"They're going to do what?" I asked, pretty sure he'd just said my friends were about to resurrect me.

"I've been watching them, Alec, and trust me it's about to happen. Any minute now in fact."

Wait... what?

"What do you mean, you've been watching them?" I asked, "Are they okay, is Kian okay?"

Belph sighed, "We don't have time for this!"

With a roar I leaped up and grabbed Belph's shirt.

"We're going to make time. Tell me. Now."

"Jeez, kid, take it easy. I'm not your enemy here." Belph said.

"Yeah? I'm not so sure about that." I retorted, "How do I know you're telling me the truth."

"I guess you don't." Belph replied, "Your gonna have to use that little thing you humans love so much called faith."

Faith? In a demon? He had to be joking...

"Look, I want you out of here as much as you want to get back to Kian..."

"Why do I feel like there's a 'but' coming?" I said, an uneasy feeling settling in my stomach.

"I still haven't located your body, and, trust me what they have planned is not ideal."

"Hang on, what do you mean?"

"They have a body to summon your soul into, but, it's... complicated."

Really? It didn't seem like it.

"What is so bloody complicated about it?" I asked, really feeling like flinging the demon through the wall.

"Once you have crossed back into a body, you won't be able to leave it. You'll be stuck."

So what? At least I'll be back with my family.

"Yeah, I'll be stuck back on Earth where I belong." I replied.

"Yes and no," Belph said, "Kid, your not going to like the body their looking to put you into."

"What are you talking about?"

"The reason you are what you are, Alec. The werewolf who turned you."

No. No way. Not him. How the fuck could it be him?

"No..."

"Unfortunately, yes." Belph replied, "Well, it's not exactly like they had a lot of options."

"You know what Belph? Screw you. I've had enough of this." I said as I let him go, "I don't believe you."

He looked at me, his face unreadable.
"You know, getting angry isn't going to help anything."

"Why the bloody hell not?"

"Because the only person who can stop Lilith is you. The world is still on the edge of destruction." Belph answered.

"This is all some sick joke right?" I retorted.

"Oh I wish it was." he replied sadly, "But it's not. There's another way, but it will mean you staying here... for now at least."

"Stay here? Why the fuck would I do that? You have Wesley's soul trapped!"

Also why the fuck would I stay when I had a chance to leave... to see Kian again.

"Because, like I said, you'll be stuck. No do overs. Your friend is fine, it was just an illusion, he's still in Heaven. Once you're in that body you won't be able to get out. Is that really what you want?"

It wasn't, just the thought of being anywhere near Jonathan Cayhill made me feel sick, the thought of being inside him... no. Wait. That sounded wrong.

"Look, what I'm proposing is that I go instead of you. I can move in and out of bodies so there's no worry about me getting stuck in that piece of filth. I can let your friends know where you are, and once we find your body we can bring you back and get Nick out."

Nick. Damn it. He would be worrying about me.

"If I go, I hope you'll look out for him. That kid is important, if the multiverse is going to survive then he must not be harmed."

Belph looked at me, studying my expression. Shit. I didn't really have a choice here.

"I'll look out for him," I said, "If we're going to do this then I need to know something. Are you really going to work with us? I don't trust you."

"I know you don't," Belph smiled, "Sometimes I don't trust me either, but right now our only option is each other."

He was right, but, it still didn't make it any better.

"So what's going to happen then?" I asked, "How does this work?"

"I've only seen it happen once, a red mist will appear, and it'll come looking for you. I'll intercept it, so that it'll take me instead."

"Your sure?"

"Nope, but no better time to try, right?" Belph said as a thick red mist began to seep into the room, heading straight for me, "And Alec?" he said quickly stepping in the way.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck," he said as the mist began to envelop him, "See you soon, kid."

Suddenly, the mist covered Belph so he was no longer visible, and when it finally dispersed he was no longer there. He was gone, and I was once again left alone.

I just hoped this time I had made the right choice.

*

A week passed, and I had kept my promise to Belph to look after Nick.

He had taken Belph's sudden disappearance well enough, but every so often he would ask me how he was doing, which made me wonder how long I could keep him fooled.

Sooner or later I was going to have to tell him the truth, prepare him for when we could finally get out of the confines of Hell.

We sat looking out over the view of Hell, the sound of the waterfall roaring in the background, but I still felt on edge. I hated this part of it. I hated having to stay here. Even though everything had gone well during my time trapped down there I couldn't shake the nagging worry that somehow Belph would go back on his word to help my friends.

He had been right. I had to have faith.

Nick laid down, closing his eyes. At least he was at peace.

"Your staring," he said, opening one eye to look at me.

To be fair, I had been. Too lost in my thoughts to realise.

"Just making sure you're okay,"

His eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything else, choosing to play back down and listen to the waterfall.

There was nothing I hated more than having to pretend. It never went well for anyone involved, but this was for his own good. He couldn't know, not yet.

"Alec?" I heard Nick ask from his position on the floor.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me about Moonstone," he said, "I like it when you talk about Earth. It's like I can picture it all."

"What do you want to know?" I asked.

"What about the time you, Kian, Victoria and Wesley met that zombie."

Chaz.

"The Zombie Maître D," I smiled, readying myself to tell the story, "We landed in Chaz's Diner, he's an excellent cook, almost as good as Derek... when he saw us he dropped a load of plates. Victoria used her magic to fix them up..."

Nick sat up then, listening intently as I told him about how we came up with the plan to head back in time to try and clear my name.

He laughed when I mentioned Chaz finding his missing eyeball and smiled at Wesley's love of chips. As the curfew came I had just gotten to the point where I asked Harry Jekyll shoot me with a silver bullet to preserve the timeline when Nick looked down towards the lake and yawned.

"Time to turn in," I said to him, "Come on buddy."

So we headed back to the door, the distant sound of the waterfall echoing off the walls as we walked.