Author's note: Hello dear readers! Sorry for the long delay, but summer was quite distracting this year, with lots of traveling and camping. You know it's not as easy as it looks like to have the whole summer off ;) Not that I'm complaining... Anyway, here is the next chapter and I hope you'll like it. Thanks Bebec for reading it quickly to give me your impressions. And now, place to the story. Enjoy!


Chapter 13

Unseen Eyes

Trixie winced in sympathy as she watched Maze land on her back, hard! And it was far from being the first time either. Learning to fight with those wings looked to be real tough. Trixie was very impressed with her perseverance though, as Maze kept coming back at Amenadiel for more without complaining. Okay, there was a lot of swearing involved and threats of plucking the angel to the blood, but the demon's determination to learn and improve never wavered. And Trixie who always thought that her demonic friend was simply naturally good at everything she did without having to work too hard for it! It was a good lesson for the young girl and she swore to herself that she would work even harder than before and stop being discouraged at the first difficulty when she'd be allowed to train again.

"You're thinking too hard Maze!" admonished Amenadiel who let her the time to get back up from the mat before taking once more a combat stance with his own wings displayed threateningly.

The demon growled dangerously. "You think it's easy to learn to move new limbs? I have to think about every fucking move I do just to make sure I don't kill myself."

"That's the thing Maze! You shouldn't have to think about it. You just need to feel them."

Maze snarled in frustration, "Easier said than done." She however didn't argue further and simply prepared herself to make another attack.

This time, she visibly took a few deep breaths to try and calm herself before striking with her left wing then successfully parrying Amenadiel's counterattack that came in the blink of an eye.

Amenadiel exclaimed joyfully. "That's what I'm talking about! See? You did it!"

Maze was walking around him like a prowling beast. "Give me more!"

The angel smiled his best devilish smile and gave her what she asked for.

Trixie continued watching the two celestials fight with all their might. The strength they displayed was quite impressive, yet what truly captivated her was the way their glowing wings were moving as real limbs. She would never grow tired of looking at them. She was very conscious of the exclusivity of the chance she had of witnessing such a show. Eventually, Maze ended up sprawled out on the mat again, but she'd lasted a lot longer this time before being overpowered by the angel.

Somehow, they managed not to break anything in the gym. It might be helping that the place was not yet well furnished. Maze had called the workers out for a couple of hours to give them time to train. The men would carry on their work afterwards. They'd promised to have everything done in a maximum of two more days. Even though it was not finished yet, the big room was already covered with mats in the middle and even had a few dummies at the periphery for combat training. Trixie was looking forward to start working with those, not only with her training daggers, but also with her new faked scimitar that Maze had given her. To her utmost surprise and joy, her demonic friend had agreed to show her how to use bigger weapons. And apparently, her Mom even gave her approval for it. Wasn't that amazing? But it wouldn't be before a day or two yet. How frustrating! Though she had to admit that she wasn't feeling at her best right now. Even if her left arm did feel better, there was that strange heaviness still weighting down on her. Azrael said it was normal though and that everything would get back to normal soon, so she tried not to think too much about it.

Chloe chose that moment to enter the gym, followed closely by the Hellhound. Her mom had that new glow to her that Trixie couldn't explain. She'd started noticing it a few days ago, but had thought nothing of it at first. Her mom's aura looked brighter somehow, and it was getting stronger every day, which was actually very strange considering the amount of pain and angst that she was obviously feeling since Lucifer's departing. The little girl's train of thoughts was quickly redirected at her mom's words.

"Is it okay if I use a dummy with Doom? I need to show him how to use only the amount of strength I ask of him to overpower an enemy, depending of the circumstances."

Maze gazed at her with a funny look. "That might be fun to watch. Please yourself, Decker!"

Chloe narrowed her eyes at the demon's choice of words, suddenly suspicious of what it might really mean.

"How are things going with Doom's training by the way?" questioned Amenadiel who took his attention back from Maze.

Chloe led the hound to the dummies, not missing the chance to admire the two celestials' wings in passing. "Pretty good! Doom is even better than I at remembering all the hand signals. I still mixt up some of the signs while he never miss a single one."

"Not surprising," answered Maze proudly, "Hellhounds have an amazing memory."

Chloe nodded with a small smile. "I'm starting to get that."

Trixie stood up from the corner where she'd been sitting on the floor and came to join the new comers. She latched on at Doom and buried her face in his fur. "Doomy's the best! Aren't you boy?"

Doom grinned in pride at the compliment and purred like a kitten under the attack of affection.

"Don't distract him, Monkey!" Chloe admonished lightly, making sure not to sound too harsh, "Doom is working at the moment. I need him a hundred percent focussed."

Trixie released her dog reluctantly. She was proud of Doomy becoming a police dog, but at the same time she would have liked him to be only hers. She guessed it was a bit selfish of her to think that way. The hound would help keep her mom safe at work, and she was very grateful for that.

"I understand Mommy."

Chloe stroke her hair gently and winked at her. "Just keep a safe distance, Monkey."

Then the detective turned her attention back on Doom who was already sitting before her, waiting intently for an order.

"Okay Doom, we'll start with defence training. Now imagine that this dummy is a dangerous man who wants to hurt me. You need only to stop him from reaching me and make sure he doesn't escape."

She let the information sink in for a few seconds before giving the order. "Doom, attack!"

With a feral growl, the Hellhound instantly leaped at the dummy's throat and tore it apart, making the head fly away and crash against the wall.

Chloe's jaw dropped at the pure ferocity of the attack. There had been nothing doggish about what she just witnessed. In that instant, she remembered seeing the hound fight demons at the abbey and wondered how she could have thought for a single moment that using him as a police dog was a good idea. That beast was a killing machine!

It was Maze who broke the stunned silence that ensued. "That's my boy!"

"Are you kidding me?" busted out Chloe. "This is a fiasco!"

Doom reacted at her words by flattening his ears shamefully.

Chloe lifted her arms in exasperation. "I never asked him to kill the dummy. He just needed to stop it."

"Decker," Maze used her most patient tone, "you are asking a Hellhound to stop a threat. What did you think would happen? And besides, he is used to attack demonic creatures who are very hard to kill, or escaped souls who literally can't be killed. He has no idea of the strength that needs to be used to stop a human being."

Chloe looked back at Doom as if she'd never seen him before. "Damn!"

Trixie came at Doom's defense. "Mommy, be patient. Doomy is very intelligent. I'm sure he can be taught."

Chloe sighed loudly. "You're right, Baby. I shouldn't give up already. We'll try again."

She gave Doom a hard stare to make him understand that he better pay attention to her instructions this time as she moved towards the second dummy. Maze and Amenadiel still had not resumed their training and were annoyingly watching them.

Chloe used her most commanding tone. "Okay, one more time. Now remember that humans are not very strong and are much easier to kill than demons. And you should never, EVER, kill a human being unless I tell you so unambiguously. Is that clear?"

Doom shifted his gaze at her hard tone, but nodded once to show his understanding.

When Chloe gave him the order to attack, Doom first stayed still, sitting in front of the dummy and looking at it suspiciously. He hesitated a few more seconds before lifting a front paw slowly and striking the faked human once, like a cat would play with a toy.

The dummy broke in two and fell on its side.

Chloe face-palmed. "This is a disaster!"


Maze looked down at the warehouse's entrance from her vantage position on a rooftop on the opposite side of the road. Beside her, Amenadiel was also crouching down to keep out of the FBI agents' sight. The sparse lighting around the place was diffusing a gloomy glow due to the heavy rain pouring down over them. It was hard to evaluate their numbers considering that most agents were probably taking cover inside at the moment. Still, they could see three of them guarding the front door. They would have to go by the back door then, where they'd seen only one guard so far.

Maze was positive, the panther-looking beast had to be inside this building. What did it mean that the Feds had ventured as far from the crime scene on the other side of the docks to end up right here? Had they really tracked down the creature to this place, or was it only a lucky guess? Whatever the answer, their finding this demonic beast would have disastrous consequences. Amenadiel and she had to get inside as fast as possible to catch it first before proof of the supernatural could be unveiled.

At a silent sign from Maze, Amenadiel crawled back in the back door's direction. The new Valkyrie cringed at the prospect of being once more carried in Amenadiel's arms to get off this roof like she had to get up here moments ago. She was starting to regret refusing to be trained to fly by herself.

It was one thing to fight with the bloody things, but it was another entirely to fly with them.

She wasn't a damn angel! Damn it!

On the other hand, it wasn't much better to depend on one...

Instead of being caught up in this situation, she would have much preferred to go chase after the Soul Eater, a worthier prey for the Valkyrie that she was, but as Michael had been way too happy to point out to her, it would be more effective to send someone who could really fly to cover as much ground as possible to find the thing.

In spite of her desire to skin the angel alive, Maze had pushed her pride aside to give the damn prick a few tips that could help him hunt the Soul Eater. She didn't do it for him, but for the new potential victims. Such a creature was indeed very tricky to catch. It usually stayed in the shadows where it was almost invisible. On top of it, it could hide its dark energy almost completely when sensing a danger approach, making it one of the hardest creatures to catch. Also, even if it couldn't fly per say, it could let itself float slowly which would bring it pretty much anywhere it wanted while staying usually close to the ground. So Michael would have to try and fly quite low and react quickly as soon as he sensed anything unusual.

Damn! It should be her hunting it!

Maze gritted her teeth at still another frustration regarding her almost useless wings. Well, it wasn't really useless anymore, now that she could make them move pretty much as she wanted, even if she wouldn't trust them completely yet during a fight. Once she got them under control for fighting, maybe she should seriously consider learning to fly...

She shook her head at the crazy idea and refocussed on the task at hand. They couldn't lose that new beast to the Feds. That day was already frustrating enough as it was for her. Aside from her annoyance towards her wings, the lead they got from Moz'gan this morning had been fruitless. Amenadiel and she had investigated it right away even before getting their afternoon nap. They had gone to the rendezvous point where the demon was supposed to meet some other demons after his mission, but unsurprisingly there was no one around anymore. Though Maze had sensed that at least one demon had been in the area in the last hours, confirming that the info had been genuine. The lack of tracks to follow told her that it was probably the winged demon that had been sent to retrieve Moz'gan. So the trail to Lilith had ended even before it started. All the more reasons to not botch their job tonight; Maze needed at least one victory today.

They could now see a truck approach slowly through the storm, followed by a group of heavily armed men jogging behind it in orderly rows. They would have to act fast before the situation got completely out of hands.

After easily knocking out the guard at the rear door, they quickly entered the warehouse and made their way towards the dark energy that they both could feel farther down the deserted corridor. They started hearing voices as they approached the far end of the hallway where the door was wide open.

"Go easy, guys! We don't want to hurt it," a first voice said with authority.

"Why should we care? This thing would eat us in a heartbeat given the chance," commented another.

"Because I said so. And because this creature is unique. Now move your asses and get it in the truck."

"Yes sir!" answered together a few voices, among them the man who had been arguing.

Maze and Amenadiel chanced a glance from the corner of the doorway, taking great care not to be discovered. They got there in time to see six guys dragging a big black feline out of the hangar. The creature was completely inert. How they could have caught it without having been torn apart was a good question though.

Two other men were lingering in the hangar after the beast was out of sight.

One of them spoke with barely contained anger. "I thought that my help had been requested so I could send those beasts back to Hell. What is the meaning of this?"

Both men had turned sideways from them to face each other, enough for Mazikeen to recognize the angry one as being Father Amantini, the priest who'd tried to magically send her back to Hell in the 70's.

The man who seemed to be in charge of the operation shook his head and answered with feigned patience. "Did you really think that they would miss the opportunity to study it when the occasion presented itself? You are smarter than that, Father. As for sending it back where it comes from, I'm not the one who takes that kind of decisions. Whatever they decide to do in the end, and in spite of your opinion about it, you can't deny that those beasts need to be taken out of the streets and that your special abilities make of you the best man for the job. I'm sure this little set back can't be more important in your eyes than protecting the people of this city, and possibly of this entire planet. Am I mistaking?"

The priest clenched his teeth and sneered at the FBI agent in clear contempt. He made a move as if to leave before stopping in his tracks. He stayed still for a moment, then gazed around for a few seconds as if looking for something before finally storming out of the warehouse. The agent slowly followed behind him with a look of satisfaction on his face.

Once the men were out of sight, Maze turned to Amenadiel. "Damn it! Why is it that prideful humans always think they can mess with things that are out of their realm?" As an afterthought she added, "and it's not as if that priest could have sent it back to Hell anyway now that the Hellmouth is closed. We need to retrieve that creature, now!"

"Maze, we can't possibly attack all those armed agents to get it. People could get killed in the crossfire, you included."

Maze growled in frustration. As much as she wanted to ignore the angel's sensible warning, she knew he was right. There had to be more than twenty agents outside. While she and Amenadiel could probably take them out, it wouldn't be without risk.

"Damn it!" she exploded, surrendering. "At least we could follow them to find out where they're taking it. That way we could eventually come up with a plan to retrieve it some other time. I'm not about to let them win that easily."

A smug smile formed at the corner of Amenadiel's lips. "I had no intention of letting them get away with it either."

So they followed the truck from up in the air to a secluded area outside town. The unmarked building where they took the hellish creature turned out to be heavily guarded with fences all around it, obviously a federal establishment which was supposed to stay secret. It would be tricky to get inside, but Maze was certain that it could be done with enough determination. Unfortunately, that would have to wait. They were not desperate enough to make an attempt right this moment, and as Amenadiel pointed out, that priest could still put his hands on more specimens before the demonic threat could be entirely dealt with.

They reluctantly left the place to go join Michael who turned out to have already killed the winged beast that had probably attacked a man and killed his Golden Retriever the night before. Maze identified it as a Byakhee, a disgusting creature looking disturbingly like a giant five feet tall insect with sharp teeth. They couldn't say yet if anyone else had been attacked before Michael got it though. Maze sent the remains straight to Hell, but not before having taken a few pictures for posterity.

All three of them kept hunting the Soul Eater for the rest of the night, without much luck. Michael thought to have sensed something hellish earlier before losing it quickly. Maze couldn't hold it against him since she too, had the nagging impression that it had been close without her being able to pin its location with certainty.

They came back at the penthouse at the first rays of light, mostly frustrated by their lack of success. Maze had to swallow her pride and admit that what they needed to get the job done was a Hellhound, and she intended to borrow Doom to catch that deceptive creature the next night.


Father Amantini drummed his fingers against the table, lost in thoughts. There had been something else inside that building, as confirmed by the knock-out guard they found at the door. He'd felt it, he was certain, just before getting out of there, and it was clearly something out of this world. Yet the vibes he'd felt were confounding. It hadn't been hellish like he was used to. Well, maybe a bit, but there had been something else mixt with it, something he could only describe as... divine!

He'd not told anything about what he'd picked up to Agent Spencer, the man in charge of this project. He couldn't trust him entirely. He couldn't trust any of them actually. They clearly had their own agenda, and it only partially matched his own. Father Amantini had encountered enough creatures of the dark over his long life to know that they didn't belong in this world. And to protect human kind from them, he had to send them all back to their realm, whatever the cost.

His thoughts were interrupted by a young agent whom he couldn't remember the name, and who seemed eager to relay to him some information.

"We got a hit with one of the cameras inside the building," he announced excitedly, brandishing his electronic tablet proudly.

Amantini took the tablet to gaze at the picture of two people walking in a corridor. He narrowed his eyes at the image and zoomed in on the woman.

He let escape a gasp of surprise when he recognised her. "Look who's back on Earth!" The priest felt a mixt of excitement and apprehension at the thought of what that demon's presence on Earth could mean. "It would seem that we got a bigger problem than we thought!"


Author's note: Still more complications for our heroes as you can see. And I promise you some interesting action in the next chapter with a surprise that you probably haven't seen coming... :))) This will be so much fun to write! I already started working on it. Please let me know your thoughts on this new chapter, your comments always make my day. Thanks for reading!