Vanessa hadn't stopped thinking about it since the thought had occurred to her.
If James was one of the targets, then why weren't they running?! Why weren't they moving as fast as their feet could carry them to wherever this office was?
During the entire trip, she'd essentially been worrying over James. Would they make it in time? Would they save him from an untimely death at the hands of demons who clearly deserved such a fate far more? Or would they fail, leaving him and anyone else targeted to die when it wasn't their time?
It had made her so antsy that she'd long since forgotten her anger at John. No, now she was only concerned with the possibility that she'd slowed him down.
Luckily for her, the trip hadn't actually been that long. About five minutes worth of thumping in her ears later, they came upon a large black building with a massive pair of steel decorative horns on the sides.
"There it is." Vortex spoke as they made their way along the sidewalk, where the parking lot to the building was visible.
The parking was an absolutely poor site. Vanessa actually had to step away, closer to the road in order to avoid brushing against the rusted chainlink fence that sat bent and broke at the borders.
"This is HQ for this assassin company?" Not even John could keep the disbelief out of his voice as he too gazed at the parking lot, which was poorly structured to boot. The broken and decrepit guard's booth contained one single guard, whom was currently passed out sleeping in his chair with a visible snot bubble in his nose.
"You'd be surprised how much business they get." Vortex managed to find some mirth as he made the comment with a small smile.
A smile that swiftly turned into a frown with John's next words.
"Yeah, that's fixing to change."
The way Vortex's ears flattened against his head as he visibly frowned was genuinely heartbreaking, in Vanessa's opinion, as Bee raised a hand and offered him a reassuring squeeze as she gave John a dirty look.
The site was even moreso with the way John didn't even spare a glance, instead marching right into the parking lot.
Vanessa came to a stop next to the couple as the three watched John march towards the building, his heavy footsteps jolting the useless guard at the gate awake.
"Wha- Hey!:
"Go back to sleep, asshole, or you're fixing to have a very bad day!" John called back to the guard without so much as a twist of his head, his stride not even slowing as he continued on his angry path.
"Oh crap- sorry, he's with me!" Votex quickly apologized to the security guard, as if the demon were even doing his job anyway, before quickly rushing after the behemoth as Bee followed.
Vanessa took one last look at the building, before letting a sigh escape her and following along.
"No backing out now." She muttered to herself. Suddenly, the idea of confronting these people, demons with very clear inclinations towards killing, made her rethink her options. Unfortunately, unless she wanted to wait outside the building for everyone to get back… well, she was along for the ride.
She slowed to a stop as she made it to the door, only to frown as she heard yelling coming from within.
'Already?" That was the first thought that went through Vanessa's mind. It hadn't even been ten seconds, what had happened now?
Though… to be fair, it only sounded like one voice. And not one she knew.
She hesitantly opened the door and peered inside. She felt a little guilty at the way she sighed in relief when she saw what looked to be the doorman merely just hung upon the wall.
Though, Vanessa did question what exactly was currently keeping him restricted around his chest. It looked like a pipe of some sort.
Nonetheless, when she heard the familiar ding of an elevator, she immediately rushed into the building. As she turned the corner, she caught site of Bee as she made her way to the elevator, and immediately ran over.
John wordlessly held the door, and when Vanessa had stepped inside, the succubus wasn't sure if she should have felt annoyance or appreciation at the way John gently nudged her a little further in before releasing the door.
Admittedly, the ride up was a little… nerve-wracking. It was clear the building wasn't exactly up to code. The elevator was creaking the whole way up, and considering John's mass took up and entire corner of the elevator… well, it felt like they would go from rising to falling at any moment.
Vanessa couldn't help the sigh of relief that escaped her when doors opened with a ding, and a small chuckle left John as he stepped out of elevator, holding the doors open.
"I hate to say that you get used to it." He joked as the succubus stepped out of the elevator, and she raised an eyebrow in response.
"Yeah… I think I'll stick to stairs."
"Assuming they don't fall out from under you." Vortex commented as he stepped out of the elevator with a chuckle, before turning to John as his amusement faded. "Third door on the… what the-"
"That them?" John asked, a look of utter bafflement crossing his features as he looked down the hall. Upon seeing his eyes, she glanced down the hall herself, only for her eyes to fly wide in disbelief.
Down the hall, on the right, there was a set of double doors and a small window decorated with pink neon strips, the letter's VM spray painted onto the doors as the room within lit up purple with party lights. From her angel, Vanessa could barely see what looked to be a few succubi and one… what were male succubus called again?
"No." Vortex answered, but didn't clarify further. Instead, he walked down the hall, staring at the room in utter bafflement. When he arrived at the doors, he didn't hesitate in rushing forward and slamming them both open.
Vanessa glanced at John and Bee in confused, and was a little relieved to see they both looked as confused as she did.
They made their way down the hall, stopping at the window and peering inside.
And all of their eyes went wide.
Within the room stood Verosika Mayday in all her usual glory, flask in hand and drunk as a skunk. Accompanying her were her equally drunk posse, each and every one of which looked close to or in the middle of some kind of sexual encounter.
Only for it all to come to a halt as Vortex walked into the room, looking around in utter confusion.
Luckily for the three observers, they remained unnoticed behind the surprisingly well tinted glass, leaving everyone within ignorant to their audience.
"Oh-hic-Heeeey Tex." The way Verosika swayed around was very much unlike the woman Vanessa had met at Lu Lu World, and it was very disheartening to watch the popstar struggle to even stand.
Never meet your heroes…
"Hey Verosika…" Vortex greeted quickly, still looking around in utter confusion. "Uh… since when are we back in Imp City?"
At that, Vanessa visibly frowned. Vortex hadn't gotten that memo? Wasn't he a bodyguard? In fact, weren't these two cousins if she remembered right?
"Because you were on vacation… hic…" Verosika's speech was as slurred the second time as it was the first as she threw her arms up dramatically. "I was gonna-hic-tell you when it-hic-was over!"
"Uh yeah, but… I thought you said you weren't coming back? Ain't your freaky ex across the hall?"
"It's summer! …hic…" Verosika replied, as if that answered the entire question. "We're here for- oh that's a pretty purple…"
"Verosika!" Vortex shouted, trying to regain his cousin's attention… to no avail.
"Alright, I'm done watching this." John announced, causing both Bee and Vanessa to turn towards him as he began walking down the hall, twisting and throwing the doors open rather harshly.
Watching the way Verosika went from slouched down drunk to looking as sober as a nun the moment she laid eyes on John was baffling. But to be expected, as Vortex quickly twisted around in surprise and everyone else jumped in shock at the sudden slam.
"J-John?!"
"So this is what you've been doing since Lu Lu World?" John asked, his tone accusatory as he stepped into the room. A pair of succubi on the floor quickly scooted away from the behemoth's heavy feet as an incubus hid behind a larger succubus in a see-through top. "Getting drunk, partying, staying away? After all that talk about coming to see us? About making things right?"
With the way the day had been playing out so far, well into the night in fact, Vanessa admittedly couldn't blame John for that one. She knew they were together once, but she hadn't really know the specifics of their relationship until now.
Those words, the pain breaking through the anger, the ever so slight crack in his voice…
"I… I don't know what to say…" Verosika admitted aloud, and Vanessa admittedly felt the urge to facepalm.
She shouldn't be surprised, she supposed. Her fellow succubus was as drunk as one can get. Honestly, it's a wonder she'd stayed as stiff as she was right now since John had walked in.
"What is there to say?" John asked, a small huff escaping him as he continued to stare the succubus down. "Benny's been waiting for his big sis to visit again. Razor's been calling me asking if I've heard from you lately. Hell, I've been hoping you'd show up at the fucking Hotel at some point." Vanessa wasn't sure if John was simply venting his frustrations or genuinely laying into Verosika. It was honestly difficult to tell.
"I… what are you even doing here?"
John simply stared at Verosika for a moment, before shaking his head, a mirthless laugh escaping him.
"Ask Vortex." John immediately answered, shooting Verosika an absolutely scathing look, before turning to the aforementioned hellhound. "You said third door. One across the hall?"
"Yeah." Vortex quickly glanced over towards Bee through the window when John turned away, and some form of silent communication passed between the two of them as they each nodded, before Bee turned to follow after John as Vortex immediately turned back to Verosika.
The succubus was now looking at Vortex in utter shock. "What is he doing here?!"
"His ex girl is about to get killed by yours!" Vortex answered, turning to look at Verosika with a look of disappointment on his face.
"What, Nea?"
"No."
It took the popstar a second, especially under the pressuring gaze of her hellhound cousin, but after a few moments Verosika's eyes widened in realization.
"Why didn't you just bring him here in the first place?! We have an Asmodeus crystal!"
"You know how he is better than I do! You really think that's gonna be his first option?"
"But-"
"No. You've done enough."
Seeing a popstar that she knew to be extremely confident looked so lost as Vortex turned away made Vanessa pause. Vortex had a look of utter defeat on his face as she watched him leave the room and walk across the hall, where Vanessa now saw Bee talking to a hellhound with long hair and a white and gray fure pattern.
But when she turned back to look into the room, Vanessa took a moment to watch as the succubus simply stood, staring at the still ajar door in shock. Her inebriated mind definitely made it a struggle to properly process what happened, but considering the woman she'd met at the amusement park had been so happy for most of the time Vanessa had seen her…
This just didn't look right.
Of course, with what she knew, Vanessa supposed that the popstar had brought it on herself to some extent.
But Vanessa wasn't John. She was accumstomed to Hell like everyone else was. And this was a woman she had met before, gotten to know.
She couldn't ignore the visible pain etched into the woman's features.
She took a quick glance towards the opposite door, and once she saw that everyone else was thoroughly occupied, she turned and made her own way towards the open doors.
The succubus brought a hand up and gently knocked on the door, peering into the room and laying eyes on Verosika properly as she set foot into the room.
The pink skinned succubus managed to lock her eyes onto the teenage sinner, but it took a moment for them to furrow in recognition.
"You're the girl from that Hotel he works at…" Verosika spoke aloud, her words slow, but much more clear that what Vanessa had first heard. "Vanessa, wasn't it?"
"Yeah." The succubus nodded her head in confirmation. "I wanted to make sure you were okay… before I joined the others." Her words were soft, concern for the popstar audible in her every word.
Verosika stared at the teenager for a moment, before a small, saddened smile adorned her face.
"I'll be okay." She assured, before gesturing her head across the hall. "Get back to them. I have things to deal with. Thanks though."
At that, Vanessa offered a small smile back before turning away.
"No problem."
With that, Vanessa left the room, though she was kind enough to shut the doors once more behind her before she turned back towards the group.
And her eyes widened in clear surprise at the visible tickmark on John's temple, his jaw twisted in barely restrained frustration as his hand dug viciously into his school, harshly jostling him against the wall.
How he wasn't shaking, let alone damaging the wall was beyond the succubus.
"Loon, please, I'm telling you. You gotta call them back." Vortex sounded like he was pleading with the new hellhound, who was looking between the two of them in confusion.
"Look, I don't know what you want me to do." The woman honestly sounded like she was nothing more than annoyed with Vortex's request. Considering Vanessa knew what that request was and the way it sounded, she couldn't help the deep pit of fear that opened up in her stomach. "Even if I tell them they have to come back, Blitz is to stubborn to until he gets the target."
"Ma'am, believe me when I say we're trying to help you too." At that, Bee flicked her eyes in John's direction, and upon looking at the behemoth for herself, a visible gulp escaped Loona. "You have to."
"Even if I do, like I said, Blitz is too stubborn." Loona replied with another annoyed sigh, bringing a pair of fingers up tor rub her temple. "He prides himself on getting the kill. He's never failed a single job."
"Then can you send us to them?" John piped up, his voice like gravel with irritation. Vanessa was honestly surprised that it wasn't followed by a threat.
"I don't know about that." Loona didn't hesitate to make her distrust known as she crossed her arms, putting on a brave face.
It would be impressive if not for the fact that her tail was quite literally shaking between her legs right now, though barely.
"Loona, if we don't stop them, I can't promise they'll live past tonight." It was clear that vaguely threatening words didn't exactly sit well with Loona, but Vortex's voice held a pleading edge to it nonetheless. "I'm trying to keep that from happening, so please."
The female hellhound stared at Vortex for a moment, before wordlessly glancing around letting her eyes sweep over Bee, Vanessa, and John.
Ultimately, a sigh escaped her.
"I can send you there and get you back, but I can't give you any disguises."
"Oh, I got that." Bee suddenly announced in response, causing Vanessa's eyes to shoot towards the Sin in utter bafflement.
The teen didn't even get a chance to question anything before Bee waved her hand, and Vanessa suddenly found herself engulfed in a weird purple light.
"Holy shit!"
She stood there in shock, processing what had just happened for a moment as she heard John exclaim from next to her.
She didn't feel too different… well, except for two noticeable features.
Her horns and tail were missing.
She let her gaze fall, and found herself looking at her hands.
Her tan colored hands.
Vanessa's eyes widened in surprise, and she couldn't help the way she felt around for a moment, actually feeling for herself the differences the spell had brought upon her. Even the hole in her pants for her tail had completely vanished!
"This is… weird." John's voice once again spoke up from next to her, causing Vanessa to instinctively look up.
Only to frown in confusion when she spotted nothing.
Her gaze slowly lowered, her eyes progressively widening as she did, until she found herself staring at a much shorter, smaller, yet still considerably large John.
Much like herself, his familiar outfit had stayed the same, though the dog tag around his neck had been switched out for a pair of military dog tags. In fact, it was jarring how little John had seemed to change.
Apart from the size difference, one would be forgiven for thinking that John hadn't changed all that much. Of course, there were a few considerable differences. His gashes had closed up, instead taking the form of rough scars atop surprisingly pale skin, and teeth were now much more human looking. And obviously, his own horns had disappeared as well.
And yet, she was still unmistakable looking at the form of John Gallagher. The facial structure was the exact same.
"Freaky at first, isn't it?" Vortex asked with a chuckle, causing both sets of eyes to turn towards him.
Unlike John, Vortex was just as massive a man as he was a hellhound. His still stood at his looming seven foot height in comparison to John's reduced 6'2", black hair shaved down to a buzzcut as the man looked as friendly as ever.
"You're just happy to be the bigger one for a change." Bee teased, and Vanessa's eyes widened in utter disbelief when she laid eyes on the Sin of Gluttony.
Bee still stood just a head shorter than Vortex, now sporting a pair of sneakers. Her long, lava-lamp hair had changed into normal, waist length hair that was still brilliantly colored, and her skin was a warm tan color as too loomed over the accompanying sinners.
John summed up how she felt perfectly.
"You're an asshole."
There was a spark of amusement to his tone, however, in contrast to his words. Bee simply offered a cheeky grin in response.
"Not like it makes a difference."
"Fair enough."
"Alright, come on." Loona cut the conversation short as she waved them inside, and they all filed into the office as the hellhound retrieved the book from… somewhere on her person.
And literally a second later, before Vanessa even had a chance to look around the room, a red portal spiraled into existence.
And for the first time since she'd died… Vanessa laid eyes on green trees again.
She couldn't help it. A gasp of disbelief escaped her as she looked at the green woods illuminated by the night sky, bushes and branches everywhere as she found herself watching a deer make eye contact before running away.
A living… breathing… deer…
An unexpected tremble in her breath caused Vanessa to regain her bearings… and made her acutely aware of the sudden wet sensation in her eyes.
John stepped forward, and Vanessa's eyes drifted towards him, curious to see his reaction.
Much like her, his mouth was open in complete shock, though it was a bit more apparent. Despite his deadset goal, it had been four years since John had laid eyes on the living world. But there was something more, a deeper look in his eye.
Recognition.
"Good lord…" John muttered under his breath as he moved closer to the portal… before stepping through.
Just like that.
It was surreal to Vanessa. Grasping that fact that she was actually in Hell had been hard enough, let alone accepting she'd never see her loved ones again amongst everything that had happened when she'd first died. And now… she was about to step into the land of the living once again.
With a few apprehensive breaths, Vanessa cautiously stepped forward, closer and closer to fresh air, beautiful skies, and what seemed to be a full moon with all the light on the ground.
And then, with a deep breath, her foot went from touching tile flooring to fresh soil, blades of grass bending beneath her shoe.
And once again… Vanessa felt alive.
Fresh, wonderful air began to permeate her lungs as the slight chill of the night made her tingle in a way she hadn't felt in ages due to the much higher temperatures in Hell.
Her eyes fluttered around, taking in the site of the leaves of trees around her, meshing together in spots as her foot crunched a branch. A small smile made it's way onto her face, and before she knew it… she was laughing.
Her gaze flew past John, and she instinctively jerked her head back towards him, curious to see his reaction.
He was simply looking at her with a small smile.
A few seconds later, the sounds of another few pairs of footsteps caught their attention, and they turned to see the portal closing behind Bee and Vortex. The two of them were followed closely by Loona.
John's smile turned almost… proud.
"Welcome to my home."
Vanessa felt herself smiling at John's words. He did know the area.
However, the joyful moment was broken quite quickly, by the sounds of gunshots and deafening crashes.
Everyone jerked towards the direction the sound had come from, and they saw what looked like fire not too far away.
In fact… Vanessa could hear voices clear as day.
Angry voices. Frantic voices. Screaming voices.
"Shit!" John swore as he immediately bolted off in the direction of the battle that seemed to be going on, and Vanessa wasted no time in following right on his heels.
Not that she could keep up with him by any margin.
Good thing it wasn't that far.
Thirty Minutes Earlier
Peter had one simple goal in mind when he'd arrived at the Gallagher household. Check in, hang out, catch up with everyone. If he permitted it, maybe a few more lessons about cars with Bryan.
It had started out normal, anyway. He and Rachel had returned to their respective homes, and then met up and made their way to the location of Otway. They'd arrived, gotten out, and had greeted everyone before splitting apart to chat with who they wished.
Well… until Shiela had suddenly started shouting.
"SOMETHING'S IN THE TREES WITH A GUN!" It sounded so random that had anyone had a proper second to truly process what she'd said, they'd have probably started laughing.
But on instinct, Peter had armored up, years of combat experience kicking in first and foremost.
A second later, the man's now metal coated head was thrown to the side as a large rifle round bounced off his skull and caused him to stagger back.
"EVERYONE INSIDE, NOW!" Peter managed to throw the order out as he regained his bearings, relishing in the metal that now coated his skin as he quickly crouched down and snagged a tire iron.
A massive explosion went off as Rachel ignited the oxygen in the area, while everyone else stampeded into the house for shelter from the confrontation that was sure to follow.
The flames from the explosion died just as quickly as the explosion itself, but the damage to the area had been done.
Nonetheless, Peter wasn't fooled. He could see the foliage shifting as something moved quickly along the edge of the woods. He cocked his arm back, and launched the tire iron at the attacker with the force of an anvil.
"What the fuck?!" The exclamation of surprise sounded surprisingly human, in contrast to it's owner. Whatever dodged the tire iron and made themselves visible wasn't human in the slightest, coming up to around five feet if one counted the massive horns at the base of the skull.
The small creature quickly landed into a roll, finding his feet in no time as he swiftly shifted into a sprint towards the superhuman pair standing at the ready.
"I got the metal guy! These suits are expensive, dickhead!"
Peter swung right as the creature was within arms length, but it was faster than the man had thought, sliding under his arm and immediately firing off a round into his face.
Peter outright ignored the useless attack, but he was still too slow to catch the downright demonic attacker as his other fist swung and cracked the gravel beneath him.
He'd just barely missed the creature's head.
"Haha, too slow, you chrome fucker!" The thing actually had the audacity to smirk and taunt the metalmaker.
In response, Peter let a smirk of his own cross his face.
Barely a second later, the aggressor was catapulted into the air as a chrome colored pillar shot out of the ground.
The metal structure was gone just as quickly as it had appeared as the man launched himself into the air with ease, managing to catch the beast by its neck and dragging it right back down with him.
The gravel of the poorly maintained backroad pretty much shattered when Peter landed, and he wasted no time in lifting the shorter male up to his face.
"What the hell are you?" Peter asked, a stern expression on his face as he stared the thing down.
"A demon from Hell, try to keep up, retard." The thing replied, amusement in its eyes.
Peter opened his mouth to ask another question, but once he did, he heard the telltale sign of a grenade pin being pulled.
Followed swiftly by a rather small grenade being jammed into his mouth.
He'd honestly expected a frag grenade, and he was unpleasantly surprised to discover that it was instead a flashbang.
Having ears coated in metal didn't exactly do wonders when your ears were ringing, and Peter's focus on his opponent was lost completely as he slammed his hands atop his ears and groaned in pain.
To say nothing of his eyesight. It would take a minute for him to see anything other than white spots.
"Sorry miss, this isn't personal!" Another foreign voice managed to enter Peter's ears, followed swiftly by gun shoots and another explosion that did not help the ringing.
Nonetheless, Peter forced himself to shake it off as he heard that scratchy voice grunt.
"Moxxie! You bitch!" The concern in the name was swiftly destroyed by the utter fury that Peter assumed was directed at Rachel, and he quickly glanced over to see how she was faring.
She faced two shorter but similar creatures, one visibly a female and one a male, whom were struggling a but more than they'd have thought just to get close to the pyrokinetic.
However, Peter did spot the taller one aiming a rifle at her, and he wasted no time in bolting towards the creature.
His eyes just barely managed to catch the man's approaching form, before he swiftly side-stepped the downward swing of a massive metal sledgehammer.
"Sorry, honey, papa Blitz is-hrk!" The creature had failed to sidestep the foot Peter launched at him, nailing the thing square in it's tiny gut and tossing it into the air.
His foot swiftly bent as the hammer disappeared, before he kicked the entity out of the air and right into the ground.
"Papa Blitz can answer my questions peacefully or get neuatralized."
"Oh, kinky!" It almost sounded genuinely excited, but Peter didn't get much of a chance to respond when he felt the familiar explosive force of a grenade launcher shell manifest against his back.
He was unprepared, and launched forward off the little red creature. Mid stumble, he felt an unexpected mass atop his back before he was suddenly being pelted in the face with a shotgun.
His hand swiftly snagged the shotgun after the fifth round had been ejected, his other hand launching toward's it's owner on her back. Instead, he was met with the blade of a battleaxe instead.
The axe crumbled under the immense grip, but by then, the creature had been long gone.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but we really need to kill you." It was the smaller male, and it sounded like there was genuine remorse in his words.
Didn't change what his intentions were.
Peter simply let a humorless chuckle escape him as he turned to face the smaller creature, accompanied now by the female while the taller one was now trying to avoid things getting launched at him by Rachel.
"Good luck with that."
Peter lifted his foot, and swiftly stomped it back down into the ground. The immense force allowed the manifesting metal to form quickly, shooting deep beneath the ground before a pair of spikes suddenly ejected from the area where the creature's had once stood.
"Oh, a fighter! I can't wait to get through that armor!" The female cheered gleefully even as she skillfully dodged the still erupting spikes, immediately pulling out a pair of knives and rushing the man.
Peter simply smirked. They thought they were big and bad?
Time to show off a little.
Blow after blow was swiftly dodged, blocked, or redirected with frightening consistency as Peter used both his powers and experience his opponent's by surprise.
He gave no ground, instead advancing and forcing the demonic creatures to keep their distance unless they wish to get hit.
The male tried to pull a gun, a small handgun, on Peter after a solid minute or two of struggling to even hit the armored superhuman. Unfortunately for him, he was promptly tossed aside by the form of his boss being thrown out of nowhere.
A second later, an orange blur blew past Peter, before he watched Rachel give a harsh kick to the woman in mid air.
"Fire itself doesn't hurt them." Rachel informed Peter as she floated back, eyeing their assailants with a weary gaze. "I can get myself in for physical attacks or use objects around me, but my fire itself is useless unless I ignite oxygen."
"The explosion's too dangerous to use too much." Peter shook his head at that idea. "If we can keep the fighting away from the house, we need to subdue them and find out why they're even here. The tall one said there actual demons."
"So did the woman." Rachel advised, her eyes narrowing. "Maybe all those Dork rumors weren't all that fake."
"Oh, fuck those guys, their batshit crazy! Even for me!" The tall one interjected himself into the conversation before Peter could even respond, causing both CIA agents to immediately brace for combat once more as they eyed their opponents.
The three demons had recovered themselves, and now stood ready with their weapons in hand.
"Some guy is paying a lot of many to have you fucks killed, and I am not gonna lose this contract! Happy now?!" The moment the words left his mouth, a deranged smile plastered itself on the tall demon's face as he let out a gleeful laugh and began firing off the massive rifle in his hands at the two.
Rachel quickly lifted herself up into the air while Peter easily bulldozed through the onslaught of bullets, pushing a little too harshly and breaking the ground with every step as he moved much quicker than the demon's expected.
"Goddammit, fucking die!" It was clear the tall one was getting pissed, and that would work in Peter's favor. These things were fast, but they still seemed to have some kind of limits. All the two living souls had to do was push them to it.
Peter hadn't ever fought a demon before. He hadn't even known they existed.
If John were here, he'd be more annoyed than anything.
Despite the circumstances, the metal-skinned man let a smile come onto his face at the thought of his late friend and leader.
John would have loved to fight demons. Peter supposed that was the one bit of hope he had if these creatures' words were true.
If Hell existed, Heaven had to as well, right?
Unfortunately, Peter had no time to lose himself in his thoughts, and refocused his efforts on the battle at hand.
A/N: Carmilla lemon is up in the collection of oneshots if for those of you that wanted it. Outside of that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, because the next one is gonna be fun.