Can Anybody Find Me?

It hunted. These streets were brittle stained glass, the lives hot flares of colour, buring and painful but holding a gravity pulling it to hunt. The Mistress would not allow it to rest until it brought her more of that tastey wrongness. The gray man that had hunted Lone stepped from one patch of darkness out into a murky dawn light. The humans that scurried past it's gaze couldn't properly see it, they never knew what drained their happiness away as they passed by. The creature was designed to steal the strengths away, leaving just overwhelming despair and weakness behind. It wasn't bred to have a consciousness, or even to understand anything beyond obeying the Mistress' wishes. Right now she wished for the gray man to hunt down the thing of interest.

Feed. Eat. Hot. Food. Hungry. Bright. Tastey. So faint, so fragile that zephyr of scent, that wrongness had been here. Gone. Faint. Hungry. Follow. OBEY. It's thoughts were not words as such, but concepts. The creature that even Demons should fear fed off the energy provided by emotions. Hate, anger, happiness, fear, delicious sweet fear. But now the purple-eyed Mistress commanded it to follow the scent trail that was fading to nothing as it followed. Neither the pet nor the Mistress knew what it was they hunted, knew not whether it was Ascended or Descended, and neither cared. It was an Anomaly, and the Mistress demanded that it be tracked down and brought to her.

Suddenly one human passing by stopped, eyes going wide at the sight of the creature looming in the shadows. He started to gibber, unbelieving gasps coming from his chest as he beheld a creature of absolute destruction, designed with no other purpose than to obey the Mistress' commands. The human that could see the Twisted stumbled back, clutching at his chest. Other humans swarmed around him, paniced and calling for help. Their fear and worry combined with his looming heart attack pulled the Twisted from its hunt, a basic need temporarily overwhelming the drive to obey. Here was food.

Tastey. Bright. Faded. Fear. Anger. Denial. Pain. Satisfaction. The Twisted fed off of the powerful energies the human's heart attack and demise stirred up. Unable to let a soul that could see it live, the Twisted fed upon that human until fragile mortal flesh failed and the human's injured heart gave out. But there would be others that could see the Twisted. Those who were Marked, those on their path to Descention and those on their long climb to Ascention. Not many, but it only takes one set of eyes looking for it to see and start to plan.

The Mistress tried to force her pet back onto the task at hand, but it felt something new, revitalized by a fresh soul, the Twisted took a deep breath in, becoming wholly still as it responded to a Call even the Mistress had no power to disobey.

Lone woke from her disorienting nightmare, the details already fading as her mind blunted the terror. It had just been so... alien. She shook her head, chasing the cobwebs away. Her pull out couch of a bed felt strangely empty this morning, and knowing that she had the apartment to herself left her feeling slightly exposed. Even as she scoffed at herself for being a foolish coward, she shuffled over to Belle's door, knocking on it. There were footsteps and then the door creaked open, Belle looking sleepy peering out. Without saying a word the door flung open and Belle launched herself into Lone's arms.

"OHMYGODIWASSOWORRIEDABOUTYOU! Neverdothattomeagain!" she said all in a pair of breaths, then punched Lone lightly on the arm. "Do you know how sick with worry I was?" she slowed down, relief being replaced with upset anger.

Lone blinked down at her friend for a moment, just completely overwhelmed with a sisterly love for the escort who was her best friend. Belle had no alterior motives behind being her friend, she was not more than she appeared to be, and her love for Lone was entirely based on mutual respect and a desire not to be entirely alone except for work. Lone hugged her best friend back, ashamed to find herself close to tears.

"Hey, I didn't mean to make you upset..." Belle soothed, sounding a little squashed. Lone loosened her grip on her friend and stepped back.

"It's ok. Just had.... A really long night." Lone explained with a shrug. Seeming to know that Lone didn't want to be alone, Belle followed her back into Lone's apartment. Both women settled onto the pull out couch, Belle grabbing the remote to flick through channels.

"What time is it?" Belle asked as she settled into the ugly couch bed.

"Depends, what day is it?" Lone replied, already sleepy now that she wasn't alone.

"Doesn't matter, go to sleep silly." Belle laughed. As Lone was drifting under again she heard her best friend start to pray softly. Yes the prostitute prayed.

Hot wet gore dripped out of its mouth, the sour tang of intestine settling into the Twisted creature's gullet. Humming in satisfaction, Twisted swallowed more offal down, basking in the permission to sait its hunger on flesh and blood. The Call to feed had gone out, irresistable and impossible, driving the Twisted forward until it ripped into the bodies and souls of the humans that couldn't see it. Mistress had tried to wrap her will around it, but even her great power was buffeted aside by something more powerful.

Pain lanced down the Twisted creature's side, drawing its attention out of the pleasure of feeding. One creature was attacking it, little metal bullets peppered the Twisted one's skin. The human was in a uniform, shouting at the Twisted in a language it didn't care to listen to. Turning to swat the little human and squeeze the bood from its mangled corpse, something BRIGHT and painful caught the Twisted one's attention.

It was another Light like the last one. The Twisted frowned as it struggled to remember the creature from before. It could only recall the pain it had caused, which filled the Twisted with rage. It bellowed out a roar of challenge, striding towards this Light with the overwhelming compulsion to crush it out of existance. Sharp pain punctured into the Twisted, but the Light in front of it paled slightly, the emotions that powered it being sucked away, drained into the Twisted, stored away to be used by the Mistress. There was a pressure building inside the Twisted creature's mind. Something that had been hazey and faint before, was now growing like a terrible sickness. A buried part of the Twisted mind recognized the Angel in front of it and one intelligible word growled out through the Twisted one's lips. "Gabriel."

There was a loud banging at the apartment door, jolting Lone awake. Belle grumbled and settled down again, stealing the space Lone had been sleeping in. "Bed hog." Lone muttered, already forgetting the strange dream she'd fallen back into. The name Gabriel hung around her, reminding her of someone but when she searched for the memory, it was hazy and indistinct. She shook her head and opened the door, frowning darkly when she saw Gavin there.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. Gavin gave her a sorrowful look but she wasn't buying.

"I tried knocking on Belle's door but there was no answer. So I thought I'd try here before leaving." he explained. Lone looked a little startled, hurt dancing briefly in her eyes before she bottled it down, reminding herself that she had told him in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with him. He was following orders, taking Belle out as if he wanted to court her and at the same time seeing if he could detect that thing trailing him. She had no reason to be hurt by this anymore.

"She's asleep on my couch. I'll go get her." Lone didn't invite him in as she turned to rouse Belle. "Belly, you're boyfriend's here. Now give me back my bed." Lone shook her friend's foot to wake her. She was still distracted by that niggling feeling in the back of her mind, like something wasn't quite right.

"Hey, you alright?" Gavin asked, touching her arm slightly. Lone jerked, startled and a paniced from stillness. "Woah, woah. It's ok." he grabbed her arms. Lone was looking around her apartment, dazed and disoriented. The Angel guided her over to the couch and sat her down on it.

"The last thing I remember is trying to wake Belle." Lone said, voice calm despite her earlier panic.

"That was almost ten minutes ago." Gavin said, keeping the worry out of his voice. "I thought you were just staring off, day dreaming. But you looked terrified."

Lone tried to ignore the hand on her back, rubbing soothing circles. He wasn't being pushy, just trying to help. The problem was it reminded her of the fact that she couldn't trust his help, it came with a price tag attatched. "I'm alright. Thanks. But you should probably go check on Belle." Lone suggested, moving away from his touch.

Gavin gave her a look that clearly stated that he didn't believe her. "I'm sure you could convince anyone else of that, but not me. If I failed to pick up on the few physical cues you give off, I could never fail to notice the panic I felt echo from you to me through the mark."

Lone looked down, seeing the edge of hte mark peeking out of the tank top she'd pulled on to sleep in. She closed her eyes to suck in a deep breath. Of course he could feel things through it, it just wasn't practical for him to not have a psychic link into her soul! She fumed internally. Then her brush whooshed out of her chest in a rush as Gavin's fingertips brushed the mark over her heart. She felt like the air she had been breathing was being pulled backwards through her blood. Suddenly she was sunk into a cool, bone chilling emptiness.

Opening her eyes, Lone found herself sitting at a table, looking down at a mirror. The reflection in the smooth oval wasn't hers but it was somehow familiar. Before she could look away to study her strange surroundings more, images flashed across the surface of the glass. Familiar because she'd dreamt them the night before, had been pulled into them from something strange. When her memories finished displaying across the silvered glass, his started. At first Lone didn't understand them, seeing only what he saw, having not internal monologue or context to put it into.

But she realized she was witnessing the fight he had with the monster that had chased them both down. Her body pulsed with the faint hint of the pain he endured, the link between them gaping a little more open as she tried to push and get a taste of his thoughts. Even if she had determined to not give a damn, to simply not care about him at all, given this opportunity, she had not other choice but to try and reach inside his mind. She had to know if what he said could be trusted. With an air of reluctance, Lone felt her presence being closed off, felt him pull away.

Opening her real eyes Lone stared at Gavin, not sure whether to be angry, horrified, or something else entirely. She'd be lying if she said that using the link he'd set up between them hadn't felt amazing. She felt flushed, feverish and aroused. An awkward combination when you're also pissed off at the person and he's posing as your best friend's boyfriend. His fingertips were still resting on the edge of the mark, gently brushing her as he waited for the backlash. He deserved to be smacked up the back of hte head for htat severe invasion of privacy. Lone could feel the fury boil in her stomach over it, and she felt coiled and ready to spring into violent action. So it caught her by surprise as much as him when she grabbed his hand and pressed it fully to the mark, crushing her lips to his. Gavin didn't waist any time though, once she pressed their lips together, he pulled her to him, drinking in her kiss. With one hand on the mark still, he let her push him back onto the couch until he was reclining and she crawled overtop him, never separating their mouths.

The feeling on having her above him like that was ruining his control. He didn't care that this was not the point of the mission. He didn't care that she was by rights angry at him or that by telling her he was in love with her, he could be forced out of the physical plane and back to his own. These things weren't supposed to happen, and were very punishable if caught, but he didn't care. All he cared about right now was taking the fear and pain away, of showing her with his actions how much he cared for her. She broke the kiss apart and he expected her to start chewing him out, but she didn't. Her tank top yanked off over her head and was thrown aside and a groan left his thoat as he couldn't resist using his lips to explore. When he kissed the handprint, both of them felt a jolt of wildfire dance through them, painfully intense and that finally drove them apart. Lone was staring at him in wide eyed surprise and he was panting, trying not to jump on her and take her as his.

"What the hell was that?" Lone demanded, voice breathy. She looked down at her topless state and scrambled to grab the tank top back.

"He said that using close contact could enhance the link but I didn't know..." Gavin trailed off, not even aware he'd spoken outloud.

"He said? Who said? You knew this would happen?" Lone demanded, suspicion and hurt fueled anger back in force.

Gavin raised his hands to try and placate her, scooting away so there was space between them. "I didn't know anything like that would have happened. My mentor told me that since the link was accidental, it was both more flexible and more effective than an intentional connection. Because there were no restrictions placed on it at conception, the link can be opened as wide as we allow it. Until then though, physical touch activates it best. And he said bodily fluids would increse efficacy, so sweat, blood etc.... in this case I used a little saliva." The look she gave him indicated that the hole he was digging himself was critically deep. "I wasn't trying to invade your privacy Lone, I swear. I was trying to offer you comfort. Whatever it was that was bothering you, I was trying to show you that we can defeat it together."

Lone just blinked a few times, pulling behind her emotionless mask so Gavin had no clue what she was thinking. "Belle should be finished getting ready by now. Happy hunting." Lone stated, as if what had gone on before simply hadn't happened.

"Lone..." Gavin brushed his fingers against her cheek. She closed her eyes and tried not to react to his touch.

"Just go. I'm supposed to be furious with you. And I am. I am so angry with you right now I could be sick. And all I can think about is tearing your clothes off and easing some of this tension. I know that's not right. Not normal. So either you're screwing with my head, or something else is causing this compulsion. Either way, I can't trust it. So just... go. We've got a job to do and I very much need to focus on that right now." Lone wanted it to be a command, but it sounded like a request. His fingertips brushed her lips and her eyes flew open to see him brush them lightly against his, a phantom kiss.

Gavin stood up and walked over to the door, pausing to look back at his human. "I will find a way to show you that you can trust me again. Until then I promise to be a good friend and I will try not to... complicate matters." he stated, then headed out the door. Lone wanted to scream or throw something just to vent the frustration and hurt, need and anger that filled her right now. Instead she focused on cleaning the tiny apartment, needing some kind of phsycial outlet for the jitters that tortured her.

The thing about angry cleaning is that you really get into it, and loose all track of time. She planned to go talk to Larry, apologize for her disappearance and try to act like her life was still normal. Instead she looked up, hearing her door open, and spotted Rimmon smirking down at her.

"You don't have to greet me on your hands and knees. Though it is one of my favourite positions." he confessed with a wicked gleam in his eyes.

Lone sat back on her heels, rubber gloves squeaking with soap as she paused from scrubbing the kitchen floor. "I am not surprised you like to rut like a dog." she replied coldly, pulling her eyes off of him. Even knowing what he was, and that his charm was an act, Lone was still drawn to him. The tattoos she knew danced across his skin when he fought, power coiled in the muscles he hid with street clothes, all of it appealed to her and she knew better.

Rimmon walked over to her and offered a hand up. "I didn't know you knew about my world. If I had, I wouldn't have bothered hiding it from you." he shrugged, letting his suppressed nature loose a little. He didn't have wings to hide like Gavin did, and there was no stereotypical horns and a pitch fork. But he did have a tail and a crimson tint to his gaze. "You won't believe me when I say this, but I rather dislike lying to people." he confessed in a mock whisper.

"You're right, I don't believe you." Lone replied and stood on her own, forsaking his hand. Before she could tell him to go back to hell, he stepped up close to her, the little space between them maintained only because Lone pushing her wet rubber gloved hands against his torso. He'd wanted to press their bodies together.

"You smell of frustration and desire." he whispered and Lone could hear him breathe in her scent. "Even knowing what I am, you still want me. And unlike your Angel, you can have just my body. I can give you that release you need. I promise there are no strings attatched." He ran his hands up her bare arms and she couldn't stop him. "You don't need to love me, or even trust me. You'll be in complete control, able to decide what you want, and take it." he promised, fingertips tracing down the side of her ribcage. He ran his thumbs across the line of her hip bones, purposefully brushing past his invisible brand. Even with the clothes between their skin, Lone felt the low tugging and now knew what the tingling sensation meant.

Lone pushed him away, storming past him towards the bathroom. "Not gonig to happen Rimmon. I hate you for what you've done to me." she told him. She pulled the bathroom door open but he pushed it shut, pinning her body against the door with his own. His chest was moulded to her back and even though he wasn't mortal, a heartbeat throbbed in his chest.

"You don't hate me. You wish you could. You don't hate your Angel either. I can smell him on you. How long do you think you can withstand that lure hmm? Why do you think they sent him to recruit you?" Rimmon's voice was harsh and sent goosebumps down her spine. His breath tickled passed her ear, and one hand came to rest on her hip, fingertip sneaking under clothes to rub skin to skin with his brand on her. Lone felt like millions of bubbled invaded her skin, trying not to shiver with the sliver of ecstacy he was showing her. "You're not like them though. And you know it. You're violent, angry, full of defiance and attitude. If you give in to him, he'll take you back there and force you to conform to their rules, their little dance." he used his grip on her hips to turn her around, a please smirk sliding onto his lips when she saw how flushed she looked, how heavily her skin smelled of want. "You don't want that life do you? You're too full of the passions they hate. You are far more like I am than you seem comfortable admitting yet." his body leaned against hers, lips trailing faintly against her skin as she sucked in a shuddering breath.

He was right, and she knew it. She was her father's daughter afterall. Sick and twisted, filled with anger and violence and hate. Eventually she'd become dangerous for the good people in the world, like Belle. She didn't belong in Gavin's world of brightness and light. When Lone felt Rimmon's hands slide under her shirt, she didn't stop him. And when his lips returned to her, she kissed him back, tasting the difference between this kiss and Gavin's. A distanct part of her felt disgusted at her actions, a slut that couldn't pick one man and stick to it. Even thought she thought she'd decided on neither of them, here she was, nearly ripping Gavin's clothes off this morning, and now letting Rimmon drop her shirt to the floor. But it wasn't entirely her fault, both men literally held a piece of her soul.

"I'm in control." Lone breathed as Rimmon dropped his shirt to the floor.

"Yes." he agreed, leading her away from the wall and towards the couch.

"No strings attatched." she stated, trying to think past the sensations flooding her skin.

"Yes." Rimmon breathed, stealing her next words with his kiss. She was going to go through with it, let him have her and end some of this torment, he was sure of it. Why else would she not be putting up a fight? But he hesitated, pulling out of the kiss to look at her. Eyes dazed, heartbeat erratic, he could smell as much confusion on her as lust. This wasn't the Lone that had threatened to cut off his head yesterday if he touched her again. No, his Lone fought, always. She didn't passively sit by and let him have his way with her. Looking at her, she looked less passionately aroused and more... dejected.

"No." Rimmon said, kissing her on the cheek. "This isn't happening."

Lone frowned, lost entirely as to why he was stopping. "What?" she asked, body language becoming more guarded. She realized that other than a pair of panties, she was bare to Rimmon's gaze and quickly pulled a blanket to cover her.

The Demon chuckled, finally seeing the real woman come back to her senses. The voices of his bretherin howled inside his mind, demanding an answer as to why he would let her get away like that. He soothed them with the knowledge that she was still his for the taking, and it would be more enjoyable if she was a challenge. He even almost managed to convince himself that's why he stopped.

"We have a job to do. Grab your clothes, and let's go monster hunting." Rimmon patted Lone's blanket shrouded shoulder and then turned to watch the tv, giving her the illusion of privacy.

"I've lost my mind. That's the only explanation for all this..." Lone said to herself, but got up to get ready. "We've got a job to do my ass..." she trailed off, muttering to herself while her Demon laughed.