It was a desperate scramble to get back to my feet, slipping and tripping over myself in my hurry to get away from the crowd as they pressed in on me. They were reaching for me, a mass of outstretched hands and claws, all eager to tear a chunk out of my flesh, and I had no desire to fall into their dark and twisted memories. They had all lost interest in the tunnel and the imaginary threat I'd wanted them to believe lurked there. Much more intrigued by the whimpering Knave and the strange power that had burned him they had all turned back to me. I could feel them piecing it all together, perhaps I was the one who had the power after all.

I could feel it, the bubbling in the pit of my stomach, rippling down my arms and tingling in the tips of my fingers. It wanted to be released, I longed to send out a crashing wave of power to sweep them all off their feet, but I held it back. For one, there was so many of them and I wasn't sure it would even work quite that dramatically on quite such a crowd. Plus it could well do me much more harm than good, if I released my power then they would all know for sure and that, somehow, was worse than them just suspecting. For now only a select few knew the truth about me, and it was probably best if it stayed that way.

"Quickly, come with me."

The voice appeared from nowhere, but it was undeniably familiar. I looked up, knowing exactly who I expected to see, but it was the hand that I saw first, reaching out to grab me and drag me along with him. He was trying to help, I knew that, but I cowered away from his touch. This new power really did suck, I had to get a handle on it soon or risk never being able to so much as brush skin with another being ever again.

"No, no, don't touch me!" I backed away as much as I dared, though heading back into the crowd of demons was not a desirable option.

"Okay, Ranye, it's okay, it's just me. Come on, we need to get you out of here, now."

It was only then that I realised just how quiet it had become in The Pits. The Knave had stopped wailing, all the other demons had stopped muttering, even the distant crackling of flames and screaming of tortured souls had been silenced. Lucas' voice and my own were the only sounds that could be heard.

"Still no one's asked for that power back I see," I said, looking at him properly for the first time since my death, and finding myself unable to hold back the smile that curled my lips. Even in the face of great danger, it was still good to see him again.

"No, and you should be thankful," he said in stern seriousness, before breaking out into a smile to match my own. "Shit, it is good to see you again, we were starting to think something had gone wrong, that you weren't coming back. You've...changed..."

"How long exactly was I dead for?"

Lucas shook his head, coming back to his senses as he studied my new face. "Not here, it took a hell of a lot of effort to freeze time in here, so many bodies to take into consideration. I'm not sure how long it's going to hold for. Come on, let's get somewhere safe and then we can all ask our questions."

All? Did that imply more than just he and myself I wondered. Had he found somewhere to hole up with Frank, somewhere safe away from other prying demons? Why hadn't they managed to take Jesse with them, what happened to the three of them? And what exactly had they been doing since I'd been gone. Surely they couldn't have just been waiting around for me to return. I felt I needed some paper to write down all of these questions I was forming so I didn't forget any of them on the way to where ever the hell it was Lucas was leading me.

"Then I guess we'd better get moving, I don't fancy still being here when these guys all unfreeze, just one of them touching me was bad enough."

"Yes, now what is all that about. You become a sudden germ-a-phobe since your return or something?"

I shook my head as we took a swift walk towards the stairwell. "I thought you said no questions, and that is going to be one fucking long answer. I'm not sure I even know how to explain. Let's get going and maybe I'll actually have figured out what to tell you so you can understand."

Lucas beckoned and I followed, none too soon either. We had barely made it up the first flight of stairs before sound erupted once again from The Pits. There was clear confusion at my sudden disappearance, but Lucas made a good point and we broke into a run. There were only a few different ways out of that place, he pointed out, and more than enough demons to search them all at once, someone would surely be along after us before too much longer.

We pelted down the stone hallways, our footsteps ringing and echoing through the narrow corridors and making more than enough noise to follow, but stretching the distance between ourselves and them felt more crucial than stealth in that moment.

Lucas led the way, making sudden turns, ascending flights of stairs, following another corridor and then heading back down a new flight. There was method in where he was heading, I could see in the determined set of his face and the unquestioning twists and turns he took without a thought. I knew we were most likely taking the long way to throw the others off our scent, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out where we were going to end up. Eventually I couldn't keep my mouth shut and just trust him any longer.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked as we rounded another corner and I almost barreled head first down an unexpected flight of stairs.

Lucas paused at the top, panting slightly from the exertion of our run through the tunnels, a wide and slightly disturbing grin stretching his face.

"The old Inquisitor's chambers. I know everyone had assumed they'd been deserted for years, though no one had ever actually bothered to check, or perhaps dared to check would be a better phrase. They're the perfect place to set up our 'base of operations'. Come on, I'll show you around."

The Inquisitors had been a breed of demon quite unique in their brand of power for the time when they were a well used and respected power in Hell – breeding changed us all, and even spawned new breeds altogether, the Hybrids were one of many testament to that – though the Inquisitors were long believed to be extinct.

Inquisitors sought truth, and thrived in judging others to whatever pre-set standard they'd been instructed to hold. They'd been highly respected, not to mention feared thanks to the sadistic methods they favoured when it came to extracting the truth from their victims.

A time came when their methods were brought into question. It was not unusual for many non-truths to be admitted if it meant a particular torture would stop. Even the threat of eternal punishment was favourable to the treatment by the Inquisitors. They fell out of favour in Hell, but their desires for torture and hunger to extract 'truths' never waned.

Unusual amongst demons in the way that they all worked very closely together, co-operating in their own, very twisted, insular society. One day they all upped and left, every single one of them it was believed, though no one explored their chambers to substantiate the assumption. They hitched a ride in The Void and invaded the world of men. At first the other demons in Hell had believed themselves well rid of the creatures, until a little thing known widely now as the Spanish Inquisition happened on Earth.

It took far longer than the faces of Power would have cared to suppress the problems those demons spread. Even when they had believed it all over every now and then another one would crawl out of the woodwork somewhere; unable to suppress its base urges and stay in hiding any longer. But they'd never returned to Hell in all those long years, yet the aura of fear they'd created lingered and the fear that one or two had remained behind, planning something still rested on many demon minds. Lucas was probably right, no one would come looking for us down there.

"Seriously?" I had to asked, that same fear rising in my head as I peered down the steps into the pitch darkness, the flowing light from the tunnel playing havoc with my night vision. I could barely even make out the stone steps. "What the hell made you think of this place?"

"Well...honestly it was frank who thought of it. He said it was delightfully ironic using this place for you on your return, considering who it used to belong to." Lucas caught sight of my questioning look and shrugged, "I don't know, you'll have to ask him."

I almost laughed at how he could still read me without my even having to say a word. It gave me a small glimmer of hope that maybe I hadn't changed too much.

"So Frank's here with you then?" I had been wondering if that was the case and it ticked one question off the mental list I had been making.

"Most of the time. We've actually gotten to know each other pretty well now, mores the pity. But he comes and goes as he wants to, you know what he's like, and I sure as hell not about to stop him. Come on, we'll see if he's there now, then we can all talk properly."

He stared the descent into the darkness with a practiced ease that spoke of just how long he'd been making that short trip and it made me worry some more about how much time had passed since that moment in the Shadow Cells.

To me it felt like barely a few hours, but far too much had changed for that to be the case. The longer I'd been gone also meant that far more would have changed that what I'd already witnessed. Malick certainly had his claws into Jesse, what else had he achieved? Every little victory for that grizzled old demon was a step backwards for us, we couldn't let him get the upper hand now. Not to mention what had Lucifer been doing all this time? I'd been concerned so much with Malick I could almost have forgotten about the biggest threat to us all.

I followed Lucas down the steps, sticking close behind him until the darkness became thick enough for my night vision to kick in, slipping once and bumping into his shoulder.

"Oh yeah, watch your step on the way down, it's dark as fuck down here."