[FFML] [Orig][lime]LoveStruck: Seven Days Chapter 2 Part 3 [corrected]

Lipton sat on the pew looking at the statue of Mary and tried hard not to laugh. The young Jesuit priest finishing midnight mass just wouldn't have appreciated the joke.

As he waited, he reflected on his conversation with The Virgin, and debated whether he should tell the priest the woman he was praising as a paragon of virtue had spent most of the conversation coming on to him like a succubus in heat. He doubted Lorenzo would believe him. He'd always been particularly prejudiced in that department. He never doubted Lipton's descriptions of the demon's he'd met, but he'd never listen to a single criticism about the side he served, no matter how many of his preconceptions Lipton had discovered were wrong.

He watched the young priest drone on and considered the little bit of new information he had gotten out of Mary, but no matter how he looked at it, she had just raised new questions. He'd discovered that Succubae worked for Hell's Department of Corruptions, a rather amusing bit of information, and that the DOC was run by a Demon Lord called Mephistopheles, a name he was familiar with from Faust. But none of this helped him figure out who Seraph Darkfell really was. All Mary had been willing to tell him was that she had heard that an angel was being held captive by a succubus.

As for the six demons they had slain in the apartment, Mary had told him that they had been low level grunts from Hell's armies, which were commanded by a Demon Lord named Bhaalor. From the fact that she had told him they usually came in six-packs, he suspected the six demons in the alley had been Bhaalor?s troops too.

It was interesting information to be sure, but not what he had been looking for. Most of the rest of the information he had tried to get out of the Queen of Heaven had been met with a pat reply of "Maybe I'll tell you later..." For all she had been willing to rant on how much she hated being whined at by the Church, or how lurid her tales of demon slaying had been, she'd been rather closed mouthed about the actual details of the Otherworld.

Still, he didn't think he'd seen the last of her, and she'd even given him a gift. The 9mm semi auto held ten rounds and he had a full dozen clips, all personally blessed by Mary. It was a comforting weight in his coat pocket.

The priest finally finished saying mass to the almost empty sanctuary and stepped down from the pulpit. Lipton waited till the few people who requested blessings were done, then stepped forward himself.

"Bruce," the young man said as he approached. "Where have you been all week?"

"Busy, Lorenzo. Holidays always cause an upswing in crime. Valentine's Day is no different."

"Ah," the priest said sadly. "That really is a shame. It is supposed to be a day of love."

"Yeah, but we both know people aren't always like that." He shrugged. "Anyway, I got a case."

"Yes? Is there anything I can do to help?" Lorenzo looked around to make sure no-one was observing them, then motioned Lipton back towards the offices. "Within the bounds of reason, of course. I still can't give you a copy of the rites of exorcism."

"Actually, this time, I need information of a different sort."

"Oh? What?"

"Does the Church keep records of the activities of particular demons?"

Father Lorenzo stopped and gave Lipton a hard look. "Sometimes."

"I need to know if they've ever documented anything on a succubus by the name of Seraph Darkfell... and anything you can find on a pair of Demon Lords named-"

"Don't say them," the priest interrupted. "Not in the Sanctuary." He motioned Lipton through a door into a small office.

After they had seated themselves, he looked at Lipton. "Bruce... how do you get yourself involved in these messes? Two Demon Lords?

Lipton shrugged. "What can I say Lorenzo? The case I'm working on seems to involve the minions of both of them and I'm trying to find out what the motives might be."

"Which ones?"

"Mephistopheles-"

"The Lord of Temptation and Lust."

"And Bhaalor."

"The Lord of War and Anger." Lorenzo shook his head. "Why am I not surprised?" he sighed. "Well, I can tell you right off the top of my head that you don't want to try and go up against either of them directly. All the charms I could put on any amount of ammo won't even phase them."

"I'm not looking to fight them, like I said, this involves their minions."

"May I know what's going on?"

"Yeah. Basically, it seems that an angel fell yesterday, and six of Bhaalors troops tried to grab her and rape her."

"An angel?" the priest was horrified. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. I saw her halo,"

"What color was it?"

"Silver."

Lorenzo nodded. "That would mean she's a lower level Angel. Against six of Bhaalor?s minions, she wouldn't have had much chance." He crossed himself.

"Humm... interesting detail... I didn't know that. Anyway, these six demons were interrupted before they could do anything by a new arrival."

"Another Angel?"

"No... As best I can figure from the witness's testimony and my own investigation, it was Seraph Darkfell, the Succubus I asked you to research. She killed the other demons and rescued the Angel."

"What!?"

"Yeah. Blew my mind too," Lipton admitted.

Lorenzo looked disturbed. "I don't like it. Why would a succubus save an angel?" He thought for a second. "I don't know. It's unnatural."

Lipton shook his head. "No, what's unnatural is the witness's story. She said they were acting like young lovers."

"Blasphemy!" Lorenzo exclaimed. "Never!"

"Hey, I'm only telling you what she said. All I saw was they seemed to be getting along fine. I saw them getting into a car together and it didn't look like the angel was protesting."

Lorenzo crossed himself. "Such a thing would be the most unholy of acts. I can only suspect you must have either seen a demonic agent masquerading as an angel, or that the angel must be under some evil enchantment."

"Well I don't know about the enchantment part, but I have it on good authority that the angel is indeed an angel."

"Whose?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I did tell you."

"Try me."

"The Virgin Mary. I ran into her in the Succubus's apartment. She's hunting the Succubus."

Lorenzo stared, then shook his head. "I will never understand you, Bruce. The Lord has given you the Sight, yet you still reject his Faith. The Holy Madonna would not be hunting succubae, Bruce. She is above such things."

"Not from what I saw. Matter of fact, I'd say she rather enjoyed killing demons. She killed five of them before I took out the last one."

Lorenzo held up his hand. "Enough. I know we've been friends since school, Bruce, but please don't mock the Virgin like that. If for nothing else but the aid I've given you, show the Faith at least a little respect."

"Okay, okay. I won't say anything else on the subject. But can you get me any info?"

The priest sighed. "I'll see if the library has anything on Seraph, but I can't make any promises. The Church records rarely deal with more than the Lords and their Lieutenants and high level minions."

"Good enough."

"I'll call you if I find anything. And, Bruce?"

"Yes."

"You really should come to confessional sometime. It would be good for your soul."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You tell me that every time. My answers still the same. You really don't want to know what I've seen..."

The Priest looked after him sadly as he exited the office. Such a pity.

"Go with God, my friend."

******

The sun woke from its nighttime slumber and Heart woke with it, still unused to sleeping. It had been nearly twenty centuries since she had last needed to sleep and she had gotten out of the habit. She lay in the first dim rays of its blazing glory, basking in the afterglow of the night before. As she rose to close the curtains and keep the new dawn from waking her lover, Seraph's eyes popped open.

"Beloved?" she said, alarmed.

"It's alright, my wonderful Beloved," Heart leaned down and kissed the sleepy Succubus. "I'm getting up to watch the sun rise. Go back to sleep."

"S'okay." Seraph mumbled sleepily, a smile on her face. She snuggled against her pillow with a happy "?mmmmmm," and a contented "I love you."

"I love you too," Heart replied softly. She smiled as she drew the sheet up and tucked it under Seraph's arm, then watched for awhile as her Beloved slept, thinking about their ecstatic night. "Poor Seraph," she whispered softly. "I kept you up way too late last night..."

She busied herself with tidying the room, picking up the dresses, panties, stockings, and other assorted articles of clothing that had been strewn about in the aftermath of Seraph's dance. She smiled at the memories the various pieces evoked, then examined them carefully for clues as to how to clean them. She finally found a small tag in Seraph's dress that said "Dry Clean Only."

"Oh," she exclaimed. "Of course. Something as fine as this shouldn't just be dunked in water. But how do I dry clean?"

A quick search of the room offered no clues, so she settled on her own method, figuring she'd ask Seraph about it later. She muttered a phrase in Angelic and passed her hands over the clothes. The spell wasn't, strictly speaking, one for cleaning clothes, but it would probably do what she wanted.

A sound like a heavenly chorus could be heard faintly as a beam of bright light poured over the clothes. Heart worried for a second the light would wake Seraph, but it was gone in instants, leaving the clothes in perfect condition.

She put the clothes on their various hangers and smiled. "Seraph will be so proud of me..."

But what to do next?

She decided to try television again. Surely all the disasters she'd witnessed yesterday could not be repeating themselves...

She watched, transfixed as one station showed earthquakes, bombings, diseases, and general human misery, always boldly showing its logo. Heart decided it stood for Catastrophes Normal Nightly, since the events seemed to take place at night in New York, even though it was daytime where they were. Unsatisfied, she scanned forwards a few channels.

She stopped when she heard someone saying a very important name. The man who spoke it was dressed in a fine suit, with gold cufflinks and a silk tie. He stood at a podium, and beside him was a woman with a little toy poodle as carefully groomed as she was.

"Jeeeesus! Ya-es, He's within us all, within us all, if only we have the strength, if only we have the desire, the guts to believe!" the man said in an auctioneers tone and a country twang. "He died for our sins, yes he did, and look at how we're repaying him: By sinnin' and drinkin' and gamblin' and cheatin'! But for just a small donation, you can start on the road to repentance! That's right! Start on the road to redemption with a prayer, a prayer spoken right here on nationally syndicated television! That's right, I said a prayer, a prayer for you, from me, Reverend Wallace Gibson, your direct line to the Lord, I said the Lord! Are you having a problem with a loved one? A problem with your job? Or a problem with your health? Then just send a small donation, I said a small donation to Wallace Gibson Ministries, just like this young lady, I said this young lady, who writes 'Dear Wallace; My son is six years old. Recently he was struck by a car driven by a drunk driver. God has kept him in a coma for an agonizing two months now, and I was praying that you would ask the Lord, in his infinite wisdom, to bring him back to me and smite the evil man who struck him down. Sincerely, Darlene Martin.' Well Darlene, I hope you are watching, I hope you are watching, because if you are, I want you to put your hand up to your TV screen, Yes, put your hand up to your TV screen and receive the Blessing of the Lord!" He held up his hand, and the camera zoomed in, careful not to obscure his face as he began to pray. "Blessed Lord, shine your light and your mercy, yes, your mercy upon the son of Darlene Martin. Bring this suffering child the peace of your glory... and for the mother who's out there, you know who you are, the mother who's doing her best to raise four children, I said four children on minimum wage, help her, oh Lord... And for the man who's suffering the effects of alcoholism, I won't speak your name, but deliver him, oh Lord, to your providence... Sith-bla Nok-na... For the elderly lady out there, whose family has neglected her, show her family the light, oh Lord... Nee-wah Nok Nama-shaybah..."

Heart watched in disbelief, as the Televangelist continued his garbled ramblings. _Is he trying to speak in tongues?_

She couldn't help it. She burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of the man's posturings. It was hearty and felt good, but Seraph stirred.

"Beloved?" she asked sleepily.

"It's alright, Love." Heart said, quickly changing the channel before it brought another round of giggles. "I just saw something funny on television. Go back to sleep."

Seraph made a happy noise and mumbled as she fell back asleep, "I love hearing you laugh..."

"I'm so glad, Beloved," Heart replied softly. In her sleep, Seraph smiled.
Heart returned to changing channels, mindful to flip quickly through the one that had showed the movie about the angel who fell. She stumbled on a most curious thing.

Moving paintings...

That's the best way she could describe it. Figures drawn, not made of flesh and blood, but of pen and ink, talking and acting and doing things normal humans couldn't do, interacting with creatures that were from myth, lore, and science fiction as if they always, or suddenly, existed on the Mortal plane. She watched, utterly mesmerized as a group of super-humans called mutants battled the forces of evil. Another one featured the adventures of a man who did not seem to be a mutant, but was in excellent physical condition, fighting evil in a costume similar to those on the first show, yet distinctly different. The third show was a comedy, little short acts performed by talking rabbits, mice, ducks, and other assorted creatures. Then one came on about a group of girls fighting evil in the name of Love and Justice by getting dressed up in sassy clothes. She particularly liked that one, even though the drawings were in a different style. Somehow, it made the characters a little more realistic. More importantly, they performed magick similar to hers, but unfortunately they seemed limited to certain powers.

Heart felt a bond with them. Her life in Heaven, though idyllic, had been fairly lonely. Even as a Love angel, she'd been a bit of a dreamer, as well as a hopeless romantic. She had mostly kept to herself, venturing only to the library to borrow books. Until the printing press popularized reading and writing, however, most of the texts had been on magick, and in Heaven, the majority of them had been specially written for angels. Many of them were from back in the days before the Great War with Lucifer, and Heart had studied many of the combat spells that had since become disused. Then later on, as she had become more specialized as an Angel of Love, she had continued to read about Magick and Love. Watching the young girls learning about their powers and friendship, and using Magick so similar to what she knew made her smile, and she quickly decided the show was one of her favorites. It ended far too quickly for her liking.

Following that show, there were no more moving drawings, only lots of shows featuring groups of people sitting around talking. On one of them an enormously fat woman stood and pointed furiously at a bewildered man sitting next to her. She began shrieking at another robust woman sitting on the other side of the man.

"You see this man? Do you see this man? Bitch, this is my man! You do not touch him, you do not look at him, you do not-" the TV emitted a short high pitched beep, "-with him! You leave him alone you dirty-" this time the beep was much longer.

The other woman jumped up to scream back, but most of it was obliterated by the whining beep. Heart got the gist of it though, and watching the man was more interesting. He had his head covered in fear and was peeking at the two women from beneath his arms. Clearly, he cared little about the outcome.

Heart watched these unloved wretches fight over nothing with pity. She wondered where their hearts really were, what true loves they had, and why they were here, fighting on the TV instead of pursuing those loves. The thought began to creep through her mind: _I could help these people..._

After the talk shows, another type of show started. The plots were almost identical to those on the talk shows, but it was different seeing them acted out. The despair, the loneliness, it was all portrayed, from the publicly happy, but inwardly insecure couple on one show, to the conniving young girl trying to steal the heart of another girl?s love on another.

Heart watched all of it with just as much fascination as she had the cartoons. Even those had had some romance in them, with misguided characters on zany adventures whose end results was a union of souls.

It was amazing the value humans placed on love, even the illusion of it. Just the thought that someone desired them was strong enough to motivate them to do anything, no matter how ludicrous. Humans craved it, worked for it, and planned their lives around it. It was the pulse that kept their hearts beating, the thought that kept their minds running. Every hero had a lady love, every conniving villain lost one...

The commercials made that fact even more plainly. All the so-called psychic hotlines offered to tell when it was coming and where to find it. Most of the other commercials reflected the desire for it in their contexts ? you?ll get the girl if you have this car; you?ll attract love to you if you wear this cologne. And there was one that played over and over through the day for a dating service.

By mid-afternoon, Heart had made her decision. Seraph was right, the humans needed her. She may not be working for Heaven anymore, but she was still an Angel of Love. She could still show people how to find their loves, she could still share the love the Creator had given her...

Excited by the prospect, she hopped up to look at the paper from yesterday, to see if there were any dating services.

She stopped as the first page advertising them because there, in the center of the page, was an ad for the very service she had seen so often on the TV. It was called "Heavenly Hearts" and in big, bold letters under the logo it said, "EXPERIENCED MATCHMAKERS WANTED! Call and ask for Yoshi!"

_I could get a job like that easily,_ she thought to herself as she picked up the phone and dialed.

"Heavenly Hearts. Yoshi speak," came the nearly instant response.

"Um... Hi. My name is Harteriel Serefina, and I was calling about the ad you have in the paper?"

"Our ad?"

"Yes. It says you need experienced matchmakers?"

"You experienced matchmaker?"

"Um... yes."

"Good. Be interview. Tomorrow? Can come?"

"Yes!" Heart replied excitedly.

"Ok. Tomorrow. Any time!"

"I'll see you then!" Heart couldn't contain her excitement any longer. As she hung up the phone, she let out a triumphant yelp.

Seraph sat bolt upright in the bed. "Beloved?" she called looking desperately around for Heart.

Heart was horrified.

"I'm so sorry, Beloved! I didn't mean to wake you."

Seraph's panicked face relaxed when she saw her angel was safe. "No, that's okay." She reached out a hand. "What's the matter?"

Heart knee-dropped onto the bed, bouncing a few times in her excitement.

"I have an interview with a dating service!"

"Yay!" Seraph gave her a small cheer and hugged her. "Congratulations. Which one?"

"Heavenly Hearts! They're looking for experienced matchmakers, like me!"

Seraph smiled. "Cool! I'm so glad, beloved." She curled around Heart, still a little sleepy. "It hurt so much seeing you lack faith in yourself, when I have so much faith in you. I know you'll do great."

"We'll see," Heart replied. She tried to make her voice project hope, but she still had doubts. "But we should celebrate. How about dinner?"

"Oh, Beloved. I have to work tonight. There won't be any restaurants open by the time the club closes."

"Yes, there will. Chez Heart! I can cook for us."

"Really? You'll cook for me?"

"I'll try to, anyway." Heart frowned. "I can't even remember the last time I cooked. I never needed to as an angel. I hope I remember how. But I haven?t seen any gardens. Where am I supposed to get herbs and vegetables?"

Seraph giggled. "Beloved, I'll have to tell you a few things about modern life..."

******

"Mr. Horne, I think you might want to see this." Mr. Wright said. "My contacts from the Police Department delivered it a little while ago."

He held up a manila folder for Mr. Horne to take. Mr. Horne opened it curiously.

It contained a photocopy of a parking ticket and a few sheets of information. The ticket showed the address of a club on Eighth Street, where a black Corvette had received the ticket for parking in a loading zone. The second page was readout from the DMV showing that the car was registered to one Seraph Darkfell, which, while it rose Mr. Horne's eyebrow, was not the most interesting information the folder held. The next page showed a record of a query by a Detective Bruce Lipton of the NYPD for the same records that Mr. Horne held.

"Humm... It would seem we are not the only one's interested in Miss Darkfell." he said. "Do we have any information on who this Detective Lipton is?"

"By all accounts, he seems to be a loner," Mr. Wright answered. "Never married, doesn't socialize, and doesn?t even own a dog." He paused, as though debating about saying something else.

"We seem to have a lot of intelligence on Mr. Lipton. Why?" Mr. Horne prompted.

"Detective Lipton is also a Demon Hunter. Early in his career, he had an encounter with a serial killer by the name of Robert Allen Mitchell," Mr. Wright explained. "Mr. Mitchell left messages praising the prophecies of Scoth, prophecies of death, blood, and eternal damnation."

"Ah. A serial cult killer," Mr. Horne nodded. "Scoth is one of Astaroth's, yes?"

"Absolutely," Mr. Wright acknowledged. "And call it arrogance or what you will, when Mr. Lipton and his partner stumbled onto Mr. Mitchell's lair, Scoth killed his partner himself, and apparently, revealed himself to Mr. Lipton."

"And he is still alive? How did he manage to survive?"

"That is unclear. Mr. Lipton claims he shot Scoth, but human weapons have no effect on demons. Perhaps Scoth was using Mr. Mitchell as an anchor. All that is known is that Mr. Mitchell was found dead, covered in Mr. Lipton's partner's blood, and with five bullet wounds that matched Mr. Lipton?s weapon. Mr. Lipton was in shock when found and spent nearly four weeks recovering. He then covertly started a career covering the cases the NYPD was investigating that dealt with the supernatural. He has, to date, been responsible for nearly thirty demonic deaths... And is presently assigned to investigating the multiple homicides caused by Seraph."

"Interesting," Mr. Horne closed his eyes. "And he received the same information on the ticket?"

"Yes."

"Do we have anyone watching the club?"

"Yes, and apparently, Miss Darkfell is scheduled to perform tonight."

"Perform?"

"It's a gentleman's club."

"Ah... euphemisms. Still, it would be a superb opportunity to observe her and see if she is feeding."

"A succubus's lair," Mr. Wright said sourly. "I could think of much more interesting ways to pass an evening."

"Perhaps Mr. Lipton will enliven the night. It will be interesting to see his reaction to Seraph."

"And to see if he may have any impact on our mission."

"Yes. Then tonight at Club Dante?"

Mr. Wright nodded, a grim smile on his face.