The meeting had been going on for at least thirty minutes by now and as of yet, the man who was supposed to be the chairman of the board had not even spoken, he had been fully preoccupied with a glass of fine, Italian wine that he kept whirling around in his glass. As the heads of departments made their reports, he simply took a sip of the wine and smiled an enigmatic smile.

The company was facing hard time, they had in the aftermath of the financial crisis that faced the world people had had to be sacked, or laid off as the corporate lingo preferred to call it. All departments faced decreasing results, things were down all across the line. And yet, as each report stated the same dire results, the man with the wine simply smiled and nodded.

As the round of depressing reports ended one of the senior members on the board stood up and addressed their as of yet distant chairman.

"Sir, I do not know if you have heard the reports or not, but we need to do something about this situation all departments report decreasing revenues and as of yet our efforts to stem the tide of money being lost has failed. It is imperative that we..."

"Tuscany..." the man with the wine said, almost dreamingly.

"What?" The senior board member asked.

"This wine, it's from Tuscany and it is a true joy to drink. You should try it."

"Sir, I..."

"...worry too much." The win drinker said, finishing the senior member's sentence.

"..."

"The way I see it, Mr. Carlstrohm we are facing an increasing uncertain global financial environment, chaos on the stock market and the downfall of established economies...in this scenario I think that we should just try to ride the storm out, be patient and calm..."

"But, sir we need to..."

"Need to do what?" The wine drinker said with a calm smile. "What we need to do is try to keep our heads cool and hang on in there, things will change and improve...trust me."

"We try, sir...but when Mr. Dante ran this company..."

The smiled disappeared from the wine drinker's face.

"Mr. Dante...DOES NOT...run this company any more, as I recall it, my uncle told me that you yourself was part of the coup to oust Mr. Dante from the company. I run this company now and as Mr. Dante is about as important as the dust in the ventilation systems in this company, I suggest you follow my recommendation, Mr. Carlstrohm."

Carlstrohm looked at the wine drinker and as a storm of anger aimed mostly at himself ran inside of him, he frowned and nodded.

"Good boy..." The winder drinker said and took yet another sip. "This meeting is adjourned." he concluded.
As the disgruntled members of the board of directors left the office, a man neither of them had ever seen entered the room. As the doors closed behind the newcomer a grin spread on his lips.

"Enjoying the charade?"

The wine drinker took another sip and grinned in return.

"Immensely. Who thought running a company into oblivion could be so much fun?"

"Mon ami, you knew very well the joy you would get from this."

The win drinker nodded and laughed.

"I take it you have a plan for our demented enemy..."

"Of course..." the wine drinker said. "...if I didn't have a back up plan I would be hiding underneath the Himalayas at the moment."

The newcomer seemed to look a tad proud as the wine drinker mentioned the former owner of Novacorp.

"Is he really that powerful?"

"What do you think? He has your powers and no limits to his energy supply, at the moment his is a seriously demented god."

The newcomer nodded.

"And what plan do you have that can contain Earth's new god?"

The wine drinker smiled as a third man entered the room.

"He has secured a snowy cage for an angry firefly!"

"I'm impressed...Lucian...I take it's Lucian this time."

The wine drinker nodded.

"Lucian Novamori, nephew and scion of the sadly deceased Tomas Novamori."

The third man shook his head at the spectacle.

"I fail to see the point of this masquerade..."

The wine drinker grinned.

"That is why you have never made it past you position as Dreadlord of your backwater realm."

The third man scoffed.

"You write the cage for your firefly god off easily."

"Trust me, Dreadlord..." the wine drinker began. "I have the utmost respect for your abilities to ensnare our enemy, I just think that you are so..."

"...boring." The first newcomer added.

"Be that as it may, as soon as Jason Dante lifts his hand against either one of you, he will be trapped...trapped in his own personal nightmare."

Novamori grinned again.

"I would damned well hope so...that's what I'm paying you for, Dreadlord!"

*****

Chaos embraced him as he walked the corridors of the arena. In his mind infernal fires raged and reason and restrain had taken a holiday. His world was coloured in the shades of raging fires. He looked upon people and could only see them as inferiors. He walked around until he came face to face with a man he knew very, very well. Jay Ecks stared at the man he had seen as a friend since he had met him in collage.

"Jason..."

"Jay..."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" Dante asked sounding perplexed.

"Why are you acting as if you are a god?"

For a fleeting second the fires in Dante's eye died down and the perplexed expressionw as replaced by a worried look.

"I...I am?"

Ecks simply nodded as a reply.

"Selenia is trying to help you...and so is Darkness."

As the word Darkness reached Dante's ears, the raging fire returned to his eyes.

"Darkness!" he spat. "All the fucking limey wants is my powers, my spot and from the looks of things, he wants my dammed girl too."

"Jason, that's not true..."

"Really?" Dante said in a voice that dripped with sarcasm. "Why do you think he all of a sudden care then? He pretends to care about me to get close to Selenia, he sweat talks her, makes her hate me...he wants to steal her and he wants to steal Meagan from me..."

"Jason..."

"Shut up and listen, Jay! He is trying to get to you too isn't he? He has turned my own wife against me, he twisted Freya until she hated me, he made her attack me!"

"Jason..."

"Look at what happened a few hours ago, Jay! Look at Freya charging me, Darkness poison is working its horrible magic on her, I saw her as a sister, Jay...a SISTER!"

"Jason, no one hates you, Selenia still loves you and so does Meagan, they miss their father and husband. Darkness doesn't hate you, he wants to help you...he wants to free you!"

"Free me? Free me? From what? From being able to stop him? Jay, listen to yourself you are as poisoned as Freya is!"

"Jason...I'm not poisoned, trust me, Jas...we're worried about you."

"Worried? Worried about what? That I may steal your glory and rid the world of the whole demonic plague?"

"No, we..."

Ecks got no further before a female voice cut him off.

"...we are worried that you are becoming like your father."

Dante stared at the woman in front of him.

"Selenia...my love, my Queen...how can you say such a horrible thing, I won't become my father, I...I love you!"

"I love you too Jason, but I can't love the man you have become."

Dante's eyes were filled with anger and confusion.

"The man I have become? Why do I hear Darkness words behind your words? Why do I hear his envy poison your mind, Selenia?"

"Jason, you're not hearing anything like that."

"Really I..."

At this point, Jay Ecks felt desperate to shake some sense into his friend so he stepped forward and grabbed his old buddy's right arm. Seconds later he yelled out in pain as a jet of flame shot out from Dante's hand.

"DO NOT TOUCH ME!"

Selenia stared at Dante, as she looked at her husband she saw small, vestigial horns protrude from his brow and fang form in his mouth for a split second. Then for another instant, his face returned to normal and horror shot over his face.

"Jay, bro...I...I'm so sorry..."
In pain and agony, Ecks looked up at the man who had at once been his best friend.

"You had better be sorry, asshole!"

"Jay...I...I..."

"GO FUCK YOURSELF, JASON!" Ecks screamed as tears of pain rolled down his face.

"Jay...Selenia...I...I..."

For a second Selenia and Ecks stared at Dante, wishing that his current sane state of mind would last. Then as suddenly as sanity had gotten the advantage, the manic fire returned to his eyes.

"...I will make Darkness pay for this!"

Before they could protest or stop him, he stormed off.

"Are you ok?" Selenia asked Ecks and put her arm around the injured man's shoulders.

"Physically I will be, I just..."

"Feel betrayed? Yeah, me too...I try to remind myself that his actions are fuelled by the ring."

"Doesn't help, does it? I mean no matter how much fuel the ring gives him it is still Jason that does the things he does..."

Selenia nodded without a word.

*****

Half an hour later, Ecks sat with his hand wrapped in bandages and soaked in anti-inflammatory liquids and painkilling solutions. Selenia drive as they left the hospital.

"What did you tell them had happened?" Selenia asked.

"I told them I fucked up when I tried to start a Barbeque..."

"You didn't..."

"No. No matter what has happened, Jason is one of the few friends I have ever had...and I believe that somewhere deep down the man I call a friend is still alive and well."

"I just don't know what to do to bring him back, Jay."

Ecks grew quiet as he tried to think.

"I think you...we have to do what Darkness said we needed to do."

Selenia nodded.

"We have to find Freya as quickly as possible!"

The room was a mess. It normally was the day before leaving. Clothes were spread about, discarded as soon as they were removed. An old, battered bag sat in the middle of the floor. Freya stood with her hands on her hips, surveying the mess. A knock at the door drew her attention away from the packing. She opened the door slightly.

"Oh hey, Jay." She leant against the door but didn't open it any further.

"We need to talk. Can we come in?"

"We?"

Selenia stepped from behind Ecks. "It's important. It's about Jason."

Freya stepped aside and opened the door to allow them to enter. "So what's going on?" She shut the door behind them and grabbed clothes from the sofa to let Selenia sit down with Meagan.

"Jason has the Ring."

"I know."

"You need to do something about it."

"What?!"

"The Ring belongs to you. You can see what it's doing to him."

"It isn't mine. I wasn't given it to keep – it was meant for Darkness."

"Why didn't he get it then?" she asked.

"Because he was going to lock the Gates of Hell. I couldn't let that happen."

Selenia gave the younger woman a wry smile. "I think Ta-Te knew what she was doing. Darkness could never have held the Ring – and not just because of his hand. All Infernals are corrupted by the power it gives them access to."

"Power?"

"We believe the Ring is a source of Hellfire that Dante is tapping into. He's become a God, and you know what they say about absolute power..."

"It's an absolute bitch?"

Selenia smiled slightly. "Something like that. You're in a unique position because you're not an Infernal – you might stand a chance of getting it back."

Freya looked from Selenia to Jay. He was cradling his bandaged arm. "What happened to you?"

Jay glanced nervously at Selenia before replying. "Jason."

Freya turned back to Selenia. "This is what you want me to deal with? Someone neither you nor Darkness can get through to; someone who attacks his oldest friend?"

"It wasn't li..."

"It was like that, Selenia. I think you guys should leave – I've got packing to do." She opened the door and waited for them to go.

Selenia sighed as she got to her feet. She stopped in front of Freya, Meagan held close to her breast. "We need you, Freya."

Freya didn't reply so Selenia carried on out, Jay following. He hesitated in the doorway, unsure of what to say.

"See you around, Jay," Freya said to end his dilemma. He nodded and left. Freya shut the door. "Another thing to add to the 'to do' list."

**

Dante sat in his expansive suite alone, one leg hanging over the arm of his chair. He swirled whiskey in a glass, sipping from it occasionally. As usual, the alcohol wasn't affecting him – as the half-empty bottle on the shelf demonstrated – but he did enjoy the taste.

A knock at the door made him get up. He found Freya loitering in the corridor.

"I suppose you want to come in?"

"I just want to talk."

He waved her in and shut the door behind her. "Don't tell me you're the last bullet in Darkness's arsenal."

Freya looked confused. "No, I just need someone to talk to. You know what Darkness is like and, well, depressing as it is, that's everyone." She dropped into the chair he'd recently occupied.

"So what has Darkness done now?"

Freya shook her head. "No, it's nothing to do with Darkness. It's Stephen."

Dante thought for a moment. "DeadZone?"

Freya narrowed her eyes. "Stephen came back."

"Did he?"

"Yes."

"So why aren't you talking to him?"

"Because it's hard to talk about him to him."

"Ah." He handed her a glass of whiskey as he poured himself one. "So what's wrong?"

"Strikmore and Stern." Freya pulled herself up into the armchair, folding her legs underneath her. Dante jumped slightly at the sudden movement, Freya didn't show any signs of noticing. "I think Stern is trying to buy Stephen with this title shot, if he has to come back she'd rather it was on her terms. As for Matt..." She sipped the whiskey and coughed slightly as the alcohol burnt the back of her throat. "Did you know he hates us?"

"Hates?" Dante was still standing, looking down on Freya who didn't look in his direction.

"Alright, that might be a bit strong, but we're defiantly not on his Christmas card list."

"And that bothers you?"

"Yeah, it does. I used to be the Strikmore. I was here for over a year before you guys took any interest in me. I was alone, everyone had someone to help them, watch their back or whatever. It wasn't great and no one else cared. He sees us as this impenetrable force, excluding him. He thinks we see ourselves as above and separate from everyone else."

"He does have a point, we keep ourselves apart for a reason. And we are better than them... some more so than others."

Freya let the comment slide. "I know, just sometimes I wish we didn't have to. We should have done something when he was trying to come back."

"We can't change the past. Do you wish we hadn't asked you to join the New Hellfire Club?"

"No, but I wish you and Darkness could get on, even just on screen. It's hard enough for Stephen to come back without our mess. It's making what Matt says sound sensible."

"And that's why you attacked me?" He smiled to himself, waiting for the denial, the lies, the words Darkness had planted. He watched as Freya drained her glass, pulling a face afterwards.

"I think we have enough problems right now without the infighting, I just wanted the brawl to end as fast as possible."

"And talking was out of the question?"

She gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. Werewolf. You try thinking straight with that many pheromones and hormones and everything else flying about." She paused. "Talking wouldn't have worked anyway."

Dante shrugged. "Probably not." He took her glass and poured them both another drink. "Now, why don't we cut the crap and you tell me why Darkness sent you?"

"Darkness didn't send me." She took the drink from Dante and drank half straight off. "Jay's arm looks a bit of a mess though."

"You've seen him? And Selenia then?"

"Yes."

"She's told you to come here and take the Ring away from me!"

Freya looked startled. "No. Well, yes she did. She loves you and she's worried about you. But I'm not about to take the Ring from you."

"You're not? Well... at least someone has some sense." He swirled his drink. "You know if you tried I wouldn't be held responsible for what happened."

"I know. The Ring is more trouble than it's worth to me. I couldn't do anything with it. Then there was the constant threat from the Abyss and your father, and the whole being kidnapped by the Government thing just killed what fun was left."

Dante broke into a grin. "I knew you'd understand that me keeping this was for your own protection. Selenia and Darkness wanted to make me give it back, but at least you see you're better off without it."

"Exactly." She emptied her glass. "Can I have another one? This stuff grows on you." Dante took her glass and refilled it.

Freya watched him, wondering if he really bought what she'd told him.

The night wore on as Dante and Freya spoke, glasses were filled and emptied and slowly, slowly mouths became untangled. At first, Freya took the booze well, but slowly she began to slur and look tired.

“Y...you, know wha' 's puzzlin' me?”

Dante looked at her a rose his eyebrow.

“Excuse me?”

“Do you know what is...*deep breath* puzzlin' me?”

“No.”

“You seemed so....'appy when y...your daughter was born...but you seem to have given up on y....your entire family...now.”

Dante put down his glass and sighed.

“No, Freya...I haven't given up on them.”

“You don't hang around with them any more...”

“There is a reason for that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it then?”

“Private.”

“Come on, Casper...something being private isn't reason enough to keep it from your...friend...”

Dante grinned a grin that was not a nano-meter thick.

“I think you know what it is...”

“No.”

“It's Darkness...”

“What? Darkness?”

“Yes. I have reason to...” he paused and cursed. “...I know that he is after the ring...and my family.”

“Are you mad?” Freya asked with only a mild slur.

“No, just look at the evidence...he is the Anti-Christ and as that he needs power, which my ring will give him. And then look back to when I beat him at End Game in 2006, that still irks him. Two years have passed and he still hasn't gotten over the defeat I gave to him. And then you have to remember that where he has failed I have succeeded...”

“In what?” Freya asked while her eyes did a dance around Dante's face, the room and then finally focused on his eyes.

“His wife died...his daughter is dead...he blames himself for that...and he thinks that he can right that wrong and being himself ease by stealing my family.”

Freya's eyes seemed to clear up for a bit as she stared at her drinking mate, aghast.

“You ARE mad! Darkness is your friend!”

“Since when have I deserved him as a friend? I torched his hand and flung a fireball into his chest?”

Freya nodded.

“But of course...he deserved that...I burnt his hand off when he tried to steal the ring...MY ring!”

“ok...”

“Then he tried to make me hand it over to him and I flung a ball of hell-fire in his chest...he should be on his limey knees thanking what ever fucking GOD he believes in that I didn't torch his black, thieving HEART!” Dante said and flew to his feet in rage.

“Calm down, Jason...I only asked...”

Dante looked down into the table and looked like he was ashamed.

“Sorry...”

*****

“The damned Lycanthrope?!” Novamori yelled as he flew up from his seat. “You allowed her to talk to Dante?!”

Lucifer smiled.

“I don't make my son's appointments...”

Novamori sat back down and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“This can actually work to our advantage...”

“Of course it can...after all you are speaking to the master of plots and tricks...the prince of lies.” Lucifer said with a shark's grin on his lips.

“You never get tired of those titles, do you.”

“Not really...They fit me well to be honest.” Lucifer retorted with no honesty at all.

“No matter...” Novamori said. “If the she-wolf is with him she has to share his cage...”

“Has to?” Lucifer asked and looked genuinely perplexed.

“She is a risk to our plan, at the moment I have this niggling feeling that she is the only one Dante can speak with without burning her to cinders. She trusts him and he trusts her...as long as they are together, Dante can be saved...”

“And you want to send them to the Dreadlord together?” Lucifer said with disbelief in his eyes.

Novamori smiled.

“Yes...as soon as the Dreadlord gets his claws on Dante, he will be out of our hair...for good.”

Lucifer took a sip from the drink that Novamori had provided him with. The wine didn't taste much but it disguised a reaction that would have made the Italian doubt Lucifer's loyalties.

“I just don't know why the hell you care about all these schemes, Novamori.”

“Oh I think you do...”

Lucifer yawned.

“Yeah I do, I just have no idea why you are so obsessed with...”

“That is NONE of your business...all you have to do now is pull one of your scams.”

“Scams?!” Lucifer asked and sounded insulted.

*****

Dante got up from his seat and downed the last of his whiskey in one single movement. He grinned as he looked at the sleeping Freya. If she was on Darkness side, she was one hell of an actor. She didn't want the ring, and she to top it all of realised that what he had done had been for her good.

He smiled again as he looked at Freya. Finally someone who understood.

He sighed.

The last few weeks had been hell for him, he had been given a source of power that was beyond compare, he had been given the gift to be as close to a God as a man...half-demon...he corrected himself could ever hope to be and still Selenia, Jay and the traitor Darkness didn't trust him with it.

Hell the fools even called him a junkie to his power. He shook his head and he opened another bottle of Whiskey. As the yellow liquid poured into the glass he heard a strange sound at his door, the sound of winds rushing against it. He looked at the door that slowly started buckling and he felt surprised...the door lead to a corridor, there was no way a wind could be banging on his door.

Just as he began to walked towards the door and the sound of wind, the large, heavy oaken door was lifted off it's hinges and flew into his face. Dante was hurled along with the door across the room and came to rest against the fireplace after a forceful hit sent him loopy.

In the remains of the door frame a man could be seen standing, he wore a tailored suit and his decidedly Italian features were adorned with a shark's grin. He walked up to the table where despite the noise of him lifting the door off it's hinges, Freya slept. He took hold of her long brown hair and lifted her face off of the table. He looked down on her freckled face and smiled. He had no idea why his son trusted this woman over his wife, and frankly he didn't care. Freya Green was a problem...according to Novamori and Lucifer owed the owner of Novacorp a few favours so he decided to pay those favours back by ending the problem Freya caused. The grin on his face widened as he pulled out a long, curved knife from his pocket he pulled back on Freya's head and uncovered her throat, as the blade approached the throat, the sound of a jet engine filled the room. Startled, Lucifer dropped the knife and stared at what remained of the door he had thrown at his son. All that remained of it was ashes on the floor, in a split second, Dante had turned a massive oaken door into cinders. Lucifer lifted his gaze from the ashes to his son. When he had seen his son before he had seen a prodigy, a talent gone soft and wrong.

This time he saw an angry God...a God that was hell-bent on ending his father's reign of terror.

“Jason.” Lucifer said as if he tried to acknowledge his son.

“LUCIFER!” Dante screamed with a voice that was as hot at the sun. “You touch her and I turn you into demonic barbecue!” Dante screamed at the top of his lungs.

Lucifer smiled and picked up his knife again.

“Why don't you try...son.”

As Lucifer prepared to slit Freya's throat Dante hurled himself at him. A small yelping sound left Lucifer's lungs as his son came crashing, feet first into him. Father and son tumbled around o the floor, fighting over a knife, a blade that could have made Dante regret his headstrong-ness. In the end, Lucifer got hold of the knife and stabbed his son in his thigh in pure desperation.

Dante yelled in pain as the silver blade pierces his flesh.

“You should know better then to challenge experience, son...”

“Go to hell, Lucifer...”

“In time, son...in time...”

“No...NOW!” Dante hurled a ball of incandescent fire at his father's feet, causing the old demon to fall through the floor.

In desperation and without regard for his own saftey, Dante rushed over to Freya's side and picked her up.

“Come on, Freya...wake up...wake up...damn...why can't you damn wolfies regenerate being fucking drunk?”

“Because I didn't make them that way...” Lucifer said as he ascended up through the hole in the floor that Dante had burned.

As Dante saw his father return and with him the threat to his own and Freya's lives, he swung his free right army towards his father and with a simple word...

“Burn.”

He sent a white-hot jet of hell-fire towards his father. As the jet of flame approached Lucifer, he saw the ol' demon grin and felt his world get turned inside and out. Dante and Freya both seemed to turn inside out and then they vanished.

As the scorching jet of flame died down a fraction of an inch from Lucifer's face, the devil breathed a sigh of relief and corrected his tie and began to walk away. He had fulfilled his promise to Novamori, now the head of Novacorp and the Devil were even...he had made Novamori the leader of Novacorp and now he had rid him of his only real competition. Lucifer didn't understand why Novamori cared about a plan so petty and selfish...there was no point to it at all. He shrugged.

As he left the room he began to whistle a tune, then as he smashed his elbow into a button that started the fire-alarm he began to sing.

“Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste...”

*****

Freya woke up and found herself face down in deep snow. With a start she sat up and tried to find out where she was. Now Granted she hadn't been hung over many times, but she was sure that dreaming that she was in a snowed in town wasn't part of the deal. She got up and started walking around, first to try to find out where she was and then to keep warm as the wind chilled her to her bones.

After about half and hour of not finding a single living soul she came upon a square, it was as empty and deserted as the rest of the town seemed to be...until she spotted a man sitting on his knees in the middle of the square. It took fer a few seconds to recognise him. She called out.

“Jason!”

No answer.

“Dante!”

No reply.

“Hey, Casper!”

No reaction.

She began to run towards him.

*****

They say every human has to go through the feeling of life ended or interrupted, be it the death of a loved one, the loss of a love or the loss of a job we all have to feel it. Panic, sadness and sorrow all mixed into one potent sedative, we feel our mind grow slow and our thought process laced with pain and fear.

Jason Dante sat on his knees in his living room, the smell of burning wood and scorched flesh was in his nose. He looked at what was left of the life he had hoped for, the life he had wished for and again he began to cry. With tears running down his cheeks and the words “I'm sorry, please don't be dead!” in his mouth he hugged the body of his wife...or the body of what had been his wife. He had covered her midsection with a pillow to spare himself the sight of the hole he had brunt in her.

In rage he had lashed out at the people he loved...they had wanted to take his ring from him, they had wanted to have it for themselves...now he was alone among the dead bodies of Selenia, Jay Ecks, Freya, Gideon Flint, Stephen Hawthorne, Lance Canada, Bruce-666, Bleeder, Freya Green and the Children. He had incinerated Revenant and torched everyone. He had only gotten to the door of Meagan's room, the stench of burnt flesh had made him vomit.

Tears rolled down his face again as he begged for a forgiveness he could never get.

*****

“Jason! What the hell are you...”

Freya stopped dead in her tracks. Dante sat on his knees on the cold snow and petted the head of a straw mannequin. She looked down and saw a pillow-like construct of snow covering the mannequin's midsection. Around them lay an assortment of other human-analogues. She looked down at Dante and saw his tears. Horror gripped her as she realised that where ever they where, and what ever had happened to Dante, he was in a state of catatonic shock.

“Please...don't be dead...I love you...I'm so sorry!” Dante screamed, the pain in his voice was deeper then the ocean.

"Jason? Jason?" Freya knelt beside the albino in the snow.

"Please...I'm sorry. Please..." He was stroking the mannequin, but gently, as if not to disturb it.

"Jason." Freya shook his arm but either he couldn't feel her or he was choosing not to. She looked around the snowy square. There wasn't anyone here, which was a worry in itself, and the sky was greying, either because of duck or another snowstorm. On top of all this, she knew she was somewhere other. This wasn't Hell, unless it finally had frozen over, and that meant anything could appear. She sighed. She needed Dante to sort himself out and either use the Ring to get them out of here, or help her find another way. Her head was starting to pound. She shook him harder. Still no response. Freya started to panic. "Jason Dante, stop ignoring me!"

She slapped his face, the noise loud in the snow-filled square. There was no sign he'd even noticed her, he just sobbed quietly asking the figure in the snow to forgive him. She looked around. The buildings around them were dark – it would be very easy to get in – but there was no way she was going to be able to move Dante alone.

The glint of gold on Dante's finger caught her eye. She looked at his grief-stricken face. He was seeing something that wasn't there, but Freya couldn't pull him back to the real world. She bit her lip. If she took it, she'd only be getting back what was hers. She'd be helping him. And they might even get back home, even if it meant a detour through the ruins of Hell. She took his left hand gently and her fingers touched the metal. It was warm.

"Three...two...one..." she took a deep breath.

Dante's head snapped up, eyes suddenly focusing on her. A fireball appeared in his hand, causing her to fall backwards, but not before it caught the edge of her arm.

"What the hell was that for?!" She checked her arm. Her t-shirt was burnt through and the skin underneath was blistering, but it would heal.

"Why are you here?" Dante's voice was deep and his eyes glowed red. Freya thought she could see bumps forming on his forehead.

"Same reason as you. What's the matter with you?"

"It's your fault they're all dead. If you could just have left me alone..."

Freya looked confused. "Who's dead?"

"Don't say that!" Dante screamed at her, covering his face with his hands.

"Jason..." Freya picked herself up and took a step forward.

"No!" Dante lifted his hand, a luminescent ball slowly forming. Freya turned on her heels and ran. Her trainer skidded on a patch of ice and as she fell she heard the whooshing noise as the ball of fire went over her head. She looked over her shoulder and saw Dante slowly advancing. She scrabbled in the snow and then took flight, this time on four feet.

**

"Please...please forgive me. I love you. Don't be dead. Just wake up." Dante was still kneeling on the plush carpet beside Selenia's body. He stroked her hair: she looked like she was asleep, except for what was hidden under the pillow.

"Nice mess you've made here."

Dante looked up, fireball instantly in his hand. He released it when he saw Darkness crouched next to him. He fell sideways, laughing, even though the fireball had caught one of his shoulders, leaving smoking leather. "Why are you here?" Dante's voice was deep and his eyes glowed red.

"Why wouldn't I be here, Jason? Everybody else is, although," Darkness looked over the carnage, "I seem to be doing better than the rest..."

"It's your fault they're all dead. If you could just have left me alone..."

Darkness had gotten to his feet. "You don't really believe that do you? This is all your fault, Jason. You chose to kill each of these people: your friends, your colleagues, your wife."

"Don't say that!" Dante screamed at him, covering his face with his hands.

"Even your daughter, who could have done nothing to hurt anyone, couldn't defend herself. And you've damned her forever..."

"No!" Dante lifted his hand, a luminescent ball slowly forming. Darkness just laughed at him, but the fireball caught him right in the middle of the chest. Just like last time, he was forced backwards, landing on the other side of the room.

"This time, I'll finish him," Dante muttered, stalking to where Darkness's prone form lay.

**

Freya was back in humanoid form, leaning against the side of the building, panting hard. She didn't think Dante was following her, but her trail was clear in the pristine snow.

"Now what am I meant to do?" she asked the sky.

The scenes changes.

He walked in knee deep snow, not even noticing his pants getting wet and the resistance his steps faced. Step by vengeful step he stalked the object of his hatred. In his mind, Darkness became a symbol of his failures, a object of his deepest, darkest and most personal hatred. Darkness had killed them all, he had murdered them to spite him. The slayer had wanted to kill him at first.

He let his pale hand run down his scar, he had once managed to lie to himself and call the scar a symbol of his awakening.

Now he realised that it was only a symbol of how much Darkness had fooled him. The slayer had failed to kill the man he envied, he had failed to murder him so he had chosen to try to steal his joy and his happiness.

He had flung the pitiful slayer half way across the square, he had gathered up all his anger, all his resentment and his rage and flung the pitiful creature that had the gall to call himself the Anti-Christ head over heels.

Now he gathered up the reserves of resentment and unholy anger to finish the fool once and for all.

He walked up to where Darkness had fallen and crooked his fingers to fling the finishing ball of incandescent flame at the slayer, but as he began to channel his anger he saw a sight that horrified him, in the place of the slayer there was a bundle of straw in the vague shape of a human.

Darkness had tricked him, made him use his fuel to trick him to fling a ball of flame at a simple construct.

He grinned to himself as his sick mind began creating a new reality, a reality in which Darkness was to blame for the deaths of his loved ones, Darkness had killed Selenia and Meagan out of envy, Ecks out of necessity and Freya and the children because his sick mind wouldn't let him stop his killing spree. Slowly Darkness had become death, destroyer of worlds and ender of lives.

He was the one who had to stop this menace to the world, he would have to end Darkness reign of terror. He took a deep breath and tried to spy the fleeing murderer, he let his inhuman eyes scan the square and the surrounding streets.

As the blizzard began to grow in strength he found him, the pathetic killer hid like a common criminal in a nearby alley. A smile grew on his pale features as he began creating a careful measured ball of flame.

“Come out, come out where ever you are!” He almost sung as the wind grew in strength and whipped more snow into his face.

The grin grew on his face as he located his quarry and flung the ball of fire. Standing there behind a heap of garbage, Darkness found himself pushed into the open by the intense heat. For a few seconds everything was calm and still, the two enemies stared at each other, both seemed to be uncertain on what to do next.

Darkness broke the deadlock with a snarl and a leaping attack, before he could defend himself, Darkness ripped at his face with talon-like nails. Desperate to defend himself, Dante gathered his strength and created a shock wave of pure heat and anger that flung Darkness into a nearby wall.

As the blizzard grew in strength they once more stood face to face, both men knew that this would be the last confrontation.

*****

Lucian Novamori walked out of the shower humming a happy ditty to himself, what he would achieve tonight had begun to be set in motion years ago, for ages he had wished for, longed for this night. He shook his head as he put on a new, clean Armani shirt. He had tried so many ways to achieve his goal, and now finally with a deal with the devil and a Dreadlord of hell he had reached his goal.

Jason Dante was gone, a mere memory. Slowly he had dissolved the pale man's power base, stolen his company, driven him to madness. In the end, Dante wasn't even aware of his family any more. Greed and ego had taken over, just like Novamori knew it would. He smiled as he put on his pants, grinned as he tied his shoes. For years, he had seen his most precious asset in the hands of the clueless Dante, for years he had seen his most priced possession in the hands of a man that didn't appreciate it at all.

“Love!” Novamori said and spat.

Love was such a sad and inaccurate thing, love was a human thing, a thing for collage kiddies and silly old folks. What Novamori and the object of his obsession had was simple, direct and surprisingly for their kind, honest. They had coveted each other, it was that simple.

He put on his jacket and picked up a photo from his desk.

“Soon my beauty, we shall be together again...as before...and forever!”

He put down the photo and walked out.

On the desk he left the photo of woman behind.

*****

Freya was back in humanoid form, leaning against the side of the building, panting hard. She didn't think Dante was following her, but her trail was clear in the pristine snow.

"Now what am I meant to do?" she asked the sky.

Before she could find an answer, she heard a voice she recognised. It came from the square and filled her with an unreasonable dread.

“Come out, come out where ever you are!” the voice said, the growl in it made it clear for her that she was indeed in deep trouble.

She had been taken to this mad, mad place. First she had found Jason as mad as a haddock, acting as if a strew dummy was a human, then he had attacked her as if he had not recognised her at all.

And now, she was hiding not only from a deranged Jason Dante, but from her own damned brother. Bronson's voice had the familiar twang of sick playfulness in it that made her stomach churn.

She only had seconds to consider her plight as her cover was blown away by the now nearly frantic blizzard, the wind was so cold she could have sworn it almost burnt her...she had heard that extreme cold could feel almost like heat...

As her haven was blown away she decided to act, she launched herself through the snow-filled air and came crashing down on her brother feet first, in desperation she lashed out at him with her hands, trying to scratch his face off his her nails.

All she got was a howl of pain and a forceful push that sent her flying into a nearby wall. Freya got to her feet and as she managed to shake the cobwebs from her head, she saw that her brother was prepared to strike.

There they stood, brother and sister prepared to launch themselves at each other with feral, and reckless abandon.

They paused for a few seconds before they launched themselves into charges that would lead to one final and possibly fatal collision.

As Dante charged Darkness he passed by a large window, seconds later Freya came far enough in her charge on Bronson to have her reflection bounced off the glass. For a second, the true people behind the illusions were visible.

Somewhere in the bowels of this twisted, snowy and storm torn world, Dreadlord Zagan laughed as his trick had turned allies into bitter enemies, the outcome was given one would die and the other's mind would shatter as the truth of his or her dead was revealed.

With the force of an atom bomb, Dante and Freya collided demon and she-wolf slammed into each other, prepared to tear each other limb from limb.

As they collided the storm reached a new height, threatening to tear the small village apart.

Freya laid into her brother with all the fury she could muster. She kicked, clawed, punched and bit into any part that she could reach, changing form to stop him getting a good hold on her. He looked just as pale and drawn as the last time she'd seen him at the Nazca Lines, but he was still as strong as ever. He let out a howl as she set long canines into his shoulder, and received a backhand for her trouble. She landed in the snow, breathing hard. She could taste blood from where Bronson had split her lip. She got to her feet, not taking her eyes off of her brother, his brilliant green eyes hidden under his long hair. She leapt at him again.

**

Dante tried to take his anger out on the leaner man as they rolled around the plush room, but Darkness continually got inside his defences. He had trouble getting hold of him, he almost felt... hairy. There was a sudden pain in his shoulder, Darkness had his prosthetic in a vice like grip on his shoulder. He roared and struck him with his forearm. Darkness fell back, wiping blood from his split lip. He stood up slowly. There was a mirror above the fireplace, which reflected the whole room. Or it should have, but instead it showed a snowy scene, and it wasn't the back of Darkness's head, but looked more like Freya's...

The room melted around him, it was cold, the snow had soaked his trousers. He looked around at the empty city. He'd been here before. He knew were he was.

A low growl alerted him to the charging Freya.

"Wait!" he held up his hands as she crashed into him. He didn't want to hurt her. He grabbed her arms and pulled her close. She struggled but Dante held on. He managed to turn her around to face the window. She kicked him in the shins, causing him to curse.

"Hold still. Look. This isn't real. I need you to see." He grabbed her chin with a free hand and turned her head to look at the window. The struggling stopped. He let Freya go and she stepped away from him.

"I... I thought you were Bronson."

"It's ok. I thought you were Darkness." He noticed the scorch on her shoulder. "Did I do that?"

"Yeah." She rubbed the burnt t-shirt. "Sorry about your face."

Dante felt where the scratch marks crisscrossed his face. "It's ok, I deserved it."

Freya looked around at the snowy landscape and shivered. "So where are we?"

Dante shrugged off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. "The Deadlands."

"How'd we get here? I remember we were drinking, and then... I must have fallen asleep. Did you bring us here?"

"No." Dante's voice was stony. "My father did."

**

Zagan watched the pair struggle through the snow into one of the abandoned buildings. This wasn't meant to happen, they were meant to destroy one another. Novamori hadn't warned him about this, but no matter. He waved his hand over the shimmering image and a small figure appeared in his hand. He grinned a wide, toothy, joyless smile. They would destroy each other, if not directly.

He crossed to what looked like a model village and placed the small figure on the board.

"Now we'll see what happens."

**

They'd broken into one of the buildings and made a small fire from broken furniture. Freya shivered again, even though she had Dante's jacket on.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked him from where she sat in front of the fire.

"No. I don't get cold." Dante was pacing about the room.

"You don't get cold? But there's a foot of snow out there, how can you not be cold?"

"I know its cold, I can feel the cold, it just doesn't bother me."

"So what are we going to do? How do we get back?" Freya poked the fire with a stick, sending up sparks.

"I don't know." He stopped and looked out of a window.

"What are you doing?"

"Keeping a look out."

"There's no one else here. I wandered around for ages before I found you. We're all alone."

"Hmm." Dante didn't tell her last time he'd been here with Supreme they'd been attacked by zombies. "The storm is getting worse." As if to prove a point, there was a rumble of thunder.

Freya growled in response, causing Dante to look at her with raised eyebrows. "What?" She asked when she noticed him looking at her.

"Nothing, that was just a very... canine... reaction."

"Yeah, well, you'd do it too if you knew what the thunder meant."

"That there's an expansion of air due to a lightning strike?"

Freya gave him a withering look. "Never mind, it doesn't matter."

"Oh, come on. I want to know."

"It's just a stupid folk story."

"A werewolf folk story?"

"Why would I have a human one?"

"So what's the story?"

"You can't laugh."

"Why would I laugh?"

"It rhymes." She waited for the smirk but his face was straight. She took a deep breath and started.

"There was a Shadow Slayer named Ronin,
Who used to roam the land.
The thunder would growl above him,
And he carried a sword in his hand.

He went to the werewolves and told them,
To return to their lands of birth,
Because if ever he saw them abroad,
He would banish them from the earth.

And so it was for years,
Living hidden from men,
For if they ever ventured forth,
He'd have no mercy on them.

But there were a pair of lovers
Who longed to be together
So they ran from their village
To roll amongst the heather.

But Ronin tracked them well,
And was true to his oath,
And spilt their blood on the ground
And banished their bodies both.

So if a werewolf travels,
And hears the thunder talk,
They should keep their noses open,
For Ronin still does walk."

Dante turned back to the window to hide the smirk he knew Freya would hate him for. He looked into the swirling snow and thought he saw a dark shape in the empty square.

"I told you it was stupid."

"Ronin the Shadow Slayer. Someone you're afraid of?"

"No. Maybe when I was little, but I know it's just a story."

Dante hurried over to her and hauled her to her feet. "I think he just became a reality...."

Pacing towards their shelter was a dim black shape in a wide-brimmed hat, silhouetted against the stark white snow.

The storm raged on, whipping up snow that obscured the view out of the window. As the dark seemed to crush down on the humble abode of Dante and Freya they both seemed to hold their breaths as they awaited the arrival of the man known as Ronin.

Now and then, the flashes from the thunder revealed him to be standing in front of the door, he almost looked as if he was waiting for something. Then after a particularly loud thunderclap, he spoke or rather, yelled.

“Earthborn! Hand over the she-wolf and I'll spare you!”

Freya turned and stared at Dante, a hint of fear flashed past her eyes before they regained their normal look.

Dante cursed and replied back.

“Go fuck yourself, Ronin.”

The man in the wide brimmed hat shrugged.

“Suit yourself, Hell-Spawn.” Ronin replied.

Seconds later, the sound of heavy boots smashing against the door reverberated in the room that housed Dante and Freya.

*****

Selenia stretched and yawned. Ever since this whole thing with Jason had begun, it had been hard to get Meagan to sleep. Her father had cut both his wife and his daughter off from his mind and Selenia guessed that Meagan missed her father's loving mental touch.

Come to think of it, she missed it too.

As she sleepily walked through the penthouse suite, she stretched and yawned again. Just as she was about to sit herself down in front of the TV, there was a knock on the door. She lifted an eyebrow and walked over to answer the door. She would have expected Darkness, Freya, Jay Ecks, Tilpin or any of the children, but she hadn't expected the man who stood on the other side of the door.

“Hello, Selenia.”

Selenia didn't know who the Italian man was, he looked like a younger version of Jason's business rival, Novamori.

“Yes.” She replied hesitantly.

Instead of saying anything, the man handed her a bunch of red roses and before she could react he jumped forward and gave her a long, long kiss.

Selenia's eyes went wide as her mind screamed out warnings to her.

*****

The door flew open with a bang and in what was left of the ruined door, the silhouette of Ronin marked itself out in stark, jet black against the greyish blur of the snow-storm. It looked as if the wandering slayer wanted to remain polite despite the grim situation, so he tipped his hat at Dante and Freya.

Dante had known Freya for a good two years by now and he had never seen her this way, the hair on her arms seemed to stand up and her teeth were clenched, all in all she looked like a severely irate pitbull. As a low, almost inaudible growl escaped Freya's mouth. As Ronin began to walk towards Freya, he spoke.

His voice had a calmness to it that contrasted the weight of his words and the coldness that snuck into his voice as he addressed Freya.

“Your kind was told to stay put in your homelands, that was the place *I* gave you to remain in.”

Freya growled.

“So kind of you...you treat an entire culture the way the Native Americans were treated, pushed us into reservation...”

Beneath the shadow of the hat, Ronin grinned a joyless grin.

“If I had gone with and according to slayer principles, you would never have been born...would that have been better?”

Freya lifted her face so her nose pointed up in the air, she used her seeming arrogance when she replied.

“Not existing is better then being a prisoner!”

“Your choice!” Ronin growled back with distaste as he grabbed his gun and aimed it at Freya's heart.

As the finger began to curve around the trigger, a pale hand grabbed the gun by the muzzle and blocked the bullets path to Freya's heart. Ronin turned and looked at Dante with surprise.

“I seem to have underestimated the influence your father has over you, Earthborn!”

“Hardly!” Dante said and laid the slayer out with a single, forceful punch.

Dante leant down and picked the slayers gun up, he felt the weight in his hand as he looked down at the fallen slayer. While he rubbed his cheek, Ronin spoke.

“You can still repair your mistake, Earthborn...I know of your alliance with Darkness, you get the chance Slayers rarely give people...a second chance. All you have to do is kill her and I will leave you be...for good.”

Dante turned his gaze to Freya, who now looked severely distressed, Dante had the ability to read surface thoughts and she DID want to take the ring from him, if he knew this, she was dead.

The albino felt the weight of the gun as he lifted it up and looked at it. This weapon he knew well, the day Darkness had handed it to him he had felt as if it had always been meant to be. He lifted the Eye of God up and aimed at Freya.

“Jason...” Freya said, trying to avoid begging for mercy...and failing.


*****

“Wha...what the hell are you doing?” Selenia screamed.

“Forgive me...my desire for you defeated my restraint.”

Selenia grasped after something to get this man to leave with, she could use her abilities on him but he seemed to be a stalker and she didn't want to injure him or cause a scene.

“My husband will be home soon, I think you should leave.”

The man smiled.

“Oh, I don't think he will...you don't have to worry about Jason Dante again, he is out of the picture forever...and you and I can spend eternity together again...just like we did before *HE* stole you from me!”

“I have never been “yours”!” Selenia screamed.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I have no idea who you are...” Selenia lied.

“Liar...My name is Lucian Novamori....and I...we...we have been lovers before...before *HE* stole you from me."

“I told you I have never even met you before!”

“Oh, but you have Selenia!”

Novamori fixed his eyes on Selenia's and the ex-succubus could feel her will break down, she felt her determination fade away and a strange, sickening feeling of love for the strange man began to make it's presence felt. She shook her head and drive the feeling away.

“Selenia...” Novamori began. “...you deny the truth, we spent decades in passionate embrace...I saved you, nursed you...gave you what you had lost back and our love...our love set the world ablaze!”

“You are mad!” Selenia almost screamed in panic.

“No, I'm not...I'm not mad...I just passionately want you back, I want to feel you cool body against mine, I want to feel your tounge in my mouth again, I want to relive our love, our affair. I want to relive the nights we spent in unholy embrace, our embraces...how I long for them, Selenia...I want to feel you touching me, brining me joy and ecstasy...I loved how you...”

“ENOUGH!” Selenia screamed. “I have never, met you...I...mean...I have met you before...and I know who you are, after all you stole Jason's company from him...or your grandfather or who the hell ever stole it from him...You and your family wanted to ruin him, turn him into a poor outcast, you wanted to ruin him for your precious Catholic church, you wanted to cast him out because you hated what he stood for!”

Novamori laughed a short, soft laughter.

“No, no...taking over Dantecorp was just part of my plan, I had to drive him out of his mind, make him feel small and pointless, I wanted him to feel as powerless as I felt when he took you away from me.”

“I have never...” Selenia protested.

“Shh...You know you have, you know we have...” Novamori said and placed himself behind her.

“Is it so hard to admit to it, Selenia? Is it so hard to admit that before you came to Jason, you came to me?”

*****

Dante's finger caressed the trigger, massaged the path to his freedom, he could never defeat a slayer, he wasn't good enough he was...

He paused, for the first time in a long time he thought. He felt his mind creating paths in his mind, paths plastered with memories, billboards of memories he would rather have left buried, he pushed them away.

Two shots rang out, a body hit the floor.

Dante looked down at his target with a strange lack of emotion in his heart. He felt nothing as he lifted the gun again and aimed it at the head of the body on the floor.

The look he got back was anything but emotionless, it burned of hatred and barely repressed animal emotions.

“Killing me won't save you!”

Dante grinned.

“Ain't that a pity?” he said and fired.

Slowly he let the gun drop to the floor and turned to the person behind him.

“You ok?”

Freya nodded.

“You didn't have to scare me!”

“Sorry...I thought I had to get the drop on him but...”

“But, what?”

Dante raised his eyebrow.

“He isn't real...nothing of this is...”

“The deadlands?” Freya asked.

“The Deadlands are real...real as hell, the place is deserted though, just a empty wasteland after a dead civilisation...I have been here before, I went here with David Hardy and again with Supreme...it looked almost the same every time, but...”

The world around them changed, the snow, the wind and the cold disappeared, and was replaced by a large, almost cavernous chamber. The ceiling seemed to hover a hundred meters above them, the floor was clad with dark-grey tiles made of marble. In one end of the chamber a fire burned in a fireplace and in front of the fire place stood three chairs and a table.

“But I really want my guests to face a new world every time they visit.”

“Zagan...” Dante said.

“Yes, I am Zagan and to be honest, I'm disappointed that you took out my puppet so quickly...I suppose I have to “retcon” his death” Zagan said with a joyless grin as a gesture brought Ronin back to life.

The slayer stood up as his wounds stopped bleeding. As his eyes opened, they were pools of bottomless hatred aimed at Dante and Freya.

“You!” he screamed, pointing at Dante. “YOU KILLED ME! MURDERED A SERVANT OF GOD! I will have your infernal, demon head for this, Earthborn!”

Ronin charged, blade drawn.

But half way across the marble floor he felt a thud as Freya jumped on his back trying to stop the mad slayer. With grim determination and anger as his fuel he stumbled towards Dante, in panic Freya dug her nails into the slayer's skin and bit him, as she saw him prepare to strike a Dante who seemed rooted to the spot, she turned into wolf-form and tore the slayers throat out. With the last gasps of life, Ronin swung his sword, striking Dante on his hand.

As the blade came down, so did Dante's ring-finger. The cold, wet thud of the digit hitting the floor was accompanied by the metallic cling of two rings hitting the very same floor.

As Dante sits on his knees clutching his hurt hand and feels his powers seal the wound shut, eliminating any chance to put the finger back, Freya and Zagan stares at the rings on the floor, and slowly Dante joins the stand off.

*****

Selenia felt droplets forming in her eyes, she knew what Novamori spoke of, she knew him...and she had known him for a long, long time indeed...she had been young and stupid, she had tried to tell herself, but she knew better...she knew the secret she had hidden so deep in her soul.

Novamori pressed his body against Selenia's and slowly Selenia felt the little remaining pieces of attraction and thankfulness return. She felt old dependencies return to her.

“Please...leave.”

“I can't, Selenia...I want you back...I want things to be like before again...”

“They can't be...I...we...I have a daughter...”

“I can take care of Meagan too, she needs two parents Selenia and I practically had to raise you, you know...”

Selenia tried to shake herself free but failed.

“Selenia, can we give it another try? Jason is gone, trust me...he has left you, he deserted you...and I can comfort you, be a shoulder to cry on again...”

“no...” Selenia said, her voice sounding very weak and small.

“Selenia...say my name...”

“No.”

Novamori kissed her neck and caressed her, pressed himself against her.

“I love you and you love me, Selenia...I know it and you know it...he stole you from me, I want you back Selenia...say my name, please.”

“no.”

Novamori's voice changed, crew softer and more feminine.

“Selenia...say my name, fill my mind and world with joy again...say it.”

“no.”

“Say...my...name...”

“n...no.”

“Selenia.”

Another kiss that felt as if it set her skin ablaze came from Novamori.

“My name, Selenia.”

Selenia whispered something.

“Louder my sweet, louder...I want to hear you say it.”

Selenia took a deep breath and begged for forgiveness. Then she spoke it, then she said the name of the person, the entity that had taken up refuge in Lucian Novamori's body. A single word, with the weight of the world on it drifted out of her mouth, passed her ruby red lips and worked it's way into “Novamori's” ears. Now the body of Lucian Novamori changed too, growing slighter and more curvaceous, soon Selenia felt a slender hand caress her neck. And as she felt it, she spoke the name again.

She said: “Lillith.”

The three stood around the finger and rings that lay on the marble tiles. Dante moved first, but Freya was quicker. Her hand closed over the two rings and pulled them out of Dante's reach.

"Give me the Ring." Dante held out the hand with the missing finger.

Freya looked at the two in her hand. They were very similar, plain gold bands, practically identical except she could almost feel the buzz of power emanating from one. She held them up. "I can only let you have one, Jason."

"Give them to me!" He took a step towards her, and Freya took one step backwards.

"I can't. You need to make the choice." She held out one of the rings. "Selenia asked me to talk to you. She loves you. She misses you. Meagan misses you. Your family needs you, Jason."

"Then why did she leave me?" he asked in a quiet voice, wavering on the edge of fury.

"Because the Ring changed you."

"Yes, it made me a God."

"But Selenia didn't fall in love with a God. She fell in love with a man, a man who's also the father of her child."

"But I was better. We could rule the world."

"And you would have become more like your father."

"Don't say that! I'm nothing like him. I saved your life, he tried to kill you."

"Was this before or after you shot fire balls at me?"

**

Selenia pulled herself away from Lilith. "I can't do this."

"Why not?" Lilith's voice was soft. She reached over and stroked Selenia's cheek. "There's nothing to come between us anymore."

"I can't."

Lilith laughed slightly. "Why? Jason's gone. He left you. And your child."

"I know. But this isn't about him. I don't want that life anymore. I want to raise my daughter as a normal child. As a human."

"But she could have anything she wants..."

"But at what price? I'm not coming with you, Lilith. I don't love you anymore."

Lilith threw herself at Selenia, kissing her face. "No, you know you do, you want me... you need me... like I need you."

Selenia put her hands on the Succubus's shoulders and gently pushed her away. "No. I need to look after my daughter."

"But what about everything I've done so we can be together?"

"I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Lilith spat. "I'd move the world for us to be together and you just don't care. You left, and I give you the chance to come back, to come back to someone who still loves you, and you throw it back in my face. You'd rather bring up your daughter by yourself than let us do it together." The beautiful woman's face had turned into a mask of anger. "This is the thanks I get. I love you and you just shove me aside. You don't think of my feelings, just yours." The angry demoness raised a hand and went to slap Selenia.

She caught Lilith's wrist though, and managed to wrestle her hand down. Selenia held Lilith's arms, the Demoness shaking in anger. But the anger quickly subsided and the shaking turned to sobs. Selenia pulled her close, letting her cry into her hair. The scent of her hair was familiar; the fit of her body next to hers comforting.

Lilith pulled away from Selenia's embrace. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to strike you. I've just waited for so long." She leant forwards and kissed Selenia. She pulled back slightly, so they were nose to nose. "I can wait a little longer. You'll realise you need me. I'll be waiting, my love."

**

"That was an accident. It was this place," Dante waved his hand around at the cave.

"And it was this place when you were chucking Darkness out of hotels?"

"He was trying to steal my wife!"

"Don't be ridiculous, listen to yourself. Darkness is married to his belts, to the Shadow Slayers, he doesn't want Selenia."

"He's turned you against me too!"

"As if he could. Come on Jason, I'm trying to help you here."

"You chose him over me last year. He beat me into a pulp for the Word Title and you thought he needed your help more than I did."

"He did. He wasn't right."

"And I'm not right now?"

"No. We're stuck in this place, you're missing a finger, and you apparently can't decide between your wife and daughter, and power that was never meant to be yours."

"It is mine. It's my destiny."

Freya shook her head. "It would have come to you before." She held up the rings next to each other. "Come on Jason. You need to choose."

"And what if I decide to just take them?"

Freya shrugged. "I'll swallow them or something. Come on, who's it going to be?"

Dante gave her a long stare before letting out a sigh and letting his shoulder sag. "Selenia. It's always been Selenia. I just wanted things to be better."

Freya gave him a sympathetic look but didn't move closer. She threw the wedding ring, which he caught deftly. He looked at it like he'd never seen it before putting it in his jacket's breast pocket. He tapped it before looking around for Zagan.

During their argument the demon had retired to an armchair near the fire, fingers arched with his chin resting on them. He raised his head as Dante was storming over.

"Why are we here?" Dante demanded.

"I only own the playing board, the pieces organise themselves."

"Tell me!" Dante grabbed him by the throat and pulled him to his feet.

"You can't hurt me here, Earthborn, this place is mine."

"Jason, leave him. Lets go home." Freya had followed him to where Zagan was sat.

"Listen to the she-wolf. You'd just be wasting your time here."

"You might be right," Dante said, releasing Zagan. "But it would make me feel better." He swung the punch that connected with Zagan's cheek. The demon moved with the momentum but was unharmed.

"And 'she-wolf'," Freya said to Zagan as Dante stalked past, "I don't like it." She turned on her heel and followed Dante.

"How are we getting home?"

A fiery portal opened in front of him. "Just like that." Freya gave him a smile before stepping through.

And out onto the red sandy earth that was Hell. Buildings rose above them, fallen masonry dotted around.

"God I hate this place." Freya shivered.

"Where are we?"

"Fuck knows. I don't remember the names of places we visit in the real world, let alone here." Freya turned and held out her hand. The portal closed, and a moment later reopened. They stepped through, back into the real world.

**

Zagan sat alone by the fireside, ruminating. There was a flash of light and the stench of brimstone, and a figure in a dark suit stepped in front of him.

"Lucifer," the Dreadlord greeted his visitor.

"You just let them go?"

"What choice did I have? Once the she-wolf took the Ring back, it was over. Do you know what Nightwalker would do to me if I hurt her? Only one creature in this universe has the power to stand against his fury, and it isn't me, and it isn't you. No, sometimes you have to know when to lay down your king."

Lucifer snarled something unintelligible and slumped down in the chair opposite Zagan.

"So, what about Lilith?" he asked after a few moments.

Lucifer fixed him with a baleful stare. "I think for her...it's finally game over..."