After their second romp, they fell asleep under the stars.

The morning dawned, peaceful and warm, and Mawthrough took the sleeping Chastity into his arms and took off.
They flew miles inland, over towns and villages... until they reached the countryside. Mawthrough dived, letting the tips of his wings skim over the tree tops. He could sense it - or rather, he couldn't. That was it's secret - it was a dead zone. An old manor house that had once been the altar to an eldritch summoning that badly misfired, the house had been declared officially off limits by both the divine and demonic authorities.
However, putting something off limits only makes it more attractive, and before long a young group of angels ran into a young squad of demons on the site. Their battle instantly drew the attention of the "grown-ups" who then proceeded to duke it out in a throwdown that nearly destroyed the surrounding landscape. In the end, it was agreed that the house belonged to neither Heaven nor Hell, and anyone clever would stay well away...

Mawthrough landed in the meadow outside the front of the old manor, and gently kissed Chastity's forehead.
"Whenever you're ready, my angel..."

Darkion looked at her.
"To be honest, I have considered it. But I make a habit of not turning everyone I meet. Bad manners and all. You haven't made me your enemy and your total obedience is not critical to my plans. As such, your life, whilst also a pleasantry, will not be threatened by me."

Mawthrough looked down at themselves, and nodded.
"Just one moment, a little trick I picked up in Paris."
He wrapped his wings around Chastity - and when they parted she was wearing a sleek soft red and black gown. Mawthrough was wearing a formal purple and white jacket, as well as black jeans.
"Trade secret," he winked.
"Shall we?"

------------------------------------------------------------

Inferno and Chastity's mother arrived first.
He stormed through the meadow, his wife following, not caring about the plants he trampled. He almost kicked the door in, and instantly his senses deadened. He wouldn't have been able to smell a rose if you'd placed it under his nose. The finest caviar would have tasted like cardboard. There was a deadness to the place no-one could ignore.

Nevertheless, he was still mad.
"INCUBUS! WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER!"
Then he remembered that, as the rooms each contained their own sound flawlessly, he'd have to go look for them. So, he stomped off.

Mawthrough and Chastity were in one of the upstairs bedrooms, and as Inferno and Chastity's mother looked around the bottom floor, Mawthrough's parents showed up.
They entered the house, suspicious and agitated, just as Inferno and his wife moved into the back room.
"Right," said Mawthrough quietly to Chastity. "Here is the plan. You find my parents, I'll find yours, and we'll lure them to the living room. You okay with that?"

Darkion nodded.
"Quite. I imagine that would very much qualify as a bad day for you."
He sighed.
"Wouldn't mind you as a servant though. You'd be very useful. No offence."

Mawthrough smiled, popped out of the room, and headed the opposite way to her, checking every room.
When he found the one Inferno was in, he breathed hard, summoned up all his courage...

"She is an absolute tigress in bed."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?!?!? YOU SMUG MANIPULATIVE DEMON WRETCH BASTARD!!!"
Mawthrough blew a raspberry.
"Meep meep."

Inferno barreled out of the door, sword drawn. Mawthrough simply turned and ran, and with an angry whoop, Inferno chased him through the silent halls.

-----------------------------

Mawthrough's parents were extremely frustrated and irritated in equal measure, Mawthrough's father looking particularly on edge.
"I'm powerless here... the girl knows what's she doing," he muttered - just as Chastity entered their room by total accident, and they looked up to see who it was...

------------------------------------

"Kill my enemies, bring me my targets, wreak havoc as a distraction or puppet campaign. Grant me greater versatility in how to handle situations - the list grows on."
He looked at her and a trickle of blood ran down his chin, his eyes glowing red.
"Come to think of it... I'm starting to like the idea of you as my undead slave... so many possibilities..." he growled as he took a step closer...




Then he stopped and smirked. "Just kidding."

Mawthrough's parents were too stunned to react to her blase entrance.
Then the moment they recovered, Mawthrough's mother went berserk and tore through the corridor after Chastity, claws out, ready to tear her to pieces...

Darkion laughed.
"Because you simply don't have any alternative. You see this?"
He withdrew a tooth from his pocket.
"All I would have had to do was scratch you with this. Once. Then the curse would be on you and you would be mine. I could have put that on you at any time, but I didn't. Does that count for anything?"

Grey steadily walked into the arena, looking around carefully. Before Zigera could follow him, the barrier rose again, and ten shadow portals opened up all around within it. Looking to the sky, he breathed slowly, his veins glowing green, his power, for the moment, hidden. The temperature of the Coliseum was now fifty degrees below zero, making it hard for most to breathe.

Inferno burst in the living room at one end - at the same time as Mawthrough's mother cannoned in at the other end.

There was a moment of stunned silence, no-one knowing how to react.
Then there was a creak of wood, and an office chair placed next to the fireplace turned dramatically to reveal Mawthrough, who was stroking Chastity on his lap.

"Good evening. I've been expecting you."

Then he laughed.
"Gods, I've always wanted to do that."

Inferno gave an angered snarl and went for him, but Mawthrough simply sprang back from the chair.
"Uh-uh-uh, Inferno. Attacking a demon? In the Null House? You're heading for a divine lawsuit at this rate..."

Inferno seethed, and Mawthrough's father stepped forwards.
"What's the meaning of this, Mawthrough?"

"I'm marrying Chastity. You're my parents. Inferno is hers. They deserve to know. As do you. If you don't like it, then that's your problem."

"You're damn right I have a problem," Inferno roared. Mawthrough's father growled.
"This isn't going to end well, Mawthrough..."

"So what!?" Mawthrough angrily retorted. "I finally have something to devote myself to, father. Someone to devote myself to. A reason. Like my mother is yours."
Mawthrough's father's eyes narrowed.

"...What does the girl - Chastity, think about all this then?" he said, turning his cold blue eyes on her...

Mawthrough did not move a muscle, but a smile sparked across his face.

Inferno did not move either, but his face was the exact opposite of happy.
"He murdered, three, angels. Three. If this was anywhere else I would have killed him on the spot, and if I see him again I will. He's a murderer. How did I fail in raising you?"

Mawthrough's father looked at Mawthrough closely.
"You did what?"

Mawthrough looked back at his father and a coldness flashed across his face, only to be dispelled.
"I told you, I'd do anything for her."

"Seems so."
"Damn straight."

Mawthrough's father looked at him for a while. Then he sighed.
"Are you a child of Lilith, Mawthrough?"

Inferno looked blank, but Mawthrough's mother gasped and put a hand to her mouth.
"Don't say yes. Don't say yes, please don't..."

Mawthrough didn't reply just long enough to tell them he was.

Mawthrough's father stepped closer.
"Don't you even dare walk away from me, son. Not now I know. A half-blood giving in to his humanity is a dangerous thing, very dangerous. And if you killed three angels..."

"I. Told. You. I'd. Do. Anything. For her."

There was silence.

"Son, I'm asking you as kindly as I can. Please just come back with me. Your humanity needs to be rebalanced, controlled..."

"Without it I wouldn't have Chastity, she'd be trapped with some egotistic lunatic. My humanity saved her -"

"And it will bring you the same fate it has brought the human race only multiplied a thousand-fold! Once you have run out of things to devour, you will simply devour yourself! PLEASE!"

Mawthrough remained still. "I've said my piece. If you accept Chastity, then I will return with you."

Mawthrough's mother hissed, Mawthrough's father clenched his fists. "Mawthrough, I CANNOT CONDONE -"

"Then we're done."
And with that Mawthrough took Chastity's hand, walked past Inferno, not looking at his father, and walked down the stairs and out of the front door.

Darkion stepped closer.
"Your biological makeup is forcibly shut down, your organs and nervous system collapsing. Your very cells malfunction, wreaking further havoc upon your body. Eventually, there is simply nothing left keeping you alive, so you die because there is literally no alternative. And as far as you're concerned, that's the end. Once you come back, you don't keep your conscience. You keep your memories, your abilities... but you, the darkness behind the eyes... that no longer exists. You basically die from a flesh-eating illness then forcibly become resurrected as my puppet."
He looked into her eyes, and his were dark and cold.
"Sound painful to you?"

"I would say so. Ah well, at least we can see the world, have some fun, tick some places to make love off my bucket list..."

Mawthrough walked with her out of the house,his face turning serious, along the green meadows, birds chirping in the air, into the forest.

"Look at this planet, Chastity. Humans. What have they done?"

They walked past a felled tree. A nest with broken eggs lay inside, the remains long having been eaten by predators.

"They destroy. They annihilate. They do nothing but discover new and fascinating ways to destroy each other and themselves. The stick. The club. The sword. The gun. The tank. The atomic bomb. The nuclear bomb. And they've reached the stage where a few men could press a few buttons and this entire planet would be destroyed twenty times over."

They left the forest and entered a nearby village. People looked at them in curiosity as they passed.

"But at the same time... they're the most incredible creatures in the universe. They perform acts of charity, selfless deeds, devote themselves to each other, with the same strength and force that they give to their acts of destruction. Why? The answer is simple. Pleasure."

They were now crossing a bridge over a stream, the water twinkling in the sunlight.

"Men start wars because if they win they will have power, and power is pleasure. Men fall in love and marry because to have that kind of person in your life - the kind of person you are -" he nuzzled her, "is very very pleasant. Money brings pleasure, experiences bring pleasure, routine, charity - and destruction. All in the name of pleasure. And the ultimate expression of pleasure? Love. And that makes it the ultimate evil."

Mawthrough and Chastity were now following the stream to a set of rapids, the gushing water lilting in the air.

"The name my father used, a child of Lilith. Lilith was the first woman, created from Adam's penis bone. She outdates Eve, but no Bible you read will ever tell you that. She laid with Adam first, but she wanted to have the power in the relationship. She wanted to be in control. So for that, Adam cast her out, and instead laid with Eve, and the story everyone knows unfolds. But when Lilith left, she was pregnant."

Mawthrough sat by the river-side and washed his feet in the rapids, continuing his story.

"Her children had the qualities of their mother. A darkness, a passion, a determination that could simply not be quenched, for power, for pleasure. And she loved Adam. So that love became her start of darkness. Her children intermingled with Eve's and Adam's and corrupted the human race. From Eve, humans gained their ability to be kind, generous, lovely - but they were weak. Lilith's blood provided the strength that has brought us to this point. Where angels and devils have descended on the earth to hold them back. The strength humans have been unconsciously tapping into for years. The power I knowingly used from my father's blood to save you at that wedding. The unstoppable, rampant, self-destructive, maniacal, suicidal, chaotic, pure, kind, HUMAN, desire for pleasure, for both myself and you. The mark of a child of Lilith."


The cold eyes remained disinterested, though a spark of hungry joy lit up at her question.
"Of notable interest, less than one hundred. As cannon fodder, one or two thousand. What of it?"

In a single moment, all ten of the champions shot from their shadows, sending streams of dark energy swirling towards Grey. With a smirk, Grey side stepped every attack, then used the very shadows at his feet to sprint toward the nearest champ, grab him by the throat, and leap into a shadow with him. Seconds later, only Grey returned, though his presence felt much weaker this time. "Alright guys, bring it on......." A moment later, a barrage of shadowy attacks began to pulverize his body, though no physical damage appeared on him, despite the damage. "Give me all you've got.......call upon the shadows, kill me if you can!!!" He shouted. They melded their bodies with the darkness of the area, sending all the energy they had forth to kill Grey.

"Because my father is in a tricky position as it is, being married to the queen of Lust in Hell. If news gets out that I'm a child of Lilith... you saw what I did to those angels. You saw what I was capable of, even being able to take down your father. And I'm just a child in their terms. They'll see my father as having created a terrible weapon to use against them. And they'll stop at nothing to eradicate my family from then on."
He looked down into the river again, and a slight change in the tension of his skin showed his muscles clenching.
"You should have just walked away the day we met. Because when this hits the fan, they'll hunt us like dogs..."

Darkion laughed.
"Dig, mostly. There are many great underground tunnels crisscrossing where we just came from, because I set about four hundred of my basic zombies to just dig constantly. Also, when I'm lazy, they carry me around, or through things. They also feast on those who have irked me and more importantly they bring me fresh treats..."

Mawthrough looked at her.
Then he kissed her gently on the head and held her close.
"Thank you."
He continued to speak, still not letting go of her.
"There will be people that will make armies look weak. We won't know peace. Both heaven and hell will be hunting us. But if you won't leave me... and if you'll have me... I won't leave you."
He looked her in the eyes and his lips brushed hers.
"So, we have nowhere to live but... I do have a few... shall we say, temporary boltholes in other countries..." he whispered.
"Where do you want to go first?"

Darkion sighed, and patted Lilith on the head.
"I know, I know. It sucks."
Then he sat down beside her.
"And I do have fun, in fact I have a very nice trick they can do, want to see?" he said kindly, hoping to cheer her up.

"We'll head to Paris, lie low for a while. We will have some peace, at least."
He noticed her shake her head and felt a guilty spike pass through him. He gently lifted her head and searched her gaze.
"Please... if something's upsetting you, tell me."
He hung his head.
"Have I upset you?"

Darkion indicated his zombies, who formed a large, slavering legion.
Undead, hideous ghouls, a child's nightmare, a maggot-ridden swarm of abominations, a decrepit rotting mass of eternal hunger, malice and bloodlust -
And Darkion whistled and every single one started dancing the Thriller.
"Because this is Thriller... Thriller Night... and no-one's gonna save you from the evil 'bout to strike..."

Mawthrough cocked his head.
"I can get us out of here fast... and what is it?"
He was definitely worried, Chastity sounded deadly serious...

Darkion laughed.
"Indeed."
The zombies continued to dance, then Darkion gave a whirring noise and they changed their dance patterns.
"I got bored and taught them another one," he whispered as they all started doing the robot.
"Domo arigato Mr Roboto..."