Chapter One

She had escaped. Lydia paused in the dark alley, having just left the hidden doorway that was a back way into Baal's, no, Lorelei's palace in her former realm. She still couldn't believe she'd found it and it was due to her nemesis, Lorelei. A look of chagrin crossed her features as she realized the other succubus, whom she despised to all that was unholy, was in fact the one most responsible for her being freed from her century long sentence in Hell.

She'd been sentenced at the hands of that insufferable snot Vincent after being captured by that absolutely insane angel Rachel. Lydia had endured countless torments and indignities at the hands of her fellow demons in Belial's realm. And he, that Duke Bastard of Hell had let them! Encouraged and incited them as an "initiation" into his realm since her and Lorelei's former master had gotten his stupid life taken by that callow stripling, Alex Carlisle in that confrontation in Baal's realm.

Lydia's temper rose volcanically at the memory of the events that had led her to degradation and humiliation...she, who had brought so many lost souls to weigh on their side of The Balance! She'd been brought so low, and the way they'd used her body and mind...even now she couldn't stand to think of how many she'd been forced to take on and in multiples...and worse, forced to like it, to scream in rapture even as her mind shrieked in horror. Now that she was free she would visit such vengeance upon those...

...She stopped short. Free. She was free. She was free! She had no master, no obligation, no hellish consequence if she did not bring the damned to their final destination. She froze, feeling vulnerable and...and weak. She also had no purpose. With all her power, she knew she could wreak untold havoc in the mortal world, but with no compulsion to do so, she felt...adrift.

She still had the chunk of Baal's Iron Crown that Lorelei had melted and shattered in her battle with Azazel. There would be none likely to challenge her stay among the mortals. More chagrin tugged at her mind as she realized she would have to find shelter from both the Pit and the Hosts amongst the rabble of her former victims. The piece of the crown should be able to keep her powers from waning here but she did not know. How was she to function?

Her thoughts turned over her possibilities for success here in Seattle and beyond. She knew she couldn't stay here, Rachel would be on a rampage to dwarf the vigilance with which she'd cleared her Dominion previously and to find Lydia untethered here? She shuddered at the prospect, iron talisman or not. She would have to figure out a way to survive without raising suspicions. She knew she would not be able to contact her former allies...Rachel, Lorelei, Alex and those damned witches had seen to that. Not to mention those mortal cretin friends of his. Oh, that memory rankled.

But still, and another insult she'd endured from her fellow succubus came to mind, she did feel lighter now that she wasn't bound to any lord of The Pit. Not a whole cow as Lorelei had intimated, but definitely without the weight of so much oppression and obligation. The feeling was...delicious. Her mind began to run riot with the things she might do with her new-found freedom but then she reined herself in as she moved down the alley. She had to protect that freedom first and foremost. So...she would have to find a first victim. Luckily, she didn't have to go far. She found him at the end of the alley.

Chapter Two

Burton O'Hara pulled on the cigarette someone had given him that morning in lieu of money. Cheap bastard. Well at least it gave him something to do with his mouth besides cursing his lot in life. He dragged a last inhale from the butt before dropping it on the ground and grinding it under his foot. As he made to move off towards the Subway on the corner, a soft hand landed on his shoulder.

"What?!" He exclaimed.

A sultry voice admonished him, "You really shouldn't smoke those. They'll be the death of you." Lydia turned the vagabond easily towards her. She recoiled slightly at his stench but focused on him nonetheless. "You will help me."

"Uh, uh yeah, sure lady...ma'am." Burton had never seen a more beautiful woman in all his days and he'd seen a lot. It didn't matter that her clothes seemed as raggedy as his or that she looked disheveled as though she'd run from trouble. Suddenly he wanted to protect her at all costs and...and, Christ Almighty he wanted her like he hadn't wanted anyone since Maddy died. He stood looking at her, waiting for her to speak.

"I need shelter and money. You will get them for me."

Burton threw back his head and laughed, not noting the peeved anger that suddenly crossed the woman's features. "Boy, Missy, wouldn't we all like to have some of that!" he chortled. Wiping his eyes, he huffed out, "I ain't seen a dollar since last Tuesday, ma'am and if I still had it I'd sure give it to you." He dissolved into a fit of coughing, before he continued, "They won't let me in there, but if you tell 'em you're in trouble, they'll help you...." He pointed at a small storefront that had a banner strung over the door that proclaimed "Strength Through Diversity" and under it a number, 2030. "They help women in trouble, there, ma'am."

Lydia followed his arm point and then turned to look at Burton. She pulled him close and whispered. "You will forget me and forget this. But I will remember you helped me."

She pressed her mouth onto his and drank deeply of the desire that sparked through him at her touch. He stank of the cigarette but she did not care and drew out the kiss long enough to send a revitalizing bolt through him. He pulled her to him and kissed her deeply before letting go. Lydia blinked, as did Burton, strange changes going through the succubus and her prey. His eyes cleared, he straightened and took her hand boldly.

"I'll take you there," he said gruffly, leading her on the short one block walk. She let him, still marveling at how she'd taken from him and yet seemed to have given in return. They crossed the street. and stood awkwardly at the entrance to the women's shelter. "I don't know why, but I want to thank you, ma'am." He began. "I don't know what just happened, but it's like you've made me see things clearer than I have in years. Thank you, thank you...." he trailed off shaking her hand. "Right in there. You go on now." He urged, then turned and walked off back the way they'd come.

He mumbled, talking to himself and she caught the name "Maddy" and "go to my daughter's house..." before he slipped away from even her keen ears. So strange. In all her centuries of walking the Earth she had never let prey go to anything but their deaths. But she had helped this one as he had her. So strange.

Lydia pushed through the glass door as a redheaded young woman looked up from her place behind the counter. First checking the street outside warily, then bringing her eyes back to Lydia, she gave the disheveled succubus a quick practiced assessment and asked immediately, "Is he following you?"

Lydia blinked. "Who...the man I was with?" The young woman nodded. "No... he just brought me here. He said you help women," and Lydia's teeth gritted on her next words, "in trouble." She stepped closer. "I am in a great deal of trouble," she dropped her voice to the seductive whisper she'd used so often to turn her prey's wills to her own. "I need shelter, a place to hide, until I can leave this city." She was tempted to command as she had with the apparently homeless man, but then swallowed her pride and asked, "Can you help me?"

Karen Bixby regarded the blond woman before her carefully before speaking. She was a looker all right; had Karen not been happily married to the love of her life, Mia, she might have...no, she would have sought to get to know the alluring beauty standing before her better. So much better. She even felt a tingle sneak down through her core along with a jolt of surprise. Her radar instantly went on high alert as she felt that there was something going on with this woman that she neither understood nor liked. She hesitated a moment, before her training took over, wondering at the same time if she shouldn't trust her gut instincts and tell this woman she would have to seek help elsewhere.

The next moment her apprehension dissipated and she was left wondering what she had been thinking. This woman had asked for help and that was her mission, her calling. Karen smiled warmly, then gathered her tablet, a clipboard, forms and a pen and motioned for Lydia to follow her through a curtain covered doorway. Gesturing to a table with chairs she said, "You'll have to fill out these forms for us, mainly so we'll have information for other agencies. Do you have any identification? I noticed you don't have a purse...." Karen trailed off as Lydia returned her gaze with incredulity that soon morphed to desperate entreaty.

"Please...no. I can't give you that. I-I... he...he'll find me, I know he will," Lydia lied to cover up the fact that she would not know what to put down on the forms...she certainly hadn't re-established a residence and cover and to seek out her old haunts would be folly. "I-I just need to leave the city. Is there a way you can help me?" She grasped Karen's hand and concentrated on the young woman who stiffened then relaxed in her grip as the succubus trained all her powers of persuasion on her now pliant prey. "I need transportation out of this city, perhaps down the coast. Los Angeles should be fine."

Karen stared at Lydia with surprise bordering on incredulity. Los Angeles? Did she know what she was asking? She opened her mouth to say such an expense might tax the modest bank account Noel House had to work with, but Lydia's look of desperation gave Karen no choice but to relent. "You'll need identification to even get through the screening lines at Sea-Tac," she said gently. "How will you do that?"

It was if she had already acquiesced to Lydia's needs and stood ready to help. Lydia returned the young woman's steady compassionate gaze and felt more shifts in her centuries long embrace of evil and the machinations of The Pit. Strange new thoughts surged unbidden to the forefront of her mind, questioning the ways she had always connived and manipulated and rendered forfeit the soul of nearly every mortal she had ever encountered.

"I-I wouldn't have to...to fly, would I? I," and she shuddered at the thought, "I could take a bus. Couldn't I?"

Karen brightened. "You could. It would be much cheaper, although longer. How would you eat? That's almost thirty hours of travel time versus about three. Oh, honey, you'd need an I.D. for that too." Both Lydia and Karen's faces fell as Karen pulled information about bus fares and regulations from the internet with her tablet. "Uber? Lyft? I don't think either of those services cross state lines. I don't want to even think about renting a car..." She peered at Lydia, "Do you even have a license?"

Lydia flushed uncharacteristically. "No." she said an edge creeping into her voice. Typically, the mortals she targeted had taken care of all those sordid little details. She couldn't very well say her last foray in to Seattle had ended in disaster. Again, anger surged through her at the thoughts of her capture at the hands of those snotty friends of that mortal Lorelei had bonded with.

But again, the strange path she'd found to freedom from The Pit and the oppression of some Duke of Hell wormed its way past her ire. Had they not, she would still be under some demon-lord's thumb. Foot. Cock. Whatever. So that sniveling little...she shook herself mentally and tried to concentrate on what Karen was saying....

"Can you at least tell me your name?" Karen broke in on Lydia's reverie.

"It's...it's Lydia." the succubus admitted.

Karen waited for more but when nothing else seemed to be forthcoming she rolled her lips inward and went lost in thought as the disheveled but Hollywood level beauty sat, seemingly dejected at the table. "Well," she finally mused. "I could take you home with me after my shift is done here. Do you want to wait?"

Lydia nodded.

Chapter Three

Agent Doug Bridger seethed silently. For a month he'd felt out of the loop, all but ignored by Special Agent Nguyen and Agent Maddox after the latest big blow-up with Alex and the witches and...and Lorelei. He closed his eyes and saw her again, her lithe form handcuffed, writhing on his lap, on his cock! Her eyes drinking in his soul as a feral grin played across her lips leaving no doubt as to who was in charge. And she'd left him in a heap, unconscious, snoring for Christ's sake! ...to be discovered by his fellow agent and the kids who knew way the fuck more about the supernatural than he, he quietly acknowledged, had ever been able to wrap his head around.

Colleen...excuse me...Special Agent in Charge Colleen Nguyen...had the two witches, Molly and the goth chick...Onyx, yeah, Onyx for fuck's sake...to call on whenever there was supernatural or occult information she needed on a case, expertise that Doug used to provide. He couldn't even be upset with the two serious and seriously hot, stop right there Douglas Bridger, he admonished himself...young witches because they never failed to give him pointers or advice, however snarky at times, on how the supernatural really worked, and the background for all the things they showed him about their Practices. At the same time, he was out of his element and he knew it. How did a grad student in astronomy feel like talking to Dr. Hawking? Probably better than he did, Doug admitted to himself, talking occult things...god, did he still think of that world as filled with things?

Maybe that was most of his problem. Molly had bluntly told him as much. The redhead had blazed at him after he'd made some dumb remark about being fascinated with the rituals and the power he could wield with them but still not believing that it all had that much effect on the real world. "This IS the real fucking world!" She'd snapped at him when they were working together on the case with the wanna-be Satanists in San Diego who'd called a demon and then ran like rabbits when they'd lost control of the ghastly beast they'd unleashed down near the border. Luckily, it had been out in the desert and no one had gotten killed, for all that some of those stupid idiots would bear scars for life. Well, better to lose a leg or an arm or two than your life. Why couldn't all the cases be more like George-the-wanna-be-la Chupacabra?

Well, maybe not, since that had been about the time everything had gone to shit up in Seattle all over again. On top of that, their task force had been forced to relinquish the case to the normal channels as all those kids had been human. Not a supernatural in their midst. And being rich hadn't hurt either, so the whole case had turned into another shitshow that got covered up by Daddy's money. He shook his head. That, right there was the real, real world, no matter what Molly and Onyx thought. For that matter it applied to Lorelei and Alex and his friends too. Nguyen had said to overlook just how Lorelei managed her finances, but Bridger didn't entertain any illusions there, either. He knew it wasn't by exactly legitimate means but her value as an asset was too high to go strictly by the book over.

Assets...Ass-ets. He found himself guffawing over his inability to get the raven-haired succubus out of his thoughts for even an hour or two at a time. That fucking Alex. He shook his head again, inwardly groaning at himself for feeling and acting like some jealous suitor to the Homecoming Queen. But still...who could forget someone like Lorelei? He looked up as Colleen Nguyen poked her head in his door.

"Everything all right, Doug?" she inquired. "There's something I want you to look into. I need information on what is going on down on Hollywood Boulevard. Rumor has it that all the old pimps have been getting busted on set-ups, but none that LAPD Vice has any hand in except collecting them after being caught with their pants down. Rumor also has it," she fixed him with a pointed look, "that there's a new player in town who's taken over and that the new "madam" if you will, is running the girls with a much more even hand. So much so that there's grumbling in the sex traffic underground. Rumors that this new player can sweetheart every, yes, I said every deal she's making with the bosses who run those streets." Colleen paused.

"Oh, did I mention that this new player is supposed to be the finest piece of ass I ever seen, she just brushed me with her hand and I got sucked into those green eyes. And that blonde hair? I wanted to wrap it around my dick like a blanket. I wanted to fuck that bitch so bad it made my teeth fuckin' hurt, man..." Colleen quoted an excerpt from an interview she must have reread more than a few times to have it flow out like some rap verse.

"Tell me Doug. Does that sound like anybody we know?"

Chapter Four

Lydia walked down the cacophony that was Hollywood Boulevard, marveling again in the changes freedom had wrought in her circumstances. She pulled the long coat tighter around her, noting it still didn't seem to help with the open stares and lust drenched catcalls she received from both local denizens of Los Angeles and tourists alike. She never minded them, she was after all, a creature of lust. But her passions were channeled in ways she could not conceive of even a bare month ago.

Karen and Mia had both driven her down the long trip from Seattle to Los Angeles, much of it spent meandering about the venerable Pacific Coast Highway. The two young women had proved to be amiable travelling companions, especially at night when it had only taken the second night of hearing their furtive groping on the other bed to draw Lydia from hers and into theirs, first to startled surprise, and then to breathy moans and later on much quiet shrieking. She'd worked her magic on their bodies, firming, lifting smoothing various areas until they both would gape every time they saw themselves or each other in mirrors.

They questioned her relentlessly but Lydia told them both it would be better for all if they did not know and just consider their new bodies as gifts. She also brought other powers into play, teasing, touching, exploring them both until they were invariably left slack-jawed and sated well into the morning hours at each bed and breakfast they'd stayed at. Karen had furrowed her brow at Lydia's effortless way of securing the best of these accommodations at little or no cost, but the hosts invariably waved away her offers to pay. Lydia had always been amused at the younger woman's fruitless attempts to pay her and her wife's way and would punish her at night by taking Karen to the edge of insane levels of pleasure only to pull her back from the precipice over and over, often with Mia's wicked participation. Soon enough, Karen had shaken her head and just opened herself to the enjoyment.

Lydia smiled as she passed under the long vertical sign that spelled out "CHINESE" in pseudo Asian lettering on her way towards the corner of North Highland. She approached a small group of provocatively dressed young women, gathered around a good looking goateed man in blue jeans, a white pocket t-shirt and a dark blue ball cap with "LA" embroidered on the front. The women didn't seem distressed or fearful, but it was clearly evident that they had a problem with him. He did not appear threatening, if anything he seemed to be trying to reassure the young ladies of the night.

Lydia, of course, knew exactly which profession they plied on this bright and garish ode to mortal dreams of fame and fortune. She had taken them quickly under her wing once she had determined that Hollywood Boulevard would be the best place for her to make her way in this city. She could have gone into the employ of any of the upscale escort services and quickly taken over any or all of them, but those women did not need her help. Her help. The young streetwalkers had most certainly needed the advice and enhancements that only a demon of Lydia's experience could provide. That she did it willingly without any expectation from her new charges had played strangely in her head. Most shocking had been the realization of how good it felt to do so. The charity left no bitter taste in her mouth as she'd feared it would.
Lydia shook her head and studied the man more closely. He was obviously a cop of some sort, but not part of the local vice officers she was familiar with. He was different, for one, he did not seem interested in the girls themselves; Mara, Liane, Keala and Carly Ann. He wanted...not them...but...she cocked her head. Information? Liane glanced her way and gave her head a subtle shake when she knew the undercover cop wasn't looking. Lydia just grinned at Liane and sauntered over. The gathering of streetwalkers looked at her with some surprise when Lydia stepped into their midst.

"Hey babies," she purred at her charges, and they grinned back at her, knowing now what to expect. "What we got going on with Johnny Law, here?" her tone and cadence took on the distinctive air of the street as she let the cop know she knew exactly who he was and what he was doing. He turned to her, temporarily forgetting the other women as he appraised her with distinct interest. Then his eyes widened, and he stepped back as though he'd come face to face with...a demon.

"You. You're a...you're like her!" He ground out in a hoarse whisper while simultaneously reaching into his left front pocket for the sea salt he had stashed in the small open baggie there. He quickly threw some onto his head and began muttering the self-protection spell Onyx had taught him that, he had to admit, seemed to work a hell of a lot better than the ones he had studied. He took another step back, as Lydia made a quick motion with her right hand, signaling the girls to scatter, which they did as she squared off against Agent Bridger.

She knew her powers of manipulation were going to be less useful now against him, but she had other, harsher measures she could employ. She took in a deep breath, her glare turning into one of malevolence as she prepared to blow it back in a superheated blast over the man who was frantically moving his right hand and fingers in intricate movements as he murmured more words in Greek and Hebrew. Doug stopped, willing himself into a placating stance as he realized he might just be about to die.

"Wait. Just wait a second, goddamnit. PLEASE." He dropped his hands to his sides for all that he wanted to wrap them around his head and cower, then blinked as the blonde goddess before him halted also and let her inhalation go with a huff. "I...I'm-I mean...I'm Agent Douglas Bridger with the FBI. I'm part of a Special Task Force looking into the supernatural and paranormal with an eye to crimes committed by or against people from...from...shit, where ever you come from." He started with a rush. Doug realized he should not be spilling this information to the angered beauty standing in front of him but he couldn't seem to help himself.

"I...I know what you are and I'm not here to try and arrest you or anyone...I was just looking into some rumors we heard about what's going on down here with..." and he tossed his right hand in the direction the other women had fled. "Local prostitution rings. Seems the girls are all being better taken cared of by some new player. Which right now I'm certain is you. Because I'm pretty sure you're another succubus. Am I right?" Inwardly, he couldn't believe his boldness hadn't gotten him incinerated yet.

"Another succubus?" Lydia spat the question at him. "You know so many of us from The Pit, Agent Bridger?"

"I know one other," he admitted, mentally chiding himself for divulging that too, even as he wondered if having been with Lorelei made him that much more susceptible to this one's powers. "Her...she, uh...we...fuck!!" He cut himself off angrily. He'd gone too far. Lydia's stare grew sly.

"You what, Agent Bridger?" She mocked. "Did you succumb to her wiles? You live, yet. You are lucky. Surely you know my kind takes souls." Lydia's mouth pursed coyly in thought, clearly in command of this particular conversation. She'd already concealed the two of them from the throngs of foot traffic that streamed by them. "Did she at least tell you her name? Perhaps I know her."

"L-Lorelei." Doug let the name of the succubus who haunted his dreams slip reluctantly from his lips, then watched in horror as Lydia's eyes bulged and her mouth twisted into a snarl. She grabbed the front of his t-shirt and twisted it until he couldn't breathe and nearly lifted him from his feet until the sound of the cotton cloth ripping stayed her hand.

"She has had you," Lydia growled in the best Linda-Blair-in-The-Exorcist impression Doug had ever heard with the odd part of his brain that wasn't now frozen with terror. "Are you in her thrall?! TELL ME!! Tell me or I will rip you apart right here and now! Does she watch?! IS SHE HERE?!" Lydia searched their surroundings wildly for a few moments before returning her baleful glare to him. Doug stared at the raging demon, fearing for his life even as the cliché "God, she's beautiful when she's angry..." ran crazily through his mind.

"Oh-oh, f-fuck m-me," he managed as she shook him and his head snapped back and forth.

"What did you say?!" She fairly screamed at him as she stopped wrenching him back and forth to allow him to answer.

He shook his head, trying to clear what must have been a concussion's worth of brain trauma from her rag-dolling him. "I'm about to die, and all I can think of is how goddamned hot you are. What the fuck is wrong with me?" he muttered.

Lydia released him and stepped back. "What did you say?" She queried him the same question much more calmly the second time.

Doug shook his head groggily again. "I said," he enunciated slowly. "Here I am about to die, and all I can think about is how friggin' achingly hot you are. I didn't think anyone could be more beautiful than Lorelei, but apparently I'm wrong." He stood there, blinking as he tried to come to grips with what he was admitting.

Lydia stared. In all her centuries, and in all the times she and her rival had crossed words and more...no mortal had ever said anything like this to her that she had not compelled.

Lorelei's prey fell effortlessly at her feet and many times the other succubus, the one who Dukes of Hell fought over, had seemed indifferent to all the little pleasures that evil brought. Lorelei did her job, and so well her masters in The Pit elevated her to a measure of freedom Lydia could only have wished for and did with all the bleakness her demon's soul could muster.

Lorelei was even allowed an affair with Sammael, no matter it seemed, to whomever she had belonged to. Lydia even knew Lorelei had plotted with him to leave The Pit. And through it all Lorelei had retained an aloofness to her high position among the succubae. As if she was above them all and Lydia in particular, who'd reveled in her work and heaped cruelty and indignities on the souls she preyed upon. The feelings of envy and inferiority had grated on Lydia, driving much of the blackness of her nature. But she was different now. She shook her head.

Doug watched her closely. When she turned her emerald eyes back to his face, he became mesmerized by the depth of emotion he saw there. He felt himself being sucked into those eyes but not in the same way that Lorelei drew him. He blinked again as he realized that for the first time since he'd become besotted with another dude's girlfriend he was feeling way more attracted to another woman. Another...succubus. He pulled his ball cap from his head, with his left hand and raked his hair with his right. "Fuck me." He sighed.

"You keep saying that." Lydia admonished him absently. "But tell me again how I compare to Lorelei."

"W-what?" he answered confusedly. "Seriously?" He gestured between the both of them. "Am I the only one having a what-the-fuck moment here? You were just about to kill me and I tell you you're hot and now you're looking at me like...like...uh...." He trailed off as her eyes narrowed. "Okay, okay," he held up his right hand placatingly. "So, yes, I've been with her. Once. She even promised me more."

I mean, she's with that kid Alex, for Christ's sake. I'm not that guy. I don't poach other dude's girlfriends. But her? I couldn't help myself. I feel like I'm fucking sixteen again with a crush on the head cheerleader." He scrubbed a hand down his face. "I'm supposed to be the occult guy, the guy who can help my team with the weird shit. And I was. Until I got mixed up with that crew. And her." He looked at Lydia with what seemed like despair. "And now you come along. And you're just as...no...you're like fucking miles past what our reports of the rumors said. And yeah...you're looking at me like...like you want to eat me or something...but not...not in a bad way...I mean...."

He was babbling and he knew it; that at least was the same reaction that Lorelei had inspired. "It's different than when she does...did it. I felt helpless then. I feel helpless now," he gestured between them again. "But this time...I...I like it." He huffed out finally.

Lydia regarded him carefully, but unlike in times past her study was not predatory. True, this mortal did not enjoy the protection of Heaven any longer with his admitted delving into that which dealt with powers mortals should not know about. Yet, he was endangering his soul for noble purpose. Lydia nearly scoffed, but she felt another of those strange epiphanies coming on. "You like it? Does that mean you like...me?" Lydia asked quietly.

"Yes." Doug answered simply. He did not bow his head or continue the unsure litany of his previous statements. He could feel the shift in the direction of their conversation and knew somehow, she felt it too.

"Come here." Her command carried none of the imperiousness it would have in her past, but rather took on the lower, sultrier timbre of a woman calling her lover. Somewhere in his mind an alarm sounded but she was too close, too inviting for him to heed his inner warning. He stepped up close and she reached up with her right hand to pull his face down to hers. Their lips met and Lydia's eyes grew round in surprise at the warmth and utter deliciousness she felt course through her at the touch of another mortal whose soul was clean.

Then his arms wrapped her in a deep embrace and his mouth took possession of hers in a way she had never succumbed to before. He demanded with his tongue and left broad wakes of trembling nerves behind each caress of his hands. Her body reacted to the pleasure in ways that felt entirely too good. She knew she should stop this now before she lost control but it...this.... He broke their kiss and she nearly cried out in panic at the loss of his mouth. He slowly took in a very deep inhalation as his lips hovered a fraction of an inch from hers.

"Wow." He breathed.

Chapter Five

"Hey lover," Rachel called out brightly, swooping in over the newly repaired balcony rail of Lorelei's and Alex's apartment. Technically it was hers also as her two loves frequently chided her about when she grumbled about her vagabond existence. Technically, she still held Dominion over Seattle, and technically, Jon and the others who filled in for her while she technically advised them on how she wanted her Dominion to be run deferred to her in all but a few cases. Technically, Lawrence and Hannah, damn their eyes, (Rachel crossed herself and looked upward in apology) could both go fuck a duck.

She giggled to herself at the image and then calmed as the dark haired feminine half of the apartment's occupants came into view from the kitchen. The calm did not last long as she found Lorelei frowning. "What's the matter, love?" she asked gently as she rushed to embrace the beautiful demon who had given up so much to be with Alex and herself. "Is something up with Alex? I've not felt anything amiss when he was in classes today, in fact, I sat through a couple of them with him...."

Lorelei accepted Rachel's hug gratefully, then turned the hug into more as she sought the blonde angel's lips. Their shared greeting lasted for somewhat longer than it took to leave them both panting slightly when they pulled back and looked into each other's eyes, Rachel smirking playfully at Lorelei's desire laden gaze. The want soon faded from the succubus's face and she leaned her head forward to touch Rachel's. "I had hoped we were done with the fallout from last month's fiasco, but I have had some troubling information provided to me by the angel who stands in your stead. Further, it seems to be corroborated by our friends down in Los Angeles."

"What?!" Rachel exclaimed. "Who? Jon told you? What did he say?"

"I had put out some queries to...let's just say...through back channels," she made no apology at Rachel's look of consternation, "to find out what had happened to Lydia when I took the Iron Crown and ordered that she be brought before me. In all the confusion during my defeat of Azazel she was apparently able to free herself somehow and slipped free of The Pit. Her trail was faint but it led to the back entrance I used that Lilith gave me knowledge of. Jon got wind of it when two guardians came to him telling him their charges, Karen and Mia Bixby had suddenly left for Los Angeles in the company of an exceedingly attractive blonde woman who managed to give them the road trip of their lives. Once they were in Los Angeles she and they parted ways under quite friendly terms and they returned here. The guardians were more than alarmed at who they thought she might be but as she did not seem to be bringing their charges any harm beyond gorging on sexual satisfaction, they felt they could not interfere."

Lorelei gave Rachel a pointed look to which Rachel just rolled her eyes. "Once in Los Angeles," Lorelei continued, "this woman promptly went about rearranging much of the dynamic of the local nightlife, particularly amongst those mortals who seek to emulate my kind to usually no good end. I have ended many who took excessive liberties with my poor mortal sisters, but this woman..."

Rachel interrupted with a sigh, "Just call cuntface who she is already, Lorelei. But I think I see where you're going with this. Are we going to go down and bag her again? I'd like to leave the guys and the witches out of it this time if we can. Because you're not going to defer to me about her punishment this time, are you?" Rachel finished a little sadly.

Lorelei took the angel into her arms again, instantly sorry that she had, however tangentially, pointed the finger of blame back at the beautiful blonde angel. "Your virtue and kindness know no bounds, to be able to see the possibility of redemption where I believe none exists. Do not ever change, for you give Alex and me a never-ending standard to strive for. I have told you that you are perfect..."


"Angel. Can't help it." Rachel quipped automatically, but without any of her usual snark.

"As always," Lorelei said seriously, "you will pay for that remark." Then gave Rachel a wicked grin, which Rachel eagerly returned.

Chapter Six

Alex opened the door to his apartment to the sounds of soft feminine voices coming from his open bedroom door. He smiled as he threw his helmet, jacket and backpack on the brand-new sectional that now dominated their living room and sauntered over to stand in the framework of the doorway and marvel again at the most beautiful sight he never tired of seeing.

A blonde head pushed greedily between the thighs of his other love as the raven headed demon moaned and guided Rachel's tongue over her spasming sex. Neither lover noticed his presence which was fine with Alex as he carefully disrobed so as not to change that little mystery. He saw Rachel's fingers busily working at her own sex as she hungrily lapped the moaning succubus into an erotic frenzy and his smile grew wider. As he stepped up behind Rachel quietly he made sure to grasp at her perfect ass cheeks carefully before prying them gently open and planting his own face deep in her crevice. His tongue snaked out and bore into Rachel's crinkle as she nearly leaped from the bed like a hooked tarpon. Instead, she squealed into Lorelei's squirming climax as the demon opened her eyes and admonished their mutual lover gently.

"One of these times, she will bite me when you do that and then, you will be sorry." Alex's eyes twinkled mischievously at her over Rachel's backside as he continued to rim the angel. "I'm serious, Alex," she stated, not at all seriously.

Alex raised himself up and settled his groin in behind Rachel's circling hips. Placing the head of his cock at the crinkled opening he pushed as the angel moaned into Lorelei's clit, tonguing it wildly as Alex felt her muscles give way to his rampant desire, her fists gathering the sheets under them into a tangled mess. Alex went slowly, fully enjoying the groans emanating from between her face and Lorelei's sex, her back passage expanding to accommodate his succubus enhanced girth. His other partner gasped and made uncontrolled noises herself as what he was doing to Rachel translated to even more fervent licking by the angel of Lorelei's overheated core. Once he was fully buried in a place he still had a hard time believing he'd ever be, Alex treated Rachel to short, insistent plunges up into her anal cavity. She was tight, almost unbearably so, yet she pushed back eagerly as his thrusts lengthened and slowed.

In the end he knew she would be screaming, unable to hold back the floodgates of her rapture at the same time Lorelei would have reversed her position to get under the blonde angel so they could both lick each other simultaneously. It would be when he felt as though his head would explode from the sensations that Lorelei would lewdly begin licking him also and this would always set him off. It did now and he poured his orgasm into Rachel's clenching anus with a series of very hard, very deep penetrations and spat observations of what a dirty anal slut his angel was.

Had any of his other lovers...namely Onyx, Molly or Taylor witnessed his behavior at this moment, their collective mouths might have dropped open in astonishment; this wasn't the Alex they knew. But the relationship he shared with his two unearthly loves was as prurient as it was profound. And it frequently got a little rough, but he took as a given that both the demon and the angel were a much tougher audience than their human counterparts. Oh, he was always loving and demonstrative and unequivocally fair when romancing either of them, but the physical part? They demanded he dish it out. And be able to take it in return. "Kinky" did not begin to describe his and Lorelei's and Rachel's sexual existence. Untrained eyes might have even called it hate-sex at times, but for the deep affection and murmured praises and endearments that invariably followed. Love, for them, was indeed a many-splendored thing.

Chapter Seven

"Where the hell is he?!" fumed Special Agent in Charge Colleen Nguyen. Agent Maddox studiously did not shrug or offer vague possibilities. Colleen was normally quite collegial and a heck of a mentor to the younger woman, but this was a side Amber had not yet witnessed. Even when that first near catastrophe had raged around them and fellow agents had died, Colleen Nguyen had kept her wits about her, pulled the team together from the ashes of Agent Hauser's very real meltdown and sprung a true phoenix of a unit to deal with all the near unbelievable conflicts between the supernatural and mortal realms.

Her calm had remained through the second blow-up involving her friends, the one where Jason got shot. But now, an agent was missing, sent specifically a week ago to begin the look and see into possible supernatural influences on the local sex working and trafficking along Hollywood Boulevard. Amber also did not point out that they sort of knew where Agent Bridger was...or more specifically where his cell phone was. Its geo-location seemed to be the Marilyn Monroe Suite at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. Amber echoed Special Agent Nguyen's exasperated query a little more specifically in her mind: "What the hell is he doing there?!"
Just as she was about to leave another message in his voice mailbox, her own cell rang in her purse with the Ed Sheeran "Shape of You" ringtone Jason had programmed into her phone for his number when he'd snuck it from her that first night back in Lorelei's and Alex's apartment. Before he got shot. Before that nightmare of power mad morons calling demons to realize their idiotic apocalyptic vision. Before Amber's world had really spun upside down and nearly all of her new-found friends amongst Jason's crew had been injured or nearly killed. Before they'd all survived yet another horrific run-in with mythological monsters she'd discovered were all too real. How screwed up had the world become when vampires and werewolves were the least of your worries when you went about doing your job?

"Hey, noob girl." Jason sounded much better now that he was out of the hospital. She'd wanted to stay in Seattle to nurse him through his healing process but Colleen had basically guilted her into returning to LA to deal with some of the demons who'd spread up and down the coast when Lorelei and her friends got attacked. Amber had tried to protest that Doug should be assigned to that but Colleen told her that he was assigned to the round-up but would need help since neither Molly or Onyx were in any shape to assist and the two witches were not agents in any case.

Not that Amber had much more than whatever Molly and Onyx had been able to teach her when she wasn't at Jason's side in the hospital.

Luckily, Lorelei had managed to order most of her denizens of The Pit back to their domain, but a few including one or two of the ones those bastards in the Light had called, decided the mortal realm was exactly their cup of tea. And now Bridger was MIA.

"How's my favorite bullet-catcher?" she replied playfully. "You sound much better."

"Yeah, I whined enough that Alex finally asked Rachel to lay some healing hands on me. I have to give up being an atheist, though." She heard the smile in his voice and knew he was really on the mend. "Alex came by today and I wormed it out of him that he and Lori are going down there to LA. Is something going on?" he asked bluntly.

Amber huffed, "I'm not supposed to tell you stuff about other ongoing cases, Jason. We talked about this..."

"Don't you think we're kinda way past that, especially now, babe? I mean, this is twice now you and I have been deep in the supernatural shit with Alex and Lorelei and Rachel. I'm not gonna go all Google on you about shit that doesn't involve me but anything that involves our friends..." he trailed off, knowing he was putting her in an awkward position and not liking it at all. "You know I might be able to help."

Amber shook her head even though she knew Jason wouldn't see it and relented, "No, no you're right Jason. Anything that concerns you or our friends, you should have full disclosure from me, no matter what the Bureau says. Colleen doesn't mind either, in fact I think she's pretty happy to have a direct line into our friends with me and you."

Still, her unsettled fears roared out from the place she'd thought she'd banished them to. "I-I almost lost you," she whispered in quiet anguish. "And I couldn't go to you! I had to keep those assholes off of us...and..and...."

Jason heard the near breakdown threatening and he quickly sought to soothe his girlfriend's distress. "Heyyyy," he drew out, "Wade and Taylor 'carded' me and Molly got me settled. And now that Rachel has laid on more feel-good, I'll be ready to take you two falls outa three the next time you're up here. She could almost see him waggling his eyebrows as he continued, "I can always use more points. Or another level."

She scoffed even as she blinked back the tears that had suddenly threatened, remembering how their friends had patched up his sucking-chest-wound on that horrible day. "You'll be lucky to get your guy off the mat or the floor, never mind beat me."

"Oh, you are so on, Agent Maddox," Jason flung the gauntlet back with mock heat. "But seriously, babe," he went on concernedly. "What's up?"

"Bridger is MIA." Amber huffed out. "Nguyen sent him out to look into some, um, abnormal happenings amongst the hookers who work Hollywood Boulevard, namely that their working conditions and options had markedly improved to the point that rumblings were stirring in the local sex trafficking syndicates. And," she added, "it all seemed to be pointing to one blonde haired, green-eyed friend of yours."

"Friend of mine?!" his voice rose in disbelief and objection.

"The one you zapped. Lydia."

"Oh shit. Really? You be careful, babe, she's bad news. How the hell is she free? Rachel took care of her! At least I think she did. That part is kinda fuzzy now."

"Yes, Lorelei said Rachel kind of did the "Men in Black" flashy-thing to you guys about that."

"Oh, what, it's different now?"

"In light of everything? Yeah. Kind of. Anyway, Lorelei put out some feelers to find out what happened to Lydia when she was doing the whole I've-got-to-claim-the-crown-thing. Apparently, Lorelei sent some of her minions to go collect Lydia from wherever she got sent but Lydia slipped through the cracks somehow, escaped The Pit, and we suspect she's down here in LA. Not really up to no-good though and that's puzzling. The rumors coming off of the street are that the only guys hurting are the pimps and the bosses. Oh, and the girls are being able to charge more because the johns are raving about the experiences they're getting now."

"Huh," Jason mused. "Like she's a good-guy now?"

"We don't really know if it's her yet, but Lorelei seems convinced. That's why she and Alex are coming. I suspect Rachel will be with them."

"Wow," Jason deadpanned. "Now I know how Taylor felt."

"What?"

"Oh, Taylor felt we left her out of the loop in that dust-up where you and I met..."

"Jason."

"I've known him way longer than she has, he doesn't get to leave me out of the loop." Jason protested.

"You're not even fully healed yet!"

"I'll stand behind Wade and Drew."

"I am not putting you in jeopardy again in what...a whole month after getting shot? What's the matter with you? What if she holds grudges?"

"She'll go after Drew first. He's a bigger target."

"I'm not talking to you about this anymore. I knew it was a mistake to tell you...anyway, you'd better not come down here. I forbid it."

"You what? Forbid? Listen here, noob girl...."

"I AM NOT GOING TO BE A WIDOW BEFORE I EVEN GET MARRIED!!"

Special Agent Nguyen came rushing in as Amber flushed crimson and wished the building would fall in on her. Now. Please. "Is something wrong, Agent Maddox?" Colleen inquired carefully. "Is that a personal call?"

"No. Yes. I don't know?" Amber shrugged awkwardly. "It's Jason."

"Oh."

"He knew about Lorelei and Alex coming down here, and now he knows why." Amber admitted. "I don't think we can really have operational security with any of them for situations that involve them. Like it or not, Colleen, they're...we're much too close a group, and we have an angel and a demon watching over us. I think we're lucky to have them on our side."

Colleen Nguyen tapped her lips thoughtfully before replying. "As do I, Agent Maddox." she started. "They...and you have been the difference between a palatable outcome and unmitigated disaster twice now, and lives have been saved. Still, the Bureau has protocols to follow and its gratitude is not unlimited."

Amber nodded. "Soooo..."

"So. For now, I think your young man is about to go into cardiac arrest. Perhaps you should reassure him if your last statement has not left him aware of your feelings. But do try to be a bit more discrete in the future."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Call me 'Ma'am' again and I will have you re-assigned to the Buffalo office. Are we clear?"

"Um, yes?"

"Good." Colleen nodded and left.

"Jason?"

"Wow. I mean, really. Wow."

"I-I...."

"It's cool." He said gently. "I get it now. I'll stay up here. I won't even tell Drew or Wade."

"I love you, Jason."

"I love you too. Noob-girl."

She couldn't stop the grin that spread across her face.

Chapter Eight

"I found the puta!!"

Pedro stalked over to the desk occupied by his younger cousin, who was staring intently at a picture on the monitor before him. It showed a street scene at night, lit with neon and filled with crowds of gringos. It seemed to be an American city, but what caught his eye was the couple caught in what seemed to be the middle of an argument. He was fit and looked like a cop despite his casual clothing and ball cap. But her? It was that fucking puta who had ruined his marriage and gotten his brother exiled to Seattle of all the godforsaken places to be on this planet.

They were afraid that he, Pedro would kill his own brother over a woman. Sure, sometimes he missed Maria, but she should not have engaged in that depravity the blonde bitch had drawn her into with Carlos. Sure, he and Carlos would have fought and maybe there would have been injuries but kill his own brother?! What the fuck?! Idiotas!! And now his brother was missing, as well as Paco and Chuy, and their business on the west coast of America had fallen to those insane Russian bastards.

At least the Kasmirovs still bought product from their cartel, but it grated on everyone to have to deal with the Russians. He might have admired their ruthlessness if they had not been thrown together in an uneasy alliance. And the head of their own cartel, Amador, made veiled references that he, Pedro was at least responsible for some of their troubles. For not being able to forgive his brother. He had loved his brother! That fucking puta!

He looked at the image on the screen again and he knew it was her. Lydia. How she had manipulated and betrayed his whole family. A cruel smile played over his lips, "I know you had something to do with Carlos' desaparicion," he growled over his cousin's shoulder. "And you will pay as soon as we find you." He turned to the younger man, "Where is that?" he barked.

"Hollywood Boulevard. In Los Angeles." His cousin glanced up at him.

"I know where it fucking is, Raoul." Pedro shot back tersely. "Is there a date on this picture?

His cousin pointed, "Sunset Images, and look. Yesterday."

"Bueno," grunted Pedro. He straightened and ran a hand through his longish black hair. "Get me Juan, Hector and Diego. Tell them to pack for a week. We're going to Los Angeles."

"¿Y yo?"

"Si. We're going to kill that bitch."

Chapter Nine

Doug slowly came awake to the sight of a large flat screen mounted to the ceiling over the bed he shared with...

He sat up with a start. Then stared at the one emerald eye peeking from beneath tousled blonde hair that nestled into the pillow next to him. Whoever she was, she was completely naked, a fact he ascertained from the view of the sheet that tangled around her. It revealed a long ribbon of bare pale skin that stretched from her left shoulder all the way down to her ankle. That eye twinkled with amusement, while the FBI agent blinked.

"Um," he started.

"You sound positively flabbergasted, Agent Bridger." She chuckled in a low husky voice. "Surely you have awakened next to women before?"

"None of them looked like you," he replied, still sleep dull and tactless.

He shook his head as memories of their night together returned. That kiss on the street. The stumbling, pawing couldn't-get-enough-of-each-other sprint to the Hollywood Roosevelt. Getting the Marilyn Monroe Suite by way of management moving the current guests to the top of the hotel. For free.

Watching the coat and cocktail dress fall away from the beautiful blonde. Marveling at the feel of peeling her lace underwear from her perfect torso. Watching again as she slowly and deliberately took each of his articles of clothing. Wrapping her legs around his torso as he carried her up the dark platform and then gently laid her onto the pristine white comforter. Drowning in her mouth. Hearing her moans as he ravaged her breasts as she had urged him to. Tasting her and feeling he could happily eat nothing else for the rest of his life. Nearly losing it when she flipped upside down on him and swallowed him to his root, over and over and over. Pushing in between her thighs as her calves rested on his shoulders. Wondering with each deep grinding thrust into her blazing heat how a demon could feel so much like Heaven. He felt his cock begin to swell as he looked down at her again to find her regarding him seriously.

"What are you doing to me?" he whispered.

Lydia rolled up onto her side, resting her right elbow on the pillow and propping her head on her fist. "I am wondering the same thing, but...about myself." She reached over with her left hand and ran a caress over his thigh. "I have never felt this way in all my centuries." She said softly.

"What way is that?"

Her gaze grew almost unfocused. It was as if she were looking back over the long span of her life and not liking what she saw.

"I have always been evil. A monster. But I knew my place. I reveled in it. I have sent countless souls to suffer in The Pit. I have belonged to masters so vile their depravities would drive you mad. And I have laughed in glee at the suffering those cruelties inflicted. I was treated to many of those humiliations and I endured them and slavishly called for more. There was never a heart among my kind that was blacker."

She paused, shadows crossing her green eyes turning them troubled and stormy. "And it is only now, when I have been released from that thrall that I see what a waste my existence has been." She looked down at where her hand still rested on his thigh. "I've lost my purpose in this realm, and also in the realm of my birth. I feel adrift. And yet...." She looked up at him.

"But you're not afraid." He finished for her. She shook her head.

"No. No, I'm not. For the first time, I feel...hopeful." Her eyes warmed with the hunger they had burned with last night.

He took her gaze calmly because there was nothing feral about it. There was desire there. And something else. He leaned down, reaching to touch the place that valleyed between her firm, upswept breasts, and then bringing his hand back to place those fingertips on his own sternum.

"I feel it here." He whispered. "You do too." She nodded slowly, her eyes widening slightly as vulnerability crept into them. He lowered himself towards her until their faces nearly touched and he could no longer focus on her features beyond how wide and dark her eyes had become.

"I don't want to ever let you go," he breathed over her lips, before crushing her to him and plundering her mouth. She responded wildly, pressing into him with skin so warm and a hold so frantic it nearly undid him. Their tongues thrashed against each other and he swallowed the whimpers of submission that bubbled up from her chest.

A calm then settled over them after their initial onslaught of one another, as though they'd escaped the maelstrom of their passion and found themselves upon a calm and following sea. Their mouths separated an inch for a moment.

"Then don't." Her reply carried none of the taunt it would have had in her past. He heard instead, her plea for him to save her.

Chapter Ten

Special Agent Nguyen looked up from her laptop as the door to her office opened unannounced and a striking, dark haired woman entered, followed by a somewhat less noticeable young man whose look turned sheepish as soon as he saw her. Lorelei's gaze, however remained cool and unapologetic. "Agent Nguyen." She said calmly.

Colleen's look of surprise morphed into chagrin. "I'm not going to ask how you got in here, seeing as how we were expecting you to be here anyway. How was your flight?"

"Have you located her yet?" Lorelei ignored the pleasantry, but not unkindly. Her purpose here was to end her rival once and for all and there did not seem to be any reason to sugar-coat that objective. "I know that this will test the bounds of our relationship, but I am not of this world, and neither is Lydia. You would like to bring her to your version of justice but I am also sure that you know that such a goal is folly. You need only think back to how easily I freed myself from your captivity during our first encounter to know this is true. No earthly prison will ever be able to hold one of my kind. Not without drastic interventions. I am sure your courts would hold those to be "cruel and unusual."

Colleen closed her laptop and stood, regarding the beautiful succubus and her young mortal lover with a measure of reluctance and resignation before turning to look out her window overlooking Wilshire Boulevard. "Cruel and unusual how?" She hedged quietly.

"It would require the forcible removal of...body features unique to demons." Lorelei replied. "Mere surgical removal would not engender the same loss of power as having these features removed in the most humiliating way possible. It is the symbolism rather than the injury which most debilitates a creature of The Pit. Moreover, she would need to be kept in perpetual isolation afterwards, lest mortal contact and the attendant lusts she could kindle in those contacts allow her to regenerate those features...."

"Could we dispense with the euphemisms, please?" Colleen asked quietly.

"Her wings, her tail, and her horns, Agent Nguyen." Lorelei supplied.

"I see. But you want to go beyond that don't you? I'm not sure I can sanction that."

"As long as she lives she would be a threat to me and mine. Agent Nguyen, Lydia has escaped a banishment far more stringent than anything mortals could devise. You will not hold her. And I will not countenance that danger to my friends and loves. Now, where is she?"

The steel that rang through Lorelei's last sentence pierced Special Agent Colleen Nguyen's professional demeanor like a spear thrust. She shook her head at the sudden realization of just how deeply over their heads her task force was in this instance. Hauser had been a royal fool to think he could bring such denizens of the supernatural to heel. And she'd had the temerity to take over after he'd made such a mess of things in their first foray up into Seattle.

"What the hell was I thinking?" Colleen muttered under her breath, but only received an arched eyebrow in reply. "We don't have her exact whereabouts," Colleen huffed. "and one of my agents is missing, the one I sent to start looking into the rumors of a new player over in Hollywood." She pointedly looked at Alex. "Doug Bridger."

Alex couldn't help his eyeroll but recovered quickly as he felt Lorelei squeeze his hand. "I guess I shouldn't point out the irony...?"

"I'd appreciate it," Colleen answered without heat.

"What do you know of either of their locations, Agent Nguyen?" Lorelei asked, "if you are willing to divulge that information. I can conduct my own inquiry but I would prefer not to cast about blindly."

Colleen surrendered. "We know that Agent Bridger's cell phone is in the Marilyn Monroe Suite at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. We know it has moved occasionally, most recently out to the pool and back, so we are not treating this as any kind of hostage situation yet. I still have hopes he will check in. As you know, this task force is supposed to be operating well under the radar of public awareness so if I send in HRT, frankly, we're toast."

"You need us." Alex interjected, insight dawning.

"Honestly, yes." Colleen admitted as her face colored. "Can you give me any assurances that there will not be a repeat of either incident in Seattle?" she asked almost plaintively.

"Unfortunately, no, Agent Nguyen." Lorelei said gravely. "But I will promise you that I will try to be as discrete as possible."
"Will your other companion be present?"

"Rachel is already watching the hotel room if I know her. She probably overheard and left as soon as you mentioned the location. Recent events have...lessened her capabilities so I do not think she will try to remedy the situation without me present."

"And Alex?"

Lorelei turned to look at her young lover. Colleen blushed again at the emotion that passed between them. "I cannot forsake his belief in me by sheltering him from the hazards of loving someone like me. We have faced the greatest of dangers together and prevailed." Lorelei shook her head. "There is no place for him but at my side, and mine at his."

Colleen stepped to her desk and pushed a button on the multi-line phone next to her laptop. "Agent Maddox, will you come to my office please?" They all heard Amber's affirmative reply and silently awaited her arrival.

Amber walked across the hall and opened the door. "Yes, Collee...oh. Alex. Lorelei. When did you get here?"

"About fifteen minutes ago," Alex said.

"Wait, where are your visitor badges?" Amber's puzzled frown smoothed into bemused understanding. She looked at Lorelei and said, "You talked your way into the building, didn't you?"

"I find mortal security procedures so tedious at times," Lorelei confirmed, but with an apologetic smile in her voice for the two agents who still needed to uphold that same tedium. "And in this, time was of the essence."

"Agent Maddox, you will be accompanying our guests and me as we try to resolve this situation with...Lydia...and hopefully Agent Bridger as well." Colleen fixed Lorelei with a look, "If Agent Bridger has come to harm, though, I will be forced to take action and public discretion be damned."

Lorelei dipped her head once in understanding. "Let us hope that it does not come to that," she agreed.

Alex and Amber looked at each other and hoped it would not come to that either.

Chapter Eleven

Mikhail Kasmirov leaned back in the ornate wingback chair he had brought with him from Leningrad. "Hah!" he thought to himself as he lit the Cuban cigar and studied the intense young Mexican seated opposite from him. "Vladimir Ilyich was a nekulturny asshole." He mused silently while taking the first few puffs of the rich tobacco. He reached and held out another to his guest but was refused with a shake of the man's head. He carefully placed the glowing cigar in the ashtray on his desk and growled in his guttural accent, "So what may I do you for, my young friend?"

"Mikhail Stephanovich, I bring greetings from Amador Joaquin, and also come to ask a favor, por favor."

"Go on."

I need some...specialized weapons, and the ammunition to go with them." Pedro waited, and when Mikhail did not comment, went on. "Specifically, at least two of the AA-12 shotguns with buckshot and slugs. And if I can get the armor piercing explosive rounds, so much the better. A couple of M-4's, and the 62 grain NATO cartridges for better penetration. And an SV in 40 caliber, with 140mm competition magazines. That's for me. The others," and he indicated the other three men who waited quietly behind him, "can have Berettas."

"You watch too many YouTube videos, my young friend. To secure the AA-12's would take more money and time than you seem to have available. And what do you need such firepower for, to come and shoot up my little village, Pedro Almodóvar?"

Pedro nearly snorted. He'd thought the Americans were arrogant; where they had brooks and streams of impatient privilege to draw upon, the Russians had raging rivers of ego to contend with. His "little village" indeed! As if Pedro's ancestors had not named this great city in the first place. Still, he would need the Russian mob boss's assistance if he was to avenge his brother. He calmed himself enough to ask pleasantly, "What would you suggest, then, Mikhail?"

"There is another weapon that might be suitable...my own men use it. The Americans...they are so clever at producing frightening hardware that we can then turn against them, eh? It is also a shotgun, called the SRM 1216. It is not fully automatic, so is easily procured. It will hold sixteen rounds of twelve-gauge buckshot or slugs, and to exchange magazines is literally a snap. The other stuff is easy, too. But again, who has wronged you so grievously that you feel you must annihilate them in this way?"

"The fucking puta who married my brother and is the only one who will know what happened to him. She will pay."

"It is always a woman with you people. Forget about her, go home and concentrate on getting more product for me to sell for you."

Pedro stood with his fists balled at his sides. "So, you will not help me avenge my brother?" His voice had gone quiet and deadly. His men all took a step back at that tone.

"Oh, sit down, nephew of my brother-in-crime. I must try to dissuade you from any course of action that may threaten both our livelihoods, no? A killing as messy as the one you seem to seek will do nothing except stir up the Americans. Do you really want to treat that hornet's nest like a piñata?"

"She...killed my brother. She...will pay."

Mikhail sighed and threw up his hands in exasperation.

Chapter Twelve

Doug watched as Lydia swam lap after effortless lap in the pool below their room. He smiled as he lay back on the chaise lounge, watching the number notification on his voice mailbox tick over from fourteen to fifteen. He really should call the office, but he just couldn't put himself in the frame of mind to take the reaming he knew he would get as soon as he called the task force dedicated number.

In fact, his mind was wandering far too many places outside the planet, let alone the box, to allow him any sense of propriety or job responsibilities. It just seemed so pointless now that he'd...he'd...that was another thing. What did he have with Lydia? Not even twenty-four hours yet, and still...it felt like he'd found someone for a lifetime. That he'd loved her forever...holy shit. Love? It wasn't possible, was it? But why else would he be entertaining ideas of quitting the Bureau and finding somewhere to take Lydia where he could spend the rest of his life making her happy? Some place tropical, some place less likely to be tainted with memories of her past life.

His phone buzzed again and he watched the number go from fifteen to sixteen. Colleen must be so pissed. But right now, he couldn't care less. A shadow fell across him and he looked up to see Lydia smiling down at him. Beads of water caught rays of the afternoon sun and made her look like her body was covered with diamonds. Her grin turned naughty as she caught his eyes wandering from the skimpy top to the even briefer bottom of the bikini that matched her eyes. She picked up one of the towels that the pool attendant had left and slowly dried herself off, delighting I the way his gaze followed the towel as it slid across her contours. When she finished, she dropped the towel on the chair next to his and then perched gracefully on the edge of the one he lounged on as he quickly moved to slide over. Taking his invitation, she lay down next to him and snuggled into his side, looking up at his face with eyes that glowed with affection. His arm went around her and he leaned his head down to kiss her forehead.

"You can do better than that, Agent Bridger," she chided gently, hiding her amazement at the affectionate lilt in her tone. Another first. Another instance of genuine feeling flowing out of her towards this mortal...no, man. Her man. Oh, she was in so much trouble.

"It may not be Agent Bridger for long." He replied, looking at her steadily when she blinked up at him in surprise. "I can't look at you like you're an...an asset to be exploited. Consulted. Whatever." He paused, gathering his thoughts. "I've never felt this way about anyone before. I've had girlfriends, there was Lorelei, I'm fascinated with the occult stuff at work. But none of that is as important right now as keeping you safe and making you happy. And I can't do that if I continue to work for the Bureau. I haven't really built a career there yet, anyway. It'll be easy to walk away."

Her left hand flattened on his chest, then curled slightly so that her fingers began rhythmically caressing his skin. "You'd do that for me?" she asked quietly. "Without me compelling your sacrifice?" More changes shifted the foundation of her existence, whole swaths of heart and mind growing and filling so that she thought she would burst with the possibilities. "I-I'm not sure I could accept that. I wouldn't want to take your life away from you."

"There's an older novel, in fact I think it qualifies as a classic, now. It's about the Sicilian gangs who operated in New York and New Jersey. Anyway, at one point, one of the main characters, Michael Corleone gets exiled to Sicily to prevent him being prosecuted for the murders of a rival mobster and the corrupt police captain who was providing protection for that rival. Anyway, while he's in Sicily, he meets a girl from the village near where he's staying with relatives. He sees her when he is out with his bodyguards and they laugh at him, saying..."

"...saying he has been hit by the thunderbolt," Lydia finished for him, her mouth quirking into a sardonic grin. "Are you saying that you have been hit by the thunderbolt, Douglas?"

"You've read the book."

"I've met Mr. Puzo," she continued, "his research for it led him to consult with one of my victims."

"Whoa. Not going there. Don't say anything more about that. I don't want to know. I don't want to have to officially know. That's why I want to quit. Because yes, I have been hit by the thunderbolt."

She placed one red tipped finger against his lips to shush him as she husked out, "Then let us hope our story does not follow theirs."

"Why? You afraid of getting married?"

"You do remember she died, don't you?"

He pulled her to him and held her tight, letting her feel that he would do a much better job of protecting her than Michael had done in protecting Apollonia. He felt her relax into him momentarily, then suddenly stiffen in alarm, her head rising as she looked around with the same near panic as she had at their first confrontation on the street.

"What's the matter, babe? He nearly barked as he sat up coming to full alert too. "What's wrong?"

"She's here!" She hissed, her face taking on the look of a cornered animal. "They're both here! I can't be here! I can't, I have to get away...." She leaped from his arms and would have sprinted for the exit if he hadn't caught her arm to spin her back into him. He looked down into her frightened face and cupped it with both hands.

"Lydia." He said sternly, but with an undercurrent of emotion that unfroze her fear. "You're not alone. I won't let anything happen to you. Trust me. Please."

She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder as she shook, feeling smaller and more vulnerable than she ever had in all her long life. Was this how mortals experienced life? They were much stronger than she'd ever imagined if it was. "Don't let me go."

"Never. I'm here."

Chapter Thirteen

"Okay, so I did a fly-by and yes, skanky whore-face is here and so is Agent Tap-That." Rachel told her two lovers and the two FBI agents who accompanied them as she met them on the sidewalk fronting the Hollywood Roosevelt. "But," she continued, "she isn't acting like skanky whore-face." Rachel's face screwed up into a thoughtful frown. "In fact, if I had to compare her behavior in there with your agent," she said, glancing at Agent Nguyen, "I'd have to say they're putting on a pretty convincing portrayal of you...and you...lovers." She finished, smirking as she pointed at Lorelei and Alex.

"I do not think now is the time to expound upon our private life, Rachel." Lorelei said coolly as Alex covered his face and Amber looked like she was fighting a grin while Colleen's mouth dropped open.

"I'm just sayin'," Rachel defended, "that maybe the nuclear option is not the best choice here, and yes, yes, I know, I'm the queen of the nuclear option...but, I don't know, Lori.... It sure looks like love to me."

"You're kidding me, right?" Alex deadpanned as Amber smacked him on the shoulder. "Hey!"

"Behave!" she whispered fiercely.

"What? Whoa..." he sputtered as Lorelei fist-bumped the younger FBI agent. "Okay, okay...I'm outnumbered." He complained softly. "This has to be the other shoe."

"So," Agent Nguyen broke in. "There is a good chance to have this matter resolved peacefully? No, how did you put it, nuclear option? And no, I don't think I want to know."

Lorelei let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "I suppose," she said thoughtfully, "that I can again, defer to your judgement, Rachel. You have not purposefully erred in the past, especially with Alex and me. I also know, that Cassandra and Stephen weigh heavily upon your heart. No, do not turn away, my love," she prodded, seeing the stricken look cross the blonde angel's face.

"Who's telling secrets now?" Rachel huffed as the succubus embraced her.

"The fate of The Chosen One and her lover has troubled you for some time now. I just want to be sure you aren't clouded by that lingering sadness."

"No, Lorelei. I'm sure. Considering how I wanted to put my foot up her ass so far she wouldn't have room in her throat for cock and now all I want to do is push her deeper into Agent Inappropriate's arms, yeah, I'm convinced she's done a one-eighty."

"So how do you propose we approach this?" Lorelei asked.

"Well, those two will have to go in first," Rachel said, pointing at Amber and Colleen. "She'll just bolt if we walk in first."

"I agree. Is that acceptable to you, Agent Nguyen? Amber?" They both nodded.

"Let me try to call him one more time before we go," Amber spoke up. "If we can prep them before we show up, maybe it'll defuse the situation."

"Good thinking, Agent." Colleen praised.

Amber pulled out her phone and pulled up Bridger's number. She listened to it ring, fully expecting it to go to voicemail again and was very surprised when he answered.

"Amber?"

"Doug. Don't hang up. Colleen is here with me and...and what the hell, Doug?!" Agent Nguyen shot her a warning look, and she got herself under control. "So, our friends from up north are here and well, we all want to come up." Amber handed the phone to Colleen when the senior agent held her hand out.

"Agent Bridger. I hope you have a reasonable explanation for this. No. Wait. I will settle for a plausible explanation for this escapade of yours."

Bridger closed his eyes and sighed, before looking at Lydia's concerned expression and straightening. He decided on just doing my job. "I have the situation under control, Agent Nguyen. You wanted information on the new player. I'm getting it."

"Your assertions would carry much more weight if you'd followed proper procedures for reporting that information and your whereabouts, Doug." Colleen admonished him.

"What can I say? It got complicated. It is complicated." He stroked a hand through his hair.

"In any case, I would rather discuss this face to face. May we come up? And no, that's not really a request."

"Hold on, Colleen. If those two are with you, well, they have history with Lydia and it isn't pretty. She's scared to death right now, and you know what those two are capable of. If she feels she has to defend herself this will turn into a fucking shitshow right here in Hollywood. That happens, and that sucking sound you hear will be everyone on the team's careers going straight down the toilet. You let them up here without assurances for her safety and I'm not only going to let her walk, I'm going to actively aid her in getting the fuck outa Dodge."

"I have been fully apprised of the tension between the parties, Agent Bridger," Colleen bit out in a voice made of ice. "Rachel has convinced Lorelei, Alex, Amber and myself that we should just talk, and I am willing to follow that plan for now. It will be up to you and her to convince us that there is nothing here to see. Is that acceptable?

"Jesus, Colleen, I'm not trying to be a dick."



"Then stop thinking with yours," she thought.

"Call it protecting a source, if you want. But yeah, we can talk. We'll be here."

Pressing end, Colleen handed the cell back to Amber. She looked at each of the others in turn, "I cannot stress enough the importance of keeping the lid firmly clamped on this situation. I cannot, I repeat, I cannot afford to have this develop into any of the situations we have been involved in previously. Emotions will probably run high if you supernaturals share any of the feelings that we mortals do."

Lorelei looked back at her thoughtfully, while Rachel had the grace to blush. "Can we agree to just drop the matter entirely and leave if it starts to go sideways? I would rather lose contact with her now and pick it up again later in less populated surroundings if I have to." She received nods all around. Then they entered the lobby to inform management that they would be conducting an interview in The Marilyn Monroe Suite.

Chapter Fourteen

"How good is this information, Raoul?" Pedro asked from the passenger seat of the Escalade.

"As good as Russian hackers can make it," offered his cousin from the back seat. "The woman and cop checked in last night. They have not left."

"Bueno. When we check in you will go up to keep watch on them. Do not draw attention to yourself. Once we know they are there, Hector, Diego and myself will join you. Juan will stay with the car and keep it warm. We will leave the weapons there once we are done. We are not here to engage the American police. Let us hope the Russian has truly paved our way out of here. Even if we are caught, we will soon be free, El Joaquin will see to that." He received nods all around. He had chosen well. These men were not likely to lose their heads and provide more sensationalist bullshit for the estúpido American press.

"I am not using the hotel parking, Pedro," Juan said as he navigated towards Hollywood and Highland. "It is valet only. I'll have to park at a lot or drive around. My cell will be on of course. Can you find your way to the back?"

"We will be as quick as possible. I'd like to cut her up into little pieces but I'll have to settle for quick. If I can use my blade we will have more time. The cop will be the problem."

"Well, as you said, killing her is the mission. As long as your brother is avenged, everything else can be negotiated. Maybe we'll give up the Russians...." Laughter erupted in the silver Cadillac SUV.

Chapter Fifteen

Colleen and Amber climbed the stairs that led up through whitewashed brick walls, passing the black and white photograph of a smiling Marilyn exiting a limousine before arriving at the dark door next to the nameplate with a raised "229" announcing the room number. Lorelei, Rachel and Alex followed but were unseen as both the succubus and the angel cloaked them from view. Colleen knocked on the door sharply and waited. Doug opened it and looked at his fellow agents before trying to look past them.

"Where are the others?" He asked warily.

"Aren't you going to invite us in, Doug?" Colleen asked. I'd rather not do this out here."

He stepped back into the kitchenette that was to the immediate left of the entrance and watched as Colleen and Amber stepped in, followed by Lorelei, Rachel and Alex as all three seemed to materialize out of thin air. His mouth dropped open briefly than snapped shut as he quickly followed to catch them before they confronted Lydia.
The group exited the foyer and noting the rumpled condition of the bed in the alcove to the right, turned left into the somewhat narrow confines of the living area. Lydia rose from the white leather sectional, her hands curled into fists as her two nemeses saw her and stopped. The lead one's eyes, the demon like herself, blazed momentarily, then narrowed as she regarded Lydia more carefully.

Finally, Lorelei's head tilted slightly, then straightened as she drew a deep breath. Her eyes widened as the angel placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"You smell it, too, don't you?" Rachel whispered. "Like I smelled it when you were in that restaurant. With Brigitte. Redemption."

Lorelei nodded, her gaze still fixed upon her blonde rival. Lydia did not seem defiant. Or arrogant and malicious. She stood with her chin up, determined, offering no submission, nor any spite. She merely looked prepared to deal with anything that would now come her way. Lorelei felt Alex find her hand as he stepped near to offer his assessment.

"Babe?" He murmured. "That ain't the same woman who stepped on my dick."

Lorelei turned to him curiously and inquired, "You can tell, Alex?"

"Uh-huh," he shrugged. "Comes from hanging with you two, I guess."

"You have always had good instincts, my love. But remember what she did to you."

"Oh, I do. Believe me, I do. But get this: I got to see where I came from. I got to see what prepared me for you." His smile matched the one that she could not hide. Rachel high fived him as she moved in to hug them both. Lydia crossed her arms and waited, then wound those same arms around Doug as he moved around the trio to pull her into an embrace.

"Well, nobody's throwing around fireballs yet, so that's good, right?" He asked so only she could hear. He felt her nod against his neck, then look over his shoulder as Lorelei spoke.

"How did you escape, Lydia?"


"I took a piece of your crown from Azazel's...display. Your scouts had brought me there and I watched as you and he fought, and what you did to him after you vanquished him. I had no wish to join him as a victim of your rage, so I took the spike shard and cut Vincent's shackle from my leg after you left through Azazel's portal. Oh, and before I left, I believe Belial and Lilith were going to contend for your domains."

"It seems as much as I tried to avoid a tremble in the Balance, I managed to stumble right into the middle of one. Once I found the back door you used I tried to make my way as far away from where you and...her...and him and his friends.... I did not want you to find me. I am free now. Free to choose, just as you are. And I have chosen him." As she said her last she squeezed Doug harder to her.

Then she released him and bent to retrieve something from her purse. Stepping towards Lorelei she held out the piece of the Iron Crown in her possession. "I believe this is yours."

"You would give up that power?" Lorelei had trouble believing that.

"Of what use would it be to me now? You would know I have it, and so would she. You would not let that situation fester and I am through with running. When I emerged from The Pit back in Seattle I raged against you both for what you had taken from me. But then I realized the gift you had given me however unintended. I am grateful, as hard as that may be to believe. All my life, I have worked against someone or something. I reveled in the taking of souls and enjoying the cruelties and petty triumphs I could wreak against her and the hosts," Lydia pointed at Rachel.

"I worked against my masters just as you did and I hated you for being more successful at all of it than I was." Lydia seemed to deflate a bit before continuing. "I never dreamed of freedom like you did Lorelei, and I envied you even that. But possibilities stretch before me now that make me want to scream for all that I never knew existed. I see the truth now. The Balance? The precious Balance between Heaven and Hell?" She laughed bitterly. "That is not...."

Lydia and Doug stepped back involuntarily as Rachel leaped in front of them and held up her right hand. "STOP! Do not say another word!! You threaten their souls!!" Rachel's shout carried equal parts warning and desperation. "They cannot be told that truth!"

Lydia's eyes narrowed, a look of disgust passing over face before it fled at the sight of Rachel's anguished countenance. She blinked twice as she realized that what the angel said was true. If she revealed her insight, all four mortals' souls might be forfeit. She looked up at Doug as he looked back with curiosity and utter belief in his eyes. Belief in her. Her world shifted again. She looked back at Rachel. "I understand," she replied softly, "we cannot lose them, can we?"

Rachel shook her head, silent but for the relieved exhalation she breathed out before nodding and returning to Lorelei and Alex. The corner of Lorelei's mouth quirked and Rachel glared. "Don't you start with me." She warned.

Lorelei smirked, "I would not dream of it, my love."

Agent Nguyen, who'd been watching the exchange open-mouthed as had Amber, closed hers and cleared her throat. "Perhaps," she offered, "we could discuss more mundane things. Have you discovered anything that our task force needs to be concerned with?"

Bridger shook his head, more to clear it than respond in the negative to Colleen's question. Running his left hand down the back of his head to his neck, he responded, "This is essentially a big case of nothing to see here, Colleen. Obviously, Lydia like Lorelei, has a a...a...um," Doug glanced at both the supernaturals in question whose eyes were narrowing in a very similar manner as he struggled to come up with a substitute for murder-laden past, amongst other things that would not end up with his being on both of their shit lists.

"Unique profession!" He finally blurted as Lydia turned to face him, crossed her arms and tapped her right foot rather pointedly on the hardwood floor.

"Good save," muttered Alex.

"There may be hope for him yet," Lorelei nodded back, sotto voce.

Rachel was somewhat less circumspect. "Hey, Agent Pimp-Daddy, I got a shovel if you think it'll help!" she catcalled. "What?" she asked Alex when he rolled his eyes.

Doug blushed as he tried to continue. "There's no evidence of any current criminal activity beyond her befriending a group of local sex-workers. From what I could gather from the girls I interviewed in the past week, Lydia has no direct connection to the women or their work. She isn't 'running' them per se beyond providing advice and 'training.' She doesn't extract any of their earnings beyond what they offer as gifts. Most times she refuses even those, being able to obtain funds and other necessaries through her own means."

"None of that seems to fall under any extortion parameters either; the proprietors of any establishments who comp her stuff are more than amply rewarded with increased traffic through their businesses or increased sales volume of higher ticket items, due it seems to the fact that she and her associates are customers also. The rumor that clients of her associates are raving about their interaction with the women are completely true, as far as I can tell, which has resulted in a decrease to negligible on the number of complaints for or by either party to local law enforcement. Apparently, the great increase in both skill and enthusiasm by her associates...."

"They're my friends, Douglas. Sisters, really." Lydia admonished him gently. Lorelei's lips formed an enigmatic smile while Rachel openly gawked in pleased surprise. "Stop looking at me like that," Lydia blushed at them. "A girl can change."

Doug's face also wore a grin now, "Okay...bottom line is that her friends have a much better working environment, their customers are happier, none of the local businesses are complaining. We've got nothing."

"And moving into the future?" prodded Colleen. "Can we be sure this situation will remain stable? I highly doubt the local crime heads are going to tolerate a lack of control over her 'friends' for very long."

"We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess. Right now, they seem to be laying low due to the 'busts' and yeah," as he gestured to Lydia, "that's her and the girls too, setting them up. There's also some sweetheart deals for physical protection for the girls but nothing beyond what normal security would be like at say, a strip club. If society acted the way they should, the city would be giving them medals." Doug concluded.

"I'm glad to see you actually accomplished some work here, Doug. I'd hate to have to invoke disciplinary procedures." She smiled at his look of dismay. "You've done well here, Doug, however unconventionally you went about it. It seems to be a recurring method."

Amber's mouth dropped open in outraged amazement, "Wait a minute," she started, "I got an official reaming for what happened with Jason and you're going to give him a pass?!"

"For the record, Agent Maddox," Colleen addressed the younger agent evenly, "I was not the originator of that reprimand, nor did I agree with it, seeing how that whole situation ultimately unfolded. Furthermore, I had it removed from your file as soon as the furor over that incident died down. It would sully Agent Keeley's and the others' sacrifices to blame you for Hauser's misdeeds. And you're welcome." Colleen added, as she noted Amber's disbelieving relief.

"Colleen, how...I...but...." Amber spluttered.

"Now is neither the time nor the place for that particular discussion, Agent Maddox," Colleen continued gently, glancing at the non-Bureau people present. "In any case, I believe we are done here. I trust you will have the details wrapped up in a full report for me soon, Agent Bridger?"

"Uh, about that, Colleen," Doug began sheepishly. "I'll have that report ready in a couple of days, but it will probably be my last."

"Again, Agent Bridger," Colleen said quickly, "a discussion for later, officially, in private." To the wider audience she continued, "As we have in the past, I would like to conduct after action interviews. This time, thankfully, we won't be having any that are post mortem."

"Aww man, you just had to jinx it didn't you?" Alex groaned before he could stop himself. They all turned to look back at the entrance as they heard the click and beep of the cardlock in the door being activated.

Chapter Sixteen

The hypocrisy of YouTube lay in its egalitarianism. And its easily skirted content restrictions. As long as a video was deemed "educational" an uploader could basically ignore most copyright laws and any moral compunctions. There were videos that you could watch that would give you step by step instructions on how to engage in many criminal activities, and how to train to counter law enforcement.

So it was that Diego, Pedro, Hector, and Raoul came to be stacked up at the door to Suite 229 of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, looking as precise as any tactical team might also look, preparing for a dynamic entry. The weapons they held were smuggled in hidden in the cleaning cart of the maid whose master key card they also had. She was at home, packing her family up for the new life she'd been promised back in her home country. Aiding Pedro Almodóvar was very rewarding it seemed.

Diego slid the card through the slot and kicked the door in when the mechanism beeped. He leveled the M4 at the youngish auburn-haired woman he first saw but hesitated as Pedro shouted that the girl was not Lydia. There were too many people here, and Diego concluded rapidly that everything had just gone to shit as the girl screamed "GUN!!!" before whipping her blazer to the side revealing a duty style holster from which she was going to draw an all black pistol.

Everything seemed to go into slow motion then. He brought his rifle up again to center the girl with its silhouette just as a raven-haired woman caught him by the throat and flung him into the back-lighted photograph of a smiling Marilyn Monroe caught in a mirror by her dark-haired companion. The woman was not able to intercept Pedro as he swung the bullpup shotgun around to snap one shot off in the direction of the cop and the object of his hate before another woman, a blonde who seemed to glow in her simple white dress whipped a flaming sword down through weapon, cutting it in half and barely missing Pedro's right hand.

The woman who'd thrown him one-handed then barreled into Hector, driving him backwards into Raoul and them both into the very solid door that had swung closed behind them. Diego lost track of them then, hidden in the foyer but heard Raoul's shocked "MADRE DE DIOS!!" before he saw both their weapons clatter out onto the floor at the feet of the woman whose Glock 23 was out and pointing at him as he lay sprawled amidst shattered glass on top of a king sized white bed.

"Just give me a reason, asshole," she threatened menacingly, as he saw Pedro dangled from the grip of the glowing blonde who still held her flaming sword in her right hand.

"You stupid, drug-selling, cunt-ass motherfuckers!!" She snarled as Pedro gasped and coughed in her gasp, desperately trying to get his feet back on the ground.

The dark-haired woman returned from the foyer, roughly pushing Hector and Raoul before her and Diego nearly screamed at her appearance. Dark stripes ran across her skin, which itself was a glowing crimson. His fellow gang members winced at the pressure the talons at the end of her fingers exerted on their shoulders. The horns and wings that sprouted from her forehead and back nearly completed the picture and Diego was sure he would have seen the tail if he'd dared to look. "Diablos," he muttered while keeping the rest of his body very still, despite the discomfort of his sprawl. "We came to fight...diablos."

Colleen had her gun out nearly as quickly as Amber and she pointed it at the struggling man in Rachel's grasp as the angel continued to spew profanities at him. "Rachel," she called. "Please put him down."

Rachel blinked and shut off her curses. "Oh, right." She replied sheepishly as she dropped Pedro into a heap. It was only then she heard Lydia's anguished cries of "No, no, no, no, noooo...." and looked over to see Doug Bridger sprawled across her lap with way too much of his blood spattered over himself and Lydia. The blonde succubus cradled him and rocked as tears poured down her face.

Rachel's sword vanished and she rushed to them but knew she was already too late. The one-ounce slug had torn through Bridger's chest and lay on the floor in the spreading pool of blood, having stopped against Lydia's much tougher exterior. She knelt near the distraught demon and placed a hand on Doug's neck, before bowing her head and offering a prayer. She turned and looked up above his body to see his soul looking down at Lydia with such sorrow. Then he blinked at her realizing she could see him.

"She's in so much pain. Can't you do anything for her?" he asked.

Rachel shook her head, "I am not bound to her as I am to Lorelei. I am sorrier than you can imagine, and more still, that I cannot do anything for you, Doug." She tilted her head to peer around him. "Hello, Ruth."

The other angel stepped out from behind Doug's spirit self. "Greetings, Dominion."

"Please don't come in here with that crap, this isn't my city." She smiled sadly at Doug. "It wasn't his fault for losing your protection. It was for noble purpose, and he has paid the ultimate price."

"I-I know, Dom...er, Rachel. I have been given leave to bring him home."

"Home?" asked Lydia from her fog of grief. "He will go to Heaven?"

Doug's former guardian stepped close to her charge and placed gentle hands on the spirit's shoulders. "Yes, Lydia," she replied. "His love for you has redeemed him, as yours for him is redeeming you. Although I have come to believe I should have never been forced to leave his side in the first place."

Lydia bowed her head, but then raised her tear streaked face to them both to ask, "Is this what they suffer? At our hands? How do they endure it? I-I can barely breathe...." She broke off as more sobs racked her body.

Doug knelt down next to her. "I loved you for a day, Lydia." He said to her as she grieved. "I would not have traded yesterday for any other. But you're free now, this isn't our end, but your beginning." He reached down and cradled her cheek and she made to grab at his hand as if she would never let go. "I'll always be with you. I love you." He stood then as she slumped back against the ruined leather of the sofa and watched sorrowfully as Ruth led him towards the light that beckoned and flared so she had to turn away.

"How am I going to live...how am I going to live, now?" Lydia's anguished lament silenced the room.

Chapter Seventeen

"I am almost tempted to reassess the pros and cons of dealing with the supernatural in general, and this part of it in particular," Special Agent Nguyen remarked glumly as the somber group around her tried to wend their way through another aftermath.

The Mexican gang members would be prosecuted to the fullest extent, and thankfully no one else had been injured, but losing another agent was going to really cast scrutiny on the task force and Colleen was not looking forward to that in the least. Keeley, and now Bridger, were dead by involvement in supernatural bullshit, and further she could not seek answers from those who had the knowledge to quell her questions. "Bah! If mortals wanted the damn answers they should be given the chance to forfeit their soul or not...she would in a heartbeat," she thought darkly.

"No, Colleen," a voice in the back of her mind whispered. "there is no bounty to find by placing your soul within the reach of those who would abuse it. I know you want to know. I know you grasp at the larger picture. But that knowledge would only harm you. Please. Please believe there IS a reason for it all." Colleen's guardian angel Sergio bent to his task with intensity while appealing to Rachel with tortured eyes. Rachel crossed her arms.

"You're on your own pal. All you guys already know my feelings and she ain't gonna believe me anyway. Not after I got another of her guys killed." Rachel finished bitterly so only Colleen's guardian could hear. Or so she thought. She felt Lorelei's hand upon her shoulder.

"Rachel, stop." Lorelei counseled gently. "The fault here is not yours. These events come about by mortal choices. Every single one. Even Hauser. He could have chosen not to listen to what he knew was wrong from Donald. Indeed, if Alex had not chosen as he did, both our lives would be different now."

"But others might still be alive, Lorelei."

"And still others might have perished in their stead. We would be under the control of a master who might rival my own from The Pit. Do not second guess yourself this way, my love."

"Can we go home, now?" Rachel asked plaintively. "I am so sick of these things turning into shitshows...."

Both Alex and Lorelei stepped in to hold her and at the moment did not care who saw amongst the specialized personnel who were assessing and cataloging the crime scene. In that sense this incident was going to carry much larger repercussions than either of the first two that all the principals here had been involved in. This had happened in a very famous room, in a historically significant establishment, dedicated to a beloved American icon.

Most of the support FBI personnel looked at them with a combination of horror, fascination, and sympathy. No matter how much supernatural intervention there might be brought to bear, the public would find out something and there was going to be hell to pay. Colleen sighed and motioned to Amber.
"Are we going to be able to manage this at all? A lid is out of the question now, obviously, but I'm hoping you have some ideas for minimizing the fallout."

"Me?! I'm just hoping I can keep my name out of the papers and keep my job."

"Again, an obvious goal, but not helpful at the moment. Please see if you can forge us any path through this."

Amber huffed as she watched Colleen turn away to take the call that interrupted on her cell. She saw Colleen stiffen, then glance back at Amber before turning away again as she spoke into the phone. "Director...." She started as she walked away. Amber turned to her other friends. Clearing her throat, she stepped into their consolation of one another. "I hate to interrupt you guys but apparently I'm going to have to be the face of managing this PR disaster. Do you think I could get a little help?" she asked with a hint of desperation.

Just then she felt rather than saw the air in the room grow lighter and watched as her three friends all turned to face something or someone she couldn't see and then watched all three pairs of eyes widen in surprise, Rachel's most of all. Suddenly she was struck with the overwhelming desire to visit the bathroom and to take Lydia with her. She stepped to the dining area table where Lydia sat listlessly and asked her gently if she would like to clean up. Lydia nodded and the two women made their way down the short hallway to the bathroom.

"Lawrence. Hannah. What are you doing here?" Rachel asked in an uncharacteristically subdued manner.

"It is never His intention to give any of his children more load than they can bear," Hannah began. "And it would seem the time has come, to lend you a hand."

"We have sympathized with your struggles and celebrated your triumphs, but there is letting you stumble and there is allowing events to squash you flat." Lawrence continued. "We are here to help you...with this shitshow." Lawrence smiled grimly to convey that he was not mocking her.

"May I ask how?" interjected Lorelei. "The Hosts' penchant for non-interference is quite well established."

"Good evening, Lorelei. Alex. It is good to see you again, and I had hoped to do so under happier circumstances." The older but still beautiful Hannah asserted. "While none of these events are your fault, it is hard to reconcile the trials you all endure with the mere probabilities of fate. It might even be said that your relationship, and the one of your rival's, so cruelly cut short, heralds a new restructuring of The Balance."

"Hannah," Lawrence broke in, "I do not think we should be discussing this matter at this time."

"And why not?" Hannah retorted. "If they are indeed the vanguard of new and possibly terrible upheavals in the structure of our universe, I would think they, of all people, should be in the know."

"Wait, what?" Alex broke in. "Restructuring?" Alex's face pulled into a very thoughtful look as he stroked his chin absently. "The Balance...The Balance...is not really between Heaven and Hell. Is it?"

Rachel looked at him in fright as Lorelei regarded him with even more love and respect. "Babe, Alex, no...." Rachel pleaded.

"The Balance," he continued, as his thoughts went down entirely new avenues, "is between us and you. Between mortals and supernaturals. You guys have the power. But we have the freedom. It's why the angels are always backing off. And the demons are always enticing. It's so we have to make the choices. Because you guys can't." He gestured to the angels who looked back at him as though he had said the most profound thing they'd ever heard.

"Alex." Lawrence intoned gravely. "You do not know what you do. You put your soul in peril."

Alex shook his head. "No, I'm not. Not really, am I?" And took heart at Lorelei's nod of agreement, to the frowns of the three angels. Rachel's eyes though, seemed also to gleam with pride. "What I'm actually threatening is the structure. We mortals can't know, 'cause we'd want to have a say, wouldn't we? And that can't be, can it? We don't live long enough. You guys do, you can implement the changes and then stick around to do the tweaks and...and...the updates." Even more understanding came to him. "That's our part, isn't it? We make the choices, and those choices make this whole thing go. Grow. Change."

Hannah shook her head gently, then nodded to Rachel. "I had always felt this undercurrent of greatness within this one. At the risk of a backhanded compliment, it may have been what spurred Donald to push him to be a hero. Your own involvement seems to have been the final catalyst. Yours and Lorelei's"

"As reluctant as I am to admit this, seeing how we have traveled into a new frontier without much preparation, I have to concur, Hannah. The question will now be whether The Balance is preserved at all or what phoenix will rise from its ashes should it collapse and burn." Lawrence mused.

"Be that as it may, we still have immediate concerns, and I'm sure your two bond-mates will assist you in whatever...philosophical or spiritual concerns you will want to work through, Alex. For now, Hannah and I will assist in lessening the impact of this incident in the minds of those who might make life more difficult for your friend there," he continued, gesturing to Colleen who was talking animatedly into her phone, then suddenly looked very relieved. Rachel smirked, half with amusement and half with relief but held on to Alex's hand just in case.

"You're pretty quick when you put your mind to it, Lawrence," she quipped.

"He has his moments." Hannah agreed, as she and Lawrence shared a look. Rachel gaped.

"Wait, nooooo...you two? Seriously? Fuck me." Rachel felt gob smacked. Lorelei grinned.

Lawrence turned serious once more. "Lydia. She is fragile."

Both Lorelei and Rachel nodded. "We will see to her needs," Lorelei replied for both of them. "I will make sure she does not fall back into her old ways."

"Don't think there's much chance of that now, babe." Rachel added. "She knows what love feels like now. She's not gonna want to give that up. I know I don't."

"And neither do I. She will recover, and we'll be there to help her."

Hannah regarded the angel and the succubus with equal affection. "I can see that Fate perhaps was quite benevolent when it chose you both and Alex to be the agents for change in our universe." Turning to address Alex, she said, "You may have surmised this by now, so I shall confirm if you haven't. There have been mortals who've loved angels. There have been many more who loved demons. There has been only one who loves and is loved by both."

"Wow." Alex was stunned.

The two greater angels smiled at the three who still stood in awe of what had just transpired as Lawrence and Hannah, hand in hand, turned and strode off into the ether. Lorelei recovered first.

"Bond-mates. He said bond-mates. Yet he must have felt that my bond with Alex is gone." She tapped her lips as she mused.

"Love forms the strongest bond of all, babe." Rachel replied quietly. "It's the strongest magic of all."

"How am I ever going to deserve you two?" asked Alex. They both turned to him with sly looks.

"We'll think of something." They replied in unison.

Chapter Eighteen

Lydia looked in the lighted mirror, staring in disbelief at her still perfect features, although grief painted much of her face. Her eyes glanced to Amber who waited silently a few steps behind her. "Have you ever lost anyone?" she whispered.

"My Mom," Amber replied quietly. "And another agent. And now Bridger. I was closer to my Mom and Paul...but this hurts. This hurts a lot. We gotta put a good face on it while we're being official but I know I'm going to cry later." Amber didn't think about being alone with a demon, she didn't think about how insecure the situation was. She only thought about how she would feel if Jason had died and wanted nothing more than to comfort the succubus who'd once posed a threat to her boyfriend. "I'm so sorry."

Lydia managed a wan smile. "He said he'd been hit with the thunderbolt."

"Oh god," Amber gasped. "And you?"

Lydia nodded in the mirror. "Yes, I think I'd been hit with it, too."

Amber stepped up and wrapped the blonde succubus in a tight hug as Lydia sobbed.

Chapter Nineteen

One year later

Lydia stood at the corner of North Highland and Hollywood, once again talking with her girls about clients and money and what to do with their lives once they left the life. Unless they were going to trade their souls for an existence such as hers had been, their current livelihoods could only be seen as temporary. Lorelei had assisted in that counseling over the past year, steering many of her charges to thinking about college and helping to vet the suitors who decided many of her friends were what they were looking for in a wife. She'd attended four weddings over the past year and gave away the women in two.

Karen and Mia had come down from Seattle twice and the ensuing road trips had been epic. Thinking about her life as the women moved off to regulars and first timers, Lydia smiled at how domestic her life had become. She still thought about and missed Doug every day, but the ache had eased as everyone who'd become close to her had said it would. She wondered if there would ever be another man for her but thinking about that possibility always brought her fresh pain. She couldn't. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

She didn't hear the footsteps come up behind her and was startled from her reverie when she turned and found herself face to face with Rachel, who was in jeans, a pink French cut t-shirt and pink trimmed violet Reeboks.

"Heya Lydia, what's cookin,' Mama Bear?"

"Hello Rachel," Lydia replied warily. "What brings you to LA?"

"Nothing bad." Rachel reassured her. "But I did come down here to see you. I need to show you something. Or rather someone."

"Some...one." Lydia replied dubiously.

"I need to take you there but I don't...I think flying there is out? Don't want to freak people out...You wouldn't happen to have a car, would you? The place is out in Burbank."

"Burbank."

"Uh-huh."

"You're serious."

"As a heart attack!" Rachel said brightly. "Just kidding!" Rachel added when Lydia narrowed her eyes.

"We could Uber. I do all the time."

"Okay. Um, could you call? I don't really have a phone."

The Uber driver dropped them off at 501 South Buena Vista and Lydia still couldn't figure out what they were doing there, even though she'd known the destination from the start. She'd had to pay also, since Rachel didn't have an account but the angel did have cash and tipped the guy forty dollars which he almost tried to refuse saying having two gorgeous ladies for the ride share had been his pleasure. Walking in, Rachel stopped at the information desk and asked for Kayla Peterson's room, then led the way in the direction of the elevators.

"Kayla Peterson?"

"Really nice person, Lydia, you'll like her. Husband's name is Bob. This is their third kid."

"Why am I here, Rachel?" Lydia asked plaintively as they approached the private room.

"Because life dealt you a shitty hand, Lydia. You were the evil skankula from Hell, which wasn't really your fault, then you found a great guy and didn't even get to spend more than a day with him. Which was partly my fault. So, I've been keeping tabs on some things and I hope this trip will help with my apology."

"You're apologizing...to me?"

"Yeah, looks like it, huh? Anyway, we need to conceal ourselves and wait for...oh, good here she is."

A nurse came down the hall carrying a tray with medications and a light lunch, knocked twice on the door and pushed it open when a deep male voice welcomed her in. Lydia and Rachel followed, then stood by the closed door, unseen by the family and the nurse in the room. A tall black man stood near the bed looking down with great pride and love at the attractive redhaired woman lying there cradling a blanket-swathed newborn. A teenaged girl and a boy who looked to be about ten stood at her other side grinning down at their new brother.

There were six other angels in the room, who could see the newcomers, and they smiled in welcome. One of them detached themselves and came up to the succubus and her companion.

"Hello Ruth." Rachel said.

"Hello Rachel. Lydia." The first angel replied as Lydia's eyes widened. She looked back at Rachel for confirmation and almost gasped audibly at Rachel's nod.

"How...why?" she finally managed.

"As for how, it was an easy two-hour labor, it's her third kid after all. As for why...I wanted love to survive this time."

Lydia looked to Ruth for permission and then moved to the foot of the bed. Rachel followed. The child turned its head a bit in his mother's arms and opened his eyes and looked at her. It was like a thunderbolt.

"Doug." She breathed. Then threw her arms about Rachel's neck and wept.