"GET OUT!" Tamiya's voice was anything but subtle. "This is a sanctuary for true motorheads!"

"Yeah," Otaki added. "This is for Auto Club members only." The demon didn't bother pointing out that these two weren't even part of the school anymore. She had tried to show interest in their strange hobby, but she had apparently referred to a Honda CBR 600RR as a Honda RC211V, and that was some kind of blasphemy. What Keiichi saw in these two bungling morons, Hild couldn't say.

She was about to protest, but decided it simply wasn't worth the effort. While she was shocked these two could resist her charms, and if she really wanted to she could bend them to her will through more direct means, she just didn't see the point. There were plenty of willing men, she was sure. They were fools to send away the Daimakaicho, even if they didn't know it.

"What's the commotion out here?" Chihiro's hands were on her hips, outside the door to the Auto Club. "Who are you?" Her eyes came to rest on the scantily clad demon, sizing her up with an appraising look.

"Why... I am Urd's mother." Hild pronounced, striking a pose. "And these two, really, they were so rude. I just wanted to see who my daughter had been associating with."

"Urd's... mother?" Chihiro seemed shocked. "But I thought she was Belldandy's sister and you couldn't be her mother..."

"Half-sister actually. But never mind that. I see I am not wanted here. Too bad." She said wistfully, running a finger along the top of her breast. "It could have been fun. Bye!"

As she turned her back on the stunned Auto Club members, she distinctly heard Chihiro's voice.

"Tamiya, you are an idiot!" Chihiro said. "That was your big chance!"

"But.. she isn't Peorth." Tamiya protested.

It was true, she didn't expect it to be that easy, but there was something to the loud mouthed man's obsession with Peorth. The Goddesses had been so busy spreading happiness around this town that shares in this city had gone from bad to worse for Hell. It was true that in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't so bad, but even so, Hild couldn't let this stand.

Behind her, the Auto Club members prepared to practice for their next race, and Hild decided to leave them with the taste of disappointment. Thunder obeyed her commands, and a great storm began to build overhead, torrents of rain appearing seemingly out of nowhere to soak the track. Moans of disappointment echoed behind her.

It wouldn't save her share of this town, but it was a start.

"Don't like rejection, do you?" Child-Hild smiled up at her full-size counterpart.

"I like talking to myself even less." Grown-Hild replied.

"Well, we could always try someone more worthy of us. Say, a President or a Prime Minister of some country. We could even start a delicious international scandal!" Child-Hild grinned from ear-to-ear. But the silence stretched between them for awhile, and the expression fell away.

"Too easy." They both agreed. Politicians, though powerful, were among the easiest humans to corrupt. There wasn't any fun in that whatsoever.

"It is more fun to corrupt the innocent ones." Child-Hild reluctantly agreed. "What about Keiichi?"

"Do you really think we could pull that off? Come on. I don't think even mind control would work on him." Grown-Hild rolled her eyes. "If only that Tamiya wasn't so obsessed with Peorth."

"Well, what if we looked like Peorth?" Child-Hild smirked sadistically.

"It would never work. We both know that." Grown-Hild replied.

"Not long-term, but it could fool him for a night..." The child frowned. "I mean, we aren't looking to replace Him are we?"

"Him. It always comes back to Him." The weather outside turned from a run of the mill thunderstorm to a roiling low pressure system of immense power. The seals strategically placed around her adult body began to glow ominously. "I hate Him."

"We love Him." The child admonished.

"Keiichi it is, then." Hild knew just how much twisting Belldandy's emotions would stick it to Him. Breaking her spirit would be a victory of immense magnitude. And Belldandy had only one weakness. Even so, she groaned at how difficult it would be to pull that off.

Child-Hild pondered this a few moments and gave herself an understanding look. It was difficult, because Hild really would prefer to corrupt Keiichi, to make him the father of her child. Not only would it completely shift the balance of contracts in this region, it would be a thumb in the eye of five separate Goddesses and Him all at the same time. That sort of opportunity didn't come every day. The child-form vanished to carry out more errands of mischief, leaving her alone again.

Most of all... Keiichi would make her happy. Not that she'd ever admit out loud, not even to herself. They said people were drawn to their opposites, and Hild knew that wasn't always true for everyone. But for her, it most definitely was. Keiichi was almost as pure of heart as He was, without even a drop of divine blood.

"Hey baby!" A voice called out. "You're getting all wet! Need a ride?" A BMW slowed down by her, window half-rolled down. She recognized the man vaguely.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Toshiyuki Aoshima. And I can't just let a pretty girl like you get soaked out here!"

The name was definitely familiar, Mara had mentioned him before in conjunction with one of her ill-fated plots.

"Do you know Keiichi Morisato?" Hild asked, hopeful. Perhaps she didn't need to work so hard to get at them after all.

"Sure do! We were classmates and all." Aoshima smiled, but Hild could already tell he wasn't exactly a pure soul. There was an aura about him that was definitely darker and more carnal. But, those weren't traits she took issue with.

"Sure," She smiled darkly, and her eyes narrowed. "I could use a ride..." She let her soaked dress part slightly in the middle, and the lewd look on the man's face spoke plainly in reply...

The menial labors of Belldandy did not amuse the demon. Mara couldn't understand why the Goddess obsessed with these useless gestures. Or why she didn't use her powers to do them far more efficiently. But it was even worse to be involved in them herself.

She was supposed to fly on a broom, not use it to sweep off a dusty old temple.

"Having fun?" The cat asked her.

"Shut up Velsper." Mara groused, sweeping a cloud of dust toward the banished demon. "At least I'm not stuck on Earth as a cat."

"No, you're just a servant. While I can come and go as I please." Impossibly, the cat managed to smile.

"Going to start a litter of kittens in that body, eh? Find yourself a nice dumb animal to cat around with?"

"Velsper CAT ATTACK!" The cat flung himself at Mara, a bundle of claws tearing at her face.

An explosion of force distracted them both, as Belldandy cast a barrier between them. Mara frowned in reply.

"He started it." She pointed.

"Grow up." Keiichi was behind Belldandy, looking unamused. "Just how old are you anyway?"

"None of your business."

Belldandy left them without a word, disapproval following her like a rocket through the door. Apparently it was possible for the demon to wear on Belldandy's near-limitless patience after all. A day of nothing but demonic immaturity was wearing on everyone though.

"You actually managed to piss her off..." Keiichi sighed.

"What do you see in her anyway." The demon fell dejectedly on the floor, giving up on her chore.

Strangely, Keiichi decided to sit next to her. She wasn't sure whether she should be angry with him, or grateful for the company. "Ever wonder what it would be like living without worrying about betrayal, lies and backstabbing?"

"Sounds boring." Mara admitted.

"Then I guess I can't make you understand." The newly-minted immortal's angel made its appearance, hovering on his shoulder with a stern expression. The creature wagged his finger at her as if she were a naughty child.

"Demons don't do nice. I don't know what Hild was thinking, sending me here." Mara said. Distant thunder echoed.

"She's probably thinking up some kind of scheme." Keiichi smiled. "Oh come on, you know that, we know that."

"And Belldandy just lets me in here anyway? Stupid. You're in love with a moron, Keiichi. What does that make you?" A hint of sadistic pleasure crossed her face, but it didn't last. Keiichi, at least, managed to restrain himself.

But the other demon present failed utterly. And this time, Belldandy wasn't there to cast a barrier between them.

"Fucking cat." Mara yelled, running off and swatting the creature aside before he could do more damage to her bloodied face.

The door slammed with finality. But closing the door on the condo didn't hide the tortured sobs coming from within. To say that Aoshima turned out to be a disappointment was a cosmic understatement. Hild could appreciate a good plot, but something as amateurish as spiking her drink with a date-rape drug was worse than laughable. It was incompetent.

And if there was one thing in the world that pissed her off, it was incompetence. Still, the trip up to the condo wasn't a total loss. The net happiness in Nekomi had dropped a few points, misery had risen in turn. That was a minor victory of sorts. And as a bonus it was very unlikely Aoshima would be trying his game on anyone else any time soon.

Not if the tormented cries for his mother were any indication, anyway.

"Mama..." The last pained scream died away.

She smiled to herself, humming happily, and continued down the empty halls of the condo tower. Her child-form had been right, Earth did have its share of pleasures, sometimes.

"Mama..." A memory came unbidden. Hild tried to blink it away. She hated thinking about this...

But the memories flooded her awareness, entirely against her will, and took that satisfaction from her...

"Mama?" Urd looked up at her mother, her tiny little hand hanging on for dear life. "Where are we going?"

"You're going to see your father." Hild said, careful to control the turmoil in her mind. She knew this day would come, deep down, ever since Urd had been born. She was too kind for a demon, too caring. There were times when Hild herself felt as if she just wasn't cruel enough, uncaring enough, for the job she held. But someone had to hold it, lonely though it was, and anyone else she knew was far worse at it. It was all His fault anyway. Fog was everywhere, obscuring her sight all but an arms-length away. That, of course was necessary. If she saw Him, she would die. A part of her wanted to blame Him for that too, but she had known what she was doing when she bent the rules.

It always came back to Him, in the end. Hadn't she earned the right to go to a better place? At first she had courted Kami as a means to an end, to crawl out of the depths of her exile. But as time went on, she came to love him, and hate him, at the same time. She hated how he made her feel, hated how she saw the same kindness in her daughter's eyes. But she loved them both, just the same.

"We're here." She said, and little Urd looked up with an expression of joy.

"I get to meet Daddy?" Urd's eyes were full of excitement. Hild forced a smile.

"I wasn't sure you'd come, in the end." A voice came from all around them, an undeniable air of authority and power. It wasn't quite his real voice. That might kill her. But she recognized it anyhow. Hild remembered the other side to Him, though. The tender side that was, at the heart of it, just as lonely as she was. Their positions were parts to be played, they were actors in roles cast against their will. Her eyes began to moisten, but somehow she held her tears back. She was the Daimankaicho, and she had to set an example for her little Urd.

"I keep my contracts." Hild said, her voice beginning to tremble. She would lie, cheat, manipulate and destroy, but her one point of honor was that once her word was given, it would be upheld. She wasn't sure she could say the same about Him.

"So you do." Kami's voice agreed. She was close to breaking. Her grip on Urd's tiny hand tightened.

The temptation was there, to grab her daughter and flee to the furthest corner of the universe, to keep running forever. But she could no more abandon her responsibility than Kami could.

"Her Demon side is still stronger." Hild pointed out.

"It is. But we both know what she truly is." Kami replied solemnly. Hild looked down on her daughter's beautiful face, smiling so happily now that she got to meet her father. Try as she might, the Demon could not deny Urd's fundamental goodness. She was a Norn, a Goddess of Time, and her first spell had used Goddess energy. Those were the terms she and Kami had agreed upon as she was born. Urd would live with Hild until she cast her first spell. And from there, she would be raised by whichever side she had unconsciously chosen. Hild knew she had been cheated, Kami had always known what his daughter would become.

And there was far more to that than Hild cared to admit. A child of hers practicing Goddess magic would be a target for every Demon in Hell. Urd was not safe, and whispers of assassination attempts already traveled the halls of the underworld. Power was such a tenuous thing in the Underworld, and even the slightest weakness could become fatal.

"Go to your father, Urd." Hild said, letting go of Urd's hand with great difficulty. Tears began to pool in her eyes, but she blinked them back.

Urd stopped halfway to Kami, looking back at her mother. Hild tried to smile. She knew that tiny face, so much like her own, would haunt her dreams.

"Mama? Aren't you coming?" Urd asked innocently.

It was too much for Hild to contain anymore. She turned her back on her daughter, trying to be strong for her. "I love you, Urd. Be good, for Kami-sama, okay?" And with that, she walked away, ignoring the cries of pain from behind her. Hild knew Urd was running toward her, and that Kami's strong hands held her gently.

"Mama!" Hild stopped for just a moment.

"Mama!" Urd cried again.

"Mama loves you, never forget that." Hild said, her voice cracking. She couldn't turn around, couldn't see her daughter, for if she did, she would take her hand and fly away from this place. She would break her contract, she would destroy the very fabric of time, if it bought her one more moment with Urd.

Instead she took another step forward, and vanished into the fog. Only when Urd's cries grew faint in the distance did she collapse and let her self-control fall away. Her tears were like acid, burning her skin, tearing her apart...

Velsper was entirely unprepared, again, for the force that practically tore him through space-time. The first time, he had wondered about it, but this time there was no doubt in his mind who had done the deed. He found himself on the opposite side of town from the temple, staring up at a very familiar face.

"Hild-sama!" He tried to look happy, but that was hard for a cat to properly pull off even when the emotion was genuine.

"Enjoying your time on the other side?" A smile crossed the Daimakaicho's features.

"Oh no, it's torment. So much kindness. Whatever am I to do?" The cat replied, dripping with sarcasm.

"Do you serve me or not?" Hild pet the cat gently, eliciting an involuntary purr from it.

"Do I serve you? Of course I do!" Velsper acted as if the very question was insulting.

"So you've thrown in with the Goddesses, then." Hild laughed. "You never were very good at lying."

"I'm still a demon!"

"Are you? What demonic things have you done lately? Kill some mice? Did you go outside the litter box? Tsk tsk!" The Daimakaicho laughed at her own joke, lifting the hapless cat by its back fur. "Still have the wrong plumbing, I see." That involuntary sex-change had been rather annoying to the cat-demon, but it was hardly worse than being turned into a cat in the first place.

"If you don't like it you could always change me back." Velsper suggested, but he didn't think the demon leader had crawled all the way from the depths to give him a freebie.

"Funny, I was just considering that." The Daimakaicho dropped the cat and rubbed her chin thoughtfully, as if considering the notion for the first time.

"Now who is lying?" Velsper responded acidly. "What do you want." He sighed, staring at the ground.

"How is Mara doing?"

"Bad. You sent her to go live with Goddesses, how did you think that was going to work out?" The cat was almost as angry about it as Mara was. Almost.

"Well you should help her get along then, shouldn't you? Maybe she can get to know them as well as you have." Hild said acidly. There was a threat in there someplace, Velsper knew. It wasn't that he hated the Demon leader, it was simply that he was tired. He had been tired ever since his hack into Yggdrasil. He hated being a cat, but it at least afforded him peace and quiet now and again. Whatever Hild was planning was likely to be the end of that luxury for awhile.

"So what do I get out of it?" He asked, simply. One might as well get to the point.

"Want to be unboxed? Go back to your true form?" She smiled happily. "Imagine it! You could go home, or stay with the Goddesses and truly be with them. Or you could do your own thing, I won't even require you to come back to Hell."

"Yeah, sure. What else do you want?" It was tempting, but Hild's prices for anything were usually way too high.

"Well, when the time comes I might need a portal summon. Nothing sinister, you understand. I just want to talk to Urd again. I'll even contract with you on it!" Hild offered, extending her hand.

"Hild-sama... I want to believe you, but I'm going to ask you to state the full contract." Velsper was intrigued in spite himself. Life did stink as a cat, there was no doubt about that. But he didn't want to betray the Goddesses either... especially Belldandy.

"Well, you always were a smart demon!" Hild smiled genially at him and stroked his fur gently. "Such a cute cat you make, you know!"

Velsper just glared at her and said nothing.

"Well then, be that way! Was just being friendly..." Hild's smile vanished, and for a moment he saw the Daimakaicho as she truly was, that manipulative streak, that love of deceit and trickery. This was probably stupid, he knew. "After coming through your portal, and for the duration of my stay thereafter, I won't seal or attack the Goddesses in any way. I won't seal or attack Keiichi, either, or anyone else in the temple. Only defensive spells will be used, in the case I am attacked."

"You said what you won't do." Velsper noted. "What WILL you do?"

"Well, that's my own business. But since you're a nice kitty... I want Urd back in my life. I won't take her to the Demon realm against her will or anything like that during my visit, though." She put her hand on her heart, and Velsper knew he was probably making a mistake. But it was his one chance to be free of this body again.

"One last request for the contract." Velsper's cat eyes narrowed in suspicion. Hild was known for obeying her contracts, but it was best to be clear about things with her. "You will not cause harm to Belldandy."

"Well, of course! I won't attack her or anything like that." Hild acted as if she were shocked at the very notion that he would suggest such a thing. It might have fooled a mortal, but it certainly didn't fool him. She'd seal Belldandy until the end of time if she thought she could get away with it.

"No, I want you to swear you will do nothing at all that will harm her in any way." The cat stood his ground.

"Well, I don't know. I don't really like her you know, so I'm not going out of my way to not offend her. She's not the focus of my visit though. Nothing I do will be directed at her. Will that be good enough? Or do I have to swear to have tea with her?" Sarcasm dripped from Hild's voice. Her pleasant facade collapsed completely for a moment, and Velsper knew that there was something under that after all. He hadn't sworn not to warn Belldandy, though. That was key. Of course, Hild had to know that he was going to warn her about it... this was a dangerous game.

"Very well. With those terms, and my restoration to my previous form, I will summon you. When are you coming?" Velsper asked, putting his paw in her hand to seal the transaction.

"I'd prefer sooner, but... I really want Mara to learn to get along with them first. So hurry that up, please."

"You might be waiting awhile, Hild-sama." Velsper rolled his eyes and trotted off in the general direction of the temple. "A really long while." He muttered under his breath.

"No! Absolutely not! There is no way I'm ever going to let Keiichi use me as a pincushion!" Mara yelled.

Urd smiled knowingly. "Well, you have a contract with us, right? And Keiichi needs to train with his new power."

The temple garden was pleasantly cool this afternoon, and there wasn't a cloud in sight, Mara reflected. She could finally relax after all the idiotic tasks they had put her through, and now they wanted Keiichi to train with her?

"I'm going to have to insist." Urd demanded.

"Fine! Puny mortal like that probably can't do anything anyway." Mara laughed maniacally, but truthfully, she didn't feel confident at all. She had always been something of a screw up. Sure, she was a powerful screw up, but that didn't make it any less painful. Things just had a tendency to go horribly wrong in her life.

"Are you sure Belldandy is okay with this?" Keiichi asked. Right, Mara thought, he's even more gullible than I am if he bought that story from Urd.

"You want to learn to use your angel, right? Be strong for Belldandy? You can impress her you know..." Urd said. Keiichi nodded simply in reply. "Well, we have a real demon right here! Might as well make her useful, right?"

"Okay... I guess so." Keiichi relented. "Come forth... MotorHead!" The tiny angel shot out of his body in a brilliant light. "Now what?"

"Well.. attack! Do something!" Urd demanded.

"Really. That's you're teaching method Urd? Keiichi... do something!" Keiichi glared at the Goddess.

"I really prefer a more hands-on teaching style, you know." Urd watched distractedly.

Mara just burst out laughing, pointing at the diminutive angel. "You want me... to fight THAT! Ha!" MotorHead glared at the demon, his lips moving in an inaudible curse.

"He doesn't like you very much." Urd pointed out. "I don't know if you should be taunting him like that."

"Ha! Look at how small he is. He'll see the power of a first-class demon!" Shadow-energy shot out towards Keiichi and his tiny angel. Well, she thought, I can always tell Hild I hurt him by accident, right? It's not my fault, they told me to do it! Maybe she'd even be rewarded for it.

But as the energy cascaded toward him, a barrier suddenly materialized, and the tiny angel reflected the energy right back to the person who cast it. Me, she realized suddenly as the energy slammed into her and knocked her off her feet.

"Crap!" Mara yelled. "Hey that hurt!" Smoke wafted off her singed clothing, and several burnt holes appeared in it. She had to adjust the remnants of her clothing in order to maintain her modesty.

"Good, Keiichi!" Urd smiled.

"Uh, I didn't do anything," he said, shaking his head.

"But, what was that?" The Goddess asked curiously.

"MotorHead did it. I just told him not to let that Demon hurt anybody." Keiichi was suddenly unstable on his legs, and fell to the ground. "I'm suddenly so... tired." Keiichi said.

Mara clambered back to her feet, charred from her own energy. "A reflection barrier, eh? How did a mortal learn how to do that?"

"He's not a mortal, idiot. He has an angel now." Urd tended to him, ignoring the demon. "Rest for a bit, we'll start again later." The norn cradled him in a manner that probably would have made her sister a little jealous. He was asleep within seconds.

"Still, did you tell him how to do that?" Mara brushed herself off.

"No. I have no idea how he did that. Maybe Belldandy taught him. Still, it's nice to know he can give you some of your own back." Urd smiled. "First-class idiot, I say."

"Oh you'll pay for that!" Mara began building up a second burst of energy.

"Going to break our contract then?" Urd asked innocently, looking at her nails as if the entire thing were just an episode of her favorite TV show.

"Uh.. no. Was just practicing for next time." Mara glowered, letting the built-up energy bleed off. "You know, you really suck."

"Blame your boss." Urd said distractedly, carrying Keiichi back into the house.