Maraud looked indignant. "This isn't my way. This is Moloch's way. I tried my way, and it earned me a weak spot."
He looked over at Sauriel. "Your opinion?"

Cryth smiled. "Nah, we're good now."

A few moments later, they were around a crowded table with Jokan and a group of soldiers.
Jokan was pointing to a spot on a map of the land, a spot that had been blotted red.
He looked at Amelia. "Out of interest, how many demons have you killed?"

Amelia looked up at Jokan and thought for a moment
"I-I dont really know. I woke up on the floor, I remember running and then everything went black, when I went to find my parents and everyone..."
she paused a moment remembering the horror
"They were all dead, there was blood everywhere"
she moved closer to her brother burying her face into his shoulder. She was trembling in fear having to remember seeing her parents that way terrified her, she could have also died along with them.
"they are all dead because of me"

Sauriel clenched his fists. He knows that the moment he sees this "Moloch," he's going to want to tear him into pieces. But...as he just said himself, he has bigger priorities to worry about.
"I suppose you're right. Trying to take him by force would only lower our chances of finding out what we want to know. Even if we do overpower him, we might accidentally kill him before he tells us everything."
He sighed deeply and tried to relax his tensed muscles.
"Like she said, we'll do things your way. We'll just leave "blasting him to bits" as our fallback plan, in case negotiating with him doesn't work out."
He glanced towards Semira, then looked back towards Maraud.
"So, what's our next move?"

OOT: Whoops, almost forgot to write an update for Tybalt.

As sunlight slowly started to pour in, Tybalt woke up and stretched his arms out while letting out a deep yawn. He soon got up out of bed, neatly made it up and went downstairs where he saw Decoda and another woman talking. He waved to them and smiled brightly.
"Ah, good morning, Decoda!"
He took a closer look at the woman with a slight look of confusion on his face.
"Umm...I don't believe we've been properly introduced. My name's Tybalt, and you are...?"

Mike's wife looked at Tybalt, and smiled gently. "I'm Mike's wife, Sarah." She introduced herself. "I trust you slept well."
"Good morning, Tybalt." Decoda said to him, as she sipped her tea.

Maraud sighed. "For the next step of our plan, we're going to need three things. I will simplify them, and we will go and get one each - a door, a key, and a present. Finding the key and the present will not be difficult, as I know where they are and they are practically right next to each other. As for the door, you leave that to me. Any questions?"

Cryth held her closer, and a few soldiers - who'd known her pain - winced in sympathy.
Jokan's face looked saddened, before returning to the map. "Here is a large concentration of demon flux. They are emerging and leaving from this spot. We go there and shut them down, we save the city and stop their whole offence for weeks, maybe even a month or two." The soldiers looked excitedly at each other at the prospect. "We couldn't do it before because of lack of numbers. But with Amelia's - and Cryth's - help, we can stop them." He looked at Amelia. "Will you help us? To avenge your family and protect countless more?"

Tybalt nodded as he sat down next to the two of them.
"As a matter of fact, it was the best sleep I've had in quite some time."
He glanced towards Decoda, then back towards Sarah.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sarah. It looks like I owe you a debt of gratitude as well, thank you very much for letting us stay here."
He let out a slight chuckle.
"I know it was on very short notice, but we really were in quite a fix...I was starting to think we might just have to sleep on the ground for the night!"


Sauriel raised an eyebrow at Maraud's strange request.
"You'll have to be a little more clear than that. Taken at face value, this idea of yours sounds a little...odd, to say the least. What kind of "key" and "present" are we looking for?"

Semira too had questions
"Where are we to find this key and present?"
she thought about what sauriel said and also agreed that it was odd to have to find these items
"What exactly are these items for?"



Amelia looked up at Jokan for a moment and thought about his question
"I-I can't, I would only get in the way. I don't know how to fight or to use my ability"
She shook her head
"I couldn't even protect my family, let alone help you all Plus.."
she looked up at her brother fear was noticeable in her eye
"I-I'm afraid, afraid of them, afraid of what they might do"
she looked down again ashamed
"I'm sorry but I just cant"
she kept her eyes to the ground and started making her way to the door

Maraud smiled a little.
"Moloch won't just let anyone in. He wants a present first. And he's always partial to soldiers for his coliseums. Then you can't just go and charge in - someone has to let you in, through a very specific door. And I know where we can find all these things."
He pointed out of the window, far off to the horizon. "There is a camp of demon-fighting soldiers out there, and one of them has the power to open portals between worlds. The soldiers are our ticket in. That one individual is the key, and the door is a huge glut of demons right now. Hence why I offered my services..."

Jokan spoke.
"Would everyone else please leave, for a moment?"
The room was empty in a heartbeat, except for them three.
"Amelia..." Jokan said, pleadingly. "Everyone is depending on you. We need you. You're our only hope..."

Sarah smiled gently. "Don't mention it." She said, as she got up from the table. "Stay as long as the two of you need to. Our home, is your home." She added, as she walked out of the kitchen.
Decoda smiled and nodded her head to Sarah, as she walked passed her, then looked at Tybalt when Sarah had left the kitchen. "What shall we do today?" She asked.

Sauriel nodded and looked towards Semira.
"I'm sure you can work your charms to "convince" these people to help us, am I right?"
He then shook his head a little.
"Not that I really like the idea of you using that particular power, but...as long as we're not harming them in any way, I suppose it should be alright."


Tybalt put his hands behind his head, looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep sigh.
"Well, that is the big question, isn't it? I don't think there's any easy answer for it. Something big is happening, that's for sure, but we have no idea what or how soon."
He then looked at Decoda.
"What do you think? Maybe we should wander around the city for a while, see if we find anything out of the ordinary."

Decoda nodded her head. "That seems to be our best bet." She agreed, then placed her empty cup on the island. "I'll wash up, and we can head out whenever you're ready." She smiled faintly, as she hopped off the stool.

Semira looked as Sauriel
"Does my power bother you"
she smirked
"I don't sleep with any of them if thats what you think, I just make them think they are in love with me. Its mainly a mind game, but I will see what I can do"
Semira looked out the window, she stretched her wings
"Well lets get started then, I would like to find out information about our child as soon as possible"
she looked back at Sauriel
"you ready?"


Amelia stopped as everyone exited. she looked around noticing the room was empty and she, her brother and Jokan were the only ones in the room. She then turned to Jokan keeping her eyes to the floor.
"But, I can't..I don't know how. I would just get in the way, get everyone killed like I did my parents"

Maraud waited for Sauriel to make it clear that he was ready.

"Amelia..."
Jokan lifted her chin to make him look at her.
"This is about more than you. More than your parents. You have been given a gift, and with it, we could make a real difference in the world. A proper, healthy difference. Amelia, we can ensure that what happened to you... and to me... never happens to anyone else. But we need you. Cryth needs you. Don't you want to protect your brother?"

Amelia looked up at Jokan
"I do"
she sighed as she looked over to her brother
"Fine, I'll go but I can't guarantee I'll be of any use. But I will try my best"
she looked back at Jokan
"If you don't mind me asking what happened to you?"

Tybalt nodded back in reply.
"Sounds good, I'll wait for you on the front porch."
He made his way outside, and he happened to bump into Mike along the way.
"Hey, good morning, Mike! Decoda and I are heading out for a while, we should be back in a few hours. After we're done, maybe you could tell me more about your history with Decoda? If that's alright with you, of course."
He laughed a little, thinking that he might have said too much.
"Sorry, that's my curiosity getting the best of me again. If it's a little too personal, don't worry about it."


Sauriel nodded towards Semira and Maraud.
"Of course. The sooner we get started, the better."
Saying that, he spread out his wings, ready to take off at a moment's notice.

Decoda walked upstairs and began to wash up and get ready for the day.

Mike tilted his head slightly. "Umm...yea...sure." He said with a slightly dumbfounded expression on his face.

Tybalt raised an eyebrow.
"Is something wrong? You seem a little...out of sorts, if you don't mind me saying so."
Not quite having grasped the concept of personal space, he put his hand on Mike's forehead to check his temperature.
"Are you feeling sick in any way?"

Mike blinked a few times. "I'm fine." He replied. "I'm just tired, is all." He added. "I was just checking on some things before making myself some coffee."

When Decoda was finished washing up, she walked downstairs to see Tybalt with his hand on Mike's forehead. "Umm...good morning." She greeted. "Is everything alright?"

Tybalt took his hand off of Mike's forehead and looked towards Decoda.
"Yep, all clear. I just wanted to make sure, don't mind me."
He did a few squats on the spot to stretch his legs out.
"Alright, I think I'm ready! If you're good to go, we should probably get moving as soon as possible, don't you think?"

Decoda nodded her head, wrapped her arms around Tybalt's ribs, just under his arms, then spread her wings and took to the air. "Let me know when you want me to land."

Maraud nodded, and they flew from the window, Maraud as a cloud of bats.
"Come, I will show the way."
They had not flown very far when Maraud suddenly came to a halt.
"Ah. We have a problem." Ahead of them, over a ridge, troops were riding and marching towards some unknown destination.
"There goes our tickets..."

Jokan didn't look back at her.
"Every town I lived in, everyone else died but me. I would always panic, my mind would go blank, then I would wake up surrounded by dead people and dead demons." He looked back at her. "Sound familiar?"

Semira looked at Maraud
"What do you mean, can't we just stop them?"
she looked over as the marching soldiers

Amelia looked up at Jokan
"T-thats what happened to me at my home. I woke up to everyone being dead, I don't really know what happened until my brother told me"

Maraud cocked his eye at her.
"They're going to kill demons. You're a demon. It is very strongly implied that they will kill you on contact."
He looked at Sauriel.
"Him, on the other hand... they might not be as bloody-minded."

Jokan nodded.
"I don't know where my power comes from. But I know what it's meant for. Killing demons. And that's your destiny too."
He looked at her fiercely. "Now please. Together, with our powers combined, we can destroy those responsible for destroying our lives. We will. But we need you, Amelia!"

(OOT: Not quite sure what to do with Tybalt yet, let me get back to that.)

Sauriel looked down at the soldiers and thought to himself for a moment.
"This may still be a problem, however. We need them to grant the three of us passage, correct? Well...they're sure to notice that I'm traveling with a vampire and a demon."
He lost himself in thought for a few seconds.
"Unless...yes, I think I can make this work. Excuse me for a moment."
He took off like a bolt of lightning towards the soldiers and descended in front of them, making quite the impression. He then held out his right hand to them.
"Fear not! I am the angel Sauriel, and I have need of your assistance. My comrades will be here shortly and we wish to cross into the planes of hell, to the realm of the demon Moloch."
Nothing he said was a lie, but the soldiers did not need to know who his comrades were. He looked intensely at the soldiers and waited for their response.

Semira crossed her arms
"It would have been nice to know that a head of time"
as Sauriel took off towards the soldiers Semira waited it was at this point all she could do


Amelia took a step back when he looked at her fiercely
"I-I'll go, I'll do what I can to help. If you say we can do it then I'll trust you"s
she looked back at her brother, she wondered if he had something to add