Asteroth had drawn his spear, furious as he impaled demon after demon, the lower filth more than expendable as his blade drove through flesh and bone in his search for Roarke, Balam's precious new meat suit.  "If any of you have dared sample his flesh you will all regret it! The marked mortal belongs to me!" His statement was punctuated with a spear through the skull of a dragon-like beast. If one of these lesser, mindless fodder had destroyed Balam's body, Asteroth would not rest until every demon in Hell had paid the price.<br/><br/>He passed corpses upon corpses, some still moaning for help, some twitching their last breathes as he passed over them, perhaps not corpses yet, but forsaken beyond humanity and too mutilated to be considered anything else. Asteroth was unconcerned with their whimpering once he'd taken note that they did not bare Balam's mark. Screams and pleas for help met his ears, though Asteroth knew they weren't Roarke's and was quite impressed there were still mortals who'd survived the pits of hell long enough to utter an intelligible word. Blood continued to flow, making its way to the dais where he knew two knights were currently reclaiming their places among the circle. '<i>And Balam should be among them.'</i>The embodiment of pride become overcome with anger, embarrassed that Roarke had caused a scene, enraged that a mortal had forced him to show emotion even in the slightest, even demanded a reaction from him that hinted he might . . . maybe,<i>actually</i>give a fuck if Balam could not return. If he couldn't find Roarke, if he could not drag his living carcass back onto the dais where Balam's connection to the underworld would be at its strongest, then all would be lost. If the solstice ended without Balam and Roarke completing the ritual, it would leave Asteroth with little choice.<br/><br/>And the difficulty of his task would increase tenfold.<br/><br/>To veritable impossibility.<br/><br/>For if he could not force Roarke to share his body with Balam on this night while his Brother's strength was at it's peak, he would have to convince the mortal to share his shell willingly. He would have to convince Roarke to spend centuries as a slave in his own mind.<br/><br/>And Asteroth hadn't the time for such things when they should all fall in line for him as everything else seemed to.<br/><br/>That's when Asteroth realized he was not alone among the feasting sea of lesser spawn. He'd been graced with the presence of a fellow knight, Ravan, Envy . . . and a trickster of sorts. Asteroth found a heavy dread had settled itself within him like a stone, for Ravan had no purpose here besides trouble, of that the Knight of Pride was certain. He did not dismiss his spear as he approached, Envy eyeing a blank expanse within the mob of death around them. Asteroth could feel it, an energy so great that it could only have come from his equal. The aura of the mortal realm lingered here, Asteroth's eyes narrowing dangerously as he approached his androgynous sibling. He could practically taste the glee in Envy's eyes, could hear a silent laughter as betrayal seeped into his bones and mingled with rage. "Ravan . . . " His voice was sweet like arsenic. "You have not perhaps seen the marked mortal that you know I seek? Because I can't imagine that you might have without lifting a finger to apprehend him." His fingers tightened on the haft of his weapon. "Because if perhaps you did notice Roarke, and if perhaps you did nothing to bring him back to the dais . . . you should expect that I might have a lapse in judgement of my own." The spear in his grasp sharpened itself, shadows seeping from his fingertips as he moved closer to inspect the site of a freshly-closed portal. "Because you KNOW, Ravan, that my patience is especially thin." He was pissed, enraged beyond anything he could recall feeling in all his centuries of immortality. He knew exactly what had transpired here, only he couldn't fathom why aside from the simple fact that his sibling had wanted to get under his skin, but this was far more than a slight. This night had been planned for decades and to ruin it now . . . ?  "You KNOW that I am not one to be toyed with." His eyes were aflame as he turned back to face the other Knight. "Tell me, Ravan, that you did not just allow Balam's chosen to escape! That you didn't . . . " He lifted his spear, ". . . provide an escape route," shadows began to encircle them both, creating an arena, "FOR ROARKE TO RE-ENTER THE MORTAL REALM!" He dove for his sibling, spear directed at the weak point beneath Envy's chest plate, but the other Knight moved just enough to glance the blow aside, staggering them both. Seething, Asteroth didn't care that he'd missed. He had another plan entirely now, a plan that would cripple Ravan in kind, a lot worse than the irritation of regrowing a head.<br/><br/>"I did, indeed. I thought perhaps it might be good for you not to have things your way for once."<br/><br/>"You think this is funny?" He banished his spear, a maniacal grin beneath his helmet. "You thought it would be entertaining to delay our brother's return? Maybe you do now, but let's see how funny it is . . . " Asteroth ripped his own portal in the fabric of hell. "When it's your chosen on the line." He was gone in a blink, closing the portal behind him as he re-appeared in a great hall filled with the chatter and laughter of humans, a different kind of feasting than that of his lower, mindless kin. He could feel her, an energy of Ravan's own mingled with that of a mortal. The woman had taken the hand of another, a servant with the cropped hair of a stable boy pulling a well-dressed lady away from the crowd. He wasn't visible as he followed them to the kitchens, eyeing the mark of envy upon an exposed collarbone as the two women began to explore each other over a table of boiled turnips and raw pastry. He had to admire the dominant, insistent nature of Ravan's next body, the sexual aggression of a man wrapped into the delicate body of a woman. This mortal fit Ravan well.<br/><br/>"How unfortunate." He felt the mortal realm tremble as another portal opened itself behind him. "Unfortunate, indeed," he grinned as he watched the look of panic in Ravan's eyes, his spear lancing through the skulls of both women as they kissed.<br/><br/>"NOOOOOO!" His sibling fell to their knees, distraught with the loss of their marked. Asteroth, on the other hand, felt much better, removing his helmet as he he stood above Envy, taking their chin in his gloved hand and forcing their eyes to meet. "Do not cross me again. It destroys me that you had to learn this the hard way." It didn't, of course. This had been as easy for Asteroth as swatting a fly.<br/><br/>With that, he was gone back to Hell in an instant, leaving his betrayer among a pair of motionless bodies as he began to amass an army of lower demons. Roarke couldn't hide. He couldn't outrun an army of demons.<br/><br/>And he couldn't say no forever.