~Grace~

I groaned. My head was pounding and my vision was blurry. "Grace!" someone shouted. I wasn't sure who had shouted, but I did know that whatever had just happened to me…well, shouting wasn't about to fix it.

"That was only step one," cooed a voice. I felt cold fingers slide along my cheek. I shivered and tried to blink away the blurry vision.

"W-What?" I stuttered. At least I think I stuttered that. Either that or it came out sounding like complete nonsense. I wasn't really in my right mind at the moment.

"Grace, are you alright?" asked a voice. I looked to my left and saw a blurry, dark-haired figure lying on the ground beside me. "Jude?" I questioned.

"Yeah, it's me," he said and then coughed. I wasn't sure if the red that flashed in my vision was blood, but I hoped it wasn't. How badly had Satan beaten his son?

"Close your miserable mouth, disgrace," Satan growled. I turned my head to watch him walk past me and loom over my newfound friend. I couldn't even move to help Jude as his own father tortuously beat him. All I could do was close my eyes and hope that it would end quickly. I felt hot tears leak down my face. Jude only let out harsh grunts with each blow, which made me think that he was used to punishment. I hated this. I hated everything about it. I needed to get out of here. I needed to get back to Rin. He was probably missing me. He—

Silence. The beatings had stopped. I wanted to call out Jude's name to see if he was ok, but I couldn't get my voice to work. I wondered if it was fear that was silencing me. "Now for you," Satan hissed, returning to my side. I heard his footsteps echo in the large room and he got closer to me, bouncing off of the walls and returning to my ears.

"I've got big plans for you. A final strike, so to speak," he whispered in my ear. A few of my hairs blew across my face due to his foul breath brushing my cheek.

"Father, don't. She doesn't deserve this. She's just a gi—" The upside: he was alive. The downside: he just spoke up against his father again…like an idiot. At this rate he would die before I did. Wait…was I going to die?

"She is NOT just a girl!" Satan bellowed. I forced my eyes open to see Satan lunging at his son again. I braced myself for more violence, but none came.

"My Lord," said a voice. It was a woman. The echoes made it hard to tell where it came from, but I could clearly tell that it belonged to a woman. Of course, said woman couldn't have been a human. They'd have died long ago if they attempted to enter Gehenna.

Satan paused at the voice and looked up. I followed his gaze. A woman—demon—was standing in the doorway. She had her arms crossed over her chest. Long, straight, blood red hair fell over one side of her face. Matching red lips curled into a smile as she strode into the room. Her gown drifted gently behind her with each step. I was mesmerized just looking at her. Her dress drifted above me, gently caressing my body as she stepped over me. She put a delicate hand on Satan's shoulder, "My Lord, do you truly deem this necessary?"

"A weakling deserves punishment, Scarlet," he growled, "Don't question my authority!"

"I would never question your authority, Your Lordship," she said, her voice soft and coaxing, "But if you continue this any longer he could perish."

"That wouldn't be much of a loss, now would it?"

"You forget. He may yet be able to be turned into a wonderful warrior. If you'd so desire, I could take on such a task," she said. Her long lashes almost brushed her cheek as her amber eyes narrowed.

Satan sighed, "Very well. I trust you, Scarlet. Take him away." I wasn't very surprised when the woman leaned down and took hold of Jude's ankle and subsequently dragged him from the room as if it didn't take any effort. Just before she exited, she turned and looked at me briefly. She looked to Satan, "Is this the immortal's child?"

Satan grinned, "You are very observant."

"I'm looking forward to seeing the result. Do call me when its finished, yes?"

"I would never think of leaving you out of the festivities." She smiled sweetly. I felt a mixture of loss and relief as he disappeared behind the doorframe.

"And now it's time to complete the process, yes?" he said, turning back to me.

"Process?" I asked. My voice, (surprisingly), came out audibly.

"How should I say this…corruption?" he said, questioning his choice of words.

I closed my eyes, "Do whatever you want. You'll never be able to beat my father."

"Don't underestimate me, angel!" he roared. His horns burst into flame and intimidating blue light filled every corner of the room. I flinched back and shut my eyes, the heat singing my skin.

"You're disgusting," I whispered.

"The daughter of that man should not be saying such things about me! Nor should the daughter of the immortal! And here you are…both of those people!"

"What?"

"I've told you before. You are the daughter of 'God' and Venus. You are the ultimate weapon, and I intend to use you to your fullest extent!" I opened my mouth to ask one of the questions that were filling up my brain, but my words were cut short. I didn't get the chance to ask him what an immortal was. I didn't get the chance to ask him why he knew the things he did—or supposedly did.

Satan flipped me onto my stomach and pressed his hand against my back, "Show them to me again."

"Like I would!" I screamed.

"Show them to me or I'll rip them out myself!"

"Never!" I screamed. Nothing could have prepared me for the pain that followed. I don't want to describe what happened. It wasn't like any pain I'd ever felt before. All you need to know is that slowly, bit-by-bit, I felt my control slip away. I felt what could only be described as darkness taking over. I screamed. I struggled. I cried. Eventually I couldn't do anything.

"Now we wait," Satan snarled. He stood up and slammed the large doors shut behind him. I lay limply on the floor. The coolness of the stone seeped into my body. I began to shiver. That's when I saw it. My wings…they were pitch black. I screamed.

~Mikael~

"So this is Gehenna…" I said, crouching down and touching the ground. It was rough and mostly consisted of maroon-colored stones.

"You feeling ok?" Rin asked. I rose to my full height and nodded, "For now." I looked at our surroundings. We were on a mountain of sorts, so we could see pretty far. There was something that looked almost like a black lake. I didn't want to think about what that actually was, because it clearly wasn't water. A few different types of flying demons soared in the sky. A ways into the distance was what seemed to be a city. "I say we head towards there," I said, pointing to the city.

"Grace is there?" Rin asked, squinting his eyes.

"How should I know?" I replied. "Come here."

"Huh?" I sighed and walked towards him. He backed up.

"What are you doing? We need to fly there!"

"You want to carry me?"

"I don't see any other option."

"Never. Refused. Denied. Objected. Just…no."

"If we don't get there quickly Satan could do something to Grace, and I—personally—don't want that to happen. Do you?"

Rin glared at me. I waited for his response only a few seconds before he consented. I celebrated my small victory and tucked him under one of my arms. He was surprisingly light.

"Don't carry me like a Chihuahua in a purse!"

"Oh, so you want me to hug you like this?"

"Ah! No! Get off me!"

"Chihuahua it is, then," I grumbled, picking him up again. Other than occasionally having to avoid a demon, the flight was pretty fast and smooth. The only difference I felt between Assiah and Gehenna was a slight pressure in my chest. It didn't bother me at all, though. I knew that if the demon blood thing was really a legend, I'd be suffocating or dead by now. I set Rin down immediately—well, more like dropped him—and landed in a crouching position.

"Get up, idiot," I hissed. Rin righted himself.

"Don't call me an idiot, idiot," he whispered back.

"We need to focus. I landed on the tallest building…considering Satan's ego."

"What does that mean?"

I sighed, "Because Satan is the ruler of Gehenna, he'll have the largest building. Grace, being as valuable as she is, will most likely be in his castle."

"Right," said Rin, brushing off his clothes, "Let's find her, then."

A new voice joined our conversation, "You won't have to look far." Rin and I immediately recognized the voice. I looked up. She was perched on one of the spires of the structure. Her silver hair blew in what little wind Gehenna had. Her formerly bright eyes seemed dark. Oh no, are we too late?

"Grace?" I asked.

"Y-Your wings," Rin said.

"New and improved. More powerful. Want to see?" she said, gliding down to where we stood. I grabbed Rin's arms and pulled him with me as I backed up. Grace laughed.

"I guess I should ask this instead…want to die?"

No, this wasn't Grace. She was gone.

A/N: Yeah, you're probably wondering what the hell you just read. Sorry 'bout that. Again I say: it shall be explained. *bows for no reason* Look forward to the next update and review, review, review!