Nine

Everyone looked up at the sound of footsteps. Rosario instantly got up and hugged the demon who had a bit of red smudged onto his cheek, his scars were back in place and the fancy clothes and light make up were gone.

"How'd it go?" Emalia was the one who asked that.

"Our friend is a bit bruised up and not having any kids anytime soon," Mal seemed quite proud of himself, Valentine thought bruised up was an understatement from the way he said it but it could've just been him, "anyway, our Fortune Teller lives in Inferno Lake. Which means he is closer than we anticipated but still above the cloud line."

There was suddenly a clamour and someone stumbled down the stairs. It was Nicholas, he had a black eye and his clothes were in shreds revealing multiple whip marks and the like as he stumbled out of the inn not even giving their table a glance, the other giants followed after him all confused and worried.

The three turned to the only demon in the group simultaneously, "A bit?"

"Okay maybe a bit more than a bit but we got our information, now we get our sleep," Mal made a move to stand up but was pulled back down by Rosario.

"Eat," the angel murmured, "You haven't eaten in a long time."

"I'm not hungry."

The demon stood and left, jogging up the stairs, eyes locked on the key that had the door number on it. Rosario sighed, he grabbed the garlic bread, he turned to the two teens with a small smile, "You two get some sleep, it's going to be a long trip tomorrow." Then he left.

"Why do all adults say that?"

Emalia shrugged.

They finished eating then walked up to their rooms or rather room seeming as the lady had said they ran out of rooms. They exchanged a glance before entering the room and thanking the gods that there were two beds and not one.

"Turn around," Emalia ordered. Valentine swiftly did as told after the murderous look he was given. He quickly changed into his own pyjamas that were simply his boxers.

Emalia glanced over to give him the all clear but ended up staring at Valentine's well toned stomach, a red flush quickly overcame her face. She face planted into the bed, behind her the mortal chuckled.

"Not funny," she whined.

That only made the blue haired boy laugh harder, he lay down in his bed and stared at the ceiling, he turned to look at Emalia who was also watching him, "say, I've been wondering, how old are you?"

"Around 300, why?"

Valentine shot up in surprise, "you're that old?!"

Emalia chuckled, she wrapped the blanket around her and sat up, "I'm a baby compared to Rosario and Mal."

Valentine narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "How old are they?"

Emalia thought for a second, she then looked down at her hands and began counting, before huffing in frustration and giving up, "They're older than 2000."

The mortal spluttered unintelligently, his eyes open wide in shock and eyebrows raised, "But they seem no older than 20!"

Emalia made jazz hands causing little sparkles to come out of her fingertips, "Magic."

"How long have they known each other for?" Valentine leaned forward on his hand and looked out into the distant mountain peaks.

Emalia furrowed her eyebrows in thought, "1300+ years, I think, I'm not sure, it kinda died down but it sometimes comes up in the Light Court especially if he brings Malice to parties."

"Imagine knowing someone for that long and still not knowing everything about them, not getting tired of them, you know, loving them literally until the end of time."

"It's a wonder isn't it?" Emalia asked, she lay down and stared at the ceiling that resembled the night sky, "how they're so in tune with one another, as if they're meant to exist together?"

"I wish I had a love like theirs, even if it's with a friend," Valentine glanced at Emalia, who turned to look at him, she smiled slightly, the mortal pushed himself up onto his elbow, "will you give me a chance?"

Emalia locked eyes with him, "A chance to what?"

A chance for what? He didn't know, Valentine sighed, breaking eye contact and cursing under his breath before looking back up a new determined gleam in his eyes, "a chance to learn about your world."

The next day by sunset they were only a stairway away from the Inferno Lake where the Fortune Teller lived. The stairs happened to be hand carved and slippery from ice and snow, the railings were dying vines that weren't strong enough to hold them if they used them to crawl up. Rosario was kind enough to use his wings which seemed purer than snow, with gilded feathers, he flew them to the top of the stairway and back. At the top they came face to face with a rickety bridge on either side of which was an old gargoyle snarling at them with ugly yellow gems for eyes.

Emalia cursed, "By the angels, are you sure this is safe?"

"Only one way to find out," Mal murmured.

He stepped onto the old rotting planks not even flinching when they painfully creaked. The howling wind blew his hair all over the place making it look more like a black halo around his head than anything. Valentine caught sight of the demon's glowing red eyes and flinched slightly back, suddenly scared of the person who was in front of them. The bridge groaned causing the demon to stop, he held onto the rope railing and slowly stepped forward again.

"If it can't hold his weight then it can't hold any of ours," Rosario stated, his eyes flashed between a golden colour and his usual obsidian before settling on gold, he ruffled his feathers in his worry. The two youngest looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows.

A loud crack caught their attention, they snapped their heads to the sound only to see the gargoyles moving as Mal continued on his way along the long bridge being careful as to where to step. The gargoyles cracked and groaned and debris fell from them as they moved their clawed hands and jumped down from their pedestal to stand in front of them.

Valentine glanced between the two gargoyles, he raised his hand and waved meekly, "Er….hi?"

The gargoyles charged with a high pitched cry. Valentine twisted the bangle and threw the dagger at the one that had jumped on him. Rosario shot an arrow at the other while Emalia used vines to wrap the one the mortal had hit in a trap.

On the bridge, Malice turned around at the sound of the gravely high pitched cry of gargoyles that sounded like nails being dragged across a chalkboard. His eyes widened at the sight of the group quickly being overtaken even with one of the most powerful angels on their side. Abandoning all caution, he began running back towards the others. He stretched his arm out and smirked at the familiar feeling of the shadows that spread through him, it was cold and welcoming, the silent whispers and hisses that called him lord at his beck and call. He swiped his arm up and a spike of shadow impaled one of the gargoyles trying to attack Rosario from behind.

The Angel snapped his head around and gaped at the spike of shadow that had taken a wheezing and hissing gargoyle as hostage. He quickly swiped the head off with a sword made of light he quickly conjured up. Behind him, Valentine had paused and ran to the edge, his face paled at the sight of the army of gargoyles clambering up the side of the canyon.

"Guys, we have incoming."

"No shit Sherlock!" Emalia cried as she pushed a gargoyle back down to the hole it crawled out from.

Mal jumped back a good few meters as a large stone giant climbed up through the hole in the middle of the bridge. It spread its arms and roared. It's eyes glowed an eerie white and its teeth were made of ice shards, and so we're its claws.

It yelled in a voice that sounded like boulders falling down a rocky hill, "You shall not pass demon!"

Mal rolled his eyes, he pulled his whip from his belt, "that is getting old."

Valentine leaned against the wall trying to catch a breather. He pushed a gargoyle that charged at him away. For someone who has not taken kung-fu lessons in nearly 5 years, he was doing rather well. He moved away from the wall and stabbed the silver dagger into the gap between the gargoyle's head and body: where its neck was supposed to be. Pain suddenly filled his senses, he cried out and tried to shake whatever was biting into his shoulder off of him. He rolled onto his back and managed to throw off the gargoyle who's teeth resembled that of a piranha.

Emalia was quickly running out of juice. She swung vines at the gargoyles and pushed them back down into the pit after pulling hard enough to break their necks. She ducked under a blow made at her head only to be thrown off her feet by two that ran at her. She flapped her wings and managed to fly a little higher only for two gargoyles to grab her wings and pull her down, Emalia cried out in pain.

Rosario beat his wings as he tried to get out of the clutches the gargoyles had on his legs. He didn't have many destructive powers, he hated to say it but that was Malice's job, he simply healed. The angel made a ball of light in his hands and threw it down into the crowd of gargoyles, it blasted a small hole into their large ranks. His eyes scanned the field, they were losing, but he spotted Mal, the demon sent that large giant he was fighting toppling down into the pit, a loud crash echoed through the canyon causing the gargoyles to pause only for them to attack angrier. Rosario was pulled out of the sky with a yelp.

Malice growled. A rush of cold air fell over his back as shadows morphed into wings. He jumped into the air and willed the shadows to push their owners to the floor. Satisfaction filled him as the gargoyles landed flat on their backs before tearing at the darkness and standing again causing the satisfaction to die as quickly as it came. He landed in the clearest place on the platform. He glanced at Rosario who was struggling to fight off the gargoyles then at Valentine who was being cornered, the pain in his own body telling him where the mortal was injured, then he saw Emalia, the young fairy girl was being pushed down onto the floor by the gargoyles who teared at her wings.

A red aura surrounded him, and his eyes glowed a dark blood red. He felt the familiar emptiness that came with controlling shadows flood through his whole body. Cold joined the prominent nothingness, it coiled in him like a spring, the red was joined by black then the spring was let loose and a wave of pure darkness and hatred hit the gargoyles sending them down into the canyon. Rosario covered his face, Valentine ducked and Emalia watched with admiration. It was all over in seconds and Mal collapsed onto the floor his chest rising and falling rapidly.

The angel was beside him in a second but he shook his head, "go, take care of Emalia and Valentine. I'll be fine."

Rosario didn't seem so sure, he gave Mal's shoulder a quick squeeze of reassurance before running to help the two others. The demon sighed in relief then lay down on the hard ground watching as the light took care of the fae and mortal.