The Devil You Know

Michael walked up the small hill to their meeting point, seeing that Joseph had already arrived. He inhaled a sharp breath to prepare himself for the next couple of hours in his company. But he wouldn’t have called him here if he didn’t need his help. His attempt at a funny greeting made him exhale slowly before he stopped a short distance from him. “Joseph.” He tipped his head as to greet him. And he was right. It had been a while since he’d last needed his help. “It is,” he assured him. At least this was of importance to him.  
“A guild took something of mine and I’d like to get it back,” he said, moving his gaze to the trees at the horizon. “The sword I created for the Order of Solomon’s Temple,” he continued as he looked upon the grassy hills, imagining the many templars riding on their horses through the fields in their crusades. He'd created it to specifically aid them in fighting what was unholy and impure, and once the military organization ceased to exist he had kept it in his possession. “I was thinking, you might know something about a group like that - considering how interested you are in powerful and magical properties,” he explained before he turned to face him again. “I lost it in a fight and saw a red-cloak run off with it while I was still uh, busy, with the demons,” he explained, hoping that this one detail would help Joseph get an idea of what group this person belonged to.
“Of course, once we’re in, you’re free to take whatever you desire from their lair.” The goods were already stolen, so it hardly made much of a difference whose hands they were in, and he didn't really care much for it either. He just had to trust that Joseph wasn’t going to use any of it against him.

A smile slowly formed on his lips as he’d revealed to sense him that night. “That’s the other thing I wanted to address,” he admitted as he stepped slightly closer to him, his face quickly returning to its stern expression. He had been wise to escape that night. But at least now, he had the chance to explain himself under calmer circumstances. “Why were you there?” he asked, wondering what wicked plan he had in mind regarding these humans.

He furrowed his brows as he mentioned it being a school night, taking a few moments to realize why he’d said it. “You're kidding,” he said, refusing to believe that he'd actually been hired by a school. Only for Joseph to reply that he'd become a teacher. “A teacher?” he repeated, indicating that he found it hard to imagine him in that position. But knowing him, he doubted that it was the real reason he was there. “Good for you,” he then commented, not wanting to try to question him further about it. Because they could probably stand there and talk for a long time if they kept this up, and apparently they had no time for that. “I suppose we should get going then.”

Michael raised his chin as he said that the Rejected Knights might have taken it, and taking their name into account, it was no wonder that they sought out to expropriate one of his weapons. However, he was pleased to know that he had done right by contacting Joseph regarding them. “What else do you know about them?” he asked. After all, the name didn’t reveal much and if they were going to burst inside their hideout, it was best done prepared.
He smiled briefly as he said that he was in on the job, granted that he could take whatever collectible he’d like.  “Great,” he said, trying to push the thoughts aside that were slightly worried about him getting the hands of the valuable objects. Because if he had gone in by himself and his angels, they would have confiscated or locked up said objects, but it wasn’t to know what Joseph intended to use them for.  

He shifted between his eyes as he replied that it was for him to know, not able to sense an indication of what it was about, so he sighed and leaned slightly back. He could only hope he was going to tell him as one of the first because it would go much smoother if he did this by free will, and truth was, he was slightly intrigued to know what his plan was about. He tilted his head skeptically at his attempted assurance. Because sometimes murder was more merciful than the intentions he had in mind, but at the same time, he didn’t see any reason for him doing that in the first place. It seemed rather unnecessary to kill an innocent human, regardless of his end goal. “She is no threat to you, so I understand why you wouldn't... Still, if you as much as lay a hand on her or anyone else in her family, this won’t be the last you see of me,” he said looking straight into his eyes for a moment before he moved his eyes away to look at the hills again. It was more of a promise than a threat. Michael already felt like he was supposed to interfere with his plan due to his strong belief in fate and how he'd been summoned by her that night.

He was surprised to hear that he’d worked there for that many years. “I can imagine,” he agreed, finding it quite inspirational himself to teach young angels and soldiers of his army, but still, it didn’t seem right for a guy like him to have a teaching position at the academy. He looked back at him as he pointed in the direction they needed to go before he followed him. “So, do you have any plan of us getting into the mansion, or will we be able to teleport inside?” he asked as he walked inches behind him to let him lead the way, his gaze looking into the night in front of them.

Michael nodded to his information about them or rather the lack thereof. He assumed it meant that there wasn’t anything particularly important to know. It was either that or Joseph wanting to improvise his way through the mission. But besides that, he probably wasn't entirely off for calling them ants, seeing that most people were insects in comparison to them. He scoffed at his comment before he turned his eyes from the hills to him.  “Something like that,” he said with a hint of a smile in his expression. He didn’t mind his company per se. Not as long as it was in small doses. However, he could only hope that their next meeting would be under different circumstances, and preferably under the purpose of Joseph telling Michael of his new plan.

Joseph was probably right, but he had mostly asked to see if he’d prefer a loud or a stealthy approach. The mention of holy fire made him utter an agreeable hm. It would be very unfortunate if he ended up amid something like that, but it was a risk he was easily willing to take in order to get his sword back. “Front door it is then,” he said, trusting that Joseph had a plan with this because it seemed like he knew their mindset a lot better than Michael would. “Is there something specific that you’re looking to expropriate?” he asked as they continued to walk through the night. After all, if he would help him look for the sword, he’d at least try to look for whatever he had an interest in - granted he had an idea of what objects they possessed.
It wasn’t long before the mansion appeared at the end of a long road, making Michael walk slower as he scanned the windows for lights and the front yard for people. The closer he got, the more he got a feel of the magic surrounding it, protecting it from intruders like them. It was yet another reason for why he’d needed Joseph's help in this, knowing that he would be able to destroy their warding.

Michael watched Joseph as he bent down to the ground, draining the magic that it held. But only for a moment as he quickly raised his gaze to their surroundings, making sure that they were alone. And in a flicker of a second, he’d moved from his position on the ground to the mansion walls. He walked up the road to near the mansion himself, making sure that he was out of sight from the windows, even if they were mostly covered by curtains. He nodded once as he said he was ready to go inside, following him towards the front door, standing right beside him as he knocked upon it.

Michael's expression looked a lot more stoic than his so-called buddy, looking around at the witches with a vigilant gaze. Ensuring that none of them were whispering words to a spell. “Particularly weaponry, the more ancient and historical, the better,” he added to Joseph’s word, going along with his roleplay. He then stopped his eyes at the witch that told them that they didn’t sell, making Michael click his tongue as he stepped forward. “What a shame,” he said, although he didn’t seem too worked up about it. “Right,” he added to Joseph's words about him as he moved closer to the people in the living room. “It’s more of a demand,” he clarified, about to start a long speech about righteousness when Joseph broke the necks of two people. Changing his initial plan. The room quickly turned into chaos, making Michael look around at the witches as he expected anyone of them to attack him. And sure enough, two magically charged attacks were about to hit him, but before they could, he held up a hand to create his defensive shield, destroying the spells being cast at him. “I really wish you hadn’t done that,” he replied as he reduced the strength of the shield, looking at the one witch that was still standing while the other one had decided to run. But it seemed like Joseph had locked the place down, leaving no means of escape. He had really meant it when he said he hated these people. Michael lifted his hand to smite the witch with his holy light before he managed to finish the spell, making him scream in pain before he fell to the floor. He then made a quick turn as he heard steps coming towards him. A girl with a knife. He forcefully grabbed her wrist where she held a raised knife, lifting her up from the ground. “Ah, ah” he said as he looked at her, squeezing harder around her wrist until she finally let go of the knife. He then picked it up and flipped it in his hand as he looked around to see if anyone else was going to try to fight him. But it didn't appear so. So he took a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship of the knife and the magic that it held. His gaze then found the stairs to the basement in the adjacent room. “This way,” he said, sending a quick glance to Joseph to make sure he heard him before he walked towards the stairs in the next room, going down into the mansion’s basement.

Downstairs was an even larger room with rows of bookshelves and various objects and a couple of dozen safes. However, Michael immediately took attention to the back wall that was filled with weapons, spotting his sword in the upper middle part of the wall. It was a long silver sword with holy and angelic symbols etched into it and a decorative, golden shaft. He slowly walked towards it, not really waiting for Joseph if he was still dealing with the witches upstairs. He broke the alarm and lock to the fenced cage protecting the large wall, but before he could reach his hand in to take a hold of his sword, he was stopped by an unnatural force. He then locked down to see that a ring of holy fire had been ignited. An automated trap. Almost as if they'd expected Michael to come and retrieve his weapon.

Michael stood in the middle of the trap when Joseph joined him in the basement, making him take a step closer to the edge of it. He scoffed briefly at his comment, looking around the basement, almost as if checking for other traps before his eyes landed on him again. “The trap was magically concealed,” he explained. Otherwise, he’d surely not walked straight into one. He wasn’t completely stupid, albeit the looks of it. Although, in hindsight, he should have waited for Joseph to arrive before he’d decided to break the lock to retrieve his sword. He turned his gaze to the statue that seemed to catch his interest, clearly not in a rush to free Michael from the trap. And as he touched the object, he looked down at the flames surrounding him, rendering his abilities useless until it was broken. “Yes, very interesting indeed,” he agreed with an underlying sarcastic tone.

He arched a brow as he said that he wasn’t fond of him visiting his witch in Oakheart, which only could mean one witch in particular. He raised his chin as he looked at him. His? “Can’t blame a man for needing the help of a witch, now can we? But if you care so much about her, and it seems that you do, I’m sure you know that I haven’t harmed her.” His eyes studying him with a newfound curiosity because he had seldomly seen Joseph care for another person. In whatever way and extent that the siphoner could care about someone other than himself. “Did she break your heart or something?” he asked, more mockingly than intended before a faint smirk formed on his expression. Not willing to believe they were in a current relationship. “Or are you actually dating?”

He noticed how he looked at the fire, only to comment that he’d gotten himself in some trouble. And he wasn’t wrong. It would take some time before the fire would extinguish itself. “A little help would be appreciated,” he said as he gestured towards the ring of fire, expecting him to help turn it off. Because if he didn’t, their relationship would quickly turn to the worse. And he was sure that they both preferred to avoid such a scenario.

He scoffed briefly at his comment, figuring as much. Just like they would've had a different conversation had he harmed the human family. Besides, Saga had been nothing but kind and useful to him, and her moral compass hadn’t leaned too far to the wrong side, in which he would have an incentive to stop her immoral ways. “Huh,” he said, still with the curious spark in his eyes as he watched Joseph lean up against the wall, claiming that the state of their relationship was complicated. It seemed that however small, large or bygone they were, he had once developed feelings for this woman.

He exhaled slowly as Joseph extinguished the fire, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve slightly as he felt himself regain his full strength. “Thank you,” he said as he looked at Joseph before he turned around and took a hold of his sword, feeling an instant static by the initial touch before the symbols glowed blue. A sign of it recognizing its owner. He strengthened his grip of it as he removed it from the wall, flipping it slowly as he analyzed every inch of it. Ensuring that it was in perfect condition. Afterward, he looked up at Joseph, asking him if he could smell something which made him inhale deeply. “No. It smells like a dusty old basement to me,” he said, but naturally, angels didn’t have the best sense of smell either. And the spicy scent that he did notice most likely belonged to the more exotic collectibles in the room. The wooden African masks or the Egyptian papyrus or clay tablets. His gaze then fell to the statue as Joseph approached it again, reaching out to touch it and as he did this, Michael heard a faint heartbeat appear from it. He lowered the sword in his hand as he walked closer to them, placing a hand on the statue’s shoulder to sense its living soul. “You’re right,” he said, looking at the woman’s face with a disconcerted expression. Only to realize that Joseph had walked away to look at the shelves, not caring much for the woman trapped in this state. “We can’t just leave her like this. Help me remove the curse,” he said in a demanding tone. Even if he knew that Joseph might not want to waste his powers on her, but under any circumstance, it wasn’t right to let her be.

Michael tilted his head as he replied him by saying that he hadn’t done his hero hair, and that he didn’t fit into the category of the saying that not all heroes wore capes. But Michael couldn’t care less of what he viewed this deed as. He needed his help. Or at least, for him to point him in the direction of someone who could remove the curse because he wasn’t just going to leave her like this. He straightened himself as he finally agreed to help, turning his eyes from Joseph to the statue. “Well, you are the teacher of the two of us,” he pointed out, giving him a sideways glance before he again focused on the statue. Of course, he didn't expect Joseph to babysit her, and he wouldn't want to leave her alone with him either. Much less was it upsetting to think of him teaching a class of young students. Not thinking he was a great role model for anyone. He watched him carefully as she placed a hand on her and took away the spell that had turned the woman into a statue in the first place. He kept his gaze with the woman as she slowly appeared from the stone-like stage, turning into a living being. Her dress revealing that she’d been stuck as a statue for much longer than he’d anticipated. “Good Heavens,” he said as the transformation was still ongoing. He could only imagine how relieved she felt from finally being lifted from this curse. Wondering what she'd done to have been brought upon it in the first place.
He looked at the woman as she slowly opened her eyes. “It’s okay. We’re not going to hurt you,” he assured her, knowing that the last people she’d seen had quite the opposite intention. He kept the sword in a downward position to show that he didn't mean to harm her with it. “What’s your name?” he asked.

It wasn’t hard to believe that she was of noble status, her hair and attire still replicating what a lady would have worn in the 1700s. But now. After all this time. She’d most likely been presumed dead by her family and wouldn’t have a home to return to. He nodded acknowledging as she said she had heard everything they said, which also meant she’d heard what the witches had said whenever they were down here. “Michael Sanctius,” he introduced himself, before looking over to Joseph as he seemed to have remembered something. He turned his chest to face him slightly as he explained what it was. “Hm?” A teacher-parent conversation about Erin, he would lie if he said that didn’t sound concerning coming from Joseph. He did know of the Winstons, but knowing that they were going after Erin, made it hard to think of why they’d want to get to him in the first place. “How do you know this?” he asked, looking at him with furrowed brows, wondering what it was that he’d seen or heard exactly. It was only natural for him to take this accusation seriously. Especially after his daughter had nearly died the last time she’d gotten involved in one of his messes. But he also wanted to make sure he got all the information that Joseph knew. Because either way, he was going to do something about it. Erin knew a lot about him, far from everything, and far from all his weaknesses, but she knew enough for it to be dangerous information in the hands of demons. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Not if he could prevent it.
He inhaled a deep breath before he looked back to Astrid. So much had already happened in the short time that he’d been with Joseph. But if he was telling the truth, then perhaps he could stop him before he got near Erin. In the meantime, he had to figure out what to do with Astrid. Wanting to make sure she was brought into this time era properly. And he was easily willing to do it himself if needed. “Did you know of any immortals at the time you lived, that we could take you to?"

He stared at him as he acted offended by his question. Not showing any interest in telling him any further details. To Michael’s annoyance, he didn’t tell him nearly as much as he wanted - despite him clearly knowing more. At least, it seemed that way. But he could have chosen to say nothing, so he could hardly complain about it either. Of course, he wanted the information. It was the exact reason he’d deployed spies of his own on Earth. Conspiracies against him, and especially ones that involved his family, was of great concern to him. He gave him a slow nod as he realized he wasn’t going to tell him anything else before he again turned his attention to Astrid.

He sympathized with her story. He himself had been cursed many times, and although he believed there to be a reason for this, he couldn’t help but get the feeling that whatever she had done, it didn't justify this scale of punishment. And that it most likely had kept on going for the exact reason that nobody knew of it. But luckily, they'd at least come by at this time to undo the curse. “It’s okay. I will help you,” he said, sending her a brief, encouraging smile as he looked into her eyes. “We are in the year of 2020,” he replied, knowing that it must come as quite a shock to her. “Naturally, a lot of history and technological development has occurred in the past centuries, but not more than you'd be able to catch up to,” he said, again to assure her that it was going to be okay. Even when she came across these strange new inventions. He had many times dealt with the same from angels coming to Earth for the first time. “I can bring you home with me until we figure everything out,” he said as he looked at the shapeshifter. Not wanting to teleport her unless he was sure that she felt safe enough to do so. He then looked at the siphoner. “And Joseph, if you happen to think of anything else regarding this Winston kid, give me a call,” he said before his gaze moved towards the staircase. “And clean this space up.” They could hardly leave the crime scene like it was now. With all the bodies upstairs. Of course, he would have dealt with it himself if it wasn't for Astrid. And Joseph had already expressed that he didn't want to babysit her, so he'd surely prefer the clean-up job over that.

Michael took a moment to look around the room for anything worth taking, walking over to a cabinet that held some glass vials. His eyes scanned the names on their labels before he picked out a few of them and hid them inside the pockets of his jacket. He then walked to Astrid. “We will be teleporting,” he informed her before placing a hand on her shoulder, turning his gaze to Joseph for a moment. “I’ll see you around,” he said. And with those words, he looked back at Astrid and teleported them into the living room of the bunker where he lived. He made sure to stand close to her in case she’d feel faint as he removed his hand from her shoulder. “Please, take a seat,” he said, gesturing to three leather brown couches, facing a square wooden table with various scriptures and books on it. He didn’t think she would need to live with him for long, but until they could figure everything out, it seemed like the best option to bring her back with him. “I’ll be right back.” He walked towards the kitchen to get a glass of water and a small plate of bread with butter that he returned to her with, placing it on the coffee table. “In case you feel thirsty or hungry.” She didn’t seem to have any injuries otherwise, and so far it seemed that Joseph had taken away the curse completely, but it sometimes was more complicated than so. He then sat down on the other end of the couch she had chosen to sit in. “So, I got to ask. Do you know who cursed you?” he asked, wondering why anyone would want to curse her in the first place. And whether it had been those witches in Moonlight Falls who had been the ones responsible.