He moves to sit, pulling his knees up to sit with a grunt. Heedless of her he moves to pull up his pants leg - there's no bruise and the scrapes on his hands are gone. Satisfied, he stares at the door.
"I was seven years old." The man's voice is soft, "Cheryl had dreams of something in the corners of our room. We both had shared dreams, lucid or otherwise, of the demons that haunted us. Desperate to prove it to my father I videotaped them. I showed it to my father and he beat me senseless. Knocked me to the floor."
Richard's features are passive but there's a hanging sense of cold around him that dissolves, slowly, ever slowly.
"They came on my birthday, because apparently ancient entities are cliche to the point of being boring. It forced itself inside me. The ultimate violation - and I was suddenly saddled with a companion just as Simon is. Chosen unwillingly to be a host for this creature that was supposed to burn me away. That very nearly did."
"I have spent over fifty years afraid of that thing and wanting to be human but I can't.I perhaps never could. I have barely known myself out without the demon that is now a part of me. That has made me someone...different."
He turns to stare at Alex, eyes gray before they fade to black, "Alex. I am not the Richard Strand you knew, but I am his...sense of self. And Azazel's powers and memories and abilities. And his sense of self. What Warren and Tiamat - grasping creatures willing to prey on lost creatures like snake oil salesmen...is the success of lost creatures coming together. There is a lot mankind has in common with both the dark and the light of this world. I see that now."
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He moves to sit, pulling his knees up to sit with a grunt. Heedless of her he moves to pull up his pants leg - there's no bruise and the scrapes on his hands are gone. Satisfied, he stares at the door.
"I was seven years old." The man's voice is soft, "Cheryl had dreams of something in the corners of our room. We both had shared dreams, lucid or otherwise, of the demons that haunted us. Desperate to prove it to my father I videotaped them. I showed it to my father and he beat me senseless. Knocked me to the floor."
Richard's features are passive but there's a hanging sense of cold around him that dissolves, slowly, ever slowly.
"They came on my birthday, because apparently ancient entities are cliche to the point of being boring. It forced itself inside me. The ultimate violation - and I was suddenly saddled with a companion just as Simon is. Chosen unwillingly to be a host for this creature that was supposed to burn me away. That very nearly did."
"I have spent over fifty years afraid of that thing and wanting to be human but I can't.I perhaps never could. I have barely known myself out without the demon that is now a part of me. That has made me someone...different."
He turns to stare at Alex, eyes gray before they fade to black, "Alex. I am not the Richard Strand you knew, but I am his...sense of self. And Azazel's powers and memories and abilities. And his sense of self. What Warren and Tiamat - grasping creatures willing to prey on lost creatures like snake oil salesmen...is the success of lost creatures coming together. There is a lot mankind has in common with both the dark and the light of this world. I see that now."
He dwindles, looking at nothing.