[Sarah]

“Venna!” Austriel called. The ruby fortress was a maze of halls and rooms so it was almost impossible to find someone without a happy accident. She’d been wandering around for at least an hour and she was beginning to get into the lesser used parts of the castle. It had been sometime since she had even seen another being. There was a strange middle ground that she hadn’t really thought about. Activity was thick around the outer and inner parts of the fortress but in the middle the halls were utterly lifeless. Austriel hated the outer parts of the castle and she knew Venna did too. she also knew Venna wasn’t sitting on his throne for a long time. With that Austriel turned around sharply and headed back towards Venna’s office.

[Sarah]

When she got there she knocked on the door. “Venna?” she asked peeking into the office. He was rarely in there but it seemed that after hours of searching her happy accident had come. He glanced at her and then pointed to the phone in his hand. It was old with a curly wire connecting the dial to the phone which looked like a banana with circles on each end and it was all tied together by its horrible off tan color. “I’m bored,” Austriel whined deflating a little where she stood. In return Venna rolled his eyes and pointed towards the blank piece of silver paper.

[Sarah]

They both knew it was time for her to go to the mortal realm. She needed to begin her life as princess. The silver paper sitting alone on the heavy desk was her ticket out. It would start her off taking contracts and making deals. Eventually she would get bonding marks and work more complex tasks. Luckily Austriel didn’t have to wait long for Venna to get off the phone. He hung it up and walked over to sit behind his desk. “Pick it up,” he commanded.

[Sarah]

The paper shimmered and seemed to be begging her to touch it. Austriel eyed Venna warily before gently picking up the paper. It sent a shiver through her. Something like a nervous cringe mixed with being far too cold. The paper was smooth and cold. It had looked limp on the desk but in her hands it was stiff and clear. Glancing at Venna she was surprised to see the intensity of his eyes on the paper. Austriel looked down again and in large black lettering a name appeared, Lustaria, along with the word “bond”.She stared at the paper then at Venna, who looked at her expectantly. “What do I do now?" Austriel asked looking annoyed. Annoyed that she didn't know what she was going, annoyed no one had taught her before.

[Sarah]

“Complete the contract,” Venna said with a shrug. Obviously he thought it would be better for her to learn via experience.

“Oh good. Thanks for the help,” she snarled at him. In a moment of frustration she wondered if she could rip the paper up. It felt solid enough and she wondered if ripping it might make Venna mad with her. Might as well try. She placed her fingers to rip the shiny paper in half. Venna smirked and she scowled. Was he making fun of her? Daring her to do it? Too late to figure it out. The second she damaged the paper it shimmered one final time and disintegrated. “Huh,” the noise of mild curiosity mixed with confusion was all she got out then the ruby glow was gone.

[Sarah]

Damn the gods she hated demons. That impulsive rage had caused her to do exactly what Venna wanted. Austriel knew now why he had smirked, not I’m mocking, but in that she had done what she was supposed to. It would have been infinitely easier if he had just told her outright. Oh no, the manipulative ass had made her feel like an idiot. She wondered, suddenly, if he had seen who she was meeting. As far as she knew bonds weren’t given to demons until much later in their life when they had the power to be outside of hell for extended periods of time. Now she was… Where was she? Out in the middle of fucking no where apparently. A dirt crossroad, a woman, and miles of nothing spread out before her.

[Sarah]

“H-hello,” Austriel stammered out. Shock was bright on both their faces. Austriel straightened herself and put a twinkle of mischief in her eyes along with a condescending smirk.

The woman was oddly beautiful in the sense that Austriel had never seen anything like her. The woman’s skin looked soft and almost translucent, her hair was long and white, not old and dry, but silky and radiant. Her dress spoke of elegance in its varying shades of blue and it sparkled as if imbued with stars. It was surprisingly revealing with only the thinnest of shoulder straps and from the way the fabric fell Austriel could guess it had no back with some lace intertwining up into the shoulders. The cloth went all the way down to the dirty road and was extremely form fitting. Austriel wondered which was more distracting, the woman’s beauty or her dress.

[Sarah]

The woman blinked and her eyes cleared. disdain replaced her soft features and she held herself in a superior manner as if Austriel wouldn’t be a threat. “Your clothes aren’t quite fitting for this area,” she stated her eyes dragging along the demon's body. Short shorts and a black camisole wouldn't do much to protect from any element.

“Says the woman in the skimpy dress,” Austriel returned. She finally took in her surrounding more thoroughly and realized she was in the foothills of the Tuun mountains. It would have been chilly for a mortal but even then the temperature was nothing to worry about. Had they been higher up then maybe over time Austriel might have felt the cold. Even then though she doubted it would have made any difference. Speaking of mortals Austriel was sure that if this woman had blood running through her veins she would be freezing. Instead the baby blue glow that hung around the woman made her an obvious angel.

[Sarah]

"What do you want?" she decided to ask. No use asking the woman personal questions. Austriel could tell by the other woman's look that everything would be revealed to her in time. Besides the sooner she figured out what the woman wanted the sooner Austriel could be out of the damned binding circle.

For a moment Lustaria only glared at Austriel. "I want you to help me kill someone who betrayed me," she told Austriel at last.

"Very well," Austriel agreed and when she reached out to shake the woman's hand she found it grasping at her heart as she fell to her knees. In the background of her own pain she could hear the pretty woman screaming in agony. Soon everything was black.

[Sarah]

"do you want to know what I told Venna? I told him to check your contract before you took it. Annabella's going to be fucking pissed when she hears about this," the scathing voice of Relic was the first thing Austriel heard. "You don't need to worry about a thing. I say that, but there is probably a lot more you need to worry about. Right now you need to worry about taking your angel friend out of here and pray that completing the contract stops the bond," he continued, sounding stressed and doubtful.

[Sarah]

"We're not friends," a soft woman's voice spoke up when Relic had finished.

Austriel opened her eyes soon enough to see Relic was glaring daggers at Lustaria. Who, although bound, was doing her best to be as intimidating as possible. Austriel thought she was probably too pretty to pull it off but she had to admit she really didn't want Relic to get into a fight with this non-mortal. Slowly Austriel sat up her eyes barely able to focus. When she was able to focus she found that the castle looked... Lifeless. It didn't glow intensely as it usually did, the glow around Relic and Lustaria was gone as well. Austriel blinked rapidly trying to get her eyes to work.

[Sarah]

"Don't hurt yourself," the woman scoffed. "I can't see the auras either," she added. "also, you should find her a mirror," Lustaria said looking back at Relic.

"A mirror?" Austriel asked looking at Relic quizzically.

"Can you walk?" He asked her with a weak smile.

"Yes," Austriel said and stood. She did not enjoy the secrecy. Luckily almost every room was equipped with a full sized mirror.

[Sarah]

“Don’t judge me,” Relic said as he covered her eyes and led her over to the mirror. “Please dont faint,” he chanted quietly as he walked.

When Austriel was allowed to see she had no idea what she was looking at. Her skin was so pale blue it looked white and so translucent she could see some sort of red and black liquid slowing under her skin. Blood? if it was it wasn’t the right color, and it sure didn’t act like blood. She may not have been mortal but she knew what blood was. Then she caught a glimpse of her eyes. her once red eyes were not sunshine yellow and glowed about as intensely as the sun itself.

[Sarah]

“What the fuck?” Austriel whispered to herself her hand coming up to touch her face. Her skin felt the same, her voice sounded the same. What had happened to cause such a drastic transformation.

“If it helps… Not that I want it too. I lost my wings,” Lustaria piped up.

Austriel struggled with ignoring this new revelation and staring into the mirror for the rest of her life. “Show me,” she commanded as she turned sharply towards the seraph. Lustria gave her a helpless expression, she was still bound. Austriel sighed slightly, but moved to release the woman.

[Sarah]

“Hey!” Relic called out and grabbed Austriel.

“Let go,” Austriel commanded her eyes meeting Relic’s. She watched him fight her in his mind before he looked away and let her go. With her hands free she broke the binding that Relic had set up. A magic that normally took quite a bit of unwinding complete with traps and failsafes in case the captured party was powerful enough to try and escape. Relic made a shocked noise and then began grumbling to himself while Lustaria gave a sigh of relief.