As the hollows drew nearer, Azoth kicked out and knocked one back into the far wall. He breathed a circle of flame around him on the floor. Anyone wanting to get close would have to battle through flame. They hesitated around the rim, until two bounded over the leaping flames and lunged at Azoth. They landed on his shoulder, digging into skin. He shook off one into the fire, but the other stayed firmly latched on. He snarled. "Persistent, aren't you?" Without flinching, he rushed through the flame, letting the creature perish in the flame.

More were appearing now, alerted to Azoth's presence. He would have to join back up with the others, for everyone's respective safety. After a moment of trying to decide where they could be, he noticed the stairwell. It was curved in shape, which was immediately irritating- stairs were difficult enough as it was without the curving bits. He sighed and opened his wings and began flying over the steps- if he didn't have to walk them, he wouldn't have to. The hollows, however, were following him up the stairs.

He landed at the top and turned, blazing fire at the iron steps. The steps melted under the flame. It would, for now, slow the hollows down. He began walking down the hall, searching for the rest of the group.

-

Eve frowned contemplatively. "If you're cold, you're probably not dreaming. Also, I'm not a dream person." She paused, then added, "sorry." Objectively, Mary was having a pretty shitty time right now, but Eve had managed to reach a state that she sort of ignored the shitty parts of demon fighting. It made it difficult to view other perspectives.

Joe managed to get up on top of the gate with relative ease, wishing that he had planned something strategic like Salem had. He watched sourly from atop the gate, being careful of the spikes, as Salem leaped onto the building. Though, when his friend smacked into the wall and only managed to grab something beneath the window, Joe decided he needed to plan more carefully. He sucked in a breath and stood, wobbling on top of the gate. When he gained his balance, Salem had already scrambled through the window.

He held in his gut for preparation. He placed one foot on one of the spikes on top of the gate, testing how sharp it was. When he could put some of his weight on it without it piercing through his shoe, he darted across a few of them before pushing off of one sideways. He twisted in the air and made surprising distance, just falling short of the window, but managing to grab onto some vines. Some snapped with his weight, but he quickly shifted to grabbing convenient handholds on the wall. He exhaled in disbelief.

Joe hoisted himself up onto the window sill and leaped down into the room. He landed on the floor quietly near Salem, who hadn't quite gotten up yet. He didn't say anything while Solomon asked if he was alright, but he had to stifle a laugh at the least. Aamu was at the door, her mask flat to the ground. He frowned and asked, "What are you doing?"

Aamu's neck twisted and she looked at Joe sharply. "I'm seeing what's beyond the door," she answered, and then went back to doing what she said she was doing.

Joe walked forward in tandem with Salem, and Aamu skittered away from the door. Aamu's mask flashed bright yellow, and she suddenly became one with the ground, with the exception of her long, shadowy neck and head. "Not good," she whispered.

---

From the door, small particles of sand began to filter through the crack at the bottom. The hinges strained, and the door was ripped open by a vicious current of sand. Joe ducked as it stormed overhead, long and curvaceous. He whipped his head back to see it solidify into something in the rafters, and then disappear. "Holy ****?" he whimpered.

The creature clicked its many legs on the rafters, and it disappeared down the hallway before anyone could follow it. It turned sharply left, and then into the main entrance area. In front of Azoth, the creature uncoiled itself from the rafters, sand dripping from its fanged, circular mouth.

Its many black, shiny mandibles twitched protectively over its sharp mouth. Its legs wiggled as it balanced, upside down, half of its body still wrapped around the wooden rafters. Even though it had no eyes, it looked straight at Azoth and let out a bloodcurdling shriek. Then, it lunged right for him, jaws permanently agape.

_________________

"Not good?" Salem parroted, a hint of pretty obvious concern in his voice. "What do you mean not good?" It didn't take more than a moment for his question to be answered, and as the door was ripped off the wall by a torrent of sand, Salem raised his arms in a defensive position. The door was flung right into him, but Solomon's blade took the brunt of the impact. Salem slid back a good distance, remaining on his feet, and forced Solomon out of the wood he'd been embedded in. "What was that?" He demanded, arms flopping outward in an exasperated movement. Damn it, hollows had been fine to deal with, but now there was some weird sand monster flying around.

"A demon," Solomon replied in a matter-of-fact voice. "And a strong one at that. Keep your guard up, boys, and keep moving." While he could not walk in his sword form, he could still order Salem to keep moving. Solomon was laid across Salem's shoulders, and with a nudge to the back of the human's head, he got his bound partner to move forward through the now-open door's damaged frame.

The next room was a long hallway, lined with suits of armour that outwardly resembled European plate. Layers of dark stone bricks made up the walls, and to the left, multiple enormous windows let in rays of moonlight. The floor was also stone, adorned with a long rug that was reminiscent of Arabian carpet. The walls were adorned with similar rugs, hanging between doors and behind the suits of armour.

While humanoid, the armour suits were all heavier-looking than what would be practical, and had gauntlets adorned with spiked ridges and helmets bearing horn-like designs, and each held weapons made of the same black metal their plates were made from. Salem was immediately suspicious, and he lifted Solomon's blade from his shoulder to hold in both hands. "I get the feeling these are more than just decorations," He mumbled, tightening his grip on the weapon's handle.

As if on cue, once the entire group had passed into the hall, a black mist filled the space where the door once was, as well as the other doors in the hall. A similar mist began to leak from the joints of the plate armours, and a bright yellow glow crossed their visors. Their limbs creaked as the mist continued to leak from them, and at first in unison, they stepped off the stands that they'd been mounted on. A few wielded swords, whether single large ones or a smaller pair, and others held axes and lances. They eventually stopped blowing out mist, and after it flowed across the floor momentarily, the animated suits began to rush forward.

-----

"It's fine, it's fine..." Mary grumbled. She didn't mean to offend Eve by outright saying she was hoping none of this was existing, but she still felt a twinge of regret when she heard the other woman apologize. "Nice going, Mary," she thought to herself, biting her lip. "Your dumb butthole self just told a person you were hoping they weren't real. Bravo." After a few more moments of just staring at the roof, she sat back up and shifted a little to face Eve more directly. "So...How long you been doing this? Do you have any idea what's actually going on?" Eve looked a hell of a lot more experienced than her idiot brother and friend, so she figured a history lesson would come better from her. She would've just asked one of the demons, if they'd been around, but all of them had taken off far too quickly.

_________________

Azoth paused midstep when he heard the chittering noise the demon made as it approached. "Who's there?" He demanded, his voice reverberating off the walls of the hall. "Show yourself," he said as he turned his head back and forth, finally bringing it back to center- only to see the demon uncoiling in front of him. It screamed, and attacked. Azoth lunged to the side in an attempt to dodge, but agile movements like this had never been his strong suit, and the demon scored a glancing blow. Azoth hissed in pain and turned, holding fire in his mouth as he did. As long as he was holding it here, the others could find what they were looking for and get out as fast as possible- unless there were nastier things hiding in this accursed place. He breathed fire at the creature, hoping to catch it alight.

-

At Mary's question, Eve paused. She wasn't exactly sure how long she'd been doing this- she hadn't really kept track. Anything before demon slaying seemed sort of unimportant. "A long while," she said finally. "Since I was a kid." She rested her arms on her knees, contemplating how to explain the function of this place. "It's a prison, sort of, for demons that lost in a war long ago. The barriers between here and the human world are weakening, though, and creatures that shouldn't get out might. Azoth and I try to make sure that doesn't happen." The whole history behind it was something Eve had never been very good at explaining. She'd never had much reason to.

The centipede seemed to smile as it grazed Azoth's sides. "Show myself?" it asked, mockingly, in a deep and booming voice. It ducked as the hellhorse sent a blast of flame blooming towards it. It hissed swerved to the side, but it hit the rafter beneath it. Its underbelly was scorched as the wooden support caught fire. It dropped to the floor, uncoiling. It reared up, its many legs twitching. "You demand things of me," it began quietly, and then continued, in an almost roar of a voice, "When you trespass?!"

Its head recoiled, and then it released a jet of sand from its mouth, right towards Azoth. It then lunged forward again, maw open and ready to tear into some horse-flesh.

---

Aamu's yellow mask faded to a burnt orange, and then its bright, default red. "Nasty surprise, that was," she commented. She unflattened herself from the floor, and returned to her normal, bulbous form. She waddled along next to Salem, who was holding Solomon. Joe took up the rear.

He placed his foot on the nice carpet, and he had the faint feeling like he should be taking his shoes off. He walked over to one of the statues, and reached for one of the horns on the helmets. Aamu looked at him, and he looked at her. "What? I'm just looking at it," he said defensively.

When Salem spoke, Aamu nodded. "Which is why you shouldn't be fiddling with it," she said. The black mist began to block the door. Joe, however, took no notice, and unwedged an axe from one of the knight's grip. He gave it an experimental twirl, and then looked over to Aamu with a big smile.

The knight's joints leaked black mist, and it lunged forward, gripping Joe in its firm, metallic embrace. Aamu's mask flashed yellow in shock, and then a drab blue in annoyance. Joe's shoes slid on the carpet as the knight tried to grab the axe back from him. Joe kicked backwards until he knocked one of the metal suit's feet out, and then rushed back towards the rest of the group. The knight fell with a heavy crash, and then got back up.

Aamu bristled in anticipation of a battle, and her tail waggled back and forth. Joe looked at the axe, and tightened his grip on it. "How do we deal with these things?" he asked no one in particular, very aware that the suits were approaching.

_________________

In a voice that took on an obvious tone of urgency, Salem yelled out in response. "Hit them!" A simple enough direction, and one that hadn't failed them yet. If the hollows could be overpowered by them, then these knights probably could as well. With Solomon in his hand, he took a deep breath, then ran forward towards a pair of the animated suits. His attacks, taking the style of multiple slashes towards the midsection of one knight, proved to be quite ineffective. Solomon's blade left scratches on the surface of the metallic demons' suits, but caused no proper damage. After a flurry, Salem stopped for a moment and got a pointed sabaton in the gut in response. The kick floored him and left him breathless. In the moments he took to recover, the knight approached him and raised its lance, turning it downward to stab into him. He barely avoided impalement by rolling to the side, swinging his sword at the knight's knee. The impact damaged the layer of chain beneath the plates, and black mist spewed from the wound.

"I don't think that's going to be very effective," Solomon quipped, leaving his sword form. He perched on Salem's shoulders as he backed away, carefully eyeing the knights. The injured one now moved with a limp and was slightly slowed, but still moved.

"Then what will?" A question that anyone who actually knew a thing about plate armour would be able to easily answer, but Salem wasn't especially knowledgeable. He balled his fists and kept himself moving around the knights, waiting for a response.

"Blunt force. Smash them apart," Solomon answered. "Cutting metal tends not to work." Sharp as he may have been when shifted, some things just couldn't be cut easily. Metal-skinned demons, unfortunately, looked to be among those things. "Let's try something." Slithering down Salem's arm, Solomon shifted his form again, at first appearing to take on the shape of his blade shape. His skull, however, rested at the end of the weapon's length instead of its hilt. When he solidified, Salem didn't quite have a good grip and nearly dropped him, sending his head clanking into the floor, but he quickly managed to lift him back up and prepare for battle.

When the injured knight started to approach again, Salem swung the skull-hammer into its midsection. The weakened plate buckled under the impact, and more black mist began to spray from the holes in the metal left by Solomon's horns. It stumbled back and fell over, alive but temporarily disabled.

-----

Mary felt a frown creep across her face when Eve gave her an answer. Christ, a kid doing this? She could hardly imagine how she would've done in a similar situation. In fact, she was sure that she would've kicked the bucket within the hour. But Eve had managed, so it apparently wasn't impossible to stay alive in this strange place. The prison explanation raised her interest, but at the same time gave her an immediate sense of worry. "A prison?" She repeated, pausing in an attempt to think of how to word her next question. "We're not in Hell, are we? Because I really don't want to be in Hell." Eloquent. Meeting new people under dire circumstances was Mary's forte, obviously.

_________________

“Looks like someone's been having fun tonight...” Damon remarked to the demonic moth perched atop his head as he viewed the cluster of corpses surrounding the library. The moth, Ose, fluttered from Damon's head and landed on one of the hollow corpses.

“Doubt it. They're probably dead if they left a perfectly good meal sitting around,” the demon retorted in a masculine, gruff voice. The dead man's soul began to flow from the creature's mouth into the pupil of Ose's weird eye-head.

Damon turned away from the sight. Ose already looked freaky enough, seeing him do that just made Damon queasy. “If that's the case, we need to watch out for more hollows,” he said, straightening the cuff on his too-long suit sleeve. Normally, he didn't wear his suit into Limbo, but today he lost track of time and was pulled into the between-world before he was ready. “There has to be at least one left if their prey is dead.”

Ose finished his meal and bobbed his eyeball in agreement. As he did so, the corpse underneath him broke down into dust. His bound human was an idiot, but at least he was finally learning to be cautious. Wordlessly, he fluttered to the next corpse, absorbing its soul too. Damon stood watch. “You gonna be done sometime today?” he wondered out loud. The demon responded with a slightly exasperated sigh. His human was always so impatient.

“You'll be glad I had this meal later on,” the demon said simply, fluttering to another corpse. “I'll be fine here if you want to take a look around. Hollows don't have a thing on me. Just shout if you're about to get yourself killed.”

With a slight grin, Damon took a few steps towards the library not far away. Freedom, at least for a while. “Don't mind if I do,” he replied, headed towards the front door. Moments later, he reached the door and, upon finding that it was blocked, kicked it open. The wood blocking it on the inside shattered, flinging splinters several feet forward. Damon confidently strode inside, feeling like a complete badass. The last thing he expected to see was the two women sitting at the desk nearby.

Briefly, Damon was startled, but he quickly regained his composure and leaned against a nearby shelf. “Well hello, ladies,” he greeted them. The tall blond one in particular caught his eye. “Damon here. Damon Lewis. And you?” he asked, looking straight at Eve.

Azoth snarled as the creature dove at him, once again scoring a glancing blow. He'd grown too dependent on Eve's presence, he realized. Their strategy relied on the other's presence. It was an irritating thought. He turned and breathed out another gust of fire. Retreat was not something to even consider, at least not until they secured what they had came for. If the demon was unalerted to the other's presence, that could give them the time they needed.

-

Eve shook her head at Mary's question. "It's more like Limbo," she said. "I wouldn't want to be in Hell either," she added, a little awkwardly. People bonded over shared opinions and interests, right? Eve wasn't sure not wanting to be in Hell counted, but she was working with what she had. Then she paused. There was noise outside the door.

"Get down," she ordered Mary. She lifted her sword from its resting place and stood, shifting into a fighting stance. It could possibly be a hollow, or a whole group of them, or some demon come to antagonize them. She weighed escape routes and attack plans in her mind as the door gave way.

It was a man.

Since tonight was apparently the night humans flooded Limbo, Eve shook it off and stayed on guard. At his greeting, she frowned. He didn't seem overtly hostile, but something in his demeanor seemed different. "Eve," she said in response to his question, eying him suspiciously. "Drop any weapons you have. Why are you intruding here?"

Aamu wasted no time joining the fray. She glided into one of the knights, through its midsection, and then she solidified. The animated armor split apart at the black misty seam, and then broke apart as her massive body wedge its parts out of the way. She grabbed a sword from it and swung it at another knight, smacking it on the helmet. The noise was like that of a gong.

Joe watched as the other knight rose from where he had kicked it to the ground. He held the axe uncertainly, and before the knight could get up all the way, began to bash in the knight's armor. It caught Joe's hand in the middle of one of his careless swings, and flung Joe across the floor. He tumbled and spun as he rolled across the carpet. He felt the familiar feeling of rug burn, but luckily there was no impalement by medieval weaponry. He rose nervously to his feet, and then ducked as another swung a mace at him.

He muttered something about never getting a break, and rammed himself into the knight with the mace, luckily avoiding the mace in the process. The sheer force of Joe sent the other knight to the ground with a crash. He exhaled from his nose.

Aamu dealt with the other knight, who was weaponless. Aamu's neck split open, breaking apart in a gooey mess of blackness, revealing two rows of pointed teeth. She bit into the armor of the knight, black mist spewing from the puncture wounds. The knight tried to grab at Aamu, but she would conveniently twist her shape out of the way.

---

The centipede met Azoth's fire blast with another jet of sand from its mouth. It ducked out the way with surprising speed for its size. It paused, briefly looking back, wondering whether the opposing group it had passed were making their way through the knights. It let out a frustrated hiss, and then looked at the hell horse as much as it could look, given it had no eyes.

It almost seemed to smile. If they could make it into the deeper part of the manse, the creature mused in its mind, it would need to be prepared. The insect skittered across the wall and then dashed past Azoth, shifting into a current of sand as it descended the stairs and seeped under a doorway.

_________________

In reaction to Aamu ripping apart a knight from the inside, Salem raised Solomon in a defensive stance, deflecting a pauldron that went careening through the air at him. A blink and a beat of silence followed, broken by an exasperated question towards the demon he was currently swinging about. "Why can't you do that?" He asked, swinging Solomon headfirst into an approaching knight.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm very small. Now focus!" Solomon scolded. Distractions would only get the boys killed, and he sure as hell didn't want that to happen. Taking the advice, Salem moved to the knight that Joe had floored, swinging Solomon's hammer-like head into the side of the metal demon's helmet. It was shorn off by the force, and clanked against the wall. The mist that powered them poured from the knights that had their armour torn apart, and with nowhere to go, simply floated around aimlessly.

The demonic power within the mist was detectable, quite a bit more potent than that in the hollows. "Boys," Solomon said, pausing for a moment so he could speak without being buried face-first into a knight's midsection. "When you're done with them, I want you to touch those clouds. Understand?"

"What?" Salem immediately responded. The number of knights was falling rapidly, and the clouds of billowing darkness in the room grew thicker. "Why?"

"I'll explain when there's less a chance of you getting stabbed. Hurry up." Solomon gave the order with a dry tone of voice, and prepared himself for yet another face-first meeting with a body of demonic steel. God, did he hope Salem found something else to use for this soon.

-----

Mary gave a slow nod, pursing her lips a bit. Limbo...Wasn't a lot better than Hell, considering there were demons and zombies and all sort of awful **** walking about. But at least her soul wasn't being tortured for all eternity, or whatever it was that happened in Hell. However, even with all this terrible, terrible revelation, she felt a subconscious sense of relief. If all this existed, surely an inverse must have as well, right? If she played her cards right, her lifelong dream of high-fiving Jesus just might have become a reality. A little smile crossed her lips at the thought. Whether it was the result of her tired mind thinking fatigued thoughts or just her brain attempting to calm itself down, the idea was nice either way.

All those soothing thoughts were immediately torn away when the thumping at the door and the subsequent shattering of the lock sent splinters of wood flying at her. She wasted no time in following Eve's order, flopping forward out of her seat and onto the ground, then rolling under the table. From there, she attempted to remain in shadows, and silenced herself utterly. Another human entered, which drew some interest from her. Just how many of these types were out and about tonight? Was there some secret society of sick-ass demon slayers? And if so, why the hell hadn't she been invited?

Regardless of inquiries, she kept quiet and just watched.

_________________

When Eve told him to drop his weapons, Damon put up his hands, showing that they were empty. “Eve... You're a fiesty one, eh? Not holding any weapons, unless you mean this gun by my side,” he explained, pointing down toward the handgun at his waist, but then his eyes narrowed and his tone darkened a bit as he decided to call what he thought was her bluff. “But I'm not about to drop that. I've seen enough **** here to know that that's a bad idea. Look, lady, if you want to kill me,” he gestured at her sword, and then returned his hands to his sides, his right hand brushing against the handle of his gun, “you'll have to do a lot better than that little knife.” It was a bluff of his own, as he had no idea how effective Eve was in a fight.

Damon took a moment to take stock of the situation just in case a fight went down. Eve seemed confident despite her suspicions. She had been in Limbo for a while, but just how long? Considering the fact that she was wielding a freaking sword, it was likely that she was bound and therefore dangerous. The girl hiding under the table, on the other hand, wasn't likely to be much of a danger. He could probably safely disregard her if it came down to a fight. With Ose right outside, Damon decided, he was probably pretty safe.

As such, after making his bluff and assuming Eve didn't attack him for his lack of compliance, he quickly returned to his former demeanor. “As for why I'm here, I was just doing some urban exploring,” he said lightly, the grin he had before back on his face. “Didn't realize anyone would be in here. Sorry 'bout the door.”

Azoth chased the sandworm until it reached the top of the stairs. He stopped at the top and watched it until it vanished. He snorted in disgust. "Coward," he muttered to himself, turning away from the steps. He supposed now the best course of action would be to join up with the group again. He trotted down the hall, searching for the others.

-

When Damon pointed out that Eve was going to have to do better than her sword, she considered. "All right." She raised her left hand and created a burst of flame in it. She let it flicker for a second, then closed it in her hand, snuffing the flame. Then she dropped the sword to her side.

"I understand that you didn't know we were here," Eve said. "And I don't particularly care about the door. But I'd rather you not stay." The idea of a strange man with a gun and likely other unconcealed weapons being around her while she was responsible for Mary and Azoth not being there was highly unappealing. She wasn't sure how far she was willing to take a potential fight.

Aamu grinned at Salem, all rows of her teeth shining bright white against the black of her formless mass. She dropped what was left of the knight, which was a heavily damaged, hole-ridden platebody, and cocked her head apologetically. The blackish mist filtered out of the metal armor and pooled next to her.

Joe smiled at Salem's comment, and then snidely remarked, "Hey, remember! Size doesn't matter!" While Joe was dicking around (pun?), Aamu wasted no time latching onto another knight with her claws, digging in. The knight swung its sword, but promptly missed. She threw the knight at Joe, who obviously was caught off guard.

Her boy barely had enough time to react before landing a well placed hit into the mesh of the knight's neck. He cleaved the neck from the body with his axe. He smiled briefly, and then frowned. "Why do you always do that when I'm having a good time?" he asked accusingly, and then the beheaded armor grabbed onto him, slamming him onto the ground and then kicking him in the gut.

Joe let out a choked noise, but didn't seem to be worse for wear. He rolled out of the way and stood up, then delivered a well-placed kick to the knight's chest. It crashed to the ground, where Aamu promptly clawed the armor to shreds. They both looked around intently for their next opponent.

---

The centipede demon skittered towards the basement, quick on its feet. It entered a large room, where it curled around a support column. Sand dripped from its mouth, collecting on the floor and building a small mound like it would from an hour glass.

"Chicken out so soon, Kazarn?" a feminine voice teased. The centipede craned its neck to the opposing column, where a small girl was leaning. "I thought you said you'd pick them off one by one so I wouldn't have to do anything."

The centipede rolled its back and almost seemed to shrug. Its mandibles twitched idly.

"Chatty today," she muttered, removing a bang from over her eye. "No matter. They're probably here for the sssssnake." Her eyes moved down towards her hands, a pair of glinting fisticuffs visible in the faint light. A few particles of sand dripped from her clenched fists.

_________________

"Yeah, yeah, all in the technique!" Salem snarked back at Joe, adjusting his grip on the stone hammer's handle. The knights' numbers were dwindling quickly, pools of black, inky sludge pooling around them as the misty spray lost pressure and instead began to dribble out of holes in their metallic vessels. A macabre sight, but luckily one without any other sort of abusive sensory effect. Its scent, or lack thereof, was little more than a feeling that made it noticeable.

Taking on the last knight of his side of the hall, Salem eyed the opponent carefully. In one arm, it wielded an unfairly big targe, the front of which was lined with spikes. In the other, it held a heavy-looking halberd. It moved with a strategic pattern, keeping its shield raised on Salem at all times, the pointed spearhead of the halberd raised above it to strike. The two were in a stalemate for a tense few moments, broken by a sudden piece of advice from Solomon.

"Oh for the love of Christ, go over it." The demon snapped out, referring to the shield. There was no way Salem was going to break through it, and he highly doubted that he'd be able to go around. So what better option than over?

"What?" Salem immediately asked. He wasn't entirely sure what going over entailed.

"Just throw me," Solomon dryly responded. Luckily, Salem proved good enough at taking directions, and after taking a spin, he tossed the demon's hammer-shaped form up and over the knight's shield. It looked up, and above it, Solomon very swiftly twisted himself back into his sword-shaped formation. Tip pointing downward, he fell into the knight's chainmail neck, piercing it and entering the cuirass of the metal being's body. He followed up the dropping stab by extending a multitude of spikes from the blade, many of which pierced the knight's chestplate and held it in place.

Watching it all unfold, Salem got the idea to take advantage of the situation. Running forward, he grabbed a fallen axe from one of the dead knights, and once behind the demonic armour, a mighty swing cleaved into the plate and split it apart. Black mist sprayed forward from the gaping hole, and Solomon's spikes retracted as he returned to his neutral form and hopped onto Salem's shoulder.

-----

From her hiding spot, Mary frowned deeply at the weapons contest going on in front of her. A gun? Bad. Very bad. While she couldn't measure the severity of getting shot for Eve, she was quite confident that a bullet would put any normal human down if well-aimed. The flames Eve summoned? Also bad. She could see how it would be effective, but she definitely didn't want to get caught in any crossfire. Whether it was demonic magic (she assumed it was magic) or hot lead, she didn't want to get either tossed at her.

The guy, Damon, didn't look like he was planning to leave, and Mary was growing ever more tense. He at least didn't seem to be paying attention to her. Sneaking forward across the ground, she left the ineffective shadows of the table and tried to be stealthy as she approached the door's shattered remnants. Picking a large and conveniently club-shaped piece of wood, made from the part of the door that hinged to the wall, she stood up and hefted it over her shoulder. Splinters be damned, she wasn't about to stay there and die if these two decided to fight. Action was not immediately taken, but at the first sign of Damon going for his gun, she was ready to bring the wood down over his head.

_________________

When Eve brandished her fire, Damon's hand instinctively went back to the handle of his gun, his smile diminishing. “And risk burning down this nice library? Is that really worth the risk of attacking a stranger? Here in Limbo?” As he said this, he took a couple of steps further into the library. For now, the distraction of Eve's fire allowed Mary to move around without Damon's notice. “I don't really like the idea of going off alone once again. Don't you see the opportunity here? If we stick together, you're a lot less likely to get killed by whatever perpetually **** demon wanders in here next. And it'll be a lot easier to keep the scared girl safe,” he added, gesturing at the now-unoccupied table, somehow without noticing the lack of Mary's presence.

For now, he kept his hand on his gun, recognizing the potential that Eve could be unstable, but didn't draw it. He wanted to be able to act quickly if she decided to attack him. Of course, a gun probably wouldn't do all that much to her, but it would be sure to alert Ose, and that was a much more manly way to catch the demon's attention than screaming.

Speaking of demons, Damon remembered Ose's theory that whatever had killed all of those Hollows outside was dead. “Where's your demon, anyway?” he asked Eve. If whatever flaming monstrosity she had allied herself with was still around, that could cause trouble for him. “Kind of odd that he wouldn't come running at the sound of those doors smashing, don't you think?”

As Azoth advanced through the building, he heard the sounds of a scuffle. Flicking his ears, he listened closely until he recognized the voices of the two demons and their boys. Flame beginning to form in his mouths, he broke into a canter until the noise grew closer.

He skidded to a halt in front of one of the doors, then burst through to find the four in the midst of the fight. He took it in, and then immediately breathed out a blaze of fire.

-

"It's not my library. And I don't need your help, thank you," Eve said as calmly as she could manage. Her eyes flicked over to the table where Mary has been only to notice her abrupt absence. Where had she gone? If she wanted Eve's protection, abruptly vanishing from her line of sight wasn't the way to get it. Of course, staying there wasn't exactly safe either. She tried to both listen to Damon's prattling and look for Mary, finally locating her by the door. Of course. Praying that the girl wouldn't actually try and attack if it came to blows, Eve attempted to assess Damon.

If it came to a one on one fight, Eve felt confident she could best him. However, he probably had a demon lurking about somewhere and Azoth was miles off doing who knows what. He and his demon were likely more powerful together than she was alone. And she had the added liability of Mary. All in all, it didn't look good.

And then, of course, he clued in on the fact that she was alone. In a decision that hinged mainly on panic, Eve decided that the best option was to beat him and fast before his demon decided to do a check in. She sent a blaze of fire at him in one swift movement.

Though the sudden burst of flame flying at Damon startled him, he swiftly sidestepped out of the way with a “whoa,” letting the fireball fly out the door. Moving quickly, he drew his pistol and fired it at the library's ceiling, both as a warning shot and as a way to alert Ose. As it turned out, however, he wouldn't get the chance to fire it for real. Immediately after firing the warning shot, he felt something heavy crash into the back of his head. causing a moderate bit of pain. Damon stumbled forward a step, and his pistol clattered uselessly across the floor. With fire in his eyes, he looked back over his shoulder to see Mary standing there, looking quite scared, a huge piece of wood in her hands.

“When the hell...”

Clearly angered, Damon pivoted to the side and grabbed Mary by her collar with his right hand, pulling her between himself and Eve, and effortlessly hoisted her a few inches off the ground. “Bad,” he chastised her, raising his other hand and flicking her in the forehead with a loud crack. Her head snapped backward from the force, but he made sure not to use enough to cause any lasting harm. After all, he didn't want to harm either of the ladies- the poor dude had just been looking for some companionship.

Knowing that having Mary as a human shield would buy him at least a few seconds to talk, Damon decided to play teacher. “Look, I know you're new here in Limbo, so this lesson's free. Don't **** with anyone- or anything- stronger than you,” he explained between his teeth and threw her down on the ground toward Eve, ready to dodge another attack if need be.

Joe heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed as though they had taken care of all of the knights that were in the room. It was a shame, really; they had made wonderful decorations. Like he was instructed, he approached one of the black clouds that hung suspended above one of the fallen warriors.

"Touch it," Aamu commanded from behind, which spooked Joe. He looked back at her, wielding his axe nervously. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Aamu reiterated. "Do it. Touch the cloud."

Joe sent a little look at Salem, as if asking for help. Visibly sucking it up, he extended his hand towards the cloud. It reacted to his touch, and was siphoned into his hand at a fast pace. His arm felt vaguely tingly afterwards, and he awarded Aamu with a small smile. Then, under his breath, he muttered, "Less painful than I thought it was going to be."

At that moment, Azoth barged into the room. The jet of flame made Joe jump back into Aamu's mass. He could hear her exhale tiredly.

_________________

Attempting to end the fight stylishly, Salem twirled the axe around his hand and released it, aiming to grab the pole behind the axe's head and hold it off to his side. His attempts to be a cool guy failed entirely, as his hand instead smacked against the flat of the axe and sent it clanking across the floor. At first, Salem tried to go forward and catch it. Halfway through the attempted recovery, he decided it was a bad idea. He just stood there for a few seconds, reaching out for the fallen weapon. Embarrassment washed over him before he decided to straighten himself out and put his hands in his pockets, frowning.

Solomon audibly sighed. "Nice catch. Now then, these clouds are demonic essence. Every demon you kill will bleed this out. It's what keeps us going," He explained, tapping Salem's back with his tail. "Go on, take it. The more you absorb, the stronger you're going to get. No need for any fanciness, just go on and stick your hand in there."

"Last time someone told me to do that didn't end well," Salem retorted, side-eyeing Joe as he reached forward and opened his palm to the cloud. The floating haze of dark power drew nearer to him when he reached forward, siphoning into his limb. It flowed through the rest of his body, and he felt a likewise tingly feeling. After the absorption, he looked at his hand and turned it over.

"Good. So, how do you feel?" Solomon asked, leaning forward onto Salem's bicep to get a look at his face whilst he spoke. Absorbing demonic power was one of the most basic things a marked human could do, but the gargoyle wanted to leave zero chance of error.

"Weird. Kinda warm?" Salem responded, turning to meet the small demon's eyes. "Definitely feel like I just got one hell of a workout, though."

The corner's of Solomon's lipless mouth turned slightly upward, in the closest approximation of a smile the tiny skull-faced creature could manage. Further instructions were about to be given, but Azoth's sudden entry a few moments too late and his needlessly violent introduction kicked him into action. Solomon quickly slithered down Salem's arm and changed his shape, wings growing to immense proportion to create a shield. He turned himself into stone, blocking the wave of flames that got too close to Salem for comfort.

When the inferno faded, Solomon returned to normal, crouching on the ground in front of the group. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression was about as annoyed as he could manage to look. "Easy there, hothead. You nearly torched the lot of us. You should really practice this little technique called 'aiming,' Azoth. Really, it would do you some good." The tiny creature's voice was absolutely dripping with displeased sarcasm, and with a shake of his head and a hushed exhale, he turned to the others and spoke up. "No sense wasting any more time here. We've got a job to do."

-----

Mary's immediate reaction to getting grabbed was to drop her club, and being hoisted up drew a pretty obviously frightened yelp from her. This dude was swinging her around like she was nothing, then struck her in the head hard enough to make it snap back. Both of her hands swung up and clasped over the point of impact, and a loud curse was shouted. That hit had really hurt, less like a flick and more like having a stone pelted at your face.

She didn't really get enough chance to take in the lesson before she was tossed across the floor, but luckily the impact didn't break anything. She rolled for a few moments before she came to a stop on her back, staring up at the ceiling with the most defeated expression plastered across her face. This was bullshit. Demons were bullshit. Superpowers were bullshit. Everything was bullshit. What was the most bullshit, however, was the fact that she lacked any ability to defend herself with.

She'd get back at everyone somehow. They'd get their due.

_________________

Eve flinched back when Damon grabbed Mary. That had not been planned at all. However, while he knocked Mary back to the floor, Eve's eyes went to the gun that had been knocked from his hands. She scooped it off the floor. At least he had lost one weapon.

"Listen," she said, straightening, "I don't know what you want, but I'm not afraid to fight you." His demon would probably show up any second, and then they were truly screwed. She would either die, or Mary would die, or they would both die, or Azoth would lord the whole encounter over her head forever. First time she'd been on her own in who knows how long and this happened. She remembered her charge, briefly, and glanced over at Mary. The girl looked stunned, but not otherwise hurt. That was something, at least. Eve returned her focus to Damon. "Please, just go."

-

When the fire faded, Azoth realized they were not actual fighting anyone. This was cemented by Solomon's sarcastic remark. Azoth glowered at the group, but as usual failed to come up with anything pithy to say. Finally, he settled on, "I have excellent aim." He immediately turned and stomped back out of the room before checking to see which route they were actually supposed to go, muttering unkind words under his breath.