There was no real difference between day and night in hell, but Kat and Shaye were waking up naturally by the time Rajek came to their room. Vine forced himself not to call a weapon to his hand. He had to keep on the angel of death's good side as long as possible.

"Did you find something?" he asked instead.

"What do you think?" Rajek responded with a victorious grin. Without waiting for Vine to say anything he called to the two still remaining in bed, "Wake up, humans! It's time to go!"

Kat gave Vine a questioning look. He nodded quietly as a reply.

Despite trying to appear calm and composed, Vine startled a little as Rajek suddenly wrapped one arm around his shoulders.

"Joal said you wish to join us again. Care to share why I should allow that?"

"How many angels do you think you can talk to join your new rebellion?" Vine stopped just long enough for Rajek to think about it but not long enough to answer. "If it's me, you know it will be many."

"And what guarantees you'd fight to the end this time?"

"I would not fight. Only lead. But like Joal pointed out, I do want real freedom on earth." He cast a longing look at Kat. "A world where there isn't an unpassable rift between 'fallen' angels and servants of god."

"Hmm..." Rajek eyed the young woman for a moment. "Good enough."

They left the castle riding dragons. Almost all remaining fallen angels had one - Joal was the only exception and she rode with Rajek and Vine. Vine himself would have preferred to travel with Kat and Shaye, but after a good while of arguing over the matter - he would not let them ride alone with Razia, as she might have killed Kat out of sheer jealousy if Rajek had mentioned the young woman was his main reason to cooperate at all - they had come to reluctant agreement that Meriel would keep an eye on the humans.

Rajek was talking about his plans to invade heaven the whole time. Vine kept his answers careful enough that hopefully nobody would question his motives. Silently he kept hoping they'd get to their destination soon. He really didn't want to listen to the list of angels Rajek had decided to kill once given the chance.

Finally they stopped above one of the countless lava lakes littering the landscape of hell. Without really even giving Vine a chance to fly down himself, Rajek dragged him to the natural bridge arching high above the lake. The others similarly brought Kat and Shaye down.

"I don't see anything," Vine pointed out.

Rajek grinned. "You're looking at wrong directions. Down there."

He looked down. It took a moment to spot it with the heat waves distorting the air, but there it was. The pattern that marked the doorway just waiting to be opened. Right on the surface of lava.

Talk of a bad spot...If the doorway did not open, anybody going down there would be dead for certain. No, even if it did, there was no guarantee that the heat wouldn't kill first.

"Not quite what you expected, is it?" Rajek asked.

Vine didn't look at him. "If you have any brilliant ideas, I'll gladly listen."

"The way I see it, the solution is obvious." Rajek suddenly grabbed the back of Shaye's shirt and lifted the boy to air. "If you told the truth, the door opens when this kid takes the key to that symbol, right?"

"Don't! He'd die!"

But before he could even try to rescue Shaye, someone else pulled one of his arms behind his back and a huge sword was held against his throat. "Grehar..." he snarled.

The other demon remained behind him, a smirk playing on his lips. "Nobody trusts a traitor a second time," he spoke to Vine's ear. "If there is anything else that needs to be done, you'd better do it quickly."

Razia was holding to Kat's arm - probably nobody thought her a threat enough to warrant closer guard -, and Vine held no doubt that Razia could kill a human without hesitation. Neither would Rajek think twice about tossing Shaye into the lava.

"Well?" Rajek asked.

"...There is nothing else."

"Good." Then the former angel of death nonchalantly dropped the boy off the rocky bridge.

Other than Kat's horrified gasp, all was completely quiet as Shaye plummeted towards the intricate pattern somehow maintaining its shape despite the movements of molten rock around it. Then, like as an answer to prayers, his fall suddenly stopped less than five feet from the crimson surface and the pattern lit up in response to the key - just like back in the bunker.

Slowly the tiny item floated down, breaking free of its string, and into the corresponding indentation. The moment it clicked into place, Shaye disappeared.

"Did it work?" Joal asked, clearly unsure.

Vine was almost certain it did. Almost. But with the current odds he had preciously little else to do than take his chances. "Send Kat down and you'll know for sure."

"Not that easy," Rajek reprimanded him. "She's the trump card to ensure you cooperate."

"You're still a fool," Vine breathed out. "You lost my cooperation the moment you threw the kid down." Right then a dagger appeared in his hand and he stabbed Grehar right below his ribs - or at least as accurately as he could without seeing where he was aiming - while pushing at the great sword the other demon was holding to avoid getting his throat slit. Before the others could recover from the surprise, he shoved Kat and Razia off the bridge.

Just as he had expected, Razia stopped her descent with her wings, leaving Kat to fall into the doorway. She also disappeared the moment she touched the symbol. Vine was already about to follow when Rajek's gauntleted hand plunged into his side. Apparently those pointed tips were not solely for decoration...

"Once a traitor, always a traitor," Rajek spoke with disdain as Vine fell to his knees.

"Perhaps," Vine agreed, gritting his teeth against the pain. His job was not done yet. Kat and Shaye were safely back on earth, but he still had to close the doorway.

Rajek pulled him up by his hair. "Killing you now would be such a waste. I'll make you watch your humans die first."

Vine smirked. "You've toyed with helpless prey far too long, Rajek. It's made you lose your edge."

Rajek punched him on the stomach and watched with satisfaction as Vine curled up in pain. "Hah! I'd like to see you say that again while you're slowly carved to pieces."

"Hell is not...*cough* the only place fallen angels have to struggle to survive in." A sudden blast of energy threw Rajek off balance and Vine dropped back to one knee as the grip on his hair disappeared. His hand fell to the rock keeping them all from falling into the lava. It was not at all like on earth, but it should still crumble with enough force. "Kill or be killed. I did hate myself for it, but that's the law of the jungle I learned all too well."