Post by thefangedrose on Nov 10, 2023 19:06:08 GMT -8
Disclaimer
This series contains elements of a supernatural nature and will play a parody of the Judao-Christian faith. It is not meant to be mocking or subversive and is simply done for a creative outlet.
You. Were. Warned.
The supernatural elements of this storyline were not always present. “The Pact” is a concept that kept Jesse’s original “Walk the line” idea alive while honoring that none of them had these “ abilities” five years ago.
Hope you enjoy it.
I give you Chapter 9!
Nights at the homestead known as “The Castle” had changed greatly since June. The nights here usually had a routine with the leader of the faction, and a member of the relationship group known as The Collective patrolling the halls to ensure everyone was safe and asleep before choosing a room with someone, who was not currently paired off, and falling asleep with them.
But Jasmine was gone now.
After Lust had left her she had fallen into a deep depression.
What was she now?
Who was she without the curse?
So she left.
Now, the others took turns to keep her tradition alive. To them, if they kept the tradition alive…she wouldn’t be gone. So, on this particular night, Marilyn Matthews, another of the Collective, was making the rounds.
She came down the stairs from the second floor and crossed the closed and locked door toward the kitchen when she suddenly stopped. A perplexed look crossed her face and her attention turned to the panels of the window beside the door.
“Where are the dogs?” She asked.
Unusually, they were lying in the driveway just beyond the door but tonight she could only see pavement. Then suddenly, as she gazed out the window a face appeared inches from her own. They were masked and staring at her in silence.
Mary jumped back in surprise with a sudden gasp. Staring into the pale blue eyes she knew so well in dread. She knew them not because she was used to seeing the man they belonged to but because she knew his sisters so well.
The same pale blue eyes.
And then came the knocks, soft and yet forceful. She knew from where the masked man stood that it couldn't have been him. Moving to the door she took the knob in her hand and turned, allowing it to open, and found herself staring into the face of a man she had met only a handful of times, in another life.
“Marilyn.” The male voice said softly. “It’s good to see you. I hope we didn’t wake you.”
“It’s two o'-fucking-clock in the morning.” Was Mary’s sharp answer.
Suddenly a figure passed between the man leaning on the white cane and the woman standing on the other side of the door. The hulking man in the mask walked between them and into the -house. He was dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and a black tank top with long blonde hair hanging over his face.
Mary immediately looked over at him as he passed, the temper flaring clearly in her eyes at the man’s presumption and rudeness.
“Excuse the fuck outta you.” She demanded.
“We don’t have time for this.” Came the voice behind the mask as he turned in the center of the hallway to face the door. “Tell her.”
“Tell me what?!” Came the tart reply and then a sudden fear slipped into her eyes unbidden. “...Is Jasmine okay?”
“To the best of Our knowledge.” Came a female voice, as a figure wearing a robe with a hood up as she stepped up to the edge of the door. When she looked up her face was painted and her reddish hair was clear.
Asmodeus.
“Please wake the others,” Michael told her gently. “We come in peace…but we need to talk.”
Nearly an hour later nearly a dozen others joined the blonde-hair Marilyn Matthews on the first floor of their home. The last two down were the brown-haired Italian Morgan Payne and the sleepy-eyed blonde Lilith Meadows.
As she came down the stairs Morgan looked more than a little annoyed at being woken up at nearly three in the morning but that annoyance only grew as her attention shifted to the side and through the arching doorway leading to the kitchen.
There the masked man stood with his back to the refrigerator fixing what could only be described as a sandwich, of the big ass variety with an intense, even focused look in his narrowed eyes.
He was hungry.
Morgan however scowled.
“Tha hell is you doing in my house?!” Morgan demanded angrily. “Eatin’ a big ass sammich an’ shit?!”
The masked figure didn’t respond, he simply turned to the side until he faced away from everyone and raised the mask up to his nose. The beard was visible adding another hint at who laid behind it but Morgan was having none of it.
“Fuck dis.” She said to no one but herself. “I’ma go an’ get my gun.”
As she turned and walked by Lily to head back upstairs the blonde woman laid a hand on her forearm and motioned with her head to the main living room. When Morgan turned she shook her head in disbelief.
They were all inside and talking. Michael Rivers, the jet black-haired Hananiel, Asmodeus, all of the reformed Demons in their jumpsuits….and the entire Collective.
“C’mon babe,” Morgan told Lil and led her down the rest of the stairs.
“I don’t know why he did it,” Michael said as she and Lily entered the room to stand in the doorway.
“No one does,” Asmodeus added from where she sat next to Hana. “Or how for that matter.”
“Did what?” Lily asked with a yawn.
Mary looked up and then around at the room to make sure they were all there. Once she saw they all were she motioned to Michael with one hand.
“Michael was just explaining that Lucifer….now in the body of Anton Crowley has changed the rules.”
Morgan rolled her eyes at the mention of the so-called Lucifer.
“You mean dis whole collective delusion yinz are sufferin’?” Morgan asked with a mocking laugh. “The devil, right.”
“I knew that was gonna be a problem.”
Michael said to himself and pushed himself up from the couch. As he crossed the room to Morgan he reached into the suit he wore to the inside pocket and handed Morgan a small sheet of paper from between his fingers.
Morgan took the paper with a quick snatch of her fingers and looked down at it with an exasperated sigh. In her mind, she didn’t have time for this. Suddenly her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed on him.
“Why tha fuck do you have Bullet's personal cell number?” She demanded and then looked back into the room specifically at Silk and the masked Shadow. “And why tha fuck are you two wif him?!”
“Call her.” Michael advised.
He then turned and returned to the couch where he took the spot he had just vacated. While Morgan walked away using the cell Michael turned his attention to the others seated in the living room.
“He’s using actual Demons….” He began.
When all those across from him gave speculative looks Mary just looked over at Morgan who was speaking quietly, but urgently on her phone. Morgan looked a little shell-shocked but gave Mary a curt quick nod and Mary looked back without a word.
“According to what we know he is taking sinners off the street and putting a corrupted soul into them….”
“Oh, you talk too much.” Said a male voice through a mouthful of food.
The large hulking figure walked into the room adjusting the mask. As he passed Morgan gave him the nastiest look.
“The demons are killing the bodies so they don’t feel pain and can’t die.” The muffled growling voice stated. “There is a great deal none of us know and that is why we are here.”
Michael looked up with an aggravated expression but the brown-haired Scotsman looked over at him.
“And what could we possibly do to help you?” Carlisle asked.
“We stole a device…” Hana explained. “It will allow us to revive…”
“Anyone ever told you that you are all loud as hell in the middle of the night for no reason?”
Attention in the room suddenly turned to a lush raven-haired woman standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was semi wavy and the shorts and spaghetti strap shirt she wore showed the hundreds of tattoos that covered her body.
The silence was then broken but a loud, needy squeal of “POOL!” and suddenly the brown-haired woman sprinted across the room. Maiko actually leaped into the air, wrapping her legs around the woman’s waist. The raven-haired woman grabbed the top of each thigh to support her weight at the same moment Maiko wrapped her arms around her shoulders and kissed her.
The two stood for a time simply kissing passionately. There was just awkward silence as the raven-haired lush woman and the slender brunette simply….made out there at the bottom of the stairs.
“Do you mind?!” Michael snapped.
“It’s cute,” Hana told her oldest friend with a little smile.
Michael was about to retort but considered for a moment and thought better of it. He turned his attention back to the room full of people.
“The object in question however needs an exceptionally powerful source of energy to power it.”
He looked over each of their faces until Morgan spoke up from where she stood near the door.
“Tha fuck you want from us?”
Before he could answer, the blonde woman standing next to her holding the little teddy bear broke the silence.
“...The forest.”
Michael lifted a hand motioning to Lily. Carlisle looked from Lily to Michael with wide eyes as he considered the implications of that.
“You are gonna use them to power it.” He whispered in shock. “How?!”
“It draws power…”
Michael began to speak when the masked figure stepped forward and all eyes turned wearily toward him.
“The specifics are technical and aren’t something any of you are prepared to process,” it said coldly. “What we need from you, Is time.”
“We do not possess the ability to harness that,” River said without even the faintest hint of a smile.
Mary looked over at the large fiery-haired woman with a faint, almost tender smile and shook her head. Morgan however full-on laughed.
“I love you Rivy.”
“You have my thanks,” River answered with a smile.
“How much time and for what?” Mary asked looking back at Michael.
“As much as we can buy. I have no idea how long this process will actually take.” Michael answered. “As soon as it starts he is going to feel it and this place is gonna be swarmed with whatever he has in the area. Demons, Hounds…the Angels. Everything.”
“The last time we tried to stand up to this….” Mary started.
“Well, she ain’t here.” Morgan finished and then looked back at Michael. “We’re in.”
“It’s not that simple…” Lily whispered and all eyes turned to her. She blushed a bit, not used to being in the spotlight but after a moment she finished. “...We have children here. Carlisle….Dellie…me? They can’t do what he is asking of us….”
The girls all collectively let out a breath through the nose as they considered that. Before any of them could answer the masked man had already shifted his eyes up toward the hallway. He had heard the heels on the pavement outside while the women spoke.
And found himself looking at the figure in the now-opened doorway as it spoke.
“You could always put them in the bunker.” The voice said.
“Jasmine isn’t here to open…” Lluvia began to say and then her mouth slowly dropped open and her head snapped to the side.
Standing in the doorway with her hand wrapped around the travel handle of a bag she was dragging behind her was Jasmine Matthews.
Now it was Maryiln’s turn to do exactly as Maiko had done before her. She jumped up off the couch and scrambled on her hands and pads of her feet across the table. Once she cleared it she sprinted across the short distance between them and launched herself at Jasmine wrapping her arms around her neck and legs around her waist.
The Collective all gathered around her trying to hug, touch, or somehow welcome her back. There was only one reason she would be here.
Jasmine was home.
Michael motioned with a hand for the others to give them a moment as Mary finally freed herself from around Jasmine as Lluvia took her hand and looked up at her with the sweetest little gentle smile.
“This mean….?”
Jasmine smiled and gave her a gentle nod.
“No more doubts Lil Mama.”
Jasmine told her and then turned her eyes to the door where a second figure stood. He was in his early twenties and wearing a pair of blue jeans and an open-chested shirt.
“Everyone?” She announced. “This is Jeremy. He’s been helping me through all this.”
“I bet he has.” Morgan muttered from where she stood away from everyone else.
Jeremy stepped forward and shook a couple of hands before he came to a stop beside Jasmine looking at the huge figure in the mask standing beside the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. Jeremy leaned down whispering to Jasmine without ever taking his admiring eyes off the chiseled body.
“Ohhh, I like him.”
“He’d kill you.” Jasmine answered aloud.
Jeremy, who had been trying to keep it on the DL frowned and muttered.
“Bitch.”
Jasmine smirked while some of the others laughed when the realization of what her and Jeremy’s relationship was but she looked around at the group.
“What exactly do we need to hide in the Bunker from?”
“Lucifer has broken some kind of pact.” Mary explained. “Michael and…whatever the fuck that is….need to use the forest to power some kind of artifact. They want our help to defend the castle until the process is done.”
Jasmine pursed her lips for a moment.
“That would explain the weird ass dogs.” She said finally.
That caught Michael’s attention. As soon as she finished the sentence he pushed himself from the couch with the aid of the solid oak cane.
“Dogs?” He asked loudly over the talking of the group.
Jasmine looked up over Mary’s head at him.
“Yeah. Big ones. Saw a couple yesterday on the way to the airport. And a couple of the beach the night before. A good two hundred pounds looked mangy and covered in sores…black eyes.”
“I was afraid of that.” Michael whispered.
“Afraid of what?” The masked man asked beside him.
Michael looked up at what had once been Dean.
“Lucifer knows who you used to be,” Michael explained. “He assumed you would get into contact with her…so he set sentries.”
A low growl left the figure behind the mask…deep and rumbling. Beast like. Jasmine however motioned with a perfectly manicured finger at the brown-haired woman and tattooed merc near the stairs.
“They…should get a room.” She said with a chuckle. “And we have some phone calls to make.”
Some of the girls looked at her confused but Lily nodded and smiled.
“Javier would be helpful.” She agreed.
Morgan had finally decided to join them and nodded adding.
“There are some calls I can make.” She looked, then, at Michael. “It’ll take a couple of days to get everyone together. Until then? Up the stairs….second floor. At the far end of the hallway, there are some empty rooms.”
“...Thank you,” Michael told her and inclined his head.
“Come on…” Mary told everyone. “Let’s all go back to bed….big day tomorrow.”
As everyone turned for the stairs Mary smiled that little smile and added.
“...Let her do her rounds.”
Everyone who called this place home smiled and headed upstairs one by one leaving Jasmine to close the door and watch as the former leader of the Children of Nepilim led them all upstairs and down the hallway. Once she was alone Jasmine took in a deep breath, breathing in the missed smells, and smiled.
After so long….she was home.
Two hours later nearly everyone was asleep. Some of them would remain awake to make sure the children got fed and started their day but most of the others would sleep late. Michael checked to make sure Hana, Shadow, and Silk got settled in and John got the former Demons settled before retiring to his own room.
He wasn’t surprised to find the masked figure standing in the center of it with his arms crossed over his chest. He slowly eased the door closed without a sound and turned his full attention to the masked figure while crossing the room to the bed.
“What can I do for you?”
There was silence and for a time Michael considered that he may have actually fallen asleep with his eyes open but the man finally unfolded his arms and held out a single folder. Michael took it as he passed and sank down onto the bed.
He opened the folder and inside he found papers showing the names, birthdates, and measurements of various girls. All of them were in their mid-twenties, blonde…and all escorts. Michael looked up as one of his brows lifted.
“Trying to tell me something?”
There wasn’t an amused chuckle. No lightening of the eyes. No sign that there was any humor behind the mask.
“You will need to pick one. All of them are local, no kids or siblings, and their parents are dead.”
A sudden drawing chill ran down Michael’s spine as he looked down at the phones and then back up again.
“The fuck for?!” He demanded.
“Where did you think we were going to get her new host body from Michael?” The masked man demanded harshly. “And you will have to do it yourself personally.”
“....” Michael stared up at him in horror as the realization of what he was demanding hit him. “...I won’t.”
“You will.” It told him in a whisper that carried across the room. “One life, Exchanged for millions.”
“But why do….” Michael stuttered for a moment looking down at the photos again then back up. “Why does it have to be me?”
“It just does.” The figure told him and turned toward the door as behind him Michael’s hands began to shake…the pictures falling out one by one. The final one to fall looked up at him and the two locked eyes.
“...I’m sorry….”
“Oh…” The masked man said as he neared the door. He stopped with a hand on it and turned to look at the weeping man sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you intend to tell them that doing this will take every bit of energy that the forest has? Making it useless to them after?”
“...Of course not,” Michael whispered without looking up from the picture of the blonde girl lying on the floor. “...They’d tell me no if I did.”
This series contains elements of a supernatural nature and will play a parody of the Judao-Christian faith. It is not meant to be mocking or subversive and is simply done for a creative outlet.
You. Were. Warned.
The supernatural elements of this storyline were not always present. “The Pact” is a concept that kept Jesse’s original “Walk the line” idea alive while honoring that none of them had these “ abilities” five years ago.
Hope you enjoy it.
I give you Chapter 9!
Civil War 2
Chapter 9
“Reunion”
Location: Somewhere in North Carolina
Date: November 10th
Time: 1:39 AM
Nights at the homestead known as “The Castle” had changed greatly since June. The nights here usually had a routine with the leader of the faction, and a member of the relationship group known as The Collective patrolling the halls to ensure everyone was safe and asleep before choosing a room with someone, who was not currently paired off, and falling asleep with them.
But Jasmine was gone now.
After Lust had left her she had fallen into a deep depression.
What was she now?
Who was she without the curse?
So she left.
Now, the others took turns to keep her tradition alive. To them, if they kept the tradition alive…she wouldn’t be gone. So, on this particular night, Marilyn Matthews, another of the Collective, was making the rounds.
She came down the stairs from the second floor and crossed the closed and locked door toward the kitchen when she suddenly stopped. A perplexed look crossed her face and her attention turned to the panels of the window beside the door.
“Where are the dogs?” She asked.
Unusually, they were lying in the driveway just beyond the door but tonight she could only see pavement. Then suddenly, as she gazed out the window a face appeared inches from her own. They were masked and staring at her in silence.
Mary jumped back in surprise with a sudden gasp. Staring into the pale blue eyes she knew so well in dread. She knew them not because she was used to seeing the man they belonged to but because she knew his sisters so well.
The same pale blue eyes.
And then came the knocks, soft and yet forceful. She knew from where the masked man stood that it couldn't have been him. Moving to the door she took the knob in her hand and turned, allowing it to open, and found herself staring into the face of a man she had met only a handful of times, in another life.
“Marilyn.” The male voice said softly. “It’s good to see you. I hope we didn’t wake you.”
“It’s two o'-fucking-clock in the morning.” Was Mary’s sharp answer.
Suddenly a figure passed between the man leaning on the white cane and the woman standing on the other side of the door. The hulking man in the mask walked between them and into the -house. He was dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and a black tank top with long blonde hair hanging over his face.
Mary immediately looked over at him as he passed, the temper flaring clearly in her eyes at the man’s presumption and rudeness.
“Excuse the fuck outta you.” She demanded.
“We don’t have time for this.” Came the voice behind the mask as he turned in the center of the hallway to face the door. “Tell her.”
“Tell me what?!” Came the tart reply and then a sudden fear slipped into her eyes unbidden. “...Is Jasmine okay?”
“To the best of Our knowledge.” Came a female voice, as a figure wearing a robe with a hood up as she stepped up to the edge of the door. When she looked up her face was painted and her reddish hair was clear.
Asmodeus.
“Please wake the others,” Michael told her gently. “We come in peace…but we need to talk.”
**
Nearly an hour later nearly a dozen others joined the blonde-hair Marilyn Matthews on the first floor of their home. The last two down were the brown-haired Italian Morgan Payne and the sleepy-eyed blonde Lilith Meadows.
As she came down the stairs Morgan looked more than a little annoyed at being woken up at nearly three in the morning but that annoyance only grew as her attention shifted to the side and through the arching doorway leading to the kitchen.
There the masked man stood with his back to the refrigerator fixing what could only be described as a sandwich, of the big ass variety with an intense, even focused look in his narrowed eyes.
He was hungry.
Morgan however scowled.
“Tha hell is you doing in my house?!” Morgan demanded angrily. “Eatin’ a big ass sammich an’ shit?!”
The masked figure didn’t respond, he simply turned to the side until he faced away from everyone and raised the mask up to his nose. The beard was visible adding another hint at who laid behind it but Morgan was having none of it.
“Fuck dis.” She said to no one but herself. “I’ma go an’ get my gun.”
As she turned and walked by Lily to head back upstairs the blonde woman laid a hand on her forearm and motioned with her head to the main living room. When Morgan turned she shook her head in disbelief.
They were all inside and talking. Michael Rivers, the jet black-haired Hananiel, Asmodeus, all of the reformed Demons in their jumpsuits….and the entire Collective.
“C’mon babe,” Morgan told Lil and led her down the rest of the stairs.
“I don’t know why he did it,” Michael said as she and Lily entered the room to stand in the doorway.
“No one does,” Asmodeus added from where she sat next to Hana. “Or how for that matter.”
“Did what?” Lily asked with a yawn.
Mary looked up and then around at the room to make sure they were all there. Once she saw they all were she motioned to Michael with one hand.
“Michael was just explaining that Lucifer….now in the body of Anton Crowley has changed the rules.”
Morgan rolled her eyes at the mention of the so-called Lucifer.
“You mean dis whole collective delusion yinz are sufferin’?” Morgan asked with a mocking laugh. “The devil, right.”
“I knew that was gonna be a problem.”
Michael said to himself and pushed himself up from the couch. As he crossed the room to Morgan he reached into the suit he wore to the inside pocket and handed Morgan a small sheet of paper from between his fingers.
Morgan took the paper with a quick snatch of her fingers and looked down at it with an exasperated sigh. In her mind, she didn’t have time for this. Suddenly her head snapped up and her eyes narrowed on him.
“Why tha fuck do you have Bullet's personal cell number?” She demanded and then looked back into the room specifically at Silk and the masked Shadow. “And why tha fuck are you two wif him?!”
“Call her.” Michael advised.
He then turned and returned to the couch where he took the spot he had just vacated. While Morgan walked away using the cell Michael turned his attention to the others seated in the living room.
“He’s using actual Demons….” He began.
When all those across from him gave speculative looks Mary just looked over at Morgan who was speaking quietly, but urgently on her phone. Morgan looked a little shell-shocked but gave Mary a curt quick nod and Mary looked back without a word.
“According to what we know he is taking sinners off the street and putting a corrupted soul into them….”
“Oh, you talk too much.” Said a male voice through a mouthful of food.
The large hulking figure walked into the room adjusting the mask. As he passed Morgan gave him the nastiest look.
“The demons are killing the bodies so they don’t feel pain and can’t die.” The muffled growling voice stated. “There is a great deal none of us know and that is why we are here.”
Michael looked up with an aggravated expression but the brown-haired Scotsman looked over at him.
“And what could we possibly do to help you?” Carlisle asked.
“We stole a device…” Hana explained. “It will allow us to revive…”
“Anyone ever told you that you are all loud as hell in the middle of the night for no reason?”
Attention in the room suddenly turned to a lush raven-haired woman standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her hair was semi wavy and the shorts and spaghetti strap shirt she wore showed the hundreds of tattoos that covered her body.
The silence was then broken but a loud, needy squeal of “POOL!” and suddenly the brown-haired woman sprinted across the room. Maiko actually leaped into the air, wrapping her legs around the woman’s waist. The raven-haired woman grabbed the top of each thigh to support her weight at the same moment Maiko wrapped her arms around her shoulders and kissed her.
The two stood for a time simply kissing passionately. There was just awkward silence as the raven-haired lush woman and the slender brunette simply….made out there at the bottom of the stairs.
“Do you mind?!” Michael snapped.
“It’s cute,” Hana told her oldest friend with a little smile.
Michael was about to retort but considered for a moment and thought better of it. He turned his attention back to the room full of people.
“The object in question however needs an exceptionally powerful source of energy to power it.”
He looked over each of their faces until Morgan spoke up from where she stood near the door.
“Tha fuck you want from us?”
Before he could answer, the blonde woman standing next to her holding the little teddy bear broke the silence.
“...The forest.”
Michael lifted a hand motioning to Lily. Carlisle looked from Lily to Michael with wide eyes as he considered the implications of that.
“You are gonna use them to power it.” He whispered in shock. “How?!”
“It draws power…”
Michael began to speak when the masked figure stepped forward and all eyes turned wearily toward him.
“The specifics are technical and aren’t something any of you are prepared to process,” it said coldly. “What we need from you, Is time.”
“We do not possess the ability to harness that,” River said without even the faintest hint of a smile.
Mary looked over at the large fiery-haired woman with a faint, almost tender smile and shook her head. Morgan however full-on laughed.
“I love you Rivy.”
“You have my thanks,” River answered with a smile.
“How much time and for what?” Mary asked looking back at Michael.
“As much as we can buy. I have no idea how long this process will actually take.” Michael answered. “As soon as it starts he is going to feel it and this place is gonna be swarmed with whatever he has in the area. Demons, Hounds…the Angels. Everything.”
“The last time we tried to stand up to this….” Mary started.
“Well, she ain’t here.” Morgan finished and then looked back at Michael. “We’re in.”
“It’s not that simple…” Lily whispered and all eyes turned to her. She blushed a bit, not used to being in the spotlight but after a moment she finished. “...We have children here. Carlisle….Dellie…me? They can’t do what he is asking of us….”
The girls all collectively let out a breath through the nose as they considered that. Before any of them could answer the masked man had already shifted his eyes up toward the hallway. He had heard the heels on the pavement outside while the women spoke.
And found himself looking at the figure in the now-opened doorway as it spoke.
“You could always put them in the bunker.” The voice said.
“Jasmine isn’t here to open…” Lluvia began to say and then her mouth slowly dropped open and her head snapped to the side.
Standing in the doorway with her hand wrapped around the travel handle of a bag she was dragging behind her was Jasmine Matthews.
Now it was Maryiln’s turn to do exactly as Maiko had done before her. She jumped up off the couch and scrambled on her hands and pads of her feet across the table. Once she cleared it she sprinted across the short distance between them and launched herself at Jasmine wrapping her arms around her neck and legs around her waist.
The Collective all gathered around her trying to hug, touch, or somehow welcome her back. There was only one reason she would be here.
Jasmine was home.
Michael motioned with a hand for the others to give them a moment as Mary finally freed herself from around Jasmine as Lluvia took her hand and looked up at her with the sweetest little gentle smile.
“This mean….?”
Jasmine smiled and gave her a gentle nod.
“No more doubts Lil Mama.”
Jasmine told her and then turned her eyes to the door where a second figure stood. He was in his early twenties and wearing a pair of blue jeans and an open-chested shirt.
“Everyone?” She announced. “This is Jeremy. He’s been helping me through all this.”
“I bet he has.” Morgan muttered from where she stood away from everyone else.
Jeremy stepped forward and shook a couple of hands before he came to a stop beside Jasmine looking at the huge figure in the mask standing beside the couch with his arms crossed over his chest. Jeremy leaned down whispering to Jasmine without ever taking his admiring eyes off the chiseled body.
“Ohhh, I like him.”
“He’d kill you.” Jasmine answered aloud.
Jeremy, who had been trying to keep it on the DL frowned and muttered.
“Bitch.”
Jasmine smirked while some of the others laughed when the realization of what her and Jeremy’s relationship was but she looked around at the group.
“What exactly do we need to hide in the Bunker from?”
“Lucifer has broken some kind of pact.” Mary explained. “Michael and…whatever the fuck that is….need to use the forest to power some kind of artifact. They want our help to defend the castle until the process is done.”
Jasmine pursed her lips for a moment.
“That would explain the weird ass dogs.” She said finally.
That caught Michael’s attention. As soon as she finished the sentence he pushed himself from the couch with the aid of the solid oak cane.
“Dogs?” He asked loudly over the talking of the group.
Jasmine looked up over Mary’s head at him.
“Yeah. Big ones. Saw a couple yesterday on the way to the airport. And a couple of the beach the night before. A good two hundred pounds looked mangy and covered in sores…black eyes.”
“I was afraid of that.” Michael whispered.
“Afraid of what?” The masked man asked beside him.
Michael looked up at what had once been Dean.
“Lucifer knows who you used to be,” Michael explained. “He assumed you would get into contact with her…so he set sentries.”
A low growl left the figure behind the mask…deep and rumbling. Beast like. Jasmine however motioned with a perfectly manicured finger at the brown-haired woman and tattooed merc near the stairs.
“They…should get a room.” She said with a chuckle. “And we have some phone calls to make.”
Some of the girls looked at her confused but Lily nodded and smiled.
“Javier would be helpful.” She agreed.
Morgan had finally decided to join them and nodded adding.
“There are some calls I can make.” She looked, then, at Michael. “It’ll take a couple of days to get everyone together. Until then? Up the stairs….second floor. At the far end of the hallway, there are some empty rooms.”
“...Thank you,” Michael told her and inclined his head.
“Come on…” Mary told everyone. “Let’s all go back to bed….big day tomorrow.”
As everyone turned for the stairs Mary smiled that little smile and added.
“...Let her do her rounds.”
Everyone who called this place home smiled and headed upstairs one by one leaving Jasmine to close the door and watch as the former leader of the Children of Nepilim led them all upstairs and down the hallway. Once she was alone Jasmine took in a deep breath, breathing in the missed smells, and smiled.
After so long….she was home.
**
Two hours later nearly everyone was asleep. Some of them would remain awake to make sure the children got fed and started their day but most of the others would sleep late. Michael checked to make sure Hana, Shadow, and Silk got settled in and John got the former Demons settled before retiring to his own room.
He wasn’t surprised to find the masked figure standing in the center of it with his arms crossed over his chest. He slowly eased the door closed without a sound and turned his full attention to the masked figure while crossing the room to the bed.
“What can I do for you?”
There was silence and for a time Michael considered that he may have actually fallen asleep with his eyes open but the man finally unfolded his arms and held out a single folder. Michael took it as he passed and sank down onto the bed.
He opened the folder and inside he found papers showing the names, birthdates, and measurements of various girls. All of them were in their mid-twenties, blonde…and all escorts. Michael looked up as one of his brows lifted.
“Trying to tell me something?”
There wasn’t an amused chuckle. No lightening of the eyes. No sign that there was any humor behind the mask.
“You will need to pick one. All of them are local, no kids or siblings, and their parents are dead.”
A sudden drawing chill ran down Michael’s spine as he looked down at the phones and then back up again.
“The fuck for?!” He demanded.
“Where did you think we were going to get her new host body from Michael?” The masked man demanded harshly. “And you will have to do it yourself personally.”
“....” Michael stared up at him in horror as the realization of what he was demanding hit him. “...I won’t.”
“You will.” It told him in a whisper that carried across the room. “One life, Exchanged for millions.”
“But why do….” Michael stuttered for a moment looking down at the photos again then back up. “Why does it have to be me?”
“It just does.” The figure told him and turned toward the door as behind him Michael’s hands began to shake…the pictures falling out one by one. The final one to fall looked up at him and the two locked eyes.
“...I’m sorry….”
“Oh…” The masked man said as he neared the door. He stopped with a hand on it and turned to look at the weeping man sitting on the edge of the bed. “Do you intend to tell them that doing this will take every bit of energy that the forest has? Making it useless to them after?”
“...Of course not,” Michael whispered without looking up from the picture of the blonde girl lying on the floor. “...They’d tell me no if I did.”
“I’m coming back to the ones I know. Never lose hope because I won’t let go.”
