Brendon stretched, feeling excitement for things to come. Hours stood between himself and redemption. Mere hours.

He was flexing his fingers when he felt the air in his room change. He turned to find the blonde demon Sarah had pulled from purgatory stood by his room's door.

"Does purgatory take away the ability to knock?" He asked, rolling his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

The blonde demon scowled. "Cut the crap, Urie. Tell me what's happening."

He raised an eyebrow. "And you were?.."

She stared at him. She was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

"Am I supposed to?" He asked, already bored of the conversation. He had the ritual to focus on.

A grin slowly spread over her lips. "You don't even remember the demon that killed your vessel." She laughed. "The one who reassigned your fate and condemned you to this."

He shrugged. "Suppose I should thank you then."

She stepped closer to him. "Thank me by telling me what the fuck is happening. That witch won't drop a hint of information towards me and I'm sure as hell not knocking on the devil's door to ask after what he did to me."

Brendon shrugged again and continued to stretch his limbs. "How should I know? I've been a bit out of the loop myself, in case you haven't noticed my lack of assignment to my own task."

The blonde demon growled. "Cut the crap! Why the fuck am I here after being made into dog chow the first time I dealt with you?"

It was Brendon's turn to laugh. "Daddy devil didn't approve of you?" He sneered, "Boohoo."

She shot forward, punching Brendon and knocking him back into a wall. Before he could recover, she held her hand against his throat.

"You bring me nothing but misery." She snarled, "You avoided punishment this time just because you're his favorite, but did you ever consider the cost of retrying your end of the ritual?"

He looked down at her, unphased by the hand on his neck. "Have you?" He questioned, "What are you so afraid of?"

She pulled her hand back, as if his words had physically burned her. She glared at him as he rolled his neck.

"There's nothing of that pitiful human left, is there?" She asked.

He grinned at her. "Nothing but this pretty face." He replied, holding a hand against his cheek. "But even that got a bit of a makeover, didn't it?"

She shook her head. "All that power. All of it wasted on the transformation of a human." She practically spat the last word.

"Better than the transformation of some low level demon." He replied harshly.

They stared each other down. Neither opened their mouth to throw another insult. The blonde demon looked furious, especially when Brendon refused to show her any emotion in return.

She finally opened her mouth to speak, but all that came out was a choked squeak. She stood perfectly still as another demon stepped out from behind her.

"Since we still need that asshole," Ryan explained as he pulled a blade from her back and directed its point towards Brendon, "the cost of a second chance is someone still connected to the ritual. Since you brought a key point back into existence, you fit the bill." He wiped the blood on his knife on her jacket sleeve as she fell to her knees. "Real devil's in the details. Everyone else was just too important."

"You didn't knock either." Brendon crossed his arms and looked at Ryan.

"You had me murdered." Ryan retorted, watching the blond demon crumble to the floor. "She was a rather unfulfilled character." He commented.

Brendon looked down at her now unseeing eyes. "Did her death really do anything?"

"The big boss made plans in case of a fuck up." Ryan grinned, "She was collateral puppy chow." He nudged her limp figure with his foot.

"So she was always considered in this?" Brendon continued to question.

Ryan nodded. "According to the witch." He looked up at Brendon, "The Soul Keeper had much written on her fate until it ended with me." He ended his sentence with a dark grin.

"Isn't that fun." Brendon nodded. "So, what's next?"

The glow in Ryan's eyes intensified. He inhaled through his nose and shut his eyes. "A new window is opening." He muttered. He reopened his eyes, looking past Brendon. "Call the witch."

"Sarah?" Brendon called out, crossing his arms. "If only she had left her number."

"A quick call is fine." Her voice carried into the room as the door opened. She caught Brendon's eye and tapped her knuckles against it. "Knock knock."

"So you really just left earlier so that Ryan could stab her?" Brendon asked, gesturing to the blonde demon.

Sarah shut the door behind her. "I had other business as well, Brendon." She replied, striding across the room to get a closer look at the corpse. "Nicole served her purpose, what little of a purpose she had in this mission, just as originally planned." Sarah popped to her feet and turned to Ryan. "You have essence for me?"

The red eyed Demon grinned. "More than you can handle."

"Highly doubt that." Sarah rolled her eyes before turning to Brendon. "Are you ready to take the lead?"

Brendon straightened his posture. "I've been ready since that damn human thought he had a chance to escape." He growled.