They moved through the tunnels in darkness, an oppressive heat wrenching sweat from Semila and Twelve. Natasha seemed immune. Sem struggled to suck in breaths of the dry air. She ignored the drops of sweat tingling down her neck, her chest, her everything, and ran her hand along the walls. They were smoother than anything she had ever felt. She shuddered considering what could make tunnels like these.

Wails of the damned echoed beyond the walls and weakened her further, draining her like a vampire sapping blood from a victim. Hell's evils seemed to be sucking the very life from her--it was that or the constant intense heat. Either way, she hated it.

'I never realised how boring my life was,' Twelve rumbled in a deep and steady voice. 'All I have done is serve, fetch, carry, and kill. I want more.' He tapped Sem on her damp shoulder with a large finger. 'Can I have more?'

'You'll have the whole of Hell on our backs if you carry on talking that loud Twelve,' Natasha whisper-hissed. 'Is that more enough for you?'

'Sorry,' his voice rumbled, deeper than before.

They turned left and Natasha stopped. She traced her fingers along the wall. A pentagram appeared and she tapped her fingers in some kind of pattern on the thing. The evil almost overwhelmed Sem, and she rocked forward. A large pair of hands caught her mid-fall, grabbing her at the waist. She placed her hands over his and took a few deep breaths. 'Thanks Twelve,' she whispered. She tasted sweat and bile. A slight squeeze from Twelve's big hands answered her.

A door opened without a sound before them. 'This is it,' Natasha said, 'a place to rest. I guess you could call it my home.' She stepped into the room and glanced over her shoulder, beckoning them forward.

The instant Sem stepped into the room the oppressive feeling left her, as if a huge weight had lifted from her shoulders. Twelve squeezed in behind her, his massive frame making it hard for him to enter. After a bit of tugging and wriggling, Twelve eventually popped through. The door closed and the lights flickered to life.

Sem's eyes just about popped out of her head, she had never seen so many weapons in one room. Some pulsed with power, others radiated evil, but all were alluring. Her eyes slipped to a bracelet resting on an altar. Sem almost drooled. The succubus clicked her fingers in front of Sem's face and the angel blinked out of her stupor.

'Do not touch anything in this room, not without my say so. Do you understand?'

Sem gave her a sour look but nodded. Twelve didn't say or do anything at all. Both succubus and angel could see the sentinel was thinking as he looked at the weapons, and both knew it could be a dangerous thing.

Sem turned to Natasha to speak, but the succubus got there first.

'This could get a little feisty.' Her face lit up as she watched Twelve's eyes rest on a huge axe. 'I wonder what he's going to do.' She hopped with excitement.

They watched as Twelve's fingers danced by his side. He was at a crossroad in is life, and they watched the turmoil evident on his face. Sem started to walk across the room to him, but Natasha grabbed her shoulder. Natasha shook her head, but Sem shrugged her off, gave her a fowl look, and went to stand beside her new friend.

She grabbed his twitching hand and looked up at Twelve's troubled face. 'The choice is yours Twelve. Good, evil, or come with me to the mortal plane and live your life truly free in the human world.' She cocked her head at him and smiled. 'A man your size will get work somewhere.' Twelve opened his hand and Sem's dropped out. Once again he stood as a statue, eyes moving from weapon to weapon.

Sem moved a respectful distance back, now a little apprehensive. Sure, she had beaten the Sentinel once, but could she do it if he grabbed a weapon from the walls? She didn't want to think of the answer to that. She turned to Natasha. 'Why do I not feel oppressed in this room?' She studied the intricate carpet laid on the floor, unwilling to look Natasha directly in the eyes anymore--it conflicted her feelings.

Natasha dropped her daggers onto an ornate lounger, then pulled the rings from her fingers and dropped them one by one into a brown, bloodstained cup. 'I don't like angels,' Natasha began, 'I especially don't like ordinary guardian angels. So Semila, do not think us friends. I saved you because the Dark One wanted it so, nothing more, nothing less. If he were to request your death, I would facilitate that too. Do you understand our position?'

Sem straightened her shoulders. 'I've fucking known that from the moment I discovered you were a slutty succubus. Our position is a well known fact to me.'

Natasha gave a charming smile. 'Excellent.' She clapped her hands. 'We know where we stand, no hard feelings if I have to kill you okay?'

'Or I you,' Sem snarled.

Natasha raised her eyebrows and smiled. 'Okay,' --she turned her back to the angel-- 'now we know where we stand, that we my kill each other in a blink.' She turned and winked at the angel. 'Help me with the dress, it's a nuisance dressing like this all the time. Honestly we succubae are so stereotyped. We must wear dresses blah, blah, blah. We must be desirable blah, blah, blah. Lipstick! Oh how I hate lipstick.'

Semila approached Natasha and studied the back of her dress with its shimmering material. 'There's no zip, no buttons...how do I help you with the dress?' she frowned.

'Ah,' Natasha whispered, 'it's asleep!'

Sem took a step back. 'What's fucking asleep?' She sounded more curious than she'd intended.

Natasha pulled her hair up from her back. 'Gently tap the two dots at the base of my neck, then he'll wake up.'

'You're fucking kidding right?' Sem said.

Natasha sighed. 'It's only a sheen, Semila, just tap the dots please.'

Sem leaned forward and tapped the two dots as asked. Eyes appeared below the dots. They darted around, and rested on the angel, then widened. 'Be at ease my pet, be at ease. She means no harm and I would like different attire, so you may go rest on the lounger and think up a suitable outfit for my next journey.'

The sheen did as commanded and slithered from the succubus' body, leaving her naked in the centre of the room.

Sem took another step back. 'What the fuck is a sheen?' She stared aghast at the thing draping itself on the lounger. Natasha turned to Sem, but Sem closed her eyes and turned away. Still, she could feel the succubus' smile.

'I found this sheen three centuries ago, while wandering the Abyss. It was being set upon by a few rather nasty Bebiliths. I saved its life.' Natasha pointed up to the wall where three gruesome, humongous spider heads were mounted on a slate background.

She bent over and stroked the sheen, which shuddered and change colour. 'I didn't know what it was at first, so I brought it back here and nursed it back to health. So...'

Sem snorted. 'A devil showing compassion. You have to be fucking kidding me.' Natasha gave a small smile. 'So,' she continued, 'after a bit of research I found out what a sheen is. I must say I couldn't have been happier. A sheen is a most rare creature, it bonds with one thing in its lifetime. If for instance it finds another sheen, they mate and have lots of other "baby sheens" but this is a very, very rare occurrence. This one bonded with me, even without my charms.'

'So what does a sheen do?' asked Sem. 'Apart from mimicking clothing that is.'

The succubus kicked her heels off and stretched like a cat. She looked Sem in the eyes and smiled a most charming smile, Sem felt herself being dragged in. 'Come my pet, show the ragged angel what we can do.'

The sheen threw itself at the succubus, in an instant Natasha was in full plated armour, a second later in chainmail, a simple blue dress, a maid's outfit, a police woman, a suit, a bikini, finally some boots, jeans and a t-shirt.

The succubus twirled around. 'You like?'

Sem stood gobsmacked. 'I never knew such things existed,' she said.

Natasha looked at herself in the full length mirror mounted on the wall. 'A jacket my pet,' she said as she looked at Sem's reflection in the mirror. 'One like hers.'

A jacket appeared in an instant. 'Ah a nightmare dressed as a daydream, how quaint!'

Natasha turned to the angel. 'A sheen is more than just a being that imitates clothes. Its body is resistant to all but the most magical of weapons, giving me armour I could only dream of having, no matter what I wear. It enhances one's powers and takes the opposition's away.' She smiled again.

'And I love it, and it loves me.' Natasha stroked the jacket and the sheen shimmered again.

'I am done,' Twelve boomed from behind them.

Sem almost jumped, she had been so engrossed by the succubus that she had forgotten all about Twelve. Both Natasha and Sem took a step back. Twelve was dressed head to toe in obsidian black armour, a fire red shield buckled to his left arm and a broad sword the size of a man on the other.

Natasha looked rather disappointed at his attire. 'Twelve,' she scolded, 'How in the nine hells are you going to fit through the door? We had to pull you through as it is. Now' --she waved her hand up and down his full length-- 'you are almost twice the size! Honestly Twelve, you have to start thinking things through.'

Twelve's shoulders slumped and the armour clanked. 'I thought this would suit me,' he rumbled.

Sem shot Natasha a filthy look. 'It does suit you Twelve,' said the angel, 'and if we were out in a huge battlefield, well there's no fucker I would rather have than you dressed in that by my side. But it's a little constricting for these walls, maybe something a little less magnificent?'

Natasha grinned as she walked forward. 'You are all trained in the fighting arts Twelve, not swords. So with that in mind, I have these.' A tray floated towards them, on it lay a pair of spiked gauntlets, and spiked knee and elbow protectors. The items crackled with power, and as the tray moved forward they changed colour numerous times. Twelve pulled the armour off bit by bit, eyes transfixed on the weapons on the tray.

Sem's eyes drifted to the bracelet on the alter again. Was it calling her? She looked away back to Twelve, but the bracelet seemed to call louder. She knew something wasn't right, but her legs were taking her across the room, the call was beautiful. She wanted to wear the bracelet, it wanted her to wear it too. 'Hold me my love,' it whispered, 'place me on your wrist and together we will rule.' Serene music hummed in the background, and Sem giggled. Was she floating? It definitely felt like she was floating. Her hand reached out. The bracelet was so close. She could almost touch it, feel it cool on her wrist.

'Yes my love,' it sang, 'place me on your wrist. I love you so muuchh.'

A hard slap across Semila's face sent her sprawling across the room, pain burning on her cheek.

'I told you' --Natasha still wore her charming smile-- 'not to touch anything in here without my say so. Are guardian angels thick? I must say I have never conversed with one, but if you are the norm, then John Finnie is in deep trouble.'

At the mention of John's name Semila came to her senses. 'What do you know of John' --she rose groggily from the floor-- 'and what the fuck is that bracelet?' She walked up nose to nose with the succubus. 'And who in God's name is the Dark One?'

'You are so aggressive angel Semila, it's...lovely to see. Although a tad misplaced I feel.' Natasha swept her hair behind her ear and sat down.

Sem took a deep breath. Fuck she's gorgeous. No! Damn it, she'd done it again.

'Sit here Semila, I'll tell you all you wish to know,' the succubus lay seductively on the lounger.

It took all her will to stay where she was. 'I'll stand here thanks.'

Twelve put a big hand on her shoulder. 'How do I look?' he asked in a deep rumbling voice.

Sem turned and looked up, she could just make out the gauntlets, knee, and elbow weapons, as they had changed colour to blend in with his skin and clothes. 'You look like my friend Twelve, big as a house and mean as shit. I'm gonna guess those weapons are your new favourite toy, eh?'

Twelve lifted his hand and smiled.

Natasha cleared her throat. 'Okay, enough of the gooey malarkey. You had questions. Firstly, why are you not oppressed in here?' Natasha swung her feet to the floor. 'This is not a part of Hell, this room is in a portal, far from prying eyes. Secondly, I know more of John Finnie than you ever will, that is why the Dark One sent me to help you.' Sem was about to speak but Natasha put her hand up. 'We wish him no harm Semila, so no idle threats, please. Thirdly that bracelet is from an arch demon called Shank, Lord of blades. The bracelet is a marriage proposal trapped inside is the essence of an incubus. That is why you felt drawn to it. Had you put it on you would have been under Shank's control, and that is something you definitely do not want.'

Natasha shuddered. 'Ever. Lastly, the Dark One is of no concern to you. He wishes no harm to you or John and through me, will aid your journey to get the photo.'

'So you will help me get through the portal?' Sem asked.

The succubus nodded and stood, then ambled to the door, hips swaying alluringly. 'That is why I am here Semila.' She traced a symbol and the door opened again. Natasha stepped through. 'Come on then, let's follow the yellow bricked road to the mouth of the portal.'

Sem stepped through after her. 'Will it be guarded? The portal I mean.'

Natasha furrowed her brow and put her hands on her hips. 'Of course, why wouldn't it be? Satan himself has put Shank there, and I hear he's mighty pissed at having such a low appointment.'

Anubis, that fucking liar.

'Oh dear,' said the rumbling voice behind her.

Sem summoned her knife and walked forwards with Natasha. Nothing for it but to face the shit she'd gotten herself into.

'Are you ready to die Semila?' the succubus asked.

'Fuck no!' Sem sensed the succubus smiling again.

'Good,' she replied, 'me neither, so this should be fun.'