Clara had no idea how much she wanted to kiss Toby until now. She pushed her hands through his hair which was as soft as dandelion fluff. She gasped when he gently lifted her legs up and around his waist.

Her eyes snapped open and she pushed against his chest, a sign she wanted him to stop. He did and immediately set her down, his face just as flushed as she imagined her own to be. They were both breathing hard and Clara touched her fingertips to her swollen lips.

Just then, Roland appeared, pulling behind him a very unhappy looking Ralph. Clara pulled down her dress which had risen and tried hiding her blushing face.

"This way." Roland sneered. "Get lost in the Devils home, get killed."

Clara didn't dare look at Toby as they followed the demon minion through the halls to a another hall lined with doors where they would be staying for the night.
___________________________
Clara laid awake in bed, unable to sleep or even close her eyes. Her heart thrashed against her ribs like a caged animal. It was strange how her heart still beat rapidly despite not needing it to.

She was dead. It was time for her body to realise that and stop pretending it was still alive.

The kiss with Toby was driving her mad. Her mind swirling with thoughts. Did he really mean to kiss her? Did he like it? Did he hate it? Was he acting as crazy as her right now?

Clara sat up, the thick blanket around her body falling to her waist. She ran her hands through her hair, once, twice, taking shallow breaths. She could still taste the sweetness of his lips on hers. It was driving her over the edge of insanity.

There was a scrapping sound on her door suddenly, making Clara jump a mile in the air and reach for the metal candle holder beside the bed. She sat in the centre of the bed, listening to the noise on the other side of the door.

Scrape. Scrape. Scrape.

The door opened suddenly, and Clara to stand on the bed in a fighting position. She really wasn't in the mood to die tonight. Well, die twice.

She lowered the weapon when it wasn't the the hell hound she had been expecting who walked in, but Ralph.
"Ralph?" She asked, her cheeks flaming red for her over reaction. She slowly lowered herself down to her butt, legs swinging over the beds edge. Stupid height.

Ralph looked very awkward suddenly. "I-uh..."

"What are you doing here?" Clara asked, not feeling even slightly awkward. There was something about Ralph and his silence that was so calming. Like the one steady flame through all the chaos.

"Is it Vanessa?" She said angrily. "Has she hurt you again?"

"No, no." He said quickly, stepping into the room and closing the door behind him with a silent click. "To tell you the truth, Vanessa hasn't hurt me in a long time. It's that retarded minion of hers."

Clara frowned. "Then why are you here?"

Clara had been certain Vanessa kept Ralph as a little you know, something to take out of the cupboard to play with before getting bored and neglecting.
Ralph looked neglected. There had been a kid in Clara's school who was consistently being bullied and abused. She had tried becoming his friend, but he was so scarred by the way other children treated him that he declined her offer and would roam the halls alone. Ralph reminded Clara of that boy.

"I wanted to come to see if you were okay." He said, surprising Clara.

"Why?" She asked after a moment.
Ralph shrugged, shoving his hands into his pant pockets. "I heard Vanessa call you a batie. I remember being the new guy, it's pretty tough."

Clara nodded her head. "No kidding."
"Why are you here? It's not often we have visitors. What with the devil being such a psychotic bitch and all." He deadpanned.

Clara laughed then began to tell Ralph everything that David had told her. It felt good to tell someone. She hadn't been able to with the twins, they just thought David was sending Toby on a mission and wanted Clara to tag along to learn something. Ralph listened in that silent way of his. Occasionally nodding his head to reassure her he was still listening.

"I think the answer is pretty simple." He said and Clara sat up eagerly.
"What? What is it? Do you know something?"

Ralph sucked on his lower lip, looking hesitant. He groaned softly before opening the door and motioning for her to stand. "Follow me. I want to show you something."
___________________________
"So you see," Vanessa drawled. "She cannot know the real reason she was sent here."

Toby's whole body was tense with being so close to the devil. He was currently sat in her private chambers, holding the glass of champagne he had politely declined but she had given him anyway. It had taken him a lot of courage to come to Vanessa, especially so secretively.

"What will happen if I do?" He asked quietly, afraid if he spoke too loudly all his hatred towards this evil woman would spill out and surely end up getting him killed. He bit his younger, satisfied when he drew blood.

Good, he thought. Feel pain. You deserve it for what your about to do.
But your doing it for her. A kinder voice reminded him. Because you care about her.

Vanessa wrapped one of his curls around her finger. "She will cursed. Her soul banished and left to wonder alone for the rest of eternity."

Toby swallowed the lump in his throat. "Then I won't tell her."

Vanessa was suddenly on his lap. Sitting on him the way a small child would an adult. He wanted to push her off in disgust but stopped himself, if only because of the hell demon snoozing by the fire place. "Let us stop talking about this," she pouted. "I want my end of the bargain."
Toby felt bike rise in his throat but managed to smile.
___________________________
Ralph stopped outside a door and stepped aside for Clara to walk in first. It was a fairly ordinary door compared to the rest she had seen. Plain wood with a brass knob in in the shape of a dragons head. Clara twisted the knob and stepped inside.

She was immediately hit by a stake smell. The room was a library, large and tall. The walls were covered in shelves of books and there was even a table in the centre of the room with books stacked to the ceiling. Clara's jaw dropped. She'd never seen so many books. Never thought so many book existed.

"Cool right?" Ralph said in a giddy tone, making Clara think he was a book lover just like her. The thought made her smile.

"Cool? More like amazing!" She exclaimed. Who would have thought the devil enjoyed to read?!

"She doesn't." Ralph said, reading he mind. "These books were her father's. He enjoyed reading, it was his only human characteristic. The demons saw him to be weak because of this."

Clara gasped, hugging a random book to her chest. "Books bring you power, not weakness. Books have the power to change a person."

Ralph smiled and went to look for the reason he had brought Clara here. Whist he did, Clara busied herself with reading the covers of some books.

Little women
Emma
Woman in black
Sense and sensibility!

Clara was gushing over all the classics by time Ralph returned, carrying a very ancient looking volume in his left hand. Left handed, how strange. He handed Clara the book and she immediately read the title.

Saviour

Clara looked up at Ralph who nodded for her to continue. She flipped to the first page, so loved and old that it was almost ripping beneath her touch. The first page read:

It is said that there will come a day when the saviour is brought between our two afterworlds to free the trapped souls. Her eyes will burn magenta, her hair like fire. She will rain down hell and rise up heaven.

Clara's eyes widened and the book dropped from her hands as she read the last few lines. Blood rushing to her face.

Clara the destroyer. Clara the changer. Clara the saviour of the souls that are neither Angels nor demons.