Hard Choices of a Crossroads

Smiling, Calcifer sat down in a dark corner of the entrance wing. The memory of her soft lips still fresh in his mind made it about impossible to be in a foul mood today. She had no idea what she had given up, but he did, and the exciting thrill of the deal had spread to his entire, borrowed body.
Yet, he never rested, and when he spotted Rin coming from the nave he smiled wider, still waiting for his second soul. Though the blonde's lips had been sweet, nothing could compare to the lips he desired now. He wanted nothing more than to tear the dark-skinned bitch's soul out of her so he could gloat over her endlessly painful screams in the pits of Hell. She had been more than a mere nuisance to him, and he wanted to see her burn.
Raising from the floor he stepped out of the shadows with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips.
"One night has already passed us Rin, where's the girl?" he asked as he stepped closer to him. Though Rin had not agreed to this deal, they both knew he would have to stick to it, if he was to avoid waking Lillith's anger. He could not possibly choose the girl's life over Lillith's affection.

'You are more foolish than I thought if you assumed she would willingly follow me wherever I go' he muttered, now fuming from the previous events between him and Miriam. He really did not understand how Calcifer expected him to get her here, whatever assumptions he made about their relationship. He no longer felt that he should bother burdening himself with protecting her, when clearly she did not care. However equally he saw no loyalties to Calcifer, and he would not go out of his way to help him boost his own self-esteem.
Walking away, he pushed past him. 'What are you so smug about?' he eventually asked, not being able to ignore the self-righteous grin planted on his face. He could assume the worst, since anything that made Calcifer more arrogant was not good from his position. He could feel hardly jubilated at the fact that he had won a soul, finally, since all that meant was he could no longer mock him so easily.

"Human lips," he told him casually, this in itself revealing what he had done. "Nothing tastes sweeter. But of course you already knew that didn't you?" he said, throwing in an insult to his affection for a pety human. Though Calcifer enjoyed their touch, it was by no means because of the affection he held for them. The power he felt when taking a soul, the soft caress of an oblivious human's lips, that's what he lusted for.
"I am hardly telling you to ask her permission," he said, his mood no less joyful and proud, but the subject changed.
"If she will not willingly come, what is stopping you from dragging her? I asked for her alive, but I could not care less for the injuries you put on her."

'I don't know what you assume of me but I cannot simply drag her from the Rectory when I'm unarmed and outnumbered.. if you so badly want what you are lusting after then by all means be my guest, but frankly I am not in the mood for an immeadiate trip home just yet' he sighed.
He turned back and searched what he could see of the Cathedral and rubble, frustrated there were no humans in the immeadiate vicinity he could not just rip apart on the spot. That always seemed to be quite theraputic when he was annoyed. Calcifer was not helping either.
'What did you give them?' he asked bitterly. He could not imagine what a human could want or need in a place like this, but obviously Calcifer had found someones breaking point as he always did.

"A brother," he shrugged, but the smile showed how proud he was. Not that he really would be, it seemed the humans' immidiate breaking point and what most of them all too often dealt for. The life of a loved one. How selfless the choice may seem no one knew better what stubborn selfishness lied beneath the choice. They did not deal for the wellbeing of their loved ones, but to avoid the suffering of living without them.
"How about Miriam? Surely she must have had a family at some point too..." he muttered, considering his options of dealing with her.

'I think all of them must have' he muttered, not being general out of reluctance but simply because he had not paid much attention whenever she had mentioned her relatives. Either way they were dead now, so he hardly thought it a worthwhile thing for her to discuss nor him to listen to.
'Humans don't exactly think long-term do they?' he smiled, knowing that whilst saving a loved one must seem worthwhile to them short term, they would know their deal would require them to be creating the exact same suffering to that loved one than the one they had experienced when they had originally died. Grief merely increased by the guilt of responsibilty.
He sighed. No crossroads deal ended well, and yet they never seemed to learn.
'At least we now have more to play with...Which one of them dealed then?' he asked. 'I suppose we don't have to concern ourselves with saving their soul for you then' he said.

"They seldom do," he laughed, finding it humorous to discuss the stupidity of dealing with Rin.
"Blonde hair, skin as soft and white as milk. Rather beautiful actually, you might want to consider swapping pets, I don't think she's taken," he smiled, obviously mocking him. "Even better, when you go home she will follow," he laughed. Not even Rin could ruin his mood today, and yet he leaned against a nearby wall and looked out over the nave in front of them. He wanted his will, and Rin was to give it to him.
"I do not expect you to harm a hair on her head," he smiled, guessing his reluctance was the reason he had not already brought her to him.
"I am merely reminding you of the concequences you are to face at two nights passings if I do not have her in my grasp."

'Oh you mistake me' he said. 'I already have and am perfectly willing to once more.. what I am more reluctant about is serving your purposes, especially when it involves going out of my way to get exorcised.' He frowned at him, questioning his own expectations. 'If you want the impossible go delve with the likes of our less cautious and more powerful peers, but don't start talking to me. If I see her, and she happens to be unguarded and alone then fine, but if not I'm staying out of this.'
He thought about the human... the only blonde he knew being the one he last saw Azazel having fun with. Either way it did not concern him. Just another stupid human in his eyes. He would still kill any of them if he had the chance, and the sooner the better in his mind right now.

"You're not seeing this clearly Rin," he sighed as if disappointed that Rin would not be more clever than he was now.
"Think what you want, but an exorcism is more than mercyful compared to what Lillith will do to you once she knows. Alastair is but a mercyful God next to Lillith," he smiled, knowing his words were all too true. Though talk had reached his ears that Lillith was turning softer, he had not a doubt in his mind the common lot still shuddered remembering her cruel iceheart, and her tormenting ways of getting her will.

'And you assume she doesn't already' he retorted, knowing how likely it was that she did. He knew he was screwed, he just decided not to focus upon that right now.
'I would rather be tortured than sent back to Hell' he said. 'You know its so much more fun up here, after all thats where you seem to spend most of your pettiful life now isn't it?'
Shrugging he stared at Calcifer, as if to show he was not threatened. 'You can twist what you want, I do not care.' He would do what could be expected of him if the oppurtunity arose but he was not going to simply follow his words like a dog would his master. He had no authority over him bar blackmail.

"You shall repent this decision once your spine runs cold with the blade of Lillith's rage," he said in a threat. The exciting rush he had felt had momentarily left him and been replaced with a frustrating anger towards Rin for defying him, but mostly for taking to love a human being.
"You are not human, Rin," he told him in a quiet snarl as he stared Rin down. "That time is long lost. Whatever you think you are protecting her for, you shall loose it, and it shall serve no purpose but to cause you harm more than Lillith and Alastair ever could," he told him in a threat. Even in his human life Calcifer had not had the chance to fall in love truely, and would never understand the weak obsession with the emotion.
"Even if she were to consider a monster for a partner, humans don't live very long and you are doomed to eternity," he continued, wanting Rin to see. "Unless, of course, she was to join you in eternity... I would be doing you a favor Rin." In the end this was nothing but an attempt at convincing him to hand her over. Calcifer could not care less for Rin's pain and suffering, unless it could gain him in a way.

'Who said I was trying to be?' he said, growing annoyed. He hated everything he could remember of being human, and even with whatever he had considered with Miriam he was far from that. Regardless his confusion was long dead. He only felt anger and frustration towards her now.
'I am fully aware of the consequences of such a petty feelings' he said bitterly. 'And trust me, under no circumstances do I ever want them repeated. Mark my words, I am not protecting her. You can do as you please to her.'
He refused to listen to Caclifer any longer. He just wanted her dead now, and out of both his sight and mind. Eternity with her would never be a possibility, and for that reason he did not consider it. Miriam was neither stupid nor desperate enough to make a deal, and those who entered Hell never came out the same person either way. As he had already learnt, cutting any ties off with her now was best, sooner rather than later.
'You know I don't appreciate any of the new recruits you give me. They always are the most pathetic ones' he said. 'Don't act as if I should be grateful for what you do.'

He smiled, but the smile was fake. He had not reacted the way Calcifer had hoped he would.
"Good," he stated, but his voice was flat and he had not meant his word. Rin's pety feelings was something he could use to his advantage, but looking at him now he seemed nothing of the pathetic demon he had come across earlier. He seemed angry rather than upset.
Suddenly he grinned widely. Though his idea was not likely, it was the final straw he could grasp after.
"She rejected you, didn't she?" he laughed, more mockingly than anything he had ever said to Rin in the past.

'No' he said sternly. 'There is nothing to reject, so please stop trying to mock me with your imagination. It grows tiresome after a while.'
He did not want to discuss the matter any longer, and so quickly changed the subject.
'Now, I cannot go around unarmed forever. I doubt you want a weapon, but have you seen Alastair lately?' He did not want to get himself in unecessary trouble that a weapon would bring him. But he was useless without one. 'If you want it to be even likely I can bring you Miriam I need to be able to defend myself. You claim to know much about us all, so answer me that.'

He took a step closer to Rin, seizing his chance. He could convince him now, or he never could.
"I'll get you a weapon," he stated, not a doubt in his mind he could manage to get his hands on one.
"But when I bring it to you, you will make sure to bring me the girl in return. Deals are rather... precious to me, you know? I wouldn't take kindly to it if you were to break one," he smiled, half teasing him and half threatening him. He wanted the girl, whatever it would take for him to get her.

'So be it' he said flatly. 'But as I said that is only if I receive the oppurtunity, and don't expect that to occur so easily. But you will hear of me, and I shall keep my word if I can.'
He needed a weapon and although he hated to make a deal with a slimey bastard like Calcifer he really had no choice. Silently he hoped he would walk right into Alastair in a foul mood, and that would wipe the grin off his face.
'Have fun' he mocked. 'You know I'll be around when you return.'

"I won't be long," he smiled and headed towards the crypt. He knew Alastair was there of course, little passed him unnoticed, and a cold shrill went down his spine at the thought of him. Even his name made his borrowed instestines crawl, but he would not back down on a deal. Unless Alastair was in a particularly foul mood he had little doubt he would be able to talk himself into a weapon, but he never did know...

Rin waited, somewhat paitently, although as time passed he grew increasingly more aggrivated.
Watching the entrance for the Crypt an amusing thought crossed his mind, of Alastair in some foul mood and teaching the crossroads demon a well-needed lesson. However typically as he pictured so Calcifer appeared, smug, with a weapon in hand. Annoyingly it seemed that he was the only one who Alastair seemed to unfairly despise, whilst those he considered much more worthy of his punishments were somewhat let lose to do as they pleased.

Rin's annoyed expression was amusing, and he couldn't help but smile wider as he walked to him and laid the weapon in his hand.
"The girl, Rin," he said, as if he felt any need of reminding him of his deal. He would not get the weapon for free, and he should know a price with Calcifer always came at a cost. There was however little he could threaten him with except from the rage of other higher ranked demons.
"And I want her now," he said sternly, making no notion of leaving the place he was standing now. He would wait until the girl was brought to him, however long that may be. Even in his human life Calcifer had always been a patient man. It was often what had kept him alive.

'So be it' he glared, practically snatching the weapon off him. It was longer than the knife Alastair had first given him, which he bitterly considered probably displayed Alastair's favour over him.
Taking the weapon he assessed its weight in his hands, but it was nothing he was unused to. Swiftly turning away from Calcifer he scanned the Cathedral ahead of him, no longer afraid however of what he may come across now he had a sturdy weapon back in his hands. He was not afraid of meeting Miriam once more, for he was determined she would no longer have any hold over him. In fact he was looking forward to dragging her back, no longer able to mock him as she so often did.