We made it back to the gas station with little trouble. I leaned on Alex for most of the way, but eventually that became too much for both of us, and Asmodeus was left with no choice but to carry me, complaining throughout the entire process of course. But despite all of his complaining, he was gentle, and tried not to jostle me too much, which I appreciated. I wondered about this 'natural magic' that he had spoken of. It sounded a great deal harder than the book's magic, which had come so easily. Then again, I supposed it would be useful not to have to speak aloud in order to get something to happen. I fell asleep sometime during that journey, and awoke an unknowable amount of time later on the floor of the gas station store. 

I opened my eyes, blinking in the incessantly bright light being emitted from the fluorescent bulbs above. I looked around, trying to discern what time of day it was, or even if it was daytime at all. My eyes came to a stop on Asmodeus's form. He was sitting, leaning against the counter. I could see the cash register above his head, so we must have been behind it. His eyes were closed, and I wondered briefly if he was asleep. At this thought, he opened his eyes, bright red irises seeming to pierce through my very soul. There was a hatred burning there. A hatred for me it seemed, but before I could think any further along that topic, he blinked, and he was just As again. He smiled at me. Well, smirked really. I hadn't ever actually seen his smile. 

"Look who finally decided to wake up," he said.

"Where's Alex?" I asked. My voice sounded raspy and it cracked on each word. I realized that I hadn't had any water in at least a day, which only made me thirstier. As tossed me a water bottle. Not having the strength to catch it, I allowed it to land in my lap before picking it up and drinking eagerly. It was gone in just a few moments. I smiled.

"Thanks." As shrugged. "But really. Where's Alex?" I asked again, starting to get slightly worried.

"He's around. Now lets go," he responded, standing up and reaching out a hand to help me up.

"Go where?" I asked.

"Outside. It's time I taught you some real magic," he responded simply. Even though it was a perfectly valid response, it still came out sounding ominous. Nevertheless, I took his outstretched hand and allowed him to haul me to my feet. I swayed for a moment, black spots dancing around in my vision as I tried to keep myself standing. My thoughts went back to As's many warnings about draining myself of too much magic.

"Are you sure I'm ready for this?" I asked, as he led me outside. He was still holding my hand. I wasn't sure whether to pull away or not. Eventually I decided not to. I'd want it there if I passed out, which I felt very inclined to do.

"This kind of magic won't take as much out of you. It's natural. No one ever uses it because only people born with the gift can. Demons can use some. Like I told you before, concealment magic. Angels are more adept with air, light, and water magic. Archangels specialize in fire. We'll have to see what--"

"Angels are real?" I asked incredulously. That angel that had appeared in my dream. I had thought that she was just a figment of my imagination, but she could have been real?

"Of course they're real. There would be no demons without angels. We wouldn't exist if Lucifer, who was an angel first, hadn't fallen." I knew the story, but it still baffled me that all of that was actually real. I had always felt kind of bad for Lucifer. After all, he was right about us. About humans. We are flawed. Deeply. Perhaps he went a bit of an extreme route, but even so. His punishment had never seemed fair to me. As I was thinking about all of this, As was leading me further and further away from the gas station. I was about to ask him why, when a different thought struck me.

"Does that mean God is real?" I asked him. He halted. 

"I suppose," he said slowly.

"What do you mean, you suppose? If angels and demons are real then God has to be real too right?" I said. This was both a wonderful, and terrible thought. God was real, and that in itself was wonderful. But he was real, and he had let so many bad things happen. He had let Luca die. My parents. Everyone in between. Asmodeus seemed to be growing uncomfortable with this line of questioning, but he kept talking anyway.

"There's a lot that is based on faith. We're really not so different from you humans in that respect. No one has actually seen God. Or Lucifer for that matter. Lilith runs hell, and Michael runs heaven." I pondered this for a moment. I felt like my brain was about to explode.

"So you all just take it on faith?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Yes. I suppose we do," he responded.

"Why?"

"Why?" Asmodeus repeated, slightly exasperated. "For the same reason humans do. We need to believe in something. If we believe in nothing at all, then there is chaos. If we don't believe, then nothing matters. Without belief, there is no purpose. No reason, to do anything at all. We have to believe that there is a balance. Light, and dark. Without balance, the world crumbles." There wasn't really a response to that, so I just let it hang between us. After a few moments of heavy silence, Asmodeus seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts and come back to reality. 

"We should get started. Sit down there," he said, gesturing to a patch of dirt. I really didn't want to sit in the dirt. "Oh don't be a baby," As said when he saw me hesitating.

"I'm not being a baby," I muttered, but I sat down. Asmodeus sat down across from me, which made me feel a little better. At least he would be dirty too. Of course, he could get rid of the dirt in an instant. These were the only clothes that I had. 

"Now. Close you eyes and clear your mind," As said. I closed my eyes, but my mind was too full of our previous conversation to effectively clear my mind. Angels. There were actual angels. I wondered where they were. Did they ever perform miracles? I had never believed in any of that stuff until As came along. I had always thought it was stupid to put your faith in something that had not been proven to exist in the first place. But now I knew that it did exist. Maybe not God, but angels at least. Actual angels. Which meant that the woman from my dream could have been real, which meant that he warning could have been real, which worried me to no end. What had she meant?

"I do believe I said clear your mind." Asmodeus said sharply. 

"Sorry," I muttered, doubling my efforts. I pictured my brain as a whiteboard. Right now, every inch of it was covered with swirling black letters. I picked up an eraser, and slowly, carefully, erased it all. 

"Good," As said. "Now. Focus on what's around you. Feel the breeze blow through your hair. Feel the sun filtering through the clouds to touch your skin. Feel the ground beneath you. The dirt, rocks, plants. Tiny particles. Everything is connected. The Earth is a cycle, and you are part of that cycle." I let out a breath. It was a cold day. It was like I could feel all of the particles floating around in the air around me. I was completely aware of my surroundings. It was beautiful. Even though it was cloudy, I could just a barely feel the sun, trying desperately to peak through the clouds. I was sitting on a bunch of dirt and rocks, which should have been uncomfortable, but somehow wasn't. I was one with life itself. I heard a lone crow caw out, looking for its fellows. I heard a small animal rustling around in the undergrowth, felt the vibrations of tiny paws running along the ground.

"Now look into my mind," As said. This caused me to pause. I opened my eyes.

"You told me that I could go insane from doing that," I protested. His red eyes bore into me, his gaze unwavering and intense.

"I need you to realize the difference between everything out here, the light and life, and everything inside of me, darkness and death," he said calmly. He didn't seem like darkness and death most of the time. In fact, he seemed like a good person. I had to constantly remind myself that he was a demon, a being of pure evil. I swallowed nervously.

"Are you sure it's safe?" I asked, my voice small.

"Safe? No. But it's not as if any part of this journey will be safe. We've already been attacked by vampires, and that just by chance! So no, it is most definitely not safe, but it is necessary." I was no accustomed to this "teacher" version of Asmodeus. It felt weird taking orders from him when it had always been the other way around.

"This had better not kill me," I muttered, closing my eyes again. He didn't respond, which wasn't exactly reassuring. I ignored my doubt and attempted to reach out with my mind, only to hit what I thought felt like a pretty solid wall. 

"How am I supposed to enter your mind if you won't let me?" I asked, frustrated when the wall didn't budge.

"It's not supposed to be easy," he responded calmly. I sighed, and poked at the wall again. I was so far into my own mind that I could actually see the wall. I was standing in front of it. I pushed against it with my hands, but that didn't do anything.

"Find the weakness." As's voice seemed far away, or like it was being filtered through gauze.

Or a wall, I thought wryly. 

"How do you know there is a weakness?" I asked, beginning to walk along the wall. It was black, and very, very solid. 

"Because I put it there," he responded. I sighed, before continuing my path along the wall. I walked for what felt like forever. My legs were tired, which made no sense because all of this was in my head. I didn't know how long I had been sitting on the ground, or walking along the wall, whichever. Maybe I was really in his head. Maybe I had actually teleported into his mind. I had no way of knowing, and As had made it perfectly clear that we would stay where we were until I figured this out. I ran my fingers over the wall. I was going in circles. I knew that. Despite what As said about there being a weakness, I was beginning to doubt it. I would stay here forever, running my fingers over this wall, smooth as glass, until it wasn't. I looked at the wall in confusion. It looked the same as it always did. Smooth. I ran my hand over the same spot again, making sure I wasn't imagining things. There was definitely a bump there. Excitement and relief coursed through me as I gently pressed down. It was a button. A fucking button. I must have walked past it at least twenty times, but you couldn't see it. You would only know it was there if you felt it with your own two hands.

A door swung open. Silently, ominously. Beyond the threshold was darkness. Not blackness, darkness. There's a difference. It wasn't simply dark. It radiated dark. The dark was oppressive, sinister, like it wanted to kill me. I hesitated. 

"It will be worse inside. Trust me." Asmodeus's words were not reassuring, but I plunged in anyway. I was immediately met with an onslaught of noise. Screaming, so much screaming. Someone was dying. They must be, to be screaming like that. No, not dying. Dying was more peaceful than that. Being tortured, horribly. I wanted to curl up in a ball and cover my ears. I was about to do just that when Asmodeus's clear voice broke through the torturous din. 

"Concentrate," he said.

"I can't!" I screamed. "It's too loud!"

"Luna. You need to focus. Let the noise in. Let it wash over you. It's just noise, and it's not even real noise. Remember that it isn't real. It can't hurt you. When we are done here, you will return to the world, and none of this will matter. Do you understand me?" I fought to stay on my feet.

"Y-yes," I forced out, trying to do as he said. I opened up to the noise. It hurt, but it also didn't, because I knew the pain wasn't actually real. The noise couldn't hurt me. I took as step forward, and then another, and another, until I was walking at a normal pace, the noise a forgotten memory in the back of my mind. It was still there, but barely noticeable. There was something ahead of me. Something that seemed to be pulling me towards it. A heart of sorts. I walked towards it, faster and faster, until I was practically jogging, but I was jogging in nothingness. It was weird. It was like when people thought about death. Some people believed in heaven and hell, others believed in nothingness. I was one of those people until recently. People think about it as a blank canvas. Nothing, nowhere, and yet everything and everywhere. It was like that, but darker, and I could still hear the echoes of screams. I wondered briefly who exactly was screaming, but I had other things to think about. I had reached a door.

"Alright. Well done. Feel free to leave now." Asmodeus's voice sounded slightly alarmed, as if he hadn't thought I would make it this far.

"What's behind the door?" I asked, reaching out for the handle, only to recoil in shock and pain. It had burned white hot at my touch.

"Nothing of importance," Asmodeus responded, maybe a little too quickly.

"Then why can't I see?" I didn't get a response. Instead, I was yanked out of his mind, landing back in my own mind with jolt. My eyes flew open, to find Asmodeus staring at me, mouth in a carefully controlled line.

"Even demons have private thoughts Luna," he chastised.

"Sorry," I mumbled. I could order him to tell me what was back there, but that was a serious breech of trust. I was ashamed that the thought had even occurred to me. I didn't like him digging around in my head, and for the most part he didn't. He deserved the same level of respect.

"That's quite alright. Now, I suggest you get some sleep. We continue toward Los Angeles tomorrow," he said, standing. I stood to, suddenly realizing that it was dark.

"Have we been sitting there all day?" I asked incredulously. As nodded. I knew it was the truth when I tried to take a step and nearly fell over. I was so stiff I could have been used as a bridge. I managed to hobble back to the gas station, As beside me, walking as smoothly as ever, which annoyed me to no end. Alex was already inside, curled in a ball by the counter, sleeping. His eyes were closed tight, his mouth set in a distinct frown, hair all over the place.

He looks adorable. Woah. Where the hell had that come from. As watched me with amusement. I knew he had heard that thought, and was glad he had the decency not to mention it. I moved a few feet away and laid down on the ground, not realizing how tired I was until that moment. I was asleep in less than a moment.

Nice long chapter for you guys today. Keep in mind, I haven't actually edited this chapter so there might be some mistakes. Merry Christmas Eve everybody.

xoxo

-Sierra <3