to the counter. The young man behind smiled at him, he had red hair and a cheerful sort of expression. "Hello Mate, what can I do for you?"
"I would like a strength building session please,"
"Sure go ahead, I'll get you a spotter, just wait a moment. And what can I do for you Miss?"
Amy was taken by surprise by this. "Oh I'm not here to work out, I'm his girlfriend."
The man smiled, "ah the support, I understand."
Sheldon handed the man the money for the session. He looked around somewhat uncomfortable, having never been in a gym before in his life. But Amy was right, he did rely on his strength a lot, so it was only logical that he should make efforts to try and increase it. Sheldon had truthfully never liked the idea of weight lifting; he had always tried his best to appear unassuming. But that was then, this was now.
Looking around he noticed the Gym was mostly empty, there were a few people working out. However in the corner there was a group of people, three men and a woman. They were all similar, all big and muscular. They clearly came here quite often. The woman had her arm around the guy on the end, the one with slightly long black hair.
The man with red hair soon returned. "Okay just go over there; Stephen over there will help you out."
Sheldon nodded, together he and Amy began walking over to where the weights were. As they did, the man with black hair looked up. "I wouldn't bother mate," he chuckled "It's far too late for you to even start trying." The group started laughing.
Trying to ignore them, Sheldon and Amy just continued walking. Sure enough by the weights, stood another man, he looked somewhat muscular, but not overly bulky. "Hello," he said, "My name's Stephen, I'll be your spotter today. And you are?"
"I'm Sheldon," Sheldon replied calmly, "and this is Amy."
"Pleasure to meet you to, so tell me how do you want to start?"
"Can we start with something light please, I'm new to all this."
Stephen chuckled, "Sure no problem, let's see your thin, but your quite tall and reasonably well built, how about we start off with say Fifty pounds?"
Sheldon shrugged. He lied down, while Stephen fixed the weights onto the pole. "Okay if you're ready, let's get started and if its just let me know."
Sheldon grabbed the pole and lifted it off the stand. Stephen kept his hands fixed upon it, ready to grab it in a moment if it slipped. However there were no problems Sheldon just continued to lift it up and down.
After a while he turned to Stephen, "this is too easy, can I try something heavier please."
Stephen nodded happily. Sheldon rested the weight back on the stand, while Stephen added some more weights. "Let's try Seventy Five pounds."
The two returned to the task in hand. Amy watched eager, this was slower, but Sheldon still managed it without too much trouble. Once again he placed it on the rack.
"Still too easy?" Stephen asked. Sheldon nodded, "very well do want to try ninety next or go straight to a hundred?"
Sheldon hesitated for a moment, he didn't know how much he could lift on his normal level, and he didn't want to over strain himself on his first try. However he had managed Seventy five quite well, so he figured why not go for another twenty five pounds. "I'll take a hundred."
Stephen nodded; he added more weight to the pole. Sheldon took it back, but this time he almost dropped it. Stephen moved to catch it, but Sheldon managed to steady himself before it fell. It seemed significantly heavier somehow. However he didn't give up, straining he hoisted it up into the air, and then back again, and up and back, and so on.
He managed to get to fourteen, before he had to stop. Placing the weight back on the stand, he sat up to quickly and was almost knocked back by the shock. Amy jumped to his side and steadied him. "Let's take a break." Stephen suggested. Sheldon nodded slowly.
As they sat there, the muscular man with black hair that had mocked him early walked over to the weight matt. He stretched, then bending down grabbed hold of a huge dumbbell and casually he hoisted it over his head.
"Hey Stretch," he called. "If you keep coming for another year you might just end up strong enough open the door by yourself."
The others laughed, the woman giggled "That's my boyfriend," she called. She was reasonable tall and was also quite thin; she had short blond hair and blue eyes, and was wearing more than enough makeup. Looking at her, Amy couldn't help but be reminded of the girls who used to tie her to the trees in the schools grove and then have egg throwing competitions with her as the target. Twenty points for anyone who hit her in chest, fifty for the head.
Amy shuddered as the awful memory came back to her. She turned to her boyfriend, "it's okay, ignore them, you're doing fine. Besides I got to give you credit, you can lift quite a bit more than I expected you to be able to."
Sheldon nodded, he was about to speak, when his eyes opened wide in horror. Recognising the look Amy spun round to where he was facing. A group of four men had just walked in, they looked about middle aged, were all slightly chubby and generally unassuming. Amy turned back to Sheldon, almost afraid to ask.
"Demons?" she whispered.
Sheldon nodded slowly
"What we do we do?"
"They haven't seen us yet, come on we'll quietly slip out the back and I'll get us out of here, were lose them before they even find us."
The two of them quietly got their feet they began edging back across the wall towards the fire escape. But at that point one of the demons grabbed the young man with red and pulled him in over the counter. The muscular man with black hair smirked upon seeing this, before slowly walking over to interfere. Sheldon and Amy paused, they both looked each other. The man had no idea of the danger he was putting himself in.
"Alright you lots break it up here," the man said nonchalantly.
The demon holding the man with red hair let him go and turned to face this new person. "What do you want?" He spat.
"You lot to go, we don't want any troublemakers at this gym, not get lost or me and my mates will make you leave."
The demon smiled coldly, "You? Don't make me laugh. I've seen more intimating Grandma's. Now get out of my way you over sized, dumb pile of meat."
The man with black hair stared at him coldly, "fine I warned you." He snarled. He swung his fist at the demon. The demon just grabbed it in mid-air. The man's eyes opened wide in horror. He tried to pull free, but the demon casually held his fist in place. The Demon smiled coldly, before suddenly twisting hard. The man screamed in agony. In one motion his shoulder was dislocated and his wrist was split in two.
Then the demon let go, still shouting in pain the man staggered backwards. Chuckling, the demon suddenly punched him in the chest, sending him flying backwards. He crashed into a pile of weights and just laid there his eyes spinning. The demon laughed coldly, clearly taking joy from the man's pain. Suddenly a punching bag went flying through the air straight at the creature. The demon didn't even see it coming before it collided with him. The force sent him flying straight into the wall. Where he hit the plaster shattered and the brick cracked.
All eyes turned to where the bag once stood. Sheldon stood there facing the demons, his left fist was still out stretched. For a moment there was silence, no one reacted. The man's friends just stood there, their mouths hanging open. Turning towards the woman, Amy smirked.
"That's my boyfriend." She called out.
And at that moment everything snapped back. Sheldon spun round and grabbing Amy by the arm ran. The demons recovering chased after him. Not hesitating Sheldon ran straight into the window. The glass shattered and shards went flying. He received several cuts along his arms and face, but he didn't dare stop running. He continued to pull Amy along behind him.
The two ran down the street, with the four demons in close pursuit, Amy was already panting for breath. She was wishing she had used their training period to improve her own physical abilities as well as her boyfriends.
"Can't you fly us out of here," Amy panted.
"To many witnesses," Sheldon replied. And true to his words the street was full of people, they didn't intervene, they just stood there watching the chase. Amy had agree, Sheldon was right; they couldn't fly off with all these people watching. But she also knew if this chase carried on much longer, Sheldon would have to carry her. And as his stamina was limited he couldn't keeping running for as long as the demons could; they were in a tight spot.
Turning the corner, Sheldon came rapidly to a halt his eyes wide in horror. Four other figures stood before them. He tried to turn around, but the others had already caught up. Slowly the demons spread out, forming a circle around them. Panting slightly, Sheldon pulled Amy in close, he was forced to spin round, trying to keep an idea on all the demons at once.
Sheldon knew he couldn't over power all eight of them and he couldn't fly away or reveal his wings without people seeing. Slowly the demons began walking in; they were all doing this carefully. They were clearly not taking any chances this time. Sheldon hesitated, he only had one chance, but he really wished that he didn't. He turned to Amy.
"Amy?" he said softly. "Have I ever let you down?"
"No," Amy replied, it wasn't strictly true. But right now that wasn't important.
"I might be about to." Sheldon replied. And with that he suddenly grabbed her and hoisted her above his head. He gave her one look of sorrow, before suddenly throwing her into the air. Amy screamed in terror. The demons all looked up surprised and in that moment, Sheldon took his chance. He ran forward taking the demon in front of him by surprise; colliding hard with him, he knocked the demon to the side and kept on running, out of the circle.
The demons spun round recovering from their initial surprise, but Sheldon wasn't focused on them, breaking into a sprint he shot forwards and diving forward in incredibly long jump he just managed to catch Amy as she fell. He landed reasonably well, his legs ached but still held her in his arms. Gently he put her down. Amy shook slightly, before spinning round and throwing up.
Snarling the demons charged at him, pushing Amy behind him once more Sheldon turned to face them. Amy wasn't in the condition to move yet, so that meant he had to hold them off. Slowly Sheldon raised his fists. Snarling the closest demon swung at him. Sheldon managed to block the punch and clobbered the demon in the face, sending it flying backwards. Another tried to hit him. But Sheldon managed to grab the things arm and flipped it to his side. He then clobbered another demon, sending it flying to his other side. The demons had slowed down now, wising up they spread into a group and then they began to slowly advance upon him.
Sheldon backed away, Amy who had recovered enough now made sure to stay behind him. All the passers-by in the streets, had quickly gotten out of the way of this conflict, they now stood on the edges watching, trying to make sense of what they saw happening.
Sheldon hesitated once more. Breaking from the group another demon lunged at him Sheldon grabbed him and hurled it back into the crowd. The other demons dived out of the way. Sheldon suddenly spun round, lifted Amy over his shoulder and ran off down the street. Seeing this, the standing demons also broke into a run and chased after him after him, while ones he knocked down just got back to their feet and then chased after him aswell.
"Sorry about throwing you," Sheldon shouted in the confusion.
"It's okay," Amy managed, still feeling sick.
Sheldon continued to run as fast as he could, but the demons were continually close behind. He needed to delay them. Looking forward his eyes moved quickly and an idea occurred to him. Suddenly without warning Sheldon jeered sharply to the left. Rushing over, he placed Amy down before turning and running towards several parked cars. He jumped over the top of one of them, and then once he reached the other side he just stopped, he seemed to crouch down slightly. Amy started confused; the demons also seemed confused by this, as they slowed down from a run to a walk.
Amy watched uncomfortable, what was he doing? The Demons were just approaching her, when suddenly there was a great heaving sound. Amy stared in amazement as she saw what Sheldon was doing. He hoisted an empty car off the ground and above his head. He let out a slight groan, before tossing the thing through the air, over Amy's head at them. The demons scattered, but not all enough were quick enough to get out of the way in time. The enormous body of metal hit the ground with a loud crash.
Sheldon rushed over back to Amy, she stared at him in confusion. "What about the people who saw that?" Amy shouted.
"This they can chalk down to adrenaline, or there mind playing tricks on them or something else, sprouting wings they can't. Now come on." Sheldon replied.
They continued to run, the few demons who completely avoided the wreck continued to chase, a few just disappeared, while the rest buried underneath the body just pushed it off, got back to there feet and went back to running. Sheldon and Amy ran down the streets they needed cover and fast. They turned the corner, only to crash into another two demons. All four of them were knocked to the ground.
Frantically Sheldon jumped up to his feet and before they could recover, he grabbed both demons by the neck; holding them down he brought them up and then threw them both against the ground hard. Now dazed he grabbed them again, and then hoisting them above his head. He then quickly threw them behind him. Suddenly another suddenly demon just appeared out of thin air in front of him. Startled the demon caught Sheldon by surprise and punched him hard in the face. Sheldon staggered backwards. The two others demons, having gotten back up changed forward and grabbed him. Struggling they tried to pull him down. Meanwhile the rest weren't that far behind.
Frantically Sheldon tried to resist, but the demons held fast. And Sheldon seemed to be giving. His knees began to bend. As he did the demons pull loosened ever so slightly. Then suddenly in one movement, Sheldon sprung up and managed to knock one demon into another. As they collided there grip slipped. Pulling free Sheldon smashed his fists into both of them at once, sending them both flying. But before he could get his bearings back, another demon tackled him, pushing him backwards into the wall.
Sheldon was dazed, and not having time to react the demon took advantage of his confusion and punched him hard in the head. Sheldon's head shot backwards into the wall with a loud crack. Smiling the demon struck him again, and then again and again. Sheldon was dazed, his head was bleeding and the blood was pouring down his face. His vision was fuzzy and his nose was shattered. The demon chuckled coldly, it drew his fist back ready to hit him again. Only for a trash can lid to collide with its head.
The surprise stunned it for a moment. Amy staggered backwards and dropped the lid; the vibrations had shook her harder than she had expected. There was a brief pause but that time was enough for Sheldon to recover. Before the demon could recover Sheldon head butted him and sent it flying backwards away from in.
"Come on into the alley." Sheldon shouted,
Together he and Amy ran into the ally. Sheldon was ripping his shirt off as entered. The other angry demons had caught up by this point and they chased after them. Meanwhile the demons Sheldon had knocked down got back to there feet and also ran into the alley. This alley it turned out was a dead end. Reaching the end, Sheldon looked up. Turning Sheldon saw the demons standing merely a yard away from him, all eight of them.
"End of the line Cooper." The lead demon said smugly, "My lord Mammon will be very happy to see you again. He might even give me your whore to play with."
"Shield your eyes" Sheldon whispered at Amy, before turning back to the demons. "I have only one thing to say to you." Sheldon began.
"And what's that?"
"Deus Do me Lucis clarius," he bellowed.
His wings suddenly unfolded, sensing the danger, the demons at the back tried to run but it was too late. A blinding burst of white light shot through the narrow alley. The demons screamed in agony. Many fell to their knees in pain. Passers by stared in shock, they couldn't see the source of the light, but what on earth could cause one so bright in the middle of day time?
After the light had disappeared, the few demons at the back who hadn't been so badly exposed, began to edge forward over the bodies of their comrades. They alley was empty, Sheldon and Amy were gone.
"He's flown off," one of the demons shouted, "get after him." The demons vanished. Those lying on the floor also vanished. In seconds the alley was completely empty.
Bernadette looked up at the clock, it was already quarter to Six, and Leonard had left ten minutes earlier. He was probably almost there by now. On Bernadette's instruction he had taking his dagger, and some holy water. He was also supposed to run the moment anything seemed wrong. But truthfully Bernadette was already questioning letting him go. This was so risky, what if it went wrong?
But there was something else, something else bothered Bernadette. It had been in the back of her mind since she first heard Bilis name, for some reason it reminded her of something, but she couldn't think what. Maybe she was just worrying? After she did have a lot to worry about. She remembered when as a child she had told her father she was afraid that demons may come after her, and her father had assured her the lord would keep her safe. She shook her head, if only.
However something was still bothering her. Not able to shake the feeling, Bernadette decided to read the texts again, maybe she missed something the last time. Taking up the cell phone, she went through them. She didn't know why she was reading them again, but still she continued to read. Soon she came to last text, sighing she started to read it:
"Yes. I Bilis want you to meet me in my house, come Saturday at 6pm sharp. There we can discuss what I promised."
Bernadette sighed, and put the cell phone back down. Only to pause, slowly she picked it back up again and reread the text, and then read it again. Her eyes opened wide in horror as it all suddenly came to place in her mind, "Oh my…" she mummed. "Howard!" she screamed.
Howard came a running. "What is it?"
"Come on," She screamed, grabbing her cross and another dagger. "Leonards walking into a trap, we've got to stop him before he gets there."
"But…" Howard began, but Bernadette interrupted.
"I'll explain on the way, we haven't got a moment to lose."
Frantically she ran out of the apartment. Unsure but realising it was serious, Howard followed her, being careful to close the door behind him. It didn't occur to neither of them till they were well over half way to Wild Street that in their haste, they had left Penny alone.
Penny at this moment was sleeping; exhaustion had finally worn her down. Lying there she was left with nothing but her dreams. Once again, Penny found herself in her apartment, having just gotten out of the shower. As always she tried to pull herself away, she tried to run, but she was powerless to do anything but watch. Any moment now it would happen. He would come for, just as he always did. And there was nothing Penny could do to stop him. She felt like crying, but she couldn't. She couldn't even close her eyes.
Terrified Penny just watched and waited, there was the sound and then she began to turn, here it came. And then…nothing? There was nothing there, Penny just turned back to the mirror and continued to dry herself. Penny was overcome with confusion, he wasn't there? He wasn't there! He had left her. He had left her alone.
Penny tried to smile, she was safe. And then her reflection smiled and winked at her. Confused Penny could stop herself from reaching forward and touching the mirror, it rippled like a pool of water. Penny jumped back in shock. And then overcome with curiosity, she reached out and touched the mirror again. Once again it rippled. Penny was just thinking about what to do next, when suddenly her reflection grabbed her arm. Penny tried to fight back, but with a single tug her reflection pulled her into the mirror.
Penny fell forward onto the hard ground. Terrified she jumped to her feet and spun round, there was the mirror in front of her. Her apartment lay on the other side. Penny ran forward, only to collide with the glass. Frantically began to bang on the glass, she had to get out. But the mirror was solid. Panting for breath Penny stopped.
It was only then she saw her reflection, to her horror she found that she was now not only dressed but she was dressed in a very childish manner. She was wearing a childish blue dress that went all the way down to her knees, with a long white apron in front. She was wearing long white stockings, and black Mary Jane's. Her Blond hair was now longer going down past her shoulders. It was perfectly brushed and tied firmly back. She was also wearing a small black bow.
Penny backed away staring in horror, how had she end up like this? As she looked she saw her reflection wink at her again. And then she began to shrink. Penny tried to look away, but she found herself unable to turn, she was forced to watch this. As she shrunk, Penny noticed her body was changing other ways. Her figure was getting less pronounced. Her stress lines were fading into nothing. Her face was getting smaller and cuter, its proportions shifting.
Once again Penny tried to pull herself away, but she found herself stuck in her place. Her muscle mass was now significantly reduced, she had lost her entire figure. She was completely flat in every sense of the word. She shrunk the last few inches and found a little girl looking back at her. Looking around Penny was shocked by how much bigger everything suddenly was.
Looking at herself, Penny realised she couldn't be any older than six years old. Why had she become a kid again? What was going on? A cold chuckling caught her attention. Slowly Penny turned around. A tall man stood before her he was handsome man, and looked strong and muscular; he was wearing a smart suit. He was staring at her, the same way a wolf would stare at a rabbit.
"Who are you?" Penny timidly asked. It was then she heard her voice. She sounded almost like Bernadette, her voice was so high and childish, it scared her to realise she sounded like that. The man chuckled coldly.
"My my my, haven't you been a naughty girl?"
"I'm not a naughty girl," Penny screamed.
"You've been a very naughty little girl," the man replied, "your parents are very angry with you. You're such a disappointment." The man walked up to her, as he stood there Penny was remind of just how small she was now. She tried to back away. But the man moved quickly and grabbed her by the shoulder holding her in place.
"Let me go!" Penny screamed, "Let me go."
"You're such a naughty child," the man continued, "I guess there's only one way to deal with naughty children like you." Penny tried to wriggle free, but at that moment he slapped her across the face. Penny was knocked backwards. Staggering she hit her head against the table. Lying there she felt her blood running down her face. And with that she started to cry.
The man laughed coldly, "Look at you, your nothing more than a crying child. You're pathetic. Just a pathetic little girl who wants her mommy." He kicked Penny in the stomach, knocking her across the room into the wall. Penny was overcome with pain, she tried to get back to her feet and run away, but she was to slow.
The man smiled and bending down he picked her up by the scuff of her neck. Casually he tossed Penny through the air, she crashed into the floor. Suddenly there was a great rumbling, and the floor gave way. Penny screamed as she fell. Frantically she grabbed hold of the side and tried to hold herself. Looking down she saw a fiery pit bellow her. Struggling she tried to pull herself up, but her little girl arms were to weak. She could barely hold on as it was.
Looking up she saw the figure standing over her. "Help me." She screamed.
The man just laughed, "sorry Penny, but you know how it is, if you want little girls to learn a lesson, you have to give them punishments they won't forget." And with that he stamped his foot on Penny's hand.
Penny screamed, in pain she was forced to let go and with that she fell. Down…Down…Down into the flames.
Penny sat up on her bed painting for breath. She was awake, she was awake, she was safe now, she was safe. That's what she told herself. And then the smartly dressed man sat up from where he was lying beside her. Penny screamed and jumped off the bed. The man shook his head.
"Penny, Penny, Penny. I thought we were making progress but here you are trying to wriggle out of your punishments. I'm so disappointed, really you are the most unruly child I've ever met. It looks like I'm going to have to teach you some respect."
With that he flipped his wrist, Penny screamed in pain. The left side of her face had split open, she howled as the blood spilled out. She fell to her knees in pain. The man looked down at her "You can't escape me; I'm staying till I'm finished teaching you few lessons." With that he kicked her, knocking her back into the wall. "I'm never leaving" and with that he began laughing, Penny cowered in the corner, beaten and bleeding, she couldn't help but cry.
Seeing this, the smartly dressed man laughed some more. Slowly he began to advance upon her, "Now it's time for your second lesson." He chuckled. Penny screamed.
Penny sat up straight in her bed, still screaming. This time she was awake, but there was no around. Frantically Penny jumped out of bed and ran for the door, she had to escape she had to escape. She pulled open the door and ran out. Unfortunately she ran straight into his fist. The force of the blow knocked Penny unconscious.
Smiling the figure bent down and picked her up, he thrust her over his shoulder, before closing the door and vanishing with her into thin air.
There was a great fluttering sound, and suddenly out of seemingly nowhere two figures appeared. Sheldon panted for breath and collapsed to the ground. Amy sat down next to him. Where they were Amy wasn't sure but it was hot. Having adjusted to the cold of Canada, Amy was surprised to find herself sweating once again. They were sitting on an empty plain; the grass was green but also short. It actually felt quite good to sit on. It was getting dark down.
"Sheldon," Amy asked, "where are we?"
"New Mexico," Sheldon replied. "This is as far as we go today."
Amy didn't bother to argue. Sheldon was clearly exhausted. Following there encounter with the demons several hours ago, the two had spent the day flying all over and around Canada. Amy had been to more places in one day, than she had been in her whole life. Still it had been necessary. Somehow the demons were able to follow them. As they never directly turned up where they stopped, it seemed they were following the route he flew. As such they had spent the day laying a trail more complex and twisted than a plate of spaghetti.
With any luck it would take them months to follow it all the way, of course they would probably realise what they had done. But they would still be left none the wiser to where they were. Following setting the trail, both of them agreed it was time to get back to the others. They're rest session was over; it was time to get back to the plan. However to removing any last chance of being followed, they first flew up to Prince Rupert. And there, using the last of their money they had bought tickets boat on a boat going to America. Once on they had waited till the boat was several hours out of port and thus far enough away from the shore for there to be almost no chance of them being tracked. Then Sheldon had flown off, carrying Amy. He had carried on till he was too tired to continue and thus they had stopped here.
Sheldon looked a little better now, but it was clear that all that flying had tired him out. Groaning he lay down upon the soft grass. Amy smiled as she watched; he looked so almost peaceful lying there. Like he knew he could now rest, safe for the moment from the great danger. It was only then that something dawned on her.
"Sheldon the papers,"
"What papers?" Sheldon groaned.
"The ones you wrote out in Enochian, the ones about what you can do. We left them back in the apartment in Canada. What happens if the demons find them?"
There was a pause, and then Sheldon reached into his pocket and pulled out several folded up papers. "Here. I grabbed them before we left this morning, just in case something like that should happen."
Amy looked at them for a moment before starting to laugh. "So what do we do now?" she chuckled.
Sheldon sighed, "Let's just get some sleep."
"Here?"
"Why not? It's warm and soft. And we're in no danger. Let's just get an early night, we'll make an early start tomorrow, find the others and then we can get back to the plan."
Amy considered arguing, she was a bit uncomfortable with sleeping outside. But truthfully she was pretty tired herself, she had spent most of the day on the move and continually shooting through the air was enough to tire anyone out.
Sighing, she lay back on the ground next to Sheldon, and tried to get comfortable. It was darker now, and in that darkness they laid. Amy lay there trying to sleep. She tossed and she turned, but try as she might she couldn't settle. She was just about to give up trying and lay there when she heard the sound of her boyfriend moving.
And then something came down upon her, something which covered almost her whole body except her face. Something soft and warm and something that really felt good upon her skin. Something fluffy and soft. Slowly Amy opened her eyes and raised her head, looking before her, she saw one of Sheldon's wings lying on top of her. Turning she saw her boyfriend had moved upwards slightly, and was now lying on his front, he had clearly done it deliberately so his wing would fall snugly on her body.
Amy smiled; he had done that for her. Amy knew Sheldon could feel sensations through his wings, but truthfully it was so good a feeling she couldn't resist. Slowly she rubbed the underside of his wing; it was as soft as silk and felt wonderful. Lying there Amy found herself overcome with a sensation of relaxation. Lying back, she found her eye lids getting heavy.
"Good night Sheldon," she managed.
"Good night Amy," he replied.
They were both soon asleep, and were left there lying next to each other.
Slowly Leonard walked up towards Bilis house, looking at his watch he found it was five to six, he was slightly early. But that didn't matter; slowly he walked up towards the door. Leonard paused, looking around he once again wondered if he should do this or not. But his doubt was pushed to the side; he had to do this, for Penny's sake.
So grasping his dagger in his pocket, Leonard knocked on the door. The door swung opened, once again Leonard was hit with that horrible smell, what was it? He knew he knew it from somewhere, so what was it?
"You've arrived, Come on in." A voice called out, pulling Leonard from his thoughts.
Leonard hesitated, but it was too late to change his mind now. So with that he walked through the door. The voice had come from the living room. Walking in Leonard found a roaring fire in the place and drink with ice waiting for him on the table.
"Please be seated," the voice called. Leonard looked around where was this voice coming from?
And then the figure emerged from the shadows, it was a man, a tall, handsome man, with light brown hair and blue eyes. He was strong looking and muscular. He wore several rings on his fingers, each one was silver. He was wearing a smart black suit.
"You're Bilis?" Leonard asked.
The figured smiled, "I suppose I am, please sit down, we have much to discuss."
Uncertainly, Leonard sat down. The figure had a slightly unusual voice, it was deep and strong, but he also had an accent, one that was difficult to place. Never the less his pronunciation was perfect. Looking at him Leonard couldn't help but feel that regardless of how handsome he was now, he used to look a lot better.
"Can I get you anything?" Bilis asked "food? Drink? Anything you want?"
"You said you could fix Penny," Leonard butted in.
"Are straight to business I see, I like that in a man, someone direct, someone who knows what his priorities are."
"Can you help her?"
Bilis smiled, "Yes I can, and don't worry I will. I promise you that."
"Okay, what will it take?"
"We can discuss that later, now let's talk about something else, I'm sure there are a lot of things you want to know. Feel free to ask away."
"What about Penny?"
"You really are focused; okay let's stay on your girlfriend. I'll help her, all you just need to bring her to me, and I'll help her."
Leonards eyes watched Bilis suspiciously, he didn't reply. Bilis smiled, "You don't trust me do you?" he asked.
Leonard didn't reply, "You're smart I'll give you that. But of course that does beg the question how smart."
Bilis began to walk up and down the room. "You know all this, sort of fascinates me in a way. It's just all so unusual. The fact you really care about someone so much you would be willing to risk anything for them. What does that honestly feel like? How can you possible care about anyone other than yourself that much? It just makes no sense to me."
He paused, and then his devilish smile extended out. "Oh look, it seems we are going to have some more company."
"Company, what company?" Leonard asked.
Suddenly the door was thrown open and Howard and Bernadette ran in.
"Leonard run," she screamed.
"What? What's going on?" he shouted.
Bernadette tried to grab her cross, only to discover it was missing. She looked around fanatically for it, but it was gone.
Bilis coldly smiled down at her, "what's the matter dear? Never heard of apporting before? Look it up, it really could come in handy one day."
Startled Bernadette pulled the dagger from her bag. Turning she rushed forward at Bilis. Smiling he simply flipped his wrist and she went flying, the dagger shot from her hand.
"Bernadette," Howard screamed he tried to run to her, but another figure suddenly appeared behind him. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he hoisted him into the air. Another one appeared behind Leonard. He grabbed Leonard by the shoulder. Grasping the dagger Leonard swirthed round and plunged it into the man's wrist. The creature howled its skin burning. Leonard pulled it out and tried to run, but recovering fast the creature backhanded him knocking him to the floor. His dagger went flying also.
Bilis smiled coldly. "Well I wasn't expecting this many guests, still my servants the Se'irim will attend to you all." A third man had grabbed Bernadette and now they were all trapped.
"What's going on?" Leonard shouted, "You promised you wouldn't turn us over to the demons."
"Indeed," Bilis replied, "But I didn't promise I wouldn't keep you for myself."
"Who are you?"
Bilis laughed, "You really should have asked that earlier, now I'm not really in the mood to answer questions."
"He's another demon," Howard called.
Bilis laughed, "I'm a lot more than just another demon." He paused and turned to Bernadette, "still you've figured that out haven't you? After all you're the smart one of this group aren't you?." He walked over to her, Howard tried to struggle but he was greatly out matched. "Tell me my dear, how exactly did you do it?"
Bernadette looked up angrily. "I've been suspicious since that letter suddenly appeared in apartment, almost instantly we made it so demons couldn't enter, and I got more suspicious when I first heard your name. But I couldn't figure out why. Then when I was looking over your last text I noticed something, why would you refer to yourself as 'I Bilis', you could refer to yourself as I or as Bilis, but why I Bilis? It doesn't make any sense, we already knew you were Bilis and why use both first and third person? and then it hit me."
"What did?" Leonard asked, "I don't understand?"
Bilis waved his wrist and suddenly Leonard found his air passages tighten. His eyes widened in pain. He silently choked and gasped.
"Don't interrupt" he waved his wrist once more and Leonard could breathe again. He took a great breath in and was left panting heavily. He turned back to Bernadette, "Please continue"
"It was intentional, a sort of hint. Most likely your idea of a joke, probably to show your supremacy over us or something of such. It's not I Bilis, its Ibilis. An Islamic name for Satan and according to tradition, before Ibilis fell his name was…"
"Azazel" he interrupted, "of course I'm not really Iblis; we merely share a name. Be glad you've never met him. He is quite terrifying. He's almost enough to make me seem sweet, almost."
Leonard stared in horror, "Your Azazel?"
"Yes, I'm please to see you know me. Still I suppose your Nephilim friend filled you in on that little detail."
He paused and walked up to Leonard, "I'm so glad that you agreed to come, it would have been a bit difficult to get you all if you hadn't."
"Look we don't know where Sheldon is." Howard called, "We haven't seen him in over a month, he left us behind and ran. He could be anywhere by now, but he's not with us."
"Whether that's true or not," Azazel replied, "you can still be useful to me. But before we go any further, I believe I made a promise to our dear sap here. And I personally pride myself on the fact that I always keep my promises. Bring her in."
All eyes turned and then, carried into the room by two more demons, was Penny. She was clearly unconscious and her nose was obviously broken. Leonard's eyes opened wide in horror. Azazel turned to Bernadette and Howard, "so nice of you to leave her all alone, unprotected. It made it so much easier for us to take her."
"Let her go," Leonard screamed, he tried to struggle, but the demon holding him was just too strong.
"Oh I will, I can assure you of that. I'll let her go, soon enough. But I did give you my word; and I'm just not the sort of person who breaks there promises." Azazel replied. "Wake her up," he snapped.
One of the demons grabbed the glass from the table and tipped the contents over Penny's head. Her eyes opened wide, seeing her surroundings she tried to break free, but the demons casually held her in place. Azazel smiled coldly, looking at her. "Now let's get this little chore out of the way, and then we can talk."
Leonard was still struggling hard, but it was doing him no good. "Azazel let her go! Please let her go. You don't need her you have me, let her go!"
Azazel chuckled, "Hush now kids the adults are working."
"What are going to do to her?" Bernadette screamed.
"What I promised to."
Penny was still trying to break free; it was then however that she caught sight of Azazel. Seeing him she screamed.
"Now now Penny," Azazel chuckled, "don't be naughty, all little girls have to take their medicine, it's for your own good you know."
Standing before her Azazel held up his hand, he then curled his fingers back in so only his index finger was outstretched. There was a pause and then the end of his finger began to glow. Penny's eyes opened wide and became fixed upon the glow. It was so bright, and it was slightly yellowish in colour. Smiling coldly Azazel slowly stretched out his hand towards Penny.
All eyes were fixed, Leonard was still struggling futilely. Penny tried to look away, but with his other hand Azazel grabbed her face and held her still. Slowly he reached out so that his finger was pointed straight at Penny's forehead. Sweat was dripping down Penny's face, frantically she tried to pull away, but it was all in vain. With mere centimetres left Azazel suddenly paused.
"Don't worry dear this won't hurt a bit. Well not until I touch you that is. Sweet dreams."
And with that his finger touched Penny's forehead. Penny screamed in agony. Azazel continued to push. And as he did it, it seemed almost as if he was pushing his finger straight into Penny's head. It was too much to watch, Howard and Bernadette were forced to look away only Leonard continued to stare.
The whole time Penny continued screaming. Azazel smiled coldly, he silently chuckled to himself, before suddenly pulling his finger away from Penny. The glow disappeared and Penny's head fell forward. For a moment there was silence.
And then Leonard shouted, "What did you do to her?"
Azazel turned "Only what you wanted, I've removed all those traumatic memories from her mind." He paused, before chuckling coldly, "Just one minor snag, not much of a problem you understand, only a minor thing. To do that I had to erase her entire memory, she now knows absolutely nothing. Still I'm sure that won't be much of a problem for someone of her intellectual level."
Leonard stared in horror, "You…You…I swear I will…I will…"
Azazel laughed in his face, "Your do what? Huh? Kill me? I'm immortal and even if I wasn't do you honestly think a weakling like you could do anything? You're pathetic, pathetic and selfish. Your responsible for all this not me. Your the one who handed me the opportunity, I just took it as anyone else in my position would do so. All that's happened is all on you."
"How does that make you feel Leonard? You said you would do anything to save Penny from her insanity. And now you have, Penny is free from that. And all it cost, was your freedom, your other friends freedoms, Penny's memories and just about everything other thing that I can take. You said you would do anything and now you have. I have to ask, was it really worth it? "
He paused and turned to the demons holding Penny. "Throw the slut into the street, we're let the scum decide if she lives or not. I have no more interest in her, I've got what I wanted from this." The demons nodded then they and Penny just vanished. Azazel then turned back to the others "as for you three, well we have so much more to discus. Let's go to a place that's a bit more…comfortable and get started." He snapped his fingers. And with that they all disappeared. Silence fell in the now empty house.
Okay I hope you enjoyed these two chapters. I hope they measure up to each other well.
I'll try and get the next one up quicker, but I can't make any promises.
Please review.