Sion Vanders stood amongst a crowd of those like him. Dressed in a black top and fitted light wash denim jeans, his blue-ish green eyes stared forward. Their lordship was speaking, and it had to be important. A few people around him chattered and gossiped about what it could all be for, and the point of so many demons gathered in one area. A fight was bound to break out, with all these high-class demons that thought they were too good to be even breathing the same air as a low-class demon. Sion was a high class demon himself, but the reasons he got the actual place he is now is quite debatable. Some claimed it was his looks, which would be the easiest of all alternatives to assume. Demons could shape their forms at will the more powerful they became, which was a tell-tell sign of a demon’s class. The more distorted with horns and facial features deemed unappealing or unattractive, the lower they were. He would be mistaken as a human if someone did not know him prior to the meeting.

Their lordship, Vaylor was telling them of years past, eons before any of us had been born, fallen, or changed into demons. Describing wars, and hardships and times where the two worlds of Angels and Demons were one, and once divided had to come together to stop an ancient force known as the unknown. High archangels with knowledge of The Lost Arts.

Demons groaned at the thought of tangling with the Angels, and Sion couldn’t help but sigh slightly. He had heard stories about them – The Enlightened. It must have been getting out of hand to have to team up with the Angels. The speech was soon over, and they made their way towards The Heavens to meet up with their better halves.

Jade stood among a crowd of angels, dressed in a simple gown like many around her. She listened as one of the archangels spoke. There were murmurs of concern, questions filled with worry. Meetings of this number were not uncommon, but the archangel was dressed in what could instantly be recognized as battle armor, which was the cause of most of their alarm. More angels arrived, wings folding as they landed and their attention was called for.

When the crowed was silenced, he began explaining the situation. To the surprise of many, the demons of hell were not the cause of concern, but something else. The Enlightened he called them. After explaining the threat he began to explain the need to work with the demons, as they had once. When he had finished they were instructed to obtain armor and told they would be formed into teams, some one demon and one angel, some larger.

Jade waited as some of the angels lept into the sky, shifting aside to give their wings space before joining them. It was not long before gowns of white and gold had been exchanged for light armor and swords. They each were given instructions on where they would meet the others who would form their team. She sighed upon being told she would be in a single angel team, saluting and walking to the courtyard where she took off. She landed lightly among a smaller number who were waiting for or looking for the demon they would be working with. She looked among the small group, trying to see if she could locate her demonic partner.

The other halves joined as one as they entered through those trademark golden gates into the domain they all had once resided in together at a time. Their leader, Vaylor was already headed up onto the white marble platform to take his place beside the leader of The Angels. Everything seemed to be so serious, as everyone already began segregating themselves based off class, status, and race. Sion himself found somewhere in the middle to situate himself. There was little point in trying to run from establishing communication with their other halves. They were going to be partnered with an Angel for some time, so why not try not to make it as hellish as it sounded?

Everyone else either found themselves stuck beside someone they didn’t want to be next to, or found sanctuary next to someone close. The two powerful “angels” stood up as seemingly one being of true greatness. Vaylor started the speech, his powerful and resonating voice commanded the attention of everyone, even from the Angels whom thought too highly of themselves to take orders from a lowly demon lord.

“My brothers and sisters, and those whom belong to a different way of life than I, the time has risen for us to forget these petty differences between the two of us and come together as one to stop The Enlightened. A high class group of Archangels who are still well versed in what is to be The Lost Arts. This magic is deadly and no one is supposed to be able to even speak the tongue needed to cast such spells. Exercise great caution when and if you are approached by them.”

Everyone looked around, murmurs ranging from worry to arrogance resonated from the crowd. Sion looked up towards where the both of them stood as Vaylor finished his slight speech, and gave the Angel’s leader a bit to speak on. He already knew that the Angel would talk about how everyone needed to band together. They both possessed things that the other needed. Demons needed the rationality of the Angels, while they required the cunning that only Demons could conjure up. This was a very serious issue, because if either side failed to put aside these trivial differences it would surely mean a terrible fate to the Earth realm was to be had.

Jade watched as the Demons nearly poured in, seeking their Angelic counterparts. They seemed to almost sort themselves and Jade was briefly surprised by the near order of their behavior. The atmosphere seemed grim, as though they had already lost, and some sent accusatory glares at the others, as though they were directly to blame for the whole thing. Jade slowly made her way through the tense crowd, moving towards the center of the Demons, which was already beginning to mix with Angels.

After a minute Jade located her Demonic partner and began moving towards the location when the Demon lord began speaking. She stopped, turning her attention to the voice. She listening carefully, murmuring softly at the mention of The Lost Arts. She stood as the Archangel spoke, remembering much of what he said from his earlier speech. They all knew well enough what would happen if they failed, and hell was a better alternative. Some who still hadn't found their counterpart began searching again as he finished speaking and Jade wove through to find her own.

Just after the two lords had finished some left. Some already had jobs to do that they could begin. Lookouts who would attempt to give them some warning of where the Enlightened were, for example. Others were likely to be waiting for a call to arms for when Enlightened were seen. When she found her counterpart Jade stopped nearby. She didn't want to work with a Demon, but really none of them did. Why put it off? It couldn't be avoided, or it could but the price was far too steep. "Well..we're supposed to work together," she said, not entirely sure what she was supposed to say. What do you say to someone a day ago you would have called an enemy when you suddenly had to call upon them as an ally?

Sion heard as the two of them ended their speeches, he glanced to his left to see an Angel with brunette hair that flowed to her waist, and clad in white robes. He raised an eyebrow slightly towards her appearance towards him, but quickly heard that they were to be partnered together for the duration of this battle. Hearing her rather meek and sad attempt at conversation, Sion laughed lightly. It was hard to determine if he was laughing at her or with her at the situation they had been put in. But Sion didn’t really
blend in with the Demons around them. His appearance had an almost elegant feel to it, ethereal if you will.

“It sure seems that way, doesn’t it? We’re going to be together for quite some time, so we may as well get all the formalities out of the way. Sion Vanders, Demon. And I already know you’re an Angel, but your name, Miss?”

He looked at her rather expectantly as they made their way towards the departing stations for Earth. The air around them grew warm as the magic swirled around them. They were all wished luck as they soon were pulled from The Heavens and towards Earth itself. He landed with relative ease, and put a hand into his left pocket, leaving his thumb sticking out. His eyes scanned around the area they were in, and he shrugged as if nothing around them were of any interest to him. He had already given the brief ahead of time that they were going to be on Earth for quite some time. As long as it could take to get rid of The Enlightened. So that meant that they would have to try their best to blend in of sorts. But he had to admit, they did stick out a little, with her long brown hair and pure white dress to his unnaturally snow colored hair and rather tall stature next to her.

“We’re going to need somewhere to stay while we are on our mission here, Angel.”

He was thinking of where would be a perfect place for them to stay. Somewhere in the central area of this town would be ideal. He wouldn’t really recall where they had exactly landed. Somewhere where the hearts of humans were easily taken. He racked his brain a little before passing Jade another glance.

“Any idea of where we would end up where human’s hearts and desires could easily be taken advantage of?”

He didn’t really expect her to even know the answer to that, but he figured he may as well keep making them have conversation. He thought of places that might be it. Maybe Las Vegas, all those con artists roaming the streets..Did it even matter where they went? With the way the superiors were talking, they would be anywhere in a moment’s notice.

Jade stood somewhat awkwardly while waiting for a response, which she got in the form of a brief laugh. She grimaced slightly, gesturing towards their destination. The demon began to talk as they walked and she turned up to look at him, listening. When he finished she nodded, "yeah, that sounds best. My name is Jade Elliot. Not exactly pleasant circumstances to meet under," Jade said, looking ahead. Neither actually meeting the demon nor the circumstances that were the cause could be called pleasant, although perhaps meeting the demon was less unpleasant than the circumstances.

Jade shifted as the magic grew thick, wings adjusting uncomfortably as the magic was made to hide them. When they had been pulled to earth Jade landed fairly well, standing and taking in her surroundings. Her arms dangled by her sides, fingers messing with the unchanged white gown. Sion started talking and she nodded, frowning at her garments. Not exactly good for blending in, she would have to change that soon. "Yes, we are," she said, "any ideas on how we are going to find a place to stay? Don't suppose they gave you a wallet?" She wasn't exactly joking, but she didn't expect him to have one either. "We should head towards the city either way I guess..there are lights that way," she said, pointing a mile or so away towards what definitely looked like a city, while they were near a road surrounded on both sides by large properties.

Jade hummed thoughtfully at the question, pondering it. "Bars come to mind, but that's not quite what you're asking, is it?" She responded after a minute, "I'm not certain, wouldn't that be your area of expertise, being a demon?" She continued thinking over what would leave one exposed to having advantage taken of their heart or desires. Nothing came to her mind, several potential ideas simply contradicted each other.

As they approached approached the city the properties grew smalled, eventually giving way to urban blocks. Jade looked around, watching a few civilians that looked at them oddly. "Ah..I should probably fix the robe thing soon. Not really blending in," she said, holding onto one of her arms. "I wasn't told much about our assignment. What were you told?" she asked.

Sion nodded. “Jade huh? That’s pretty plain, but pretty enough for an Angel, I guess.” He shrugged. “No offense, though.” He smiled slightly and then tapped his chin in thought. “A wallet? I wouldn’t need one. I always frequent on Earth so of course I have one. I just would rather get someone out of their nice place instead of spending my own money on something I can just easily take.” Their journey towards the city seemed to be pretty long, and he noticed as the buildings got less and less extravagant, the people’s demeanors towards them diminished as well, but he was used to that. A quick glance in Jade’s direction and he could tell that she obviously was not.

At her small question about his expertise, he chuckled. “Well yes, I suppose that would be a fair area for me, wouldn’t it?” Hearing her comment about her clothes, he waved a dismissive hand towards her. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll get it taken care of, don’t worry about it.” Walking a little longer, maybe ten minutes or so, they ended up on a pretty busy looking part of town again. Tall buildings with windows and small balconies could be seen. He pointed up towards it. “There we are. That look good enough a place to stay in? We just have to scope out the area on one of the highest floors, and then pick our target. These kinds of places always have people going through deep emotional crap. Divorces, deaths, children getting married, blah blah blah.”

Moving around towards a store, he glanced down at her. “Do you want to fix your clothes now, or after we have a place to take them? Cause technically I can just go and “buy” you some clothes.” Though his tone stated something else in mind, that was probably stealing them. “If not, then we can go scope out our new apartment condo thing..”