Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

"Of course," Keera said and looked at Lilith's hand, before taking it. Not that she wante to, but why not? It wasn't as if it was a comfort anyway, however false that would have been if Lilith had tried it that way.

Kaori turned just in time to see Necrolon burst out and grab the slicer. She sort of stood outside the outside the branch, wondering which was winning, until Necrolon came out from under it, bleeding green. She was surprised at that, but knelt beside him. "Are alright?" She asked, getting straight to the point and not waiting for an answer of her first question but proceeding right into the second, the most important one. "Can I heal you?"

[skyacezero]

Lilith lead Keera through the vortex into a torch-lit, grand-style hallway. "Sorry if it's not up to your standards, but we never got around to redecorating the place," Lilith said, letting go of Keera's hand. They were approached by an avatar, the same one that had threatened Kaori the other night. "Mistress, Maltheius wishes to see you," she said. "Now?" Lilith said. There was no response from the avatar. "Fine. Lucifer!" Lilith called and almost immediately, the same gut who was pretending to be the psycho preacher appeared. "You called?" he said. "Would you mind showing Keera around? The Master needs to see me," Lilith said, walking down a seperate corridor. "Uh...sure thing," Lucifer said. "So, uh, what do you wanna see first?" he asked.

"Don't bother, I'll live," Necrolon said as he got to his feet. He merely wiped the green essence off to reveal that his wounds had already healed.

[Amara<3]

Keera looked around the place and gave a shrug. Didn't seem too horrible. She let go of Lilith's hand and looked at the avatar. She couldn't stir up a fuss here, she'd lose. She knew that much already. Listening to the avatar tell Lilith she had to leave and see The Master gave a little relief, though Keera would have rathered to look around herself, she accepted that she probably wasn't allowed to that yet. "The basics, what I need to know." Keera said quietly as she memorized every little detail around her. Better to start now.

"Oh, okay," she said and got up when he did, surprised at how fast he'd healed. She glanced at Keera, who was watching the trees intently, as if she were a cat waiting on a chipmunk to come down and show itself so she could pounce. She looked back at him. "What now?" She whispered, more to herself, but if Necrolon had to answer, she'd be glad to listen.

[skyacezero]

"Um, okay, so uhhh, this is called 'The Citadel"," Lucifer started. "It's obviously where we live, down that way is where the rooms are. Don't worry, they're seperate. Now what you need to know is that out of all the rooms, three of the are invite-only. Those are the Master's room, Lilith's and Belphegor's rooms," he explained. "Over there is the library, Barbatos spends more time there than he does anywhere else," Lucifer gestured to another door. "And down there is the dungeon,"

"Where's Marionette?" Necrolon said. Marionette's faint laugh came from all directions before she finally dropped down to the ground behind them. "What a riot...." she said. "Huhuhuhu.....people suffering......hahahaha.....people hurting.....hahahuhuha...." she said while in the fetal position. "People dying.....hahahaha......" She continued faintly. "It's all so f---ing hysterical!" She said getting out of the fetal position and hovering into the air. "Hahahaha.....laugh.....LAUGH WITH ME! HAHAHAHA!"

[Amara<3]

"Hispanic origin?" Keera asked, nodding that she understood what he meant. "Is there a way to make mine invite-only?" Keera with a small laugh, though she was serious. "I wonder how many of those books I haven't read yet, seeing as I only found out you people existed a week or so ago. I may need to catch up." She looked at the door with piercing eyes. She'd be going down there at least once to look at it. She figured her sister had been down there, but she wasn't sure. The thought wanted to make her slaughter Lilith, and find a way to destroy The Master, as they all seemed to call him. "Do you enjoy being here?" She asked absently, before realizing what she asked and smiled. "You don't need to answer that." She seemed a bit distant, but that's because she was paying special attention to her other self.

Kaori swallowed, but tried to stay relaxed. They had promised not to hurt her, but if she attacked, that promise was over. Not even the most repectable demon would keep a promise like that, she thought of Keera when she thought that, and knew of course Keera had only kept that promise on a few occasions, with humans usually, and one little girl that had extraordinary powers. She rarely kept it with demons above or before her own status and power level. Not much was above her anymore though.

"Hahaha, I know! It's just the funniest thing you've ever seen isn't it?" The first laugh was fake, but her next wasn't. It was soft, more of a chuckle. "You're pathetic. Why don't you laugh your way home before I kill you here? I won't touch you at home." Kaori looked confused, and the two looked at each other. "Sorry Kaori, I still have the apartment, but I am talking about what I guess we could call my home away from home that's away from home. Confused yet?"

[skyacezero]

"Well, yeah, actually I do, gives info on where to cause some havok," Lucifer said. "Anyway, I'll let you get a feel for the place, just don't wake Belphegor up, I doubt you'd want to see him in a bad mood," Lucifer said as he walked away.

While Keera and Kaori were conversing, Necrolon was fighting Marionette, while trying to keep under the shade. Marionette made a final air dash towards Necrolon. That proved to be a mistake. Necrolon plunged his claw deep into her chest. He felt her heart and crushed it. Marionette let out a shrill screech and her head hung forward. As it fell forward, her mask fell off. She raised her head slightly. Her face was chalk white and her eyes were blood red, then they slowly faded to brown. "That's not funny...." she choked out. "That's not...." she let out a small sigh and went limp.

[Amara<3]

"Ah, well I expect that's a good reason to be here. Makes me feel sort of out of place, not wanting to create evil and all," Keera said and shrugged. It just wasn't her thing anymore. She didn't enjoy it like she used to. "I'll be sure not to go to those rooms. Any idea where mine is?"

Keera had wanted to see the fallen one in action, and had side tracked Kaori to make sure she wasn't involved. "Alright, that was impressive, though I doubt she was very difficult to kill. Good job, either way." She smiled at Necrolon, and then looked at Kaori. "Remember what you have to do when I need to go," she said and Kaori nodded.

"It's a good thing you're not really you, or I wouldn't be able to do it," Kaori said and sniffed as though killing this Keera was a sad idea. "Just let me know before you stop paying attention to... you. Okay?" Keera nodded, still smiling. "So, umm... where are you right now?"

"At my new home away from home. It's ill decorated, and it's a little bit of a surprise to have them let me stay here, seeing as I don't intend to stay with them long. I think I might go back to the past for a while. Not yet of course, I'm a bit busy." She looked at Necrolon, "So why did you leave, anyway? Was there a specific reason other than just wanting to leave?"

[skyacezero]

"Oh, it's that one over there," Lucifer said. 'Maybe you don't want to create evil now, but soon....' Lucifer thought as he walked away. Meanwhile, Lilith was meeting with Maltheius. "You wanted to see me?" Lilith said. "Indeed. Lamia has already made contact with Keera," Maltheius said. "So soon?" Lilith said. "Yes, but the only thing keeping Lamia from completely overtaking Keera's conciousness is-" Maltheius was cut off by Lilith. "I know, but her sanity is hanging only by a threat, so long as she beleives that she protecting her sister. By the way should I tellher?" Lilith said. "Not yet, we must wait until Lamia fully matures, then...."

"Yes, there was a reason," Necrolon said. "Those lunatics tried to bring the world to ruin. Twice," Necrolon said.

[Amara<3]

Keera walked over to her door, touched the handle and got shivers. She released it and walked into the library instead. A part of her ached to be with her sister, really be with her, and to help Necrolon, but she was just too damn curious. You know how they say curiousity killed the cat, well stupidity framed curiousity. Stupidity and curiousity were killing the ice queen.

"Mind if I stick with you?" Keera asked Necrolon, smiling. "I would sooner be destroyed than to stay with them, seriously. It really eats at me about how they got me in the first place." She looked at Kaori and bowed, her head low. "I guess I should go now. You're safe, that's all I wanted. I won't help them in whatever they're planning."

"But Keera, can't you just leave them and run too? We could get help-"

"No. I'm not bringing anyone else into this. I can't let them have my people."

"They would want to help you! You know they would! You'd protect them, and we'd both die! How many times will the gods help you without a payment back?!" Kaori yelled. "You're lucky they did it last time!"

"I am paying them back," Keera said, standing up. "You just don't understand how, Kaori. It's between me and them. They just gave it back too late. It's really too late this time. I have to figure out how I'm a big part of this... this... do it now Kaori, please. I'm losing her."

"Damn it Keera! I'll bring them myself if I have to!" Kaori growled and angrily walked over to Keera, grabbed her head and broke her neck, then took her own sword and cut it off in one clean swipe. The body slowly disappeared. "Idiot," Kaori whispered. She looked over to Necrolon and swallowed. "Sorry for that little freak."

[skyacezero]

Necrolon had reverted back to Darryl. "That's okay, I'm used to seeing all kings of weird things," Darryl said. "If it was Lilith who roped your sister into their little group, there's something she needs to know. Whatever promise Lilith made to her, I can guarentee she's already broken it. Trust me, she screws people over in EVERY sense of the word,"

[Amara<3]

Kaori looked as if she'd stopped breathing when Darryl said that, and swallowed. "I'm fairly sure it was Lilith... but what could she have promised that Keera would want? Absolute power? That's not enough for her anymore. She knows there's no such thing, as levels of power change all the time. Keera's become a more peaceful type of person, that's why she joined the police force. She's trying to protect people and to keep the peace. She's never wanted to work with someone that has more evil inside them than herself. It's her way of treating the part of her that wants destruction." She shook her head. There had to be something else. She knew she was rambling, but it helped her think. She even did it when no one was around. "No," Kaori whispered, remembering something. "No, she said before that she was forced, somehow. She said 'how they got me' so they didn't promise her anything, or at least that's the way it sounds. I know they made her listen by capturing me, but I think she was roped in before that. I was just incentive to ensure that she didn't turn her back."

[skyacezero]

"Most others are more straightforward with what they have going on, but In the case of the Seven Demon Lords, their ideas make sense to them alone," Darryl said. "Just as well you have to be more than an incentive, maybe a bargaining chip, of some kind of leaverage?"

[Amara<3]

"I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that Keera was going to tell them to shove it, so they got me and said they would kill me if she didn't stay. So she did. Maybe they're replacing you... with her?" Kaori asked and shook her head. "This is ridiculous, she needs to get out of there." She stared intently at him for a moment. "Wanna take a trip?"

Keera no sooner stepped in the library that a crippling pain shot into her head. She raised her hand to her forehead, moved so she wasn't in the way of the door, and leaned against the wall. She let her hand fall and closed her eyes, she almost fell over, but grabbed the door frame for support tried to ignore the pain as she looked again. She'd lost control of her other self so easily, usually she could have it travel and talk for hours, but something made her lose it.

[skyacezero]

"Always up for it," Darryl said. "So where are we going?" he asked.

"Feeling under the weather?" it was that same errie voice from before. "Why bother to keep fighting? Eventually, you'll find that what you've been protecting this whole time was all for naught," it said.

[Amara<3]

"To about hundred hundred years ago, give or take," Kaori said and beckoned her him to follow her as she turned and walked. "I think it's time to bring in some help. We have intelligence of this time on the other side." She smiled, looking at Darryl as she walked.

"Where exactly is this?" She asked and knocked her head against the wall, hoping to create pain on the outside that would dismiss even some of the pain on the inside. It didn't work. "Who are you?" Furthermore, why was it trying to tell her that protecting her sister and other people was a waste of time? That's what she did for a living, and she felt very protective over just about everyone she knew, and even didn't know.