A/N: This is, without a doubt, the quickest I've ever updated. I only own Cassie.
"What do you think is going on?" I asked one of my classmates. I think it was the one who was called the daughter of a whore.
"Some bitch took Astarte's sons," she muttered, still tense. "Daughter of a whore. I'll show them," she ranted.
I rolled my eyes. "Please. You get over it after the first few years." I stuffed my hands in my pockets, wishing I hadn't spilled my flask during training. I'd have to get a new fake ID and everything before I could get some more.
"And how the hell would you know?"
"My mom. She's a stripper at an illegally run nightclub in South Jersey. Real trashy place. She'd bring home 'costumers' almost every night. Tried to make me do the same once I turned sixteen."
"Did you?"
I snorted. "Hell no. I, unlike mommy dearest, had some dignity. Not that I have it anymore."
I looked around the hall, which was the furthest into the headquarters of the American Branch any of us had ever been. I overheard Astarte talking with the exorcists. "…I have two words for you, and they are 'Fuck' and 'Off'."
"Look, I know you're upset about what's happened but we..."
"Upset?!" she practically yelled. "That's a fucking understatement! You have no idea what this is like!" turning away from them and towards us, she screamed, "I want every exorcist, including my so called "security" to leave." Reluctantly, they all left, but a few had to be chased out by her familiars. "Alright. How many of you have willingly accessed your partial demon forms?" I raised my hand. True, it wasn't willing, but close enough. "I'm going to teach you how to access them. Because for this fight you will need them." No. Hell no, I wanted to scream, remembering all too well the agony it causes, but thought better of it, and realizing I was damn near worthless when I'm human. What could I do? Kill them with my booze breath?
"Don't you think you're rushing us?" Megumi asked, and I couldn't help but agree.
"Rushing you? I'm not rushing you. I'm ensuring that some of you have at least a thin chance of surviving this!" Her flames erupted but didn't lash out. "Do any of you know why you lose control of your demon sides?" I shook my head, though I knew she wasn't talking to me in particular. "It's because you cling to the hope that you're still human. You needlessly cling to the hope you have a shred of humanity remaining within you. Well I have news for all of you. None of you are human! There's nothing remotely human in this room! All there is in here are a class of demons!" She snarled. "If you keep clinging to that stupid belief, you doom yourself to never gaining full control. To tame your inner monster, you must cast out what makes you weak. You must throw away your humanity." Easy for her to say, I thought bitterly. It didn't put her in agonizing pain to accept the monster. It didn't burn her bones or give her nightmares. "I know this seems hypocritical coming from me but unless you do that, you're only going to end up hurting those you care about." Those I care about? As if. I never really cared about someone aside from Moreau and the priests at the monastery for the past four years, and I doubted I'd see them again. She paused, and I looked to the side to see Noel arguing with the same girl as before. "And you need to learn to work together!" She snapped, making them jump. "You cannot rely upon me in this battle; I have to save my children. You must rely upon each other. Which is why we're going to do a little trust building exercise." Fissures appeared on the ground by my feet, and I saw myself standing next to Drake.
"What's going on?" Drake and I muttered at the same time. Shadows crawled from the walls, gagged me, and stuffed plugs in my ears. I looked to the side, and Drake was also gagged, but only a blindfold covered his eyes.
"Welcome to the Labyrinth des Wahnsinns. In other words, "the maze of madness"." I looked at the dark, foggy paths that stretched almost endlessly before me. "In this maze, you will encounter things that have driven many of those who have dared tread its foggy pathways to insanity. Those of you who can still see must guide the other who cannot. But you cannot speak to them; you must guide them through touch." Despite my gag, I screamed protestations at her, which she waved off. "Enough! Be wary of the amount of noise you make, for creatures patrol this maze that even many demons would not dare to encounter. They will not bother you if you work together to remain quiet. Make your way to the centre of the maze. If you are caught, I will know and send in a familiar to get you out. Now, the pairs are as follows; Autumn and Noel..."
I almost laughed at the screams coming from both of them.
"Drake and Cassandra, Sachi and Takao, Saturn and Emiko, Kasai and Yuki, Hotomi and Ron, Meiko and Amixtri, Ame and Megumi, Eve and Gen, Kaito and Eda." She waited as some murmurs emerged from the remaining pairs.
"Alright, that's good. Trust me, I'm a master pickpocket." He looked at me (well, tried to, at least) and nodded sarcastically.
"What about Leon?" Emiko called.
"He will stay out of there. I want to keep him as a trump card. Should things start to go wrong, I need the blue flames of our father Satan to scare Lilith." Astarte explained. "Now, Begin!" The walls behind us suddenly moved forward, forcing us to the first intersection for their pathway. Growls echoed from both sides, even through my blindfold, but I didn't see anything when I looked to the left. I led him that way for about twenty feet, when he stopped me, and turned me to the right. His steps were hardly dainty.
"Step lightly," I hissed. I felt hot breath raise goosebumps on the back of my neck, so I led us to take another right turn. We reached another intersection. This time, though it was silent to me, it was massive, a bird-like demon with hungry red eyes. A few more turns passed, each of us saving the other's ass a few times, before the walls dissolved, leaving only me, Drake, Emiko, and her partner remained. "Not bad, Nutso," I said, shaking her hand.
"Same to you."
"Up top, Fire Girl," said Drake holding up a hand for a high five, which I granted him. "You weren't kidding about the pickpocket stuff, were you?"
"Not even a little."
"Why are you all relaxing?! We need you lot ready! Keep training!" She snapped. I saw exorcists began to creep back in, only a few getting in before a jet of purple flames erupted near them. "I WARNED YOU!" They all backed away, with the exception of one with mocha skin and sun-colored eyes. I instantly grinned. So the drunken priest hadn't stiffed me, after all.
"Whilst I understand that you want them to be prepared, I feel you may be pushing them too hard, do you not agree?" Moreau asked her. she glared at him hard enough for all of us to shrink back.
"Who the hell do you think you are to question my technique?!" She snarled, flames starting to emerge.
"My name is Moreau. I actually came to borrow Cassandra so that I could see how she is doing." He said, her glare only intensifying.
"More to see if she agrees with you at me being an apparent "crazy fille", right?" I felt the skin drain from my face. Dammit, she heard us. "Yeah, I heard you two talking Cassandra but I chose not to say anything."
"Well, you cannot blame her really. Now, I understand that you are probably a bit upset at the moment..." Oh, no. This was not the time to open up that can of worms.
"A BIT?! Did I just hear you right?! A FUCKING BIT?! I am not a bit upset! I am sickened to my very core with worry!" She yelled, rounding on him.
"And I understand but really, this is insane." Dammit. That was the one word you didn't use around Astarte.
"Insane? Really? Well, why don't I give you a little taste of what I go through daily and we'll see who's insane." Moreau stared then suddenly clutched his head and fell to the ground, yelling in pain. I ran to help who was probably my only ally in the world, but was pushed back by a black, scaly wall of a demon.
Do not interfere when my mistress issues her will and punishes those who wrong her child the dragon hissed. I stared with tears in my eyes as Moreau writhed as Astarte walked around him.
Your mistress can take her will and shove it up her purple-tailed ass, I thought at him savagely as it snarled.
"Acting like this and you've barely experienced anything. Let's add a little more." More screaming emerged. "And more." His screaming made me want to retch in a corner. This was wrong.
"Astarte! That's enough!"
"No! It's not Aniue! Not until he knows what it's like!" She snarled, looking even more demonic
"He will never know! Don't you understand? They can't cope with what you have to." Mephisto said.
"Fine! Then he will perish!" She snapped. A sob erupted from my throat.
"You can't!" I cried, hoping she would listen to me. I felt an irrational anger, my skin heating up. No. Not now. Not here.
"Astarte, I know you're upset about losing sight of Sora and Chikyuu, but we'll get them back. We won't lose them." She spun around, expressing an emotion that was a cross between anger and sorrow.
"YOU KNOW I'M UPSET?! I'm not just upset Aniue! This is killing me."
"I know, I understand..."
"YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND! I've already lost one child, I can't bear the thought of losing them as well." She said, tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What? There was a third?" I couldn't help but ask, staring in confusion, wondering once again how an insane demon could be twenty times the mother that my own was.
"A little girl. She looked exactly like me, just like how Sora looks like you Aniue and Chikyuu looks like Amaimon. But she was weak, she couldn't survive without me supporting her. She died in my arms. My heart broke that day with that loss, and was mended by Sora and Chikyuu. By being separate, my heart is breaking again." She said. The façade cracked, a worried mother losing her mind behind it.
"That's why you're so desperate to get them back." Rin asked. She nodded, fighting to bring her emotions back under control.
"Cassandra, you can go. In fact, I think all I can do is hope you lot will trust your demonic instincts to help you survive. And...to rely on me to get rid of Lilith." They all stared. "Despite what I previously said, I understand that I am asking too much too soon. So, I will need you lot to deal with any familiars she will summon. And I want you to distract them whilst Meiko uses a worm hole to get Sora and Chikyuu."
"Tomorrow, we will destroy that bitch once and for all." She said. "As a little incentive, if you survive and I get Sora and Chikyuu back, then...I will give you a day free from training and we'll have a party to celebrate when we get back to Japan." I couldn't help but laugh. This wasn't going to be like any raves or nightclubs I've ever been to, but it hit me. I wasn't going to be me tomorrow. I was going to be a mindless, soul-sucking, sadistic monster.
XXXXX
"Moreau, are you all right?" I asked at the bar he took me to as I downed a shot of whiskey.
"You can drink anyone under the table, can't you?" he asked, avoiding the question.
"Will you answer, or do I have to read you?" The trick to access enough of the monster just to read one's emotions took me months to master.
"You really are just like your father," he chuckled drunkenly. "John would always give those types of threats. Hell, you even look like him. Oh, how I miss my old friend. But, yes, I'm fine. It's nothing I haven't had to deal with before. As an exorcist, it's an occupational hazard."
"Tell me more about him."
"Your father? Let's see. He used to be married to a childhood sweetheart named Roxanne, but when he sold his soul and got possessed, he left her. He ran across the world for years, like you. I met him in Romania before you were born to take care of an Antichrist scare. Satan brought many of his sons, including Iblis and Astaroth. We went back to New Jersey together, and at a nightclub, he met a pretty girl who claimed she was eighteen with blond hair and brown eyes. Well, I'll spare you the dirty details from what he bragged."
"Where is he now?"
"Who knows? Maybe he's trying to find a way to regain his soul."
"There's no way to get rid of it, is there?"
"Of what?"
"The monster."
"Aside from going to churches every night or that pretty little amulet you're wearing, no, there's no surefire way to get rid of it."
"Figures." I looked up to the bartender. "Another round," I demanded.
A/N: Please review!