Hello again, folks. I'm happy to see some of you are enjoying this fic and we haven't even really gotten on a roll yet! I apologize that I take a while to warm up to things. I just love writing long stuff. It's both a gift and a curse. Mostly a curse.

It was little wonder why this demon called herself the Queen of Hell. Catherine wasn't sure about the hierarchy, but not all demons were even close to as strong as this on. She was reminded again of this one's strength when her back connected with something cold and solid—concrete wall?—after being thrown around like a rag doll. The angel might have been this powerful, but he wasn't nearly as crazy.

Catherine coughed in a sorry attempt to breathe, but the sound of Abbadon's heels clicking as she moved closer gave the hunter pause about getting up off her back. However, she did open her eyes to see that she was in one of the abandoned buildings she had looked at just a half hour ago to find that angel. Too bad he hadn't been here.

The woman's voice carried rebounded around the room. "Start marking up those windows," she told the other demon, "We want to get the drop on the angel, not the other way around."

There was no reply aside from the man running over to the far wall, cutting the palm of his hand with a knife in the process.

Catherine's attention was directed back to the so-called Queen as the woman began to address her instead. "So... you don't know, huh?"

"Not that I don't like demons," Cat coughed, then responded more clearly, "but I told you everything. Saw him for a few seconds last night then lost him. I don't know where he went."

"Really. You sure?"

Catherine tried to shift, but found that she couldn't, her movements being hindered by the demon's strength. This wasn't good.

"Because," Abbadon continued, "you've destroyed several of my brethren, even the stronger ones. I know a great deal about you, Catherine. You have a lead. Tell me where he is."

Except that was the problem. She didn't have a lead, not a good one, at least. The angel had moved on, probably headed west or something, but anyone could come up with that much. Even so, she refused to speak.

Abbadon knelt down beside the hunter with a little grin and sighed. "He's not the only angel that fell last night," she calmly spoke. "He's not worth your life. He's not worth my time. There's a lot more out there and I won't lose any sleep over killing my only informant for one little angel. On the other hand, I greatly enjoy torture. So... you can pick."

Torture didn't sound fun. "I told you," Catherine answered back. This wouldn't be her first rodeo, but the worst part was that she was telling the truth. It was entirely possible that Abbadon knew that or maybe she was just fishing for details. Selling an angel out to a demon just didn't seem to be right, though... not that it really mattered right now.

"Yeah." Abbadon smirked down at the hunter and rotated her wrist, forcing Catherine to feel as if her organs were doing the same. She tried desperately not to scream from the pain, because if it actually did attract any help, they would just end up dead. It was always a rule for her, but there wasn't anyone to hear her out here and... that rule didn't always work.

Catherine screwed her eyes shut and arched her shoulders, grunting in an attempt to not scream out. The taste of copper came to her and she wasn't sure if it was because she was biting herself or because blood was coming up through her throat. It felt like the latter, but she couldn't spare a thought on it.

Suddenly, the tension released and Cat caught a few very painful breaths.

"Well?" the demon asked sweetly.

Cat didn't bother opening her eyes that time. She just coughed and turned her head to the side for a moment. After a second, she spoke again, hoarsely. "I told you."

"All right then," Abbadon sighed and stood up, moving her wrist in an arc again to only get the same reaction. She supposed that this time she would at least wait until the hunter started to scream while she paced around the woman's body.

Illuminated by only the dusk light, the room suddenly grew brighter as shadows began to elongate and shift positions. Shocked by the change, Abbadon turned back to the far wall where the only sigils there were in the entire room were scribbled on to the windows—as she had said—and her demon was halfway done with the last one when he stopped in a state of awe as he looked to the light source outside.

"The wards-!" Before she could finish her sentence, the other demon began to scream and fall back hard against the floor, scratching and clawing at his eyes. A high pitched shriek pierced through the surrounding area, the glass of the windows shattering inward, then the light was suddenly gone.

Abbadon only had time to notice that her captive was no longer in writhing pain and that her demon lackey was dead with burned sockets where his eyes once were, when the doors of their room crashed open.

Catherine coughed again—definitely spitting up blood—and was able to barely see their new guest through her rapidly fading eyesight. It was him again, the angel, only that he wasn't nearly as roughed up as before and he wore a smile this time upon seeing them. In part, she was thankful the smile didn't reach his eyes.

He stopped walking a few feet away from them while he paused to take in the scene. Dead demon, tortured human, and uh... "I'm sorry. Who are you?" Balthazar asked, pointing to the remaining demon in confusion.

"Abbadon," she replied with a smirk, "Former Knight of Hell turned Queen."

Balthazar only squinted at her. "Abbadon... Abbadon. Abbadon..." He looked away for a moment, then back over to her. "Aren't you dead?"

Catherine tried to swallow and force herself to stay awake while Abbadon tilted her head to the side, eying the angel up and down. "Balthazar, right?" she inquired. "You're one to talk."

"I'm everyone's favorite hypocrite, darling," he smirked back, stepping closer to the pair to position himself between the hunter and demon. To Cat's surprise, Abbadon stepped away as he came closer. "Now," he continued once happily between the women, "I think it's time for you to leave."

Abbadon paid his order no mind. "I've been looking for you-"

"I don't care," he cut her off.

Her smile slipped away and she continued. "You don't understand. I've been looking for you," she said again slower. "I need your help."

Balthazar paused for a moment, then scoffed as his grin grew a little larger. "I don't think so, sweetheart."

"You don't under-" She stopped talking again as blinding white light radiated from Balthazar.

Catherine, for the second time that evening, screwed her eyes shut again and turned away from the light. Once shaded better, her eyes flickered open to catch his shadow falling against the wall beyond her, the bones of his wings spreading as what feathers remained precariously held on. She didn't have time to think on the sight until a muscle spasm in her lower abdomen forced up more blood into her mouth and she passed out.

"I said," Balthazar answered back lowly, taking careful steps closer to the demon before him, "no."

Abbadon stood her ground and visibly hardened her resolve before stepping towards him. "I need your-"

The angel raised his hand and the room was swallowed in light for half of a second. When the light died away, Abbadon was gone—ran away. Balthazar groaned and turned back to the hunter, belatedly realizing that he should have probably told her to close her eyes when he noticed the state she was in. He gave a louder groan and rolled his eyes, moving closer over to her.

"Oh, for Heaven's sake," he muttered to himself, kneeling down to the woman, carefully picking her up, "Is that your hunting tactic? Pass out and die on top of the enemy? This is the second bloody time." He continued to grumble as he carried her away, healing her as he walked and leaving the other body where it lay.

Catherine, once again, jerked awake in a panic. This time, she felt that her panic was justified as the first person she saw was the angel. He had his hands up, backing away from her, likely because her own hands had flown to where she usually kept her gun. Breathing hard, she dared to glance around for her surroundings, noticing that she was on her own porch swing right outside of her house.

She looked back to him. "What happened?"

"I saved your sorry ass is what happened," he replied with a smile, still slowly backing away.

Catherine took a few more deep breaths while she looked around in a mix of confusion and fear. "You killed Abbadon?"

"No." He dropped his hands and began to walk down her porch steps. "Crazy bitch got away."

"You're just leaving?" Cat, without thinking, stood up as the angel stopped and looked back at her in amusement. She was completely lost and he was just going to leave?

He gave a little chuckle in response and kept walking. "Way I hear it, you're out for my neck. Best to keep our distance, ey?"

She blinked at him as he walked further away, even turning his back on her. He knew what she had been up to. He knew where she lived. Why had he saved her, brought her back? She didn't like being used. "Wait!"

As if in utter annoyance, he stopped his walk again, but didn't turn to her. Catherine licked her lips, deciding to ask him on something else last minute. "Balthazar, right?" After a moment, he turned back to her, waiting for her to continue, so she did so. "What happened to your wings?"

He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "My wings?"

"I saw them," she answered before he could keep going. "Not them, but a shadow. They were-... You're hurt."

Balthazar sent another hollow laugh her way. "Yes, well, falling from Heaven wasn't exactly a graceful dive. More like... being pushed out of a jet really." She only blinked back at him and he could see an internal battle going on within herself. "At any rate, darling," he continued, giving her a wink and following his previous path, "I won't be far."

Her brow creased once his words registered. "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she yelled after him but he didn't oblige her with a reply. She gave it another moment, before rushing inside and locking the doors behind her.

The car was still at the river, as far as she knew, and that pistol and knife might as well be lost. Thankfully, she had littered the house with weapons and took another knife from the nearby bookcase, cutting the palm of her hand open. She didn't have a whole lot to go on, but she remembered enough of the sigils that the demon had drawn on the windows. She would have to chance it until she learned more.

Catherine began going around the house as quickly as possible to doodle on the walls, then collected several books to look up any information she could on her current crisis. For now, she pushed aside the thought of looking for more ways to kill angels and instead began her search for Knights of Hell.

And another one down. Woohoo! They finally got to talk a little more!

The next chapter will be the REAL end of the introduction and setting the grounds for the whole fic. Or at least the start of it. I have a couple of plans up my sleeve for later.

Let me know what you guys think, if you'd like. I really appreciated hearing some good reviews from you guys last time. :)

Thanks for reading!