“This amount of preparation seems wholly unnecessary.” Lance says as Edward lights enough incense to make Tim’s eye water, grunting in pain as he lifts his arms up.

  “It isn’t...” Edward says plainly.

  PK watches the Hunter walk around in his sling, grabbing a lit candle and letting the wax drip onto the floor. The drips seem meticulously placed too, each one spaced some number away from each other as Ecto walks around and makes a circle.

  “Why’s everything a circle?” Janes asks, twirling her hair and yawning.

  “I dunno.” Tim shrugs, leaning his head down onto her shoulder. “You’re tired, go to sleep.”

  “Not a chance, not till you’re done with this.” She says.

  “If my sister and my mom are home they’ll notice we’re both gone.”

  Jane shrugs, “I texted your sister and said we’re staying the night at a friend's house.”

  “That’ll save us a few minor inconveniences probably.”

  Edward seems to finish his preparations and approaches the two of them.

  They both look at him and wait for him to say something, Tim glancing down to his leg bouncing up and down, then to his reopened lip.

  “Can I ask you to leave?”

  “Nope.” Tim says. “Jane you probably should though.”

  “Nah, not unless you do.” She says firmly.

  “It's dangerous.” Edward says quietly, glancing at Jane then looking over to Tim. “Very dangerous.”

  “I thought you said you were calling for help?” Tim lifts his head up along with an eyebrow.

  “Dang-dangero...” He stops and puts a hand up, doing a few breathing exercises. “Dangerous help, it m-ight do more he-harm than good, but it's the only option now.”

  “Jane...” Tim tries.

  “Don’t ask me again.” She looks up at him and narrows her eyes.

  He wants to argue more, but he knows it wouldn’t do any good. Even if he carries her off she’ll just chase after him and end up in the same spot.

  “Ok ok.” He puts their foreheads together and thinks about kissing her, blushes, making her blush, and they both turn away, but lock hands.

  “I’m truly shocked at how bashful you two are.” Lance comments.

  “Shut up!” They both say in unison.

  Edward takes a deep breath through his nose, and then lets it out through his mouth. He then walks to a safe, quickly puts in a code, and pulls out a lockbox. Lance hands him a key and Edward pops it open, pulling out a black card.

  He holds it up to the light, frowning as he looks over each side. He brings it down and taps it on his palm while looking down, eyes tracing the floorboards, and then sighs, rolls his eyes, kisses it, and flicks it into the center of the wax circle.

  Black smoke rises from the pentagram, thick and wispy with the scent of expensive perfume. It rolls across the floor, stopped at the edges of the pentagram, and continues to build until it manifests into the shape of a woman.

  Her long curly auburn hair rolls down one exposed shoulder from the tight fitting cocktail dress she wears—a slit well up to her hip on one side, as it hugs the ample curves of her body everywhere else.

  If a woman can look like a living, breathing succubus—without the red skin, tail, or wings—then it’s the woman in the pentagram before them. Her smile is otherworldly, her eyes almost painful to look away from, her every movement supernaturally hypnotizing.

  “My oh my, I didn’t expect a call from you so soon hun,” She purrs, full attention set on Edward. “What’s the occasion?”

  Even her voice is intoxicating, like a thick honey laced with some potent drug, rich and husky. Tim swallows, and glances to Jane, who narrows her eyes at him.

  “What?”

  “Lilith,” Edward addresses her, but his words are laced with venom towards the mesmerizing woman.

  His anxiety’s still there, his leg still bounces and his lip is split open, scab gone, but there’s also so much else mixed in that it didn’t seem at the forefront anymore.

  “We ran into another Devil.” Edward says, his eyes flicking between Lilith, Tim, and Jane.

  “Every answer, more questions.” Tim whispers to Jane with a sigh.

  Lilith sighs and runs her fingers through her hair, shaking it out ever so slightly. “Cockroaches, I swear… it never matters how much work I do, does it?”

  She spares a glance towards Tim and Jane for the first time, assessing them the way a butcher might eye an expensive cut of meat.

  Her nose wrinkles, face scrunching up with it as she makes a show of sniffing the air. “Passion?”

  “That’s what he called himself.” Tim says.

  “I take it you want me to deal with him for you? You called the right Devil,” she winks, expression returning to something more casual. “It will cost you though, and suffice it to say I can’t do much from in here.” She lets the tip of her red high heels trace around the circle containing her.

  “I told him it was unnecessary.” Lance says as he walks to stand by Tim.

  “It's better to be cautious.” Edward almost snaps at his cousin, earning a frown from Lance.

  Edward looks to Lilith, then to Tim, then to Lilith again.

  “Don’t... talk to them unless it's important.” He “commands” as he kneels down and uses his iron hunting knife to cut a tiny dash in the circle.

  Lilith saunters across the now destroyed barrier, rising up a full head taller than anyone in the room, and making a show of “showing off” her stature as she can move more freely.

  “Have I earned no good will?” She replies to Edward, though everything about her is focused entirely on Tim now. “Surely you can afford me a modicum of passive conversation with such interesting friends?”

  “He’s Lance’s friend, I... don’t want him, them, to be exposed anymore than they already have.” Edward frowns.

  “He was stabbed by a Yokai, Edward.” Lance says. “And fought beside you, he has already been very exposed.”

  Tim wants to make a sarcastic comment but can’t manage to conjure one. He doesn’t know if it was because of his enhanced senses, or some other 6th sense like with the ghosts, but this woman is making him shy as hell. He can’t get his thoughts straight and just sits there awkwardly, blushing, which he’s very sure Jane is currently incredibly annoyed by. Fair enough honestly.

  “Touched by a Yokai? Is that right?” She leans in closer, dangerously slow, smile inches from his face. “Feeling a little down? Fatigued?”

  She taps her chin, snaps her fingers, and a contract appears to apparate from black smoke next to her.

  “I can help with that, if you’re interested? Return your strength in full now, for a small price later? Just in case things get a little complicated of course. Would hate for you to not be at your full strength.”

  “No.” Edward says firmly, “no contracts, not with them. W-we already have a treatment.”

  Tim is leaning back now and scooting away from Lilith towards Jane, who now glares at the woman.

  “How many more treatments will it take?” Tim asks Lance. “If I was at full power I don’t think we would’ve lost.”

  “You would have once Passion arrived.” Lance answers.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence.” Tim rolls his eyes.

  “I am stating a fact, Devils take a massive amount of preparation to fight effectively, it doesn’t matter how strong you are. That aside, there’s no way to be certain, unfortunately, but... It won’t be finished by tonight, and Cristine is bound to be on her way to attack her targets.”

  “What’s the cost?” Tim asks, trying to make eye contact with Lilith but instantly turning red and sending his face directly to the ground.

  “I will return your full strength now, and place a mark on you. After this is all dealt with, the mark will activate and your body will once again become fatigued and tired, with a little interest. It will activate shortly after this business is dealt with, so give yourself a moment of downtime, a weekend to rest up. Be worry free during the fight to come now. It’s that easy.”

  “That’s it?” No one has directly addressed it yet, but Tim figured Lilith was a demon, “Devil,” or whatever. He was expecting something much more Faustian than just “taking a weekend.”

  “That’s it hun, no catch, just a little leg up, keep you and your lovely girlfriend safe and sound.” She hands the contract over to Tim, and then stands to her full height. “Despite what my favorite little Hunter Edward has to say about me, I assure you I’m one of the good ones. I am here to help.” She gives Edward a wink and a wave with the roll of her fingers.

  “One of the good ones” is definitely a racially charged term.” Tim jokes and looks at the paper. “Do I... sign it with blood or something?”

  She conjures a classic ink pen and hands it over to Tim, holding it in her fingers for just a moment longer as he tries to take it.

  “We Devils get a bad reputation, not without good reason. Trust me, but don’t trust any other Devil you cross alright? For your own good.” She releases the pen and sways over to Edward, taking a seat nearby. “As for this other little Devil problem, I’ll need some more details if you really do want my help.”

  Lance begins to explain to Lilith what has happened, with Edward occasionally bringing up a detail as Tim taps his chin with the pen. It seems fine, not harmful in any way to him, but is there something he’s missing?

  “Man,” Jane groans and gets his attention. “This is so fucking suspicious. “Trust me but no one else.’ That’s... ugh.”

  “Are you alright?”

  “I’m mad at you.” She huffs.

  “Really?” He rolls his eyes.

  “A little, yeah.”

  “Ok, but do you not want me to sign it? Because...”

  “You’re going to anyway, its not like you’re going to let that stupid psycho kill anyone, and I want you to be safe. But you’re also not allowed to look at her.” Jane crosses her arms and turns away.

  “I’ve been trying not to.”

  “See! You admit it! You think she’s hot!”

  “I don’t need to admit anything! You already knew!”

  “Whateveeeer.”

  Tim huffs this time, “Brat.”

  “I’ll kick your ass, give me it, let me look it over.”

  “Sure.” Tim lets Jane snatch it away from and she reads it over a few times.

  “You're cute when you’re jealous.”

  “Shut the fuck up, I’m focusing.” And she does focus hard, Tim watching her eyes trace each word and her feet rub together as she thinks. “I don’t know, it seems fine.” She hands it back.

  “Well, like you said, I was going to sign it anyway.” He sighs and writes his name at the bottom.

  The moment he is finished signing, the Contract vanishes in a puff of black smoke, pulling Lilith's attention from Lance and Edward.

  “Wonderful! See how much can get done when you aren’t so prejudiced?” She teases rather pointedly towards Edward. “Though I believe I have more than enough to deal with Passion now. He’s made a number of easily exploitable mistakes.”

  Lilith brushes her dress out, and offers a faint wink to Jane as her movements draw nearly everyone's eyes, though Lance seems immune to her charms.

  “Shall I bring us there? Or are you still shy about being so close to me in the circle?”

  “We’re uncertain if Passion is with Cristine.” Lance says, “and she’s en route to one of her targets, Darik’s house now, as much as Passion needs to be dealt with I’d advise not all of us go to the same spot. Cristine was meeting with the Crypt Keeper, she likely has more minions to split between each target now. We need to split up.”

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “They all live pretty close to each other.” Tim says, “I don’t think it’ll be an issue for me and Ecto to cover them all, especially if Passion isn’t there to instantly get rid of their wards.”

  “How likely do you think it’d be for Passion to stick to his contract holder?” Lance asks Lilith.

  “If she is threatened? Substantial. If I am near her, it is a guarantee. Safe to say I'm not very loved among other Devils. My presence alone is quite the statement.” She picks some impossibly small piece of lint off her dress and blows it away.

  “I’ll go with Lilith then.” Tim says.

  “Ugh.” Jane furrows her brow at him.

  “Because Cristine is too strong for Ecto, plus he can reinforce the salt barriers on Darik’s other morons if the Yokais are burning through them.”

  “That makes sense.” Jane grumbles under her breath.

  “As fun as it is to tease you, hun. Your man is more than a little too young for my taste. He is safe with me.” Lilith pats Jane on the top of her head to rustle her hair.

  Tim uses one hand to pull Jane back as she almost reacts very violently, before he mimics Lilith’s head rub, calming her down.

  “I’ll be back soon.” He puts his nose against her cheek and nuzzles into it.

  “Whatever, hurry up.” She pushes him off while blushing and goes to stand by Lance.

  “I’ll be monitoring.” Lance nods to them.

  “Got it.” Tim gives him a thumbs up and activates his suit. “By the way, in uniform my name is Prehistoric Kid.” He looks up to Lilith, blushing but now able to handle it a little more with his face covered.

  “Of course, you all love your names, don’t you… I swear people never change, be it boys and girls playing hero, or middle aged men and women playing soldiers.” She laughs, and with one hand conjures a circle on the ground, stepping into. “Have you ever teleported before?”

  “Nope!”

  “Oh how fun. I do enjoying taking charge during someone's first time.” She waves to Jane, pulls Tim into the circle, and in a rush the floor is gone, his guts being sent into his throat as nausea wracks his body for a fraction of a second, before reality comes crashing down around them outside the back of a small supermarket.

  PK’s disorientation begins to fade and he’s confused to find himself in an empty parking lot at first, nothing but a few stray shopping carts littering the lot, until he eyes Darik running. Cristine appears in front of him and sticks her leg out, sending him crashing to the ground, scraping his arms and legs.

  “Shit.” PK grabs a shopping cart and hammer throws it at Cristine, who turns and clears it with a leap up, before thrusting her katana down and trying to plunge it into Darik, Sephiroth style. PK dashes in and blocks it, a loud clang echoing through the late night streets, the loud sound and bizarre visuals scaring away what few people walk nearby.

  Cristine lands with grace and tries to land a flurry of blows on Darik, PK parrying each one, before landing a solid punch to her gut, sending her skidding across the ground. She holds her stomach for a second and staggers, before purple flames erupt behind her, conjuring into Passion.

  “My my, isn’t that Hunter boy well connected.” He smiles over to Lilith.

  PK doesn’t let up though and charges at him, becoming a Triceratops and pointing his horns at him, but Passion teleports him and Cristine away, appearing by Lilith now.

  “Keep your lizard on a leash, hm dear?”

  “Dinosaurs aren’t lizards!” PK calls out as he leaps and lands next to his own allied Devil.

  “Lets get past the violence for a second hm? What do you want, Lilly?” He dismisses PK and turns to Lilith. “You wouldn’t show up here if you didn't have something to gain, something to gain from me.”

  “He isn’t mine.” Lilith comments passively, and with a wave of her hand conjures a barstool she then sits on, followed by a glass of wine nearly filled to the rim that she sets down in empty space, as if a bar was there. “But I do believe this one is yours.” She notes, pointing to Cristine with her glass of wine.

  “Passion-Dono? Why aren’t we just fighting, he’s right there.” Cristine points her sword to the near hyperventilating Darik.

  “It's complicated dear, Devils don’t normally throw hands, not with each other at least, not on Earth.” He conjures his own lush throne and sits. “That’s right, she’s mine, what about it?”

  PK stills places himself in between Darik and Cristine, just in case.

  “I have reason to believe your contract with her should be null and void. You are being audited, Passion.” Lilith taps a finger on the invisible bar, her own stack of paperwork apparating in black smoke to her left.

  The ground around them appears to shift, the parking lot asphalt shifting into hardwood floor, a real bar materializing around Lilith, the air beginning to fill with the sound of smooth jazz and the scent of cigar smoke.

  Passion laughs, “You’re joking? What could possibly be wrong with my contract?”

  Black leather seats manifest under the gathered people, forcing them to sit, their own tables conjuring up around them. The moon is blotted out by a low roof, the sight of the parking lot gone entirely as walls build up to enclose them in a scene straight from the 50’s, complete with an old record scratching to set the mood before it continues to play its crackling melody.

  “First order of business, being that all contracts with mortals must be made while said mortal is of clear mind and conscious, unimpeded and free of undue influence. Contracts can be made under duress of course, but not if while the duress is present alongside other extenuating circumstances that would otherwise alter how the contract signs mind would normally function.”

  She sips her wine, and looks to Cristine. “Her less than healthy mental state is not something that has been present since birth, it’s a circumstance that has been built upon by a series of unfortunate circumstances. She is unwell, and thus any contract she signs is null and void, as she can not be reasonably considered within her “right mind, or of clear mind and conscious, unimpeded and free of undue influence.”

  Lilith pours Passion a glass, and slides it towards him.

  “Your counter?”

  Passion takes the glass and begins to swirl its contents around, “I made sure she was in the right state of mind when I arrived, she noticed some spirits and they of course noticed her back, I cleared them up and hence cleared up her head. Now, she’s a bit eccentric for sure, with unique perspectives that run quite counter culture, but is that really unwell?”

  “I suppose you could argue an eccentric personality does not qualify, but—” She snaps her fingers, and a transcript of the conversation they are actively having appears on the table, each word being written out as it’s spoken. “You say here you take responsibility for clearing up the ghosts in her head? You quote ‘cleared up her head’,”

  She leans back and smiles, eyes fixed on Passion like a wolf might look at a limping buck.

  “You influenced her then. As without your intervention she would have made different decisions no? Influence does not specify a negative or a positive. Influence by its definition is the capacity to affect or alter behavior through action. Your act of “clearing her mind” is undue influence, and thus nullifies the very contract signed afterwards.”

  Passion sips his wine, pinky out, and narrows his eyes.

  “Lilith, let me be clear, as far as long term goals go, we’re actually on the same side.” He takes another sip. “I’ve put my lot in with the humans, like you, and let me tell you, my allies are going to move Hells, Heavens, and Earth. Do not make an enemy of me, do not make an enemy of them.”

  Lilith pouts, and riffles through the papers on the table, bringing one out from the stack and placing her long red nails on a few specific lines. “Passion, the audit has already begun, i can’t stop it now… and all of this has nothing to say for the broken lines here and there, where you injured our dear Hunter friend despite your contract stating no harm shall come to the friends of Prehistoric Kid’s friends and allies, and once the damage was done after your contract holder made you aware of the fact, you made no effort to correct the damage.”

  She holds her wrists out to Passion, silken rope appearing there.

  “You agreed to the audit when you sat down with me, the energy in this place is working and will continue to work until the matter is resolved… my hands are tied,” She smiles innocently.

  Passion narrows his eyes, “Enemies it is then, what do you want?”

  “I am simply doing my job.” She flutters her eyelashes, and brings her hands back to the bar, the rope vanishing. “For one, your contract with dear Cristine is considered null and void, and from here on severed. You are not afforded any compensation for the deficit in power this nullification creates, nor are you entitled to the return of the power offered, as so your contract with her states.”

  She flips through a few other pages, and finishes her glass of one in a single gulp.

  “The cost of this audit and my time, is the restoration of the energy used to enact it pulled from any reserves you have, as well as payment to me equal to %10 of the total energy used in the performance of my duties here, payable over time of course, should you need it. Oh yes, and still won’t be able to harm Prehistoric Kid and friends.”

  Lilith finishes by snapping her fingers, and disapparates the bar around them, returning everyone to the parking lot they started this all in.

  “My personal suggestion, Passion, is you return to Hell and give me what I am owed from there, less the pull of Earth finds you deprived of enough energy to reform in the event of an untimely demise. I personally would love to keep your soul in my domain if you die under deficit, but I doubt you would like it very much.”

  Passion laughs, “You’ll get your energy Lilith, but you’ll see soon enough, Hell is going to be yesterday's news. It’ll all come crashing down, not so far from now, especially not for us.”

  “Like you said, we’ve both thrown our lot in with humanity to some degree. I'd rather place my bets up here. Hell be damned, we all know it's much easier to rebuild from ashes than it is to convert the likes of those cretins.” Lilith offers a wave of her hand and a swing of her hips as she walks away. “I’ll be seeing you hun!”

  “Passion-Dono?” Cristine looks at him.

  “Sorry dear, my hands are tied. But,” he places a hand on her shoulder. “Your power is your own, those ghosts still follow you, I say go wild, and finish what you set out to do.” And he disappears.

  PK glances at Lilith before locking eyes with Cristine.

  “Don’t.” PK tenses his muscles and lowers his posture.

  “You can still come back from this hun, trust me…but if you take that boy's life there is very little I can do to save you from what lies beyond.” Lilith's normal composure has dropped almost entirely, concern now wrapping her face.

  “He deserves it, so many people do. Why doesn’t anyone else see it?” She grips the hilts of her sword tightly.

  “I’m sure they do hun, I am sure they deserve much more, but that does not mean you should sacrifice your soul, your eternity, for something as small as them. I am a Devil, I am of Hell, and I see what they do to souls like yours. There is no redemption, there is no relief, it is an eternity, an infinity of torment. They will laugh as they carve your flesh, tear your mind. They will drink your tears and—” She stops herself, face contorting into something terrible as a memory flashes past her vision.

  Lilith takes a tentative step towards her, one hand to her chest, the other outstretched for Cristine to take. Everything about her has changed. Her movements are soft and delicate as opposed to seductive. Her eyes, lips, shoulders and hands are laced with worry, with a promise of comfort if she simply takes it.

  “A girl like you should not be down there… These boys will get what is due when the time comes for their lives to end. Do not allow them to win, do not permit them to torment you in the afterlife, these little ants are not worth that much.”

  Cristine’s grip on her sword loosens and her body begins to shake. Her mask disappears and her eyes begin to pour out tears.

  “All my life they’ve picked on me, you know, everyone has. Cause I’m weird, cause I’m crazy, cause I'm a freak. No one even ever stopped them before, because they all hated me, until him.” She sniffles as she points her sword to Tim. “It was already hell, it's always been hell. At school, at home, no matter where I went. I just wanted to be myself, I couldn’t help it, cause something is wrong with me.” She hides her face with the sleeve of her kimono and tries to wipe her tears away. “And then one of them starts being nice to me, really nice. I liked the way he talked, liked the way he talked to me, I thought we could be together, but he lied.” She bites her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, a trickle falling from it, pink flames gobbling it up. “I’m not crazy! He really lied!” She grips her sword tight now. “He led me on! He walked towards me and my back hit a wall and...” she sniffles, “it was just like a romance anime, you know? It really was, so I had to make him pay.” Her nine tails flare up now, each beginning to burn with her blaze.

  “And they never stop either, no matter how much Tim-Chan beats them up, no matter how many times the school talks to them, talks to their parents.” Her mask begins to slowly cover her face again, covering half of it as her eyes focus forward, past Lilith and PK, onto her prey on the ground. “If it means I’ll suffer for eternity, so that they can never hurt anyone again, then fine.” She pivots, going to cut through Lilith at her abdomen, but all it finds is PK’s iron arm. She kicks off of him and the paper Yokai emerges from her flames, its tendrils going to wrap around both of them as she dashes for Darik.