The Get Backers belong to their creators. Not me.

Facing Demons

Ban and the demon called Verrine shared a hostile silence as Ginji prattled on about nothing in particular behind the closed bathroom door. When Ginji asked for Adorlee's robe, Verrine immediately went to the closet and withdrew a pale blue cotton affair with an A embroidered on the lapel. Ban opened the door, but only wide enough for the demon to pass the garment through. Verrine ignored the slight and returned to his position near the window.

"Ban-chan, the sheets." Ginji stuck his foot in the partially opened door and pulled it open, holding a robed, wet-headed, exhausted-looking Adorlee in his arms.

Ban turned the bedding down, and Ginji slipped the tiny girl into her bed. Her eyes had been open, but they fluttered shut the moment Ginji released her.

"She's safe now," Ban said lowly. "Isn't that your cue to hightail it back to Hell?"

"Safe?" The demon snorted. "She hasn't been safe since she threw her lot in with you at the hospital."

Ginji shushed them crossly. "Adorlee-chan is really tired."

"Indeed." Verrine walked away and Ban seethed inwardly, noting that the big black form somehow seemed not at all out of place in Adorlee's black-and-white bedroom. The demon had obviously been there many times before.

Verrine led them into the parlor downstairs, but he did not sit. Ban chose to stand as well, but Ginji sprawled into an easy chair.

Crossing his arms, Ban fixed his stare on Verrine's red eyes. "Tell me how my sister managed to summon the second throne."

Verrine bared his teeth. "I told you. It was unintentional."

Ginji suddenly leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. "You care about her an awful lot, don't you, Demon-san?"

The red-eyed monster blinked, but Ban couldn't tell if it was the odd address or the odder remark that had knocked him off-balance. "I am Verrine," he said finally, and then, "Adorlee St. Julian is my mistress. I am bound to defend her."

"But you were worried about her," Ginji insisted.

Ban watched the two with interest, but held his peace. Ginji had unusual insights about people, and Ban generally took his lead about such things, though he would never admit to it.

Still, it was a throne, after all, and Verrine had already admitted that another summoning – that of Sonneillon, the throne associated with hate – had been responsible for the events that sparked World War Two. The second throne was associated with impatience, and Ban's imagination balked at the terrible things that the demon could put into play if ever he were to break his ties to Adorlee.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand, little eel." But even as he spoke, there was a tightening in the creature's mouth and eyes that proved that Ginji's observation had struck a nerve.

Silently thanking the gods that Ginji had a better feel for people (and apparently demons) than he did, he decided to play nice for while longer. For the moment, they were on the same side.

"She did finish the golems, didn't she," he said, looking at the demon. "The spellcasting took everything she had, but she finished them."

Verrine's scowl deepened. "The votives are complete. Though there would have been no need for them, or for her current fatigue, if she had taken my advice and kept well away from you, witchling."

"It's Midou Ban-sama to you, Demon-san," Ban corrected, with a glower of his own.

"She wanted to go to Japan tomorrow," Ginji inserted hastily, throwing an uneasy look between the two. "I don't think she'll feel up to it. Do you?" Ban's partner captured both his and the demon's gazes, forcing them to break off their argument.

"She's stronger than that." Verrine's low grumble of a voice rose sharply. "She is the Magus Excelsior. If she said she would be ready tomorrow, she will be."

"And here I thought you didn't want her to have anything to do with us." Ban dug for a cigarette, watching the demon.

"I didn't." Verrine's mouth twisted hatefully, showing a flash of his too-sharp canines. "But like or not, she is involved, now. The Inquisitors won't forget that it was she who kept them from using Amano to get to you."

"Ban-chan?" Ginji sounded confused, and Ban glared at the demon.

He and Adorlee hadn't told Ginji about the votary at the hospital, and he wanted to keep it that way. To his surprise, a flash of understanding lit the red eyes, and the demon shifted his stare to Ginji.

"She discovered that they meant to attack you and thwarted them."

Ban's insides clenched. It was true, of course; Verrine hadn't lied. But the way he said it proved how deceptive he was, that Ginji's encounter with death could brushed off as nothing more than a foiled plan.

Perhaps it was Verrine who had taught Adorlee how to avoid the truth so convincingly.

"Was it the Inquisitors?" Ban asked bluntly, changing the subject. "Was she… with them… when she summoned you?"

Verrine's eyes had gone hard, but he evidently decided it wasn't worth arguing about, now that Ban had guessed.

"She was captured a second time, after her instructor died. Briefly. They didn't bother with torture, that time; she had grown too powerful, she might have been able to resist them. After all the blood, they were finally going to kill her." The demon's voice throbbed with hatred and resentment, and it stung Ban to realize how deeply those sentiments resonated with his own feelings.

For all her powerful magic and for all the similarity between them, Adorlee was unlike him in that she was small and physically vulnerable, and the idea of anyone having deliberately hurt her roused dangerous, ugly desires within him.

Verrine was watching him with the same curious suspicion with which he had regarded the demon.

"Here." Verrine reached into his black coat and withdrew six stone figurines, vaguely human in shape, but lacking faces. He proffered them, but just as Ban reached for them, he pulled them back. "Or perhaps I should deliver them."

Ban frowned and would have disagreed, but Ginji beat him to it.

"That would be great, Demon-san! I didn't think anybody believed me about the Inquisitors, but if they saw you…" His voice trailed off as the demon raised his eyebrows.

Ginji shrank back against his chair a little. "I mean, Adorlee-chan would probably want her Praetor-detectors to be used as soon as possible, right? Otherwise, she would have gotten all tired out for nothing."

Ban bit his tongue so hard that he drew blood. He would have liked to have interjected a smart remark, but the truth was, Ginji was right. The others probably would be more alert to the danger, having encountered Verrine and his delivery of votive-golems. "Do you know where to take them?" Ban asked instead.

"Adorlee was quite thorough in her research. Yes, I know." The demon smiled bleakly. "She even suggested the weaker ones should go to Mujenjou; she believed they would be better protected there."

Ginji shook his head. "You'll never convince them to do that – Shido wouldn't ever take Madoka there. And Paul wouldn't allow Rena or Natsumi-chan to go there, either."

"What's waiting for them outside the fortress is much worse that which lies within." Verrine shrugged. "But there's no help for fools."

Ban swore; Mujenjou was a good solution – he'd already considered it, but like Ginji, had assumed that it would be impossible to convince anyone else that standing together in the castle would be safer than walking the streets of Shinjuku alone.

Ban sighed in resignation. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to do it the hard way?"

The demon smiled suddenly, wickedly. "I could probably be persuaded."

"Ban-chan," Ginji started, jumping up out of his chair.

"Take them straight to MakubeX."

"I knew that already, witchling," Verrine growled.

"Ban-chan," Ginji said, the horror of realization spreading across his face, "you can't kidnap our friends!"

"I won't be."

"He won't be." Verrine and Ban spoke together. An uncomfortable silence filled the room for a moment.

"With MakubeX's cameras, surrounded by your former gang, Natsumi and Hevn and everyone else will be a lot safer. And the golems will be more useful together than separate. It's the best way, Ginji." Ban had been holding a cigarette; he lit up and took a long drag.

Ginji hung his head.

"Please take care of them, Demon-san." His voice was very quiet. "They're my friends."

"It's Verrine, for the last time. And there isn't a Praetor in existence that could get through me."

Then he disappeared into thin air.

"I really, really don't like that guy," Ban muttered, and Ginji raised his shoulders sympathetically.

"You really don't like Shido either, but he's a good guy," Ginji said, his tone philosophical.

"He's too unevolved to know the difference between bad and good." Ban snorted. "That thing's a lot more dangerous than Fuyuki Shido."

"You're so mean." Ginji smiled. "I think you're right, though – about Verrine, not about Shido being unevolved. I don't think I would want to meet him in a dark alley."

Ban sank into a chair next to the one Ginji had abandoned, and Ginji resumed his seat beside his partner.

"Ban-chan?"

Ban mumbled an acknowledgement around his cigarette.

"What is a throne? You tried to explain it earlier, but…" He shrugged.

Ban blew out a breath of smoke, thinking.

"Well, Christians used to see Heaven and Hell as being divided into separate spheres, or realms. Lucifer, one of the angels of the first sphere, or the most holy realm in Heaven, betrayed God. War broke out, and a lot of angels from different spheres took Lucifer's side. Lucifer lost and became 'the Devil.' The angels who had followed him got kicked out of Heaven."

Ginji looked a little sad, and Ban laughed outright. "You are not feeling sorry for the Devil, Ginji. Even you have to draw a line somewhere."

"I wasn't feeling sorry for the Devil," Ginji replied defensively. "I was thinking about Verrine. That's harsh, for one bad choice."

Ban shrugged. "At any rate, in the first sphere, there were three orders of angels: seraphim, cherubim, and thrones. The thrones were supposed to be dispensers of God's justice, living symbols of His authority. When the angels who betrayed God were cast out from Heaven, they retained their rank in Hell."

"So the most powerful angels became the most powerful devils," Ginji surmised. "Which means that fallen thrones are really strong."

"Exactly." Ban's cigarette died; he ground it out in a potted plant. "And Verrine ranks second in a group of about ten thrones that deserted God."

Ginji looked up the stairs. "It must have been really bad, Ban-chan."

"Mmm?"

"For Adorlee to accidentally summon Verrine. She isn't the type to make that kind of mistake. It makes me think she wasn't really in control of herself, like she just... I don't know... threw everything she had into calling somebody, anybody, to help her. So it had to be really bad."

Ban looked at the ground. Ginji understood more than his partner gave him credit for, somehow intuitively grasping the desperation that must have fueled the summoning.

"I think you're probably right, Ginji." He yawned broadly and stretched. "We should get some sleep. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but I'd just as soon we be at the top of our game regardless."

Ginji nodded his agreement and turned to walk away, coughing into his hand as he did so. Ban gave him a wry smile. "Speaking of that. How're you feeling?"

"Feels like a cold, Ban-chan. I'm alright." Ginji waved his hands in front of himself, dismissing Ban's question.

"Let me know if it gets worse."

"Mmm."

In a better humor, now that Verrine had departed, Ban ruffled his partner's hair. "I'm going to crash on the couch – you sleep in the den upstairs. If you need anything, you know where to find me."

Unfortunately, though Ban settled into slumber quickly enough for once, sleep eluded Ginji. The image of Adorlee up to her knees in the frigid water outside haunted him, and he wondered if the questions that puzzled him were also bothering Ban.

Like why Adorlee-chan had chosen to wear that silly dress, rather than dressing appropriately for the weather. He was willing to believe that being outside, and even standing in the water were part of the magic – he didn't know enough about it to discount the possibility, anyway – but did she really have to freeze? And what of the cuts and scrapes all over her shins? It seemed as if she hadn't bothered to break the surface of the frozen pond before plunging into it, just waded right in, ignoring the jagged, broken ice.

Verrine had been most upset over those injuries. Was it because they could have been so easily avoided?

Besides all of that, when Ban had told him about the golems, he had been concerned that she wouldn't have enough strength to do it. She had seemed a little doubtful herself, he said. If she had been unsure, she should have asked one of the Get Backers to wait up for her, to make sure that she was safe. Either of them would have been happy to do it – didn't she know?

Pride could make a person do all sorts of peculiar things. Ginji understood that well, having partnered with Ban for so long. But he didn't think Adorlee's ego had motivated her careless treatment of herself.

To Ginji, such negligence smacked of self-loathing, or at the very least, a dangerous indifference toward one's own well-being.

She drove herself to the brink for Ban, for him, and for their friends – whom she didn't even know. Yet she had seemed unwilling to exert the slightest effort on her own behalf.

Could someone really count themselves so cheaply?

Well, Ginji promised himself, if she won't take care of herself, Ban-chan and I will have to do it.

The resolution calmed his troubled thoughts. Faint, disjointed images of Mujenjou, of the Honky Tonk, and of his friends began to intrude in his mind, and he fell into a dreamy, comfortable doze that verged on true sleep.

And then Adorlee screamed, and for the second time that night, Ginji was jolted out of his dreams and into the even more bizarre reality that had become his life.

He shot out of bed and raced down the hallway. Ban met him at the top of the stairs, wild-eyed with the shock of a rudely interrupted sleep. Together they crashed through Adorlee's door.

She writhed madly in her bed, twisting the bedclothes into a hopeless jumble about her limbs. Her arms were crossed over her chest, fingers curled like claws over her robe, raking down the sleeves until her hands met. Ugly red scratches appeared on her hands and wrists, and then she reached for her face.

"Don't look her in the eye!" Ban vaulted over the sofa to catch her hands before she could further injure herself. Holding her diminutive, now-bloody wrists firm in his right had, he knelt beside her and shook her with his left in an attempt to wake her. Ginji started toward the siblings, only to fall back in astonishment.

Ban tumbled to the floor as if thrown, as if an invisible hand had suddenly taken hold of him. He did not relinquish his grip on Adorlee, and so she fell atop him, moaning and whimpering, still trapped within her torturous dream.

Ginji sprang to their side, but mid-leap, the invisible hand that had flung his partner to the ground grabbed him about the throat, and hauled him a clear two feet off the floor.

Wrapping his hands about his attacker's wrist, Ginji cringed, finding the invisible flesh cold and bumpy to the touch, like that of a toad.

"Ginji!" Ban cursed. Still restraining Adorlee, he snaked out a leg, and Ginji's unseen assailant released him. Ginji dropped to the floor with a heavy thud; a second thud indicated that Ban had succeeded in tripping the intruder.

The attacker evidently didn't appreciate the interference, because it fell upon Ban, who was forced to let loose Adorlee's hands as it pummeled him about the head and shoulders. He had been on his back on the floor; both legs thrust upward together to force his opponent back. It must have hit the wall, because a goodly number of Adorlee's black-and-white photographs clattered to the floor, shattering.

"Ginji, take her!" Ginji pushed himself toward Adorlee, who had renewed her self-abuse, gouging at her flesh once again. He hauled her into his embrace and sat upright behind her, pulling her arms across one another over her belly, gripping her left hand tightly with his right, her right with his left.

"Adorlee-chan, please, wake up!" he begged her, squeezing her fingers tightly.

Meanwhile, Ban had charged at the wall with the photographs, cursing vilely when his bare feet found bits of broken glass. The invisible enemy laid a heavy blow across Ban's jaw and sent him flying into the sofa, which fell onto its back with the impact. Ban scrambled to his feet.

Ginji wanted to help his partner, but couldn't leave Adorlee. "Wake up, Adorlee-chan, please, wake up!"

"Ginji! Don't look in her eyes!"

Even as he spoke, Adorlee's eyes burst open. Ginji saw only the flash of her dark lashes, however, and turned his face into her honey-colored hair. Her efforts to free herself became more focused and more violent, but he tightened his hold on her.

The thing had renewed its assault on Ban, who seemed to be having better luck landing blows than he was avoiding them.

An awful hissing sound split the night, and Ginji shuddered as Ban, once again, sprawled inelegantly on the floor. The enemy hoisted him into the air and would have thrown him, but for Ban's incredible strength. Ban had managed to Snake Bite some portion or other of the thing's anatomy, and they fell together. The invisible attacker got the upper hand, and Ban's eyes bulged as it tightened its grip around his neck. His left hand remained at his throat, fighting with the creature's grip; his right sought his opponent's neck.

"Ginji?" Adorlee's struggles suddenly ceased, and she sagged against him.

"Are you okay?" He released her, and she stumbled to her feet. "I've got to help Ban-chan!"

Watching Adorlee out of one eye, he plunged into the fight. He fell over what should have been his target's back and was thrown off by thick, leathery flaps of skin that could only be wings, and ended up on the floor beside his partner, still half-watching Adorlee.

The girl staggered to her bed and stripped it of its bedding, exhaustion making her sluggish. Snatching the corner of the flat sheet, she bunched it in her hand, and then with other hand did the same to an adjacent corner. She flung the sheet into the air, settling it over the invisible creature and Ban.

Beneath the thin fabric, it was easy to make out the shape of wings, and a disturbingly distorted head. Ginji kicked a wing hard, hoping it was as fragile as it looked beneath the sheet. The crunch of breaking bone gratified him, and the thing let loose with an evil howl.

"Nice, Ginji," Ban congratulated him, swinging his right hand down onto the creature's oddly formed skull.

"Ban-kun, its amulet… You must retrieve the amulet… from its neck." Adorlee slumped against the bed, grey-faced with fatigue.

Now that they had a shape to work with, the odds had evened out, and the Get Backers renewed their efforts. Ginji tackled the creature from behind, pinning its arms to its side. They toppled over, and Ban smashed a heavy fist into their attacker's head a second time.

"Gin-kun, Ban-kun… the amulet… I can send it back..."

"The hell you can."

Both Get Backers started as Verrine's deep voice rumbled through Adorlee's bedroom.

The ugly hissing became faster, almost desperate, and the thing finally managed to shed its burden of bed linens and Get Backers. The heavy, uneven fall of its footsteps ended abruptly as Verrine's gloved hand shot out and closed around what appeared to be empty air.

Evidently, he could see what the Get Backers could not. He brought his hand, and presumably the creature, close to his face.

"Begone."

The hissing died away, and Verrine's fingers closed together in a fist.

"Idiot." Verrine growled – not a Ban-chan growl, that was really more of an irritated rumble in his throat, but a veritable growl, primitive and feral. "Another spell like that could have killed you."

Adorlee's eyes drooped. "You underestimate me… as always."

Verrine growled again, and this time he did sound like Ban-chan, irritated and just a little concerned. "You should have called for me."

"What was that thing?" Ginji demanded.

"An incubus. A demon that can invoke nightmares." Verrine looked at Adorlee's bloody hands. "The burns?"

She dropped her head forward, once, in affirmation.

Ginji looked at Ban's red, blistered hands. The scuffle with the... whatever it was... had caused them to bleed. He flushed guiltily.

"Why are you back?" Ban put in. He righted the sofa and perched on an arm, glowering at the demon all the while.

For answer, the demon held up a ragged piece of cloth that had been drenched in blood. A bandana.

"Shido!" Ginji gasped.

Ban cursed.

"The Beast-Master isn't dead. None of them are. They are with MakubeX, in Mujenjou. I dealt with the Praetor." His garnet eyes narrowed. "But there will be others." He went to Adorlee. Gathering the tiny girl up in his arms, he restored her to her bed.

Ginji wordlessly retrieved the comforter and handed it to Verrine, who settled it over his mistress.

"So," Adorlee whispered, her voice barely audible, "it has begun."