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Dissonant Hearts (Degusaurusrex x AndrewS)

He knew what she had done, but hearing her actually admit it made it feel real.

"You just trapped one of the only demons on this planet as powerful as Malakai inside a ring full of dark magic being worn by the most naturally powerful mage I have ever come across." Ignas chastised. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Ignas, wait, you don't get to act like that. This is your fault to begin with."

"My fault? If you both would have just let me do what I wanted, then none of this would be happening and we'd be better off for it. Now, she's going to be carrying around that imp, and she's just going to get stronger because of it. You think she's bad now? Imagine what she'll be like in a couple of days when she's seeped up all of the magic the witch is carrying with her."

Ignas unfortunately had a very good point. He was, however, selectively approaching the situation, leaving out his own involvement.

"Do you think I wanted to try and kill her? I've grown fond enough of her that I no longer felt like she needed to be eliminated...until I realized what she was doing and then you stopped me. This is as much your fault as it is hers, Isen."

He was throwing blame everywhere except for himself. He was the one wielding the sword, he was the one who attacked her to begin with.

"Let's just...calm down for a minute. Adelaide, can you get her out of that thing...?" He suspected no. That was what she was trying to learn, after all. Isen's only worry was that Danica would be capable of influencing Adelaide the way that Ignas had been influencing him, changing how she felt, how she acted, giving her urges that she didn't want to follow but couldn't fight. With the magic they were capable of using, it was a concerning thought.
 
"No." Adelaide had listened to Isen and Ignas bicker back and forth with a weary expression. Danica had, surprisingly, stayed silent during it all, presumably licking her wounds and trying to soak up the magic in the ring to aid in her healing. Adelaide was very thankful for that as she pushed herself to her feet, standing there with a hesitant expression on her face before she finally shrugged.

"I wouldn't have had to do it if Ignas hadn't ran her through with a sword. She's staying there until she's healed and I figure out how to get her out... Which means endless studying." Something she hated, but now no longer had a choice in. Danica couldn't stay in her ring indefinitely, and she didn't want the demon in there period, let alone for a prolonged period of time. The only upside to the situation was that she couldn't go off and do things to screw them over without them knowing, but everything else seemed to be a negative.

"Let's just... See what we can scavenge from here and go back, I guess."
 
"Yes, great plan. Let the powerful demon heal and become more powerful. What could possibly go wrong? Isen, you can't honestly support this? You do realize what that imp could do to her while inside of her body, don't you?"

"...I don't like it but she's made her choice. There's nothing we can do about it now until we find a way to free demons. Just, maybe next time, ask me before you decide to try and murder our allies?"

"Allies? You've lost your fucking mind! She just led you into a damn trap! Then, she disappeared and left you to fend for your life against a demon. If I wasn't here, neither of you would still be."

"Well, did she?" Isen asked Adelaide, wondering if she could hear Danica's voice or if there'd be a reply. Did she know that there would be demons here? And did she mean to just 'disappear' so conveniently?

Isen sighed, leaning down towards the shattered remains of the urn that once contained Lenova. "Do you think we could repair it? Or use these pieces to make something new?" It was a long shot, but it was all they really had, unless there were some other capable object buried somewhere beneath the rubble, at least.

"Isen."

"What now?"

"You need to get rid of that ring, with her in it. You never wanted the witch to keep it to begin with. Now, you have more than enough reason to take it from her."

"Yeah, I don't think she's going to go along with that plan."

"She has no choice. It's the easiest way. She doesn't know how to release a demon, so bury the ring somewhere cold and dark and dirty and let it rot with the imp inside of it."

Except, Adelaide had released a demon. Sure, the catalyst she was in was damaged, and it didn't appear to be what she intended, but it had worked. Clearly, she had the ability, it would have been imprinted on her like every other spell she had ever learned and used, she just needed to harness it.

"Fine. Since you seem immune to common sense and reason, would you believe me if I told you the truth about her? And the truth about myself and Malakai?"

"That's if you actually tell the truth. You never seem very talkative about them." Isen replied, rummaging through rubble again.

"If it's what it takes to get rid of her for good, I will tell you what you wish to know."

Isen rose a brow in Adelaide's direction as if asking her for her opinion, his shoulders shrugging then dropping idly.
 
"No, I don't think she led us into a trap. It doesn't make sense for her to when she needs us." Danica was still silent as Adelaide sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and kicking at the ground before beginning to pace. What else was she supposed to do, just let the demon perish and hope Ignas came to his senses about fighting Malakai, rather than going on about how dangerous the other demon was? Of course he was, otherwise they wouldn't need Danica in the first place!

"I don't think I can fix it, no, but that doesn't mean there aren't other valuable things here. Books, even, as much as I hate having to constantly read through all these damn tomes and spells." Better they find whatever was left behind, rather than someone else.

"She is right here and can hear everything you're saying. You can't just pull it off, and you're not cutting my finger off. The ring stays on until things are settled. Maybe let me manage my own magic, at least I'm not going around trying to kill the people that could help us." Her expression changed entirely when Ignas offered the option to learn about the demons' pasts, and she narrowed her eyes in the sword's direction before sighing heavily.

"I'm not taking off the ring, but I'm listening."
 
"Very well, perhaps it will change your mind once you know the truth." Ignas told her, matter-of-factly.

Isen, too, was interested to finally hear more about the hatred that Ignas seemed to hold towards Danica, but also to discover more about Malakai. If they knew more of his past, perhaps there would be a chance they could find something they could exploit or use as a weakness or, at the very least, they would understand him a little more.

"Go on, then."

"The three of us were chosen to lead all demon-kind into a new age. We were being used as slaves by your ancestors, witch. Enslaved and bound, forced to fight your war instead of our own." He began, his voice thick with malice as he spoke. "I don't remember the reason I was sealed, or the events that led to it, but I remember everything else, vividly, in fact."

"Chosen. The demon we fought said something about that, didn't he?" And Isen was pretty sure Danica did as well.

"It wasn't secret knowledge. Malakai, myself and the imp. We were the three demons they had selected to monitor to find a leader."

"They?"

"The Infernum. Think of them as a council, kind of like the one the DSTF has. A group of powerful, elder demons tasked with making a choice regarding the future of their race."

That didn't sound like something they wanted to mess with. Isen needed to know more. "And this...Infernum. Does it still exist?"

"No, they were eradicated by Malakai when he took the 'throne'. Well, what they called a throne, anyways. The Infernum wasn't going to hand over full control to whoever they selected, they would always be looming in the shadows, influencing our decisions and forcing us down the path they wanted. We were to be just a figure head, something the other, weaker demons could rally around to start a war of our own against the humans and the mages...Malakai knew that and so, he got rid of them before they became a problem."
 
"Just spit it out." She sighed as Ignas began, immediately citing how he had been enslaved by her ancestors, as if she'd had anything to do with something that had happened before she'd ever been conceived. Hadn't he explained that tidbit before, at the very least? She really needed to pay better attention to the demon's ramblings, with how things were turning out now.

"Great, demons older and more powerful than Malakai," Adelaide groaned and fixed Isen with a pained look, "Just fuckin' great." Well, it would have been terrible news had Ignas not dropped worse news on them directly after. Malakai was powerful enough to murder an entire council of old, powerful demons? They were fucked, weren't they?

"Why would that change anything? If anything, I'm more pissed at you for nearly killing Danica so that I had to stick her in my ring! If I don't figure out how to get her out once she's all healed up, we're never going to have a real chance at beating Malakai! You're so stuck up in your fucking ways Ignas, and for what? For--"

"All because he got his cute self twisted up over a witch," Danica's voice came from inside the ring, a mixture of amusement and annoyance to the point Adelaide could almost envision the look on the demon's face. "I would have been a better leader than either of them, but I was passed over and then those idiots destroyed everything. Ignas ran away like a coward because he couldn't handle it and left me the mess to clean up when the two of them got locked away. Honestly, you men are such babies!"
 
"It had nothing to do with me being a coward and you know that, imp." Ignas returned fire, immediately, casting aside her accusation. "And you were passed over because you couldn't even use your own power correctly."

Up until this point, neither Isen nor Adelaide had seen what Danica could actually do. It seemed like all demons had something they seemed to specialize in, a type of magic that came easier to them than others. What exactly was she capable of? Or, in this case, not capable of?

"And when you couldn't get what you wanted, you thought you could latch on to one of us like a parasite for a second chance at becoming something you were never fit to be!"

"Okay, wait. Remember, the two of us have no idea what you're talking about. You're supposed to be filling us in."

Isen heard Ignas utter a sigh before continuing on.

"When she was voted out by the Infernum and ruled unfit to be the sole ruler, she decided to try and become our bride. We both turned her down, she caused a fuss and Malakai and I found ourselves at each other's throats, literally, over something that I never wanted in the first place. I didn't leave because I was a coward, I left because I didn't want it the way they wanted it."

And because of somebody else. But, despite Danica bringing it up, he seemed to be purposely leaving that part out.

"But that power of hers that she doesn't know how to use? If she figures out how to control it, through Adelaide or that ring, not even the DSTF would be enough to stop what would happen. She's a damn demon factory. Her magic allows her to make more of them. She never could get it right, though, but the witch? Adelaide? She's made it quite clear that stumbling into doing extraordinary things that shouldn't be possible has become her bread and butter. Good luck stopping that."
 
"You shut your traitor mouth, Ignas. It's not my fault everyone was inferior. They can all rot in whatever afterlife there is for us. If there is one." Danica scoffed at Ignas, her voice shrill and displeased as she defended herself. "I would never mate with you, you pathetic excuse for a demon!" What the fuck was going on?

"Stop blaming me for everything that's happening and fucking own up to your mistakes." Great, now she was back to agreeing with Danica because Ignas was playing his little game again. So Danica could create demons? Did that mean that they were created instead of born, or were they born and then also created? There was so much that she didn't understand about demons, and listening to two of them bicker like this wasn't making it any easier.

"You left for the witch, you traitorous fucking snake." Danica's voice came from inside the ring smugly, and Adelaide could mentally picture her standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a grin on her face. "You left because you preferred her over us, and where did it get you? I told you, you should have run her through."
 
"She was the only person in my life who actually wanted me without any strings attached." Ignas fired back, angrily. "You wanted me to help your gain power, Malakai wanted me as an ally to make him stronger, the Infernum wanted me as a scapegoat. She wasn't like that. Still your tongue, imp. The entire reason things happened the way they did was because you got upset when we rejected you and decided to fuck everything up. Things were fine until you let your fragile pride interfere."

Had Ignas been in love with a witch? Was he even capable of something like that? Maybe not now, but perhaps, back then, before he had been sealed and when he had his own, real body? Isen couldn't wrap his head around Ignas feeling the same as he did, for Adelaide, towards anybody else, and he wouldn't even go as far as to say what they had was love at such an early juncture.

"You cast the first stone and then you left. If you believe that I was a coward then so were you. Clearly it worked in your favor because you weren't there whenever they came to seal us." He said he didn't remember what happened, exactly, but he seemed to have a decent idea of it.

"So, that whole filling us in thing...?"

"I was in love with a woman who happened to be a witch. Danica lost her shot at the throne and decided to make me and Malakai fight because she was upset. I gave up on my ambitions to become king to be with her."

"And...?"

"What do you think? I'm here, aren't I? It didn't go the way we planned it and none of that matters. What does matter is Danica being inside of a body that gives her a limitless amount of magic to perfect her little demon army spell. Call me what you will, believe me or don't, I couldn't care less...as long as Adelaide does the right thing and gets rid of that fucking ring, and the parasite attached to it."
 
"Right, because the humans would have just left us alone. Malakai is the one who went to the witches and did what he said. You're both pathetic, the lot of you, but I want him dead more than I care to try and do the same to you, although I can see the sentiment isn't returned." Of course Danica hadn't been around when they'd been sealed up, she wasn't stupid enough to get herself stuck in some sort of catalyst for decades on end. The only reason she was in one now was because of Ignas, and even then it was going to benefit her being able to draw from such a powerful catalyst like the one on Adelaide's finger.

"The fact that both of you fell to fight with one another and both ended up sealed is just a testament to the fact that neither of you are fit for the throne." Danica huffed, and Adelaide wished desperately there was a way to smack the demon inside her ring. If she hit the ring, would it shake up the demon inside? She decided that despite the temptation, she didn't want to injure herself any worse than she already was. Ragdan's blow had left her rather sore, and her stomach was still churning and liable to empty itself at any moment from the effort of putting Danica inside the ring. How did people do this and not end up passed out on the ground?

"I'll still take Danica over Malakai. One thing at a time. Let's just get what we can out of these houses and get back before I'm sick. Then I'll be just as useless as all this bickering is."
 
"I want him dead just as badly as you do." Ignas told her, a certainty in his voice that began to fade almost as quickly as it had flared up. "...but I'm not a fool. I know we aren't capable of doing that, so why would I risk my life to help you in what is essentially a suicide mission? And why should they?"

"Then we get stronger. I don't want to work with Danica either. I don't trust her, but unless we get rid of Malakai, we're never going to be able to kill Maximilian."

"I don't care if we kill Maximilian, just like I don't care about the throne that she keeps talking about. I stopped caring about this world a long time ago when I lost the only thing about it that was worth holding onto."

"And what would she want?" Isen asked, boldly. Ignas was quiet for a moment, not certain how to respond. Clearly, the only thing he thought was worth it was this supposed woman, somebody apparently so bewitching that she had stolen the blackened heart of the demon inside of Onigoshi so fully and so completely that he would be willing to give up dominion over demon-kind to be with her.

Isen took the silence as a sign that what he had said had gotten through to him. Rather than let the silence speak for itself, he decided to continue pressing the topic.

"Do you think she'd be happy knowing that she played a part in letting Malakai rise to power? Or that her kind have been enslaved and used to hurt innocent people?" Isen asked, not calling them Dissonants anymore...it didn't feel right to him to make the unflattering distinction. "Or that the person she loved...one of the only beings on this planet, supernatural or otherwise, who had the strength to do something about it had become such a coward that he wouldn't even try?"

Isen leaned down, fishing through the rubble again at Adelaide's request, finding satisfaction in the fact that Ignas, for once, had no snarky response or excuse...he had no response at all.
 
Isen was going straight for the throat with that question, apparently, but the silence it brought was almost heavenly. There was too much information to process, and she didn't have nearly enough brainpower to handle it just yet. Instead, she focused on scavenging through the remains of the different homes, some of them still in decent condition, and filling her arms with books and other useful looking trinkets. They could always come back again, now that they'd been there... Even though she had no idea where there was.

"I bet it's getting late there." Even where they were at, the sun wasn't shining nearly so brightly, and she could see what had once been broad, vibrant streams turning into thin drafts that faded away into the darkening sky. "Let's go."

Now that she was as satisfied as she was going to be for the moment, Adelaide was also very tired, and there was a moment when she took Isen's hand that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to teleport them. Considering they could have been halfway across the world or in some interdimensional place she wasn't aware of untl now, being trapped would have been a very, very bad thing.

"Oh, thank god." Did a god even exist in this world, or was she just speaking nonsense out of habit from years of using a cliche phrase? If demons existed, it made sense maybe gods did too, but she hadn't ever come face to face with one or spoken to one before. Maybe Dissonants and demons were the only creatures aside from humans. Maybe there were entire other worlds or dimensions. Until she got a hold of what was going on in this world and they finished their task, she wasn't sure she wanted to know about the potential existence of others. Damn her brain.

"Did the demon finally decide we no longer needed to be graced with the sight of her?"

Barely back and already Isabella was inquiring about Danica.

"Uh... Not exactly. It's a long story, and I've got my arms full, take some of this for me." She offloaded some of the things into the vampire's arm as Nikolai glanced up from the table, taking a pair of thin glasses from his face and closing the book he was reading through. "Don't look at me like that, I did what I had to. Any progress on learning anything interesting in those books?"

"Define interesting. Adelaide, what did you do?"

"...I only did it because Ignas tried to kill her and we need her."

"Did what, Adelaide?"

"Put Danica in the ring."
 
Silence followed as they teleported back to the shop. Ignas remained quiet, having yet to say anything in response to Isen's berating. Isen himself was beginning to think that he went a little too far, his human side feeling remorse for coming across the way he did even though he had no reason to feel any remorse for someone who had taken as much from him as Ignas had.

When they returned back, they separated for a moment as Isabella came to speak to Adelaide, asking about Danica. Isen didn't want to be around when Isabella, or Nikolai, found out what Adelaide had done, lest he face their wrath as well for allowing it to happen. Instead, he remained outside, in the alleyway, taking a moment to clear his head and also, giving him some privacy to try and speak with Ignas.

"Ignas." Isen spoke out loud, even though he only really needed to speak the name within his head. "Ignas, I would like to talk to you." He repeated, when his request fell short. "Ignas, I apologize for what I said."

"Don't." Came the demon's voice, in return. "You were...right."

He was...right? Had he broken Ignas? This was unusual.

"I...was?" Isen asked, confusion permeating his tone.

"...Isen, she would be ashamed of what I've done."

It was Isen's turn to remain silent for a couple of seconds as he tried to comprehend the conversation he was experiencing and figure out something to say in return that wouldn't ruin the demon's sudden self reflection.

"From what you told me, it seems like it wasn't exactly our fault. Malakai and Danica interfered in your...relationship?" It was still so weird to even say that out loud or think that Ignas was capable of love for anybody.

"They did, but that's no excuse for what I'm doing now. You called me a coward, did you not? Danica said the same thing. Maybe you're both right."

"Where's this coming from..?"

"...Isen, I want you to do something for me." Ignas ignored his question, leaving Isen even more confused.

"And that is...?"

"Find out if she's still alive." Ignas told him, his voice lacking it's usual devious inflection and intent. "I need to know if she made it."

"If she's still alive, would you want to...see her?"

"...no. I don't think that would be a good idea. I would be satisfied just to know that she made it out, that she wasn't turned into a weapon."

"Ignas...they captured witches and mages from all across the country. They even managed to get to Adelaide's family with all of their power, I don't..."

"...Isen, please. I need to know. If they found her...if they turned her into a tool..."

Not only was Ignas saying please, but he seemed vulnerable. Danica being around had clearly opened old wounds he had tried to bury. Perhaps his penchant for violence was one of the ways he coped with himself. Isen thought he was a monster for the things that he had done when Ignas was to blame but, there was a real possibility the entirety of the web they had been spun into was because Ignas himself already felt like a monster and decided to live up to the role he was cast in.

And then, as he finished his sentence, came a declaration that, for the first time, truly put the three of them on the same page.

"...I'll help you kill every last one of them...Malakai included, even if I end myself in the process of doing it."
 
"Sorry, did I hear you right? You put the demon in your ring that you can't take off?" Nikolai stared at her in astonishment, as though she'd just told him the world was ending or that someone had come back to life.

"Can we not all harp on me about it? I did what I felt necessary, and now we're back to square one. The catalyst we were after already had a demon in it, but they're dead too." Why hadn't Isen followed her inside yet? He'd effectively left her to deal with explaining everything all on her own, and of course Danica wasn't saying anything from her cozy spot inside the ring.

"So now both of you have demons and we're still not any closer to beating the bad guys." Isabella seemed less than pleased with the current outcome, and Adelaide couldn't really blame her. There weren't any Dissonants she would be able to blame for being upset that things were going poorly, once more. It was starting to seem like every time they got ahead and got something significant done, something knocked them back to keep them from advancing too quickly.

"Tell the vampire she's absolutely adorable when she pouts like that." Adelaide rolled her eyes at the sound of Danica's voice. "Tell her."

"Danica says you're cute when you pout like that."

"Adorable."

"Correction, adorable. Whatever. Danica, I'm not playing messenger anytime you want to tell her something."

"...I can fix that, you know."
 
"I'll talk to Adelaide about it. Maybe she or Nikolai can help you."

"If we tell Adelaide, Danica will know as well..."

"So? This isn't something we're going to be able to do on our own. She could be anywhere, alive or dead. We'd need magic to try and narrow it down."

"That imp is already insufferable enough as it is already, I don't need her to know more of my business."

"If we're going to have any chance of getting anything accomplished in the next little while, it's going to have to be with her. Like it or not, which I certainly don't, she's going to be with Adelaide for a while until we can figure out how to get her out of that ring. She's not going to want that to happen, but I believe Adelaide will find a way. She's stubborn, but she's not stupid. She knows what's at stake here."

"...women are the worst."

Isen chuckled. "Spoken like someone with a broken heart. We'll figure it out."

Ignas would never be able to repent for what he had done. There was no amount of forgiveness great enough in the world to abolish his sins and the evil deeds he had committed, but, still, Isen felt like the right thing to do would be to find him peace before they reached their eventual confrontation with Malakai. If they could manage to keep Ignas on their side, truly, without any ulterior motives or intentions, the strength of two demons as powerful as him and Danica might be enough to turn the odds in their favor with the right plan.

With his conversation finished, Isen walked back inside, joining the conversation as Adelaide no doubt began to explain what had happened and what she had done. "Fix what?" He asked, curiously, walking past Isabelle so that he could be closer to Ada. "You'll never guess what Ignas just asked me to do." He told her, a look of both amusement and confusion across his face. "I'll tell you about it later. How's everyone taking the news?"
 
"There you are." Finally, a distraction to rescue her from the looks she was getting. Even Roland had popped into the room momentarily before disappearing to have some DSTF related conversation with Takami, who was looking worse every day. She really needed to figure out a spell to try and fix his catalyst if they had any chance of helping him.

"We're right here, you know." Isabella rolled her eyes at Isen. "Danica is being a bigger pain in the ass than you two before you admitted your feelings for each other." She scoffed and shook her head, muttering under her breath before going to leave the room.

"I'm going home to check on everyone. I'm taking the less useful boys with me. Roland, Takami!" Well, that was an interesting change. Now the vampire was insisting he go home with her for the night?

"And we're the ones who waited forever to admit feelings?" Adelaide chuckled to herself, brushing her fingers against Isen's before taking his hand gently. "Danica wants to be able to talk to Isabella, so she says she can fix me being the messenger. I don't know. It's late, I'm tired, and thanks to the loudmouth sitting in my ring, I'm not even hungry anymore. Danica, this nausea better go away soon or so help me, you're going to be miserable in there the entire time until I get you out. I refuse to have food taken away from me!"

"Tell the witch he can stop staring," Adelaide glanced at Nikolai, who only held up his hands and then left the room in response. "I can give you a spell so that the vampire can hear me. I like her, she's just the perfect blend of sugar and spice, isn't she?"
 
Isen suppressed a laugh at Isabella's comment, a brow raising in suspicion as she suggested she would be taking Takami with her. Roland, too, but Takami in particular was the curious part of the comment. His fingers curled around Adelaide's as her hand found his. Despite all of the turmoil, she was still his home, as she said she would be, and having her touch against him helped make things feel manageable again.

"Just do the spell." Isen responded, shrugging his shoulders. "What's the worst that happens? And it'll keep her from annoying you more about it. Trust me, it gets extremely grating to have somebody in your head annoy and pester you about the same thing over and over again."

"Bite me, asshole."

Isen didn't keep this laugh in, he let it flow freely, finding it easier and easier by day to find humor and joy in small things that would have otherwise annoyed him in the past.

"Danica, let her eat." Isen followed up with a request to the demoness inside her ring. "We'll meet half way. I convnce her to let you do your spell, you give her appetite back. It's the literally the only thing I can think of that makes her happy. I don't think you want your vessel to be upset the whole time you're inside of her, do you?"

This entire situation was going to be awful, he could already tell.
 
"I'm not stopping her from eating." Danica huffed indignantly. "She just feels sick because she's not used to having all of this extra power inside her. Blame Ignas, not me. I wouldn't even be in here affecting anything if not for him." A pause. "But I will attempt to soothe the angry mage's stomach." Well, that was better than doing absolutely nothing, so she couldn't complain too much.

"It's not the only thing that makes me happy. I just happen to like food, what's so wrong with that?" It wasn't like it made her gain a bunch of weight, and it wasn't hurting anyone. She couldn't help that she got cranky without her meals! "Fine, I'll do the stupid spell... After I eat. Then I'm sleeping, and I'll deal with the repercussions of you being stuck in my ring... Tomorrow."
 
"Then it's settled. We'll order you some take out and you can have Nikolai foot the bill." Isen smirked. "So, this spell is just going to make it so Isabella can hear Danica, right? It's not going to mess with anything else?" Isen asked, wanting to make sure. He didn't trust Danica as far as he could throw her which, admittedly, wasn't very far at all right now given their current predicament.

"Isen..."

"Oh, yeah, so, Ignas needs our help with something." Isen shifted the conversation back towards what he and Ignas had spoken about before. Now, that it was just the two of them, plus their annoying tag-a-longs, it seemed like a good time to at least discuss it and see if it's something that might be possible. Isen grabbed the shop's phone off of the hook and brought it to her, placing it down on the counter in front of Adelaide.

"He wants to know what happened to the mage that he used to be in love with." Isen explained, pausing to give Danica time to laugh or make snide comments, which he fully expected that she would. "Not to meet her or anything, but just to know if she's still alive...or if she got captured, or killed, by the DSTF along with the other witches and mages they went after."

"It brings me great trouble not to know what happened and recent events have...reopened old wounds better left buried. It would bring me...comfort to know the truth and, if I discover that they have hurt her..."

"...he says he's on board with killing every single one of them, Malakai included." Danica would surely be happy to hear that. "So, I think it's worth a shot but we have no idea where to start. There has to be some sort of spell, right? You, or Nikolai, or even Lorelei, you all should be able to figure it out?"

"A locator spell..."

"Yes, like a locator spell! Or, really, anything that would help."

Isen almost sounded like he legitimately wanted to do this, as if he cared about what happened to the demon's broken heart.
 
"Isabella will be able to hear me, yes," Adelaide had a feeling the demon was leaving something out, but she was too tired to pry into it at the moment.

"Nikolai! I'm ordering food, do you want anything?!" Adelaide was already clicking away on the phone Roland had given her when her uncle replied, and she added his food to the order before turning back to the conversation at hand.

"Our help?" Adelaide raised an eyebrow, and she could practically feel Danica wriggling with curiosity as she set the shop phone aside with an appreciative look. She hadn't even known there was a phone for the shop!

"You want to know about the witch?" Ignas was starting to seem less like the heartless beast he portrayed himself to be, and Adelaide wasn't sure how she felt about that. After everything he had put Isen through, how could she view him as anything more than a monster?

"Oh goodie, if she's alive you can run her through too."

"Danica, I swear if you don't shut up I'll do it for you. Ask Ignas, I have a spell on hand that'll shut you up real quick."

"...Very well. Continue."

"How are we going to do a locator spell just based off what he knows, though? Don't you like... Need something of hers?"

"Not if you're good enough at what you do. Didn't those witches of yours find you with the DSTF without something of yours?" That was a good point, had Nikolai and the others found them without an actual item of hers, or had they just gotten lucky? There were so many things to contemplate.

"Fine, but don't expect me to stand and play messenger if she's alive. I've had about enough of playing the telephone game with demons."
 
"Still your tongue, Imp...I don't want to speak with her. Or see her at all, in fact." Ignas corrected Adelaide's expectation. For what it was worth, Isen didn't really believe it, but he had no reason to argue and risk ruining what was happening. "I just want to know if she's alive. If you can do that for me, I will be satisfied."

Isen shrugged his shoulders. "We need him on our side. Properly, this time, right? We might even be able to convince him to work with Danica for a while without trying to kill her."

"You can try. I make no guarantees towards either of those requests."

With Isabella and the others out of the hideout, it was really just them, now, and their witch friends in the other room, but they were still separate. For the first time in a while, it almost felt like when they started out, the two of them bouncing between hotel rooms while trying to learn to trust each other. Though now, they had another passenger along for their ride, it still felt sort of...comforting to have a night without all of the noise. She could shut up both demons with her spell if they proved too annoying, but trying to remain peaceful with them did in fact seem to be their best option going forward, at least for now.

Isen suddenly grabbed Adelaide's hand, a forward gesture of affection, giving it a squeeze. "Let's take tonight off and relax a little then, tomorrow, I can help you work on those spells?"

"Isen..."

"One night isn't going to harm anything. Besides, she's been through a lot, she needs time to...adjust." He spoke, from experience. "Having somebody else inside of your head is exhausting. Any spell she casts will work much better if she's properly rested." And full of food, but he didn't add that additional comment out loud, only Ignas would have heard it.
 
"You know he'll try to kill her the moment this is over and he has a chance. Can't say I blame him, either." Danica was barely tolerable as it was. At least Ignas was still confined to a weapon, able only to taunt but unable to be overly touchy like the demoness seemed to be before her bond.

"Huh?" Adelaide jumped slightly when Isen suddenly grabbed her hand, staring at him blankly for a brief moment before her expression softened and she squeezed back. They'd been so caught up in all of the other drama going on that they hadn't spent much time together just relaxing, and it was only when he made the suggestion that she realized just how lovely that sounded.

"I can wait until tomorrow to do it. Isabella isn't even here, so it won't hurt to wait a little longer to make her able to hear Danica..." Isen was right, though, it was exhausting having someone else in her head. As if she didn't argue with herself enough without an actual living being to argue back!

"I'm gonna go change into something more comfortable while we're waiting on the food, then we can just relax for the night and deal with demon drama tomorrow." She squeezed Isen's hand one more time before disappearing to slip into pajama pants, more than ready to be off her feet and settled in for the night. A fully belly, comfortable clothes, that sounded better with each passing second.

Some twenty minutes later she was sufficiently ready for the end of their night, with only Nikolai present as their food arrived and they settled in to eat. Adelaide had opted to brush out her hair and give her scalp a break from the tight confines of the braid, the platinum locks spilling down her back as she hungrily bit into her food and gave Isen a half apologetic look at her lack of manners. Girl had to eat, right?
 
Isen had yet to really come up with his own routine on how to relax himself or deal with the stress their journey, and their ever-growing band of annoying companions, placed upon him. He couldn't find solace in food the way that she could, nor did he have any typical human inclinations, hobbies, or pass times. While she was away, he sat himself down in front of the television, like always, using it as a window into the world he had left behind and what he had forgotten. Much of what he had learned from his escapades were drivel, but occasionally he'd pick up on something useful, or interesting.

Tonight, he had found his way onto a news channel running a report on the latest and greatest about the DSTF. Now that Maximilian had stepped into the limelight, it appeared as though he was trying to use his public image to sway the wavering opinion. Max was a famous musician long before he ever became chairman of the DSTF, having sold millions of records and having been behind the pen for several incredibly popular songs from the years past, songs Isen recognized from old, forgotten memories. He wasn't sure how someone in that line of work would have come to be in a position watching over the DSTF, but he presumed that simply being bonded to his demon was reason enough for the power it granted. Either way, he learned two things; Maximilian was a glory hog in every sense of the word, making it very curious why he kept himself hidden for so long, and the DSTF were far from done or ready to back down, even after the fiasco with their drone attack.

They had reported the supposed death of Lorelei, as well as their renewed commitment to public safety within Cresthaven by setting up check points at all major exits in and out of the city. It seemed like they were trying to find Isen and Adelaide, but they couldn't have been that shortsighted. Adelaide could teleport them anywhere they needed to go, check points weren't going to do anything.

"Did you see this?" He asked Adelaide as she walked back outside and began to, unsurprisingly, stuff her face. "Check points all across the city. They can't be looking for us, right?" He asked, standing up and walking over towards her so that he could sit closer, wanting to be near her tonight. "I was just thinking that it seems a little excessive since they know you can just zap us anywhere we need to go. They must be up to something else. Maybe they're worried about somebody trying to get in?"

Or they didn't want anybody getting out.
 
"See what?" Adelaide glanced back in the direction of the bedroom when Isen spoke. "Seems a bit silly they'd bother, yeah." She scooted her chair over slightly so he could join her at the table, then glanced at Nikolai who only shrugged at first.

"Maybe they're worried about Danica showing up? It's not like they know she's stuck inside my ring." She shrugged and took another bite.

"Could be. Could be hoping to catch me and mine. I'm sure they're less than pleased that we can and rescued you from having the literal life sucked out of you." Nikolai had a point there, but it seemed unlikely they would set up a checkpoint for a handful of witches who had only caused trouble once. Then again, that single occasion had taken both Adelaide and Isen out of the hands of the DSTF, as well as stolen Lorelei and all of her knowledge away. It was possible they were finally panicking, although it seemed unlikely.

"And I don't really see it being a city-wide quarantine. Even if they made it so no one could leave the city until they said so, it's not like the news isn't going to leak out everywhere. Cell phones, internet, television, I'm sure people halfway across the world know about what's happened by now. I don't know what the crazy bastards are thinking." She sighed.

"Hell, I don't even know what I'm thinking right now other than sleep."
 
There were too many things they didn't really know yet, but Isen was already beginning to feel claustrophobic, like the DSTF were trying to surround them from all sides. Eventually, he knew there would be another confrontation with Maximilian and his demon, but they weren't really any further ahead in finding a way to stop them as they were before the day began. With Danica inside of Adelaide's ring, it was possible things were, in fact, even worse.

"I guess, right now, it doesn't matter that much. You should finish eating and then we'll turn in for the night." He told her, volunteering himself to go with her when she decided to sleep. "Tomorrow, I'd like to take a look around, maybe get a closer look at what they're up to first hand, maybe we can figure something out?" Isen made his suggestion, though he knew that they would need to be careful, or find some sort of way to conceal who they were to avoid causing any trouble.

For now, they would have the night to themselves, without any outside distractions for once, and he was looking forward to it. The peace and quiet was well appreciated after how chaotic things had become.
 
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