Immortals at War

It was one of those slow nights at the bar. There were a few regulars, some teens with awfully faked I.D.s, and a few random people Azira had only seen just tonight. She stood behind the bar and listened to the Gothic music vibrate the room. A few patrons were on the dance floor drunkenly moving to the music. Her shifts were boring when Jax wasn't at her side, but he had DJ duty this evening.

The time passed at a snails pace. She did her best to entertain herself by texting Amadus and Morgan. Her keen ears picked up on the front door opening, but she didn't bother to look up from her phone. Some over peppy Cyber chick who had been here since opening interrupted Azira mid reply to her brother and asked for some froufrou drink.With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Azira went to work on the girl's drink.  

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Magnus sat in his office at Furious Fun's head-quarters going over notes and reports from this morning's meeting. It pleased him to see sales were rising high and profits would be through the roof again this month. As he finished his reading he filed away the papers and leaned pack in his desk chair. "It's good to be king" He thought as he reflected on the past month's accomplishments. His train of thought was derailed by the ringing of his cell phone. With a soft sigh he picked up the phone and answered it. "Hello." he said with in a dull drone.

"It's done." the voice on the other end replied.

A wicked smile spread across Magnus's face. "Good," he said in a much brighter tone, "I'll see you upon your return Joe." With that he ended the call.

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Joe returned the cell phone to his jacket pocket. The job had been easy: get in, get the necklace, get out. The snob would not even know it was gone. He slipped the sliver chained pendant into his pocket delicately and set off down the block back to his truck, whistling a little tune as he went.

Luke walked into the bar, he had changed his face to look like your regular punk rocker, spiked hair, piercings, tattoos. He was wearing torn jeans and a tank-top with some band logo on it. He ignored the drunken dancers and walked up to the bar, ordering a strong drink. He scanned the bar for his target. Some kid who owed  the mafia a lot of money. He was to kidnap him and bring him to the boss.

After scanning the bar and not immediately seeing him, he looked at the bartender. He smiles at her. "Is it against the rules to share a drink with a customer?" He said, flashing his smile still. She was beautiful, even with the dyed hair styled into a mo-hawk. 'I'll never understand this culture' he thought to himself as he looked at her.

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Jean walked the lonely streets, the city was quiet here. It was almost strange, if he didn't know someone was following him. He walked as if he had a limp, favoring the side where his cane was. If someone was going to jump him, it'd be best if they thought he was weak. He brought it on himself, he was walking in a bad part of the city after dark, wearing nice clothes. He wanted a fight.

He sighed as he stood looking at the street lamp. Life had become so boring for him now.

Azira barely noticed the guy sit at the bar as she made the girl's drink. Only after she had pranced off and he had ordered his drink did she pay him any mind. There was something familiar about him, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She smirked at him a little. "Nope," she replied to his question after setting two glasses on the bar. She could use a good drink at the moment. She filled each glass then took a gulp from hers. "I don't think I've seen you around here before." she said over the blaring music, doing her best to make small talk.
 
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Joe sat in a secluded booth in the corner of the diner he had stopped at on his trip back to  Baltimore. He had a burger and fries laid out in front of him. As he ate he studied the necklace he had stolen for MAgnus. It wasn't much, just a palm-sized, silver sun pendant with a sapphire in the center. It simple, yet beautiful. He had no idea what value it had to Magnus, but he would not question his friend's motives.

The bell on the door chimed with the entry of another customer. Joe slipped the pendant back into his pocket and continued his meal. All was fine and dandy until he felt eyes boring holes in him. He knew the feeling of being watched, question was who was taking the time out of their life to pay him any attention? He casually glanced around the room, doing his best to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Luke smiled again. "No, I'm not from around here." He downed his glass in one drink and looked at her. It took him a second to realize why he was getting a familiar vibe from her, he realized and smiled again when he figured she was a demon. "Besides, I'd remember a face like yours." He said with a slight smirk. He finally saw his target and decided he should go, he waited for the bartender to turn to help another customer before leaving a card with his number on it and a tip for her and leaving, both quickly and quietly.

He followed his target out the back door of the bar, the music quickly fading away as he slipped into the night. His target looked around, nervous, before crossing the street. Luke felt raindrops land on his head and smiled. He had always loved the rain. The night air was cool, and sweet to his senses. As he watched his target go he followed, sticking to shadows and natural cover, he shifted his clothes to a more unassuming style, plain brown pants and a shirt with a black rain coat. The rain picked up, falling vigorously now. His target began to run, trying to escape the rain. 'Funny' He thought. 'He's running from the less dangerous.' He followed faster now, following until he ran to a less busy part of town, they were walking under a train track, shielding them from the rain, and making it all the darker.

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Jean sighed as it began to rain and felt his pursuers leave, apparently more interested in staying dry than trying to rob someone. He walked into a diner, shaking off the rain and the cold, and sat on a secluded side. Seeing only one other person here, he slid into his seat and ordered a drink when the waitress came by.

What was odd about the scene, was the other person, he had fumbled quickly with his pocket when he walked in, as if trying to hide something. Jean decided it wasn't particularly worth it and sat in his seat. Wondering what he would do next.

Az smirked a little at the guy before serving another customer. Looking back to find only a card and money were the was sitting, she shrugged off the encounter. He was just some random guy, attractive yes, but still just a random guy. She did pocket the card and tip, however. "Who knows," she thought as she went about here business, "maybe he'll come in handy. If nothing else, he'll be fun to mess with when i get bored."

The night dragged on. More people came and went. Az spent most of her time behind the bar or kicking out rowdy drunks. She was just waiting for the boring night to end or for something interesting to happen.

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Joe was finishing off his meal. Whoever had been watching him had stopped to mind his own business, thankfully. Joe stood and went to pay, leaving a generous tip for the waitress. As he made a polite small talk with waitress at the register the door opened again.

"Hey Furio scum." a man said. Joe froze.

There was the bang of a gun going off then searing pain spread from Joe's rib cage. The waitress shrieked as Joe dropped to one knee in front of the counter. Joe slipped a hand into his coat clutching at his chest with a groan of pain.

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Magnus strolled down the street from Furious Fun's HQ. It was a chilly evening, but he didn't mind the cold. He quite enjoyed his evening walks before heading home for the night. the street was relatively quiet compared to most nights. It was easy for him to pick up on the foot steps not to far behind him.

Ada sighed and kicked her legs up on the table. The diner was small and far from home, but she liked to visit it when she was traveling. She was sipping on her milkshake when she heard the gunshot. She jolted upright, scanning the room for the target. She already had her phone in one hand (dialing 911) and her gun in the other. She saw the shooter leaving out of the corner of her eye just before she spotted the target. Ada jumped up and pulled out her handkerchief, putting her gun away. She rushed over to the injured man and moved his hand aside to look at the wound.  

"It's not the worst I've seen. Here." She pressed the handkerchief against the wound and applied pressure. "Sir, ya need to lay down. If we don't get this treated right away, it could wind up fatal."

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Paulus took a look at his watch and shuffled forward. The man was supposed to meet him here. He looked up at the sign. Why Amanuel wanted to meet at some gothic bar was beyond him. Surely he had some reason. Paulus heard a shuffling behind him and smiled.

"You're late."

"By your watch. I'll have you know, old man, that your dusty old watch is three minutes fast."

Paulus smiled. "Well then I'm glad you're punctual, old friend. If you were even one minute late I'd worry about you."

"I'm never late." Amanuel smirked. "You ought to know that by now. Let's go in."

"Why?"

"I want to see if you can tell why." Amanuel held the door open and gestured Paulus forward.

"Amanuel. I've been around longer than most dirt. If you're trying to surprise me or test me, you're going to have to do better than a goth bar."

"We'll see."

Amanuel and Paulus walked into the bar and sat down in a corner.

"Is this about the demon?" Paulus asked.

"Yes and no. I found this place because of her. But I think there's something about to happen here. Do you see them?" Amanuel nodded discreetly towards two figures that were walking up to the bar.

"What, the angels?"

"Of course. I think they're about to go after the demon. But here's the thing." He leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Those are rogues. Our job is to save the demon."

Joe smiled at the woman through the pain. "Mighty kind of you ma'am," he muttered. Joe lightly pushed her hand away and replaced it with his own. "Don't worry 'bout me, I'll be fine. I've lived through much worse."

Joe stood, leaning on the counter for balance. He swore under his breath as he pulled his phone from his pocket. He didn't here the necklace clatter as he speed dialed Magnus on his phone.


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Magnus quickly answered his cell phone that began to ring in his pocket. "Hello?" he muttered into the phone.
"Mag, I was found by a Blanc hit-man. I'd go after him but I've lost a lot of blood." Joe's strained voice came from the other end.

Magnus's blood ran cold in his veins. The eyes of his pursuer on his back became all too apparent. "I'll call in back up right away." He replied to Joe before hanging up. He quickly called in a favor from a friend he had in the city where Joe was. Next he quickly texted his his secretary to send someone to pick him up. Though he would undoubtedly survive any attack from his arch nemesis, he really didn't want to ruin a new suit.

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The hair on the back of Azria's neck stood on end when the angels walked in. Her mind couldn't focus on anything thing but the out of place, holy creatures. The air in the room got heavier as several other demon's throughout the building sensed them too. All hell was about to break loose. Azira reached for her colts in a little hidden shelf under the bar and slipped them in into the holsters on her thighs.

"What the hell did you do?" a demon at the bar asked.

"What haven't I done?" she muttered. The demon just gave a compliant shrug. Shivers run up and down Azira's spine as the angel's drew ever nearer to the bar.

Jean heard the gunshot. Jumped at the suddenness of it. And saw them man clutch at his chest. His assailant turned and ran, but jean followed. Grabbing the man by his shirt and kicking the back of his knee. As the man fell he pointed his gun at Jean. Only to be hit in the wrist by the wood part of his cane as he pulled the blade within out and pressed it against his neck. "Shooting a man in front of several witnesses, pretty gutsy."

He heard commotion and speaking behind him, it was the man who was shot. He could only wonder how the man wasn't laying there dying as he held his foot on the attackers wrist and held the blade to his neck.

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Luke smiled as he listened to the rain and followed his target. The kid had stopped to smoke a cigarette as Luke walked in the darkness. Gleefully pulling a knife from his coat. "You owe money to the wrong people you know." He said. Waiting for the kid's reaction. Almost hoping for him to run. 'A quick knife to the leg will stop that' He thought to himself.

To his credit. The kid didn't run, only took a drag off his smoke and tossed it. "Alright you got me." He held out his hands. Luke bound them and his legs and called his boss. Setting up the pick up when he felt something strange coming from the bar. More immortal presence than there should be, and the strong presence of angels. Telling the boss where the kid would be he ran back to the bar. A strong curiosity tinged with worry and excitement set his pace. It had been awhile since he saw angels fight anything, and longer still for himself to fight them.

Yukiko walked along the street, playing with her long pony-tail draped over her left shoulder covering her chest and stomach. She was lost in her thoughts. She was new to the area and was going to need a place to live. Money was not the problem, finding either a representative or someone to pose as parents might be. Last place the two posing as her parents got too greedy and she was forced to leave early, but not before wiping their memories clean of her.
"What I get for having step parents." she told herself. "Should have chosen Japanese, or at least east Asians." She was still kicking herself for having made such a foolish decision.
As she turned the corner and started down the street, she heard a shot from up ahead. She leapt out of the way, into an open door of an apartment and stayed in the shadows. She heard noises, like a brief scuffle, some talking and she waited.
Yukiko peered around the corner and saw one man standing over the other, sword in hand, foot planted on the wrist and a gun on the ground.

Ada's heart skipped a beat when she heard the stranger's thick southern accent. It sounded as old and genuine as hers. She looked down and tried to think of a way to convince the man to stay with her under her care. A gleam caught her eye. She checked to make sure that the man wasn't looking before she picked up the necklace.

It was a pendant on a silver chain. Ada found herself oddly transfixed by it. She started to ask the stranger what it was, when an idea came to her. If it was special to him, he'd come back for it. If it wasn't, she would have a pretty new piece of jewelry. She tucked it into her pocket and looked up at the man.

"Ya know, I think I actually saw someone chasin' after the man that shot ya. Wan me to go see if he caught 'em?"

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"Rogues?" Paulus raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what they think they're doing in a bar like this. It's nothing but innocent humans and a few demons. I really don't see anything worth coming after here."

Amanuel gestured to the bartender. "I don't know, but it's got something to do with her." They both stood right as the angels began the confrontation.

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Grigori and Lailah sat down at the bar. Grigori stared intently at the demon Azira. He didn't see why Lailah saw her as a threat. She just looked like another punk. Lailah leaned over and rested her head on Grigori's shoulder. He started. "Lailah, we're on business," he whispered.

"I know," she cooed, "but nobody we know is around. Can we drop the facade for just a minute before we mutilate the place?" That was when Grigori saw the gun and heard the shot. He didn't jump until he saw that Lailah was bleeding.

He tried his best to tuck her into his arms and fly away with her safely, but there was a man coming at him with a sword. Grigori recognized him instantly. "Paulus!" His voice grew dark and boomed with power.

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Paulus smirked. "What, did the demon get your girlfriend?" He swung with his sword. His aim was true, but Grigori blinked behind him at the last second. "Damn. I hate fighting Angels." He turned around. Amanuel had the angel in a full nelson. Paulus laughed. "I still like your style, Amanuel. You take it from here." He turned and went to ask the demon why two rather powerful rogue angels had been after her. After all, to get the watcher angel and the angel of the night after you was no easy task.

She didn't shoot the angel. She wasn't stupid, she new better than to attack those things first. She heard the bang, saw the blood and ducked. She hid under the bar and just listened to the commotion.

"Az!" A voice called from the other side of the bar. A boy leaped over the bar and landed right in front of Azira. He was thin, tall, with pale skin and bleach colored hair. The boy also had a pistol.

"Adamus, you moron! Are you trying to get everyone kill?" Azira shouted as grabbed her little brother by the collar of his shirt. In that moment, though she loved her brother, she could have killed him. One of their fathers biggest rules was don't get involved with angels; don't talk to them, don't fight them, don't kill them, unless they start it.

"I'm sorry," Adamus choked out, "they were planing to slaughter you and everyone else. I just thought..."

Azira cut him off with a scoff. "You acted without thinking. You know father's rules.  Just because you can hear their thoughts doesn't mean you should act. Especially around angels."

Azira stood, colt in one hand, Adamus in the other. She saw the angel Adamus had shot on the floor. Her partner was being wrestled by an immoral man she had seen sit at the far side of the bar. There was another walking her way. Azira recognized him as a roman solider she had had the pleasure of fighting ages ago. She smirked a little. "Long time, no see, Solider."

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"Please do," Joe muttered, "I wanna know exactly who I'm stringing up."

Joe was in a lot of pain, but he could feel himself  healing up pretty nicely. He didn't feel a bullet inside his chest, which was a plus. Joe really didn't feel like having to be sliced open to retrieve the projectile.

Luke ran back into the bar, he had heard a gunshot and his excitement was flowing. He was rather disappointed when he saw the scene, one angel on the ground bleeding, the other was currently being grappled by a large man. He almost busted out laughing at the sight of them. As he walked into the bar placing himself between Grigori and Azira, ignoring the Immortal man. He looked at them "Really now? Two angels bested so easily?" He looked at the two of them. Wondering what they could be doing here.

He looked at Azira and smirked, flicking his appearance to the punk style he was earlier and then back to normal. "Hello again beautiful, seem to be in a bit of trouble?" He turned again the angel who was being grappled, watching him, he could 'kill' them both right now, but didn't see the fun in that. He was curious why they were there, and he wanted to find out.

Yukiko stood quietly watching. She doesn't like the looks of anyone involved. From what she can see it appears the person on the ground shot someone. The person with the sword stopped them, but he doesn't look good either.
There was a small walkway between where she was hiding and the next building. She was afraid but she had to hear what was happening. She watched both men and when she was certain neither was looking her way she quickly moved into the darkness. She hoped they hadn't seen her, but then, it was hard to tell. She had seen instances where both the assailant and the victime were in cohoots together. She silently and nervously waited

Ada nodded and charged out the door and onto the street. She saw the man from early with his cane held against the shooter's neck. She put one foot in the diner and called out to the man.
"The guy that was sittin' next to ya's got him. I'm gonna go help." She pulled her gun from its holster and ran over to the two men on the pavement. Pointing her gun at the shooter's head, she smirked. "Not so high-and-mighty now, are we?" She kicked him. "Talk."

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Paulus caught movement out of the corner of his eye as he walked up to Azira. "Amanuel." He looked back at his frind. "Go check that out." Amanuel nodded and knocked the angel out before heading in the direction of the street outside.

Paulus smiled at Azira. He remembered fighting her. It had been a good fight - for a demon she had been very fair. He hoped to have a rematch sometime, now that he was more experienced. "Angels these days." He shook his head. "I remember when they used to be the most feared creatures on the planet and now-" he motioned towards Adamus, "- you can just shoot them. It won't last long, mind you. Lailah's body will reject that bullet and reconstruct any minute. I figure you have about three minutes before she wakes up with a fury that makes Satan look tame. So tell me, what the hell did you do?"

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Amanuel was standing out in the street. He had seen the movement out of his peripheral vision, too, but he wasn't sure where it was. He leaned against the wall of the bar. He could sense another being nearby, but he did not sense malicious intent.

"Whoever you are," he said, "Thanks for giving me an excuse to come out here." He pulled out a cell phone.

"Sir, they're here."

What was said on the other end of the line would have sounded either like dead silence or ear-peircing power to anyone else. What Amanuel heard was:

"Thank you. Now do your job."

Joe watched the woman go. He could only smirk at hearing the Blanc hit-man hadn't got far. With a groan he turned to the waitress and pulled out his wallet. "Tonight never happened, is that clear ma'am?" He asked as he handed her a couple of one hundred dollar bills. The waitress nodded and Joe thanked her for her serves then slowly made his way outside.

"Over my dead body." the man groaned up at the woman pointing the gun at him. "It's non of your business. Now unless you want that pretty face of yours rearranged i suggest letting me go."

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Azira took another gulp of her beer. "Hell if I know. Last Heavenly Intervention worthy thing I did was blow up some nuclear plant in Ukraine back in '86, and that was an accident. Why they showed up today is beyond me."

Az finished off her beer and threw the bottle away. She then pulled herself up and over the bar with ease. "So what are we going to do with these things?" she asked as she slid from the counter onto the floor to stand by Lailah's unconscious body. She gave the angels side a little nudge with her foot.

Ada shrugged and shot the man in the side. Then she dug the small heel of her boot into the bullet wound.
"Let's try this again." She twisted her foot so that the wound tore open further. "Talk."

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Paulus shrugged. "The best idea I can come up with is take them back to hell with you. They're powerless there. Maybe you can get them to tell you why they came after you." He kicked Grigori's skull again as he started to wake, sending him back under. "Keep them alive, though. They're rogues. We still don't know what the rogue angels are after, all we know is that to get them after you you actually have to be in God's favor." He cocked an eyebrow at Azira. "Any idea what that means? Because last I checked, you were a demon."

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Amanuel walked back into the bar and introduced himself in the most formal way he could manage - a small nod of acceptance. He had a bit of a distaste for demons, but he believed that God allowed them to exist for a reason. Anyways, this one didn't seem too bad.

The man screamed in pain as Joe walked over to them. "You ain't gonna get him to talk, sweetheart." Joe said. "His kind are trained to withstand extreme torture without cracking. It's better just to kill 'em and get 'em out of the way." He gave the man a kick in his side.

The jolt of the movement threw him off kilter. Joe wobbled a bit and leaned on the woman to keep his balance. Damn, too much blood loss. he thought.

"Sorry, ma'am," Joe muttered, "guess i'm still a bit dizzy."

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Azira couldn't suppress the laughter that came from her lips. "Me, in God's favor?" she said through fits of laughing. "God actually favor's me, the Heir to Lucifer's right hand man? That has to be best joke I've heard in centuries." Even Adamus and several other nearby demons joined in.

"Now Az, don't tell me you've gone to the light side." Adamus chuckled as he pulled himself onto the counter behind his sister.

"Hell no!" Az replied over her shoulder. "And be stuck with these bird brains fr eternity? I don't think so." She turned back to Paullus. "I see no reason why god would want anything to do with me, one of Lucifer's favorite demons. But you're idea to take them back to Hell till they talk actually seems like a good idea." Azira gave a wicked grin. "I've been pretty bored lately, and i know i can talk Lucifer into letting me have some fun with these two." She gave Lailah a good kick to the ribs.

Ada blushed as the man leaned on her to support himself. She put her arm around him to help support him and shot the man on the ground with the other hand. She hit just below his heart so that he would die slowly. She looked over at the man with the cane.

"Can ya help me get him back to the diner? He called for people to come help him, but we need to keep him layin' down until they get here. And you," she looked over at Joe "You need to take it easy. You have been shot, ya know."

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Paulus shrugged and hoisted Grigori over his shoulder. "Someone come take this hunk of rotten meat. Not you," he said to Azira, "I still have some questions for you." He passed the rogue off to a demon he didn't recognize. "I have a theory. You see, God doesn't really like you demons too much, but he lets you roam the Earth. As for fallen angels... well they're to be killed on site before another Lucifer situation happens."

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Amanuel came up beside his friend and nodded, glad that he had already led him into his job. "After all," Amanuel added, "I'm sure you don't want any rivals to Hell's throne. Maybe God just prefers you to them." He gestured to Lailah, who still lay motionless on the floor. "Even I can tolerate a demon, but rogue angels are just filth. Powerful filth, but dirty nonetheless."

Jean returned the sword to his cane, looking at the man who had been shot repeatedly. Then to the other two involved. "You had best get going actually, I doubt you want to be around when his help shows." He looked at the man there. "Well you might. I think you're like me, and a fight would be fun." He turned and in a quick motion had swept the sword back out and across the man on the ground's neck, killing him. Then returning the sword to its sheathe. "Loose ends are never good, besides, he was just being paid, no true need to suffer." He looked at them both. "But to shoot someone in the middle of all that commotion, it's lucky you had help, or he would be long gone, and whatever his purpose was more lost, search his pockets. If his phone is there your information might be in it. Or at least his friend's."

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Luke couldn't help it anymore, he actually laughed. "Don't take them to Hell, you'd never get them there." He looked at the two unconscious angels and then the immortal. He let the angel fall to the ground, before pulling his gun and putting three bullets into his skull. "Let the girl wake up, he'll be down for a bit." Lucifer knew this, he thought to himself, he knew this would happen. But why her... It made little sense to him. "You know... they may not have actually been hunting her." He looked at her, flashing his smile. "She looks as innocent as a demon can be after all. And besides, God doesn't favor us, his greatest enemy's creation. He scorns us." He was still thinking, rogues wouldn't be hunting me... But maybe.. "I say let her wake up, she might give us some information, especially if we threaten her boyfriend with an eternity in Hell." He crouched by the other angel, still holding his gun and waiting for her eyes to open.

Joe smiled a little at the woman. "I'll be fine, ma'am, really." he said. Unconsciously joe reached into his pocket. Nothing.

Joe went from clam to panic in less than a second. "Dammit where did it go?" he hissed as he stepped away from the woman to frantically search all of his other pockets. "No. No. No. No!" he nearly screamed. "Magnus is going to have my hide."
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Azira just rolled her eyes a bit. So his plan is to set the place ablaze, awesome. she thought. "Adamus, call dad. Tell him send up  Alastair."  Adamus smirked and pulled out his phone. He jumped from the bar and walked off to make the call. Azira turned to look at the demon by Lailah. "Don't do anything stupid, alright? I'd rather not clean up a mess of feathers and blood."

Azira looked back to Paulus. "He right you know, God can't stand us. Why he would ever favor anyone of us is beyond me."

Adamus came back with a little smile on his face. "Alastair will be here in a few moments."

Azira smiled back wickedly. "Good, then we can most certainly have a little fun with theses two." she then pulled her phone from her pocket.

She texted Jax to close down the bar and go home. Most every one else was smart enough to run out when Adamus shot Lailah. This wasn't the best neighborhood. If shots went off, most people hauled ass to get out of the way. All excect for the few demons in the club. They all wanted to watch what would happen to the feather-heads that came onto their turf.

Ada jumped a little at the man's sudden outburst. "Sir, please calm down. If you're lookin' for that necklace, it fell outta your pocket earlier an' I picked it up. Here." She handed it to him. "That's a lotta fuss over a little pendant. Must be mighty important."

Ada was a little disappointed that she didn't get to keep the pendant, but somehow seeing the look of relief on the stranger's face was more satisfying than having a new piece of jewelry. She bent down and began to search the shooter's pockets. She found one of those untraceable cell phones, a blank address book, and a blood-soaked pack of cigarettes. "Gross." She tossed it aside. "Well, I don't rightly think he has anything left to tell us. An' I don't think this man's in any state to fight with ya right now, no matter how much fun that fight would be. How about I take Mister-Determined-to-Kill-Himself over here and we'll watch from that alley. I have a feelin' this might get interestin'. Of course I'll step in if ya need me to, but I really don't think you will." She turned to the strange man she was supporting, "When your backup gets here there's gonna be a massacre, isn't there?"

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Lailah stirred on the ground. She heard a small "plop" as her body rejected the bullet. Quietly, she opened one eye and looked around the room. When she saw Grigori on the ground next to her, she found herself shaking with rage. They could shoot her, she didn't care. Grigori was another matter. He wasn't an angel of conflict, and he wasn't meant for battle. The watcher angel was just supposed to, well... watch. Her blood boiled.

Being the angel of the night, Lailah tended to be rather calm and level-headed. She assessed the situation and made a note of everyone in the room. There were various demons whom she had no business with, the one she had come after, one with a smoking gun, an immortal, and a random mortal man with some major guts. Something about that one seemed familiar. She stared at him intensely for a while before realizing who she was. She quickly took him off of her kill list.

She looked at the man whose gun was still smoking. He was going to pay for shooting her partner. She grabbed Grigori's arm and blinked away before anyone really realized that she was even awake.

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"Dammit!" Paulus raged. "Why the hell was nobody looking at her!" He grabbed Amanuel's arm. "Let's get out of here. I don't want to be around when Alastair realizes that everyone in here just let a couple of angels get away."

Amanuel was still looking at the spot where Lailah had been. He hoped she hadn't noticed who he was. He looked at his friend sternly. "You're immortal, you coward." They both turned and walked out.

"I thought I ought to tell you," Amanuel turned to Paulus when they were outside the bar. "There's someone hiding in the alley over there."

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It wasn't long before Lailah blinked back to the bar, alone this time. She had made a mess and she was going to clean it up. She didn't want him involved.

Joe could have kissed the woman in that moment. "Thank you. Thank you!" he said taking the necklace from her.

He looked down at the man. "No, my friends will just take care of him. No massacre. Not unless more of them show up." he said "I just need a place to rest for the night." He glanced at the blood stain on his chest. "This is gonna be a pain in the ass." he muttered to himself.

A  black car pulled up to the curb and the window rolled down. "Joe Valentine?" a man asked.

Joe looked at the car and gave a half smile. "That's me. " he called back. "I'm fine, but i need a little help with this thing." he gave the body on the ground a kick to the ribs. The man nodded and he and his partner got out of the car.
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"Damn you," Azira hissed at the angel. The other demons in the bar quickly came to her side, wepons drawn. Azira barked an order in an ancient demonic tongue. All the demons smirked and shifted into their ture forms. Azira did so as well and summoned her sword Umbræ Mortis.

Azira smirked, her black eyes staring down the angel. "You have two choices: surrender or die slowly and painfully." She rested Mortis's black blade on her shoulder. "Take your pick, bird-brain. Either way, we'll get what we want."

Luke laughed again. "Do you all realize who this is? The Angel of the night. God may as well have sent an Archangel." 'And thankfully he didn't... I doubt any of us could handle that.' He looked at the angel, completely ignoring the rest of the transformed demons, he merely stayed in his current form, he had been expressly forbidden from transforming in the human realm, unless it was needed without a doubt. He returned his gun to it's hidden holster and drew two of his knives, letting them slide into his hands in reverse grip.

He looked at Azira, and spoke in demon tongue. "If you're going to attack, do it all at once, no hesitation. And don't worry about hitting a friend. Otherwise, you might end up dead." He looked at the Angel now. She was ready to fight, he had heard stories about her. He was excited. He tossed one knife in the air, kicking it straight towards her face as it fell.

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Jean had started moving the second he saw the black car, walking away from the scene. His part was over, he had helped, now he was getting away before he was drug into whatever they were going to do. At least until the other man's reinforcements started to show up, he was walking down the street as they pulled up, three cars and a van, all in black, reflective tint on the windows.

As they got out they were ignoring him for the most part, preparing to attack the diner and the people there. Until he called out. "Wow, I must have really killed someone important back there." He said flashing a smile. And pulling his cane up and tucking it under his shoulder.

Joe spotted the other cars and the van. He stepped closer to Magnus's colleagues. "You have more men near by right?" he asked lowly as they finished zipping the man into a body bag.

One of them smirked at him. "You think we're stupid enough to come alone?" he muttered back as the other man slung the body bag over his shoulder. "Every one is around the corner waiting for orders."

Joe nodded. The first man opened the trunk of the car then the second stuffed the body into the trunk. "Get out of here, we'll take care of this." the first said to Joe.

Joe nodded again then plastered a big, charming grin to his face. "See you later, Buddy," he said a bit too loud. He zipped up his jacket then wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders. "C'mon sweetheart, it late, we should be heading back to the hotel." Joe gave a quick wave to the two men and then began to walk off. He leaned close to the woman. "Please just play along," He whispered to her, "The last thing i want is for a pretty lady such as yourself to be drug too far into the messy buiness of warring Mobs."


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Azira heard the knife whiz through the air at the angel. Smartest thing he's done all night. She thought to herself. She gave a sharp whistle the took to the air along with Adamus. The other demons surrounded Lailah and ran in for an attack. Adamus and Azira dove at her from the air swords ready to slice into her.