Gray Line

Windstar and Zee

Chapter 1

The bathroom door opened and a head peeked around the door looking around. Finding the bathroom empty, the head moved further in followed by a female body that looked recently abused, if the torn and bloody clothes were any indication.

Dark, curly hair that just brushed the collar of the jacket she was wearing was matted with dirt, one of the jacket pockets was torn off, and her knuckles were bruised and split open. She walked up to the sink and studied her face for a moment before snorting and clearing her throat until she spat out a wad of blood and phlegm into the sink.

Shaky hands started the tap and with a wince, she ran her hands under the water. She kept looking up at her reflection, checking herself. Finally, she spoke to her reflection.

"I hate you."

Her reflection didn't talk back.

She could do this. She splashed water on her face, finding the cool water soothing on her skin.

She turned off the water and then moved into a stall and sat on the toilet seat. The stall was tiny, her knees practically touching the door. Her dark-brown eyes closed and she let out a breath and leaned sideways letting her face rest against the tile, trying not to think of what germs and filth might be there.

She could do this, she could resist it and somehow she would just get her old life back. She missed being a nobody, a mousy little librarian. Actually she didn't even have enough chutzpah to be a librarian; she was just a research assistant. Meek and mild Lauren Espinoza, going through life unnoticed. Never had the guts to tell off the guy who delivered the papers to the library, even though he leered at her and undressed her with his eyes everyday. Never took her drink back to the coffee counter when they made it wrong. Somewhere in the Bible it said the meek would inherit the Earth, but she couldn't see how, because they'd never speak up when their aggressive overachieving older sister stole it.

She sighed and felt the trembling start in her hands. God forgive her but she hated Susie, her older sister, perfect in every way. Susie, who wasn't a research assistant but a lead scientist in a government think tank. Susie, who was beautiful, smart, and self-assured.

Susie, who was dead, and had taken her secrets with her. Susie, who had changed her into a person she didn't even recognize.

The bathroom door opened and someone stepped inside, footsteps heavy on the tile floor.

Lauren felt the hairs rise on the back of her arms and neck, followed by pain exploding from the back of her skull, as her stomach did a flip.

She gave a shuddering sob; a hand fumbled with the good pocket on her jacket and pulled out a slim case; with a practiced flick of her thumb, the case opened revealing a small vial filled with something dark and oily, and a syringe.

The footsteps got closer, as she stabbed the needle into the liquid and pulled the syringe's plunger back, filling its belly like a large mosquito.

Her door rattled.

"Occupied." She grunted out.

Once upon a time she'd been a decent human being, paid her bills and taxes, secretly read lesbian romance novels that she hid under her bed because she still lived with her parents, and dreamed of falling in love.

Now she was a twisted parody of that Lauren. Jaded and miserable, a misanthrope one-step out of touch with the human world. She pushed the jacket sleeve up, revealing a needle-track along the vein.

The door rattled again.

"What are you, brain-damaged? I said fucking occupied." The old Lauren would never have spoken like that. The needle rested against her skin.

Something heavy hit the stall door, the metal dented and groaned on its hinges.

Startled, she nearly dropped the syringe.

"I can smell you human." The voice that spoke was high and piercing, not meant to be heard by human ears. "Demon killer." It laughed. "A human demon killer, funny, a funny, funny thing. Lucky is what you are. Lucky and stupid. Your luck ends here."

Lauren screamed--the voice was painful, it felt like it was rupturing things inside her head, in her ears. She pushed the plunger down, shooting the darkness inside her, inside her veins. In a second it was hitting her heart and she screamed again.

Bonelessly her body slumped to the side, even as something heavy hit the door again. The hypodermic fell out of her arm and hit the floor shattering. A drop of blood beaded up, welling out of the puncture mark.

Hands gripped the door at the top and then pulled; the lock groaned. The hands switched position and pushed, the top of the door bent and swayed until the screws on the lock gave up and it fell off.

Chuckling filled the bathroom and the door was slowly pushed open.

Lauren's eyes snapped open and she lifted her foot, kicking the door shut. Her eyes were dark, the pupils swallowed in the darkness. Her skin bubbled and then went still before rippling again.

She grabbed the sides of the stall, fingers sinking into the metal, and hauled herself up and over the wall surprising the pissed-off demon there to kill her.

It blinked as if not quite believing what it was seeing.

In her world humans didn't fight demons, the human race was too weak, only able to overwhelm demons and destroy them with sheer numbers. To kill one demon it could take the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of humans to do it. This would explain why the human species bred like rabbits.

The church had in the Middle Ages started a breeding program where they used young women as bait. Then they raised the half-breed demons to be demon hunters. It sounded barbaric but what did you expect from a period of time where women were property? Of course there were a few demons that could impregnate only in human males, but the church had apparently chosen not to use them as bait. On occasion a full-blooded demon would find God or Jesus and be a born-again and hunt their own kind, but generally humans could not stand up to a demon in a one-on-one fight.

Until Susie had used her as bait, just as the church had done to those women all those decades ago. Of course, now Susie was dead, as well as their parents.

She was suddenly so angry. She couldn't stop herself. She charged the demon, angry with Susie and the demon, the stupid demon that seemed to think she wasn't a threat. She screamed, rage pouring out of her as her fists pounded into its thick skin; it was gray and wrinkled, like an elephant's knee. She didn't know where that thought had come from and she almost laughed at the oddness of it.

She staggered out of the bathroom, a cut healing on her forehead. She absently patted her pocket reassuring herself that the vial was there. Her drug of choice. She squinted against the fluorescent lights as she moved slowly down an aisle stocked with shampoo and deodorant. There was an uneasy feeling in the department store. The hairs on the back of her arms stood up as a body was suddenly in front of her. A gun in her face.

"Stand down, it's just a civilian." The voice boomed around her. Annoying.

"You need to leave, there's a demon in here. These nice police officers will get you to safety."

She glared at him. He was a born-again demon. She could see the cross, worn against a pale, scaled chest. Self-importance wafted off of him making her want to gag. A sanctimonious piece of shit. Demons killed. Demons feasted on the flesh and blood of the weak. How did he resist? Did he resist? Or late at night did he go trolling back alleys for the blood and murder of those that would not be missed?

But she let the police take her away to safety. Back on the street she looked around at everyone streaming around her, going home, going to work, oblivious to the horror taking place not twenty feet from them. She missed it. She wanted to be them, be the mindless sheep happy in ignorance.

*******

A small ranch-style house, painted a happy sunshine yellow, had several police cruisers in the driveway and on the street in front of the house. Several local police officers walked around the lawn and in and out of the house.

It was a quiet neighborhood; there had never been a demon attack before, and some of the neighbors just shook their heads or stared confused at the bustling house full of police activity, not quite sure what this meant. Some thought about buying guns, others about finding religion and others ignored it focusing deeper on their everyday lives so they wouldn't have to think about it.

Detective Quinn stood back watching the crime scene unit examine the bodies. There were three total. The male had been lucky in comparison to the two females. He had died from two stab wounds to the skull. The spine had been severed and the brain turned into goop. The females, however, had been mauled, and the skin from their faces removed as well as their hearts. Quinn was waiting for CSI to tell her what she already knew: it was demon. What she didn't understand was who had killed the demon that was face down in the front lawn. Or that would be, if his head hadn't been twisted around so his face stared at the sky.

Multiple demons?

She might buy that if her dead demon had claws but he didn't, so she was still looking for one that had claws. Different breeds of demons weren't known for working well with each other. She rubbed her forehead. She was going to have to bring in a half-breed to sniff it out.

She flat-out refused to work with reformed demons. Sooner or later they all fell off the wagon. Half-breeds weren't much better in her book, but there was a part of them that was human, so she tried to give them a chance. Besides if she took on a demon by herself, slinking around in the shitholes and psychic black holes they loved to live in, her chances of coming out alive were far less than a half-breed's.

Demons, just another reason to hate Hitler.

Up until World War II demons had only been seen once a year according to history, squeezing through cracks between this world and Hell. But Hitler and his fascination with the occult, and his little secret army of occult researchers had opened up huge doorways, as he had hoped to win the war with an army of demons on his side. The psychically-black smeared sites of his concentration camps had been perfect doorways. Only demons didn't care. They killed Nazis and Allied forces alike. Quinn sighed unhappily, fucking Hitler.

"You've got three different types of demon blood. I can't tell you what kind until I get the samples back to the lab. Also, one of the women's fingerprints came back. She's government, Susan Espinoza."

Quinn blinked and tried to focus over her headache to what the tech was telling her. "No, a Lauren Espinoza lives here with her parents." She mumbled out.

"Then she's missing, because that's not her body."

"Christ." Quinn muttered. This was getting worse by the minute. A missing woman and a dead government employee, which meant they'd be calling her every 15 minutes for an update. She wandered out to her car and sat down, shutting the door. For a moment, she enjoyed the silence. Then she booted the laptop and opened up the database on registered half-breeds wondering whose day she was going to make suck.

*********

The bartender popped the cap off a bottle of beer by slamming it against the ancient hardwood bar top and slid it across the bar to the man who'd ordered it. The regular nodded in thanks, staring down into the mouth of the bottle. She left him to it, knowing he preferred his drink alone.

It was early afternoon, well before the bar would be officially open for the night, but she made exceptions for Bob. She had not, however, made an exception for the other patron in the bar.

"Detective Quinn, forgive me if I don't seem excited to see you in my bar."

"You never are." The cop sat down without being asked. "That's the price you pay for flirting on the edge of the Zone. I'm surprised some church group isn't outside trying to save souls." She looked around in distaste. An Irish pub being run by someone so obviously not Irish. Her ancestors were crying in their graves.

Dianna Theron sighed, brushing a hand through her short, artfully arranged, bright-red spiky hair. "Don't tell me, you've come here to take me up on my offer of a night you'll never forget?" The bar owner leaned up against the bar top, well aware of what that position did in making her breasts strain against the tight-fitting T-shirt she was wearing.

"I swore off bad girls and those that need saving when I got my badge." Her eyes didn't even drop from the half-breed's face, although it was a skill she had strengthened over time, only 21 tries until she kept her eyeballs from straying.

"I don't need saving." Dianna gave her a sly smile. "Although, I could be persuaded into it, if you wanted to play it that way." She was good at the game and more importantly, she knew she was good at it.

Theron was a lot of things, most of them wrapped up in a beautiful package. A package that could cause internal bleeding. "I'm activating you for a case."

Quinn didn't doubt that a lot of good Catholic girls had lost their way between Dianna's thighs under the veil of trying to save a lost soul.

"Fuck." The redhead gritted her teeth, shoving back from the bar and heading down the bar away from the cop. "Why don't you just go get one of those little tame demons of yours to do your dirty work? I'm busy."

"Because we know that phrase 'tame demon' is an oxymoron; there is no such thing. Sooner or later we find out they go out at midnight for a little late night snack of the homeless guy in the alley. Or missing kids are bones in their basement. You at least have half a soul."

"Get someone else, I'm not interested!" Dianna yelled, yanking open the door to her office. It stuck a bit so she always had to pull hard to get the wood door open. Usually that was a bit annoying, but this time she rather enjoyed having it slam off the opposite wall.

"Got a whole family murdered." The cop said, pulling out the file and started putting pictures on the bar. "CSI found three different types of demon blood. Now what would make different demons work together?"

The redhead paused, her back to Quinn as she closed her eyes. "Find someone else." She asked quietly, a pleading note in her voice.

Quinn threw down another photo, it was heartless, but they had the luxury of living while those in the picture did not. "I have a missing woman, Lauren Espinoza, pretty enough, in a timid, lost lamb way. Says she was a research assistant at the University Library. Have to wonder what those demons are doing to her?"

"I'm not interested." Dianna growled, her fingers tightening on the worn wood of the .doorframe. It grounded her and she needed that right now. "This is my place, Quinn; I have things to do here." She didn't want to look at those pictures; she could feel the darkness practically radiating from them.

Down at the other end of the bar the only other patron lifted his head, sniffing the air.

"Husband killed quickly, wife and older daughter mauled; the skin from their faces ripped away as well as their hearts."

"Stop!" Dianna whirled, the whites of her eyes wide around the pale-green irises. She stalked forward, sneering, commanding at the policewoman. "Stop it!"

"Why? You don't care, apparently that piece of soul you have doesn't work." She started gathering up the photos.

"Get out." Dianna growled, posture stiff as Quinn's words hit home, probably harder than the detective thought they would. "Take that shit with you." She whirled, ready to slam the door to her office.

"Fine." Quinn slid a business card on the bar top, leaving it with the photos. "Call me when you find that piece of humanity."

The half-demon growled, slamming the door to her office shut behind her as Quinn left. Down at the other end of the heavy, oaken bar top the lone patron sniffed the air again, mumbling to himself as he bent down over his drink again.

********

Twelve hours later, the redhead lay naked in bed, smiling up at the ceiling above her. That - she reflected as she sat up and reached for the cigarettes she kept next to the bed, had been exactly what she'd needed. Brushing sweat-dampened locks of red hair out of her face, she lit up, taking in a deep drag of smoke and sighed in pleasure.

Perfect.

Behind her a mussed blonde head peeked up over the rumpled blankets. The room stank of sweat and the sex they'd been having for most of the very early morning .

Dianna stood up, sliding a brightly colored silk bathrobe on, "Get your things and get out." She grinning at the startled squeak behind her.

"What?" She turned, smiling coolly at the blond. "Did you think you were going to stay? Sex is sex. That doesn't entitle you to cuddling or some shit. Get out."

The bartender took another drag of smoke, smiling to herself as the curses rained down on her as the human woman got dressed. The shouting didn't abate until the blonde was gone and Dianna shook her head in amusement.

Humans. Would they ever learn?

Another one trying to save her soul.

The smile slipped a bit as Quinn's words echoed in her mind. Fucking Quinn, Dianna thought, stabbing out the cigarette. Just the thought of the policewoman had ruined her good mood.

"Damnit." She growled, running a hand through her hair, which only resulted in more spiky tendrils.

Wearing only the bathrobe, the bar owner padded barefoot through her rooms, pausing at a window to watch the human stumble out of the front door to hail a cab. Certain that her guest had left; she resumed her path toward her private sanctuary. This was her domain, the world she had built for herself. The turn of the century brick building had once housed a slaughterhouse, and had been scheduled for demolition when she'd found it.

It had been perfect.

High ceilings with charred wooden beams, thick brick walls, and most importantly, lots of space. It was the perfect place for the bar she'd always dreamed of owning. That it was located on the edge of the Gray just made it all that much better.

Her rooms were above the bar, a definite bonus after a long night of tending to customers.

She passed through her kitchen, snagging a glass of OJ on the way. Dawn was just starting to break the horizon and she'd be getting some sleep soon. Even a half-breed needed rest, although she needed a lot less of it than humans.

One of the few perks of her little birthright.

"Morning, Sissy." She called as she shoved open the door to her office, after unlocking it. There was no answer of course, but she said the same thing every morning anyway. "Sleep well?"

She kept talking, setting her glass of OJ on a desk precariously over-piled with papers and invoices. The study was ringed with mismatched bookshelves and overstuffed chairs anchored the corners of the fireplace.

Dianna carefully took down the large portrait that hung above that fireplace in the place of honor and carried it to the windows along one side of the room. They looked down over the back of the bar, where she'd had a garden grown.

Not by her of course, but someone who didn't have the ability to kill plants by just touching them.

The portrait was placed on a stand already centered on those windows and Dianna smiled at the figure in the painting. "There, you can watch the garden all day. I'm going back to bed though."

She turned to go, and paused.

There, in front of the door, were the photos Quinn had brought over.

"No!" Dianna whirled on the portrait. "I shredded those for a reason. I am not getting involved in this."

The teenage girl in the portrait continued to stare lovingly out, gaze directed down at the garden below. There was a family resemblance between the two, the same hint of Greek descent, Mediterranean skin tone and strong jaw.

"Damnit, Sissy, I said no."

There was no answer and Dianna sighed, hanging her head. "Why do you always have to be right?"

She left the photos where they were, avoiding looking at them, and picked up the business card set next to them. It was five thirty in the morning and she got a little pleasure in knowing she was probably waking up Quinn as she dialed the private number on the back of the card.

"Ello?" A sleepy voice answered the phone on the fifth ring.

"I'll do it." Dianna leaned against her desk, watching the sunrise color the sky. "Tell them I'll visit the crime scene later. I'll tell you what I find and then that's it, I'm out."

"Dianna?" The human started to ask, but the redhead was already hanging up.

"There." She glared over at the back of the portrait. "I did it. Now I'm going to bed."

She walked around the photos, leaving the ever-smiling portrait staring down at the gardens below.

***

A Harley would have been in keeping with the image that Dianna enjoyed maintaining of herself, except that it tended to rain a lot in the Gray zone. It could be perfectly sunny and beautiful weather in the rest of the city and inside the Zone it would be drizzling and cold.

This meant she'd bought the next best thing in her eyes, her baby, a BMW M6 convertible. It was horribly expensive, completely vain of her, but she loved that car and it had been the second thing she'd bought, right after the bar.

There was a patrol car parked outside the house and the obligatory yellow tape. She slid out of the car, the leather thigh-high boots, tight pants and tailored shirt were all done to attract attention. Which she got from the cop watching her walk toward him at the tape.

Unfortunately, he wasn't the only one there and her lips twitched as she spotted Quinn waiting at the house's front door.

"Didn't trust me to show up, Detective?" she asked, sliding under the tape close enough to the young cop to make him blush as he saw down her shirt.

"Stop teasing the rookies." Quinn said, sliding away from the wall.

As she did, a small muscular man who looked reptilian, with gleaming white scales, and a large gold cross was revealed. "I told you I wouldn't be needing your help, Paul."

He drew himself up, becoming larger. "Why go with a substandard model?" He hissed out.

"Who the fuck you calling substandard, reptile boy? You looked in the mirror lately?" Dianna raised an eyebrow. "I mean, really, small children must go screaming away from you every time you slink through a playground. Not that I'm saying you're a pedophile or anything."

He hissed angrily, his hand going for his gun.

"I haven't brought you in on a case; you draw that gun I'll have to arrest you." Quinn was well aware that she was human in moments like this, and Paul, the born-again demon hunter could crush her like a bug.

He hesitated. Then his hand slowly moved away from the gun. "I apologize; she just has a way of getting under your skin."

"Go back to the department; I'm sure the Chief has something for you." She said tiredly.

He nodded and left, not before giving Dianna a glare.

"Real nice to see you again, Lizard boy, I mean Paul." Dianna smiled sweetly back at Quinn. "It's so nice that we can get together like one big happy family isn't it?" In her best southern accent.

Quinn just gave her an unamused look. "It was the Chief's idea; he thinks those born-again types that have found God are the bee's knees." She cracked her neck and moved to the door. Absently she told the rookie, "Make sure we are left alone until we finish up."

"Chief would know, if the rumors about him in the Gray zone are true." Dianna quipped, just to see the reaction she'd get from the rookie. She wasn't disappointed by the glare he leveled at her and she laughed as she walked in with Quinn. "You always walk around with a high school kid as your muscle?"

"The scene is cold, bodies removed, no leads: three dead humans, a dead demon, and a missing woman. Why would we bother ourselves with seasoned professionals? Just a bouncer to keep the weirdos away who collect photos and souvenirs from sites like this. I've got them to hold off on the psychic cleaners for 48 hours, after that this place gets scrubbed. They don't want the demons expanding the Gray Zone," Quinn said matter-of-factly. She moved to the living room window. "On the lawn where the day-glo orange flag is, was the body of the demon. His head was twisted around so he could see where he'd been."

"Anyone ever tell you how depressing you are?" Dianna asked, staying at the doorway where she'd entered the house. "Bet you're all sorts of fun at parties, if you ever get invited, that is." She didn't want to be here, didn't want to enter this place. She could hear the echoes of screams already and she'd barely entered.

Evil had walked through this house and a part of her wanted to walk along with it.

"What do you want from me?" She asked to delay the inevitable.

"I want a lot of things Theron, but I'll settle for finding the woman, Lauren Espinoza, that's her name by the way. Finding her alive would be better, but sometimes we settle for just having closure on a case." It was an odd thing--she'd never even really know they had two daughters, not by all the photos of the oldest daughter. She moved deeper into the house to the stairway. "The oldest daughter worked in DC, they have pictures of her with all sorts of important people. I'll keep the Feds away because they'll just fuck this up. They'll want justice for one of their own and the woman will die." If she wasn't dead already.

"You're going to owe me for this one, Quinn," the half-demon said, reluctantly stepping into the house. Her entire body was tense as she felt the sensations whirl around her. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and lowered the mental barriers she'd spent a lifetime learning how to keep.

"They were all here, together." She murmured, turning left and entering the dining room with its piles of dishes and moldering food. "They were eating together, a family dinner." Her lips twisted in a mock smile. "How domestic, the perfect little American family."

And if there was a note of envy in her voice, she purposefully ignored it. Turning, the redhead moved deeper into the house, nose twitching as if she smelled something, but it wasn't a scent, it was something much more profound than that. These were marks that would last until the Psi Cleaners did their work and wiped it all away.

"There were two of them." She swallowed, heart starting to beat faster as she felt the demons. Felt their pleasure.

"They came through the kitchen. One stopped to kill the dog, it ate it." She licked her lips, swaying slightly as she turned again. "They caught the mother in the hallway, the father was going for a gun, but he never made it. The sister was?" She hesitated. "One was trying to stop the other from doing? something." She frowned; sweat beading against her skin, dripping down her face and back.

"They killed the father quick; they took their time with the mother though." Dianna shivered, torn between the pleasure she felt and the revulsion at feeling it. Her fingers balled into fists and she moved into the living room, where the blood was still on the carpet. "The sister made it into here before they killed her; one of them was going to rape the body but?"

She paused, frowning, turning in place. "The other sister." Dianna breathed, eyes opening as she stared at the hole in the window and out it, at the spot where one of the demons had died. "She's the one who killed the demon." The redhead turned, brushing sweat-dampened hair out of her face to look at Quinn. "Your missing sister, Lauren; she killed a demon with her bare hands."

Quinn was silent, looking at Dianna, the look was guarded. "Are you pulling my leg?" She said quietly, a dangerous undertone to it. "One human against a demon?" It was impossible, maybe 20 or 30 against a demon or some soldier armed to the teeth, but one woman?

Impossible.

"It's what happened." Dianna snapped, exhausted as she walked for the front door. "I did what you wanted, have fun."

"Fuck." Quinn blurted out. "Wait, help me find the girl, this Lauren. That's what I wanted." She followed quickly to the door.

The outburst let Dianna get out the door and into the fresh air, something she really appreciated after being inside that house. "What? Do I look like some kind of bloodhound to you? I told you the girl was alive, the rest is up to you."

Quinn's face became stony. "Guess that soul you have is just for show then. Fine, leave, you'll get your check for your time." The Detective snarled out. "Coward." She couldn't make the half-breed stay. If she pushed, Dianna would turn on the charm and Quinn's free will would fall into her pants.

Anger clouded the half-demon's pale eyes and she took a step toward Quinn, face dark. "You can't just guilt me into doing your dirty work for you all the time." She bit out, angry at the manipulation. "This is the last time, you understand me? I'll poke around the Gray zone for your little lamb, if she isn't there, then you're on your own."

"Watch your anger Theron, or you can start dealing with a bunch of inspectors in your place. There are church groups with deep pockets so I'd be careful that some of your one-night stands don't start filing rape charges. Enough scandal and they'll ship you off back to one of those church states in Europe and no one will ever hear from you again." Quinn's eyes flashed equally with anger. She didn't like feeling impotent, unable to help her own people when they were murdered.

"Lovely." Dianna curled her lip, turning and stalking toward her car. "I'll let you know when the human turns up." She yanked open the door to the car. "But she'll probably be dead if she's in the Gray Zone."

********

Lauren shuffled around the University. She knew it well, she had gone to school there and then naturally had just taken over the job she had been doing as a student. She didn't go to work; she didn't dare. But it was easy to live here unnoticed, before the University had upgraded its heating everything had been steam. There was what felt like miles of steam tunnels under the University. She had made a home there. Stealing clothes out of the laundry rooms in the middle of the night, sneaking food from the kitchens and showers from the student gym.

Nobody even looked at her funny. She just looked like a ragged freshman. A freshman who couldn't stop staring at the young woman across the quad that was wearing a low-cut top, wondering what the woman's screams would taste like. She paled at the thought and hurried away down the sidewalk as the lights came on signaling night was falling.

"What did you do to me, Susie?" She muttered to herself, wondering yet again what her sister had done to her. Those thoughts came more and more, she had followed one woman back to her dorm, she had felt it when the perfect moment had come, the exact moment when she could have dragged the freshman into the dark and held her down and taken everything she wanted. She had known how easy it would have been to dispose of the body when she was done.

She had thrown up into some lovely flowering bushes and run off, just as she was running off now.

Three weeks ago, her sister had come to her work and asked if they could have lunch. An odd thing, Susie never had time for her. She was a bigwig in Washington, DC.

"I'm working on a drug trial for anxiety disorder."

Lauren had fidgeted, her fork playing with her salad. "Good for you?" It had been a question, not certain what Susie wanted from her.

"I would like to use you in the study."

"I?well? Susie, I don't?"

"You'll be perfect."

And that had settled it. It was a drug trial and Susie had started coming home on weekends to inject her and take back samples of her blood. What could be easier, she didn't even have to go to Washington, DC. Except Susie had lied.

She pushed the heavy dumpster out of the way; it hid a metal grate that led to her new home. Night was coming and so was the rage. She slid the metal back and slipped inside; after a moment it was replaced, looking as it always did.

*********

Quinn sat at her desk, staring at the photos from the crime scene. It had been five days since she'd seen Dianna, and there'd been no call. She still wasn't certain she believed what the half-demon had told her.

"Quinn!" The Captain stuck his head out the door of his office. "You got Feds on the way up; they just showed up demanding to see you."

She just smiled, "Thanks." Inside she wanted to hide under her desk.

"Get rid of them. This is our case, not their's." He grimaced, looking like he'd just bitten into something rotten, and disappeared back into his office.

"I'll do my best, sir." Our case--like he'd been out to the house of horrors or been pounding pavement or losing any sleep.

Her phone rang, startling her, and hesitantly she moved her hand over to pick it up. Not sure she wanted to know what else could go wrong.

"Hey, it's Chip down in the lab, um, sorry I didn't tell you this sooner, the information got lost on a Post-it note . . . anyway . . . " The sheepish voice paused to clear its throat. "Um, so we found three different samples of demon blood. One matched the DOA at the scene; the other has been sitting in our cooler for the last five days."

"What?" Her voice hit a note she was embarrassed to realize only dogs could hear. "Yeah, I'll be down later today." She grumbled. "How'd it die?"

"A runner that Paul killed, it attacked him in the bathroom of a department store. Looks like a broken neck, pretty battered."

She frowned; Paul was big on his gun, probably compensating for something. "What about the third sample?"

"Corrupted. Seems to be a mix of human and demon."

"A half-breed?" She blinked, thinking about what Dianna had told her.

"No. Half-demons have a genetic sequence; this is just smeared together." There was a heartbeat of embarrassed silence. "Sorry, I'm not sure how to explain it simpler than that."

"It's okay." She waved off her annoyance, because it was probably going to be the least annoying part of her day. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll be down as soon as I'm done with the feds."

She hung up the phone and started putting the crime scene photos away. Wondering what kind of DC attitude she was going to have to bend over and take today.

"Is there a half-breed involved in the case, Detective Quinn?" A voice, very close to her, spoke up. The owner of said voice was leaning against the desk beside hers, a sardonic smile on his face as he watched her. He looked like a fed, dark suit, tie, pale shirt and shiny black shoes.

"No, just corrupted blood evidence." She said not moving, not showing surprise, dealing with demons did that. "How can I help you?" She plastered on the same smile she used for her boss. "Agent . . . ?"

"Green." He made no motion to move from the desktop he was leaning on. "And that is Agent Ferris." He hiked a thumb over his shoulder at the large black man with the bald head and nasty scar across part of his face. "We've been sent to help you with the investigation." He smiled, a charming relaxed smile meant to put people at ease that went well with his boyish face.

"That's great if we needed help and this fell under your jurisdiction, which it doesn't." She kept talking knowing he was going to argue. "I understand that . . . Susan Espinoza, did some sort of work for the Pentagon, and I know it's hard to lose one of your own. I promise to keep you informed as I learn anything. But at this time it looks as if the demons involved have been killed."

"Detective." He smiled again. "We're both on the same side here and this is an informal visit. However, there are national security concerns which take precedence. Your Captain is going to be getting a call from the Department of Justice soon. All we're asking is that you keep us apprised of your progress."

"Or lack of it." Agent Ferris grumbled from behind.

"I will. But unless any more leads open up, I'm afraid we might be at a dead-end with the perps killed. You might try talking to our freelancer Paul, he's a reformed demon, he's the one that killed the last one." She smiled again, her face hurting. "Once I get the autopsy notes, I'll send you my report."

"That would be nice of you." Agent Green stood up. "We'll wait for that report then." He paused, turning to look at her again. "Has there been any sign of the sister?"

"No, at this time we can only assume the demon, did what demons do to her and her body will show up."

"Let us know if you find her." The smile was still there but there was an odd look in the fair-haired agent's eyes. "We'll see you again soon, Detective."

"Of course. Sorry to have you come all this way for nothing." She hesitated. "Susan wasn't staying at her parent's house, and I've been blocked from her credit card report to see where she might have rented a room. You don't happen to have that information do you?"

"We'll see what we can find out for you, Detective." He gave her a wave as he left, Agent Ferris following behind like a silent guard dog.

"You do that." She said to herself. She reached down and opened up a drawer and pulled out a disposable prepaid cell phone and dialed Dianna's bar.

It was picked up on the third ring. "What?" An annoyed sounding voice demanded on the other end.

"Heads up. Feds are in town and they've got a hard on for this case. Don't know if you'll be seeing them, but I just thought I'd give you a warning."

She was amused to have woken the half-demon up, returning the favor.

"Quinn?" Dianna groaned, sheets rustling as she moved. "Feds are involved now? Great, thanks a lot."

A female voice asked something in the background and the phone receiver was muffled for a second. There was a heated exchange of words and a door slammed before Dianna uncovered the phone.

"You know it's sometimes nice to sleep with the same person each night."

Dianna snorted. "Variety is the spice of life." She cradled the phone to her ear as she picked up a cigarette and lit it. "What do the Feds want?"

"The dead sister worked for the government; the more I look the bigger the stonewall. I . . ." She hesitated. "I have a gut feeling and it's not good on the older sister. Any feelers on the sister we can't find?"

The half-demon groaned, arching her back and popping the vertebrae into place. "She's either left the city or hiding in a deep hole somewhere." The redhead grinned crookedly as she pulled on clothes. "Or she's cut up into very small pieces at the bottom of the river."

"Thanks for that last one." She was silent. "I'm sorry for strong arming you, but most of the time I have to be an asshole to get things done." That's all she was going to give the half-breed. "Anyway, we're probably going to be closing the case. Paul killed the second demon involved at the house; the third blood smear is corrupted. The case is dead unless something changes in 48 hours."

She frowned, like Dianna would care.

"So both your killers are dead and the sister's probably permanently missing." Dianna smiled, things were looking up. "That means I'm done. I'll let you know if the sister ever shows up, but don't count on it."

"Yeah thanks for nothing, Theron." She hung up and hid the phone again before grabbing her jacket and heading down to the meat locker.

Halfway across the city and, in some ways, even further away, Dianna hung up with a self-satisfied smile. Excellent, she was off the hook for helping Quinn, everything had all tied itself up nicely. Now she could stop pestering everyone she knew to keep an eye out for the human, Lauren and she could get back to her own life.

Yes, she smiled at her reflection in the mirror, as she rearranged her hair, things were looking up.

********

Lauren was breathing hard, blood coming from cuts on her arms and her knuckles were raw, swollen, and bruised. The room she was in had probably been used for storage but the stone walls were thick and sturdy, easily able to withstand the rages that came over her with the falling of night. They never lasted long but it was like a switch going off in her brain until her mind had time to process the changes that came with the dark.

She fumbled with the metal doorknob and wrenched the door open, stepping into her new home. A place where the rest of the world was safe from her; bedding in a corner, a desk and a chair from a dumpster, a pile of clothes in a duffel bag stolen from the gym. On the desk was Susie's black bag, it was filled with needles, syringes, and six vials of dark liquid, her body would ache just looking at them.

Wanting them, but when she used them she got worse, like more of her humanity slipped away. She rummaged around in a cooler, one side had been bashed in but it still held things. The warm beer tasted good, funny thing was she never drank before Susie had started the drug trial on her. Her stomach wanted more, wanted red things full of blood and protein, and she almost threw up; shakily she set the drink down and closed her eyes.

*******

It was dark, had to be because she had become aware of herself again; hands bruised, a pinky might have been broken. She reached up and wiped blood off her face. She had clawed her face this time. She staggered out of the room, and went straight for her lukewarm beer. An ache started in the back of her head, like the onset of the flu. Absently she set the beer down and slowly exited her lair.

Shadows slid over her as she made her way through the quad, passed carefully manicured lawns, trimmed trees and bushes, the taste of fall in the air, giving it a bite. Near one of the Halls, the freshman one she thought. Blood and fear coated the air, washing over her, she liked it, it was almost arousing, part of her wanted to throw up.

Between the Residence Hall and the Dining Hall, a sidewalk disappeared into the dark of night. She moved through that dark into the empty space between buildings, there was a strong smell of wasted food rotting in metal. There were two shapes highlighted from a dim and dying light that lit up the back door to the Dining Hall.

She smelled demon and rushed forward, overcome with a rage to kill. The girl he was mauling she didn't even notice.

The demon was surprised; he had not sensed anything that would be a danger.

When it was over there was blood. She stared at the mess knowing that she needed to clean it up and dispose of the body. The girl was alive but she didn't care. She couldn't draw attention to her place.

*********

Lenny wasn't much of a human, he wasn't much of a demon either, which was one of the reasons he lived on the very edge of the Gray Zone. The thin man with a receding hairline and scraggy goatee was always shifting from one part-time job to another, always certain he was right on the edge of becoming rich. He owed a lot of people a lot of favors though, another reason not to wander too far into the Zone where some of those people might just find him. Tonight he was handling parking for a nightclub not far from the university, which involved a lot of standing outside, listening to the loud music inside, and keeping track of people's keys.

Sighing, he bit at the fingernail on his thumb, worrying at it as he watched the small amount of foot traffic go by, bored.

"Hey! Valet, can we get our car?" An older man and his young wife were waiting at the foot of the stairs and Lenny winced. Damnit, he wasn't going to get a good tip out of this one.

"Sure, sorry about that sir, do you have your ticket?"

Wordlessly the man held up the small printed ticket and Lenny forced himself to take it.

Prick.

He riffled through the keys until he found the one with the right number and stood up. "I'll be right back in a?." The words trailed off as he stared past the old man's shoulder as a face he'd been watching for all week ducked down the side alley and disappeared from view.

Fuck.

"Hey!" The old man said angrily. "You getting my car or what?"

"Get it yourself old bastard." He tossed the keys at the man, ignoring the curses as he turned away, fumbling in his pockets for the cell phone Dianna had given him for this purpose.

**********

It was late, or maybe it was early, Dianna really wasn't sure how normal people considered three am in the morning. She didn't really care either of course, as she locked the car behind her and started walking. If Lenny had pulled her away from the bar and a very promising lay for the night for nothing, she was going to hurt the man.

Lauren had never been this close to the Gray before; she didn't like the way it made her feel. It was seductive and she wanted to move closer in to its foggy embrace.

There weren't many people around this close to the Gray at this hour of the night. There was more of a possibility of running into a demon than a human out here right now and Dianna scowled, walking faster as she scanned the area. Lenny was crazy, the human was dead somewhere and she was out here on a fool's errand.

Lauren cut through the parking lot. Tired, her skin buzzed at being so close to the Gray, she was slightly in shock she'd killed again.

Dianna's steps slowed as she felt the skin along the back of her neck crawl. She wasn't alone. Something was behind her, pacing her and she started walking faster again. It felt powerful, she could feel its hunger even from here, and the walk became a jog and the jog a run, which turned into a sprint as she heard a roar. A glance behind her and she could see it, dark and winged, a full demon then, no human form to speak of as it raced after her.

Lenny was going to get a fist to the nuts if she lived through this, the redhead promised herself, ground flying below her as she fled through a parking lot, dodging the two parked cars in it.

Lauren gasped in pain as a headache exploded at the base of her skull. She stopped sniffing the air and changed course. She shouldn't have come here.

Strange things drove her now, especially after dark.

Grifton Park wasn't far ahead; she could make it there and then double back to her car. Then she could get out of here before . . . All those plans died in her mind as the thing behind her kicked a car. The force sent it squealing sideways on its tires, slamming into her side and sending her flying.

The demon roared again, its clawed beak of a mouth gaping wide as it scented blood.

Lauren was moving faster. She jumped over a car and raced down the street.

"All right," Dianna growled, getting up off the ground, spitting out a piece of asphalt. "Fine. You want to play. We'll play." It was a full demon, stronger than she was, faster and definitely uglier.

It growled, swiping at her and she ducked as its claws dug half-foot gouges into the wall near her head. She punched at him, and it didn't do anything other than piss the demon off.

Lauren grabbed a lamppost and used her momentum to flip her around, her feet crashing into the creature and pushing it off its course. She tried to land on her feet but her momentum carried her too far and she slipped and slid on cement on her hands and knees.

Dianna had seen her death coming at that moment, had seen the claws coming at her head and no ability to stop it. Then the demon was twisting, moving to attack a girl who suddenly leapt at it out of the darkness and Dianna was back up. "Watch the claws! They're poisoned!" Dark ichor had dripped from them before.

The demon roared, wings flaring as it did a little hop up and over the ten feet at the human.

Lauren heard a voice shout out something about claws. She shook her head and growled out, hyper-aware of the demon coming at them. Her skin rippled and bubbled and then settled.

"Where you going?" Dianna yelled, leaping out and grabbing a hold of its scale covered tail. Grunting she held on, boots skidding on the asphalt as it pulled her toward the human, wanting blood.

Lauren roared back wanting blood of her own. The sound was weak compared to the roar of the demon but it still was shocking to the demon; it confused it, this challenge to war. The human should be running away. It blinked as the human actually charged at it. Then there was the half-breed pulling its tail.

Lauren ran, legs pumping like pistons, she charged like a bull straight at it.

The demon hissed annoyed with Dianna and turned to snap at her to get her off its tail.

Then it snapped its head back around.

Lauren jumped bringing her hands together and up over her head and then as she fell she brought her clasped hands down like she was swinging an axe.

The demon squealed, a high-pitched painful sound that echoed around the street, as its beak of teeth was smashed and shattered, the sound of multiple bones breaking was heard slightly under the squeal of pain.

A clawed hand caught Lauren across her arm and chest, clothing sliced open but across her skin the claws just skidded over them not able to penetrate, scraping across like nails on a chalkboard and then gone. Lauren fevered, nearly insane for a kill, moved in under the demon's arm and punched into its chest.

The demon's tail lashed sideways, giving Dianna a brief taste of flight. It was quite pleasant, right until she crumpled in to the side of a car; it's high-pitched alarm puncturing the night around them as car lights flashed.

She groggily slid to the ground, the world slewing around her crazily. Which was the only way to explain why she saw the demon rear back, the human climbing onto its shoulders and grabbing its head.

She was hallucinating, Dianna thought groggily as she tried to get up to her feet. Seeing things that were impossible.

It was hard, to twist the head and crush the spine. Harder than the others had been, but the human managed, and they collapsed together back onto the street. She was panting, her lungs desperate for air. Then the shaking that came after the thrill of the kill left her cold, though something inside her was satisfied. Her skin bubbled again and she screamed as the hardness of her skin was undone. Her hands were shaking and she was vaguely aware of tears.

It was easier to kill demons, it eased the sense of guilt in her mind, but she needed to kill, with each kill something loosened and eased inside her. And each time she did, something changed and she thought that she lost more and more of what made her Lauren.

"What the fuck are you?" Dianna groaned, holding her side as she stood up. Behind her the car alarm kept on its insistent bleating, with a Dianna-sized dent in its side. The half-demon stared at the human woman and the dead demon she was crouched over.

Lauren flinched, surprised by the words, she hadn't really noticed the other person. She scrambled to get to her feet so she could run away, but she slipped in the blood and then caught her foot on the demon's tail. Arms windmilling, she tried to regain her balance only to fall back. Her head cracked against the ground and darkness swallowed her.

Dianna blinked, staring down at the woman who'd just knocked herself out. Now that was more along the lines of what she expected from humans. Except? she glanced at the demon who's head whose head almost off its body? except for things like that.

"Aw shit." She grumbled, limping over to the unconscious human. She couldn't just leave her out here, not this close to the Gray zone. What she should be doing was calling Quinn and dumping the human in the detective's lap.

Again, there was a problem. The human had probably saved her life. "I don't turn people in to the police who I owe." Dianna muttered, torn between what she should do and what she wanted to do.

Finally she simply gritted her teeth, picked up the slight woman and started back toward her car. They'd figure things out in the morning.

Hopefully

********

Lauren gasped and sat up.

Blinking she looked around. This wasn't her place, her shithole under the university. This, this . . . was a place with windows and sunlight. There was a slight buzz at the back of her head but not the pain-inducing headache that drove her into a killing madness.

The room was simple but bright and airy. Tall cathedral ceilings made the room feel even larger than it was. Old brick walls were adorned with a few hanging antiques and a random painting. The bed was the newest thing there, a comfortable queen size mattress and neutral bedding. Somewhere, deeper in the house, music was playing and the sound of chairs moving against wood, and glasses clinking, could be heard.

It was a painful reminder of normality. She threw the sheet that was covering her off and then scrambled for it the moment she realized she was naked. Wrapping it around herself she wondered where her clothes were.

She paused in her winding of the sheet around her body as she noticed three black marks, almost like scorch marks that started on her biceps and ended at her sternum. They didn't hurt, the skin only slightly tender, she winced at a flash of memory. A clawed hand, those claws with poisonous black tips, and then it was gone.

"I want answers!" Someone from deeper in the house yelled, the female voice sounding pissed. A male voice answered, but the low bass voice was lost in the music. Chairs scrapped against wood and a door closed, leaving only the music.

She'd never been to a toga party and it took a couple of tries to keep the sheet from slipping. The voice made her cringe and fear started, followed by the shaking in her hands. She'd need another injection soon. Killing the demons seemed to burn through whatever Susie had gotten her hooked on quicker.

She'd need to inject herself soon.

She looked around but she wasn't going to go far without clothes. She padded silently around the room. There was an undercurrent of suffering to the brick walls, the smell of smoke and beer. Finally she realized she would have to move to the door and that angry voice; there was no other way out, unless she threw herself through the window.

Wood creaked as footsteps made their way up the stairs from below, heading up to the same floor she was on.

Lauren swallowed, wanting to flee, for a moment part of her told her the window would be no problem, she'd survive the glass and the fall. It was the new dark part, it scared her.

She put her hand on the doorknob, thankful that dark voice had less sway in the daylight and cracked it open.

A shape moved down the hallway, dark clothes and a shock of red hair as the female started toward the door that Lauren was hiding behind.

Lauren stood uncertain sweating nervously before she opened the door. The woman was intense in a way that was scary, and the ache at the base of her skull intensified. "Um . . ." She squeaked out as bravery failed her.

The woman paused, surprise flickering across her face before it was carefully blanked. "You're awake."

"Um." She said again. "I . . . Yes, yes I'm awake. Can I have my clothes?" Her voice was quiet and shy and she didn't make eye contact.

"No." The redhead brushed a hand through her hair, leaving it a bit spikier than it had been before as she muttered something to herself. Sighing she looked back at Lauren. "Your clothes were ruined." She frowned. "What's your name?" Best to make sure.

Lauren tensed, not sure if she should give her real name. Those things had been looking for Susie, maybe they were looking for her. She twisted her hands nervously, then sadly realized she'd taken so long to think about what she should do that she might as well answer truthfully, as it would probably seem like a lie. "Lauren."

"Lauren." A sardonic grin from the stranger and she turned on her two-inch heeled boots, walking away from Lauren. "I'll get you some clothes; someone must have left something that will fit you. Then you're welcome to some food while you decide what to do."

"Okay." She said uncertainly. Decide what to do? She hid. Hid until she learned to control herself and they stopped looking for her.

Or maybe until she grew so disgusted with herself she ended it. In the mornings she thought about suicide a lot, so far the biggest reason holding her back was she'd been raised Catholic suicides went straight too hell, she'd seen enough demons.

"Okay." Dianna yelled back, walking through a door at the end of the hall. She emerged a few minutes later, a bundle of clothes in her hands as she carried them back toward Lauren. "Here. These should fit. I'll be downstairs when you're dressed." She shoved the clothes in Lauren's arms.

The redhead started back the way she'd come, stopping at the top of the stairs. "Don't go into the doors at the end of the hall. Got it?"

"Okay." Lauren said uncertainly clutching the clothes to her chest.

"I mean it." The redhead pointed at Lauren. Getting a quick nod in response she went downstairs, muttering to herself.

Once the woman was gone, Lauren quickly dressed. The clothes smelled funny, and it was odd to wear jeans without underwear but that was just, eww. Now dressed, she made her way out the door and down the stairs; it didn't even occur to her to look where she'd been told not to. Susie would have been braver, mouthier, or just handled it better, but Susie was dead and she was not.

The stairs descended into the kitchen of the bar. Dianna wasn't anywhere to be seen but an ancient looking woman was stirring pots of soup and stew over the industrial stove tops. She peered up at Lauren, wielding a wooden spoon. "Sit." She said in a heavy German accent. "Eat!"

"Helga, stop scaring the girl, she's had a bad night." The redhead was back, dragging a chair over to straddle it across from Lauren. "That's Helga, she does all the cooking here."

Lauren suddenly found herself starving, she was considerably thinner than she used to be, and started stuffing the stew and bread into her mouth. Embarrassed, she swallowed. "Thank you Helga." She whispered out before trying to take more ladylike bites.

The German woman waved the wooden spoon.

"She doesn't talk much." Dianna said, arching an eyebrow. "You don't talk much either do you?"

Lauren swallowed. "Um, what would you like me to say? You haven't told me your name or where I am, so really I think you should be talking."

"Right." The redhead winced, rubbing a hand through her hair. "Dianna Theron. This is my bar." She watched Lauren eat, pale eyes narrowing a little. "Thank you." She said it grudgingly. "For last night."

For a moment Lauren was wondering if she'd actually managed to have sex, but the memory flash of fighting a demon made her think otherwise. "Last night?"

"The demon." Pale eyes watched her intently; behind her the German woman kept stirring, ignoring them completely. "For killing him, before he killed me."

Lauren looked at her and her hands started shaking as more bits of memory hit her. "You're, uh, welcome." She pushed back from the table. "I should go. Thanks for the food, it was really good . . ." She babbled.

The shaking was getting worse.

"Wait." Dianna stood, frowning. "Where are you going to go? Not that I care of course, but you should probably have a plan. The police are looking for you."

That only made things worse. Panic was followed by a craving spike in her gut for an injection. "Police?" She backpedalled, her eyes darting for an exit.

"Police." Dianna watched her, expressionless. "They think you know something about a family that was killed." She shouldn't do this; she should just let the mouse flee back into her hole. But she'd saved her life.

Dianna moved, following Lauren.

Lauren's face became chalky. "I didn't . . ." A memory of a demon retracting two boney claws out of her father's head, the stunned expression on his face and Susie shouting at her to save them. In the end, she'd been too late to realize what Susie had done to her.

Her stomach twisted, she needed a fix. "Please, I need to go." The woman with the red hair stood between her and the only exit.

"Where?" Dianna kept moving, stepping between her and the doors. "Where would you go? Where would be safe for you?" The woman's hands were trembling she noticed.

It rose up in her, her skin bubbling and rippling before becoming solid, like stone. "Someplace safe." She growled out, trying to shove the woman out of her way.

"Not good enough." Dianna knocked away those trembling hands. "What is it? What are you addicted to? Meth? Heroin?"

"I don't know!" She shouted and then pushed back harder, knocking the woman back out of her way. "Sorry, sorry, I can't control it . . ." She apologized as her skin rippled, the hardness underneath breaking away, and then she ran out of the kitchen.

Vaguely she noticed the bar and then the headache tightened like a vice and her head whipped around looking at the lone patron staring at his beer.

A demon.

"Bob!" Dianna yelled a few steps behind Lauren. The man at the bar didn't seem to hear her, staring down at the beer bottle in his hands. The baseball cap was pulled down low over his face and his thin white hands clutched the bottle tightly.

The voice did it, broke her focus. She blinked and black eyes changed back to brown and she dashed for the door.

Lauren got the door ripped open and was gone. She could feel it now. The Gray, the place that anchored demons in their world and gave them refuge, she was too close to it.

She ran faster down the street, her bare-feet shredding and bleeding against the cement.

It was in Dianna to chase after the stranger. To go after her, but at the threshold of the bar she paused. "What the hell am I doing?" The half-demon asked, watching Lauren disappear around a corner in the bright sunlight. She wasn't her problem, not anymore.

Frowning she turned, closing the bar door again.

*******

"Where is the little one?" Helga demanded as soon as Dianna returned to the kitchen.

"Gone." Was the simple answer as Dianna moved to get her own bowl of food. Only to have her hand thwacked by the heavy wooden spoon that Helga wielded like a weapon. "Ow!"

"No guest, no early lunch." The German woman said, turning her back on the bar owner.

"You know, I'm really starting to think you don't know who you work for." The half-demon growled, sucking on a bruised finger. Helga cackled and said something in German too fast and far too fluently for Dianna to follow. Although, she had the sneaking suspicion that she was being told off.

Muttering to herself the redhead turned and strode for the stairs. Since her entire morning seemed to be ruined, she might as well take care of some of the invoices that were waiting for her on her desk. It had never really occurred to her how much paperwork was involved in owning her own bar.

Not that she regretted it, but it certainly seemed to keep her busy.

The heavy metal key was in her pocket, like always and she slid it into the keyhole of her personal office.

"Sissy, I'm AH!" She yelped, ducking as a book went flying at her from one of the bookshelves. "Hey! Stop that!"

Another book went flying for her head and she had to duck behind a chair, the heavy dictionary thudding into the leather chair back instead of her head.

"What the fuck! Come on, she ran away on her own. I did what I was supposed to right? I found her, well she found me, but I tried, she just didn't want any help."

The third book hit with enough force to make the chair rock back on its legs.

"Sissy!" Dianna peeked around the edge of the chair, looking at the smiling face of her sister's portrait. "This isn't our problem!"

A fourth book went flying by her face so close she felt the pages brush her cheek.

"All right! All right." Swearing to herself the half-demon stood up, warily, ready to dodge back behind cover if more books leapt off the shelves. When they stayed where they were she relaxed. "I'll find her and get her somewhere for recovering meth heads or something."

Grumbling to herself she grabbed the old black rotary phone from on top of her desk. The police weren't a normal number she called, but she thought she'd rather leave a message for Quinn instead of talking to the detective right now.

"Hi. I'd like to leave a message for Detective Quinn."

******

Quinn stood outside the bar, feeling naked out of uniform. She wasn't certain this was a good idea, too close to the Gray at night, but she couldn't shake the feeling the Feds had a tail on her. She sucked in a breath and pushed the door open.

She actually liked the bar; for all she knew most of it was imported from Ireland just like Dianna claimed. It was just the fact that Dianna, who wasn't remotely Irish owned it struck a nerve. She got a few looks but she ignored them, trudging up to the bar and found an empty stool, it was a weeknight so it wasn't packed.

"Whiskey neat, and make it something suitably Irish." She said to the attractive man behind the counter, but brushed off his attempts to flirt. Dianna would find her, then ignore her, but eventually they would talk. It had been a day since the woman had left her that cryptic message.

Elegant fingers slid a glass of whiskey, neat just like she'd ordered it, in front of Quinn. "Knappogue Castle Reserve, just for you, Detective." Dianna's voice was as honey-toned as the whiskey she'd just set in front of her. The half-demon leaned against the other side of the bar, showing off a fair bit of cleavage in the tight shirt she wore. "Was wondering when you'd stop by."

"I wouldn't have to if you would have just returned my phone call during the time I told you I'd be at my desk." Quinn knew it was Dianna's way of taking control and for now let her have it. "I have a feeling I'm being followed." She said quietly over the rim of her drink before downing it. She winced as it burned down her throat.

"So you want to go into more detail of your message?"

The red-haired woman shook her head. "Always business first with you, Detective." Reaching behind her she grabbed a bottle, refilling the woman's drink for her. "You should treat that drink with more respect, it's a forty-year-old single malt whiskey. The bottle costs more than most people's mortgage payments." Dianna smiled. "I rather doubt whoever is following you would be stupid enough to follow you in here."

"Maybe, or maybe they have their own half-demons and demons to do work for them." She said with a shrug. This time she sipped her drink. "You know what they say about cops--even when the uniform comes off, we're still on." She grinned humorlessly as the man sitting next to her shifted nervously.

She let out a breath. "I'm sorry and how was your day today?" She frowned as soon as the words were out of her mouth the civility feeling weird in their normally uncivil working relationship, and even that was grasping at straws for what they were.

Dianna gave her a toothy grin, ignoring the man who suddenly decided he needed to move away from the cop. "It was fine, dear, how was yours? Did little Timmy get to school on time?" She thoroughly enjoyed getting under Quinn's skin, the Irish woman had a good handle on her temper but it flared every once in a while.

The bartender grabbed a beer from a passing server, giving her a wink and taking a gulp of the cold liquid. It was a good night, enough patrons to keep the place busy but not so many that it got chaotic. She was delaying of course, avoiding Quinn's question.

There was a flash of old pain, not that Dianna could have known about how much her response hurt. Five years ago she used to have someone to go home to, someone who she could have exchanged those questions with, and his name hadn't been Timmy, it had been Connor, named after her Da.

"Look." She said darkly, recovering, pushing the pain back down. "You want to talk about the phone message or not?

Dianna's lips came off the rim of the bottle with a wet sound and she watched Quinn through her lashes. "Actually. I think I'd rather talk about why you just looked like you wanted to rip my head off."

Quinn ignored her, taking a sip of her drink, settling her thoughts. That was the problem with demons, even half-breeds; they fed on pain and suffering, got off on it even. Working with them you had to be nearly emotionally dead. Which didn't really speak volumes for the human's integrity. "Theron, that is not a can of worms you want to open. Maybe I'll tell you someday, after I tell you what my first name is. Until then let it drop." She was proud that the neutrality was back in her voice.

"But I know what your first name is." Dianna smiled teasingly, accepting the defeat for now. "I'll just wait to use it when I can scream it out in delight though." She licked her lips, loving the way Quinn's eyes reacted even if the other woman's face was shut down.

"Don't flatter yourself. I don't swing that way." Sometimes with demons it didn't matter you'd go there despite yourself, you just couldn't resist.

She got up. "Thank you for the drinks, Theron. Don't call me again if you're going to waste my time." She pulled out enough bills for a tip and threw them on the bar. Maybe she'd schedule a raid on the bar just to make herself feel better. Honestly though, Theron really seemed to be more human than demon, she doubted they'd find anything.

"Your lips say one thing, your eyes another." Dianna stood up from her leaned-over crouch, sighing. "You really need to work on your social skills, Detective. I've got something on your missing girl. Care to follow me upstairs?"

Quinn sighed and rubbed her nose. Everyone who saw her go upstairs was going to think they were having sex. "Sure, fine, but I'm not going to try to save your soul. I know a lost cause when I see one."

"That just makes it all the more fun, Detective." Dianna purred, walking up the stairs with a sway to her hips. She could feel the eyes on her from below. One of them would be spending the night with her, a pity it didn't seem that would be Quinn though.

She walked down the hall, going in to the guest bedroom and picking up a plastic bag. Inside were ruined clothes that she tossed over to Quinn. "There."

Quinn frowned and looked inside. "And the rest of her would be where? And do I want to know how you got her clothes off of her?"

That earned the Detective a smirk. "Use your imagination. As for the rest, I don't know. She fled out of here after I told her the police wanted to talk to her." Best to leave most of that confrontation out of it, Dianna thought. She leaned a hip against the side of the bed board, watching Quinn.

Quinn let out a breath, that didn't sound good. That almost made it seem like the youngest daughter was guilty of something. "You know that doesn't sound very good. Makes it seem like she's involved some way with the murders." Normal people didn't run away from the police. Damn it. She rubbed her nose again. "But she's alive." They were 48 hours from cold-casing it.

"Very alive. Although I think she might be on drugs. Not sure which, maybe PCP? She had a burst of" Dianna grinned "inhuman strength."

Quinn remembered what Dianna had said at the house. "You're still fucking with me. She worked for the University, in the Library, to be around anyone who might be underage all employees must have a background and blood test to make sure they are human. She's a human and a human can't twist a demon's head around until they can look at their ass."

"Detective, if I was fucking with you, I guarantee you'd know it." Dianna pushed off from the bed, annoyed with the entire thing. "I have people looking for her, but she's obviously got a nice deep hidey hole somewhere."

"You have to be related to a nymph or a satyr. You have sex on the brain all the time, everything is innuendo with you." She wondered if she should bother to find the young woman who didn't want to be found. "I'm going to close the case, unless I find anything that links her to the murders. She's an adult, if she wants to be a junkie and hide away from the world . . ." It would make sense, a young woman who sees her family killed maybe escapes into drugs to hide the memory.

That she could understand.

"Um, there's nothing I can do about that. I already have five new murders on my plate."

"You're not going to search for her?" The half-demon's gaze sharpened. She'd been hoping that this entire mess could be handed off to Quinn.

Quinn's gaze hardened. "What do you think I've been doing? You've had more luck than I. I can only do so much. My life isn't a cop show. My caseload is overflowing; I have feds following me, asking me inane questions because they are lying sacks of shit. I work overtime almost everyday, sometimes if I'm lucky I get lunch that doesn't come from a vending machine. We can't all be oversexed bar owners." But it sounded nice.

Anger was okay although it was a turn-on for some demons, she was fairly certain Dianna wasn't one of those; she did however, make an effort to calm herself. "48 hours and then it's a cold case."

"So if I find her in 48 hours I can hand her over to you?" Dianna asked, just to be crystal clear on this one. If Sissy was going to force her to do something, she didn't want to be stuck looking after some addicted human.

"Yeah sure." Quinn replied. "If that's all, I'll leave you and your regulars alone." She turned for the door smirking. She was going to ruin Dianna's reputation; she hardly looked like she'd just been given a good time.

The bar tender pursed her lips in thought, watching the detective go, too preoccupied by the complications to her normally orderly life to protest.

******

High-pitched voices gibbered in an infernal tongue, the words and phrases echoing in the dark cavernous room. Pale, fish-belly-white demons, no bigger than a small child, painted symbols on to the cold concrete floor. Their brushes were made from bone and hair and their movements delicate even though they only had three fingers and no eyes.

Somewhere another door opened and different demons came in pushing metal tripods; on top of each tripod was a metal circle that held something tan, it was pulled tight, connected in place to the metal circular frame. They pushed two tripods into the center of the symbols. The tan on top of the tripods was revealed to be stretched skin; two empty eyeholes and pale, bloodless lips opened in a never-ending scream of torment.

Exiting the symbols, two demons bumped into one of the painters and a fight broke out, screams of pain and rage echoed, until a cold, bored voice said, "Stop wasting my time."

The fighting stopped and the combatants dropped to their knees gibbering and bowing.

The voice was attached to a female body, ripe with lush curves and dark hair that cascaded down pale skin. "Very good, looks like we are ready. Where is the Blood Witch?"

When there was no answer the woman turned around, red eyes blazing. "Find me the Blood Witch; time is wasting here." Her voice promised pain and the demons got up, bolting in all directions.

Finally the Blood Witch emerged; her lower half was that of a giant snake while her upper torso was that of a woman. She was naked other than bones and skulls that decorated several large necklaces around her neck, the bones were human and demon, There were odd patterns painted on to her skin, some flashed dark red on occasion while others remained dormant.

"I was watching the stars in a bowl of blood." She snapped out.

"I'll divine my future in your entrails if you don't quit the attitude," the demoness said darkly, promising pain.

The witch swallowed and then bowed. "I beg forgiveness, sometimes I spend too much time looking into the mysteries that I forget my place."

"Whatever. Find out which one is Susan."

"As you command." The witch moved forward, scales dryly rasping over the concrete. She moved to the circle of symbols checking everything carefully. "Very good. Bring me the hearts."

A box was brought to the witch and she pulled out the decomposing organs with a sniff of disapproval, "Next time, a cooler full of blood is better." She began to hum and chant and then squeezed the hearts over each taut skin like a lemon.

The skins began to twitch and the mouths open and shut, and then agonizing screams wailed throughout the room.

The demoness approached, a pleased smile on her face. "Which one of you is Susan Espinoza?"

The faces contorted in agony. "What have you done to us?" They wailed.

"Oh, shut up. Or I'll eat your damned soul. Now who is Susan?"

"You leave my baby alone." One of the faces shouted.

"Thank you. Take that one away and burn it." Demons scampered to do as they were bid.

The demoness moved over, pushing the Blood Witch out of her way. She snapped her fingers and a chair was brought. She swept her tail back so she could sit comfortably.

"Susan, you're a smart woman. You knew I was on to you. Did you guess I had corrupted your boss? It wasn't that hard, not really. I know your little project is a failure, but did you know that someone noticed you taking vials out of the lab? So tell me where your hidden little lab is, so I can destroy any more freaks you've created."

The flap of taut skin that used to be connected to the rest of Susan struggled. "There's no lab," she said hollowly.

"Then why were you stealing the blood samples?" She asked, checking a blood-red painted fingernail, bored.

"The volunteers were not suitable, criminals became too violent once the injections began and the blood started to mix. They flew into rages and killed everyone, not just demons. I theorized that we actually needed a more passive pool of test-subjects, ones not prone to violence."

The demoness went very still, "Who's your test subject, Susan?"

"Why? Scared?" Susan taunted back.

"What's there to be scared of? You made half-breeds, big deal."

"The Great Wyrm and Stone-skinned Soul Eater out of Tibet ." Susan smiled as the demoness's skin became pale. "All those things that make demons scared of the dark."

The demoness glared. "They've been hunted to extinction Chinese occupation of Tibet and Wyrms are easily distracted." She sneered in response.

"A half-breed hid the last one away. His family worshiped it, and cared for it through the centuries; all because demons murdered his heart's true love. He harbored it out of hatred. And we pitiful humans found it."

The demoness was standing now, red eyes blazing like a house fire. "Who is your test subject? Where can it be found?"

Susan's mouth opened in a painful wail trying to resist. "Blood of my blood, she was at the house. She'll kill you. Because she must."

Lips tight together the demoness stormed off. "Put it in a box." She might need to talk to Susan again.

*****

Three AM probably wasn't the best time to be wandering around the Gray zone, or even out of it for that matter, but Dianna Theron couldn't leave earlier. No matter what Quinn thought, there were a lot of things she had to take care of at the bar. There were employees that had to be paid, fights to break up, and customers to mingle with.

A quickie with a rather stunning brunette had taken the edge offthe night's troubles quite nicely.

This unfortunately left her leaving the bar, in Bob's capable hands, at three a.m. to meet with a demon who she hoped would be able to find the missing human. Then maybe, finally, Sissy would stop throwing books at her every time she entered her own study.

The demon was waiting for her outside the back of the bar. It wasn't one of the ones who could ever pass for a human, like Paul. The hulking beast was more like a saber-toothed cat then anything else, although the slime shine of its reptilian hide made even that comparison difficult.

"You're late." The thing growled.

"I had things to settle, Challa." Dianna dug into her pocket, pulling out a small scrap of cloth and holding it out for the thing to sniff. "Can you track from this?"

Challa snorted, turning and loping through the darkness as Dianna sprinted to keep up

Lauren woke sluggishly. She had injected herself with a different vial wondering if it might have a different affect on her. It had. This one made her sleepy and when she did venture up into the quad, she kept getting drawn to shiny objects and valuable ones.

Made her feel vaguely raccoon like. There was a buzz again in the back of her skull, the beginnings of headache, one she had come to associate with a demon being nearby, she was meek not stupid.

Slowly she got up and dressed. Thirsty swept the watches, rings, and bangles off the cooler onto the floor and pulled out a beer, downing it quickly. It helped keep the edge off the headaches. Slowly she snuck out of her hiding hole.

It was late or early, not yet dawn but the fullness of night was gone. On a weeknight, even most students were asleep at this time.

Challa slowed, and Dianna was glad it did. They'd crossed what felt like most of the city at a run and she was seriously regretting the heeled boots she was wearing. Her legs were starting to burn as she slowed, watching the scaly demon scent the air with a forked tongue. "Your prey is near." Challa growled, turning to look at Dianna through yellow eyes. "I have brought you here. Payment now."

"Pushy, aren't we?" Dianna reached into her pocket, pulling out a sealed plastic baggy. "Here you go." She tossed it at him and the demon snatched the bag and the white pills in it, out of the air. "Demons and ecstasy." She muttered, shaking her head as she started walking deeper into the university grounds.

Her pace quickened as she saw movement in the shadows of one of buildings, a library if she remembered correctly. "Hey!" She called, changing direction and moving toward it.

Lauren froze, recognizing the voice; it was the woman who wanted to take her to the police. "Fuck." She grumbled. The woman was too close for her to get to her hideaway without it being discovered.

"Hey!" Dianna really didn't want to run again. "I want to talk to you."

She lifted her head and sniffed almost as if she were scenting the air. There was a demon nearby; the pain in her skull increased. She moved toward the garishly redheaded woman intent on going passed her. "Look, I don't want to talk to you." She said absently following in the direction the demon had left.

Dianna grabbed her arm, yanking her to a stop. "I know that, but it's important," the other woman insisted.

Lauren's eyes flickered for a second, going black. "I need to . . ." She trailed off and gave the strange woman her attention. "What?" she asked, looking at the hand on her arm, knowing how easy it would be to break it.

The flicker of Lauren's eyes made Dianna pause for a second, but she shook it off. The sooner she did this, the sooner she could be home. "It's obvious you're in trouble and I know you're high on something. I owe you for what you did two days ago, let me help you."

Lauren laughed and easily shook the hand off. "A month ago you could have helped. Not now, go away before I hurt you too."

The brush-off actually stung a bit and Dianna rubbed her wrist, eyeing the human. "Fine." Damnit, why was she even out here? "You just self destruct all by yourself. Live in filth for all I care." She wrinkled her nose. "Or should I say keep living in it?"

Lauren paused. "I'm sorry . . . I just . . . you're attractive, it makes it hard . . . you should really not be here." She took a deep breath it was easier when she wasn't so close.

"Little girl, I'm not . . ." Dianna paused, head tilting to one side. Something had changed around them.

"What . . ." She mumbled, turning in a circle. Behind them Challa strode into view large, tusked mouth open, serpentine tongue flicking. "Challa." Dianna frowned. "What do you want? I paid you already."

The human's shoulders drooped and bent inward almost if she was trying to make herself disappear. She blinked at the very obvious thing that was a demon.

"You did not pay me enough." The demon tracker hissed, laughing as forms stepped out of the shadows behind him. Dianna froze; jaw tightening as she realized she'd been double-crossed.

Lauren's skin rippled and she hissed as it thickened into hard scales followed by the sound of tearing flesh as wings emerged from her back. That was a bit painful and startling for Lauren.

Something bad was happening behind her, but Dianna dared not look away from the four demon hounds that were advancing along with Challa. She'd never seen four of them together, hadn't known four existed.

Lauren stumbled a bit not quite knowing how to use her wings. "What the hell?" She grumbled. "Hey kid, I'm here to help you, I only brought a few friends to kill you." She mimicked Dianna.

"Obviously not as much my friend as I thought." Dianna snapped back, slowly stepping backwards.

She hissed and then with a stumbling hop, step, and a jump, she got the wings to carry her up with a powerful contraction of muscle. She was up and over the strange woman and then sailing downward at one of the demons, feet first. Her foot knocking it down as it just stared at her, perplexed to what it was seeing.

Dianna would have laughed if the circumstances were different. The demon hound, which was different from a hellhound, had looked up with the most confused expression on its face as the kid sailed down at it.

Thankfully the previous night had given the half-demon some new wariness and she hadn't come to the meeting empty handed. The pistol had been tucked away in her pocket. It was small but the bullets were blessed with holy water. It made a large impact on the nearest demon hound as she shot it in the head.

"Run, idiot!" She yelled at the human.

The urge to kill was overwhelming, almost as bad as the headache that throbbed throughout her skull. The wings were annoying, although she could pull them around her body for some protection and quickly learned to flare them out to knock her attackers back. She roared out as the demon she had first knocked down bit her in the leg.

Lauren kicked out sending a demon flying back and then caught another and snapped its neck. She roared out enjoying the scent of blood and the feeling of the demonic life force snuffed out. Part of her was horrified and once daylight hit she would purge the contents of her stomach.

They were staying back now, watching her warily. "This place is mine." She growled out, body tense, ready to kill again.

Her leg throbbed and it was still bleeding but she ignored it, ignored everything but the enemies in front of her.

The two remaining demons slunk backward, melding into the shadows. "See you again soon, Challa!" Dianna yelled after him, grunting in frustration when the demon hound escaped. Only then did she take in the changes to the human. The pistol slowly lowered. "What are you?" The half-demon whispered.

Lauren wanted to go after them and her body trembled with tension for a moment then the wings absorbed back into her back through the ruined shirt. Her skin rippled and the scales melted away. She collapsed to her knees, crying. "Go away." Right before she vomited up the beer she'd had earlier.

"Yeah, like I'm that much of a bitch." Dianna shoved the pistol back into a pocket. Stepping around the vomit she bent down, holding the woman's hair away from her face as she wretched. "You can't stay here. They'll be back. You've made some big enemies if Challa flipped sides."

Lauren breathed out. "I can't control my thoughts, my emotions, my . . . anything. Where else am I going to go?" She sniffed and then sat back wiping her mouth with the back of her ruined shirtsleeve.

"That we just ignore until we figure out what to do about it." She held up a hand, quickly, before the human got upset. "Look. You need a safe place to stay and I'm, for some reason, offering one to you until you figure out what's going on. Obviously you've got problems."

Lauren automatically grabbed the hand, letting go once she was on her feet. "I . . . okay. I need to get my stuff." She thought about leaving it, but sooner or later she would need it again. Then there was a fear that someone else might find it.

She wasn't certain this was a good idea, but she was out of options, if those things had been here for her. "I didn't want any of this." She said to herself.

"We never do." Dianna said, watching the area around them. "Get your things, we can't stay here long. Challa's probably going to be back with friends as soon as he can get to the Gray zone."

Lauren nodded. Her back was cold, the night air licking across the skin through the ruined shirt. She shivered a little and then started moving toward her dumpster and the grate. With a little push, the dumpster was moved away from the wall and she pulled the grate out, sliding inside. The only thing she wanted was the bag. Everything else she would leave here in case she needed to come back.

"You were hiding in the sewer?" Dianna's voice echoed off the walls around Lauren. The redhead had stopped at the sewer grate, not moving an inch closer to the area where Lauren had just climbed down. She was staring into the black hole incredulously. Sure, she'd heard legends of people desperate enough to do that, but come on! No one really did that unless they were a rat, did they?

"Steam tunnels." Came the reply. "They stretch everywhere under the University. I can go to the gym and take a shower; I can get to the Dining Hall and get food, and other such things." She emerged with a simple leather satchel and a beaten up duffle bag.

The half-demon raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as she turned and started walking back the way they'd come. "We need a taxi. I'm not running all the way back to the Gray to try and beat Challa. You all right with moving vehicles?"

Lauren nodded. She followed quietly, not certain what to say. "Why are you doing this?" She asked, suspicious but it wasn't like her options were that great. Being on the fringe of the human world gave her fewer people to interact with, to hurt, but she remembered this woman's bar was on the edge of the Gray, but then there was the problem of the Gray itself.

"It's complicated." Dianna sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Let's just say I'm doing my good deed for the year?" She didn't think Lauren believed her but then again it wasn't really the truth either so she couldn't blame the other woman. "Are you hurt?"

"I . . . . . ." She suddenly remembered her leg and looked down. "It's healing." The scales had made it hard for the thing to do much damage.

"You should have been cut in half by that winged demon by the way." Dianna kept her voice conversational and her eyes on the street ahead of them as they walked. It was too late to get a taxi in the university area but a few blocks over they should be able to find something in the nightclub district. "I saw its claws hit your chest. They went through cement."

That would explain the odd, dark marks on her skin. "I-I-I don't have any answers for you. I don't know what she did to me." Then she clamped her mouth shut not certain if she should say anything to this woman. There was a chance it had all been a setup, those demons attacking them, a ploy to create camaraderie between the two of them.

"She?" Dianna glanced over at the haggard woman at that. Expression softening at the look on Lauren's face. "Come on, let's get you somewhere you can sleep." She said gruffly, stepping out into the street and holding up a hand in front of a taxi. As far as she knew, that was the best way to actually force oneto stop for you.

The horn blaring and the screech of tires as the cab slid to a stop was really just sort of a bonus. "Here." She yanked open the door, shoving a hundred-dollar bill at the cabbie to get him to shut up before the cursing really got started.

Lauren felt a certain lassitude, envelop her now that the fighting was over. She had used a different vial and had gotten different results. The wings had been a very big different result, not that she had used them particularly well. Her eyelids closed slightly and she just really wanted to curl up someplace warm and sleep. Now that she'd killed, and the headache had gone away.

They rode in silence, she was uncertain what to say, and honestly the woman next to her was a little unsettling, in her tight clothes and with her boobs all . . . there.

"You don't talk much do you?" The half-breed asked, watching the human woman's reflection in the bulletproof separator between them and the driver in front as the taxi started moving.

Lauren fidgeted. "I . . . um . . . no." It was easier not to talk or say anything. Everything she said or did was held up next to her older sister's accomplishments. Everything became a backhanded complement. "I'm not really good with them."

"With words or talking to people?" Dianna smiled, keeping it as nonsexual as possible. It was pretty clear that if she teased too much the human was going to bolt right out of the taxi, no matter what speed they were going.

"Uh, with people." She fidgeted some more and looked out the window. "I just don't want to hurt anyone and sometimes . . . sometimes . . . I get urges to do things that I never did before. It's not like, I like living in steam tunnels and stealing clothes from random laundry rooms. I just know the University and it's easy to hide there." The words were stumbled over and hesitant, it was easier to talk when she was looking out the window at the city passing them by.

"When did it start?" Dianna asked, conversationally as if they were discussing what sort of coffee they enjoyed drinking. It wasn't the strangest conversation she'd ever had, but it definitely was the strangest she'd ever had with a human.

Although, come to think of it, there hadn't been too many normal conversations with humans other than in her bed or with Quinn. Which wasn't a fact she enjoyed dwelling on, so she didn't.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she held them back. "Seven . . . nine days ago, doesn't seem that long for so much change. Demons came to the house they attacked us . . ." She trailed off, thinking. "Before that my sister, she . . . volunteered me for a drug study she was working on in Washington, but the first change came when those demons came into the house and attacked my family. I killed one of the demons, he was going to . . . rape my mother . . . I just snapped. It hurt, I remember the pain. Like my skull was going to split open." She thought she might get sick again and leaned forward letting the cool glass of the window press against her forehead.

Dianna closed her eyes as well, but for a different reason. Her nostrils flared as she gripped the seats. Damn, she'd forgotten how deep humans could feel things. There was no reserve with most of them; all of their feelings were just there out in the open, begging to be felt by everyone around them.

She could feel Lauren's pain and it was delicious.

"Stop." She ground out, gritting her teeth. "Think about something else. Anything else. A puppy or something."

Lauren looked at the woman quizzically, "I don't understand." Her expression changed to a frown. A hand tightening on the doorknob. "What's going on?" She was wary now. Uncertain if she was safe. Her monster moved closer to the surface, making her eyes golden.

Uncertainty was better than pain and Dianna let out a slow breath, hands unclenching. "The pain. I could feel your pain very strongly." She husked, keeping her eyes on the window on her side of the taxi. She just needed a moment.

Lauren considered tearing the taxi door open and fleeing. The only things she knew that could feed off of darker emotions were demons. Logic held her back. There was no headache, no urge to kill, and this woman Dianna, who was dressed like sex on a stick, was holding back. A demon wouldn't have held back.

She was quiet for a while as she focused on her breathing and counting imaginary sheep in her head. Her hand came off the door handle and then after a little more time she said. "The fact you're a half-demon should have come up sooner." She frowned. "I actually thought about killing you." What kind of fucked up thought was that? She'd thought about killing someone, she never used to have those thoughts.

Then she winced realizing she had. The delivery guy, she'd thought about ripping his nuts off and handing them to him, and the coffee guy who always fucked up her order, she'd thought about him slipping in some spilled coffee and bashing his head in on the counter. So she hadn't been as gentle as she thought, but she certainly hadn't acted on these thoughts before.

"There hasn't been much time for actual conversations with you. If you remember." The redhead said dryly. "Last time I talked to you, it ended up in you running out of the bar barefoot." She took in a breath, happy that the barrage of emotions had eased to a dull misery.

"Here we are." She said as the taxi slowed to a stop and she slid another hundred to the driver. "Thanks."

Chapter 2

The answer was an unintelligible mumble that might have been you're welcome, but Dianna doubted it as she got out.

Lauren followed, the two bags clutched to her. She vaguely remembered the place, but she definitely remembered the cook, and her stomach growled. She blushed embarrassed by the noise. "Um . . . it's been awhile . . . since I ate." She turned her attention back to the bar. "You don't seem very Irish." She realized the words were stupid the moment they came out of her mouth. How would she know? Was there a certain way Irish people sounded except for the leprechauns on cartoons?

"You saying Theron isn't an Irish last name?" The bar owner said with a straight face, only breaking into an easy smile when Lauren started to stutter something. "Relax, I'm teasing, it's a joke." She unlocked the front door; the bar had been closed for hours now. "The building was here, but everything else was brought over from Ireland. Every stool, every piece of wood, the bar top, it's all from Ireland."

"That's cool." Lauren said just to say something as she followed behind Dianna.

Once inside she took her time taking in everything, she had just run out, last time. It actually felt worn and comfortable like your favorite pair of old jeans. "It's nice."

"Thank you." Dianna raised a hand, waving to Bob as she passed the man and his beer at his usual spot at the bar. Other than him, the place was empty as she kept on going toward the kitchen. "That's it? No questions about why I'd want to do something crazy like that? Everyone else always asks."

Helga wasn't there, but the redhead figured she could at least make the poor girl a sandwich or something to eat. Besides, if she got hungry enough then Dianna would feel hungry and that would result in more chocolate being eaten than she really wanted.

Lauren tensed seeing Bob, and the headache came back, throbbing in her skull. She took a deep breath and let it out. "He's a demon."

"He's also a customer." Dianna paused, holding the door to the kitchen open and looking back over at the human.

The old man didn't say anything, head still bowed, baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes as he stared at the warm bottle in his hands.

The golden glow was back in her eyes, but because she'd just killed two demons it was easier to resist. It took a moment for her to force her eyes from the back of his head and then with a deep breath and an exhale her legs moved away from Bob, and toward the kitchen.

"Is he safe . . . for a demon?"

"For a demon," Dianna agreed, closing the kitchen door behind them and setting to work on a pair of sandwiches. "He came in the first night I opened and he's been here ever since. Pays his tab, and doesn't talk. Pretty much the best customer I have."

Lauren nodded and then let out a sigh of relief once they were in the kitchen and Bob was out of sight. Her eyes blinked and the gold glow was gone. "Can I. . . . have a shower?" Blood was drying, caking to places on her skin.

"Right." Dianna frowned down at the sandwich fixings she'd just taken out. "Food first or shower?" She was bad at this being a hostess thing.

"Food is fine." She sat down, slowly setting her stuff down at her feet. She watched Dianna, wondering why the woman was helping her. She could believe the one good thing for the year, but it didn't make sense why it would be her. Then the sex thoughts were back. "Do you have to wear . . . uh . . . revealing clothes?"

"You don't like my clothes?" An eyebrow arched as the half-demon concentrated on spreading mustard and then cutting hunks of ham from what Helga had made earlier. She rather thought the tight-fitting black clothes weren't that sexy compared to a few of her outfits. Sure, the top hugged her full breasts quite nicely but she wasn't showing that much cleavage was she?

"No, they're fine. It's me, my thoughts are all over the place anymore, almost like someone else is having them." She gave a tight laugh. "I'm sorry, I'll be quiet." She swallowed and concentrated on the worn tabletop.

A few moments later, a plate with a large ham sandwich was set in front of Lauren, directly in her field of view. "You can say whatever you want." Dianna said, settling onto a stool across from her. "I was just curious if you were a prude or one of those religious nuts."

To hide her embarrassment Lauren took a large bite of her sandwich. She chewed for a long time and swallowed, but the blush was still on her cheeks. "No, not a religious nut, I was raised Catholic, which has caused all sorts of internal conflict and issues of guilt." And she was probably the world's oldest virgin.

She took another bite to make her mouth stop talking.

"Strange, the church never really welcomed me with open arms." Dianna sent a wicked smile across the table, picking up her smaller sandwich and taking a bite. "The bar opens at noon, so I'll be busy from then until closing. Except for Sundays and Mondays, we're closed for that. Tomorrow's Saturday, things tend to get, interesting around here on Saturday evenings." Best to warn the human now.

"Okay. I'll try to stay out of the way and under control." Daytime wasn't too bad but nighttime could get interesting. "Did you want me to leave? So I'm not in the way."

"No." Pale eyes snapped up as Dianna looked at the human. "I'm not running around the city chasing after you because my?" she paused. "You're welcome to go anywhere in the rooms upstairs, just stay out of my study. The door's locked, so you won't be able to mistake it."

"Okay." Lauren said, and then worked on finishing the rest of her sandwich. She would just need to do her best to stay under control. "I'll do my best." Done with the sandwich she wiped her hands on the same pair of pants Dianna had given her almost two days ago.

"Shower is upstairs." Dianna ate slower, studying the other woman. "Help yourself to anything in there." She wrinkled her nose. "And I'll set out new clothes for you. Maybe tomorrow we'll get something more in your size."

Lauren got up slowly and grabbed her bags, before heading for the stairs. She was starting to feel sleepy, that lethargy was working its way into her bones again. She paused on the first step and looked back at Dianna. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it." The redhead sighed, watching the human go up the stairs to her private level. "Seriously." She muttered, wolfing down the last bite of sandwich. "Don't ever mention it to anyone."

*******

It was odd what sleeping in a real bed could do. At first it was nerve-wracking and scary, every little sound drawing her nerve endings tight, but finally she fell asleep. When her eyes blinked open, it was sunny and most of the day was gone.

The feeling of lethargy was still there even though she was well rested; she was just coming to associate the feeling with the vial with the red dot on it. There were clothes on a chair and she thought it odd she had slept through someone entering.

She held up the clothes and sniffed them; they smelled of detergent, nothing else.

Dressed but still without shoes she wandered around the room until boredom set in and then she headed hesitantly down the stairs.

There were voices out in the bar, people moving around and bottles clinking as they set up for the night to come. Helga was in the kitchen, standing on the small step stool that let her get high enough to stir the big pots on the stove. "Ah." The ever-present wooden spoon came out, pointing at Lauren.

"Come. Sit. Eat. Frau Theron said you ate sandwich." She made a phishing sound. "Nothing but skin and bones you are!"

"I, uh, thank you." She sat at the worn table again. Her hands smoothing nervously over the grained wood top.

"What are you? Spanish? Hispanic?" Helga demanded, setting a bowl of sausages and noodles down in front of the young woman. Not waiting for an answer, she climbed back on her stool, hunched back to Lauren as she tended her pots.

"American." Lauren said cheekily as she stabbed a sausage with her fork.

"Phaw. You are young is what you are." Helga muttered something else in German.

"If you look down the family tree you'll find someone who was from Mexico and on my mom's side Chinese." She shrugged, not arguing the young part.

"Without your history, you do not know who you are." Helga waved the spoon at her again.

"Helga, stop terrorizing the poor girl." Dianna shoved through the swinging doors from the bar, letting them flap closed behind her on the organized chaos going on outside. "She doesn't need an interrogation."

Ignoring the dark look she got from the cook, Dianna pulled out her own chair at the head of the table. "Don't mind her, she's just pushy and German." She said with a wink to Lauren.

"Is she a half-breed too?" Lauren asked between bites.

"Nope, just old." Dianna grinned, ducking as a dinner roll sailed at her head.

"I am not so old that I am deaf! If you wish to make fun of me, go somewhere else. I am busy." Helga commanded.

Lauren smiled at the interaction.

Ignoring her, at her own peril, Dianna watched the human. "Sleep well?"

Lauren nodded. "Yes, very well."

She focused on her food, uncertain what to say. Because one really didn't know how to start a conversation where they admitted to being addicted to something their sister gave them, that tended to give one demon-like aspects.

"Good." Dianna fiddled with a piece of paper, frowning. The bartender was in her bar-tending outfit. Short skirt with a light shirt and plunging neckline. The high heels just added to the overall impression. "I wanted to talk to you first, but I think I need to call Detective Quinn and let her know where you are."

Lauren tensed.

"You don't have to talk to her if you don't want to. This is the Gray Zone; police don't really have power down here." Dianna smirked.

Lauren knew it made her seem guilty of those murders, but how does one respond to witnessing said murders, being betrayed and used as a guinea pig by a sister, and starting a killing spree of your own.

"I don't know." She fidgeted. "I guess, I should talk to the police but what are they going to do about demons? Worse, I don't think I can handle being under the microscope of questions and procedures." She was afraid she'd snap and hurt someone.

"Then I won't tell her that you're here. But, hard as this is to say, Quinn seems to generally care if you're alive or dead. It will be easier if she knows you're alive." It would also help keep the detective from poking around off the record, which Dianna really didn't want.

Lauren sighed, her shoulders drooping. "I could maybe just talk to this friend of yours . . . here . . . just her, not a whole squad of them."

"Here?" Dianna winced. "Here?" She repeated, just to make sure she knew. "I mean, sure, here."

"Okay." She played with the lighter that she had somehow stolen off of Dianna, not really realizing she had done it. It was gold and shiny and part of her really liked that, since she had left her hoard back at her old hiding place.

"Hey!" The half-demon reached over, snatching it from her. "Get your own lighter."

Lauren gave a growl that startled her, and quickly dropped the hand that had been reaching out to grab it back under her ass so she was sitting on it. That way she wouldn't piss off the lady who was helping her.

With a strange look, Dianna tucked the gold lighter back into her pocket, not really certain how Lauren had gotten it off her in the first place. "I'll be right back. Just relax. You can go out in the bar if you want, but it's a bit chaotic right now. Deliveries for tonight just showed up."

"I'll stay out of the way and out of that room. I remember the rules, there weren't that many of them."

"Good to know. Helga, no terrorizing our guest." She moved out through the swinging doors, back into the chaos of the bar.

"Guest. You are now a guest." Helga shook her head, reaching for the salt.

"Is that a rare thing around here?" And why did Dianna have to wear shirts that put her boobs out there?

"Never guests." Helga shook her head, eyeing the young woman suspiciously as she moved to start cutting up a carrot.

"What?" Lauren said freeing the hand she was sitting on.

Helga snorted, moving back to the pots.

Lauren focused on her bowl, scraping it clean.

Out in the bar, Dianna found a corner booth where she could keep an eye on the half-dozen employees while dialing a number she'd rather not call. At least she might be bothering the detective on her day off, she hoped.

After the fourth ring, it was picked up. "Quinn." Came the out of breath reply.

"Am I interrupting something good?" Dianna purred, grinning. She really hoped she was.

"Damnit, Theron!" Quinn snarled into the phone.

"You were thinking of me during your special fun time? I'm touched. Or I could be if you wanted." Dianna laughed.

"Where do you think you're going?" Quinn grumbled next to the phone and then there was the sound of something heavy being slammed into the police cruiser. "Get in there and shut up."

Attention back to the phone Quinn frowned. "What was that? Never mind, I'm sure I don't want to know."

"Probably not." The redhead agreed. "Can you talk or are you busy having fun?"

"Yeah one second, I'm switching to hands-free." Quinn muttered as she got behind the wheel.

Dianna cupped her hand over the receiver. "Hey! Matt, make sure those kegs go in the basement. I don't want them piled up in the corner again!"

"I'm surprised you didn't have a witty innuendo for that. So what do you want, Theron?"

"Your missing human turned up." Dianna leaned back in her chair. "Alive and kind of well."

There was silence.

"Oh . . . great." Quinn was surprised; she really didn't think Theron would put herself out there for anyone. "After I book this guy, I can be down to pick her up."

"She's not going." The half-breed grimaced. "She doesn't want to go anywhere out of the bar. She's agreed to talk to you, one on one, otherwise no deal."

Quinn bit her bottom lip, her head bobbing side to side as she weighed the pros and cons of it.

"Oh come on Quinn, you're just dying to see me again." Dianna teased.

"You really think highly of yourself Theron. I'll be by in a couple of hours, to talk to her. Not for one of your infamous booty calls."

"Whatever you need to tell yourself." Dianna laughed and hung up. It was really fun playing with Quinn.

Quinn grumbled and hung up.

*******

A few hours later as promised Quinn showed up at the bar. She thought about changing, or at least wearing a jacket to cover up her uniform but in the end decided Theron deserved any business that she lost.

A line was just starting to form outside of the bar, a mixture of human and half-breeds with even an occasional minor demon thrown in. There were humans trying to look like demons, and demons trying to look like humans. It was a confusing mixture, each group trying to be like the other. "Name?" The bouncer asked, sizing up Quinn as the police officer walked toward him. The man was obviously a half-demon, the scale-covered skin was hard to miss.

Quinn quirked and eyebrow and tapped her badge, "This means all access."

"Detective Quinn." He unhooked the red velvet rope, letting her into the bar beyond. "Ms. Theron is waiting for you."

"Of course she is. Really an Irish bar with a velvet rope, lordy if a leprechaun doesn't come by and kick you in the nuts."

There was a band setting up on the back wall, the four-man group were all bald and wearing authentic kilts. Large Scottish drums were being set up, giving a fairly strong hint as to what the night's music was going to be. Dianna, alerted by the bouncer, was already threading her way through the crowded floor toward the detective, a drink in one hand.

She'd sashayed, knowing she looked good, and proud of it. People paused to look as she passed, and watched her as she went, admiring the well-formed figure. Everything about her screamed sex and desire.

"Detective." She smiled, offering the glass. "Whiskey I believe was your drink of choice?"

"Dear Lord." Quinn muttered to herself watching the woman arrive and realized she should have changed; now everyone would think she was a dirty cop.

"Can't, I'm on duty." Which was a pity, it was good whiskey.

"I could sip it for you." Dianna purred, leaning in close to be heard over the general din of conversation around them.

"The girl, Theron." Quinn sighed in exasperation "and then you can get back to your mating ritual.

"You're never any fun, Detective." Dianna laughed, tracing a finger along the collar of the uniform. "She's upstairs. Care to follow me?" She didn't really wait for an answer, turning and walking with a suggestive sway.

That just made Quinn frown harder, but she followed, people didn't part for her as they did for Dianna, but she didn't mind shoving a few people around.

"Very butch of you, Detective." Theron smiled over her shoulder. "Perhaps you could shove me around later?" She pushed through the doors to the kitchen and the stairs beyond.

It wasn't like Quinn hadn't heard that before, people assumed most women in a male dominated field secretly wanted to be a man or was a lesbian. Or she met the freaks with a uniform fetish--there was a guy on Main who was always doing stupid shit so he'd get frisked by a lad or lady in blue. Then there was the opposite: the people who unexpectedly flew into a rage at the sign of a police uniform, a physiological disorder.

She was fine until they went up the stairs then it got interesting following behind Dianna as the skirt rode up as she stepped up the stairs. Fucking half-breeds and their unnatural beauty, seriously she had yet to meet an ugly one, and fuck Dianna for knowing how to work that sex appeal. She was going to start calling on different half-breeds when she needed help with a demon-touched case. It was her fault really, she'd come here.

"She's in the guest room." Dianna sent a smile over her shoulder at the cop, enjoying the effect she was having on the human. It was always fun to tease the good detective. "This is the second time you've been up to my rooms; people are going to start talking Quinn."

"Doubtful, since you aren't throwing me out, nor do I look . . . satisfied, like the other barely legal things you throw out your doors once the sun rises. They are going to think you're losing your touch or perhaps I'm here to do police work." Quinn shot back. Her gaze flicking to the safety of the handrail. Fucking demons, she thought again, for good measure.

"You haven't left here yet, Detective." Dianna purred, stopping at the top of the stairs and waiting for Quinn to pass her. "Third door on the right." She grabbed Quinn's arm, stopping her. "Be gentle. She's suffered a lot already." Pale eyes watched the Irish woman's face intently.

Quinn tried to hide her surprise, but there was a lot to be surprised about. Dianna touching her, which had never happened. Or Dianna showing concern for someone. "When demons are involved there's suffering. I promise to behave myself, no rough stuff. I will just talk to her about what happened, and I'll let her set the pace. You're welcome to stay if it will make you both feel better."

The half-demon blinked, dropping her hand. "Why would I care?" She folded her arms, which did nice things to her cleavage.

Quinn just gave a tight-lipped smile. "I didn't say that you did." Happy her eyes didn't lower, she moved past Dianna to head down the hall. She rolled her eyes as the half-demon didn't move at all making the police officer have to brush against her. She kept her hand on her gun out of habit not that she thought Dianna would steal it.

"I'll just wait for you here." The half-demon made no effort to hide the appreciative look she gave as the detective walked away. "I always did like a woman in uniform." She grinned, leaning up against the side of the hallway.

Quinn knocked on the door, and when she heard a muffled voice respond she opened the door. "Hi, my name is Maggie Quinn, I'm a police officer. Ms. Theron contacted me to come speak to you. Is that okay?" She said, step into the room and shutting the door.

The woman inside nodded, arms crossed across her chest as she sat in the only chair by the window. Dark eyes watched the detective suspiciously as bare feet poked out from under the new jeans she was wearing. "She said you would show up." Lauren said quietly.

Quinn smiled, softly, the young woman looked very lost and alone at the moment. "I'm just going to take out my notepad and a pen. Then I'm going to sit over here, so we can talk."

"I'm not going back with you." There was a hint of defiance in those dark eyes. "But I guess talking wouldn't be so bad." She swallowed, hesitant at the idea of talking about what had happened.

"Well, since you're an adult and I'm fairly certain you didn't have anything to do with the murders of your family, there really is no reason to bring you in. However, being the only witness it will help me out a lot to put a done stamp on this if you can just take your time and tell me what happened. Can you do that for me, Lauren?" She kept her voice soothing.

The younger woman shook her head. She didn't want to do that, running away was so very much better. "I? I don't think you'll believe me."

"You'd be surprised what I'll believe. You know I didn't always work this close to the Gray Zone. I was assigned downtown when I got out of the Academy, not a lot of demon activity in the heart of downtown. Then I got caught on a case, a man had sold his soul to a major demon, wanted power and glory, all he had to do was sacrifice his only son to the demon. So I've seen a lot since that case and now I don't work downtown, I work here on the fringe, and sometimes, sometimes I work nice neighborhoods where demons got in." She never looked away from Lauren, "So I think I'll believe anything you tell me."

The woman swallowed and ducked her head. "All right. But I warned you." She licked her lips, shuddering as she thought of what to tell the nice woman. "My sister, she did research work, did you know that?" It would be helpful to know what the other woman knew already.

"I know she worked for the government, although what she did exactly has been locked up tight." Annoyingly tight. "Would you like a drink or anything? I could have Dianna go grab something." Which was appealing, but might also have the woman relax.

Dark hair moved as Lauren shook her head, looking down at her bare feet. "No. Her cook made me eat just before you got here." She grinned a little at that memory, the grin dying as she licked her lips. "She did genetic work, of some sort. Susan, my sister, she was a bigwig in Washington, DC. She was running a trial on anxiety disorders, said I'd be perfect for it, so she included me." The door opened a little and she tensed, relaxing a bit when Dianna leaned against the doorframe.

The half-demon had been doing her best to linger outside, but it was her house, damnit! She should at least know what the human was involved in before Challa or someone else, tried to snatch her away.

"Things went bad after that." Lauren met Dianna's eyes, then looked away. Why did it always seem like the beautiful woman could tell what she was thinking? "The demons . . ." Her voice broke, remembering that night, the nightmare that had started.

"The demons broke into your parent's house, where you were living and your sister was visiting and attacked you. But they weren't after you, they were looking for Susan. Weren't they?"

Miserable, Lauren nodded and Dianna closed her eyes. The waves of emotion were hard to ignore and she was glad that she wasn't right next to the smaller woman.

"She was yelling at me to help, but I didn't know what she wanted. Then, they were going to?" her voice broke again and she wiped at the tears. "They were going to?" She couldn't even say what the demons had been about to do to her mother. "I hit one, and we went through the window together."

Quinn had the family photos of the Espinoza family back in a file on her desk; Susan and her mother had looked a lot alike. "That was incredibly brave and shows how much you loved your family." She looked up from where she was writing. "How did the demon's neck get broken?" It was an innocent sounding question.

"My hands." Lauren whispered, raising them to stare at the fingers as if she'd never seen them before. "I wanted him dead so badly and then I just kept twisting. The bones broke and . . ." she trailed off looking up at the Detective. "I just wanted him to stop."

Dianna twitched. "I'll get some water," she murmured, turning and leaving before the emotions overrode her sense of self-preservation.

Quinn frowned and looked over her shoulder as Dianna left. "Take a deep breath, Lauren. Can you do that for me? There are all sorts of demons and half-demons downstairs so if you let your emotions spark too much-well, they'll get a little more rambunctious than we like." Her pen tapped against the pad. "So you killed that demon. That's impressive, Lauren. Do you think the injections your sister was giving you had anything to do with what you were able to do?" She kept talking trying to keep the young woman from thinking too much.

Quinn would bet a week's pay it all came back to the older sister and that closed file.

"Maybe." Lauren stared at her hands again, remembering the sound of the demon's neck breaking as she twisted his head. "I think they've changed me." She looked up, staring bleakly at the detective. "I don't know what's happening to me." She'd grown wings last night! That had to be a bad sign, and then there were the cravings. The urges to kill the demons, even now she could feel them below her feet.

"You want to tell me what's happening to you?" If Dianna hadn't told her already what had happened in the house, she might not have believed it. That this young woman had killed a demon. It was still shocking but not overwhelming, she was able to press on, get her brain to think and ask questions. But she knew this, Lauren Espinoza was what those agents were looking for, and she didn't have a good feeling about them finding her.

"How can I tell you about something I don't even understand?" Lauren let her hands drop. She opened her mouth to say something else when Dianna reappeared at the door. The half-demon stalked past Quinn, shooting the agent a look as she offered a glass of cold water to the shaken human.

"Thank you." Lauren smiled hesitantly and Dianna surprised herself by instantly smiling back.

"Take your time." The redhead said, turning and narrowing her eyes at Quinn. "Detective, could I talk to you out in the hall?"

"Certainly." She got up, putting the cap on her pen, and then put it and the notepad into a pocket. She fished out a business card and walked over handing it to Lauren. "Lauren, anything else occurs to you or you just need to talk feel free to call me. That's my direct line." She then stepped out of the room.

"Yes, Theron?" Her tone was tight on the verge of angry. She hadn't missed that shared smile.

"You need to stop." The half-demon growled, after making sure the door to the room was closed. "Every half-demon downstairs can feel the emotions you're putting that woman through and it's going to get ugly if it keeps going. She can't relive those memories just to satisfy your curiosity. I already told you what happened at that house, don't terrorize Lauren just to prove me right."

"You told me the what, not the how. I was trying to create a link between the murder and the older sister." She snapped back and then bit her lip. "But you have a valid point. I don't feel emotions the same way you do, I didn't realize how strongly she was projecting."

She checked her watch and groaned, more than enough time on the clock to get another call or to type all this up. "Thank you, Theron. I'll do my best to keep those Government creeps away. I'll contact you when the girl's house will be clear. I assume it goes to her, but she'll have to contact a lawyer."

"You should stay." Dianna almost reached out to catch Quinn's arm, but she'd touched the human once this night and that was enough. "The music is going to be good." She could already hear the warm-ups from downstairs, the deep bass of the drums beginning.

The detective snorted. "I have things to take care of. Unlike you, I work a real job."

"Pity." The half-breed watched her walk away, before turning to see if her guest needed anything.

**********

A pillow was kicked and it flew across the destroyed room as Green stared around him. He flipped open his phone and dialed a number. "I've got nothing. Just some clothes, her briefcase is missing."

There was a grunt over the phone. "Quinn is back at some Irish bar on the edge of the Gray Zone. This is her second trip here. The owner is a Dianna Theron, nice to look at as all half-breeds are. Not certain if Quinn is dirty or fucking it."

Green shoved the mattress back. "No, everything on Quinn indicates that she's straight but she might be dirty. Her husband and 2-year-old were killed; husband sold his soul to some major demon, sacrificed the son. I'm pretty sure that means she isn't a lesbian. Maybe it's just a call-in?"

"I have a gut feeling about this place, Green."

Green sighed and sat down in a chair. "We need those vials. We need to know what Susan did."

"I can grab Quinn when she comes out; take her someplace where we can have a more thorough talk."

"Not, yet. Let's not push our hand yet."

There was grumbling. "Understood."

*********

Leaving Lauren to her own devices, Dianna went back downstairs after making sure the human had more food and water. She'd offered the use of her laptop and the small selection of books she had in her own room.

The library in her office was off-limits of course.

The bar was crowded, people already dancing as the band stirred them up. The emotions washed over her and she smiled, stunning the customers who were near her as she slipped behind the bar.

This was why she held these parties every Saturday. The wild rush of emotions from the people packed in with her, rolling over them. There was a wide range of emotions, but most of them were good and she felt herself perk up in their presence. Most of the half-breeds in attendance that night were there for the very same thing. It was part of the reason the bar was so popular.

The rest of the week it was a quiet haven, but Saturdays were a celebration of being alive.

"We're doing good business tonight boss!" Pixie yelled, bare abs shiny with sweat as she hustled past Dianna to fill orders.

Good business was great news; there were always people to pay, or demons, legal and less than legal.

Picking a spot at the bar she dove into the fray, helping the bar staff out with handing out drinks and taking orders. The kitchen closed early on Saturdays, Helga refused to stay through the insanity, as she called it.

The emotions lit up this part of the Gray Zone, a beacon of happiness and life, a reprieve from the normal misery. It was, Dianna often thought, the only reason that the bar hadn't been fully swallowed into the Gray.

It was intoxicating, the heavy drum beats pounding through them all, and Dianna knew she was drunk on it all. There was no need for alcohol on nights like this, the emotions around her were more than enough for that. Lust coursed through her and by the time the crush at the bar had slowed, she'd found her target for the night.

Usually she'd take them back to her room and kick them out by the morning, but Lauren was in the guest room and she shied away from her usual method.

"Hey." The human husked, eyes dilated in the dim light as Dianna slid up to her.

"Hey." The redhead grinned, sliding her hands across the slender human's hips and watching her shiver. Oh, this was going to be so good, she could tell already. Leaning in she kissed her, feeling the thrill of the forbidden from the blond-haired woman. Wordlessly she slid her fingers across the woman's skin, pulling her tight against her. "Hmmm." She hummed, feeling the human's heart rate speed up.

"This way." She pulled the human with her, leading her to the food locker next to the kitchen. Helga would kill her if she ever found out, but the cook wasn't there and she was horny.

It was hard and fast, the human giving almost as good as she got and Dianna toyed with the idea of taking her upstairs where she could lay her down on the bed.

Again the idea of Lauren stopped her though and she sent the disappointed blond on her way just before last call for the bar.

It took another hour before the last of her employees said goodnight and she left Bob alone at the bar to head upstairs. The high from the quickie and the emotions of the bar patrons was starting to flag. Tiredly she went upstairs, pausing outside of Lauren's room. The door was closed and she couldn't hear or feel anything from inside. Hopefully that meant the girl was sleeping.

"Sorry, Sissy. I didn't come to say goodnight but things got crazy when Quinn showed up." Dianna flicked on the light after unlocking the door to her private study. Yawning again she moved over to the portrait, picking it up and returning it to it's spot on the wall. "I'll do better tomorrow. Two days off sound good right now." She smiled up at the woman in the painting. "It was a good night. Did you feel that? We rocked the house, everyone had a good time."

As always there was no answer and Dianna chuckled, turning to leave.

An open book on her desk caught her attention and she moved over to look closer. It wasn't a book she recognized, but that wasn't unusual. Strange books had a habit of showing up.

Frowning she turned on the reading light so she could see the yellowing pages in front of her.

"What is this?" She glanced up at the picture and then back at the book, the frown deepening. "Celtic legends?"

Her eyebrows furrowed. "The legend of the Maiden, Mother and Crone?" It was a legend she was familiar with and she snorted. "What, you think Lauren is the Maiden, that makes Quinn the mother and I'm the crone? Gee thanks, Sissy." She closed the book, shoving it across the desk. "You're crazy. The human's just here until I figure out how to help her so you can stop bugging me. Quinn doesn't even factor into this."

She turned off the lights, pointedly ignoring the book.

There was no link among the three of them.

Dianna just wished she could make herself believe that beautiful lie.

********

Quinn tiredly sipped reheated coffee at her desk. She was staring at the report she had put together after her conversation with Lauren. But in her gut she had a bad feeling about submitting it, well, about the feds knowing where Lauren was. She spied the Chief going into his office and quickly got up rushing inside.

Larry Herbert hadn't aged well due to the nature of his work and the fact the Gray butted up to his district. What hair he had was gray, his nose full of broken veins that only a hard drinker could have, and his eyes were always droopy and had fully packed bags under them. Other than that he was in decent shape. He set his briefcase down and turned around with a little cry of surprise; finding Quinn right there.

"Jesus, Quinn."

"Sorry." She muttered.

He just looked at her and then sighed. "Shut the door."

She did and they stared at each other for a moment. Finally, she cleared her throat and set the report on his desk. "I have located Lauren Espinoza."

He made no move to pick up the paperwork. "And?"

"I have a bad feeling. If I file this then the Feds will know where she is?."

"You think they might endanger her?"

"Not deliberately. But I think they're here about the older sister. All information on Susan is classified. They won't tell me where she was staying, since I know she wasn't staying at her parent's house and they're tailing me."

He frowned and sat down. "It figures they would keep us in the dark. They were probably working on bringing back the extinct vampire and I'll find a whole nest under the Public Library." He grumbled out. "Do you have anything that would connect Lauren to the murders?"

"No, both demons have been brought in dead. Their prints match those on the bodies. The third blood drop can't be matched because it's corrupted."

"So murderers found and brought to justice, the survivor can't be linked to the murderers in any way. Drop it Quinn, we've got more pressing matters than babysitting government types."

"Is that wise sir?"

"I know you have eight open cases, Quinn; why are you in here wasting my time." He barked out. Then reached over and picked up her report and threw it in the shredder. "Case closed, and I couldn't care less what happened to Lauren, now go solve some crimes."

She smiled. "Yes, sir."

*****

Sunday mornings had become a set routine for Dianna Theron. She slept in, indulging in the fact that the bar would be closed that day and recovering from the chaos that was Saturday nights. Usually she would be kicking a human out of her bed by sunrise, but since there was no human today, she slept until nearly ten.

Then it was time for long hot shower, the hot water turned up until it was almost blistering. Sunday was the only day she wore anything approaching casual clothes, tight fitting jeans with a short T-shirt and broken-in sandals.

There wasn't any sign of her guest by the time she came out of her rooms, so she went down to the kitchen and decided it was time for a little more indulging. Cooking in general wasn't something she enjoyed, or was particularly good at, but pancakes were something else altogether.

Pancakes and bacon were very nearly the perfect Sunday brunch and she mixed up the batter keeping an ear out for movement above or the visitor that was the other, less pleasant, part of Sundays.

The visitor beat her guest, which was probably a good thing, just as she finished making the pancake batter. Three loud bangs on the security door for the loading dock, just as always and Dianna sighed.

"Time to give the devil his due." She muttered, setting the bowl of pancake batter in the fridge and moving out into the quiet bar.

"Morning Bob." The old man lifted a finger, head hunched over as he peeled the label off the beer bottle.

That was more of a greeting than she normally got and she placed a fresh cold one in front of him as she retrieved a thick brown envelope from the lockbox she'd put it in the night before.

Another bang on the back door and she sighed. "I'm coming!" The redhead shook her head. "Impatient bastards."

The door was down a small hallway that separated the main bar area from the public restrooms. It was a heavy, metal door that was definitely thicker than normal, but then again so was the front door. She unlocked the deadbolts that held it secure when the bar wasn't open and shoved it open.

"Took your time, Theron." The weasel-faced man outside sneered at her as she stepped out.

"Nice to see you too, Bachi." No way in hell was she inviting him inside. He was taller than her, but stooped at the shoulders and rail thin as if constantly starving. The black leather trench coat that he thought so fashionable hung off him like it was draped over a skeleton.

"It would be nicer if I came inside." He smiled, revealing jagged teeth that were pointed like a shark's.

"No, it wouldn't." She held out the envelope, making certain their fingers did not touch when he took it. "Here's the weekly cut."

"It feels lighter than last week's." Black eyes stared at her and she shivered.

"It isn't." You couldn't show weakness, ever, to a demon. It encouraged them to exploit you. "If your boss has a problem with it, I'm sure he'll let you know."

That made Bachi snarl, but he slid the thick envelope into his coat.

"You know I could always take less from you if you were willing to invite me in." He licked his lips and she fought the urge to vomit at the mental image of what he really wanted. The lust rolled off him in waves.

"Are we done here?"

The tip of a pale-blue tongue licked his lips and this time she couldn't quite hide the shudder.

"For now." He turned to go.

She waited until he was down off the loading dock before calling after him. "Tell Dad, I say hi."

He grunted and kept moving, but she smiled anyway. It was always fun to rub that particular detail in.

Turning she very nearly walked right into Lauren, the human standing stock still in the doorway, eyes shimmering as she stared down the alley the way that Bachi had gone. She hadn't heard the human move, or even her arrival and that was troubling in itself.

"Lauren?" She asked, more tentative than normal. How long had she been there? What had she heard? "Are you all right?" She could see tension trembling in the other woman's muscles.

Lauren blinked. "I'm . . . I'm fine." She rolled her shoulders, easing the tension there. She looked around as if realizing where she was. "I felt a demon, there was a demon here, and his intentions were . . . not good." She really didn't want to voice what his intentions had been.

"I know." Dianna sighed, reaching out to shepherd the human inside, her fingers pausing just short of actually touching the other woman. "You should go inside; it's not safe out here for you."

Lauren let Dianna herd her back inside. "It's not safe during the day?" She almost giggled. "If any part of the day is safe it's daytime." She sniffed getting distracted. "Pancakes?"

She knew Bob was there, but it was easier to ignore his presence even if she didn't trust it.

"I was making the batter when?" Dianna shook her head, not wanting to discuss her weekly payments. "I'm not Helga, but I can make a mean pancake if you want?" She nodded to Bob as they entered the kitchen, letting the door close them off from the empty bar area.

"Pancakes sound great." She said sitting down. "So does Bob just come with the place?" Finding it odd that the demon was here even when the bar was closed.

"He's always here. Came in the first night I opened and hasn't left yet." Dianna answered distractedly as she pondered what pan she could use for two servings of pancakes. She hadn't made pancakes for anyone else for a long time now. "Bacon?"

"Yes, please." Lauren replied politely.

After a moment where Lauren really didn't know what to say, she randomly said. "Your cop friend was nice. I'm sorry I couldn't hold it together, everything is still more raw inside than I thought."

"She's not my friend; she's not your friend either." Dianna slid a tray of bacon into the oven, a trick she'd seen Helga use once that had saved her a lot of grief with bacon over the years. The pan was hot enough and she started out with a small test pancake. "She's a detective, her job is to enforce human laws, don't forget that."

Lauren frowned. "Then why did you call her, if you don't like her. Besides part of you is human and I think I might still be human." She frowned, not sure.

"I'm not sure what you are." Dianna admitted honestly. "And yes, I like Quinn." She shut her mouth on what she'd been about to say. Since when did she talk openly with anyone? Much less a person she'd only known for a day? Frowning, she concentrated on flipping the pancake, giving herself a moment to think.

"She's a good person but if she finds out you broke the law, then she's going to arrest you." There that was safe enough an answer.

"I'll keep that in mind." Lauren said seriously. "So is there anything I can help you with after I eat." She frowned for a moment. "I don't actually have a lot of skills other than reading and researching."

"I don't suppose you can research why Challa would be interested in betraying what was a very expensive payment to get you?" Dianna asked hopefully, making certain that each pancake was golden brown before adding it to the two plates. Lauren was almost painfully thin and she added a couple more to her dish before checking on the bacon.

"Or whatever it is you're addicted to?" She asked, mildly, keeping her attention on the bacon.

Lauren flushed, and played with her pancakes for a bit. "I'm not really certain what a Challa is." She took a huge bite of her and chewed then another. Once her plate was about empty she spoke again. "I'm not really the kind of person that stands out, or is special in any way. I'm kind of a doormat. My sister works in some big government lab, she told me she was working on a drug that would prevent anxiety, told me I'd be perfect in the study. My whole life, you know what my parents have said to me? Why can't you be more like your sister." She played with her food for a second before continuing. "So I agreed. She would come and visit and inject me with the drug. Nothing really changed, not that I noticed and then the demons attacked. She grabbed me and ran me out into the living room where her bag was. My mother was screaming and she injected me with something. Then she was babbling at me to stop them, to kill them. Me, I've never . . . well I wasn't certain how I was supposed to stop them and then they came bursting into the room and I ran away until I heard Susan's screams. Then, then it was like I was a guest in my own body." She shoved a whole pancake in her mouth so she'd shut up.

Wordlessly, Dianna piled bacon onto the free space of Lauren's plate. Keeping a couple for herself she moved over to the table, sitting down across from the human after getting them a couple cups of coffee to go with the brunch.

"The thing about addictions," she said after a few bites, "is that they get worse, they just don't magically disappear." She knew plenty about addictions. "I don't think it's a normal drug, like Meth or cocaine, whatever she injected you with it's more than that. Even PCP wouldn't let you have enough strength to kill a demon." The half-demon smiled, "and it sure wouldn't let you grow wings."

"I have her bag. Her business card is in there. I could call her office, talk to someone . . . I guess." She shrugged.

Dianna thought that over as she took another bite, studying the pale woman across from her. It would be easy to overlook Lauren in a crowd she realized, although the woman had her own sort of innocent beauty. Mentally shaking herself out of such thoughts she took another bite of bacon. "Maybe Quinn could use that. The FBI want to talk to you too, and I'm not sure they'd be as nice as Quinn was."

"Do you think I should talk to the FBI? I'm not really I don't want anyone experimenting on me."

"I wouldn't trust the FBI to do anything other than what they want." Dianna cradled the cup of coffee, peering over the rim of it at Lauren. "So no, I recommend you give the card to Quinn and maybe she can do something useful."

Lauren nodded and then ate the rest of the food on her plate. "I get massive headaches when I'm near demons; they seem to get better once I kill them. I find that unsettling and it makes me a little sick to my stomach. Half-demons seem to be fine. The more I kill the more I need to inject myself, as well."

This was definitely a strange brunch conversation, but Dianna went with it. She admitted, at least to herself, that she was curious about the human woman. "How many injections do you have left?" She got up, moving to get another helping of bacon for the woman.

"Three vials." The woman shrugged. "Probably enough for a while. I don't really know."

"Here. You need to eat more." Dianna put more bacon on her plate and then stretched, arcing her back until her spine popped, shirt riding well up her toned stomach before sitting back down. "To answer your earlier question, Challa is a demon hound. Not a hellhound, they're different. He helped me track you down and then apparently had a better deal on the table to try and capture you. I have a few friends, well, acquaintances, trying to find out who's so interested in you here in the Gray."

"That doesn't sound good." She swallowed nervously. "Did you tell your cop fri . . . um, Quinn . . . did you tell Quinn this?" She looked up at Dianna studying her face.

"No." Dianna tilted her head to one side, pale eyes meeting Lauren's darker ones. "This is the Gray Zone, demon stuff is beyond the cops' ability to do anything about it. Human laws don't exist inside the zone." She grinned a little, eyes mischievous. "You've never been inside there have you?

"Yes, well, kind of. I killed a demon on campus and I dumped the body into the Gray. It was . . . hard to walk away; even now I can feel the gray in the back of my mind calling to me."

"Then you felt it." Dianna stretched back in her seat. "You felt what it's always like in the Zone. That constant fear and knowing that there's something stalking you."

Lauren blinked. "No, it was like a craving, because I knew I'd find prey to kill. I wasn't afraid of it, only of losing myself in it. If I entered, I'd never be Lauren again."

The half-demon blinked in response. "Oh." That was definitely not the answer that a human normally gave. "Craving." She sat back upright. "Then you stay here. We're on the boundary here, not in the normal world, not in the Zone. You're safe here, for now."

Lauren nodded and picked up her plate to wash it. "Thank you again for helping me."

"Don't mention it." Dianna sighed. Which meant she was going to have a guest for a while. "Let's get some house rules straight, all right?"

Lauren looked up from where she was rinsing off her plate. "Okay."

"No going into my study. No exceptions, got it?" Dianna was firm on that point.

"What is in your study? This is the fourth time you've gone off on it. Do you sacrifice virgins in there?"

"Sacrifice is not what I do to virgins." Dianna leered despite herself.

Lauren blushed and looked down at the dish. "You're very sexual; do you do it on purpose?"

"No." Dianna smiled from where she was sitting. "It's part of me. Does it bother you?"

"No . . . yes . . . a little." She set the plate down and started washing the other dishes dirtied to make breakfast. "Lately sometimes, at the University, I'd find myself staring a pretty woman and having . . ." Her cheeks turned even redder. "Not very nice thoughts."

"Do tell." Dianna purred, smile growing. "Please. Think of me as your personal confessor if it helps." She might as well get something out of this arrangement.

She cleared her throat and looked up at the woman and then down. "Well . . . I . . ." She floundered, completely flustered.

"You liked the look of some of those women?" Dianna prompted, resting her chin on her palm as she watched the human intently. "The way they move, their breasts, legs, the way they move?" Yes she knew she said the way they move twice, but it was important.

"Before I . . . well, I lived with my parents, my very Catholic parents, so I never did anything. It would be too hard. But I had normal thoughts about what it would be like to kiss and touch someone. Now . . ." She nodded. "Yeah, normally it was the women wearing those tight shirts that revealed a lot. Suddenly, I would really want to go over and drag that woman away somewhere. Hold her down and do whatever I wanted. Taste their screams."

Both eyebrows rose up. "My, my." Dianna murmured. "All sorts of darkness curling around in you." She studied the slim wisp of a woman washing dishes.

Lauren let out a breath and rubbed her heated cheeks, trying to get the red to go away. "I know. That's not normal or right."

"Lauren." Dianna pushed up, moving over until she was close to the other woman. "There is no normal here, nothing is normal in the Zone. Right is a concept that you bring with yourself." She tapped her fingers, twice, against Lauren's left shoulder.

Lauren looked over at Dianna. "I'll try to remember that, but I was raised Catholic; it's hard to let go of all that indoctrination."

"Guilt." Dianna sighed, and moved away. Guilt wasn't an emotion she liked. "Second rule. You're welcome to enter the bar, but no killing my patrons. The bar's a neutral place, fights stay outside."

Lauren nodded. "I'm getting better. I didn't even growl at Bob today."

"Good." The half-demon smiled. "Progress. The bar's closed today and tomorrow, but we get deliveries tomorrow. Otherwise, we'll have the bar entirely to ourselves." She cocked a hip up against the countertop, eyes watching Lauren. "What did you want to do?"

Lauren shrugged. "I don't know. Normally I go to church with my parents then we have dinner." And then she would sneak off to her room to read one of her battered lesbian romances.

"Church." Dianna winced. "The nearest church isn't a place you want to go to. Dinner I can work tonight though." Dear god, had she just volunteered to cook?

"No, that's just what I did on Sundays. I didn't like church, I think the priest suspected I was a lesbian; he always, well, he creeped me out. I'm kind of boring."

The half-demon's eyes narrowed a little. "Oh." She didn't understand. "You must like to do something?"

"I like to read and . . ." she frowned. "I liked going to the zoo and watching the big cats, and on my way home from the university I'd stop outside this club that played jazz and listen. Sorry, I'm not very exciting."

"Lady, you grew wings and killed the demons who'd killed your family. That's plenty exciting." Dianna pushed off from the counter, moving toward the stairs. "Jazz, that I can help you with though."

*********

Quinn yawned and rubbed her eyes; the keys on the typewriter she was using were starting to blur. Before she'd transferred here, in her last district they'd had computers. They also had more than enough officers, two to a car; she hadn't had a partner in years.

She looked over at the clock, she'd have to patrol as soon as she finished this up. Check on contacts and snitches police work took a lot more work with demons involved.

"Detective Quinn." The voice was familiar as the two Feds walked toward her desk through the darkened squad room. Agent Green smiled pleasantly as he walked toward Quinn. "How good to see you again. We were beginning to think you didn't like us anymore." Agent Ferris walked along quietly behind him.

She blinked and looked up. "Gentlemen. I sent the formal report to your supervisor in Washington; I'm surprised to find you still here. Maybe he hasn't gotten it yet."

"We got it." Green moved closer, stopping near the Detective's desk. "We don't think you gave us all of the information you know in that report. Perhaps you forgot to put something in it?"

"Middle-class family murdered, CSI shows two different demons responsible, both demons killed, one by a department authorized demon hunter, public feels happy and safe and my supervisor has told me to close it and work on more important active cases. Not sure what you want from me, but I don't have the luxury of a government job where I can go fly into towns and stick my badge into business while I stay at the Walden Hotel, which is four stars at least." She snapped back. "So what exactly do you think I left out? The part where the case is closed or the parts where you're getting in my way by tailing me across the city everywhere I go."

"You left out that you met the sister." Green's smile wasn't quite so pleasant anymore. "You left out whatever you talked with her about. You also left out why the demons would kill this particular family and who killed the first demon. Leaving things like that out makes me think that maybe, you're not doing your job." The smile was definitely shark like now. "Or maybe you're just hiding what the demons pay you to hide?"

Most people would have broken or slipped up but Quinn had once killed her own husband and the demon tart he'd been fucking.

"I'm pretty certain I'll never figure out why those demons killed that family because your branch refuses to give me any information on the older sister, who was probably poking her nose in to the affairs of demons. That pissed them off and they were actually there just to kill her but the rest of the family was collateral. Only I'll never figure that out because you're stonewalling me. As for the younger sister . . ." She smiled. "Prove it, and prove that I'm dirty."

"Under the Demon Act of 1945 we don't really need to prove you're dirty, Detective." The ever-present smile was now angry. "We just have to prove that you're aiding and abetting demons."

"Dianna Theron." He called after her. "Interesting bar owner. Not licensed as a full demon, but then again it's so hard to tell sometimes."

"Then you're stuck behind a desk toomuch Agent, if you can't tell the difference between a real demon and a half-breed. Stop fucking with me Agent, you've been lying through your teeth since you said hello."

She turned and with her back straight, stormed out of the building.

"Not very cooperative, is she?" Ferris said.

"No, not really." Green answered, shrugging.

**********

Quinn yawned again, the coffee she had drank hours ago, long since worn off, all it left her with now was heartburn. She was going to close her report of the university for lack of evidence and people didn't care about dead demons, only dead people.

The cell phone in the dash started to ring as she waited at the red light.

Quinn sighed and thought about not answering it, she was almost off, nearly two in the morning on Monday, she didn't want to think about how much longer she'd have to stay up if she answered it. Finally, though, she did. "Quinn."

"Quinn! How's it going?" The male voice on the other end sounded a bit rushed. "Look, I know it's been a while, but you got time to talk with your old beat partner?"

She laughed. "Mikey, Jesus, are you still beating the pavement at this hour?"

"Yeah, you know how it is with people who do real work." He laughed. "Not like you big fancy detectives. Look, something funny happened down here, I thought you'd like to come take a look."

"Really, Mikey?" She sighed. "Only for you buddy. Where are you at and what am I looking at?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it's a demon. You know the interstate overpass at 17th Street?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there. If you feel threatened at all, call in for a hunter. Don't be a hero."

She flipped a bitch at the light and started heading back the way she came.

It was well past two AM by the time the detective arrived downtown. They were well away from the Gray Zone, nearly in the downtown core of the city. A car was parked under the overpass; the dark sedan flashed its lights twice at Quinn as she drove closer.

She parked next to it and got out. "Kind of out of my jurisdiction, Mikey." She said with a grin. "Okay, what do you want me to look at?"

The sedan's doors stayed closed, its dark windows reflecting the light from the sole street light in the entire area.

The entire car bounced a bit though, as if someone inside had just jumped up and down on a seat.

Quinn frowned. "What the hell, Mikey? Quit jacking off and show me what you wanted me to take a look at." She knocked on the window.

The entire car bucked up and down, rocking almost a half a foot on its suspension. The driver side door buckled outwards, the glass shattering. Something inside shifted, glowing eyes peering out at Quinn.

Startled, Quinn shouted out. "Fuck!" Instantly she was retreating, hand going for her gun.

This was not good.

The car bounced again and with a squeal of metal tearing, the entire driver's side door flew off, tumbling into the darkness. The thing inside of the car screamed, high-pitched and barely human.

"Fuck!" Quinn shouted again and then took off for her car. She ripped the driver's side door open and slid on to the seat slamming the door behind her. She fumbled with the keys but got the engine turned over.

She yanked the radio to her mouth and pushed a button, "this is Detective Quinn, I am being pursued by an unknown demon, I am at the overpass on 17th . . ." She cut off as something heavy landed on the car jostling the receiver out of her hand.

The thing leapt, clearing the dozen or so feet between the other car and Quinn's in one leap as it landed on her hood. Claws dug into the metal and it screamed at her, its disjointed jaw unhinging and the creature ripped the antenna right out of the car's roof.

Quinn swerved and then regained control of her car. She kept steady on the gas while her right hand fumbled for her personal weapon she kept hidden on her ankle. The one she loaded with bullets made from a melted cross and blessed.

Once free, she raised the weapon and fired.

It screamed again, tumbling off her hood and the car shuddered as Quinn ran over a large bump. Claws raked under the car, shredding metal as the car ran the thing over.

Quinn let out a breath but didn't slow down. She fumbled for the radio again setting the gun in the seat next to her. "This is Detective Quinn requesting back up and a Hunter. I am on 17th Street heading back toward the Gray Zone."

Belatedly, she realized she was reaching nobody as the creature had destroyed the antenna and threw the thing down with disgust, reaching for her cell phone.

Chapter 3

Quinn blinked and groaned; she was hanging upside down. She blinked again and then hit the release for her seatbelt, she remembered wrecking her car. She'd done it on purpose to kill that little fucker, she hoped it had worked.

She eased out of the shattered window and wiped blood out of her eyes and then gave a startled scream of pain as it felt like a hot poker was being jabbed underneath her knee.

She'd give the little fucker his due, he didn't give up chasing her until he'd caught up with her again.

A clawed hand was sticking out from under the wreckage of the car, it twitched once, twice, and then clenched into a fist. The car shuddered, shifting as the demon under it started to move again even after getting sandwiched between the car Quinn had been driving and the parked cars she'd used to try to kill it. A heave and the car rocked, almost releasing the demon as it screamed in rage.

Quinn grimaced and started running to the only place she knew where she might get help. Her cell phone calls went nowhere, which meant someone was blocking her cell signal.

She tried to turn right down the street she wanted but her leg gave out and she tumbled, rolling over and over, her head hitting the cement and causing another gash on her face.

She scrambled up and pulled her gun, firing it at the quickly approaching demon before running down the street. That thing was damn fast and she had to wonder if Dianna would just smile when she read about her demise in the paper.

The bullets punched through it without slowing it down much, the thing leapt, clearing distance between them alarmingly fast. The Gray was very close by; shootings probably weren't even going to be reported to the police.

She was slowing down; frantically she searched around for anything that could be used to stop it, but came up empty. Ahead she could see the bar and felt herself deflate as she saw the lights were all out, weren't bars supposed to be open all the time.

She dug deep and tried to move faster, wondering if she should just stop and eat a bullet.

It would be better than what the demon would do.

Dianna was going to be pissed at her. She leveled her gun at the large front window and fired several rounds giving her a better chance of jumping through it. She wasn't going to have time to ring the doorbell.

Lauren sat up, a headache exploding behind her right eye. She was up and staggering out of the bed before the first pieces of glass landed on the downstairs floor.

"What the fuck?" Dianna yelped, jerking upright in her office chair. It was only two am, early for her to go to bed although Lauren had gone to sleep hours ago. Standing, she pulled the completely illegal sawed-off shotgun from its resting place under the desktop.

The last time someone had broken a window it had been a group of church fanatics that she'd scared off with a shot in the air.

The time before that though, it had been a deranged demon.

A quick jerk and the slide-action shotgun was loaded as she rounded the desk, heading for the stairs. "Lauren!" She caught a flash of a white shirt and then the human was down the stairs. Damn she could move fast, Dianna thought, sprinting down the stairs after the human woman.

The half-demon could feel it now, a hunger that bordered on frenzy. Whatever was coming wanted to kill. Her hand automatically hit the light switches as she flew through the swinging doors from the kitchen to the main bar. The overhead lights burst into life just as a human shape hurled in from the street outside, through the broken stained-glass window.

She almost shot it as it landed, but at the last second hesitated when she realized the hunger wasn't coming from it, but something outside.

There was no graceful way to jump through a window. Quinn raised a shoulder and ducked her head, pieces of jagged glass cutting into flesh. The impact of her landing made her knee give out; it crumpled heaving her into the ground. She slid along the broken glass into the stools where she lie dazed.

The demon followed in moments after Quinn, it paused for a moment staring at the human as if savoring the soon to be kill, and then moved forward.

It was an ugly one; Dianna had to give it that. Muscles showed through rips in the thing's gray flesh and torn skin, long arms ended in curved claws while its face looked oddly disjointed since ita jaw hung so low to accommodate large fangs. Lauren had skidded to a stop in the middle of the room and was staring at the thing in what almost looked like fascination as it stepped through the broken window.

Moving around the body lying by the bar, which the half-breed realized looked suspiciously like Quinn; she raised her gun, cursing when Lauren got in the way. "Get down!"

Lauren tilted her head and looked back at Dianna almost mockingly but then stepped back, unconvinced that the gun would be any good against the thing. Her own skin bubbled and then hard scales formed over her skin.

In the years that she had owned the bar, Dianna had fired the shotgun a total of three times. Twice had been in the air, which meant this was only the second time she'd tried to kill something. Usually there were other ways to avoid conflict that she preferred, but she could feel the thing's intent and there was no way to avoid death tonight.

The sawed off bucked in her hands as she pulled the trigger. The normal lead shot was actually melted down metal from blessed crosses. On a normal demon it would have ended things right there. The pellets ripped apart the skin on the thing in front of her, but it kept moving. The disjointed jaw lowered and it screamed as it moved faster than she'd expected.

Long arms caught her with the force of a semitrailer and she went cartwheeling away, slamming into the wall behind the bar in a shower of shattered whiskey and hard liquor bottles.

Lauren hissed and then with her own super-human speed, attacked the creature. Her long, wickedly curved claws stabbing into the thing over and over.

It howled and tried to turn to face the new threat but even before it could do that Lauren reached up and wrenched its head. The loud noise of bones breaking echoed through the room and the creature flopped dead to the ground.

Golden eyes flickered around the room and then she moved to the broken window searching the night for other threats. A car roared off but other than that there was dark silence.

A low groan finally broke that silence as Dianna crawled out from behind the bar, still clutching the sawed-off shotgun. One look was enough to ensure that the thing was dead and she managed to get up on her knees to see to the cop. "Quinn?" She grimaced as she moved, shards of glass from the bottles shifting in her back. "You alive?"

"Mostly." Came the croaked reply. Glass was digging into her skin everywhere and she could feel the sting of various cuts. Consciousness was tenuous and painful; she let out a deep breath and let the darkness swallow her, now that she was fairly certain she wasn't going to die.

"Great. Stay that way." Dianna used the bar to pull herself up to her feet. "Lauren." She swallowed, feeling the waves of emotion rolling off the young woman. "Lauren, it's dead." Those golden eyes were watching her and she wondered if the shotgun would stop the human.

"Pity." Lauren hissed out. "It was too focused on Quinn, to be a good fight. Its whole purpose for being was to kill her." Her head cocked to the side as the dead creature started to twitch and then the skin bubbled and smoothed away revealing very human features.

Both Lauren and Dianna blinked, that had been unexpected.

"Shit." The half-demon swore softly. "I was really hoping you were the only one they'd been doing that to." She looked up from the dead human on the floor to the suddenly human looking Lauren.

"I'm hungry," Lauren replied, "and we should probably cover your window before something else comes in." Part of her was still horrified, another part of her was extremely satisfied with a kill. In a few more moments she'd be more human than demon and then she'd probably throw up. Her eyes were still gold even though the scales were gone. She shuffled over examining the dead man, and frowned.

The window comment snapped Dianna out of her momentary lapse of movement and she went back to the prostrate Quinn, wincing at the bloody gashes. "First we have to keep our newest guest from passing out again." Grabbing the first aid kit from behind the bar, a necessity in a bar frequented by demons, and a large bottle of clean water, she crouched back down by the cop.

"Ready to get felt up?" The half-breed grinned, undoing the cap to the bottle and holding Quinn's head steady as she cleaned the blood off the head wound. The gash was right at the hairline and was bleeding sluggishly. "Hold still, this is going to sting."

Through it all Bob continued to sit at his spot in the bar, barely glancing down at the mess of blood and cop.

The sting of whatever Dianna was cleaning her with, broke her out of the pleasant fog of unconsciousness. She jerked and mumbled. "Bitch."

Blue eyes fought to open and she really wished she was dead, she imagined this was how a punching bag felt.

Lauren found a broom and started sweeping; finally, she poked Bob with the dustpan until he looked at her then she just glared at him until he got off the stool and started helping - even if it wasn't much.

Since that was the first time that she'd seen Bob move off the bar stool, Dianna jerked in surprise when she saw it. "Sorry." She winced in sympathy at the yelp of pain from the wounded cop. "Hold still you big baby. I don't think you'll need stitches for the head wound, the butterfly bandages should hold it still. Now let's get those pants off you."

"Um." Lauren spoke up. "Maybe you should take her upstairs and away from all this broken glass before you play doctor. Bob and I will get this cleaned up and make sure the wildlife doesn't get in." Lauren didn't know a lot about the Gray, but sooner or latter something would be attracted to the blood, a hurt cop, or all the pain coming off the hurt cop.

"Good idea." Dianna sighed. She stood up, slinging the first aid pack over her shoulder and then bent down, lifting the semiconscious cop up into her arms. It was a little tricky avoiding hitting Quinn's head or legs on anything, but she managed without opening any new wounds.

"Be careful of the feral hounds, they'll probably come sniffing around with all the blood. There's wood in the back store-room you can use to board up the window, I'll get it replaced tomorrow." Dianna hesitated, not certain what to say to the younger human woman, instead, she just nodded and headed for the kitchen stairs.

"Bet this isn't how you dreamed of getting into my bedroom." She quipped to Quinn.

"I'm pretty certain I've never dreamed of it, Theron." Quinn croaked out. This was the most humiliating position she'd ever been in, she'd never really been this helpless before. The side of her face felt like road rash and her knee was throbbing in time with her heartbeat. "I'm also certain I'm not pretty enough or brainless enough to get an invite."

"Don't sell yourself short." Dianna hoped Lauren wouldn't do anything rash with the shotgun she'd left behind downstairs. Jerking the top covers aside, she gently lowered the wounded cop onto her bed, keeping an ear out for any problems downstairs.

"These have to come off, and it's going to hurt." She murmured, undoing the belt at Quinn's waist and then the buttons of her ruined slacks. Being this close, she could feel Quinn's humiliation and pain, it radiated off the human. Best to change those emotions, quickly, so she looked up and quirked a grin. "Who says the ones I bring here are brainless? I don't discriminate."

"I've seen them on occasion Theron." She grimaced in pain as her steel-toed boots were yanked off then it dawned on her that all her clothes were probably coming off. She didn't have any options, not really. She knew a setup when she saw one, that had been a setup.

If she called it in, she put Lauren and Dianna in danger. "I think I dropped my service revolver downstairs, it's important I find it." She babbled not really wanting Dianna to see the hand print seared into the flesh of her collarbone. Dianna would know a demon mark when she saw one. This one had come when she'd sent that bitch back to hell; she'd tried to take Quinn with her.

Her thoughts were jolted rudely as the heavy utility belt came off and then her pants, exposing the swollen mess that was her knee. "Jesus, it's the size of a pumpkin."

"Naw, your breasts aren't that big." Dianna responded absently as she tossed the ruined pants aside and carefully started to pick glass out of the wounds. "You should go to a hospital you know." She felt quite proud of herself for remembering that.

Quinn glared at her for that comment. "You sure you didn't used to be a guy, because you sure talk like one." She sighed. "I can't." She wasn't certain it was remotely safe to go to a hospital; of course it probably wasn't safe to stay here.

"Then stop complaining, I'm doing my best here." The knee was as clean as she could get it, Dianna was pretty sure she'd gotten most of the glass shards. "Here." She wrapped the knee in bandages and helped Quinn stretch out on the bed. "Now for your shirt." She raised an eyebrow with a daring look at the cop.

"My vest really prevented any glass from harming my chest, if you have a shirt and give me a moment I could change myself." It sounded desperate even to her ears and there was the fact that if she tried to sit up she was probably going to hurl.

The redhead snorted and batted Quinn's hands aside as she started removing the shirt and bulletproof vest underneath. "I always wondered how uncomfortable wearing one of these would be." Dear god, was she actually making small talk to try to make Quinn, of all people, feel better?

"It's really uncomfortable until the first time you get shot then you stop caring." Quinn replied, resigned. Her eyes started to drift closed, the burst of adrenaline that she'd gotten when Dianna had carried her up the stairs wearing off.

"Relax, Detective." The redhead undid the vest, revealing the simple bra underneath. "I'm not going to force myself on you." She pulled up the kit and once again started to clean the gashes on the detective's side which she'd probably gotten going through the window. "Unless you want me to, of course." She couldn't quite resist saying, eyes flicking up to the burn prints on Quinn's shoulders and then away without comment.

"I told you I don't swing that way." Even though Dianna made it really hard because of the sexual energy the woman exuded. "I don't even stare at your tits anymore when you're wearing those shirts." That had taken a lot of self-will.

"Guess I'll have to try harder." Dianna purred, running a finger across the wounded woman's stomach. It really was far too much fun to aggravate the detective. "There." She taped off one last bandage. "We'll change them in the morning before I help you with a shower." The grin was downright evil, and she knew it as she leaned over Quinn and pulled the blankets up over the woman to keep her warm.

Quinn was happy that she was in so much pain she didn't even react to the finger Dianna had run over her stomach. "Fucking half-demon." She muttered out, but it lacked any real bite. Her eyes fluttered shut, but her face grimaced in pain. "You have anything for pain?" She asked.

"Yes, but you won't like it." Dianna leaned in closer, pale eyes filling Quinn's vision.

Quinn blinked and tried to move back but had nowhere to go. "What do you mean I'm not going to like it?" All she was talking about was an aspirin, if she were lucky, morphine.

"Shhhh?" Dianna breathed, lips just barely brushing Quinn's, her hands sliding up Quinn's sides to gently touch the human's temples. "Breathe." She whispered eyes closing as she felt for the pain that trembled through the other woman's body.

Quinn was in no shape to push the other woman away and too startled to do anything but let out a squeak of air. Slowly though her eyes closed and she began to breathe in and out. Through the sheet she could feel Dianna's body heat but in a few seconds she was asleep.

The half-demon leaned back, eyes closed as she shuddered. She'd just tasted Quinn's pain, drawing it out of the other woman and it had been just as intense and beautiful as she'd expected. How deeply these humans felt their pains and pleasures, she always thought that was one of the reasons demons were drawn to them like moths to a fire.

"Sleep well." She husked, finally managing to stand and leave. Time to find out what Lauren was doing.

"I'm serious Bob, part of me really won't feel bad about ripping your spine out your asshole, now help me get these boards up and nailed into the wall. It's not like I can do it by myself. Besides I did save you from that scaly dog thing." Lauren said sounding exasperated.

"I'll help." Dianna shot Bob a look, shaking her head as she saw the man had retaken his seat at the bar top. "Threats don't do much to Bob. I'm not really sure that's his name anyway, I just started calling him that." She paused to pick up Quinn's service revolver and place it on the bar top with her shotgun.

"Aren't we the threatening one tonight?" She murmured, sashaying up to Lauren and helping her pull the heavy wood over to the broken window. "Threatening to rip out Bob's spine. Very butch of you." The redhead winked.

Lauren blushed. "Sorry, it's the demon thing inside me, its still close to the surface so it was either run my mouth or kill Bob. I'm trying. There was a car out there, it burned rubber pulling out, once the demon was killed." She hefted another large piece of plywood, "I think we should get rid of the body now before someone comes to investigate . . . I . . . I just have a bad feeling."

"Always listen to those, especially in the Gray; they'll save your life." Dianna lifted up the plywood, holding it in place while Lauren used the cordless drill to screw it into place. "We'll take it out back a ways; the hounds will take care of it for us." Then maybe she could get a shower and pick the glass out of her back.

She watched Lauren carefully, seeing the flushed look and the way she moved with purpose. It was a far cry from the wallflower who'd sat across from her at brunch this morning.

Lauren brushed her dark curly hair out of her eyes and finished the last screw. "What?" She asked when she caught Dianna looking at her. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No." Dianna swallowed. Damnit, she was still hyped up from the pain she'd taken from Quinn. "Just noticing how lovely you look when you feel alive."

"Oh." Lauren blushed. "Thank you. Uh, how is your frie . . . Dectective Quinn?"

"Sleeping." Dianna brushed her hands off and studied the wood with a critical eye. The two-inch thick plywood sheets should hold for the night. Turning she raised an eyebrow at the blush. "No one's told you that before? You really do have lovely eyes and your face glows when you're fired up."

That just made her blush harder. "No. Not really. When your older sister is amazing, you frequently get forgotten. I remember bringing home report cards I got good grades--a solid B, but my parents would say 'Oh, Lauren why can't you be smart like your sister." She gave a weak smile at the memory.

"Report cards?" Dianna looked blank for an instant. "Ah, school." She smiled a little sadly. "It sounds like a lonely childhood. Did you have friends?"

"Coworkers." The sad smile turned into a frown. "And now?"

"Now I seem to have impulse control problems. I really don't trust myself back in my old life." Although it was tempting; let's see that slimy delivery guy undress her with his eyes now, ha, she'd probably feed them to him.

"Hmmm." Dianna's lips quirked at the feelings from the human. She turned and headed for the bar. "I need a drink after that wakeup call, you want something?"

"I.. uh.. don't really . . . sure." Talking had made the demon inside go dormant and the shakes were soon to come, maybe some vomiting. The body was still on the floor in the corner.

Two tumblers were produced and placed on the bar, filled halfway with a mixture of dark liquors along with a little something special that Dianna always liked. The half-demon offered one of the glasses to Lauren, following her glance to the body. "Here. I'll drag it out back." It probably was disturbing the human to have it in the bar, she reasoned.

"Thank you." She said taking the glass. "I know I killed it, but more and more I feel like two different people."

"Hold that thought." Dianna grunted, picking up the dead weight and half carrying, half dragging him out the back of the bar. Where she unceremoniously dropped him in the middle of the back alley. She could already hear the wild hounds nearby, there wouldn't be much left of the body by morning. Wrinkling her nose she stopped by the public bathroom to wash off her hands, Lauren had done a job on demon boy back there.

"Two people?" She prompted, sauntering back toward the bar.

"One that's horrified and one that enjoys . . . that . . . killing." Which was a sin. She sighed and took a sip of the drink.

"Your inner demon?" Dianna tried not to sound as if she was teasing, but it was hard. "That part that wants pain, did you have it before your sister started using you as a lab rat?"

"No, of course not." Then her shoulders slumped. "All the time. I just didn't. I always had a little voice whispering to me. Like, like . . . Okay, at work there's a guy who delivers the papers to the library, he's always undressing me with his eyes, it creeps me out. I never did anything about it, just ignored it but part of me wanted to go rip his nuts off and shove him down his throat."

The redhead took a healthy sip of her drink, licking her lips before leaning across the bar. "Lauren, all humans have that. I don't know why people think demons are the only ones with evil in them. We just don't bury it." She grinned. "But then again, most humans can't act on their impulses like you seem to be able to."

"I'm going to hell." Lauren said with a sigh and took another, big swallow.

"Why?" The other woman looked genuinely curious.

"Cause all this is wrong, bad, wrong . . . and . . . and . . ." She shrugged, really not having an argument.

"Have you killed anyone who wasn't trying to kill you? Have you killed anyone who didn't deserve it? I don't think even the human god will send someone like you to hell for that. Besides, I think it's your sister who's in hell right now." Dianna tossed back the last of her drink and refilled the glasses.

Lauren winced a little at that. She might be unhappy with Susan but she didn't want to think of her in hell. "You're right, I just have all this internal . . . stuff."

"I know." Dianna smiled. "You people feel things strongly, you even more, I think. You've hidden away most of your life haven't you? Stowing away your emotions. That doesn't make them go away though, just compresses them, makes them stronger."

She had to laugh, if a week ago someone would have told Lauren that she would be getting drunk in a demon bar at the edge of the Gray she would have hurt something internally laughing. "This is the most fun I think I've ever had." And the most free she had felt and the sad part was her family had to die so she could feel this way.

"This is nothing honey." Dianna purred, with a waggle of eyebrows.

As if on cue, Lauren turned bright red.

The bar owner laughed, downing the last of her drink. "You should get some sleep. Your hands are starting to shake a little." Which she doubted was related to sleep.

Lauren smiled and then impulsively reached over and gave Dianna a quick hug. "Thank you again. I-I really don't want to think of what would have happened to me if you hadn't helped me." She slid off the stool with her drink and made her way up the stairs after a quiet goodnight to Bob.

The half-demon stared after her, shocked silent by the hug. People didn't hug her that just didn't happen. Kiss, try to seduce, strip, ogle, yes, but just hug?

"Guests. I might as well open a bed and breakfast, Bob." She groused, flipping off the lights and heading upstairs after double-checking all the doors and windows.

Behind her, Bob raised his beer bottle in the darkness and took a sip.

********

That demon bitch was screaming at Quinn, screaming in that demon language that made her feel like the blood was boiling her brain. Alvera clawed at Quinn, hands on her shoulders burning with heat but she didn't waiver, shoved the muzzle of her gun into that bitch's mouth and started unloading. At this point it might be a relief to die. She was so fucking hot, sweat and burning flesh and pain. Quinn woke up screaming. She thrashed in the sheets trying to find her gun, if she didn't that thing was going to drag her to hell.

"Your gun's hanging from its holster, on the closet door." Dianna was sitting, very carefully staying where she was, on the chair farthest from the bed. She'd meant to simply grab clothes to wear for the day, but Quinn's nightmare had caught her.

A faint bead of sweat trailed down the side of her hairline as she clenched her fingers.

"What?" Quinn blinked, her tongue felt thick and nearly useless in her mouth. She was warm, so goddamn warm. She got free of the sheets, not realizing she was naked or where she was.

"The gun, the one you wanted, it's hanging from the door on the closet." Dianna said, pronouncing the words carefully.

She looked around blinking at the light. "She's going to . . . we need to be careful . . . because . . . okay." She nodded her head dumbly, her thoughts fuzzy due to a fever. She tried to stand but there was something wrong with her knee.

The redhead unfolded herself from the chair, moving toward the bed and catching the cop before she swayed and fell over on her face. "You're hurt. There was a demon attack." The human's skin was burning against her fingers and she swallowed at the confusing emotions swirling through Quinn's mind.

Quinn frowned, trying to think was difficult. "Demon? Alvera?" No, that wasn't right, Quinn had survived that. That had happened years ago, Alvera was banished.

"No. Not Alvera." Dianna whimpered. She had to get Quinn back into the bed and stop touching the cop. She could almost see glimpses of the human's nightmare now.

"Wrecked my cruiser." She remembered parts now, she slumped against Dianna. "It ripped out my antenna and my cell phone calls for backup went nowhere." She mumbled.

"I know." The redhead guided her back to the bed, picking her up and laying her down on the sheets. "You've got a fever; the demon might have had some sort of poison." She wasn't sure, but it was too fast for an infection from the glass cuts.

"Am I going to die?" Quinn asked, poison was never good.

"Do you want to die?" Dianna pulled a sheet up over the naked cop. More to reduce her own temptation than to help Quinn.

"Not really. I haven't survived all the shit in my life to let them kill me with an infected scratch."

"Then you probably won't die. Will to live is important in these things." Dianna left for a few moments, going into her bathroom and returning with water and a few pills. "Here, for the fever. I can't do anything about that." She had to help Quinn sit up and placed the pills in the cop's mouth.

Quinn nodded and swallowed the pills no fight in her to argue.

"Are you hurting?" Dianna knew the answer to that, but she decided to at least give Quinn a choice.

"I've felt better. Mostly it's my knee." She was becoming more coherent now, her eyes losing their glassy gaze.

"Do you want me to take your pain away?" Dianna whispered, eyes traveling down the length of the sheet.

Dianna's shirt wasn't buttoned up and Quinn really didn't have the strength of will right now, not to look. "Huh?"

"The pain." Dianna leaned down until her head was sharing the same pillow as Quinn's, stretching out her body so it was just barely touching the human's. Only the thin sheet separated them. "Do you want me to take it from you?"

"Why?" She asked, remembering vaguely Dianna had done it before but why help her at all, that was confusing. They didn't not like each other, but they didn't like each other. Didn't they?

God, Dianna was warm; she could feel the woman's body heat through the sheet.

"Because I can feel it, and I can help." Dianna bit her lip. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

"Because if I were easy, you'd get bored." It took a second but Quinn frowned as she thought over what she said. "I meant . . . I don't know what I meant." It was hard to think, with Dianna so intimately right there.

"You're charming when you stutter." Dianna chuckled before taking pity on the cop. "Shhh." She whispered, hand coming up to cover Quinn's stomach through the thin layer of sheet as her lips pressed against the human's temple. "Sleep." She whispered, drawing the pain out of the body next to hers with a tremble of excitement.

Hands shaking; she pulled away, leaving Quinn to her healing sleep. Twice now she'd taken pain from the Detective. There could not be a third time, not without repercussions she doubted Quinn would be pleased with.

Her head buzzed from the emotions she'd just taken in, Dianna stripped and took a long hot shower in the adjoining bathroom. Where she quickly brought herself to two long orgasms, in both of which she thought of two completely different human women.

Bad, very, very bad she scolded herself as she toweled off and got ready for her Monday. There was no way she would allow herself to become connected to anyone, especially not a cop and a girl who'd never lived her own life!

With that thought firmly in place, and wearing form hugging black pants and top, she went to her study. A quick check at Lauren's door revealed no sign of wakefulness inside yet, which was good. The half-demon wasn't sure she could deal with more humans right now.

"Sorry Sissy, that took longer than I thought." She apologized to the painting, taking it down off the wall and placing it on its stand by the window. "Quinn was having a nightmare, a strong one and I couldn't get out. All taken care of now though." Was it her imagination or was the woman on the painting ever so faintly laughing at her?

"Don't you dare laugh at me! You're the reason they're here in the first place. I should throw both of them out right now. I don't need this aggravation; I have a bar to run, unless you've forgotten?"

The painting looked just as amused as it had before and Dianna threw up her hands. A night of sleeping in the office chair had not been a great way to try to sleep.

"I'm going to get food." She grumbled to herself, locking the door behind her as she went downstairs. If Sissy was going to laugh at her, she could do it alone in the study. She liked her mornings off, time alone she could spend however she wanted. Usually that was sleeping, but since both beds were taken up with guests that wasn't an option.

And how the hell, she wondered as she started the coffeepot and went to see if there was a paper this morning, had she lost both of her beds to people she wasn't sleeping with?

"Morning Bob." She flicked on a couple of lights for him and checked the plywood over the windows. They hadn't been broken into which was a good sign.

Another reason she'd slept like shit, she'd been clutching a shotgun to her chest most of the night.

There was a paper outside the front door, something you could never count on this close to the Grey. Paperboys had a habit of just suddenly disappearing, which was why she got her paper delivered by a troll-like demon down the block. Unfortunately, he wasn't the smartest demon ever and every once in a while forgot to deliver the paper and ate it instead.

Closing the door, and locking it, she went back into the kitchen and settled in with the first cup of coffee to see what misery the human world was reporting.

She'd just taken her first sip when her pale eyes focused on the headline. The coffee was spewed from her mouth as she doubled over coughing. The drops spotted across the paper, doing nothing to hide the picture of Quinn in full color on the front page, under the headline "Cop Kills Partner!"

******

Lauren sleepily shuffled down the stairs, her curls were a mess on top of her head, another reason she had decided to let her hair grow out. She peeked out into the bar checking everything. The whole scene from last night gave her a bad feeling, but what did she know about the affairs of demons. She was just a research assistant.

"Morning."

Dianna gave her a weak wave; carefully folding up the paper she'd just finished reading. "Coffee if you want it. How are you doing?" Instinctively the half-demon tried to distract as she tried to figure out what she'd just read.

"I'm good. I only threw up a little once reality sort of sunk in. I just have . . . a bad feeling about last night, and it's not going away. More and more I'm learning to trust those feelings." And she had injected herself again; that always made her feel very good.

Dianna's pale eyes flicked toward Lauren's arm and then away. "Saturday morning I asked friends to look into who would have sent Challa to backstab me. None have gotten back to me, which is strange. Something like that is usually whispered in every shadow of the Gray within hours."

"What would keep the Grey quiet?" She asked as she disappeared into the kitchen and then emerged with a cup of coffee. Or cream with a hint of coffee as her coworkers used to tease her.

Dianna took one look at the muddy mixture and wrinkled her nose. "No more good coffee for you, I might as well brew you the instant stuff." She took a sip of her own cup and sighed. "I don't know. Something that has them all scared, there are a lot of options for that."

"That doesn't sound that good." She said sipping the mixture. "I know the Gray here isn't as massive as bigger cities but still to have every demon inside it scared silent."

"Not good." Dianna agreed, with another sigh. "There might be someone I could ask, but I won't unless there is no other option." Grimacing, she thought of the contents of the paper folded up on the bar in front of her.

Lauren had figured out not to pry, because without Dianna something bad would have happened to her that night. "Okay." She sat down and said to Bob, "morning."

Since Bob was the scintillating conversationalist Dianna had always known him to be, the half-demon spoke up again. "Quinn's been poisoned. Not badly, but she had a fever this morning." She took a sip of coffee. "She should live."

"That's good." She glanced at Dianna from the corner of her eyes. "Right? We want her to get better."

"Yes." It came out a bit quicker than Dianna had intended. "Sooner she's better the sooner she can go home." There, that sounded more like herself. "That thing that you killed last night, you didn't see a police badge on him anywhere did you?"

"He had nothing on him. Penises really aren't that pretty, it's little wonder religious groups are always trying to cover them up in art." She blushed a little when she realized she'd said that out loud.

The half-demon laughed, hard enough that her eyes watered. "Oh, that was perfect." She kept chuckling, as she wiped at her eyes. "Well, thank you. That improved my entire morning." She slid the paper over to Lauren. "Don't drink your coffee when you read the front page."

Lauren opened the paper slowly as if it might bite her. Her eyes widened slightly and she looked at Dianna. "Do you think it's true?"

"Probably not." The half-demon watched her through half closed eyes. "What do you think?"

She flipped through the paper. "I think . . . I think there's no picture of the victim." She frowned as part of the story sunk in, and she paused to read it in detail. She felt tears pool in her eyes. "The other day she told me a story, to make me feel better; I didn't realize that she was talking about herself. She killed her husband when he sold his soul, they're using that as proof that she's demon touched because nobody could face up against a major demoness and win without losing part of their soul. I think it's sad that this same story probably was spun to make her a hero, now makes her a villain."

"I never told you this; if you tell her I'll deny everything." Dianna spared a sharp look at the younger woman, waiting for a nod before continuing. "She had a son, the father's deal with the demoness led to the boy's death. Quinn killed them both, father and demoness; she has the scars to prove it. She has the respect of a lot of people in the Gray zone because of that."

"That's horrible." Lauren wiped away a tear that had escaped.

"That's the Gray Zone." Dianna looked away.

Lauren cleared her throat and did her best to get her emotions under control. "Sorry. How about I go make breakfast?" She got up but was back a moment later to grab her coffee.

"You're making breakfast?" Dianna arched an eyebrow watching her take the coffee mug. "Do you know how to cook? Helga's not due in today; we're officially closed until tomorrow."

"I can manage breakfast." Came the response.

"Then try not to burn down my lovely bar." Dianna closed her eyes, listening to the clanging around in the kitchen. "You have to be careful with your emotions." She said after a few minutes. "Demons love emotions, the stronger the better."

"I'm working on it." Came the annoyed reply

"No, you're reacting to things." Dianna frowned. "This is important, you can't let yourself feel lust every time you see my ass, or sorrow every time there's a sad story. When you go into the Gray it'll get you noticed and then something's going to try to either kill you or use you."

"I don't feel lust every time I see your ass, it's your breasts." The last part was mumbled under her breath. "Go check on the cop or something. I'm trying to make breakfast."

Dianna rolled her eyes. "Now I'm a nurse?" She stood though, and took the paper with her as she went back upstairs. It had been a while, maybe Quinn would wake soon.

*******

"It's like I'm running a bed and breakfast." Dianna grumbled to herself, taking the paper with her as she went up the steps to the private rooms on the second floor. Why did she keep getting stuck in the same room with Quinn? It wasn't good for either of them, and of course there was the little problem of what to tell the good detective about the newspaper article.

Straightening her back, and suddenly wondering if she should have shown less cleavage today, Dianna entered her bedroom. It had only been a few hours since she'd first gotten up, maybe Quinn was still asleep. She could always hope.

Quinn was still sleeping. Her face slack and relaxed, but as if sensing Dianna her eyes fluttered open. The fever had reduced, but her mind still felt like her thoughts were moving through a mud bog. She took in Dianna and dismissed her. Then took in the room, and her state of undress, the throbbing knee and quickly examined what little she remembered. "So how bad is it?" She asked her voice cracking and she swallowed to get moisture into it.

Without answering, the redhead walked passed her to the bathroom. The tap ran for a few seconds and she came back with a full glass of water. Perching on the edge of the bed, Dianna slipped a hand under Quinn's neck to help her up a bit so she could drink some water.

"Your fever's going down. That's a good sign. I don't know about your knee, might be you'll need a cane for a while." She brushed her fingers across Quinn's forehead, testing the temperature.

Quinn was silent; she drank the water and waited. This wasn't them snapping at each other, verbally sparring. Dianna was being nice and caring, she didn't know really how to act. So she stated facts, facts were sharp and clear they could cut and make people bleed but they didn't fester and disease like lies.

"I wrecked my cruiser trying to kill the demon chasing me. I think I hurt my knee in the wreck." She was silent for a moment her thoughts organizing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here, but it was the only thing I could think of. Not a lot of options when something is trying to kill you."

"You mean when a demon is trying to kill you." Dianna leaned back, bracing an arm against the bed and lazily watching Quinn. "Except, it wasn't a demon. When Lauren killed it, which is another story, he turned back into a human."

Quinn opened her mouth and then shut it. That was a terrifying thought, demons hiding inside of humans, living bombs just waiting to go off. Then she got a bad feeling. "What did this human look like?"

"Black hair, average height, male." The half-demon raised an eyebrow, wondering what the cop was thinking of. "Looked scraggly, like he hadn't had a lot to eat in a long time. Why?"

There was a brief flash of hurt and sadness and then it was gone, followed with the distasteful reality that somehow she was going to live a life of disappointment and second bests. "That's not much to go on. But it sounds like my old partner Mikey, when I worked downtown. He called me right before my shift was up, wanted me to come check out what he thought might be demon activity. I thought it was kids messing around. You don't really have to wonder if it's demon activity."

"You think they," whoever they were, "did the same thing to him as Lauren? Made a human into a demon?" That was a scary thought and the redhead frowned, not liking it at all.

"Whoa. What?" That got her attention. "Lauren? That scared little rabbit upstairs does the same thing?" She was sure the fuck out of the loop.

"I told you that was a different story." Despite herself Dianna smiled, amused with the look she was getting from the cop. "How did you think she killed that thing otherwise? I thought detectives were supposed to pick up on things like that."

"We also don't assume things without facts, because that just makes an ass of u and me. Seriously, I figured it was all about the older sister. She worked for the Government, her files are all classified, and the Government agents won't tell me squat about her or what she was working on. They just want Lauren, which I thought meant she knew something about the sister's work she shouldn't."

"She is the sister's work." Dianna reached over, picking up a business card that Lauren had given her and showing it to Quinn before flipping it back down on to the nightstand. "That's the sister's address of where she worked. I was going to give that to you when you could do things like stand up and walk without collapsing."

Quinn didn't get it. One would assume they were making humans into demons to help the human race but then why send one after her. She stared at the card in thought for a moment before she blinked coming back to the here and now. "All right. I need a shower, clothes, and a phone." She should call the chief; they'd declare her dead soon. That would be a nightmare of paperwork to straighten out.

The redhead looked away, generous mouth turning into a frown. "Why? Who are you going to call?" Damnit, she'd hoped for more time.

Quinn frowned. "My supervisor, I got one call out on my radio, that I was being attacked by demons before it got ripped out. They've bound to have found my wrecked car. Jesus, Theron, they're probably wasting valuable manpower looking for my body."

"I don't think you should call anyone, Quinn." Dianna looked back at her, pale eyes softening with something close to pity. "I think you should just concentrate on getting better here and then we'll see what we can do."

Quinn's eyes narrowed. "How fucked am I, Theron?" She asked quietly. She'd never seen Dianna give her that look before. The flirting, the quips, the sarcasm she could deal with. Not this look of pity, this was not something they did for each other. "What the hell aren't you telling me?" It had to be bad for her to be getting that look from the woman.

There was no good way to say this so the half-demon simply reached over the bed, picked up the folded over paper and wordlessly offered it to the detective.

Quinn read the paper, her lips thinning into a straight angry line. How fickle was the world? She wasn't surprised, she'd seen it hundreds of times before: a poor schmuck's life ruined in the media machine, she really never expected it to be her. All because she went with her gut and protected some woman she didn't even know. The headache was coming back behind her eyes as she watched her whole life mean nothing.

"Easy." Dianna leaned in, hand touching the other woman's bare arm, waiting until Quinn met her eyes. "Don't have a stroke yet. It's not over, you're still alive and they don't have you yet."

Angry blue eyes looked at Dianna's hand on her arm. "It's a matter of time Dianna. It's not like I can just go hide in the Gray, I'm human and a cop; it will take a matter of moments for someone to rat me out. I have no money, my accounts will be frozen, my apartment watched, and all my friends will have their lines tapped waiting for me to call. I'm fucked, Theron the best thing I can do is turn myself in and hope I can get a discharge from the force and maybe relocate somewhere where people don't know my name or face." She let her eyes close, so goddamn angry, to lose to those fuckers.

The anger was so powerful the half-demon had to snatch her hand back or be drawn into it whether she wanted to or not. "So that's it?" She crossed her arms, to keep them from reaching out. "You just lay down and die? Is that the spirit that let you survive two demon attacks now? You just roll over and give up?"

"No, first I'd like to take a shower." Quinn said, locking her emotions down, trying not to cause Dianna's half-demon nature to flare up, that was the last thing she needed.

She was good at hiding her emotions, Dianna had to give her that much. Snorting at the thought of the barely able to stand human in a shower, the redhead rose up off the bed and padded to the bathroom where she started the water. Leaving it to fill the claw-footed tub she'd gotten with the rest of the bar, she walked back out.

"Hold on to me." She said, not really giving Quinn an option as she pushed the sheets off her and then picked up the wounded woman.

"Here's a hint, Theron, some woman actually like it if you respect their privacy." She grumbled out, but didn't do anything else. Her knee still looked awful, she'd probably torn her ACL or damaged the joint, that would require surgery or magic to fix she was a little short on paying either off.

"Some women like it when I don't." The redhead shot back, taking a deep breath as she turned, carrying Quinn toward the bathroom. It was a difficult thing to do, carry this stubborn woman and try not to soak in her emotions. She might be good at hiding them, but they ran deep and strong. The anger that over layered them right then was seductive and Dianna's nostrils flared as she walked a little faster.

Quinn shook her head but didn't even try to come up with a comeback. She did give a happy sigh as she slid into the warm water of the tub. "Sometimes I almost forget we don't like each other." She said looking at the half-demon.

"Don't forget." It almost sounded like a plea and Dianna stood up abruptly. "Lauren's making breakfast. I'll bring some back for you if you want to soak in the tub for a while. Yell if you need something."

Quinn leaned back in the tub and let her eyes close. She didn't want to think about anything for a long while. "Food would be nice." She said quietly.

With a jerky nod, Dianna all but fled from her room, confusing avalanche of emotions, hers and Quinn's, tumbling through her as she hurried downstairs.

"That smells good." She announced as she came into the kitchen, glad to see nothing on fire and doing her best to sound normal.

"Thank you." Lauren said looking over at Dianna. "Just ham and eggs, do you just order take out a lot?"

"It certainly isn't delivery." Dianna grinned; distance from Quinn let her get a handle on the emotions. "The last delivery boy got eaten by a Banshee two blocks from here. I usually eat whatever Helga makes, or go get something when I have to run errands." Something she'd been putting off, but sooner or later she'd have to go out.

"You're tense. Did Maggie, uh, Detective Quinn not take the news well." She set a plate down in front of Dianna. "I made Bob test the first batch."

"Did he like it?" The ham and eggs looked good, but she probably should ask just in case. "Quinn is being stubborn and angry."

"He ate everything on the plate, so I assumed he liked them." She sat down with her own plate. "Quinn is . . . well, angry is probably a good defensive mechanism." She took her fork and knife and cut the ham into bite-size pieces on her plate. "Is there a bookstore around here?" She flushed realizing she didn't exactly have any money. Maybe a used bookstore?

"Not one you'd want to visit." Dianna took a bite of the ham, raised an eyebrow at the spices she couldn't identify and took a bigger bite. "Why? I have quite a library upstairs. I could get you some books if you wanted to read something." It was best if they dropped the topic of the good detective for now.

"You do have a very good library I'm sure, in your study that you won't let me enter. But it's not the same, I like books, I wasn't a research assistant for no reason. I like bookstores; I like taking my time checking out covers, flipping through pages, and stopping every once in a while to read something until I find the right book for my mood." She shrugged.

Dianna sighed. Why were things always complicated? The idea of Lauren wandering around the Gray looking for a bookstore wasn't a nice one. She certainly couldn't go into the human parts of the city; the chances of her being spotted were too good.

The food was very good and she enjoyed eating all of it that was on her plate, probably almost as quickly as Bob had. Rising she got another plate, piling it with a bit of everything and a glass of orange juice instead of her coffee. Starting for the stairs she paused, looking back at Lauren with a raised eyebrow. "Are you coming?"

Lauren scrambled off the chair and then up the stairs to follow Dianna. She sensed this was important. Not in the earth-shattering way, but still the moment felt important.

"You don't go in when the door is locked, ever and I lock the door when I go to bed." Dianna was crazy, that was the only reason she was doing this, she'd gone insane. "The books, you're free to read whichever ones you want, but some of them are demonic and that's the only warning I'll give you on that."

There were limits; she wasn't Lauren's mother after all. Pausing at her room she left the food inside, briefly checking to make sure Quinn hadn't drowned. When the woman appeared to be still enjoying her bath, Dianna kept moving toward her study door. "Under no circumstances do you touch the painting over the fireplace, got it?"

"Of course." Lauren agreed like everyday someone asked her not to touch paintings. "Um, how will I know if the books are demonic and do they eat people?"

Dianna grinned, pulling out the old-fashioned key and unlocking the door. "The script will be demonic; you won't get into any trouble as long as you don't read anything out loud or do any sacrifices."

Lauren got a little pale at that. "Not a problem there."

"Good." Dianna turned, cocking a hip up against her desk and watching Lauren closely as the human walked into her study. Lauren was exactly the second person she'd ever allowed into this place willingly. She wondered what the human made of the books lining the walls and the huge monstrosity of a desk with her personal papers piled across it almost haphazardly.

Then there was Sissy's portrait, propped up on its stand looking down on the garden in the back. She doubted Lauren even realized there was a garden back there. Few other people did. A cello dominated one of the corners of the room, while comfortable overstuffed leather chairs took up the other two, her desk backed up against the other.

Lauren studied the books, touching one here and there. "Its a beautiful collection." She said softly entranced by each book she passed. She instinctively knew which ones were demonic; they caused an ache in her skull.

"Some of it was my sister's." The redhead pushed off from the desk, abruptly changing the topic. "That entire bookshelf is erotic books; feel free to browse through it."

Not as bad as there being an actual demon there, but, as Don the geeky IT guy would have said 'It made her spidey sense tingle'. She looked up and over at the shelf in question and then blushed. "I might." She tried to sound defiant but failed.

Dianna snorted and reached out, touching Lauren very briefly on the shoulder. "One last thing." She looked uncharacteristically nervous as she guided the human toward the portrait by the window. "Sissy, this is Lauren." The young woman in the portrait stared out the window. "She's going to come look at our books."

She picked up a book on demonology, and then looked around. Oh, she wanted to ask, but knew better. Instead she said, "Hi." To whatever Dianna thought was there.

With a nod, Dianna let out a short breath. "Okay. Enjoy." She hesitated, feeling oddly vulnerable about letting the human in this room.

"I promise to behave, Dianna." Lauren said sitting down in the overstuffed chair.

"You better." The half-demon lingered at the door, torn. "You're the second person to come into this room."

"I'll behave . . ." She was cut off as the study doors slammed shut and locked. From below someone pounded on the front door to the bar.

Dianna flinched backwards; the door slamming in her face with enough force it would have broken her nose had she been just a bit closer. "Gee, thanks Sissy!" She growled, straightening as she whirled to go see who was pounding on the door downstairs. Lauren was probably safer where she was.

"Quinn, you need help getting out of the bath yet?" She asked, as she paused by the door to her rooms. Someone pounded again on the door downstairs and Dianna growled in annoyance. It was her day off; she shouldn't have to deal with this shit today.

"I'll be fine." Quinn grumbled out.

"Don't turn into a prune." The redhead teased. "I am going to get to see you naked again, just accept it."

She took the stairs down two at a time, the pounding really getting on her nerves as she crossed through the bar to the front door. "We're closed!"

"Demon Affairs; open the door." Came the crisp voice on the other side.

"Fuck." Dianna swore under her breath turning her head to tell Bob, but the bar stool was empty. Demon Affairs. She shook her head and opened the door just enough so that she could lean across it in a way that she knew accentuated her body. "What can I do for the fabulous people at Demon Affairs?"

"I am Agent Green, we're following up on the scene of a demon attack not far from here. I can't help but notice the window to your bar." He smiled at her as his eyes dipped down into her cleavage.

"Oh, that." She said in her breathy voice, lust, she knew that emotion well. "Just some college kids getting out of hand. You know how they get." Green was certainly a handsome looking man, boyish good looks, if she'd go for that sort of thing.

He swallowed, and then seemed to clear his head. "Kids, huh?" He looked down at his notebook. "You are Dianna Theron, correct? A local police officer, the one missing from the crash has been seen here a couple of times. A Maggie Quinn, blue eyes, red hair, and an Irish temper?"

"The detective was not one of my biggest fans." Dianna smiled, leaning closer to Green, which of course gave him a better look down her cleavage. "She doesn't approve of the bar you see."

"If she didn't approve why did she come here so often? Rumor at the police house was she was your sex slave; you had her in a thrall." He laughed it off, while still watching her reaction.

The half-demon's mouth quirked into a sly smile. "Is that the rumor? I'm sure she's furious over it. She doesn't swing my way, Agent Green. Prefers studs like you."

He chuckled even more at that. "So I'm thinking she's being attacked by a demon; crashes her vehicle; hate or not she's going to go for the only place she knows. That would be this place. Mind if I look around?"

"I can't stop you." She stepped back. That was true; the Demon Affairs people needed no warrant to search anything that Dianna had. She was going to have to distract this Green. That was going to be unpleasant. "Bar's empty though, I told you, we're closed today. Quinn would probably rather gnaw off her own hand than come to me for help."

"Thank you." He came in with a frown, looking at the boarded-up windows.

She lingered near him, occasionally brushing against him. Her dad, she thought with something close to disgust, would be proud to see her using her abilities like this.

"Can I get you a drink, Agent Green?"

"Just a water would be great." He smiled at her and tried to discreetly wipe the sweat off his upper lip.

She sauntered away, knowing he was watching her ass as she went and added an extra little sway. Dianna had to get rid of him; he could not be allowed to go upstairs. How far was she willing to go to get rid of him though? Did she really owe Quinn anything? "Nice cold water." She purred, offering him the glass and brushing her fingers against his.

"Thank you." He took a swallow. "You said she didn't like you? Yet in the five years she's been on the force in this district she's come to you 30 times for help on a case, only used you 11 times. I find that odd because she's only gone to a department sanctioned Demon six times and then all the times you refused." He took a step back and with his pen point at various places around the bar. "Rough neighborhood, you have a lot of bullet holes."

"I was accessible when she needed someone to bully into helping her." Dianna pouted. "We are on the edge of the Gray here." She trailed a finger along Green's shoulder. "I keep saying it would be nice if there was some protection for us out here." She purred, pressing closer.

He blinked his thoughts completely derailed. "I'm sure it would, Ms. Theron."

He took a step back as if realizing for the first time this might not have been the best idea. His smile changed. "I have to wonder if you half-breeds even realize when you are using your powers. Or if you're purposefully trying to use me." He pulled out a business card. "If Detective Quinn contacts you let me know. She is considered dangerous, I'm sure the demon communities would cheer as well if she were locked away."

"You'll be the first phone number I call." She watched him through half-lidded eyes as he walked out the door and she closed it behind him. Shoulders sagged a little as she locked up behind him. There were human words for what she'd just been prepared to do, none of them pleasant. Annoyed with herself and the world, Dianna turned and headed for the stairs. Time to get Quinn out of the bath before she did turn into a prune.

Quinn was on the stairs wrapped in a sheet, gun in her hand. She'd been quite ready to kill him, even though it was possible she was wrong, that he hadn't set her up.

The half-demon paused, foot on the second step up, seeing Quinn standing there with gun in hand. "That a gun or are you just happy to see me, cherie?"

Quinn flicked the safety back on the gun. "You're Greek, not Cajun." Her only response to the comment. She wasn't certain if she would have shot him if he had come in to the kitchen, she was surprised he hadn't. Probably didn't want to risk being caught in a bad situation. She had heard the conversation, and had heard it in his voice when he realized he couldn't handle Dianna.

She looked at the half-demon, really looked at her, searching for something. "Why didn't you hand me over?"

Very slowly, Dianna started up the stairs, taking them one step at a time. "Because he said he was from Demon Affairs." That should be enough of a reason, and the half-demon didn't want to talk about any other possibility for her good deed. "How do you know what I am? I've been told I have a good Cajun accent when it suits me."

"I had to go back a long way, but I found your immigration records. I like to know who I'm working with." Dianna had aged well, fucking demon DNA. "You hate Demon Affairs that much, even more than me, surprising." Her knee was throbbing she should have stayed put, but couldn't once she heard that fucker's voice.

Chapter 4

"They're scum. Maybe they're some decent ones in it, but most of them just use their position to get what they can. Some of us think they become corrupt from dealing with demons so much." Dianna watched Quinn's face with an almost hungry intentness. "Would you have shot him? Would you have shot me for bringing him to you?"

"Yes." She hesitated, "To shooting him. Funny when he came into the station with his partner we assumed they were FBI, they never once corrected us they were not." She probably would have shot Dianna too, if she was capable of killing her husband, she figured she was capable of shooting anyone.

"So you would have shot him, just for finding you here?" Dianna's eyes glittered a little in the light as she reached two steps below Quinn, close enough that she could feel the woman's emotions. "How dark of you, Detective. What else are you capable of?"

"I never said I'd kill him, Theron. Just shoot him." She gave a ghost of a smile. "You know what they say about cops and criminals? It's merely a uniform that makes the difference. Now come up here and play crutch so I can go lay down. My knee is killing me."

For a long moment, the half-demon stared at her, lips twisting in a small smile. Unlike her own, Quinn's hair was naturally red, she'd found that out the night before. It fit the energetic woman, as did her blue eyes and obvious Irish heritage. All that was missing was an Irish accent and Quinn could easily have come straight over from the isles.

"You're too honorable to be a criminal, Detective." Dianna stepped up, sliding a hand around the human's waist to hold her upright. Her body was warm beneath the sheet but at least it didn't feel feverish anymore. "Why do you dislike my bar?"

She slumped against Dianna not willing to admit to the pain. "I don't dislike your bar and I don't like it either." Kind of how she felt about Dianna, although if the woman kept acting like this things might change, and the detective wasn't comfortable with that. "I think you're the first person to see me naked and not ask about the marks." Honestly Dianna was the only other person than the nurses and doctors to see her naked since it happened.

"What's to ask?" Dianna shrugged, uncomfortable with the entire subject for reasons she did not want Quinn to know. "Your husband was fucking a demon." She was deliberately vulgar as she helped Quinn toward the room. "You sent the demon back to hell for what they did." Best not to mention the son at all though; she wanted Quinn off-balance, not shooting her.

Quinn sighed. "You have such a way with words. His name was Thomas, we worked together, my father hated him, said he would never be good enough for me. He was a good man until in a shootout, a window next to his head was blown out. Glass got in his eyes and after that he was a desk jockey. That's when he changed." There was no emotion, just facts, again why she loved them. She didn't say any more, everyone knew how it ended, just not how it started. "I had people come up to me and want me to lay hands on them. They thought I was blessed. A single human to slay a beast from hell. Now you and I know that demoness wasn't killed, just sidetracked back to hell, but people would call me a warrior of God, or some other nonsense. Now, now I'm tainted." She gave a bitter smile.

Someday she'd be dead, she had no illusions if that demoness ever got back into the earthly realm that she'd come rip off her head and then piss down her neck stump.

She sighed in relief as Dianna helped her back onto the bed. "Do you have an icepack? Or a witch doctor?" She meant it as a joke but it showed how much pain she was in.

"Icepack yes, witch doctor no, although I could probably find you a healer of some type." Dianna pulled some blankets up over the detective and went back downstairs for the ice, wondering who she knew that could heal that knee without charging Quinn for more than she had.

Trading her soul for healing the knee wasn't really worth it, for example.

"Here." The half-demon slid on to what was becoming her usual spot on the bedside and offered Quinn the ice pack from the freezer downstairs. She could feel the pain radiating off the other woman and however good it felt, Dianna didn't think Quinn liked it. Judging by the grayness around her eyes and pale lips, she really didn't like it.

"I could take the pain away." Dianna found herself whispering, eyes hooded as she watched Quinn.

Quinn put the ice on her knee and then looked at Dianna. "Pain is part of being human. We don't heal with demonic healing or have demonic strength; we just keep pushing through the pain and somehow it makes us stronger." She only remembered the one time Dianna had taken the pain away, not both.

"What will it cost me to have that part of you help me?" She asked a knowing look on her face.

"There is always a price." Dianna smile was slow and sensuous. "I'd feel your feelings more directly, it would be a bond between us." She glanced down at the swollen and ugly-looking knee. "As always, it's your choice."

"Di . . . Theron. Why would you want a bond between us? You don't like me." For that matter why would she want a bond? She was mildly upset with the slip; she called Theron by her last name for a reason. She was already demon marked, but she wasn't certain another one was worth it just to have the pain taken away from her knee.

"Then aspirin it is." The half-demon opened her palm, revealing the small white pills she'd brought up from downstairs with the ice. "I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't tempt you on occasion." She smiled, offering them to Quinn.

Quinn couldn't help it, she actually laughed. She took the aspirin and leaned forward kissing Dianna's cheek with a chuckle. "We all have our burdens to bear in life, now go get a pen and paper." She quickly swallowed the pills.

"My burden is to be your secretary?" An eyebrow arched but Dianna leaned over, pulling pen and paper from the drawer in her night table. She sat back upright with a smile, having almost caught Quinn watching her ass as she bent over.

Quinn just quirked an eyebrow then started listing off things she would need. "I need clothes, a knee brace, probably a cane if not a new knee, a gun, bullets for said gun, and untraceable cell phone or at least a couple of disposable ones. Can you manage that?"

"Your service revolver is over there, do you need a second gun?" Dianna sniffed, ignoring the implication that she couldn't manage to get the things that the human wanted. It was vaguely insulting.

"Yes, one that isn't linked to a police officer. Also, he knows Lauren and I are here or you would have had to fuck him to prevent him from coming in for a full look. You're an unknown, well and Lauren's ability to do that thing she does. He came in and found he couldn't handle you on his own. Lauren and I should go somewhere else before they come back." She hesitated. "Maybe you too. Could you say the bar is closed for a remodel?" It wouldn't be a lie.

Insult became outrage. "You want me to close down the bar?" She glared at Quinn. "I can't just shut down the bar until it looks safe again. I have obligations."

"Right. Sorry, I caught myself caring about your safety, forget I mentioned anything. Temporary insanity." Quinn said not even fazed by the outburst.

Which earned Quinn a sharp look from the bright-red haired woman. "Do you have a safe place you can take Lauren?" She still wasn't sure where would be safe for the younger woman.

Quinn sighed. "Probably not." She should go, that would be less dead weight on Dianna, the half-demon wouldn't have to worry about taking care of both her and Lauren. Plus sooner or later she would wear out whatever goodwill the woman seemed to be feeling for her. "I could call my Da or my Grandda." There was a slight accent that came out with the pronouncing of those two words.

Dianna shook her head. "Best not to get family involved if you don't want the D.A. people going after them too." She grimaced. "I was telling Lauren that the Gray is really quiet about what happened with the demon attacking you, unusually quiet. I could try to find out more, someone out there knows what's going on."

"When it's quiet, doesn't it mean more dangerous?"

"Always." Dianna rose up off the bed. "I know it's not even noon yet, but you're going to feel sleepy in a few minutes. I'll bring you some food later." Two of the pills she'd given Quinn had been aspirin, the third had not.

Quinn's face morphed into a scowl. "Dianna, what did you give me?" The sharp tone was cut off by a yawn.

"Nothing very illegal." The grin widened into a smile and Dianna pulled the blankets up over the yawning human. "Sleepy time."

"Nothing very . . . when I'm better . . ." She gave a large yawn and shook her head. "I'm going to shove my foot up your ass." She grumbled even as her eyes slid shut.

********

The demoness sat in the alter room, mediating. If one wanted to move into the earthly plain and take it over, it had to be done quietly, slowly, and without tipping the balances. She was nothing if not patient, so every night when the moon rose, she opened the portal and absorbed a little more of her power, six more months and she smiled. If a mortal had seen that smile, they would have fallen into gibbering madness.

The room was stone and metal, sleek darkness with only the faint light of the moon shining in, and everything was coated in the smell of blood. A faint drip as blood from tonight's sacrifice flowed from the slashing cuts down rendered flesh and on to the floor from the altar. She breathed out and in, absorbing more power from the small crack between this world and hers.

Were they nothing but cursed and tormented souls that had once been human. She didn't care. If they had been she didn't see that it mattered, it just meant they had been horrible humans not fit to mingle with the human race anyways. Besides, she'd never seen an angel despite what religion said.

She sighed and closed the crack, aware of a presence behind her. "Yes."

It was an anthropomorphic blob that oozed hesitantly into the room. It had dark hollows where its eyes should be and a slit where a mouth should be. It had formed an arm that held a folder. "Our pet has come across this information and brought it to our attention."

She didn't look at the minion, that would be beneath her. She merely held out a hand, and the creature delicately set the folder in her blood-smeared fingers.

She flipped through it, smiling as she came to a photo of Quinn. "Very resilient, isn't Ms. Quinn." Was her only comment. She frowned though as she looked at Dianna and Lauren. "Three? Three women. Fate do you think?"

The blob said nothing, knowing better.

"Three is not a good number; three is an unlucky number for demons."

"Um, the report says that Detective Quinn is assumed dead in a demon attack."

"Really, assumed is not confirmed." She hissed out eyes blazing like a forest fire. "Do you think the good detective would die so easily, if she already survived to send me to hell once?"

The Blob now sorely wished it had kept its mouth shut.

"I would know if Quinn was dead. I've marked her, her soul is mine when she dies just like yours was. I want her brought to me, alive; I have a special torture for her."

No, she could not have Maggie Quinn running around; Quinn would have to be brought to heel, like her husband had been.

"Leave me." She said quietly and went back to her meditation.

********

Lauren came down the stairs looking irritated as Dianna exited her rooms. "Why did your office just lock me inside of it for the better part of an hour?" She asked unhappily. That had been just a little on the scary side, but not as bad as other things that had happened,

It was, Dianna thought with a wince, going to be one of those days.

"Would you believe that things like that happen around here and just let it be at that?"

Lauren's eyes narrowed, but then she relaxed. "It wouldn't surprise me; my life has gotten really weird lately. I'll let it go for now, but if it happens more than three times you owe me an explanation. So what happened?" Something had to have happened.

The bar owner opened her mouth to try to explain and then paused, glancing at her wristwatch. "Listen, I'll explain it to you, but you'll have to help me do inventory so I know what we need to order tomorrow."

"Okay. You should probably put a new window at the top of that list." Lauren said with a smile as she started down the stairs.

"My, my." Dianna grinned following down the stairs after her. "Was that an actual smile? I think that's the first I've seen out of you."

Lauren blushed because she couldn't help it. "Maybe. How is your 'not friend', Quinn?" She'd given up on using the officer's first name because that was apparently not how she was called.

"Grumpy, in pain and I have to find a healer so that she can walk. She isn't saying it, but I'm pretty sure she tore something in her knee, some ligament or whatever." Dianna shrugged, leading the way out into the bar and the storage room where the kegs and bottles were kept. She handed over a clipboard to Lauren and started sorting things.

"How much do you know about the Demon Affairs agency?"

"Not much, just, you know whatever one learns in school. They were founded shortly after the Revolutionary War, where we fought to have sovereignty from the Church States of Europe. It was created to give the US population an agency that was not under the power of the church to combat demons. Plus they did checks on half-demons, but I think the half-demon thing has mostly fallen to local police."

Dianna gave her an amused look. "Really." She bent back over, counting kegs of beer. It would be a bad night if they ran out of the local microbrew. "They have full, and I mean complete, authorization to deal with any demon however they want. That includes half-demons or people who have? demonic tendencies." She glanced at Lauren again. "One of their agents showed up looking for Quinn."

"Maybe they could help against . . ." Against what she didn't really know. "We haven't done anything wrong. Not really . . . and . . ." She interpreted the look Dianna was giving her. "They're not going to be on our side are they?"

"Who do you think set Quinn up as a cop killer?" Dianna straightened. "Mark down five kegs of the pale beer and seven of the amber. I only have two Guinness left; we'll have to get more of that."

"Oh." Lauren said as she wrote down the numbers. "So what are we going to do? We are going to help her right?" Even though she realized it would be better and easier just to have Dianna turn the cop over to D.A.

"We should just turn her over." Dianna cocked a hip up against a barrel, curious to see Lauren's response. "It would buy you time to escape; somewhere they might not find you."

"We should. It does seem like the easiest action, but then I'd still be running and nothing would be resolved. With Quinn, she at least knows how they think and how they do things. I think it's better to keep her around. But I know you two aren't friends." Which she thought odd because Dianna had put the officer in her bed.

"No, we aren't." Dianna said, as she again turned to continue inventory. "Tonight you and I are going out. We need to find a healer if she's going to stay with us. Time for you to get used to moving through the Gray."

Lauren swallowed. "The Gray?" She said nervously. All those demons and headaches and the seductive pull of it. "Sounds like fun." She finished bravely.

The half-demon snorted. "No, it's not fun at all, but you have to learn to deal with it or you'll be addicted to those little black vials forever. We won't go into the heart of it; neither of us wants to go there."

*******

Dianna was once again perched on the edge of the chair in her own room, watching Quinn sleep. The human had been out of it for far longer than she'd expected, maybe she shouldn't have given her the entire pill. Next time maybe she'd try half.

"Quinn?" The bright red haired woman leaned closer, trying to wake the cop without touching her. "Quinn, you have to wake up."

Quinn groaned and rolled away from the annoying voice. The move only jarred her knee and she gave a cry of pain her eyes flying open. "Fuck." She hissed out.

Dianna's nostrils flared at the flash of pain and she reached out, lifting the sheet to peer at the woman's knee, if anything it was even more swollen and definitely an uglier color than before. "I had to wake you up." The half-breed offered as an apology.

"Make up your mind, Dianna." She snapped back. "First you drug, me now you want me awake."

"It's almost dark out." A flick of her wrist and the wheeled chamber flicked back into the old-fashioned service revolver, silently she laid it onto the nightstand next to Quinn's head. "You need to be awake while we're gone."

"Where are you going?" Quinn asked relieved once the gun had been set down.

"Into the Gray." The woman was dressed in tight-fitting leather, all black and high-heeled boots. "Aspirin and water are next to the bed."

"Just aspirin this time?" She said deliberately not looking at Dianna.

The bar owner chuckled. "Yes. Just aspirin. You needed the rest. Besides, how else would I have my way with you?"

Quinn rolled her eyes. "The truth to your sexual prowess comes out."

"My natural charms are enough for everyone but you, Detective." Dianna stood up, picking up her favorite leather coat from the back of the chair. It might have been too much leather, but sending a message was important in the Gray. If they were lucky, nothing would bother them.

"How much time should I give you before I start to worry you've mucked it up?" Quinn asked, teasing.

"You just want an excuse to tell me I made a mistake." Dianna leaned down over the cop, well aware that the tight leather showed off a good deal. "We'll be back." She smiled. "And then you're really going to owe me for the present we're going to bring."

Quinn groaned. The last thing she wanted was to owe anybody anything. "I didn't ask for a present, Theron."

"You want to go to the hospital?"

"Now would not be a good time for me to go to the hospital."

"Then you'll owe me." Dianna stood up; it was time to put distance between them. She could feel the pain throbbing in that knee. "We aren't back by tomorrow morning, Helga will find you."

"And what am I going to owe you, Theron?" It was unsettling and exciting, not that she would admit that to the half-demon.

The half-demon just grinned.

"Maybe in your dreams. Now get out of here. I'll be fine, but don't die on me." She didn't need anyone else to die on her.

"Shoot anything that isn't us and you should be fine." Dianna called over her shoulder, only half-joking as she left her room.

Hurrying down the stairs she called out. "Lauren, you ready?"

"Yep." The younger woman said from the kitchen where she was working on the crossword.

"Are you done not being friendly with the cop?" Lauren hadn't failed to notice, for not liking Quinn; Dianna spent a lot of time watching the cop sleep.

Pale eyes narrowed. "Implying something there?"

"No. No implying." Lauren said looking up from the paper.

"You saying something then?" Dianna stalked toward her.

"Yes, words were stated. That for someone you proclaim not to like you spend a lot of time looking after her."

"For someone who was a wall flower, you certainly seem to have a lot of opinions now." Dianna crossed her arms, looking down at the human, eyes amused.

"You're rubbing off on me." She said with a grin.

She was not dressed anywhere as intimidatingly as Dianna. She wore jeans, a T-shirt and a jacket. A college kid was what she looked like. "I feel under dressed."

"You should be scared." Dianna grinned back. "You don't need to look well dressed. You'll be with me."

"Of course, silly me." She grinned and stepped back from the counter. "I guess we're leaving?"

"Yup." She picked up the sawed-off shotgun, hanging it from the also illegal holster under the leather coat. "Time to go raise hell." She smiled. "Or at least wake it up a little."

"That was truly cheesy." Lauren said following behind Dianna. "So do I get a weapon?"

"You are a weapon." Dianna glanced over at her, teeth flashing in the darkness. "I rather like my one-liners." The back door was closed and locked behind them and they started out down the alley, heading deeper into the area known as the Gray Zone.

Lauren tensed as it slid over her, a headache blooming like a flower in the back of her skull. She swallowed and then took a deep breath and let it out. "I imagine this is what a siren's song feels like to sailors."

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Dianna shivered a little, it having nothing to do with the damp night air around them. "Can you feel the despair?"

"No, I feel all the demons. Every one of them, I feel an itch in my palms to snap their necks and burst their eyes under my thumbs. Too many living in a small patch of Gray."

"Huh." Dianna shrugged. "All right, not what I feel but we can work with that. Time for you to stop reacting to everything around you. You're going to be good and just follow me, and not kill anything unless it tries to kill us. Good?"

"Okay." Lauren's eyes were black but other than that she was holding it together. "I will do my best not to kill anything that doesn't attack us."

"No, not your best. You don't kill anything unless it attacks you. You break those rules and we're going to attract attention, which we do not want." Dianna shivered again, settling the jacket around her.

"Okay, okay." Lauren said sullenly, really wanting a kill.

They weren't alone, although the streets were quite dark. There were no functioning light posts here, no electricity for most of the buildings and no running water. This was the part of the city that humanity willed to simply go away. It wouldn't, of course, but it lay there in the center of the human city, a rotting blight.

"So what are we looking for?"

"An old, kind of, friend. She'll help, maybe, if the price is right." The dampness turned into drizzling rain and Dianna sighed. Figures they were going to be wet and uncomfortable. "We might have to persuade her."

"Do I want to know how were going to do that?" Lauren said with a frown as it started to drizzle.

"We're going to start out by attracting her with pain. She finds it as irresistible as the thought of killing demons seems to be with you." Dianna wasn't really looking forward to that part. "And then you grab her and keep her from killing me. It's a good plan, don't you think?"

"That's your plan. Who is this woman?"

"She can heal wounds." Dianna grinned to herself. "But she's a half-demon so you can't believe anything she says or does. It's kind of tricky to get her to heal people."

"Of course. So what is this pain that's going to attract her?" That was the part that had Lauren a little leery.

"Hope you don't faint at the sight of blood." The redhead walked faster, ignoring the dark shadows that lingered along the edges of the street. They stretched out dark fingers toward them, but otherwise they let them pass without doing anything.

"I don't. Not anymore." The last part was mumbled out. She quickened her pace to keep up with Dianna.

"That's good." The half-breed took a left, grabbing Lauren's elbow and pulling her across the street from the figures huddled over trash barrels with burning debris inside. "Malebogias. Best to just let them be." They looked like hobos, but their reputation for doing nasty things to humans was well deserved.

Like most of the Grey, they weren't what they looked like. "You doing all right?" Dianna glanced over at the younger woman, hopping they weren't about to have a scene.

Lauren just nodded, her large black eyes taking everything in. On occasion her nostrils would flare but she made no move from Dianna's side.

"I'm okay." Her voice had changed; it was lower, gravelly. She didn't know if that would still be the case if something attacked them.

"You have to control it." Dianna kept moving, it was never a good idea to become a stationary target here.

"I'm trying to stay absolutely focused on you. It seems to help. Tell me more about the Gray, how does it come into being? Why does it take over some areas and not others? Tell me about anything, how about the first time you met Quinn?" As long as she stayed focused on anything other than the Gray, she seemed to be good.

"Let's skip my first meeting with Quinn. It ended up with her shooting me." Dianna grimaced at the memory. "All a misunderstanding, of course." Well, mostly a misunderstanding.

"I assume they still teach about World War Two in history classes?" She flicked up her leather coat, shotgun pointing out at the thing in the shadows that was trying to stalk them. It paused, considered the two women and decided to squish off elsewhere. She neither knew, nor wanted to, what made that squishing sound.

"Yes, at least when I went through school they did. I did take World History in college."

"Demons have always been around, but they were only the ones who slipped through the cracks and got into the world by accident. The church did a great job of hunting those down, of course they burned a lot of regular people to do it, but hey witch hunts are fun, right?" Ahead of them a keening wail echoed through the empty streets and she abruptly changed directions. Dealing with a Banshee wasn't on her list of things to do.

"So then comes along the Nazis." Dianna checked over her shoulder, making sure they weren't being followed. "Hitler loved the occult, thought he could raise a demon army to fight the Allies for him. Used those concentration camps to fuel the hell gates." She blamed the shiver on the cool drizzle of rain. "But it didn't work like he wanted. Instead of opening gates where he wanted, they opened anywhere there was misery and despair. Like here." She grinned grimly over at Lauren. "By the time they closed there were too many demons out for the church to deal with alone."

Lauren's head cocked as she listened to the wail, but with an exhale of breath she turned and followed Dianna.

"They teach you about that in college?"

"Well, they blame the demon invasion on Hitler, but they never went into detail on the concentration camps. Probably because every world government participates in genocide of some sort. I bet I could link all the Gray Zones in the US, to Indian Reservations, sweat shops, and other things."

"This one's because of the asylum." Dianna licked her lips, looking toward the center of the Gray. "Which we are going nowhere close to. There's an old church not far from here, the healer sometimes uses it. Hopefully she'll be there, if not we'll attract her there."

Lauren nodded. She didn't remember anything about there being an insane asylum in the town, but they'd only studied local history in the fourth grade.

"Quick rule of thumb is the closer to the asylum you go, the worse the demons. It's the epicenter of the entire zone." Dianna paused at the corner, carefully studying the road ahead of them. The church wasn't far now, she could see its bell tower just two blocks away.

"Understood." She winced as her headache spiked. "Uh, there is something nearby that's really demony." Fuck was demony even a real word?

"Demony?" Dianna raised an eyebrow but looked harder. "Where?"

"I don't know. It's not like this, whatever it is comes with a GPS, it's just close. The stronger the demon the worse the headache. You aren't even a strained muscle on my demon radar." She winced at that. "Sorry."

The redhead turned at that. "I'm not even a strained muscle?" She asked, incredulously. That was kind of insulting and Dianna found herself a bit hurt as she turned back to studying the street.

"Probably because you're a half-demon. I seem to only go berserk around full demons. You're very much a badass, I've been scared of you on several occasions, like now." Mostly because Dianna had a shotgun.

"Aww, you know just the right thing to say to a girl." Dianna gave her a wink. "Well, I don't see anything and the longer we stand here the longer we give something a chance to hunt us."

"Fair enough." Lauren said following as Dianna started moving again.

It was nerve-wracking walking down the empty streets, feeling like something was staring out at you from every broken window and busted-in door. There were a lot of those along the streets down here and Dianna found herself walking faster. Why had she thought this was a good idea in the first place? She was insane; they should have just dropped Quinn off at a hospital and been done with her.

"Next time I'll just call an ambulance." She grumbled, pale eyes constantly scanning the buildings and street around them. "Is it following us?"

Lauren actually lifted her head and scented the air. "I don't think so." But it was hard to tell in the Gray, she wasn't used to the sensory overload of the place.

"I don't suppose . . ." Dianna trailed off, catching movement on a roof. Something leapt from roof to roof and she gritted her teeth recognizing that shape. "Challa. He's persistent." She gripped the butt of the shotgun under her coat and sped up, jogging and then running.

"Wait . . ." Lauren said and then sighed realizing Dianna had sprinted off. "It could be a trap." She said to herself and then started running after the taller woman.

Lauren cursed herself for being such a bookworm. "Really, would a walk around the neighborhood have killed me once in a while, maybe using the gym on campus, it was free." She groused as she huffed after the bar owner.

"Challa!" Dianna yelled, chasing after the demon hound as he leapt from roof to roof. "I owe you, you little back-stabbing bitch!" She ran faster, really wanting to get him back for his betrayal.

Lauren heard Dianna shout something up ahead of her, somewhere. She didn't like this.

The demon hound leapt from the roof, clearing the entire width of the street to land on an abandoned building roof on the other side. Other shadows moved up there and suddenly Dianna realized how far ahead of Lauren she'd moved, and how quickly she'd gone. The redhead slowed, shotgun coming out from its holster as she felt a frisson of fear trail up her spine.

"Bitch?" Challa's voice hissed out and the demon hound, along with a good dozen of his friends, leapt down onto the street, surrounding her. "Who is the bitch now?" He laughed, long tongue flicking in the air. Dianna swallowed and raised the shotgun. Shots echoed in the air.

Lauren paused with a groan of pain as her skin bubbled and then smoothed out. Not the scales, she'd gone back to the first vial, the whole 'have wings' had weirded her out. This she was beginning to understand. The stone like quality she now had to her skin and the strength. She smiled, all the better to break demon necks with. She started running; faster and easier now that the change had come.

She recognized them; they'd attacked her in her temporary home at the University before Dianna had taken her in.

Demon something's, Dianna had said. The first one was easy, taken unaware; she snapped its neck and smiled.

"There!" One of the demon hounds growled as it turned to spot Lauren. "The mistress wants her alive." It commanded as the other demon hounds turned and ran towards Lauren, long bounds covering dozens of feet at a time. Dianna looked up, clutching the leg that one of the demon hounds had gnawed on, fumbling with the shotgun to reload it.

"Lauren! Above you!"

Lauren sidestepped and crouched down low, becoming a bump in the road. With her center of gravity so low she became literally an unmovable object.

One of the demon hounds went bouncing off her, yelping in pain as it hit her with all of his momentum behind him.

"The mistress wants her." Challa growled at Dianna knocking aside her shotgun with a paw.

"What mistress?" Dianna demanded, grabbing the small knife from her boot and well aware how pathetic that looked compared to the demon hound.

Lauren stood up and ignored the one that had bounced off her and kept moving, trying to get to Dianna.

She did not have claws, but theirs scraped against her skin shredding cloth but left only black marks against her skin as they could not penetrate the stone her skin had become.

He lunged at her without answering and she got her right arm up to block him, his jaws crunching down on her arm instead of her face. Her scream was high-pitched as those jaws crunched down on bone, shattering them.

Lauren's hands caved in ribs, noses and broke necks.

Challa looked up just in time to see Lauren coming for him and he bounded away, a leap and he was up onto the nearest roof, growling down at her. The few of his kind that were still moving followed after him. "You belong to the mistress, human! She will have you," he growled.

Lauren wanted to follow, knew she could drive her hands into the brick walls and haul herself up after him, but Dianna needed help. She bared her teeth in a growl but turned to her friend. "Fuck, you look like shit." She said getting a good look at the bar owner.

She took off the ruined jacket and tied it around Dianna's useless arm. "I'm not remotely a doctor but that's not good."

The half-demon would have laughed except it came out as a whimper. "Good." She gasped, eyes tearing in pain. Her right arm hung at an unnatural angle and the leg was bleeding from the mauling. "The church, get me to the church." Dianna gasped as Lauren shifted her arm and bone crunched against bone. She was still in shock but that was going to pass soon and then she'd be in real pain.

Lauren could easily lift Dianna up now and started carrying her looking for the church. "Don't you dare pass out or die on me. I've had enough of people dying on me and being too slow to help."

Every step jarred the arm and Dianna tried not to cry out in pain too often. There were too many things that would come to finish them off. "No dying." Dianna shivered, Challa's poison spreading through the wounds. "Healer." She whispered, the pain rising up and swallowing her into blessed unconsciousness.

"Fuck." Lauren cursed again. Dianna hadn't really shared a lot about who they were looking for other than they were a healer.

She struggled with the church door her arms full of unconscious half-demon. "I'm sure I read this in one of my lesbian romance novels. Of course I'd be wearing all leather, I'd be taller, and more dashing."

She blinked and looked around the church, it was empty. "Hello?" She said quietly. She cleared her throat and tried it again. "Hello?"

Crows took flight from the roof above, cawing as they erupted out into the night above. Parts of the roof had collapsed in and water dripped down into the main worship area. The church pews were still more or less in place, although many were covered in the plaster crumbling from the walls and ceiling. "Go away!" A voice yelled from deeper in the church.

"I can't." Lauren said miserably, she had no way to help Dianna or Quinn, and didn't know her way back to the bar.

"Of course you can girl! Turn around and walk out." The voice crackled, frayed around its edges as if it hadn't been used in a long time now. At the far end of the church a shape moved, little more than a pile of rags stitched together.

"Then I'd be cold, wet and miserable. In here I'm just miserable. Do you know where I can find a healer?"

"She's gone." The rags wobbled as the woman underneath them slowly got to her feet. She was little more than a dim outline in the darkened church. "Dead and gone. Leave and maybe your friend can die outside of the Gray." She coughed, hunched over.

"This was, is a church, all are welcome and none are turned away. That's why there are no locks on the doors." She eased Dianna on to the bench.

"There are no locks, girl, because they were foolish." The rags hobbled toward her. A weathered dark skinned face under the hood of rags peered out at Lauren. "Foolish and dead now." The old woman cackled, revealing yellow stained teeth.

"You're not a demon." Lauren said matter-of-factly kneeling next to Dianna checking the wounds. This was not good.

"Your friend isn't welcome here. Take her and leave."

"She's not going anywhere. So either help or go away and be useless somewhere else." She snapped.

"Fire in your soul." Gnarled old fingers came out from under the rag cloak. "Show me your palm." The old woman demanded.

"What?" Lauren blinked but then held out her hand.

"Ahhhh . . ." The hag breathed, grabbing the hand in a surprisingly strong hold as she peered at it over Dianna's trembling body. The other hand came out and fingers swiped up some of the half-demon's blood, using it to trace a design on Lauren's palm. "The maiden, mother and crone." The woman let go of Lauren's hand abruptly, cackling. "Poor girl."

Lauren frowned and tried to jerk her hand back. "What are you talking about?"

"Poor little girl, lost and alone, blood all around you." The hag peered at her, dark eyes almost all pupils. "Do you enjoy it now, the blood and death, poor little chica?" She cackled.

Lauren tried not to answer but finally as if it was pulled out of her she shouted. "Yes!"

"Ahhh . . . " The hag dropped her hand, leaving Dianna's blood drawn upon it. "Thank you." She smiled that yellow-toothed smile. "Seldom do people tell me truths."

"What does it matter? I can't help her." And Lauren owed Dianna, owed her sanity to the half-demon. "What does any of it matter? It doesn't help; I'm always too slow to realize when to use it."

"It is nature to crawl before you walk, walk before you run and sing before you make love." The hag laughed at her own joke, looking down at the very pale looking Dianna. "Lies spill easily from your friend's lips. I have never heard truths from her."

"We all do what we must to survive. We all do what's in our nature. But I tell you true, she's done nothing but help me so please if you can help her."

"And what would you pay me to help her?" The hag peered slyly up at Lauren.

"What do you want?"

"I want many things." The old woman cackled, looking down at the half-breed in front of her who was bleeding all over the floor. "A demon's heart. You will bring me a full demon's heart in exchange for healing."

Lauren swallowed. "I will get you the heart. Will a demon hound count?"

The black woman laughed. "No. A full demon, not a pet. Do we have a deal?"

She looked at Dianna and then nodded. The half-demon would not survive much longer without help.

"Yes we have a deal."

"Hold out your hand."

Lauren did as she was asked.

The hag grabbed onto her hand, using a dirty fingernail to cut the flesh just inside the thumb. A little dribble of blood came to the surface which she blotted with a surprisingly white and clean looking rag that disappeared back where it had come from. "Remember our deal, demon hunter, a demon's heart." The hag pointed a gnarled finger at Lauren.

Lauren stood outside in the drizzle and then looked around sniffing. She tried to memorize everything about this place so she could find it again. Then she started moving, eyes black as pitch as she looked for her demon heart.

**********

Agent Green watched the bar from his car down the street. He was embarrassed about earlier, nearly falling into that half-breed bitch's trap for him. He knew better, he had graduated at the top of his class still he'd nearly fallen sway under her charms. Happily though he'd gone in by himself and no one was the wiser.

His cell phone vibrated at his hip and he unclipped it and flipped it open. "Green."

He unconsciously sat up straighter. "Uh, sir . . . I'm outside the bar owned by Theron now. I have made a visual confirmation of Susan Espinoza's little sister. I spotted her entering the Gray with Theron. I believe that Detective Quinn is inside the bar probably hurt. I was going to go investigate the premises more thoroughly; the bar is closed on Mondays. Uh, sir, is that wise?" He frowned, he really wanted to catch Quinn in bed with the demons, literally or figuratively. Dragging that holier than thou bitch down would make him all sorts of happy. She just fucking rubbed him the wrong way.

"I understand, that is why you are the Director and I am just a field agent. Uh, yes sir.. you are correct we have no concrete proof that Susan used the drugs on her sister. Right . . . yes . . ." He sunk further and further down in his seat. "But sir, I think Quinn is a viable threat to national security. I really feel . . ." He sighed. "Yes sir, I will continue to monitor the situation and report back on their movements. I will not interfere until you give me the okay. Yes sir, I know finding the missing drugs that Susan took are priority one . . . I just feel that they know . . . yes I will find proof before acting."

He hung up the cell phone and tossed it into the seat next to him and then beat on the steering wheel for a good two minutes. Fucking Quinn that woman was goddamn Teflon, already there were grumblings of another government smear campaign on the good detective. It didn't hurt that woman had lost her son and her father was a goddamn man of the cloth. The public loved that fucking woman.

*******

If Quinn wasn't positive that something fairly important hadn't ripped in her knee, she would have left, as it was she didn't know why Agent Green hadn't busted his way inside the bar with a warrant and pack of other rabid DA agents bent on dragging her in. She knew he knew she was here. She didn't know what game the man was playing, but he had to be demon touched, the man screamed dirty.

Her stomach was flip-flopping and she was annoyed with Dianna for not getting her clothes. She had raided the woman's closet just so she didn't feel so vulnerable, they were roughly the same height but she was a stick were Dianna was all curves. She had struggled into some loose yoga pants and a button down pale blue shirt, an odd combination but it fit and she wasn't naked. Now she held the gun staring out the window with occasional glances to the door

*******

Lauren returned, clothes soaked with rain and gore. Her lip was busted and her right eye was bruised and swollen nearly shut, but she still walked under her own power. She had seen things that defied human logic.

The Gray stayed the same, she had no idea how much time had passed in this place of eternal twilight.

Her hand was clenched around something. Demon hearts were surprisingly small.

In the twilight a figure was leaning up against the exterior wall of the ruined church, near the front doors, singing. Her voice was light and sweet in the darkness and she hummed as she rocked slowly back and forth, singing to herself. "Here's the church, and here's the steeple. Open the door and see none of the people. Here's the parson going upstairs, and here she is saying her prayers."

Lauren's steps slowed, there was no headache but still one could not be certain in the Gray.

The humming continued but the singing stopped as the stranger watched Lauren. The clothes she wore were little better than the rags of the hag inside, but she held herself with more pride than most homeless. Hair so blond it was nearly white was cut raggedly around her face, and blue eyes watched Lauren speculatively.

Perhaps just some poor insane soul lost in the Gray. The voice was pretty, soothing, but pretty things often had a sting.

She watched the figure out of the corner of her eye but slowly moved toward the front doors.

The singing started again as Lauren moved, the voice as light and sweet as before no matter how disturbing the lyrics. "It's like a lion at the door, and when the door begins to crack, it's like a stick across your back. And when your back begins to smart, it's like a penknife in your heart. And when your heart begins to bleed, you're dead, and dead, and dead indeed."

This was getting creepier and creepier. Lauren quickened her steps and scurried to the doors of the church. With her free hand she opened the door with a last look over her shoulder at the singer.

The singer raised a pale hand and waved.

Lauren hesitated and then waved back then was through the doors into the church. "I got . . . uh the things you wanted."

The hag looked up from the naked form stretched out on the floor where the altar once stood. Dianna was spread out on what looked like a pentagram sketched in blood. "A little heart." The hag cackled. "Well don't just stand there, come, come."

"Um . . ." Words failed her, she blushed but moved forward. Maybe leaving Dianna alone with the hag hadn't been a good idea. "Why is my friend naked?" She swallowed and tried to focus on the hag.

"Would you rather she be dead?" The hag held out a hand. "The heart. Quickly now."

Lauren handed over the small black thing that looked kind of like a polished stone.

The hag promptly shoved into her mouth. Eyes rolling back she hummed in pleasure, sounding orgasmic. "Oh, so tasty. So much darkness in it. It wasn't an ancient one, but it was old, so many sins." The hag licked her lips, eyes wide and dark as she looked at Lauren. "So tasty."

"I got you a midnight snack?" Lauren was kind of frozen between being pissed off and shocked.

"And tasty it was." She cackled, looking back down at the half-breed. "Pretty isn't she? They always are, mixed breeds. Always remember she's part demon though, she'll tempt you if she can."

Lauren nodded, "I know. It's her nature." She'd put her time trapped in Dianna's study to good use earlier. "But she's been nothing but kind to me so far."

"Lies are her nature too." The hag chuckled, bending down. "You feel the darkness in her, don't you girl?"

She nodded. "Yes. I feel it in everything demon touched."

"That's in your nature too, now." The hag snickered at some private joke.

Lauren was getting annoyed. "Look I did my part of the bargain, now help her."

"I did." The old woman reached down and slapped Dianna across the face, hard.

The half-demon jerked, eyes flying open, in surprise gasping as she rolled sideways. "What? Where . . ." She slowed down, seeing Lauren and the old woman.

Lauren gave a tight-lipped smile. "We found your healer."

"Oh." Dianna grimaced, slowly standing up, not really caring if she was naked and made a face. "That explains the horrible taste in my mouth." The scars on her leg were just faint white dots were Challa and his friends had ripped into her thigh. The arm ached but it was whole once again.

"Yes, you found me." The hag growled. "And I should have left you to die, Dianna Theron."

Lauren sighed and went to sit down. She was tired and her face throbbed.

"This cranky bitch is going to help Quinn?" She snorted. "Quinn's just going to shoot her."

"You can't be still upset about your niece!" Dianna looked around for her clothes, which seemed to have gone missing.

Lauren was certain she didn't want to know what Dianna had done to, with or whatever with the Hag's niece.

The hag raised a finger at the redhead. "She is still smitten for you, despite what you did." Dianna snorted, ignoring the middle finger and finally spotted her rolled up clothes. They were a bloody mess now, but she started putting them on anyway.

"Well she has good taste." Dianna smiled, giving Lauren a wink as she finished buttoning the ruined shirt.

That seemed to infuriate the hag even more.

"Dianna, would you stay focused on helping Quinn. This doesn't seem to be helpful."

The redhead sighed, damn it, she'd almost forgotten. Her head was still fuzzy and the last moments were confusing. The hag's slap hadn't helped. She turned to the angry old woman and smiled. "I need a healing, for a human."

"Go fuck a demon." The hag spat.

"Now, now, no need to get so testy Melva." Dianna pronounced the old word carefully.

"She's telling the truth. It's not a lie." Lauren broke in.

"I'll release your niece." Dianna said, quickly, before one or both of them got a curse put on them. "From my considerable charms." She fluttered her eyelashes at the old woman.

Lauren blinked at that, she wasn't certain she liked how that sounded.

"You will never again taste her emotions." The hag demanded. "And if you do I will curse you until the end of time, Theron!"

"Yes, fine. No need to get all worked up." Dianna smiled at the hag who was glaring at her. "If it makes any difference, the healing is for Detective Quinn." Pale eyes glanced over at Lauren. "The one who dealt with Alvera." She said with meaning and the Hag's eyes sharpened.

Lauren looked between the two women something had changed with that. "Who is Alvera?" She asked quietly.

"One who is best left to rot in Hell." The Hag's lips curled. "What is the healing for?"

"A demoness." Dianna said almost at the same time, before answering the healer. "Her knee, I think a tendon snapped in it."

The hag nodded, moving toward the rear of the church to search for something. Lowering her voice, Dianna moved closer to Lauren. "Alvera had power over a lot of people in the Gray."

"That wasn't a good thing I take it." She said quietly.

"Too much power. She controlled everything." Dianna closed her mouth before she said something else. "There are many who are happy Quinn dealt with her." She said instead.

"Why . . ." She hesitated. "Why did you keep her niece in thrall?"

Dianna looked at her, eyes unreadable. "Because it was fun." She smiled slowly moving closer, until her lips could graze the other woman's ear. "Because she was lovely in bed. Because it's part of what I am, Lauren. You must know that by now." She pulled back a wicked smile on her face.

Goosebumps sprouted on Lauren's tan skin and she took a step back.

"I told you, darkness lives in that one." The Hag was at her side, darkened yellow teeth flashing as she sneered at Dianna. "You should have let her die."

"I've kind of guessed." She said shakily. Lauren's gaze switched from Dianna to the Hag. "It's kind of being mad at a scorpion for stinging you, it's only doing what's in its nature. Besides there's good in her or she wouldn't have saved me."

"She does nothing that does not help her." The hag ignored the sweet smile that Dianna sent her way. "Here." She held up a bottle of what looked like dark mud and handed it to Lauren. "The knee must be wrapped in this, and" she held out a small rusting lunchbox "Quinn must eat these."

Even Lauren knew that wasn't going to go over well.

"Um, do you have anything for a swollen eye."? Lauren asked softly. She was still banged up from getting the demon heart.

"Ice." The hag snapped. "I'm not a pharmacist." She turned away as Dianna chuckled.

Lauren sighed and then glared at Dianna. "You're welcome."

"I know." The half-demon gave a mocking wave to the healer's back. "See you next time, old serpent."

"Come again to my church and you will not leave it, half-breed." The hag's voice echoed oddly about the ruined building as she faded into the shadows at the back.

Lauren peeked outside the doors to see if the strange singing woman was there.

"Looking for someone?" Dianna asked curiously as she held the lunchbox and peeked over the younger woman's shoulder out the doors.

"Um, yes, I mean no . . . I mean . . . well there was a strange woman singing rather morbid songs when I came back to the church with the demon heart."

"Strange things happen in the Gray." Dianna shrugged, stepping outside and looking around. "No one here now."

Lauren nodded and started after Dianna. "If our positions had been reversed would you have saved me?" She asked curious.

"Maybe." She answered honestly. "I like to think I would have tried. What did she want for healing me? You have to be careful, sometimes she asks for more than you can give."

"A demon heart. Which is why parts of my face look like marshmallow." She shrugged.

"It's healing." Dianna gave her a sly look. "Whose heart did you take?" She asked, eyes watching Lauren with avid interest.

Lauren shrugged again. "It had a bloated body with eyes just about everywhere. We didn't exactly exchange names."

"And you killed it just because you needed a demon heart?"

"You were dying. That's what she wanted. I was just going to go grab that demon hound's heart, but that didn't count."

Ignoring that they were in the Gray, something that was dangerous to do, Dianna stopped, grabbing Lauren's arm to stop her too. "And did you enjoy it? The killing?"

Lauren looked uncomfortable. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? Yes, okay, yes. Part of me liked it a lot, part of me is still horrified by it."

"Because your answer tells us how far you've gone." She lowered her voice. "You're a human Lauren, but you're becoming something else I think."

Lauren made a face. "I want to go back and have my family back and be a normal human girl but I can't. All I can do is try to stay me until I stop whatever this is."

"Every time you kill I think there might be less of you." Dianna brushed her fingers across Lauren's cheek, eyes worried.

"Can you stop this? Can you stop what's happening to me?" She watched Dianna's face. "Then stop worrying. Let's deal with the things we can fix, like Quinn's knee."

"Yes." Dianna shook her head, annoyed. She shouldn't be worried for a human. "Time to leave the Gray before we stumble on any other friends."

The singing woman wasn't so bad, Lauren thought.

Chapter 5

Quinn limped down the hallway; she could have sworn she'd heard a sound coming from down the hall.

Her gun was held loose in her hand not wanting to accidentally shoot if it was just one of Dianna's conquests.

The door to the study was closed, as Dianna had left it when she'd gone out. Another sound came through from inside though, a thud as if something was dropped onto the wooden floors.

Quinn let out a deep breath and then reached out opening the door. "Hello?"

The unlocked door opened easily and the room beyond the door was empty. Shadows filled the room, as the trees outside moved back and forth in the wind.

This was silly. "Of course the half-demon has a creepy room." Quinn muttered to herself. She stepped inside and fumbled for the light switch. "If anyone is in here please speak up I'd hate to shoot you by accident."

The light switch did nothing, but then a fire suddenly burst into being in the fireplace. The red flickering light filling the room and illuminating the bookshelves that lined the walls and the massive desk with papers spread across it. A large portrait hung over the fireplace, the young woman with familiar features smiled down at Quinn wearing turn of the century dress.

"Not creepy at all." Quinn said with a tight smile. She entered to look more closely at the painting, it looked slightly like Dianna but not. "Who are you? A relative?"

As if in response a book fell from the shelf to Quinn's left, hitting the floor with a loud thud and spreading open. The old leather-covered book had hand illustrated pages inside which fluttered in an unfelt breeze until it stopped halfway through.

"More creepiness." Quinn was really starting to think that she should have stayed in bed.

She shuffled over and looked at the book, knee hurting with every step.

With slow finality the page flicked over once more, revealing the lovingly detailed picture illustrated inside. The female demon pictured was half undressed, a cruel smile across her face. Underneath a single word in calligraphy: Alvera.

Quinn felt her good knee give out and she felt cold. That was a face she would never forget, one never does forget the first girl that tries to drag them into hell.

"So that bitch had a name." She murmured, huddled on the floor a flash of a memory, her son mangled and blood, oh so much blood for such a small body.

It took her a moment to realize she was crying.

"What are you doing?" Dianna stood in the doorway, expression shocked to have found Quinn in her study. She'd expected to see Quinn lying in her bed, not crying over a book in her study.

"I . . .I thought I heard a noise, I came to investigate and then the fire in the fireplace burst to life and this book fell . . . and . . . and this is the bitch that killed my son." The last two words came out of her mouth high and tight. Embarrassed to show so much to Dianna she looked away and sniffed trying to wipe the tears away.

The half-demon was about to scream at her, demand she leave a room that she had no business being in when the words registered and she took a closer look at the book. As her own anger dimmed she could feel Quinn's emotions wash across her, a sense of loss so bleak she shuddered under it. So instead of screaming she simply moved across the floor and picked up the crying detective.

"We found a healer." She said tightly, nodding to where Lauren lingered outside in the hall.

"Put me down Theron, I'm not a simpering maiden that needs to be swept off her feet. Theron!" She grumbled as the woman didn't listen. "Fine, what is this healing going cost me?"

"We'll talk about that later." The half-demon gritted her teeth. "Stop hitting me." She rolled her eyes at Lauren as she carried the cop toward her bedroom. "You got the stuff?"

"Um, yes." She followed behind.

"Ow! Do you have to kick?" Dianna dropped the cop onto the bed, not particularly gently.

"No, but it makes me feel better, 'cause your study was being all creepy and you caught me crying, asshole." Quinn grumbled.

Lauren set the stuff down and left. "I'll go make some food." She said backpedaling out of the room.

"What?" Dianna jerked her head watching the young woman flee. "Hey! You're just going to leave me with her alone?" There might have been a bit of panic in her voice.

Quinn glared at her. "Give me the stuff and I'll take care of it."

Glaring right back, Dianna set out the jar of mud and rusting lunch packet. "And how exactly are you going to put the mud on your knee? You can barely bend it." She was carefully ignoring the obvious signs of crying.

"Stubbornness." She replied with a straight face.

"How butch of you." Dianna drawled, unscrewing the top of the large glass jar and gagging a bit at the horrible smell inside. "Oh, that's disgusting."

"Sweet Jesus." Quinn blurted out looking a little green.

"Hold that thought." Dianna bolted for the bathroom, coming back with a stack of towels. There was no way she wanted that stuff getting into her bed. "Pants are going to have to come off."

"Oh, of course they are. You're still not getting into my pants."

"I have already seen you naked." Dianna grinned. "Actually, I stripped you once." She raised an eyebrow, waiting for Quinn to do something with her pants.

Quinn just glared.

"Want help?" The bar owner offered helpfully.

"Yes, just help get them off. I can't bend it."

"As you wish." Dianna licked her lips and helped Quinn pull off a very familiar looking pair of pants. "Find anything else interesting when you were snooping around?"

"Yes, a shirt to wear. As for your smut I left it alone, I didn't want any strange diseases."

"Art, it's called art. I don't own smut." Dianna shook her head, setting the pants aside and placing a towel under Quinn's knee. The joint looked ugly, purple and swollen, almost three times its normal size. The flesh was hot to the touch. "Or do you not approve of art either?"

"I don't have a problem with art. That's not art."

"Philistine." Dianna breathed through her mouth and started pouring the glop out onto Quinn's knee.

"Oh, that is just nasty." Quinn said breathing through her mouth and forced a smile. A trick she had learned a long time ago, smiling prevented a person from vomiting.

The smell got more bearable when Dianna wrapped the towels around it, keeping the mud pressed close to the skin. It was still stinky though and Dianna felt her stomach flip. "Here." She pushed the lunch box over, the less she touched Quinn the better right now. "You have to eat what's in that."

"What?" Quinn said staring at the metal box in horror. Slowly she reached over and opened it, expecting something to come slithering out.

Inside was a pair of large eggs that were swaddled in Kleenex, each was easily three times the size of a normal chicken egg. Curious, Dianna leaned closer to see inside as well.

Quinn looked from the eggs to Dianna and then back to the eggs. "I have to eat them raw?"

The other woman shrugged. "Maybe?"

Quinn made a face, but reached over and cracked the top and then quickly sucked it down so she didn't have to think about what kind of eggs they might be.

Very pointedly, Dianna didn't wince at the sight of blood in those eggs. That they'd been fertilized by whatever had laid them was fairly certain. "I'm impressed, I wasn't sure you'd do it."

Quinn made a face, "Give me a moment; I might still puke."

The bar owner nodded, and looked away, stealing her courage for what she was about to say. It wasn't often she had to do that, then again it wasn't often she talked honestly.

"I'm sorry." She said, and then looked back at the woman lying on her bed half naked. "For your son."

Quinn's lips pursed into a thin angry line and she breathed out her nose for a moment. Then when she calmed down enough to speak her jaw relaxed. "Dianna we are not going to talk about my son. It's bad enough you saw me cry and probably got some high off my emotions. But I can't even talk about what happened with my family so we sure as hell aren't going to do it." She was silent for a moment and she was suddenly washed in the feeling of being alone.

The only thing she had after losing her son and husband was her work, and now that asshole Green had taken that from her. "But thank you for the sentiment."

"Sentiment." Dianna gave a wry grin at that word. Quinn was right; they shouldn't be having a serious conversation. "Trust me Detective, I have better people than you to get high off of. People who are occasionally happy for instance." She stood, angry with herself for even trying.

"Why? Are you incapable of feeling happy on your own? So you leech from everyone around you. It's not me you should pity, Theron." Quinn burped suddenly and unexpectedly, which made her pointed jab at the half-demon pointless. "Excuse me." At least she hadn't puked. "So how is all this gunk supposed to heal me?"

For a long moment, Dianna simply wanted to leave without answering. "I don't know. The healer isn't very specific about these sorts of things usually." She rolled her eyes. "Actually, for all I know it's just a mud bath and some rotten eggs."

"Lovely." Quinn said leaning back on the bed. "Go take a shower; you stink, Theron. Then we can talk about what we do next."

"Demon hound spit." The other woman grumbled, stripping as she went for the bathroom. Suddenly the idea of staying in the bloody, nasty smelling clothes was more than she could bear. Dianna certainly didn't care what Quinn thought, she was in her own bedroom after all! The clothes would have to be burned or at least thrown out with the garbage.

Leaving a trail of clothes behind her, she padded into the bathroom, ignoring the bath for now and opting for a hot shower. She needed to rinse the blood off. "I think the kid is making food for us." She called out.

"Jesus." Quinn muttered as Dianna just stripped. It was hard not to notice how attractive the half-demon was, but the more attractive the demon the more evil they were. That was a lesson well learned. She did her best to look elsewhere.

"That's what she said, when she fled earlier. I'm on edge they know I'm here; I just don't know why they haven't come barging in with a warrant."

"They don't want you." Dianna raised her voice, over the sound of the water. The hot water felt deliciously sinful as she let it sluice the Grey off her and she moaned in pleasure. Leaning her head against the tiles she could feel her muscles relaxing under the steaming hot water. "They want Lauren; they want whatever they did to her, to do to other people."

"Lauren can't have been their only test subject. Why all this for one young woman?" But who knew how the mind of a DA agent worked.

In the shower, Dianna shrugged, not caring if Quinn could see her or not. The woman's comments from earlier still stung. She grabbed the soap and started on the job at hand, she hoped the girl had enough sense to get a shower of her own. "I feel sorry for her." She said out loud, before she could think better of it.

Quinn was surprised by the words. "Really? Why?" She asked curious.

The soaping up stopped and Dianna stared blankly at the shower walls. "She's alone. She saw her entire family murdered in front of her and her sister used her." Damnit, there she went again actually having a serious conversation. Soaping up again, more forcefully this time, Dianna grinned. "That and she's a virgin. Maybe I should help her with that last part?" Even from in the shower she could feel Quinn's annoyance and the grin widened.

"Of course, it's all about sex with you." Just when she started to think Dianna might not be so bad. She stared at the mudpack on her knee and willed it to work faster.

"Of course it is." Dianna answered easily, finishing off the shower with shampooing her hair. It might be time to consider another color; red was starting to become associated with Quinn's hair in her mind. She didn't really like that idea.

Drying off, she walked back out into the bedroom, using the towel to dry her hair, naked as she'd gone in although considerably cleaner. "You don't mind, do you?" She teased, catching Quinn's eye as she moved.

"Would it matter if I did?" She replied dryly, knowing Dianna was doing it on purpose to get under her skin.

There was a knock on the door and Lauren entered. "You're not yelling so I assumed it's safe. I made sandwiches . . . oh . . ." She blushed red and stepped back out and shut the door.

Quinn made a face, imagining how much glee Dianna was going to get out of taking away Lauren's innocence.

Laughing, Dianna leaned up against the door to her walk-in closet, nearly doubled over in laughter. "Oh that was perfect!" She laughed so hard her eyes were watering. "She thinks you and I . . ." She waggled her eyebrows at Quinn, still chuckling.

"In your dreams maybe." Quinn muttered not amused. She did have a brief flash of what might be like to roll around in the sheets with Theron and then quickly shoved the image away.

"Was that lust, Detective?" The smile was bright as Dianna started dressing in expensive underwear and tight-fitting pants and blouse. "I thought you were a good Catholic girl."

"Just 'cause someone may have Irish ancestry doesn't necessarily make them Catholic, Theron." She pulled the sheet up over her, calling out louder toward the door. "It's as safe as it's going to get with Theron strutting around. You can come in, Lauren."

It took a moment then the door slowly opened. "Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in." The young woman said softly, not looking at either of them.

"Nothing quite like what you were thinking was going on." The half-demon purred, really enjoying the way Lauren went bright red. She moved closer, patting the young woman on the shoulder. "Relax, I'm teasing you." The bar owner whispered, giving her a small push toward one of the chairs so she wouldn't bolt.

Lauren gave her a smile and handed her the tray of sandwiches. "I made food."

"Perfect. I'm starving." Something about almost dying had apparently translated into making her ravenous. She grabbed a sandwich and passed the plate over toward Quinn. When she saw the nervous young woman starting to stand up, she reached over and pulled her back down. "Oh, no, you don't. We three have to talk before someone else decides you're valuable and comes after you."

"Okay." She sat back down tucking her feet under her in the chair.

Quinn stared at Lauren for a moment, having a hard time believing this young woman was capable of killing demons. She cleared her throat. "So what do we know? And where do we go from here?"

"You're the detective." Dianna lounged in her chair, finishing the first sandwich and grabbing a second. "Don't you know what's going on already?" Apparently the only option other than being nice to Quinn was to antagonize her.

"Fine, we're screwed. They are letting us sit here to watch us twist and then they're going to come in and kill us and take Lauren. Or they send some of their full blooded demon helpers after us and again kill us and take Lauren." Quinn snapped back at Dianna. "Until I call some friends, I don't know how badly I've been cut out of the loop. At this time I can only assume it's bad. I could walk down to the precinct and turn myself in. Buying you some time to hide in the Gray and maybe relocate somewhere. That is what I see at this time, since I don't know much."

"At least you admit it." Dianna glanced over at Lauren, it was kind of funny watching the younger human try to sink into the chair and disappear. "The people your sister worked for, do you remember any names?"

Lauren fidgeted. "No, my parents went once to some fancy dinner in DC when she got some award. There was a photo up in the house of my sister and her colleagues getting the award. Sorry I'm not very helpful."

"You had the business card." Dianna reminded her. "We could use that." She eyed Quinn. "Right? Somehow?" She hoped.

"Maybe we can also use that photo. I know a hacker, I've busted him a couple of times for fraud, unless you know someone." Quinn said. Of course, that depended on if the eggs and the mudpack healed her.

"I know someone, but we don't want to ask him unless there's no other choice." Dianna made a face. "I've had enough of the Grey for a while. That's as close to death as I think I ever really want to get."

Quinn looked at them but didn't ask.

"You don't really want to know." Dianna said at that look, sighing.

"Okay. If I can walk in the morning. We will get that photo and visit Jefferson."

"You'll walk. The old hag might be dangerous, but she's never let me down when I've paid for a healing before. Try to screw her though and that's a different story." She licked her lips. "Of course, you still owe me for that."

Quinn made a face, she had been hoping Dianna had forgotten. "We'll talk about it later."

"I won't forget." The half-demon taunted, rising to her feet. "I need to check the doors. Don't forget, the bar's open tomorrow." She gave Lauren a wink as she sashayed out.

Lauren got up. "I hope you feel better, Quinn. I'm going to take a shower and go to bed." She was tired and wanted to be clean.

***********

Dianna loved Tuesday nights; the bar wasn't nearly as busy as it was on the weekends. Only regulars and diehards showed up usually and she got to book local talent to sing, instead of relying on whatever the band of the day was. Friday and Saturday nights were orgasmic of course and she always got high on the emotions of those partying in the bar, but Tuesdays were nice too.

"Bar's open." She said at the door to her office, watching Lauren read. "You sure you don't want to come downstairs?"

Lauren looked over at the clock, "It's noon. You have people come into your bar other than Bob and get drunk?"

"Helga serves a mean lunch. That and the workmen are here to replace the window that Quinn broke." Dianna walked in, nodding to the portrait that was once again by the main window looking down at the gardens. "You should try her perogis, they're great." She paused by the chair that Lauren was sitting in, looking over the young human's shoulder at the book.

"Okay." Lauren said, setting the book down. She had just showered again and her hair was damp dark curls. She got up moving to the door. "Can I ask who the woman in the painting is?"

Dianna hesitated, it wasn't something that she talked about, ever. "My sister." Was the slow answer, turning to look at the portrait. "My older sister."

Lauren nodded. "She looks kind of like you." Lauren sensed she shouldn't say more than that or ask any more questions. "I'm not sure what a perogi is but I'm willing to try it."

"It's like a dumpling." Dianna's shoulders relaxed as no more questions came. "You should hang out at the bar; make sure those workmen put in the window correctly. Mingle." She said a mischievous look on her face.

"Mingle?" Lauren squeaked. "I don't have a clue how to mingle."

"It's easy." The redhead picked up her book, flipping it closed and setting it aside as she guided Lauren toward the door. "You talk to people, be sociable. You can't just hide behind books forever."

"But it's safer." Lauren said but let herself be guided down the stairs. "How's Quinn doing? Is she walking?"

"Don't know. She was pretending to not watch when I took a shower this morning. Remember, teasing is perfectly acceptable." She winked at Lauren, laughing as the tanned woman went a bit red.

"Has anyone ever slept with you because they love you?" She frowned and tried again to express herself better. "You have this power, of lust, so people must always want you." Lauren knew she did although it was getting better as they spent time together. "So how do you ever know if someone wants you for you, or for the lust vibe you give off?"

"Lauren." Dianna grabbed her hand at the top of the stairs. "That's what I am, there's no difference between the two. They lust after what I offer and that's what they get, sometimes." She wondered if the human understood.

"Part of you isn't, part of you is human. And humans like to be cherished and loved. Lust isn't love no matter the pretty package it comes in."

"Weak you mean." Dianna's grin died and she let go of Lauren's hand. "There's no such thing as love for someone like me, Lauren."

"Why not?" Lauren asked curious.

"It just isn't." She glared. "Demon's don't love, doesn't matter if half of me is human, that's still more demon than any human's going to accept."

It sounded sad and made Lauren worry for her future. Did that mean she wouldn't be capable of love or finding someone to love her?

"Sorry." She said, finally. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

Dianna sighed. "You didn't." She grimaced. "It's just, it's not . . ." she paused, rubbing a hand through her red hair, musing it. "Love can be dangerous. For now though, how about you just work on meeting people?"

Lauren gave a sheepish grin. "That's probably a good place to start."

"Good girl." Dianna made what she hoped was a smile. "Go on, get some food and mingle okay?"

Lauren nodded and entered the kitchen.

The half-demon watched her go, eyes narrowing. This was why she shouldn't be housing humans like some sort of goddamn hotel manager! They asked questions, uncomfortable questions that she didn't want to answer much less talk about. Turning she headed for her bedroom, time to collect in on what Quinn owed her.

"Wakey-wakey Detective." She pushed open the door.

Quinn was awake and showered, she was back in the yoga pants and T-shirt she'd found stashed in a drawer. "I'm awake, Theron." She was sitting at Dianna's desk, making notes in her scribbled scrawl that she called handwriting.

"Your healer didn't lie. It's a little stiff but it feels much better."

"Amazing, not everyone lies to you." Dianna cast an appraising look at the figure. Quinn certainly wasn't curvy, no one would ever call her that, but she was beautiful in her own way. The ordeals she'd passed through would have broken most, but they'd just ground Quinn down. Honed her into what she was now and Dianna rather doubted she knew how nice she looked. "The clothes fit you nicely."

"Thank you, but they're your clothes so they're made for someone with a figure not a stick." She looked up briefly from her notes. "Are you going to help me get into Lauren's house or am I on my own, while you play hostess?"

Hostess, the entire word set Dianna's teeth on edge right at that moment. "Actually, I think we need to talk about what you owe me first." She leaned up against the wall next to her bed, watching Quinn.

Quinn froze for a moment, then set the pen down and looked over at Dianna. "Okay. What do I owe you?"

"Just like that? You're going to agree to whatever I ask for?"

"No, but you haven't told me your price yet. Once you do we'll haggle." Her blue eyes narrowed looking at the Half-demon and waited.

Pale eyes blinked. "Ah. I want you to take Lauren. Take care of her and get her away from the Gray. That's the price."

Quinn felt slightly disappointed by that. "Not what I was expecting. But I can probably make that happen."

"You both go." Dianna's lips thinned. She should be happier that Quinn wasn't arguing.

"Where are we going to go? Right now this is as safe as we're going to get. I'm a wanted felon and who knows what the DA want with her. She'll be upset; I think she looks up to you. God only knows why."

"I don't know but you aren't my problem." She took a deep breath.

Quinn didn't know why she was surprised. But she shouldn't have been. In the end, Dianna still had demon blood in her. "Fine, I'm not your problem." She got up and walked over to the dresser where her uniform was. She took off the shirt and pants and started dressing in her uniform. "I'll be out of your hair in a moment." It wasn't an easy process, layers to dressing.

Dianna frowned. "Tomorrow." She said suddenly. "Lauren's tending bar tonight."

She fixed the Kevlar vest. "No, you said 'I' wasn't your problem. So I'm fixing that." She slid the uniform shirt on and buttoned it. Then went over to the desk and wrote a name and number. "This is my Da, call him, and he'll provide a sanctuary for Lauren. There's no place safer."

"You're leaving now? This instant?" Dianna pushed off from the wall. "Just like that?"

"Look, you don't want me here. You've made that clear. I'm leaving. You'll be safe, and on the bright side, I won't be coming round anymore to make you work cases." She picked up her service weapon and slid it into the holster.

"And where are you going? Just going to go turn yourself in? Don't be stupid." Dianna really was starting to regret her form of payment. "One more night here won't kill you."

"What does it matter, today or tomorrow? You don't want me here. Thank you for helping me, I appreciate it but after years in a marriage where I wasn't wanted or needed, I've learned when it's time to go, it's time to go, before someone else sells me out to a demoness."

"Why are you being so difficult!" And why did she have to put on that uniform? Dianna really would have rather not dealt with the detective in full uniform, it was hard to concentrate. "You get yourself taken in by the DA people and then who's going to help Lauren out?"

"Don't whine, Theron, you're the one being difficult. You want me to go then you want me to stay, you can't have it both ways. My dad will take care of Lauren, who better than a priest. Your hands are clean and you can go back to your one-night stand lifestyle that we're interrupting."

She walked to the door looking at Dianna. "You're blocking the door, you need to move."

"Leave tomorrow." Dianna crossed her arms, staying right where she was in the doorway. "It's my price; I get to set the terms."

"Don't do this Theron, it will just make it harder. I'm ready to go, now, this is best."

"Now who's being cowardly? You just going to run away and do the honorable thing by falling on your sword? Life doesn't work like that." Dianna stood her ground, watching Quinn through narrowed eyes.

"Honorable thing? You make it sound dirty. What's wrong with being honorable?"

"Being honorable gets you dead. That's what's wrong with it."

"I'm still not seeing why you care if I die or not. Now move." She reached out to pull Dianna out of the doorway.

"No!" Dianna grabbed Quinn's arm, pushing as the detective pulled.

"Dianna." Quinn shouted startled by the response.

"What?" The half-demon growled. "You think I'm above making you stay? You leave now and the kid's going to get all upset, probably hide away in my study reading a book all night." It was a good idea to make this about Lauren, she thought. "Or tag along with you while you try to get yourself killed!"

"The kid as you call her, worships the ground you walk on, she is not going to follow me willingly. In fact if I try to take her with me, away from you for her own safety I fully expect to get a black eye for my troubles. Now let go of me and let me go!"

"Or what," Dianna's grin turned decidedly evil, "Maggie?".

Quinn gave her a look, 'do you really want to know' and then in a quick move stepped into Dianna's personal space while at the same time breaking the hold the half-demon had on her arm. With her hip in Dianna's groin, she grabbed Dianna's arm and flipped her over on to the floor and then followed her down, pinning her. "You asked." The cop said with a sigh.

The move wasn't completely unexpected; although the red-haired demon had expected a slap, rather than a full-body throw. Twisting her head just a bit she could see back over her shoulder at the woman straddling her back. "And I got. I had no idea you were such a dominatrix, Quinn." It was probably a bad thing that the entire encounter had her aroused, but she really didn't care.

"There's probably a lot about me you don't know." With a practiced ease, she had her cuffs out and had Dianna's hands cuffed behind her back. "Now are you going to continue being difficult?"

"Yes." Dianna tested the cuffs, unrepentantly. "Now that you have me all tied up Detective, what are you going to do now?" She asked, licking her lips as she had a brief image of all sorts of possibilities. This was getting interesting.

Because Quinn couldn't resist she leaned forward so her whole body brushed against the half-demon's, she could feel Dianna's cuffed hands now pinned between her stomach and the woman's back. She whispered into Dianna's ear. "Nothing that you'd enjoy."

"You would be surprised what I could enjoy, Quinn." Dianna's eyes fluttered closed at the full touch, pressing up against Quinn's body. It had been several days since she'd had sex now, which was several days longer than she was used to going without. The connection with Quinn just served to intensify those feelings.

With a growl she sudden swept out her leg and rolled over, using her strength to pin Quinn beneath her, as she suddenly reversed their positions. Her arms were still cuffed behind her but she pressed Quinn down against the wood floor with a decidedly predatory look in her eyes. "You should be careful playing with demons, Detective."

"I never play." It had been a surprising move by Dianna but Quinn spent almost everyday in the gym or on the mats with her Judo instructor. "And your arms are still cuffed." She brought her legs up around the half-demon, her heels pressing into Dianna's chest and in a flash their positions were reversed, again. She was breathing heavily.

"Just let me go." She said softly, almost pleading with Dianna.

Dianna's eyes were dilated as she stared back up at Quinn's face, so close to her own. The human's eyes were a deep blue, speckled with almost golden flecks throughout the iris. She wondered why she'd never noticed that before.

"Tomorrow." She whispered.

Quinn was caught in Dianna's eyes, and felt her will weaken. She licked dry lips and leaned forward.

The half-demon shivered under Quinn's weight, feeling her arousal grow and she leaned up, wanting that kiss more than anything she could recently remember wanting. It was only the knowledge of what would happen that made her pause, lips just brushing Quinn's.

"You shouldn't." She whispered, hating herself for it.

The feeling of their lips touching even just the gentle brush was electrifying for Quinn, and she suddenly wanted to know, just once, what a kiss from the half-demon would feel like. She pressed forward kissing Dianna and doing something that was so unlike herself.

Dianna had warned her; of course she hadn't told Quinn why she shouldn't. The kiss was as passionate as Dianna had always suspected Quinn herself was. There were no half measures or tentativeness, when the Irish woman decided on something she went with it full force. That applied to the kiss and Dianna moaned, deepening it as she felt herself react. She tasted Quinn and her emotions, drawing them both closer and if she'd had her hands free she would have cupped the good detective's ass and pressed her close. Instead she settled for drawing a leg up and around Quinn, using that to anchor her close.

The kiss was more than she had imagined, the pleasure of it shot down to her soul. It threatened to overwhelm her, drown her and take her over. That was when she panicked and pulled back. She lifted a hand to slap Dianna but the half-demon had warned her. "Looks like you're still a frog." She pulled back and tried to stand.

"A frog?" The other woman gasped, swallowing as her chest heaved. Reluctantly lowering her leg and letting Quinn escape.

"A prince you are not." Quinn said standing. "And I'm still not gay." She said pointing a finger at Dianna. "I'm going to . . . I'm going to . . . go now." She reached into a pocket and tossed the keys to the cuffs on the bed.

Quickly, before there was any more foreplay, she escaped out the door.

"Damnit, Quinn!" Dianna yelled after her, struggling to grab the keys with her cuffed fingers, which was a lot harder then they made it look in the movies. It was even harder to try to figure out how to put it into the lock on her cuffs and unlock them herself.

********

Quinn was not going to turn herself in, unlike what Dianna had thought. First thing she did was steal a cell phone out of the pocket of someone she accidentally bumped into on the street. Her father may have been a priest but her brother was not.

It was daylight and people were out, it would be harder for Green and his goons to spot her.

She dialed a number. "Derek, I need a . . . no I'm not talking to you in Klingon . . . Now are you going to listen or am I going to be making a call to the police tip line. Good. Now I need a fake ID and I'm going to be bringing you a photo; I need the names of the people in it. See you in an hour."

She hung up and started looking for a car.

Quinn made another phone call as she drove the car she'd taken from the parking lot of a dentist's office. Depending on the procedure the owner wouldn't notice their car missing for an hour or two, and from now on they might think twice about parking in the handicap spot when they weren't handicapped.

"This is Quinn." A deep masculine voice answered.

"Da, it's Maggie."

"Maggie girl how are you . . ."

"I'm in trouble up to my pits Da, if it all goes to hell I want you to give sanctuary to a friend of mine. A young woman named Lauren. She's demon tainted somehow, she'll need guidance."

"Throw whatever phone you're using away. Some unpleasant young men from Demon Affairs stopped by to see me, I'm not certain they haven't tapped my line."

Maggie cursed.

"None of that. Call your brother."

"I'm not calling that piece of shit."

"Call him." Came her father's stern voice. "While I can pray for you, he can help you more immediately."

"Da, I'm not . . . fine. He's never going to let me live this down."

"That's what older brothers are for."

"Da, I love you. I just wanted you to know."

"Situation is that dire." He said sadly.

"Not sure, has the stink of greed and demons. And I'm caught in the middle of it again. I just wish they'd leave me alone and I can get my life back together."

"If happiness was easy, no one would appreciate it."

"I have to go. I'll call Cain."

******

It took Dianna over almost an hour to get rid of the god-be-cursed cuffs and storm downstairs, rubbing her sore wrists. Helga was in the kitchen and turned to say something, stopping as she saw the look of anger on the bar owner's face.

"Lauren!" Dianna called, shoving open the doors to the bar.

It was getting on into the afternoon by then and the bar was starting to fill up a little bit. A dozen or so people were sitting in the polished wooden booths or out on the main floor, enjoying quiet drinks. In another two hours the main band would show up to begin preparing for the night and things would get a little more lively.

Lauren looked around the bartender who was showing her how to mix drinks. "Yes?" She looked worried at Dianna's angry scowl.

"Did Quinn come through here?" Dianna glared at Roger until the perceptive young man decided he had to go check on a client at the end of the bar.

"No, I don't think so. I haven't seen her. Is her knee doing better?" Seeing the look on Dianna's face, she decided to be quiet and not ask any more questions.

"She cuffed me." Dianna growled. "And then she left." Which was what the half-demon had wanted, but that was just a pesky detail. "Now she's out there somewhere getting into trouble because she's too stubborn to listen to reason!" The last part came out a little louder then expected and the redhead lowered her voice.

"I'm going to go find her before she gets herself killed. Stay here and tend the bar? I know you don't know much, but these guys are decent, Roger will keep an eye on things and Helga can handle the food orders at dinner time."

Lauren thought that Dianna and Quinn didn't like each other, but then they kept acting as if they were two seconds from ripping each other's clothes off. "Okay. I can try, while you help Quinn not get killed." She almost asked why Dianna cared but wisely kept her mouth shut. "I'll follow Roger and Helga around until I get the hang of things."

"Good." Dianna hesitated. "You'll be careful right? No going outside and wandering around in the Gray?" Damn Quinn for taking off, now she was suddenly worried about two humans!

"I promise I will stay inside the bar and learn how to pour alcohol and chat up patrons. It will all be very black-and-white mobster movie." She smiled at Dianna. "Now go play hero or something."

"I'm not the hero, kid." Dianna relaxed enough to smile at her. "Just don't let anyone get too fresh with you and you'll be fine." She patted Lauren on the shoulder and grabbed Roger as she was passing him. "Lauren's in charge, but you watch out for her, got it?"

The young man nodded seriously and she grinned, giving him a shove back toward Lauren and their bar-tending lesson. Now to figure out where Quinn was going to go.

**********

Quinn had not called her brother like her father had asked. Some bridges couldn't be rebuilt after they were destroyed.

She tossed the phone in a garbage truck and then a mile from her apartment she pulled the car over into a parking space and got out and walked the rest of the way. It was the last thing she should be doing but by now she hoped Green would only have someone doing drive-bys of her place, she just needed to keep an eye out. Quinn didn't have a plan for this; she had a plan for several things so she improvised the plans she had for a violent offender released on parole who wanted revenge on her.

That plan required her to dye her hair a different color, something she wasn't looking forward to.

She waited and watched for two hours from the bushes near her house, in that time three DA watchers came by and sat outside her apartment for 12 minutes. Once she had a timeline she moved to her apartment building and entered.

Her apartment was trashed. That was to be expected. She didn't have much, most of the remnants of her life before . . . before had been destroyed in hellfire. She paused and picked up a photo the frame that was nothing but broken glass; carefully she wiped it away and took the picture out. It was her with Conner, he was a day old, and in the hospital, she looked exhausted and happy. The only photo of her son that remained. She set it down smoothing it out and got to work.

Quinn pulled the fridge out and with a screwdriver removed a panel, from inside she pulled out a gun, a cell phone and 500 dollars cash. Then she went into her bedroom and changed out of her uniform. With careful precision, she hung it up and placed it with the other ones. The Kevlar vest she kept on. Putting the fridge back together, she scooped up the photo of her son, and jammed a baseball cap on her head.

Then she left the way she came in, waiting for the patrol to come and go, and she was off to Lauren's house.

*********

A psychic cleaning did a great job of washing away the emotional remnants of crimes, but in something as violent as had happened in this house, it would take time for the last vestiges to disappear. Dianna Theron had prowled through the rooms, restlessly. She'd been there for over an hour now, waiting and hoping that she'd guessed right. If Quinn had decided to go see Lauren's sister's place first, then she was out of luck. Hopefully though the good detective would come back to the first crime scene and investigate it.

Then hopefully Dianna could talk sense into her, or maybe just whack her upside the head and drag her back to the bar, she wasn't sure which route she was going to take yet.

Quinn entered through the back door. It hadn't been that hard to pick the lock, no one had bothered with the deadbolt. She paused for a moment listening, not hearing anything, she slowly moved in trying to remember where Lauren said the picture would be. She hadn't noticed any DA or local patrols of the house, after so much time after the murders she wasn't surprised. The cleaners had been in to clean up the blood and the psychic stain. Thankfully they hadn't started bagging and tossing the stuff inside. If Lauren didn't step forward soon, the house would revert to the bank.

The half-demon had frozen, holding her breath as she'd waited in the growing darkness of the late afternoon. The door opening had worried her; maybe it was another cop or some other police person. If it had been, she'd be in a lot of trouble now; instead, she let out a slow breath of thanks as a familiar looking woman passed her and headed deeper into the house.

With an evil little grin she decided to wait and scare Quinn when the human was least suspecting it. It would serve her right, she thought, for making Dianna worry. It was a fairly new sensation and one that the bar owner didn't like.

The floorboards creaked as Quinn moved through the hallway and Dianna opened her mouth to call out, relishing the idea of frightening her.

No sound came out though as her eyes widened in surprise. They weren't alone in the house.

Quinn moved through the kitchen to the dining room. Her skin crawled and her gut was screaming that she wasn't alone. Slowly she let her hand drift to the gun in the holster under her jacket and unsecured it. She pushed out of the dining room into the living room, her eyes scanning photos. No photos of Lauren that weren't family shots, how fucked up was that? The older sister on various stages getting awards from high school, college, and later on in life. She paused in the hallway leading to the bedrooms.

One never forgot a White House seal, this was the photo.

In the small study that she'd been standing in, Dianna very carefully eased her way backwards, away from the hallway. She'd seen something move through those shadows in a way that left little doubt that it was not natural. There were few things that lived in shadows like that, none of them should be this far from the Gray.

She watched, standing in the fading sunlight from the window and away from any shadow on the floor. The problem with shadow demons, they had a hard time seeing anything that wasn't in shadows or darkness and she hoped this one would ignore her.

Quinn grabbed the photo off the wall and turned to head out. She froze, the hair standing up on the back of her neck. Fucking demons. It had to be a demon nothing else made her stomach churn with fear, caused ice to form in her veins. The large window in the living room was boarded over making everything dark. She strained to hear anything, some clue to tell her if the creature was behind her or in front of her. She heard nothing. Slowly she started to retreat backwards, one of the bedrooms would have a window large enough for her to climb out.

A hand shot out and grabbed Quinn, dragging her sideways into the study and into the small security of the setting sunlight.

Dianna's other hand wrapped around her mouth, cutting off the yell that the cop was about to let go. "Shhh." She whispered harshly, holding the struggling woman against her.

Quinn relaxed once she realized it was Dianna; there was no mistaking the woman's spicy perfume. "God Damn it." She whispered against Dianna's hand. For a moment, she thought about biting it.

"Quiet." Dianna breathed into the human's ear, raising a finger to point into the hallway and the door that led into the family room beyond. A shadow detached itself from the base of the entertainment center and flowed across the room, sliding into the deeper shadows by the hallway door.

Quinn shivered. "That's new." She whispered. She'd seen a lot of different demons and half-breeds. She'd never seen a demon that was made of shadow. She stood very still her back molded against Dianna's front. "What do we do?"

"Stay in the light." Whoever was gunning for Quinn was powerful if they could control a shadow demon, they were rare and powerful demons not often seen on Earth. At least not in the human world. It had obviously been waiting for Quinn just like Dianna had been. "Guns are useless against it." Daylight was waning though, and that wasn't going to keep them safe for long. The small window behind them would be tough to squirm out of.

Quinn slowly holstered her gun. "I guess I know why there are no patrols on the house, they have this guy waiting for Lauren to come home." Light was the trick and she looked around, daylight was winding down leaving them with only the man-made kind. "Can you reach the light switch?"

Carefully, Dianna reached out toward the light switch on the wall. The shadows between where they were and it made it seem like it was a mile away. Just as her fingers crossed the line between shadow and light, the thing in the hallway slithered closer and she snatched her hand back.

"Nope." She grimaced. "You have a flashlight?" She whispered, hopefully.

"I have a tiny LED attached to the key ring with my car keys, that's it."

Since she was who she was, Dianna helpfully slid a hand down Quinn's stomach and into her pocket, pulling said car keys out of the jeans. "You get the light, I'll try this." She volunteered.

"I could have gotten them myself." Quinn said scowling. She reached out to the edge of the shadows, toward the light switch. "Ready?"

At Dianna's nod she slid her hand through the darkness toward the light switch.

The shadow demon flowed out of the shadows, it's movements liquid smooth as it swarmed up through the open doorway at them, a patch of inky darkness against the normal shadows. Dianna yelped, squeezing the LED light as it came at them. The pale blue light smoked where it touched the demon and it slithered sideways away from the pain.

But by then Quinn had hit the light switch and the single lamp on the desk flicked to life. The mass of shadows smoked as it fled back out into the hallway, leaving an acrid smell in the air behind it and Dianna yelled at the victory. "Take that you bastard!" She grinned, still keeping Quinn pressed up against her.

Just to be sure she was safe of course.

Quinn didn't move for a bit. It wasn't the strangest thing she had seen but it ranked up there. "Now what? It's still out there and we're here." She frowned realizing where Dianna's hand was. "And if you don't move your hand off of my boob, I'm breaking it."

"Uh." Dianna frowned, damnit she hated planning about these things in advance. She was a living in the moment kind of girl. "I'm pretty sure I deserve a reward for saving your life." But she removed her hand, grumbling. "Going outside is out, sun's almost set."

"Is the thing stuck to the house or will it follow us?" They couldn't stay here; a neighbor could report the light or a DA agent could drive by.

"It'll go wherever it has to in order to get its prey." Dianna sighed, looking around the study for something useful. "It was waiting here for you; someone's got it out bad for you Quinn. Make any powerful demon enemies recently?" The desk drawers revealed a box of matches and emergency candles.

"Me? They couldn't know I'd come back here. It makes more sense that it was waiting for Lauren."

"Whoever it was waiting for, it wasn't me. I've been here an hour waiting for your stubborn self to show up." There was a small flashlight in the bottom drawer and that was it, which she tossed over at the cop.

Quinn caught it and gave it a quick test. "Wow, you do have patience, whole hour. How'd you know I'd come here?"

"I didn't. I was guessing." Dianna eyed the window, wondering how quickly they could get out it if they needed too. Then she glared at the Irish woman. "I can be patient; I just choose not too, it's a waste of time usually."

"Had to be a good guess if you were waiting an hour."

"There something you're trying to say there?" Pale eyes narrowed dangerously.

Quinn ignored her, turning to look at the window. "I can make it through just fine, your breasts might get jammed."

The half-demon's lips curled in a sneer. "And then what? We try to outrun a shadow demon in the dark? Sounds brilliant."

"I'm sorry you haven't exactly had any ideas that have to do with killing it."

"Oh, I've got an idea." Why was it that Quinn could annoy her so very much? She moved toward the light switch. "You're wearing that bulletproof vest right?"

"You couldn't tell when you were groping me earlier?"

Dianna's lips twitched. "Hold on to that thought when it's on top of you and make sure you don't let it get away before it's dead." Dianna put her finger on the light switch, gave Quinn a dark look, and turned off the lights.

The thing sprang through the door the instant it was dark, flowing up at Quinn, spreading out to grab the cop.

"What? Dianna what are you . . . Shit!" She fumbled with the flashlight.

"Hold on to it!" Dianna yelled as the shadow demon wrapped itself around Quinn, trying to envelop her as it tightened its hold.

Hold on to it, the fucking thing was holding on to her!

She wiggled her fingers through the oily blackness trying to somehow keep a hold on it.

Strips of shadow wrapped around Quinn's throat, tightening their hold as it started to strangle the human. Dianna hesitated, this would only really work once and Quinn had to have a good hold on the demon before she turned the lights back on.

"Any . . . time . . . now . . ." She choked out.

If Dianna let it go a few more seconds than really necessary, there wasn't any way to prove it. "Now!" She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping this was going to work as she flipped the light switch on. Light flooded the room and immediately the shadow demon smoked, it reared, tendrils yanking away from Quinn as it tried to flee.

Quinn held on as much as she could, knuckles white.

The thing thrashed and flayed, Dianna wincing as its emotions screamed out at her. "The flashlight!" She really should have kept that for herself as she grabbed the side of her head at the throbbing. Damn the thing could scream. Acrid smoke was filling the air and she suddenly worried it would cloud the light.

Quinn let go with her right hand and fumbled with the flashlight, struggling she brought it up to what she thought was the thing's head and turned it on. Teeth gritted in determination.

With a choked cry of pain, Dianna fell to her knees, both hands going to her head as the thing's emotions roiled through her. Its death throes were stronger than she'd ever thought possible and her vision swam as the demon flailed once, twice and then slowly dissolved into nothingness in Quinn's grasp. Bits of it flaking off and turning to dust in the light.

Quinn got up slowly rubbing her throat, it took a moment to get to her feet and make the few steps to Dianna. "Hey. Are you okay?" She gently set a hand on Dianna's shoulder.

The redhead shuddered under the touch. "Fucker had a hell of a scream." She gritted her teeth, trying to will her head to stop throbbing enough for her to open her eyes without wanting to hurl.

"That it did." For a second she let her hand move to the back of Dianna's neck rubbing the muscles there; realizing what she was doing she let her hand drop. "We need to get out of here."

The human's emotions were a soothing balm after the shadow demon's and Dianna took in a deep breath, slowly standing. She doubted Quinn knew what she'd been talking about, but that was fine. "Right. You going to go running off on your own and get in trouble again?"

"I have to meet with my hacker. Get him to run facial scans on this photo. And I don't know about me causing trouble, I was fine until you showed up."

"Yeah, you would have been just fine." Dianna gritted her teeth. "You know what, fine. Go get yourself killed. I don't know why I bothered." The sudden migraine was turning her into a bigger bitch than usual apparently.

Quinn's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed into a thin line. "You know what; leave me the hell alone. Stop, just . . . stop." She stormed out of the room.

Dianna annoyed her six ways from Sunday on a good day, but after all the shit lately it was more than that. The damn woman was getting under her skin.

At odd times she found herself actually caring about the demon spawn or worried for her.

"I will! I'm going back to the bar, you go have fun running around." Dianna grimaced, leaning up against the wall as her stomach roiled in rebellion.

Right, yelling was a bad idea.

Quinn stomped to the front door and threw it open. She had told Dianna to let her go, this was just a prime example of the half-demon getting in her way. There was a loud crack followed by another and something slammed into her chest, stealing her breath away. She staggered back and then another thing slammed into her. She lost her footing, falling backwards. Why couldn't she breathe?

"Agent Green, put your weapon down." Someone shouted.

"She had a gun, I saw it."

"Listen here, you little pissant."

They were arguing and she was dying. She'd been shot, son of a . . .

******

There was a loud bang and Lauren turned her head to look for the noise.

A rather lovely woman had set her drink cup down loudly on the bar. The young woman smiled and moved over. "Sorry, didn't see you. How can I help you?"

The woman smiled and very deliberately looked Lauren up and down from head to toe. "How about a Screaming Orgasm?"

"That has Midori in it, right?"

The woman gave a husky laugh. "I could just eat you up." She reached out and cupped Lauren's cheek running a thumb over the young woman's lips. "Tasty." She murmured.

"Um . . ." Lauren said getting flustered. "Drink order." She squeaked out.

"A long hard screw."

"I don't think I know that one. Maybe I should get Roger." Lauren was starting to panic, so much for working on her people skills.

"Oh come on honey, you can do it, I promise I'll be gentle." The woman licked her lips, long straight dark hair fashionably cut to accentuate her face.

Lauren gave an uneasy laugh. "Really, somethings should probably be handled by a professional not the assistant." She was so going to do something unpleasant to Dianna when the woman came back. There was no way she could do this.

"Oh you can do it, amateurs are so much more fun than paying for it, don't you think?" There was a wicked gleam in those dark eyes.

Lauren just swallowed caught like a rabbit in those eyes. "I could try . . . I guess. What's in it?"

"Whatever gets you hot and bothered." The woman drawled, eyes running up and down Lauren's body, appraising her as if she was on the menu tonight as well. From down the bar, Roger raised an eyebrow, keeping an eye on the interaction.

Oddly, that made Lauren angry, she was getting tired of people playing with her; it seemed that had been going on her whole life. "Order a drink or select something on the menu, but no matter how hard you look, you won't find me on it." She turned to go back over to Roger, he or the other bartender could deal with the woman.

"Nicely done." The young man said as she got closer to him, then he raised his voice. "Hey Giselle, I thought Dianna told you that you weren't welcome back here."

Giselle shrugged. "I don't see Dianna anywhere, do you little man?"

Roger hesitated and shook his head, looking back at Lauren. "half-demon, Dianna usually deals with her. She's a mean one, be careful."

Lauren nodded. "I can take care of myself, mostly. I'll keep my eyes open when I'm around her. I'm going to take the garbage out and take a short break. I'll be back in five." She just needed to get some air, and get her head on straight; Giselle had rattled her a bit.

"Thanks." Roger smiled, happy that he wasn't going to have to take care of it tonight. "Just don't go far okay?" Dianna would kill him if something happened to Lauren on his watch.

"Only as far as the dumpster I promise." She said as she started gathering the bags of trash and headed out through the kitchen. Giselle had been attractive and her interest had been more than clear but, Giselle had scared her.

Helga waved a wooden spoon in greeting to the young human as she prepared bowls and platters of food to be brought out. The wave didn't interrupt the dressing down she was giving an unfortunate waitress who had mixed up an order.

The garbage dumpster was outside in the back alley, which was lit only by a floodlight that Dianna had installed over the rear door. A familiar looking blond was sitting on the loading ramp, legs swinging back and forth as she sang in the night air.

"Simple Simon met a pieman, going to the fair. Said Simple Simon to the pieman,

"Let me taste your ware."" She paused, looking back at Lauren and the garbage bags.

"Said the pieman unto Simon, 'Show me first your penny.' Said Simple Simon to the pieman, 'Indeed I have not any.'"

Lauren froze for a second, instantly recognizing the crazy blond from the church inside the Gray. She started moving woodenly at first and then relaxed. It was weird but really not the weirdest thing that had happened to her.

"You are not dumpster diving, this is nasty, all soaked in random alcohol." She tossed it in to the dumpster and made her way back toward the door. "If you wait a second, I'll get you a sandwich." She looked at the woman seeing if she understood, but Lauren couldn't tell.

The blond smiled a secretive little smile, shaggy hair falling across her eyes as she bent her head forward again. "I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight."

"Right." Lauren said moving past her into the kitchen.

She looked around. "Helga, can I have a bowl of that soup and a sandwich?"

The woman just gave her a look but then turned and made her a plate. Watching suspiciously as Lauren went back outside the back door. "No more strays, Dianna will have a stroke."

Lauren just waved and shut the door behind herself. She sat down on the stairs next to the woman. "Here."

"Hmmmm." The blond took in a deep breath, smelling the wonderful concoction of meat and noodles that Helga had made and immediately started eating as if she hadn't seen food in weeks. The sandwich was devoured quickly but she made the soup last, enjoying every spoonful.

"Thank you." She said at last, voice high and bright, a perfect soprano. Blue eyes peeking at Lauren through that unkempt mass of hair.

The woman's voice was beautiful even if she did smell a little rank. But Lauren might have been here lost in the Gray, in the world for that matter if Dianna hadn't shown up. "You're welcome." She continued to sit for a bit, enjoying not moving and not feeling like a piece of meat at feeding time.

Dianna might consider this a slow night, it was still overwhelming to Lauren.

The soup finished, the blond set aside the bowl and continued swinging her feet, staring up at the sky above them. "They're very pretty." She said suddenly, after they'd sat in silence for almost five minutes.

Chapter 6

Lauren blinked. "Huh?" She looked up. "Oh. I hadn't noticed before." She was quiet for a bit as she looked at the stars overhead. "Yes, they are."

"Stars don't lie." The blond hummed a bit of a song to herself before she stood up. "Thanks for the soup."

"Uh, okay . . . I mean you're welcome." She grabbed the plate and the bowl. "Take care of yourself." She said feeling awkward.

The blond smiled, impulsively leaning in and kissing Lauren quickly on the cheek. "You have a kind heart, just hold on to that." She whispered, then turned and danced down the steps. Humming to herself she swayed out of the alley, dancing to music in her head.

Lauren watched her go, uncertain, but really she couldn't help herself let alone a nursery rhyme singing crazy woman. She shuffled back into the kitchen and washed the plate and the bowl. "Thanks Helga." She said moving back out to the bar.

**********

"You sure you're going to be okay?" Roger asked, worriedly, again as they finished closing up the bar for the night. There'd been no sign of the boss and he was decidedly nervous about just leaving Lauren there alone. But Dianna had told him she was in charge.

"Yes, I'll be fine." She was worried. Dianna should be back by now, had said she would be back by now. She knew night-time was the time for demons; this close to the Gray she would do no one any favors by going out and snooping for them. Her best bet was to wait until morning and hopefully Quinn and Dianna would be back before she had to do anything.

"It would have been nice of her to leave a cell number but I'll make do until she gets back." She sighed at the look Roger was giving her. "Go on. I'll be fine, promise."

He hesitated one last time then nodded and scribbled something on a bar napkin. "Look, here's my number if anything happens. Helga's number is in the office if you need her for something also."

Then, with one last assurance that she'd be fine, he left her and Bob alone in the bar.

Bob raised the beer bottle to his lips and took a sip.

"Don't get up, Bob." Lauren said with a chuckle at her own joke, as Bob didn't really move. She went and checked the back, locking the delivery door and turned off the light before going out to the front. "Want another one?" She asked. "Dianna wasn't clear; do you leave at night?"

He pushed the empty bottle across the bar top toward her with his fingertips. Which was as close to an answer to her questions as she was going to get from him.

She reached into a cooler and grabbed a random beer; she didn't think Bob was picky. "I'll leave you to it." She checked the front door and couldn't help looking out the new window checking it out.

Shadows moved in the streets outside. They were dark indistinct things, half seen in the deeper shadows cast by the moonlight over the street beyond.

Lauren winced as a headache sprouted at the back of her skull. She had no way of knowing if those shadows meant danger for her or not, so close to the Gray, Dianna had told her of several strange and horrible incidents that had happened on this street. Still her skin bubbled and settled into hard sheets of stone and her eyes turned black. It was three in the morning only a few hours until sunrise what could happen?

Fire flickered as something was lit across the street. The flames danced in the window, reflecting off the wet asphalt outside. More flames appeared, lighting one after the other until dozens flickered in the darkness outside.

The first one bobbed and then it flew, arcing up and over the street to smash against the bar's exterior. That had been the signal the others had waited for and dozens of Molotov cocktails soared through the air toward the bar.

Most hit the exterior or roof, bursting into hellfire when they struck.

A handful shattered through the newly replaced window in the front, liquid flames bursting on and around Lauren.

Lauren ducked down covering her face, avoiding the breaking glass. An odd thought drifted through her head that Dianna was going to be pissed that her window got broken again. Whirling around she ran for the back noticing that Bob was gone.

The hellfire that had been used to light the Molotov cocktails burned anything they could, including the bricks making up the outside of the bar. The fire spread quickly, turning into a roaring blaze behind Lauren as the bar filled quickly with thick smoke.

Lauren hesitated and then ran up the stairs; she needed her sisters black case. She needed it bad enough to flirt with disaster.

She pounded up the stairs, the heat making her sweat. She tore the guest room door open and snatched up the case. She made for the hallway and cursed as the fire quickly ate its way up the stairs. She had no idea how much punishment she could take now, but running through hellfire wasn't something she wanted to test out.

She ran for the study remembering the garden outside the window a softer landing than the street full of demons.

The door to the study flung itself open as Lauren ran toward it, even though it had been locked earlier. The rear of the building wasn't burning yet, but the fire was spreading with supernatural speed and it would be there within minutes.

She ran into the room and then hesitated a second before she picked up Dianna's heavy wood office chair and threw it out the window before following after. She landed heavily with a grunt but nothing broke. Her feet had sunk four inches into the soft dirt and she had to take a moment to pull free.

She looked up and panicked for a moment as she thought she saw a shape in the window, had there been a patron still inside, had she checked the bathrooms?

She could feel them coming, the demons, and she could do nothing other than run.

A cry went up from the demons in the front of the bar and they took off after Lauren, a familiar looking hellhound leading them. "Alive, she wants the bitch alive!" Challa snarled at the motley crew of demons that took chase after the fleeing human.

Part of Lauren really wanted to stop and turn around and fight. To feel bones break in her hands and hear the sound of blood splashing the ground, but part of her kept her running.

It didn't take long to figure out they were herding her toward the Gray, that was probably the last place she wanted to be.

When they tried to make her go left she cut hard to the right; jumping, her hands dug into the soft material of the brick building, she climbed as fast as she could to the roof and then looked around.

"You make a lot of noise." The soprano voice came from very nearby on the roof of the old crumbling warehouse.

"Shit." Lauren said jumping and tripping over an old rusted pipe. She blinked and looked up from her seated position. "Who's there?"

The blond, bundled in rags that had seen much better days, but blue eyes almost luminous in the dim moonlight, raised a pale finger to her lips. She was sitting up against a door that gave access to the roof from inside. "Shhh. You'll bring them here."

Lauren just nodded.

Cautiously the homeless woman crept up a bit, peering down over the edge of the roof. Whatever she saw made her duck back down and she creaked open the door behind her. It opened into the old elevator mechanical room inside and the blond beckoned Lauren inside.

Lauren got up slowly, trying to be quiet. She had learned by now this form was heavier, with stone-like skin and monstrous strength. She moved into the room.

The other woman's teeth gleamed as she smiled quickly and then hopped from stair to stair, jumping to clear the steps blocked by crumbling bits of masonry from the walls around them.

Lauren did her best to follow, although she didn't know what was safer, following the crazy woman or being chased by demon hounds.

They went down many flights, deeper under the abandoned slaughterhouse and into the old boiler rooms that had served to heat the place. There, among the massive steam pipes and rusting boilers, covered with coal dust, the strange woman went up on her tiptoes and spun around in a pirouette. "My home." She sang. "Safe."

Lauren looked around. It really wasn't much. "Looks great." She sat down slowly and let out a breath as her skin bubbled and then returned to too human flesh, which meant the demons were far enough away she couldn't sense them.

"Tea, we must have tea." The blond scurried, lighting a very small fire in one of the old boilers that she fed with chunks of leftover coal. Near that she carefully placed a small chipped china teapot. "There's fire on the wind."

Lauren nodded. "Hellfire, they burned down Dianna's bar." She shook her head. "Oh man, is she going to be pissed."

"The ghost is gone then? She was always so sad-looking, staring down at the garden. I tried to sing her songs, but I don't think she heard me." The stranger said sadly, carefully unfolding a small packet of home dried herbs for the tea.

"I, uh, don't know. Ghost?"

"The woman in the dress. She was very pretty, but always so sad. She cried a lot and her sister bought her all those books to read and made the garden for her to watch." The herbs were placed in the water to seep.

Lauren opened her mouth and shut it, that would explain getting locked in the study. "How long for tea?"

"Almost, almost." The woman sang something in what sounded like Italian. "You cannot rush perfection." She beamed.

"Right." Lauren said and then felt the trembling come. It snuck into her limbs and hunger gnawed in her belly wanting something food could never satisfy. She closed her eyes and willed it to go away. She didn't need this now.

"Sickness. Addiction, it spreads like darkness in your veins." The blond was suddenly at Lauren's side, cool hands pressing against her forehead. "Tea, drink." She offered a cracked teacup.

Lauren didn't say anything just took the cup with a weak smile. She raised it to her lips after a moment of willing her hand to stop shaking, and sipped it.

Her eyes widened with surprise. "That's very nice."

"Special." The blond whispered, brushing shaggy hair out of her eyes. "My own herbs. Drink slowly, it purges the blood."

Lauren nodded. "Okay." She wouldn't be surprised if she saw little green men later.

"They will search for you all night." The woman said, pouring her own cup of tea and sipping it there, among the ruined boilers and coal.

She sipped her tea. "Are we safe here?" What about Dianna and Quinn? Were they safe? Maybe they were hurt while she was in here.

"Yes, no, maybe." The woman laughed. "No one is ever really safe. Am I safe with you? Are you safe with me?"

Lauren laughed at that. "Fair enough."

She took another sip and looked at the odd woman. "Do you have a name?"

"No. Not here." She looked away. "I had one once, but they took it from me when they cast me out. I make up different ones for myself each day, but they never feel right."

"Okay." Lauren frowned, thinking for a second. "I'm going to call you Blue, if that's okay. Just so I can call you something." Other than crazy lady, she thought to herself.

"Blue." The name didn't fit any better than the others but she shrugged. "Blue eyes." She smiled and dug around in a small pile of rags, producing a pair of apples that were only a little overripe. "Food, for your stomach."

"Its okay. I'll be fine for a little bit." She said not wanting to take the woman's food.

"Food given is not lightly refused. Breaking salt binds civilization, supper is all that holds us together or we become barbarians." The apple was offered again.

"Okay, sorry, didn't mean to offend." Lauren said taking the apple.

Hesitantly she took a bite and chewed. Apples weren't her favorite after a grade school incident when she wore braces.

"Good." Wide blue eyes watched her intently. "Sleep soon and sunrise you will be fine."

She nodded and did her best to finish off the apple before finding a place to lay down.

********

Quinn could hear them coming up the walk, steel toed boots loud on the concrete, apparently they'd stopped arguing. She was getting her breath back; she didn't want to see the bruise under her vest. She reached out her fingers touching the frame of the photo and then with a push sent it skittering across the floor into the darkness. She hoped Dianna would follow up with it.

Figures were over her, hands roughly searching her. "I told you she was armed."

"Yeah, she was armed for bear and was going to be guns blazing any moment." That voice belonged to someone in her squad. Ryan something.

She was hauled up and cuffed. "Good to see you alive Detective, wish it was under better circumstances," he said.

She groaned and shook her head. "Nice to see you too, Ryan."

He smiled and carefully took her toward the squad car. "They're saying you killed Mikey, your old partner." He nodded his head at the fuming Agent Green.

"Don't know what happened to Mikey. He asked me to meet him; a demon came out of his car. All I know," she gasped out. "Demon chased me, wrecked my car, woke up and suddenly I was demon tainted. I was trying to find something to prove I was innocent."

"Well, we'll get you back to the Precinct and have you talk to the Chief."

"What?" Agent Green suddenly came back to life. "No, she's coming with me. She's demon tainted and a danger."

Ryan's eyes narrowed angrily. Quinn felt some hope she wasn't going to be dangled out there to be sacrificed.

"Officer, I am ordering you to put Ms. Quinn in my vehicle so I can take her in to be tested, questioned and then purified if needed. As you know, with all affairs demonic in nature, I have jurisdiction."

Ryan sighed. "Sorry Detective." He said changing course for Green's car.

"It's okay. Just make sure someone buries me next to my son, Officer."

"I promise."

She knew he'd do his best, because hardly anybody came back from purification alive.

She ducked as she was shoved into the back of Agent Green's car.

She said nothing as he gave her a smug grin as he got in and started the car. He couldn't take her in, not without something important, like the Espinoza girl. The public, who had originally been swayed against Detective Quinn were now yelling Government cover-up especially since photos of the car wreck had been leaked. Out all over the Internet were photos of the Detective's smashed car with huge claw slashes clearly visible. People were starting to question him.

"You're demon tainted, your fucking adoring public may not see it or want to believe it but you're dirty. Fucking that succubus and hiding a government engineered demon killer; that will turn the public against you. So make it easy, tell me where you've hidden the girl. Or have you and that demon bitch lover already sacrificed her to that demoness hell spawn, the one that killed your husband and son." He said the last part with such contempt that Quinn lost it.

She lifted up her legs and slammed her feet into the seat and divider in front of her over and over again.

"Don't you talk about my son to me. You fucking piece of shit!" She howled out.

Green just smirked and hit a number on his cell phone. "I have Detective Quinn, I'm taking her to the warehouse for a private chat, meet me there."

*******

"This doesn't look like the Demon Affairs local office." She said dryly. Quinn was tired, hungry, and it was looking as if she wasn't going to get a last meal.

"Shut up." He said opening the back door and dragged her out. At first she went limp, pretending her legs didn't work and when that got him off-balance she head-butted him, breaking his nose and made a run for it. She made it three steps before someone tackled her.

The ground rushed up and everything went dark again.

Someone was slapping her and then there was a bright light shining in her face. She jerked but didn't go far tied to a chair.

Agent Green was there looking pissed off, with Kleenex shoved up his nose, and his partner glowered at her.

"If I didn't fucking hate you enough." Green spat out. "Maggie Quinn, age 32, one son - deceased. One husband, the same. You reek of demon taint; you're so corrupt I'm choking on the shit just being in the same room with you."

"Go to hell, you're the corrupt one." She growled out.

He sneered at her, gun coming out of its holster and he raised it to aim at her head. "I'm really going to enjoy this. You have one last chance to tell me what you did with the kid and then I'm going to exercise my right to terminate a demon problem."

"Green, be cool." His partner said in a low soft voice. "We're skating on thin ice as it is. We need the girl, so we need Quinn." He gave an unpleasant smile. "Although we don't need her in one piece."

"What the hell? What is it about the Espinoza girl that has your panties in a twist? Everything I got on her is that she was mousy, quiet, and unremarkable; nothing about her stood out in any way."

"She is an unremarkable nothing!" Green slammed the pistol back into its holster, furious. He really, really wanted to cap Quinn and he'd find a way to do it sooner or later. "But she's carrying something that's very interesting to us. So we're going to find her and find out why she's been able to do a few very remarkable things, understand?"

"It's back to the sister. The one you kept stonewalling me on. What the hell was she into? She sell her soul? Sell out the government project she was working on? Come on, she was more than an aide."

"The sister was working on a special project for us." Ferris rumbled, placing a hand on Green's shoulder to keep him from exploding. "Most of her work died with her in that house. We don't know how the demons found out about it, but they must have." His cell phone rang and Ferris stepped aside, answering it in low tones and speaking quickly with whoever was on the other end.

"Jesus. You couldn't just tell me that. No, you had to play this pissing contest. It's not like I haven't dealt with my share of demons, my beat butts up against the Gray. No, you had to come in and act like I stepped on your dick." She didn't know why she kept talking, no one was going to save her, but if she was talking then she was alive. "Look, I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot. You rub me the wrong way and I obviously do the same to you. I, however, do not know where the girl is and I'm not sleeping with Theron." She rolled her eyes at that.

"National Security, you weren't vetted to know." Green tried to sound superior, but it was hard with the bloody Kleenex stuffed in his nose.

"That was the chief, he's coming here, now." Ferris shut his cell phone with a snap.

"Crap, just what we need, another bureaucrat." Green rolled his eyes. "You stay put. We'll deal with you soon." He pointed at Quinn, before adjusting his tie and trying to look as presentable as you could with a broken, bleeding nose.

Ferris simply grunted and they both started for the entrance to the warehouse.

Quinn tested her bonds, not only was she tied to a chair she was still handcuffed. "Fucking awesome." She grumbled. She stood up almost falling forward on to her face and then slammed back onto the ground with the chair hoping it would break. There was a groan and a leg broke off and with a startled yelp she tilted to the side and fell to the floor still tied to the chair.

"Wow." A pair of legs appeared out of the shadows near the back of the warehouse, stylish boots walking toward Quinn until they stopped a few feet away. "That was amazing; did they teach you that in super-cop school?" Dianna asked, hands on her hips as she grinned down at the fallen over woman.

"Theron?" She whispered out. "What are you doing here?" She wasn't certain whether to be happy or pissed off. Which was par for their, whatever they had.

"It's called saving your ass." The half-demon hefted the bolt cutters she'd brought with her. "Now hold still. Those two idiots won't wait forever for their Chief to show up. They'll figure out what's going on soon." She bent over Quinn, lining up the bolt cutters with the handcuffs and squeezed the handles together.

She might not be strong enough to break metal on her own, but she sure as hell was strong enough to cut through cuffs with a bolt cutter.

Quinn wasted no time wiggling out of the ropes once her hands were free. She stood up with a groan. Her ribs hurt a lot. She looked at Dianna, and then said. "Thanks."

"Aww, you do like me." The other woman glanced toward the front of the warehouse. "Oops, time to go. This way." She took off the way she'd come, hoping that Quinn was up for a bit of climbing.

Quinn followed close behind. "Do we have a plan?" She paused as she saw Dianna jump and start to scale the wall to a landing that led to the roof. "Fucking kidding me." She heard shouting behind her and decided she loved climbing.

"This is the plan." Dianna turned, grunting in annoyance as she realized how far back Quinn was. The two agents were coming quickly now, running faster as they spotted Quinn's empty chair.

"Fuck." The half-demon threw her bolt cutter at them, which at least came close enough to make them pause and then she reached as far down as she could. "Jump!"

Ferris ducked the bolt cutters and drew his pistol, aiming it up at the two women. "Stop or I'll shoot!" The large agent yelled. Green simply pulled his gun and started shooting.

Quinn didn't let herself think, just launched herself at the hand. Her vest would protect her chest and back, not any other part of her body.

The other woman caught her, grimaced and hauled Quinn up the remaining way to the top. A bullet slammed off the metal uncomfortably close to her head as Ferris started shooting also. They were sitting ducks outlined there so Dianna didn't stop, in the same motion as she'd pulled Quinn up, she pulled them both sideways.

As they fell off the top of the warehouse, she really hoped the garbage bin was where she'd remembered it being.

"Shit." Quinn yelped out as she was overwhelmed with the sensation of falling and then landing.

"I hate you." She croaked out as her eyeballs rattled around in her head.

"Treasure that, it means you're still alive." Dianna groaned, pushing Quinn's legs off her. The garbage smelled even worse now that they were in it and she didn't want to know what she was covered in. "Come on, car's this way." She half helped, half pulled the human woman up out of the trash.

She followed, her lungs straining for breath. Quinn really didn't have that much more to give, she was damn tired. Thankfully Dianna's car came into view; she yanked the passenger side door open and slid onto the seat. "Holy shit." She said for good measure, letting her head lean back against the seat and closed her eyes.

"Yeah, been one of those nights. Can I say I told you so now?" Dianna slammed the door shut and pulled out so fast she squealed rubber. Behind her she could swear she heard shooting, but no windows shattered as she turned the first corner she could find, so she wasn't quite certain.

"Whatever." Quinn mumbled, "Do you have a plan?" She asked, opening an eye.

"Didn't you hear me back there? That was the plan. I got you out of their clutches, now we go back to the bar and figure out what to do." Dianna swerved around a double-parked car, heading as quickly as she could toward the Gray.

"Jesus, did you want a medal? I said thanks and that's about all I have to give right now." She stretched trying to easy the pain in her chest. "Did you get that photo?" That was important, their only clue.

Silently, Dianna reached into her breast pocket and offered the unframed photograph over to Quinn without a word. It wasn't a subject that the human would want to talk about so for once, the half-demon didn't push about it. Instead she rested her fingers against Quinn's side, just touching the bruised and aching ribs that were under the fabric.

Her nostrils flared as she felt the pain and aching, which she drew away leaving behind only mild discomfort before drawing away her hand.

Again she'd done something she shouldn't have and her eyes narrowed on the road, driving faster.

Quinn's breathing became easier and she sat easier in the seat. "You have to stop doing that, Dianna." She said eyes fixed on the photo she unfolded. "I don't know if I'm willing to pay the price for that."

It was on the tip of Dianna's tongue to say, too late, but she caught sight of the fire lighting the horizon before she could say it. "Wow, something's burning in the Gray."

It lit up the entire horizon as they drove and with a sinking feeling, she realized that she was driving directly toward whatever was burning. Jaw tightening, she pressed down even further on the accelerator, the car zipped ahead, blowing through the speed limit as she raced down the streets.

Quinn had the same feeling. "I'm sure it's just one of the abandoned warehouses." She hoped.

"Sure." Already pale fingers turned white as she clenched the steering wheel tighter. The only reason they didn't hit anyone was that it was almost four AM in the morning and there wasn't anyone out and around the Gray at that time, at least nothing human.

There also wasn't any fire department; they didn't come to the Gray. The usual school of thought was that the more that burned down, the better inside the demon zone.

Purple tinged flames were completely engulfing the front and roof of the bar as Dianna slammed them to a stop in front. Without a word she jumped out, leaving the car running and door open behind her as she ran toward the hellfire.

"Dianna!" Quinn shouted and fumbled with the door and got out running after her. "Don't, it's hellfire. You're not a full demon." Or a powerful enough one. Only Dukes and Duchesses of Hell could walk through hellfire. Quinn pushed her tired muscles trying to tackle the half-demon before she did something suicidal.

"No!" Dianna yelled, flinching back as a piece of wall tumbled into the blazing inferno, the buildings on either side of the bar completely untouched. She hesitated long enough for Quinn to reach her and grab her. "Sissy!" She screamed, struggling to get free of Quinn and go inside, the heat so hot it seared her clothes. "Lauren!"

Quinn braced her legs and her muscles went taut as she tried to pull Dianna back from the flames. "Lauren's fine, she's smart enough to get out of a burning building and she has those magic powers or something." She didn't know who Sissy was. "I'm not letting you kill yourself."

"Sissy." Dianna sobbed, a hand outstretched to the fires as the top floor finally gave way and crumbled inwards. The entire top of the building disappeared into a rush of flames as it collapsed in on itself and the half-demon fell to her knees with a wail of despair.

"Shit." Quinn said lacking anything better to say. She watched the building collapse, nothing could be done the hellfire didn't spread anywhere else so this building had been its target.

"Dianna!" She shouted at the sobbing woman. "Dianna." She slapped the woman. "Get it together. We are sitting ducks out here."

"So?" Dianna jerked her arm away from Quinn's touch, standing. Wet trails coursed down her cheeks. "You just want to run away anyway, so run!" She pointed at the car. "Take it and go." She turned back to face the only home she had, wrapping her arms around herself as she stared, watching it burn.

"Fine. Stay here and die. I have don't have time to waste on self-pity." She turned going back to the car. She jumped as something heavy landed on top of the car. The demon snarled, two large fangs that would have made a sabertooth cat jealous gleamed in the firelight. Her hand reached for her gun and she cursed remembering Green had taken it.

She squared her shoulders, she wasn't going to survive all this to die to a demon with an overbite. "Come on, I've beaten down scarier demons."

"Challa!" Dianna's head came up and pale eyes narrowed as she suddenly had a target for the rage and grief. The demon hound snarled, paws scrapping paint as it stepped down off the car hood.

With a wail of furry, the half-demon lunged past Quinn, tackling the surprised demon hound.

Quinn only raised an eyebrow and watched. "So take that, evil overbite demon." She went and checked Dianna's car, humming, she popped the trunk and every once in a while looked over at the two demons fighting. She sorted through the stuff in the trunk picked up a crowbar and what could only be holy water.

"Thank you father for I am about to sin, rage will be my vice." She said before crossing herself and picking it up. She closed the trunk and approached the fighting couple trying really hard not to notice that Dianna's shirt had been ripped open. "I promise a lot more Hail Marys." She said to no one.

The half-demon was holding her own against the demon hound by sheer rage. She ignored the wounds that his teeth had inflicted and any sense of self-preservation. Dianna was lost to anything but the need to kill Challa for what he'd done. There was no doubt in her mind that the demon hound had something to do with burning down her home.

And Sissy? The thought wouldn't go away and Dianna kicked the demon hound between his legs with all her fury, aiming for the most sensitive bits she could. His yelp of pain was a soothing balm to her heart and she did it again.

"Dianna!" Quinn shouted. "Don't kill it yet. We need to question it, see who sent it." She sighed, tempted to bash the woman's head with the crowbar. "Dianna! Hold it down." After that kick to the nuts, she really didn't see the demon going anywhere fast. "Could you just fucking hold it down!"

A third swift kick to the nuts that lifted Challa up off the ground, Dianna grabbed his head, twisting it around until it was pinned up against her. A little more of a twist and she'd break the thing's neck. "Fine." Dianna snarled, eyes flashing at Quinn. "Talk fast."

Quinn rested the crowbar on her shoulder and looked at the demon. "It's an easy question. Who sent you?"

Challa snarled and tried to spit at her.

Quinn watched the glob fall short. "You're looking kind of parched let's fix that." The crowbar lifted off her shoulder and was shoved between his teeth. She wrenched his jaws open a crack and poured a little holy water down its throat and then stepped back.

"Let's try that again. Who sent you?"

The hound screamed where the holy water touched, his flesh smoking as it dissolved the demon's flesh. "She's going to feast on your bones!" He thrashed in Dianna's grip but she hung on grimly until the thrashing stopped and the demon hound lay panting, glaring at Quinn.

"Who is she and what the hell does she want with us?" She held up the holy water shaking it. "At least two cups in there, you're looking thirsty again."

He tried to spit at her again but Dianna twisted his jaw until the bone creaked under the pressure. "Alvera!" He growled, when Quinn moved closer with the holy water. "Alvera is my mistress and she will enjoy flaying you alive."

"I'm sure she would." Quinn said in a deathly quiet voice. "Tell her I can't wait to send her to hell again, when you grow back your tongue." She shoved the whole bottle into its mouth wedging it in its teeth letting it flood down his throat, killing him for all she cared.

"Say hi for me, too." Dianna growled, tightening her arms until the bottle shattered in Challa's mouth. The demon hound thrashed at that, bloody foam erupting from its mouth as the holy water ate away at him from the inside in. Covered now in trash, demon blood and ash from her home, Dianna pushed him away standing next to Quinn as she watched the hound convulse and die.

They stood there for a while and then Quinn turned going to the car. "Button your shirt, it's distracting."

"Only shirt I own now." Dianna said sadly, tugging at it to try to cover at least her bra. Numbly she followed along behind Quinn; the bar was little more than glowing embers and still burning bricks from the outer walls.

"Right." Quinn said tossing the crowbar into the back seat and then slid behind the driver's seat, adjusting the seat. "Where to now?"

Dianna slumped into the passenger side seat, not even putting up a fuss about Quinn driving her car. "I don't know." She stared blankly out the windshield, watching the demon fire burn.

"Amazing, you not having an answer." She started driving, randomly picking a direction in case more of those demons were around.

Dianna made a rude gesture, a bit of the numbness wearing off.

Quinn reached into a pocket pulling out her cheap disposable cell phone it had about 48 hours of talk time paid for. She frowned and then dialed a number.

A voice answered and she frowned. "I need a favor." She hated even asking.

The half-breed didn't even bother to pretend she wasn't listening as they drove.

"Yes, it's your sister, I'm sure you've talked to dad . . . yeah, don't fucking gloat about it." Her voice developed more of an accent as she talked to the heavily accented voice on the other end.

"No, this does not mean I owe you, it means we're even. Yes, it does too." She swerved to avoid some sort of skeletal dog. "Cain, shut up! I need a safe house in the city, are you going to help me or not?"

She looked over at Dianna. "Can you remember an address?"

"An address to what?" The other woman blinked.

"If I tell you an address, can you remember it? Or is there a pen and paper?"

"I can remember an address." Pale eyes rolled.

"Shut up Cain." She growled at her brother. "Alright we're ready. Huh uh . . . 1912 Fennel Street, apartment A. Don't gloat, that's unbecoming of someone who is a demon's buttboy." An angry curse came through the phone. "Yeah, love you too, Cain." She hug the cell up and set it between the seats.

"Didn't know you had a brother." Dianna looked back out the window, staring at the darkness as they drove. It would be daylight in another few hours.

"I don't. I have a thing that looks like my brother." Just another person in her life who loved demons more than her.

She rubbed her head and tried to remember where Fennel Street was.

"I can't wait to meet him." The half-breed closed her eyes. "Challa said the name Alvera." She said quietly.

"Yeah, I heard. Guess it's hard to keep a good demon down these days." She took a right and started moving away from the Gray.

"You sent her back to hell. I'm guessing she's pissed at you. Not sure what she has against Lauren though, and my bar." Her jaw clenched and she pushed away an image of her sister's portrait.

"Probably nothing other than you're with Lauren and I." They drove through downtown and then into quiet neighborhoods. was a simple two-story brick house that had been converted into four small one-bedroom apartments.

She pulled over and slowly got out, pausing to fish out the crowbar.

He was standing next to the stairs that led to the upper two apartments, a lit cigarette between his teeth glowing red. He watched them approach, his eyes lingering on Dianna's chest where tasty glimpses of flesh were revealed. "Your taste is improving little sister, she's way better looking than Dan, Doug, or whatever the weasel's name was. Bet she's a screamer too." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Dianna purred, working for a leer at Quinn, but her heart really wasn't in it.

He was taller than his sister with short red hair and a milky white complexion, they could be nothing other than related; except for his glowing red eyes.

"Dianna, this thing used to be my brother. Cain, this is Dianna, and I wouldn't know if she screams or does anything else."

"She lies." Dianna said slowly, watching the brother with a faint frown.

Cain sighed and tossed the cigarette on the ground. "Pity and a waste. Still you're not dead yet, maybe you'll learn to loosen up. But word on the street is not for long, so take advantage." He tossed the keys. "There's food, clothes, and weapons. Don't ask me anything and don't tell me anything. I maybe ridden but part of me still loves you. I have to leave, my master let me do this one favor and then he wants me gone so I don't get caught in the crossfire."

She threw the keys at him and then the cell phone.

"I'll dispose of these. Call dad when it's done so I know you're okay."

"Could say the same of you. You haven't talked to me since I sold my soul and it takes two people to have a conversation." He said walking past them.

Understanding dawned in Dianna's eyes and she cast a sharp look over at Quinn.

Quinn didn't look at him just swallowed and fumbled with the keys. She looked around and found A was the ground apartment.

"Nice to meet you, Cain." Dianna called after him, before she turned and followed Quinn. That was why the good detective didn't say she had a brother; he'd sold his soul to a demon lord.

He winked at her and opened the car door.

"He seems nice." Dianna said cautiously, watching Quinn fumble with the keys.

Quinn opened the front door and made her way inside, leaving it open. She poked around until she found the whiskey and then poured a stiff drink. "Before you say anything, I stopped talking to him before he sold his soul. "What a fucking Irish stereotype, my family. My dad the drunken priest, me the cop, and my brother the Irish mobster, who then sold his soul."

"Why'd he sell his soul?" Dianna moved through the darkness, trailing her fingers across objects as she did.

"I don't know; I've never asked. We don't exactly send each other Christmas cards." She took large swallow and closed her eyes. "What a fucking mess?"

"Yeah." Dianna stopped in front of the living-room window, staring outside. "I hope Lauren's alive."

"She is, your friend with the overbite wouldn't have been hanging around. He was looking for her. We're just side dishes."

"We'll need to find her then." Dianna closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the cool window.

She lifted her drink and chugged the rest of it and then set the empty glass in the sink. "I'm going to shower and then see what he left us. You should shower too, you stink." She said looking for a bathroom. Her fingers were already undoing the buttons of her shirt, revealing the bulletproof vest underneath.

She frowned at the single bedroom, but she could live with the couch.

Dianna snorted. "You can talk." Pale eyes opened again, turning so that she could watch Quinn leave. "We need to go talk to my father, I think." She called, for no other reason than to hear herself talk.

At least Cain'd given her something furnished. "I assume he's not the human part of your DNA."

She said flicking on the light to the bathroom.

"Good guess." Dianna wrinkled her nose as she suddenly realized what disgusting clothes she was wearing.

She let the shirt drop and then started with the straps to the vest. "I'm not going to like meeting him, am I?"

"No." Dianna sighed, undoing her clothes so that she could dump them in the nearest trash can.

With a groan, the vest came off and she stood there looking at the two bullets embedded in it and shuddered. She swallowed, feeling very human, very mortal and very fucking lucky.

"He's an incubus." Dianna opened the trash can and let her clothes drop in, disgusted that they made a wet slopping sound as they did.

Quinn looked up at the sound. "You're naked."

"So are you." Dianna laughed.

It was an obvious statement. "No, I still have pants on." She shook her head. "So that makes you what, a succubus? Ha, I knew you had some sort of sex demon in your genealogy."

"It makes me Dianna." The redhead snapped. Damnit she was all over the map with her emotions, not good.

"Sorry." She set the vest down and moved inside the bathroom and took off her sports bra and winced at the bruising on her chest, right over her heart, the impact had short-circuited her no wonder she'd had a problem standing and breathing.

"Are you?" Dianna was at the door, watching her with an inscrutable look on her face.

"Sometimes. Because I do realize I can be a callous bitch, and I push you hard and I push your buttons to get the results I need when I pull you to help on a case."

"Without any thanks, I might remind you." Since she wasn't getting threatened to go away, Dianna stayed right where she was. The view was very nice.

Quinn let her fingers go to the buttons of her pants aware that Dianna was there. "I'm also very aware of how attractive you are, took me 21 tries to stop looking at your chest, you'll be happy to know you're the first person I've thought of in a sexual manner since I killed my husband."

"I'm honored." Dianna smiled a little, striking one of her more alluring poses in the doorway. Her eyes tracked the fingers that were so nimbly undoing those pants.

"You want to know why I haven't given in, to your flirting and all the hormones you send my way?"

"Those aren't hormones, but sure, why?"

"Because I'm damn tired of being second best, and that's all I would be to you. Because you'd be looking for somebody new the moment we were done. I've seen the women, never the same one twice."

"But for that once, you'd be my entire world." Dianna promised.

The pants dropped to the floor and she turned, slid open the shower, turning on the water. "Not good enough, Theron."

She waited a moment and then got into the shower.

"Right." Dianna closed her eyes. Right, this was what she wanted, Quinn to go away. Then why did she suddenly feel so alone? "Enjoy the shower." She reached in, closing the bathroom door on temptation.

"I'll just be a minute." Quinn said her voice deflated. Part of her had hoped, but realized it was silly, especially now. Dianna was part sex demon she a mere mortal couldn't be enough. "Find me some sweats or something. Cain said he brought clothes."

She put her head under the spray rinsing out god only knew what out of her hair.

***********

Blue was singing again as the sun rose, there was a small half window on one wall, letting in just slivers of gray light from outside. As always in the Gray, the sky was overcast here.

"Ring around the rosey," Her high clear voice sang as she moved around, lighting another small fire for the day "A pocketful of posies." She poured out some water. "Ashes, ashes . . ." The coal was lit again. "We all fall down!"

She spun on tiptoes at that, like a ballerina, up on her tiptoes, giggling.

Lauren cracked open a gummed over eye. Looking at the crazy woman. "You know that song is about the Black Plague?" She said with a raspy voice.

Blue flung herself down next to Lauren, rags fluttering as she did a split and then looked up with a smile. "Yes. I'm making tea."

"My you're flexible." It was out of Lauren's mouth before she could stop it her common sense apparently not awake yet. She blushed. "I liked the tea." She said as a follow-up and coughed.

"I like dancing." Blue rose up, flitting her way across to the boiler she used as a stove. "The tea is good for you." She looked up through her hair at Lauren. "Are you sad?"

Lauren blinked. "No, worried maybe, but I don't think I'm sad."

"You cried when you were sleeping." Blue looked away, fiddling with the pots.

"Oh." Lauren said sitting up. "I keep losing my family and I seem to be helpless to stop it."

The shaggy head nodded. "I'm sorry. Did you love them?"

Lauren just looked at her. "They were my family." She said as if the answer should be obvious.

"So you did?" The homeless woman looked at her confused.

"Yes, I loved them."

"I'm sorry." Blue added the herbs into the pot, watching the pot with fascination.

"Yeah, me too." She was silent for a moment. "Sometimes, I'm not certain they loved me." It was a quiet statement.

"Families are strange." Blue sighed, pulling out her two chipped teacups. "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockin'bird." She whispered, carrying the teacup over and offering it to Lauren.

Lauren took the tea and blew on it to cool it. She was getting used to the odd way Blue communicated.

Blue eyes peered at Lauren curiously over the rim of the cup as Blue sipped her own tea. She looked like she wanted to say something but just didn't know how.

Lauren sipped her tea and then looked at Blue. "Good as last time."

"Mm." The other woman fidgeted, picking at her rags. "You don't belong here."

Lauren raised an eyebrow at that. "Belong where?"

"Here." Blue looked into her cup. "Or there."

"Blue, that made no sense. I don't belong here with you? Or here in the city?"

"Here, or in the city." Blue frowned, rubbing at her head. "Words hurt. I'm sorry I try." She swallowed. "You don't belong there or here in the Gray." She beamed at Lauren, having made a complete sentence.

Lauren rubbed the side of her head feeling a headache coming on. "My sister did something to me, I don't really belong anywhere, at least that's what it feels like. Dianna's been nice, she's helped me feel like I had a place to belong." Her face fell. "And I burned down her bar."

"No! Oh, no." Blue grabbed Lauren's free hand. "You didn't. No, the bad doggies did, they made the blue fire not you."

Lauren gently squeezed Blue's hand. "How come you're here? You're not a demon, I'd know."

"How?" She kept a hold of Lauren's hand, staring at it. "I like your fingers."

"Uh, thanks. I get an ache in the back of my skull when I'm around demons, full demons, so you could be a half-demon." Lauren shrugged. "Which is followed by a homicidal urge to kill them."

Blue eyes widened. "No killing here." The woman looked alarmed.

"No, sorry, no headache or killing." Lauren said quickly.

"Oh." Blue looked relieved. "Bad things happen, evil things, and then the world's never the same."

"Yep." Lauren agreed sipping her tea, but she didn't remove her hand.

"And then you end up here." Blue gave her a watery smile. Her other hand moved to trace Lauren's fingers. "Strength."

Lauren nodded not sure what to say to that. It was a little odd to have the woman play with her fingers like that, but it was also nice, and things just kept getting weirder in her life.

"I don't have any other food." Blue said suddenly. "But we could go to the mission."

"The mission? Is that a good idea?"

"Melva's nice. No bad demons." Blue smiled hopefully.

"Okay, we'll go get some food, then I should look for Quinn and Dianna." Problem was she had no idea how to do that.

"Yeah! A picnic, we'll have a picnic." Blue leapt up, tugging on Lauren's hand. "And maybe a shower. Hot water." She made a moaning sound.

Lauren just stared at the woman, that sound had made goosebumps stand out on her skin and her hands shook slightly as bad thoughts filled her head. "Both sound lovely." She said to say something then gulped the tea.

"Very." Blue grinned at her. "Melva will have food." She promised.

Lauren nodded and got up, setting the teacup down and grabbed her sister's black bag.

The crumbling church was only a few blocks away. The Gray didn't look so bad during the daytime, most of the shadows were just shadows now and the homeless moving toward the church were mostly human. With a few exceptions, of course. There was a small line forming in front of the church doors, where a familiar looking healer welcomed people inside.

"Melva!" Blue let go of Lauren's hand for the first time, flinging herself at the hag and hugging her.

"Child!" The black woman hugged her back, dark eyes flicking toward Lauren with interest.

"I brought a friend, it's okay right?"

"A friend?" Melva raised an eyebrow at Lauren.

Lauren gave a weak wave. The other night had gone so well.

"Are you a friend?" Melva asked, as Blue turned toward Lauren and smiled at her.

"I'm trying. I don't have much experience. Plus she saved my life last night. I kind of owe her my kindness if not more."

The hag's eyes narrowed. "Make certain you remember that word, kindness."

Blue frowned, looking from one to the other, something was going on here she didn't understand.

Lauren looked away. "I will, don't worry."

"Inside." The dark-skinned woman said, letting her pass.

Blue smiled, bright and happy as she took Lauren's hand again. "She likes you."

"I doubt that." Lauren mumbled letting the crazy woman drag her inside. It was much more inviting during the daytime.

Tables had been set up and a surprisingly large number of homeless had gathered among them to eat the stew that Melva was serving them that day. Blue pulled Lauren toward an empty table on the far side; she waved to a few others that she knew as she went.

"Stew, lucky day!" Blue got them both a bowl from the old man volunteering at the stew pot today.

Lauren wasn't going to complain, having once stolen food from the University cafeteria.

"Here, it's good. I like it better than the soup." Blue made a face and a gagging sound, happily sitting next to her new friend and starting to eat quickly.

Lauren ate more slowly than Blue but didn't finish the whole bowl. She pushed the half-full bowl to Blue. "Go on, its okay."

"Really?" Blue licked her lips. "But you need food."

"I'm full, go on so it doesn't get wasted."

"If you're full, perhaps you could help me get more stew." Melva said, walking toward them on shaky legs.

"Uh, certainly." Lauren quickly got up and followed the woman.

The old woman led the way to the back of the church and into what were obviously her living quarters in the old priest's rectory. A makeshift kitchen had been set up there and a large pot of stew was bubbling away. Melva whirled on Lauren the second they were hidden from sight.

"What game are you playing at girl? Is this some sick twisted joke of that half-demon bitch?"

"Demons came and burned the bar down last night. Dianna and Quinn were gone, she left me in charge. Great job I did." She said quietly feeling sorry for herself.

"So it's just chance that you found her?" Melva pointed back toward Blue, eyes furious. "How dare you drag her into this, she is not a pawn for your amusement!"

"Blue, she saved me. Helped me find a place to hide. I didn't drag her into anything, she was just there."

"Blue?" Melva paused. "Did she tell you that was her name?"

"No. I couldn't call her crazy girl that sings nursery rhymes so I started calling her Blue, because of her eyes. She didn't seem to mind."

The healer snorted and turned to her pots. "She is not a toy for Dianna to use and then toss aside. I'll hold you responsible if that happens and . . ." a crooked finger pointed at Lauren. "I can make your life worse than it is now."

Lauren doubted that. Her life was pretty bad. "I promise to keep Dianna away from her." The problem was probably keeping her away. She wasn't really that safe especially when the dark demon ideas took root in her head.

"Violet. Her name was Violet." Melva measured out more stock, adding the liquid to the pot to thin up the stew. There'd been more people than usual today.

"I'm sorry. I'll use her name from now on." Lauren said hastily.

"Good." The old woman turned to stare at Lauren speculatively. "Perhaps you'll be good for her. Perhaps not. Either way I'm holding you responsible."

Lauren nodded. She wasn't certain if she spoke if she wouldn't end up pissing off the crazy healer woman.

"Spit it out girl, you have questions written all over your face."

"What happened to her?"

The old woman sighed. "Not an easy question." She muttered, staring down at the stew pot. "She was my apprentice, she had such potential. She'd been studying as a Ballerina, can you imagine?" Melva cackled at that. "But she's a healer, through and through. Can't change that." Keen eyes flicked over at Lauren. "Can't change what you are, can you?"

Lauren didn't like the sound of that, because it implied she'd always had demonic urges. "I think some things can change who you are."

"Can reveal them you mean." Melva gave a yellow-stained smile. "No matter." She waved away whatever Lauren was about to say. "Healers are rare things; they tend to get used up by people who want them to do things for them. Violet tried to heal someone who'd died; you can't bring back the dead. It broke her."

"Oh." That was sad.

Lauren didn't say anything for a while just watched the woman make stew.

"I thought she'd die herself." Melva said after a few minutes, shaking her head. "Child's stronger than she looks. Much like you I think."

Lauren nodded. "I need to find Dianna and Quinn."

"I heard about her bar burning. Demons burned it you say?"

"Yep, the demon hounds."

"You certain it wasn't a bimbo that half-demon slept with trying to get back at her?" Melva gave a nasty smile.

"Dianna wasn't there, just me."

"So they're looking for you?" The hag snorted. "If I hear anything about the half-breed, I might send you a message."

"Thanks." Lauren doubted she'd be hearing from the woman.

"Take a pot of stew out with you. They'll need more food on the line by now." Melva waved her away.

Lauren pulled a face but did as she was asked.

"Melva likes you, she never asks people to help her with the stew that she doesn't know." Violet beamed up at Lauren as the darker woman came back to the table. "You must have really impressed her."

Lauren gave a weak smile. "Something like that." She sat back down next to the young woman. "Um, would you prefer if I called you Violet?"

"Violet?" Those blue eyes clouded over a little. "Who's that?"

"Could be you. Or would you prefer that I call you Blue?"

"No, Violet . . ." The blond shook her head, standing up suddenly. "Old Mother Hubbard, went to the cupboard to fetch her poor dog a bone." She closed her eyes pressing her hands against the side of her head.

Lauren got up quickly putting a hand on Vio . . . Blue's arm. "Blue, it's okay." She looked around expecting the crazy healer woman to come and blast her.

Melva was nowhere to be seen, although there were curious looks from a few of the other homeless. Blue bit her lip, nodding as she suddenly stood up. "We should go, others need food too. Melva doesn't have a lot."

"Okay." Lauren would have probably agreed to anything at the moment. "You said something about a shower?" She asked hopefully.

"Oh! Water, such hot water, it's so nice!" Blue completely forgot the worry from the moment before and danced around Lauren, twirling as she sang out. "Y M C A! It's fun to stay at the YMCA!"

Lauren winced.

************

They kissed, hard and urgent, hands mapping the plains of smooth warm flesh. Quinn pulled back slightly; their breaths were coming fast and they were so close for a moment they were breathing each other's breaths. She pushed until Dianna was on her back, all that skin laid out before her like the best meal at the most expensive restaurant in town. She knew she couldn't afford the bill but she was helpless to dive in anyway.

Strong hands urged her up and then she was opening her sex and lowering it onto Dianna's eager mouth the moment the woman's hot tongue touched her most intimate of places Quinn nearly gave a sob as the sensation overwhelmed her. It didn't take long for an orgasm to wash over her, curl her toes.

She didn't stop, didn't allow them to rest, it had been so long, and she had no idea when she'd get this chance again. Aggressively she pushed and prodded the woman to her hands and knees, surprised that Dianna would allow her to have this much control, surprised she could take it. The woman was breathtaking, as she pretended submission; Quinn had to doubt Dianna had let anyone else have her like this. It was heady. She ran her hands over the muscles of Dianna's back, over her sides, and roughly fondled her ass.

The detective was positive she'd never been this wet.

Quinn woke with a gasp, her hand inside the sweat bottoms she was wearing. It was tempting to move her fingers just a bit and let loose the orgasm that waited, straining to leave. Instead, she ripped her hands out of her pants and got up with a curse.

She had taken the couch despite Dianna's feeble attempts to get them to share the bed, and now she was happy she'd been strong about it. She was not certain if she could have handled the humiliation of getting herself off in her sleep next to the half-demon. She walked over to the window were healthy sunlight streamed in.

It was well past noon.

She stalked around the room, getting her emotions under control and then went into the small kitchen to start coffee.

Eyes still half closed, Dianna staggered out of the small bedroom, bounced off a wall she wasn't used to being there, and more or less made her way to the kitchen counter. "You're killing me." The half-demon growled, wearing only the skimpy panties and shift she'd gone to bed in. "You're doing it on purpose now!" She growled, pointing at Quinn.

"Shut the fuck up." Quinn snarled back, banging on the coffeepot, trying to make it brew faster.

She refused to look at Dianna, horrified that the woman had felt her dream. Her face was bright red.

"Damnit Quinn, it's been days since I've had sex and then you go having dreams like that! Could you at least have let me cum!" Dianna didn't mean to sound as if she was begging, but that was how it came out.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She muttered.

"Sure, whatever." Dianna snorted, well aware that her nipples were showing. "Anything else you want to delude yourself about?"

Quinn turned face angry. "I haven't had sex since before my son was born, so sorry if I'm less than sympathetic to your plight."

"Since . . .." Dianna blinked, waking up, the smell of coffee was helping a lot. "You haven't had sex in years?" The very idea of that was horrific to the half-demon. "Really? Years? Why?"

Quinn made a face and hurled the empty coffee cup at Dianna and it smashed next to her head.

"Fuck!" Dianna flinched away, pieces of ceramic bouncing off her. "What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled.

"You, and just you." Quinn sputtered, part of her horrified at losing it.

"Me what?" Dianna moved toward her, poking her with a finger. "You think you're the only one who's ever lost anything? You wear this injured nobility around you like a goddamn cloak all the time." It was all pouring out now, and Dianna didn't care if it made sense. "That was my entire life that just burned to the ground last night! The only family I've ever had is gone and you throw things at me for asking a fucking question!"

"What the hell have you lost? A bar, a place where you meet cute, young, vapid women and fuck them. Some family. That was private. My dream and you invaded it. I fucking told you how I felt and you just . . ." She grabbed the finger poking her and shoved Dianna back with a frustrated growl.

"Shows what you know." Dianna snarled, shoving Quinn with both hands, not quite hard enough to put the woman through a wall but certainly hard enough to push her back against the kitchen cabinets. "My sister lived in there, her ghost anyway. That was all I had left of her! The only person who's ever loved me just for me and she's gone now!"

Quinn let out an uff as her back met the cabinets. She heard the words and breathed heavily through her nose for a moment, processing them. Ghosts were rare, it was possible Dianna was making it up, but she doubted it, the pain was real. "I'm sorry. Maybe, maybe she's not gone."

"You saw the bar." Dianna's shoulders sagged and she looked defeated for the first time. "Hellfire burned everything." The portrait wouldn't have survived that.

"Yes, I saw the bar. But what the hell do we know about ghosts; if something remained then she does too."

It was the best she could do, she'd been wrong, self-absorbed in her own pain, although her dreams should still be her own, regardless.

Dianna nodded, taking a breath and standing a bit straighter. "I'm sorry about the dreams." She should probably explain that, but she didn't want to.

"Whatever." Quinn said pushing the half-demon back so she could move. "Just stay out of my head. You can't have me if I can't have you. I've made that clear. All or nothing." She bit out, getting out another cup.

"I'll try." And would fail, Dianna thought darkly. "No promises."

"Of course not, you're still a demon; at least parts of you are." She was made aware of the hot dampness, parts of her still aroused from that dream, and Dianna being here half-naked wasn't helping.

"Which is the real problem." Pale eyes narrowed at the Irish woman. "I'm just not good enough for you, too neutral."

"We're done talking about this." Quinn warned. She'd laid herself practically bare last night to Dianna and been rejected; she didn't want to keep bringing it up.

The half-demon refused to move away. "Tell me Maggie, does anyone measure up to your standards? Do you reject everyone because they just don't measure up?" The hell they were done talking about it just because Quinn said so.

Quinn's hands shook. "Don't, Dianna. I told you last night what I wanted and you can't be that person, so don't put this on me." It was too close to an argument her and her husband had shortly after Connor's birth and everything started going to shit in their marriage.

Something in her voice, or the emotions, made Dianna hesitate and hold back her next words. The two of them stared at each other, at an impasse until the fake redhead shook herself out of it. "I'm going to get dressed." Damn Quinn for making her want this.

"Take a shower. Get it out of your system. I'll go for a walk." Quinn said getting up.

"And get shot or kidnapped?" The other woman's nostrils flared. "No going anywhere. I'll . . . deal with it."

"No one's going to do anything to me. Not in this neighborhood. This quiet subdivision belongs to the demon Cain sold his soul to. Fucking get it out of your system." Because another dream like that, and Quinn might crack.

Dianna laughed, moving away and back toward the bedroom. "Funny thing is Quinn, that wasn't my dream." She slammed the door after her.

"Fuck." She said dropping her head into her hands. She'd been afraid of that.

Chapter 7

Quinn took another shower, while Dianna did whatever. She would not think about what the woman was doing behind closed doors.

If they were going to meet with Dianna's father, she couldn't do it smelling like arousal. She cracked her neck and slid the shirt on her brother had left for her. It was large but she could put the vest on and no one would tell. He hadn't seen her since . . . well she'd been larger before everything had happened. Now she had work and working out.

Behind those doors, Dianna was indulging herself in a good thorough sulk. She'd just had one of the worst nights of her entire life and she thought she deserved a little time to feel sorry for herself. When she heard the shower turn off though, she reached over and grabbed the bedside phone. Her cell was missing. Quickly she dialed a number from memory.

"Helga, yes, yes, it's me . . . Helga!" The older woman shut up. "Yes the bar burned, yes I'm fine. I don't know what's going to happen now, just tell everyone to stay home. I'll find out what happens and let you know. Okay?" She listened again and gave a sad smile. "I'm fine I don't know why I'd sound different. Talk to you soon." She hung up before there were any other questions.

Now to see what to wear to see good old dad.

"You ready?" She asked, striding out of her doors wearing the only clothes that would fit. Quinn thought she was a slut, so she might as well dress the part. The T-shirt was at least two sizes too small and rode high on her stomach, and tight against her breasts. The jeans were low on her hips and showed glimpses of the thong she'd chosen.

She didn't want to know why Quinn's brother had left clothes like that for her.

Quinn was sliding the holster over her arm. "One sec . . ." She nearly swallowed her tongue. She could not go into a den of succubi and incubi turned on, that was just a recipe for disaster. "That's what my brother brought for you to wear?"

"I think they fit nicely." She bent over, tugging on the thigh-hugging boots and flashed a look up at the cop. "Don't you think?"

Quinn nodded, she desperately wished she could go back and take back last night and her admission to Dianna, it just made things harder.

"Gotta be the daughter of an incubus after all, right?" There was a bitter note there as Dianna snatched up her coat that smelled like fire.

"Dianna." Quinn said reaching out and snagging her arm. She heard that bitterness and suddenly felt ashamed. "Dianna." She said again. "I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry if I did anything . . ." God she didn't know how to say it. "I like Dianna, the woman I see underneath everything she thinks she supposed to be. I'm sorry if I made you feel somehow beneath me."

"Don't worry Detective; I know my place in this world." Dianna lifted her head, damn if she'd feel bad about being who she was. "I've had enough humans tell me where I belong. Come on, we don't want to be meeting dad during the night. It won't go well."

Fuck, that hadn't gone well. "Yeah, you're right." She opened the guitar case on the couch. "You want any weapons, he left plenty."

"I'm a lover, not a fighter." Dianna purred, but she did take a nice large intimidating looking revolver for herself, which she shoved into her jacket pocket.

Quinn closed the case and slid a jacket on. More to hide the gun than anything else really. She picked up the car keys and tossed them at Dianna. "Let's go."

"So now I get to drive my car?" Dianna knew she was being unreasonable, but she just couldn't seem to stop.

Quinn looked at her confused. "You've always driven youre car. I only drove it here because you were having a meltdown. Understandably so." She opened the front door and stood outside waiting.

"It wasn't a meltdown." But the words sounded hollow even to her own ears as Dianna walked out past the cop and beeped open the doors on the car. Throwing herself into the driver's seat she waited for Quinn. "You ever meet an incubus before?"

Quinn locked the front door and wondered if they'd be back. She made her way to the car and got in.

"No, I don't think so. I'm pretty certain I'd remember, though, if I had." She hated this unbalanced feeling, and cursed herself for changing their dynamic. She shouldn't have told Dianna, now she'd just made things worse. Right now the only thing keeping her out of the DA clutches was Dianna. So she'd fucked everything up, her fault. She just needed to own up to it and move on or they weren't going to live through it. "Any words of wisdom?"

"Yeah, don't think about sex." Dianna answered darkly, shifting into gear and pulling away from the suburban neighborhood. This was not going to be a very fun encounter and she'd hoped they wouldn't have to resort to it at all. "Don't react to anyone he has there; remember, you're a cop out here, but in there, you're just another human." Dianna clenched the wheel.

"You should have some protection at least, from being with me." She said the last quietly, not looking over at Quinn.

It would be hard not to react but it wasn't as if she could call for backup. "I will do my best to forget I'm a cop in there." Sex normally wouldn't be an issue but after that dream and the clothes Dianna was wearing . . . She took a deep breath and focused on her son.

"And don't provoke anyone." Dianna glanced over at her, feeling the shifting emotions. She was getting entirely too good at feeling Quinn's emotions, that was a very bad sign.

"Fine, look, maybe I should just stay in the car." Of course, then she'd be worried about Dianna the whole time.

"We won't be driving there." Dianna gave her a crooked smile. "No roads that we want to drive on down there, he's near the asylum." She looked back over at the road, trying her best not to remember her previous two trips to that place.

"Fuck." Was all Quinn said, a shiver worked her way up her spine. She'd heard of the place, but she'd never been there herself. It was in the Gray, the heart of the Gray, not a place a human or police officer should go.

"Fun days." Dianna said grimly, driving them as far into the Gray as she could reasonably get them before the roads dissolved into complete disrepair. She parked next to what had once been a pharmacy, the front of the store having long ago collapsed out into the street and stepped out.

Pulling a large bill out of her pocket she tucked it under the windshield wiper. "There, maybe the car will be here when we get back." In response to Quinn's curious look she shrugged. "Trolls."

"Right." Quinn had never seen a troll and she was fairly certain she didn't want to. She followed close behind Dianna, her gun drawn, not that she was certain it would do any good, but it made her feel better.

"Are you Catholic?" Dianna asked suddenly as they walked past burnt-out cars. It was somewhere around two, but as usual there was no sun inside the Gray, only cloudy skies. It was best to make the approach during the daytime though, many of the worst things slept during the daytime.

"Mostly. My dad is a Priest." But after what had happened, Quinn's faith had waned like the moon. Of course her da hadn't loved them enough to stay after their mother died; he had lost himself in a bottle and then in the solace of the church. The priesthood had eagerly taken back one of their fallen. A nun and a priest fell in love, he was welcomed back and she had an unmarked grave in a Protestant graveyard, in death still rejected by her faith.

She loved him, it wasn't his fault the church was built on double standards. "I haven't really been to church since I buried my son."

"Dear old dad has a thing about corrupting Catholics, sees it as his duty." Dianna rolled her eyes. "Just wanted you to be aware of it, in case." There were a lot of things that Quinn should be aware of but there wasn't enough time to tell her everything. "You ever been near the heart of the Gray?" She watched the streets; every block brought them deeper, the very atmosphere around them seemed to become more foreboding.

"No. When you join the force you're told very quickly the Gray is not your jurisdiction. If you follow a perp inside of it, you'll have to pay your own medical bills. I patrol the barrier and if it looks like a suspect might make a break for the Gray I shoot them in the leg to prevent it." She'd only done it once but since he was beating up elderly women and raping them, nobody had felt sorry for him.

"So you don't know." Dianna chuckled. "You're something of a hero around here, Quinn. These people are in awe of the mighty demon slayer." She turned, gesturing behind them where, in abandoned buildings and alley ways, dirty faces peered out to watch them.

Quinn's face turned red in embarrassment. "I wasn't a hero, just a mother bear defending her cub." A day late and a dollar short, all she remembered was the anger and thinking that bitch demon might kill her, but Quinn was going to take her with her.

"Doesn't matter, you're still the human that killed someone that was causing a lot of trouble to these people's lives." Dianna looked away and kept walking, this was her second foray into the Gray in a handful of days. If she thought he'd listen, she might have considered praying to God for help.

"She deserved everything she got."

"No argument there. Hope my husband is roasting next to her in Hell." She clamped her jaw shut, not wanting to go there. "How much longer?" She wanted to be out of the Gray before dark.

"It's hard to judge." Dianna shrugged again. "If we're lucky before dark, if not, well? there are worse things than trolls out here. I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I kind of wish Lauren was with us. For being all quiet, she sure likes ripping demons apart." They were getting closer though; she could feel the dampness starting to settle into her bones that she always associated with the asylum.

"I still haven't seen her do her weird shape-changing, demon-killing mojo thing. So I'll take your word for it." It was still really hard to associate the quiet mousy woman with a demon killer. The farther they moved into the Gray, the more Quinn felt like her nerves were being drawn tight until they were brittle. Every cell in her body screamed at her to leave, start walking back the way they came and not look back.

"She's a good kid." Dianna said quietly, feeling the same edginess. "I hope she's all right." Which was the entire point of this little trip, they needed information. Needed it bad enough to come here.

"There." The half-demon said finally, pointing toward what had once been a park. It was full of dead trees now and brown grasses. "See the building on the other side?" She carefully ignored the asylum walls that they could see from where they stood. It sang out to a part of her, calling her and whispering promises. "That's his lair."

Quinn let out a breath. "Daylight's wasting, let's get this done." As pep talks went, it sucked.

Face tight, Dianna nodded and moved quickly. If she refused to look toward the heart of the Gray, she could pretend it wasn't there and maybe the siren's song would abate a little.

It didn't of course, but it made it a little easier to make it through the dead park, the wintry trees standing silent sentinel to their passage. The building that he had chosen as his had once upon a time been a shopping complex. Brightly colored signs advertising wares still hung from the outside.

"We're expected." The bar owner said quietly to Quinn, voice tight as she spotted a familiar corpse-like figure waiting by the main doors. It was early for Bachi to be up and around.

"I suppose that means I can't shoot it." Quinn said, easing her finger from the trigger. She wondered why an incubus would make his home in a shopping center and not in a strip joint; this seemed more geared toward a demon of greed than lust.

Dianna really wished she would, but it was too late now as they stopped in front of Bachi. The demon smiled at her, and again she felt that familiar flesh crawling sensation at the skeletal head's expression.

"Couldn't stay away, could you?" He laughed.

"Stuff it, Bachi, I'm here to see dad, not you."

"I'm hurt." He leered at her and then seemed to notice Quinn. "You brought him a present; maybe he won't be so angry at you after all."

"She's off-limits." Dianna growled.

"We'll see." Bachi licked his lips, pushing open the door for them.

Quinn didn't like being talked about as if she wasn't there, and she really didn't like being talked about as if she was a piece of meat. Wisely though, she held her tongue and said nothing; just followed behind Dianna, gun securely in her hand as a token of security.

Inside, the shopping mall had been transformed. Each store was turned into a play theme, at night they would be full of demons that were attracted by the incubus's power, drawing them to what he had to offer. That was how he controlled a fair size of the Grey, keeping the area in his debt by exploiting their lusts.

"He needed the room." Dianna said, swallowing as she passed by the pretty girls that were walking around. Bachi led them through the mall and she shivered as she felt the lusts and hurts washing around her. It was always confusing for her in here.

"To exploit." She explained, grasping at straws.

Quinn glared at the scantily clad women, some of them she'd bet were barely legal if that. She glared at them to keep them moving so they wouldn't tempt Dianna. She moved closer to the half-demon. "A playground for the depraved. Fun."

Sweat beaded along the half-demon's scalp and she gritted her jaw, taking refuge in Quinn's honest indignation. The depraved around her were not only demons; the Gray called to all sorts of desperate people. Runaways, murderers, abusers, anything and everyone was welcome.

"Seat of his power." She groaned, feeling someone's nearby torture tug at her.

It truly was the land of freedom she thought darkly.

"He's waiting for you." Bachi had stopped in front of one of the larger stores, eyes watching Quinn as he mentally undressed the human. He wondered if she'd scream for mercy or not.

Quinn rolled her eyes at the look.

She'd seen it plenty in rapists and other abusers. Checking her out, wondering where the chink in her armor was, how they could break her. She'd seen it plenty and it disgusted her but it no longer fazed her. She put a hand on Dianna's back, wanting to reassure her that it was okay, that she was here and had her back no matter how bad it got. She nearly gasped at the tingle as her hand made contact with Dianna's back. Some sort of static charge.

Her grip on the gun was unwavering though, and her eyes never left the thing in front of them, wanting to use it so badly on him it made her finger itch to move.

The half-demon startled in shock at the contact on her bare back and then her muscles relaxed. The touch reinforced her link with the cop and she selfishly indulged in the other woman's emotions. They overrode everything else and she took in a deep breath, pleased that the barrage of emotions was fading. Ignoring Bachi, she moved through the doors and into her father's private domain. Here there were both pretty girls and boys, her father had no preference.

These were his private playthings, they all had the glazed-over look of someone fully addicted to an incubus. They'd do anything he asked them, anything at all.

"Come to pay me back what you owe me?" The masculine voice was not happy as he stepped into view, naked except for a robe that did nothing to cover his perfectly sculpted body.

"Malax." Dianna swallowed, watching the dark-haired man stride toward them.

"Daughter." He wasn't watching her though, those devastatingly blue eyes were focused on Quinn.

It was hard to be quiet; Quinn wanted to ask who the hell Malax was. But she managed and when his eyes fixed on her she drew every ounce of will power she had learned dealing with Dianna and hundreds of other demons and half-breeds over the years.

She could feel his gaze like physical fingers, touching her; in response she drew back the hammer of the gun in her hand and thought of her son covered in blood.

"This is Detective Quinn." Dianna swallowed again, tense even with the feel of Quinn's hand on her back. Meetings with Malax were never pleasant.

"Quinn . . . ahh yes." Understanding dawned and Malax laughed, turning to help himself to a glass of something that a pretty young human teenager fetched him. "Did you bring her here to pay your debt to me? I admit it's an unusual choice but she does make a striking figure."

Quinn's teeth ground together, it was so hard not to say anything.

"She's mine." Dianna slid an arm up along Quinn's, sliding it around the cop's waist, touching skin. She needed this contact or she'd completely loose herself here.

"Is she now?" Malax smiled, an expression that sent the nearest of his harem to their knees, quivering near him. He played with the hair on the head of the nearest.

Quinn nearly misfired the gun at the touch. She swallowed and almost moaned. Absently she relaxed the hammer of the gun and took her finger away from the trigger.

"If she is not my gift, you owe me the rest of your mortgage on the bar." He laughed a beautiful sound. "I rather like playing banker, it amuses me that you were forced to come to me to get money."

Dianna's hand clenched in anger. "I did what I had to." The story of her life. "I'm here because we need information, something you have a lot of."

"Information is pricey and you already owe me so much." He walked closer, smiling pleasantly. "Perhaps you'll have to prove yourself again. Do you remember how pleasant that was? Bachi does." He looked slyly at Quinn, enjoying these word games.

Quinn's gaze darted to the thing at the door her eyes narrowing.

"Didn't know that, did you, human? Would you like me to show you how I had Dianna prove she was my daughter?" Malax laughed again at the look on his daughters face.

The cop's mouth opened to say something but then she closed it, hating it but having to trust in Dianna. This was not a place she understood, words uttered could be held against her or bind her in promises not intended.

"She's not a part of the deal." Dianna stepped in between them, face tight. "We need information on a demoness and where a friend of ours is. It's not much for someone who knows everything that everyone wants in the Gray."

"Tell him he can have the bar. Tell him you forsake it, he can resell it and recover his monetary loss. He's not going to help." She said the words in a rush, breaking her silence.

Dianna's back stiffened under Quinn's touch but Malax's eyes sharpened. "You'll forsake your claims on the bar to me?" He almost purred at that.

"Yes." Dianna's whisper was harsh. "If that's the price." It hurt more than she'd expected.

Bingo, he knew shit that could help them. The bar was gone, burned in demon fire a worthless piece of property that no one would buy.

Malax moved right up into Dianna's personal space, fingers stroking her cheek. "All of your claims." He repeated.

She jerked her head with a nod, out of his touch.

Quinn's eyes narrowed, she didn't like the sound of that. "Wait. What does he mean, all of them?"

"Doesn't matter." Dianna hissed, as Malax's attention swung to the human. He stepped around his daughter, eyes almost luminous as he moved closer to Quinn. "The mighty demon slayer herself." His voice purred as he drew closer to her. "I should welcome you properly."

Quinn raised the gun up, "Not if you want to keep that trouser snake working between your legs." It was level with his crotch. "Knowing my brother, this is loaded with something that will hurt a little."

Malax smiled a radiant expression as he began to focus his entire will on Quinn. Dianna slid a hand against his cheek, turning his head toward her before things got ugly. "She's not part of the deal." The half-demon repeated. "You want the bar, you give me the information and we complete the deal. Touch her and you get nothing."

Her father hesitated; he wanted Quinn, that was obvious. Slowly, he stepped away and Dianna shook with relief.

Quinn was tense enough she expected to shit a diamond. "I want to know what he means by all your claims."

"The human was with Melva today, seems to be tagging along with Melva's little dimwit of an assistant." He flicked his robe over his arousal. "You'll find them in the old church. As for Alvera, she desires a way back into this world. Something that she thinks your human can take away from her."

Both of them ignored Quinn, father and daughter staring at one another. "That is what you wished, isn't it?" He smiled and Dianna slowly nodded.

"Who is after Lauren, tell us that and we have a deal." Dianna said, almost forgetting that bit.

"Alvera of course. It has a beautiful symmetry to it don't you think?" He laughed again. "A powerful foe, I will be interested in seeing who wins, either way will suit me." The demon held out his hand.

Reluctantly, Dianna let go of Quinn and held out her own which he grabbed. Bone crunched on bone and her legs folded under her as she went to her knees with a cry of pain. "You are nothing to me now." He growled. "All you had is mine; your claim on my domain revoked."

Quinn fired, an instinct, to save her friend, but she did not fire at Malax but at his seat of power. Most major demons like to keep a reservoir of power stored near them. In case, just in case. A totem carved into his bed, a symbol of power collecting every lusty thought and deed. "Let go of her now. Or I shoot you next."

"Feisty aren't you?" Malax let go, smiling as he stepped away. "I will love to get to know you better." He promised as Dianna got shakily to her feet.

Quinn wanted to say something, but she decided not push her luck. She moved to Dianna's side.

"Are you okay?" She asked whispering into Dianna's ear as she flicked the safety on and stuffed the gun into the back of her pants.

Her arms went around Dianna, helping her.

"Peachy." Dianna gritted her teeth; fairly certain he'd just broken bones in her right hand as Quinn helped her to her feet. Malax watched them with hooded eyes and she wanted to get the hell out of there. "We should go, now."

Quinn nodded and herded them to the door. "I'm sorry; I should have kept my mouth shut." She said quietly. She couldn't help feeling this was her fault.

"Was worth it to see you aim a gun at his dick." Dianna forced a grin, shoving past Bachi and out into the mall.

"I should have pulled the trigger." Quinn said with a glare at what's his name at the door. "Uh, did you really sleep with that, that . . . thing?"

"I had to prove I was his daughter." Dianna jerked her arm out of Quinn's touch, she couldn't bear to feel the disgust that she was certain would follow. Curious and sometimes hostile eyes watched them leave.

"Would you stop it?" Quinn said exasperated. "I don't think any differently of you, other than sorry you felt you had to do something you didn't want to."

"Let's just get out of here." Dianna said, holding her right hand. It throbbed painfully and was already starting to swell. Bastard had broken something in it.

Quinn sighed, rebuffed. "Yeah." She fished the gun out of her pants and flicked the safety off. She didn't really trust Malax to just let them go.

"Where to now?"

"We should find Lauren I guess?" Dianna cradled her hand to her chest, walking faster as they left the front doors to the mall. The trees seemed even more foreboding now and she wondered if that was just her imagination.

"How pissed is your dad going to be when he finds out he just got a pile of hellfire scorched earth?"

"He knows. He wants the land it was on. He'll use it to expand the Gray." Dianna's words were short and clipped by pain. "He's pissed I won't be paying him five grand a week anymore though."

Fuck and Quinn thought they'd gotten the better end of the deal. She sighed. "Alright let's find Lauren and I'll try not to make things worse by talking."

"Don't stop now." Dianna forced a grin. "I mean you could.. QUINN!" She yelled, seeing the thin stick of a man suddenly dart out from between the dead trees at the human. Bachi moved with a deadly silent intent, blade gleaming in his right hand as he leapt at the human.

With years of training behind her Quinn didn't even hesitate she turned and fired; three shots to the chest and two to the head.

They fell in a tangle of limbs, Quinn cursed as the gun flew out of her hand.

Bachi tumbled into Quinn, thrashing as the bullet holes she'd shot him with smoked. Still not dead even with all that damage. "You son of a bitch . . ." Quinn fumbled with her pistol, awkward in her left hand; the fingers in her right weren't working too well at the moment. Before she could manage it the demon's convulsing slowed and then stopped as he died, tangled up on top of Quinn.

He was surprisingly heavy, and Quinn grunted trying to push him off of her.

"Quinn?" Dianna gave up on the gun, using her good hand to help push the dead demon off the cop. "You okay?"

Quinn got up slowly; she had to wonder if that was meant for her. "Come on, let's get going before any more surprises."

One last kick and Dianna nodded, jaw tight with pain.

Without hesitating, Dianna handed her gun over to the Detective.

Quinn's nostrils flared when their skin touched and she had a sudden desire to crush her lips to the other woman's. She yanked her hand back and shoved the gun into her holster.

For a brief second pain was washed away in something far more pleasant and Dianna's lips quirked up in a grin at the human. "You're dangerous."

Quinn blinked. "What?"

"Those deep emotions of yours." Dianna sighed as the pain crept back in. "Come on."

Quinn licked her lips as she watched Dianna's lips move. She had to shake her head slightly to shake loose her thoughts. "What about them?" She moved to follow, feeling warm she undid the top button on her shirt.

"I can feel them from over here." Which was true, the pain masked them a bit, but she could feel Quinn's arousal and anger. The combination was intoxicating. "I hope the information we got was worth it."

Following didn't help because she had to look at Dianna's ass highlighted in those tight jeans. It had to be Malax's influence she'd been fine before entering that place.

"Did we really get anything?" She asked voice cracking

"Sure." Dianna was having trouble focusing as she felt where Quinn's desires were going. Since when did she have to be good? She was half-demon for god's sake! "Alvera's behind the attacks on Lauren, we didn't know that. Or that she's trying to come back."

Her emotions really didn't seem to be all that deep right now. "Okay. That is something new. How did she find out about Lauren? I can't even find out about Lauren." She put a hand over the cut on her arm, it was hot to the touch and slick with blood, she squeezed it tightly needing the pain to clear her head as her dream from this morning came back to her.

Dianna stopped abruptly; they were only a few blocks away from the edge of the Gray now, and turned to grab Quinn's shoulder with her good hand. "You have to stop." Pale eyes were wide and dilated. "Please, you're torturing me."

"I'm trying." Quinn said quietly. "I was fine until the attack, keeping everything buried; your father did something to me." She didn't know that for sure but suddenly her control was at its ragged end.

The half-demon whimpered, eyes closing at the touch. "Please." She breathed.

Dianna's skin was cool and soft to the touch. Quinn could feel every exhale against her skin. She felt like she was burning where Dianna touched her. "Let me go Dianna, I can't seem to help myself." Everything was suddenly so close to the surface.

"Can't." The other woman groaned and then she pulled Quinn against her, exalting in the feel of her body pressed against each other. Not caring anymore she tilted her head, wanting a kiss, needing one more than she thought was possible. Aching for it.

"I want you more than anything." It was true but this wasn't the place for such admissions, but it didn't stop her from closing the gap and kissing Dianna with all the passion she had stored up.

Moaning, Dianna turned them, pushing Quinn up against an abandoned storefront. Desire and passion, the emotions swept through her so hot they burned everything else away. She needed Quinn or was it that Quinn needed her? She couldn't tell whose emotions they where.

Quinn felt hot enough to light up the night sky. She bit and sucked at Dianna's lips, while hands slipped along bare flesh to find purchase under that too short shirt.

Her cop's brain told her it wasn't right, none of it. It screamed of a setup. Except it felt so extremely right. Dianna was inside her skin, touching places that had never been touched, inflaming passions she didn't even know she had. The cop in her wouldn't shut up that something was off.

Diana leaned her head against the rough wall, trembling with desire. Fuck--she was going to die if she didn't get some release soon; she needed this like she needed breathing and right now she would have gladly given up breathing to have Quinn. "This is a bad idea, worse idea doing it here. We can't stay here."

Quinn's breath caught at the kiss against her skin. "Later, someplace where your father isn't around. Sorry, so sorry, I put us at risk." He'd gotten to her somehow made all those private emotions rise uncontrollably to the top

"Why are you having such a hard time now?" Dianna murmured, suddenly grabbing Quinn's arm so she could peer closer at the small wound. It still was bleeding a little, bright-red blood seeping through. But around the edges there were flakes of something darker, almost black and she suddenly understood what Bachi had tried to do.

"Bastard." She whispered. "Bachi's blade was coated, probably had a bit of Malax's blood on it, that's why you're having trouble. The blood of an incubus can unlock all sorts of inhibitions." Unaccountably, the half-demon felt sadness at that. So all of this was because of the blood, not because Quinn had actually decided she wanted her.

Firmly, and against every instinct in her, Dianna pushed away from the human.

Quinn gave a bitter laugh. Her blue eyes were dark as they watched Dianna push away from her. "That doesn't mean those aren't my emotions, he didn't give them to me, force them on to me. He just brought them to the surface." She pushed away from the wall and straightened her clothes. "But wait I'm Quinn, I'm Robocop, I can't possible feel anything for anyone. I'm a sexless creature that vaguely looks human. Let me tell you Theron, those were all mine, as embarrassing as it is to have them all brought to the surface and laid bare, that was all me."

She kicked the wall in frustration. "Just go, just start walking. I'll follow 10 feet behind so I don't fucking taint you with my feelings." Quinn didn't feel any better for the outburst because Dianna was still there. She could see a bloody handprint, hers, just under Dianna's breast. Desire spiked again, remembering the feeling of Dianna's skin. "Just go." She said again, her voice laced with misery.

"Taint me?" Dianna laughed. "Quinn, do you even realize who it is that you're talking to right now? You can't taint me, those emotions?" The half-demon hesitated. "They're strong, just like you, and beautiful." She looked away. "But you shouldn't have been forced to share them with me like this, in the middle of the Gray."

Quinn nodded, her expression was still miserable. "Let's just get going." She wasn't a hundred percent positive Dianna wasn't just being nice so they could get the hell out of this place. "Before I share more than my emotions." The heat was coming back, radiating out from her bones.

"I would really like it if you would." Dianna groaned though and turned, starting to walk. Why was she having to be the good one? She was a half-demon for fucks sake! The throbbing pain in her hand was the only reason she could avoid jumping Quinn right there and then.

Quinn watched her go, holding back until she felt that Dianna was far enough in front of her. Then slowly she started moving. Focusing on breathing, hoping to gather all her scattered emotions and put them back down deep inside before she got them killed. She nearly had just now; overwhelming Dianna, distracting them both like that in the Gray was deadly.

"I know where he was talking about. It isn't far." Dianna called behind her, nerves jangling from their recent exchange. She couldn't recall the last time she'd gone so many days without release, and now after having tasted Quinn, she was finding it very hard to simply walk away. Even the throbbing pain in her hand wasn't enough to fully distract her from the throbbing between her legs.

"Okay." Quinn said from behind. This was torture, why couldn't half-demons be ugly, why did Dianna have to go show her that behind all those facades she was actually a decent person. She cared for Lauren that much was obvious; she even kind of cared about her, or respected her for killing Alvera.

The cut in her arm pulsed each step heat and desired bubbled from somewhere inside of her. Fucking incubus's and their fucking games, she thought angrily and then deliberately kicked a large chunk of cement stubbing her toe. The flash of pain momentarily cleared her head.

"Stop hurting yourself!" Dianna grated out harshly without looking back, wobbling in front of Quinn. This was intolerable, something was going to have to give or she was going to kill someone! She never wanted to be linked with a human, hadn't even known it could be this intense or she would have run away screaming before Quinn had even introduced herself.

"Sorry." Quinn said quickly, confused how Dianna knew what she was doing back here. They needed to have a talk and soon, this had started with that kiss back at the bar before she had left.

"Just? don't do that." Dianna growled, quickening her pace. The sooner they were out of the street and had found Lauren, the better. She wasn't going to be able to survive much more of this.

***********

Alvera, dark goddess of the down below, seductress and tempter of men's souls, wasn't very happy. She stared at the body at her feet. "What is that?"

The minions shifted nervously chirping in their tongue. The blob like thing moved forward a slit formed making a mouth. "That is Challa. I believe."

The demoness poked it with a stiletto-clad foot. "The girl?"

"Still on the loose. Also to give you more bad news, the DA picked up Maggie Quinn, she escaped, which from what I understand is a good thing. The agent in charge was going to kill her. It seems like she's pissed off the man."

"I understand the feeling, but she's mine to kill." Alvera said drawing back her bloodied foot. "Get me the Blood Witch, I need to know what Challa saw. That abomination needs to be put down before she upsets the balance of things."

Everyone fled to do her bidding.

*******

Lauren followed the dancing and singing Blue, not really sure where they were going but really, she felt compelled to chase after Blue and make sure nothing happened to her. Which was silly because Blue had been taking care of herself just fine before Lauren popped into her life. Clutched to Lauren's chest was her sister's black bag. The tea had helped some but the shakes were coming back, she'd have to pick a vial and inject herself soon, the muscles were starting to cramp in her neck and along her spine.

"Here, showers." Blue came to a sudden stop at the edge of the Gray, pointing at one of the few buildings that held life still in it. The old YMCA was still in operation, stubbornly resisting the Gray that had crept around it. "Hot showers." She practically moaned the word as she turned to look at Lauren, eyes wide.

"Thanks." Lauren said with a smile. She had to wonder how this place had stayed free of demons. Moving forward into the building she looked around suspiciously.

"Don't worry about them." Blue grabbed Lauren's hand, pulling her toward the side entrance that she used when she visited. A group of men lounged by the door, weapons quite visible as they talked and joked back and forth. Harley bikes pulled up nearby were festooned with colors and elaborate paint jobs, the brighter the better.

"They keep an eye on things." She explained, threading her fingers with Lauren's as she brightly waved at the nearest bald man with a huge mustache.

Lauren blushed as Blue threaded their fingers together and she weakly smiled at the bald man as she was dragged behind Blue.

"You don't talk much do you?" Blue giggled, as the men made way and bowed to her as she passed. "They're silly." She pronounced, leading Lauren through the back ways of the complex and toward the showers.

"Silly isn't really a word I would use to describe them." Lauren said to prove she could talk. As they came to the showers, the young woman blinked. "Ah, it's open shower, no private stalls." She wasn't certain her face could get redder.

"No one will bother us." Blue promised, shoving a bar across the door to lock it from the inside. There'd been problems with that a few times until the inner lock had been rigged up. The large shower area could handle a dozen women and Blue happily set about stripping in front of Lauren.

"You don't like getting naked either?" The homeless woman teased as Lauren stared

"Either?" Lauren said when she picked her jaw off the ground. This wasn't good, Blue, despite the robes of poverty and homelessness she wore, was a fit and lovely looking woman. She made her decision which vial to use, the one that made her skin like stone and ultra-strong was rather aggressive. She settled on the one that gave her wings. She tended to be mellower even if she liked to take shiny objects.

"I'll be just a second . . ." Her eyes darted around the old locker room until she found a bathroom stall. "I'll just . . . yeah."

"Okay." Blue looked at her puzzled, but started up the first shower, waiting until the first blast of steaming water settled out. The rag tag pants and shirt were quickly tossed aside and the naked woman practically leapt into the water stream.

"It feels good!" She stuck her head out, frowning. "I don't know youre name. I'm sorry; I forget things, like names sometimes. I know what people think but I'm not stupid, I just, sometimes thoughts hurt, you know?"

Her muscles seized and Lauren nearly dropped the needle. "Uh, oh, yeah? thoughts can hurt, memories especially." She got the needle into her skin.

"Are you okay?" Blue stepped more out of the shower, dripping wet.

With a push of the plunger, peace settled over her. "I'm fine. My name's Lauren by the way." The laziness of the Great Wyrm settled into her DNA, soothing her.

She tossed the needle and the vial back into the case; she'd have to remember to toss the used needle. She opened the door and set down the case and started removing her clothes. It would have been nice to have clean ones but she didn't think it was very likely that would happen.

The shaggy blond didn't look very believing of that, but she stepped back under the water. "You don't sound fine."

"I'll be better than fine in a moment." She said with a smile; her eyes flashed gold in color and then back to brown. With a contented purr, she stepped under a nozzle of hot water.

"Is it drugs?" Blue glanced quickly over at her, admiring the darker skin and clean lines. Lauren looked nice she decided, not scary like most of the other women that Blue ran into. "Drugs are bad."

Lauren winced feeling somewhat ashamed. "Kind of . . . I don't know really."

"Your arms have marks." Blue said, moving out of her shower to grab Lauren's hand, turning over the arm and tracing the needle marks with her fingertips.

Lauren gasped, surprised and her eyes shifted color. "Blue." She pleaded. "Please don't."

The other woman ignored her, humming to herself, lips moving to a song that didn't quite fit the humming and Lauren's skin heated where Blue's fingers touched and stroked. The skin shifted under her coaxing, returning to what it should have been as Blue reminded it that it should be whole. The redness seeped away and all that was left were small pockmark scars.

"There." Blue whispered, looking up a little into Lauren's eyes. "Better."

Stunned, Lauren looked from her arm to the woman holding it. "Amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

Blue ducked her head, wet hair swinging in front of her face. "I like helping people and you're hurting." She kept her fingers where they were, inching closer. The air was cold and Lauren's shower and body were warm.

Lauren's eyes got wider. "Blue? I don't think that's a good idea." Her body did, but her body was betraying her left and right these days. Plus Melva would kill her if she did anything to or with Blue.

"Oh." Blue ducked her head, snatching her hand away. "I'm sorry, I thought, I mean . . . you were nice to me, and I thought you liked me, but . . . I'm sorry." She pulled away, back to her own shower, shoulders shaking.

"Blue, no, I mean yes. Yes, I do like you." She said louder than necessary as the other woman retreated.

"It's okay." Blue scrubbed at her hair, hard. "I know, I know, Blue, you're cute but I don't like girls like that, Blue you're funny but I like girls that have money, Blue, Blue, Blue, that means no, no, no."

"Blue . . ." The words tangled in her throat. "I like girls like that, I like you like that, but I've never had a girlfriend let alone kissed a girl, and I'm not exactly safe to be around." The words came out in a messy rush of vowels.

The scrubbing slowed to a stop and Blue turned. "You like me? Really? You're not just saying that to the poor girl?" Blue's eyes were wide and hopeful.

"I'm really not in a position to judge you about anything." Lauren said her breath catching; Blue was long lanky limbs with defined muscles in her legs, and naked. Lauren diverted her eyes

"Oh." As soon as it had come the sadness disappeared, replaced by a radiant smile. "I like you too, I think I do. You're nice and you look really good." Blue bit her lip, blushing a little.

Lauren blushed harder. "Thanks." She hurried and washed herself afraid; she'd do something bad to Blue, afraid the demons inside her would take over. "You have a nice bod . . . um.. you look good too." She said with a shy glance at the other woman.

Giggling, Blue started washing again, much happier than a minute ago. "You've never had a girlfriend? Not even a little one?" She kept stealing glances over at Lauren.

"No, I was too afraid what . . ." she sighed. "I was too afraid of everything."

"Oh. Were you afraid of kissing?" Blue licked her lips.

"No, I wanted that more than anything. I was afraid of everyone else. My parents more than anything, they were very, very Catholic; being gay wouldn't have been a good thing in their eyes, and I was already a failure in so many ways to them."

"I'm sorry, that sounds horrible." Blue scrunched up her face, turning off the shower she'd been using. "It's okay if you say no, or you don't want to, but I could kiss you?" She said hopefully.

Lauren swallowed. "I'd like that." For a moment she thought she might hyperventilate

Completely at ease naked, Blue padded forward, licking her lips again as she got closer. "You're shivering." She whispered, fingers trailing against the skin of Lauren's arms. "Birds of a feather flock together, and so will pigs and swine, rats and mice will have their choice, and so will I have mine."

Lauren was sure that it made sense to Blue but as long as she wasn't a pig or swine she'd live.

"I'm a little scared I think." She said softly.

"Scared of me?" Blue took a little half step closer, the hot water splashing down on her.

"No, god no, maybe of the moment. Maybe how things might change once I kiss you. Maybe . . ." She gave a nervous giggle. "There are a lot of maybes."

"Maybe you should shut up." Blue teased.

Lauren's jaw clicked shut.

"Hush little baby, don't say a word, Mama's gonna buy you a mockin'bird." She sang quietly, leaning up and ever so carefully pressing her lips against Lauren's. Her chest brushed against Lauren's and she gasped in surprise. Swallowing she pulled back, shaking a little herself.

Maybe they should have waited to kiss when their clothes were on. Lauren's hands went around Blue's waist. "You okay?"

"Good." She swallowed. "But could we . . . I mean, again?"

Lauren nodded. She raised up on her toes to kiss Blue.

This time was better, longer, without either of them gasping and drawing back in surprise. Blue felt like singing and dancing when they stopped and she threw her arms around Lauren, hugging the naked woman tight.

Lauren was feeling different. Her fingers dug into Blue's sides and for a moment she wanted things very less sweet and innocent. Her eyes were gold and skin bubbled. Her gut cramped and with all the inner strength she could muster she let go of the woman pushing her back a bit. "Blue, I need you to step back." Her voice hissed out as her skin reformed into hard scales. "Please, I don't want to hurt you."

"Sorry!" Blue scampered backwards, eyes wide as she stared at Lauren. "Your eyes . . . how'd you do that?" She stared at Lauren confused.

Lauren stepped back as well her back hitting the cold tile wall and she slipped down it and hid her face in her hands wanting to cry. Her first kiss and she nearly raped the woman. How fucked up was that?

"Oh . . . no, please don't cry. I liked the kiss." Blue wrapped her arms around herself, wanting to help but Lauren had told her not too.

Lauren gave a hiccupping laugh. "It's not your fault, I liked the kiss too." She mumbled out through her fingers. "Its my fault."

"Why?" Cautiously Blue crept forward until she knelt near Lauren's feet, the hot water keeping them warm.

"Cause. I can't control the things inside me. A simple kiss and the demon comes bursting out wanting more, wanting to take."

"Take?" Blue blinked. "Take me?"

Lauren nodded her face heating up even more despite the scales that now covered it.

"Oh." Blue reached out to touch those scales, fascinated. "Would it be ummm . . . taking, if I gave?"

"What?" Lauren looked up from her hands shocked.

Blue blushed, turning very red. "It's not taking if someone gives." She said quietly.

"True, but you hardly know me. That's something pretty important to give to someone you don't know."

"I know you, the important parts." Blue drew her hand away. "But I know people are slower at this." Impulsively she leaned in and kissed Lauren quickly. "We should go; others will want to use the showers."

Lauren was so stunned she forgot she was upset, she nodded and slowly stood up.

*********

Quinn looked around the abandoned building. "Someone was here. But they're not here now."

It had taken awhile but she'd found the room someone used to live in. There was fuel for a fire and a bed of sorts.

"I can't believe you found this." Dianna stepped around lumps of what she hoped were only coal, staring in fascination at the old-style boilers around them. "You think it was Lauren?"

"I'm a detective, I detect." She said with a sniff. "As to the person or persons, I have no idea."

"Can't you just detect that?" Dianna snipped, still on edge from earlier. Things were definitely strained between the two women.

She looked through two different sleeping nests. "Human or half-demon, demons just smell different. But nothing left behind to say who was here." She stood up her mouth in a thin line. "Fine, I'm Lauren, the second home I've ever known is destroyed. I have no food, water or supplies, where in this area would I go to get that stuff?"

She cracked her neck. "I'm thinking a church or soup kitchen. No questions, no one would look at you twice."

"Two choices then." Dianna bent down to peek in the teakettle that was inside of one of the boilers, sniffing its contents. "The church she came with me to get the stuff to heal your leg, and the YMCA isn't too far from here, they do handouts some days."

"Church." To Quinn's mind was the logical place. "She's been there before; it will have some sense of safety with its familiarity."

"Melva's not going to be happy to see me again so soon." Dianna sighed and stood up, catching Quinn watching her ass.

"Fine, I'll go to the church and you go to the Y." Quinn said looking away.

"What and let you regain your composure? No way, we go together." Dianna said with a smile, her sadistic side showing.

Quinn sighed and ran a shaky hand through her hair. "Fine, whatever." She started up the creaking metal staircase.

"Love the view." Dianna teased from behind her, following her up the stairs. Quinn certainly had a nice firm-looking backside.

"Stop it Dianna." Quinn growled out. "You don't get to tell me to control myself in one breath and then start teasing me in the next." She'd had the whole walk to get her emotions back under control. Her arm throbbed and ached where the cut was, the skin was hot and red. Flashes of Dianna and her, locked in a passionate embrace flickered in her head and she was asserting every piece of control she had not to put them in danger and not to get herself rejected again.

Twice was a record for her making a fool of herself.

"Quinn, this is what I am. You met my father, sex is part of me." Dianna shifted the makeshift sling she'd made to keep her hand steady. She'd made the mistake once of touching it against her thigh on the walk here and had nearly doubled over in pain.

"The connection just makes things even worse." She muttered.

She knew that, had always known that about Dianna, that's why she'd never said anything or acted on her attraction. Except last night, the stupidest thing she'd ever done. "What was that. What connection?"

"Between us, good god, you aren't going to tell me you haven't noticed it?" Dianna reached the top of the stairs after Quinn, throwing up her good hand in annoyance.

Quinn blinked and turned around looking at Dianna. "I . . . you could always feel emotions. I just thought it was that, that I was slipping, I needed to work harder."

"Well, that's not it." Dianna snorted, looking away. "It's partly my fault I guess, I should never have taken your pain away. It just made it stronger every time I did it and then . . ." She shook her head.

"And then what?"

"And then everything fell apart and your feelings came out and now I don't think it's ever going to go away!" Dianna whirled on her, yelling, fear and anger merging. "It's going to be fun feeling your pity for me, or how I disgust you for the rest of my life!"

Quinn's eyebrows rose into her red hair. "Then take the connection away. If it bothers you so much, take it away."

"I can't!" Dianna shoulders slumped and she dropped her arm, pale eyes watching Quinn with something like fear in them. "I can't." Turning she pushed past the human, eager to leave.

They made it outside of the abandoned building and Quinn looked around. "We're not done talking about this connection thing." But she was willing to let it drop for now, as they had more important things to do, like finding Lauren. They weren't too far from where the bar had been.

"How do we get to the church?"

"This way." Dianna glanced at the sky, it was still daylight, but they were burning precious time with every argument. Quickly she started moving, hoping they could get this over with before night fell. "Melva's the one who I went to get your knee healed." She explained as they moved, wondering how long they could go without something else trying to attack them.

Quinn followed doing her best to stay back away from Dianna, but when her focus wavered she would find her steps increasingly drawing her closer to the woman. "Thank you for that by the way, healing my knee." And the only payment Dianna had wanted was for her to take Lauren and go. Dianna was a better person than a lot would give her credit for, herself included.

"Yeah well?" The former bar owner rolled her eyes at herself. "I wanted my bed back." It was lame as explanations went but she kept getting distracted every time Quinn got closer to her. Was she always going to be a slave to the human woman's feelings now? The thought set her teeth on edge and she moved faster. "Melva's strange, just to warn you. She's not a demon, I never could figure out what she was exactly, but she's been here for a long, long time."

Quinn somehow thought she wasn't going to like this healer woman. "I promise to be on my best behavior when I meet her." She said moving faster to keep up with Dianna."

"She might like you; she likes anyone who takes an active dislike to most of what I do." Dianna slowed finally as they reached the crumbling church. What exactly, she wondered, had she done that was so bad she deserved to visit Melva twice in one week?

"The soup kitchen must be just closing." The half-breed nodded at the homeless and abandoned that were slowly trickling out of the ruined church. There were always more of them than she suspected could survive in the Gray. She thought, or at least hoped, that most of them simply stayed at the edge of the Gray.

"Half-breed." Melva spotted them far earlier than Dianna would have liked and the hunched over woman moved to stop them at the door. "What do you want?"

"Pleasant, isn't she?" Dianna said aside to Quinn, earning her an even darker scowl from the dark-skinned healer.

"She certainly seems to have your number." Quinn responded. She stepped forward unconsciously placing her hand on the small of Dianna's back. She gasped and her eyes dilated. The cop wanted to rip the half-demon's clothes off right there. It was close for a second, only her stubborn will kept her from, in her opinion, utterly embarrassing herself again. She snatched her hand away, and gritted her teeth for a second before croaking out. "We're looking for our friend. A young woman named Lauren; I understand you met her the other night."

Dark eyes studied the human and then the flushed and far-away look on Dianna's face. After a second or two the crone startled cackling, almost bent over laughing as she held herself up against the side of the church door. "Oh! It's priceless! The mighty Dianna tamed by a human, tell me half-breed, does she lead you around on a leash?" Melva laughed.

Dianna tensed, eyes furious, but Melva was already ignoring her, studying Quinn as she continued chuckling to herself. "And you must be the one with the knee problem. I wondered then why this one," a thumb was hooked at Dianna, "would bother caring. It's clearer now. Come in, I was about to have tea, I think I'll enjoy hearing this story."

"We don't have time?" Dianna grumbled, not wanting to get humiliated again.

"Yes, you do. Lauren's with a friend of mine, perfectly fine. They should be back here shortly in fact if I know my friend's patterns well enough." Melva moved away from them, surprisingly fast for an old woman.

Quinn hesitated, but then followed not really having anything better. "Tea sounds great." She said weakly knowing somehow Dianna was mad at her. "Uh, since you're a healer, do you have anything for this cut? It's infected with some demon blood." Maybe if the wound was treated everything would go back to the way it had been.

In the back of the church, a place where Dianna had never gone, there was a reasonably sized kitchen set up under part of the roof that was still intact in the old rectory. Melva set some water to boil and then peered closer at the cut on Quinn's arm. "Ah, I could heal the cut, but the effects I think will last." A yellow gap-toothed smile appeared on the old woman's face. "Which I think you already know about, don't you?"

Without looking away from Quinn, Melva reached over and grabbed Dianna's broken hand, squeezing it. The half-demon yelped in pain, eyes tearing as bone ground against bone. "But I could heal this, for a price."

Quinn's hand was on top of the old woman's, her eyes flashing in anger as Dianna yelped. "What's the price?"

"Nothing really." Melva smiled again as Dianna tried to keep breathing through the pain. The old woman's grip was painfully strong on her broken hand. "The goodwill of the police is not something I often have."

"Because you're inside the Gray. The police have no power here." She felt the muscles tense under her hand. "However, outside the Gray I would do what's in my power to make sure your issues were addressed quickly and with respect."

"Then we have an agreement." Melva let go of Dianna's hand, the half-demon sagging up against Quinn's side, hand burning from the pain. "Do we not?" The old crone held out her hand.

Quinn nodded and carefully gripped the old woman's hand to shake it. Her left arm went around Dianna to support the woman.

Melva shook her hand and with the side of her thumb's fingernail, cut Quinn's skin as she pulled away. Dark eyes dancing with amusement, she sucked the small drop of blood off her finger. "A deal in blood is binding. Now tell me you're story while I fix this one's hand."

Quinn made a face but she didn't jerk her hand away. "My story? I guess it started with a mass murder in a quiet cul-de-sac in a rather mundane neighborhood." She helped Dianna sit down and then sat down near her, rattling on about being chased by demons and pissed off DA agents.

The healer nodded occasionally, listening with interest as she plastered a truly vicious smelling mud mixed with what might have been demon's blood around Dianna's hand. The half-demon wrinkled her nose but a stern look from Melva stopped any comment she'd been about to make. Instead, she focused on Quinn's body pressed up against her own on the bench. It was a very pleasant sensation and she was almost lulled into a doze by the time Melva stood up.

"It's done, your hand should be fine now." The hag watched Quinn as Dianna flexed her newly healed fingers, still amazed at the hag's ability to heal. "Dark forces are amassing against you. If I were you?" She glanced sharply at Dianna. "I would have come here for advice rather than risk seeing her father. Will you take some free advice?"

Hindsight was all was 20/20. She doubted how free the advice was going to be. "Sure." Quinn said looking at Dianna's hand.

"If Alvera is bound on returning to this world, she will have acolytes preparing her way. A full demon lord cannot just enter Earth without a portal being formed, which usually happens by ritual sacrifice. Someone," Melva glared again at Dianna as the redhead wiped her hand clean. "Should have known that. You stop the portal forming and she's won't be able to threaten you anymore, or Lauren."

Quinn should have known that too, her son had been used once before to open that portal. "I like the idea of her not being able to hurt anyone." Quinn said. She tried to help remove the bandages and goop from the hand but received a glare from Dianna so she let the half-demon handle it.

"Any idea where this portal might be?"

"There's really only one place around here that will do." Melva had an evil look in her eye as she stood up.

"The asylum." Dianna sighed, peeling the last of the goo off her hand. She really had to remember not to touch Quinn's bare skin, the effect was too startling. "It would have to be the center of a Gray Zone for the portal to work and the more misery that happened there, the better."

"She didn't use it last time." No, she had used the living room in her house. Quinn groaned and tried to crack her neck. "It's too late in the day to go in there." She was certain she didn't want to go in there anywhere remotely around dark. "I need a shower and clean clothes." And more weapons if she was going to breach that place.

Dianna very nearly said they should go back to the bar, but her mouth snapped shut as she remembered, again, that there wasn't a bar to go back to. Which also reminded her that Sissy was gone, forever this time and she looked away angrily. "There's a hotel not far away, we can find something to wear near there."

"You aren't staying here." Melva agreed, her part done. "And if I'm not mistaken, your friend is coming in now."

*****

Lauren's steps were slow as they approached the church. Their fingers were still intertwined, and she wasn't certain it was a good idea but as she relaxed the scales had gone away leaving her own perma-tanned skin. She may or may not have an insane girlfriend, one that wanted to have sex with her. Lauren had to wonder if sex was as good as the stuff she read about in her lesbian stories. Somehow she doubted it.

Then she wondered how sad Blue might find it that she was still a virgin in her 20s, the thought that Blue might laugh at her made her stomach hurt.

"I always come back here for dessert, Melva makes a pie, sometimes, and it's really good." Blue had kept up an almost nonstop description of things as they'd come back from the YMCA, happy to have had a hot shower, and beyond thrilled to be holding one of Lauren's hand.

Only when they were nearly to the church, did she notice that Lauren wasn't really answering her anymore. "I'm sorry, I'll be quiet, I'm talking a lot again, aren't I? I could sing if you want. I just like the sound of voices; it means I'm not alone, even if it's only my own voice." She flushed, knowing how strange that must sound.

Lauren smiled, unable to help it. "I like your voice too. So you sing or talk if you want."

"Are you sure, you're not just saying that to be kind are you? I mean if? if you like someone like a girlfriend?" blue eyes peered down at Lauren hesitantly, "you don't really just have to say things just because you think they want to hear them."

Lauren shrugged. "I dunno, I've never had a girlfriend before, so I guess I don't really know what to say or do. I'm all nervous." Especially after the incident in the shower, what if all those demons inside her got the upper hand and she hurt Blue? Now her stomach hurt for a different reason.

"That's why you look like you just bit a rotten bit of food?" Blue looked worried now, tugging Lauren to a stop outside the front doors to the church.

"Yes, kind of." She shrugged but looked at Blue. The strange woman really was beautiful. "Are you sure you want to be my girlfriend? I'm not exactly safe to be around, and, and, and . . . I've never had a girlfriend or done lots of things."

"Done lots of things?" A confused look passed over the other woman's face. "Like dancing? I can teach you, I'm really good at dancing, the teachers all said so." She smiled brightly at Lauren. "And I like you, you're good for me." She was quite certain about that.

"Actually, I don't know how to dance." She frowned, getting sidetracked. "Blue, you don't really know me. We've had a series of odd life-threatening meetings." And a kiss and it was a good kiss. "And I don't really know you." And it was hard to think with Blue looking at her like that. Derailed, she finished with, "Can we take it slow?"

"Slow is good. As long as we dance. Life without dancing isn't really life." She let go of Lauren's hand, humming to herself as she danced an improvised flamenco around the other woman, coming to a stop in front of her with a smile. "I like kissing though." She said seriously again.

"I like kissing too." Lauren agreed. Except when it made her want to throw innocent young women to the ground and ravish them.

"So there could be kissing." Blue wanted to be absolutely clear on that part.

"Yes, as long as . . ." she stuttered and blushed. "As long as I don't hurt you."

"I trust you." Blue said, and she did, completely. "You're not a bad person." She laid her hand against Lauren's chest, right about her heart.

Lauren looked down at the hand. "I don't know how you can be sure about that. In the shower I . . . I changed."

"But you didn't do anything." Lauren said reasonably with a light smile. "Nothing I didn't want. I told you, I know you."

That was true she had stopped before the darker thoughts had taken over completely. "Okay." She said blowing out a breath. "I don't think Melva is going to like me kissing you."

"Melva doesn't like a lot of things." Blue kissed Lauren's cheek, sliding their fingers together.

"What is it that Melva doesn't like?" The old woman asked making Blue jump in surprise as she realized they had an audience. Eyes widening, Blue slipped behind Lauren, warily watching the three women at the church door.

"Me." Lauren said miserably. Her eyes darted and then her gaze fell to the cracked and broken stairs.

"Why wouldn't I like you, child?" Melva wobbled out, leaving a surprised looking Dianna behind her as she reached out and tilted Lauren's chin up. "Never be ashamed of who you are." The old woman said quietly. "You have friends here, even if one of them isn't worthy of being your friend." Melva didn't have to look over at Dianna to make it clear who she was talking about.

"I . . . uh . . . because. You . . . Dianna's treated me better than my own family, so please stop putting her down around me." She said finally.

"Little one has claws." Melva laughed, letting go of her chin. "Perhaps if she proves herself as worthy as you see her, I will. You should go, it will be night soon." Melva gestured at the darkening sky.

"Go where?" There was nowhere to go. The bar had burned down and she looked over at Dianna miserable again. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop them from destroying your bar, the fire burned so hot, so fast."

"I'm happy you're alive." Dianna stepped away from Quinn, making a wide pass around Melva as the crone went back into the church and gave Lauren a quick hug. "Now you've got me hugging people!" She shot over her shoulder at Quinn, gruffly.

"The good detective has been helping me search for you." Curious pale eyes flicked to the young woman holding Lauren's hand.

"This is Blue, she's Melva's assistant, and she saved me last night. Gave me a place to hide while those demons were looking for me."

She nervously licked dry lips. "Blue, this is Dianna."

Dianna eyed the homeless woman, lips pursed a bit in thought. "I know you. You came by the bar singing a few times didn't you?" She frowned.

Blue nodded, eyes flicking around as she hid behind Lauren, having gone silent in the face of strangers.

"Well . . ." Dianna looked over at Quinn. "We should go, we can talk later."

Quinn nodded. "It will be dark soon. I'd rather be someplace safe."

"For all of us." Dianna said, seeing the look on Lauren's face. "That is if you're . . . friend, wants to come as well?" She really wasn't sure what to make of Blue.

Lauren looked at Blue. The woman had been fine before her. "It's up to her."

In response, Blue tightened her grip on Lauren's hand.

With a wry look, Dianna turned and started moving, frequently looking back at the two younger women. "What's that all about?" She said quietly to Quinn, happy to have something to talk about that didn't involve the two of them.

"Melva." Quinn said as if that explained everything she needed to know about the strange young woman.

The detective doubted Melva would allow a spy for Alvera to be anywhere near her church.

"Yeah, well, Melva's not my biggest friend." The half-demon grumbled. "You have any cash on you?" She switched topics, picking up the pace as it was definitely getting darker.

"My brother left some in an envelope." She answered. "How far are we?"

"To the edge of the Gray? Not close enough."

Quinn cracked a grin. "To where we are going to spend the night."

"Was that actually a smile?" Dianna grinned. "Hope you like motels."

"They creep me out. Too many calls out to them when I was a beat-cop."

"Oh, right." Dianna frowned. "I'm not really sure what other option we have?" She glanced behind her again, not sure why she was so cautious about Lauren holding the taller girl's hand.

"Stop it. The girl has enough self-esteem issues. Your opinion of her really matters." Quinn said quietly.

The other woman sighed. "I don't know why it should. But don't you think that's a bit . . . fast?"

"Yes." Quinn said in agreement. "Look, the girl has been thrown into an incredibly stressful situation, it's not a far stretch that the first thing that comes along and makes her feel loved and safe she'd cling on to. If they last, they have a rocky road ahead. You and I know that, but this is their young love, they don't."

"Did you ever have a young love?" Dianna glanced over at Quinn, feeling a touch of the other woman's melancholy feelings. They were getting a bit too close to forbidden topics.

"Yes. In high school, her name was Lindsey, she broke my heart plus my Da found out and I had to read all the really bad parts of the Bible that deal with how sinners are treated in hell."

"Pleasant." Dianna's lips curled in distaste at that. "Another reason I love the church and it loves me." She sighed, instantly regretting saying it. She wasn't trying to antagonize Quinn. "I always wondered what high school would have been like. I never made it past junior high, the parents nearly rioted saying a half-breed would be horrible for their precious children to be exposed to. Sissy brought books home for me to read though."

"High school is just more of junior high, and just as horrible." Quinn said. She wasn't going to ask, she wasn't going to . . . "Who's Sissy?"

"My sister." Dianna's tone tensed. "She . . . was my family. Not that useless hag of a mother that gave birth to us. Sissy was my real family." They were nearly out of the Gray, and not a minute too soon.

Quinn wanted to ask what had happened but something in Dianna's tone told her not to ask.

For her part Dianna was silent as they walked the rest of the way out of the Gray, lost in her own memories.

"I don't think she likes me." Blue whispered to Lauren as they walked behind the two other women.

"She . . . ah . . . She just doesn't know you yet. It's been a bad day, she lost her bar and the ghost, so just give her a chance." Lauren said quietly.

"Ghost?" Blue's eyes widened. "She had a ghost?"

Lauren blinked. "You told me about the ghost, the one you'd sing too." Please let Blue remember and not be crazy.

"The lady in the window." Blue blinked. "She was kind. I sang lullabies to her, she was always so sad."

Lauren let out a breath, she'd have to believe Blue on the sadness, she'd never seen the ghost.

******

"I told you that flashing a smile and a little bending over would get us a nicer room." Dianna flopped back onto the queen-sized bed, groaning in pleasure at the feel of lying down. The constant stress of being inside of the Gray had worn on her and she felt as if she could sleep for days if given the chance.

Once again she quickly avoided thinking about the fact that she was now homeless. "Please tell me we didn't just make a mistake giving Lauren and Blue their own room?"

The two younger women had been giving each other doe eyed looks all the way to the room and in a fit of insanity, or maybe it was romanticism, either way it was bad, Dianna had volunteered to share a room with Quinn. Which, judging by the expression on the detective's face, hadn't been entirely welcome.

"They are adults; no matter how young Lauren acts she is 21. I'm more concerned about that Blue girl; she doesn't act all there." Quinn looked around for someplace to sit that wasn't the bed with Dianna. She sank down onto a worn wooden chair and drummed her fingers on the scarred tabletop, feeling awkward.

"The singing of nursery rhymes is a little creepy actually, although she's certainly easy to look at under all those dirty clothes." Dianna sighed, not having to open her eyes to feel the mix of feelings coming from the other woman. "You're going to want to talk about things now, aren't you?" She whined.

"Well you can either tell me or I can leave and go back into the Gray, and talk to that strange healer/witch woman. Your choice." She was getting tired of Dianna knowing more about her than she knew about the half-demon. The woman knew about her son and husband, she even had shared her first puppy love proving she wasn't as straight as she claimed and got nothing back in return.

This, Dianna reminded herself was why she didn't do relationships. "Fine." She gave a disgruntled look at Quinn and squirmed her way across the bed so she could reach the small hospitality bar. She was going to need a drink for this, she was certain.

"What do you want to know?" She unscrewed the cap of Jim Beam and poured two shots worth into two glasses, added ice and offered one to Quinn.

Quinn took the drink doing her best not to touch Dianna's fingers with hers. "Who was your puppy love?" It was an odd question but hopefully an easy one to break the tension.

"Ms. Rosenbloom." The half-demon said before her mind could remind her why it was a bad idea to say that. Grimacing she took a sip of whiskey, having wanted to lie, not tell the truth on that one.

Too late now.

"She was my eighth-grade math teacher." Dianna swallowed another sip. "I loved her desperately, beyond anything approaching reason. Sissy warned me?" She shook her head, short-cut red hair moving with the gesture. "It was completely unrequited."

"I should hope so." Because otherwise, she might be tempted to visit Ms. Rosenbloom and have a little talk about registering as a sex offender. "How did we get connected? Why?" She had to make her mouth shut so she didn't overwhelm the room with questions.

"That's my fault, mostly." Dianna grinned wryly at her. "I took your pain away from you twice, that sharing of emotions started it, and then?" she shrugged. "I don't know when it happened, maybe after we visited my father, maybe before, but it's stronger now. Before I had to be touching you to feel you clearly, now just being close to you is enough."

"Three times. Twice with my knee and the last when I was shot, the bruises from the impact on my vest. Why did you connect us? You seem to know that would happen."

"Three times. It's always three." Dianna downed the last of the whiskey and opened up another small bottle. "Because you were in pain. I didn't mean to connect us like this, I knew there was a risk, but I never thought it would be this strong!"

Quinn nodded and sipped her drink. "I believe you." She took another sip enjoying the burn of the alcohol down her throat. "Do you want to break this connection?"

"Does it matter? It's pretty obvious you do." Dianna said quietly, hearing the bitterness in her voice.

Quinn was silent for a moment. "I do want to break it. But . . ." She held up a hand to silence Dianna. "Because it's obvious you don't want it, also it would have been nice to have been asked before just waking up connected." Girls just liked to be asked about certain things. "I don't want to lead you around by a leash." Echoing Melva's words. "I want you to be with me because you want to, not because you're forced." She finished her drink standing up. "I need to clean this wound."

Dianna looked up at her words, surprised by them. "Who knew it Detective; you do have a softer side." She hesitated, finishing her own drink. "Do you want help?"

"Maybe, do we have anything to disinfect it or bandage it with? I probably need help with that." Quinn said looking in the bathroom.

Which was why she missed the hungry look on Dianna's face as the half-demon stood. "It's a good idea, who knows what Bachi had on that blade other than my father's blood." She licked her lips, this was dangerous, she'd never had a lot of self-control to begin with and now she was pushing those boundaries.

Quinn sighed. "I'm going to have to go down to that little corner market and get some stuff. You want anything?" She should probably grab some food for the kids.

"Food. We all need food I think." Dianna flopped back down on the bed. "You want me to come with you?" How incredibly domestic a conversation, she really was losing her edge.

Quinn looked at her. "If you want, but I'll be right back. It's not even two blocks away."

The other woman licked her lips. She wanted a shower in the worst way and this was the perfect opportunity for her to get one without putting on a show for Quinn. "You'll be careful?"

"Cop, remember? I'll be back in a bit." She headed out the door, shutting it softly behind her.

"Demons and Demon Affairs remember!" Dianna yelled after her, already regretting her decision to stay behind. But as Quinn moved further away she felt thetension drain from her body as the constant emotional bombardment eased.

Deciding to do what she did best and live in the moment, she stripped and went for a hot shower.

*****

Agent Green easily picked the lock and then with a pair of bolt cutters, cut the chain on the door. He eased it closed slowly behind him, not too concerned, the running shower would cover most of the noise he might make. He removed an air gun from his waistband and made his way to the bathroom. The door was cracked, all the better for him. He peeked inside, even happier that the curtain was fully closed and the mirror was steamed over. He almost lost it as the first orgasm washed out over the small space. God damn incubi and their lot.

Taking a moment, he took a deep breath getting his mind focused again. Surging forward, he ripped the curtain open and shot her twice, before she could recover enough of her senses to be a threat. He watched with satisfaction as the drug in the darts went instantly to work and she slumped into the small tub.

Reaching over he turned off the water. He smiled looking at her body. "You know if I didn't hate Ms. Quinn so much I might consider hauling you in. We could have a lot of fun with you locked up." He chuckled and drew a small black case out of his pocket. "You're going to kill her for me. Another sad killing due to a demon." He opened the case and drew out a needle and a vial. "You ever wonder what it would be like to be a full demon, well you're about to find out. Tell Quinn 'hi" for me." Quickly he injected her and put everything back. "Oh, you can kill Lauren as well. She's good dead or alive."

********

Lauren was nervously lying in the bed, she'd turned up the heat not liking the cold room, while Blue was in the bathroom. She picked at the comforter. She was being silly, she was 21 after all and they'd kissed sans any clothes. So this shouldn't be a big deal. Right, not a big deal. She was an adult; she could sleep next to someone, no big deal.

"Toothbrushes! I like this place." Blue bounded out of the bathroom, and flung herself onto the bed next to Lauren, bouncing them both up and down on the springs. "It'll be like having a sleepover." She whispered, eyes bright with joy as she curled up next to Lauren.

Lauren had to giggle at that, her nervousness easing. "I guess it will be like a having a sleepover." Tentatively she moved her body into Blue's, enjoying the warmth coming from Blue's body. It made sense, since this demon's aspect seemed to be more serpentine that it would like being warm. No more violent thoughts or her body breaking out into scales. She kissed Blue's temple. Pausing to enjoy the taste of the woman's skin. "You okay? Life seems to be a bit weird right now."

"It's good, I don't have many friends." Blue hesitantly put an arm across Lauren's stomach and when that seemed okay, she rested it there and sighed in pleasure. "It gets boring talking to yourself, you always know what you're going to say."

She played idly with the buttons on her girlfriend's shirt. "Are you okay?

"So far, so good. No bad impulse control problems. You okay?" She looked at Blue's hand on her shirt. Slowly she picked it up and traced the long delicate fingers. "Melva says you're her assistant. What's it like being able to heal people?" She remembered watching the needle marks disappear on her arm. "Does it hurt you to do that?"

"It feels good." Blue bit her lip, watching their fingers together. "I used to get headaches, bad ones, anytime someone got hurt. I thought it was blood? but it was anytime." She shook her head. "Then one night one of the girls, the lead, she broke her leg falling. It hurt so bad and I had to do something? my parents said I was a witch."

She lowered her head. "Melva found me after that. A tisket, a tasket, a green and yellow basket." She hummed to herself, tracing Lauren's fingers.

"They called you a witch? That doesn't sound nice. I take it you don't really see your parents." She watched Blue's hands against her own.

"It's hard when they try to set you on fire to purge your sins." Blue's voice was barely above a whisper.

"What? They tried to . . . really . . . that's, wow . . . that's messed up." She thought her life had been rough, always being compared to her perfect sister, but her parents hadn't tried to burn her.

Slender shoulders shrugged. "Baa, baa, black sheep." Blue whispered, laying her head down on Lauren's shoulder. "You used a needle again."

"No, not since yesterday. The cravings come and go. No rhyme or reason to them." Lauren said quietly. "My sister used me in one of her experiments. Only she told me it was a study on self-confidence. She made me into a demon."

"You're not a demon." Blue sounded sure of that. "You're Lauren."

Lauren gave a grin at that. "Thank you." She yawned feeling warm and sleepy.

"Sleep." The other woman shifted closer, drawing a blanket up over them. "Good night, sleep tight. Wake up bright in the morning light. To do what's right with all your might." She half-sang.

********

Quinn was worried when she came back to the room and the door was open. She set the bag of groceries down and drew her gun. Slowly she entered the room doing a sweep. "Dianna?"

The room was empty, the clear-glass tumbler that she had drank out of was still sitting on the table, full of melting ice.

She moved slowly to the bathroom. "Dianna? Are you okay?" The door was shut but she didn't hear anything. Wouldn't the connection thing tell her if the woman was hurt or dead?

Something shifted inside the bathroom at the voice outside. Dianna blinked; eyes opening as she slowly became aware of the world around her. She didn't know what was going on, where she was. She felt odd, her skin felt tight and her body was warm.

"Dianna? Are you in there?" Quinn called out, her hand going to the bathroom doorknob and turned it.

There was a reflective surface on the wall and Dianna stretched, tail flicking as she watched herself. Why did the red eyes look strange to her? The long black hair seemed strange too. Nostrils flared as she turned toward the door; tail flicking as the door opened. She could feel the woman on the other side of it, feel all of her suddenly.

A low growl and she sprang at the door, slamming it open and carrying both her and Quinn through to the floor.

"Shit!" Quinn squawked out, taken so completely off guard. As her body hit the ground, the gun flew out of her hand, sliding across the floor.

The thing that had been Dianna shifted against Quinn, sniffing as clawed fingers flexed against her captive. "Human . . ." she growled, tail lashing upward.

Quinn went still; she'd been in worse situations and come out okay. "What did you do with Dianna?" She asked softly, keeping her voice even.

The woman laughed, revealing slight fangs as she pressed up against Quinn's body, claws slicing through the woman's clothing.. "Dianna." The name meant something she thought, but there were more important things than talking. She wanted this woman and she would have her, no matter what.

"Yeah, my friend, Dianna." This wasn't good; in fact it was getting downright scary.

"Gone." Dianna licked her lips, feeling the other woman tremble beneath her. One by one, her claws flicked off the buttons from her shirt, slicing through the string.

"Don't do this." Quinn pleaded, her brain frantically working. The door wasn't shut all the way so it was possible that someone might walk by. Her gun was a few feet away and a demon was on top of her working on her buttons.

"Why?" The demoness purred, ripping the shirt off. The bra was next and she was close. Her body thrummed with excitement. It was a little odd that she couldn't bend the woman with her will; she should be able to do that. Quinn should be mindlessly moaning her name right now.

"Why?" Quinn looked at demon. "Because no woman wants to get raped." She tried pushing against the thing on top of her.

Rape.

The word rang a bell somewhere and the demoness snarled. "Pleasure. Will make it sooo good." She wanted this, she should have it.

"To you maybe." Quinn gave up pushing against the heavier body on top of her and then in a quick self-defense move raked her fingers over the demon's eyes. Soft tissue was still soft tissue regardless of species.

Dianna yelled in pain, rising up off the woman below her, snarling in pain as she lashed out at the thing that had just hurt her.

Quinn drew up her legs and pushed against the denser body sliding across the floor. The carpet burned her skin and claws tore into her leg causing her to give her own cry of pain. She ignored all that reaching for her gun.

Staggering she got up, gun between them. "Where the fuck is my friend?" She drew the hammer back.

The demon lunged, bullet going straight through her shoulder as she slammed into Quinn. The momentum carried them both through the door to the room and out into the hallway beyond. Words were beyond Dianna, she wanted to kill the thing that had hurt her.

Quinn was certain this was not going to end well for her. The demoness was stronger, she'd gotten lucky and caught it off guard, and she doubted she was going to get another chance.

The gun was gone and she couldn't breathe only claw at the hand around her neck.

"Mine!" The demoness snarled, trying again to bend Quinn to her will. Why was it not working?

Quinn would have uttered a defiant fuck you but she had no air to spare to form words.

Standing, Dianna hefted the squirming woman up against the wall. "Mine." She said again, quieter this time as her claws stroked up against exposed skin. Why was she fighting so hard?

Quinn's struggles got weaker until her hand fell away from Dianna's and blackness overwhelmed her sight.

The struggling had stopped; Dianna smiled again loosening her grip.

The claws slid down Quinn's chest, resting against the front of the bra and stopped. Something wasn't right, the succubus paused. Why wasn't she doing what she wanted to do? Frustrated she tried again, and once again didn't do it. Her tail lashed annoyed.

There was no answer from the unconscious woman.

With a silent snarl again, Dianna picked her up and carried her into the room.

********

Quinn coughed, her throat felt like the desert--hot and scratchy.

"What have you done to me?" The voice sounded like Dianna's but it was much throatier, lower.

Slowly her eyes opened. She was on a bed. Not particularly a good thing considering her last memory. "What did you do to me?" She groaned out.

Her pants were still on, that was a good sign, the demoness was lying on the bed next to her, not a good thing.

"You fought me." The succubus curled up nearby was covered in the shadows of the darkened room, only her red eyes flashing.

"Of course, I fucking fought you. You were going to rape me." She paused and took a breath trying to get herself under control. "Why didn't you?"

"I don't know." Dianna moved closer, tail sliding up and along Quinn's pant covered leg. "You should have been begging me to take you. Why weren't you?"

Quinn could feel Dianna so she was nearby, but the connection thing was muffled like it was under water or something. "I don't beg demons to fuck me. Now what did you do with my friend?"

"But you smell so good." Dianna leaned closer, closing her eyes as she sniffed. "You feel good too." She whispered, ignoring the question. What friend? "I need you, I shouldn't need anyone. I should take anyone I want."

"Civilized people don't do that. My friend was the other woman in this room, Dianna."

"I'm the woman in this room." Dianna laughed a low throaty sound. "Dianna." She repeated the name, it sounded familiar.

"Don't play mind games. Dianna, wasn't a full demon only half. You are very much a full demon."

Quinn coughed and tried to clear her throat. "Dianna never tried to rape me. She flirted and teased but she always respected the word no."

"She was weak." The demoness's lips curled in disgust. "Let humans hurt her. I'm stronger." She watched Quinn with an unreadable expression, those red eyes slits. "You hurt her." The claws twitched, shredding a bit of bedding.

"To be a half-demon, hated by both human and demons and still be a decent human being; that made her stronger than you and me. We hurt each other." She admitted. "What do you care? Just kill me and get it over with. I'm tired of games."

"Don't want to kill you." The admission was slowly made as if the demoness was only just realizing it. "Want to have sex with you, make you mine."

"Sorry, not going to happen. Besides I'm already connected with Dianna." Whatever that meant, Dianna still hadn't been clear.

The demoness surged forward, pinning Quinn against the bed. "No, there is no connection. I don't need you! You're nothing, a human, a sheep."

Quinn blinked, thanking god she was smarter than the average bear. "I love you too, Dianna." She whispered out, trying to get a hand free to touch the woman. She was so changed, but if she looked she could still see the Dianna in the demoness's face.

"Love." The demoness spat the word. "That is weakness, meaningless emotion. I do not feel love! I am lust, I am desire."

"No argument there." Quinn got an arm free and gently touched Dianna's new face. "What happened? I was gone maybe forty minutes at the most."

The demoness frowned, the memories were fuzzy but they were more pleasant to think about than why she couldn't have this infuriating woman. "Pain." She remembered. "In my back." There was more, something she should remember, something important. "A man." Realization lit in those red eyes. "Greeennnnn . . ." She hissed, yes that was his name.

"Demon Affairs." Quinn said with a grimace. God, if they had something that could turn humans into demons and half-breeds into demons, the world would be swarming . . . with demons. "Fuck." Alevra didn't want to kill Lauren, she wanted Lauren's blood to make her own plague.

"Please?" Dianna whimpered, pressing against Quinn.

"What? No. God, you barely even remember me. I'm like a one-night stand but worse, you don't even know my name."

"Quinn." Red eyes sharpened. "You're Quinn." She would know that name anywhere.

Okay, the demon had her there. "You don't like me. You just want to fuck me because I'm convenient. If the maid would have come in, you'd be fucking her."

"I'd be owning her." Dianna corrected her as she leaned in, lightly nipping. "I want you, we both want you. Want you so badly it hurts." Her tail twitched. "I'm supposed to take what I want."

That hurt a little, she was convenient. "Well, you tried to take and it didn't work; why don't you think about that? While you do that, I'm going to get up, put on the rags of my shirt and clean my wound."

She started to scoot back to the edge of the bed.

The demon snarled, fangs exposed but she stayed where she was, curled up on the bed. Red eyes watched her carefully though, muscles tensing anytime Quinn moved nearer the door.

"The bags are just on the other side of the door." She opened the door but only leaned out, grabbing the bags. She set them on the table and searched through them until she found what she wanted.

"You won't leave." It wasn't a question.

Then she went into the bathroom, not bothering to shut the door. "Nope, this is me not leaving." The wound was red, the skin around it inflamed.

She turned on the faucet and scrubbed it. Then with a grimace dumped rubbing alcohol on it.

"I shouldn't feel this." Dianna was there, suddenly, in the doorway having moved as quietly as a ghost. "This is wrong." She didn't move into the bathroom though, staying just at the door.

Quinn was wearing down; she unlike the other person in the room was only human. "I want my Dianna. I want her to be happy with just me and no one else." And she wanted world peace, God she wanted the impossible. Tears stung her eyes. "

"You're so much more." Dianna whispered, so close she could just barely touch her skin. "What if your Dianna is gone?" She whispered, claws snipping the bandage off for her.

"She's not. I can feel her. It's muffled, but she's still around."

"We're the same you know." Dianna moved around behind her, tracking the shivers along Quinn's skin. "She is me, I am her."

Quinn turned her eyes flashing angrily and slammed her hands into Dianna's chest. "Then act like it. If you're her, then be her, unless you want to be your father with a harem of stoned lust junkies following you around. They don't love him, they're just addicted to him, if another incubus came along that was more powerful they'd leave him for a bigger high. Love doesn't leave."

"Love hurts." The voice sounded like Dianna's for an instant and the succubus closed her eyes, leaning against the bathroom tile. She felt strange.

"Because it's not easy. It takes work and trust and all those are easy to hurt." She looked at the succubus in front of her; the look on her face was so very Dianna. She stepped forward, not able to help herself and gently kissed those lips. It was all bittersweet, she barely had a chance with the half-demon Dianna, she had no chance with a full demon. A single human couldn't keep a succubus happy.

********

Green sat in his car playing with the police scanner.

"Why are we just sitting here?" His partner's bass voice rumbled out.

"Waiting for police to find the body. Then we'll move in."

"Wait, what body? Why are they going to find a body? What did you do when you went to take a leak?"

"I went to their room and injected that half-breed with the drug. Once she kills Quinn, it will be permanent; she'll be a demon forever. We go in and save the day or we go in, in the morning while it's sleeping and save the day." Green shrugged.

"You did what? We fight demons, not make more of them. What if she doesn't kill Quinn, huh, you think of that? The drug doesn't permanently change the DNA until the kill, it needs that chemical rush from the brain from the first kill. Then we have an even more pissed off Quinn and crew to deal with."

"That's a stupid way to make the drug work. It's not permanent until the subject's first kill. Don't you think?" Green said, sidetracking the conversation.

"Apparently those three demons don't come into their demon powers until their first kill, which is why they are so hard to find and rare. They can wander around looking human all their lives. A genetic aberration. Susan Espinoza theorized most were monks doing good, turning the other cheek until the last straw; only then would they kill, causing the change. Hiding in plain sight unless their temples were overrun. Didn't you read the report?"

"I read parts of it." Green said grumpily.

"What is your deal with this Quinn woman?"

"I just don't like her. She kills a major demon, by herself, come on, she's dirty or she's a half-breed hiding in plain sight. A human can't do that. Look at us, we're held together with spells and bioengineering to make us resistant to demon attacks. So I'm telling you that woman is a liar and she's got half the world worshiping her." Green snapped out.

"Whoa, whatever." Ferris settled in, returning to his more customary silence even as he kept a wary eye on his partner.

*********

Before she realized what she was doing, Dianna had Quinn pressed up against the wall and was kissing her as thoroughly as she knew how. She wanted Quinn so badly it hurt. Only when she was moving her hips, pressing against the human did she realize what she was doing and spring back.

Which put her in the shower, staring wide-eyed at Quinn, chest heaving as she kept herself in check.

"See the real Dianna's in there. A succubus couldn't show that restraint." She moved forward into the shower, feeling somewhat heady at having the tables turned.

"Don't." Dianna whispered, voice harsh, eyes widening even further as Quinn moved.

Quinn stopped. They stood looking at each other and slowly, so very slowly, Quinn forced herself to relax and examine the bond between them. Growing up with a father that used to be a priest and a mother that used to be a nun, she had learned a lot about self-control and denying immediate desires and pleasures.

After a few minutes, she spoke. "I'm sorry, Dianna. I haven't been very fair to your needs. I'm going to guess you have the female equivalent of blue balls. Probably not the healthiest thing for someone part incubus. Because of that you've probably been distracted, not really at your best. That's my fault because of this connection."

"Blue balls?" The demon laughed, tossing her head. How could she explain the desires that made up her constant existence? More and more memories of the actual Dianna were starting to surface now; did that mean it was starting to fade? She could only hope.

"I could have dealt with it before," she murmured, laughter fading as she faced Quinn. It was an odd place for a talk like this, her naked, Quinn half-naked, standing in the bathtub of a hotel room.

Nothing else about them was normal though, so why should this be?

"I'm human, no matter what people think about me." The hellfire burn scars on each shoulder stood out red against the rest of her skin. "I can't make any promises not to be weird in the morning, but I'm also tired of fighting this and you, also because I'm human. So I'm going to kiss you again and it's not because I pity you." She'd been horny since the morning and Dianna really needed to be at her best. She undid the bra and then the pants and moved forward to kiss Dianna again, and being human made her hypocrite .

"If you start this, it won't stop." Dianna groaned, eyes eagerly watching Quinn strip. God she looked good, she wanted her even more now and it was only by clamping her claws against the side of the shower that she stopped herself from simply tackling the other woman.

Quinn moved forward. "I know, but you need to remember: I'm human, I'm breakable." Dianna was unholy beautiful in this form, but she still preferred the old Dianna to this, but she would adapt if Dianna never changed back. She slid her hands around Dianna's waist. "And it's been awhile." She kissed too warm lips.

That kiss was Dianna's undoing. Whatever self-control she'd managed to claw back from her old self disappeared under it's influence and she grabbed Quinn, urgently pulling their bodies together.

Warm skin met skin and she moaned into the kiss, frantically trying to fit them together closer. It wasn't enough and with a mounting urgency she picked Quinn up, marveling at how light she felt, and carried her blindly out of the bathroom without bouncing off too many walls.

It was a miracle she made it to the bed, Quinn had wrapped her legs around her waist and the insistent heat between those legs made Dianna's head swim. The smell of their arousal mingled in the hotel room and only served to drive Dianna's desire higher.

They tumbled together onto the bed, legs entwined and breasts pressed against one another. There wasn't time for slow, Dianna couldn't, wouldn't wait. Her entire focus was on the naked body pressed against her, perfectly sculpted even with the demon scars she bore.

She trailed claws that were becoming more and more like fingers, along the other woman's body, tracing and stroking. Lips following to nibble and suck, lightly biting Quinn's small breasts before soothing them with her tongue.

Above them were the burn scars, vivid hand prints that covered the human's shoulders and for a moment Dianna was amazed that she'd survived them. Hellfire generally killed anyone that was unlucky enough to be burned by it.

They were testaments to Quinn's life and Dianna kissed them as much as any other piece of skin, their murmurs of pleasure turning into cries of pleasure as she guided Quinn's fingers up inside her, where she needed her.

Arching, she thought she might have screamed in pleasure as Quinn moved inside her. An orgasm, either hers or Quinn's it was hard to tell, boiled through her hard and fast and she wanted more.

They flowed from one position to another, Dianna careful to remind herself that Quinn was fragile, at odds with the tough detective persona that she'd come to know. If there was a position or an angle that she hadn't tried with Quinn, it had simply been because she'd been overwhelmed by their lovemaking.

It was late, or very early, depending on your point of view by the time they stopped. Somewhere along the way Dianna's tail had disappeared, she wasn't sure when, maybe while Quinn had been doing that thing with her tongue that had nearly made her pass out, or later when they'd tried doing each other at once.

Either way it made it easier to lay on her back, Quinn half collapsed across her. She knew she was smiling like a fool, but it just wouldn't stop.

"I think every room around us just had wet dreams." She said, stroking fingers through Quinn's naturally red hair. Her own was still long and black, maybe she would keep it that way now. Actually, she was certain she'd half-heard a few moans through the walls that weren't their own either.

"Not surprised, you're like some sort of sex, orgasmic, bomb." Quinn said breathlessly. She wanted a cigarette and she'd stopped smoking when she'd found out she was pregnant.

"Just imagine if I was a full succubus." Dianna smiled slowly, fully content for the first time in what felt like forever. She didn't think she even needed sleep after that, Quinn had been right, she'd been denying herself and it had been making things worse.

"Green shot me." She blinked her memories crystal clear now. "With some dart thing, in the shower."

"We should get moving, they know where we are." She yawned but she was so damn tired. "He probably wanted you to kill me and Lauren, I can't think of why else he would do that and then leave. Fuck, let me nap, then I need to shower and you need to find me clothes; you destroyed my only set."

"Sleep then." Dianna leaned closer, pressing her lips against Quinn's and drawing away the woman's fatigue, it was disturbingly easy now to do that. Silently, the half-demon slipped from the bed, relieved to see her eyes back to their normal pale color in the mirror. Tucking the blankets up over the naked woman in the bed, Dianna found something resembling a full set of clothes that she could wear.

Apparently they needed some shopping before going into the Gray again.

Time to get the kids up, one of them was keeping watch on Quinn while she slept, the other was going shopping with her.

Chapter 8

Lauren was in the bathroom. The door firmly shut, something had washed over them, and nearly destroyed her self-control. They had found themselves all over each other. She moaned just remembering the taste of Blue's lips.

She stared at herself in the mirror, dark golden scales, gold eyes, and wings. The pain of the leather membranes ripping out of her back had actually given her back part of her sanity, the part that made her retreat quickly to the bathroom. Her eyes blinked, not up and down, but the lids closed from the sides, it was disturbing.

"Blue, I'm sorry; it's not your fault." She called out through the door. "I was just a little overwhelmed." That was putting it mildly.

"Are you sure?" Blue hugged herself, worriedly watching the bathroom door from the bedroom. "You ran really fast."

Lauren swallowed and opened the door; fairly certain whatever had happened was done. "I was afraid I'd hurt you. The change was out of control." Probably triggered by her arousal.

"I didn't mind." Blue's voice was very small as she stared up at Lauren. "Did I do something wrong? I know you said slowly, and I was being good all night, even with you all warm and next to me, but then that happened and I just wanted to touch you." She knew she was babbling, so she clamped her lips shut.

"It wasn't your fault. Whatever that was, was outside our control." Lauren felt bad; it wasn't the woman's fault. "Don't do that. You haven't said anything wrong or bad, there's no need to be quiet." In the larger room she flared out her wings enjoying the feeling. She didn't think she had the muscles to actually fly with them, but gliding was possible if she remembered correctly.

"The wings are pretty." Blue said quickly, watching them flex. "They look like dragonfly wings. Do they feel strange?" She brushed shaggy hair out of her face, happier now that Lauren wasn't upset with her.

"Yes, they feel really strange. I don't think they're for flying." They folded back down covering her almost completely from head to toe, she didn't want to think about where all that mass had come from.

Blue reached out, tentatively stroking them with a smile. "They feel softer than I thought." She was about to say something else when someone knocked on the door to their rooms, causing her to yelp in surprise and yank her hand back.

"You two up yet? We have things to do, people to annoy." Dianna's voice sounded through the hallway door.

Lauren looked at Blue and then the door. "We are. Uh . . . one sec." She moved slowly to the door and unlocked it. She opened it slowly. "There was a problem." She stepped back.

"What sort of . . . oh." Dianna blinked staring at the wings and then at Lauren's eyes. "What happened?" That was completely unexpected. Quickly she stepped in and closed the door, no sense alarming others.

Lauren blushed, even with the scales her face turned red. "Something kind of affected . . . us . . . I lost control. I managed not to hurt Blue." She rushed to say the last part.

"Oh." Dianna's smile widened. "Sorry about that, my bad." She shrugged, not really particularly sorry about it. "Guess that mean's you're staying here to watch Quinn and your friend is coming with me shopping."

"Oh . . . uh.. okay."

"Since Green's been in my room already, I'm going to go get the sleeping woman and she's going to stay with you while you get the wing thing under control. Okay?" Compared to that, her hair having changed color and grown long wasn't really worth mentioning.

"Green, here. Shouldn't we . . . uh . . . do something like leave?"

"Quinn doesn't have any clothes, you two are running around in rags, and I'm wearing something that's probably going to get me arrested for indecent exposure. We need supplies before we go into the Gray again. Especially if we're going into the Asylum." Dianna grimaced at the mere idea of it. "Be right back." She closed the door behind her as she went to bundle up the good detective.

"I have to go with her?" Blue didn't seem really thrilled with that as she looked at the closed door.

*********

"Shhh." Dianna whispered, gathering the woman, blankets and all, and picking her up. She was heavier than before, or maybe Dianna wasn't as strong, but she managed. "Lauren's going to watch you while you sleep." She felt a surge of protectiveness for this normally hard-bitten cop.

A yearning to keep her safe that was tender as it was fierce.

Ignoring the startled look of a maid outside in the hallway, she kicked twice on Lauren's door to get her to open it.

The door opened with Lauren standing out of view behind the door.

Quinn had gone back to sleep in Dianna's arms.

"Here." She tucked Quinn into the bed, giving Lauren a pointed look. "Keep her safe okay?" She kept her voice quiet, trying to let Quinn sleep more.

Lauren nodded. "You keep Blue safe." She stood awkwardly, not able to sit until she changed back. "And don't take too long."

The half-demon gave her a wink. "Deal. Come on little Blue, time to go shopping. Let's see how far Quinn's cash will go." She waited for the young woman to unfold herself from where she'd been crouched and carefully slip past Dianna.

Quickly, the blond kissed Lauren on the lips and slipped out the door.

Dianna waggled her eyebrows at Lauren, following Blue out the door.

Lauren just blushed again.

*********

The wings were gone by the time Dianna and Blue came back. Quinn was still asleep, the cop hadn't moved once since Dianna had deposited her into the room.

"Hey." Lauren said opening the door, her eyes checking Blue to make sure she was okay and then Dianna.

The blond waved, biting her lip as she wondered if Lauren would like the new clothes. "Dianna said I had to wear something other than what I had."

"No." Dianna said, carrying bags inside and laying them down next to the bed. "What I said was that you would look nicer wearing actual clothes and not just those stained things that were once clothes in a prior life. I think I did well, don't you Lauren?" She grinned at the younger human as Blue stepped inside.

She'd gotten them all jeans, something that would hopefully stand up to what they'd be going through shortly. She'd also found time to buy Blue some hair ties so that the poor girl could get that long hair out of her face. That coupled with a new T-shirt, did a lot to improve the girl's look.

Lauren nearly swallowed her tongue. "Uh, wow, you look nice. Really nice. I like your hair up like that." Her face was getting red again as she tried not to let her gaze focus on Blue's breasts that were highlighted in the new snug clothes.

Blue's blush became even redder and she smiled shyly.

"Here." Dianna shoved the leftover cash into Lauren's hands. "Go get us some food, there's a shop on the corner. Wait for us there." She was working hard to avoid laughing at the two of them. Between the blushes that were going on, the two of them were absolutely adorable right at that moment.

That and she wanted to wake Quinn up without an audience. Which was odd since she'd never really minded having an audience before.

Lauren blinked at the money and then grabbed it. "Let me get dressed and sure." She rooted around the bags until she found something her size and went and changed in the bathroom. She washed her face and checked her breath before leaving. In the clean clothes she felt human again. "Ready, Blue?" She asked, opening the door.

Blue rocked back and forth, hands stuck in the pockets of her pants, nodding quickly.

Dianna just grinned at the two of them, making it quite clear what she thought was on both of their minds. "We'll be down soon, so no doing anything I wouldn't do." That certainly left a lot open to interpretation.

Quinn slept on oblivious to everything around her, red hair poking out through the covers.

Having to nearly shove Blue out the door, Dianna closed it and locked it behind them. "Thought they'd never leave." She muttered, stripping clothes as she went toward the bed. There was only one way she could think of to make Quinn's wake-up call pleasant.

She slid under the sheets naked, sliding her body up against Quinn's sleepy warmth and slowly began to kiss the Irish woman's exposed neck, her fingers sliding along the woman's ribs and stomach. "Time to wake up." She murmured into an ear, fingers sliding lower.

Gooseflesh sprang up along Quinn's skin and she gave a breathy moan as her eyes cracked open. "Are you trying to kill me?" She was sore but Dianna's fingers felt so good where they were.

"I'll be gentle." Dianna promised, ducking her head under the covers so that she could gently kiss and tongue that sore flesh.

"Oh God." Quinn said eyes squeezing shut, her hands reaching and tangling in that long dark hair.

Dianna was slow and gentle, the climax built steadily under her skin until she came with a gasp, biting her lip. Quinn slumped back into the bed, the muscles in her stomach slowly relaxing and her left hand stayed tangled in that soft black hair. "You are a wicked woman. That's the best wake-up I've ever had, I think."

"Mmmm." The half-demon hummed her own approval, licking her lips as she crawled up to kiss Quinn. She'd had her own pleasure riding out the waves of pleasure from Quinn's orgasm. "Good morning, again. I hope you slept well for a while." It wasn't much, but four hours was all that Quinn was getting.

Quinn was surprised by the kiss but didn't say anything. "I slept very well, considering this isn't our room." She stretched and then snuggled into Dianna's body. She had loved her husband very much, enjoyed being with him, but there was something nice about a woman's softness and curves, also there was the lack of stubbly facial hair that had made oral sex a turnoff. "I suppose that was your way of getting me up and moving." She mumbled into Dianna's neck.

"Seemed like a good way to go. Nicer than pinching your ass wasn't it?" Dianna slid her fingers through Quinn's hair, marveling at the color of it. "I've never told you this, but I like your hair. I think this was what I wanted when I dyed mine." Maybe she'd stick with black hair; Quinn certainly seemed to like it long.

"I hate to break it to you but your hair was not anywhere near my color." Quinn said with a relaxed sigh as Dianna's hands moved through her hair. "If you keep doing that, I'll go to sleep."

"Sadly, there's no time for that today." Dianna kissed her briefly once more and then slid her way out of the sheets. Any longer touching Quinn's skin and she'd loose her control again. "I sent the kids for food, Blue and I went to Wal-Mart for clothes and had a fight with the most obnoxious little troll of a human woman I've ever met." Pale eyes rolled as Dianna remembered it. "I hope Lauren gets Blue to talk more than I did; I think she said two full words while we were out. You getting up?"

Quinn grumbled at the cold air but sat up stretching. "Fine, I'm up."

"Jeans or slacks?" Dianna pulled both out of the Wal-Mart bags, hoping they fit. "First time I've ever shopped for clothes for someone else." It had been much more fun than shopping for herself.

Quinn looked at the clothes. "Slacks." She said getting out of the bed with a wince. That was probably more than a lifetime of sexual activity rolled up into a couple of hours.

"You all right?" The half-demon couldn't, quite, stop smirking a little as she watched Quinn get dressed. Who was, she suddenly realized, the first woman she'd ever slept with and found even more attractive in the morning.

Quinn's response was to swat Dianna's shoulder. "You know I'm not. Most of those muscles haven't had a workoutt in a while. Stop looking so smug." Although the smugness was better than the indifference she'd been expecting.

The smirk grew larger. "You kept pace well, right up until you collapsed." Dianna dodged another swat, laughing. "I was certain this was supposed to be awkward and full of bickering." She said, once she was certain the Irish woman wasn't going to come after her.

"What would be awkward?" Quinn asked, pulling a gray T-shirt over her head. She dug around in the sack and pulled out socks.

"The morning after?" Dianna leaned up against the wall, watching with interest as Quinn bent over. "That's what it's supposed to be right, awkward, you telling me I tricked you into it or something like that?"

"I suppose. You didn't trick me, I knew before we got naked it was probably a one-time deal and that I would do my best not to be bitter or angry with you. You've always been very honest in your wants and desires. You like sex, you're not monogamous, and you have no plans to change that. So if I want to get bent out of shape, I only have myself to blame." Which she might, for giving in, short-selling what was important to herself. She wanted someone who would love and want only her, but she couldn't fault Dianna for her human weakness, and for now it had all been worth it. Tomorrow or whenever she woke up alone, she'd bitch herself out.

The smile faded and Dianna frowned. "Yeah." That was what she'd told her after all and the half-demon pushed off from the wall. "We should go, burning daylight after all." She picked up a backpack stuffed with things that might be useful.

Quinn felt the change between them and winced. That was what she'd been expecting when she woke up. "Yeah, let's go get the kids." She slipped into her shoes and followed.

"Here." Dianna tossed a spare backpack toward Quinn, leaving the rest of the shopping bags behind. If they made it out of the Gray tonight maybe they could come back, if not then it really didn't matter. "Flashlights, flares, walkie- talkie although it probably won't work and rope, also a knife just in case."

"Have you spotted Agent Green? I expect him to be bursting into our old room looking for my dead body anytime now. Good thinking in moving me." Despite the embarrassment of Blue and Lauren knowing what they had been doing.

Dianna shrugged. "Who knows what that prick is doing. I hope some demon gutted him . . .." She trailed off, mouth opening in surprise as the elevator doors opened revealing the agent in question across the hotel's lobby. "Well shit."

Green was arguing with the hotel manager, gesturing toward the ceiling above him. "You just rent rooms to demons without proper identification! Who knows what they could be . . ." He trailed off, eyes widening as he stared back at the two of them.

Quinn pulled Dianna back into the elevator, hitting the door close button and then hit every button to the top floor. Once they hit the second floor, she pushed Dianna out and then dragged her to the housekeeping closet where, as she had hoped, the staff had left the door propped open. She shoved them both inside and quietly shut the door, breathing a sigh of relief when it clicked shut.

"What are you doing?" Dianna hissed, as they were wedged in together. "That prick injected me and tried to get me to kill you! We should kick his ass."

"Right and have the DA hunting us for the rest of our lives; no thank you. Agent Green is causing enough of a shit storm for himself, he's going to be shipped off to Alaska soon. Spending government resources without any solid leads, the government frowns on that."

"How do you know he isn't just doing what they tell him to?" Dianna whispered back, ears straining for any sound of movement outside.

"He's by himself. He's made this personal. If he had a leg to stand on, this place would be swarming with agents. You killing me was his ace in the hole. You didn't do as he planned."

"He still shoved a needle in my ass, he deserves some payback." Dianna pouted a little.

Quinn heard the stairwell door open and pulled Dianna into her, kissing her, just to make sure the woman didn't do anything stupid. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware of the doorknob rattling.

There was a moment there, where Dianna was certain she was going to get her chance at revenge, and then Quinn went and distracted her. It was a really bad sign that the human could distract her so thoroughly and quickly. Within seconds, she'd forgotten completely about the man she wanted to deck as hard as she could, and was focused completely on Quinn's lips and tongue.

Once Quinn heard the stairwell door close again she pulled away, breathing heavy. She swallowed and still couldn't find any words. Finally she said, "Damn." She reached behind her and slowly opened the door.

Pale eyes opened after a second, irises dilated as she stared at Quinn's back. How the fuck did she suddenly have that sort of power over her? "He gone?" She licked her lips, voice hoarse.

"Think so." She slipped out the door moving to the stairwell door she opened it listening. There were fast footsteps going up, then a door opened. She gestured for Dianna. She let the woman go first and then silently shut the door, moving them down the stairs.

"We really should just go tie him up somewhere." Dianna grumbled, finding the utilitarian stairwell and the way down.

"Don't have time, daylight burning remember."

"Spoilsport." She let out a relieved sigh seeing Blue and Lauren waiting for them in the coffee shop.

"He's an idiot. He walked right past them and didn't even notice them."

"He's got a serious issue with you." Dianna hefted the backpack over her shoulders. "I think he wants you very dead."

"Yeah." Quinn said in agreement, but she couldn't fathom a reason why.

"Wait . . ." She grabbed Quinn's arm before they went inside, stopping outside the front door. "Do we really have to do this? We could just go, somewhere, away from here. Take them with us if they want." She really didn't want to go to the Asylum.

"Then take them and go. I can't let that thing do what it did to my family to someone else's family. I just can't. I can't let her get the secret to Lauren so she can make more half-demons into full demons, or humans into demons. You changed back but others might not be so lucky."

Dianna sighed, dropping her arm. "Blue shouldn't come with us." She said, looking back inside through the glass at the two women, barely out of their teens, laughing with each other. There would be no laughter inside the heart of the Grey.

"Blue will make her own decisions, she lives in the Gray with the healer witch, and she's probably better suited to survive it than us."

The entire thing made Dianna's stomach twist but she gave a short nod and pulled open the door. "Fine. My tempting you for the day is done I guess." She gave a sad smile.

"You'll just have to suffer my wounded nobility a little longer. You can go, Dianna; I won't hold it against you."

"Right and let the people who burned my bar down get away with it?" Dianna's lips curled in a snarl. "I don't think so." Which was of course the one and only reason she was going along with this; it had nothing to do with staying close to Quinn.

"Right."

********

Lauren moved closer to Blue, trapping her body on the stool between her and counter. "Hey. Like your coffee?"

"You have some . . . on your lip.." Lauren looked around but no one was paying attention to them. This close to the Gray, people only paid attention to themselves.

She leaned forward kissing it off.

The other woman blushed, leaning in and kissing her back quickly. "What about your wings?" She blinked. "They disappeared."

"For now. Sometimes my skin is made of stone, other times it's scales, it just depends."

"With the vial?" Daringly, the blond reached out and took Lauren's hand.

"Yes. They scare me but I can't stop."

She let Blue take her hand, smiling.

"I worry. Darkness spreading through your veins." Blue bit her lip, tracing her fingers along the back of Lauren's hand where the veins were just visible. "Changing you." Frustrated, she shook her head, looking up to back at Lauren. "London bridge is falling down, falling down my fair lady." She whispered.

"Then when I change I have to hope I'm like Dianna." Not like other things that haunted her nightmares.

"Dianna's only half though. She gave me sandwiches once, when I was singing to the lady in the window." Blue brightened at that memory. "Build it up with iron and steel, iron and steel, iron and steel; Build it up with iron and steel, my fair lady." She looked around quickly and then gently kissed her hand.

"I have to be half because I'm human; I can't lose the core of what I am." But maybe that was the lie she told herself.

Blue had no words for that, she shook her head, there was only hope after that. "Dianna's arguing about me again." She nodded beyond Lauren's shoulder at the windows.

Lauren turned looking over her shoulder. "How do you know?"

"She looks upset and she doesn't like me." Blue said, as if it was obvious.

"If she didn't like you, she wouldn't have given you a sandwich." And anyway Dianna always looked upset these days.

"I liked the wings." Blue said suddenly as she looked up from her spiced coffee, changing subjects abruptly. "They looked nice, but the eyes were strange." She kept glancing around behind her, trying to figure out what it was that Dianna and Quinn were talking about. They didn't look happy, whatever it was.

"Thanks." Sometimes it was hard to keep up with Blue in a conversation.

The door opened and she knew their pleasant coffee talk was over. "Hey." She said to Dianna and Quinn. "I uh, like the hair."

"I was thinking of dying it bright pink, maybe purple." Dianna said back, just to see the look she got from Quinn. She was still irritated with the human from this morning, and her refusal to let her pummel Agent Green. "Coffee break's over, time to get moving before we lose our chance. Last chance for you two to catch a bus going far away from here." The half-demon eyed them both.

Lauren looked from Dianna to Blue then back at Dianna. "I'm not leaving you. I've already lost one family, I'm not losing another." She stuck out her chin defiantly. Family, huh?" Dianna grinned. "You sure you want to make us family? You don't usually get to choose those things and there might be better options around."

Blue looked from one to the other, feeling the need to stay quiet.

It was Quinn that spoke. "Stop being a jackass, Theron, she's made her decision now you just have to learn to deal with it."

Lauren was silent watching Dianna, somewhat hurt by the words. She stepped back feeling Blue's leg touch hers and felt better. "Let's just get going okay."

The half-demon winced. "Damnit." She ignored the two other women and grabbed Lauren's arm. "I didn't mean it like that, just that maybe you should hang out with people who are a bit more? stable?" More likely to live through the next few hours was what she really meant.

"Families are chaotic, Dianna, but they support everyone in it. You've supported me since the moment you adopted me." Lauren said quietly.

The now dark-haired woman swallowed past a suspiciously large lump in her throat, giving the younger human a swift hug. "Well." She said gruffly, doing her best to show that Lauren's words had not affected her at all. "You coming with us too?" She nodded at Blue.

"You'll need a healer." Blue said certainly, taking Lauren's hand as she stood up. She wasn't just sitting this out.

"Fine." Dianna rolled her eyes and looked over at Quinn. "I guess you have your group of insane lunatics ready to go into hell for you." She wasn't kidding about the hell part.

"You are such a sweet talker." Quinn said shaking her head. "You can leave, Dianna; we've pulled you into this, when this is really is about me and Lauren. You've repeatedly wanted us to leave you alone and what do we do? We get your bar burned down and then your father renounces you. We've caused you enough pain." A last out for the half-demon, Quinn was torn with wanting Dianna somewhere safe and having her near. God why had she slept with the woman? If they lived it, would kill her to watch Dianna take another lover.

"I'm in this." Dianna's eyes narrowed. "That bitch owes me for a bar. Besides, who do you think she's probably getting her virgin sacrifices from? Dear old dad's probably involved in this up to those greedy little eyes of his." She lifted her nose. "Besides, who's going to get you into the Asylum if I don't come along?"

Quinn held up her hands in surrender. "Fine. Lets get going?" She turned heading for the door.

Lauren smiled at Blue and with their fingers intertwined headed for the door as well.

A half block down the street Agent Ferris sat in an unremarkable blue Chevy sedan, watching as the group of women exited the shop and started moving. Flipping open his cell phone he hit speed dial, eyes never leaving the group as he started up the car with his free hand.

"Hey, yes I have them. They're leaving the coffee shop now. What? Probably toward the Gray. We'll lose them if they?" He paused, an eyebrow rising at the vitriol in his partner's voice. "You want to call in the full agency to get them? You sure that's?." he trailed off as the phone went dead.

"Great." He pulled away from the curb, staying well back from them. Things were about to get interesting.

*****

Quinn shivered as the Gray fog grew thicker. Here they were going back into the Gray again. For what? That one question hammered the inside of her skull. For revenge--was she risking all their lives for revenge on the demon that seduced her husband and murdered her son?

They should just run away. To Mexico maybe.

"Second thoughts?" Dianna asked, as they breached the edge of the Gray and kept moving. The fog wasn't uncommon during the daytime, as if the Gray wanted to eliminate any chance that sunlight could penetrate here. It was better than the constant rain as far as the half-demon was concerned.

The four of them were a large enough group at the edge of the Gray Zone to keep any potential trouble away. The real danger would start nearer to the Asylum. It wasn't really safe there, even during the daytime.

Quinn was quiet for a second and said. "Yes." Admitting to those second thoughts, not loud enough for Blue and Lauren to hear. Doubt was pounding away at her nerves.

"That's the Gray." The half-demon answered, moving just a little closer to Quinn as they walked. "You can't let it get to you though; if you start feeling nervous, then you'll get scared and everything in this place will come after you wanting a taste."

She knew that, the Gray got to a person. She let out a breath and tried to push all second thoughts from her head. "Thanks." She blinked realizing how close Dianna was next to her. She blushed lightly, sure it was her imagination, but she thought the woman still smelled of sex, their sex. Swallowing she looked anywhere but Dianna, feeling her gut clench.

"Good." Dianna whispered. "Think about that. Think about me between your legs this morning." She licked her lips, feeling the wave of arousal. Much better, things might still target them, but it wouldn't be the full demons that fed offfear and self-doubt.

"Don't." Quinn said, but her face was heating up even more, and her mind had gone there, to their morning.

"Why not?" The other woman grinned archly. "Aren't you in a much better place now? Things in here want to feed off fear and confusion."

Quinn just gave her a look but didn't say anything. From in front of them Lauren asked. "Do we have any weapons?"

"Quinn's carrying around some guns." Dianna shrugged, not really sure if guns would do anything for what they were about to enter. "I got some contractor stuff from the home tools section, but really our best bet is to avoid fighting altogether. Although . . ." She smiled at Lauren's back "You're kind of a weapon all by yourself."

"Okay. Then we might want to go down a different street, I'm starting to get a headache."

"Already?" Dianna's smile faded and she looked around quickly. They weren't even a few blocks into the Gray yet, not good. "This way." She turned right, going into an empty bank, hoping that the rear door she remembered would still be there.

"Shadows on the wind." Blue whispered, staying very close to Lauren as they walked, blue eyes flicking about, constantly worried.

Quinn pulled her gun following Dianna.

"As if things weren't freaky enough." Dianna muttered to herself, listening as Blue hummed a nursery rhyme behind them. The bank had been abandoned decades ago; marble floors were thick with dust. Theirs were not the only footprints that had disturbed that dust. It was an eerie feeling moving through the shadowed emptiness.

Quinn wished for a flashlight, "Why do the emergency lights work?" she wondered. But the occasional light only served to make the atmosphere creepier.

"Someone's making it their home." Dianna moved faster, the lights making her even more worried about this place. There were no right answers in the Gray though, just the least wrong answer. "There, the rear door." The old-style exit sign painted on it was only just visible under the dust and grime.

Everyone moved quickly toward the door. Quinn pushed everyone in front of her toward the door, covering their exit.

Something flickered in the shadows, a mostly human shaped figure although the head looked abnormally large as the thing shifted in the flickering light. "Demon killer." Its voice was low, like rocks grinding against each other.

At the front of their small pack, Dianna shoved against the door, grunting as it gave only a few inches. Apparently, it had been longer than she remembered since she'd come through this way.

Quinn leveled the gun, hands steady. "Lauren, open the door with that super-strength of yours." She barked out.

"Demon Killer." The thing said again, not moving any closer to Quinn.

"Yes, I've killed a demon." Not that it had done much good since the bitch was back.

"A little help here, Lauren?" Dianna grunted, shoving again against the door, which gave a few inches more.

Lauren took a deep breath, she'd never called up the demons inside her, they just came and went as they pleased. "Come on." Everyone was relying on her, the stress made her stomach hurt.

Blue's fingers slipped out of her hand and she leaned in, kissing Lauren's cheek. "Relax. Don't force it, you'll strain something." The blond teased, at odds with the tension around her.

"Huh," Startled, Lauren nearly jumped. "Right, no strain." She needed to open this door or they might die, or worse, something would hurt Blue. Her skin bubbled, changing into scales, eyes became yellow suns, and teeth became fangs. She pushed into the door next to Dianna and felt the metal move and groan.

Whatever wasn't letting the door open didn't move, but Dianna's eyes widened as she watched the hinges in the doorframe buckle and then rip out of the concrete wall. The door ripped open from the wrong side. "Remind me of that next time I need a can opener." Dianna shook her head, looking behind them at where Quinn was facing down the demon. "Quinn, door's open, time to go!"

The thing took one step toward Quinn, the solid floor shaking under his weight. "Demon Killer. Death stalks you." He rumbled again, yellow eyes peering at her through the misshapen face.

Quinn wished she had something flippant to say back but she had nothing, only the memory of Dianna between her legs to prevent the mind-numbing fear from washing over her. She backed up toward the door, eyes not leaving the creature in front of her until she was outside.

"Troll." Dianna said, wrinkling her nose in distaste as soon as Quinn was outside. "They really like sucking the marrow from human bones."

"He tried to eat me once, said he wanted to play cards." Blue whispered to Lauren, happy to hold the other woman's hands, even if her skin did feel funny.

Lauren's eyes narrowed and she wanted to go back and hurt the thing.

"This way, Romeo." Dianna caught sight of that look and recognized it. Part of the building behind the bank had fallen off the roof, blocking the rear door. Like everything in the Gray, the buildings were crumbling here. "This should get us behind the Asylum." She hoped, as they headed down the trash littered alley way.

"Good. " Quinn said, wanting to be done, wanting to sleep for days.

"Not really." Dianna moved up to the front again, leading the way.

Since they were in the middle again, Blue leaned into Lauren as they moved around debris in the alley. "See, you can control it." She said, inordinately proud of the other woman.

"I guess. I'll believe that when I can control myself more than once." Lauren said slightly bitter.

The blond hesitated, not sure what to say. "I trust you." She said finally, squeezing her fingers.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Look, kid, it's like you're a teenager again, you just have to get used to all the different hormones and stuff. But I'm going to guess you were always quiet and controlled in high school, never making waves, never letting others know how they pissed you off or let that cute girl know you thought she was hot." No wonder Lauren's sister experimented on Lauren. Lauren had an iron will, perfect for controlling demonic urges.

"I would have liked knowing you in high school." Blue said quietly, thinking it would have been nice.

"I was quiet and all those other things Quinn said. I volunteered in the library, I love books."

"Books are good, but maybe I could have gotten you to come dance with me?" Blue said, hopefully.

"Its possible, but I was so shy, I would have made a fool of myself."

"You would have looked cute doing it." Blue gave her a bright smile.

Ahead of them, Dianna looked over her shoulder, both eyebrows raised incredulously.

Quinn couldn't agree more. Except the farther they got into the Gray the more a heavy depressive weight seemed to pressing on her, only the sweetness of Lauren and Blue's crush or whatever seemed to make the air lighter.

"I think I wish I was in high school right now." Dianna grumbled, goosebumps shivering across her skin as she slowed her pace. The alley ended ahead of them and beyond that was the imposing dark outer wall of the Asylum.

"When they first built it, this was made of white granite. The story goes it was dyed black by the sins of those inside." Half of her loved this place, the other half despised it. All in all, she'd rather be somewhere else right now.

Lauren gritted her teeth as the low steady ache in her head blossomed into a head splitter. Fingernails lengthened and with a cry of pain the skin on her back split as leather wings formed.

"Lauren?" Blue worriedly watched, not sure what she could do, as the woman she hoped was her girlfriend cried out in pain.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her here." Dianna muttered, meeting Quinn's eyes.

"Go ahead and say it." Quinn snapped back. She was getting grumpy and her shoulders hurt.

"I like the way you scream my name?" Dianna smiled, turning around and heading for the Asylum walls. "That what you wanted me to say?" She called back, letting Lauren recover on her own time.

Quinn was taken off guard by that, she had expected a 'told you so' from their previous conversation outside the coffee shop.

Blue blushed, deciding she was going to pretend she didn't hear those words and didn't understand what they were talking about. Instead she kept rubbing her hand along Lauren's back, feeling muscles shudder under her touch.

"God, they're weird." Lauren said letting her wings stretch and work loose. She looked up at Blue and then leaned her scaled head in close, she breathed out, the warm breath washing over Blue's face. Then she opened her mouth, her tongue snaking out and hesitantly licked the woman's cheek, tasting Blue's scent.

It was a different way of experiencing the world.

"They're weird." Blue agreed, giggling just a bit at the strange feeling that was. Not at all weird like Lauren and her were.

"You coming?" Dianna yelled, trailing her hand along the base of the asylum wall, searching for something.

Slowly Lauren folded her wings around both of them. "Just a sec." She let out another warm breath. "I . . . whatever happens in there, please don't hold it against me."

Wide blue eyes studied Lauren's new face and she reached up, touching that face. "I won't. But I'm coming with you." She didn't want to get left behind again.

"Of course, we're a team." Lauren said never doubting Blue would be with them.

"Good." It wasn't a good time for it, or the right place, but Blue leaned in, kissing her softly. "Good." She repeated.

Lauren made an odd purring noise in her chest in happiness and opened her wings.

Quinn was scratching her shoulders. "So do we just walk in? Or scale the wall?"

"There's a way . . ." Dianna frowned, searching. "Somewhere around here, I know it was . . ." She grumbled, probing and prying at the dark wall. She knew she was in the right place, where the hell was it?

Quinn watched curious.

"See, this is why you needed me." The half-demon knelt down in something she didn't want to look too closely at and reached into a run-off pipe. Something clanked and an ancient, blood-rust colored iron door groaned as it swung out of the wall. "See?" She forced a grin. Why were they doing this? They should be running away from this place.

"Dianna, I find it interesting that you knew that was there. Anything you want to tell me?"

"Starting to doubt me too, Quinn?" Dianna wiped off her hands, standing up.

"No, we're too deep in this shit for that. You going to avoid my question?"

"Banks don't give loans to half-demons, you know that? No business loans, no papers, no tax breaks for anything you do. No money to do what you have to do." Dianna lifted her head.

"No, actually I didn't know that." Quinn wondered what that had to do with the secret door.

Feeling their eyes on her, Dianna looked away, studying the courtyard beyond. Weeds had taken over most of it, although the occasional newspaper still fluttered about on errant wind gusts. All of the windows were intact here; no one had dared hurl stones at this building. If you stared long enough you could see things moving behind those windows, ghostly outlines of patients and doctors from the turn of the century.

"Which means that if you need money to start a bar that was your sister's one desire, you need to find the money elsewhere." She swallowed; Quinn wasn't going to like hearing this. But maybe it was for the best to end things now.

"So you go to the only demons in the Gray that have money." Dianna wondered if Quinn knew what was coming yet. "My father wasn't happy but after I proved I was his daughter, he had to lend me some." But not all, oh no, he'd been good at making sure to give her far less than she'd needed.

Pale eyes turned to look at Quinn, feeling the dawning horror in their link. "And the other was Alvera."

Quinn swallowed and kept her mouth shut to prevent words that wanted to come out from coming out. There was a stab of betrayal that Dianna would go to that demon. She kept quiet because part of her knew Dianna didn't deserve her harsh words for doing what she needed to survive.

She closed her eyes and practiced the breathing techniques she'd learned when she'd gone to a therapist. She still felt betrayed but less angry. "That sucks." She said finally opening her eyes. "Come on; daylight's burning."

"Right." Dianna smiled bitterly and turned, stepping into the courtyard. "No going off to examine anything alone, no one goes wandering off or splits up. There's enough danger in here without us doing stupid shit." She dug around in her pack, tossing flashlights to the two younger women. "Last chance to back out."

Lauren rolled golden eyes. "We're going with you."

*******

Inside, deep in the basement of the Asylum red eyes opened, and with a purr, pale arms stretched overhead. "Lovely, lovely, Quinn's here; no more playing cat and mouse games."

The blob peeked in through the doorway, "Mistress?"

"We have guests. Divide them, they stink of old magic together, so divide them so I can conquer."

"As you command."

"Oh and I need Quinn alive, the others I don't care about."

The blob jiggled, which might have been a nod.

*******

Blue stuck close to Lauren's side, holding her left hand and not at all minding the claws. They were reassuring in this place of darkness. The air smelled strange, old and musty but full of an iron taint that might have been blood. Things moved around them and she had to close her eyes, whispering nursery rhymes to herself. They weren't real things, just echoes of what had happened here before.

Doctors with mad smiles and scalpels dripping blood chasing after patients who were screaming for help while nurses laughed and danced naked.

Evil, evil things had happened here and she felt her skin crawl.

"Rock a bye baby, on the tree top. When the wind blows the cradle will rock?" She peeked through her lashes, wishing she'd kept her long hair dangling in her face. The ghost of a nurse, or maybe it was a patient wearing a nurse's uniform, screamed as the doctor behind her slit her throat. Still holding the spurting body to him, he looked right at Blue and smiled.

She shut her eyes hard. "When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all."

Ahead of them Dianna glanced back, only catching hints of what Blue was seeing. She knew bringing someone with psychic powers like Blue's in here was a bad idea. To the rest of them it was just hints of movement out of the corner of the eye, Blue was already terrified.

"Lauren, you have to keep her calm, she's going to?" Dianna trailed off, footsteps coming to a stop as she listened intently. Something had shifted, deeper in the Asylum, something powerful had stirred.

Lauren leaned into Blue, wings opening and settling around them. A useless shape inside, she wished for the one made of stone, but she'd chosen this one because it seemed less aggressive and she'd been concerned for Blue.

"Blue, come on, it's going to be okay. They're just memories locked in this place, they can't hurt you. They just want you to feel as bad as they do. So they're going to try their best to torment you because they can't touch you." She reached out a clawed hand and it sliced through a shadow with no effect on her or the shadow. Other than a slight coldness nothing happened.

"Memories can hurt." Blue whispered, staying right where she was. It wasn't as frightening here though and she hoped she could keep walking like this. "Can I stay here?" She whispered, tightening her hold on Lauren.

"Here in this hallway? Probably not, but next to me, sure unless we need to fight." She looked at Dianna worried, then back to Blue. "Blue, you can shake off the bad memories; don't let them drag you down," she said softly. "Try and think of happy memories, like . . ." She tried to come up with something. "Our first kiss."

That was a happy memory and Blue had already decided she was going to treasure it for a long, long time, no matter what happened. She nodded, swallowing, and opened her eyes again. The images were still there but they looked a little less firm, not quite as real as they had before. Ignoring them she focused on the solid feel of the shorter woman next to her and the memories that she wanted to relive.

The half-demon ahead of them waited impatiently as Blue got herself under control. "You both okay?" When she got a nod, she started moving again, hoping that she remembered the way to the basement levels.

"We get split up, for some reason, try the walkie-talkies. If they don't work, we need to make our way to the basement. That's where the?" There were no words for what was in the basement and Dianna shivered. "Treatment rooms were." That would do for now. "Quinn, you all right back there?"

"Yes, I'm fine." Her shoulders where the demoness had burned her hurt, they throbbed in time with her heartbeat and she was beginning to think it wasn't a coincidence, maybe it was reacting to the heavy demonic influence and magic. "Basement check."

"Mommy." A child's voice shouted out and Quinn stopped heart in her throat, it had sounded like Conner. She looked around but didn't see anything. "Did anyone hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" Lauren asked.

"Mommy." It came again.

"That?"

"I didn't hear anything Quinn." Lauren said looking at Blue and then behind at Quinn who had fallen behind.

"Quinn?" Dianna turned around, worried when the Detective took a step away from them. "Whatever it is, Quinn, it's not real? Goddamnit!" She swore as the other woman took off running. "Fuck. You two stay here, do not move!" She yelled as she took off after Quinn.

"Dianna!" Lauren shouted but the woman was gone single minded on Quinn, "It's probably another trap." She said mostly to herself, she sighed and looked at Blue. "Wanna make out?" She wiggled her nonexistent eyebrows trying to lighten the mood.

Which worked as Blue giggled. "Not with that tongue." She did lean in close to Lauren, eyes wide as she stared down the decrepit side passage that Quinn and Dianna had disappeared down. "What do we do?"

"We wait here, then we try the walkie-talkies, and then we try to find the basement." She pulled them over out of the center of the hallway and wrapped both wings around them peeking over Blue's shoulders, not liking this at all.

******

"Mommy." Came the child's voice again, closer.

"Connor?" Quinn said desperately. It was impossible, Connor was dead, but it sounded so much like her boy.

There at the end of the hallway a small pale figure stood, lost and alone. "Mommy?" It said again.

"I'm here." She ran faster pushing tired muscles. There was a crack and a groan of metal and wood as the floor fell out from under her.

*****

Dianna heard the crash, but she'd somehow lost Quinn in the twisting hallways. Cursing, she backtracked, finding the place where she thought she'd lost the human and took the righthand turn instead of going straight.

"Quinn? Can you hear me? Quinn?" The half-demon called, worriedly searching the side rooms as she went. These looked as if they'd been doctor's offices at one point, or maybe administrative offices, it was hard to tell after so many years of neglect.

Rounding another corner she shook her head in relief. "Quinn, what are you doing?" The detective was standing at the edge of a collapsed section of hallway, staring down into whatever was below.

"He wasn't your boy, whatever you heard that wasn't your child." Dianna moved closer, focused on the detective's back. Maybe she could grab her and pull her away from the opening if she got close enough. The Irish woman made no sign of hearing her, she stood right where she was, staring downward and a little thrill of warning ran up Dianna's back.

"Quinn? Can you hear me?" She reached out to touch that familiar skin, gasping as the woman whirled on her, red eyes flashing. The thing that looked like Quinn grabbed her hand, laughing.

"Quinn, can you hear me?" It mocked, face twisting into a shape from nightmares as Dianna struggled against its grip.

"Why don't you find out!" The thing screamed, pulling Dianna toward the cave in, it's grip on her hand like steel.

Dianna had a glimpse of Quinn laying at the bottom of the hole, maybe two or three floors down, and then she was falling, arms cartwheeling as the broken wooden floor below rushed up to meet her.

****

Lauren grumbled and fiddled with the walkie-talkie but the claws were not helping. "Dianna? Quinn?" She said before her finger slipped off. "Blue, a little help."

"Yes, clawed one." Blue quipped, taking the walkie-talkie before Lauren put a claw through the speaker.

Pressing down on the talk button she held it up to her mouth. "Dianna? Can you hear me?" Only static answered, and it kept answering for the next dozen or so times that she tried. Worried blue eyes looked down at Lauren. "That's not good right?"

"No, it's not." Lauren looked around. "We need to find a nurses station, they would have had an emergency exit sign, that will give us a rough map so we can find some stairs. I'm not trying an elevator."

She had to push Blue a little to get her moving, and it was awkward moving so close together, but it was the only way to keep Blue going. Her headache was worse, which meant demons were active somewhere nearby.

Lauren paused and looked inside a room; it looked like someone had made a fire inside. She sighed and moved on to the next one. She gave a toothy grin and let go of Blue's hand to move inside. With a heave of muscles, she ripped the metal sign off the wall.

"Wow." Blue blinked watching the entire metal sign come free, screws that had anchored it into the cement wall coming with it. She let out a low whistle. "Very butch." She thought that was the right way to say it.

"Uh . . ." Lauren looked from the map to Blue and then back to the map. "Right." She brought it over to Blue so the woman could shine the flashlight on it. "We're here." She pointed at the little star. "And the stairs are?" Her eyes tracked around the map. "There. Jesus how big is this place?"

"Melva said it was bigger inside than it looked outside." Blue said, tracing a finger along the dirty sign. "We have to go through here." She pointed at a large area that said isolation rooms. "I don't think I like that idea."

No, Lauren imagined Blue wouldn't. She couldn't imagine the amount of psychic crap in those rooms. People locked in them with only their thoughts for company. "I'll be with you. I won't let anything happen to you."

"Okay." Blue said, voice small. She really didn't want to do this, but she would. "I'm not letting go of you." She warned, as they stepped back out into the hallway. Wincing as echoes of the past played out around them. Most of those echoes were very grizzly, the one with the patient ripping out the doctors eyes and eating them was probably going to be in her nightmares.

Lauren felt bad, but she couldn't just leave Dianna, she owed the woman more than to turn around and flee. But she wanted Blue to be safe. A woman she hardly knew but that felt more important to her than anyone else she'd had in her life to date. She could almost hear her sister's voice saying that was because Blue had kissed her. Maybe that was true, but Blue believed in her, believed in her to be strong, to do the right thing.

So finding Quinn and Dianna was the right thing.

"But I'm keeping my eyes closed when we go through there." Blue said, being very certain that Lauren knew she wasn't going to watch.

**********

Quinn's eyes opened everything was dark, everything stank. The smell made her stomach roll and she grimaced and took some deep breaths.

"Probably not the best smell for a human." A seductive voice said, the words stroking and caressing the air. "But for a demon even a half-demon it's pleasant. Nice to meet you again, Detective. Always one step ahead of me. I was going to come get you in time, once I was stronger, but then you had to surprise me by coming here. Might have worked, but you of all people can't surprise me anymore." Alvera was sitting on a throne of bloody bones made from all her sacrifices; out of the darkness around them demon eyes watched, burning red coals in the dark.

Before, this room had been used for various treatments; shallow tanks with brackish water and wires, benches with tie-downs among operating tables. "In this room, horrible, horrible things were done to stop human misery, only to prolong it. The stench of that misery is like a perfume."

Quinn forced herself to sit up. As long as the bitch was talking, she was still alive.

Dianna lay in one of those tanks, arms tied to the side of the bathtub, her breathing causing ripples to form in the water that she half lay, half sat in. Wires sparked in the back of the room, giving brief flashes of light to the darkness that they were in.

Quinn swallowed. "Let her go."

"No. I had a delicious thought. Wouldn't it be interesting to see if I can split a half-demon into parts?" Alvera moved, a whisper of cloth on skin. "Of course, you could always stop me." She slid her fingers along the bathtub, fingers trailing in the water.

"I did it before; you think I can't do it again." She forced herself to her feet. Her back screamed in agony and she almost collapsed.

The demoness's laugh was dark. "You can barely stand. You're weak. This isn't your home and you don't have surprise on your side this time." Alvera's hand shot out, wrapping around Quinn's throat. Effortlessly she lifted the human up off the floor and then threw her back down. "On your knees, where you deserve to be." Alvera snarled.

Quinn cried out as she hit the dirty floor. She shook her head clearing the stars and then she started getting to her feet. "I'll find a way, you fucking bitch." The words weren't as defiant sounding in the dark room.

"Like you found a way to save your son?" The dark voice chuckled, fingers flicking through the water again. "Oh, that's right, you didn't. His soul is mine."

"His soul was too pure for a dark thing like you to hold on to." Quinn spat out.

"Unless . . ." The voice purred, picking up electrodes and inserting them into the water. "His father sold his soul to me."

Quinn's heart shattered at the words. "No." Her world titled and she couldn't breath.

"Yessss." Laughter echoed off the walls. "That makes two members of your family that are mine."

"You can keep that thing that calls himself my husband but you can't have my son." She hurt; it felt like something inside had broken.

"I won't just give up such a delicious soul for nothing." Alvera purred. "A strong soul, something worthwhile for such a trade." The next wire she picked up sparked as she touched it against the side of the metal tank. The brief current caused Dianna to spasm inside of it.

"Stop." Quinn begged, feeling Dianna's distress. "What do you want?"

"Your soul of course." Alvera smiled in the darkness, an evil expression in the darkness.

"You'll let them go? Dianna, my son, in exchange for my soul. Let them out of this place."

"Dianna is mine; she owes me a lot of? what is the term?" The wire sparked again and the half-demon thrashed in the water. "Interest. Yes, interest for the loan I gave her. I intend to have my pound of flesh, Detective. But your son, yes, he can be freed."

"No, Dianna's mine. So you can try to collect but good luck with that." She laughed feeling better to have one up on the demon.

Slowly she got back up, remembering a fundamental thing about demons, they were liars. "I don't think you have my son. I think you're a liar." She had faced this thing once before, she could do it again even if it meant dying on her two feet.

She moved toward the tub wishing she had a gun but instead she whispered the Lord's prayer.

The smile was more of a snarl this time. "You'd damn your son's soul for all eternity just for this?" Dianna thrashed as Alvera shoved the cable into the water. "How long do you think it will take for her brain to melt?" The smile was back. "Are you feeling her pain?"

"Yes." Quinn hissed out. "Prove you have my son."

She was taking as much of Dianna's pain on herself as she could, she owed the woman that much for getting them into this. "Cause I think you're lying."

******

The air around them was getting colder and Lauren had a pretty good idea that wasn't a good thing where Blue was concerned. She kept up a stream of nonsense. "It's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going to let anything happen. It's okay." It became a mantra of sorts.

"Did you like having a sister?" Blue blurted, shivering as she clung to Lauren's hand. "I always wanted a sister." The stairs were through the doors ahead of them, but they were on the other side of the isolation rooms, which were also through the doors.

The shivering got worse as they moved into the dingy corridor beyond. A dozen cells were off the corridor, empty except for the ghosts inside of them. Which Blue tried to ignore.

"No, she . . . uh . . . she's the one who did this to me. Said it was to help with anxiety, instead, she made me a demon. She was smart and pretty and everything I wasn't, and my parents spent their whole life asking me why I wasn't more like Susan."

"You're smart and pretty." Blue pointed out, the shivering lessening a little. "Even when you have wings." That was a lot to get used to, but she'd seen a lot of strange things in the Gray.

"Thanks. So you were an only child? Did you grow up here? Well, not here in the Gray but in town?"

"No." Blue shivered, looking away from the body hanging in the isolation cell they were passing in front of. "New York." She swallowed. "My parents were rich, very rich. Daddy worked for a big bank, mom was involved in all the parties and the right fundraisers." Blue kept her eyes closed. "They thought I'd gone insane." She swallowed.

"It's okay." Lauren careful of her claws rubbed Blue's back. "I've never been to New York, I've never been out of the state."

"We could go. See the statues and the shows. I like the plays, and then there's the dancing. I was going to dance, I was good, all the teachers told me so." She felt Lauren slow and, reluctantly opened an eye. The thing standing at the far end of the room, in front of the stairs, didn't look like a ghost.

"That's not an echo, is it?" She said worriedly.

Lauren's eyes were murderous slits, and she hissed a warning to the thing.

The thing at the end of the hallway moved toward them and Blue shivered as she got a good look at it. It looked like Dianna, the form was right, the hair was right, even the way she was smirking looked like the half-demon.

But it wasn't Dianna. The edges of her blurred a little if Blue looked hard enough and her shadow flickered, moving between different shapes as if the light being shown on it was ever changing.

"That's not Dianna." Blue whispered certain of it as she was of anything else.

"Of course, I'm Dianna." The thing moving toward them said in Dianna's voice. "Your friend. I got lost looking for Quinn, have you seen her?" There was even what sounded like genuine worry in that voice.

Dianna never made Lauren's head ache like this. The scaled woman moved in front of Blue with a growl. Wings spread so she blocked Blue from the demon, she stared at the thing, she would have believed it to be Dianna, it was perfect except she'd never had the overwhelming urge to kill Dianna. The urge to kill this thing drummed through her with every beat of her heart.

"Hey." She hissed out. "What do you call a demon that kills other demons?"

Something shifted in the thing's face, just a momentary flicker of something other than Dianna's eyes and mouth. "I don't know, Lauren." She kept walking toward them, eyes intent on the humans.

Blue slowly backed up, eyes wide of what she could see around Lauren's wings.

"Hey you've heard that one before, that's the right answer." Lauren said. As the thing in front of them stopped moving and blinked in confusion she sprang, muscles tensing and releasing in that blink of an eye. Claws out, wings snapping into her body.

The thing's form changed even as Lauren leapt for it, the boundaries of Dianna's body sagging and flowing until it wasn't so much a person as a blob that vaguely resembled a human. The thing flowed around Lauren as she struck it, wrapping folds of itself around her as the force of the impact sent them both tumbling along the floor.

Hand over her mouth, Blue backed up, not sure what she could do, if anything to help her girlfriend. Something behind her moved in the darkness and she screwed her eyes shut.

"Just echoes." She whispered to herself. "Just echoes of the past. Can't hurt me, they're just shadows."

Cold dead fingers wrapped around her ankles and pulled, sending her falling face first to the ground, arms outstretched as she screamed. The fingers dragged her backward kicking and fighting, into the isolation cell.

"Laur?" The scream was cut short as the rusting metal door swung shut.

"Blue." Lauren shouted. Claws slashing and gouging into the blob. How did one kill a blob? Fire or ice, she would guess but she had neither. She tore herself away from the thing and ran at the closed door, hitting it at almost full speed.

The door groaned as it slid back half an inch but didn't open. She pounded on it, her claws scratching the metal. "Blue!" She shouted again just as she was yanked back by the blob. "Damn it!" She screamed trying to turn around and face it.

Suddenly it was over her head, covering her nose and mouth, and she couldn't breath. She clawed at it and tried to pull it off. Her legs trembled after 30-seconds and then they gave out.

The blob wrapped itself around her, bearing her to the ground, tightening its hold as it did so. Only when it was certain that she wasn't moving anymore did it pull away, its mass rolling down the hallway to report back to its mistress that the two others had been taken care of.

Dirty fingers reached out through the half-inch gap that Lauren had opened. Just barely she could pull on the door, Blue throwing everything she had into it so that the door slid open, reluctantly. Behind her the shadows burned, blue flames flickering through them.

The human was covered in bleeding scratches and dirty from the contents of the cell she'd been dragged into. None of that mattered to her though as she stumbled to Lauren's side. "Lauren?"

Frantically she knelt next to the woman who was slowly looking more like a human and pressed her hands to the woman's chest.

Lauren wasn't breathing. Terror seized her and she focused her powers.

******

"Prove it. Prove you have my son's soul." The demon had to be lying, had to be. She licked dry lips and watched Dianna's body convulse, her own skin buzzing.

Alvera licked her lips, it was an unexpected bonus to be able to hurt Dianna and have the human feel it. She really enjoyed bonuses. "What would you want for proof, his darling little screams for help from his mommy?" She yanked the cable free of the water, leaving Dianna collapsed in the water. She didn't want the half-demon dead yet, no that would take much longer.

"Whatever it takes to convince me you really have it? The burden of proof is on you, not me." Quinn said voice steady even if her body wasn't so much so.

"How about I show him to you?" Alvera's smile was nasty as she stalked toward Quinn. "Would you like that? Would it make your little heart bleed to see him again?" She waved and the pool of water in another one of the tubs shimmered, glowing as it showed a young boy surrounded by demons. "Can you see how terrified he is?"

Quinn nodded, tears streaming down her face. "Why?" She asked, her voice a hollow shell.

"Because he should have been your brother." Alvera was loving every tear, every moment of heart-wrenching pain. It was delicious. "Your father sold your brother's soul to me, did you know that?" She laughed at the expression on Quinn's face. "Traded it to me for the soul of his beautiful wife."

"I don't understand." Her mother had been a nun, how had Alvera gotten her soul? "That's impossible. She was a woman of the church." But it was a well-romanticized story, how her parents had defied their vows to find love.

The demoness laughed. "Really? Do you think she'd always been a nun?" The smile was pure evil now. "She tried to redeem herself." More laughter, almost giggling this time. "But that's not how it works, she should have known that. When they fell in love your father pleaded with me, begged me to give her soul back. I agreed, for a price."

Quinn let her eyes close, all of it just too much. "My brother." She said weakly. "But I've met the demon that has his soul and it's not you."

"Yes." Alvera's eyes narrowed with sudden fury. "It's not. His soul is out of my reach, but yours wasn't. How easy it was to seduce your husband and then to get your son's soul?" She nearly purred in pleasure. "Worth every second. Until you ruined it by nearly destroying me!" That earned Quinn a hard punch across the face that sent her tumbling.

Recovering her composure Alvera smiled. "It's all right though. You gave me the perfect anchor to keep me from being completely gone, those scars on your shoulders. Now with your soul I'll be fully returned."

Quinn sat jaw aching, wanting to so completely just give in to the mind numbing depression that waited to overwhelm her. But that had never been part of her character. She rubbed her jaw and looked at the demoness. "It burns you up, doesn't it, that at every turn my family has one upped you. Every turn. I could walk away and give the Quinns a perfect score. Quinns three - Alvera zero. Or . . ." She could tell she had the demoness, the thing was hooked on her every word. "we could make a deal."

Alvera's smile was blinding in the darkness.

*********

Lauren snuck into Blue's hospital room whenever she could, sometimes the nurses chased her off, and sometimes they pretended not to see her. She talked to Blue, told her everything she could think of, but mostly she begged the blond woman to wake up.

*********

Cain woke with the sound of a gun being cocked. His red eyes snapped open and then he went cross-eyed staring down the barrel of a gun.

Quinn looked at her brother. "Get up." She said quietly.

He was sandwiched between a curvy African-American woman and some sort of Norse God. Is this what she had to look forward to, a life of debauchery? "Get up, don't make me ask again."

Cain nodded and worked on squeezing out from between his two lovers for the night.

Quinn tossed him a robe and then moved into the kitchen. She pulled out a glass and his best whiskey and poured herself a double. She slammed it back and then poured another.

"That's no way to treat a fine drink."

She looked at him over the rim of her glass. "Is it true?"

"A lot of things are true. Any truth in particular?"

"The one about Da, mum, and you? Did my son die for the sins of my family?"

"Oh." He said quietly. "When we found out Alvera had been killed by you, we thought it was over."

"Is it true?"

He sighed, "Yes. Da fell in love with a nun breaking his vows to the church. She was a Ridden, a pathetic human that had sold its soul to a demon. This nun's soul belonged to Alvera, but she in turn fell in love with him. They begged Alvera to let mum's soul go, and she agreed, for a price."

"Your soul." Alvera hadn't lied.

"Yeah, the soul of their first born. I found out about it and shopped around. If was I going to lose my soul, might as well be to a demon I liked. Thrasher was pleased as punch to fuck Alvera over and take my soul before my 18th birthday."

Quinn finished her drink and poured another nodding. "But Alvera wasn't willing to sit back and have a laugh about how the humans had fucked her. So she came after me, figured if she got my husband and my son, I'd follow. Only I didn't and I didn't kill her."

"Yeah. Just sent her back to hell for a bit. Quinn, I'm sorry. You deserve better than your family."

"Shut up, Cain." She leveled the gun at him. "You're going to pay me back for all the shit I've endured on your and Da's behalf."

"Sure, whatever you need."

She nodded. "Fix Dianna's bar. Get it back from her father, get him to leave her alone, and make it look like it never burned down, and give her the deed. She owns it debt free."

"Sis, Malax? He's no small time player, he's the King of Lust."

The gun went off, and he squealed in pain as the bullet entered his thigh.

"Do it, Cain, make it happen. Thrasher can't be small potatoes if Alvera didn't fuck him up for poaching your soul."

He nodded. "Fine, consider it done. Anything else?" He squeezed a hand over the bullet hole, blood sluggishly dribbling out from between his fingers.

"I need a fake ID."

**********

Lauren snuck into Blue's room. She was tired, some green thing with tentacles had tried to eat her when she'd taken a shortcut through an alley. She dumped the dying flowers out of the vase and put in the fresh ones and sat down. Only to give a squeak of shock as she saw blue eyes looking back at her.

"Blue?"

The young woman's mouth opened. "Who's Blue and who are you?"

Lauren's mouth open and shut. "This isn't funny, you're Blue."

"My name's Violet."

"Violet." She said dumbly.

Suddenly, there were nurses and doctors in the room, and Lauren found herself outside.

********

Quinn had bought several plane tickets in her name all going different places. Then as Alice Little she bought a train ticket to New York, where her father's church was.

She waited for him, sitting in a pew, watched him come in and talk with several of the church volunteers. He looked smaller, more broken blood vessels in his nose. She got up and lit a candle for her son and then stepped into the confessional. She waited for him to notice the light.

"How may I help you child?"

"By stepping up, and taking responsibility for your sins."

There was silence, it stretched out for minutes until it broke. "Maggie?"

"Yes, Father Quinn. It's your daughter."

"I don't know?"

"Yes you do, you know exactly what I'm talking about. My son dying because you couldn't keep it in your pants. You loved a demon-ridden whore more than you loved your own children and then once she was gone, you still refused responsibility, so instead you went and hid in the church on the off-chance Alvera came for you. I have news for you, Father; she came for me and took my son. Your grandson."

"Don't you dare call your mother a whore!" He shouted back.

"You've known all along that she'd come for me. She took Connor and you said nothing. I get framed for murders I didn't commit, nearly killed by demons, and you say nothing."

"I told you to talk to your brother, it's not my fault you blame him for things beyond his control, and refuse to talk to him."

"I shouldn't have to. You should have told me, it's your sin, your lust, that put your children in this situation."

Her answer was silence.

She was getting up to leave when he asked. "What do you want? I didn't want my grandson to die or you or Cain, but I loved your mother so much. Do you know how much it killed me when she died from cancer?"

"I want you to give your soul to Alvera so she'll let Connor's go, like you should have when you betrayed your vows for a roll in the hay."

"I can't."

Quinn wasn't surprised. "Goodbye, Father." She exited the small booth.

She stayed in a hotel room for two days drinking and waiting. Almost every night there was some sort of erotic dream starring her and Dianna. It hurt, because Dianna was probably with some vapid, bubbly blonde; fucking her brains out, not her, never her, only that one night. Those memories would have to sustain her. Distance and drink muted the bond; perhaps she was as weak as her father.

"Did you find your answers? Get all your affairs in order?"

She blinked and then looked at the now occupied couch seat next to her. The demoness sat there, smirking. "Yes."

"Your father's not here so I'm guessing he's still the spineless bastard I knew him to be."

She nodded draining the glass. "Let's get this over with." She set the glass down and stood up.

"Yes, let's." She reached out, only to be stopped by Quinn's hand. "What?"

"I do this and you leave my friends and family alone?"

"Yes, yes, that's the deal."

"I want your blood on it."

"Fine." A claw quickly cut her hand and then the demon's. Alvera looked at Quinn, "Maggie Quinn I get your soul and in return I will do no harm toward your friends and family." She only agreed to this because Maggie had so little of each. Then she clasped Quinn's hand. "Happy?"

Quinn nodded, "Last thing. Let Connor's soul go."

Alvera made a face, but then pushed a hand inside and pulled something out. A spark of pure light, it hurt to look at it. Quinn thought she heard the whispered word 'Mommy' and then it was gone.

"Leave Dianna alone."

"Yes, covered under friends and family. Are you done?" The demon snapped.

Quinn nodded.

Alvera moved her hand back from Quinn's and took something with her. Alvera stared at her the soul in her hand. "It seems light."

"I know what a soul weighs." The demon considered that and then shoved it into her mouth devouring it.

Quinn blinked. She felt hollow. She blinked. She felt oddly unencumbered.

Alvera watched her. "You look so much like your mother now." She stepped forward to kiss her.

Quinn stepped back. "I'm not her. And I'd really rather not think about what that just inferred about you and my mother."

The backhand sent her across the room but in the blink of an eye she was up.

"You'll do whatever I tell you to. You belong to me."

********

It was two days before Lauren could get back inside to see Blue.

She opened the door looking around. "Blue? I mean Violet?" She shut the door and walked over to a chair and watched Blue sleep.

She bit her lip worried, she should go find Dianna. She'd know what to do. But the half-demon had her own issues.

Suddenly the door opened, and two people came in dressed in fine clothes and stinking of their own self-importance.

"Who are you? Get this janitor out of my daughter's room. Oh God, it probably doesn't understand English. Does somebody speak Mexican in this horrid place?"

"I understand you just fine." She blurted out. Only to still find herself shoved out of the room. "Stop it. Stop touching me. Blue! Blue!"

Suddenly a metal cuff locked around her wrist, and she looked up into the face of Agent Green. "I've got this. Glad I could help you find your missing daughter. Come on Lauren, time to go home."

"No." Lauren tried to wrench her arm free but only found herself surrounded by agents.

"What were you doing in that Asylum in the heart of the Gray, Lauren? Where's Quinn?" In the back of the van Agent Green's questions never stopped. They'd drugged her with a muscle relaxant so none of her muscles worked, she couldn't change shape, couldn't fight them. Didn't matter, without Blue. It had been her fault, she'd died and Blue had tried to bring her back. Blue shouldn't have done that. All her fault.

"Where's Quinn?"

God, she wished he'd stop asking that, no one knew. She'd woken up in the Asylum with Blue unconscious next to her and the stamping of several booted feet. Then the DA agents had crashed through doors, she had run, feeling bad for leaving Blue. Bad girlfriend, she was a bad girlfriend.

**********

Cain Quinn stepped into the police station, sunglasses in place and holding a cane for his limp. Maggie just had to shoot him with a melted-cross special. He stopped at a desk. "I understand you're holding one Dianna Theron illegally, and if you don't release her I will make a call to the HDCLU, and you'll have a camp-out of several angry protesters outside your doors. How would that be for business?"

The man paled and swallowed nervously. God, he hated the Half-Demon Civil Liberties Union. "Uh, let me take you to the Chief."

"Yes, let's." He said with a neutral smile.

The Chief looked up as his door opened and then sighed as he saw Cain. He waved off the Sergeant, "I've got it."

Cain came in with a smile.

The chief spoke before Cain could. "Look, I don't believe any of this bullshit about your sister, but it looks worse the longer she stays away and these DA hacks build a case against her. So tell her to come in."

"I'm not here about my sister. I can't tell her to come in because I don't know where she is. I'm here about a Ms. Theron, whom you have been holding without any reasonable cause."

The Chief paled, no one knew they had Theron in a cell. "The DA . . ."

"Can blow me. Now either release her or deal with the HDCLU and myself. The DA is really high on my shit list, particularly this Agent Green, who seems to have a vendetta against my sister. I'm horrified at how this . . . her brothers-in-blue have turned against her as well as this city. She has given all of herself in the ideal of 'To Serve and Protect' and this is how she's repaid? Wherever she is, I hope she has found a better class of people to have her back."

The Chief flushed. "I will have Ms. Theron released; she will need to stick around for any questions related . . ."

Cain cut him off. "Any questions can be filtered through Ms. Theron's lawyer." He pulled out a business card and set it on the desk.

The Chief picked up a phone. "Release Theron. Yes I know, now just release her. Her lawyer is here."

********

Cain put his hand on the small of Dianna's back as they moved out the front doors of the station. There were a group of people there holding signs about police brutality against half-demons.

"I thought you weren't going to call them." The Chief sputtered.

"I lied." Cain said, moving Dianna through the crowd. He did stop to speak for Dianna. Condemning the police and then praising them for giving in to pressures from a dubious agency like Demon Affairs and keeping Ms. Theron locked up without a lawyer, showing yet again how half-demons had little or no rights.

"Just keep looking pathetic and lost," he whispered into her ear, "and don't say anything." He moved them to a waiting car.

Dianna nodded a little, it wasn't a hard request. Everything hurt, either from what Alvera had done to her or the beating she'd taken in the holding cell. The entire details of the last twenty-four hours were very fuzzy; she had big gaps in her memory. The last thing she clearly remembered was falling through the air in the Asylum, the ground rushing up to meet her.

There were only fragments after that, shattered pieces of remembering.

Screaming in pain as Alvera shocked her in the filthy pool of water, the broken look in Quinn's eyes as she watched.

The feel of rough hands on her as the DA agents arrived, and then flashes of traveling in a helicopter she thought.

Gingerly she got into the car, wincing as bruises ached with the contact. Her face must look a mess.

"Why are you doing this?" She said as soon as Cain got inside, the swollen split lip making it harder to talk than usual.

"My sister asked me to and in 15 years my sister hasn't asked me for a thing." He tapped on the partition separating them from the driver and the car started moving. He opened the wet bar and grabbed a handful of ice, wrapping it in a towel and handed it to her.

"She's alive?" Dianna cursed the hopeful note in her voice as she took the ice and pressed it to her right eye.

Cain lifted his sunglasses and rubbed demon-red eyes. He'd heard rumors, things that made him uneasy. Alvera wasn't gone and she'd gotten a new Reaper. That made many of the bigwigs uneasy. It made him uneasy because his sister had fallen off the radar.

"As far as I know. She showed up. Asked a bunch of questions, shot me in the leg, made me promise some stuff and then took a fake ID and left."

"Shot you in the leg?" Dianna grinned a little and immediately regretted it. "Thank you for getting me out of there." She dabbed at her lip with the towel, sighing as she realized she'd split it open again. "Now what?"

"You were a very hard woman to find and the more I dug the more I was horrified at what I found. I have no illusions about demons; I have done a lot of bad things to get where I have in life, it's part and parcel of being a Ridden. But the sheer amount of government cover-up and corruption going on around this stinks more than a mob boss's trial." He poured himself a drink. "I am taking you home, per my sister's request."

They drove toward the Gray Zone, a route very familiar to Dianna. Finally, the car stopped.

"Maggie said all you really wanted was your bar and to be left alone." He said as the doors unlocked. He reached out, opening his door and slid out before limping over to Dianna's door and opening it.

Confused at where they were going, Dianna watched him get out, following. "I don't really have a bar or a home anymore. Remember the 'burning it to the ground' thing?"

"Yes, I read about it. Never been to your bar, your father and I don't get along." He helped her out of the car and then turned her to look at the rebuilt bar. "There's some mean German woman in the kitchen making lunch, I don't advise keeping her waiting."

"Wha?." Dianna blinked, and then blinked again, mouth open as she gaped at the building where her bar had been. It looked almost identical, newer than her place had been, with workers still painting the outside. "How?" She trailed off, thoughts whirling. "That's impossible," she settled on.

"I know a Timebender. She put a bubble over it, luckily she only accelerates time. So inside the bubble, time moved faster, normally she charges a lot of money, helps out in big labs making experiments go faster, but she owed me a favor. There are still a few things inside that are missing like bar furniture, lighting fixtures, and other things. As I am made to understand, girls like to pick that stuff out for themselves." He paused and pulled out a slim leather document holder. "Oh and this is yours as well." He handed her the deed to the land and the building.

Wonderingly, Dianna took the deed in hands that only trembled a little. She was very quickly approaching the limits of even her endurance. "Quinn arranged this?" She whispered.

"Yes, Maggie arranged this." He was silent for a moment biting his lip. "Dianna, this was our fault, you merely got swept into a grudge match losing your home, your dignity, and at every turn you helped my sister. Maybe grudgingly, but you were there for her when the rest of the world wasn't. She wanted you to have the things that were taken from you because of her. Your bar and well, your peace and quiet."

It was what she wanted, what she'd always wanted. Why then, did it feel like she'd lost everything, Dianna wondered? What was that empty feeling from?

"Will you tell her I'd like to see her, if she wants to?" Dianna asked, voice quiet as she stared at the building.

He sighed, suddenly looking very human. "I don't know where she is. She's just disappeared."

Dianna jerked her gaze away from the building to narrow her eyes at the demon servant. "She what? What do you mean she just disappeared? You said she was fine."

"Last I saw her she was." He shot back defensively. "Look, I've learned to leave her alone. If she needs something, she'll stop by. I have someone checking in to the fake ID I gave her. Following her trail, but do you have any idea how many Alice Littles are in the world? A lot, which is what makes it such a good ID." He angrily loosened the tie he was wearing. "Why the fuck do you care?"

An excellent question and one that Dianna had no answer for, none that she was willing to share with anyone else at least. "Tell her I'd like to see her if you see her again." Was all that Dianna said, a bit of her old self showing through again. "Thank her for the bar? it?." She trailed off, confusion choking off the words again.

It was perfect, but it would never replace what she'd lost. Sissy was gone, would always be gone and Dianna was fully alone again. Swallowing she shook her head and walked for the door, not once looking back as she went inside.

Part 2 The Fallen

Chapter 9

New York City in November was a cold place to be.

The first of the winter snows had fallen the night before and Violet could see little specks of it still hiding from the sun on the balconies below. In the window her reflection looked back sadly as the sun slowly rose over the buildings. None of that snow would survive the day, she was sure, it would all disappear as if it had never been.

Sometimes Violet thought she would disappear like that.

"Violet? Violet! Are you listening to me?"

Sighing, Violet turned towards the woman behind her. "Yes Mother."

"No, you were off in your own little world again. Really dear you must snap out of it, it's been months since your…" For the first time that night the elegant older woman looked flustered. "Incident."

That's how they referred to it, as an incident. Violet had an incident, which was the reason she'd run away. Except Violet couldn't remember any of it, which the psychiatrist said meant she'd had a 'psychotic break'.

Violet thought that meant he didn't know what had happened.

"I am paying attention Mother. You said you and father would be away for Thanksgiving."

"Yes, it's unavoidable." Barbara van Dorph wrapped a black sable fur coat around her shoulders. "You're father has to be in Europe and I simply must attend the Met fund raiser. You'll be fine here."

"Yes Mother." Violet looked down at her fingers, wondering if she would simply fade away, or if she would melt like the snow.

"Don't forget you have an appointment with Dr. Fritz this afternoon. Jerome will come back to pick you up, then he'll bring you to the dance hall. You have that audition, remember?"

"Yes Mother." How could Violet forget? It was all her parents talked about, as if it was a forgone conclusion that she would get the lead roll.

"Good. Kiss dear."

Violet presented her cheek on command, receiving a brief air kiss before her mother was gone in a whirlwind of fur and commands as she gathered her personal assistant and headed for the car. Left alone, the massive penthouse apartment suddenly seemed desolate and empty. Violet shivered, wrapping her arms around herself as she turned to finish watching the sun rise.

The sad reflection in the window pane was a stranger to Violet.

******

Lauren wished, with everything she was, that someone would come and save her. In reality she knew that was impossible - knew that no one could come and break her out. Because no one knew where she was.

Her arms were full of needle marks where they had taken blood or injected her with stuff. She was skinny, tired and dirty. It was loud in the cell block, most of the other captives howled madly and threw themselves at the bars.

It scared her.

******

"So what you're saying Doctor is that Susan Esponiza did something amazing and that you can't duplicate it no matter how hard you try?"

The Doctor, a thin balding man, blinked nervously. "Sort of, we are trying our best to figure out what Susan did, but..."

"But you can't."

The Doctor sighed. "At this time that is correct. She seems to have some sort of ability to mimic any demon blood we inject her with and then for a short time become that demon. The control she has over her demon-self is amazing, something we haven't seen with the other test subjects, except for the LoupGarou, which seems to be a universally bad idea." He shivered, remembering Lauren's change, and then watching her rip apart an assistant with claws and fangs.

Another man from the right hand side of the conference table interjected. "So Susan's theory of using prison inmates as test subjects seems to be holding true." The man had green eyes and black hair that was cut with military precision. "The violent tendencies that got them thrown into the prison system just feeds the darker nature of the demons we try to turn them into."

"What would you have us do Mark? Just randomly kidnap people on the street?"

Mark frowned. "Didn't we just do that to Lauren? She didn't ask for this instead she's just a cog that slipped into our machine."

"What's done is done we just can't let her loose so she can kill someone."

Mark stared around the table in disgust. "Well she hasn't killed anyone but demons. I guess I'm the only one that hears her crying on the footage tape from her cell."

A few people looked away guiltily.

"We cannot keep her," he insisted.

"Mark, we have to keep her. Besides she's an orphan who's going to miss her? No one."

Mark looked down at the table under which his hands clenching in anger. There was nothing he could do. He was horrified at what Susan had done to her own sister, and it had hit him hard to realize that he had never really known the woman he was dating. Part of him was sure Susan wouldn't have wanted any of what had happened to her sister, and he was doing all he could to help her, but he wasn't getting anywhere. Lauren had broken the very problem that had been plaguing their project.

******

Quinn didn't feel cold any more - she really didn't feel anything. It disturbed her. Only at night did she feel things, when she slept; she dreamed of Dianna. The dreams sparked pleasure, and though upon waking there was pain, it drifted away with consciousness.

She pulled out the knife she had wedged into the half-breed moments earlier and watched him slip down the wall onto the ground of the alley and bleed out. Within moments he was just another piece of meat on the ground.

Alvera would be pleased, mission accomplished.

Quinn didn't know why the man had needed to die she didn't ask, didn't care.

She put the knife into a plastic bag and slipped it into the pocket of her coat as proof the job was done.

She waited for the final rasping breath before walking from the alley. This close to the Gray his body would be gone by nightfall. She supposed the half-breed had died so that Alvera could make some sort of in-road into the power structure here in New York.

Quinn didn't honestly know. All she knew was that they had come here and she had been sent out like a dog to kill. Her police training worked well for her Alvera had tried only once to send Quinn to seduce someone. It had gone poorly and it hadn't been asked of her again.

She hopped briefly on a bus and got off at the subway station. Heading down the escalators she spotted a young blond haired woman being hassled by three young men.

"None of your business Quinn," she told herself. But Quinn couldn't leave it alone, the woman reminded her of someone.

"You should go back to the insane asylum," the taller of a group of boys teased, shoving the blond back up against a wall. Streams of people passed by, all ignoring the little drama.

"Crazy Violet. You're still fucking insane, bet they decided they couldn't cure you," another boy laughed, shoving Violet's other shoulder and pinning her against the dirty wall.

A third boy simply smiled, eyes flicking up and down Violet's body.

"I'm not crazy." Violet whispered. She didn't understand why they wouldn't they leave her alone. She just wanted to be left alone.

"Bet we know how to heal you." The third boy said finally, pressing up against Violet, hands groping. "Still a virgin little Vi?" he whispered in her ear.

Quinn found herself standing behind the boys. "Take a hike Romeo." She lifted up her sunglasses staring at them with red eyes. "Idle hands are the devils playground, yours are really fucking idle."

"What the fuck lady, go mind your own business!" The third boy, who was groping Violet, snarled.

"Hey dude, look at her eyes man!" One of his friends grabbed him, dragging him away from the shivering Violet.

"We'll see you again little Vi!" the boy yelled, whooping as they took off down the tunnel for the subway.

Violet wrapped her arms around herself, shivering as they ran away.

Quinn frowned and stared at the woman she had heard called Violet. She knew she should feel something, bad maybe. "Come on lets get you home."

"I..." Violet blinked at Quinn. "Thank you." She shook her head. "I can find my own way."

The sunglasses fell back over Quinn's eyes. "Let me walk with you a little ways, make sure they don't come back."

Violet knew shouldn't accept help from a demon-touched, but she nodded and moved along with her, instinctively trusting her. "Do I know you?" she asked finally as they moved towards the subway trains. "I'm not good with names, maybe we met before?"

Quinn shrugged. "Its possible, you look familiar." Quin had met a lot of people as a cop. Helped a lot of people. She thought maybe it was just out of engrained habit that she had helped, but the young woman did look familiar to her. Quinn looked at Violet who was tall and willowy, and noticed a duffle bag. "You coming from the gym?"

"Ballet try-out." Violet pulled the bag tighter against her side. "I got a part," she said suddenly, surprising herself by offering that information. "Not the lead, but there's a lot of dancing."

"Congrats." Quinn said, staying calm and relaxed as a police officer passed them. "Hard work ballet, brutal on the feet and knees."

"They bleed. My toes that is. I like it though, it feels good to twirl. Like nothing else matters." Violet watched the police men go, feeling a strange disconnection that was becoming more and more common. "None of this feels real," she whispered, her eyes far away as the train emerged from tunnel and headed towards their platform.

Quinn looked over at Violet "What doesn't? Those boys harassing you?" Quinn had a hard time herself believing kids would act like that but then she'd seen a lot of shit, she knew she shouldn't be surprised.

"None of this. It's wrong, like it shouldn't be, or a bad dream I can't seem to wake up from." Violet gave a little sad smile. "It's nothing. I'm sorry, Mother said not to bother people with strange words."

"Why? It's a strange world. Words make it bearable, it stops the silence and for a moment no one feels alone." Quinn shut her mouth. She wondered if that is what Violet meant, feeling isolated. Alvera had done a good job of that. Quinn interacted with no one really, except for the demoness herself.

"Are you..." Violet stuttered, not sure how to ask. "Are you all right?" She took another good look at the red haired woman with shades and watched as hurt flickered across her face. It was something Violet could almost feel.

Quinn gave a smile. "When you sell your soul to a demon, nothing is ever alright." The train now stood before them and Quinn followed Violet onto it, her eyes going to the map. It was four stops before her exit.

Violet watched Quinn closer as the doors to the train slid shut and they jerked into motion, wheels squealing and sparking in the dark tunnel. "I think I've met you before." In fact Violet was sure of it, but she couldn't remember where. She didn't know why couldn't she remember and wondered if it was to do with her losing her mind.

"Probably." Quinn muttered. "Do your self a favor and don't remember, okay?"

"But I want to." Violet was confused. There were important things she'd forgotten, she knew it. "Aren't memories important?"

Quinn sighed. "I suppose." Quinn would prefer if they had met before that Violet not remember the old Quinn with what was now the the new Quinn. "Why'd you forget?"

"I went crazy. That's not what the doctor calls it, but that's what everyone else says." She gave a tight smile to Quinn. "Did you forget things too?"

"Yes. My life before this. My memories are becoming like swiss cheese." She turned, facing Violet as the train slowed down for the next stop. "People don't just go crazy. They've always been crazy or something happens that hurts them so much they don't want to remember."

That sounded true to Violet. "Do you have to go?" This was the longest conversation she'd had since recovering from the 'psychotic break' in the hospital.

"Two more stops. How many more do you have?" Part of Quinn was still worried for Violet. The incident in the station hadn't been boys just being boys, it was violence; brutal and cruel.

"Six, I'm going uptown." Violet gave a little smile. "I'll be fine. But..." She reached out touching Quinn's arm. "You're dying." Violet knew it, suddenly, utterly clearly.

Quinn blinked, it was unexpected. "I wish I was dying, but she won't let me." No, in fact Quinn suspected Alvera would keep her around for decades to rub in the fact she'd finally captured the soul of a Quinn.

"People don't live long without souls; it's not living after a while." Violet's voice was stronger now than it had been. Her blue eyes, no longer fuzzy, stared at Quinn intently, as her fingers tightened their hold.

Quinn looked down at the hand clutching her arm. "No, people without souls probably don't live long." Although Quinn thought, her own brother was still around, and he was like Quinn. She knew that much, even though his name escaped her at the moment. "Sometimes we sacrifice ourselves so others can live." Quinn removed Violet's hand. "Don't worry about me, worry about yourself and getting better, who knows who might be missing you or what you might be missing without even knowing."

Violet pulled her hand away, blinking in confusion as she did. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. It was nice meeting you." She knew her face was flushing, she'd done it again, said something strange.

"Stop apologizing, that just tells everyone you're ashamed of what and who you are. Not everyone can dance and get a substantial part in a ballet even if it's not the lead. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Take care and maybe I'll see you dance some time." The train was slowing. This was good, Quinn needed to get away because this slip of a woman made her feel sad, made her miss having a memory and a home.

The doors opened and Quinn stepped swiftly out with a wave.

Violet waved back, watching Quinn's red head of hair disappear into the crowds as the subway doors closed and they pulled away from the station.

********

Dianna sat in her car, staring out through the windshield at the house across the street. Two months now, two months of the dreams with Quinn and not a single sighting of the Detective. She'd gotten desperate enough to even call the police department, which was one of the reasons she'd come here.

The other reason had been the picture that had appeared on her desk in her office. Sissy's picture was gone, burned away with the rest of the bar, but something of her was still there. Either that or Dianna had a burglar who'd conveniently found a picture of the Detective to leave behind.

It was a non-too-subtle reminder that she hadn't seen Quinn since the Asylum.

There had been whispers of what might have happened to Quinn, and none of those whispers from her customers in the Gray had been pleasant. Whispers of Alvera and the city of New York.

"Damn you Quinn," Dianna whispered, angrily shoving open her door of her car and storming out. Quickly she stalked across the street, banging on the door that she'd been told was Caine's.

A light flickered on lighting up the front window, then after a moment the door was opened. Cain had thrown on a robe. "Dianna? What's going on? Are the DA or police bothering you again?" He'd told her to call not track him down and bother him at home.

"No," Dianna growled. "No they've kept their distance. The bar's fine." Dianna damned Quinn for having this powerful hold over her. "It's about your sister."

"Oh. Look I'm busy. I'll come by the bar tomorrow and have a drink and we can talk." And then maybe, Caine thought, he'd have a good lie to tell, one tight enough that even the daughter of Malek couldn't sniff it out.

Dianna's hand shot out, stopping Caine from closing the door. Her pale eyes narrowed. "Two months she's been absent. Two months I've been waiting to talk to her, and now I'm hearing the most disturbing rumors Caine."

Caine sighed. "Look, she made a decision, a bad one and there's nothing anyone can do. Go back to your bar and live your life. That's the gift she gave you, enjoy it." He tried to shut the door but Dianna was a lot stronger than she looked and he wasn't a Reaper, he was Word Twister, a Sillivertongue, a lawyer who ran his demon master's organization of thugs, drugs and titty bars; he did not have the strength to stop her.

"Where is she? Your family might have a habit of just abandoning its members to their doom, but I don't let my friends disappear like that." Dianna's bar wasn't what it had been, it no longer comprised of everything she needed and she hated that change.

Realizing he wasn't getting the door shut anytime soon Caine sighed. "Fine, come in and have a seat."

He walked back to his bedroom and booted out the young Latino man who was there. "Sorry, business, you know how it is." Caine tossed the man a few bags of white powder and shut the door. He sighed again and went to pour himself a drink.

"I'm not leaving this time until you tell me what's going on. You dazzled me with the bar last time, nicely done of course, but that's not going to work again." Dianna watched him through hooded eyes as she prowled the edges of the room.

"I didn't dazzle you with anything. There was nothing to tell. I was looking for her, but she's good. Probably years of dealing with me and other's like me." He poured himself another drink having downed the first. "Last I saw my sister she was on her way to visit our father, with a fake ID."

Caine held up the bottle to see if Dianna wanted a drink.

Dianna shook her head, she was not interested in drinking with him. "And what happened after that? I see that the limp's healed."

"Took me awhile, I found a hotel room paid through the week. It was tainted with demon magic, blood magic. No sign of her. But word in the Gray is that Alvera just got herself a new Reaper and the blood has been flowing in old demon houses on the east coast."

Dianna's lips twitched. "Yes, I heard the same. So you think she sold her soul to Alvera?" Dianna couldn't imagine what had happened to Quinn to break her like that.

"Its very, very possible. It's what Alvera wanted all along, but you tell me what happened in the Asylum?"

"I don't remember much, she was electrocuting me in a bathtub I think." Dianna rolled her neck, popping vertebrae. "But, I think, Alvera was tormenting Quinn with her son." Dianna had heard a child crying, of that she was sure. The memories were hard to recall, slippery things that vanished as she tried to focus on them.

Caine poured yet another glass. "Maggie loved her son, named him after our father, even though the pious asshole didn't deserve the honor."

"But he died, right, in the attack by Alvera?" Dianna frowned, there was some piece here she was missing.

"Our father? No Father Quinn is alive and well in Massachusetts. Let me tell you a story about the pious Father Quinn. He fell in love with one of the nuns at the school he taught at and they started a heated affair. She was a Ridden, trying to hide in the last place a demon would look and trying to find redemption for her worthless soul."

Dianna rubbed her temple. "I meant the son. I've already dug enough into Quinn's background to find out about you're mother's problem. I do wonder though, when did you find out that they'd promised your soul to Alvera?"

"When I was ten, I found out they'd given my soul away in exchange for my getting mother's back. It was then that I started acting up, decided if I was going to go hell I might at least deserve it. When I was 15 I found a work around."

"Shitty hand you were dealt." Dianna smiled a little, she knew a bit about shitty hands. "Being a Ridden isn't all it's cracked up to be. I doubt your sister is doing as well with it as you are."

"Funny thing was, Maggie and I, we spent our whole lives paying for the sins of the father and when he dies he'll get a church burial in holy ground." Caine sighed. "No, she's probably not. She's a good soul. Even without a soul if you're not really a bad person then what's asked of you weighs heavily. Sometimes you find outlets, or you become a ghost."

"I'm going to New York." Dianna decided, turning away from a picture she'd been studying. "I'll let you know if I find her." Dianna knew her bar would be in capable hands, with Helga overseeing everything. There wasn't much to tie Dianna here anymore.

"Why?" Caine asked. "Look, I've been a shit most of my life, but I love my sister. Thrasher gives me that much."

It was a rare demon that allowed its Ridden to feel love for someone other than itself, just another oddity about Thrasher that Dianna had yet to figure out.

"Because Quinn gave me back everything I asked for!" Dianna roared, rounding on Caine furious. "I owe her and I'm not just going to leave her to rot in Alvera's grasp. That and..." Dianna shook her head. "Two other friends are missing as well, and one of them I think is back in New York also."

Caine's eye narrowed as he looked at her. "You and Maggie, you didn't bond or anything did you?"

"Bond?" Dianna curled her lips a little. "What would you care if we did?"

"Part of me would want to kick your ass. The other part would feel sorry for you, but mostly it means that you might save her. Demons don't have souls that's why they steal human souls, make deals to secure them. Half-demon's don't have a fully formed soul, but if they bond with a human it helps what soul they do have evolve fully inside the half-demon, because, the human helps create that bond with a part of their own soul." He sighed seeing he'd totally lost Dianna.

"Which means inside you is part of Maggie's soul, Alvera wouldn't have all of it."

Dianna's eyes had indeed slightly glazed over during Caine's speech. "Is that what your father taught you?" She blinked a bit at that last part, it was promising.

Caine set down his glass. "That's if you two had bonded."

"Yeah." Dianna eyed him. "I'll let you know if I find something." This conversation with Caine had decided her course of action, and confirmed her path. What she'd hoped for.

"Please do. I'll try to help as much as I can, but when it comes to Alvera, Thrasher wants me to stay as far away from her as I can. I gave Maggie the fake ID Alice Little, she might still be using it."

Dianna thought it was doubtful, but at least it was something she supposed. "Bye Caine, send my regards to Thrasher." She had a long drive ahead of her. Perhaps by tomorrow she'd be near New York City.

******

There had been no dreams last night, and as a result Quinn found herself irritable; her one haven away from this life being denied to her. The morning was not going well. She picked herself up with a grimace of pain and stood up to face Alvera.

"I would adjust your attitude Maggie, remember I snap my fingers and you come running."

"Yes, Mistress." Quinn made sure to stare at the carpet, the wounds on her face already healing.

Alvera sighed. "I don't think I've ever had such a willful slave. What is your secret Maggie? Is it some sort of genetic thing? Your mother was also willful, although I sometimes enjoyed it when she was."

Despite Quinn's apathy it still creeped her out to hear about her mother in such a sexual manner.

"Oh, get over it, your mother was a slut, a talent you are completely lacking in. Lucky for you, you have other talents or I would just be done with it and send you to hell. Now come here." The demon patted her leg and Quinn found herself moving to her side like a dog.

"Baleford is willing to talk about an alliance, he just wants a small thing as a show of faith. He wants you to kill Quixocotle's son, he run's a strip bar." Alvera threw down a map with a red circle on it. "He's not a full demon but he's more than half. He had a half-breed mother. You have a week it, and can't be tied back to me or Baleford. Use whatever weapon; just get it done before Friday." She threw some cash down next to the map. "Maybe you should sample the wares while you're scoping it out. Maybe you'll relax."

Alvera's hand came up cupping Quinn's cheek, a thumb digging into a bruise. "I really don't see what your problem is, Maggie. I've given you eternal youth, strength, speed, and healing, all the perks that go with selling your soul, but you refuse to enjoy any of it. Is this really so bad?"

"No of course not."

Alvera leaned in kissing her cheek; her demon lips were scorching hot. "I'll give you a little more time to straighten out. Most people seek us out, I'll admit, few end up here because their father sold their soul. But work on the attitude." Alvera was loosing patience. She would have been done with Quinn if it weren't for the fact she was so good at killing people. Alvera had never owned such a good Reaper.

In her experience, cops were often only one step away from the criminals they chased.

*****

It was more than a thousand miles to New York City. Dianna drove throughout the night and well into the next day. It was a marathon drive and she would have much preferred to fly.

Except half demons weren't allowed on planes, too much concern by the FAA about enclosing good honest folk in a small tin tube at a mile high for hours on end with someone whose body could be a weapon.

So Dianna drove through endless countryside and cities. It had been decades since she'd left her own city and it shocked her to see how the Gray had grown in every city that she crossed along her path.

Chicago's had been huge, she could feel the pull of it from miles away and it had taken every ounce of will power to keep driving.

Thankfully she didn't tire easily, a gift from her father's side.

Now though, she sat in traffic, just at the edge of New York City during afternoon rush hour. Irritated, she ran her fingers through long dark hair, something she'd decided to keep. It had been decades since she'd had her hair its natural color.

"Fucking taxis." Dianna muttered under her breath, navigating around one that had just cut her off. If they were anything like when she'd first come through New York City most of them would be driven by demon-touched, or at least not-quite-humans.

The Bronx looked different than before, but she could still easily find her way to the edge of the Gray. Dianna had heard rumors that a new Gray zone was starting up in the middle of Manhattan, around Time Square, but that mayor had purged the area enough to prevent it.

Of course there'd been a lot of back-slapping and congratulations when that had happened, but everyone ignored the other problem, lingering in the Bronx.

Finding a likely hotel near the edge of the Zone, Dianna got out, stretching her back with relief. Even for Dianna it had been a long drive and her muscles ached from sitting for so long. "Finally," she muttered, eyeing the streets around her. A few passersby gave her appreciative looks, but other then that no one got too close.

New Yorkers had a sense about these things that she'd forgotten about.

It was time to see who, of the old friends she had here, was still alive, and which of them could help her out.

It was time to find Quinn.

*****

"You sure about that?" Dianna eyed the twisted thing in front of her. It shook nervously as she played with a lighter. "Twiggie, you really sure about that information?"

Twiggie really did look like a twig, although Dianna was pretty sure that wasn't his real name.

"Yeah, yeah I'm sure! Look, just put down the lighter, we're friends right?"

"Friends don't sell out friends to Demon Affairs, Twiggie. You owe me for that."

Twiggie shook violently at her words. "I didn't do it, I didn't set you up I swear!"

"1958 wasn't a good year for me Twiggie, and I'm still really sore about it." Dianna growled, leaning in with the lighter.

"Look, all I know is that Alvera's muscling her way in. Talk is that Baleford can't hold up to her, not without extra help you know? So he's talking truce!"

"Who's Alvera's muscle?" Dianna dangled the flame closer and Twiggie shrunk back into the shadows.

"Some woman, red hair, everyone's scared and keeping their heads down! I swear that's all I know!"

"Who's next?"

"Rumor is that Alvera's courting Baleford's partnership, and to show him she means business she's going to take out a competitor." He swallowed, knees weak with relief as Dianna flipped the cap closed.

"Great, tell me who his competitors are, I want a full list." Dianna grinned at Twiggie's pained expression. "We'll call it even after this Twiggie."

That promise at least got Twiggie moving; although he grumbled as he took the pen and paper she offered and started writing out names.

******

The wonders of a civilized world were a marvelous thing. Quinn had bought a pair of colored contact lenses to cover her red eyes. She decided on green so that when she looked in a mirror she didn't start missing the old her. The bar was near the Gray, an old town like New York had a substantial Gray Zone. Then there were the boroughs and slums. A tasty town for demons. Not as tasty as Salem, but tasty. The demons who ruled here had ruled for centuries, and it said a lot about Alvera to take them on. Quinn walked toward her destination listening to the house music that blared through the door. She flashed her ID to the half-demon at the door who didn't really look at it and waved her through. It wasn't a bad place. Old worn wood, polished brass, pictures of Burlesque dancers hung on the walls, famous women of sin. She wondered how many of them were like Dianna, daughters of an Incubus.

Quinn had a week to kill the owner. She sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. There were two stages and a curtain that strung across a doorway that probably led to private rooms.

At the far stage there was a half-naked woman gyrating against a pole, Quinn guessed she was pretty enough. She tipped the bartender when her drink was set down and turned to watch and get a feel for the place.

******

Number six on Dianna's list of places to stop by was a strip club. The first five had been promising, but three of them had been very heavily protected making them unlikely targets and the last two had been small time players that she rather doubted ranked up there on the hit scale.

This place was looking more hopeful Dianna thought. There was just a single half-demon at the door - half-troll if the looks of him were anything to go on - and no other obvious security, which meant it was around, but not too heavy. The owner was some sort of nephew or something to another of the master demons in town.

Family always made a good target to people like Alvera.

Dianna ignored the bouncer's request for ID, which wasn't repeated once his small eyes had gotten a good look at her. She simply walked in.

Once inside Dianna froze immediately, pale eyes widening as she spotted the woman she'd been seeking at the bar.

Quinn finished her drink, and gestured for another. When the bartender made his way over to drop it off, she asked. "Where's the restrooms?" He pointed over to the side. Quinn tipped him again and took a drink. There were a few patrons in, but on a Sunday one didn't expect the after church crowd.

After sipping on her drink Quinn rubbed her face. She was tired, oddly she didn't seem to get a lot of rest in her dreams, but not having them had made her feel worse. She started to have the odd sensation of being watched. Not good, what if someone had made her. Quinn really wasn't into the idea of dying yet and Though her eyes slowly scanned the room she didn't notice anyone. She thought perhaps it was just some guy curious about a woman in a strip joint.

Across the room, Dianna had slumped into the first secluded booth that she'd come across, grabbing her chest through the silk shirt she wore. Pain curled through her chest and she nearly doubled over in agony. What the fuck? Her mind was screaming. "Hey, you all right lady?" Dianna's eyes snapped up and she snarled through teeth that were clenched in pain. "Out. Now!"

The man stumbled, taking his drink with him as he hurriedly left her alone. The agony wracked through her again and she curled up, fetal position around the pain.

Dianna was confounded. What was this? She'd found Quinn, but she'd still not decided what to do when she had. Then the pain had decided for her and she'd stumbled sideways.

Dianna whimpered, teeth clenched as another wave of pain roiled through her. She'd never felt pain like this before and it scared her. She wondered if this was part of Quinn's soul reacting to Quinn herself being so close by.

Quinn finished her drink and got up, making her way over to where the bartender had pointed. She paused for a moment watching a new dancer come out, obviously a favorite. The men cheered and some pushed forward as close to the stage as they could. Quinn noted that woman, just as all the others, was attractive enough.

Quinn started moving again.

Quinn observed that the bathroom was clean as she washed her hands, maybe she mused, because it was the women's. There had been no manager's office, which meant it was back down the hallway probably behind the curtain. She was going to have to get a private dance.

But not today, she had until Friday, so it gave her something to work up to. Maybe tomorrow, she decided.

Only when Quinn had moved away did Dianna gasp in relief, some of that terrible pressure easing so she could once again breath. She lay there in the booth, gasping as the pain receded to something manageable again. This was new to her, and quite unpleasant.

Dianna never heard of one of her kind bonding to a human who had subsequently sold their soul. She ventured that it might be the reason for her pain. Or maybe Quinn hated her so much it was crippling.

The last thought wasn't a nice one and she banished it as best she could, craning her neck out of the booth to look around. Quinn had disappeared, but judging by the ache in her chest, she wasn't far away.

Quinn exited the restroom debating on another drink. She had the same odd feeling again and she frowned, looking around. She bumped into another woman, a dancer on break judging by the outfit. "Sorry."

"Don't be." The woman said, lightly touching Quinn's arm. Looking Quinn up and down the woman licked her lips. "We don't get a lot of women in here. So its my lucky day."

Quinn blinked. "Are you flirting with me?"

The dancer laughed. "Wow. I guess I'll have to try harder if you need to ask."

That made Quinn smile for just a moment.

"Is that a smile? Come on I'll let you buy me a drink."

Quinn opened her mouth to argue, but closed it promptly. She was here to kill someone; a dancer would be a good way to get information on that certain someone. "Sure."

Dianna's eyes narrowed as she watched Quinn with the dancer who was laughing and pulling Quinn toward the bar. Her back stiffened as the two of women settled in for a drink.

Dianna's pain was back, although now that it wasn't a complete surprise and she could deal with it. What she couldn't deal with was watching Quinn with a woman and for a second all Dianna wanted to do was rip her apart, and she wasn't even sure which 'her' she meant.

Diana decided this had been a bad idea, she shouldn't have just barged in here without a plan. Stumbling a bit, she got to her feet and started towards the front door. She had to regroup.

Quinn caught something out of the corner of her eye. Something that made her head turn and the breath catch in her throat. It was a memory, or someone from a dream. "I have to... I'll be right back." Quinn rushed for the door. Looking down the street she caught the long framed body that could only be one person. "Shit." She hesitated before starting to run down the street. "Dianna?" The name fell from Quinn's mouth.

Dianna stopped, her back to Quinn, as she heard her name called. Her eyes closed as she soaked up the mere sound of the other woman's voice. Again Dianna wondered, what had happened to her, she who had never let anyone get close enough to have this power over her before.

"Quinn." She breathed out the name.

Quinn now stood rooted, unable to move. "No, no, no. You can't be here. You're a dream." There was a spark, a tingle along Quinn's skin as gaps in her memory filled in. Dianna should be safe living her life not here, not seeing how far Quinn had fallen. "You should be home, safe in your bar."

"Why?" Dianna turned, fearing what she would see in Quinn's eyes. "So that I could live the rest of my life knowing what you'd done so that I could have my bar back?"

"Don't flatter yourself Theron, this had nothing to do with you." Quinn spat out, feeling guilty, asking herself why Dianna had to look so good. "I pulled you in to my problems, so I was just making sure we were even. Besides what the hell do you care? You got what you wanted."

"Maybe I changed my mind about what I wanted." Dianna couldn't keep this conversation up from so far away and she walked closer, despite the pain in her chest. It throbbed, aching as she imagined a heart attack would, but she could ignore it. Or at least, tolerate it. "Maybe I decided I didn't just want the bar," she said, eyes intent.

Quinn took a step back, knowing this was bad. Alvera would be pissed if she found out. "What else do you want? I can try." Anything to make Dianna go away, before Alvera found out she was here.

"What do you think I want?" Dianna moved closer, wincing as the ache in her chest intensified. She stopped a few feet away, not certain she could move any closer.

"I don't know." Being without a soul made one less imaginative, no hopes, no dreams. "What's wrong?" Quinn saw Dianna wince. "Are you hurt?"

"Not physically." This close, Dianna could see the blankness in Quinn's eyes. The green eyes were the wrong color; Quinn's eyes had been blue. "I want you to have your soul back."

"I'd like that too, but Alvera's not likely to let that happen." Quinn moved forward slowly, even though knew she should go. She touched Dianna's face, and a jolt hit her fingertips causing the hairs to rise on her arm. Suddenly Quinn didn't feel so empty inside. "You kept your hair long." Her other hand moved, fingers sliding through the strands.

"I wasn't even sure you'd remember me." Dianna breathed, leaning into Quinn's touch. Most Ridden didn't remember much of their previous lives before they sold their souls. "Someone told me it looked better than the short red hair." Which it did, if Dianna was honest with herself.

"I dream about you almost every night, I think. How could I forget you?" Quinn said softly studying everything she could about Dianna's face. Her head kept telling her shouldn't do this, it made it harder to live this life. "Go home Dianna. Go fuck some vapid pretty girls and get back on with your life. Just go and don't come back here, and stay away from this bar." Quinn swallowed trying to push the lump in her throat away. The last thing she wanted was to stop touching the Dianna.

"Don't you think I tried?" Dianna groaned, catching Quinn's hand before she could pull away. "The dreams won't let me forget you either. Everyone I look at, or try to bed, it's not you." She knew she wasn't making sense but it had been a long drive and she was tired and the pain was even stronger now that Quinn was touching her but she never wanted it to stop.

"The person you want doesn't exist. Without a soul I can't love you. I'm Alvera's Reaper now; I kill for her without question, without remorse. That's not the Quinn you knew." But touching Dianna Quinn almost remembered what it was like to have a soul and to feel those things.

"She's still in there; I can see her in your eyes." Dianna could feel her too, as she held Quinn's hand. There was a sparkle of something in those green eyes, not much, but it was all Dianna could hold onto for now. "There are ways to get your soul back."

"I'm not doing what my mother and father did. I lost one child; I couldn't imagine doing it deliberately to help myself." Quinn felt a tug, the invisible leash that tied her to Alvera. "I have to go my master is calling," she said with a wry smile. "Don't come back to this bar. I'm warning you. Just stay away." Quinn didn't want to pull away but she had to, it would be worse if she didn't answer the summons.

"I'm not just giving up on you." Dianna yelled, as Quinn turned away from her and started off down the street.

Emptiness was taking over Quinn, though there remained some level of caring. "Just don't do anything stupid. I didn't sacrifice my soul to have you die," she said over her shoulder. The farther away she moved the easier it became. Then Quinn was running, wondering what the hell Alvera wanted pulling her away from a job.

*******

Jesus Quixocotle had been named in irony; his father was a demon, so nobody argued with him on the naming not even Jesus' mother. He stared at the hot woman sitting on the other side of his desk. "You want to work for me?" He looked over her resume. "Shit, you're more than qualified." And that was what rang little warning bells. Dianna was a half-demon, and that half being an incubus daughter would drive up business just having her in the room.

"I need the money." Dianna crossed her legs, the short skirt she'd carefully chosen for this interview riding just a bit higher up her thigh. "You know the usual." She smiled brightly at him, leaning in a bit to give him a bit more view down her cleavage.

"Yeah, I get it half-demons have a hard time making money in the world. Look I pay pretty women to take their clothes off and ugly ones to serve drinks. I have good bouncers in the club to make sure the girls don't get hurt but if you get a stalker outside the club you're on your own. I don't request or require that you do more than dance. If you want to do more do it on your time and your dime. I have the police in randomly during the month to make sure I'm not pimping."

Jesus knew he'd be an idiot to let her walk out the door. "Fine." It had been a long time since Dianna had done this, she'd hoped these days were behind her. Apparently not. "Dancing only though, I'm not doing some smelly human just to earn a few extra dollars." Her eyes narrowed a little, she wanted to make certain he was clear on that.

He rolled his eyes. "Didn't you just hear me? If you want to fuck a customer take it outside and don't do it in my place. In here you dance. You make them horny; you promise them more with a smile and leaving them needing a drink to ease the pressure in their pants."

"I wanted there to be no misunderstandings." Dianna gave a small smile. "You know how ugly those can get."

"Oh and if they pay enough you give 'em a private dance, again there's a bouncer standing outside the door if they hear you scream or you hit the panic button they'll be in there to help you. Oddly I take the safety of my girls seriously. But you will do private dances. Now that we understand each other. I have paperwork somewhere for you to sign. When do you want to start?"

"Tonight." There was every chance that Quinn would be back today after their encounter the day before. She wasn't going to lose her just because of bad scheduling.

Jesus opened several drawers on his desk looking for the paperwork and the health coverage sheet - he took that seriously too. He got the cute college coeds because he offered medical and dental. He looked up. "Okay let me check the schedule

. Hassiem!" he shouted. "It can be serving drinks if you want." Dianna would be on every night until Quinn showed up.

A short stocky dark skinned man with glasses he was always pushing up his nose opened the door. "Yes," he said, annoyed. "I need new employee paperwork and a copy of tonight's schedule."

Hassiem sighed. "Bottom right drawer and the schedule is posted on the cork board next to your desk."

"Oh." Jesus said sheepishly. "Uh thanks."

Hassiem rolled his eyes and then shut the door.

Jesus pulled out the new employee packet and put it down in front of the woman and then looked at the schedule. It was Monday a slow day. Tamera had wanted the day off, anyways. "Okay, you're on tonight as a waitress, tomorrow you're on stage 2. Come up with a persona for dancing. Groping and fondling are par for the course anything that leaves a mark on you is not okay. We sell sex, not abuse."

"Sex, right." Dianna grinned a little. It was very amusing to have someone explain to her what a strip club sold. She was all about promises that she didn't actually fulfill. "I'll have something put together. What time for the waitressing tonight?"

"Come in at four that should get you set up right before the after work dickheads show up."

"Great." Dianna had to work hard at looking happy at that idea. Serving drinks in a strip club. She had to ask herself what the hell it was she was doing.

*******

Quinn entered the strip club the night after she'd already visited it. The contacts were killing her eyes and she hadn't slept well. Someone had tried to kill Alvera and she'd been hunting the idiot most of the night. Some hired thug who'd offed himself in the end so she hadn't gotten any answers as to who had sent him. There was a bullet wound in her bicep that hurt like crazy.

Alvera's response had been to send her back to work.

The atmosphere was very different from the night before.

The club was packed tonight, full of the after work businessmen who made up most of the weekly clientele. Scantily clad waitresses bustled past Quinn, while the current dance numbers were gyrating up on the stage.

Loud thumping music accompanied them as they used the stripper poles to best effect.

"Let's put it together for the lovely Ginger and Destiny!" a DJ yelled into the microphone from beside the stages as the college age girls finished their set to clapping and hooting.

Quinn cursed herself for getting distracted by Dianna the evening before. She'd lost the perfect chance to chat up that dancer and find out about the owner she had to kill.

"Hey Honey." The bartender, an older woman, smiled at Quinn as she got closer, remembering her from the previous night. "Want a drink?" she asked, thick makeup not quite covering up her wrinkles.

"Yeah, whiskey." Quinn put money down on the bar. "More people in here compared to Sunday."

"Sunday's the slow day. Rest of the week we're pretty packed." The bartender slid a double shot across the bar to Quinn. "New dancer tonight got all the men excited, she's supposed to be something special." She snorted before going to serve someone else.

"They're all something special, I'm sure." Quinn said taking a sip. "Its a nice place, not too sleazy, must have a pretty progressive owner," she said making conversation.

"What's that? Oh, yeah, Jesus is pretty good to us." The bartender returned, grinning at her old joke. "He treats the staff good, doesn't let too many men make asses of themselves. You looking for a job? You got the legs for it, but you're a bit short on breasts."

Quinn tried to laugh. "No, I got a job."

"Ah, so you're here for the show." The woman grinned.

"Not exactly. I'm just here for a good drink. The show is just a bonus," Quinn answered with a grin.

"Well don't forget to tip." The bartender nodded towards the stage. "New show's starting in a minute. Need anything else?"

"Nah, this should keep me for awhile." Quinn smiled, but she doubted the show would interest her, nothing much really interested her.

"All right, I'll check back on you later." The bartender headed down the bar towards the other paying customers as the music suddenly quieted and the DJ started his spiel.

What Quinn needed was to find out who this owner was so she could kill him and be done with the whole thing. "Hey do you think..." she began, just as the dancer stepped out on to the stage. Quinn knew Dianna had Greek in her, but she didn't remember a toga like that studying history.

Throughout the room everybody's sex drive started revving.

On the stage, Dianna hesitated a moment, toga draped artfully over her form as the lights flashed. Quinn was here, she could feel her out there. The ache in her chest was as surprising as before but she forced herself to ignore it. The music she'd chosen was Greek in origin, a lament that she doubted anyone here would recognize. It was fast though, which was what she wanted as she started moving, flesh flashing through the gapes in her robes, giving tantalizing flashes of the naked body beneath.

Pissed or not Quinn couldn't stop watching. She found herself moving towards the stage without realizing it. Dianna was very good and her father's heritage wasn't harming. Even without a soul Quinn felt desire something she thought impossible no matter what Alvera said.

The set passed quickly, with Dianna proving exactly how flexible she could be and leaving the possibilities of that flexibility to the imagination of the audience. The toga was flung off into the audience by the end and, with one long last look at Quinn Dianna turned and strode off the stage, completely naked. Dollar bills were being tossed up onto the stage as she passed.

Around her men howled at being denied as she walked off stage.

Quinn slammed the rest of her drink and made her way around to the stage entrance. She glowered at the bouncer that stopped her. "I want to talk to Dianna, the Greek Goddess."

"No customers allowed in here. Private dance only if you want to talk to a dancer," The bouncer growled, through a misshapen jaw.

"How much?"

"Hundred a dance." He folded his arms.

She pulled out the wad of cash Alvera had given her. "How long is a dance?"

"Ten minutes." And it was timed of course.

Quinn started counting bills. "Forty minutes." She said handing him the cash.

"I'll get her, you go through there. Second room. Remember, hands to yourself. Any touching and you're out of here." He glared at her with beady eyes.

"Got it." Quinn moved down to the room he'd told her.

She inspected the chair and found it decent and then sat down being sure to sit on her hands.

The door opened and Dianna entered. "And what do you want," she said with a smirk.

"I told you not to come here." Quinn husked out, eyes devouring the woman in front of her.

"I asked you if you wanted something, not to repeat what you told me." Dianna moved towards Quinn.

Quinn swallowed; this had been a stupid idea. She'd been caught up in the lust that Dianna had been sending out. "I..." Quinn blinked finding Dianna suddenly right there.

Fingers reached down, stroking through Quinn's red hair. "You what?" Dianna whispered, fingers undoing the front buttons on that ridiculously short shirt, one by one as she straddled the other woman's legs.

"You... Don't do this Dianna." It was worse when they touched Quinn started feeling more, and she was starting to think it was better when she didn't feel.

"Don't do what?" Hot lips breathed in Quinn's ear as the last button came loose. The piece of cloth stayed in place though as she started to sway against Quinn's body, toying.

"The Quinn you knew is dead. You're just..." Quinn's train of thought completely derailed and crashed. "I can't think with you touching me."

"Good, thinking is overrated." Dianna moved against Quinn, sliding up onto her thighs, short skirt riding up to reveal see-through panties beneath.

Quinn had been mad, she was certain of that. "Why are you doing this? I asked you not to come back here." If Quinn could get a hand free then maybe she could stop Dianna, create some space between them.

"Uh uh, no hands." Dianna pushed the suddenly free hand down, giving her shoulders a little shimmy to free the material which she tossed aside. "I was waiting for you of course." Her hips ground up against Quinn and she turned around, making sure Quinn got a good look of what was under her skirt.

The expression in Quinn's eyes was nearly human again.

Quinn's hips started moving desperately trying to press up into Dianna's. "Maybe there was a reason I told you to stay away." Quinn was panting. "I have a job to do and it doesn't involve fucking around with the staff." She was babbling nonsense she knew, things were coming out of her mouth that shouldn't, but she really couldn't think. "Jesus Christ, what did you do set off a lust bomb in this place? Alvera is going to be pissed; I'm supposed to be killing this guy not getting off while you dance in my lap." Quinn did remember however Alvera telling her to try out the dancers, suggesting she might relax a bit. Then Quinn started thinking about some guy from the audience getting a dance from Dianna and she started getting pissed again. "I do not want some sweating wallstreet banker pawing at you." Quinn might not be capable of love, but lust and unhealthy obsession seemed to be working fine.

Dianna turned, slinging a long leg up over Quinn's lap and settling herself down firmly against the woman, pressing her down into the seat as she worked fingers against the human's shirt. "It doesn't work like that. You don't get to just give up and then expect to tell me what to do." Dianna brushed hardened nipples against Quinn's chest, groaning at the feeling.

"I didn't give up." A memory, flashed clearly through Quinn's mind. She was back in the Asylum, Dianna's cries of pain echoing off the crumbling walls. "She was killing you. Killing the soul of my son. The other two were in trouble." Their faces slid away like water through her fingers. As with most of her past only Dianna, Connor, and Cain seemed concrete in her memory. "She promised to let you live if I...if I... gave her...my soul." Quinn knew that wasn't the whole story, Alvra had wanted another soul that Quinn was to secure. She couldn't remember who that had been, but failure had meant it was her soul instead Alvera took.

Quinn didn't think the past matter anymore. Certainly not now, when an attractive succubus was giving her a lap dance. "Please let me touch you," Quinn almost begged. Quixocotle's son could wait.

Dianna wanted to comply so badly it hurt almost as much as the constant ache in her chest. Both those pains were more bearable when she was touching Quinn and Dianna wasn't going to let her go so easily. "No," she whispered, undoing Quinns shirt buttons. "You don't get to touch, but I can. We have more than a half hour left."

Dianna threaded her fingers through Quinn's curly red hair. With her free hand she pulled aside Quinn's bra, and kissed her way down a slender neck. Dianna just barely managed to remember what Quinn had said about having to kill the strip clubs owner, every bit of information helped.

Quinn moaned as spikes of pleasure rippled through her body, this was better than any dream. "I thought it was a one time only thing," she uttered breathily.

Quinn's body was a roadmap of bruises and healing wounds. Ridden were just that, ridden hard and then tossed away when they burnt out. Alvera only cared if it was life threatening, and even then only because she wasn't willing to give up her new toy. Quinn was stronger and faster, and she did heal wounds at a much faster rate than before all of the trade-offs one earned for giving ones soul to be demon touched, but healing wasn't instantaneous.

"I lied." Dianna moved more urgently now, all teasing gone at the sound of Quinn's moan. Dianna wanted this too badly to pretend otherwise. Her fingers made quick work of Quinn's belt, a hard tug and the pants came off, followed by white undies, to be tossed aside. Dianna left Quinn solely in an unbuttoned shirt as she pushed the Quinns's legs wider apart and knelt down, mouth watering as she reached her goal.

God, she's wet, Dianna marveled as her fingers slid in easily and she tasted Quinn for the first time in months. One of them was moaning and Dianna wasn't sure which of them it was."Stop," Quinn pleaded as every person, demon, or half-breed she had killed for Alvera without remorse appeared before her . She was horrified at what she had done without conscience. Quinn wasn't a killer, she had pledged her life to protect and serve. Everything had backfired badly and she realized shouldn't have done any of it. The Ridden in her had been lustful and possessive, unable to resist.

When Quinn came it was with a sob as tears flowed from her eyes

Only then did Dianna slide her fingers away, leaning up to kiss Quinn fully and slowly. "Quinn," she whispered, feeling her there, with her, as she wiped away tears. "I'm glad to see you." Dianna knew it wouldn't last, it couldn't until they'd retrieved Quinn's soul, but it was the best she could do for now.

"Why are you doing this? Why? You make me feel all of this only to have it slip away again." Quinn freed her hands and placed them on Dianna's sides. Both she and Dianna were warm, burning even, and she was tempted to push away, but she didn't. She held on, head resting against Dianna's breastbone, where she could hear her heartbeat.

Tenderly, Dianna wiped tears away from pale skin. "I needed to talk to the real Quinn, not her Ridden." She brushed fingers across swollen lips. "This was the only way I knew how. I'm not going to let that bitch keep you."

"This shouldn't even be possible, Dianna. She has my soul I watched her eat it." Quinn shook her head and then sighed. "I've never heard a story about human getting their soul back other than the way my parents did." And that wasn't something Quinn could do.

"There are other ways." Dianna whispered. "And she doesn't have all of your soul. I have a part of it." It was hard for Dianna to admit, but she knew Quinn deserved to know.

"What? How did you get part of my soul?" Quinn asked. She wasn't mad; there was too much going on to waste time being mad, and who knew when this would fade and she would just be a shell of herself, a killing puppet with Alvera pulling her strings.

"When we bonded." Dianna smiled a bit. "When I took away your pain one too many times I think, it's hard to tell. Usually there's a real bonding ceremony that has to be done, but not this time I guess. It's not a very big piece, but it hurts when I'm near you."

"Oh." Quinn nodded, not really understanding. "Why does it hurt? Shouldn't I hurt too?" But Quinn didn't really feel anything except the darker emotions that demons had, the seven deadly ones. "Never mind, what are you going to do? Since telling you to leave again will probably result in the same action from you."

Dianna sighed; already she could feel Quinn pulling away. Her human emotions were fading, turning darker and pale to her senses. "The other way to free you is to kill the Demon who's taken your soul. That's the only way."

Dianna pulled Quinn into one last long kiss, savoring it for the days ahead. "Survive," she whispered to her. "Do whatever you need to, but survive. I will come for you." It was desperately important to Dianna that Quinn believed her.

"She owns me, there's only so much I can help you with." Quinn kissed Dianna back, hard and urgent, unwilling to let her go. "My deal with Alvera is that she can't harm you. She can't harm my friends and family, unless you try to harm her. And I have to step in when someone tries to kill her regardless." Quinn's hands went around Dianna's waist grasping at her back, while she kissed her neck. "I'm scared; I don't want you to leave. But I'm scared if you stay you'll get hurt."

"I'm not going far." Dianna promised, holding Quinn tight as the last of her emotion flickered away. Closing her eyes Dianna pulled away, seeing the empty lost look in Quinn's eyes once again. "Glad you enjoyed your dance," Dianna managed to say in a normal voice, despite almost choking.

Quinn blinked looking around the room. "It was... different." She started to button up her shirt. A knock on the door made her jump. "Two minutes." The bouncer's voice floated through the door.

"Yeah, just a sec." Quinn found her pants and stuffed the underwear into her pocket. She chewed on her bottom lip, staring at Dianna. "You working tomorrow night?" Quinn knew this was bad. If Alvera found out it wouldn't be pleasant. But Dianna wasn't going to stop her, and if she wanted to waste her time trying to free Quinn, so much the better, it just meant she might get another booty call. Quinn shoved her feet into her shoes. She knew something had happened in the room that she couldn't remember, something that was more than sex.

"Yes." A dark shadow crossed Dianna's pale eyes. She stood near the wall, watching Quinn dress with an unreadable expression on her face. "I'll be here." In fact Dianna would be there every night, no matter how badly it hurt.

Quinn paused at the door, hesitant to leave, but she had a job to do.

Eventually shutting the door, Quinn's eyes quickly took in the hallway. There were stairs near the back that were probably what she was looking for, and there was also a private entrance. Quinn had checked the alley's around the club, and so she wondered where the hell that door went. "Nice dance?" The bouncer asked, not caring.

"The best." Quinn replied, exiting through the curtain. A hundred jealous eyes watched her leave.

Quinn made her way to the bar and ordered a drink. She watched a man go up to the bouncer and wave a wade of cash. It made her burn inside thinking of Dianna grinding into his crotch. She tried to get her mind back to the job at hand but it was a difficult thing to do.

******

Alvera was on the phone when Quinn returned late Wednesday night early Thursday morning. "Interesting. She can mimic any demon just from an injection of blood. Her sister was a brilliant woman, a pity she was killed. Let me know when they can duplicate this process, I like the idea of turning humans into mindless killing machines, don't get me wrong, I can do that already if they sell me their soul, and its more fun, but a mimic, now that's interesting. Call me with good news soon."

Alvera hung up the phone and stretched with a purr. "Is he dead yet?"

Quinn poured a glass of something expensive and considered her words. She had stayed there all night watching Dianna perform but she hadn't gone to the back for another dance. She had gotten more information on the owner from the bartender but not nearly enough. "No, this is going to take longer than a week."

"You don't have a week, you have two more days." Alvera stood up, eyes fire engine red in anger, and backhanded Quinn.

Quinn fell backward, the glass flew from her hand and smashed against the wall. She curled into a ball as bone jarring kicks came.

"If you fail me on this..."

"I wasted a whole day looking for some hired gun who tried to kill you, cut me some slack."

The response was another kick and the cracking of a rib. "Two days or I send you to hell."

"It will be done." Quinn croaked out not bothering to get up until Alvera had stormed out. She got up slowly and washed her face in the kitchen sink, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Then she poured another drink and sat down on the couch watching the sun rise.

All Quinn wanted to do was go back and see Dianna. The thought of her dancing privately for anyone else made her want to kill everyone in the room. It disturbed her though, the hole in her memory. She felt it was like her mind was shielding her from something. Her mind was betraying her left and right. She knew she had a son but it took a long time now to remember his name. She had also had a husband but she couldn't remember his name or even what he looked like.

Quinn wondered, if she slept, would Dianna be there in her dreams, or would she be alone in her nightmares?

There were two days left to do the impossible. Quinn had discovered why she couldn't figure out where that back door went. An illusion hid part of the building. She'd only figured that out by counting her steps inside and outside the building. It was strong magic but that was how he got in and out of the building, probably a private car park just for him. Quinn held the glass to her jaw, eyes closing.

Someone was telling her to do whatever she needed to survive, but at what cost? Even if she got her soul back she would hate herself for everything she had done.

*******

Violet danced, lost to the music that dictated the movements around her. The full orchestra was playing this time providing a full run through of the entire ballet before their debut next week.

It had been days since her strange meeting with the woman in the subway, and the memory of that meeting lingered. Her dreams were strange and confusing, filled with images of a place she'd never seen before, dark hallways with shadows that watched her with red glowing eyes.

Dr. Fritz told her it was just a symptom of the 'psychotic break' and had given her more pills to try.

Violet didn't think he listened to her.

None of that mattered here though. In the spot light, with the music compelling her to move, Violet twirled and leapt with her fellow dancers. None of them talked to her outside of the dancing, in fact she thought they might hate her.

Yet here she was part of the group, and they all moved together. It was a beautiful and freeing feeling, something like what she thought flying might be like.

She loved it.

"Good! Good!" Henrieck, the old stooped man who ruled the Ballet with an iron fist moved closer to the stage front, everyone coming to a stop at his words.

"Good." He said again in his heavily accented German. "We do again, from the top. You," he pointed to an unfortunate ballet dancer who ducked his head at Henrieck's glare. "You, will do the lift correctly or you will not do it at all!" The old man slammed his cane on the stage for effect, making Violet jump in surprise.

"Now. Again." Henrieck rapped his cane against the wood and they started up from the beginning.

Violet smiled, she rather liked his brusque methods, and they were refreshing after dealing with Mother and her friends.

They all moved back to their starting spots and Violet smiled still, listening to the orchestra start up again. They started moving, whirling in the well ordered choreographed dance.

She was just getting into the flow again, when things went wrong. The young man that Henrieck had pointed out before wobbled towards her and she slid out of the way, alarmed as he struggled to perform the lift.

Off balance, he went over. The ballerina he'd lifted above his head going with him with a scream of surprise. He landed on the edge of the stage but she kept going down into the orchestra pit, landing hard. Violet could hear something snap as she landed, the sound audible even over the sudden yelling around them.

Violet was dimly aware of the dancers and musicians all scrambling around her, yelling and pointing, and old Heinreich's voice cutting through it all. Something drew her towards the edge of the stage, swallowing as she saw the Ballerina laying there. Her leg was at a strange angle, bone shards gleamed through the flesh and blood was pooling around her as she lay there, gasping, eyes wide and frightened.

Almost in a trance, Violet stepped down off the stage, pushing her way through the onlookers to crouch down next to the Ballerina. Her hands moved without thought, pressing up against the wound and her eyes closed.

"Holy shit, look at her hands man!" Someone nearby said, loudly enough that Violet jerked in surprise.

Violet had no idea where she was, or how she gotten there, her last memory being that if standing up on the stage.

Henreich grabbed Violet's shoulder, pulling her to her feet as she stared in confusion at her bloody hands. "What have you done girl?" he demanded, fear in his eyes as she looked from her hands back down to the smooth flesh of the Ballerina's leg.

Now the whole company was staring at her, fear in their eyes.

"She's a demon!" Someone said from the back of the group. Violet shook her head, pulling away from the old man.

"Witch! She's a witch!"

"No…." Violet whispered, but her voice was drowned out by the sudden yells around her.

Terrified, she turned and fled.

***********

On Thursday Quinn found herself down by where she had met the strange girl earlier that week. Or at least Quinn thought she had, she supposed it could be another dream about another life where she didn't belong to Alvera. It was late in the afternoon and she knew she ought to be at the bar, plotting, doing Alvera's will. But Quinn had liked the odd blond she'd experienced with Violet She ordered a hotdog from a cart vender, not hungry, but knowing she should eat.

The man at the cart just shrugged at the red eyes he noticed, and took her money handing over the food in exchange. Quinn let him keep the change and took a bite as she wandered down the sidewalk. She decided it wasn't likely she'd run into the girl again, not least because she'd probably made the girl up.

Across the street Violet stuffed her hands into the pockets of the fashionable clothes Mother had made certain she'd wear out of the house. Of course that had been yesterday and they were definitely a bit worse for the wear now as she stared into a bakery window, mouth watering. The night she had spent curled up and hiding in central park had been horrible. Not knowing what to do, now that the sun was up, was almost as bad. Shivering, Violet turned to go, not sure where she was headed, just starting to walk.

Quinn blinked as she saw Violet suddenly appear, walking towards her on the sidewalk. Making up her mind, Quinn moved quickly, stopping directly in front of her. "Are you real?" Quinn asked.

Violet almost walked right into Quinn, eyes flying open in surprise as she gave a little yelp. "Oh." Her shoulders relaxed. "It's you again. Um, I think I'm real. Are you?""I'm not certain." Quinn said taking a bite of the hotdog. "You look lost. Do you need help getting home again?"

Blue eyes widened. "No. No, I'm good. I just..." Violet trailed off, trying to think up a lie. "Was looking for..." She bit her lip, cursing herself for her inability to lie well. "You were looking for... what?""Food." Violet mumbled, ducking her head. "There's a hotdog cart up the street a bit," Quinn said, turning. "Follow me I'll show you where it's at."

Violet stayed where she was, biting her lip as the strange red-headed woman started walking away from her. "Umm... I can't..." Violet looked away. "Do you think he'd like a watch?" she said, thinking of the pretty one from Cartier that her mother had given her, and wondering if she could exchange it for food.

Quinn paused, looking back at Violet. "Come on I'll buy you a hotdog and you can explain what happened to your money.""Hotdog's sound good." Violet hurried to catch up. "I don't think you'll believe me though.""Red eyes remember, you'd be surprised what I'd believe." They walked up to the cart and Quinn looked at the pale girl. Deciding she could do with a good meal she held up two fingers to the man at the cart, who nodded and started making two hotdogs. "Mmmmm." Violet devoured the first loaded hotdog, polishing it off in the time that it took the man to finish making the second and for Quinn to pay for them. "Is good," Violet mumbled, licking her fingers clean as she took the second one.

Quinn finished her own dog and wandered with Violet. She hadn't made her up in some sort of hallucination which was encouraging. "Did you tell me your name?" She asked. "If you did I'm sorry but I don't remember. I'm not remembering a lot these days."

Quinn remembered killing, remembered it made Alvera happy, and she remembered Dianna and Dianna made her happy.

"Violet. My name's Violet. Mother's favorite flower." Violet gave a shy smile over at the red haired woman. "Do you still have a name?"

"Quinn." Quinn frowned. "I think that's my last name. I don't remember my first."

"Quinn." Violet stuck out her hand. "Thank you for the hot dogs Quinn."

"You're welcome Violet. So you want to tell me why you are wandering around here without money."

"Oh." Violet blinked, having hoped Quinn would have forgotten about that part. She took another bite of the second hotdog to buy some time. "I forgot my purse at the recital hall." It was pretty much a miracle that she'd remembered to grab clothes at all.

"Then lets go back and get it." It bothered Quinn to think of Violet out here alone and unable to get home.

"No!" Violet's eyes went wide. "No, I can't go back there."

"What happened Violet?" Quinn asked as they walked aimlessly around the city.

"I don't know." Violet looked away. "I didn't mean to. But they think I'm some sort of freak now, or demon. One of them threw shoes at my head yelling that I was a witch. I think they're going to go get the church." The words were pouring out now and Violet felt her eyes tearing. "Mother warned me, told me I couldn't cause a scandal for the family again."

"What happened?" Quinn asked, fumbling in her pocket until she found a napkin and handed it to Violet.

Taking the paper napkin, Violet wiped at her eyes, embarrassed. "She fell of the stage, I think he didn't mean to do it, but she fell and you could hear her bone break. It was horrible, the bone was sticking out and there was blood everywhere." Violet paled at the memory. "Then I..." Violet stared at her hands, remembering the blood. "I think I fixed her."

Quinn blinked at that. "You think, or you did?"

"I don't know!" She turned to face Quinn. "It's blurry."

"What do you want to do?" Qionn didn't have time for this but being around Violet made her feel more like the Quinn she'd been, rather than the shadow that she was.

"Go away." Was the first and immediate answer that came to Violet's lips. Something horrible would happen if she stayed, she was sure of it.

"Okay. Where would you like to go?"

That was a really good question. "Um." Violet blinked. "I'm not sure."

"Do you have friends ,or family you could stay with?"

"No." Violet said, quickly.

"Fuck." Quinn muttered.

Dianna, Quinn thought. She could take the girl to Dianna. "Please tell me you're over 21."

"Twenty two." Violet said hopefully.

"Okay. I'm going to take you someplace your mother would most defiantly disapprove of." Quinn said.

"But it's not central park right?" Violet had to hustle to catch up.

"No, it's a strip club."

Violet's eyes widened. "Oh."

********

Quinn rubbed her temple as the bouncer eyed Violet. "Would you believe that she's 22?"

"No," he rumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Either way, Club's closed. Come back later."

"Closed? It's three o'clock in the afternoon. Don't you serve drinks or something?"

"Private function," He stated, his small eyes narrowing at her. Behind Quinn's, Violet stayed close, eyes wide as she watched the exchange.

"Is he a half demon?" Violet whispered.

Quinn turned to Violet. "Probably. It's not like they wear a sign." Quinn turned back to the bouncer. "When are you opening up for the public?

"Seven." The bouncer eyed them both suspiciously.

He hesitated, not really clear on the rules for what information he was supposed to say and what he wasn't supposed to let anyone know. "It's private," he said again, hedging his bets.

"Maybe we could get invited?" Violet whispered, never having been to a strip club before.

"Like, private how? Do I have to pay a membership fee?" Quinn asked.

Thick eyebrows furrowed. "No. You have to be part of the stag party."

"Oh is that all." Quinn had no idea what a stag party was.

She took out the wad of cash Alvera had given her, which was becoming lighter. She took out two 100's. "I think this looks like our stag invites."

"Uh." He blinked. "Those aren't the invites." But then understanding dawned in his eyes. "Oh!" He reached out for them. "Yes, they are." Behind Quinn, Violet giggled a bit.

"Thanks so much." Quinn herded Violet inside.

"If he's a half-demon, he's not very bright is..." Violet's voice trailed off as her eyes nearly popped out of her head seeing the strippers dancing. "Uh.... oh..."

Quinn snorted, part of her feeling somewhat better for corrupting Violet in someway.

"Remember to breath," she told her before heading to the bar to get a drink.

"But..." Violet swallowed as one of the women on the stage did something that would be hard for a Ballerina to pull off. "Naked," she mumbled.

"Yep. That's why it's a strip club." Quinn smiled at the bartender. "Whiskey, please." She placed a ten down. "And a coke for my friend."

"Hey, welcome back. Didn't know you were part of the stag party." The bartender laughed, pouring up the whiskey and then the glass of coke for Violet. "She old enough to be in here?"

"I'm twenty two." Violet mumbled, eyes on the stage.

Giving them both a grin, the bartender nodded towards the stages. "You're favorite's not up on stage yet. Dianna should be on soon though."

"Dear Lord, you pay 400 for a lapdance and you never hear the end of it." Quinn put down a 20 as a tip. "I'd appreciate it, if you would tell her Quinn would like to talk to her."

Quinn sipped her drink, wondering what the hell she was doing. There was only a day and a half left and instead she was helping a very odd girl out wasting time and money. "Violet, close your mouth that woman doesn't have anything you don't."

"But... I think I know her from dance class." Violet blurted out. The bartender laughed, moving over to the end of the bar and picking up a phone to call the dressing room. "Hi, Dianna back there?"

A few whispered words later and she hung up, grinning. "Hey, big spender? Go on back, she'll meet you near the private dance rooms."

Quinn nodded and looked at Violet, not certain if she should take her back or not. "Should I... will she be okay out here?"

"Sure, I'll keep an eye on the kid. Those guys up there are too entranced with the strippers to come over here anyway." The bartender shooed Quinn away.

Quinn made her way to the private rooms. She hesitated; the stairs were right there she could go up and look around.

"Quinn." Dianna, still in her street clothes, eased out of the back changing rooms. "You're early, couldn't stay away?"

"You have a way of making that difficult. To stay away that is." Dianna smiled a little, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm just good that way. What can I do for you today Quinn?" It was becoming more and more difficult talking to Quinn when she wasn't fully Quinn.

Quinn's gazed wandered down and then up Dianna's body, she wanted her, wanted to crush her body against the other woman's. She took a ragged breath and a step back. "I have a problem, and I don't know why or how, but part of me tells me you can help me with the problem."

It pissed Quinn off that she knew this without really knowing it.

"I'll try. What's the problem?" Two days of giving lapdances to strange and sometimes quite smelly men had taught Dianna a lot about self-control. She had managed not rip their heads off. That self-control kept her standing there, watching Quinn instead of what she wanted to do.

"Can you come out front? It's better if I show you."

"I'm not supposed to see the customers dressed like this, ruins the illusion supposedly." Dianna rolled her eyes, moving to the edge of the small hallway. "What is it?"

Quinn followed her. "There's a girl, a woman, I met. Well I thought I made her up, because I'm not certain what's real anymore." Quinn shook her head, she was rambling. "Violet, that's her name. She's in trouble. Something about people calling her a witch and the church coming after her. The girl doesn't have a bad, evil bone in her body." Quinn realized how close she was to Dianna. Again that same want went through her, yesterday she had denied herself but she wondered now if it would it be so bad to give in. Dianna obviously didn't mind, she did allow her to come back here.

Distracted by how close Quinn was standing, Dianna almost missed the young woman sitting at the bar. But she did a double take, her eyes widening in recognition as she realized who it was that Quinn had found.

"Blue?" Dianna whispered asking herself how it was possible, knowing it couldn't just be some sort of coincidence. Then the rest of the words penetrated and she turned to look at Quinn. "Wait, you said Violet's her name?"

"Yeah, Violet." Quinn said. "How long until you're dancing for these idiots?

"Almost an hour until my first set, and then probably some lap dances." Dianna had to work hard to keep the disgusted tone out of her voice. This wasn't the job she wanted and every day it was getting harder to enjoy. "Why?"

There was an angry set to Quinn's jaw. Quinn didn't like Dianna giving lap dances, it made it very hard not to commit murder. "So you have some time, we could hang out for a bit. If that's allowed?"

A man came in the backdoor, his skin was a deep brown color and his black hair was combed back. It was Jesus. "Ah, Dianna," he said noticing her, a big smile on his face. Quinn didn't miss the muscle with him. "If you have a moment?"

Quinn decided to exit. "I'll find you after you're done tonight," she said, quietly passing by Dianna, their bodies brushing against each other briefly before she was through the curtain.

"If you have a stalker I can have her removed, permanently." Jesus didn't want anything to happen to his money-maker; word had it that Tony's down the street had lost a lot of business. His eyes flickered to where Quinn had exited. Something about her bothered him.

"She's just a friend." Dianna covered quickly, moving into his line of view, with as pleasant a smile as she could muster. "You wanted something?" She leaned in to him, just enough to get his attention, cursing the interruption. Maybe Quinn would stay in the bar area with Violet, but she doubted it.

"A friend. Okay, I'll play along, but a friend doesn't spend 400 on a dance. As long as she's not thinking of carving you up, money is money." Jesus took off his coat handing it to Hassiem. "You've got a talent, although I knew that. You've got word of mouth going and every night is busier than the next." He fished around in his pocket and then drew out a wad of cash.

"This is a bonus for the good work." Jesus knew that if you had talent you treated it right. You didn't beat the girls, you didn't sleep with them, you offered them medical and dental, and they stayed and they looked happy and healthy. Which made the men who's lives sucked come back because it gave them the illusion that a hot, happy woman wanted them.

Dianna blinked in surprise, automatically taking the wad of cash. For a strip club owner, Jesus wasn't a bad man. She, of anyone, would know if he was. "Thanks." She slipped the cash into her back pocket. "I've got time before the next set." Dianna nodded towards the bar. "My cousin's in town, mind if I show her to the hotel?"

"Just don't be late, Carlos is the police commissioner's son, him being happy goes a long way, especially the day before his wedding." Jesus turned to go up the stairs. "Hell if your cousin moves like you do, maybe she wants a job." He chuckled before continuing his ascent.

*****

Quinn exited the short hallway annoyed. Instead of trying to get Dianna alone for a quickie she needed to be focused on her goal. He'd been right there. She gave a tight smile at Violet and then nodded for another drink.

"Enjoying the show?" she asked.

"I know two of the dancers, one of them tried out for the Ballet with me," Violet said quickly, eyes wide as she watched the stage. "I think her name was Becky or something like that. The other one used to go to high school with me."

"Okay." Not the response Quinn had been expecting. "How does that make you feel? Seeing them here."

Violet shook her head, blond hair getting in her face as she did. "They're very beautiful." She whispered

"That's not what I asked Violet. How does it make you feel to see them up there?" She chuckled as Violet looked away embarrassed.

Quinn smiled at the bartender as a new drink was passed her way. Sipping it Quinn tried to think of somewhere to go. "Should probably get you lunch and then… I don't know. I've got work to do, so I should take you someplace you can be safe." Quinn was tired. Her eyes hurt from the contacts and her ribs hurt from the beating Alvera had given her. "You can't come home with me my owner wouldn't like that." Quinn downed the drink. "Tell Dianna I'll be back later once the little boys are done with their ritual from boyhood to manhood," Quinn said to the bartender.

"You can tell her yourself," the bartender said, nodding towards the side door.

Dianna strode towards them, gaining hoots and hollers from the men she passed who recognized the long dark haired beauty. "Hey Wanda." Dianna gave the bartender a half-wave, grinning as she leaned up against the bar near Violet and Quinn. "Leaving already?" she asked, eyes flicking from Quinn to Violet and back.

"We were going to go get Miss Violet here some lunch and find a safe place for her while I did my master's bidding," Quinn responded dryly. She set down her empty drink glass wishing somehow all the drinking would make her drunk but it didn't seem to get the job done. "Thought you had to work." Quinn glared over Dianna's shoulder at a couple of young men who were approaching. They thought better of it and turned back around and sat down.

"I've got time." Dianna looked hard at Violet but Violet just smiled hesitantly back.

"Here." Dianna pulled a few bills off the wad that Jesus had given her and offered them to the younger human. "Go grab some food from the deli around the corner for us? We'll wait for you."

Hesitantly, Violet took the offered money, looking to Quinn for approval first. "Okay. I'll be right back." Dianna shook her head in amazement, Violet didn't seem to recognize her at all.

Quinn smiled. "Couldn't wait to get me all to yourself." She chuckled as they headed for the door, placing her hand on the small of Dianna's back possessively.

Dianna brushed off Quinn's hand as soon as they were in the private dance room. "Where did you meet her?" she asked, eyes intent as she turned on Quinn.

Quinn scowled not liking the brush off. "I ran into her." She tried to remember. "She's a dancer. Something happened." Her memories were slipping away again. "Can you help her out or not?" Quinn finished, arms crossed over her chest.

"Of course I'll help her out." Dianna growled, stalking around the small room that was swiftly becoming one of her least favorite places. Except for her time with Quinn, every other encounter had been painful here. "You just ran into her? Do you know how crazy that sounds? The entire population of New York city and you just ran into her?" She paused by the chair her clients sat in. "Do you remember her? At all? You've met her before, she called herself Blue."

"I just... yes, I ran into her she was in trouble." Quinn tried to think but it was frustrating. "Ask her I don't remember. I remember you and the fact I had a brother but everyday things get more vague. You want me to be the person I was. She's dead, so save us both some pain and give it up and go home. Take Blue or Violet with you," Quinn snarled back. "Do you know how hard it is to watch these men go to the curtain and flash cash? I know they're asking for you. I want to... I want to kill them, just rip their tiny dicks off, or shove my hand into their chest... I understand lust, and… I understand possessiveness, but I don't get this. I don't even feel this way about Alvera."

"Good." Dianna moved closer, grabbing Quinn's arm and holding her there when she thought the woman would leave. "That's good." Dianna had to get a grip because apparently she was the only one with all her marbles right now. "Don't you think I'd rather dance for you instead of them?" She had taken to fantasizing that it was Quinn sitting there during her dances, it made it easier.

Dianna sighed. "I don't have time for a dance with you though, not before the kid comes back with food. Come back tonight?"

Quinn nodded. "I'll be back tonight. Tonight, and tomorrow, and then someone has to die, maybe me. You have to stop distracting me." It was almost a plea. Then Quinn couldn't help herself, she kissed Dianna brutally, possessively, before she eased back, the kiss becoming more gentle unaware she was even doing it.

Dianna returned the kiss as hard as she could, needing this connection with what was left of Quinn. "You're not going to die," she whispered, holding Quinn's head in her hands, trying to force the human to believe her. "We're going to get you out of there."

Dianna had hoped that Lauren and Blue were safe, together, but that didn't appear to be the case.

A thread of unease slithered through her mind. If Blue, or Violet, whatever her name was, was here, then where was Lauren?

Quinn smiled, but didn't believe her. Alvera would just call her back. "It's either me or Jesus." Quinn pulled away blinking, wondering why she had told Dianna that. A throat was cleared and Quinn turned seeing a red-faced Violet.

"Come on Vi, surely you've seen two people kiss before?"

"Well… I mean…. Yes." Violet was looking anywhere but at the two of them and Dianna smirked, stepping a little further away from Quinn's personal space.

"Come on kid, let's eat and we'll get you settled at the hotel." Dianna shot Quinn a look. "I need to be on stage soon."

"Give me your room key and the address and room number and I'll drop her off after we eat," Quinn offered. "Come on show me were we can eat cause it's a little awkward eating in here." They'd had sex in here, of that Quinn was certain, even if the details were fuzzy.

"There's a bench across the street." There wasn't any place to eat at the club without a customer trying to be friendly and Dianna didn't want that, especially if Quinn got homicidal.

*******

With a groan of happiness Quinn took out her contacts and washed her face. Lunch had been an odd affair, domestic and comforting, she'd even given a real smile at something Violet had said. But now, far away from Dianna, coldness seeped back into those empty places. With both Violet and Dianna nearby she felt almost human again. Violet just had a soft, healing energy about her, and Dianna, well that she had no clue about.

"You'll be fine here. Just take a shower and nap, Dianna will be back before you know it." Quinn needed to go see a man about some guns.

There was a lurch in her stomach and Quinn bent over the toilet throwing up lunch and black blood. She wondered if Alvera had hurt her worse than she'd originally thought. She shook it off, it didn't matter. Quinn washed her face and rinsed out her mouth. "I want you to do what Dianna tells you, within reason, I don't think you'll be seeing me again."

"You're sick." Violet said softly from the other room, watching the door to the bathroom. "I thought you liked Dianna."

"I do, but not in a healthy way, more in a demonic loveless sort of way. Besides I don't get to decide things for myself anymore. My Mistress does it for me. If she found out about you and Dianna she would tell me to kill you both I'm fairly certain."

"I don't want you to go." Violet watched Quinn move from the bathroom with worried eyes. "I don't know Dianna, I know you."

"I'll try and come back tonight. Please trust me, Dianna will help you." Quinn didn't like how off kilter this was making her feel.

"So I will see you again?" Violet lit up a bit with hope. "Promise?"

"I promise to do my best." She reasoned that she had until Friday at midnight, so what was one more night?

"Okay." Violet nodded. "I'll wait here. But..." She looked worried. "You are sick, I think it's getting worse."

"I don't know how it can get worse, I don't have a soul."

"Something's killing you." Violet was certain of that.

Quinn thought that was probably impossible, but if she didn't kill Jesus by Friday at midnight she'd be dead anyways. "I'll be back. I'll bring food. Stay out of trouble."

"I'll stay." Violet promised. "I don't think I have anywhere else to go." That was the worse thought she'd had so far.

Quinn nodded and as she opened the door she hesitated before turning and giving Violet a hug. "It's going to be okay," she said, knowing that for Violet at least, it probably would be. Then she left shutting the door behind her.

********

Alone in the hotel room, Violet stared at the phone set next to the bed. She hadn't talked to her parents since before the disaster at the ballet hall and there was a faint flicker of hope still.

With trembling hands she picked up the handset and dialed a phone number from memory.

Someone picked up on the second ring, swallowed and uttered "Hello?" Their voice catching.

Violet knew it wasn't her mother , of course not, her mother never answered the home phone. "Hi Carra, is Mother there?"

The maid paused, slowly answering. "She is in the den, I will get her."

Violet held her breath, waiting for her Mother's voice.

"Violet?"

"Hi Mother."

"Where are you? You tell me this instant. You're father and I are very upset. You promised this wouldn't happen again."

Violet closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Everyone is saying you're a witch! It's intolerable. Do you know what that looks like for us? You're father is furious, he's had to go into explain to the firm's Partners that it's all one big misunderstanding."

"I know mother," she whispered again, barely breaking into her Mother's tirade.

"And the Met committee will not be happy with it either. They might even try to take away my seat on the fundraising committee; you know how devastating that would be."

Violet simply nodded, eyes tearing.

"But that will all be over with as soon as we get the Church to validate that you're not a witch. A simple exorcism should suffice I suppose. The Bishop says we can have it taken care of this weekend. Friday's out of the question of course, you're father has that appointment with the Partners that simply can't be called off."

"Exorcism?" Violet's eyes widened. She'd heard stories about that, everyone had. The inquisition ran those things and people never came out the other side the same as they went in.

"Of course." Her mother's voice was sharp. "Then we can put this nonsense all behind us. We'll discuss the details when you get home."

Violet stared, dazed at the hotel room around her. "No."

"What? Violet, don't be stubborn, this is for your own good."

Angry tears streaked down Violet's face, her blue eyes watery as she firmed her jaw. "No. It's for your own good!"

"Why you little… Dear, how dare you raise your voice to me? I've brought you up better than that. You'll do as we tell you. We know best."

"No." Violet stood up. "I'm not doing what you want just so you and daddy can tell everyone that their daughter isn't a witch. You haven't even asked what happened! You don't care what happened as long as it doesn't ruin your chances at becoming the Met chairwoman!"

"Violet! You will not…."

"I will!" Violet yelled, slamming the phone down on its cradle. Then she flung herself on the bed, sobbing.

*********

Quinn went back to the club, there was nothing else for her to do. She watched the girls dance and chatted up the bartender and some waitresses but she was adamant that she was not getting another lap dance at least not tonight. Jesus never came in the front door, he never came on the floor. He watched from security cameras and had his bouncer bring people to him.

They probably exited through the back door, that fucking mysterious backdoor that led somewhere she still couldn't work out.

In the back of the strip joint, among all of the pretty girls who were laughing and chatting as they prepared for their set, Dianna worked. For days now she'd been going through phone numbers, steadily crossing numbers off of the list she'd compiled before. It wasn't much, but asking Quinn for this particular number was out of the question.

"Hey Di, you're up in thirty." One of the girls yelled as she passed on the way to shower off the oil she'd used in her act.

Distractedly, Dianna waved in understanding, rubbing her temple as she dialed another number. She wondered how many more churches was she going to have to call.

"Hi, I'm looking for a father Quinn?" she said as soon as the phone was picked up on the other end. Her pen was poised over the paper of a yellow legal pad, ready to strike the number off and move onto the next. If she hurried she could get at least another dozen numbers off the list before she had to get ready.

"We have one, but miss you have to realize this is Massachusetts we have a plethora of Quinn's."

"I'm painfully aware of how many Quinn's there are in Massachusetts." Dianna grumped. "Look, I need to talk to a Father Quinn who has a daughter that's a police Detective called Maggie.

""Oh, well then you've reached the right place. Hold one second."

"I have? I mean, thanks." Dianna circled the phone number, amazed she'd gotten somewhere.

A few minutes later a slightly slurred voice came on the line. "This is Father Quinn how may I help you?"

"Father Quinn, you have a daughter and a son? The daughter's name is Maggie and the son's name is Caine?" Dianna asked, just to be positive.

"Yes, those would be my children. Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong!?" Dianna gave a short bitter laugh. "When's the last time you've talked to your daughter?"

The line went quiet. After a moment Father Quinn's now considerably shaky voice came back on the line. "I can't help you."

"I don't need your help, your daughter does." Dianna growled. "She sold her soul to a demon because of you. She's going to die if you don't own up to what you've done. Sin's of the Father and all that."

"I've repented my sins. I did not ask her to do that. There was no reason for her to. Her soul was never in danger," he said defensively, he went to take a swallow from his flask. "The church has taken me back, she can't touch me."

"She did it because Alvera had her fucking son you bastard." Dianna yelled, turning away as everyone in the room froze and stared at her. Ignoring them she cupped her hand over the phone. "She did it because of the deal you made with Alvera, this is your burden, not hers."

"I don't know who you think you are, but I don't want you calling this number ever again." Father Quinn slammed the phone down. Sitting, he clutched his rosary and cried. "Father Quinn is something wrong?"

"No. No, nothings wrong just a sad story. Something we get too much of these days," he said standing up. He nodded, passing Father Williams as he left the room.

Father Williams frowned, it had seemed to him like it had been something personal. The woman had clearly known about the old priest's daughter.

"Goddamnit!" Dianna swore, slamming the phone down so hard that the base cracked the plastic shattering. She cursed to herself, it had been her one good idea so far. Now she was back to finding a way to kill Alvera, and a half breed didn't stand much of a chance at killing a major Demoness on her own.

If Lauren had been there perhaps... but she wasn't and Dianna didn't know where to find her. Dianna decided that maybe it was time to try and see what Blue, or Violet, whatever her name was, could really remember.

"Dianna, ten minutes!" The bouncer called. Dianna got up grimly, going to get changed, the rest of the strippers staring after her wide-eyed.

*******

"Dianna's here. You're certain?"

The blob like thing nodded. "I was at the club, I watched them. Dianna is working there as a stripper. They were talking and kissing I couldn't hear what they were saying. Quinn also seems to have found a tagalong, a young woman, blond, looks scared."

Alvera scowled. "Some people just aren't suited to sell their souls. Not like you, Thomas. They waste away under the weight of their actions despite being unfettered by their soul; I'm beginning to think Maggie is one of these people. Even without a soul as a moral compass she is picking up strays in need. What about my needs Thomas? And Dianna, well this is just unacceptable."

"Do you want me to take care of it?" The blob asked. He had not been happy to be ignored while Alvera trained her new Reaper.

"Not yet. Maggie has until midnight tomorrow, then you may deal with the issue."

"You think she will follow through. She and that Succubus bitch are plotting to hurt you."

"Enough, Maggie is bound by our contract to protect me and you will do no such harm to Dianna not until we know what game she's playing."

The blob hissed, upset, but oozed away from his Mistress.

*******

Dianna took her time walking towards the hotel, deep in thought as she did. It was very late, or maybe very early in the morning depending on who you asked, and she'd been dancing for the better part of ten hours now. Even with her stamina the constant days were making her weary.

That wasn't what had her so preoccupied though. Her best hope of getting Quinn's soul back had turned out to be useless. Maggie's father had proven to be as spineless as Maggie was honorable, and Dianna ground her teeth in fury at the man. How could he hide behind the church while his children suffered like this?

Now she had a real problem. The best way to kill Alvera was to get Lauren, but she didn't know where Lauren was, and Violet wasn't going to be much help. Of course the best way to find Lauren was to get Quinn to use her contacts and find out if she'd been taken by the DA people.

But Quinn wouldn't do that because she was a Ridden and Alvera controlled her. UGH! Dianna thought.

It was enough to drive a half-demon crazy.

And they were running out of time. Tomorrow, in fact tonight, Quinn would have to kill the club owner.

Or Alvera would probably kill Quinn.

Things just kept getting better and better, Dianna thought with a snarl. Maybe Violet would remember something when she woke up, Dianna could only hope. Otherwise she'd have to have a talk with Jesus, which she would rather avoid.

It was hard to convince someone to let themselves get killed after all.

A bunch of shapes pealed away from the darkness. Thick men with heavy foreheads and misshapen knuckles. "A pretty thing like you shouldn't be walking alone at night." One said.

"Especially, Jesus's new money-maker. We've seen you dance you've got a skill." Another said.

"Oh for the love of…" Dianna sighed, why hadn't she been paying more attention to her surroundings? "Listen boys, I really don't have time for this, and I'm tired. Can we just pick this up on another day?"

"We're all busy, lady, its a busy world. Our boss sent us to see if you'd like to switch employers. Terms are easy, go work for Tony or we make sure you don't dance again." There were four of them coming up to surround her. "What do you say?"

If she'd been a full demon, she would have simply torn them apart and be done with it. Since she wasn't, Dianna smiled and moved towards the first one who'd spoken, since he was closest to her. She focused her entire attention on him, smiling wider as his pupils dilated in response to charms. "I say…" she purred, right hand balling into a fist. "Go to hell." Dianna punched, downwards.

A full demon's hand would have gone straight through his pelvis. Hers wasn't that strong, but she did feel something crunch under the impact between his legs and his eyes rolled up into his skull as he folded over.

Then Dianna ran, the three others pelting after her.

Quinn watched them run down the street like hounds after a rabbit. She frowned and then ran across the street after them. Quinn was faster than she use to be, which was a good thing because Dianna and the three guys chasing her weren't slow. She tackled the guy closest to her and they went down in a tangle of limbs. Once they were done moving she was on him, fists moving like pistons into his face until her shirt was covered in blood splatter, then she was up and down the street trying to catch the other two.

They'd more or less cornered Dianna by then, pressing their advantage against her near a closed apartment store. Dianna had caught one of them in the face with a fist, shattering his nose, but they were seasoned thugs, used to what they did, and with fists the size of sledgehammers they beat her.

A swift uppercut caught Dianna in the jaw and she fell back against the security fencing, small explosions lighting up her vision.

Quinn growled a low dangerous noise that filled up the night it made the hairs on the guy's necks stand on end and they turned around. "Shit." One guy grunted out seeing red eyes. "Fucking demon-touched."

The other guy gave a squeal of pain as Quinn's foot came down on his knee. Then the world went black as she smashed her elbow into his already ruined nose.

Quinn looked at the last guy, teeth barred. "Come on!" she growled at him.

He shook his head and took off running.

Quinn spat out another wad of blood and phlegm and looked around for any more danger, but the only thing left was Dianna.

Dianna looked up from the ground, wiping one hand across her lip to clear the blood from her nose. "You following me now?" She gritted her teeth, managing to get up to one knee.

Quinn went over holding out a hand. "You want me to apologize, or just go back in time so those guys can have their way with you while I keep walking? Or maybe you're pissed I didn't stick around for a lap dance?"

"It hasn't been a good day," was all Dianna answered as she took the hand up she was offered. It felt good to touch Quinn, even through the stubborn ache in her chest and the more recent additional pains from the punches and kicks. "Might not be dancing tomorrow though." She grimaced.

Quinn just grunted and examined Dianna's face, her touch gentle as her red eyes took in the split lip and swelling jaw. "Some ice and you'll be fine. Tomorrow's my last night; I'd like a lap dance for the road. Come on I'll escort you to the hotel. Maybe I'll help you shower, just you know, make sure you don't have a concussion."

"You want a lap dance tonight, or tomorrow?" Dianna teased the pain easing as she kept a hold of Quinn's hand. Was this what having part of a soul was like? She was definitely getting soft. There was a time when she would have tried to kill those thugs instead of outrun them.

"Both. Although I'd like more than a dance, but you have that effect on people. Sorry I was late, I had an appointment. I thought I'd be back before the place closed." Quinn paused looking around and then pulled them across the street to pick up the grocery bag she'd dropped. "I got some food from some middle eastern deli that was open late for you and Vi."

"It must have been open really late." Dianna's eyebrow arched at hearing again what seemed to be Quinn's nickname for Violet, but she let it go, for now. "You really don't remember ever meeting her do you?" Dianna would have to see what she could do to accommodate Quinn, since tomorrow looked like it might be their last day.

Quinn's eyes got a far away look as she tried to think. "I... don't... think... I remember boys squealing like pigs circling her. I stepped in, I don't know why. That's the first time I remember her, even that is hard to grasp, my memory is getting worse," she admitted.

"Not a good sign," Dianna said quietly as the doorman got up to open the front doors of the hotel for them. This late at night Dianna thought they must make an unusual sight, although he didn't seem to be particularly interested in their story. "Violet will probably be asleep. Thank God the room's a suite." Dianna didn't want to share a bed with Violet, she didn't trust herself to.

"I should go, I need a clean shirt, and stuff," Quinn said, but she didn't let go of Dianna's hand and kept following her to the room. "Although I still have your room key so I guess I should at least give it back."

"Keep it." Dianna pulled out another one from her pocket and unlocked the door. "I got a spare." She didn't let go of Quinn's hand either, pulling her into the room and closing the door behind them quietly. The door to one of the bedrooms was closed, so she guessed that Violet was sleeping.

A glance told Dianna it was well past three AM, almost four in the morning by then. "Shower," she declared, taking the bag from Quinn and leaving it on the small kitchen table as they passed.

"Okay." Quinn said grinning. She let go of Dianna's hand to start on the buttons of her blood-splattered shirt, kicking off her shoes.

Dianna shook her head, grinning despite herself and the pain she was in. It was obvious where Quinn's mind was and it amused her to think back on how Quinn had resisted her advances for all those years before. The amusement faded as she realized again how much Quinn had changed.

Turning, she left Quinn where she was stripping, heading for the bathroom to start the shower. She needed a few moments of space between them, enough space to think without being distracted.

Quinn took off her pants and looked up, frowning when she found Dianna gone; she had expected an audience while she undressed. Hearing the shower she made her way to the open door and looked at Dianna, who had such a sad look on her face. "Are you sure you want me to stay?"

"Yes. I just have to remind myself you're not all of my Quinn." There was a large piece missing. Turning, Dianna shook herself out of those depressing thoughts, grinning as she realized Quinn had stripped. "We have to be quiet," she said, fingers pulling at her own clothes, careful of the bruises that were forming.

"I don't know, could be educational. I could be wrong but I'm pretty certain Violet's a virgin." Yet Quinn stepped into the bathroom and shut the door. She paused seeing her reflection in the mirror. She reached out touching her reflection on her shoulders. There use to be something there, a mark. She frowned. There were scars and some bruises, a bullet hole shaped scar on her bicep, a bruise on her ribs from Alvera but something was missing from her shoulders.

Quinn looked into her own red eyes and found them empty, she thought they might have been blue once upon a time.

"Shhhh." Dianna slid arms around her, using a hand to turn Quinn's face away from the mirror. "None of that. No time now for that," she whispered, pulling Quinn under the hot shower. There wasn't time for regrets, not if they were going to survive the next day.

She set about distracting Quinn with her considerable skills, holding the other woman up against the water warmed tiles as the hot water warmed their bodies.

Later sated and sleepy in the luke-warm water, Quinn gently washed Dianna's hair. "I like it long, just don't dye it red again," Quinn said absently rinsing the shampoo out and running her fingers through it to make sure it hadn't tangled.

Quinn leaned forward her breasts brushing against Dianna's back. She kissed Dianna's shoulder blade and bit her neck. "All done." Quinn was tempted as her fingers trailed, to let them delve into the Dianna's intimate places, but she pulled away with a pinch to Dianna's perfect ass.

Quinn turned off the water and opened the curtain with a chuckle. The floor was covered in water.

"We weren't quiet," Dianna said as she watched Quinn get out; wishing the warmth in Quinn's eyes would last longer than it was going to. "We weren't even trying to be quiet at the end there." She stepped out after her, taking her own towel and watching with appreciation as Quinn dried herself.

"I believe you were in the shower with me, you're as guilty as I am." She chuckled again and looked at Dianna's hair as she dried her own. "I like your hair long."

"So keep it long, but no red. Got it. I rather thought the red hair was nice on me." Dianna knew it was a conversation about trivial things, but she wanted trivial things for a while.

"Purple, would look good on you; daring, powerful, and regal." Quinn could feel herself getting turned on again just looking at Dianna. "You're lucky I'm exhausted." Part of her screamed to just work through it and take Dianna like the thing she was. Quinn shook her head frowning. "Can I stay here? Can I sleep with you tonight?" Alvera hadn't summoned her and with Alvera there were nightmares and she really didn't sleep anymore.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere." There weren't many hours of night left anyway. Dianna grinned, kissing Quinn hard and fast as she passed her, enjoying the tingle of arousal she could feel from the other woman. It was a vast improvement over the complete lack of feelings she'd felt lately.

Towel wrapped around her Dianna stopped, blinking in surprise as she realized the kitchen area wasn't empty.

"Umm, hi." Violet waved weakly, a plate of half eaten food in front of her. "I was hungry and… well.. the… noise woke me up." Violet was blushing violently and Dianna laughed as she glanced back at Quinn. Still chuckling she went to her room, intent on finding some clothes while Violet looked anywhere but at them.

"Sorry Vi, we'll try and be quieter." Although Quinn doubted there would be a next time. "I see you found the food." Quinn wrapped the towel tighter around her realizing she really didn't have anything to change into. Somehow she thought Violet might be even more upset about the blood stained shirt.

"You're hurt." Violet whispered, studying her food intently. "Did you get into a fight?" It hadn't sounded like a fight, but it was hard to tell.

"Ah... um... earlier. Out on street, some guys didn't like Dianna. It's only my hands, see, just a swollen knuckle and a broken pinky," she said trying to reassure the young woman.

Violet looked up at that. "And all of the blood?" She gestured at the shirt that lay on the floor.

"Would belong to somebody else." Quinn kicked the shirt into the room Dianna had gone into.

"Hey!" Dianna's voice came from inside as the bloody shirt narrowly missed her.

Violet giggled and looked back down at her food. "I'm sorry your hands hurt. I didn't mean to listen into...." She waved at the bathroom, flushing again.

Quinn laughed. "Were you being naughty there Vi?"

"No!" She looked up, eyes wide. "I was being good. I didn't see anything and I tried to hum it out, but you were very loud."

Dianna laughed, calling from the other room. "Quinn was very loud."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "Relax Vi, I was teasing you."

She moved next to Violet and reached into the bag pulling out two guns. "Those aren't for eating." She'd completely forgotten about them in the moment.

"Oh. I was wondering about those. Are you in trouble?" Violet looked from her over to Dianna, blinking as she came out wearing a white t-shirt and silken bottoms for sleeping.

"Probably," Quinn said moving past Dianna and into her room. Quinn set the guns down and then looked through the closet. Finding a robe she put that on.

When she returned Violet was pressing her fingers against Dianna's ribs, while Dianna watched her with an expression bordering on suspicion. "I think one's broken," Violet muttered. Dianna's looked at Quinn, perplexed. "Is she always this... ah!" Dianna blinked, looking back down as the pain suddenly eased and Violet grinned.

"Odd... yes, but its endearing. Violet what did you do to Dianna?" Quinn kept her voice calm and curious, part of her not happy Vi was touching Dianna.

"I think I fixed her." Violet pulled her hands away, eyes bright as she looked at Quinn. "I think that's what I did at the dance hall, with the girls leg. Maybe I can heal people."

Behind her Dianna cautiously bent, pleasantly surprised when that didn't give any pain. "Of course you can," she muttered. It was becoming annoying to be the only person running at full metal capacity.

"Mmm, then that's a good thing." Quinn reached out ruffling Violet's hair and then moved her out of the way. She pressed a hand against Dianna's side. "And we just did all that in the bathroom. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Didn't want to." Dianna glanced away. The pain had been worth it. "You want some food? I'm starving." She hid a yawn. "And then bed."

Quinn leaned in kissing Dianna's cheek. "Sounds good." She turned back around and rooted around in the bag pulling out a gyro, sniffing it, and then something that looked like rice with nuts and raisins. "As I said it was middle eastern, I think this is lamb." Quinn handed them to Dianna. "And rice maybe." Violet had eaten the pita bread and humus.

"Gyro." Dianna licked her lips. She was suddenly starving as she bit into the gryo, giving a moan that made Violet turn red again.

"So you two..." Violet said, slowly.

Quinn grabbed a glass and opened the minibar pulling out a small bottle of whiskey and with a crack twisted the top off and dumped it into her glass. She sat down on the couch. "Us two what?"

"Umm, are together?" Violet looked from one to the other, relieved to see Dianna's smile.

"Dianna's the only thing I remember. The only one I desire more than my Mistress, even if that desire isn't healthy and is improbable." It would end as bitterly and as stupidly as Romeo and Juliet, Quinn was sure.

Dianna reached over, running her fingers through the base of Quinn's scalp, after making sure her hand was clean. "Let's just worry about tomorrow for now." She pointed at Violet. "You're staying here, no wondering around tomorrow."

"But..." Violet closed her mouth at the look from Dianna. "Okay."

"Violet, people wanting to hurt you, calling you a witch or whatever for being able to heal people, is just stupid. I want you to promise me you'll listen to Dianna. She'll get you someplace safe where you can be you. Okay?"

"Okay." Violet looked down again, tears starting to form. "I called my parents. Mother wants me to have an exorcism."

Across from her, Dianna sighed and rubbed her temple.

Quinn laughed at that, almost snorting her drink. "Of the three of us, Vi, you're the only one who doesn't need that."

"Wouldn't do anything to me." Dianna said, primly. "Can't change what I am."

Quinn considered that. "Point. Vi, you're fine, healing is a gift not anything demonic."

"You're sure?" Violet looked up pleadingly. "Because everyone else thinks it's a bad thing."

"Yes, I'm sure." Quinn sipped her drink.

That seemed to reassure Violet and her shoulder's sagged a little. "Okay." Violet surprised herself with a nearly jaw cracking yawn. "Go sleep, we'll wake you up before we go." Dianna said, finishing off her Gyro, giving Violet a push towards the other bedroom.

"Night Vi." Quinn called out.

"Little Vi has some hidden talents." Dianna murmured, watching as she closed her door.

"You will help her?" Quinn asked finishing off her drink and setting the glass down.

"We'll help her." Dianna corrected her, standing up and waiting for the Quinn to do the same.

Quinn doubted that, but she let it go. She got up looking at Dianna, eyebrow cocked in question. "Yes?"

"Bed. I think you said you wanted to sleep here right?" Dianna lifted an eyebrow.

Quinn blinked. "I did? I don't really sleep."

"Then we'll not really sleep in the bed." Dianna's lips curled up in a smile.

Quinn smiled and walked past Dianna on the way to the bedroom. "So what will we do?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something. Maybe you'll have a suggestion or two." Dianna licked her lips, closing the door behind them.

*******

Quinn slept a dreamless sleep. She snored softly next to Dianna as soft sunlight streamed in through the window, a naked leg thrown over the other woman's. Quinn's face was slack and relaxed something it very rarely was anymore. Serving Alvera was never a pleasant or restful thing.

Beside her Dianna kept a silent vigil, watching Quinn sleep, reveling in the connection that she felt again between them as they lay together. Even the dull pain in her chest seemed lighter like this and Dianna smiled sadly as Quinn twitched in her sleep, soothing only as Dianna stroked her naked side.

Dianna contemplated how everything had become so bad so quickly. She had always loved the life she had back at the Bar, and found it hard to understand why she was so suddenly determined to throw it all away for someone who would probably be dead soon. The idea of Quinn dying by Alvera's hand, or one of her demands, made the ache grow almost unbearably strong and Dianna quickly focused instead on the feel of the woman next to her.

"What have you done to me?" Dianna whispered. There were times when Dianna barely recognized herself anymore. Now was one such instance. She had never been tender like this before, she was the daughter of a succubus; she was someone who seduced people, had a fun night and then discarded them in the morning.

Quinn had disturbed that pattern, and Dianna wasn't sure how or why.

With a soft sigh she slid a hand over Quinn's hip, pulling on the leg that possessively pinned her to the bed, so it was even tighter against her, marveling that she had become such a willing prisoner.

The thing that truly terrified Dianna was how much she wanted the feeling to never end.

*********

Quinn woke feeling rested, light was coming in from the window but her eyes couldn't focus well enough to let her read the clock. She felt warm skin pressed against hers, and as a result was less concerned about the time. Rolling over Quinn kissed the skin nearest her lips. She smiled as she felt Dianna's breathe hitch. "Morning, or something."

"Almost afternoon." Dianna's eyes closed at the press of lips. If Dianna tried hard enough she could pretend they were still back at the Bar. "You feel good." She pulled Quinn closer, loath to leave the nest they'd made for themselves during the night.

"I hope so there's not much of me you haven't felt by this point," Quinn joked. "How much time till you need to be at work?" she asked, moving until she was above Dianna, her red eyes searching the other woman's.

There wouldn't be any dancing for Dianna tonight; she could feel the bruises on her face. Still, Dianna needed to talk to Jesus as soon as he got to the club, which meant she'd be in earlier than she wanted to.

Dianna gasped at Quinn's sudden move, hands coming up to stroke Quinn's back. "Three, why?"

Quinn nearly purred. Dianna's hands were hot where they touched her. "I feel different the more time I spend with you. I have to wonder if this was what I was like before Alvera." Quinn shook her head and then grinned. "Forgive me, I'm being sentimental this morning."

But it was true; lust was loosing its roughness, almost becoming something else. "When we have sex you rarely let me touch you or give anything back? I have to wonder if it's me or if you just like having that much control." Quinn dipped her body and with a cruel focus moved it so it just brushed against Dianna's, her breasts sliding against Dianna's skin until they were breast to breast. Then she kissed along Dianna's collarbone before starting to move lower.

Dianna shivered under that touch, trying to press harder against her and groaning in disappointment as Quinn moved away. "I can feel your pleasure," Dianna admitted breathlessly. "Touching you seems to bring you back to me." She swallowed, realizing that she would say anything to get Quinn to touch her more.

"You refuse to accept that the Maggie Quinn you knew, before all of this, is gone. I tell you, I show you, but you continue to have hope." Quinn mused before taking a nipple into her mouth. She teased it and then bit it. For a second Quinn's fingers tensed and she wanted to do something horrible to Dianna, spread her out beneath her, make her understand that all was hopeless; make her go away. But instead Quinn relaxed and moved to the other breast, teasing it with lips and tongue while fingers played in Dianna's wetness.

Done teasing that nipple Quinn thrust two fingers into Dianna looking up into her face. "I've done horrible things, and I have more horrible things yet to do. Even by the standards of a half-demon they are bad, let alone to the rest of the world." Quinn moved up kissing Dianna's lips never stopping the strong thrusts in and out. "Let us find out if a succubus can experience her own pleasure without tasting someone else's." Quinn breathed against Dianna as her thumb flicked the woman's hard clit.

Dianna came, hard, hips thrusting up to meet those relentless fingers, mouth gasping in a silent scream of pleasure as her eyes almost rolled back in her head. For a long moment she trembled like that, only finally collapsing back onto the bed under Quinn. Shuddering she reached down between them, grabbing that insistent digit.

"Stop, please." Dianna gasped. "I can't." There was a limit to Dianna's endurance and Quinn had just found it.

Quinn removed her fingers and collapsed down on top of Dianna. "You were beautiful right then - that moment of release," she said quietly.

There was a timid knock on the door. "Are you guys up? Can we get food?" Violet asked.

Quinn chuckled silently.

Groaning, Dianna shook her head. Timing was everything with that girl. "We're up," she said loud enough to be heard through the door. "We'll be out soon, then we'll get food and…" She trailed off realizing then that Quinn would have to kill Jesus.

Quinn got up sensing the change in Dianna's mood. "I should go." She looked around but only found the bloody shirt, the rest of her clothes were out in the suite. She grabbed the robe sliding it over her frame.

"Go where?" Dianna sat up, not quite ready to get dressed though.

The guns were on the dresser, a reminder of what needed to be done today. "Get some new clothes for a start." Alvera still hadn't summoned her, which was odd, she usually had her check in obsessively.

Dianna stood finally, gathering her own clothes. "Here, this should fit." They were at least roughly the same height, although Quinn's chest was considerably smaller. "And then what, you just go out and kill Jesus?"

Quinn looked at the clothes and then put them on. "Pretty much."

"How are you going to get to him? He never goes anywhere without bodyguards, and you can't get up to the offices above the strip club." Dianna pulled on her own jeans, thoughts racing.

Quinn's jaw clenched. "I have it covered, don't worry about it," she snapped.

"Is that Quinn code for I'll make it up when I get there?" Dianna drawled. "Wait." She held up a hand as she saw red eyes narrow in anger. "What if I got you into the offices?"

"Don't get involved in this. I want you to take Violet and go back..." She searched her memory, "to your bar." She blinked. "You own a bar and your stripping for Jesus?"

"I needed the money." The old Quinn would have spotted that for the lie it was, but Dianna could already feel Quinn's emotions cooling and turning dark. "I can get you into the office." A new plan formed in her mind. Dianna hoped Violet was as good at healing as she thought.

"If this doesn't work I don't want you and Vi in the middle of this." Quinn was adamant. "Don't worry. After saving his biggest money-maker from a beat down, I'm sure Jesus will invite me up for a thank you. So you see I have an in."

Dianna's lips twitched as she mentally cursed. She could forget her first plan, but she'd have to come up with another on the fly. "I need to go to the club anyway, tell them I'm not working tonight."

Quinn looked at her. "Fine."

Snatching a jacket from the dresser, Dianna muttered as she opened the door. "I wasn't asking for permission." She eyed Violet, who backed away quickly from the doorway.

Quinn stuck a gun in the front of the pants she was wearing and then pulled the shirt down. "I suppose this means no good-bye kiss." She grinned and sauntered out of the room.

Ignoring her, Dianna tossed a jacket over at Violet. "Come on kid, we're going for some breakfast." She glanced over at Quinn, eyes narrowing.

"What?"

"Jesus gets to the club in the late afternoon," Dianna said by way of an answer. "You won't get in before then anyway, private show again this afternoon." She gave a completely insincere grin back at Quinn.

Violet looked back and forth, confused by the undercurrents in the room.

"Okay, thanks for the tip." Quinn looked at Vi. "Stay out of trouble. I'll see you around." She headed for the door sensing she'd out-stayed her welcome.

"Be careful." Dianna's words were barely a whisper as Quinn reached the door.

Quinn paused and looked at her before leaving, shutting the door softly.

*******

"Okay, listen." Dianna held onto Violet's shoulder, making her stop just outside the back door of the club. "You're staying inside the dressing area. The girls will just love chatting to you while they get dressed. You don't go anywhere, just stay right there. I have to go have a come-to-Jesus talk with my boss."

Violet rolled her eyes at the horrible joke.

"Hopefully we won't need you for anything, but if we do..." They might need a healer quickly if things went bad. Seeing Violet suddenly worry, Dianna sighed. "I'm sorry Violet. I promise, none of them are going to hurt you." She squeezed Violet's shoulder. "I just need to figure out a way to save Quinn."

"I...I like the idea of saving Quinn," Violet said. Then in a quiet voice she added, "She's dying."

"She is?" Dianna frowned. "How do you... never mind." Dianna shook her head at the stupid question. "Can you heal her?" she asked instead, hopeful.

Violet shook her head. "Not something that can be healed. She needs her soul back."

"I know you don't remember, but we've met before, you and I. You have to trust me that we need to save Quinn in order to save someone else that's important to both of us." Dianna could see Violet was about to ask questions and just shook her head. "No time now to go into it. Quinn's brother told me I still had a shard of her soul and I think he might have actually been telling the truth."

"A shard can help her." Violet's eyes became glassy. "But it reaches out on a dead connection, so you'll constantly be hit with the feedback loop when it has nothing to connect to. She'll feel it a bit, and it will make her better by being near but it can't save her."

"And it hurts like hell anytime I'm near her." Dianna's grin was crooked. "So we have to get the full thing back from Alvera. Will you help me?"

Violet nodded. "She helped me twice. Some boys..." She swallowed not really wanting to talk about it. "She helped me."

"Good." Dianna squeezed her shoulder again. "After this is done maybe you can tell me the story. And maybe you can see if you can take this shard out of me, I think it's changed me more than I ever thought it would." Dianna typed in her access code, opening the security door to the women's changing room beyond.

******

Jesus drummed his fingers on his desk, he was not happy. He was especially not happy when someone hurt his girls. He could be a big shot all he wanted but without dancers he was just some brown skinned punk with a demon as a dad. That got him nothing. The reason that he was his daddy's favorite was because he asked for nothing - He was a self-made man.Jesus picked up the phone watching Dianna on the video screens. "Tell Dianna to come up please."

"Thanks Bruno." Dianna said as she stepped past the bouncer and into the boss's office. She was actually going to miss this man when they left; he'd been a decent boss. "You wanted to see me?" she asked, striding towards the desk.

Jesus looked at her face. "I understand you were accosted this morning on your way home from work?"

"Your competitors seem upset about the business I'm bringing you." Dianna searched through the words carefully, not certain yet what to say.

Jesus led her downstairs and opened up the door that only he and his bodyguards used. The door opened up to more steps, and he led her down to his private garage; this was how he got in and out of the club with no one seeing him. Two chairs were lined up on the concrete, two people, one in each chair tied to it. Dark spots decorated the gray floor. "Yes, your friend that would be that woman from yesterday?."

"Yes, you saw her briefly." Dianna said absently, her attention snagged by the two men on the chairs. Bags covered their heads and she raised an eyebrow at Jesus. "Who are they?" She could guess, but it was best not to take anything for granted in situations like this.

Jesus gestured and the first bag was removed by one of his bodyguards revealing the man Dianna had punched. "He was easy to catch and easy to question, apparently you literally busted his nut. With some other similar persuasion techniques he sang out quite beautifully the name of the person who clued Tony in on your identity."

Jesus looked at Dianna. "He is one of the men who attacked you?"

"Yes." Dianna's smile was dark as she watched him, eyes narrow. "I'm impressed he was walking at all. I thought I'd broken his pelvis entirely." She felt the thrill of his pain as he looked up, eyes dulled, staring blankly at her, clearly in agony. It was delicious.

Jesus nodded and the second bag was removed to reveal Quinn. "This brings me to the bad news portion. Were you aware your lady friend is a Ridden? She also set you up with Tony."

Quinn's red eyes blinked. As for the torture she had endured, Quinn wasn't really impressed, Alvera had done far worse to her.

Dianna had never had her breath stolen away before and it was a very unpleasant feeling she never wanted to experience again. All she could do was stare in confusion at Quinn, suddenly aware of the dull ache in her chest. Dianna had simply assumed they were both men and hadn't looked twice at the figure in the other chair. "Quinn," Dianna breathed in horror, suddenly realizing she was out of time.

Quinn sighed. "You lied, they weren't closed for a special party and Jesus was in early." She grunted as someone punched her, and then she went quiet.

Fuck.

Dianna's mouth opened but no words came. Every half formed plan lay in ruin now. "Where'd you find her?" Dianna managed to say finally, her voice almost normal.

"Does it matter?" Jesus asked. "I know as a succubus you can handle yourself, but I think I would consider this an abusive relationship. She set you up to be hurt or worse with Tony and his guys. A bit of advice - maybe you should break up."

"Good advice." Dianna licked dry lips. "How do you know what she did?"

Jesus pointed to the other guy. "He told us."

"Of course." Dianna swallowed, there was no way for her to tell how much was true and what was a lie. She knew what the end result was supposed to be of course. "You should go," Dianna advised Jesus, watching Quinn's muscles flex, behind her stillness as she held herself together.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" Jesus asked. "Because I know she is not one of my father's Riddens, which leads me to believe that she is here because of Alvera." Jesus chuckled at Dianna's look. "One does not survive in this city without paying for good information. So are you in on it?"

"I'm not here to see you killed," Dianna replied, although there was no simple answer. "I'm here to get her soul back from Alvera." A bodyguard snorted derisively, and Dianna glared, knowing how it sounded.

"Dianna shut up." Quinn snarled.

Things hadn't quite gone as she had planned, but she had gotten close to Jesus, so in the end despite the means Quinn had gotten what she had wanted.

A bodyguard was backhanding Quinn with a meaty paw to make her shut up and Quinn had just about had enough of being used like a punching bag.

Quinn looked behind her, judging the distance between herself and the wall, and gauging the amount of force needed to break the chair she was tied to. Just one little thing had to snap and break and she could get free.

Dianna ignored Quinn's words, her eyes never leaving Quinn's face as she spoke to Jesus. "You should leave, now." Not only wasn't any of this going according to plan, there really wasn't a plan anymore. "Get out of here."

"You're concern is noted but I have four half-demon body guards here with me and two more at the top of the stairs. I am perfectly safe."

"Let's find out." Quinn said leaning forward onto her feet before running the seven feet backwards into the wall. Something in her right hand popped and pain radiated up her arm, something groaned and cracked in the wood and with a shake the arm fell off loosening the tension on the rope so she could wiggle free.

The guards surged forward as Quinn knew they would and she dodged some blows and took others until she pulled a gun out of the side holster of one of the goons. She smashed one in the face bursting his nose and then leveled it at Jesus and fired.

*********

Quinn staggered into Alvera's apartment, covered in blood.

Alvers just looked at her. "Let me guess, you failed."

"It's done," Quinn croaked out.

"According to reports you've been too busy fucking someone to do your job."

Quinn's red eyes flicked over to the blob in the room staring at her with empty black eye sockets.

"Yeah, well you told me to fuck one of the dancers so I've been fucking one of the dancers."

Alvera lifted her up and slammed her onto the carpet with demonic strength. "Do not give me attitude!" she hissed while Quinn could only moan and gasp for breath.

Alvera then stood up sweeping a hand over her hair to calm it back into place while placing a foot on Quinn's hand, rotating her heel. "Where's the bullet, knife or whatever you used to kill him?"

"I couldn't... get... it... I had to run out of there." Quinn hissed out between clenched teeth as the bone in her hands groaned and creaked.

Alvera sighed. "The way you've been this week I'm finding it hard to believe you." She reached over and picked up the phone, dialing.

"Yes, Hi, I would like to schedule a stag party sometime next week for my friend." Alvera listened, smiling. "Oh, you're are closed. When do you think you'll open? Oh, okay, you don't know.... I understand." She hung up and looked at Quinn. She smiled, something that made Quinn's skin crawl.

Alvera moved her foot off off Quinn's hand. "Excellent work Quinn I'm so sorry I doubted you." She bent down brushing the hair out of Quinn's face and helped her up. "You just make me so angry sometimes, with your attitude."

Quinn nodded. "I'm sorry."

Alvera nodded and kissed Quinn's forehead. "I know you are. It takes time to get settled into this sort of thing, and you were such a stubborn human."

Quinn shrugged.

Alvera smiled it was nice to see Quinn finally succumbing to natural order of things. "We should go meet with Baleford."

"I think I should see a doctor. Can I..." Quinn cleared her throat. "May I have some cash Mistress to see a doctor?"

Alvera was so happy to see Quinn so subservient she probably would have given her anything. "Sure, I do need you in top condition." Alvera gathered her coat and left a wad of cash on the counter. "Come on Thomas, we have an alliance to forge."

The blob followed her out.

As the door shut Quinn sat down on the couch leaving bloody smears. Her broken hand and wrist were tucked against her chest as she cried, although no tears came.

****

When the gun had fired Dianna had instinctively moved into the path of the bullet, taking the shot meant for Jesus. Quinn had watched in horror as Dianna dropped, then she fired again spinning Jesus backward, until he too had fallen. Quinn had tried to stop the bleeding. She had run to Dianna and put her hands on the wound. Quinn had indeed set up Dianna to be attacked, but she hadn't wanted her to get hurt. She had always planned to be there, to stop anything, which is why she had been so mad when they Tony's guys had jumped her early. "Please don't die," Quinn had begged as blood was pouring out over her hands.

Quinn had screamed when someone had pulled her away, then there was pain in her knee as a booted foot connected with it, and she had fought back quickly before running. She had run away, leaving Dianna to die. It was wrong, but Quinn didn't know why. Quinn had grabbed the cash and headed for the door. She was hurt more than her advanced healing could handle.

*********

Jesus looked at Dianna, his hands drumming on his desk again. "You owe me." He stared at a timid Violet who was hovering around Dianna. He had to admit, her powers of healing were amazing, because both he and Dianna should be dead. "I'm closing my club for a week for her." He pointed at Violet. "You owe me a month of dancing for the lost revenue."

"What?" Dianna stepped in front of Violet, gritting her teeth because standing threatened to reopen the wound in her chest. "She doesn't owe you, if anything you owe her for healing you. You'd be dead without her. You want a month of dancing, I'll do it, but the kid's free and clear."

Jesus waived off the bodyguard. "I'm sorry lets make this clearer." He took a deep breath and let it out calming down. "I am closing the club for a week and pretending to be dead because she," He pointed at Violet. "Saved our lives. I am asking if she wants a job because one can always use a good healer on staff, not as a dancer. You..." He pointed at Dianna. "Owe me big for lying to me and for the lost revenue for closing for a week. So if you live through this nightmare you will return and dance for me for a month, free. Now sit down!" Jesus got up and opened the closet behind his desk, looking over his shirts before selecting a new one without a bullet hole. His chest was covered in fine blue and green feathers, and his stomach in blue and green scales.

"You love her that much?" Jesus muttered. "She set you up so she could get into my office and kill me. Tony's thugs could have raped you or killed you. Whoever she was she is not that person anymore."

For once Dianna didn't push things, and instead took a seat, giving Violet a reassuring smile as she did so. Violet still had a bit of a stunned look about her and Dianna hoped she was alright. "She could be the same woman though. There's still hope." Dianna raised her chin. "That's enough for me to try to rescue her." Very carefully Dianna chose not to use the word love.

What did Dianna know about love? Nothing.

"Reapers aren't like sliver tongues, eventually they become mindless beasts." Jesus sighed and poured himself a drink, and one for Dianna. He sat down setting it in front of her.

"Okay." Jesus said mostly to himself. "Hassiem!" he shouted.

The middle eastern man opened the door. "Yes?"

"Get me Chains of Perdition and the keys to one of the SUV's, something common."

"Okay?" The man closed the door confused but went to do as requested.

"You have four hours to get your demon-touched lover and get her out of the state. I am helping you with this because Alvera will be easier to kill with her rabid killer ferret out of the picture. The farther away from Alvera she gets the more pain she'll be in, because Alvera will summon her with every part of her will. Do not take the chains off. She will lie, beg and cry to get loose, the end result will be your deaths. I would take her to some sort of holy place, a church or whatever, it might make it easier, or not."

The door opened and Hassiem came in bowing under the weight of the chains. "You know if you would have used these on her in the first place she wouldn't have gotten loose," Dianna remarked.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Jesus said with a grin.

"These are Chains of Perdition. They are crafted to hold a demon for punishment. They should easily hold a demon-touched human."

"I know what they are." Dianna said quietly, watching them through narrowed eyes. "I didn't realize you had a set, or I would have stolen them to begin with and we wouldn't have gone through this." Dianna shook her head, looking at Jesus once again. "And what else will it cost me for this help of yours?"

"Look Dianna, my father is not pleased Alvera nearly killed me. It's not because he loves me, it's because it makes him look bad and weak. So now New York is going to run red because he's pissed. It's going to be a lot easier on me if I can tell my dad that Alvera's new Reaper is out of the picture, because honestly a lot of people are scared of your lover. You still owe me a month of dancing." He sipped his drink enjoy its burn down his throat.

"Right." Dianna picked up the length of chains, feeling their cold iron against her skin and the solid weight of them. The entire length of dark chain was carved with religious and arcane symbols. No demon could break them while wrapped in their coils and she nodded grimly, this would hold Quinn. As long as no one let her out of them, of course.

Dianna nodded. "Thank you. I'll see you for a month of dancing when I'm not covered in black and blues." Of course if this plan failed, they'd probably all be dead anyway so it wouldn't matter. Maybe this was one plan Violet shouldn't be involved in.

"Hassiem will take you down to the car." Jesus finished his drink and picked up the phone dismissing Dianna and Violet.

*******

Quinn headed out of the condo and started down the street. She really wasn't certain where she would find a doctor and the doorman hadn't wanted to talk to her. Her knee felt like an ice pick was being jammed into the nerves with every step, and both her hand and wrist were an ugly color of blue and black, so swollen her fingers couldn't move, not that she was sure it was wise to move them.

Quinn was well aware that Alvera could have healed her but the demon had enjoyed her pain too much to do that. She probably deserved the pain. She hadn't meant to shoot Dianna. Dianna was supposed to take Vi and run, so that meant it wasn't really Quinn's fault. If only the fucking woman would have just listened.

Violet rocked back and forth, arms tucked under her armpits, wishing she could see Dianna. This waiting out in the cold, hoping that they'd guessed right about where Quinn would go, didn't seem like a good thing to her.

Jesus' guys had sworn this was the only clinic downtown that would help a Ridden though, so this was where they waited. It had been almost two hours since they'd left the strip club and Violet's fingers were freezing, even with the thick gloves that Dianna had given her.

Clapping her hands together she stomped her feet like Dianna had told her to, trying to get the blood flowing again.

Quinn was pretty ragged having had to walk miles aimlessly looking for a clinic. The first couple of places had looked at her red eyes and threatened to call the police. Maybe Alvera had known this and was waiting for Quinn to call, begging for help. Quinn got closer to a patch of the gray where she was certain she'd find a place. Some bum had told her about a free clinic. She was dragging her left leg now trying not to bend it at the knee.

Outside the clinic door, Violet shook her head and stepped away from the foul smelling man who was trying to proposition her. Dirty hands reached for her and she finally gave up and shoved him towards the door, nearly sending the drunk toppling over.

"Sorry!" Violet called after him, momentarily forgetting who she was watching out for.

Quinn blinked as a bland brick-faced building came into view. There were a few people entering, and one person was standing outside. Quinn frowned, recognizing Violet. Fuck. She had killed Dianna and now the girl was on her own again. "Vi?" Quinn croaked out, uncertain and hopeful the young woman by the entrance just looked like Violet.

"Quinn!" Violet whirled, squeaking in surprise as she spotted Quinn standing almost right on top of her.

Quinn groaned seeing it was Violet. "Shit, I'm sorry Vi. I'm really, really sorry." It wasn't so much that she felt bad, because that was impossible, but she knew she should feel something. "I didn't mean to do it. It just happened. Look, let me get looked at and then I'll give you what cash I have left and we'll try and get you some place away from here."

"You shot Dianna." Blue eyes stared at Quinn accusingly. "Then you shot the other guy." Violet frowned, upset with Quinn. "I thought you liked Dianna."

Quinn ran her good hand through her hair. "I didn't mean to shoot Dianna. She threw herself in front of the other guy. I told her to take you and get gone, if she would've fucking done the one thing I asked, then she'd be alive. I do... I did like her, better than most. I'm not capable of a lot kid." Quinn leaned back against the wall panting, her eyes closing as she tried to work through the pain she was in. "Give me a second, I'm hurt bad." First Jesus' goons and then Alvera she wasn't doing so hot.

"You're dying." Violet whispered, moving closer. "I can help," she offered, remembering what Dianna had coached her to do on the way to the clinic.

"Vi, I don't think you should waste that talent on me. Save it for good people who deserve it." Quinn opened her eyes, startled by how close Violet was, and tried to move back, which only caused a shooting spike of pain in her knee. Her stomach rolled and she bent to the side vomiting up alcohol and blood.

Stripping off the gloves, Violet moved closer, hands supporting Quinn as she vomited again and again. "This way." Violet pulled, and it was easier than it should have been to get Quinn to follow her around the side of the free clinic and to the back. "Here," she said, pushing Quinn to sit down on a wooden packing crate.

"I'm not going to just let you die," Violet said fiercely, surprising even herself as she undid some of Quinn's cloths so she could see the injuries.

Quinn tried to push Violet's hands away but with only one good hand, it wasn't happening. "Vi, a little tip most women like you to buy them dinner first before you start trying to take off their clothes," Quinn joked before she growled out; "Damnit Vi, just fucking let me die."

"She can't do that." Dianna growled in response behind her, chains rattling as she whipped them across Quinn's body, wrapping them as tight as she could, hardening her heart against the woman's cry of pain as the chains tightened on something already broken.

Violet bit her lip, both hands covering her mouth as she watched the brief struggle. "I'm sorry," she whispered, knowing she'd just betrayed a trust. "But she's right, I can't let you die."

Instinctively Quinn struggled, the pain in her wrist nearly short circuiting her brain. But there wasn't much fight left in her and the chains were cold and heavy, they weighed her down. "Dianna?" she asked after a moment of breathing heavily. Quinn could see Dianna was real and alive, and she tried to surge against the chains. "You're going to fucking wish I'd killed you." The second struggle against the chains went as well as the first.

"Love you too," Dianna grunted, carrying the struggling woman to the SUV and dumping her in the back seat. "Violet, keep her from killing herself okay?" She closed the door after them and hopped up into the driver's seat.

"Time for a road trip ladies." Dianna put on a pair of shades and pulled out from the parking lot. It was only a few minutes to the highway and once they were off the island she intended on driving as far West as she could get.

*********

Hours passed and Quinn had begged, pleaded and threatened, but apparently shooting Dianna had hardened Violet's heart towards her. Now Quinn was silent, her voice hoarse, swaying back and forth. "I think..." she said softly. "My fingers are going to fall off." Quinn was certain her fingers shouldn't look that color. "I don't think blood is getting to them."

"Too bad." Dianna said from up front. There was no way they were going to loosen the chains. "You're just trying to get us to loosen the chains. Violet said you'd live after she healed that internal bleeding you had. Besides, you don't want to wake up the kid do you?"

Violet had moved up to the front seat once they'd stopped to get gas, and had promptly passed out. Dianna felt a little sorry for her, she'd looked drained after the last healing and had obviously been tapped out.

Quinn went silent and looked out the window; she did feel better but her wrist and hand were killing her, and she had been unaware of the damage Alvera had done to her ribs when she'd been slammed to the floor.

After 30 minutes or so Quinn said; "So I know you're a succubus and all, but aren't chains a little kinky even for you?""Jesus' little farewell gift for you." Dianna grinned a little, speeding up to pass a semi-trailer in front of them. Soon they'd be on highway 68, going straight west. Dianna would drive them to California if she needed to. Dianna groaned. "Fuck, forgot about my car. Some punk is probably going to steal it."

Quinn frowned and then cursed up a storm. If Dianna was alive then obviously Jesus was as well, which meant she had failed Alvera.

"Yeah, that was Vi's doing too." Dianna grinned at Quinn in the rear view mirror. "Thanks for shooting me by the way, bitch.

""You fucking jumped in front of the bullet, you stupid bitch! cunt. Let me guess, you were working for him all along? He that good in bed you'd take a bullet for him, fucking whore." Quinn lunged forward but Dianna had looped the chain over the seat and connected it with a lock to metal tie-downs in the back.

Quinn gave a scream of pain as the chains stopped her short and tightened around her, squeezing her wrist.

"Yeah, sure, I got shot because I slept with him." Dianna rolled her eyes, teeth bared in an unpleasant smile. "I danced for room full of guys and gave them lap dances for him." She laughed, darkly. "I did it for you, you idiot! You shoot him and his father's going after you, nothing would satisfy him until he saw you dead. Having to deal with one master demon is quite enough, I don't need two."

Quinn sat back and stared at the ceiling of the SUV and said nothing.

"Now we just need to get your soul back." Dianna muttered, having to force herself not to speed. It would be hard to explain the chained up woman in the back to a cop.

"Souls are over-rated, there's a real sense of freedom when you lose one. Right and wrong don't matter so much."

"You don't believe that." Dianna's eyes flicked to the mirror and then back to the road.

The farther they drove away from New York the more Quinn felt something inside her was being drawn tighter and tighter. She didn't bother looking at Dianna, the view of the beautiful half demon wouldn't have changed. "Then what do I believe? Since you know me so well, I mean obviously I would never set you up to be hurt, that must have been someone that looked like me."

Dianna's lips thinned in anger. "You're honorable, you believe in things like trust and I think that's what's killing you. You'd rather die then continue like this." A green highway sign proudly proclaimed how far it was to highway 70, which would get them to Columbus Ohio sometime tomorrow. "Stop trying to piss me off, I'm not letting you go."

It was Quinn's turn for her lips to purse into an angry line, but she didn't say anything.

********

*** - to denote apparent passage of time

Quinn didn't remember falling asleep she had been trying to maintain an angry silence when the road noise had lulled her. Then Alvera was summoning her. Quinn could feel her Mistress's anger in the command. She woke with a start struggling.

"Let me out of these fucking things," Quinn howled, twisting in the back. "She needs me to go to her."

After almost six hours of driving Dianna's eyes had been drooping, she'd almost started to nod off at the wheel when Quinn's sudden struggle and yell startled the sleep out of her. Beside her Violet jerked in surprise, blue eyes shooting open as she turned to stare at Quinn.

"Fuck. Here we go." Dianna grumbled. She'd wanted to get further away, but apparently that wasn't going to happen. "You're not going anywhere, Detective," Dianna called back, scanning the highway for an exit. They weren't far from Dayton Ohio now; maybe they could find a motel somewhere.

"Don't call me that." Quinn shot back, struggling against the chains. She fucking hated them, they drained her strength and held her prisoner.

"Detective Maggie Quinn." Dianna said. "That's your name, that's who you are, not this." Dianna made the first exit she came to feeling Violet's worried look as she pulled off. They were still far enough out of the city to be in the middle of nowhere.

"Keep your eyes open for a motel or something, we're stopping for the night," Dianna said to Violet who nodded. "She doesn't exist." Quinn argued. "She's as good as dead, so stop calling me that."

"No. I'm never calling you anything else Maggie."

Violet raised a hand, pointing to the left. "Is that a Motel?"

It would do, Dianna nodded grimly, turning off the service road into the run down looking motel. "Good enough for what we need. Here, take this and go get us two rooms." She handed over a wad of bills. Violet looked once more over the back seat at Quinn and then hopped out, going into the main office.

Quinn was silent watching everything. They had to slip up, especially Violet.

"We're doing this and you're not going back to Alvera." Dianna growled, watching Violet come out of the dingy office with two keys. She didn't even know they still gave out actual room keys anymore.

"What do you care? I set you up and shot you, don't you get it? I don't care. I mean you were good in the sack but really we have nothing else in common."

"Shut up." Dianna sighed, rubbing her head.

Violet jumped up into the cab, holding the keys. "Room five and six, I got them next to each other, that's okay isn't it?" she asked hesitantly.

Dianna nodded, pulling down the length of the long building to park in front of the two rooms. They'd be one of the few customers staying there it looked like.

"You get room five. Maggie and I are in room six."

"Umm, you sure?" Violet looked back at Quinn worriedly.

Quinn grinned nastily. "Come on, the kid could be a fun addition."

"Ignore her." Dianna said, shoving the stick into park and getting out of the SUV. "Get the doors, I'll get Maggie."

"Stop calling me that."

"Maggie, Maggie, Maggie." Dianna said in a sing-song voice as she opened the back door of the SUV.

"I fucking hate you." Quinn grumbled.

"Love you too." Dianna crooned, grunting as she picked up both Quinn and the chains she was wrapped in and carried her towards the motel room.

"Hey could you loosen these things a bit so I can go pee?" Quinn asked once they were inside the room.

"No." Dianna dumped her on the lone bed, turning to the hovering Violet. "We'll be fine. Here..." Dianna peeled off two more bills and gave them to the Violet. "See if you can get somewhere to deliver pizza or something, we'll need food. No coming in here though, you stay in your room. I'll deal with Maggie, okay?"

Violet hesitated, and then nodded, worriedly looking from one to the other.

"It'll be all right." Dianna forced a smile, she almost believed herself.

"So you want me just to pee on the bed?"

"Nope, I'm going to put you in the tub, you can pee all you want. If you're lucky I'll take your pants off." Dianna closed the door before Violet could say anything.

Quinn sighed. "If I make a blood oath not to run away will you let me pee on the toilet?"

"The chains don't come off." Dianna crossed her arms, trying to look stern on this one.

"Fine, it will make it hard to wipe. Could you maybe just loop the chains around my hands and tie me to something in the bathroom." She had dried blood in places. "I can use the bathroom and take a shower."

Dianna hesitated, features softening a little and then she caught herself. "Nice try. I'll wash you, but the chains stay where they are."

"Please. I can't do much until the kid fixes my wrist, its broken so are most of my fingers."

"I don't trust you." Dianna moved closer, eyeing the chains. "Hold still." She shifted them downwards, freeing Quinn's arms but tightening them around her waist. The loose end she wrapped around her hand. "That's as good as it gets."

Quinn did think about doing something but it wasn't like much could be done with her wrist and knee fucked up. Driving a stick was out and walking back to New York was out, for now. "Thanks."

Alvera's prickling summons was still there and when Quinn staggered to her feet she found herself limping towards the door, Dianna tugged the chain and Quinn blinked, looking at her. "Sorry." She shook her head and started limping to the bathroom.

"It's going to be a long night." Dianna muttered, following her into the bathroom. Wherever Maggie went, she was going to go. "No privacy." She said with a smile at Quinn's glare.

Quinn grumbled but struggled with her pants with one hand and sat down to pee.

"You still want a shower?" Dianna forced down her libido, damnit this wasn't the time, but just imagining a naked wet Maggie in the hot water was enough to get her attention.

"A bath is probably more my speed." Quinn said struggling to pull up her pants.

"Bath it is." Keeping the chain in hand, Dianna started up the water in the bathtub. "You might as well leave them off."

Quinn nodded and picked them up setting them on the counter.

"Here." Dianna offered to help Maggie with her shirt.

Quinn made a face but allowed it; she had no real options right now. "I see that look in your eye, and let me put a damper on your desire; I'm in no shape to have sex."

"There's no look in my eyes," Dianna lied, undoing the shirt and tossing the thing aside. They'd need new clothes again for Quinn. "You're really hard on clothes, you know that?" Closing the toilet seat she sat on the lid, holding the chain as Quinn eased herself into the steaming hot bath.

"Oh there was a look, and it's still there." Quinn said smirking. She put her hands out and tried to ease into the tub her knee not wanting to bend. She sighed once she was in the water. "How did you fix my knee before?" At Dianna's surprised look she rolled her eyes. "I remember this is the second time I've damaged this knee and I remember you helped me. That's it."

"Vi's mentor healed it actually." Dianna said slowly. "Lauren and I went and found her, brought some mud and eggs back for you that did the trick. I don't think that's going to work this time. You remember Lauren?"

"I'll heal in time, a perk of giving up my soul," Quinn said with a shrug. "Lauren? No, I don't remember her. She another 'friend' of yours?"

"Friend of both of ours." Dianna snorted at the tone. "She's missing too. I think the DA people got her, but I'm not sure. She was Vi's girlfriend, when Vi was calling herself Blue."

"Stop. I think you're making this shit up. Nobody remembers any of this but you. Has it occurred to you that you're the crazy one?"

"Some days I really wish I was the crazy one, trust me," Dianna ground out, jaw clenched. "You think I like being the only one who knows what's going on? I'm not used to having to be responsible."

Quinn reached over and played with the chain. "Well there's an easy solution."

"No, there isn't."

Quinn sighed and sat back in the water letting her eyes close, trying to ignore the other woman in the bathroom with her. "I'm not going away you know," Dianna said softly.

"I'm getting that. It's annoying. I'm not asking for help."

"Sometimes you help people even when they don't want it."

"No that just gets you hit with a restraining order."

Dianna chuckled. "Good luck with getting one."

"Point." Quinn yawned, and stood up awkwardly almost losing her balance.

Dianna was there, holding her upright. "Got you," she murmured. "Come on, you need rest."

Quinn didn't want any help. She didn't want to be touched. She was in a pissy mood. Being held in chains would do that to a girl. But despite her insults Dianna helped her out of the tub and back in to her shirt and pants, despite the fact they were filthy, she had very little options.

Quinn knew she just needed to stay calm, act somewhat docile, and she'd get loose. It wasn't that she wanted to return to Alvera, the demon was a cruel bitch, she just had no will to resist the call to return.

Quinn lay on the bed, her head propped with pillows. "Can I get some ice for my knee?" she tried to ask in a nice way.

Dianna eyed her, and then the length of chain she'd coiled around her own wrist. It wouldn't let her get ice without moving Quinn and she opted for reaching across the small room and knocking on the adjoining room's door.

"Vi, we need ice for Quinn's knee, can you go get some?" The door cracked open just enough for a tired looking face to peer through and Violet nodded silently closing the door again.

"No more healing for that girl for a while. I think we wore her out." Dianna sighed, settling back into the chair she'd decided she'd be sleeping in that night.

"You wore her out. I didn't ask her to heal me." Quinn pointed out. She yawned; she hadn't felt this tired in a long time, probably something to do with Violet's healing on her.

Dianna glanced at Quinn. "Sure." When she got Quinn back she was never letting her live this down. Dianna was the one who was supposed to be causing problems, not Quinn. "Take a nap; I'll wake you up when food gets here if you want."

With very little options left to her, Quinn let her eyes close, but she doubted she would sleep.

In a few minutes Quinn's features relaxed and she was snoring softly.

Dianna ran a trembling hand through her hair. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been this exhausted and suddenly the chair felt a lot more comfortable then it had when she'd sat down.

Violet better get back soon, Dianna thought fuzzily, wrapping the chain around her hand a bit more securely. If she didn't….

Dianna's eyes fluttered shut and her head tilted back.

She'd just rest her eyes for a few seconds - that was all.

*******

Alvera was pissed, as the living room in the condo she rented attested to. "Where is she?" she snapped. The minions around her trembled, but said nothing.

The meeting with Baleford had gone well but Alvera had been attacked by a pissed off Quetzalcoatl the moment she had left the meeting. She had expected more time to prepare, she hadn't expected the demon to hit her this hard, this fast, and Baleford was in the same boat, so any help from him was non-existent.

Alvera reached over and thrust her hand into the chest of the closest minion, ripping his heart right out of his chest. Squeezing the still beating organ, she crushed it between her fingers using the energy created by its death to send out a stronger summons to Quinn. "Come to me now!"

Miles away Quinn was up and moving towards the door before her eyes were even open, pain shooting up from her knee at every step. She had the door open, and had even taken a step outside before she realized she couldn't move. Blinking Quinn looked around and tried to force her way forward. Then she spotted the chain around her waist and pulled on it, trying to get loose.

The heave caused Dianna to tumble from her chair, the wrap of chain around her wrist coming loose as she did. Yelling, Dianna rose from the floor, scrambling for the end of the chain that she now, in hind sight, probably should have locked around her own waist.

Amazingly, Violet was there, sitting by the end of the bed and she grabbed the chain before the last of it disappeared out the door. The ice bucket that had been in her hands went flying and small ice pieces flew everywhere, turning the area between the bed and the door into an ice rink of sorts.

Quinn was jerked back, but she hunched her shoulders and grabbed on to the door-frame still trying to move forward. She had to go to her Mistress that was the only thing she knew. The summons was burning in her brain.

Another tug by both Violet and Dianna and Quinn lost her grip on the door. Stepping on ice, Quinn's arms began wind-milling until she finally fell to the floor. Quinn stayed down, panting, and then screamed as the summons burned through her again, and blood stated to drip out her nose.

"Get the door." Dianna yelled, hauling Quinn further into the room across the ice and shoving Violet toward the door with her body. Startled, Violet lunged over Quinn's thrashing form, slamming the door shut and dead-bolting it shut.

As Quinn's thrashing began to look more and more like seizures, Dianna swung herself up and onto Quinn's body, pinning her down onto the scattered ice. "Goddamn you Maggie, don't do this to me. You stay with us, you hear me! Stay here."

Another minute and the summons began to lose strength. Quinn's thrashing slowed and she eventually stopped, gasping for breath, and blinking she looked around. "Ah, fuck..." Quinn coughed seeing Dianna for the first time. "You're heavy get off."

Dianna rolled off her, lying on the ice-covered carpet next to Quinn and staring up at the ceiling, the chain a heavy weight in her hand. Raising her head a little Dianna saw Violet, still standing by the door, staring down at them worriedly.

"It'll be okay," Diana gasped, sitting upright.

"No it won't," Violet whispered. "She nearly died." Violet moved to Quinn, reaching out to touch her but pulling her hands back, uncertainly.

"Violet don't. I'll be fine for now," Quinn gasped. "Alvera's summons was really, really strong that time. That's all." Quinn didn't try to move. Her knee throbbed, her wrist was screaming and her brain felt like it had been boiled. "I do not want you to try and heal me until you've had food and slept eight hours. Do I make myself clear?" she croaked out.

Violet smiled, a little smile, but it was there. "Yes Quinn." She ducked her head in a nod.

Amused, Dianna got up and reached down, picking up Quinn and once again worrying about how light she'd become. Carefully she laid Quinn back down on the bed. Scooping up some ice she wrapped it back up in the discarded towel, placing it on Quinn's knee. "Here, hold that." Dianna sat back in the chair she'd been in, after picking it up off the floor. "If it had been any stronger I'm worried it might have torn you in two," Dianna admitted, watching Quinn get settled.

"Then release me," Quinn snapped. "If you hadn't stolen me from Alvera this wouldn't have happened." She took the ice and put it against her knee gaving a sigh as the coldness seeped through her pants.

"For what?" Dianna snapped right back. "So you can go back to being her Reaper? How long do you think you'll last doing that, a couple more days before she kills you or a week until you just waste away?"

Quinn glared at Dianna but didn't say anything. Instead she reached up and wiped the blood away from her nose and settled back. Quinn looked at Violet. "So how long till food."

"They said it would be almost an hour when I called. It should be here soon." Violet's hand rose towards Quinn and she had to force it down before she touched her.

Shaking her head, Dianna reached over, giving Violet a push towards the door. "Go wait for it. I'll stay awake this time. Promise." Diana smiled at the disbelieving look she got in return.

"I think Jesus was wrong." Dianna said as soon as Violet had retreated to her own bedroom. "I think this isn't going to work unless we kill Alvera." She eyed Quinn on the bed. "Which means we need to lure her here. I'm thinking she's going to come after you if she can't summon you to her."

"And how are you going to kill her? If you do manage to lure her here." It sounded like a stupid plan to Quinn. "How about you leave me here and take off with the healer?"

"How many times am I going to tell you that's not going to happen!" Dianna yelled, the stress and fatigue finally making her snap. "You think I want to just leave you to die! Is that what you think I'm going to do? Let you kill yourself in some half-assed attempt at correcting your father's sins? Well fuck you Maggie, that's not going to happen! You got it?"

Quinn clenched her jaw. "Stop calling me Maggie and I got it." She jiggled the chain and said; "I am painfully aware of the fact I'm not going anywhere."

Their stare down was brought to a halt as Violet knocked on the door and then came in with two pizzas. "They, um, had a special."

With a snort, Dianna got up, handing the chain to Violet and going to the small kitchenette area to get them plates. "I can hear both of your stomachs grumbling from over here." Water would have to do for drinking as she brought everything back and laid it out onto the bed next to Quinn.

"Here." Dianna offered the first piece to Quinn. "Pretend to be nice again."

Quinn rolled her eyes but accepted the slice. She chewed it slowly, not really very hungry. She would have liked a whiskey but didn't look like she was going to get one.

"What are we going to do?" Violet asked in the quiet as the two women ignored each other and ate. She'd consumed her first piece feeling like she hadn't eaten in weeks and the second had gone down nearly as quickly. The third one she'd scaled back to merely nibbling on though, watching one woman and then the other. "I don't want Quinn to die."

"She's not going to die." Dianna growled. "We just have to…" She trailed off, sighing. They just had to kill a major Demoness.

Quinn sighed, annoyed. "Explain to me about my father. What does he have to do with this?" Quinn didn't remember her father and still only vaguely remembered her brother. "I have a brother, he's... like me isn't he?"

"Yes." Dianna glanced at Violet, wondering how much to say in front of her. She couldn't be an innocent forever she supposed. "Your Dad sold the soul of his first born to save the soul of his wife from Alvera." It was an edited version of the story but it got the major points across. "But he went and sold his soul before she could collect on his eighteenth birthday. Which explains why Alvera had that hardon to get your soul; she used your husband and son to get to you."

Dianna took a large bite of Pizza, chewing it to give herself a moment. "You're loving father," she growled, stopping to take a breath so she didn't start cursing, "refused to help when I called him from the strip club. He's somewhere in Massachusetts, I think somewhere outside of Boston." Dianna still had the phone number tucked away in a pocket.

"I have a husband and a son? Why are we having sex then? Doesn't sound like I'm really all that gay." Quinn picked up another slice of pizza chewing on it. "Anyways, so my father is a spineless coward and I'm paying for everyone else's miserable existence." Quinn closed her eyes, chewing, trying to remember anything that Dianna had told her.

"You're husband died and Alvera killed your son after he gave him to her," Dianna said quietly, looking away. Quinn had forgotten so very much.

"Oh. I don't remember them," Quinn said softly. For some reason that made her feel odd and Quinn became subdued as she ate. She had a son and that was important. She had apparently been cheated out of watching him grow up because of this father of hers.

Violet stared, really uncomfortable with the sudden silence. It might have even been worse than the yelling from earlier she decided. "A church," Violet said suddenly. "Jesus said we should take her to a holy place. We should go visit her father."

Quinn shifted uncomfortably on the bed. She wasn't certain she liked that idea, although right now she wasn't certain about a lot of things. "I don't think he'd be of much help Vi..." Dianna started, but the young woman was suddenly animated.

"No, listen. It's perfect. He's the start of everything; he needs to be there at the end. If he isn't it's not... you know, balanced." Violet waved her hands around vaguely.

"Balanced." Dianna raised an eyebrow.

"I've never really seen her this worked-up about anything," Quinn said taking a bite from her pizza.

"Balanced." Dianna repeated, looking over at Quinn incredulously.

Violet smiled and nodded. "He should be there, I'm sure of it." Violet wasn't sure why she was sure, but she was.

Quinn shrugged eating her pizza, didn't matter what she thought, she'd just be ignored anyways.

"He's back in Massachusetts." Dianna sighed, already resigning herself to driving right back the way they'd come. "That's closer to New York city than we are now. Means Alvera's going to feel Quinn more strongly."

"It's a horrible idea..." Quinn went quiet thinking that by the looks of her Dianna was about to freak out on her again.

"Sold then. If Quinn thinks it's a horrible idea, then we'll leave as soon as we get some rest." Dianna wasn't driving anywhere until she got at least a few hours of sleep. "We'll take turns watching Quinn. No taking the chain of her, for any reason at all Vi." She eyed Violet, who nodded her head quickly in answer.

Quinn rolled her eyes and finished her pizza slice.

**********

Quinn woke with a start, a shiver working it's way up her spine and sweat dotting her skin. She looked over at a red faced Violet and raised an eyebrow. "Was I loud?"

"Umm..." Violet stuttered. "Yes. Are you okay? That sounded painful." Violet wasn't sure if it had been a nightmare or what.

"No, it was pleasurable," Quinn said annoyed. "Will you please go get Dianna and tell her I want to speak with her now."

"She's sleeping." Violet frowned. "She looked really tired; maybe we should give her a bit more time?" Violet also didn't want to see if Dianna was writhing around on the bed like Quinn had just been.

"I'll do it then," Quinn said, slipping off the bed carefully. Her knee was getting better, she noticed happily as she started moving toward the connecting door.

"Hey..." Violet scrambled to follow, still holding the chain that Dianna had made her promise not to let go of. "But..." She trailed off as Quinn opened the door to the connecting room. Peeking around Quinn's shoulder she went red and looked away quickly. "Does she always sleep naked?"

"Probably she's a succubus. Its' not like anyone is going to complain." Quinn went back to her own bed, grabbed a pillow and then she went back to the doorway, throwing it at the sleeping woman

Dianna jerked awake, arm flailing as she did, trying to wake up. "What? What is it?" she gasped, only half-awake.

"Stay the fuck out of my dreams. I'm mad at you. We're not having sex in this reality or in the dream one."

"What?" Dianna rubbed a hand across her face, trying to focus. "You think I can control that? I think that's your doing more than mine."

"Yes, it's your demon heritage that's causing it - succubus."

"Says you, Ridden." Dianna snorted, dropping her head back onto the pillow. "No ogling me if you're angry at me."

Quinn snorted. "You wish I would ogle you." Quinn turned back around and started limping back to the bed, simultaneously irritated and turned on, and with her right hand still broken it was unlikely she'd be doing anything about it. Then there was Violet. Quinn knew she may not have a soul but there was still something wrong about masturbating with her in the room.

"Are we done?" Violet pleaded, closing the door on the sound of Dianna's laughter from the other room.

"Not unless you can fix my wrist?"

"Uh...." Violet flushed brilliant red. "Why?"

Quinn sighed. "Don't worry about it Vi." She got back up on the bed, which was awkward with one arm, and looked at the other woman. "Do we have any cards?"

"Don't you want to sleep?" A peek at the clock told Violet it was barely four AM. "I think so, there was a pack in the side table, on top of the bible."

"Let's just say my sleep isn't exactly restful. So I'm going to try sleeping when Dianna isn't."

"Like when she's driving." Violet nodded in understanding, brightening as she pulled out the cards. Offering over the pack, Violet suddenly realized there wasn't much of a chance of Quinn playing with her wrist like it was. The swelling didn't look anywhere near as bad as it had last night, but she could tell it was still hurting.

"Can I?" Violet pointed at the wrist in question, eager to see if she could actually heal when it wasn't a life threatening injury. The last few times, especially with Dianna and that man that Quinn had shot, it had been pure reflex that had guided her.

Quinn looked at her wrist and then at the cards. "You feel okay? Rested and good? I'm a miserable bastard, but for some reason... anyways go ahead, if you're feeling up to it."

"You're not a bastard, and I slept some." Violet leaned closer, eyes intent on the other woman's wrist. Carefully she touched it, eyes fluttering closed as she realized she didn't need to look while she was doing this. "It's broken," she said softly, fingers tracing along the bones, seeing the multiple places where the bone had broken apart.

"I know. I felt it pop." Quinn had done it to herself trying to break free from the chair Jesus had tied her to, and then Alvera hadn't helped matters by grinding her foot on it. The pain was just a dull ache now, she was used to it and she could handle pain a lot better now than when she had a soul.

"Doesn't this hurt?" Violet asked, turning a little white as she felt bone grind against bone in the other woman's wrist. It should have been an agonizing wound but Quinn hadn't said much about it at all.

"Yes. But Alvera did something to me. She dampened my ability to feel anything when she decided I should be a Reaper. I tried to tell Dianna, but she was just mad at me because I kept pissing her off, and well, you were exhausted. I had more severe wounds that needed looking after."

"Dianna thought she was going to lose you. She didn't say it, but I could tell on the way to the strip club. She was very upset." Violet brushed blond hair out of her face and leaned in again, cradling Quinn's hand in both of hers.

"I don't know what I'm doing," Violet admitted, getting nervous. What if she made it worse? What if she did something awful to Quinn's wrist? "Maybe we should just take you to a doctor?"

"Vi, you can't make it worse. Plus no doctor is going to treat me." Quinn looked at Violet. "You saved Dianna, she shouldn't be alive. I know, not just because I shot her, but because I tried to save her. I didn't just shoot them both and run out of the room. I went to her, saw all that blood pumping out of her and put my hands over the wound trying to stop that torrent of blood. But she was bleeding out, not much I could do. One of Jesus' bodyguards knocked me back, we fought and then I fled. You saved her, you did the impossible, because trust me she wasn't long for the world."

"Okay." Violet took a deep breath and tried to do what she'd done before but it was hard to relax now that she'd gotten stressed out. "Why do you call me Vi?" She asked, for something to distract herself.

"I'm too lazy to say your whole name," Quinn said with a grin.

That caught Violet off guard and she laughed. "Oh, okay. That makes sense." She grinned. The joke had cleared her mind of enough worries that she could act without thinking again.

Eyes closed Violet felt her way along Quinn's bones, fingers lightly touching the inflamed skin above the breaks. Bones were harder to heal than flesh she realized, as she coaxed them to meld to one another again. They resisted her urgings, where as skin and soft flesh usually leapt to do as she willed.

By the time she was finished, sweat was dripping down her face and she sat back gasping. "There," she said, proudly, wiping at her face.

"You okay? Dianna will kick my ass if something happens to you and it's my fault." Quinn got up, flexing her fingers with a grin and going into the bathroom she emerged a moment later with a cold cloth tossing it to Violet. "Thanks Violet."

She sat back on the bed adjusting the chain so it was more comfortable and then picked up the cards.

"Can we play Poker? Mother never let me play." Violet asked hopefully.

"Well poker is morally wrong because it involves gambling for money, clothes and sometimes sexual favors."

"Let's avoid the last two." Violet said quickly. "But I have some change." She looked at Quinn hopefully.

Quinn chuckled. "What's wrong? It's the red eyes, they just don't turn you on do they."

Gaping, Violet struggled to find something to say, relaxing as she saw the glint in those red eyes. "You're not funny," she grumbled, tossing the packet of cards down on the bed near Quinn, struggling not to smile.

"I'm hilarious." Quinn reached over and picked up the cards. She shuffled them and started dealing them. "You're an attractive woman, over 21, why are you still a virgin?"

"My parents don't really like me seeing people. Mother gets... strange." Violet shrugged. "It was easier than the fights, and then there were the episodes. The doctors said I was having panic attacks, but it wasn't!" She glared at Quinn, daring her to argue on that one.

"You parents treat you like you're a prize cow for breeding. So if you weren't having panic attacks what was it?"

"I think it was the healing thing. I'm not really sure, but I don't think it was me being insane." Violet picked up the cards, wondering what she was supposed to be looking at. "I really didn't like the psychiatric hospital, I don't want to go back there, or get an exorcism."

"I don't blame you, neither one sounds fun."

"Are two kings good?"

"Yes, unless someone has two aces then they beat that. Or a three of a kind, full house or straight, and then there's a flush."

Violet settled into her chair, intent on learning this new game. "Okay, what next then?"

"You see if there are any cards you want to get rid of." Quinn looked at her cards and then tossed a card face down and picked up another off of the top of the deck. She was hoping for a Jack, which would give her three.

Quinn kept her face neutral, as she saw it was a two. "You would increase your bet or fold at this point."

"Three quarters." Violet tossed them onto the bed next to Quinn. "You really can't remember having a son?"

Quinn's forehead wrinkled. "Vi I don't have any money take back your quarters." She let out a breath. "No. I should remember something like that. Maybe I don't. What kind of horrible mother must I have been not to notice my own husband was fucking a demon and plotting to sacrifice our son to the it?"

"Oh, but you said we should bet?" Violet sighed. "I think you must have been a great mother. You took care of me and you barely knew me. Imagine how much you must have taken care of your son."

"Normally you would bet, but it's not important until you get the hang of it." Quinn was silent, looking at her cards. "Do you think my husband knew I liked women? Maybe that's why he did it? Maybe I didn't love him?" She didn't want to think about her son, she was almost positive it had to have been her fault, especially given what kind of role models she had. Her father had sold their souls to demons.

Violet shrugged, watching Quinn shuffle cards. "I don't really know a lot about relationships." She bit her lip. "I'm not even sure if I like women." Although that sneaking suspicion was getting a lot harder to ignore around Quinn and Dianna.

Quinn shrugged. "Does it matter? Boys or girls, I think it's complicated regardless of the gender. Besides I don't think I should give you advice on the matter, my morals are probably in the toilet without a soul."

"Oh. Right." Violet sighed. "What a pair I chose to tag along with." She grinned, laying down her cards. "Three kings, that's good right?"

"Yes." Quinn tossed her cards down and then started shuffling. "Beats my hand."

*********

"Would you stop that?" Dianna glared over her shoulder as Quinn once again kicked the back of her seat. They'd been on the road for the better part of six hours now, and it would be quite a few more before they reached Massachusetts. There was no way Dianna was risking going any closer to New York City than they had to, which meant taking a longer path up round Pennsylvania and back through New York state near Albany.

"I'm bored... oh mistress of the slave chain, and I need to pee. I'm also cranky cause someone kept me up with sex dreams."

"No one said you had to stay awake," Dianna said grumpily, scanning the highway ahead of for a spot to pull over. Beside her Violet was curled up in the chair, fast asleep. Dianna envied her ability to sleep through nearly anything. "I thought they were nice dreams."

"If I wasn't mad at you for kidnapping me and holding me against my will, and causing me general agony every time Alvera summoned me, then yes, I'd be all for some dream sex." Quinn was actually angrier that Dianna had jumped in front of her shot to save Jesus, as well as the general feeling of unhappiness she had felt when she thought she'd killed her. It was confusing Quinn's head, but she was mad at Dianna, that was certain.

"Only dream sex though?" Dianna said slyly as she spotted a gas station turn-off. They needed some gas anyway, although she wasn't sure how they were going to deal with getting Quinn to the bathroom without raising questions.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "The only hand that's going to be touching you inappropriately is going to be your own."

"I'm sure I can do better than that." Dianna pulled off the highway, and the change in speed woke Violet up. Violet, groaned as she tried to unfold her legs.

"Vi, get us some gas okay? I'm taking her highness to the bathrooms."

Tossing Violet the keys and the last of her cash, Dianna got out of the SUV. "Going to have to be creative here," she muttered, pulling a coat up over the end of the chain and hiding it as best she could. "Come on Maggie." Dianna really loved the irritated look she got every time she used Quinn's first name.

Quinn walked slowly, her knee stiff from sitting for so long. "Would you please stop calling me that?" she asked, though she doubted Dianna would.

"Not until you're no longer a Ridden." Dianna slowed a little as they neared the restrooms at back of the gas station. Something seemed strange, and for just as second she thought she felt something like the Gray Zone nearby. Then it was gone and she pushed open the door, staying close to single available stall which Quinn used.

When Quinn exited the stall the hair on the back of her neck rose, and gooseflesh erupted up and down her arms. She sniffed the air. "Go check on Vi, make sure she's okay."

"Come on, I'm not going to let you go that easily." Dianna tried a smile but it came out strained. Something wasn't right though, she could feel it in her bones. The fluorescent lights above them flickered, dimming and then coming back on.

"A private gas station just off the highway. Guy lives here alone bet there's a nice little flower garden in his backyard full of the rotting corpses of pretty young things, maybe some fingers in the freezer. Not all bad things in this world are demons." Quinn growled.

The skin crawled between Dianna's shoulder blades as she considered that she'd just left Violet alone back at the SUV. "Come on." Dianna yanked open the door, ready to hurry to go check on Violet. She was so worried it never occurred to her that they might be the target.

The man standing outside wasn't demon, but for all Dianna knew he might have demon blood in him. The baseball bat he was carrying caught her in the chest, doubling her over with an 'Ooph' of pain as she dropped to her knees.

"Gonna enjoy me two little bitches tonight." He laughed, it was high pitched, almost a gigglehysterical as he stared at Quinn through thick glasses.

"Right… sexual appeal of the succubus - automatic lure for the sexual sadist." She looked over from Dianna's prone form to the crazy guy and grinned at him. "How about you come here and try to get some." Quinn backed up a step bringing up her hands and gestured for him to try it.

Once he stepped into the bathroom the combat advantage of the bat was reduced because there was no room to swing it.

Still laughinggiggling he stepped in at her, baseball bat raised to get the prize he'd seen from the office.

The laughinggiggling didn't last long.

As he stopped struggling Quinn let go of his body leaving him face down in the toilet. She walked over to the sink and washed the blood off her hands. Once she was sure all the blood was gone she went over to Dianna. "You okay?"

"You didn't run." Dianna got up off the floor, wincing as she touched the spot on her chest where the baseball bat had hit. It stung like hell and she wondered if it had cracked anything. Pushing up off the wall she got to her feet, ignoring the thing in the toilet.

People like him were worse than demons as far as she was concerned - they chose to do horrible things to people.

Quinn made a pained faced. "I knew I was forgetting to do something."

"Other than drowning the rapist in the toilet?" Dianna glanced at him again, shivered and turned away. "I always seem to attract those guys. High school, grade school..." She shook her head, angrily picking up the end of the chain. "We should check on Vi."

"Probably because you're comfortable with the power of your sex and sexuality. Guys like that want to have all the power." Quinn sighed and was dragged out of the bathroom with by the chain. "Maybe we should discuss your fetish with this chain?"

"After we get your soul back you can chain me up." Dianna only relaxed when she saw Violet waiting for them by the SUV. Shaking her head she decided someone else could deal with the mess in the gas station's bathroom.

"Why wait for me to get my soul back? It'd be more fun now," Quinn said snarkily getting got into the back of the SUV.

Dianna rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said in response to Violet's questioning look. "Get in, I'll tell you what happened on the road. We don't want to stay here."

"Some people just need killing. Tell me I'm wrong?" Quinn challenged from the back seat.

Quinn was becoming more antsy the closer they got to New York. She could feel Alvera's anger and it was to the point that Quinn was a little scared to see her Mistress, not certain she would live through the displeasure that would be dished out. "You killed someone?" Violet's eyes widened and Dianna muttered dark things as she sped away from the gas stop.

Fantastic, Dianna thought, just what she wanted to talk about. "Quinn did, the gas station owner was trying to abduct us."

"He hit you with a baseball bat," Quinn interjected, squirming in her seat. Quinn couldn't take the chain off, someone else needed to do that, it couldn't be taken off by the wearer, but Dianna hadn't attached it to anything.

Feeling Violet's wide eyes on her again, Dianna sighed. "Yes, he did. You can look at it later if you want, but we aren't stopping again until we get to the church." Dianna's eyes flicked to the rear view mirror and then back to the road. It wasn't just her imagination that Quinn's eyes looked redder.

"Was he a bad man?" Violet asked hesitantly.

"Yes, Vi, he was a very bad man. He liked to abduct young women who stopped at his gas station and do horrible things to them."

"How did you know that?" Dianna demanded, before Violet could ask something else. "You knew it before I opened the door to the bathroom."

It had been an ache in her bones. Quinn leaned forward fingering the loose links.

"Dianna you should pull over when you have a chance."

"Again?" Dianna growled, annoyed, still wondering how Quinn could have known before she'd opened the door.

"You didn't attach the chain to anything," Quinn replied her knuckles white as she clutched the metal in her hand.

The brakes squealed as the SUV slid to the side of the road, almost sending Violet head first into the dashboard. Fumbling with the seat belt with one hand, Dianna twisted and half leapt into the back seat, snatching at the end of the chain. Car horn's blared at them and Violet stared at the two of them in shocked silence.

"Got it." Dianna let out a breath.

Quinn didn't say anything more, part of her wondering why she mentioned it at all. Maybe it was because she had watched Dianna almost die once, but the urge to take the loose links of chain and wrap them around the woman's throat had been painful. It would have been so easy to do and then she could have started walking back to Alvera, she was so much closer now. Why the fuck had she opened her mouth?

"I think you should wrap it around my wrists now," Quinn found herself saying. She looked up at Dianna and waited, her knuckles still white on the piece of chain she clutched. Dianna didn't do something soon... her body tensed as she prepared to lunge across the distance that separated them. It was almost like there were two different people living inside her.

"Vi, can you drive?" Dianna asked even as she slithered out of her seat and into the back of the SUV.

"Um… I think so?" Violet's eyes, if possible got a little larger.

"Good, then drive. Just follow the highway, we'll be in Boston soon enough." At least Dianna hoped it would be soon enough. Carefully she wrapped the chain around Quinn's wrists, binding them together and then for good measure wrapping the end of it around the seat, anchoring her there as Violet got into the drivers seat.

"You stay with us." Dianna said intently, as she worked. "You stay here, with me."

Quinn felt some of the tension leave her body as options for escape were taken away. "You kind of have me tied down, it's not like I have a lot of choice." But the stress of having her connection with Alvera opened up more clearly by proximity won out and she did lunge forward against the chains with a growl. Brought up short, Dianna easily leaned back out of the way.

"I didn't mean your body." Dianna winced as the kid ground gears before getting the SUV back onto the road. "Good Vi, just keep us going, a bit faster than 50 though okay?"

"Umm… sure." Violet felt her palms sweating as she accelerated up to flow of traffic, which was officially the fastest she'd ever gone.

Quinn leaned back against the seat closing her eyes. "I just knew about the guy. I can't tell you why. I wouldn't have known except I seem to be more in tune with the Gray. There were a lot of weird, emotional screams coating that gas station. The rest I just guessed, like good old-fashioned police work." Quinn grinned and then frowned as the word police resonated within her.

"You're a police Detective working near the Gray Zone where we come from; you should be good at good old-fashioned police work," Dianna reminded her gently, deciding to stay in the back seat with Quinn, just in case.

"Police serve and protect, they don't murder a guy by drowning him in a toilet," Quinn said, not opening her eyes. Slowly the road noise lulled her to sleep, which wasn't hard considering how little she had gotten.

********

Alvera pulled on the metaphysical connection between herself and Quinn, annoyed that she still hadn't shown up. There was nothing left in her condo to destroy.

"The connection has gotten stronger. I'm guessing that she's hurt, unconscious or being held captive that's why she cannot come to me," Alvera snarled. "Get the car ready! We are going to get to the root of Quinn's problem; this is not a good time for any of those things to occur."

Two more minions had died for Alvera to boost her summoning of Quinn, all three attempts had so far failed and the remaining minions watched their mistress worriedly.

"Where are we going?" One of the braver one's spoke up.

Alvera closed her eyes and slowly turned. "North-east," she said opening her eyes again. "Now go get the fucking car!"

********

Quinn collapsed back into her seat, with a grunt. "Ah...shit. That fucking hurts." Her face was dotted in sweat and a small trickle of blood came from her nose. "Hmmph," she grunted, inarticulately trying to find a comfortable position. Even her toenails hurt after that last summoning.

"That was worse than the previous two." Dianna leaned back, sighing in relief as the thrashing ended. She'd actually had to hold onto Quinn through this one, afraid that the woman's violent thrashing would break the car seat. "I wish I could take your pain again, but I don't know what that will do to the piece of soul I have. We can't risk it, not now."

In the front seat, Violet had slowly relaxed, enough so that she'd not driven the car right off the road when the summons had started Quinn's thrashing. "I think we're almost there," she said, hopefully, taking the exit off the highway. They almost in Boston, and Dianna's directions said the church should only be another few miles from there.

Double-checking the chains, Dianna raised an eyebrow at a sweating Quinn. "You ready to meet your father?"

"No," Quinn croaked out. "Can I have some water or something?" she asked. Her head was pounding, her mouth dry. Quinn opened her red eyes, regarding Dianna. "Between you and Alvera I'm never going to get any sleep."

There was soda from the drive-through lunch they'd had and Dianna opened it, carefully holding the bottle to Quinn's lips. "You can sleep soon," she promised. Whatever happened, it would all be over soon.

"She's coming, are you sure you're ready for that?" Quinn said feeling better now that there was liquid on her throat. The more time Quinn spent near Dianna the more she became conflicted in her desire to stay or flee.

Dianna smiled. "What better place to deal with a demon than in a Church?"

Quinn looked at Dianna, taking in everything about her. "Why are you doing this? I set you up with Tony's thugs to get an in. I shot you. Of all the responses to have, trying to save my soul isn't the first one that occurs to me."

"Don't worry." Dianna leaned down a little in her seat so that she could watch the church that they were pulling into. It looked like a thousand others, simple gray stone walls with a bell tower on one corner and a steeple roof. It disturbed her, and she knew she wasn't going to enjoy being inside. "I'll be a complete bitch to you about this once we have your soul back."

The church was a simple one-story building. It was not as old or as grand as some of the other Catholic churches that had been built along the shoreline; missionaries had been sent up and down the Eastern coast to consecrate holy ground in the new world that had been discovered. But that was as far as the religious push had gone. The Church had over extended itself and its power and had to focus on demon attacks in Rome.

Throughout the New England area there had been a Catholic revival and small churches new and modern had been built right after world war two. This was a simple church with a garden and teaching hall.

There were only two cars other than their own in the parking lot "You know this plan of yours really sucks." Quinn said.

"You got a better one?" Dianna barely winced as Violet ground the gears putting the SUV into park. "Because now's the time."

"I like the one where you take this stupid chain off."

"The one where you then try to kill us? Forgive me if I don't take you up on that." Undoing the chain from around the chair, Dianna pushed open the car door. "Come on Vi. You don't want to be alone out here when Alvera shows up." Dianna slung a chain-wrapped Quinn over her shoulder, ignoring the protests.

"She's coming here?" Violet hoped down out of the cab, graceful as always.

"Hey, you asked what my plan was." Quinn really didn't want to go into the church, almost every fiber of her being screamed out against it.

Dianna made an annoyed sound. "Yeah, I'm not too big on going in their either, trust me. Your dad throws holy water on me and I'm going to punch out his lights. Actually, I might do that anyway for causing all this shit in the first place."

Violet ran ahead, yanking open the front door for them to enter. "Here goes nothing," Dianna muttered, carrying Quinn through the doors and onto holy ground.

The church was quiet, an oppressive quiet that muffled everything.

Next to the back pews an older man was bent over sanding at the word 'fuck' that had been scratched into the wood.

"Hello?" Dianna called, still holding Quinn thrown over a shoulder. Violet stood nearby, hesitant as she looked around.

On hearing the door the man straightened up and blinked at them. "Um... yes... can help you?" he stammered out at the strange sight.

"Father Quinn?" she asked, hopefully.

"I'm sorry, no. I'm Father Daniels. Father Quinn is... ill." Father Quinn had actually gone on a bender.

Dianna growled. "I don't care how sick he is, is he here?"

"Yes, he's in his rooms but is there something I can help you with?"

"No. We need to talk to him." Dianna nodded at the woman in chains that she was carrying. "His daughter needs his help."

"Oh," he said, looking at the woman with the red eyes. "You're Maggie Quinn?"

Quinn's eyes narrowed. "That's what they keep telling me. Honestly I don't remember or believe much of it."

"Oh," was all the priest could think of to say. "I... this way."

"Vi, stay here okay?" Dianna gave a reassuring smile. "Just stay in the church, no going wondering around."

Violet nodded. "Good luck," she called after them; hopeful that maybe she'd meet the real Quinn sometime soon.

Father Daniels took them through the church to a small apartment off the kitchen.

Quinn wrinkled her nose at the smell of stale sweat, vomit and alcohol. The sink was filled with empty bottles.

Father Daniels knocked on a door. "Connor? Connor, there are some people here to see you. One of them says she's your daughter." There was no sound from the other side of the door. He knocked louder. "Connor, open the door."

Finally they could hear someone moving and then a crashing noise as glass hit the floor.

Eventually the door opened and a skinny man with pale skin and bloodshot eyes opened the door. "I'm on retreat. Just go away, all of you go away," he slurred out.

Quinn looked at that man skeptically. "That's my father? No wonder I sold my soul."

Dianna, who was still carrying her, snorted in agreement, pushing her way past the priest to dump the chained up Quinn onto his unmade bed. "Time to repent for your sins Father, the day of reckoning has arrived."

Quinn made a face at the smell. "Could you maybe put me on a chair out in the kitchen? His room stinks."

Father Quinn just blinked, his mouth opening and closing. Father Daniels watched curiously. "Connor, what is she talking about 'repent for your sins'?"

Father Quinn turned snapping at his counterpart; "Nothing, none of your business. And you all..." He turned pointing a finger. "Leave me alone."

Quinn stood up, a struggle with her hands bound, and walked over to her father. "I've been told you are my father. I don't remember you and if this is how you are I can't say I'm surprised. What surprises me is the fact that I apparently sold my soul when it was your fault, that you were the one who was the sinner. Did you actually promise your son's soul to a demon?"

The slap that followed echoed loudly throughout the room.

Quinn blinked, her cheek stinging. An angry look washed over her face and she head-butted her father.

Father Daniels looked on horrified. "Would someone please tell me what is going on?"

Since it looked like Quinn was in no danger of getting beaten up, even with her hands chained, Dianna shrugged. "Apparently the good father Quinn sold his son's soul to a demon named Alvera in exchange for the soul of his wife, who had previously had an agreement with Alvera. Stay with me here," she said as the confused frown only got deeper on Father Daniels' face. "But instead of letting that happen the son sold his soul to a different demon, to make his own choice as it were. In retaliation Alvera went after Quinn's family, seduced the husband, got him to sell her their son's soul. So, Quinn being Quinn, she bartered her own soul to free the son's soul from hell. You got it? Good, because I'm not repeating that again."

The look of horror didn't go away. "Maggie is this true?"

"Yes," two voices said in unison as Quinn and her Father both answered.

Father Daniels sat down in a chair. "Oh Connor, what have you done?"

Quinn's father got up and staggered to the sink. He wet a washcloth and put it over his nose to stem the flow of blood. "I had to Jim. I loved her so much I had to save her soul."

"At what cost? You willingly gave up an innocent soul."

"To save her yes."

"To think I named my son after you," Quinn said, disgusted. "You know if I had a soul I think I'd be sad and devastated by all of this." She shuffled over to the cabinets and started looking around in them, easily finding many different types of alcohol. It was awkward with her bound hands, but she pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "Well now I know why I like this stuff, must be genetic."

Both men missed Dianna's sharp look at Quinn, she'd never told Quinn what the name of her son had been. That had to be a good sign. "Either way," Dianna said, turning to Father Daniels, "You should leave this place. Alvera is coming to get back what is hers and this place won't be safe."

Father Daniels sighed and stood up, smiling at Dianna. "Young Lady this is the Lord's house all are welcome, even a demon, a sinner, and the damned. For those are the ones that need him most." He gave a long look at Father Quinn. "And unlike some, it is tough times that call on us to give our most. I will not leave those who would need my guidance."

"You do realize that she'll kill anyone she finds between her and Quinn." Dianna was curious; this was the first man who hadn't actually blanched at the mention of an enraged full demon coming his way.

"I will admit I am not a warrior priest like you would find in Europe, but I have taken my oaths to God, and they mean something to me. I have lived a life dedicated to those oaths. It has been a good life, and one I hope will not end soon, but if I were to flee, turn my back on those oaths that have given my life meaning and happiness, then I would not have much of a life," he replied quietly. He frowned looking at Quinn, "Connor, take a shower, clean yourself up and try to reflect on this. Perhaps spend sometime with your daughter before that moment is gone." Turning to leave he said to know one. "I will make some lunch for us all."

Quinn poured a drink and shakily tried to sip it with both hands tied. "Now there is a man I would love to claim as my dad."

"Would all of you get out!" Father Connor Quinn bellowed.

********

Quinn held out her hands and shook them making the chains clink. "Could you remove them... please?" she asked Dianna.

They were alone in the kitchen among the aftermath of lunch. Violet was resting on the couch in Father Daniel's office and Quinn's father had yet to leave his rooms. Father Daniel was now staining the pew he had sanded.

"I'm not sure which one is more of a bastard, you're dad or mine. Of course you're father didn't rape your mother," Dianna said contemplatively, swirling the glass of iced tea she'd been given to drink with lunch. Dianna could feel Quinn's eyes studying her. "Will you try to kill someone if I do?"

"It's possible, especially when Alvera shows up." Quinn didn't lie. "I was thinking I'd find someplace quiet to take a nap" Someplace private she hoped, where she might even work out some of the tension she'd been feeling since their shared dream last night.

Snorting, Dianna reached over, undoing the chains from around her hands but leaving it around her waist. "You should sleep while you can," Dianna agreed. Neither of them knew what would happen when Alvera arrived, rest would be useful.

Quinn picked up her drink finishing it. "I hate being around you. You make me remember things," Quinn said setting down her finished drink. "The longer I'm around you the more comes back." She stood up annoyed that the chain was still around her waist, but knowing Dianna wouldn't remove it.

"You remembered the name of your son," Dianna said softly. "Can you remember anything else?"

"I don't want to remember any more. A father who doesn't love me, a son I failed and there's more. How I've let down and failed people? How they've let me down? Thank you, no, I don't want to remember." Quinn walked towards the door and paused. "He had a smile that could light up my world. His hair was red like mine, but he had his father's nose, and he was too smart even at three for his own good."

Watching Quinn walk away Dianna sighed, feeling the ache in her chest ease. "If you don't remember him, who will?" she called after her.

Quinn paused again and turned around looking at Dianna, her red eyes clearly showing her conflict. "Dianna..." Quinn shook her head. "Come on lets find me someplace to rest and you can tie me up like a good dog."

**# natural break

********

They found Quinn a place, in what were apparently guest rooms in the church's basement. "I bet the good Father lets people stay here when their houses burn down or something else happens to them," Dianna said, securing the chains to the side of the simple bed that would at least let Quinn get some sleep.

"I checked on Violet, she's sound out. I don't think she's recovered from all the healing yet." Taking a seat on the other bed, Dianna watched Quinn. "I should call Melva, tell her that I've found her protégé and that we'll keep her safe, but I just can't deal with another set of problems yet."

"I'm going to be mad at you if she dies." Quinn said, and then realized if Dianna and Violet died she would just forget after awhile. She shook her head and looked at Dianna. What the hell, Quinn thought, she was going to either forget or die soon. Getting up she tried to walk over to Dianna only to come up short. With a frown she went back to the bed and flopped down on it. "Fine," she muttered and closed her eyes.

"Fine what?"

"Nothing. I was just going to... nothing. I'm just going to go to sleep so you don't need to hang out and baby-sit me. I'm tied up and going nowhere," Quinn said grumpily.

"If I wasn't already damned because of what I am, this certainly would do it for me." Dianna laughed, standing up off the bed and giving the human a poke in her side. "Scoot over." Dianna nestled into the bed next to Quinn, spooning.

It wasn't really what Quinn had had in mind. She had been hoping for something more vigorous. A few minutes later though her eyes closed and she was snoring.

"Sleep," Dianna whispered, holding onto her and staring at the wall, thoughts churning as she did. Again and again her thoughts kept circling back to the same question she'd been thinking about for days now.

How were they going to kill Alvera?

********

"This is Agent Green."

"Uh, yes, Agent Green, this is Father Daniels we talked once before I work at the same church as Father Quinn."

"Father, yes I remember you, what can I do for you?" Green knew Quinn would show up sooner or later.

"Well you asked to call if Maggie Quinn showed up. Well she's here with some others. They seem to be in trouble. A fairly powerful demon named Alvera is on her way here after Ms. Quinn. I'm concerned that, well, there may be a battle here, one that could hurt innocent bystanders."

"Of course thank you for calling Father, I'll be there as soon as I can with a team."

"Thank you."

Father Daniels hung up biting his lip, he didn't like Agent Green, but it was the man's job to fight demons something that they were ill-prepared to handle.

Green smirked and hung up the phone. He turned looking at his partner. "We've got that bitch. She ran to her father. Get a six man team and we'll take a copter to Boston."

Upstairs in the same building, Capitan Mark Hart was looking through a package that had arrived two days ago. His late girlfriend Susan had made arrangements for him to receive it if something ever happened to her. He had been horrified to discover that not only had Susan been experimenting on her own sister, but also two other people, in secret, outside the program.

Susan had not only feared that the program had been compromised, but that also the lead research scientist was taking the project in the wrong direction. She had thought that they were only building on the work that the Church had done decades before through the creation of half-breed warriors.

There was a whole slew of ancient texts that Mark didn't understand, but in her notes Susan theorized that there were demonic-like beings who were probably the foundation of Angels. They were demons, or others, that benefited mankind and worked with mankind by killing demons. One was a Stone Demon from Tibet, it resided in Temples awaking to protect the monks inside if there was an attack. Another was from China, a great golden wyrm or dragon. By giving the creature shiny objects like gold and jewels its favor could be bought for protection.

Susan went on to theorize that these creatures were offshoots from angels, and that once there had been beings fairly humanoid with wings that had guarded and helped mankind from demons, but almost all had fallen by being seduced by mortal or demon lovers. Yet their bloodline could be traced back. Mark rubbed his eyes as he sifted through family tree after family tree. As he unrolled another sheet a small vial fell out. Only quick reflexes allowed him to catch it before it hit the floor and broke.

It was labeled 'Final Injection: Cruorem Angelus'. Though a very badly lapsed Catholic Mark was nearly positive it translated as 'blood of angels'. He looked at the family tree in his other hand. A family somewhere in Greece was descended of angels. He wasn't certain he was better for knowing. It meant that once there had been hope, and now that hope was destroyed. The angels were dead.

There was a knock on his door and barked out; "Enter."

"Sir, you wanted to be notified the moment the name Maggie Quinn hit the airwaves."

"Yes." Mark looked up staring at the intern.

"Two minutes ago, Agent Green received a phone call activating those keywords." The young man walked over handing the Capitan a jump drive. "The conversation is on here."

"Thank you. Please detain Agent Green. Dismissed."

"Yes sirOn it."

Mark plugged the drive into his computer and opened the audio file.

*********

Agent Green shifted uncomfortably, he had never been summoned upstairs. "Agent, Capitan Hart will see you now."Green nodded and approached the door.

"Agent Green get in here and shut the door!"

Green frowned, closing the door behind him as he entered his superior officers room. "You wanted to see me sir?" He was itching to go; they needed to get moving now.

"You want to explain to me why you are putting a team together to go to Boston. Considering your past crusade against one Maggie Quinn cost the Department money and wasted manpower." Mark didn't bother looking up at the agent. "You were put on desk duty for a reason. Flying to Boston is not desk duty."

"Sir!" Green tensed. "She's in Boston, with a full demon coming for her, we can't just stay here and do nothing. Maggie Quinn needs to be stopped; I can take her down this time Sir."

"I find it interesting that Maggie Quinn is the focus of this and not the demon coming to attack a church." Mark did look up now, staring at Green. "Seems to me a human would be the least of your worries and focus in such a situation, or maybe you need to go through the program again and get re-certified?"

Green worked hard to avoid grinding his teeth together. "Sir, that woman is a threat to everyone around her. She mislead all her colleagues for years. She's the center of everything that's happening. Take her out and we won't have to worry about demon incursions to get at her."

"You best think very long and hard about those sentences because they are the biggest pile of crap I've ever heard. These medals and stripes weren't given to me because I'm an idiot." Mark set down the pen in his hand and stood up. "Maggie Quinn is a human, no matter if she sold her soul, she would still be the smaller threat compared to a full demon. So again you want to tell me what the focus of your mission is?"

Green's nostrils flared but he kept himself from answering through sheer force of will, knowing a slip up here and he'd be lucky to remain an agent. "Sir, regardless of this it falls under our purview. I can handle the entire situation with a special ops team. We use her to get the demon."

Mark was quickly loosing patience with Green, who was very close to being demoted to civilian status and being retired to a mental institution. "This is your last chance Green, fuck this up, loose focus and cost us the lives of not one but two priests, one of whom is the father of the woman you seem to have a personal vendetta against, and I will throw you to the media wolves." He watched Green, waiting for an argument.

"Yes sir." Green nodded choppily. "The entire thing will be wrapped up sir. I just need the chopper and the special ops team."

"You will be adding Lauren to your team."

"What?" Green gathered himself. "I mean; What sir? I thought she was in the hands of the white coats?"

"The whole point of this project is to create human hybrids to help us kill Demons. The white coats have had plenty of time to examine her, she is the only stable creation we have, it's about time we saw what she can do in the field. Any other complaints?"

"You trust her to do what we want and not turn on us?"

"Now why would she turn on us Green?"

"She had a previous association with the people in the church, she could be more influenced by demons then we know. I doubt she's happy to have been examined by the white coats." Green was sweating a little now.

"Perhaps you would like to watch the months worth of raw video feed where she is curled up in a little ball crying. While we uncaringly inject her with random crap. Perhaps if we try and make her a part of this, give what was done to her a greater purpose, she might not be so resentful. Although I didn't drag her out of the hospital room where her girlfriend was recovering from a coma. Oh yes, I read that part, you're a real humanitarian Green. So being team leader you better make your team work, without casualitiescausalities, and bring everyone home."

Green knew he wasn't going to enjoy this mission, not at all. "Yes sir. I'll get it done. Where is she now?"

"I will go down and make sure she is ready to go. You get the rest of your team to the helo pad and we'll meet you there. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Green saw himself out, only just resisting the urge to slam the door behind him.

Mark opened a drawer and pulled out the vial of Angel's Blood. He clutched it in his palm and exited his office. "I'll be down in the pens for a few, hold all my calls and reschedule anything that comes up."As exited the elevator Mark announced; "Get Ms. Esponiza up and out of there, we are sending her on a mission with Agent Green and his team to Boston."

When everyone blinked at him he frowned and then barked out; "Now!"

"Uh, Captain, are you sure that's a wise decision?" A nervous looking scientist stood up from the bench where he'd been studying the latest round of results.

"You've had your chance to work out the secret of her blood, and you haven't. This project was designed to create something like Lauren, it's high time we got field data."

The doctor frowned. "You put her out in the field and we could loose any chance we have to finish our studies. I don't think the Senator would approve of this."

"How about I call the Senator and I point out how you have failed to find an answer despite bleeding the girl dry? How about I show him all the raw video feeds of her crying in her cell why you just stare at her like some sort of rare bug? How about you do something with all those blood samples you have stored in your freezers? And I'll call the Pentagon and explain why we have no actual field data of her actually killing a demon, so we may just be paying you all for nothing because she can't actually do any of the things you say she can because we have no data to back up your claims. Now will you do what I say, or do we have to have a pissing contest to see who wins?"

It took all Mark's self-control not to hit the Doctor.

The Doctor scowled. "Fine, but I'm making it clear that this is against my wishes and I'll make certain the Senator knows that."

"Put it in your report, since that's all you're good at."

"Try not to lose her," the Doctor called after Mark as he left.

Mark grunted in response. He waited in the briefing room for Lauren to be brought to him. He was alone, even though his aids had argued against it for safety. He didn't think she'd hurt him or at least kill him.

A knock at the door interrupted his musings. "Sir?" The young guard outside stuck his head in. "She's here. You certain you want to see her here?"

"Yes. Hurry up we only have 15 min before the copters leave."

The young man nodded and held the door open wider so that the woman in chains behind him could shuffle through. "I'll be right outside Sir," he called, closing the door behind him. Lauren was dressed in bright orange overalls that were very reminiscent of prison uniforms. The chains around her wrists and ankles were shackled together.

Mark stood and pulled out a chair for her. "Please have a seat."

"You going to shock me or something if I don't?" Lauren shuffled forward towards the chair, the chains clinking as she did.

"No. If you'd rather stay standing that is fine." Mark cleared his throat not certain where to start. He got up and poured a glass of water and set it on the table closest to her. "This may mean nothing, but I argued to have you released. Obviously I was not successful."

He sat back down. "I dated your sister. We met on this project. Now that she's dead I discover I didn't really know her at all. I can't believe she did this to you, despite how successful it seems to have been. Susan theorized that through your mother, being of Chinese decent, there were genetic markers hidden in your DNA that could be turned on. These markers are part of an ancestral history that puts you in a the same linage as the children of angels." At Lauren's look he just shrugged. "In the event anything happened to her she had her research sent to me, I've looked it over. She believed it. So do I."

Mark tapped his fingers nervously on the table. "You two would have shared the same genetics so Susan could have tested herself, but obviously she did not. You're special Lauren. As you have seen we have cages full of failed and violent experiments. The serum can change anyone to have demonic aspects it can even make half-demons full demons. It won't last 24 hours unless you kill someone, there is a chemical released during such an event that makes the serum permanent, so you see there's nothing I can do to reverse what's happened."

Lauren sat down; part of her had hoped that this could all be reversed. Now she found her legs didn't work so well.

"I can get you out of the clutches of the scientists but I can't free you. I'm going to send you out on a mission. There will be opportunities to escape, and it's up to you if you want to take them, but know that you'll be hunted. Or you can perform well, save lives, kill demons and come back. I know that's less appealing, but in returning I can work within the organization to get you more freedom; work at making you part of the team. I'm sorry I know its like being stuck between a rock and a hard place but it's the best I can do right now."

Lauren stared at him, confused. "You dated my sister?" was the first question that actually made it out of her mouth, although there were a lot of others tumbling around in her head. "Did my parents know?"

Mark gave Lauren a bemused smile. After all he'd just said her chosen question was amusing. "I don't know. Susan never invited me home to meet them. We talked about me joining her at Christmas but I guess that won't be happening now." He cleared his throat. "Lauren I have 5 minutes left to get you suited up for the mission. I need to know if you can do this."

"She never said anything about a boyfriend…" For some reason to Lauren it seemed like an even worse betrayal than everything else. She swallowed against tears. "Yeah. Kill a demon, sure, I can do that." She scrubbed at her eyes angrily. "What demon?"

Mark was silent for a moment. Susan had never mentioned him. She had trusted him with the secrets of his research but not with her parents or sister. "I'm learning Susan kept a lot of secrets." He smiled sadly. "Demon, yes, that I don't know. A priest called from a church outside of Boston saying demons were on their way to his church. Agent Green will be leading a team with you on it." He held up a hand. "I know he's a prick. I know what he did, and he's two seconds from being busted-down to pen cleaner. I believe Maggie Quinn might be at this church. So not only will you be defeating a demon you'll be helping your friends." Mark stood and picked a duffel bag up off the floor setting it on table. "There are clothes in here, and boots. Your size. I will step out and let you get changed."

He set down a needle and two vials. "One is a Tibetan stone golem something you've used before. The other is from your sister, it's labeled 'Final Injection'. It's up to you which one you use. I have no idea what it will do but according to your sisters notes you will no longer mimic other demons, this will be your final form. When you are changed come out the door and you will be fitted with a collar. It has GPS and a camera so we can record data. This will also protect you from any hearsay on the behalf of Agent Green."

"A collar? So taking away my freedom wasn't enough, now you want me to go around like some sort of slave?" Lauren fingered the heavy silver looking thing, instantly disliking the idea of it.

"I'm sorry Lauren, but I've hit a stonewall in getting you your freedom the best we can do now is prove you're a team player so they'll slowly reduce your restrictions. As I already explained you'll have plenty of opportunities to escape, it's up to you if you want to spend your life hunted or not. These people will not just let you go." He placed the keys to the chains on the table and then moved to the door and opened it. "Just open the door when you're done changing," he concluded before leaving.

There really was no choice, not if Lauren wanted to avoid going back to being poked and prodded all day long. She stripped and put on the clothes, boots and, after a long minute of staring at it, the collar around her neck.

"I'm ready," she said, pocketing the vials and syringe before opening the door.

Mark smiled at her and waved a technician forward to check the camera and GPS in the collar. "I'm Captain Hart, guess I should have mentioned that, or maybe I did. You can call me Mark if you wish, I completely understand if you don't."

With a nod from the technician Mark smiled. "Looks like we're ready to introduce you to the team."

*******

Father Daniels hung up the phone. He didn't particularly like that Agent Green, but they were not qualified to deal with major demon attack. The church might not be in the best neighborhood but there were still people who lived nearby that could be hurt.

He put away the wood stain and brushes and washed his hands. Who knew when this Alvera would arrive? He started making soup and sandwiches while he mentally began cataloging any weapons they had.

Downstairs, after some grumbling, Quinn was asleep. She snored slightly, her body curled as much as it could be, being chained, against Dianna.

Upstairs though, Violet turned and shifted on the couch. Confused half-memories merged with dreams reminding her of a dark place that she'd never seen before but knew well. Dark corridors led past ghosts that watched her and begged her for things she couldn't describe.

Violet woke up with a startled scream, eyes wide, chest heaving. There had been a hallway, long and dark, lined with metal doors behind which things lurked.

"An asylum," she whispered, having been to places like that, having spent time in them. But none of them had been anything like that, why would she dream of something so horrible?

There'd been someone else there with her, she was sure of it. She'd been almost about to see their face.

"Her face," Violet whispered, getting up off the couch and rubbing at her eyes to clear them. It had been a woman next to her, she didn't know how she knew it, but she was certain of it.

Father Daniels came into the room. "Are you okay?" he asked looking around the room.

"No." Violet shivered, turning towards him. A loud thud came from above and she glanced up at the ceiling. "Was that Quinn's dad?"

"It might be. Is there something I can help you with? I've made some soup and sandwiches if you're hungry I could bring some down to you?"

She smiled. "Thank you. I think I want to talk to him though." Violet hesitated as she indicated the room above, meaning Father Quinn. "Would he talk to me?"

"I don't know, but your welcome to try. I've... I've called the church officials to let them know what he's done. They'll send out an investigator but that will take a few days. He doesn't seem to be talking to anyone." Father Daniels reached out a hand, helping Violet up. "I'm sad to say he's not really the man I thought he was."

Violet nodded. "People are like that." Her eyes blanked for a second and she held on tighter to the older man's hand. "You're heart's weak." She blinked, returning to normal as she let go of his hand. "Sorry." She swallowed, baking away fast. "I'm going to try to talk to him because no one else will. Quinn's not going to talk to anyone and Dianna's too worried about Quinn."

Father Quinn nodded, bemused. "I know my heart is weak. I had a heart attack last year. Now I eat allsorts of things that are good for me but taste horrible." He stepped forward taking her arm. "God, I think, has blessed you with an amazing talent. One that I think most will fear. Come on I will take you to Father Quinn, and I will try not to think too hard what those two women might or might not be doing two doors down."

"Sleeping father, I think that's what they are doing." Violet found herself liking this man, he'd called both of them women, not damned or demons or something worse. "I'd like that. I think he deserves to talk to someone."

Father Daniels nodded and led her up the stairs until they were standing outside Father Quinn's rooms. He reached up and knocked on the door. "Connor there is a young woman here to talk to you."

It was quiet for a moment, then the door opened. Father Quinn had recently showered but his eyes were still bloodshot as he looked at them hopefully. The look fell when he saw Violet. "Yes," he said, looking at them both.

Father Daniels patted Violets arm. "I'll be next door in the kitchen just come find me when you're ready for some soup."

For a few seconds Violet stood in the doorway, not sure what she should say or do. This man was a complete stranger to her, even if she liked to think she knew his daughter.

"He's nice. Father Daniels that is." she said finally, to say something. "He should mind his own business." Father Quinn said grumpily. "Look girl we don't have anything to talk about." He stepped backward, his hand going to the door.

"Your daughter loves you." Violet said quickly, voice rising half an octave. "I mean, she would if she had a soul, but she loves you no matter what, you're her dad. I just… I thought you might need someone to talk to. And I'm good at listening."

Father Quinn stopped and turned, looking at her. "I'm a failure and a fraud." He looked tired and old all of a sudden. "I try to live each day, somehow I make it through, but I just loved her so much. We didn't plan on having kids, we thought that would be the best way to avoid paying up on our end of the deal. Somehow my wife got pregnant anyhow." He shuffled past Violet and grabbed a random alcohol bottle, unscrewing the top and taking a drink. "What do you want me to talk about kid? How I'm not sure I ever loved my kids? How I'm too weak to do the right thing by them? I never asked her to give her soul up to that demon, that's not my fault."

"Okay." Violet didn't believe him, and didn't think he believed any of it either, but at least Father Quinn was talking. "You have to figure out what to do. Killing yourself up here won't stop what's going to happen. She's coming, the Demoness, and once she gets here nothing's going to be the same."

"What do you think I should do kid? Beg for mercy. Offer myself in Maggie's place. I'm not that strong. I've seen what demons do." He shuddered and took another drink.

Violet shrugged. "It's Violet, my name, not kid. I don't know what you should do, but you should do something. Just sitting here, waiting for something, it's the same as suicide."

"Again, Violet, what should we do? Run, they just find you. Stand and fight. What does it matter?"

"I guess it depends on if you want to be worthy of her love, or not." Violet said, slowly watching him.

Father Quinn let his head hang, the bottle rested in his hands as he reflected on Violet's words. "I'm never going to be worthy of her or Caine's love." He looked up. "I tried to be a good father but I was just going through the motions. We were all strangers so I sent them to go live with a distant relative and begged the church to take me back. They're so desperate for priests they forgave me and let me back in. I loved their mother so damn much. She was beautiful she captured me the first time our gazes met." His eyes became distant as he got lost in the memory.

"Did she…" Violet blinked, considering the idea and decided to ask it. "Did she bewitch you?"

"Maybe, does it matter? I can't change how I felt about her. Plus she still loved me even after we got her soul back."

Violet shook her head, it didn't matter anymore anyway. "How did she die? Quinn doesn't remember and I don't think she'd tell me if she did."

"Cancer. I had to watch her waste away. Nothing we could do. By the time it was discovered it was too late." He took a drink. "She died when Caine was 15 and Maggie was 12. So thankfully she didn't see Caine lose his soul. She tried to find something, anything, so he wouldn't have to suffer that fate." Father Quinn remembered all the sleepless nights while his wife Camilla tried to find something that would save his soul. "In the end the kid did it himself."

"You sound proud of him, proud of both of them." Violet hedged her bets about Maggie, he hadn't really said anything about her yet.

"Maggie made her own way. Caine and I were gone and she decided to give to others what we didn't give to her. We've been estranged but she would visit me. She loved me more than I deserved. Invited me to her wedding to that awful husband of hers and I even baptized her son." He was crying a little now. "I don't know how to help."

"God will show you a way." Violet was certain of that as she stood up and hugged the old man.

Father Quinn stiffened at the hug but then relaxed with a barking laugh. "I think that's my line Violet."

Father Daniels peeked in the doorway with a smile. "Soup is ready," he said softly wondering if Connor would join them.

"I like soup." Violet smiled, pulling Father Quinn with her toward the door. "You should eat," she told him seriously. "You're hungry and the alcohol has damaged your liver."

Father Quinn blinked and looked at Violet. She'd had him sitting at the table before he'd even realized it. Father Daniels had deftly freed the bottle of alcohol and poured it out into the sink before setting down bowls of soup in front of everyone. "We'll just let the other two sleep."

Violet bit her lip, taking a sip of soup to keep from saying anything. She rather thought they might not want to know that the two women in the basement weren't actually sleeping anymore.

******

"I know we said I wouldn't do this again," Dianna whispered, pushing down the pants that Quinn was wearing so she could slide fingers through the wetness she found between Quinn's legs. "But I lied." She groaned, sucking on the woman's neck as she held her from behind, fingers sliding in and out.

"Oh... uh... lie all you want if this is the result," Quinn gasped out. Her hips moved with Dianna's fingers. The chain was frustrating enough but having Dianna behind her made it impossible for her to touch. "God, I knew you were trouble the first time I walked into your bar to pull you in on a case. Knew you'd fucking turn my world upside down. Thomas wasn't too pleased when I told him about it either, apparently he'd heard of you." Quinn was babbling as Dianna's tongue danced on the pulse point on her neck.

"Did he worry I'd do something?" Dianna purred at the idea, her fingerthumb strumming across the nubbin of flesh, grinning as she felt Quinn tremble in response. "Did he worry I'd seduce you? Take you away?"

"You had a reputation, so he was a little worried. Which was better than asking if he could watch." Quinn's breath hitched and her muscles went ridged. "Right there. Please don't stop," she begged, eyes closing tightly as heat boiled inside her.

"Never going to stop," Dianna whispered, her voice harsh as she pressed her own hips into Quinn, feeling Quinn's emotion exploding.. "Never going to stop Maggie."

Quinn didn't hear the use of her name, she was busy being tumbled by the pleasure shooting through her body. All Quinn could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. Finally after a hoarse cry she flopped limply on to the bed, and Dianna. Quinn shivered slightly as Dianna's breath washed over the skin of her neck. After a long couple of minutes she licked dry lips and said; "I could return the favor?"

"You already did." Dianna kissed the bared skin of Quinn's neck again. "But you can do it when you have your soul back." Dianna smiled against Quinn's skin. "Sorry I couldn't let you sleep more, but I don't think we have much more time." There'd been a sense in the air that she'd learned a long time ago not to ignore.

"I still don't understand how you can get-off on my pleasure," Quinn said with a shake of her head. Quinn didn't want to move. The orgasm had over-shadowed her other senses until now, but Dianna saying something had opened a different kind of tension in her body, something related to of the proximity of Alvera. "I don't want to slip away again. I remember more now than I have in a long time. You, Lauren, and Blue I don't want all of that gone." There was something important nibbling at Quinn's thoughts, something she needed to tell Dianna.

"Blue is upstairs, she's calling herself Violet now." Dianna sighed, knowing their time was passing quickly. "I don't know where Lauren is. I'm worried she might have gotten taken by the DA guys. That's one of the reason's we need you back. I can't find her on my own."

"The DA has three offices; Baltimore, New Orleans and San Francisco. I would guess she's in or near the Baltimore office." Quinn turned as much as she could and kissed what skin was near her lips, talking quickly while she could. "AveraShe... ah... can't... hurt you. Per our agreement friends and family are off-limits." Quinn felt a tug at her consciousnconsciousness and sweat beaded her forehead, Alvera was calling her. "I... ah... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to hurt you... I was there, watching so I could step in... before things got bad.... I'm sorry. Gah!" Quinn's hands started to tremble.

Dianna grabbed one of Quinn's hands. "Don't fight it, it's okay. I'll be here when we bring you back." She kissed Quinn slowly, committing the feel to memory in case things went very badly.

"You should go," Quinn said once the kiss had ended. "I don't want to hurt you and I'm not getting loose from these chains without help."

"I'm staying with you, so you can shove that martyrdom stick." Untwining from around Quinn, Dianna got up off the bed, pulling Quinn up onto her feet.

"Dianna, it's not Martyrdom, it's survival 101," Quinn said, but her expression was getting colder as Alvera got closer.

Dianna snorted. "Then fuck survival."

Quinn tugged at the chains. "How about you let me go and I can fuck you?"

"Bye Maggie." Dianna whispered, shaking her head. The real Quinn hadn't been with her for more than a handful of minutes this time. "Later Quinn. Come on, time to go upstairs. I think your mistress is about to come calling."

"I told you to take the kid and run but know you had to save me. See where that got you." Quinn snarled as she was being dragged up the stairs.

Grimacing, Dianna had to half-carry Quinn who squirmed. "Either way the kid's going to be safe, I'll make sure of that." Quinn's last words were playing through Dianna's mind. She had to use that to her advantage, somehow. "Violet! Father Daniel, Father Quinn! I think we're about to have visitors!" she yelled towards the upstairs rectory.

Outside a dark sedan pulled into the driveway. "How ironic?" Alvera said seeing the church.

Inside Violet clattered down the stairs, pausing as she saw Dianna and the struggling Quinn. "You" Dianna pointed at her. "You stay upstairs, no coming down, got it?" Violet nodded, eyes wide. "Father Daniels, you keep her safe, understood?" Still holding Quinn Dianna glared at Father Daniels.

"Are you sure?" Father Daniels asked.

"Unless you have a sword that you know how to use, yes I'm sure." Dianna grimaced. She could feel the demon getting closer now; she must be right outside the front doors.

"Well we have some swords but I haven't really been trained to use them."

"Then keep her safe, she's an innocent, you're supposed to protect them aren't you?" Dianna had to pin Quinn to one of the pews she was writhing so much.

Violet bit her lip. "But, I can help," she protested.

"I will keep her safe," Father Daniels agreed.

"Thanks." Dianna gave Violet a wink. "Don't worry Vi, we'll be fine, but you go upstairs."

The front doors to the church blew open violently and Alvera walked in surrounded by several chattering minions. "Shut up and find her," she yelled at them.

"You have to really look far don't you?" Dianna shoved a knee into Quinn's back, holding her still. Dianna gave Alvera a feral grin, looking up at the group as they entered the church. "How nice to see you again, Alvera."

"Oh Dianna, I heard you were in town, but really, to do all this for a fuck. It seems so out of character."

"I've been doing a lot of things out of character." A glance at the stairs showed that Violet and Father Daniels had gone. "Seems to be going around."

"I see that. Give me my property there and perhaps I'll let you live. You and everyone in a five mile radius."

"Why should I? You can't hurt me, remember the deal?" Dianna laughed. "Besides, I think I rather like what I have right now." Dianna jerked on the chains around Quinn.

Alvera made a face. "I'm not going to ask how you know about the deal. But fine I'll leave you alone." Alvera focused on Quinn who began to writhe and jerk in agony. Blood started to drip down her nose.

"Mistress, please," Quinn begged as pain racked her.

Dianna kept her pinned to the pew. "You keep that up and you'll kill her before we even get to bargaining," she called, watching the group of minions that had spread out behind Alvera, and hardening her heart against Quinn's anguish. Now was not the time to feel.

"Perhaps I want to kill her. One so easily distracted by an old fuck, is not someone I need in the position of Reaper, don't you think? So, in death I merely add to my collection of souls to torment."

Yet the pain eased in Quinn, and her muscles relaxed as she gasped for air.

"You said something about a bargain?" Alvera asked curiously.

Demon's and their bargains. It was a universal truth that they all liked to wheel and deal, Dianna thought, careful not to show any sign of amusement. "She's more use to you alive, hasn't she been such a very good Reaper for you? Regardless, I think I'd like to buy her soul from you."

Alvera snorted "And what could you possibly have that I would want?"

"What does every good Demon want? Souls of course." Dianna gave her most innocent smile, knowing that Alvera would see right through it. "All those lovelies that I've beguiled and enthralled over the years."

"You would give them all to me for one mortal." Alvera's eyes narrowed. "You do realize when she gets her soul back she will not forgive you for this action. In fact she'll hate you. She sacrificed herself for all of you. You'll throw that back in her face." But it was so very tempting, all those souls, there had to be a lot, Dianna was very good at seduction.

"Lovely isn't it?" Dianna ground her heart to dust; emotions would get them all killed here. "Think of the irony. It would be deliciously amusing to see and feel all that suffering don't you think? I'd be giving up all of them for someone who would hate me for it."

Yes, it would be delicious, Alvera conceded. "A tempting offer." Alvera knew there had to be a catch something that would be giving Dianna the upper hand. "How many souls are we talking about?" She wasn't going to agree to this only to have Dianna reveal she had no souls to offer.

The blob entered the room going up to his mistress. "Alvera."

"Not now Thomas, the adults are talking."

The creature leveled a glare with its black hole eye sockets at Dianna.

"Easy there fido, your mistress just tugged on your leash." Dianna snapped, a vague memory of him coming back. The last time she'd seen him she'd been sitting in a tub of water at the Asylum while Alvera tortured her.

"How many souls is another soul worth you mean?" Dianna turned her attention back to Alvera. "Two? Five? Ten?"

"Considering the amount of grief the Quinn clan has caused me over the years it's not going to be a one for one exchange." Alvera studied Dianna. "Do you have five souls? Five for one, five for Quinn's eternal hatred of you."

"Mistress. Let me deal with Dianna, don't fall for another of her schemes," the blob whispered out.

"I know you hate her, Thomas. I know you don't want me to give up Maggie, but your wants and desires matter very little to me," Alvera said with a sneer.

The exchange put an almost normal smile on Dianna's face as she watched Alvera set her limits.

"Five souls for Quinn's? Seems a bit steep to me, you'd become quite a bit more powerful with that many more souls." Dianna pressed down Quinn, keeping her still as she struggled again.

Alvera glowered at Dianna, "Do you know the trouble the Quinn family has given me? Five is a low number in comparison to that. For me to give up a Quinn requires a hefty fee. Or are you playing me Dianna? Your father tried to play me and now he's firmly leashed to my will."

Dianna's mouth went dry and she studied Alevra carefully, hunting for any hint of a lie, but she couldn't see any. "He would never agree to become your servant," she said finally, worry coloring her words.

"Dianna, that is so naive of you. Of course he'd never agree but he gambled against me and lost, and now I have spies everywhere addicted to your father's drug of sex." She watched Dianna with a smirk. "So you bargain with me to save Quinn when we could bargain for your interesting little friend, the one with the unfortunate ability to turn into a demon. The Pentagon is fascinated with her."

"You don't know where Lauren is." Dianna's eyes narrowed. She could believe her father would be stupid enough to gamble with Alvera, but not that. "If you knew, you'd be using her right now, or you'd have killed her and used her death some other way." Like completely destroying whatever shard of a soul Quinn still had.

"No, we deal for Quinn. Five souls from the people who are enthralled with me." Dianna wondered, as she said it, if this was as close as she could get to selling her own soul to the devil.

Alvera laughed. "You're in love with Maggie. Ah, love, such an interesting wicked emotion that humans feel. So violent and explosive, it easily can become dark and poisoned. You see, Thomas loved Maggie too, loved her so much he'd do anything to keep her. Made it easy to finally cash in on the promise that Maggie's father had given me. Thomas was afraid he'd lost his wife to some attractive half-demon. Seems that Maggie was always calling on this demon to work on demon related cases, this made Thomas angry and frustrated. What Thomas failed to comprehend was that Maggie hadn't strayed, in fact she'd honored their wedding vows, something he had failed to do. All of this because Thomas' love became dark and dangerous. Love is a deadly double-edged sword. See Thomas, that is what the other side of love is, sacrificing your happiness for the one you love. Maggie will hate Dianna forever for this bargain and Maggie hates you, Thomas, for giving your son to me."

Alvera licked her lips, the pain and suffering this was causing was beautiful.

Part of that pain was in Dianna's chest, and it was wrenching. Dianna gave a little cry of hurt as she realized the truth of what it was that Alvera had done. The blob man, what was left of him, had been Quinn's husband. Quinn might be beyond feeling in that moment, but the sliver of a soul that Dianna had taken felt like it was shattering in her chest.

It hurt worse than anything Dianna had ever experience before and she grabbed at her chest, her grip on Quinn slipping as she experienced true emotional agony for the first time. "What is this?" Dianna barely realized she'd spoken the words out loud.

Alvera watched Dianna curiously. "I don't know Dianna, you half-breeds are a strange lot. Why your father choose to have children I don't get.? Yes, demons fuck humans, it's fun to torture them, and it helps us get what we want at times. But to create life with them, that I don't get. Perhaps it's your own stunted soul realizing what you have and what you are losing by being in love? Perhaps it's heartburn? You're kind really is a mystery."

"Mistress," Thomas broke in as the sound of a helicopter could be heard. "We should take Quinn and be gone. Let me kill her. You do not even have to command me so you will not break your bargain with Maggie."

Alvera considered that but the promise of five souls was so tempting.

"Seven souls." Dianna straightened, painfully, wiping at her face. It was wet for some reason and she couldn't figure out why. The wetness kept coming though and she suddenly realized what they were.

Tears. She who had never cried before in her life was weeping. "Eight!" she yelled, seeing the tempted look on Alvera's face. Why couldn't she stop crying?

"Sorry Thomas we won't be keeping Maggie." Eight souls, that was a powerful windfall.

The blob seemed to undulate agitated. Then it shot forward straight at Dianna. "You took Maggie from my marriage you won't take her from me now!"

Alvera couldn't move stunned that Thomas would disobey her.

"You spineless bastard, she wasn't cheating on you, you idiot!" Dianna yelled. Letting go of Quinn she launched herself at the blob that had been Thomas. They met halfway, both of them crashing through pews, wood splintering and shattering under the impact.

Quinn staggered to her feet, blood had run down her face from her nose and covered her shirt. She stood blinking looking at everything around her.

Alvera stared at Quinn a long time then said. "Come here Maggie."

Quinn started her way over to her, the loose end of the chain dragging on the floor behind her.

Alvera reached out a hand just as a loud crack echoed through the church.

Quinn's eyes widened as a large bloody hole appeared in Alvera's chest. Alvera screamed and frantically dug curved nails dug into the bleeding hole in her chest trying to get the steaming bullet out.

"Stay away from my daughter. She's a good soul, too good for either of us," Father Quinn's voice rang out. He stood on the stairs a gun in one hand.

"Connor you always were so contradictory. It's a little late to start caring," Alvera hissed out as she pulled the bullet out and dropped it to the floor.

"Its never too late to try," Father Quinn replied hoarsely. "Now give my daughter back her soul."

"Why? You offering a trade?" Father Quinn's hands shook and then he fired again and again. The first bullet went wide but the second hit the demon in the leg.

"We can do this all day. Your bullets hurt but they cannot kill me." Alvera had just about had enough and as another bullet hit her she turned on Quinn. "You are more trouble than you're worth," she howled, backhanding her.

Quinn's feet left the ground as she was knocked backward several feet, crashing into a pew. At the same moment the front doors burst open and DA agents streamed into the church.

Eyes flashing red, Alvera rounded on them, gesturing at the servants she'd brought with her. "Kill the humans! Kill all of them!" Dianna might be safe because of the bargain, but these were hers to do with as she liked. They would remember why they feared demons and she would teach them.

The first DA agent to reach her was torn in half by her claws and she laughed, the dark sound shattering the church's stained glass windows. "Come and die humans!"

Near where Quinn had landed, Dianna clawed at the oozing mass that was trying to envelope her head. "You drove her to me, you idiot," she gasped, fingers digging into the oozing flesh and pulling, trying to tear Thomas apart. "She never would have slept with me if you hadn't given your son's soul to a demon, you fucking moron!"

Lauren entered the church last, because Agent Green was an idiot. As she could see from the dead she knew she had been correct to argue she should have gone in first. She had taken the serum with the Stone Golem blood, too scared of the unknown to use the other vial. Lauren hesitated seeing those who had once been her friends, but of whom now she wasn't certain. She was upset that they had forgotten her while she was trapped in a personal hell.

But Lauren let those thoughts go and charged the demon.

A DA agent exploded in a mess of gore as he had the misfortune of getting in front of Alvera. The demonAlvera laughed again in pleasure, glowing red eyes watching as Lauren charged toward her. Just as Lauren neared, Alvera sprang, leaping up and over Lauren to land a dozen feet behind her.

Casually Alvera wrenched the head off the nearest DA agent, throwing it at Lauren's back.

"How nice of you to join the party. I was wondering how long I was going to have to wait. I'd dearly love to know how you came back from the dead, human. Thomas was quite upset when it turned out you weren't as dead as he thought you were."

Dark nails glittered with blood as Alvera gestured to the roiling mass that was currently engulfing Dianna.

Lauren had side-stepped the thrown head, which sailed right past her. Her gaze flickered to Dianna and the blob-like creature before going back to Alvera. She said nothing, Blue had brought her back and the cost had been painfully high. Blue no longer knew who she was. "You need to die or go back to hell. Those are your options." Lauren didn't even know if it was possible for her to stop such a powerful demon.

"Now why would I want to do that?" Alvera gestured to the room. "Look around you, you're friends are fleeing for their lives. I own Quinn, and you're dear mentor is about to have her life crushed out of her."

Alevra's eyes flicked to the stairs, amused to see Father Quinn trying to reload his gun. The thing was little more than an annoyance.

Lauren knew she shouldn't talk to the demon, because it would just warp an already bad situation. She shrugged and tensed to charge again.

"Why do you try to save those who have abandoned you?" Alvera laughed again, enjoying the moment. "Why save those who don't care about you?"

"I'm not saving them. I'm stopping you." Lauren said suddenly charging. She swung a fist at Alvera.

Quinn now staggered to her feet, a gash in her head bleeding badly. She moved to her father and took the gun out of his hand. "Give me that. Do you have a flask on you?"

"Maggie that's a completely inappropriate thing to ask."

Quinn just forcefully turned her father around and grabbed the flask out of his back pocket. Then she ran down the stairs snagging a lit candle. Quinn unscrewed the cap and dumped it on the blob that was suffocating Dianna, and then promptly touched the candle to it.

There was an unholy scream that seared through her brain and brought Quinn to her knees, hands clasped over her ears to try and protect herself.

Gasping for breath, Dianna shoved the thrashing blob off her, watching as he rolled himself away on flames. "Thanks." she croaked, staggering to her feet after him. The flaming blob plunged himself into the ceremonial baptismal pool, quenching the flames. With a thoroughly evil smile, Dianna followed, ripping one of the spotlights down off the wall as she went.

"You think that's going to stop me?" Thomas the blob demanded, the words soft around the edges as he stood up in the water.

"Nope." Dianna ripped the wires out of the base. "But this will." She tossed the sparking wires into the water.

Quinn watched and tried to remember anything about being married, nothing came to her. She sat down holding a hand to her bleeding forehead.

Thomas's screams died down quickly enough, although the blob like form he had inhabited kept shifting through different shapes for minutes after. "Come on you." Dianna limped back to Quinn, slinging an arm over her shoulder and helping her up.

"And where are we going to go?" Quinn asked but didn't resist.

"Out of here before those two bring the entire place down on our heads."

Alvera and Lauren were throwing wooden pews and stone fountains at one another. It was rapidly deteriorating into a slugging match that Dianna didn't think they should be near.

"Father Quinn, get out of here!" Dianna yelled. He was still standing on the stairs, staring at Alvera.

"You can't be leaving. My daughter doesn't have her soul back," he shouted coming down the steps. "I thought you had some plan to get it back."

"Goddamnit!" Dianna yelled, why did everything have to be so fucking hard? "Keep her safe." she pushed Quinn towards him, grimacing as she did something she knew was stupid; She went to try and help Lauren.

Quinn stared at her father then at Dianna's back. "You should be getting my soul back!" she shouted at her father. "You should be wading into danger, but yet again someone else is trying to clean up your mess."

Father Quinn looked ashamed for a moment. Quinn wavered her knees feeling weak.

"Sit," Father Quinn said, before rummaging around for something to put on the wound. He turned around only to come face to face with Agent Green's gun. "No need for that Father. I'll be taking care of Ms. Quinn."

***#

Alvera swung the pew like a baseball bat, catching Lauren in the side and driving her against a stone wall. "You can't beat me you know." Alevra swung again, wood breaking as she slammed Lauren against stone again and again. "You can't kill me."

Lauren's stone skin took the brunt of the damage. She tried to get up. Finally she kicked back her foot catching Alvera's knee. Black blood oozed out of various cuts and wounds, which was scary, Lauren had never been hurt before while in demon form.

"YourYou're pathetic." Alvera snarled, getting back up to her feet. "Fighting because you don't know what else to do. You could be so much more than this, but no, you serve humans."

Lauren still tried to get up to her feet. "I am human," she shouted back. "All this is your fault. You murdered my family. You started all this."

"No. You're sister started all this, I couldn't allow her to finish it." Alvera grabbed Lauren by the shoulder, throwing her backward. A stone pillar shattered from the force of the impact, the entire length of it crashing down to the floor around Lauren.

Lauren groaned, her legs now trapped by rubble. "I'm doing you a favor really." Alvera picked up a stone water basin that probably weighed half a ton. "I'm going to send you back to your family, isn't that nice of me?" Alvera grunted, hefting the basin above her head, ready to bash Lauren into the ground with it.

Alvera was going to win, Lauren was sure, she just wasn't strong enough. Lauren frantically dug into her pocket for the other vial the final product of her sister's work.

With a wordless scream Dianna slammed into her from the side, sending both herself, Alvera and the basin tumbling sideways.

Alevra quickly got to her feet and hauled Dianna up, a hand around her throat. "Dianna you should have just stayed out of this."

Feet kicking in the air, Dianna tried spitting at Alvera's face, but missed.

There was the loud crack of a gun being fired. Alvera's head whip lashed to the side and a hole appeared in her head. The demon's eyes went cloudy and her nerveless fingers dropped Dianna.

Quinn stood, one arm around Agent Green's throat while the other hand pressed his finger to the trigger of the gun he was holding.

Slowly Alvera's wound healed and she shook herself. "You seem to be under the impression I am your average lowlife demon that spills out into this world," Alvera hissed as flames erupted over her and her body began to change.

"Great." Dianna gasped, standing up slowly as she stared at the thing that Alvera was changing into. "You're a Demon Lord." Dianna had never really met one before, hadn't even known there were any on Earth.

"Very astute Dianna." Alvera hissed. With a gesture Quinn's eyes rolled up into her head and she passed out.

"Two down and that just leaves you," she said to Dianna.

"I don't suppose I can say sorry now can I?" Dianna smiled hopefully, taking one slow step after another backward. "Maybe bribe you with even more souls?"

"No, I think we are past that," Alvera said with a grin.

"I have a nice bar you could have." Dianna edged a bit further away thinking that maybe she could make the stairs if she ran fast enough.

There was a blur behind Alvera and then a pew came smashing down on the demon's back. Lauren then dropped the broken piece of wood and leaned over, grabbing Alevra and picking her up.

Alvera could tell something had changed in Lauren. Her eyes were solid black and her tan skin now had a golden glow, she seemed more powerful, an aura around her that hurt Alvera. Then Alvera was flying through the air as though she had been casually tossed. She slammed into the wall denting it, cracks spider-webbed around her.

Lauren was there in a blur of movement hand at Alvera's throat.

"Impossible," Alvera croaked.

"I gave you options, now you die." Lauren said without emotion as her fingers tightened.

"You can kill me but your friend will die shortly after, I still have her soul."

Lauren hesitated, unsure if it was a trick.

"She's right," Dianna yelled, hobbling towards the two of them, shielding her eyes from the fires. Everything that Alvera touched was burning with hellfire, everything but Lauren that was. Lauren glowed with her own light and any flames that touched her went out without a fuss. "I was trying to save Quinn's soul." Dianna hadn't really succeeded either.

"Give the soul back, and I'll spare your life." Lauren said without hesitation.

"Ms. Espinoza I am ordering you to kill that demon," Green shouted from the stairs where he had cuffed Quinn. He gestured for two of his men to haul her away.

Lauren looked at him. "Our job is to help humans. Ms. Quinn needs our help."

Green gave her a nasty look. "Ms. Quinn is a traitor, I was working with her husband to root out the corruption in her police department, and he was my mole inside. As a desk jockey no one really paid him much attention but he observed a lot. He felt his wife had been corrupted do to all the work she did with half-demons, and now you can tell that he was right. He was a good man that had been greatly maligned."

Lauren blinked at him and then looked over to where a pile of ooze floated on the holy water. "Were you not paying attention? He did all this. He was crooked and sold his soul as well as his families."

Green's face turned red. "I gave you an order."

Alvera didn't want to die and she didn't want to go back to hell, it would be a huge loss to her plans, but a small defeat here would be easy to bounce back from. "I'll give her soul back." Alvera's eyes flickered to Dianna. "All of her soul back ,if you just let me live."

Dianna opened her mouth, and then slowly closed it. Maybe that would stop the ache in her chest and these changes that she didn't understand. Would she go back to how she used to be? It would free Quinn from her, and Quinn deserved more than Dianna could give her.

"Quinn will die without her soul, Violet said as much earlier." Dianna really hoped Violet was hiding upstairs, safe from all of this.

She also hoped the church wasn't going to burn down around them while they kept talking about it.

"Do it. Give her soul back," Lauren said.

"You promise not to kill me."

Lauren nodded.

"You're disobeying a direct command!" Green screamed, raising his gun at Lauren. "Kill her now or I'll put you down for being a traitor!"

Creeping down the stairs, Violet moved carefully, bare feet probing each step before she moved in case the wood creaked under her weight. She'd been hiding upstairs just like

Dianna had wanted her to, until she'd felt people dying. She couldn't explain to Father Daniels how she'd known that, but she had and she couldn't stay away from people in need of healing.

Violet couldn't live with herself if someone she thought of as a friend died because she didn't do anything.

So instead she had bolted out of the door the second Father Daniels had turned his back, and now crept down into the chaos, Violet frroze for a second when she spotted Alvera being held by someone she thought she should know. Dianna was near them both and she was happy to see her alive.

The crazy man at the base of the stairs with the gun was a problem though. He was aiming it at Dianna and the other woman, at least she thought it was a woman. Father

Quinn wasn't far away either and they both looked at each other with complete understanding, as they both began moving towards the screaming Agent Green.

Lauren was unconcerned by the gun, he could try to shoot her, but he would fail. She was so much faster now, so much more than she thought possible. It was slightly overwhelming.

"Do it. Return her soul." Lauren relaxed her grip on Alvera, but didn't let go.

"Dianna needs to come closer," Alvera said smugly.

The gun might not hurt Lauren, but Dianna was sure as hell aware of agent Green aiming it at them. Gingerly she moved closer to Alvera, suddenly doubting if she wanted to do this. There was a small part of her that was screaming at her to run away but she'd made her choice, and Quinn needed this.

"You're a traitor, Espinoza!" Green yelled, finger tightening on the trigger.

From her spot on the landing of the stairs, Violet tensed and then jumped over the wooden railing, just as Father Quinn rushed Green from behind. The three of them crashed to the ground, the gun firing with muffled bang.

Lauren turned at the sound but the moment her focus wavered Alvera tried to get loose.

She quickly returned her attention to Alvera, slamming her back into the wall.

"Do it or I will unbind your molecules and you'll cease to exist," Lauren snarled.

Alvera nodded and then reached out and seemed to pluck something off of Dianna and then herself. For a second Alvera held a glowing spark and then it was gone. "There

Maggie Quinn is released from my services now let me go."

For a brief second there'd been a terrible pain in Dianna's chest, almost as if Alvera had been plucking out her heart. Then it was gone and all pain faded away, leaving behind emptiness. Dianna blinked, confused for a second. Hadn't she just been sad about something?

Lauren looked at Dianna. "Check on Quinn, make sure it worked," she asked.

Quinn's eyelids flew open and she screamed and thrashed. The men holding her were startled and dropped her. Pain and guilt assaulted Quinn and as she hit the floor all she could do was curl into a ball and sob.

"It worked." Dianna snorted, seeing the woman collapse. She paused halfway there, suddenly realizing that Violet and Father Quinn still hadn't stood up. Shaking it off, she crouched down next to Quinn, glaring at the two men who'd been trying to take her away.

"Back off," she snarled, apparently intimidating enough to make the two DA agents take a step away.

Alvera looked at Lauren. "You promised, now let me go."

"Actually I promised not to kill you." Some knowledge locked in the stolen DNA that was now her DNA caused Lauren's vocal chords to vibrate. A single pure note emerged.

"No! No!" Alvera thrashed. "You can't." She howled out and then tried to claw Lauren.

The note was painful to the ears of demons and then it cracked reality, opening a portal back to hell. "I'm sending you home."

Lauren lifted Alvera up and tossed her into the opening, standing guard until it closed again.

When it closed, Dianna looked up from where she'd just curled up onto the ground, mimicking Quinn's position, eyes leaking blood, and stared at Lauren. "How?" she croaked, body still thrumming from what had just opened so close by.

"What does it matter?" Lauren said, her anger at Dianna leaking out slightly. She made her way to where Agent Green had fallen. She moved Green, he still lived. The older man was dead a bullet hole in his chest. Finally she checked the woman. Lauren's breath caught. "Blue?" She gently moved her checking for a pulse.

Violet's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at Lauren, confused. "I tried to save him…" she whispered, eyes staring past Lauren at something only she could see.

It still hurt Lauren that she wasn't recognized and she had to swallow the bitterness that threatened to close her throat down. "I know. You did everything you could." She reached out and brushed blond hair out of Violet's blue eyes. "I'm glad you're okay."

"I…" Violet blinked, focusing slowly on Lauren, still confused. "Do I know you?" She seemed familiar, as if they'd met in a dream.

Lauren opened her mouth and then shut it not sure what to say. "No, you don't know me. But I knew you once upon a time by the name Blue."

Behind them Agent Green groaned and moved, and Lauren knew that she needed to get him out of here before the situation got out of control again.

"I'm sorry I need to go." Lauren said, standing.

"Wait!" Violet tried to get up and the room spun alarmingly. She'd tried to heal Father Quinn and it hadn't worked well at all. She thought she'd almost been able to bring his spirit back but she wasn't sure. "Will I see you again?"

Worried, Lauren moved and steadied Lauren. "Careful." She helped her sit again. "It's possible, but I don't know. The Pentagon kind of owns me now." She leaned forward, knowing she shouldn't, and kissed Violet's temple. "Take care." She got up and picked up Agent Green by his belt loop and dragged him out of the Church.

Dianna glanced up from where she was crouched next to Quinn as Lauren passed,. "Stay safe," she called after her, frowning just a bit before she looked back at Quinn. "Quinn, we have to go."

Quinn blinked and wiped her eyes. She nodded. "Can you remove the chain now?" she asked in a subdued voice.

"Good to see those blue eyes again." Dianna undid the chains, tossing them aside, hating the feel of them. "Violet, we have to get out of here before this place burns down."

Father Daniels was suddenly there lifting Father Quinn's dead body. "I'm sorry I tried to keep her up there with me. She can be fast when she wants to be."

They moved out of the church, the sound of fire engines clanging through the air.

Inside the building, in the middle of the rubble and hellfire, a small vial twisted and melted in the heat until nothing remained.

End of Part 2