AN: Hey guys! Sorry this took me a while, but here's a new chapter. Let me know what you think and enjoy!

XII

Crowley sat in his gold and burgundy, high-backed chair. He was leaned to the side with an elbow propped on the arm, and his fingers grazing his lips as he thought. He stared lazily through the large window that overlooked the city. Malum, his belly distended with a rat, was stretched along the sill on a towel, basking in the sun. Crowley had to set the towel down after the snake hissed cold when he touched the concrete.

Aziraphale was pacing behind him, walking the length of the office repeatedly. He was speaking, though little of it truly seeped into Crowley's brain well enough that he understood it. The demon was lost in his own thoughts. Aziraphale might have thought he knew how bad Hell was, both from reputation and his brief visit, but he had no idea how ruthless the Fallen were. Lilith had rebuffed them for centuries, by her own admission, and they didn't take rejection well.

Back and forth, back and forth. The soft click of Aziraphale's shoes narrated each step.

The sun shone high in the sky above, its rays dripping over the new landscape of Eden. Each plant flourished, each flower filled the air with a delicate scent. The world was without description.

Lilith was lying on her side in a sea of tall grass at the water's edge. He saw her from above as he slithered down the large, craggy rocks of the waterfall. He glided down to her, feeling the water spray across his black scales. She was lazily running her fingers along the surface of the pond without any true objective. She was simply there.

Crowley finally made it to the grass at her side and as he had countless times before, he slithered onto her body –over her legs, across her waist, and through her hair so he could emerge near her cheek. Lilith giggled, either from the sensation or because he was there. He caught himself smiling internally, and glad that snakes had no lips to smile with.

He continued to move until his chin was lying on the grass near the water, but the rest of him was still tangled with her. Lilith's fingers left the pond and began to trace along the slope of his head and down his neck before repeating the action. She stroked him like a pet and instead of being offended, he enjoyed it. It was kind and loving, something he hadn't felt in countless years.

Crowley's reptilian eyelids drifted shut and the weight of his long body slumped as he relaxed into the contact. He was content to stay there, to sleep there, for however long he could. The sun had risen one hundred times since he'd first met Lilith, and he was happy to let it rise a thousand more.

He could still feel her fingers gliding along his skin, even eons later. It left a mark on him, scarred him in some respects. Demons weren't allowed to feel loved, or affection. They'd lost that right when they turned their backs on God, but somehow he'd beaten that particular curse. Somehow, Crowley found a companion, a brother, in Aziraphale and another in the young woman he was meant to tempt into sin. But he never did make her eat the apple. How could he when she'd been so caring? No, that particular treat he gave to Eve. He let her be the Original Sinner.

"Did you hear me, Crowley?"

"Hm, what?"

He jerked back into reality, dragging his mind away from thoughts of the past and shoving it into the present.

Aziraphale was stood at his side, staring at him with worry and deep concern.

"I said," He began to repeat himself. "How are we supposed to know where to begin?"

Crowley took a deep breath and guided his gaze back through the window. As he let it out, he slumped in his seat again.

"They'll have her locked in a cell." He said. "Somewhere dark and heavily guarded."

"How can you be sure?"

He cocked a brow as he looked briefly at the angel. "If you kidnaped the Mother of Monsters, you'd keep her locked up tight, too."

Aziraphale nodded softly, though his expression still hadn't relaxed. "Perhaps you're right." He mumbled as he continued to wring his hands together. "How are we supposed to save her?"

"We?" Crowley wanted to hide his surprise, but it touched his voice regardless.

"Well, yes." Aziraphale seemed equally shocked, though for a different reason. "Of course, we. I can't stand aside while that poor girl is locked in some infernal prison."

"You can't go down there." Crowley told him. He stood from his seat, gliding fluidly to his feet and spinning on a heel to face the angel in white. "You can't go into Hell."

Aziraphale straightened his posture and even drew his shoulders back as he stared up at his compatriot.

"I can," He said strongly. "And I will, if I need to. I've done it before."

"Disguised as me." He snapped. "The second they see you walk through the door with your tartan collar," His voice dripped with pretentious sarcasm which caused Aziraphale to glower disappointedly. "They'll douse you in Hellfire. There'll be no coming back from that –no body. Hellfire is the end of your kind, Angel."

Aziraphale didn't flinch, but his bravado wavered ever-so-slightly. It was clear that particular thought hadn't quite crossed his mind.

When he spoke again, there was a hint of desperation that Crowley, honestly, felt. "We can't just leave her down there. Didn't Malum tell you they want her blood?"

"M-hm," Crowley nodded. "They'll use it to make more monsters."

"Good Lord," He breathed. "And this time, there will be no help from Heaven."

Crowley fought the urge to scoff, but given the darkness of his sunglasses, he gladly rolled his eyes at the mention of the Cloud-Hopping Army.

"Well, whatever we're going to do," Crowley said, "We need to do it fast. They'll only keep her alive as long as she's useful."

The child hadn't stopped crying since she'd been shoved into the cell alongside Lilith. Lilith didn't blame her. It must have been utterly terrifying. The girl may have been young, but even if she didn't fully understand what was happening around her, human's –no matter the age- could tell when they were in danger.

And she was in so much danger.

Lilith did her best not to move, not to breathe deeply, because it racked her body with an intense ache. It hurt. The little girl smelled so good, like your favorite meal after dieting for months on end. She was that oasis in the desert, a breath of fresh air when you'd been suffocating. It was the innocence of her, the purity of her soul. There were no words to describe how delectable something like that was to something like Lilith.

Blood and life force, the things that made a human a human, were the very things Lilith had to steal from them to survive.

But she couldn't hurt the girl. She wouldn't let herself. Lilith might have been a demon, but she refused to be that evil.

"Shhh," She finally said after an untold length of silence. Lilith practically sang the sound as gently as she could. From somewhere behind she heard the little girl continue to whimper, but the longer she gently shushed her, the more she seemed to calm. "There we are," She whispered. "It's alright. My name's Lilith. What's yours?"

At first, she didn't reply, but then in a tiny voice said, "I'm not 'pose to talk to strangers."

Her voice was so broken, so weak, and so small that it practically broke Lilith's dead heart. She clenched her eyes shut when she felt them prickle with the promise of tears.

"That's a very good policy." Lilith said, keeping her calm tone. "I just wanted to know what to call such a brave girl."

The child was still breathing heavily, but it sounded as though the crying had stopped. A few minutes passed and Lilith knew the little girl was trying to decide if the red-eyed monster she'd been forced into the room with was worth her name.

"Esther," She finally said.

"Oh," Lilith cooed. "That's a lovely name. I'd like to tell you a secret, Esther. I'm going to get you out of here and back home."

Esther began to whimper once more and Lilith knew she was about to start crying. "How?" Her voice trembled.

"I'm magic."

"Magic's no' real." Esther mumbled fearfully.

"But it is."

Lilith let her body relax and concentrated on what she wanted to do. It was dangerous to attempt to do anything, in truth. Her body was weak, borderline broken, and expending the energy for a simple trick would do nothing but drain her further. It would make her hungrier and put Esther in even more danger than she already was. But she didn't care. Lilith couldn't handle a child being so distressed.

A moment later, Lilith opened her eyes and smiled a little to herself. She was proud.

A hundred small lights, little dots of glowing yellow, drifted around the room. The looked like stars, or fireflies as they danced. Esther had gone entirely silent. She'd risen to her feet and was walking slowly around the space with her head back as far as it could go. With a hand extended, she did everything she could to try and catch the balls of light, but of course her hands passed right through them.

Lilith's smile broadened a bit more, but she couldn't truly enjoy it. Instead, she went back to concentrating on the spell that produced them.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Hell, Beelzebub hadn't stopped smiling in days. It couldn't. It was so unbelievably happy.

The Demon Lord now had a small menagerie, the beginnings of a demonic zoo, really. Hell already had Hellhounds, Harpies, and a variant of other demonic creatures that both Lilith and Lucifer had created sometime near the beginning, but what was coming from Lilith's blood now was something new. Beelzebub liked to think that it was because Man was twisted in new and interesting ways, so the monsters they became were the same.

They had tried Lilith's blood on a good man once, someone that they would have tempted into sin, but likely would have lived a good life, and the results were… fine. He turned into something vicious, true, but the reptilian creature only had one set of claws and a few sharp teeth. Again, it was just fine.

Where Lilith's blood truly shined, however, was when it was fed to someone with a genuinely black soul. The more wicked the human, the more ferocious the monster, and there was an abundance of truly evil humans. Apparently, they tended to be wrangled up and locked away in one large building when they were too evil. Humans called them "Maximum Security Prisons".

It was like Christmas for demons.

Beelzebub sat on the edge of its seat, waiting excitedly to see what their newest recruit would turn into. He'd been a multiple murderer and proud of his exploits. According to the humans, he was a terrible person in every way. To Hell, he was a welcomed edition.

Finally, it began.

There was no hesitation, no breaking bones as with the ones who turned into something animalistic. Instead, an ape-like thing burst from the prisoner's skin. He had already been a large man, but this creature was larger.

The man's skin ripped and tore, revealing a creature with bulging muscles. Its grey skin was tinged with blood while sharp spikes, not dissimilar to a porcupine, protruded from its back down the length of its spine. It stood hunched forward, bracing itself on its knuckles while it stood on short back legs –again, like an ape.

Three eyes, blacker than black, darted around as it took in its surroundings. And teeth, razor sharp and set in rows, protruded from its extended bottom jaw. It looked like what most humans would call an ogre, or perhaps a troll, but Beelzebub knew better. Even though it wasn't the most terrifying thing to come from Lilith's blood, the Demon Lord could sense the malice.

Without warning, the beast let out a loud, ferocious roar. It reared back and slammed its massive fists into the ground. The concrete dented and cracked beneath the force. Beelzebub's grin widened into an almost arrogant smile. The other demons in the room shrank away.

"Put it with the others." Beelzebub ordered gleefully.

The subordinates were slow to respond, but gradually did as they were commanded. Like the terrified wranglers they were, they kept their distance before attacking the beast with chains. It fought and fought viciously. It managed to get a hold of one demon and promptly tore it in half. Beelzebub let out a loud laugh as the demon was discorporated.

Somehow, eventually, the troll-like thing was wrangled. It roared and bellowed its anger as it was dragged away to be put in a cell with the others. Thirteen, that was the number they currently had. Thirteen fresh demons that they could take above ground and simply let loose. That was the plan, actually. Beelzebub had no intentions of trying to handle the creatures. Once they were on Earth, Beelzebub was going to let them go, sit back, and watch the chaos.

And there was no one that could stop them.