Chapter 4: Dreams and Demons

The glass wobbled around momentarily, before settling back on the table. Mason slammed his bare palm against the wooden structure in frustration.

"Take it easy. It's a new type of gravity you haven't tried yet." Dante held out a hand as he spoke calmly.

"It's so simple though!" Mason booted he table as hard as he could. The rising pain reminded him he didn't have any shoes on. He proceeded to hop around the Main Hall on one foot, holding his sore toes.

"Synnova said it best. It's all about you and your spirit. You could be tired, or just uninspired." Dante crossed his arms and huffed. Behind him Maryanna studied the Job Board for their first mission.

"Guys! I just about forgot!" Maryanna turned to them, setting down her backpack. "I made team T-shirts!" She lifted up a pink shirt.

"First of all, we have been a team for the better part of an hour, how did you make T-shirts? Second of all, no." Dante stated firmly.

"Gimme that!" Mason ran by and swiped the shirt out of her hands, throwing it on. His tunic had been lost in the changing room; the wooden building didn't have much for heating. "I'm freezing."

"Your cold!?" Cana screamed at him from the next table over, indicating the bra that was her only upper clothing.

Dante burst out laughing and pointed at him. The light-pink shirt was much too small.

"Is that your little sister's shirt?" Dante wiped a tear and continued laughing.

"Shut up! It's not my fault there's no heaters, err, that it's cold!" Mason corrected himself quickly, thankfully catching his mistake.

"You judged the shirt too quickly." Maryanna stated with a smile. She approached Mason and held out her finger, giving him a look. He raised an eyebrow at him, but pulled his arms away and let her do her worst.

She pressed in the center of the shirt, right in the middle of his ribcage. The shirt slowly turned crimson. A black unicorn logo materialized in the center. It was sleek ebony, with a flaming mane and horn, as well as skeletal wings.

"You can change it to whatever you want! Of course, it wills always say-"she turned Mason around, revealing the three large letters on the back. "U. A. M."

"Maryanna, this is officially badass." Dante smiled, sorting through her backpack for one his size.

"Find me a medium." Mason ordered, Dante quickly threw one towards him and he caught it. Surprisingly, the shirt lengthened into a normal tunic. Mason changed it to his usual moss-green and felt alot more comfortable.

"Guys, I've got a mission for us." Dante stated from the board, he waved them over and they all piled around.

"There's a small time criminal that has been affecting women in this town. When we get there we will be informed by a man that goes by Randal." Maryanna read.

"Isn't that a little vague?" Mason frowned, he didn't want to get there and find out it was a scam.

"But look at the reward! 600,000 Jewels!" Dante exclaimed, reaching over and high-fiving Mason. They stood beside each other, facing the same way, and performed a dance that brought to mind the Happy Hippos of Fantasia.

"Take it right now Maryann! Before somebody snatches it up!" Mason called from the dance floor.

"I don't know guys..." Maryanna leaned in and continued to study it while the boys worked on their ballet toe-pointing.

"C'mon!" Dante and Mason grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her out of the guild towards the train station.

000

"This is how people always travel?" Mason leaned against the window and watched the train station pass by.

"Yup. There are these little Magic-mobiles, or whatever you call them, but they are expensive and only mages can use them." Dante answered from his place beside him.

Maryanna took advantage of the full seat the boys had given her by taking a nap.

"Wanna play blackjack?" Dante grinned evilly, pulling out his magic pack of cards.

"Sure!" Mason exclaimed, although he would need to be taught how.

Mason caught on quickly. Considering Dante's overall skill at cards, he was a pretty good teacher and it was an easy game to catch on to. Maryanna continued to snore as they placed imaginary bets, they didn't want to waste actual Jewels. The each started out with 1000.

Mason looked down at his cards, an Ace and a two.

"Hit me." He stated.

"Here." Dante pulled the top cards out of the deck. He discreetly pressed its backside, forming a small indigo circle on it. He shot the two of diamonds at Mason's forehead; it exploded in a flash of light.

"Ow! That hurt!" Mason tried to blink the spots out of his eyes as Dante burst out laughing.

"Don't worry! That's the weakest attack I can do!" Dante said between gasps for breath.

"Dante! Stop attacking your friends!" Maryanna scolded, getting up. "Mason, stop being a baby! Both of you shut up!" The two boys held each other and shook in fear.

"Now I'm going to lie down, and I will sleep. UNDERSTOOD!?" the two boys covered their heads and looked down.

"Yes Captain!" They both said at the same time.

000

"It is actually a pretty town." Maryanna noted, looking around. They had just got off the train and were inspecting it from the front steps.

"I bet everything's beautiful when you actually get sleep." Mason muttered, rubbing his forehead. He and Dante learned the hard way that Maryanna valued her sleep.

"You must the mages I was contacted about." A man appeared out of nowhere and purred, taking their luggage from them and putting it on a nearby cart. "But I never would have guessed Fairy Tail still had such stunning young talent." The man, about nineteen years old, winked at Maryanna, making her crumble.

"Well I don't like to brag but..." Dante lifted his arm and flexed a muscle.

"HE WAS TALKING ABOUT ME!" Maryanna assured, tackling Dante.

"He was obviously indicating me!" Dante shouted as he tried to get up, but Maryanna placed both of her hands on his shoulders and kept him down.

"I apologize for my friends." Mason said to the man. "I really need to stop calling them that in public." He added in a mutter.

"Anyway, I'm Mason Marcotte and you have met Dante Atene and Maryanna Lux." He continued formally.

"It is an honour, although I already gained if information on all of you." The man bowed, his long black hair falling in front of his face when he did. "I only hope you can help us."

"Oh yeah!" Dante poked his neck out of Maryanna's stranglehold momentarily. "When do we get our info?"

"My friend is right; we were told we would be further informed." Mason backed him up.

"My apologies." He man bowed again. "I'm Randal Sakura; I will be informing you on your task. Follow me; I will take you to meet the victims." He turned and left the station, going down the street. The team looked at each other strangely, but followed.

"Recently our town's female population has been under siege by a terrible criminal. The series of assaults began last months, over 15 women have fallen victim to him."

"Any deaths?" Mason piped in, not meaning to sound so blunt.

"Luckily, no. Our local police have been working desperately to find him, but they eventually admitted defeat. The mayor is a very wealthy man and posted the reward himself." The man turned and met their eyes. "My father will meet us there."

So he is the mayor's son. Dante noted, storing the information.

"The man is a monster. He raped every girl and left them to harbor his child." The man spat, Dante stopped. Rape was a soft spot for him; his sister was raped when he was only a child.

"Sick fucker." He grumbled, not knowing enough words to portray his anger. He was going to find this man and beat him senseless for every woman he touched wrongly.

"We are here." Randy stated, leading them inside a small building. He stepped out of the way and let the boys in, but held back Maryanna.

"I beg you not to go in there. A delicate beauty like you shouldn't have to hear their reports. "He held her by the chin and tilted it up to look at them.

"I-I..." Maryanna's breath caught in her throat. She was flustered beyond recognition; she began to sweat like crazy.

"I should go with them." She finally got out. "I would feel bad if I let them do the mission all by themselves." He tilted her head back towards him.

"Surely they would understand, if such a man were to target you..."

"He won't." She assured with a smile, breaking away and going inside.

"Mary." He grabbed her arm and stopped her. "Be careful. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to someone as exquisite as you." Maryanna blushed heavily before breaking off again and going inside. If she looked at him one more second, she swore she was going to burst with emotion.

"There you are." Dante grabbed her arm and led her inside. "The Mayor is here."

"I'm glad to see you mages." The mayor spoke through his thick mustache. Randy entered the room and smiled.

"Mayor, these are indeed the mages." He assured.

"Thank you Randal. Also, I'd like to thank you for all the work you have done for these hurt souls." He indicated the women.

Dante approached a woman and laid a soft hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to hear about your pregnancy." He said, looking down at her stomach.

She reached back a fist and socked him in the face.

"I'm not pregnant you jerk!" She huffed at him, crossing her arms.

"My mistake." Dante groaned, lying on the floor, twitching in pain. A lump slowly began to rise on his head.

Once the silence returned, the women began.

Each pregnant woman gave their personal report of the rape. There were many tears, each of which was wiped off by Randal. Mason knew he was being considerate and caring, but it was getting to the point where he was taking advantage of their emotional state. Each of the girls saw him lovingly in their state, no matter what he did.

Once they were done, the team excused themselves and went outside.

"How are we supposed to find this guy?" Dante asked. It was the very first problem with the situation.

"The logical way would be to use bait..." Mason began, looking at Maryanna.

"No! There is no way we are putting her out there with a man like that!" Dante exclaimed loudly, putting a protective arm in front of her.

"How else do you expect us to find him?" Mason shot back. "We aren't going to find him walking down the street!"

"I'll do it!" Maryanna shot out, both of them looking at her with bewilderment. "But you two better not let him do anything to me! The second we see him we are taking him down!"

000

Mason coughed awkwardly.

"Is the outfit really necessary?" he asked, on purpose not looking at it.

"It was Dante's idea!" Maryanna put her hands on her hips and looked at him expectantly, a look that would have made any man melt with her outfit.

She wore a skimpy metallic green boob tube that showed everything, it bounced and jiggled with every move she made. She also wore the tightest jean shorts you could think of.

"Sorry, but we want it to happen tonight. We can't let him pass over you." Dante explained formally. He then squatted in the (clean!) trash can and put on the lid. Mason followed suit next to him.

Mason sat there, readying himself. He tried his best to initiate the low-gravity thing on himself so he could move faster, but it was hard. He hoped it activated on its own when the time came. He didn't have any weapons, so he decided he would tackle the man and stun him while Dante took care of him.

"How long does it take for a freaking rapist?" Maryanna asked. She reached up to her hair and pulled out the ribbon, readying it.

"Here comes someone." Maryanna whispered after about ten minutes. She held her breath and got ready to call the chosen signal.

She let it out slowly when she saw Randal in the dim light.

"Randal, you scared me!" She exclaimed. He walked over and held her chin again.

"I'm sorry darling, I couldn't resist myself. I needed to see you." He looked down and stared at her revealing outfit.

"Randy." Maryanna coughed awkwardly. "Randy! I'm up here!" Without warning, he grabbed her and mashed her lips against his. She pushed him off smartly.

"Randy! I thought you of all people wouldn't do that!" She huffed turned around, walking away.

"Oh you're not getting away that easily." He hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her back to him. He kissed her again and placed his hands along her smooth back, beginning to move them along it.

"Randy, stop it!" she pushed him off to arm's length and slapped him. Having heard enough, Mason shot out of his garbage can, fists raised.

"Let her go Randy!" After hearing his partner reveal himself, Dante followed suite, holding two cards.

"You sicken me." Was his only comment.

Mason's jaw dropped. All at once he figured it out. It all fit together perfectly.

"Mary get away from him!" He yelled, using Mary because it wasn't such a mouthful. "Dante get him! He is the rapist!"

Dane's eyes widened momentarily before lowering on him. He dropped his cards and lunged at Randal.

Randal smirked, holding Maryanna closer to his body. He cut through the air with his hand, emitting a bright flash of light. All the boys could hear were the leathery flapping of wings as they refocused their eyes.

"Dammit Dante, he's an Incubus! " Mason cleared his vision and watched him fly away.

"Of course!" Dante cursed loudly and kicked a garbage can. "Who else would you least expect?"

"He's not the mayor's son either; he wanted us to rule him out because of that. When we saw the mayor, he never once called him his son; Randy didn't call his father either."

"He's a clever fucker. He only brought us here-"

"Because an Incubus is a demon. They feed on magical energy." Mason answered for him. Dante nodded in agreement.

"We need to get Maryanna before..." Dante shuddered.

"Then we need to stop talking! Where did he go?"

"He's got a sick sense of humor." Dante rose to his full height, seeing him. "The demon is on the roof of the church."

000

Mason and Dante strolled in grimly, spotting Maryanna tied up in her own ribbons. She was gagged and each of her limbs was tied to sections of the priests table. Thankfully, she was still fully clothed, if you could call what she had on before clothed.

"Look darling!" The incubus sat there idly on the priests table, swinging his legs. "We have guests."

"Incubi are minor demons Randal. Give her up; you can't stand against two Fairy Tail wizards." Dante threatened with confidence.

"Oh can I?" He burst out laughing. He flapped three times, hovering over to the podium where he now stood.

Randy had undergone a transformation. Tight black and red pants covered his lower section as well as boots. They were decorated with chains, skulls, as well as silver scales along his thigh. His upper section hung open, showing his muscular chest. Black tattoos plagued ran across the pale skin. He wore some kind of jacket, decorated similarly to his pants, other than the seemingly random belts that decorated his arm. Twin red horns sprouted from the only thing that hadn't changed; his head. Large, red, draconic wings sprouted from his back. To top it all off, a skeletal tail ran from his backside.

"Shadow magic is my specialty." He grinned broadly as an object sped over to him in the clutches of a tendril of shadow; it was Dante's card pack.

Dante frantically tapped around his body, looking for them. He hadn't even noticed!

"Now you are useless. Both of you can't do magic." Randy stuck out a lip at them in a mock pout. "Too bad your friend is a newbie."

Dante grinded his teeth in frustration. There was no way he was leaving Maryanna to that thing. How was he going to fight him?

Mason met his eyes, realizing his responsibility. He was the only one who could use magic right now, he would need to find it within himself and take on the Incubus.

"You take care of Maryanna; I'll deal with the demon." Mason muttered. Dante nodded, and they attacked.

"I'll teach you not to touch women you demon!" Mason flexed his fingers, feeling the now familiar light-weight effect course through his body.

Exhilaration ran through Mason's veins, readying the muscles it found. A lightness overcame him; filling him with energy. His core thrummed with excitement, sending blood to all his extremities. His lungs felt no strain as his breathing quickened, adding to the effect.

"You're a fool!" The incubus laughed madly, taking off into the air.

The Demon could fly, there was no way the wizards could outrun him with the girl anyway. He might as well have a little fun.

"What's wrong fairy?" he smiled as he hovered in the air. "I thought fairies could fly!"

"I don't need to!" Mason exclaimed, setting off in a run. He leapt in the air, landing on one of the long benches. He pushed off of that onto one of the large window's sills, and then finally straight at the incubus.

"Impressive," the incubus flapped once, sending him just above Mason's reaching hands. "But not good enough."

"Come down here and fight me you coward!" Mason bellowed, buying time as Dante frantically untied Maryanna.

"You want me to come down, alright." The demon surprisingly folded in his wings and shot down to the ground, landing on the priest's table. It shattered, sending Maryanna, Dante, and splinters everywhere.

"Shadow magic." He stated, letting shadows of the room slowly gather around his forearm. "There's nothing like it!" he whipped them out, lashing his two friends.

"Shit..." Dante muttered turning over. He gasped as he pulled a rather large shred of wood out of his arm.

"Maryanna." He grabbed her arm and shook her. "C'mon Maryanna." He cursed again when he saw her body, she was much was off than him. The shock knocked her unconscious, now her body was riddle with sharp splinters.

"Fairy's interrupt my play time, I'll find another girl!" the demon stated, using his wings to speed off to a door in the back.

"Dante! Maryanna!" Mason yelled, leaning down.

"I'm fine Mason; I'll take care of her." He looked at Mason and met his eyes, sending a silent message.

"Bring me its head." Dante smirked at the gravity mage

"Nothing less." He grinned back. Wasting no more time, he did a gravity-assisted sprint towards the back door.

"Now, it's time to play doctor." Dante struggled up, still smiling at his dirty joke. He ripped off his overcoat and his team t-shirt. It was cotton, so it would tie and staunch the wounds better. He ribbed the bottom hem off of it with his teeth.

"I don't know if you can hear me or not Maryanna, but I'm gonna try and help your wounds." He said to her unmoving body slowly. With a sickening noise, he pulled out the largest of the wood pieces, making her body shudder. He quickly wrapped the cotton strip around it and tied it tightly.

"One down, twenty-thousand to go." Dante mumbled grimly.

000

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Mason screamed; the sound echoing up the tower. A spiral staircase ran up the sides of the tower. It was large; if he walked he would be too late.

"C'mon Mason." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "You can do this, you can do this!"

He grunted as he shot off to the staircase directly in front of him, about fifteen feet up. He flung out his hands and grabbed hold, hauling himself up.

"And AGAIN!" he pushed off and went for another fifteen foot vertical and made it. This time, he didn't have to use his hands; he landed fine with his feet. When he got enough of the hang of it, he could push off the moment he felt the staircase under his foot, saving some momentum. He continued with this strategy, its efficiency getting him to the top of the tower way quicker than walking.

"Alright Randy..." Mason wheezed and stumbled, leaning against the large church bell. "You're going down."

Why do I feel so weak? Mason inquired. Maybe it was because he used so much magic, he didn't know.

"You poor thing." A female voice purred from behind him, slowly helping him back onto his feet.

"Huh?" Mason looked down at the soft hands. The most beautiful woman sat before him. Scarlet hair ran down her back, striking eyes and sharp features decorated her face. Freaking GIGANTIC tits decorated her chest. She turned slightly, he could have sworn for this reason, and Mason got a nice view of her ass.

"You must be so tired." She tripped his feet and he fell face-first into her huge chest. "Here! You can take a nap on my soft pillows."

Actually, that wasn't a bad idea to Mason. He could use a nap, and there was a smoking hot girl more than happy to let him use her breasts right in front of him.

She slowly backed up and sat on the edge of the small openings surrounding the bell, still pushing Mason into her cleavage.

They were so soft, god they were absolutely staggering. They were soft, squishy, and warm; Mason stopped resisting and let his face fall into her breasts.

"Wait!" Mason pulled himself out of his lull. "I need to be looking for Randal!"

"Randal?" the women put a finger to her cheek, thinking. God she looked hot when she did that. "I've never heard of a Randal before."

"Wait..." Mason looked at her and frowned, stating to doubt the situation. "What are you doing on top of a church?"

"Why, looking for you silly!" she got up, intentionally throwing her boobs around as she did so, making Mason's heart want to flip and his pants wanna rip. "I heard there was a nice, strong mage coming to town. I had to look for him."

She approached him, walking up to him until she was pressing up against him. She slowly traced a thin finger down his chest. Mason let out a shaky breath, his judgement slowly clouding.

He... he wanted to stay here. Yeah, he wanted to stay here with this woman!

"You know, were are all alone up here." She purred again, going closer to him. She pressed her body against his and rubbed her boobs up and down his chest at an agonizingly slow pace.

"Nobody would know..." she whispered slowly, placing her crotch against his.

"Nngh." Mason kept a moan from escaping his lips. Half his mind was resisting, but the other mind just wanted to grab her by the... let's not go into details. His clouded state kept any conscious thought to a minimum, stopping him from doubting or running away.

"So you found me to do-?" He asked through clenched teeth, allowing her to finish the sentence.

"Whatever your into." She chuckled, grabbing one of his hands and slowly placing it on her lower back, hoping his animalistic instincts would take over from there.

She pushed against him more, resting her cheek against his.

"I'm your'sss." she purred seductively, directly into his ear. She took the time to place soft, seductive kisses around his neck.

He allowed his hand to slowly fall, right above her round butt. He reached for it, but then resisted and pulled back.

What are you doing!? Half his mind asked.

Resisting The logical side answered... logically.

Why?

Because... His mind stopped there, finding any other information behind an impenetrable mist.

"Let yourself go!" She said excitedly, pushing his body more, onto the edge of the opening. She hopped up and wrapped her legs around him, pushing her groin into his. He emitted a moan that was deeply satisfying to the girl.

Let himself go... It made so much sense. Why was he resisting? It was illogical. He should let himself go and ravish her on the spot. Here was a girl with a heavenly body begging for him to take her, and he wasn't?

The girl slowly pulled off her light tank top. It came over her head; releasing her breasts to jiggle around in a red scrap of clothing she called a bra.

She smirked as she followed his eyes.

"You can touch them you know? I'm yours." She smiled broadly. After seeing his emotional conflict on his face, she huffed impatiently.

"Let's stop stalling and do this." She stated before ramming her lips against his.

Mason eyes widened in surprise. He tired to back up more, but nearly fell off the church. Her tongue attacked the inside of his mouth, taking him by surprise again. She scooted up higher on him, forcing her breasts to squish against his neck. One of her hands reached down and slowly rubbed against the bulge in his pants. The lust filled feeling returned to Mason, he wanted nothing more than to... again, details.

Suddenly, a calm voice echoed throughout Mason's mind.

"Bring me its head." The haze over his mind disappeared, like darkness in a newly lit room. His thoughts returned to him in full, reminding him of his purpose.

He brought a hand back and slapped the girl across her cheek. His hands lifted his bum off of the bottom edge of the opening, just enough for him to bring back a foot and kick her in the chest.

"Get your hands off of me, demon." He muttered at the form on the floor.

"Demon is a harsh word." The girl looked up with a devilish smile. "If I didn't know any better I would say you were enjoying it."

Mason wiped off his lips with his wrist, wanting to get the taste of the demon out of his mouth.

"I only admit to falling under a spell, the thoughts and actions were not mine," Mason smield and looked at her in the eyes. "Succubus."

"My my your smarter than you look." The succubus helped herself to her feet and dusted herself off.

"I thought it was impossible for a male to resist a succubus's spell, I guess your just special." She smirked at him and winked, secretly activating her charm once again.

Her face suddenly took on a hurt tone.

"Why do you look at me so wrongly? I did no crime." She subbed once, a tear beginning to form. "I helped you and gave myself to you, but then you assault me?"

"I-I..." Mason stuttered, lost for words. She had actually done nothing wrong. She wasn't the incubus they were looking for. She was a simple, innocent-

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Mason doubled over suddenly and clutched his skull by his temples, nearly falling for it again.

"I think it's time for my brother to do the talking." She smiled and waved, and then her form flickered into the familiar form of Randal. He was the same, except this time he was in his human form.

"I see you met my counterpart." Randy smiled, spotting the red lipstick that dotted his neck.

"Don't educate me, I know the process." Mason grumbled with a frown. Incubus and Succubus were the two forms of a single, unknown demon. They both had natural charm abilities, especially over the opposite sex.

"I swear to god, I'll tear your head of your fucking body. You assaulted 15 women! You monster!"

"Oh dear," He leaned his head back and laughed, morphing into his demon form at the same time. "You have NO idea how much I don't care!" He emphasised the last two words.

Tired of talking, he simply absorbed all of the shadows onto his forearms. It looked as if he was wearing the arms of a huge black parka.

Black shadows lashed out at Mason's legs, he jumped up on top of the bell. He squatted there, using the rope holding it up to steady himself.

"You are fast." The demon squinted at him. "And that is annoying."

He leapt at him on the bell, his shadows lengthening into claws. He struck at him, but Mason grabbed the rope and used it as a shield, if he swung right, he would go left. Left? He would go right. It worked pretty well until Randal cut the bell down.

It hit the floor with a huge vibration, reverberating up Mason's legs. He had no control over his lower body and his knees buckled, sliding off of the bell.

"Shit!" Mason leapt off of the bell tower and onto the pointed roof of the church. He landed on one foot, slowly cushioning his weight while waiting for the demon's reaction.

"This game of cat and mouse is getting old." The incubus slowly lowered himself on the rooftop. "You can't defeat me; I'm a fully fledged demon. You're a puny, magicless mage."

Snap.

Mason's eye's flashed green as he lunged at Randy, almost too fast to track. The air around his hands seemed to ripple, an effect of his magic. His knuckles connected with Randy's stomach, the gravity magic sending him flying into the bell tower.

"Magicless!?" Mason bellowed. His feet lifted off of the church roof and he floated overtop of Randal. His new pride over his magic made him snap at the demons' comment, the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Quiet down, brat!" the demon shot up and sent a thick beam of shadow at Mason. Mason simply knocked it out of the air with his hand, creating a tiny, thin gravity field in front of his hand.

"First I'm weak, now I'm a brat?" Mason loaded the gravity on himself and he slammed down on the church roof with force, sending the clay shingles everywhere.

"Gravity Magic: Pull!" Mason shot out his hand, loading the gravity around the incubus. He shot out his wings and tried to take off, but the gravity instantly slammed him back down to earth.

"Tell me I'm weak now, demon!" He yelled, clenching his fist and increasing the gravity round him. The incubus sat and his hands and knees, not being able to go any higher. The gravity started to make the tip of the pointed roof flatten.

The demon screamed and unleashed a huge mass of shadows, creating an aura of his chosen weapon that broke the spell.

"Now... you made me mad." He grumbled, stalking towards Mason.

"Tell me I'm weak!" Mason repeated, his green tattoo blazing. He shot at the demon, which also followed suit.

The incubus boasted a swarm of writhing shadows, but Mason tucked his body horizontally at the last moment, slipping in between the shadow. He two-foot kicked him, using gravity to hurl him back to earth.

After floating momentarily, Mason clenched his fists together and raised them above his head. He quadrupled the gravity around him and sent him flying into the grounded demon.

000

"Mason!" Maryanna, now feeling better, shot up at the passing mage.

"What happened?" Dante, who was currently being treated for his own wounds, demanded.

"I killed him." Mason stated in a monotone. He threw Dante's cards at him with a simple, "Here".

"What's wrong with you dude? That's awesome!" Dante exclaimed, high-fiving Maryanna. Mason closed his eyes and sighed.

"I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" In truth he was ashamed. He had thrown away logic and clung onto that Succubus like it was his last dollar. His friends were hurt; meanwhile Mason was getting some action on top of the church. If anyone knew... no. He would crumble under all the shame he felt. If the time comes he may confess to Dante, but definitely not Maryanna, she couldn't keep a secret for her life.

"Just lead me to somewhere I can sleep." Mason tore off his sweat-soaked tunic, hoping the cold walk would chill down his nerves a bit.