Cult of The Raven

Jake's eyes squinted when he heard what the demon lord had to say about Samael, words that didn't make sense to Jake much because why would a father consider there son... Disappointing. Heck, to Jake, Samael was not disappointing, but that also spoke of what the Demon lord could be capable off, because if the title of a king of Ravens wasn't enough, he was a prince of hell. A Lord. He in that terms. Was scary.

Soon, the hounds let go and Jake quickly got to his feet, wiping away the saliva that was left over by the hell hounds. He also felt around for his suit and it's remains, finding that he was all but shirtless light scratches and teeth marks scattered about his skin, his suit was basically gone besides the pants that had counts claw marks and holes and his mask, plastic thrown everywhere. After his inspection was done, Jake watched the demon lord carefully, not saying anything and letting Samael do the talking, that was. Till Malphas had asked the very, very serious question. Why not kill them now...

"Well... That is... Indeed a good question... That deserves a good answer.. I mean.. Let us go... We leave, no problem for you.. Or... Maybe if I can punch you... Really hard that it hurts... Maybe we run really fast the other way and hope there is a portal before you come back.. or maybe that impresses you enough you let us leave... And if the punch doesn't do anything... then well I done fucked up." Jake said, knowing that his punch would indeed be enough that he could hurt the demon... at least he hoped it would be enough... No... It had to be good enough for that plan to work.

”Do all of your friends babble this stupidly Samael or is this one special?” Malphas said with a smirk seemingly amused by Jake’s nonsensical rant. ” Unfortunately you could muster all the strength in the world and still fail to impress me little Nephilim.” The taunt then came, The Raven King snapping as the dogs would let up their snarling fangs from throats. The threat was still close, but now not enough so that they would be able to kill him in an instant. Getting up from his prone position was difficult, but something that he did with great caution. The hounds of hell were nothing to play with, something that he knew very well. They were not the average hellhound after all.

”Still haven’t answered my question little guy. Actually., you’re just giving me more of a reason to want you dead. Not that good really.” A glance at his hands would reveal what looked to be fingers morphing into onyx black claws, shining almost. Samael slowly reached for the silver weapon hidden in his jacket, hoping the demon was more focused upon taunting Jake than actually him.

That was of course when he found his hand being forcibly removed from his jacket by said demon, the wrist violently snapping, causing the dagger to clatter to the ground. ”Fuck.” Samael cursed, swinging a hand already having manifested his claws, though it only clattered against a free hand rising to block it. Then came the foot slamming into his chest, likely only an iota of his true strength, but enough to crack a few ribs, along with sending Samael flying into a cracked stone pillar.

”Going to need to do better with those assassination attempts sonny boy.”

Jake frowned at the demon but still felt foolish at the demons words, he had indeed been correct, he had babbled, but Jake did so cause... well. This was a demonic lord. The king of this place. The mere fact he was standing here with them was cool, but there was also the danger, like standing in a lion pen, may be cool, but your looking like food to the beast you watch and this beast is the most dangerous of them all.

Jake stepped back when he saw the claws of the the demon lord appeared, ones that looked like Samaels yet more... dangerous. Jake continued to stare at the demon, preparing for it to come at him until the demon just vanished and a curse came from Sam's direction. Turning to see, Jake witnessed the demon lord now with Samael, delivering a brutal kick to his chest, the sound was sickening, and the force that sent Sam into the pillar felt like just a show yet the action drove Jake into reaction, he couldn't stand there while Sam was just... bullied by his own father.

"Hey!" Jake called out as he placed his foot into the ground and lunged off it forward towards Malphas, rather then using his strength to jump high, he chose to use it to close the distance quickly, his feet just inches off the ground as he seemingly flew across towards Malphas, he began to coat his fist in red energy till a idea formed in his head, a use for the stupid wings that had been a pain, till now. Beginning to coat the wings in the red energy, a sensation that felt... off. He put his feet into the ground to stop himself, his momentum carried him forward to which Jake turned his body to the side and let his feet lift into the air so that he was spinning his body horizontally, the red wings became a sort of tornado in appearance that surrounded him, the two wings, clasped together into a battering ram about to strike the demon lord with the force that had proven more then once to be very dangerous, Jake just hoped it still did to this demon lord but then again, he had never used two different sources combined, just one limb and that had achieved a great deal of things. These wings may prove useful yet.

Shattered ribs were not a pleasant sensation, something Samael could attest to. Luckily, they weren’t shattered or puncturing one of his lungs.  His chest was in far more pain than his wrist, though that was likely something that would impede any kind of battle. Trying to use his good hand, Samael tried to push himself off the ground, settling his weight against the stone pillar which managed to stay standing from the impact. That was when Jake had leapt at the demon lord, moving a little too fast for Sam to keep track of but that was a different story for Malphas.

One second the raven demon was standing before the winged attack that Jake was bringing, and the next he was gone, leaving only open air to take the blow. The next second he was standing before Samael, arms crossed over his chest. ”You’d think people would learn by now.” He sighed, seemingly growing bored of tormenting Samael already. ”You might have had power in your world, but here I’m your god. So let me try again. Why exactly should I let you go?” He asked sounding even more annoyed, pinning Samael to the pillar with a foot.

Jake expected to feel a pain in his back, an deafening of force in a mere moment but instead he felt only air. Realizing that his attack was a dud, he knew he had to stop himself before his wings touched the ground, not only a waste of an attack but he might have done more damage that needed to the surroundings, if this place could get earthquakes, he would be the cause of a big one. Opening his wings but keeping them close to his back, Jake threw his arms and legs out, he couldn't stop himself from spinning now, so he just had to hope... Feeling his hand brush the earth, Jake pushed on that connection and pushed off his hand, rising into the air, he balanced himself out till he landed on the ground smoothly, his wings still coated in the red chaotic energy that seemed as if it was lashing out from it's containment.

Looking for the demon lord, Jake spotted him over at Samael again, he was being ignored, this demon seemingly knew where he was, and he moved faster then anything. So Jake knew he had to get it's attention, he realized that a normal fight was out of the question, if he wanted to even get a shot in, it would have to be though words and maybe he could avoid a fight all together. "Because you've proven your point." Jake called out to Malphas, his red wings still present, just in case. "Your god here, we, we have no choice over our lives, you made your point. If you really wanted to kill us, you could have the moment we set foot here. No you've been watching us, a form of enjoyment, power. I don't know. So now, you ether let me and your son go. Or kill us." Jake said, before quickly adding. "But if you do decide to kill us. I want to make a bet. Your god here, I'm just a lowly half angel or whatever. I shouldn't be able to harm you. But what if I did. If I do. When I do. You let us go. And if I don't... I would happily lick your feet while you tear me to shreds. No complaint."

If there was any feeling Jake felt, it was stupidity, his words sounded stupid, he felt like he looked stupid, really stupid right now. But this... This was his best chance. His only chance. And so he stared at the demon lord without a hint of hesitation, he had to be brave, he had to be sure, so that if the demon lord was to take this... bet. Then maybe they did have a chance of getting out of here alive.

A foot planted against his chest was something that made the cracked ribs even worse, causing Samael to wheeze in a pained fashion. In his own world, Malphas was just too powerful for any of them to fight, and that was something that he did not like at all. Even if he could punch down a building, that was far different than having the needed power to beat someone that had all of the power in their own world. Jake would continue to speak as Samael tried to remove the foot from his chest, which proved impossible actually. Now this was not the situation he wanted to be in but maybe there was something that he could do. ”You want to make a deal with a demon lord. One who might lie anyway, and not even let you go should you be able to do anything.” Malphas questioned with a smirk, seemingly amused by the Nephilim’s suggestion.

If Samael could talk, he would have just said something rather snarky and a bit insulting. ”no, I have a better idea than just killing you.” With a motion and a snap of the fingers that produced a little red spark, he removed his foot from the cambions chest.

Samael coughed a few times, the last few ones releasing a few splotches of black blood that remained smudged on the floor. ”I’ve marked you two. To be sure you keep to the deal I am making. You can leave here, with my good graces and one day pay me back what you owe in the form of a favor. It’s either that or you can throw your punch, and I slaughter both of you here without a second thought. The choice is yours Nephilim.”

Jake gave a desperate shrug to the demon lords words, clearly showing that Jake was... well making the wrong choice in words. He wanted to shut up but he also knew standing there silent was a fools choice as well. But then... The demon lord spoke of a better idea then killing and Jake was not... excited for it. Letting his wings lose the red energy, it slowly fading into non existence, each word the demon lord spoke only crumpled Jake's ideas on what to do because. Well. It was looking like the better deal. Just one. Favor... It was that. or death.

But... It is as the demon lord said. This is a deal with a demon lord, one who might lie. Or in this case, never let go of that favor, or make it a horrible one at that, something Jake couldn't do, wouldn't do. It was a choice he had to make, Samael too, accept the deal or don't...

Walking towards the Demon, Jake made his choice, his right hand began to converge with the red energy, looking down on it, Jake saw that tendrils of the red energy, his power lashed out from it, as if excited, something he never saw before, not when he punched Chroma. It was as if the environment affected it, to which Jake chalked up to his new knowledge of what he was, a half angel and that was all the thought he put into that, his thoughts required elsewhere, like what he was doing and how stupid it was.

Eye's shifting between Samael and Malphas, they were a short distance away from each other which meant if this connected, Samael would be in the range of the surrounding force. They were still surrounded by the hell hounds, Jake didn't dare to look for them so he only assumed. Closing in, Jake had to hope this demons ego would let Jake hit him, expecting it to be nothing, that was his only chance, that he would allow this but just in case, Jake let the Red energy gather around both his wings in case, a action that started to tire him out, he had never brought the energy forward so much, for so many limbs, it was tiring. "A deal with the devil is still a bad one no matter who proposes it." Jake would let the close to shaky words out before pulling his fist back and bringing it towards Malphas chest. But as soon as he felt the demon lord would let him get close enough, just like every other time, Jake stepped to the side and spun, letting the red covered wings twirl in hope it hit the demon lord.

Samael had hoped that Jake would make the right choice, but that was all he had in the end. There was only hope, something that always tended to fail him in the end. In the end however the male did say that he would not take the deal and that was when the attack rapidly formed, coming towards Malphas who did nothing to avoid it. The sudden impact with the demon lord created a massive shockwave, one that shattered the pillar behind Samael and sent him flying rather quickly. He didn’t have time to see what had happened with his father, but he did feel the building exterior collide with his back, bringing about near crippling pain as he hit the ground twenty feet beneath him.

Jake however did not find Malphas going through the same level of pain, pushed back a good twenty feet, feet having dug deep grooves into the floor and a large hole ripped into his raven cloak, where irritated red flesh showed. Looking close one might see blood, but the injury itself rapidly closed along with the irritation fading away. That was when the wings came, though all Malphas did was seemingly sidestep, as the ground itself was destroyed by the attack but he himself was gone. The cloud of dust remained there until what looked to a massive gust of wind blew it away, leaving Jake with broken wings now as well as a broken arm.

”It’s almost sad when children try to play with the grownups. How about I show you what true power is?” This was followed by a sidewise kick into his abdomen, following through with great force that threw Jake through one of the submerged towns buildings, reducing it to rubble. The rapid level of motion likely would have disoriented Jake, because the next thing he would know he was laying on the town square beaten with another arm broken, along with at least his left leg. An onyx black blade was steadied at his throat, tip ready to dig into it.

”Take solace in knowing that you won’t live long enough to regret denying me.” Drawing the blade back, he prepared to thrust it into Jake’s throat, but within the span of a second a light filled the room.

The Nephilim and Cambion would find themselves falling into what appeared to be a plus sized plush bed.  A voice spoke up, drawing Samael’s attention to someone sitting on a nightstand with legs crossed. They looked to be in their late twenties with dark brown hair and odd silver eyes. ”Never thought I would be saving the Son of The Raven from his father’s own realm.”

Everything hurt... That was the first thought, the only thought. He had landed his attacks, his wings looked burnt to a crisp, bleeding, muscles torn, feathers charred back, his arm, be it hidden by broken leather, was now broken, red and sore. Never again would he use more then one limb at a time. Never again. Everything around him had cracked open but that did not matter, teary eyes looked for Sam and his father, but while Sam could not be found, the father was and Jake felt... Unsatisfied. He could see a small extent to the damage he caused but he wished it had been more. Oh how he wished it.

When a voice came, Jake's first reaction was to try and react to it, till a hard kick connected into him and Jake felt himself lift into the air, only to hit a building with such force it collapsed around him, coughing up blood, inky red with bits of black, Jake tried to stand a new pain in his ribs, and leg. Dazed and unsure, Jake tried to move more till suddenly he cried out in pain again as he felt his other arm snap and his leg follow though in the pain, he was left mouth open and soundless. Mind buzzing with pain he had never quite felt before. Sound ringed but he could still hear the voice of the man who had effortlessly sent him into a broken mess, and Jake weakly turned his head to face his soon to be killer. In all his pain and suffering, even with tears in his eyes, Jake did his best to look defiant at the demon lord and his fate, even if he didn't know if he mustered the energy for that one last look...

But then his vision was muzzled by a light and he felt air move way as he fell onto a soft yet still painful landing, arms, leg and wings burning. He resisted crying out in pain by biting onto his lip hard, eyes trying to scan the room they were in. Another trick of the Raven or? His eyes caught sight of another person, while his sight was blurry, Jake could see that they were much older then himself, maybe even a bit older then Sam, that was certain and with silver eyes that drew attention.

When they spoke, Jake didn't recognize the voice wasn't sure if he had the energy to talk, tried too anyway. "Thank... You.." Jake grasped before letting his muscles relax into the bed, comfortable.. he felt like sleeping but knew he couldn't yet... no, not.. yet.

”First time someone’s actually thanked me.” The stranger said sounding somewhat amused by the thought, hopping down from his sitting position. ”Making it really hard to keep my interests protected Samael.”He then added, Samael trying to put himself in a better sitting position. He did not like being battered in a place he didn’t know, and this was exactly that. Sure, his passive healing via shadows was doing its thing but that wasn’t something that would stich everything up instantly. This didn’t cause the blonde stranger to react in any way that was immediately dangerous, though he did not trust appearances alone.

”Who he hell are you and what do you want?” He demanded as best he could, which was still strained from the present injuries. If this guy wanted to do them harm, then it wasn’t likely they could do anything to stop him from doing just that. Instead all he did was chuckle as if his aggressive speech was amusing to him in some way.

”Raziel, at your service.” He said with a small bow, making Samael realize he was without his sunglasses when the male made eye contact with him. ”Let’s just say I’m invested in your future cambion and leave it at that. Speaking of, let me fix those injuries for you.” Walking over to Samael, he rested a hand on the half demon, ignoring his attempts to wriggle away as a pale seafoam light flowed from his hands. Within the span of a few seconds the injuries began to knit themselves back together. Within the span of a few seconds he was as good as new.

”Well, maybe you too Nephilim.” He moved to repeat the same thing but nothing happened, instead the energy trying to seep into his body and doing nothing rather than form a glow. ”Okay, that normally does not happen.” He muttered to himself, snapping as an odd brilliant white crystal appeared within his hand. This was followed by him pressing the crystal into the flesh of Jake’s forearm, creating a low stinging sensation like a needle. With deft hands he would draw out an odd shape, something not even Samael understood and when it was done, the lines formed a light golden symbol.

Jake would likely feel the pain quickly ebb from his injuries as they themselves began to quickly knit bone, flesh and various other damaged tissues back together. ”Quite the odd physiology you have there.” He then added, a little curious about that.

Jake was contempt to just lie there and listen, he did however, start flexing his only good leg left, just in case he needed to somehow fight back with it, a motion that seemed impossible in his current state but Jake wasn't going to give up easily if that was what it came too, the guy might have saved them but he wasn't ready to fully trust them. However, as the conversation between Sam and Raziel, a name that sounded... Divine, he managed to grasp that whoever they were, they had some interest in the lively hood of Sam and so far that meant good things for Jake.

Turning his head, Jake looked to see what Raziel meant by fixing injury's, and witnessed Sam's injury's begin to heal, rather quickly. When the man came over to Jake, he was about to thank them for the second time till the light touched his skin. Jake's eyes flashed a bright red as he held in a deep yell, only letting a faint wail sound from his throat as whatever the light touched began to burn and sting his already damaged body, making the pain he felt worse then before.

The pain blocked out the sharp sting on his forearm, which when it stopped, Jake noticed the pain, the pain everywhere began to vanish, he felt his arm and leg twist back into place, the newly grown wings knitted and regrew the oddly colored feathers of grey till every last injury fixed itself, leaving him a rather clean albeit confused boy. "..Well... If it's anything.. I just learned today I am a Nephilim, I grew grey wings and... other things.." Jake said as he sat up, stretching his arms and looking at his hands. "I also punched a demon Lord and hurt him. I think, I saw like, some red. So. That's cool..." Jake finished before looking at Raziel and Sam before back to Raziel, he had been though a lot today, and he couldn't be bothered to pretend nether of them saw his face, a reminder he was going to have to buy a new suit, and remake it, then color it, and a new mask. Wonderful. "Um... Name's Jake. Jake Zaapiel. Besides the name... Who are you?"

”Sounds like you had quite the time.” The angelic being said with vague bemusement, digging through one of the many nightstands that were decorating the room. ”Hurting Malphas does sound impressive, but you didn’t exactly do much to him. Don’t give yourself too much credit.” He then added with a shrug, seemingly just cutting down anything that would give the Nephilim any false ideas of being extraordinarily strong. Samael didn’t really say anything at that moment, rolling off the bed and then leaning against the wall with a look that still suggested he was shaky.

”I’m Raziel, the guy that saved your lives. Some call me the angel of secrets but that’s just a title people arbitrarily give me.”

”Sorry if I don’t trust you, but I’m not one to like angels suddenly rescuing me. Your kind aren’t exactly lenient against what I am.”

”Not expecting you to thank me.” Raziel shrugged, tossing what looked to be a sock from the drawer he was digging through. ”Anyway, since Malphas took the time to mark you then both of you might be willing to help me a little.”

”Okay, totally don’t have a secondary agenda.” Samael rolled his eyes, though that ended up being ignored.

”What would you say Zaapiel? You would end up saving a ton of people and even stopping an evil demon like Malphas.”

Jake felt what little pride he had slightly cut when Raziel spoke, but he didn't let that get him down too much, he had done what he needed to do, he stopped a possibly bad favor ever coming to fruition and. He got to hurt a demon lord, even if it was a little. But that.. didn't quite matter to what Raziel said next, an angel, he had met demons today, a demon lord and now a angel, Samael even confirmed with his next words and Jake was left speechless once more, meeting all these things today of all days, a day where he grew angel wings.

However that amazement soon too, died down as the two continued conversing, something about marking, a motion Malphas had said before. It was also then when Raziel directed the question to Jake, to which he simply tilted his head to the side and studied the silver eyed angel. "Look. I.. I'm just fifteen. And this has been an adventure but... I got school and a mom I need to go back too. So I don't want to do anything really long term." Jake said before looking back to Samael, trying to think the thinking what the cambion would possibly be thinking and failing, for as much as Jake had grown to like the man in the short time they had met, they were still both strangers to each other. And in some books and things, mortal foes because birthrights and stuff, but that didn't really matter.

"But... I would like to remove this... Mark. Whatever that is. And while I don't really want to go up against Malphas again in his realm. I can't... Say no to helping people... But you better explain it all first. May be a angel but I am not in the trusting mood for full blooded... Suppose to be mythical things of religion but are not." Jake finished, taking a note from Samael and Malphas while looking back to Raziel, it was another deal with the devil type situation, only this time with a angel, but if that one change of words made it any better, Jake wasn't sure, so he just stuck to what he felt and right now he felt suspicious.

”Don’t want to do anything long term? Sounds like someone wants cheap heroic flings without the dedication.” Raziel quipped, knowing he would accept whatever offer he did despite the fact he did ask about things. Explanations were something that any sane person would want, and they were something that Jake would likely be able to get. ”I should be able to give you the low down of what I want.” Those odd silver eyes scanned from Samael to Jake once again, a smirk forming.

”Probably some kind of stupid fetch task if you ask me.”

”You’re not exactly wrong. There’s one thing that could give the two of you the power to defeat Malphas, but it’s not something I have on myself. It’s called The Book of The Raven, an artifact of your father Samael.” He explained as best he could, or as best he wanted to. ”It might only be something that helps the cambion but I have an artifact for you too nephilim.” With that he threw the translucent crystal to Jake.

”It only works on your kind, so don’t go trying to draw on Samael or you might accidentally kill him.”

Jake let his hands fall idly to his side as he stared at them, what Raziel had said was... Partly true. He did not exactly want the dedication that was asked of most people who were choosing this life style yet.. He also did. But he had other priority's, things that required he not go looking for old and mystical artifacts of great power in order to defeat the demon lord of ravens.

He idly listened as Raziel went on explaining the mission and item in general, he did however perked his head up at the mention of an artifact for himself, just catching the crystal like object that came his way. "Ok. Two things. You don't expect us to go looking for this book of the raven now cause I will not and what exactly do I do with this... thing?" Jake asked as he grasped the crystal and started to climb off the bed, not wanting to sit down any longer with the situation going as it was, missions to retrieve demonic artifacts so that they could defeat a demon lord was just not... something normal, and sitting down on a comfy bed wasn't the right position for it, he would rather stand and ponder then sit and ponder  on these strange thoughts.

Of course, this also reminded Jake about the grey wings he had and so he sought to change that, trying to relax... whatever muscles that the wings were, Jake simply thought about them going away and after a few seconds of intense thinking, Jake felt the wings sinking into his back, a feeling that brought many questions, like how? Why? Where did they go? Was there markings or was it... magic. All things he could figure out later, when he was home, another question he would soon ask if the Angel did not already give an answer to it soon enough.

”Not now but eventually.” Raziel responded, arms crossed as the male then asked about the odd crystal that had been thrown his way, beginning to glow with a faint golden light upon making contact with his skin. ”As for that, it’s a catalyst for angelic magic. Runic to be exact, I believe it’ll do better in your hands than anyone elses.” This was followed by him ferreting a book from a nearby shelf, and handing it to Jake as well. ”Draw these on yourself with that and they’ll do something, beneficial I assure you.”

”Really not trusting the whole free stuff thing right now. I’ve heard about a Raziel before and none of those things have been good things.” Samael stepped in, glaring at him rather direly. ”I hear you’re more likely to betray us before actually give anything.” Raziel rolled his eyes, looking rather annoyed by the sudden accusation.

”Rumors are ugly things you know. They’re usually not right, probably full of slander actually. For now, I’ll let you two return to your homes.” Whether Jake accepted the book or not wasn’t something that Raziel seemed to care about. ”Just tell me where you want to be dropped off.” The angel stated , as Samael found what looked to be a piece of paper and wrote something down with a pen he dug from his pocket.

”Anywhere you say? Anywhere but here sounds fine with me.” The ginger cambion noted handing the note that obviously had a cellphone number on it to Jake. ”If you need my help with something just call this. I usually pick up, unless I have outstanding problems.”