Blood Shed

At the top of the stairs she quickly hurried over to the other stairs coming from the entrance wing. If a demon were to enter, he would have to come from there. She had hurt herself too much already that day, but still she forced her body to keep going. After all, it was nothing but some bruises and cuts, nothing she couldn't survive. And still that was not the end of her injuries.
She pulled her knife out of the bag once again and cut her left palm once again, a little below her previous cut.
This cut wasn't as deep as the other one, and barely even hurt in comparison to her other wounds, but still made her wince.
She quickly drew a devil's trap at the end of the stairs where the demon would have to cross before wrapping her palm in her dress, trying to stop the bleeding. The trap looked messy and poorly drawn, but it would work, and that was the only thing that mattered.
Then she took a few steps back, sat down, and waited. Just waited for the demon she was sure would come.

Rin walked up the stairs, checking behind him to see if anyone was following him to cause trouble. Someone like Kaiani, he could imagine, would have jumped at the oppurtunity to taunt him without Lillith's protection. However this was careless, and sure enough he made the same mistake as Cali had, walking right into a trap.
He looked up at the human that was standing in front of him. 'You son of a bitch' he muttered, angry that he had just made a rookie's error- the exact thing he had taunted Cali so about moments before. He knew if anyone saw him like this his credubility would be ruined.
It also struck his mind that he was so high above everyone else, and alone, that there was no one to save his ass like Cali. He was going straight back to Hell... he could see it. And the first demon to do so! He would be punished... no, worse, he would be shoved back to the bottom of the pile. Even Cali would be higher than him! Cali bossing him around...
Looking up he realised he may have to talk his way out of trouble.. his advantage, he supposed he could call luck, was that she was a woman. Even if that made it only a fraction easier, it was still better than nothing.

She sat there, with her legs crossed simply observing him.
It hit her it was the same demon from moments earlier. The male one. The one who had caught her hiding place.
She glared at him with anger for a fraction of a second before letting it go and replacing it with a mocking smile. She knew this would hurt him more than a hateful glare. After all, why would he care how much she hated him?
"Demons aren't very smart are they?" she asked flatly, as if uninterested.
But there were truth in her words, this was the second time she had caught one in such little time, and he had just walked into the exact same trap as he had seen only moments earlier. It was almost funny, if not for the seriousness of the situation they found themselves in.

'Eternity in Hell seems to have that effect on some' he said, playing along yet keeping his gaze fixated upon her, his mind trying to fathom an escape while he could.
He stood up, not going to lose him dignity like Cali had. In fact his expression was blank. He was not afraid of Hell, in fact he almost could say he had a nice time there sometmes. And if Lillith would forgive him then he could easily be on the surface in what- 10 years? Nothing too drastic.
Her grin made him want to wipe it off by force, but his kept such desires to himself, only gripping his blade tighter.

Her grin disappeared as she glanced down on the blade in his hands. It was far bigger than her own simple knife, and it scared her that the demons had weapons too, even better than the humans'.
"Nice blade," she commented, still with her apperant uninterested voice, though a shiver went through her.
She realized small talk would get her nowhere, and she started to dig through her bag to find her exorcism spell. Being too slow and talking to the thing was the mistake she had done last time, and she didn't intend to make it again.
However, she couldn't find it...
Only then did it hit her that she had left her exorcism spell downstairs.. where she had first trapped Cali.
She wasn't going to let him know that. She was enjoying having the upper hand on one of these creatures, and instead she pulled out a bag of salt. She wasn't going to use it, but if she didn't pull out something, the demon would know something was up.
"You guys have the weirdest weaknesses, y'know?" she asked, a little smile forming at the corner of her mouth as she twirled the bag, wondering whether or not she might just use it after all... it was a fun thought.

He smirked at her expression, twisting the blade around in his hands. 'Like it?' he asked, holding it up to the light. 'You know this was crafted by my friend Alastair.. I think you and him would get on quite well.. yes, I can see him taking a great interest in you.' He kept twisting the blade. 'Cathedrals don't really do torture that well? We had to make use of what we had, and make use he did. Sure its not as precise, but who needs to be when you are hacking off a limb?'
He looked at her once more, his eyes still pitch black. He noticed her look for something- an exorcism he assumed. When she produced nothing he smiled even further. 'Humans aren't that smart are they?' he mockingly repeated.
He laughed at her comment. 'Salt.. yes I don't suppose they explain why. The effect speaks for itself. And I used to always enjoy salt' he joked. He had the briefest memory of eating fish, lamb, beef- all smothered in salt to keep fresh. Yet he had not felt hunger in hundreds of years, neither did he miss it. The notion of consuming salt now sickened him. 'But I'm afraid all you are going to achieve from seasoning me is kidsplay by comparison to what I will do to you after' he said, now deadly serious.

Her expression changed to that of pure hatred towards him as she glared. She kept her gaze on his pitch black eyes, and almost lost herself in them. They were like nothing she had ever seen. Just complete darkness...
"You're powerless," she said back when she finally got back to reality, apperantly unafraid by his threats. He could do nothing now.
"And all I have to do is make a quick run to the rectory and back, and I can ship your sorry ass straight back to hell," she said, trying not to spit her words at him, but keep pretending to be calm. It was hard when her chest was beating like a collibri.

'And the second you leave is the second I decide to send all my friends'- he hated to use that word when it wasn't true- 'to storm your precious rectory. We know where the traps are now.. all I have to do is say the word and its done.' He wondered how much she knew about demons.. about their psychic abilities. He figured she wouldn't know what effect the Cathedral had had on them. It was worth a try. 'And when I say say, I realy just mean think. Sure we can't handle a little bit of sodium, but I'd say the benefits of power outweigh that, don't you?'
He hoped she would believe him, but he still played with her.
'Any loved ones.. friends, family? Would you really like to see the last of humanity wiped clean from this Cathedral all because of your arrogance? You call us powerless but you have the one weakness we don't- emotions. And they will always tie you down no matter what you try to say or do.' Emotions had caused his downfall in his life. It was one thing he did not miss, could not miss. Their loss had unlocked a freedom never revealed to him in his life, and he wouldn't trade it for the world.

"You're powerless," she repeated as she stood up, but still a part of her did not dare to take his words as lies. If there were only the slightest bit of truth in them, she needed to step carefully. She did not know what to think anymore.
"And in that case.." she challenged him as she took a couple of steps closer to him, not closer than she dared.
"Why havn't you done so already?"

'Because believe it or not I don't exactly revel in the knowledge that i've walked into a petty trap..' he said, annoyed. 'But I will if I'm forced to' he insisted.
He looked around. 'Unless you let me out of here.. then I'm sure we can work around keeping your face in tact' he muttered.

She frowned, the last thing she wanted to do was compromise with a demon. But what choice did she have now that she was foolish enough to forget her own exorcism spell downstairs in the rectory? Still, her mind was racing to figure out what to do.
"And why would I do that?" she asked him nonchalantly. "Maybe I'll just leave you here.."

'You know what will happen if that does' he threatened. He needed to stall her.... but he couldn't think of what to do.
He looked her up and down. Normally humans did the stalling themselves, but then again normally they were just avoiding death. Women had even had sex with him to stall their lives when he had been on the surface, thinking that would change his mind. But this girl was stubborn, annoyingly.

Miriam simply stood her ground, staring into his pitch black eyes. The longer she did so it felt as if she was falling into them.
If it hadn't been for his demon eyes he would perfectly resemble a human.. but now he looks so different. As if there was absolutely nothing human about him at all. She had never seen anything like it, and the darkness surprised her.
Scared her...
She forced herself to look away, pretending to be studying the room instead.
"I hope you don't think I'll let you out of there for free," she said eventually, finally concidering his deal.

'Well where would be the fun in that?' he winked. He wasn't sure what she would want- he certainly wasn't going to promise safety since he planned to get her back someday.
'Ask away' he said, gesturing her to do so. He was getting impaitent of standing around, and was eager to leave so he could make amends as soon as possible.

She looked at him again, careful to avoid his eyes this time, wondering what he could possibly have to give her.
She knew some things were too much to ask, but as soon as she glanced at him she knew what she would want from him.
"Your blade," she said simply, the corner of her lips forming into a small, crooked smile as she let her eyes wander over it.
It was a better weapon than she could dream of in this place, and having it could make a huge difference for her.
She wasn't sure if he would give it to her, but what choice did he have.. right?

He loked down at the weapon. It would be unfortunate that an obivous demon torture device would be handed over so readily to the enemy, but it wasn't the worst thing she could have asked for. Alastair could always make more, and as long as he didn't fall over to the hands of the enemy he was safe. Besides- torture was something he was used to withstanding.
'Of course' he said, 'but I'm afraid theres a few terms we need to agree upon. First- you free me, and let me leave unharmed. I will of course do the same. This remains until we leave the stairs. Then I'm afraid its back to the dog-eat-dog world.'
He looked up. 'Oh- and any deal you make with me needs to be sealed, with a kiss.' He smiled up at her. Of course this wasn't true- he wasn't a lowly crossroads demon. But he liked to be in control- to tease his prey. Normally this was how he chose to kill. Let the humans fall into his hands and he could mould them to do whatever he wanted, and then just as quickly kill when he was bored of their pleas. This was slightly different but the same principle still remained. He would enjoy getting the smallest reaction from her, even if it was just content at the fact she was being forced to do this.

She frowned, clearly out of disgust at the thought of kissing a demon's lips.
"Your eyes aren't red," she stated, questioning what he had just told her. All Frollo had told her was that red-eyed demons sealed their deals with a kiss. But could this be the case for other demons as well..? She just didn't get why she would have to, seeing as she was not dealing for her soul. Still, the doubt lingered in her. Was he just playing with her... or telling the truth?

'Normally a demon of my calibre doesn't have to settle to mingling with the likes of you' he said, his voice starting to show a hint of boredom in the conversation as if he was considering dropping the deal altogether. 'A deal is a deal when it comes to us demons... now you can take it or leave it.'

"I'm guessing normally a demon of your.. calibre," she said, almost mocking the last word.
".. wouldn't usually find himself in a petty devil's trap either," she laughed softly, but not too much. She was still scared of him, but she could not pass up the chance to mock him when this was all she could really do.
"Fine," she said eventually. In a place like this, kissing him should be the least of her worries.
She took a couple of steps closer, until she stood as close as she could to the devil's trap without stepping into it. She was scared now, her body trembling, even if she tried to stop it. It was useless. She was so close to him she could smell his skin, and even if he could not step over, she wondered if he could hurt her in some other way standing this close...
She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds, trying to calm herself down, before opening them again.
It hadn't helped.

He smiled, sensing her fear.
'I'm afraid you need to lean closer..' he said. 'I can't go over this line, unfortunately...'
Her eyes were evidently nervous, her breathing more rapid. He loved how fear didn't just display itself across a human's face- it consumed their body completely. He wondered if she had been kissed before. It was the Christian way to stay loyal to your God until marriage, right? He assumed none of the humans here ever got out much.. If that was the case then even better.

She shut her eyes tightly, but quickly opened them again, leaning into him.
She didn't even hesitate with kissing him, not letting her lips linger above his for even a second. She just wanted it over with.
His intoxicating smell had her kiss him for just a second longer than what would have been necessary before she leaned back and took a few steps back, breaking the kiss. She was already ashamed of herself, but hoped he wouldn't have noticed.
"Happy?" she asked, obviously frustrated and annoyed, more so at herself than him.
"Now hand it over."

The kiss was shorter than he had hoped, but her flustered impaitence afterwards was enough to amuse him. It had been a second of her life, yet she was acting as if she had committed such an atrocitiy. It was written all over her expression.
'You break the trap first' he saidsimply . 'I'll keep to my word.. I have to' he sighed with impaitence. 'But frankly I'm not going to hand you over a weapon that could cause me harm without being able to walk free beforehand.'
He put the weapon on the floor to prove so. Really he just wanted to leave and get this over with. The whole scenario was just a product of weakness and it was embarassing. He was already preparing a story of what he did up here to please the others.

"I already got weapons to hurt you," she said sternly, trying desperatly to hide her blush and avoid his eyes. They only seemed to lure her in whenever she looked at him. She didn't like it at all, frankly it scared her more than anything else about him.
"And I'm not letting you out with a weapon that could easily kill me."
She wasn't sure if she would have to or not, but she was highly suspicious of him, for obvious reasons.
"I keep to my word. Isn't that what good girls do?" she asked, almost mocking him. She really did not believe that he had to keep his word. Of all the things he had told her, this was the least believeable to her. Demons were well-known for lying and decieving.

'Now we're not going to agree on anything with that attitude of yours' he said sarcastically.
He went to pick up his weapon again, her stubborn nature frustrating him, playing with the thought of doing exactly what she had implied he would.
'Come on.. if you are so clever you will be able to defend yourself' he added, notioning to the salt. 'Draw a line or something. I don't care.. But I'm not going back injured.' A wound he wouldn't be able to explain- he would rather save himself that embarassment.
'You would be suprised.. the good souls normally end up being the ones that stab you in the back- especially where I'm concerned.' He smiled. 'Its the bad guys that know when to keep their word- we don't get over our heads and make foolish decisions. Now are you going to make one or not?'

Cali had reached the top of the stairs when she heard Rin. Who was he talking to? Her interest lead her further into the room where she did her usual stance of hiding in the shadows. It was then she realised it was the human from before, she hissed lightly. It was only her curiousity that stopped her from giving away her hiding place. However, as soon as she noticed that Rin was trapped in a devil's trap as she witnessed him kiss the human, she couldn't help but let out a cackle.

Stepping out from the shadows, she smirked.

"Now now Rin," Cali teased him. "Really, I thought getting caught in a devil's trap was a silly mistake that only inexperienced demons made?" Appraoching him, she realised the trap had not actually being broken yet. "You may be able to keep this one quiet," She smiled gesturing to the human who had just kissed him. "With your sexual attractiveness, but how do you plan on silencing me?" She stood looking at him carefully, she was enjoying every moment of this.