Moonlit World Case File - The Devil Went Down To Jersey

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Saint Guillotine said:
Lucifer outwardly ignored her to enter the Troubles End.

@Michale CS
Click to expand...
The bar was well... What you'd expect a xenophobic place to be like. Once you got over the oddly lemon smelling air, you saw the paintings on the walls. St.George and the Dragon, Hercules fighting the Nemian Lion, that sort of thing. He barely got a raised eyebrow as he entered the sparsely populated place. Right now a trio of witches sat in one corner, and a couple of men who looked like they'd seen the worst the world had to offer then laughed in its face sat in a booth near the bar, which was tended by a slight woman whose overall vibe could be described as "dangerous."

@Saint Guillotine
 
"I was human enough to enter. But just shy of it to be rendered uncomfortable. At least it wasn't as bad as some. At any rate, I slid onto a stool before the bar, considering what I knew and various possible conclusions. What I did know was this."

"The brand was from a summoning variation. When applied to mages or powerful beings of magic, it made them explode. Its recent victim was Rashid- perhaps even that councilman aide who spied with Imps. Both died via explosion, it'd make sense to test one before applying the other. Without proof though, I had nothing but conjunction. Which brought me to that sensual little number who claimed to recognize it. As much as it appeared to be a windfall, I wasn't buying it just yet. Anyone who reeks that much of the infernal and calls her father by name? To close of a connection. No, I had to take her word at face value. And this wasn't even taking into account everything else."

"How do you keep a mage or djinn still enough to put it on? Was there a reason Rashid died where he did? How many real suspects did I actually have besides Aaliyah? "

"Also, was I always oblivious when it came to women?"

"Ok, that last had nothing to do with the case. But it had me thinking on my social life in general, which was looking more empty by the second."

"I decided to order a drink while looking around for someplace to put the butterfly. While I was at it, I also listened carefully to the conversation around me."

"Xenophobic or not, you could count on Hunters to keep abreast of the latest news."

@Michale CS​
 
"...so, you ready for it?" One of the men in the booth asked. This one was blonde, blue eyed, and stereotypically muscular.
"Hell no, but it's got to be done, Brock." The other man was by contrast, thin, wiry, but with a toned definition that told you he was still plenty strong.
"Don't worry too much about it, Shayne. This your first?" Brock asked.
"Yeah. I came through what happened in Pakistan well enough though."
"Pakistan. That's probably... a little worse than this. Humans won't be their only targets. They'll turn on each other. All a part of the game."
"That's when you strike, when they're already fighting someone else."
"Preach it, Shayne."

Meanwhile, the witches in the corner were just talking about the increased business they had for things like magnetic chalk, red resin, and colloidal silver recently, pondering what that meant in particular.

At about that time, a phone call came over Lucifer's cell phone. Patricia came up on the caller ID. Bad time to answer or no?

@Saint Guillotine
 
Lucifer answered it, with a sudden change in tone. More smoke and sensuality charged with an abundance of virility, it was a voice Lucifer used when he turned his focus to his innate charm and amplified it. Nothing magical, just an understanding of his gifts. If people listened in, they'd hopefully remember only the tone and not the words. Even then, he was cautious.

"Hello love. Miss me?"

@Michale CS
 
"Instantly. Listen, something's really wrong. Once you left, I decided to double check to see if Cynthia was still under a Geas since she mentioned one and she was. I tried breaking it but she turned on me. I have her restrained right now on my massage table, but she got some licks in before I could. I need to heal before I can break this curse, so once you finish your business there could you come back and help?"

"Don't plant that thing! It's a trap!" Was heard in the background.

"She's sort of delusional too. This is one messed up Geas."

"Yeah, bitch then why do you have missing time? I might be under Geas but I'm not an idiot!"

"Ah... Sweet Lady, she has a point. I'd check that bug to make sure it's just a bug before you plant it. And get back here once you're done there. Hellfire is a bitch to try to heal from. But the bright side is, neither of us are going anywhere for the next little while."

@Saint Guillotine
 
"You always know the sweetest things to say."

He purred in much the same tone of voice, before hanging up. Not for the first time, did he lament not having a wizards ability to analyze items. Best to err on the side of caution. If it was genuine, Titania would loose nothing from a day of caution and if trap, it'd frustrate his unknown enemies.

Lucifer rose to leave, opting to return back.

@Michale CS
 
Once he returned to Patricia's place, the scene was different than he'd been told...

The big glass coffee table was shattered, and Cynthia lie on the floor in the midst of it, large shards of glass in each shoulder and each hip, pinning her to the floor. She was unconscious.

It was Patricia who was restrained on the massage table, awake, but with a tennis ball shoved in her mouth. She was desperately trying to talk.

The rest of the place was a mess. The Erinyes' sword was embedded in the stone of the fireplace, there were scorch marks everywhere, and little bits of flame flickering out all over the place, but these were dying down not spreading.

The place smelled of blood, fire, and... steam?

A voice echoed in the air.

"Humans have so many good turns of phrase. The one that is most appropriate for me just now is... No plan ever survives contact with the enemy." Mist began forming into a vaguely humanoid form by an open window.

"The mage came running to me the moment you left him behind. He asked me to show him mercy. I did. He died swiftly. Then, it was a matter of going through your office, to see whom you might be asking for help, and confronting the other half-infernals who might betray knowledge. I didn't count on the demon girl being a client of the faerie. She left her bread crumb too soon... so... I suppose we need to rush things along..." The form was mainly humanoid now, and it floated toward the fireplace. "The half-demon should cause a big enough explosion, don't you think?"

Cynthia was starting to come around, but was barely moving. The brand itself wasn't visible just yet, but it did hold what looked like a cold iron fireplace implement.

@Saint Guillotine
 
Lucifer quietly closed the door behind him, the click of the lock echoing as he stared before suddenly smirking. Aha... So that was it. He stepped forward, casually remarking.

"I was wondering about that- what you were. Why you did what you did. You entered holy ground and bypassed my signs. That spells out Infernal. You hold a cold iron implement and entered a Fae residence like so- Not Unseelie. Nor any style of Fae. What really got to me was a lack of motive. Who benefits from these deaths? Who gains anything? Seeing you here, in this form filled in the blanks.... Wizard."

The Geas. The testing, even poor Mallory and his association as well as the sinister reconstruction of a summoning circle, all pointed to a mage. A mage such as the one who frequented the Troubles End, who would take advantage of the demonic contest to kill. He didn't need to be soul-less or durable to survive. This gaseous form provided that much. So many possible motivation, but it all came back to racial hatred. Lucifer took another step, stopping right over Cynthia as he asked.

"So how did you lure Rashid?"

@Michale CS
 
"Oh, the passions for the flesh for the Ifrit run high, but I'm not here to monologue. I'm here to end this." A wind whipped around the room, stirring up all of the things already brought loose by his earlier attacks.

He made a motion with one translucent arm, like a backhand, and it was like a gale-force wind struck Lucifer, tossing him back, as the mage closed with Cynthia.

A sound behind and to the left of Lucifer also caught his attention. The massage table had tipped over, and Patricia was freeing herself from her bonds.

"You've no chance. No weapon on Earth can harm me while in this form."

Patricia meanwhile, while still trying to extricate that stupid tennis ball from her mouth, kept nodding in the direction of the fireplace.

@Saint Guillotine
 
Michale CS said:
"Oh, the passions for the flesh for the Ifrit run high, but I'm not here to monologue. I'm here to end this." A wind whipped around the room, stirring up all of the things already brought loose by his earlier attacks.

He made a motion with one translucent arm, like a backhand, and it was like a gale-force wind struck Lucifer, tossing him back, as the mage closed with Cynthia.

A sound behind and to the left of Lucifer also caught his attention. The massage table had tipped over, and Patricia was freeing herself from her bonds.

"You've no chance. No weapon on Earth can harm me while in this form."

Patricia meanwhile, while still trying to extricate that stupid tennis ball from her mouth, kept nodding in the direction of the fireplace.

@Saint Guillotine
Click to expand...

"I hate fighting wizards."

"Its not so much that they're more durable then most, its in their preparation. A good wizard if he thinks ahead, can plan out the wazoo. Sunlight bound and unleashed, gravity manipulation, and my favorite- the Death Curse."

"Me, I mostly just hit things but that was going to do squat here."

"So I decided to improvise."

This was going to suck, but he would deal with the fallout after.

And bursting into a swarm of bats, Lucifer flew at the mage. Even like this, he still had a form. Lucifer just blinded and disrupted it, swarming through him and buying time for Patricia.

@Michale CS
 
Patricia finally spat the literal ball gag out and dashed for the fireplace. She grabbed the hilt of that sword and yanked on it, but it wasn't coming free, just yet.

And that's when things got worse. The misty half-gas half-liquid of the mage started to take on the properties of holy water, and the light in the room started to change color to be a lot more daylight in properties.

"Asshole. Don't worry Lucifer, I got this one..." Even immobilized as she was, Cynthia's connection to the Infernal and the darkness that abides there was innate. Roiling black smoke covered the ceiling, making it darker in the room, but blocking out the sunlight.

@Saint Guillotine
 
Ow. Ow. Ow.

......Owowowowowowowow-!!

Holy Water burns. Especially the real stuff. Thankfully, this was a wizards watered down version and not the real, honest-to-blessed stuff. A genuinely blessed cask of water burns like acid in the face. This scalded like hot water poured on your neck. Painful, but not entirely.

I wished I didn't know the differences.

Reforming, Lucifer staggered and swung his blade, seeking to intersect the held weapon of his opponent.

@Michale CS
 
Lucifer's blade met the implement, and passed through, harmlessly, to which the wizard laughed. "I said no weapon on Earth could harm me. That includes what I'm holding, little wannabe vampire..."

"Fat lot of talk for a wannabe wizard!" Cynthia said, surging a wave of pure heat at the form, causing it to sizzle some.

"That's it, time to die..." He raised the brand...

Another wave of heat put him off balance for a moment. Patricia pulled out the sword...

The wizard turned, blasting her back...

As she flew toward the window she spun, tossing the sword...

Cynthia, from her prone position, countered some of the wind with a backdraft of heat, overcoming the wind to the point where Patricia was dangling by her hands from her third story window instead of being outright tossed out of it...

And the Erinyes Hell-forged sword embedded itself in the floor, right in front of Lucifer.

@Saint Guillotine
 
No one dissed Saint Guillotine. Empowered especially for the more arcane foes, it was capable of slicing ghosts. Still, when all was said and done?

He could get used to this.

Which all but terrified him inwardly as his hands grasped the handle.

"It was like gripping a venomous snake, expecting it to turn on you at any moment. Even defanged as much as the Fae could manage, I could feel the inherent evil. This was a sword of conquest, not protection. Its purpose was to inflict pain, not prevent it. In my hands, a dormant spirit awakened and called out to the darkest part of me, the jagged pieces of my soul I inherited from the Scholomance when I was made.

And a part of my soul answered joyfully. I felt powerful, I felt like every dark impulse was unleashed in that moment. It made me want to kill this obstacle and claim my just reward. Patricia that tempting minx and the demonic slut, mount them both and make them mine by right of conquest. Why stop there? I could take whatever I wanted, as I wanted. Nothing would or could stop me.

Everything and everyone. All the kingdoms of the world, if I bowed my head and worshipped this power. I could be great.

It was nothing like me and yet, it was.

I rejected it utterly, yelling something as my eyes blazed bright and I swung the sword with all my might for his neck.

"BURN!"

@Michale CS
 
The sword burst into hellfire as it sliced...

...the scream followed, one normally reserved for those damned to eternal torment...

...then with another rush of air, the form dissipated, metal brand clanging to the floor...

The wizard had apparently raised his hand to defend himself as the sword came for him. A human arm, cauterized and cut off just below the shoulder, was attached to that brand.

"You got 'im. Nothin' can cure a wound caused by one of them swords, nothin' short of an Angel..." Cynthia coughed a couple times then continued, as Patricia pulled herself into the room. "...an somethin' tells me, bastard won't be seeing any angels any time soon." The half demon returned to unconciousness as Patricia wrapped her hands in the shreds of her drapes, starting to pull the spikes of glass that pinned Cynthia to the floor as swirls of butterfly-shaped lights swirled around the wounds, preventing them from bleeding.

"You better put that sword down, more than a few strikes and the temptation gets worse, and I'm in no shape to fight you right now." Patricia added, while not pausing in her healing.

Meanwhile, the severed limb was turning black and decaying at a rapid pace.

@Saint Guillotine
 
She didn't have to tell him twice.

Lucifer flung the sword back, looking haunted and with a horrified expression. He stumbled back, falling backwards as he just stared, his own hand feeling hot as though he was the one burned.

People like to say that the Devil made them do it. That it wasn't their fault they did what they chose to do. This like many other things, is a great lie.

We're never forced to do anything. Thats the beauty of free will. We can choose to be sinners or saints, heroes or villains. We may be tempted, but its part of the game. All they can do is show us what lies within us.

Sometimes, we may not like the answer.

Lucifer staggered to his feet, looking down at the arm before snorting- then stifling giggles.

Followed by full blown laughter as he fist pumped.

"AHA! IN YOUR FACE! WE HAVE YOU NOW!"

His laughter was wild and just slightly unhinged.

@Michale CS
 
"I think he left. Or rather, the rest of him did. Losing the arm, after the transformation to mist... He's not going to have much left in him after that. I've got to finish stabilizing Cynthia here. She made things worse by using her powers while so badly wounded. There's no way he's going to be able to hold mist form long... you could pursue him, but I wouldn't use the sword." Patricia was on the other shoulder now, pulling free the glass and healing the wound.

Another wind whipped through the window, but this time, there was no swirling mist, but an attractive woman of Arab descent.

"Don't worry. I got him. He killed my cousin, and wanted to kill many more... including humans, just to make Demons look worse than they already are, and further his xenophobia." In one of Aaliyah's hands was a bottle, full of swirling mist.

The Janni grinned. "I just happened to have this. It's a pity that I had to move out, but I think it's worth it. Death is just a bit too good for this one, no?"

She paused and shrugged, chuckling lightly. "Oh, I hope you don't mind, I had to bind myself to a crystal decanter you had in your office. I went there looking for you because I'd gotten a text message saying to go there. I think the wizard sought to frame me so having me at your office with you gone would look like evidence of that. I... might have this thing where I pick up things I like and keep them, now and then. I'll pay you for it. Maybe... with dinner?"


@Saint Guillotine
 
.....Oh. Well.

That made it easier. No more need to track him down via arm. Lucifer grinned, somewhat delirious. It had been a long day, with only coffee and a Jack Daniels to tide him over. No food, no rest, a fight and then resisting the pull of the sword. Damphir he may be, but he had limits. People were safe and no one else was going to die.

His body cashed in the check and he was out before he hit the floor.

Vampires had it easy. They could perform their abilities without needing to drain a lot of blood. As a Damphir in comparison, I was a gas-guzzling car. A needful thing, if I wanted to retain my humanity.

Shutting down was a trained reaction, to counter the Frenzy that affected less-disciplined sanguine types. Better than saying I fainted.

All I had to worry about was the odd person who tried to stake my heart and cut off my head.

Hopefully, they'd have the courtesy not to disturb my sleep when they did.

At any rate, I woke up-How long afterwards, I didn't know.

I just hoped it wasn't to Hannibal Lecter with a stake in one hand and a hammer in the other.

@Michale CS
 
As it so happened, he woke up in a penthouse suite at the Excelsior Hotel, just after dark the next day.

He didn't feel hungry, at all. A humming sound came from the balcony, where Aaliyah sat, picking through a container of Chinese food, a half-empty bottle of Sake on the little glass endtable next to her. Several more of those little white folding cartons were stacked neatly inside one another on the balcony floor.

"Ah, you're awake. I'm just about ready for round two... are you?"


~FIN~

@Saint Guillotine
 
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