Bloodpools

Miriam was looking at the wooden floor, now stained with blood. She traced its patterns, her mind wandering back to the day she had stabbed Rin. He hadn't bled too much, but it had definitively still hurt him.
However, that was not her biggest worry. That was not what was filling her mind.
Looking up, she noticed the dead body of the man she had just exorcised. She had thought it would feel so good to exorcise a demon. She had imagined it to be a proud moment, filled with satisfaction that she had actually accomplished something. But it wasn't.
The second the demon had left his body the man had spit blood and fallen to the floor. He had not immediately died, and the horrifying images of the man panicking in fear and pain were imprinted in her mind. It had taken him several minutes to die while Miriam had stood over him, a wide-eyed, blank expression on her face while her heart raced, threatening to panic any second.
The man still lay in a pool of his own blood; she had not even moved him from the devil's trap.
She had not killed him, she had not given him any lethal blows, and she knew he must have been through something earlier to make him die, but that was a little comfort. It did not make the sight any less terrifying, any less horrific.
The blood was still spreading out on the floor around him, the devil's trap long gone, hidden under the new coat of blood.
She quickly looked away again, letting tears roll down cheeks, but simply looking away did not help her from seeing the man in her mind, over and over again. Even as the tears blurred her vision, she only seemed to see him clearer and clearer.

[OOC: The exorcised demon = Orias]

Rin stumbled up the stairs, occasionally stoping and cursing to himself at how useless he was. Whoever this body belonged to was almost certainly screwed. He was still bleeding from almost wherever he looked, his shirt practically red now from the level of blood it had absorbed. His wounds were still open, something unfamilar to him when he was used to healing in relative speed, and stung like a bitch if he even leant against them. Furthermore he could still feel the holy water against and under his skin, burning him everytime he took a breath.
When he reached the top of the stairs he had to sit down, breathing heavily from the strain climbing had already caused. Then he saw the girl, again, and he couldn't help but curse out loud. There was blood everywhere up here too, and the demon he recognised as Orias was lying on the floor, assumably exorcised long before. Not that he cared particularly for Orias, just he was in no fit state to deal with an emotional human who was happy to exorcise him on the spot.
Struggling to get up, he managed to get on his own two feet and leant against the wall. He was still breathing deeply, evidently in pain, and there was blood on his face, but his black eyes were threatening enough. 'You know what I want' he said slowly, trying to make his voice have some vague authortiy even in pain.

Miriam had been caught up in her own thoughts and tears she had not noticed Rin until he spoke to her.
Quickly she gasped and looked up, wiping away her tears quickly, though her red eyes and cheeks made it all too obvious, in case he hadn't already seen her. She thought that to be unrealistic, but she was still hopeful.
She knew what he wanted, but she was in no mood to fight him now. However, all her thoughts disappeared in a second when she saw the state Rin was in.
"What-" she started, but her voice was broken from crying. She quickly cleared her throat to try again.
"What happened to you?" she asked, eyeing him down. He looked horrible, and concidering how quickly they healed, she figured it must have been really recent.

'Thats your question?' he asked, mocking her slightly but he did not have the energy for sarcasm.
Acknowledging the blood had made the devil's trap void, he slowly walked into the Spire. 'A message from my friend.. you remember him?' He spoke with effort, so you could tell that it was a struggle. He was willing himself not to cough up blood again. 'Lets just say Alastair does not appreciate when you only do half the job' he said, grimancing at the movement.
'I see that Orias is gone then' he said, attempting to smirk before having to lean over and retch once more. He muttered more curses under his breath. 'I take it I'm next' he muttered. He was considering what it would be like back in Hell.. more torture certainly did not seem appealing. But his determination in the Crypt had left him. He had never taken pain extremely well. However he decided that if he failed Alastair once more then Hell would probably be the better option. It was where Alastair was not, and therefore instantly more appealing.

She saw no reason why Rin shouldn't be next, but somehow the idea of him being gone...
The dream from last night reappeared in her mind, and she spaced out for a split second before she pulled herself in and forced herself to look at him, eyeing his damages. No doubt if she exorcised him the human would die, and she told herself that was the reason why she was reluctant to exorcise him right now. Still, she grabbed the spell beside her, to warn him not to come closer.
"You might want to drop the mockery," she said in a flat voice.
"The more you talk the more pathetic you look," she continued and stood up.

'I'd rather you get it done with' he glared, grimancing at the state he was in. His shirt was ripped, as was probably his flesh, as was his hand and essentially wherever Adriel had been able to stab. And she had seemed so happy earlier, he thought bitterly to himself.
'I don't think you can get anymore pathetic than this mess' he said. 'Its all far too human for me.'
Pacing he nudged Orias. 'What did you do to him?!' he asked, teasingly. 'Lucky you I have a feeling this body will put on a far greater show once I'm gone.' He slowly rotated. 'God knows how many organs are burst in here. Multiple organ failure all coinciding at once? Thats something even I would want to stay to see..'

She looked away and closed her eyes at the mental image, only to realize it grew worse with her eyes closed.
"You might want to sit down," she muttered, not looking at him.
"Straining your body is only going to make the damage worse than it is."
She glanced at him again, wincing at the blood and the obvious pain he was in. She didn't quite understand her feelings, seeing a man injured was nothing new to her, and at the first attack she had not even blinked. But somehow seeing him like this was worse.
Silently, she told herself it was for the best. Remembering the last words he had told her last time they had met she knew she would have been dead already if Rin was in a better condition.

Rolling his eyes he grew only frustrated at her reluctance to do anything. But he did as she said, knowing he was not in any danger. Fortunately he knew that it would only take him time to recover, and he had all the time in the world.
'I dont' want your sympathy' he added quickly. 'I do not care for this man, or the state I will leave his body in. And I am used to far worse than this.' It was true to some extent, although clearly his low tolerance was evident from the amount of times he was wincing and cursing. However at some point in Hell he had been used to this, on a daily basis. He just had to remember back through the centuries... which was taking him some time to get used to.
Most of his pain was not as a result of his wounds anyways, not that she would pay attention to anything else. Holy water was certainly a bitch, in particular if you were swallowing it. And that certainly was not avaliable in Hell. He suddenly scanned her for a water bottle, trying to remember if she had any. His sudden nerves were evident on his face, but he did not see any and stopped straining to look.
Trailing a finger through the blood he was sitting in, he realised he did not know what he was doing. Waiting til the pain had washed over? And then what? He could not believe a human could be so stupid as to just sit and watch him.

She did nothing but raise an eyebrow, obviously mocking him, at his words. Anyone with eyes could see his words were a lie.
"Who said you got my sympathy?" she laughed at him, not even knowing if her words were true or not.
"I'm just too tired to exorcise you now. And I suppose I owe you one for last time," she said and shrugged. He had left her alive after all, even if he could easily have killed her when he got the weapon back. He could easily have let Cali kill her as well, and stolen the blade from her dead, cold hands. But he hadn't. This was only her repaying the favor.. right?

'Just too tired?' he said, raising an eyebrow. 'Do you really think I'm going to start running around.' He smiled. He was certain she was just now more scared at what would happen to the body, as humans typically were cowardly. Not that he was complaining for whatever her reasons were.
He shrugged. 'You don't owe me anything and neither do I you. Demons make their deals, get what they need and leave. We don't tend to make long-lasting exchanges. At least, I won't as long as my eyes stay black. If I suddenly wake up and they are red then sure, we can discuss what we owe each other' he sarcastically said. 'But my point still remains. I want that knife.'

"What's wrong with you?" she asked abruptly.
"Do you want to be exorcised or something? 'Cause at the moment you're literally asking for it," she said, the annoyance clear in her voice. Couldn't he just be grateful and shut up? Maybe she should have exorcised him just to teach him a lesson. If she wanted to leave him be, that was her decision wasn't it? He should just be glad and sit down. Of couse she had expected too much from a demon.
"You're not exactly in a position to make demands," she said, acting bored as she sighed. It was true, he could not take it from her even if he tried. In either case, giving him the only weapon she had left was out of the question, as he would kill her with it in a split second.

'I could ask the same thing to you' he said. 'Maybe I'm just at little disappointed your arrogance was based on just that- talk' he spat. 'At the end of the day this has not been my best day.. and I take failure quite badly.' He grinned for apparently no reason, practically laughing. 'Not that it matters anyways. Obviously asking politely for things with you is off the agenda.'
He looked her straight in the eye. 'Well if you weren't going to exorcise me what exactly is your grand plan' he said. 'I'm not leaving without that knife or he'll just do twice the damage and send me back up here again and then I'll get exorcised. For me theres pretty much only two options.'

She nodded towards the corpse of the body that only moments before had been possessed by a demon.
"Not all talk.." she said and smirked a little, finally feeling the pride she had been expecting earlier.
She had already told him that she did not pity him, but she was starting to realize she was. A part of her felt like he was getting what he deserved, and was thus extremely smug, but for the most part she just did not want to see him in pain.
"What if you do get the knife then?" she asked, not believing that she was actually considering handing it over, but surely there must be more options than the two possible outcomes he was telling her about.

He laughed. 'Orias?!' he said. 'You think getting him exorcised is an achievement. Honestly, I don't think I've even seen that guy out of Hell for a reason.' He shook his head. 'No so far all I see is a scared little girl' he said, teasing her.
'The last thing I was.. instructed,' he said, clearing hating the orders, 'to do was to bring this knife back in under 24 hours. Like I said, I don't intend to be late. And then obviously I'll have to let people know about what happened to Orias over here, which they may not be too happy about... and then I figure I go beat the crap out of who is responsible for my current state' he said, although he was unsure as to try and find Adirel or Alastair. He highly doubted much would be achieved either way.

"More than you've achieved," she muttered under her breath.
"Tell me, how long exactly have you tried to kill me off?" she said, as smug as she could possibly get as she smiled at him.
She couldn't deny his words, she was scared, but not at that exact moment. Rin wasn't exactly a big threat, though she knew once he regained his powers she should be scared again, just like the last time she had seen him.
Rin wasn't the strongest demon, but she still felt an odd sensation of fear and awe whenever she stood before him. He was a demon after all, was he not meant to have that affect on her? To make her heart race whenever she looked him in the eyes?
Maybe.. but she hadn't felt like that around Cali, nor the blonde demon who had interrupted her from her first exorcism.
"And I'm not a girl," she said, knowing very well how childish that statement really sounded.
"My name is Miriam, you might want to remember that," she said, glaring at him.

He scowled, but did not answer her question. It was true how she had become a nuiscence recently, and he didn't appreciate the fact she was flaunting it around.
'Well Miriam' he said, deliberately emphasisng the name with sarcasm, 'you look like a child to me.' He looked her up and down. Her youth was evident, although carrying a weapon and being covered in blood helped age her a bit.
'Besides every human is young' he said. 'I don't even know how many generations would have to have come before your family could trace back to when I was alive. You act like a child, I shall treat you like one.'

"Whatever," she said and smirked at him, refusing to let him see his words were getting to her.
"This child can still give you hell of a lot of trouble," she laughed, mocking him.
She leaned up against the wall, bringing the long knife out of her bag, watching it carefully. It was a great weapon indeed, but she had never imagined it would cause so much trouble for Rin. It was only a knife, one in many she was sure.
"So you really want this back then?" she asked, trying not to sound as if she was teasing him, even if she wanted to.
"I can't really see what it is to you, it's only a knife," she muttered.

'You haven't met Alastair..' he muttered. 'Hes fucking mental.'
He personally did not give a shit about a knife. It was one of many, as he now knew from his wounds. It probably did not matter to Alastair either, outside of principle and the fact he hated him.
'But yeah.. unless you want me to return lacking several limbs' he sighed, bored of the conversation. 'Its only a knife.. but its his knife!' he exclaimed sarcastically.

She looked from Rin and back to the knife, sighing as she started feeling worse for him.
She could not believe her own actions, and was already cursing herself when she dropped the knife to the floor, careful not to hit her feet, and kicked it over in his direction. The blood rushed through her, and her heart was beating so hard she thought even he could hear it.
He would kill her now, she was sure of it, and without anything left to defend her all she could do was stand there and wait for her inevitable death. Wait for her to slowly suffocate on her own blood while Rin was having fun torturing her until her last breath.
She could see it all so clearly in her mind, and she cursed herself over and over as she stared at him with wide eyes.
She had let the sympathetic guilt get the better of her. The words she had lived by ever since the first attack was kindness won't keep you alive.. she had just broken her own words of wisdom, and was about to be proven right.
For once in her life, this was a moment when she wouldn't mind being wrong.

He reached over and grabbed the knife, utterly bemused as to why she had done so.
'You really are a stupid one, aren't you?' he said teasingly, though he made no effort to threaten her. He just held the knife, relieved he had it once more, admiriing it.
He didn't move, wanting to let his body recover. Staring at the weapon he realised he was scaring her enough. If she was to attempt to exorcise him he would make his move, but for now he wanted to wait for the bleeding to stop and clear his head. There was nothing for him when he went back. A fight with Adirel? Mockery from Alastair? No.. there was nothing there for him to rush back to.

"Yeah... I figured a 'thank you' was too simple for a demon," she said laughing, but her laugh obviously nervous.
She sat down on the floor again, looking down on the bloodstain Rin had left last time they were up there and smiling at the memory.
She was still cursing herself, and for once agreeing with him when he called her stupid, but there was no point overthinking it. The best thing she could do now, was to prepare herself in case he was to attack her, so she let her hand linger close to her bag in case he would try anything.

'Why would I thank you?' he laughed. 'Not my fault you were generous enough to hand it over. Although you technically stole it from me in the first place.'
He sighed. 'I guess its just a waiting game now' he said. 'Wating for whatever normally kicks in and fixes me up whilst you absently stare into space, it seems?' He was teasing her, but really her actions were being quite confusing. He was used to humans that ran, and the foolish ones that stayed normally weren't there out of curiosity or for a simple chat.

She was just about to answer him when she felt the floor give in under her. She didn't realize what was happening, but instinctively she grabbed her bag and threw it in Rin's direction before she jumped after it.
She jumped right before the floor cave in, but without the strength of the floor she struggled to jump far, and only managed to throw her upper body into safety. As the floor collapsed she held herself up with her arms, but her bruised and damaged, stiff body was incapable of pulling herself up.
Desperatly she looked for help in the only other person there, looking at Rin with wide, panicking wet eyes, before realizing there was no help to get from him. Quickly she closed her eyes, desperatly trying to pull herself up before she fell to her death below her.

Out of the blue the ceiling collapsed, taking Miriam with it. He caught the bag instantly, aware he now had anything that she could use against him. Then he noticed she was falling, her body clinging to the floor in front of him.
Before he could even process what he was doing he had instinctively offered her his arm. Feeling her grab onto him he looked down at her, utterly bemused as to what he was doing. All he could seemingly comprehend was that when he killed people he liked it to be him doing so, rather than some freak accident. And before he knew it she was up on the floorboards again, still alive, and he had no means to explain himself.
Instead, whislt she recovered, he searched her bag. What he suspected was holy water he instantly grabbed, wanting to pour out as soon as he could. He knew it was probably her only means of defence but this stuff was worse than any weapon she could fathom, and he therefore wanted it out of sight and mind while he could.

She had struggled, using up all her strength while she was holding on to the floor. By now her blood was warm, and her head was spinning. Her whole body was threatening with passing out, or worse, crying, but she would not let either happen.
"Why.. why did you.." she started as she gasped for air, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm herself.
She knew he knew what she meant to ask him, but now, as she was lying on the floor beside him, she could not get any words out.