Treacherous Acts

Balthazar was anxious, constantly readjusting the tightness around his neck - that silk material that was a pinstriped tie. He was walking the floors of the conference room in swift, stomping strides, and each time his gaze reached Elijah, the man swallowed hard, knowing well that Balthazar's rage was aimed directly at him.

"A temporal mistake!" He broke the barrier of silence with his sharp snap. "A temporal mistake!"

"Come on," Elijah pleaded, "how was I supposed to know the fucking bastard was going to turn on us? He sold his own soul to the Devil for goodness sake!"

"Lucifer was right. I should've never trusted him to begin with. I should've known better; once an ally of Constantine's always an ally. Selling his damned soul was a deploy, not an incantation to give Lucifer his loyalty…and now I'm going to be taking the flack for it. You should've watched him closer."

"He sent that Constantine flying out the window! After that he took off after him. He was running so fast I couldn't keep up with the guy if I wanted, but I was sure he'd bring him right here…or at least mess him up a little more until I could get out there - just like you wanted, Bal."

Balthazar stopped dead in his tracks, then rounded the table and rested his palms on the surface near to where Elijah sat. The wary human watched his face with frightened, anxious eyes.

"It doesn't matter now. What's done is done." Balthazar said - his sudden coolness made Elijah all the more uneasy. "You did call upon the ones who are to perform the ritual at least, right?"

Elijah's head bobbed up and down slowly, sweat forming upon his temples. His eyes were wide with fear and his face ghastly pale. Balthazar took notice of his appearance, his expression, and began to amuse himself with the situation.

"Hmmm…" the Half-Breed licked his lips, his eyes peering maliciously into the man's soul. "Why so nervous?"

"What do you mean?" Elijah swallowed.

"You sit there and watch me as if I am going to kill you. Is there anything you'd like to share perhaps? Something I don't know?"

"Of course not." Elijah attempted a weak half-grin. "You know I'd tell you if there was something you needed to know."

"Would you now? You're friend certainly didn't."

"Walter was no friend of mine." Elijah said, swallowing anxiously again - a nervous tick he could not contain.

"Oh, but he was." Balthazar said. "You humans all stick together like a little flock of sheep…cowardly, weak little sheep. And then the shrewd wolf comes along. He sees right through you," Balthazar was leaning forward so that his hissing words were stinging Elijah's ears, "hearing your thoughts, reading your emotions. And then -- AND THEN HE STRIKES!"

A wince, a wail, a struggle for air. Elijah was lifted violently from his seat and Balthazar's hand was clutching, coiling around his throat with brute force. Air was slowly decreasing, his esophagus closing off, his face turning blue, his pleads fruitless. There was nothing he could say now, nothing he could do to convince Balthazar to release him, to spare him.

"I didn't…Bal, please…I…I don't know…plea," It was muffled and strained, and then his frightened eyes rolled into the back of his head, his lids closing over them, his tongue wanting to roll out of his mouth. His hands lost their grip on Balthazar's wrist and all turned into cold darkness for the Occultist.

"Curtains." Balthazar grinned. "Nice knowing you."

He tossed the body to the floor as if it were nothing more than old garbage. He brushed himself off, as if the human essence had dirtied his nice suit.

A knock came to the door and the beautiful blond with the clipboard peered inside. She smiled demurely at the scene and Balthazar smirked arrogantly.

"Another one I see." she said.

"I want it disposed." Balthazar said. "It's dirtying my floors."

"Yes sir."

"Wait." Balthazar halted her, raising his palm and musing at the body. "I have a better idea."

"What would that be, sir?"

"Have the body delivered to Constantine's apartment. Let the Scavengers take care of it; no one will see them…I want Walter and his friends to know what's in store for them."

The blond dispersed out of sight and Balthazar trailed out of the conference room, across the hall and into an elevator. His finger bolted - one strike - on the metal buttons. The elevator came to a slow and stopped at the top floor where he fled gracefully into his penthouse.

It was an elegant, tastefully designed bachelor's retreat. Snazzy furnishings, ornate lighting, extravagant paintings of abstract landscapes, persian rugs giving color to the marble floors. It was an open layout with a grand entertainment room - perfect for those extravagant parties - a real million dollar setup with a flat screen television, pool table, a bar and whatever else you could imagine. What a place…

The bedroom was where he kept the prisoner; Angela was hogtied to the bed, perfectly clothed and sleeping. She looked almost dead, but she was very much alive - for the time being.

He came and sat on the edge of the mattress, eyeing her as if she were a prize he had won, thinking of how nice she looked for a filthy human. He let his finger brush the unruly strands of her auburn hair away from her face, letting several temptations fill his crude mind. Then an unlikely 'savior for the moment' came knocking on the door.

Balthazar sighed, annoyed by the interruption. Then the door opened and another striking beauty - albeit a wicked one - came slipping in.

"Ellie." he mouthed. "What do you want?"

"You didn't answer, so I helped myself." she replied viciously. Seeing Balthazar sitting on the bedside and pulling his fingers away from Angela's hair filled Ellie with envy. "Enjoying your little prodigy?" she asked with sarcasm.

"You might say I am." he smirked, as if wanting to promote her resentfulness. "Now that I've got her here in my bed, I can clearly see what Johnny Boy finds so fascinating about her." He turned away from Ellie, his sneaky eyes rolling back down towards the sight of Angela. "I suppose it's no wonder," his sly eyes peered over at Ellie once more, "why he chose her over you."

Ellie felt her face draining, her teeth gritting, tears pricking the back of her flaming eyes. The bastard didn't care anymore about her than John did…damn them both! But of course, this was punishment for being an offspring of Hell, a daughter of Lilith. Man wanted and desired her, but without love. They wanted to use her, take her in for a one night stand, then throw her back out and run home to women like Angela - women they'd spend the rest of their days with. And no matter how much she used them herself, it was really she who was taking the sting of the blade.

"What is it you wanted?" Balthazar asked.

"Nothing." Ellie mouthed, her words broken by her despair.

"You wanted something, Ellie. What was it?"

"Maybe I did. Doesn't matter now."

He heard the door close, heard her feet galloping out of the penthouse. She left the place with a drive to escape, running into an elevator and pressing no button in particular at random. She squatted down, falling roughly to her rump, hugging her knees and bearing her face into the lap of her salmon-pink skirt, letting hot, burning tears roll down at their own pace. Her grief had been roused by both jealousy and betrayal.

Whilst she cried she couldn't help but feel sorry for herself - that was her nature after all. The only thing that bothered her about it was that it seemed to be all she ever ended up doing, ended up accomplishing. She suspected the worst to follow: Running away again, maybe wandering the streets like an old unwanted dog that had been from pillar to post until she'd get tired of that endless parade of wandering; she'd start looking for someplace to lay up at then - that's the way it always was with her. Well, she was getting quite sick and tired of that.

Perhaps she'd just go to the office. Perhaps later Balthazar would come in and pet her up - after of course his current fascination wore off.

That's what she ended up doing after all. She was laying in the dark, huddled on the leather parlor sofa. Balthazar had insisted that she stay here; that way John wouldn't know where to find her.

When the gentle knocks came bouncing on the wooden door, Ellie fantasized for a moment. For a brief while it was John, knocking on the door of her townhouse, maybe with a new bottle of Vodka in his grasp, coming here just to see her. She could see his sharp, dark eyes, his lean, tall frame, the masculine angles of his face - making her desire him all over again. And then there was that clever, irresistible smirk - the one that used to drive Ellie crazy. But that was all he was to her, the exact same thing she had been to him: Something to run to when the rest of the world slammed its doors on their faces.

The fantasy faded when she answered the door and John's face became that of Balthazar's who was standing there half-leant against the doorframe, staring her up and down with those demonic orbs, as if looking through her clothes. He didn't smile, but he looked arrogant and cocky just the same. In a way, it disgusted her.

"What do you want?" Ellie sneered.

"Hmmm…" Balthazar continued to observe her well curved frame, her round face and her delicate features. "Can I have you?" He was teasing her.

"Go fuck yourself." Ellie was going to slam the door right on his face - hopefully she'd hit it - but he caught it with his hand, pushing it open and stepping inside, closing the door behind them and using his scorching presence, his supernatural feelers, to give light to the chandelier without having to lift a finger.

"Come on, Ellie." he grinned sharply, those unnatural white teeth revealing themselves.

"Lay off, asshole."

Ellie had her back to him, which was probably a mistake because he moved up behind her, fitting his hand over her stomach and pulling her into him so that he could tickle her neck with his hot breath. It made the tiny hairs on her skin stand straight up.

"Let go!" she barked.

"Oh, that's my feisty little slut!" he jeered. "Come on, let's go into the conference room…we'll have a little meeting." he whispered.

"I thought you already had that meeting last night with your blond secretary."

"Since when do you care how many women your standing in line with?" he chuckled.

"Since now!" She pulled away, spinning around and frowning at him. "Just because I'm a succubus doesn't mean I don't get tired of being somebody's new little fuck."

"And what is a succubus, Ellie? Huh? What is a succubus to you?" He circled her as he spoke. "In ancient lore it is a Demoness who comes and has sexual intercourse with sleeping men. You're a poison, a weakness that represents the tempting desires of every male. You're a prostitute forged in the pits of flame, put here along with countless others to stalk whatever man proves himself an obstacle in Lucifer's way… and to prove that true love and loyalty does not exist in this world."

Ellie felt cold tears rolling down her cheeks. She shut her eyes, trying to close out all of the negative, hurtful things that Balthazar was reminding her of. And it disgusted him.

"What are you grieving for?!" he shouted, lurching out and jerking her arm. "Your tears are meaningless! You're Hell's child, you have no use for such emotions…even if they are expressed for none other than yourself. Ever since I entrusted you to assist me in my quest here, you have done nothing but prove to me over and over how very useless you are."

"I brought her, didn't I!?"

"It was my Scavenger who brought her here, not you…"

"YES IT WAS! HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT?!"

"SILENCE!" He shook her violently. "Hold your tongue at me, you whore! If it weren't for me, you'd be nothing! NOTHING! If I hadn't come along and put you to use, you would be a meaningless existence!… But no matter how hard I try, you're still useless! All you are is a tramp in my shadow, fantasizing about your sick nights with Constantine…whilst thinking of some way you can get in bed with me." He grinned with arrogance, licking his lips, and Ellie pulled away once more.

"You." she uttered. "You?"

"Yes. Me."

Ellie shook her head, her lips tilted upside down with existentialist dread.

"No. No, Balthazar…not now. Not ever." she swallowed. "You see, you and I both were born in Hell. The only two differences is that one of us is proud while the other wishes secretly that it wasn't so. And one of us has more blood on his hands than anyone could imagine…that would be you."

Balthazar clutched Ellie's throat, thrusting her against the door and making each breath she tried for a horrible struggle.

"I suppose I'll learn to let so many get in my way and slow me down, now won't I? Let's take a stroll to the rooftop."

†††

The wind whipped through her hair, cut through the fabric of her skirt - but nothing was as painful, as ruthful as he. He had her dangling out over the edge, his hand still coiled around her skinny neck, her hands gripping his wrist desperately. He had that look about him, that look that made her sick to her stomach. It was like looking into the eyes of death itself, and Ellie was slowly realizing that she feared it far worse than she had ever imagined.

If this was three years back, or even a month or so ago, she'd embrace it with a coy laugh, a welcoming jeer. But things were different now…she was different. She didn't want to become another stash in Lucifer's slush-pile where she'd join countless souls in that horrific game of being torn and shredded by the Devil's minions for all eternity, and possibly take a few beatings from a few souls that were down there because of her temptations over them.

Despite her fear Ellie never begged for him to spare her. She resented Balthazar too badly to do that. The quicker it ended, the better. But there was never going to be a quick end to this, not really.

"I'm going to make the best of this moment, Ellie. I'm going to enjoy this time we have together as much as time will allow…The only problem is I can't decide whether or not I should strangle you to death and then let you fall, or throw you to your demise."

"By the -- by the time you -- get through running your mouth -- I'll -- I'll be dead." she gasped.

"That, my dear, is the most sensible thing you've said yet."

Balthazar loosened his grip and watched pleasurably as she fell from that great tower, her scream falling silent the closer she got to the bottom. Once she hit the street below, she was gone, splattered, ended.

Cars below began to screech whilst they slammed on breaks and a delivery truck sent about three vehicles sliding forward. Horns blew frantically, and the countless people that crowded the sidewalks began to scream. In a matter of minutes, the ambulance was heard. Was this it? Was Ellie gone for good?

Balthazar grinned and dispersed back inside…

To Be Continued.

A/N: Okay, my apologies for these slow updates. The end of this story has proved more challenging than I had originally intended because somehow these new ideas and scenarios keep bursting in my mind and I have to work them out perfectly so that it flows nicely and makes sense…plus, I hate to rush the story. On top of that, life tends to get in the way so my hands have been absent from my keyboard. Thanks for being patient! I promise not to stop with this or my other fics. This one is near complete anyhow.