Fire and Brimstone

"Hey stupid-ass, quit jumping around and stand still!" Rachel shouted, as she quickly fired rounds at the demon she was chasing. "Damn that Gabriel." She muttered under harsh breathing.

"Oh we are very well damned. You do not have to remind me of it." Says Gabriel in irritation, unloading his crossbow and quickly replacing the loose arrows.

"If you didn't miss, this wouldn't have happened."

"It was supposed to be a short work."

"Well, in my defence, It should have been," Gabe rolled his eyes, "If only you had told me earlier that the bastard is a transitionaire."

"Heads up!" Rachel shouted, as the demon whirled and spat- or more like, shot a ball of fire out of it's mouth towards them.

"That's it." Gabriel says, and with a bone-crunching sound. He exhaled, and two magnificent pair of white wings, graying at the tip and spanning a meter or two bursted out of his back.

He quickly darted in front of Rachel, and swung his wing, deflecting the fireball above where it quickly dissipated into tiny embers and smoke.

"Show off." Rachel scowled, walked past him and continued pursuit.

Gabriel ditched the crossbow, and flapped his wings sending gusts of wind as he ascended up in the air, higher and higher and suddenly dove towards the demon, a pair of dagger in hand like a falcon about to catch its prey.

The demon shrieked as the blades of the dagger sliced it's shoulder as Gabriel flew past it.

"Fallen!"The demon hissed in a low guttural voice. It's insect-like features tensed up suddenly. "This is none of your business."

Gabe raised a brow."Of course it is. You have no right to use that body, that belongs to the creator."

"So that's it?" The demon snorted like a pig. "You are jealous for the freedom given to them by your God. Something that he didn't bother sharing with you precious lapdogs."

Gabriel looked struck. "Lapdogs?" He raised his voice. "Well you should know. Rule in hell? You were someone who once was a servant in heaven, now you are a slave in hell. You were meant to serve above, and now you are bound below the ground." He spat between gritted teeth.

The demon paced uneasily. "Yes, so what difference does it make? You may not be a demon, but you can't actually call yourself an angel anymore- for that matter we are all but the same, though you serve no master, at least my alliances are clear." It said, and continued when Gabriel didn't say anything. "What would that make you - who were casted out of heaven and rejected hell itself? an outcast."

"Shut up, you worm." Rachel intervened. "What are you doing chit chattin, and listening to the ramblings of this piece of shit, Gabe?"

Gabriel glanced at Rachel, then back to the demon. "You want to know the difference?" Gabriel asked, his wings vibrating on his back, as his shoulder tensed.

The demon locked up, and as it did quickly broke into silvery demon dust.

"That was.." Gabriel broke off, as he landed beside Rachel, who picked up a dagger covered by the dust that remained of the demon. "You figured out its name?"

Rachel dusted off the blade, and turned it to the side so that the name written in her own blood would be visible to Gabriel, who sheathed his wings with grunt.

"Anael," Gabriel flinched."a minor fire angel."

"I saw a glimpse- a ghost of his former self, or what he used to be while we were fighting." Rachel stammered. "The Fati seemed busy."

"Well, that explains that ball of fire." Gabriel exhaled a sigh.

--

Jake drove fast, not minding street signs. Not even the yelling of the cab drivers on a red street light, as he overtook them.

Images from the previous night, continued to rush into his head like a wildflood.

He knew it was reckless. But not reckless enough, he thought, as he fed more gasoline on the engine, and went past the speed limit.

He remembered Ferby in the narrow alley. And Rachel with her silver sword and emerald eyes.

If only you could run away from problems, he'd probably already have and let the problems bite the dust. He gritted his teeth, and drove faster.

The wind roared against his body, it felt heavy and resistent. As if the wind itself is challenging hin, telling him to stop, but he was never one to go back down from a challenge. With a chuckle, the Harley sounded more infuriated and he zoomed past the curve.

The moon shone above the night sky, surrounded by a multitude of stars behind the blanket of the transparent clouds.

And that is when he heard a loud shattering sound. Like the sound of a mirror being broken.

He quickly stepped on the brakes and the motorcycle swerved on the road. The tires making a loud hissing noise, before it jerked to a stop, leaving marks on the road.

He shut the engine and jumped down, and quickly checked the vicinity. Seemed like he overdid the ride, and went too far this time. Usually he takes his normal route fron the city district, just up the pier and then to the port.

Now it seemed like he went past the edge of town. It was all forest. Huge masses of timber. He was about to jump back to the Harley, when he heard the shattering noise again.

And whatever it was, this time it was much more different. He stiffened as he felt a strange pressure. Like the gravity just went up a few levels above. His heart pounded so hard, that it almost felt like it's gonna burst out of his ribcage. He struggled to remain on his feet, forcing himself to regain balance. He closed his eyes when the pressure just disappeared.

He opened his eyes to his shock.

The surroundings looked different like inverted different. Everything around him was a negative of its former. The sky was transparent with a bit of dark shades of blue and violet. The atmosphere seemed lighter, but the feels are still different. He jumped back to the Harley, but the electrical starter won't fire. He quickly drew his phone, to his dismay it was dead.

He scanned the surroundings and noticed that there was no lights. Even the lightposts are dead.

"Hello?" He shouted, but there was nothing. Not even birds, nor even the sound of bugs. He turned the switch on, and there was nothing. It was as if, there's nothing alive anywhere near him. Not a single thought, nor a single shred of sound.

Maybe, I'm out of signal in here. Might as well walk back to town. He thought as he parked the Harley by the dead lightpost, and bolted back the way he came from.

Jake ran until his knees felt like giving in. He can usually run for miles without even breaking a sweat during tracks, but the atmosphere here seems to be sapping his strength with every move.

He reached the Pier, and moved towards the port building. There isn't anyone. Not even the guards that ferociously patrol the area, nor the old fishermen that tend to drink at the bay area near the docked boats.

"What the hell is this place?" He muttered to himself as he studied the waters of the ocean that looked like it was dyed in red with a tint of purple.

He continued walking and saw that again, there were no electricity in the buildings, nor at the nearby lighthouse and lightposts.

He was about to go out of the gates when he heard a gunshot.

A loud one, that echoed for miles.

He looked for the source and that is when he noticed someone or something prowling above the roof of the storage house. Then there was another one, swiftly jumping roof to roof of the nearby buildings, chasing after it.

"What in the actual fuck?" He took a step back, "You gotta be shittin me, someone's actually doing parkour in here." He shook his head and just as quickly, bolted out of the gates.

--

"I told you. Next time you feel something off, you run. Not charge into it."

Rachel.

And there she was, like an avenging angel. She spun in the air, the silver sword gleaming in her hand. She shifted her weight, and brought the sword down in an arc. The demon backed away, but not before the sword hacked a part of it's horns.

"Bitch." It hissed.

"If you're calling me a bitch, you wouldn't be the first one." Rachel says, as she darted backwards, and drew her silver revolver.

She whirled back as she sensed someone approach from behind to find Jake, panting on his knees.

"Wha-" Rachel stammered, " How'd you managed to get yourself in here anyway?"

Jake straightened out, and ignored her. "You messed with my head." He said flatly, looking suspiciously at her.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Please, It was already messed up to begin with."

"Well, you had no right." Jake nearly shouted at her.

"I had every right to do what I did." She gritted her teeth. "Can't you even pick a proper time for this? Can't you see, I'm a little bit occupied-" she says, as she put new rounds into the gun.

"It's never a good thing, when you answer questions with questions." Jake says, looking wild eyed. "But do give me the gun. I'll try to distract it so you can do your thing."

Rachel snapped. "What makes you think-"

"Just give me the gun. The sooner this is settled, the sooner you answer my questions. Now move." He reached for her.

Rachel threw her hands up in the air, and drew her gun, and slammed it on Jake's open palm."Do you even know how to use that?" She asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

Jake expertly spun the gun in his hand. "I'm a good shot. And besides, there was this time-"

"Yes, yes. And girls swoon whenever you do. Whatever, make it count." Rachel interrupted, as she heard the demon make a sound.

Jake quickly scanned the bullets. "What the hell happened here anyway? Seemed like the world had been hit hard by puberty."

"This is Limbo, a rift between realms." Rachel says, and exhaled a sigh at Jake's look of utter incomprehension."God, remind me some time that you don't know much." she shook her head at him. "You see, demons that are born out of the negative emotions of the Fati, are usually aren't that intelligent. They are what you would call cannon-fodders, or pawns. Those were the ones who kept on corrupting humans. Even you would have noticed on how bird-brained the demon that you last encountered."

"Correction, duck-brained."

"Whatever." Rachel scowled, "Now, there are some demons that weren't born that way. Those who transitioned. We call them transitionaires."

Jake took a step back. "You mean-"

Angels.

"Yes. Those who chose to follow the big bad boss, even in hell, whom he transformed into demons. Not only that they're stronger, possesses intelligence and not to mention harder to kill, they can only be killed by writing their names on a blade of a silver weapon, by blood and not just any blood, mind you."

"For there is a power in names." Jake finally says.

"Yes. Well, those kind of demons, can pull a trick like this."

"Won't that fiery sword of yours work on those?"

"Of course, especially that." Rachel says, though there was something off in her tone. "Now, there are two things you can do in Limbo, that is persuade the demon to let you off, which would be somehow impossible. Or, you could just kill the demon that dragged you here in the first place." She says, as she plucked her necklace that bathed into light that dissipated into a silver sword.

"That," Jake flashed a smile, "the second one."

"Can you not talk about me, as if I am not here?" The demon spat, it's eyes burning in the color of a dying ember. Jake took a glance and saw that the demon wasn't exactly the same as the other one he had encountered. It looked humanoid, only if it werent for the two massive horns curling upside it's head, and a pair of hooved leg, and red furry arms that ended in claws.

The demon noticed that looked in his eyes and smirked. "And you thought, demons were all ugly?" He says this as a matter of fact.

"Who are you?" Rachel says, as she took a step closer, the sword began smoking in her grip.

The demon glanced back and forth between Rachel and Jake. "What's this?" It says out of curiousity, his voice was raspy. Like someone who haven't had a taste of water in a month. "Do not play games with me, Fallen. I know what you are, and what that sword does."

"You seemed to be doing a better job in your studies, do they have a good set of books in your Library?"

"Do not mock me." It says, and the cracks in it's human face, glowed red like a lava in the ground. "That sword burns greater for those of the higher divinity, even former divinity at that." It gritted it's teeth showing sharp feral teeth.

"Well, I guess Lucifer, isn't doing some lax job at running his little school in hell after all." Rachel says as she dashed forward.

The demon's nostrils flared, and the fur on it's arms were engulfed in a spinning vortex of flame.

Jake took this as a sign, and fired bullets that seemed to have melted into a puddle of molten lead, before penetrating the demon's skin.

The demon laughed and shot Jake an amused look. Rachel swung the sword upwards as the demon backed away, and joined both of it's open palms as if to pray. Rachel only had a few seconds before she jumped out of the way, as it pulled it's arms away, and a pillar of fire bursted forth from where Rachel was a second ago. She took a step forward, and brought the blade down in an arc on the demon's chest, and quickly backing away as the demon retaliated with it's claws. The fire on it's arms slowly dissipated into smoke.

"Supressive fire, you idiot. I thought you were a good shot." Rachel shouted at Jake, just as a bullet lodged itself in the demon's temple, making it back away.

"That was a good shot." Jake managed, as the demon shook it's head and snarled. "Do not make a mockery of me, human. No one escapes the fires of Ifrit." It says, as it whipped it's arm forward, and flames shot out towards Jake, who rolled to the ground to evade the wild flames.

Jake quickly ripped of his shirt, and threw it at the ground where it commenced burning into a puddle of melted fabric.

Ifrit roared, and Jake whirled, seeing two daggers plunged deep into it's neck. The demon's eyes burned and a wall of fire erected before Rachel completely blocking her way.

Jake only had the time to stand, before the demon tackled him flat on his back. The gun skittering away out of reach. While the demon towered in front of him, removing the daggers from it's neck with a grunt. It raised it's claw and was about to bring it down at Jake, when the demon, suddenly stopped and slowly backed away from him.

"You." Ifrit hissed.

"Me."Jake replied flatly, as he quickly backed away from the demon.

The demon's eyes went wide."Where did you get that?" It pointed, and Jake noticed that it was looking at the tattoo on his chest.

"The Tattoo Parlor at first street, where else?"

"This is not.." Ifrit looked in deep thought. "This is not possible." It took one glance at him, and the edge of it's mouth curled upwards, as if it was amused.

"What's not possible?"

"You." Ifrit says again, there wasn't anything hostile about the demon right it now. It looked entirely curious, and off guard. They were interrupted as Rachel leaped over the wall fire, and brought the sword down on the demon's back, and just as quickly bolted out of the demon's staggering stature, before it fell into a crouch.

"So that's what it was." Ifrit says, as it glanced back and forth between Jake and Rachel, who stood side by side in front of it, and began to laugh as it bursted into a column of fire that quickly dissipated leaving scorch marks, hissing smoke and embers on the ground.

"He escaped."