.^^ Gale and Diana ^^

— Seth —

Returning to my human form was difficult, after tasting again the Power that that form granted me. My greed for power was a problem, but I was capable of controlling myself, thankfully. The secondary protection, of moving the Briar into my sword, was helpful, as I could tell that his mind wasn't having any further direct influence over my emotions.

"Wow... I wonder how much damage that did to the Tower?" Adelaide asked, looking down at the Tower.

I grinned guiltily, and shrugged. "I may have bent the Eiffel Tower."

She groaned, dropping her head against the steel underneath us. "Naimhe is gonna kill me..."

"I'm honestly considering it." The giant of a woman appeared from a shadow, glaring at us stormily.

I waved. "Heya. May have helped your issue a bit. Also, the Sorcerers of the Briar and Thorn are no longer your concern. I'll make sure they behave, for now. Don't worry. As for the demons, I think I've vowed cowed, for now, but they'll be back. They always are, right?"

She nodded. "That is True... was the giant Thunder Dragon you?"

"Storm Lich Eldritch Beast... but yes. Sorcerers and Demons only really respond to violence and Theatrics... preferably both." I hummed, and sat back down in my throne.

She nodded. "Again, true... we were not introduced. My name is Naimhe Caldwell, Huntmaster of the European Branch."

I blinked slowly. "Your Name... is Name?"

"No, Naimhe, it's Irish." She shook her head.

"Oooh, right, Gaelic and it's silent letters. Gotcha." I nodded.

"Anyway... while you've been interesting, I need you to get out of my city. You bent the Eiffel Tower." She frowned.

"I can fix it." I shrugged, and snapped my fingers, directing Briar to repair the damage, as well as Ward it against further damages, and Demons in general. "There. Now it will be Demon-Proof."

She flinched, as my shadow seemed to detach, and slink away, then again when the Tower righted itself, and covered itself with the tiny hexagons of my version of Solomon's Trap. "Oh..." she frowned, as the shadow returned, and the hilt of my sword turned black.

"Tadah. Now I'll be going back to Chicago, and you guys are welcome to stay in Paris for a little bit of romantic nonsense, if you like. Bye." I opened a portal, and strode into my basement.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "We weren't done."

"Weren't we?" I asked, and closed the portal before she could reply. "Ungrateful brat." I snorted, and went upstairs, to make myself some coffee.

It was the middle of the day, in Chicago, which was a very odd scenario, stepping from total night to bright noon, but I noticed that while the sun was not comfortable, by any means, it didn't hurt anymore, even when I stood in it for a few minutes, waiting for my coffee.

"Where did you go? I was looking for you." Diana walked into the room.

I shivered, covering my nose against the assault of smells that I could instantly, unfortunately, identify. "God! Take a BATH, Woman!"

She blinked. "What? I'm a bit sweaty, yeah-"

"GOD! LEAVE!" I sneezed, and turned around so she wasn't presented with my front, as her pheromones filled the room.

She laughed. "Oooh, Sorry, super nose can pick up the sex smell, huh? Sorry about that. But seriously-"

"Seriously. Leave." I sneezed again, ruining the seriousness of my tone, and shoved my face out the window, taking a deep gulp of untainted air.

"Wow... what's wrong? I get you can smell pheromones, and they're affecting you, but-"

I skittered away from her before she could touch me, and dove down the stairs, tumbling and hissing in pain as my skin started to turn scaled, my forehead twitching as my third eye opened.

"Fuck... what's going on, Briar?!?"

"You are aroused. Have you never felt it before?... then again, you ARE a Virgin. My blood is warring with yours, recoiling from being in contact with a Virgin it cannot eat."

"Seth?"

"STAY. AWAY." I hissed.

She ignored me, and walked into the basement, causing me to skitter backwards even further, to the fireplace. "What's happening? Do I need to call Michael?" She asked, viewing my demonic form, horns, scales, Third Eye, and all the rest of my eyes, glowing golden on my skin.

"The Demon is... rejecting the blood of my body. Leave, I'll be fine once the smell goes away." I growled at her.

She nodded. "I heard the Briar's explanation... the problem is solved if you go screw a few succubi, right? You're a Demon Prince, they wouldn't really mind, I don't think."

"My virginity is one of the reasons I'm able to resist the Briar so well. I'm not rearing to lose one of my lines of defense, just yet." I shook my head.

She nodded. "Ahhh, that's true... alright. I'll light some candles, and get out, then... answer that phone, in a few minutes." She tossed a small phone towards me, and then backed out slowly.

I relaxed, as the scent was removed, and the scent of sage replaced it. The phone rang, and I placed it on speaker, leaning against the wall. "Yes?"

"Better?"

"Yes."

"Are you alright?"

"No."

"Alright... I have something for you to handle, if you're up to it."

"Naimhe's problem is fixed. Next?" I sighed, resting my chin on one knee, and pulled my violin towards me.

"That's great, but there's something going on in Canada. We lost contact with a group of our people, stationed up there."

"Send me the coordinates... I'll see it fixed... in a bit." I sighed.

"Alright... relax for a bit. Sorry about the heart attack." She hummed, and the call disconnected.

I groaned, clutching my skull. "Don't ever allow that to happen again, Briar. That was... dangerous."

"Agreed... Daemon though I am, rape is still appalling to me. You were very close to having her body."

"Tone down that reaction... however you can. I don't care how." I shivered.

"I can do as she said, and summon some Succubi. It will be enjoyable, and your reaction will be gone entirely." He hummed.

"And lose the protection that it offers me?"

"One layer of protection, for the assurance that your body will not act on its own again?" He asked critically.

I sighed. "True... fuck it. Bring on the Succubi."

"Wonderful..." he chuckled.

A glowing circle appeared in the floor, and stepping out of it came a large group of women, each at least 6' tall, with deep red skin and a set of horns, and a range of different eyes and body types, though they shared an incredible, ethereal beauty.

I gulped slowly. "Wow."

—

I stepped into the snow beyond the portal, as the moon rose, close to 10 hour's later. The building in front of me seemed to still be standing, but it stank of demons, and a Lesser Lich. I smelled the Banshee too late, and turned to catch a sonic scream to my face, sending me tumbling backwards.

I snarled, and drew my sword, sprinting forward at the creature, and flinched when a force slammed into my side, and I was launched a few feet to one side by the arrival of the Lich.

Not wanting their plan of attack to continue unopposed, I stabbed the snow, and liquified it all in about a 200ft radius, then electrified it.

The banshee screeched as it's concentration was broken, though most of the rest of them shrugged it off. 'Vermin of the Horn. Here to steal territory, no doubt.' Briar hissed.

I shook myself off, and took Briar's true form for the second time today, screeching at them all, and chomping on the Greater Banshee. After swallowing the body, I snarled at the demons, all of whom were frozen in place. "Who here has the balls to fight a God?" I asked simply.

When they attempted to scatter, I picked them off one by one, until the Lich was left. "Tell Your Master, and make sure he understands, that Thorn is Dead by the hands of Briar, and that the Briar has claimed The America's, and the entire West! Any further incursion will be treated as an ACT OF WAR!!! GO, VERMIN, AND TELL HIM!!! TELL HIM THAT THE WEST IS NOT HIS TO TAKE, AND HE MAY CHALLENGE ME PERSONALLY FOR THE RIGHTS TO IT!!!" I roared in his face, and flicked him with my tail gently, sending him careening into the distance, where I saw him slowly get up, and limp into a portal.

I sighed, taking my human form again, with much more ease this time, and approached the building. "Any survivors?!?" I called out.

An arrow slammed my shoulder, and I grunted in pain, confused at the sensation. The arrow was tipped with a bone of some sort, which I didn't recognize.

'It is Dragon Bone. Capable of killing most Lich's, and therefore you, in this form, at least.'

I pulled it out, and snapped the shaft, sticking the arrowhead into my pocket. "Alright, well, Diana sends her regards! Return her calls!" I tossed the phone she'd given me at the snow in front of the front door, and walked away.

As I was about 500 feet away, the door freaked open, and a hand snatched the phone. I smelled revenant, and then the scent that was unique to the Order, and nodded, and stepped through the portal to the main house.

"Call Your Eskimo Friends... and give them this back." I handed Diana the dragon arrowhead, and sat in a chair, holding my shoulder as the pain landed through it again.

"This hurts you? But You're... oh, you're a normal Lich, now... Alright, here." Diana began rummaging around for a bottle of black liquid, and tossed it to me, pulling out her phone. "Drink that... He? Ca ren? Tag Lon- Ah, Hello, James. Yes, the monster is a friend of ours, name of Seth, scary good at eating stuff. Called the 'Greedy One'. Yeah, he's a badass, isn't he? Don't worry, I gave him the cure, he'll live."

I hummed, and looked at the bottle, popping the cork off and sniffing it.

'Essence of Death... dangerous, but it counteracts every single poison or venom in existence.'

I shrugged and poured some on the arrow wound, and then drank the rest, massaging the cure into the wound. The small black veins that had formed around the wound faded. "Ow." I commented.

"Any casualties?" She asked, glancing at me.

"Hey, I didn't kill anyone!" I frowned at her.

"Oh, he didn't retaliate? Good to know! Well done, Seth! Good boy!" She smirked.

"I will eat your fucking heart." I growled.

"He's so cute, yes. Anyway, that's good to know, reestablish, begin the recruitment process for a branch just south of you, in Chicago." She hummed.

I waved, and walked out of the room, into the downstairs, to where the portals were hidden, behind one of the bookshelves in the library, then through to my basement again.

The dozen Succubi who had decided to stay around were lounging in the pile of pillows and silk that had replaced the stone floor of the basement, filling everything from the bottom of the stairs to the steps that led up to my chair and fireplace/Summoning circle, and they smiled when I walked in, waving flirtatiously.

I smiled and bowed, making my exit to the tattoo parlor, where I was met with the shocking sight of fifty or so Sorcerers, locked into the stasis circle, and two more standing guard near the entrance.

"What's this?" I asked casually, making them flinch, and turn around swiftly. "There are two entrances, boys, one only accessible from my home. The office and the tattoo parlor. Now answer me."

"You commanded us to bring all the Sorcerers who disobeyed your edict to this room, Master, and throw them into the circle for your punishment." One of them bowed, followed by the other.

"I see... their memories will suffice for evidence, I suppose... Alright. Return to your duties." I hummed, and walked over to the circle, and touched it with my sword.

'They are all unquestionably guilty... but one is of the Blade's Camp.'

I nodded, and pulled him out, returning his mind. When he flinched, I slapped him soundly, sending him sliding away. "Run run, Little Blade, you are not welcome here." I hissed, and he sprinted away.

I looked at the guards. "My edicts need only be followed by my followers... and the Thorn's, now, as his followers were awarded me by the Abyss itself... spread the word." I sighed, and walked up the stairs, into the parlor.

I spotted an open chair, and plopped down. "Hello, Branding Man. Brand my arms with this." I burned a powerful set of War Sigils into the chair, an improvement upon Adelaide's War Sigils, so that I wouldn't need to rely on my Primordial Form so often.

He flinched, but nodded, and began the process of tattooing my arms, shoulders, neck, and face, with the special ink. Unlike my previous tattoo, which took a full week, and several sessions, this was relatively simple, and as my skin healed during the session, it was done in a few hours, the color set and settled.

I hummed, flexing them slowly, feeling the pulsing power that directed itself into my hands, and created small Summoning circles, and a thin stream of hellfire rose from my hands, followed by a tiny salamander, which Tempest snatched up, and began eating. "Interesting..." I nodded, and stood up, walking through the barriers, into my basement.

Diana looked up, from her place sitting amongst the Succubi. "Your resistance didn't last long." She smirked.

"I am busy, what do you need?" I sighed, and began building a table, then covering it with liquid smoke, then Setting a globe to hover over it.

She blinked. "Just coming to see how you were doing... healed already?" She asked.

"Mostly. Some muscle damage remains... I think a piece of the bone chipped off inside. Other than that, I'm fine." I shrugged, and murmured a spell, enchanting the smoke to ruse up and settle on the globe wherever demons and Sorcerers were active.

Lightning-quick, the ink struck like a snake, and the globe was basically smothered in ink, making Diana flinch. "Whatthefuck?!?" She squeaked, then chuckled. "Sorry... what's that?"

"That... is all the demon presence on earth... I was hoping to find all of the Horn-" I blinked as the shadows fell away, except for small dots, in Europe, The America's, and then Asia as well. "Oh, good. Hmm... alright."

"What are you looking for the Horn for?" She asked.

"The attack in Canada was the Horn's people trying to seize territory. I'm going to hunt them all down." I explained, and made the globe much bigger, about 10 feet across, spinning slowly. The definition became much improved, and I nodded, opening a portal towards one of them. "Do you want to come with me? Talk on the way?"

She grinned, and pulled a silver sword out of the air. "Oh yes... it's been a while since I went on a hunt! Do try not to take all of them?"

"Fight quickly." I shrugged, and stepped through.

She leapt after me, as the portal halted, and I looked around Quebec, humming. I smelled the demons I was looking for, a mixture of ozone and brimstone, a very odd mixture. "There they are... we should go say hello." I smiled.

I found them quickly enough, and hummed. "Not even a Lich, this time... at least the other ones had a Lich and a Greater Banshee..." I sighed, and drew my sword slowly, as the six Sorcerers turned, with their summoned beasts trying to beat down a door.

Diana drew her sword, and threw it into the door, past them, and they flinched, turning around. "Hello, boys and girls! That building is protected by the Order of the Silver Cure!"

"Why did you throw your sword? Seems a bit useless." I hummed.

"Theatrics?" She shrugged.

"Seems legit." I nodded, and smiled at the group of people, clenching my fists and letting the Sigils I'd just gotten done rise to the surface. "Now! Hullo, friends! Seems you don't quite know whose territory you're in! This country is owned by Lord Briar, not the Horn! Just some miscommunication, right?"

They glanced at each other, then at us. "This is Canada, Not America. It's free territory, and we're taking it!" One of them snapped.

I threw my own sword, impaling his skull to the door. "Okay! One moron down! Now, the rest of you have an opportunity to survive this. Take a moment. Breathe in the scent of your friend's brain matter... then make a choice." I raised an eyebrow.

One of the beasts charged me, shaped somewhat like a rhinoceros, and I placed a hand on its horn, halting its progress easily. It shrieked a challenge, and I sighed, then casually ripped its head off. "Really?... really? Alright."

'A Tadricorn... how adorable. Next?'

I held out a hand, and the sword slid out of the door, dropping the body and flying into my hand. "Now! I hope he doesn't speak for the lot of you?"

Diana drew another sword, and hummed. "I dunno, I think that was a pretty standard refusal."

"Yeah? That's too bad." I shrugged, and jumped forward, cutting through one of the sorcerer's before they could react, and then using the downstroke to slice through a circle being cast, and the hand attached. The owner screamed, before Summoning with his other hand, and blasting my face with a bolt of lightning.

Diana gasped, and I hummed, gazing at him impassively. "My dear boy... if the giant Tadricorn couldn't hurt me with a full charge... what the fuck did you think that would do?!?"

He dropped to his knees, and my sword cut through his neck casually, then turned towards the other three, to find them impaled by several swords, which Diana had apparently been throwing.

"Why not use Spears? Swords aren't very aerodynamic." I hummed.

"Theatrics." She grinned.