The Second Time Around Ch. 11

"Oh, it hasn't been an eternity yet, only two hours."

"What?" she asked in surprise. She looked down at her watch, her throat going dry when she noticed that her timepiece was motionless. She held her wrist up to her ear to make sure that the batteries were still functioning and heard the telltale ticking. Still time was frozen therefore how did "Brigitte" know that two hours had already passed?

"Is your watch broken?" The fake Brigitte took a step closer to her and Gina fought every fiber within her that was attempting to step back in order to keep still. If this imposter knew that she was aware that she was a phony, whatever she actually was might try to harm her. Then again, Gina reasoned, what if this charlatan wanted to get closer to her in order to hurt her? Oh shit. Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.

"Gina?"

"Yea!" she snapped out of her musings to discover that the pretender was another foot step closer.

"Your watch, is it broken?"

"Nah," Gina answered waving her off. "Let's see if we can find a way out of here." She used this excuse to recommence her marching feet, her pace was quick and choppy as her head reeled from the realization that this thing, this con, this most likely evil entity was plotting to...to...to probably kill her. Gina quickly wiped the tears from her eyes as true dread and terror lighted upon her. The true Brigitte and Caid had promised that nothing would happen to her. All she needed to do was believe and have faith.

"Gina...Gina...GIGI!"

"What?!" she yelled forgetting to be scared shitless.

The fake Brigitte was taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Nothing, I was just going to say that you're walking awfully fast. You probably might have started to run if I hadn't called out to you."

"I'm sorry."

"Were you crying?"

"No—yes," Gina replied choosing to be somewhat truthful. If "Brigitte" knew that she was lying—let the Lord have mercy on her soul. "I started thinking about me—us—never getting out of here and I got scared. I want to see my family again."

"You will." Two steps closer. "Don't worry. I told you that you'd be safe with me." Three steps closer. "I would never allow anything to harm you." Five steps closer. The fake ran her brown fingers through Gina's black hair and smiled a very slow smile that sent shivers up Gina's spine. It was now or never.

Using gumption that she never thought she possessed, Gina drew back and slammed her perfectly manicured fist in "Brigitte's" face then took off running instead of waiting out the yelp of surprise to see if it really was a demon.

"Gina. GINA!"

"Holy shit," she said as she ran with tears streaming down her face. It reminded her of what took place the prior evening with Dante. Only this time there was no Corey to warn her, no Caid to defend her, and definitely no Brigitte to save her. She was on her own, running in an expanse of blue and white, on the verge of fighting for her life. Her grey eyes caught sight of the clouds as their course increased in rapidity beneath her moving feet. Even they understood her urgency to escape. Just when the yelling ceased and Gina felt as if she could take a breather, she did something that only an idiot would do.

She looked back.

***************

He was breathing heavily, his lungs under extreme exertion from the amount of energy he was expending to protect himself. For someone who had destroyed the red string of fate and obliterated his abilities, Caid was doing a damn good job of defending himself. Even so, this group of bastards was putting up a fight.

He slammed into the ground, rolling out of the way of descending rocks and spikes. They were smart...maybe too intelligent, taking turns on their offense and constantly forcing him to resort to his defense. He rolled himself over, pushing up with his arms and out of the way as one of the beastly ghouls descended upon him. He drew back and struck it in the midsection turning in time to barely miss a strike from another. He winced in pain at the claw embedded in his side, deciding within himself that he had had enough of getting his ass kicked. In that moment a small fraction of what Gina had said that morning replayed in his mind, "Whenever it gets closer to battle, weaponry from God knows where suddenly become available."

Well, in that case, where was his weapon? He was deep in battle with no true protection. He squeezed his fist tightly, blocking a blow to the face and thrusting the entity away from him. "I tire of this game."

"So do we," one of them replied likewise. Their attacks ceased as they began to regroup, combining one after another into a single being, towering over Caid's now small build.

He looked up at them almost tempted to shake his head in disbelief. "That weapon would come in handy right now," he said more so to himself than any of them. To his surprise his left hand began to tingle with heat, he gazed upon it in awe as a large, golden scythe manifested in his hand.

The new monstrous giant howled in anger, charging towards him however it's new body mass decreased its speed causing it to sludge forward like a glob of sludge, facilitating Caid's work for him. Levitating from the ground, Caid increased his velocity, swinging his scythe back and sweeping it forward with an upward stroke to slice its head off. The thickness of their combined skin hindered his strike, trapping the blade between its folds, yet Caid remained relentless, pushing and forging forward until black blood began to spray from the large wound he was creating. Caid uttered one final roar of victory, the ginormous head crashing to the ground inciting an earthquake.

Caid never looked back as he flew upward, dodging falling stones and boulders. He almost stopped when he realized that the gaping entrance was in reality a mouth. Jagged tines gnashed together furiously as he approached closer. Instead of waiting for the mouth to reopen, Caid filled his body with fire and smashed right through the barricade of teeth, ripping out several with his escape. His blue eyes continued to glow as he flew away from the wounded animal he had left behind and went in the direction of Gina and Brigitte's pull.

**********************

She was gone. Where had she run off to? Gina turned about to look in front of her, crying out in surprise and horror as the entity, once cloaked in Brigitte's outer appearance, slammed into her in its true form. Gina was too preoccupied screaming to notice its vile hands wrapped about her throat and squeezing. It was horrendous. It looked like something one would see in a "Resident Evil" video game. Its skin dripped from its skull like face, landing on Gina's reddening cheeks yet she continued to scream, then began to claw at its eyes to gauge them out as it stared into her own.

They were ghastly, soulless, black eyes that seemed to want to penetrate her body. The thought of possession encouraged Gina to cease her screaming and to increase her thrashing. She wasn't as weak as she looked. She could do this.

"You are as weak as you look, you lowly human," it muttered above her.

"Listen here, you fucker!" Gina wheezed ramming her knee into his thin, skeletal side. "You can't do anything to me."

"Can't I?" he asked, his dark voice penetrating her mind and echoing inside of her head. "Look at me," he commanded.

"No, no!" Gina cried unable to keep her head from turning back in his direction. Her eyes opened upon their own, informing her that she had slammed them shut, forcing her to stare into the abyss of blackness. "Who are you?" she asked as her strength began to fade.

If it had lips to smile she knew that she would be looking up at a smirk. "Wouldn't you be happy to know? Well, before you disappear from existence, allow me to enlighten you. You are looking at the master of trickery, the great Belial himself. Now die and fade away, you useless excuse of life."

"Belial," Gina repeated before going limp.

****************

Brigitte's feet took her faster as she rounded a corner and slipped, colliding with the slimy walls. "Gina!" she yelled. She had felt it. Her life force had disappeared. "Gina, I am sorry. Forgive me." Liquid escaped her tear ducts as she mourned the loss of her friend. She righted herself, anger replacing her pain. "I will bring you back," she vowed, unable to control her temper. She ran once more, completely ignoring the twisting and turning path, her anger and hurt providing her with the strength she needed to break through walls.

She flashed the crumbling particles out of her eyes, keeping up with her pace until she was running on air then downright flying, crashing through the framework of the building till it began to collapse from her brunt force. She was more than angry, she was furious and Belial would receive the full impact of her fury for what he had done.

She felt someone approaching her at full speed and halted face to face with Caid. They took one look at one another and wordlessly, glanced up at the ceiling, and took off crashing through the roof towards Belial. They hung weightlessly in what appeared to be nothing but sky. "Belial! Where are you? Show yourself, you coward!"

"You've arrived just in time, help me, please. That monster is after me!"

They turned about to see Gina standing before them. Her hair was haphazard on her head, and she looked terrified, however both Caid and Brigitte were no fools.

"Forgive me, Gina," Brigitte whispered before tackling her friend's body.

Belial laughed deliriously as he was scent flying through the firmament. He crashed into a wall, the sky and clouds malfunctioning as they disappeared then reappeared, the sky emitting the afterglow of a sunset, the crimson red color of blood.

"What? You didn't appreciate the welcome?" he asked lunging at Brigitte and casting her through the floor. She slammed out of the room, landing with a loud thud as she slid across the slick ground still covered with slime.

Caid used the sticklike handle of his scythe to sweep the ground from underneath Belial's feet. He didn't want to cause any harm to Gina's body. "Where is she?" he demanded.

Gina's beautiful smile emerged as Belial held her head back and laughed. "She is dead. I've already gotten rid of her useless soul." Awareness came upon her face as Gina's body rolled out of the way, a blast of light bursting through the roof. He may have missed the gust of energy, but the wanted effect was obtained as he fell through the ceiling to join Brigitte on what appeared to be the ground floor. He landed on his back and coughed in discomfort.

"Where is she?!" Brigitte asked once more lifting her foot to stomp on him. He lifted a hand and threw her again, but this time Caid caught her. Belial however used the distraction to pull down the rest of the ceiling upon their heads, laughing as he watched his two opponents become buried beneath the rubble.

"Collaborators are supposed to be powerful?" he taunted. "They are supposed to possess the power of the Almighty! Can't you use this power to save yourselves?" he asked tossing more debris upon them when they tried to climb their way out. After a while he became bored of the games. He would do away with them once and for all after taking their power source. "I will put this strength to much better use than either of you could ever imagine," he told them holding them up by the throat with invisible hands. "Don't worry, I will give you both the honor of being killed by the great Belial himself."

"And I will give you the great honor of going back to hell where you belong." He turned around in surprise to find his body looking back at him. "How did you—" His own bony hand plunged through Gina's chest squeezing tightly on her heart. He dropped his two captives who were watching in confused disbelief as Belial fought against himself.

Gina's hands tried to fend him off, but Belial's hold upon her remained unbreakable.

"What is—"

"I do not know," Caid replied before Brigitte could complete her question. "We should just watch and then take care of whoever is left standing."

"Fair enough," she agreed fascinated at what they were watching. She had never seen a demon attacking itself.

"You want to know how I did it? The same way you took over my body."

"Gina?" they asked in disbelief.

"Hi guys. Do you like my new look?" she asked her companions without taking her eyes off of her own body.

"How did you get inside of his body?" Brigitte asked baffled.

"I have never seen the possessor become possessed by the possess-e," Caid whispered in pure wonderment.

"All I had to do was find out where you kept your body when you leave it and once I did, I took over, now I want my body back and you're going to give it to me," Gina told him.

"Go to hell," Belial spat.

"You first and I'm here to facilitate the process." She stared into her own eyes compelling her fighting hands to cease their struggling.

"What are you doing?" he asked in shock. How was it possible for her to control her own body whilst he was still inside of her?

"What does it look like?" Gina asked redoubling her concentration to make her arm move. Belial was putting up more resistance, but her willpower refused to make her concede to him. She watched as her hand staggeringly reach into her vest pocket and pull out a small vial of clear liquid. Her resisting appendages held it still and opened the container.

"What is this?" Belial demanded.

"Your death unless you can tell us what we're looking for."

"And what's that?"

"Abdigar."

Both Brigitte and Caid nodded their heads. They were highly impressed.

Belial laughed without shame. "Abdigar? As if I would tell you a thing." With that said Gina once more compelled her hands to move, putting the vial to her lips. "Wait!" He has smelt the substance and it was pure. It really would be liquid death to him.

"Then speak," Gina stated. Instead of speaking Belial did even better, he visually led her to Abdigar's hideout where she saw him hunkered down. He seemed to be in the process of regeneration, half of his body was missing, and he was grunting and wiggling about as his body continued reforming.

"Happy now?" Belial asked grudgingly.

"Of course."

"Now let me go and I'll give you back your filthy body."

Gina shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to do that." She forced the contents into her mouth. Belial tried to pull away from her as the poison entered her body and his soul evoking great pain. A clear light emitted from Gina's open mouth as Belial's soul died inside of her. Before his body completely disintegrated, Gina took her rightful place back inside of her own figure in time to watch Belial's frame fall in a heap of dust at her feet. She kicked it for good measure then smiled, feeling highly proud and accomplished.

"Gina!" Brigitte attacked her with a hug and Caid downright lifted her off of her feet.

"Don't tell me you two missed me?" she teased. "Don't cry."

"I am so sorry," Brigitte told her. "We should have protected you."

"You did," she told them. "When I thought that I would die your scepter found me and somehow I was carried away from Belial. It led me to his body and if it wasn't for your help, I would have really been a goner."

"What did you give him to drink?" Caid asked curiously.

"Remember when Corey gave me that grain of sand from when he held off the Juggernauts? Well, I bottled up the substance and I've been keeping several vials of it with me for just in case purposes."

Brigitte held her tightly. "I am so happy that I could kiss you."

Gina laughed as her tears blurred her vision. "I thought I'd never see you guys again. Let's get our shit together for the next time," she told them on a laugh. They nodded in agreement and hugged one last time before separating. "Oh, quick before I forget you both should see where Abdigar is hiding."

They laid their hands upon her bringing her memories to the forefront allowing themselves to be transported, as Gina was, to Abdigar. When they were finished, they opened their eyes and thanked her.

"I have no idea where that is so I can't be of much help."

"No worries. We know exactly where to find him," Brigitte assured her. She clasped Gina's hand tightly unwilling to let go just in case another unexpected danger emerged. They found their way out of the maze of Belial's lair then utterly demolished it, breaking the curse it held over the land in the process. Immediately they were back in the desert however this time there was no sand storm or high winds to blind them and the sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky. The stronghold was forever destroyed.

"So where do we go now?"

"To Hell," Caid told her. "But first I think that it is wise for us to get some rest and nourishment. If Belial was a fight, Abdigar will be a battle."

"Not in his condition," Gina said recalling his damaged form.

"Even so, he has many minions under his command. To reach him will be a struggle in itself," Brigitte told her. "You should eat and then rest. You have been through a great ordeal."

"That's the thing," Gina said excitedly. "I should be downright exhausted, but there's a rush of energy overflowing on the inside of me. All this time I was scared out of my mind about encountering the supernatural only to find that it's not as difficult as I thought it would be."

They smiled at her enthusiasm. "You would not want to become a Collaborator perchance?" Caid teased.

"Is that possible?" Gina had taken him seriously. From what she'd already experienced, being a Collaborator couldn't be all that bad. It had its perks, one of them being eternal love. She noticed the way their eyes glowed even more when they glanced at each other. They truly were in love.

"How can a Messenger become a Collaborator?" Caid asked earnestly. He could see from her expression that she had no clue. "Did Corey not tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"A medium is another form of a Messenger. The spirit world seeks you out because you are their only source of communication after death. You once wondered what your purpose was in our battle and now you know. You were right, we were meant to be connected in order for you to help us along our journey. Brigitte and I need you just as much as you need us."

Gina stared at them skeptically. "Yeah right."

"How else were you capable of entering a demon's body without being consumed by evil? Only a Messenger can remain unfazed. Even a Collaborator would have at least been tempted and we are not so easily led astray. Our two entities can never intermingle. It would wreak havoc for both species."

Gina's jaw dropped. "What?"

Brigitte shook her head in accordance. Even she thought that Corey would have already enlightened Gina on her status. In fact, the entire Comito family had strong, pure spiritual energy. Although she was not certain, Brigitte surmised that once, long ago in another life, the Comitos were retainers of the Almighty and his kingdom of peace.

"I'm a Messenger?" They nodded then went about taking the squashed food out of the sac to distribute. At least the provisions hadn't been lost. "I'm a Messenger," Gina mumbled as she stared out into space.

"Yes, a skeptical Messenger, but one nonetheless," Corey taunted.

"Brother."

"Corey."

"You bastard! How could you not have informed me all of this time?"

Corey shrugged his shoulders, "It was necessary for you to see it for yourself, you Doubting Thomas," he told her with a crooked grin.

"You knew that I would accompany them, didn't you?"

He nodded his head slowly then gave her a wink before turning to the others addressing them as well instead of being entranced by Gina's beguiling eyes. "Great news, the Prince's forces are retreating. It's an age old trap because they expect us to give chase, but this gives us much opportunity to regroup and plan our method of attack. There are three thousand and forty-two hundred Collaborators on the front; another five hundred are ready for your disposal."