Chapter 3: Introductions are in order...

"Why don't they come up here and, um... arrest us?" Alex asked. He stood with the two women by a statue of an angel on a small rise away from the chapel. His own face was still wet with the blood from the goblet. The chapel was fully engulfed in flames, with firefighters spraying it down and police looking around for who might be in the area.

Both women answered at once. "That's me," the dark-haired one said, while the blonde replied with "I am concealing us." They stopped, looked at each other sharply, and then shrugged it off.

Having a quiet moment to get his bearings, he had realized underneath all the blood and bruises, both women were probably shockingly beautiful. Both seemed to always have either hair or shadow or a convenient stance just barely covering their breasts. The blonde had clearly recovered more quickly, standing taller and more alert. The other slouched a bit, arms crossed over her chest, looking mostly away from the other two.

"So they don't see or hear us here?" "No," the blonde answered.

"Huh. ...'kay... I can't believe you're both standing, you were hurt so bad..." "I am recovering rapidly," the blonde answered.

"I'll manage," the other shrugged.

"How did you find us?" the blonde asked. "Did you know about this? Were you sent?"

"I was just here taking pictures," Alex shrugged, jostling his backpack a bit. "Snuck onto the property. I heard the screaming. I really had no idea."

"The Lord does work in mysterious ways," the blonde smiled a bit. "Bugger your patriarchal sky god," the other woman grimaced.

Alex was silent for a second. Every time he spoke seemed to make this very awkward moment more awkward, but somehow just standing there didn't seem to be all that slick, either. "Are you two cold? 'cause one of you could have my sweatshirt at least..."

The women both looked at him blankly.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help, I mean this is all so crazy, and... who the hell are you two, anyway?"

"Interesting choice of words," the blonde said, looking at the dark-haired one, who spat blood onto the ground.

"Sorry," Alex muttered.

"You may call me Rachel," the blonde began. "I am an angel of the Third Host, charged with... nevermind. It will mean nothing to you. I am an angel, and that is all you need to know. This one," she said, gesturing at the other woman, "is... well, why don't you tell him your name yourself?" she smirked.

"Bitch," the other snapped bitterly.

"That would be one name, yes," Rachel smirked.

"Woah, hey, how about we not fight?" Alex requested, taking a step further between them and holding his hands up peaceably. "Look, I'm Alex, okay? You're Rachel, okay, cool, and what's your name?"

"Call me Lorelei, ma—" she stopped herself. "Original," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Look, ladies, can we please cool it? Jeez, you're like cats and dogs or something."

Rachel looked at him evenly, and the notion clicked in Alex's head. He looked at Lorelei with wide-eyed realization. "But... aren't you supposed to have, like, wings?"

Alex felt silly for asking it almost as soon as it had come out of his mouth, but Rachel explained anyway. "They cut off our wings after we were summoned by their sorcery," she said, "and her little horns and tail. That pile of ashes in the room was what was left... it was all burned to block our power. Magic often works in symbolism, and I suppose those features can symbolize power. They wanted to weaken us.

"Lorelei here is a succubus," Rachel went on, a hint of venom in her voice. "Do you know what that is?"

"Er," Alex mumbled, thinking back to the handful of times he played Dungeons & Dragons and flipped through the books. "Isn't that like a hottie girl demon?"

"Yes," Rachel said while Lorelei rolled her eyes. "Hottie girl demon. The succubi seduce men on Earth to sate their own immortal lusts. Their victims give their all until they are shriveled husks, literally abandoning life and everything of importance to fornicate with the evil little trollops. Men fornicate with them to their literal deaths."

"Holy shit, is she serious?" Alex blinked, looking at Lorelei, who only reluctantly raised her eyes to meet Alex's gaze.

"She simplifies, but yes," she said quietly. "Though you have nothing to fear from me, mast—" again, she cut herself off. Rachel looked on with newly aroused interest.

"So you steal souls like that?"

Rachel giggled while Lorelei shook her head. "It's not like that," Lorelei said simply. "I can... tell you later."

"Yes, I'll just bet you can, Lorelei," Rachel said.

"What's so funny about this?" Alex asked.

"Oh, I think Lorelei here was affected by this night much more than I. Do you remember what the fallen priest was saying?"

"Bite your tongue, angel!" Lorelei snapped.

"I was kinda busy trying to rescue you guys and not freak out at the same time. I'm not like a big hero or anything, I'm just a college student."

Rachel looked at him seriously for a moment, and then sighed. "I'm probably not supposed to tell you all this, but the hell with it." She leaned back, casually putting her butt against a headstone. "Those men in there were trying to use sorcery to enslave us both. Well, the priest was, anyway. The others were probably just his dupes. Doubtlessly one of them was the fool who left the front door unlocked.

Thankfully.

"They summoned us through ritual magic and imprisoned us. They tortured us to keep us weak. The chains, the whip, tearing off our wings. All of that, just to keep us both vulnerable. And then, with that goblet as a tool, the priest drew out of us part of our essences. My purest good, her foulest evil, just as he said."

Alex's jaw dropped, and he reached up to touch his cheek. "You mean that's what's all over my face? Is that gonna do something to me?"

"It already has, to all three of us," said Rachel, with a hint of mischief. "Though I can tell that Lorelei here got the worst of it. He worked harder on her. Neither of us can hurt you or lie to you now. That's just the way it is. And again, Lorelei's just not as evil as she was before -- how much difference that makes you'll have to just wait and see. And I," she said, a bit sadly, "am something less now than I was... though the

Hosts may be able to remedy that later."

"So you're not a good guy angel anymore and she's not a bad guy demon? What happens with me?"

"Oh, I'm still good at heart, I can tell you that. And Lorelei... well, that's up to her, really. But as for you, again, the ritual was made to enslave us both to the recipient of those essences. I can neither lie to you nor hurt you, though you didn't really have to worry about that to begin with. Lorelei got it worse, though—"

"Go ahead and run your mouth more, wretch," Lorelei grumbled bitterly.

"—or have you not noticed that Lorelei keeps almost calling you 'master?' She's fighting it, but she's losing." Rachel was only slightly suppressing her grin. Angel or not, she found this amusing.

Again, Alex's jaw dropped. "I—what?!" he blurted. He looked between the two women. "I didn't mean— oh my god! Lorelei, I wasn't trying to enslave you, I was trying to help! Holy shit, this is crazy! I don't want you to have to be my slave! That's not right! I just didn't want you to get hurt anymore or raped, or... oh my god..."

Lorelei looked at Alex like he had grown another head and started speaking Chinese. At this, Rachel chuckled. "'Abashed, the Devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is.'"

"Oh, shut up," Lorelei replied bitterly. "Isn't that from 'The Crow?'" Alex asked.

Rachel sighed. "No. Milton. Paradise Lost. Keep going to college, Alex, you'll get it."

"Is there any way to change it back? What happens when I wash this off my face?"

"Nothing," Lorelei answered. "The blood is a symbol and a conveyance, nothing more. The deed is done. We are both diminished. I cannot mislead or harm you, and... I will not be claiming any more lives as I once did. Master," she added, as if admitting defeat.

Alex was floored. "There's gotta be some way to free you, though, right? I mean, slavery's just... wrong!"

"This is not slavery as you understand it, m-master. That is an oversimplification. Besides, every demon is servant or slave to another in Hell," Lorelei shrugged. "I am far more displeased to be diminished in power than to have my allegiances shifted to this, particularly given the alternatives. Far better you than that fallen priest. And to return to Hell like this would be... unimaginable. Trouble yourself not over my feelings on it."

"Magnanimous for a demon. That pull on your essence must have gone deep," Rachel quipped.

"I would still bite off your wagging tongue, hag."

"Well... so... what am I supposed to do?" Alex blinked. "I mean is some other big bad demon going to come looking for her?"

"Possibly, but unlikely," Lorelei said, more to the ground than to Alex.

"I wouldn't worry about it," Rachel shrugged. "That does seem unlikely, both given Lorelei's situation and the fact that greater demons generally cannot act overtly against mortals. And in any event, there is an angel in your debt. You would be a terribly complicated target."

"You don't have to feel like you owe me anything," he said. "I just did what someone had to do. But, I mean... no offense, Lorelei, but," he turned back to Rachel, "is it really good for a normal guy like me to have a demon, um, working for him? I mean I don't wanna wind up in Hell!"

"Bound to you would be a better term," Rachel offered. "And that is something only time will tell. However, it's not like she can go back where she came from now, and I can't take her with me. I suspect that would end very badly. You'll have to keep her close to you so she doesn't run around being... well, evil." She smirked at the vicious glare her comment drew from Lorelei.

"But I should think that someone like you might be a good influence on someone like her. I'll be watching over you, Alex. Remember, she cannot lie to you or try to bring you harm, including to your soul. Trust yourself. Farewell." Rachel turned and started walking away, and as she did, she seemed to gradually fade from sight.

"Wait, you're just leaving? What am I supposed to do now?"

Rachel looked back and shrugged. "What else would you do? Go home."

With the angel gone, Alex slowly turned and looked at the battered but beautiful, naked demoness next to him. There were a million things on his mind, and he had no idea where to begin. But he was exhausted and certainly did want to go home. "So you can stay invisible?"

"I have great ability at illusion, master, yes," she responded evenly. "I haven't the strength just now for much else, but none but you will know I am present."

"Guess you'll have to be invisible on the back of my motorcycle, then, 'cause I only brought one helmet and I don't wanna get a ticket. You sure you don't want my sweatshirt?"