When Darkness Takes Over It Will be Like One Big Nine Inch Nails Concert (Madeline)

The lower levels of the auditorium looked lit enough in the back of the mirror Bliss used to fix her make up. Tonight would play host to the gathering of the Babylonian Bourgeoisie within the Koerner Hall in the River district of Toronto. The black boots and fishnets under a red skirt with a black and blue corset were not the only thing bothering Bliss, something about this gathering just rang the bells in the mind to call an alert to the suspicious mind of Bliss. She dabbed the last of the blue lipstick and checked her overly done black eyeliner and after a quick pucker, opened the door to her rental car and set her heel on the ground. "Not as My Chemical Romance as I would have thought, but still not exactly the fashion event of the season."

Blacked out flood lights canvassed the night sky while constant clouds of tobacco rose around the outside of the concert hall. A few lost glares scoured the area for something to hate, but Bliss kept her pace just fast enough to remain outside of their immediate stare. Two men with shaved heads displayed an odd enough looking tattoo on the side of their heads with matching brands of a dragon wrapped around a star. Their skin looked pitched in whites while red eye liner highlighted the black dyes in their eyes. "You're not on the list."

Bliss stopped in the tracks, but did not even allow the fabric of her skirt to stop swaying before she came up with plan A. A telekinetic blast threw the guest list across the way, towards a fountain. "Oops. You don't have a list now." Her next push met the second man in the chest and pushed him against the wall. "I'm welcome everywhere."

The inside of the venue kept low lights, but an overall festive feel- even if the festivity felt like the funeral of despised person. A Synth band in the back of the room kept pouring out a slew of downbeat music to drive home the frailty of life as the group of two keyboard players, a drummer, a bass player, and a guitarist kept going without much care for the mood of the room.

A balcony roosted over the dance floor, overlooking the stage on the farside of the room. A woman with red hair and eyes picked up a goblet and leaned over the rail. "Is that Bliss Fukuyama?"

"How would I or you know what Bliss Fukuyama looks like." A man with silver hair and a white blouse popped a grape in his mouth as a reward for his participation in such a droll conversation.

"I read her sister's fashion blog. It's pretty good. But, she can't be good for this event. We need to change her invite status." A sharp pair of claws extended from the firebrand's hands.

Ever since Madeline’s abrupt shift in alignment, she found herself longing to do something impactful, something that would get the world believing in her once again. Log past were the days where entire civilizations would kneel before her and offer praise and worship. Instead modern times had all but forgotten about the myths and legends of civilizations past. One this particular night Madeline felt a calling, something yanking at her very soul.

She decided she would go out, cause a little havoc, but where? She pondered the thought for a moment before choosing the nicest place on Earth, no not Disney land. Canada, for some reason it was just begging for the demon goddess’ attention. She made her last minute preparations before vanishing from Arcadia with the snap of her fingers.

The dimly lit concert hall seemed to get even darker, for just a brief moment, making the gothic décor seem even more sinister than it already was. With a quick flash and burst of heat Madeline appeared in the center of the dance floor. The unforeseen arrival of the demon queen caused the grim festivities to come to a halt. All eyes fell on the fiery redhead, as she looked around for just a moment with a smirk on her face, she found amusement in their shocked expressions. Madeline seductively removed her coat, and let it fall to the floor, Madeline was wearing her signature bronze colored breastplate, and black skinny jeans. Her attire left little to the imagination and certainly had the attention of most if not all the men in the room, and maybe even a few of the women as well.

“Well now, don’t stop the party on my account. Let’s kick this thing into gear!” The crowd erupted with applause and the party kicked off once more, as Madeline made her way over to the bar. Oddly enough, no one seemed to mind or question her about her unique appearance. After ordering her drink, she spun around in her chair. From where she was, she had a good eye of the entire place, including two rather interesting characters sitting above the action in what Madeline could only assume was the VIP section.

The demon goddess continued to enjoy here drink and take in the atmosphere. She wasn’t sure why she was drawn to this place in particular, but she was sure, whatever the reason, it would make itself apparent soon.

The party kicked up a notch. Bliss did not instinctively know if that was good or bad, but she did know the excitement came from the bar. She knew the bar well enough. Sliding over through the throngs of excited party goers, Bliss found the life of the party sitting with her legs claiming as much turf as she could possibly claim.

"Southside." Bliss walked over and put her hand on the bar. "Leave the lemon." The drink slid over to Bliss with bubbles still floating around the edges of the glass. "Great party. Looks like everyone is having a great time- or a terrible one. I don't know what the target audience of this section is going for." The gin hit the back of her throat with a tingle of lemon juice. "These dark lights really bring out the, you know, anguish in your soul- or something." Bliss buried her mouth in the second sip of her cocktail as she sat down the mixture.

Within the basement of the concert hall rested a newly implanted structure. It oozed out a source of power linked to the nether regions of the void, but remained contained by a series of runes inscribed by the cult using these new practices. New to them at least. Bliss saw their activity a few times before, sometimes a little too close for her own personal comfort.

If Madeline continued to draw all the attention, Bliss knew she could cut away from the crowd and find a stairwell, but right now she needed a refill and for some of those goth guys to stop checking her out.

"Now she is interesting." The black nailed woman with the hellfire hair pointed towards Madeline. "We should see what she is up for after-"

"Heather, she totally just came from no where." The silver haired man curled his finger around his hair while gazing at the bar. "She probably doesn't even drink blood or anything. I bet she's some lame motorcycle lady who drinks beer like a greasy poor person."

"Xander, you don't get it. She's got all the power in the world." Heather turned back around while keeping her hands latched onto the rail. "I bet she can teach us how to really get power going. Like raise the dead and stuff."

"Oh my gawd will you listen to yourself. Why would you want to raise the dead. They're dead because they're boring. Every dead person in the world is like that because I don't care." Xander continued to eat his apple while avoiding any eye contact during speeches.

"I bet she came here because she can feel the opening of the barriers between two worlds!"

"Heather, I say this because I care. I don't care about your stupid little girl crush." Xander tossed the apple. "This is totally going to be an awesome evening and we're going to get so much power from unleashing those runes during the darkened hour."

Madeline sat at the bar, glass of run & coke in hand, she only liked the hard stuff, none of these fancy drinks with fruity or tropical names. Up till this point despite everyone not being able to occasionally stare at the demon queen, no one had summoned up enough courage to approach her. That was to say until she heard a woman’s voice just to the left of her, It was just slightly difficult to hear her words, but Madeline got the jest.

She gave a slight nod and pointed to the crowd with her drink in hand. “Music isn’t quite my taste. Makes the rest of the atmosphere in here seem wasted.” she turned to the woman and gave her a wink before taking another sip of her drink and looking up at the balcony. She had felt the eyes of the two occupants up above searing a hole into her ever since she arrived, though this was the first time she bothered to pay them any attention. The demon goddess couldn’t make out any distinctive features of her surveyors, with the dim lighting of the hall and so she turned her attention back to the woman at the bar.

Madeline eyed Bliss up and down, something seemed off about her, or perhaps not off, but more out of place. Was this woman the source of the nagging sensation she was feeling, or were the two up top responsible? Again, Madeline shook the thoughts from her mind, knowing that whatever it was that allured her here, would show itself in due time. “Hey! Why don’t you hook up my friend over here with another drink? And I could use a refill to sugar.” She said, giving the bartender a seductive wink of her amber colored eye.

There was no hesitation, as the bartender went to work on preparing another drink for Bliss and Madeline, like if he was compelled by some imposing force and had no other desire but to obey Madeline’s command. As the drinks slid across the bar’s slick surface, Madeline grasped hers as she spun back around in her chair. “They do this sort of thing often around these parts?” the question was directed at the woman sitting near her, in an attempt to strike up conversation. To Madeline’s surprise with her full view of the place, there was quite the turn out for such a dreary ‘party’ and yet with all these bodies gathered in one place, the only things that felt truly alive were Bliss, and the two spectators in the VIP area up above.

Bliss never turned down a free drink. Just as the drink came, it quickly lost half its content. "I wouldn't know. But, the title said they've done this thing before. There's supposed to be something special going on tonight, so I came out once I got an invite." Bliss in fact did not receive an invite, a fact made not withstanding from many of the members in the crowded area who took notice of the outsider. "I was thinking of maybe going to see-"

"Why hello there." A head of red hair flipped over to knock Bliss out of eye shot. "I was just taking in your presence here. How is it someone of your demeanor came to know about our small get together?"

Bliss bit on her tongue trying to speak. Something about it felt different writhing around in her mouth. As the rim of her glass touched her lips, she noticed the enlargement of her tongue made the movement of liquid difficult. A quick gasp of air shot out an awkward sound from Bliss' mouth.

"This event seems a little boring for someone like you." The sharp red eyes grew with curiosity. "Can you, liven it up a little?"

Madeline didn’t even seem to flitch let alone acknowledge the person who interrupted her conversation with the woman sitting next to her. It was hard to hear, but there was an odd sound that came from behind the intruders back. Madeline’s amber colored eyes rolled in annoyance, as she looked at the woman out of the corner of her eyes, not bothering much to turn her head. She had a presence about her, something that made Madeline certain that this was one of the two peeping toms that were overlooking the party from the VIP lounge.

“I wondered when you were gonna come down here and say hello. It Would have been awfully rude for you to have just stared all night.  By the way, why didn’t your little friend come down with you?” Madeline’s tone seemed to convey a sense of disinterest and cheekiness. She turned to face the redhead with a fake smile “Something tells me you’ve got enough pull around her to liven up the party yourself. Why don’t you run along sweetheart, and let me and my friend continue our conversation.”

Despite her words, Madeline was interested in the new arrival, but her presence here wasn’t going to interrupt the conversation she was having with Bliss, especially when it sounded like Bliss was going to say something interesting. All of which could have been what was drawing the demon goddess to this downer of an event. Still she felt the need to play out all scenarios, she couldn’t just write off the two VIP’s especially if they could be useful to hear cause. With that she tried to shoo off the rad haired woman, so she could get back to her previous endeavor.

"Who Xander? He's so gay he can't even look at women for five seconds without feeling the need for ironic flirting, which is the worst kind of flirting, but he is my main bitch for life." Heather flipped her hair again to hit Bliss in the face, hiding her from the conversation.

A series of coughs finally broke Bliss from the spell, returning her back to normal. "Yeah, we were talking and you were leaving. So, leave." Bliss threw back the rest of her drink, letting the liquid wash past her hazy mind.

"When you're ready to come see us and get this party started, come visit us up in the balcony. Alone."

"I don't see how that guy can be anymore of a bitch for life than you." Bliss slammed her drink down upside down in an attempt to order another without speaking.

Heather hissed at Bliss before turning and leaving.

"So, we were talking about evil cults. So, I'm pretty sure there is something wicked going on in the basement, and I'll probably be the one to stop it. Kinda how things go. What about you? You seem to not like this place; did you just wander in?"

Madeline flashed a smile at Heather as she stormed off, being brushed aside like a piece of trash by the combined sass of both Madeline and Bliss. The demon queen gave the redhead a wave as she passed by, on her way no doubt to her perch above the dance floor. Madeline’s spun around in her chair, turning her back to the crowd and giving the woman next to her, her full attention.

Madeline slid her empty glass forward, and tapped the rim while giving the bartender another wink. She was definitely working her overwhelming appeal and will on the poor soul, but no one seemed to be the wiser. She then turned to face the woman, propping her head up in her hands while she listened to Bliss continue the conversation. “Ooh a shady cult, and something wicked in the cellar. Now that sounds like a party.” she said, barely able to hide her amusement and interest in the subjects.

Perhaps that’s why she was drawn here, if there really was wicked intent, with the ritual going on in the basement, then it was most definitely the source of the nagging sensation that Madeline had felt, which led to her abrupt arrival. Bliss seemed serious when she said she would stop whatever was going to happen, which prompted Madeline to almost immediately interject. “Now why would you want to go and ruin a perfectly good party starter like that?” she said in a semi childish tone, and pouty face.

The bartender hand finished mixing their drinks and slid them once again across the counter. Madeline snatched hers up with ferocity, before turning around once more, this time her eyes were locked on the VIP section. “If your right about what’s going on here, then…That’s why I’m here. Whatever’s going on in the basement called me here, and I answered, like a junkie looking to get a fix.”

She took a few sips of her drink, as she silently watched the crowded dance floor. “You think the wicked witch of the west and her flying monkey are behind it?” Madeleine’s eyes shifted to the woman beside her. “We should totally check it out huh?.” she said flashing a sinister smile, as if she knew something Bliss didn’t, but what exactly? Well that all depended on the woman’s response to Madeline’s question.

Bliss felt like sticking her hand out to try and touch the horns. Perhaps she made a mistake in thinking the woman only got dressed up for a gothic themed party. Asking 'what circle of hell did you crawl out of' would probably raise unneeded scrutiny, especially from someone who just bought her a few drinks. "You know what, I think you should investigate carrot top. I bet they like you. I'll see about seeing if the band is behind anything. Or just making them stop. Either or, maybe both."

Heather and her bitch for life definitely did something particularly wicked in this place, but whether or not Bliss could trust Madeline remained in question. And, it probably remained in question for a little too long. She had a few to drink, but not enough to trust an other worldly creature. Or at least she pondered over the thought. "Once you see what this thing is, I'll see about making plans for shutting this place down."

Heather and Xander plopped back down on their pillows as they enjoyed the atmosphere in between puffs from cloves. "She's totally going to check us out and be all about this dark life."

"Great, another person we have to share darkness with. If I wanted to learn how to share, I would've stayed in kindergarten." The small staircase from the back of the hallway curved to the balcony Xander and Heather used for their own personal party room. It contained just enough comfort to offset the tacky smell of cloves and vape smoke filling the room.

Heather got up to see Bliss still in the vicinity. Making her next move known, Heather grabbed the microphone and turned it on. "Hello everyone! How's everyone doing!"

"Great. Mom!" A voice with no enthusiasm, but enough pitch to flood the room answered.

"I didn't know we were being monitored like Nazis."

"Well, we're about to get to another plane of party. All of you will be the first to experience true Nirvana when we open the gates to the underworld tonight."

A few scattered claps rang out, but mostly people took a break to get a drink before going back to dancing. Heather turned her microphone off and threw it at the ground. "I'm going to turn them all into toads, I swear!"

If there was one thing Madeline hated, it was being told what to do, especially in this day and age where people had forgotten all about her godhood. She wanted to give the woman an earful as to why she wasn’t going to do what she was told, but before she could speak, a shrill voice boomed through the hall’s PA system. The demon queen couldn’t help but let out a loud chuckle at the thought of someone truly thinking they could open up the gates to some so called underworld.

The crowd had dispersed from the dance floor and many of them began to circle around the bar. She leaned over so that only Bliss could hear her. “You’re going to need some sort of distraction, if you plan on heading into the basement. I think I could help. Just watch your head.” she gave the woman a reassuring yet wicked wink before standing up on the bar.

“ALRIGHT EVERYONE, LISTEN UP! I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL GINGERSNAPS UP THERE IS TALKING ABOUT, BUT HOW ABOUT WE KICK THIS PARTY UP A NOTCH RIGHT NOW?!” she shouted, her voice drowned out the band, which grabbed everyone’s attention. With all eyes on her, it was time for Madeline to spread a little mischief. “Ok here’s the deal, I want all of you to beat the every living shit out of one another…..last one standing gets to sleep with me!” she once again gave a signature wink and blew a kiss to the crowd. Almost instantly a frenzy broke out as the patrons began to lay into one another.

The demon goddess hopped down from the bar and walked over to Bliss, using her body to block Heather’s view. “Now’s our chance.” She firmly gripped Bliss’ arm and began to lead her towards the back of the stage. She didn’t know where the basement was, but judging by the increased strength of the nagging on her soul, she was on the right track.

Bliss doubted Madeline's ability until she saw the audacity unfold before her. Now, she just doubted her intentions. Or, sanity. "This is a little unorthodox, but hey, it's a party." The fight continued to play out with a slew of goths and faux cultists continued to duke it out among the party dwellers. "Oh wow, you got the band to stop playing and give each other what I wanted to give them all night." One of the band members leaped from the stage into the onslaught of the show. Whether his beating came because of the terrible music, or just the lust brought on by Madeline, well, Bliss could live with either to be honest.

Once the duo made their way backstage, Bliss immediately went to work looking for the basement access. She put together where their current location put them and where the emergency fire map put them once she found the map plastered on a door. Considering once she pushed the door she found the basement entrance, she spent a little too much time reading the map. "Well that was easy."

"Wait right there!" A roughed up red head walked into the room. Bruises abounded around her fists. "I'll have you know I don't take kindly to interlopers, but-" Her outstretched finger relaxed as her fists turned to spirit fingers. "That was awesome! Can you teach me how to do it after we deal with Bliss?!"

A telekinetic grip picked Heather up and slammed her into the wall. "Okay, so let's go stop this crazy non-sense, then I can come up here and smack her around a little. Kay?"

Once Madeline and Bliss were behind the stage, she stepped aside and watched the woman go to work, trying to find where exactly the access to the basement was. Occasionally Madeline peered out from behind the red velvet curtain that covered the back stage area. The boring down trodden music was replaced with the sound of smashing glass, wood furniture being broken, and the battle cries of everyone involved in the blood bath taking place on the dance floor. The demon goddess admired her work, before her attention was snapped back to Bliss.

The sudden sound of creaking hinges meant that Bliss had found the door, now it was just a matter of time till the two came face to face with whatever was being held secret down in the depths of the building. Just as they were about to venture down the rabbits hole an all too familiar voice caught Madeline’s attention. As she turned, she got one glimpse of the fiery red hair and let out a sigh “Man you’re persistent.”

Heather tried to flex a bit of her power or w/e it was, but was whisked up into the air and violently slammed into the brick wall next to her, knocking her unconscious. Madeline’s amber eyes shot over to Bliss with a large smile on her face “Well you’re just full of surprises now aren’t you?” She was beginning to enjoy Bliss’ company, but there was still the fact that she was there to stop whatever was going on, while Madeline wanted nothing more than to raise a little hell. How the rest of this little team up went, was going to be determined within the next few moments for sure.

“After you.” She said, motioning towards the stairs, allowing Bliss to take the lead.

It was good to see someone who appreciated a little of the blunt diplomacy Bliss made her name with. It came from a demon out of who knows where, but still, things were shaping up in this god forsaken land of Toronto, Canada. "Whatever this thing is, it's coming from the basement. We'll go down, shut it off, and I'll get this stupid corset off. I don't care if these idiots are being ironic, this thing sucks."

The stairs contained just enough concrete in them to make every step even more uncomfortable as Bliss descended. The eerie red lights peaking around the corner did very little to ease Bliss' mind on the issue at hand. Runes and oddly drawn hieroglyphics caused a barely stable summoning circle to stay in place. Little did Bliss know, the poser, demon summoning wannabes did not know the difference between their glyphs and runes, putting the circle at an odd flux. If they were smart and knew demon languages, they would replace everything and create a beacon to awaken demonic spirits to inhabit the citizens of Toronto for the night.

Even Drake!

Madeline followed Bliss down the stairs and into the belly of the concert hall, the anticipation built up with each step as they descended. The eerie lighting lining the stairway only helped to fuel Madeline’s excitement, at least that was till the two arrived before the unstable and poorly constructed summoning circle. The demon goddess couldn’t help but let out a small snort as laughed at the pathetic circle.
“You know what, you can do whatever you want with that puny thing.” She couldn’t hold back her laughter, little red riding hood, and her pet monkey were way in over their heads, if they thought this thing was going to open a portal to another dimension.

“You couldn’t even summon a bat with that thing. Kinda sucks though, I honestly thought there was something more to all the dark energy surrounding this place.” Madeline’s disappointment was apparent, then again maybe the circle had fulfilled its purpose, just not in the same way that Heather had hoped, after all it was strong enough to attract Madeline here.

At this point however, she didn’t feel the need to stop the woman from destroying the circle, it wasn’t something she was after. Madeline moved off to the side of the room and leaned against the wall, giving Bliss more than enough room to do whatever it was that she was going to do with the runes and glyphs.

A little good news and a little bad news always came from any information Madeline gave out. "Why do you always have to remind me you have some ulterior motives just waiting to come out?" Ripping the heart out of a complex ritual did not follow the same set of complexities as creating it. Or, at least the ritual probably should have taken a little more time to put in place if Heather planned on it succeeding.

The glyphs fell apart and everything warding the dark energy let their guard down. An unstable influx of energy began to swell around the room, conjuring up the myriad of lamented souls with it. A spectral force shoved Bliss against the wall, knocking down a degree of cleaning supplies on her. "You wanna tell your friends to take it down a notch?"

The blackened oblivion beckons.