The Second Time Around Ch. 10

"What do you want?" Susan asked her long tanned legs crossed at the ankles revealing too much thighs from the extremely short miniskirt she was sporting. "I have more important things to deal with."

"So do I. I only wanted to inform you that I will be filing for sole custody of my daughter. You are a horrible influence and I feel as if Ilenia will have a more stable environment with me."

"What?!"

"You've been warned. Look forward to hearing from my lawyers."

"Is this supposed to be some fucking joke?" Susan spat at him. "You enter into my abode, disrespect me, then threaten my parental rights and you expect me to just stand here and take it? You must be insane."

"Susan, I have no intentions of wasting my time with you." He turned to walk away when she shoved him, pounding her feeble fists into his muscular back and making him stumble.

"You fucking jerk! You are not getting my child!"

"Your child!" Caid snapped turning around to seize her hands. His eyes began to glow, unbeknownst to him as he lectured Susan. "The only time that you remember that she is your daughter is when you are using her to get to me! You think I do not know about the strange men, the nights where you leave her with some random person while you disappeared, or the fucking drugs, Susan? You bring drugs around my little girl and you expect me to pretend as if I am blind to it all?" He had had her investigated when she became increasingly volatile by his visits to see his daughter, even when she knew beforehand that he would show.

Susan stumbled back away from him. How did he know about—it didn't matter. Adriano Comito was her meal ticket and there was no way in hell she was allowing him to take away Ilenia and the lovely sum of child support that came along with her.

"You're not taking my child," she gritted through her teeth, her head twitching, while Adriano sneered at her, taking his long, slightly limping gait up the steps to his daughter. "You are not taking my child!" she repeated.

Her words had been the same, but it was the inflection in her tone that had caught Caid's attention. It reminded him of when Brigitte had been possessed by the bracelet. He turned around; however the woman now standing in front of him, glaring at him with completely black eyes and jagged teeth gaping from her cavernous like mouth, was not the vindictive mother of his child. He realized that his assumption was right when Susan lifted him effortlessly into the air and threw him across the room. The shit just hit the fan.

~**~*~*~*~**~

"Dante, I told you that this was not the right color. Look here, this is salmon and what I wanted was peach," Gina replied shaking her head at her sibling. "You must seriously be colorblind."

"Bite me, little sis. Why would they have so many different shades of the same color?"

"Peach is not and will never be salmon," she told him.

"What? Do you want to go back to the store?"

Gina stirred the paint in the can and shook her head. It was a pretty shade of salmon pink. "Nah, we'll make it work. You get changed into your painting clothes and I'll set up the newspaper on the floor."

"Okay."

Gina lifted the two tins and lollygagged her way to the steps, feeling a sense of contentment overwhelming her. If only everyday could be like this.

Faster.

She stopped to look back at her brother. "Did you say something?" Her question went unanswered as she watched Dante's head begin to tick while he stared into space. What was he staring at?

"Dante?" she asked hesitantly, slowly retracing her footsteps.

No, get upstairs to your room quickly.

"Corey?" she asked finally recognizing the voice. Now she sympathized with Caid. For a second she thought that she was going crazy.

Move now, questions later. Run.

Gina didn't wait to be told a fourth time. She was a firm believer that the third time was the charm. She ran up the steps with the two cans of paint firmly gripped in her hands. She slammed the door, hands dropping their possessions as she leaned against it.

Put a chair under the knob then move your desk

"What? Why would I need—"

"GINA!!!"

That's why.

Gina grabbed her chair and shoved it underneath the knob, falling backwards at the sheer force of Dante's body slamming into the door.

"GINA!!!"

"Wh-what's going on in?"

Push the desk.

She did as she was told pushing the desk to barricade herself inside of her chamber. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Corey, where are you?"

I'm sorry, my hands are tied at the moment. Stay inside of your room and all will go well. It is protected by a spiritual barricade. I will be there as soon as possible. And whatever you do, do not touch the door or you will be giving him an invitation to enter.

"Gina, open the door," Dante said sounding back to normal. She could hear him on the opposite side caressing the wood and tapping his fingers against it.

"I can't," she said. Corey had never led her astray before. Now was no different.

"Gina, what you don't trust me? I would never harm my baby sister," he said soothingly.

She felt her body gravitating to the door. What if this was some sort of sick joke? What if he was pulling a prank on her or something?

"Gina?" Dante sang before she heard scratching against the door. It was slow at first then became more insistent as his impatience grew, reminding her of a frantic dog wanting to escape outside. "Open. The. Door."

"No," she told him shaking her head. She wasn't moving until she knew for a fact that it was safe.

"OPEN THE DOOR!" he bellowed and she jumped back. She didn't know who this person was, but he wasn't her brother.

~*~*~*~*~

"Ah!" Brigitte cried as she slammed through the walls as Abdigar sent her flying away from him. She was propelling backwards so quickly that it was almost as if she would start traveling back through time.

Brigitte, when you've finished getting your ass kicked, Gina needs you.

She trembled to her feet listening to Corey's sarcasm then turned to Abdigar. "What did you do?"

His horrendous body quivered with laughter as he ambled towards her, his claws clicking on the floor. "Why? Don't you want a little Hell on earth?"

"You..."

He smiled at her smugly, his eyeballs turning about rapidly with pleasure. "Am I not a man of my word?"

"No," Brigitte replied. "You are a monster." She rubbed her palms together. They felt as if they were on fire. Actually, her entire body felt as if it was on fire. She couldn't explain it, but before she was getting her ass kicked and tossed all over the place whereas now she knew what to do. It just came to her like a sudden revelation. "And I am through with you!" She stood to her feet with a strengthened resolve. There was no way she was letting him get away and if he did, it would be within an inch of his miserable life.

~*~*~*~*~*

Caid didn't know what to do. So far he had avoiding Susan's attempted attacks, he wasn't raised to strike a woman, but things were getting out of hand and he didn't want Ilenia to walk in on all of the destruction they had caused inside of the house. He had restrained her, but somehow she had broken free; he had entrapped her within the bathroom, but Susan had once more liberated herself; now here he was with her small hands wrapped about his neck while she thrashed about on top of him, choking him. She was strong. Whatever had possessed her was something to be reckoned with.

"You're going to die," Susan sneered down at him.

Caid grunted under the brunt of her weight, using his legs to push his body up and throw her off of him. He stumbled to the kitchen away from her, deciding that enough was enough. A woman he wouldn't hit, but Susan wasn't a woman. She was a bitch which made her different. His hand grasped the thinnest, plastic cutting board that he could find and swung back better than the backhand of a professional tennis player as it connected with Susan's head and sent her crumbling to the floor.

"Why did I not do that from the very beginning?" he asked with a smile. That felt great. He dropped the broken cutting board, grabbing a knife to cut the wires off of her appliances to bind her with. Unless she had lava breath, Susan would not be able to free herself.

"Daddy?"

Caid finished tying the knot his Collaborator completely awake as he turned in the direction of his child with his hand raised, freezing her in place. "I command you, in the name of the Almighty, to release her."

The demon withered and cried out in pain, convulsing the young body of his daughter as it submitted to his power and fled. Ilenia collapsed with him holding her up before her body struck the floor. He grasped her levitating body, clutching her closely against him before looking down at Susan. Even as a Collaborator, Caid was tempted to abandon Susan in her deplorable state, but he knew that it wasn't the right thing to do.

"Unfortunately, you get to tag along," he told her kneeling down to lift her head into his free hand. They vanished.

~*~*~*~**~*~

"You are going back to Hell even if I have to take you there myself," Brigitte told Abdigar, dodging a clawed foot in the process, lifting him above her head then slamming him through the ground. Her body rose off of the floor as it broke to pieces beneath them then she lunged forward to join him, pressing her burning palms into his chest while he cried out in pain.

Abdigar took advantage of Brigitte's closeness, despite his pain, to thrust his hand deep inside of her chest.

Brigitte screamed, her heart being squeezed by his beefy hand. "I will not die so easily," she told him, blood dripping from her lips as she grabbed his hand and focused her energy upon it until it melted to her touch.

"Rrraaaawwwwrrrrr!!!!!!!" Abdigar roared, burying his claws into Brigitte's belly and kicking her away.

Brigitte's body was flung out of the crater in the house and slammed back to the floor, arching her up in pain from the impact of her landing. She wheezed for stability finally able to get her bearings and her strength to go after the demon. The last thing she wanted to do was allow him to escape and regenerate.

"You shall not elude me, Abdigar. Your life ends now." Once more Brigitte dove head first into the hole stretching her arms forward to propel her body faster. She drew back her hand, her scepter materializing from thin air as she slammed it forward into Abdigar's body. He howled in anguish, using the last of his force, before he went unconscious, to shove her away from him before she really did kill him. Half of his body had disintegrated because of her and that damn scepter. She had become stronger since their initial meeting; he was a fool to have underestimated her. But she was too late, his plan was already set in motion and there was nothing she could do to stop him. Within the next full moon, Hell would literally be on earth ready to devour its inhabitants.

Not only did he send her away from the hole, but out of the entire house. Brigitte crashed through her front door, colliding with Dante and knocking him unconscious from the force of her landing. She would never get used to that. She sputtered for air, gasping as the hole in her chest began to close painstakingly slow.

"Brigitte?" Caid appeared before her with Ilenia and Susan in his arms. He set them down to tend to her, calling for Gina for assistance.

"Oh my gosh," Gina replied watching her friend fighting to heal. "What do we do?"

"Take Ilenia and Susan into your room." He lifted Brigitte off of Dante then gently floated his body inside of Gina's bedroom as well before carrying her downstairs.

"What do we do?" Gina repeated pacing to and fro in anxiety. "And what the hell is going on?"

"Calm yourself. Brigitte will be all right. She is healing. If I had not destroyed our connection, the process would have been over by now." He took her hand and held it tightly as her body fought against an invisible resistance. Her golden eyes bore into his own and Caid kissed her forehead, uttering soothing words to calm her. He could feel her pain, he knew that she was experiencing torture, but he couldn't do anything about it. He barely had any gifts that could help in this situation. And it was all his fucking fault! The bond was reestablishing itself his ass!

He listened to her cries of anguish it seemed for hours, beside himself with worry. Why couldn't he do something more than wipe the sweat from her brow. He would have given anything if it was him in her place.

"Don't worry," Brigitte's weak, trembling voice assured him. "I will not die." She slipped into unconsciousness, the hole now the size of a golf ball instead of a bowling ball.

"What is going on?" Gina demanded standing before him with her hands upon her hips. "And why are Susan and Ilenia here? Why did Dante try to attack me? Why does Brigitte have a hole in her chest? Why!"

"I do not know," Caid responded calmly, watching her recommence her caged pacing. "I cannot much less explain how I was transported here without a vehicle."

"I have the sentiment of Hell on earth right now."

"That's because it is." Corey appeared before them a look of seriousness upon his face.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Hell is making its way upon the earth. This is only the beginning of what is to come."

"How do we stop it?" Caid asked standing to his feet to regard his brother.

"It cannot be undone from this realm. The underworld is in utter chaos. The Prince's faction becomes more insurgent."

"What is happening?" Gina asked fearing the answer that she would receive.

"War."

"Armageddon?" Caid questioned.

"Possibly. A world call was sent forth to prepare all of the Collaborators. In order to reverse the effects of Abdigar's presence, we must first break his stronghold upon the earth then do the same in the underworld."

"How?"

"He must die."

"Brigitte, you are awake." Caid rushed to her side. Her regeneration was complete.

"All I needed was a cat nap," she teased, rolling her stiff neck about. She stood up only to be pushed back down by her lover. Rolling her eyes, she addressed Corey, "Abdigar and I engaged in combat and he is gravely injured. If you would allow me to go after him, I can finish what was started."

"Not on your own."

"How do you suppose to do that?" the brothers asked simultaneously.

"The house has been converted into a gateway to the underworld. The only issue is that Abdigar sealed it off the moment he threw me out. If we can bring down the barrier, we will be able to give chase," she explained answering Corey instead of Caid.

"What were you doing back there, anyway?"

"I went to speak with Paul only to be greeted by his doppelganger. I think that when we fought, it set his plan in motion. I was the catalyst. He needed my energy and I fell into his trap; nevertheless, I walked away with something of my own."

"What would that be?"

"A part of his black soul," Brigitte said holding out her hand to call forth her scepter. "We can use his biological constitution to see what is to come. A part of his plan will be revealed to us and we can take the necessary means to stop him."

Corey nodded his head in pride. "I must return. More portals have begun to sprout all over the earth. We need to close them as quickly as possible."

"Corey?"

"Yes Brigitte?"

"Call forth the cherubim. There is a certain individual that needs to be hunted. I saw him last night and I think that he plays a big role in all of this."

"Who?"

"Belial."

"The seducer? I'll get right on it."

"Huh?" Gina said curiously.

"He is a seducer who calls others to the dark side. He is a destroyer of worlds who was condemned to Sheol, but I am assuming that Abdigar is responsible for his liberation. It is imperative that he is found before he wins over earthly followers. We do not want to harm humans," Caid told her. "Call out the foot soldiers and have them scour the earth for any demonic entities without authorization."

"Let me get something straight," Gina said. "You guys give demons authorization to come to the surface?"

"Yes. Those who dabble in...certain activities invite them and once they are invited, they have the right to stay. As we have informed you before, Gina, everything is a balance. There must be darkness with the light to maintain equilibrium."

She nodded her head. "I guess I'm just freaking out from everything that's been happening so far. What do we do about Dante and the others? How do we explain this to Mamma?"

"Allow me to enlighten you," Brigitte told her. "Because they are connected to us, there will always be a possibility that someone will attempt to harm them. Therefore, they shall be placed in a deep slumber until we have resolved this chaos. I placed a silver shield around the house last night after Belial's intrusion, but I think that he came to break the barriers. That would explain why Dante was affected by the chaos."

"Putting them to sleep. That is a good idea. Should we do so to the entire earth?"

"No," Corey replied. "That would be too suspicious. If we want it to seem as if we are unaffected by all that has been occurring, everything needs to remain as it was before. I will call forth several Protectors. They will encase your relatives in peace until the appointed time to awaken them."

"And Mamma?"

He gave Gina a reassuring smile, "She is being taken care of as we speak. Do not worry, Ginevra. No harm shall come to you. We do not break our word."

"Gina, I know that you want to help, but if this is all becoming too much for you, you are welcomed to join the others in sleep," Brigitte offered.

"No, I'm not running. We started this thing together, and although right now I'm not of much help, I will be in the future. We're going to finish this together."

"Well then we'll need to get our rest," Brigitte told them after a yawn.

"Why?"

"Because tomorrow we assist in the hunt for Belail."