The Ninth Circle of Hell...

"Mistress..."

The voice drew Lilith out of her thoughts. She had been pondering what to do next. Thus far, things had not been going well. They had won round one, so to speak. With John's death, Heaven's plans had been thwarted. Their precious Triad had been broken, but it wasn't over yet. She wasn't too concerned about the cat, so long as she and her ex-lover were separated, but they'd been unable to locate him, and that troubled the demoness to no end. The whole thing stunk of angelic intervention.

"What is it, Agrath' Did I not tell you I was not to be disturbed?"

"Yes, Mistress, but..." The seeress lowered her head subserviently, groveling beneath the lurid gaze of the other. "I believe I've found him, Mistress."

Lilith snapped her head to attention as she looked at the other, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Where?" she asked, pointedly, lifting the other's chin, or what passed for a chin, to face her.

The seeress smiled, happy to please her mistress at long last. She had been searching for what seemed like forever, but to no avail. "The angels must have hidden him from my sight, but I have found him at last."

"Stop your prattling, Agrath, and tell me where."

"A place called Chicago. He is with another hunter. A woman."

Lilith smiled, monstrous lips parting to reveal sharp and hideous teeth. "Very good, Agrath." She caressed the other's face with claw-tipped fingers, and the other practically purred in pleasure. "Where is Namaah?" she asked. "I have work for her."

The other peered into the blood-filled cup she held between her hands. She stirred the mixture with a clawed fingertip and stared for a moment into its dark depths. "The City of Sin." A small smile crossed her hideous face. "She is indulging herself."

Lilith snarled and growled her displeasure, knowing what that meant. Namaah was, after all, a succubus. A temptress. A whore from hell. She reveled in seducing men and stealing their souls with her demonic and womanly wiles. Lilith had sent her to seduce and capture Rhys once and she'd failed. She would give the demoness one last chance to redeem herself, and then, she would take matters into her own hands.

"You've done well, Agrath. I am pleased."

The seeress smiled again, basking in the glow of her mistress' good graces. "What are you going to do?"

"Do what I should have done a long time ago. Kill them both and be done with it."

"And fulfill the prophecy?" the other asked in eager anticipation.

"That is what this has always been about, has it not, my pet?"

Agrath's mouth widened in a hideous grin and she laughed, at last realizing the full implications of her mistress' plan. If things went according to plan, the Gates of Hell would swing wide open and they would have their freedom forever.

Chicago... Rhys threw the last of the suitcases in the trunk, wondering just how much luggage one woman needed to take on a five hundred mile road trip. Kellie had packed three suitcases compared to his one duffel, not counting all the equipment she insisted they had to drag along with them, which mostly consisted of weapons and other miscellaneous monster-hunting gear. One reliable handgun, a flask of holy water, and a bag of rock salt was all he felt he really needed in that regard. Rhys slammed the truck door to start back toward the warehouse Kellie had transformed into a veritable fortress. Barbed wire, he knew, would do very little to keep demons from the compound, but the building was warded with sigils and other magical forms of protection. They were at least somewhat safe there. He couldn't say the same for being on the road. Road trips were always dangerous. There wasn't much you could do to protect yourself from demons while driving. Though he didn't remember the circumstances behind it, he had nearly died in a car crash that Adam believed had been caused by a demon. He didn't know it yet, but he was about to run into that very same demon again. "Rhys, darling" Long time, no see." Rhys heard a woman's voice behind him, one that for some strange reason sent a chill up his spine. His first instinct was to run, but somehow he knew it would do no good. He swung around to find a tall, dark-haired woman standing between him and the warehouse. If not for the coal-black of her pupil-less eyes and the ugly sneer on her face, he might have actually found her attractive. His right hand went instinctively inside his coat pocket and curled around the handle of the handgun he had hidden there. He didn't need to be told he was facing a demon. Hunting was second nature to him. It was as natural as eating and breathing. "Who are you and what do you want?" he demanded. The woman took one step forward and Rhys took one step back. "You don't recognize me, Rhys" I'm hurt. We're such good friends, after all." She was pouting sadly, but he didn't find her very convincing. "Like hell we are," he retorted, glaring at her suspiciously. "We've even shared a kiss or two," she continued. "Would you like me to refresh your memory?" "I'd like you to go screw yourself," he shot back, eyes flashing a warning. She clucked her tongue at him and frowned, flicking a brief glance at the hand in his pocket. "You don't really want to shoot me, Rhys. You can't hurt me. You'll only hurt the body I'm wearing, and you don't really want to do that, do you? Her name is Molly. She's a dental hygienist. She's planning on getting married in a few months. You wouldn't want to ruin her plans, now, would you, darling?" He wavered uncertainly for a moment, though his finger remained on the trigger. She smiled, as if noticing his uncertainty. "That's better. Now, let's talk this over, shall we?" "You're Namaah," he declared, putting two and two together. Though he might not remember her, he'd read enough of his own journal to realize who she must be. "I'm going to kill you, if it's the last thing I do." "Kill. That's a strong word, Rhys. You don't really want to kill anything, do you? You just want to live your life and be left alone, isn't that right?" "What the hell do you know?" "When it comes to you, I know everything, darling. I know you have amnesia. I know that John and David are dead. I know your lovely fiancee....or should I say ex-fiancee has forgotten all about you. She's with someone else now, Rhys. She doesn't love you or care about you. She doesn't even miss you." "What the hell are you talking about?" "I'm talking about your precious Riley, darling. You tried so hard to keep her safe, but you failed. It's only a matter of time before she's dead, too. There's only one way to save her and that's to come with me." "You're lying." "Am I" Let's talk about Kellie then, shall we" Oh, yes, I know all about her, too. Your latest conquest. Being with her only puts her in danger, Rhys. You know that. This isn't going to end well. It's going to end with both of them dead, unless you agree to my terms." "What do you want?" he growled, not trusting her for a moment. "It's very simple really. You come with me and I let them be. They can live out their puny little lives in peace. Get married, spawn children, whatever it is humans do with their insignificant little selves." "What about me?" "You..." She took a step closer. "You come with me and I'll spare their lives and take you someplace safe. I'm the only one who can help you, Rhys." He had backed up as far as he could go, his back pressed against the side of the truck. It was either going to be him or her, and he'd be damned it if was going to be him. She was close enough to touch him, smiling maliciously, dead, black eyes looking blindly at him. She grazed his cheek with her fingertips, smiling in amusement when she saw him flinch. A smile spread across her face, black eyes sliding momentarily to the gold-tone Celtic cross that he wore about his neck. It had once belonged to the hunter who had raised him after his parents had been killed. With lightening speed, she reached out and snatched the cross from around his neck.

It was just the distraction he needed. "Go to hell," he growled as he shoved the pistol into her gut and pulled the trigger. The bullet took her by surprise, a dark stain spreading across the front of her shirt. She looked stunned for a moment and then she laughed. "If you insist, but you're going with me." She pulled a jagged blade from behind her back and thrust it at his chest, but before the blade could make contact, a blinding white light flared between them and she staggered backward, cowering in fear. She threw up an arm to shield herself from the otherworldly light, terrified by its brilliance. It was only a moment before the light faded and she dropped her arm, shrieking in rage. Rhys was gone and all Namaah had to show for it was Dylan's cross and a dead girl.

Searching for Answers

Zen Gardens, Apt 3A...

Confused by the dream or vision or whatever it was he'd had, Rhys had decided that the only person he knew that could help him understand what was going on was the witch, Aurelia.

He debated for a while whether or not to call on her, but he needed some answers. She'd said just to call her name and she'd appear, but that sounded almost too easy. He'd paced the floor for a while, debating, until he felt like if he didn't do something, he was going to go stark raving mad.

He shoved a hand through his hair and nervously cleared his throat, wondering if he should light a candle or burn some incense or something. He knew how to summon a demon, but he'd never summoned a witch before.

"Um ....Aurelia" I'm sorry to bother you, but..." He broke off, feeling ridiculous. Why couldn't she just have given him her phone number like normal people"

In her shop, Hocus Pocus, early in the morning, setting up for the day's trading, was a habit of Aurelia's that could not be avoided. She considered herself responsible for the safety of her premises, and each morning she charged pyrite crystals and set them about the boundary, her early warning system for the presence of the less obvious evils in the world. As she set the last of the crystals, she paused, her head tilting thoughtfully. She'd thought she'd heard ....Her lips curved in a faint smile. She had heard her name called; the caller just wasn't anywhere near the shop. Taking a moment to lock up and leave the key available for the staff, she took herself off upstairs, concentrating on the voice that called to her. There was a moment of dislocation, and she shimmered out of sight, reappearing in another shimmering haze outside Rhys' front door. Lifting her hand, she knocked politely, tucking her pen into her hair as she waited for an answer.

Rhys' summoning was interrupted by a knock at the front door. It couldn't be her already, could it' He hadn't introduced himself to anyone else in the building yet, and he wasn't sure he was going to. He was somewhat reclusive and solitary. It was better that way. Safer for him and for other people. He stared at the door a moment, as if trying to see through it and then decided there was only one way to find out who was there and that was to answer the door.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered, as he peered out the peephole into the hallway, surprised to find her standing there.

Aurelia was not in the habit of shimmering in full view of anyone, still becoming used to the easy-going nature of Rhy'Din itself. Besides, it was her one demonic power, and she did not like to exercise it in public. Her lips twitched into a grin as she heard the muttered expletive from the other side of the door.

He wondered if she'd be able to let herself in without his help, but he wasn't about to test her. Instead, he unbolted the door and pulled it open. "Uh, hi. I'm....uh....sorry to bother you on such short notice."

There she was, plain as day, waiting patiently outside his door to be allowed in. She looked solid enough, normal enough, dressed in a fitted shirt, corset, and black pants. "It is no trouble," she assured him with a smile, dark eyes noting his rumpled appearance. "But ....I do not think you wish to speak of it in your hallway?"

His eyes wandered over her, finding her attractive. He was a man, after all, and she was, well....a woman. He blinked out of his thoughts and stepped aside to allow her entry. "Oh, no....sorry." He was obviously nervous, though he wasn't sure why. He'd never really been nervous around women before, but she was different somehow. "You want some coffee or something"

It wasn't as though Aurelia was immune to Rhys' unique charms, either, but she was more concerned with his appearance and the reason he had called her than her own libido for the moment. Stepping into the apartment, she gently shut the door behind herself. "If you are making some, then yes, I would very much like some coffee," she said pleasantly. Her head tilted with curiosity as she turned her gaze fully onto him. "You look like hell chewed you up and spat you out again."

He knew he probably looked like hell, but she came a little too close for comfort with that assessment, and yet, that was exactly why he'd called on her - because she might actually be able to help him make some sense of it all. "Yeah, well....it wouldn't be the first time."

He looked her over again and then gestured around him to the sparsely-decorated apartment. "Make yourself at home." There was a couch and a chair and a few tables, nothing really in the way of decoration. He had what he needed but not much else.

Her brows rose infinitesimally for just a moment, comprehension dawning on her face as she looked him over. "Ah," she breathed out slowly. "I see." Shrugging out of her coat, she hung it automatically on the hooks near the door, moving toward the couch. "Do you have need of magic, Rhys?"

"I have need of a miracle," he muttered as he turned his back and started to get the coffee going. "You like milk or sugar?"

She smiled gently, turning from the couch to follow him. "Sadly, I am a long way from divinely-touched," she apologised with a soft chuckle. "Non, I like my coffee black, thank you." She leaned her elbows onto the counter, watching him. "I know a little about dream-warding, though, if that would help."

He scooped the coffee and poured it into the pot, turning to arch a single brow at her. "Dream-warding" How'd you know..." He trailed off, realizing she must have put two and two together from his appearance and the time of his call.

She nodded. "Oui. It is much the same as the warding, or protecting, of a place, but that you must wear the spell-touched crystal at all times," she explained. "There are specific types of crystal and spells that combine to form a wall about your mind as you sleep." She did not touch on his unfinished question, though she did make a note to herself not to make so many intuitive leaps in conversation. It seemed to knock him off-balance.

"Like a hex bag?" Rhys wasn't too familiar with crystals, but he did know how to make hex bags using various materials and spells. He hadn't yet had the chance to gather the right materials and he wasn't entirely sure it would work in Rhydin.

"I would assume so, yes. I am unfamiliar with these ....hex-bags ....you mention." Shrugging lightly, Aurelia rose from her lean, laying her hands comfortably against her hips. "You are welcome to come and visit my shop. We stock a vast range of magical and non-magical items. It may be that we have all you require."

He finished scooping the coffee and edged past her to fill the pot with water. He smirked. "Said like a true salesman. Saleswoman," he corrected himself.

"Ah, so you noticed," Aurelia teased lightly. "I shall have to make more of an effort to appear gender-neutral." She laughed quietly, leaning out of his way as he edged past. "I did not say I would ask you to pay," she added, still smiling. "But I reserve the right to see how you use them."

The light teasing back and forth was starting to relax him a little. "Please, don't. I'm enjoying the view," he said before he could stop himself, immediately chastising himself for saying something so stupid. "Uh..." He edged past her again to pour the water into the pot and press the button to start the whole thing percolating. "I'm not sure I'll find what I need in your shop, Aurelia. My problems go far beyond charms and love potions."

Her smile deepened, pleased that he'd relaxed enough to tease back, even if he did immediately grow uncomfortable again. "You are welcome to look," she told him quietly. "I do not stock only charms and potions. I stock ingredients, too; amulets and objects of power, though only I have the key to them. Do not say no until you have seen for yourself." She ran a hand through her dark hair, pushing it back off her face. "And do not retract a compliment with cold counsel," she added with a quirk of her brow.

"Oh, I'm not retracting it. Not at all. It's just that..." He broke off again, chewing at his lip for a moment. "Bad things happen to people who get close to me."

"I will let you in on a secret, then." She leaned close, lowering her voice in a still teasing manner. "I can look after myself."

She was a little too close for comfort, but he stood his ground, meeting her gaze steadily. "I've heard that before."

"Ah, then let me demonstrate." Stepping away with one finger raised, she moved to where space surrounded her. Lowering her hand to her side, she drew in a slow breath, and almost too quickly to see it form, suddenly there was a sphere of blue energy surrounding her. She smiled at him through the blue haze. "You should try to get to me."

He turned to watch her, brows rising as she surrounded herself with blue light. In all his years of hunting, he'd never seen anything like it before, but this wasn't his world and she was like no one he'd ever met before. "What will happen if I do' Will I get knocked on my ass?"

"Not unless you move with force and momentum enough to send you backward when you bounce off," she smiled to him. "Lay your hand upon the shield - it will not harm you. But you cannot push through."

"I'm only human, Aurelia. Will that protect you against demons?" He approached the blue sphere warily.

"It has in the past. And it is not my only defence."

"I'm not talking your average run of the mill demons. I'm talking ancient, powerful, kick your ass and ask questions later demons." He lifted a hand, hesitating a moment before poking at the sphere with a finger. "Demons with names I won't even repeat here, but think Biblical."

She nodded, still smiling in that utterly unperturbed manner. "I think perhaps you need to see my Book of Shadows," she told him, watching as he poked at the sphere around her. It crackled, but did not give in any way. "I do not believe I have faced any demon who believes themself to be Biblical, but ....do the highest level of demons beneath the Source of All Evil count?"

There went that brow again. "The Source of All Evil" I'd say that's right about in the ball park, yeah." He laid a hand against the sphere and applied a little pressure. "Are you able to expand that to protect someone else? Better yet, can you teach me to do the same thing?" He knew he was asking a lot of questions all at once, but he had a lot of questions to ask.

"Then perhaps you should not judge me by what you see on the surface," she suggested gently, laying her hands on her hips once more. The wall of energy beneath his palm was warm to the touch, though not unpleasantly so, sending crackling ripples of energy over the back of his hand. "I can extend it over you, certainly," she agreed, "but unless you are a witch born with this power, I do not think it can be taught."

"It's still pretty handy. Have you used it before?" He paused. "You said something about the Source of All Evil. Are we talking the Devil?"

She nodded. "Many times I have used this power," she told him. "It was the first of my powers to manifest." The sphere seemed to fluctuate for a moment, and expanded to envelop him in its protective bubble. "I do not know any Devil, but he commands all the underworld."

"I wonder if your demons are the same as mine." He turned his head to look around at the protective bubble that had formed around him. "This place....Rhydin....it's like the melting pot of the universe. I'm not sure what the rules are here."

"There are no rules," she shrugged lightly, and the shield faded from view, absorbed back into her body easily. "But that evil should not prevail. This Rhy'Din is a good world, at heart."

He watched as the shield faded and turned to face her, frowning. "I'm not from this world. The evil I'm facing is from another....I think. I'm not even sure about that anymore."

"Neither am I from this world," she told him with a tiny, wry smile. "Yet my own evil followed me here. It seems easier to fight here - there is no need to hide what magic you use or what power is at your command. And there is no need to fight alone."

"I've been fighting alone for a long time." He turned and stepped back toward the coffee pot to pour them each a cup, not wanting her to see the look of confusion and despair on his face. "Do you know Riley O'Rourke?" Maybe it was time to start at the beginning. If she was going to help him, then she had a right to know all of it.

"Indeed, yes, I do," Aurelia nodded, moving after him once more. "Miss O'Rourke owns this building - I helped to exorcise a malevolent spirit from here a couple of months ago."

He wasn't actually starting at the beginning, not of his story anyway, but somewhere in the middle, at the point at which Riley came into things. "We were engaged once. We were going to be married." He paused briefly as he took in that bit of information. Exorcising a spirit was something he was very familiar with. "We were going to have a son..." He trailed off a moment, closing his eyes, the pain of it still too fresh.

Another little part of the puzzle that was Rhys Bristol clicked into place with this piece of information, but Aurelia did not interrupt, letting him speak as much as he wished, listening attentively.

"We were part of some Heavenly Triad....We were supposed to close the Gates of Hell or some such thing or another." He had the cups poured but he hadn't moved from the spot. "They..." Again, he didn't name them. The demons were always just they. "We were separated and..." He wasn't sure he could tell the rest, the grief felt like a heavy weight against his chest.

Noting how hard it was for him to speak of these things, Aurelia moved closer, reaching out her hands to take his, offering quiet reassurance as her fingers closed gently about his hands. "Do not force yourself to tell me anything," she told him with quiet assurance. "I will not force it from you. But you have my support, if you wish it."

It was taking all his will to maintain some semblance of composure. He didn't want to lose it, not in front of her, but he'd had very little time to grieve, very little time to absorb and accept everything that had happened. He looked down at their clasped hands and then back up to her, nodding, relieved that he didn't have to speak of it. At least, not yet.

"I had a dream....or a vision. "A nightmare, I guess." His voice betrayed his emotions, obviously shaken by the dream and the newly emerged memories.

"If you do not wish to speak of it, do not," she tried to keep him from upsetting himself further. "Come ....sit." Gently, she moved to guide him to a seat on the couch, returning for their coffee before taking a seat beside him herself.

He let her guide him to the couch, shoving a hand through his hair as he took a seat, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

Sitting beside him, she set the mugs onto the nearby table and twisted to face him once more, capturing his hands in a firm, but gentle, grasp.

Though he was doing his best to maintain his composure, he couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He let her take his hands, drawing strength from that simple gesture. "This dream....it doesn't make sense."

Despite her stern notice to herself, Aurelia could not help vocalising her guess as she smoothed her fingers over his knuckles. "Perhaps it was a warning," she suggested. "Such dreams rarely make sense until it is too late."

"Maybe. I mean, I've had plenty of nightmares before, but this one was different." He searched her eyes, as if debating how much to tell her, how much she could handle hearing from him, how much she wanted to know.

She waited, patient and quiet, her silence not demanding in any way. If he needed to tell someone what was haunting him, she knew it did not have to be her. But she would like to be the one he confided in, nonetheless.

"When I was a boy, I had this dream. At least, I thought it was a dream. I dreamed of a woman. She was bathed in a golden light, like an angel. And she told me to be strong. I don't know how to describe her. She was....beautiful, but somehow I knew she wasn't human."

The description was achingly familiar to Aurelia. Though she had never had the pleasure of meeting any of them, the figure he described seemed to her to be an Elder. "A being of divine good?"

He nodded his head, relieved she seemed to understand and was neither laughing at him or telling it was all just a figment of his imagination. "I dreamed of her again tonight. She....saved me somehow from a demon. And she told me....She said I have another name." He seemed reluctant to tell her more, but he knew he had to. Maybe the name would mean something to her. It meant nothing to him. "Rathanael."

"Rathanael," she repeated the name thoughtfully, a furrow creasing her brows as she searched through her mind for any hint of the use and meaning of the name. Shaking her head, she offered him an apologetic smile. "I do not know it. But ..." She sighed softly, squeezing his hands. "I know someone who might."

He seemed relieved once again that she believed him and didn't seem to think he was crazy. He arched a brow, wondering who she was going to suggest. "Who?"

"As a witch, I am assigned by the Elders a whitelighter," she attempted to explain. "Uh ....a guardian angel, I suppose you would call it, who guides me and protects me. He may know more about this Rathanael, and if he does not, he can ask the Elders."

"The Elders?" He repeated. He'd never heard of whitelighters or Elders before.

"They are the ..." She sighed, running out of words to try and describe them. "They guide and oversee all good in the worlds, and they command whitelighters to take a direct hand in doing that. I do not know if I can explain it any further."

"Like Archangels?" He came from different experiences, but maybe they were just different words for the same things.

"I do not truly know ....perhaps, yes." She shrugged. "I only know a little, and it is not helpful to you, this I can see."

He seemed to consider that a moment. "You think this....whitelighter might be able to help?"

"Oui, he may," she nodded. "If for nothing else but to heal wounds. He can heal anything but death."

"Heal wounds?" he repeated, wondering if she meant physical wounds or wounds of the heart or both.

She smiled gently. "I have seen him heal both physical and mental wounds," she told him with quiet confidence. "But I do not know how it works."

"Do you think he'd know about the woman in my dreams?"

"He may. He may even know her." Aurelia wasn't entirely sure if Rhys' reality and her own would easily overlap, but it made sense to a point that good and evil were concepts that crossed the Nexus in many forms.

Searching for Answers

"Is she real?" Rhys asked quietly, his voice betraying his emotions.

"Oh, you do remember her?" Matthias waved his hand and it went through the image, sending ripples from her middle outwards. "Oh, she's real. Just not here, not right now anyway." He watched Aurelia walk out of the room again. "So, questions."

Rhys reached out a hand to touch her. He'd only seen her twice, once as a boy just before his parents had died, and just a few days ago in a dream where she'd told him his true name. "Who is she?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Lailah, her name is Lailah. She was your guardian. And your teacher. You don't remember her teaching you?" The whitelighter eyed Rathanael curiously. "She was a good teacher. One of the best. A friend of mine."

"Lailah," Rhys repeated softly. "She....She came to me when I was a kid. Before my parents died."

"Of course she did. She watches over you. Always has. She never said why you just disappeared though. Always wondered that. So I suppose you want to know how you know her?"

He nodded lightly, still enthralled with the image before him. She was beautiful, just as he remembered her, and it made his heart ache with longing to see her again, though he didn't understand why.

"Ok, enough distractions," Matthias chuckled. With a wave of his hand, the image disappeared.

"No!" Rhys reached out for the shimmering image as she disappeared. His heart sank and he dropped back onto the chair, looking close to tears.

"There, there. You'll see her again. She's been there all along, Rathanael. You've just not been able to see her like you used to. She is your guardian angel, much like I am the lovely Aurelia's. She was your friend, your confidante, your teacher. You were being trained to be a whitelighter. You even had your own pupils to train. Young witches, just freshly learning their powers. You were to lead them through the straight and narrow. Then you were just gone."

Rhys looked up at Matthias, no longer disbelieving, but not really understanding either. "What do you mean, I was gone" You're saying I'm....I was....like you?"

"You were, yes." Matthias nodded. "And you could still be. I'm not sure what exactly happened to you but Lailah might now. You can still call to her, I think. She'll have more answers than I will."

"I can call on her, like Aurelia called on you?"

"Pretty much," Matthias nodded and leaned back. "Aurelia darling?"

Aurelia came back into view, wiping her hands dry on a tea-towel that did not belong to Rhys. Evidently she had nipped home to stock his kitchen with a few essentials while the men were speaking. "Oui?"

Probably a good thing as Rhys' kitchen, and the rest of his apartment, was pretty barren. Not much in the way of decoration, just the necessities he and David had scrounged up one day while Riley was busy with business.

"Come here, darling," Matthias held out his hand for her. She'd been out of his site for long enough. He turned his attention back to Rhys. "Your name was Rathanael back then. I'm not sure that the blood and bone sack you're wearing will let you call to her. But you can try."

Rhys leaned back in the chair, fingers brushing his hair again, still trying to wrap his head around all of it.

Moving into the room, Aurelia perched herself on the arm of Matthias' chair, her eyes on Rhys. "It cannot hurt to try," she told him very gently. "Just think of her, and call her name. She'll hear you."

"Blood and bone sack," Rhys repeated, stifling a shudder, not particularly liking how Matthias referred to his human body.

Matthias lifted a brow, a slight smirk on his face as he reached up to gently stroke Aurelia's hair. "She's right, that's all you have to do."

"If I'm....an angel....why am I here" How do you know me" Were we friends?"

"Aurelia, has your friend been struck over the head by a cast iron skillet?" He laughed and then turned his attention back to Rhys. "As I said, I am a friend of Lailah's. She was your tutor, your guardian, your whitelighter. So yes, I did know you. But not very well. And one day, you just weren't around anymore and Lailah kept your secrets. She's the one who would know what really happened." He looked up at Aurelia then with a smile.

"No one's going to believe me. I don't believe me."

"I did," Aurelia said softly.

"What do you mean?" Rhys asked her with a lifted brow.

Matthias' smile grew and he rubbed Aurelia's back. "It's a lot to take in. But if you have faith, you will see she is telling you the truth. All you have to do is think about Lailah, call her name and she should come."

"I believed you, Rhys. Everything you said to me before you knew what I was, or what you are, I believed. Don't isolate yourself with your own uncertainties; they're your worst enemy." Aurelia nodded, leaning against Matthias. "Take it from someone who knows."

No uncertain amount of pride shone in Matthias' eyes as he looked up at Aurelia. "You'll listen to your new friend. She is wise beyond her years."

Rhys was studying them again, noting their closeness, a closeness he'd once felt with Riley, but no longer. There was that old familiar ache in his heart again. Loneliness. Solitude. "Are you two..." He left the rest unsaid.

"On probation," Aurelia told Rhys with a grin.

He shook his head, not understanding that. "I'm sorry?"

She chuckled faintly, glancing at Matthias. "Proving that we can perform our duties while being together," she explained gently. "If we can prove that, then they'll let us marry."

Matthias winked in Rhys' direction with a cluck of his tongue. "Sorry, she's taken."

"I wasn't..." He frowned. "You shouldn't assume." He got off the chair. "I need a drink."

"Are you insulting my intended" She is quite lovely." Matthias smiled, trying to hold back the chuckle as his clear blue eyes twinkled with naughty mirth.

Aurelia lifted a hand between the pair of them. "Antagonizing one another is not going to help either of you," she told them firmly. "Matthias, stop it. And Rhys ....the only way you are going to get your answers is by calling to this Lailah. Putting it off will only put you in further danger."

Angel or not, Rhys was wearing a human body and a drink was just what the moment called for. "I'm not putting it off." He turned his back on them and went into the kitchen to get a beer. Coffee was not going to cut it.

"But you do not wish for an audience." She nodded, rising to her feet. "That can easily be arranged."

"Ah, yes. He'll want his privacy. I see tears and hugs and squealings happening." Matthias chuckled and looked up at Aurelia. "I'm such a sentimentalist."

"You are a bit of an ass," Aurelia corrected Matthias with a faint smirk.

Rhys didn't answer, though that wasn't it either. He simply went to the fridge and got himself a beer. He didn't see any such happy reunions, not for him. His reunion with Riley certainly hadn't been a happy one. So what was he supposed to do now" Consult with his guardian angel and ask her what the hell was going on' It was ludicrous and yet it made perfect sense. He cracked open a beer and took a deep swallow, more to calm his nerves than anything else.

"Part of my charm," Matthias chuckled and then stood up. "Rathanael, come here, please?" He took Aurelia by the hand.

"You have no idea what it's like, do you?"

"What?" Matthias eyes went wide, searching for some sort of clue what Rathanael now Rhys, was talking about. "I know quite a bit about what it's like about a lot of things. I need specifics, please."

"Being tossed into this place, having no fucking clue who you are or why you're here. And then when you do find out, when you finally remember....You realize how you've lost everything you ever loved....for what? It's easy for you. You've got each other."

"No, of course I do not." Aurelia's voice, for the first time, was approaching cold. "I certainly did not spend the first fifteen years of my life as a demon, not knowing that I had any other family but my mother and brother. I was a murderer before I reached the age of five, because I did not know any better. And I fought, I fought hard to go back to my mother when my father and Matthias found me. Because she was all I knew, and I did not know anything of love." She frowned, breathing hard as she suppressed the howls of her demonic side. "You are not the only person in this world who has suffered. Do not make the mistake of throwing yourself a pity party in front of me again."

A pity party. Is that what it was" Maybe she was right, but the pain was still too damned fresh. Something seemed to break in Rhys at her words, the anger fading away, replaced by grief. "How am I supposed to..."

"Love," Matthias rested his hand upon her shoulder to give her the strength to ward off the demonic side of her person. He looked to Rhys, almost apologetically. "Think on what I've told you, friend. Call on her. She will come. And she will teach you, again."

Rhys had no answer for that. He really had no choice. But for some reason, the prospect of calling her scared the hell out of him. What if she didn't appear" What if she wasn't real" What if she didn't care" What if she couldn't help" The look on his face betrayed all he was feeling. He was sorry he'd angered Aurelia. He hadn't meant to.

"Call her, and learn what you need to know," Aurelia told Rhys quietly, but firm. "Or do not call her. But if you choose not to, you will regret it for the rest of your life. We cannot make that decision for you."

"All these years and all I've had to do is call?" Rhys was blinking back tears, the bottle of beer still in his hand, but mostly forgotten.

"Just like Dorothy," Matthias smiled and clasped Aurelia's hand. There was a shimmer of light, those orbs appearing in a shadow, then they were gone.

Rhys was left alone in the kitchen, blinking into the darkness, and wondering if what had just happened was real.

Searching for Answers

Rhys paced the floor of his apartment. He was on his third beer. Unlike most people, he thought better with a little alcohol running through his veins. It relaxed him and allowed him to dig into the deeper, darker recesses of his brain. He missed Nikki and wondered where she'd gone. He wasn't sure what she was exactly, but she'd saved his ass on more than one occasion. She'd always been there for him, and he felt a little lost without her. Whenever he'd needed her, all he'd had to do is call, but she was no longer answering. Riley had said she'd simply disappeared. Rhys guessed it had something to do with demons. It always did, but he didn't want to think about that right now. He knew Aurelia was right. He wasn't going to accomplish anything by feeling sorry for himself. He'd played that game too long. What he needed now was answers. Aurelia and Matthias had pointed him in the right direction, but they couldn't solve his problems for him. Only he could do that. But how" They'd given him a name - Lailah. Supposedly, she was his whitelighter, his guardian angel. Whatever. He wasn't really sure what that meant, other than what he'd learned as a boy in Catechism class. He'd dismissed angels as nonsense a long time ago, and yet if demons were real, why not angels" But if angels were real, why hadn't they helped him' Or had they" He'd lost count of all the times he'd cheated death, most recently in Chicago, which had mysteriously resulted in his arrival in Rhydin. How he'd come to be there he didn't know. Had an angel intervened and saved his life by sending him to Rhydin" He almost had to smile at the thought of that, knowing Namaah was still out there somewhere searching for his soul. One small victory for the good guys. If there was one demon Rhys wanted dead, it was Namaah. She'd been responsible for Jessie and David and John's deaths; she's tried to kill him twice now. He was determined to hunt that bitch down and destroy her, once and for all, even if it killed him. But before he could do that, he needed answers. How did one actually kill a demon' In all his years of hunting, he'd only learned how to exorcise them, as if that wasn't hard enough, but it only sent the demon's soul back to hell to start all over again. To kill one, to destroy it utterly, was another matter entirely. Aurelia had said that she could kill demons from her own world, but Rhys wasn't sure if the same rules applied to those who were hunting him and Riley. He couldn't take that chance. He had to know for sure. He had to ask for divine intervention. Okay, so, how exactly did one call on an angel" Aurelia had just lifted her eyes skyward and called on her whitelighter by name, but Rhys had his doubts. It seemed absurd. Didn't he need to perform some ritual or something" Light some candles" Chant' Go to church' Say penance" Christ, he didn't even want to think about penance. He'd probably have to say at least a thousand Hail Marys to redeem himself from a multitude of sins. He remembered the St. Jude medal that David had given him. St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. If anyone was a lost cause, he thought, it was him. But he didn't want to think about that right now. He didn't want to think about David or Dylan or Jessie or Orla or John or Patrick. He just wanted to think about Riley and what he needed to do to protect her. Thinking about Riley, knowing that he'd lost her forever, was like a dagger in his heart, a wound that would never truly heal. He had failed her once; he wasn't going to fail her again. He knew the only way he could find the answers to his questions was to do what Aurelia and Matthias had suggested - to call on his own guardian. Lailah. She'd come to him in his dreams twice now, but she had never revealed her name. Would she come to him if he called" What was he supposed to do if she didn't' What was he afraid of exactly' That she wouldn't answer" That she didn't really exist' There was only one way to find out for sure. Rhys finished his third beer and dumped the empty in the trash. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. It was now or never. He lifted his eyes toward the ceiling, just as he'd seen Aurelia do, and then laughed nervously at the absurdity of it. Heaven wasn't above him anymore than hell was below him. It was a ridiculous notion concocted by artists and writers and church leaders. The great thinkers of their time. Rhys wondered what they'd have thought of Rhydin. It baffled the mind. He often wondered if any of it was real, or if he wasn't lying in a padded cell somewhere. He figured that's probably where he'd end up someday, if he survived. It was all part of his psychological profile already - the kid that had killed his own father. Fortunately for him, there were a few who knew better, a few who believed in him. If not for them, he'd probably have been committed already. "This is ridiculous," Rhys muttered doubtfully and headed toward the fridge for another beer. Getting drunk was the easiest way to kill the pain and forget about his problems for a while. Maybe too easy.

"Lailah," he scoffed. "An angel named Lailah. And I'm an angel named Rathsomethingorother. Right." Rhys chuckled again, remembering the words of an old Clapton tune about a girl by the same name. He pulled open the fridge and started singing from memory: "Layla, you got me on my knees Layla, I'm begging, darlin' , please Layla, darling, won't you ease my worried mind?" There was a flash of bright light behind him and he turned, eyes wide with wonder, the fourth beer shattering on the floor as a woman appeared before him - tall, blond, and drop dead gorgeous.

The demon watched from the shadows while the woman worked her charms on the man who lay on the bed before her, the man's face contorted in mingled passion and pain.

The once handsome features had become pudgy and blotched, skin sagging with age. A beer belly had replaced the muscular figure he'd once taken such pride in. Age had made him lazy, and laziness had made him fat. His hair was gray and thinning, the only handsome feature left blue eyes that had once danced with life, but had grown dull, lifeless, and cynical with age. At sixty-five, a once successful but lonely corporate lawyer, he had grown bored with life, his weekly trips to the red light district the only excitement left in his dull existence.

The demon watched while the woman plied the man with her body, seducing him and taking him to the brink of pleasure. She was a dark, exotic beauty with soulful, mysterious eyes and a body to die for. And die for her, he would, his heart unable to keep up with the youthful prowess of his young lover. The struggle was over almost before it had begun, and when all was said and done, he lie still, a smile on his face, dead eyes staring blindly up at the woman who was really no woman at all.

"Naamah, what are you doing?" the demon interrupted, revealing himself at last. He had grown impatient watching her toy with the man, like a cat might toy with its prey before the final killing stroke. "Twice now you have failed your task. Lilith is not pleased."

The demoness rolled aside of the dead man's body, tossing a dead arm across his chest, like he was nothing more than a rag doll. "Another soul for Hell, Abaddon," she sighed as though bored. "Men are such weak creatures. It really is too easy."

"You should be looking for the angel and not worrying about souls. Leave that for the others in your charge."

She looked up at the demon, who was really no demon at all. "When did you become Lilith's messenger, Abaddon' It really doesn't become you. I thought you had more balls than that. You did once. What happened to them' Oh, that's right. You lost them when you were cast out. Pity that. You were desirable once, but you're of no use to me now."

The demon narrowed his eyes, which flashed darkly with anger. "Do not mock me, Naamah. You should know better."

"I grow weary of your games. This battle between you and Lilith for power. Why don't you just kill each other and be done with it and leave the rest of us in peace."

"You already know the answer to that, Naamah. I do not have the means to kill her or I would. That is what I need you for."

"What do I care about your struggle for power" What does it have to do with me?"

"It is simple. I want you to find the angel and bring him to me. Not Lilith. Lilith would use him to free Lucifer, and I cannot allow that."

"What do you want him for?"

"I do not want him. I want that which belongs to him. I want his sword. The sword of an angel. That which was taken from me when I was cast out. I will use it to kill Lilith and Lucifer and take my revenge to the very Gates of Heaven."

"And what is my reward, Abaddon?"

"Freedom, Naamah. I will open the Gates of Hell forever and we will have our freedom."

"And what of the angel?"

Abaddon shrugged. "I will kill him along with the others or cast him into the pit to suffer as we have suffered."

"Give him to me and you have a bargain."

"Done."

The woman whose body Naamah was possessing smiled. "I know something Lilith does not. I know where he is. I have been watching. He is on Rhydin with the Cat. He wishes he could win back her love, but he can't. She's marrying another." She laughed at the irony of it. "He's vulnerable, in pain, confused. Poor thing. He is ripe for the taking, but..." She frowned. "I can no longer enter his dreams. He is under someone's protection. A spell perhaps or a talisman."

"Does he have the sword?"

"If there is a sword, I have not seen it."

"Very well. Keep watching and tell me when things change. You can do whatever you want with him, but I want that sword, Naamah, and I will have it."

"Very well, Abaddon, but if you betray me, I will tell Lilith and when she frees Lucifer, he will have his vengeance."

"Keep your part of the bargain and you will have your freedom and Rathanael. You can do whatever you wish with him. I do not care."

Naamah smiled. It was more than Lilith had ever offered. She propped herself up onto an elbow and reached for him, to draw him toward her, fingertips lightly brushing his face. She had loved him once long ago, but an eternity together in Hell had turned their love to hate. Still, she could not deny that he was handsome, as were all of his kind. It was this that had drawn her to him when she was still mortal, and it was the very same thing that drew her to the one now known as Rhys.

"I will keep my part of the bargain." She stroked his cheek, and though no man, he bent his head toward her, lips parting in anticipation of what lay ahead. "Make sure you keep yours," she told him and pressed her lips to his, sealing the deal.