Disclaimers: All characters belong to rightful owners.
Story concieved by Lee.


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"I don't know Ms. Bertos," Charlene said quietly as they walked out of the conveinence store. In Eva's hand was a bag full of candy and snacks. It hadn't been an easy task as Evangelina had first thought it would be. The young girl was awfully shy and seemed hesistant to pick out anything. Finally, Eva got impatient and just grabbed random things she would catch the kids in her Sunday class snacking on while she taught them prayers. Charlene continued as they walked down the block. "I don't think mommy would like this."

"No, no, no," Eva said in the forced cheerful voice she had mastered over the years. "It's not a problem hun. Besides, it's a gift. Think of it as a Christmas gift." As they neared a little bus stop, she sat down with the young girl and held out the Pocky box in from on her. "Even better, how about we play a game."

"I like games," the young girl chirped.

"Well, you'll like this one. It's called 'The Interview," Eva continued. "All I do is ask a question, and you answer. You'll get a prize no matter what the answer. Okay?" She paused as the toddler nodded in agreemet to the terms of the game. "The first question: Is your uncle single?"

The young girl stared at the older woman with a confused look on her face as she tried to decipher what she was speaking about. "Oh boy, this will take awhile," Eva said softly as pulled out one of the strawberry frosted pretzels from the box.

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"It's just a few miles this way," Addie explained as he started to walk slowly down the sidewalk. Though he was still a bit wary from everything that had just recently happened, he managed to offer Alexei a bright smile as he observed the elder. He was an unique person, to be sure, but he had helped Addie when he needed it. This helped the boy to think that the other-- and his cactus-- were alright, after all and it also helped him to redouble his smile.

"I meant to help you for thanking me," He murmured after a moment's break. "It was really nice of you. If... I can ever do anything to repay it, please tell me."

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How he longed to just lie in bed and fall into a deep, much needed sleep. Rest, it was an old friend that Nathan hadn't paid a visit for the past few weeks. In between working, running into angels and their spawn, getting mysterious messages, and Thalia-- Nathan was worn out. Fortunately for Nathan, unlike most people, he COULD remember a time when he never felt tired. He never felt hungry, thirsty, cold, hot-- he really didn't feel much of anything. That's what fascinated him so much about being human; what left him wrapped up in his human life this entire time when he was supposed to be gathering his "army"-- sort to speak. He didn't want to give this up, not again.

He started to feel warm, so he loosened his tie and freed the first three buttons of his shirt. As he pulled off the tie, his shirt opened a bit more revealing a little bit of his chest as he walked down the street. As he was untucking his shirt and stuffing the tie in his pockets, he heard his phone ringing. He sighed as he picked up the phone. "I'm on my way Thalia," Nathan began. Surprisingly, Thalia was calm. Too calm. Nathan expression suddenly darkened as his friend explained how she found another sitter right after he hung up on her. "Damn it, Thalia." Nathan said as he rounded the corner. At this point, Nathan's anger took over. He was caught in his own world, paying no mind to the two individuals standing on the sidewalk in front of him. "Why do you ALWAYS do this? I had a job interview at the high school. You didn't even ASK if I got it, which I did by the way. All you want is a damn babysitter. Seriously, is that all I am to you?" Nathan sighed as he gave Thalia her chance to scream and defend herself. As he was caught in he middle of her rant, however, he nearly tripped over a blonde young man bent over on the sidewalk. "Whoops, sorry man," Nathan said quickly before walking past him and his companion.

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Sammy hardly noticed as a stranger bumped into him as he was still rather wrapped up in trying to find the thread of sanity in his thoughts. Still, this changed rapidly as he noted something in the voice, something in the presence of the stranger, and, slowly straightening, he noted a fierce, broiling anger filling him.

With a barely articulate cry, he threw himself toward the strange man and, though lacking sight to see the face of the man whom he was attacking, he didn't seem to mind. In fact, he didn't seem to mind much for his mind was filled with thoughts of tearing this man to the smallest of tatters.

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What she had to do next... would be unpleasant. Sophia frowned to herself as she walked home slowly, turning her conversation with Mr. Alraune over in her mind. She was sure he was telling the truth... but then again, an event so horrific would likely be recorded in the newspapers, in police records-- it would be absolutely remiss of her not to check up on it. Despite the fact that to do so would be almost like naming him a liar.

With her eyes trained on the ground, Sophia continued her walk home until something caught her eye. A drop of blood, obviously fresh... slowing to a stop, she glanced up to see a lanky teenager smoking a cigarette with matching stains. *Except it isn't cigarettes that blood drip from...* She stared at him more closely, not entirely willing to break his scowling reverie, but wondered both where the blood had come from and where she'd seen him before.

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It had all happened so quickly that Nathan found himself face down on the sidewalk with an irate blond looming over him. His position left him vulnerable to the stranger's attacks. He had two choices, either stay in the position and take the strangers attack or turn around and attempt to get him off. The choice seemed quite obvious, and with the horrible day he had been having, it offered a wonderful outlet for his anger. Using his knees and arms as a foundation, he pushed himself off the ground. Acting quickly, he grabbed his attacker's right arm and using his own weight as leverage, flipped the blonde boy over his shoulders. He quickly got to his feet and into an defense position as he awaited his attackers next move.

Looking over his shoulder, he quickly caught sight of a mortified girl watching the entire spectacle. "Lucia?" Nathan said in disbelief. Looking back at his attacker, Alexei's ramblings suddenly came back to his mind. The girl Lucia, and her blind friend, Sam. He could not helped but feel a bit hurt, but he should not have been surprised. The young man's soul at his current state was like an open wound, spewing the pain and heartache form his current and previous life. It was a soul that He was all to familar with, one that He had specifically picked out to be reincarnated. Suddenly it all came together and he looked between Lucia and his blind attacker.

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Fully lost in the meandering circle of his thoughts, Dante wasn't even aware that he was being watched for quite a few moments. Still, even when he noted the sensation of being watched, he only shifted his eyes so as to be able to observe his watcher from the corner of his eye. A child? Why would a little girl be watching him?

Then it struck him. He knew this little girl with the startingly deep and wise eyes. He had met her only a short week before in the pizza parlor when his pimp had been trying to pick up some dumb old man. She had helped to convince the man that going with Barano would be a bad idea. Still, why was she staring at _him_ like that?

"Did someone forget to tell me that I've been turned into a freak show exibit?" Dante asked as he drew another long drag on his cigarette. Obviously, the fact that it was bloodstained and that his hand was still dripping fitfully failed to register as the cause of the child's stare. "Or are you just waiting to see if I'll do some sort of trick?"

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Lucia wanted to stop Sam from pouncing onto Nathan. Really, she did. However, the very second that the former angel of death's rage had opened up like that, the wound in her head felt as though it had been opened up. Her eyes teared up. Her knees trembled. Her stomach churned, and she was hit with wave after wave of nausea. All she could do was watch helplessly as Sam ruined any last shred of covertness that they might've had against Him.

Nathan had just managed to get the boy off of him, when Lucia saw that he had finally taken notice of her. He spoke her name, and she could see the mental cogs in his head hard at work. He now knew of her one advantage. She had to say something or do something to cover up, but at the moment that seemed an impossiblity. So she did the only thing she could do in her sickened state. She rushed over to the curb of the sidewalk and...

*BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECHK*

...puked her guts out.

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With an almost eerie ease, Sam righted himself from being flipped from over Nathan and, crouching low to the ground, he grinned slowly. Reason seemed to have abandoned him entirely and in its place was nothing but deep rage, a deep rage he couldn't explain even to himself. It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was attacking the unknown man. Ripping and rending his flesh. Stripping him to the bone, then breaking apart these same.

With an animalistic snarl, he launched himself at Nathan again, but his attention was briefly drawn by the sound of Lucia's being sick so that he came to a pause in a rather amusing posture. Still, unaware of this, he cocked his head as his expression seemed to fight for stability between rage and concern and his emotions raged painfully through him. Finally, after a pause, he managed to murmur in a disoriented and small voice.

"...Luc...?"

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Nathan raised his eyes a bit at Lucia as his fallen angel started vomitting. An unexpected reaction, but it had helped calmed Sam to some level-- at least to a point that he was coherant. He sighed and slowly stood, never taking his eyes off his attacker-- his former Angel of Death. Certainly still had some life in him, but that's why he had chosen the angel for the role anyway. He knew that Sam should not be underestimated, especially since he no longer had the advantage of being a Supreme Being over the two angels. "Hmmm..." he said carefully as he tried to figure out something to say that would spur another attack. "Never expected to see you two here at the same time."

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Lucia had no idea what Nathan was up to, but she refused to divulge any more secrets to her rival. She mustered up all the willpower in her being to keep her body under control as she stood up straight, reached into her schoolbag, pulled out a pack of Hello Kitty (tm) tissues and used one of these to wipe at the corners of her mouth.

"Uck, I should've known better than to trust the school cafeteria on meatloaf day." She turned to Nathan with a confident smirk. "There's a good warning for you, now that you're going to be playing substitute at Psyche High."

If he wanted to one up her, she could one up him. She had figured that would be his next move. All she could do was hope that her bluff was correct. She didn't want to lose anymore ground to Him.

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Nathan raised his eyebrow at the younger girl. What kind of game was she playing here? Sure she said that she worked for the school's peer consuling program, but he doubt that he saw her there at the school. Although he wasn't stupid, what did it matter whether or not she knew he would be substituting there, chances are she'd see him anyway. "I'll keep that in mind," Nathan said with a coy smile on his face. 'Don't try to outwit me, Lucifer,' Nathan thought loudly, emphasizing each more carefully. 'I may be human now but I have more tricks up my sleeve, I assure you. I've been preparing for this battle much longer than you have.'

He then returned his attention back to the blind one, Sam as he had guessed. He probably should have figured out who it was just from Alexei description, or at least the name. But with that aside, he stood composed and ready for whatever the former angel had waiting for him.

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Lucia's mention of mundane things seemed to act as a jagged shard of sanity piercing Sammy's baseless rage and, shaking his head slightly, he found himself wondering, idly, why he had just attacked a person who had done nothing more than trip over him in the street. It was an accident-- clearly an accident-- so why had he reacted so?

'...He betrayed me...' That insiduous voice at the back of his mind hissed relentlessly and, again, that rage stirred like a fitfully sleeping monster. '...but worse he betrayed _her_. He is the reason that all is as it is. He should have to pay as we...'

There was no sense there. Only a vile mix of emotions Sammy rarely ever gave note to, but, then again, they weren't Sammy's emotions were they? An odd doubling hit the boy like a fist between the eyes and he reeled slightly. As he tried to scrabble for the shreds of sanity he had to believe were still there, something else seemed to take control of his voice.

"You finally show yourself." He chuckled in tones so far seperated from his usual that the voice may as well have come from someone other than the blind blond. A smirk contorted his lips as he cocked his head and, languidly, he took a small step closer to the man. "You're a coward now as you were then, only showing when you absolutely had to do so. I suppose I should still bow and scrape, though, hm?"

An entirely mocking expression of rapture on his features, he did just that. With grand eloquence, he fell to one knee before the one who had been his God and Master for so long and, hair falling about him like a curtain, he bent till his forehead scraped the walk.

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Nathan was unable to keep his composure from the spectable and broke out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. "Oh man, I needed that," he said squeezing the bridge of his nose. "I made a mistake by making you a warrior when you are so obviously made to be a fool. Seriously thought, Sammael, give the poor boy back control. Think you've scared him enough."

He picked up his cell phone off the ground. Luckily it had survived the fall with minor cosmetic damages as it soon began to rang as soon as he grasped it. It wasn't a number he recognized and it probably wasn't wise to let himself get distracted in the current situation. However, he couldn't remember the password for his voicemail, so he had no choice. "Hello," Nathan said cheerfully as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Ms.Bertos-bought-me-candy-lots-and-lots-of-candy-and-all-I-had-to- do-was-tell-her-if-you-were-my-real-daddy-but-I-said-no-and-if-girls- go-into-your-house-and-i-said-no-and-and-and" a tiny, fast-paced voice said on the other end. The voice suddenly stopped and he heard click. Suddenly, the scream of a young girl filled the streets as a little blut of hair and body mass whized pass Sammy and latched onto Nathan's leg. "UNCLE NAT!" the little girl said as she squeezed his legs. "She-also-wanted-to-know-if-you-and-mommy-had-sex-but-I-don't- know-what-that-is..." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ummm...." a voice said from behind Sammy. From behind a tall, tanned woman with long wavy black hair and violet eyes surveyed the scene before her. The boy kneeling on the ground, the sick looking girl on the side, and a scratched up Nathan. "Am I interrupting some..." She peered over her shoulder and took another glance at Lucia. The face was faintly recognizable but she could not remember from where.

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Ignoring the woman who had showed up, Lucia's attention fully rested upon the little girl who clung to Nathan's leg. She studied the little girl's features, then looked up at Nathan and smirked. ::Oh, you always were such a softie for humans, love...:: Lucia thought smuggly. ::...especially the innocent, defenseless ones...::

She took a step towards Nathan, crouching down in front of the little girl. "Oh Nathan, I didn't know that you were an uncle! Hey there princess. Aren't you just the prettiest little girl in the world? What's your name, darling?"

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"It seems I'm not the only one fit to play the fool," Sam muttered as he climbed slowly to his feet. Dusting any invisible dirt from his clothing, he snickered a bit as he caught Lucia's cooing to the little girl. Obviously, the situation had degenerated to nothing but a farce. Ah, but that was probably to be expected, given all.

"Uncle Nathan," He echoed as the smirk never left him. "Isn't that quite special? Rather fitting, as well, I'd think. He always did have an inexplicable soft spot for foolish, dimwitted creatures."

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"I'm..." Charlene began before Nathan brought his hands over her mouth. Shooting a deadly glare at Lucia, he quickly turned back to Charlene. "Remember the story I told you about giving your name," Nathan said, his cheerful smile once again returning to his face.

"Yah-you-said-it-gives-people-power-Like-how-no-one-knows- God's-name-and-that's-why-he-controls-the-angels-and-humans-and- everything-because-they-all-have-names-and-names-are-powerful- and..." Nathan once again brought his hand to the girl's mouth. "No more candy for you." Bringing his hand to her head, he slowly closed his eyes. The girl felt the warmth of his hands on her head and suddenly felt very tired. Soon she was fast asleep. "Innocence, truly is the one thing that comes natural to humans," Nathan said as he ran his fingers through the young child's hair. "But don't mistake innocence and how easily they are corrupted for ignorance and stupidity, Sam. There's wisdom in the child's words. Especially about names."

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Evangelina looked around, utterly confused about what was going around. Why was everyone talking about humans as if they weren't humans themselves? And why was it that the closer Nathan got to her, the more it felt as if something was about to pop out of her skull. She brought her hand to her head and gasped a bit.

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Nathan looked over and hushed the young woman as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. "When exorcising a demon from a possessed person, the first thing that the exorcist asks is the demon's name. Once you know that, then the demon is forced to do whatever you want," Nathan paused a bit as he walked around Evangelina. The girl was breathing heavily as Nathan put his head next to hers. "Your soul is an open wound. It has been for a long time. I've been watching you, Evangelina since you sent me that message. Or should I call you Uriel?" The girl breathing stopped as she looked over at Nathan. Her eyes were glossed over as if she was in a trance. Once again, looking over at Lucia, Nathan smirked as he adjusted the weight of the child in his arms. "You're not the only one with a secret weapon, Lucifer."

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