So we ran. Or rather Lucas and I ran, Frank took a leisurely stroll through the halls of Hell; his long legs ate up just as much ground as ours did, even at our frantic pace. For some time we retraced the steps we had taken earlier, only in reverse as we tried to put as much distance between ourselves and Malick as possible. Once he had healed himself enough to give chase the old Cleric would be on the warpath, and given how quickly he had regained consciousness after Frank's attack, I was certain we didn't have much time.

This also posed a problem for me, it didn't give me much opportunity to process everything I'd just been told. So much information, questions, and not to mention suspicions, were roiling around in my brain, and I was struggling to make head nor tail of it all. It was a good explanation that Malick had given, I had to take for granted the fact that it did explain away most of what had happened to me, and answered most of my questions in one way or another. But was I really ready to just accept everything that he had said, take it all at face value and believe what he spoke was the truth? Yes I had trust issues, and after everything that had happened I think I had every right to them. Besides, if I did take the old Cleric at his word, how did I come to terms with the idea of dying?

The corridors passed in a blur as my mind was occupied elsewhere; following Frank as he ploughed a determined passage through the halls. I wasn't exactly sure where we were going, but Frank certainly seemed to know. His choices of turns and staircases to take were not made at random, there was no moment of consideration as he weighed up the options of one path over another, no he knew exactly where he was leading us; another thought that began to make me uneasy.

Frank had been very quick to jump onto Malick's bandwagon. He may have temporarily disposed of the demon for us, but he'd also accepted his words without further question. I'd even go so far as to say he seemed excited at the prospect of what was to come; killing me to create this triangle of power and bring about the Revelation. He was power hungry and blood thirsty, these things were not new knowledge nor surprising in the least given what he was, but could Frank be trusted any further than Malick, or even Lucifer could? Our species, every breed amongst them was always out for himself. But what did you do when you just couldn't work alone, and yet everyone available to help you couldn't be trusted? Having to rely on other people for help really did just make things much more complicated.

I almost tripped when Frank took another sudden turn and descended quickly down another set of steep stone stairs that I didn't see coming. “Where the hell are we going?” I finally sighed, giving up on my chaotic thoughts; I was finding no solution, only a headache.

“To the Pits of course, love.” His voice was bright and gleeful, eager even, excited to get there, and it unnerved me still more to hear it. “We need the meatbag if this is going to work.”

“Okay, wait. Just slow down a bit. I-I don't even know if I'm going to go through with this...at all. I need tome to think, Frank. I can't take everything Malick said on faith. He lies, or had you forgotten. He's made himself pretty powerful by playing other demons off of each other, hell he's even been leading Lucifer up the garden path. What if this isn't real? What if I die for nothing?”

I was panting and out of breath from our relentless progress, gasping through every word I tried to speak. Though Frank showed no sign in letting up his pace, even when I asked him to stop.

“Well, to be fair love, that's really no skin off my nose either way. But look at it like this. If you don't go through with this with me, pretty boy here and the meat bag down there in the shadow cells, then Malick is going to find some other way to get it done. And it'll be done his way, by force, you won't get a choice, and then he'll be the one with the power.”

“Doesn't sound like I've got much of a choice at the moment either.”

He shrugged. “Maybe not. But do you really want to be the one to raise Malick up even higher? If he's the one that initiates the Requiem, gets your blood on his hands, then he'll be the one calling the shots.” Frank had finally stopped moving and turned to face me, blocking the exit from the stairwell with his tall, spindly form.

I could hear Lucas wheezing behind me, trying but struggling to keep up. He muttered a quiet 'thank goodness' upon seeing we had stopped and leaned for a moment against the wall to catch his breath. I'd been quietly seething about his involvement with Malick, ignoring him as he followed us, quietly complaining the whole way. He might not have known the extent of Malick's plans, the truth about what he really wanted, but it still hurt to know that he had betrayed my trust. Still, if we were going to do this, we needed him, so I kept my mouth shut, for now.

After considering Lucas for a moment I turned my attention back to Frank without comment, and frowned at him. “So instead it'll be you. I'll be handing you the power, letting you call the shots. No offence, Frank, but it's not exactly and much improved choice.”

The Whisperer shrugged. “Call me the lesser of two evils, love.” And with that he turned and picked up his pace once again, and I stood considering the fact that he'd made a very good, and very depressing point.

“Shit.” I sighed, shaking my head, “why does he have to be right about this.”

I felt Lucas' hand grasp my shoulder and squeeze it in a comforting gesture. Turning my head I looked him in the eye for the first time since we'd left Malick's office. He offered a nervous smile, but I shook my head and turned away, following Frank once again. I would not be consoled, and I would not forgive him for siding with the Cleric. Could he even me trusted now? Perhaps I needed to be less concerned with Frank and more with Lucas.

Giving Frank this sudden boost of power that forming the Triangle was supposed to do was hardly an appealing thought. He wouldn't be my first choice of demon to hand more power to – hell he'd hardly be the fiftieth, but were there really any better options at my disposal? I could not think of another demon, except of course for Malick, who would believe a single word of this whole, elaborate conspiracy. Some might choose to join in purely for the thrill of getting to kill something, but that in itself would make them an even less desirable choice. No, like it or not, Frank really was the lesser of two evils. How in the hell had my life spiralled into a mess like this.

“Rayne wait. You can't just ignore me forever.” Lucas' footsteps hurried along behind me as we reached the bottom of the stairs and took a right back into the tunnels.

“Actually, Lucas, since forever might not be all that much longer for me, I think I probably can.”

I picked up my pace to both keep sight of Frank, who was disappearing into the shadows further down the tunnel, as well as to avoid having this conversation with Lucas. There was already too much on my mind, I couldn't handle dealing with this as well. If I died and came back we could deal with it then. If I was just dead? Well, maybe that would all be for the better. Wow, I really was becoming morbid.

Lucas, however, was not about to give me that opportunity to get out of it.

“No, come on don't act like that, Rayne.” Putting in some more effort to keep up, Lucas managed to catch hold of me once again and forced me to turn and face him. “Okay, as much as I hate to admit it, I can't go through with this if you're still angry with me.”

I rolled my eyes. Really, that was the best he could come up with? “And that's supposed to what, make me change my mind? If I had it my way you wouldn't need to do anything at all, none of you would. If I had it my way, none of this shit would ever have happened. So we clearly aren't meant to get our way, why should I forgive you just to appease you conscience so you can go through with this?” I took a breath, held it for a moment and then let it out again with a small sigh, trying to calm my raw nerves. Getting irate and angry wasn't going to help me, I needed to find some Zen, some acceptance for what was about to happen and holding onto my anger with Lucas wasn't going to help much.

“Look, just do me a favour, Lucas. Say whatever the hell it is you so want to get out, then, if all this doesn't turn out to be some big farce Malick cooked up, we'll talk about it when I come back. Perhaps I'll feel less angry about it all by then.”

That was the best I could possibly offer him in that moment. Too many other things played on my mind and I just did not have the room for any more. If – or when, if that really was the case – I came back, perhaps my thoughts would feel lighter so I could more easily sort my way through them, but Lucas was going to have to wait.

“Fine. I suppose I'm sorry is my main point. Lame as it may sound, Rayne, it is the truth. Honestly I had no idea what Malick's plan was, all he told me was that Lucifer was out to get you which was why my punishment had been to fetch you back. When you escaped from your chambers Malick advised me it would be better all around if I let him know if I managed to find you. Genuinely, I though he was trying to help, and yes, I do realise I should not have trusted him.” Lucas sighed. “So, yes, that's about it I suppose. I am sorry I dragged Malick into this. But hey, at least he let you in on the truth, that's what you really wanted after all, wasn't it.”

He might have done better had he not tried to make light of what he'd done. So what if he had a point, it still didn't make the feeling of betrayal lessen any. Only time would ease that, and time was not something I had very much of.

“Thank you, for the apology,” I said, courteously, “now come on, before Frank gets irate that we're lagging behind again. He's got a point, Malick will know exactly where we're going, even without a tip off from you. So we need to be there before he catches up with us.”

We started moving again. Frank was waiting at the end of the tunnel, tapping his foot impatiently just as I knew he would be.

“Really? Do you two want Malick to catch up with us? That weasel is desperate to get his hands on some more power, do you really think he's going to just let you slip through his fingers again, love? We're running out of time.”

Frank's eagerness grated on my nerves. He was one to talk about Malick being power hungry, he wanted a taste of it just as much. But at the same time, the closer we drew to the Pits the more resigned to the whole situation I was becoming. Like so much of these last few weeks I was left with very little choice in anything that was happening. I could let Frank kill me, or Malick, either way it seemed inevitable that I would die here. So the question was, how did I prefer the power of the Triangle be passed to. I still suspected that, once the Requiem ritual was complete, that Malick would do away with Lucas and Jesse and claim the power of the trio for his own. How well would that actually work out? I had no idea, and suspected that he didn't either, it wasn't as if something like this had ever happened before. But it was not a risk that I should be willing to take.

Another problem though, what was to stop Frank from trying exactly the same thing? He could certainly be tempted to, and I would not put it past him to try. Lucas would have to be on his guard and I'd just have to hope that the power they gained in forming the triangle would be enough for him to fend off any possible attack from the Whisperer until I came back. But, just in case, I would need to find a chance to warn him, Jesse wouldn't be much good, not after being kept prisoner in the cells and then suddenly forced to commit a murder, and besides I wasn't sure the human would care to listen to a single word I had to say any more. No, it would have to be Lucas.

I rolled my eyes at Frank and shook my head. “Yes, well all know how keen you are to do this Frank, so let's just get going before I change my mind and bolt.”

“You can't...” Frank began, but I held up and hand and cut him off.

“No, I know I can't, because there will always be someone out there hunting me down like a dog. I can't escape, I know, and I have finally resigned myself to that fact. But that doesn't change the compulsion that I have to try and save myself. It's automatic, I can't help it, and I would indeed take my chances on the surface until one of them finally kills me, because there is no way I would let a single demon drag me back here again. To hell with all of you and Lucifer's plans.”

I took a deep breath. I wanted that to be it. That rant would conclude my choice, I would take my chances and keep on running. But I knew it wouldn't be much of an existence. Always looking over one shoulder for the monsters that might be lurking in the shadows.

“But...It's time for me to not be selfish any more. We're always out for ourselves, so maybe, if this does work out, it will be the start of more changes around here, changes for the better. So stop with the fucking lectures and lead on, before I wise up again.”

Frank scowled at me but he offered nothing in the way of a retort, and I can't deny the small stab of victory I felt as he turned away and started down the slope into the Pits. What better place was there to do this than down there.