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Safe Passage	By : Nakkinomiko Category: +S through Z > Silent Hill Views: 2434 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hills or its characters. I make no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 1-Safe Passage
- 1
A/N and warnings: So, this isn't your typical Silent Hill story. I played the first game, saw the first movie, and was fascinated by the concept of evil people subconsciously trapping themselves in a manifested Hell. I ended up writing this story after days of obsessing over this question: What happens when people that don't deserve to be in Silent Hill get stuck there? While I use Silent Hill and some of the characters and monsters, there are original characters here...Gwen, Detective Daniels and little Aidan are mine. **Also, I've never played any of the games beyond the first, so some of my "knowledge" of how things work in Silent Hill have come from the fandom. If you read this and see something that was your idea and not actually in the games, please, please, please let me know so I can properly credit you!

Safe Passage

The woman on the bed slept fitfully. She was uncovered, clad only in jeans and a t-shirt that had, some time ago, ceased to be white. Her feet were encased in grime encrusted tennis shoes and were even now leaving dark marks on the gray cotton sheets. Her blonde hair was dark with perspiration at the temples, and some of the shoulder length strands were plastered to the damp skin of her cheeks and neck. She lay on her side, her hands curled close to her chest, and every now and then her fingers would twitch ever-so-slightly. She moaned softly in her sleep. Her lips formed incoherent words and her breaths were quick and shallow. She suddenly uttered a sharp gasp, and brown eyes flew open, catapulting her out of the world of dreams.
Gwen Landers sat straight up in the bed, and for several moments, could not remember where she was. The room was unfamiliar to her sleep hazed mind, and she was further confused by the fact that she was still fully clothed. She never slept with her clothes on. A frown marred her features as she looked around. A single small lamp shed its wan light onto the dirty sheets and barely managed to illuminate the room. It was small, and contained only the bed, the table, and a small desk next to the door.
A hotel. She was in a hotel. The realization opened the floodgates of her memory, and her mouth went dry.
She might as well have been in Hell.

*****

Looking back, Gwen was not quite sure exactly when she had made the wrong turn. She had never been good at reading maps, and the fact that she was driving alone had not helped. She had been driving to visit a friend across the state line, a friend that usually came to visit her instead. Her first mistake had been leaving in the late afternoon--everyone knew that trying to find unfamiliar roads in the dark was just asking for trouble. Her second mistake had been forgetting her Thermos of coffee on the counter in her apartment’s small kitchen. Two hours into the trip she had really started to miss the caffeine. And then, quite suddenly, she’d found herself lost on a dark highway in the middle of nowhere.
She had refused to panic. Instead, she had pulled off to the side of the road, locked the doors on her car and forced herself to relax enough to sleep. Everything will become clear in the morning, she had thought.
Except that it hadn’t. When Gwen woke the following morning, she’d found that fog had settled in overnight. The morning light was gray and diffused by the thick, white mist that seemed to swallow everything around her. Still, she swallowed the panic that had tried to choke her and decided to drive on, thinking that there had to be a town somewhere along the way where she could stop and ask for directions.
An hour later a billboard had loomed out of the mists, and she had stopped the car long enough so that she could read the sign: Welcome to Silent Hill.
Finally! she had thought. She’d put the car into gear and continued to drive.
That had been her third mistake.

*****

Gwen sat on the dingy sheets and tried not to panic. It had been twelve hours since she’d read that billboard, and now she wished to God that she hadn’t.
I wish I’d turned the damn car around! Gwen wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. It was cold in the room. She wished that she’d worn her jacket out of the car instead of leaving it. Her car was parked blocks away, and Gwen wasn’t too keen on venturing out to get it. At the same time, she had no desire to stay where she was.
I have to keep moving, she thought to herself.
It had been the first lesson that Silent Hill had taught her.

*****

It had taken Gwen less than five minutes to realize that Silent Hill was nothing but a ghost town. The fog, while much thinner there, still hung in the air and softened the lines of the buildings around her. She’d wandered to a corner diner and tried the door. It had been open, but there’d been no one inside. A fine layer of dust had covered everything, and the place had been silent as a tomb.
She’d left the diner and headed back towards her car with a growing sense of unease. The place had felt wrong, and it had gone beyond the fact that the town seemed devoid of all life. She’d nearly made it to her car when she’d sensed a movement in the mist. Gwen had halted in mid-step, barely able to make out the form of her car in the fog.
There’s someone there, Gwen had thought before calling out tentatively. “Hello?”
The fog had seemed to swallow her words, and for several moments she’d heard nothing. And then she’d saw movement again, and this time the fog had swirled and parted to reveal a form shambling towards her. Gwen’s mouth had gone dry, and she’d taken a half step backwards before her brain had been able to process what it was seeing. A pale naked form that appeared to be armless and sexless. A head that had no discernible eyes and mouth, only smooth flesh where they should have been. Long, spindly legs that seemed to be joined at the knees and made the creature walk in short, jerky steps.
It had been instinct alone that had made her turn and run.

*****

And instinct had kept her running. It was that same instinct that now drove her out of the hotel bed and into the hallway. A long kitchen knife was clutched tightly in her hand as she slowly walked the length of the hall. She stayed close to the wall, her back nearly pressing against the solid surface as she moved towards the hotel’s lobby. She tried to swallow, but her throat was so dry that she couldn’t manage it.
I need to find water, and food, she thought. She’d noticed that her stomach was starting to protest the lack of food hours ago, but had been too afraid to stop long enough to find anything. In her mind, it had been extremely risky to stop and take a nap, but she’d been so tired after eight hours of avoiding the creatures that haunted the streets of Silent Hill. There had been more of the armless creatures, and along the way she’d happened upon a new breed of monster. It had resembled a dog, only that it looked as if someone had flayed the skin from the beast, and it’s dark eyes had burned with an inner fire. She’d barely escaped that run-in unscathed, and was it any wonder that when she’d happened upon the knife in the kitchen of one of the abandoned houses that she’d snatched it up like the treasure it was?
Gwen’s grip tightened around the knife’s handle. She paused at the mouth of the hall, not quite sure she really wanted to step out into the lobby. It was a wide open space, and there was little to offer cover between the hallway she stood in and the one directly opposite her position. A sign over the archway indicated that there was a restaurant somewhere down that hall, and most likely there would be something there she could eat. Her eyes glanced towards the glass front of the hotel. Muted light filtered through the glass, and the fog was so thick that she couldn’t see the buildings on the opposite side of the street.
I have to hurry, Gwen thought. She cautiously stepped into the large room and started towards the opposite hall. Her eyes darted around the room as she walked, but she seemed to be alone. She quickened her steps, muttering prayers beneath her breath.
“Please, please let me make it, please . . .”
A sound quite suddenly filled the room, as if the air around her was somehow warping, and panic threatened to overwhelm her.
Oh, please . .please . . Not again.
A heartbeat later the world went dark.

*****

It had happened the first time nearly an hour after Gwen had run from the first creature. A strange sensation had prickled along her skin, and then that odd sound, as if the air around her were folding in on itself. And then, the darkness, sudden and complete. It had shocked her into immobility, and the sudden fear she’d felt had nearly driven her to her knees. She’d stood there, completely silent and still, until her eyes had adjusted to the night. She had been relieved to find that she could see, somewhat, and that the darkness wasn’t complete. The fog seemed to have disappeared with the coming of night, but it did nothing to really improve her sight distance. It was just too dark.
The next thirty minutes had felt like an eternity. It hadn’t taken Gwen long to discover that the dark hid creatures far more terrifying than those she’d already encountered.

*****

Now, Gwen stood stock still in the center of the hotel lobby, weighing her options, and coming up with nothing. It was so dark in the room that she didn’t dare move, for fear of tripping, or even worse, running into some twisted creature. She’d found that if she stayed very quiet, she could avoid them. She’d tried using a flashlight the second time the darkness had descended, and had quickly learned that light attracted just about everything. She’d discarded it quickly and had run as two vaguely humanoid creatures had descended upon the light, the scalpels in their hands flashing as they stabbed at the flashlight and then at each other.
She started praying that it would be okay, that nothing would wander into the hotel and find her there. The last time she’d caught a glimpse of a lumbering form, something that resembled a man wearing a pyramid-shaped helmet that covered its entire head and carried a butcher knife so big and heavy that the creature was forced to drag it behind himself. The sound of the steel scraping across the concrete had been utterly terrifying, and she’d had this horrible feeling that the demon was looking for her. Gwen had the feeling that it would be a very bad thing indeed if he were to catch her.
She stood there for what seemed like an eternity, shivering, with her teeth clamped together to keep them from chattering and giving away her position. Her eyes gradually adjusted to the dark, and she was able to make out vague shapes in the inky blackness--a couch, a chair, the hotel’s front counter. The pyramid-headed behemoth!
Overwhelming fear kept her rooted to the spot.   Her jaw began to tremble harder and her mouth became unbearably dry. He stood less than thirty feet away, just in front of the hall that led to the restaurant. Gwen had the feeling that he was looking right at her, that he could actually see her in the darkness, and was waiting for her to move before swooping down upon her. Where had he come from? He hadn’t been there when the dark had come, and she hadn’t heard him approach. Where had he come from?
Gwen nearly screamed when he took a step towards her, but somehow managed to swallow the sound. Some gut instinct told her that if she moved at all she was good as dead. And yet, the urge to turn and run was almost overpowering. What would it do should it lay hands on her? What hideous things would it do?   Her active imagination supplied images that left her cold and even more terrified than she already was. She agonized for several more moments before she decided to run. She took a step backwards.
Pyramid Head took another step towards her, this one much larger than the first. Gwen could hear the knife he carried make a dull dragging noise on the carpet, and she thought she caught a glint of the blade in the darkness that surrounded them. He took another step, and then another.
Gwen was turning to run when that odd sound came again, and the night suddenly gave way to light. She watched, wide eyed and open mouthed, as the creature’s form seemed to break up and crumble like peeling paint and then dissipate into nothingness. She stared at the empty space for some time before sudden relief washed over her and nearly brought her to her knees.   God, that was too close . . .
“Hello, Gwen.”
A small scream escaped her, and Gwen whirled around so fast that she nearly lost her grip on the knife she was holding. A man was leaning against the lobby counter, his arms crossed over his chest. Everything he wore was black, from the heavy boots to the leather trench coat that draped his tall form. The only skin she could see was his hands and face, and they were unnaturally pale. That pale face was framed by jet-black hair that fell to his chin, and his eyes were a gray so light that they almost blended into the whites. His features were aristocratic and sharp, and had Gwen not been so utterly terrified, she might have called him attractive.
“Who . . .who are you?”
His head tilted downward slightly as he smiled. The movement wasn’t quite fluid, his head seemed to jerk slightly side to side with the motion, but Gwen couldn’t have been sure. It had happened so quickly that she thought it was quite possible her stressed out mind had imagined it.
“I am Valtiel,” he replied. His voice was a soft, rich tenor that in other circumstances she might have found comforting.
“What are you doing here?” Gwen managed.
“I think the better question is: what are you doing here?”
“I got lost.” Gwen backed away a step when Valtiel pushed himself away from the counter and moved towards her.
“Yes, you did,” Valtiel said. He was nearly to her now, and Gwen took a step back.
“Stay away!” Gwen managed. She extended the knife in front of her.
Valtiel glanced down at the knife, held in her shaking hand, and turned an amused gaze upon her. His lips set into a smirk, and he shook his head slightly.
“If I had wanted you dead, human, you would be by now, and that knife would do little harm to me.”
Gwen swallowed hard. Her jaw was trembling so violently that the chattering of her teeth was audible in the room. He had called her ‘human’. What did that make him? He seemed human, but if Gwen had learned anything in the past twelve hours it was that looks could be terribly deceiving.
“What do you want?” Her voice sounded choked in her own ears. Tears stung her eyes and despair threatened to overwhelm her.
“To know why you are here,” Valtiel said. He took another step closer. “It perplexes me really. Usually those drawn to Silent Hill are those who are deserving of its hell and punishment--murderers, rapists, those seeking to atone for what they perceive are great sins. But I have been watching you, and I have searched your soul, and you are no such person. In fact, for an adult, you are surprisingly innocent. You should not be here at all.”
A bark of hysterical laughter left her, and a single tear welled from her right eye and wound its way down her cheek. “I don’t want to be here! Show me the way out, and I’ll gladly be on my way!”
“I’m afraid I can not,” Valtiel said. The regret his words conveyed seemed to be genuine, and it was momentarily reflected in his eerie eyes. “Once you have entered this realm, there is no leaving it.”
Gwen felt a sob trying to rip its way from her chest. “No way?”
“Only death,” Valtiel said quietly.
“No!” Gwen shook her head almost violently. “There has to be a way out! There has to be!”
“There is not. For a reason I have not yet discovered, the town drew you here, and once you have crossed the borders, there is no going back.”
Gwen swallowed the hysterical laugh that tried to leave her. “Is this some kind of sick joke?” she whispered.
Valtiel shook his head slowly, and his aristocratic features became somber. He took another step towards her, and Gwen backed away again. Valtiel halted his advance and regarded her with his strange eyes.
“You just stay there,” Gwen managed in a hushed voice.   She circled around him and started to head for the door.
“Where will you run?”
“Away from here,” Gwen said. “There has to be a way out, and I’m going to find it.”
Valtiel’s pale lips curled into a smile, revealing teeth that were a tad sharper than any Gwen had seen on a man before. It made her back away from him more hastily.
“You are welcome to try,” he said smoothly.
“I will,” Gwen said firmly. Her back bumped into the door and she used her weight to swing it open.
“I’ll be here, when you discover the truth for yourself,” he called to her. “There is no way out.”
“We’ll see!” Gwen backed out of the lobby and onto the sidewalk. Valtiel made no move to follow her. He merely watched through the plate glass as she backed further away from the building and then into the street itself.   She turned on her heel and ran in the direction she knew her car was parked.

*****

Valtiel watched as Gwen’s form was swallowed by the mist, a frown set upon his lips. He stared at the swirling fog for several moments before his gray eyes narrowed and turned and strode to the closest wall. He reached a pale hand out and traced a symbol into the wall as he muttered an incantation into the air. The wall pulsed and puckered beneath Valtiel‘s fingers, and then what appeared to be a round steam valve formed and solidified. He grasped the valve and turned it sharply. The valve made a low hissing sound, and the room began to change around him. Carpet peeled and floated away to reveal iron grating, and the walls cracked and began to bleed. Some of the furniture disappeared completely, while others were transformed into grotesque parodies of what they had once been, monstrosities made of twisted metal, barbed wire, and rotting cloth.
The frown Valtiel wore deepened as he surveyed the transformation. Somewhere out there, the innocent human would find that the dark had come again. Would she survive it, this time? Normally he would not have cared, but this was an entirely different case. This woman was innocent, and he had not been toying with her when he’d told the woman she did not belong in Silent Hill.
/You are troubled./
Valtiel glanced sideways at the form that had coalesced beside him during the room’s transformation. The Red Pyramid stood nearly a foot taller than Valtiel, and truly did strike an imposing figure. His muscular male form was clad in dark pants and a gore-splattered butcher’s apron. The heavy boots he wore were encrusted with grime and blood, and the knife he carried was nearly seven feet long. And of course, the most unsettling thing about the demon was the pyramid-shaped helmet he wore.
“She does not belong here,” Valtiel said. His eyes were fixed on the plate glass of the lobby and the darkness beyond. “Even you have sensed it.”
/Yes./
“Then the question remains: why is she here?” Valtiel looked up at the creature. “Our little hell should not have drawn her in. She should have found a ghost town and nothing more. And yet, here she is.”
/It troubles you./
Valtiel nodded. “We are demons, brother, but we are not charged to do harm to the innocent. I am not without a sense of justice.”
/Nor am I./ The creature shifted. /What will you do, Valtiel?/
“I do not yet know,” Valtiel said. “So far, she has proven remarkably resourceful and resilient.”
/Yes. Up until that last time, she managed to avoid me very well./
“We must keep watch over her,” Valtiel said. “I would have no harm come to her, at least not until we know why she is here.”
/Nor I./ The Red Pyramid shifted, and Valtiel knew his brother was looking at him from beneath the helmet. /Is there truly no way out?/
The smile Valtiel gave his demon brother was sad.
“You already know that answer to that.”

*****

Gwen quickly discovered that there was nowhere for her to run. There were creatures everywhere, and nowhere to hide. The Dark came often, and she would find a wall to plaster herself against and just wait, counting her heartbeats until it would pass, and the whole time praying that nothing would find her in the darkness. It took her nearly an hour to get to her car, and she nearly wept with relief when it actually started. She put the car into gear, turned it around, and sped for the city limits.

*****

Valtiel watched from his vantage point on the diner’s roof as the car sped away from the town. He shook his head slightly, and felt something that he thought might be sorrow for the woman. She would soon see that her way was barred, and then she would be forced to return. He’d seen the same tableau played out hundreds of times before, but never with someone like her. It disturbed him, the feelings this woman was stirring in his soul. He wondered if the Red Pyramid was having the same problem, if his brother had the same overwhelming urge to protect this woman whose soul, while not completely pure, still shone like a beacon in the darkness they’d become accustomed to.
Valtiel allowed himself a laugh. I am drawn like a moth to the flame, he thought. But her flame would not burn him. No, he would corrupt it if he got too close, and the thought did not sit well with him at all. He again had the thought that she should not be there.
Brother, can you hear me? Valtiel closed his eyes as he thought the words.
/Valtiel./
She is driving towards the city limit, Valtiel sent. What she finds will break her. It always breaks them.
/It is regrettable./ The depth of emotion in his brother’s tone startled Valtiel. The Red Pyramid very rarely showed any emotion, for the simple fact the nature of his role in Silent Hill necessitated that he keep his emotions locked away. /Valtiel, what will you do?/
Valtiel shook his head slightly. There were really only two options for the woman now, and Valtiel did not like either choice.
I should kill her, he finally replied. It would be the kindest thing.
Silence for a moment, and then: /She has a will to live, Valtiel. I know that you have felt it. Would you really be able to kill an innocent who has no desire to die?/
Hot anger flared within his chest. “What would you have me do?” Valtiel growled, out loud and in his mind. She is trapped here. This place will drive her insane, eventually. I am not willing to let that happen, not when she doesn’t deserve it!
/Will you not consider another option, brother?/
Valtiel snarled into the fog and nearly gave a violent shake of his head. You would have me corrupt her, then? Steal the very thing from her that makes her what she is? My role is to punish those who deserve it, brother, not to corrupt the innocent!
/What other choice, besides death, is there now?/ The emotion had gone from the Red Pyramid’s tone, and now he was simply pointing out what Valtiel knew was the truth. There were no other options, and Valtiel knew that well.
It is no choice at all, Valtiel finally snapped in reply.
/Bind her to us,/ came the calm reply. /It is the only way she can exist safely in this place./
Valtiel shook his head, even though he knew the Red Pyramid had the right of it.
/Bind her to us, Valtiel. Bind her and use the wards to create a haven for her. You know as well as I that it is the only way, outside of death./
Valtiel lifted a hand and covered his face with it, and the sorrow that washed through him was unmistakable this time. He did not particularly like the feeling--it was not something that he felt often. Even more frightening were the other emotions that came with it, and those he chose not to name at all. His head snapped upwards when his inhuman hearing registered an anguished scream in the air. There was great despair in the sound, and the uncomfortable emotions returned to Valtiel ten-fold.
Valtiel stepped off the roof of the diner. He did a midair somersault before landing in a crouch on the asphalt below. The black leather of his long trench coat rippled as he straightened, the fluid motion marred only by a barely discernable tick that made his movements seem almost bird-like. He turned his head and looked towards the opposite end of town. His unnatural vision allowed him to see through the dense mist, and his pale gaze found what he was looking for a moment later.
The Victorian mansion was nestled at the base of the small mountain that over-shadowed Silent Hill. It was actually built on a small hill, and was clearly visible above the rest of the town. It had belonged to Silent Hill’s founder, before the fires in the coal mines below had forced the town to evacuate. In reality, the fires no longer burned, but here, in this dimension, the fires burned hotter than ever. Valtiel’s Silent Hill was a piece of Hell on Earth.
Valtiel started to walk towards the opposite end of town, his pale eyes fixed upon the house that would soon be a safe haven.   Valtiel walked with his teeth clenched. The sound of the woman’s weeping was like a dagger in his damned soul.

*****

When the mound of dirt and broken concrete loomed out of the fog, Gwen slammed on the brakes hard. The wheels locked, and the car slid sideways into the rubble. Gwen cried out as the car collided. The sound of crumpling metal was almost deafening. The glass in the passenger side windows shattered, and Gwen threw her arms up to defend her face from the flying particles. In the silence that followed, Gwen took inventory, and was grateful to discover that she seemed to come out of it unscathed. She turned the car off and gave silent thanks that it had been the passenger side instead of the driver’s side that had smashed into the debris. Had it been the other way around, the impact might have killed her.
Gwen opened the door and hauled herself out of the car. She frowned as she walked around to the other side of the car. She groaned softly as she noted both tires on that side were now flat. The rubber was shredded beyond repair. She looked up at the hill of dirt and debris. It was too tall for her to see over. She squared her shoulders and started to climb upwards. She reached the summit a few minutes later and looked downwards. Vertigo hit her hard, and she found herself stumbling backwards before she lost her footing and sat down hard on her rump.
“Oh, no,” Gwen whispered. “No, no, no, no!!!”
Gwen felt numb as she stared at the yawning chasm that lie between her and freedom. It was as if a great earthquake had occurred and rent the ground in two. The billboard that had announced her arrival to Silent Hill was balancing precariously on the edge and looked as if it would fall into the abyss at any moment. Gwen estimated that the gap was probably a good block wide--she could barely see the other side through the dense fog. Gwen’s jaw startled to tremble as she lifted a chunk of concrete and tossed it into the darkness below. She waited for nearly five minutes before she realized she wasn’t going to hear it hit bottom.
Hot tears filled her eyes, and when the despair became too much for her to bear, she screamed it into the mist.

*****

The mansion had a white picket fence. Valtiel found himself smirking a little as he stood at the gate. He had planned to merely ward the house, but looking at it now, thought that perhaps warding the entire property might be a better idea. There was a small vegetable garden in the side yard, and she would need the sustenance it would provide. At least, she would need it up until the point Valtiel stripped her of her humanity--or she chose to die. Valtiel looked up at the topmost peak of the mansion’s roof. He crouched low, and in one leap gained that highest peak. He landed without any sound at all.
From his new vantage point, Valtiel could see the entirety of Silent Hill spread out below him. His eagle-like vision easily picked out the woman’s form. She was lying on her side atop a mound of debris, and even if Valtiel had been unable to hear her cries with his sharp hearing, he would have known that she was weeping. Her shoulders were shuddering with the force of her sobs. Valtiel cursed under his breath as the sight stirred up a myriad of conflicting emotions. He didn’t like the protective urges he was feeling--they were completely foreign to one such as himself--but at the same time he marveled that he was capable of feeling anything other than the cold detachment he usually viewed this world with. He had watched hundreds die terrible deaths in this hell without feeling a thing, but Valtiel suspected that this human’s passing would cause him to feel a great deal.
And she’s only been here for half a day!
Valtiel forced himself to look away from her. There was work to be done if the house were to be her haven. He jumped from the roof and landed easily on the ground before crossing the yard. He crouched before the closed gate and reached out for the wood. His fingers elongated and their fingernails melted into black, razor sharp talons as he moved. He used those talons to start etching runes and symbols into the wood itself, marks so deep that normal wear and tear would be unable to remove them. He did it effortlessly, as if the wood were nothing but butter beneath his claws, the whole time muttering incantations under his breath. The rhythm of the spells and etching of runes took him into a meditative state, and for a while, Valtiel forgot about the human weeping on the edge of his domain.

*****

Gwen wept for nearly an hour. The dark came once during that time, but she’d hardly noticed in the face of her own despair. There was no way out. She’d given half a thought to walking the perimeter of the city, but instinct told her she would find more of the same. She was trapped in Silent Hill, and there really was no way out.
So what do I do now?
Gwen’s sobs slowly subsided, and a few minutes later she sat up and wrapped her arms around herself and started to sort through her options. Commit suicide. The thought came, and she instantly dismissed it. She knew that she couldn’t do it, and was surprised to realize that she didn’t want to, even with the dire circumstances. It of course left her with only one other option.
Survive.
Gwen heaved a sigh and carefully got to her feet. She had always been the kind of person to easily adapt to any situation. It was a quality that she prided herself on, and now was no different. She had a strong will, and not even the despair her predicament brought could quash it.
She carefully scaled her way back down the mound of debris to her wrecked car. She popped the trunk and hauled out the suitcase and backpack stowed there. She opened the suitcase and quickly rifled through it, pulling out a few pairs of clean underwear and a change of clothes. She opened the backpack and stuffed the clothing in with the few things she had stashed in there--a notebook and pen, a box of granola bars and a couple of 24 ounce bottles of water. She half thought about taking the MP3 player with her, but thought better of it. She would be unable to hear the denizens of Silent Hill coming for her if there were headphones in her ears. She tossed the player back into the suitcase before closing it and throwing it back into the trunk.
Gwen opened the back door on the driver’s side and snagged her jacket. She pulled it on and then shouldered the back pack, the whole time formulating a plan. She would need to find weapons. She’d lost the knife somewhere between the hotel and her car, and thought that she might prefer a gun if she could manage to find one. She wanted a weapon that could deal damage without allowing those creatures to get within striking distance. She also needed to find food, and more water--the provisions she had now would only last for a day or two.
“Right.” Gwen said out loud. She turned and started to hike her way through the fog. “Back to town then.”

*****

All in all, it took Valtiel nearly an hour and a half to fully ward the house and surrounding property. He made a pleased sound as he finished the last ward. He moved back to the gate, placed a finger in the center of the first rune he’d etched into the wood and said a final word of power. The rune flared with a faint red glow, and Valtiel backed away as the light spread to the other etchings and bound the wards together into a solid metaphysical wall.
“Perfect,” Valtiel whispered into the air. The wards would keep the darkness at bay when he summoned it, as well as turn away any of the creatures that wandered Silent Hill. Gwen would be safe here.
His moment of bliss was interrupted when he felt a disturbance in the wards that guarded the perimeter of the city. His pale eyes narrowed sharply, and he was quick to regain his vantage point on the peaked roof of the house. It only took Valtiel a moment to locate the intruder. The man had found his way to the town via one of the trails in the surrounding forest and had burst through the tree line on the main road, about half a mile from the billboard.
And what are your sins, little man? Valtiel thought. He tracked the man’s progress, concentrating hard until he had focused on the man’s aura. His eyes narrowed further as he read the man’s soul, as was his gift and talent. A murderer . . .and a rapist. The man was running from the law and Silent Hill had ensnared him and drawn him in. Now, here was one that deserved Silent Hill’s darker side.
Brother, we have a guest that must be welcomed properly.
/Where is the woman?/
Valtiel’s eyes went wide, and he felt something that felt dangerously close to panic. Where was she? Valtiel scanned the town again, and found her a moment later. She was two blocks into the city proper, and seemed to be working her way through the city, house by house and building by building. He realized, with no little admiration, that the human woman was searching for weapons and food. She intended to fight for her life, bleak as it might be. Valtiel’s gaze shifted to where the criminal was just now walking into the town proper. He was only one block south and two blocks west of the woman’s current location. Valtiel cursed under his breath and leapt from the rooftop. He landed on the sidewalk outside the fence and crouched there.
He is entirely too close to her, Valtiel communicated. He reached down and muttered a quick incantation, and when the steam valve sprouted from the concrete and solidified, he turned it almost violently. Valtiel was too far from her position to reach the woman before the new arrival did, but the Red Pyramid could appear anywhere he wanted when the Dark descended over the town. His brother would watch over her until he could arrive.

*****

Gwen froze as the darkness descended. She had just been entering her fifth house, and she was poised on the porch steps. She had managed to find a baseball bat in the first house she‘d searched, and she clutched it tightly in her hands and slowed her breathing enough so that she could hear any noise in the darkness that surrounded her. Her breath hitched when she heard the all-too-familiar sound of steel scraping against asphalt. Shit. The pyramid-headed demon was somewhere close. In fact it sounded as if he were within a hundred yards of her. It was the first time since the hotel that he’d been that close to her, and Gwen had no desire to let him get any closer. She had yet to encounter anything more frightening than him.
She stayed where she was until her eyes had adjusted a little and she could make out the shapes of the buildings around her. For some reason, the darkness was never quite complete--there was always an ambient light, a kind of dark red glow that seemed to come from somewhere below the city. There was a storm grate on the street just in front of the house, and she could see it emanating from below the grate cover. Her eyes adjusted further, and she quietly made her way down the steps to the sidewalk below. She squinted into the near total darkness, hoping to catch a glimpse of the demon that stalked her, thinking that she’d feel a whole lot better if she knew exactly where he was.
A metallic glint caught her eye, and she swallowed the gasp that almost left her when her eyes focused on the source. He was there, right in front of the house and less than thirty feet from where she stood! It didn’t seem as if he were watching her, though. He seemed to be watching down the street, as if he were waiting for something, and he was still as a statue.   Gwen stood absolutely still and forced her breathing to slow even further. She started to count every time she inhaled, just for something to focus on as she tried to quell her urge to run.
She counted one hundred-twelve breaths before the demon suddenly turned his head in her direction. Gwen’s breath hitched, and even though she couldn’t see the creature’s face, she knew it was looking straight at her. She started violently as the sound of running feet suddenly filled the street. The demon’s head turned sharply in the direction of the noise, and at the same time the darkness started to fade. She saw him clearly for a moment, took in the muscular male body and gore-splattered apron before his form started to dissipate in the rapidly growing light. At the last possible moment it turned to look at her again.
/Do not trust him./
Gwen’s eyes went wide as the deep voice sounded in her head. She opened her mouth to ask just exactly who it was she shouldn’t trust, but the creature had already disappeared.

*****

Valtiel cursed sharply as the darkness gave way to light. He could call it as many times as he wanted, but he never knew how long it would last. Sometimes it would go on for nearly an hour, and others, just mere minutes. This time, it hadn’t lasted long enough. He was still a good mile from the woman’s position.
Brother?
/Make haste, Valtiel. He is upon her./

*****

“Hello there.”
Gwen started violently and turned her head to find the source of the greeting. The man stood on the edge of the yard. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt under a jean jacket, and his dark hair was unkempt. A beard shadowed his jaw line, and his dark eyes raked over her form once before he met her gaze. Gwen felt a cold finger of fear traverse her spine, and her gut instinct told her to run. His eyes held no warmth at all.
“Hello,” Gwen said cautiously.
“What’s a pretty thing like you doing in a place like this?” He took another step towards her, and it was all Gwen could do to hold her ground.
“I got lost,” Gwen said.
“Poor thing. You have a name?”
“Gwen,” she answered automatically.
“My name is Will. Have you seen the things wandering around here?”
“Yeah,” Gwen said.
“Any idea where they came from?”
Gwen shook her head slightly.
“You okay?” the man asked. He sounded concerned, but his eyes still held no warmth.
“I’m still alive,” Gwen said with a shrug. “I’m looking for food.”
“Is there anyone else here?” His eyes shifted side to side as he asked the question. His gaze settled on her again, and Gwen found she couldn’t speak. “Hey, is there anyone else here?”
“No,” Gwen finally managed. There was something in his eyes that made Gwen afraid of him. “You’re the first person I’ve seen since I arrived here. I think that was nearly twenty-four hours ago.”
“I’ll bet it’s been real scary, eh?” Will smiled, and again, the expression did not reach his eyes. “Well, you don’t have to face it alone anymore. I’ll stay with you, if you like.”
“You don’t have to,” Gwen found herself saying.
His expression faltered slightly and his dark eyes narrowed momentarily before the smile returned. “Don’t be ridiculous. Safety in numbers and all that.”
Gwen found herself stepping backwards and to the man’s right. She kept the baseball bat gripped tightly in her hands as she moved. “No, really, I think I’d rather be alone.”
His laugh was ugly. “I’m not good enough for you, eh?” He took a step towards her, and his expression was menacing. “What is it with you fucking women, anyway? Always acting like you’re too good for everyone else!”
Gwen felt her blood run cold. Will took another step towards her, and Gwen’s eyes went wide when he produced a switchblade. The metallic snap it made as he released the blade was deafening in the silence that surrounded them. Gwen turned and ran.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
Gwen screamed as she felt a weight slam into her back. She went down hard, and she cried out as she fell spread-eagled on the concrete. Hard fingers wrapped around the hand that held the bat and slammed it hard on the ground. Pain exploded in her hand, and she was unable to hold on to her make-shift weapon. Tears filled her eyes as Will straddled the small of her back and leaned over to whisper into her ear.
“Fucking bitch! I’ll show you what a real man is like.”
Gwen sobbed as she felt him cut through the straps of her backpack. Will tossed it aside, and Gwen felt the tip of the blade slide under her shirt, and then she felt the cold steel against her back. The sound of tearing cloth filled the air, and cool air washed over her back as the T-shirt parted and exposed her skin. She swallowed another sob as he leaned over and traced a trail from the back of her skull to the center of her back with his tongue.
“Aw, don’t hold back, baby!” he said with a cold laugh. “Scream all you want . . .there’s no one here to hear you!”
Gwen tried to buck him off of her. Will grabbed her hair and pulled her head back sharply. Gwen cried out in pain.
“Try that again, and I’ll brain you on the concrete,” he hissed into her ear. “Be a good little girl and do what I tell you to do, eh? You might even live to tell the whole world what a good fuck I am.”
Gwen sobbed again as he shifted his weight onto her thighs. She felt his hand move lower, down her back and then to her jean-clad buttocks. His hand cupped a cheek, and he gave it an experimental squeeze.
“Ooh, baby, you’ve got a nice little ass,” he rasped. “Maybe I’ll fuck that, too.”

“Please, stop!” Gwen sobbed.
“That’s it, baby. Beg me. I like it best that way.” He started to laugh at her, but the sound was quite suddenly cut off, and a moment later his weight disappeared from her back. Gwen heard him make a strangled sound, and then there was an unmistakable sound of a body hitting the asphalt some distance from her.
Gwen lay on her stomach for a few seconds, almost afraid to see what had happened. She rolled over on to her back and then sat up. Her eyes grew wide at the sight of Valtiel standing over her. His pale eyes regarded her with open concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Gwen opened her mouth to tell him she was just shaken up a little when a movement in the fog caught her eye. She screamed as Will suddenly materialized out of the thick mist and buried his knife deep in Valtiel’s back. The force of it drove Valtiel to his knees.
“You should never turn your back on an enemy,” Will snarled. He twisted the blade hard before pulling it roughly from Valtiel’s back. He stabbed downward again, this time catching Valtiel in the shoulder.
Valtiel made a pained sound and tumbled forward. He caught himself on his hands, so that he was kneeling on all fours. Fat crimson drops fell on the concrete below him, and when Will twisted the knife again, they fell even faster. In mere seconds there was a pool of red beneath Valtiel.
“Fucking asshole. That will teach you to mess with me!” Will snarled as he withdrew the knife and made to stab Valtiel again.
“You’ll regret that,” came the calm reply. Valtiel lifted a hand from the concrete and traced a pattern on the hard surface, the whole time muttering words that Gwen couldn’t quite make out. The concrete beneath his fingers buckled and shifted, and then what appeared to be an old-fashioned steam valve formed and solidified.   Valtiel’s pale fingers closed around it and he twisted it hard.
“My god!” Gwen’s eyes grew wide as a familiar sound filled the air around them. The light faded almost immediately, but before it had done so completely, the ground seemed to melt and sink downwards to reveal a vast network of iron grating. The asphalt and concrete crumbled like dust to sift between the lattice work and into what Gwen could now see was a cavern of burning coal below them. The darkness descended fully, but the fires below left it light enough for Gwen to see what transpired next.
“What the fuck is this?” Will demanded.
“Hell,” Valtiel replied. He was still crouching on the ground, facing Gwen. He lifted his head and captured Gwen’s gaze with his own. He blinked, and Gwen gasped sharply when his eyes went from pale gray to a liquid black. A faint popping noise drew Gwen’s attention to his hands, and his nails darkened and lengthened into talons as she watched. He smiled darkly at her as he rocked backwards and then stood in one fluid movement.
Will made a startled sound before he lifted his knife and advanced on Valtiel, who still had his back turned towards Will. “I’m going to kill you, you bastard!”
Valtiel’s laughter was low and dark. He turned to face Will. “You can certainly try.” He lifted a taloned hand and seemed to inspect his dark claws before looking up at Will again.
Gwen couldn’t be sure in the dim lighting, but she thought that Will might have paled considerably at the sight of those nails. She definitely saw him hesitate, but after a moment the cold, calculating expression returned to his face.
“What the fuck are you?” Will growled. He started to advance on Valtiel again. “I want to know what I’m killing.”
“You are an arrogant little man, aren’t you?” Valtiel mused. He shrugged his shoulders, and his trench coat slid down his arms. Valtiel let it fall to the ground in a whisper of leather. It revealed the tight black t-shirt he wore beneath, and even though Valtiel was thin, it was now apparent that there was considerable strength in his form. His whipcord muscles were clearly defined by the material that clung to his skin. Valtiel’s hands went to the hem of the shirt and he pulled it up and over his shoulders.
“Valtiel!” Gwen stared, horrified, at the wounds Will’s blade had left in his back and shoulder. They were deep and gaping, and every time Valtiel moved more blood seeped from them.
Valtiel paused and looked over his shoulder at her. His lips curled into a slight smile that was somehow comforting before he returned his attention to Will. He let the shirt drop to the ground and lifted his hands into the air. This time, the popping sounds were more audible, and Valtiel groaned as the skin over his shoulder blades started to pulse. Gwen couldn’t stop the scream that left her when the skin suddenly tore open and spattered her with flecks of blood. She wiped at her face with the back of her hand, and then froze in shock when she focused on him again. Valtiel had sprouted wings. They were huge, black-feathered things that seemed to take up her whole field of vision. The pinions flapped once before folding in and settling on his back.
Gwen couldn’t stop the hysterical bubble of laughter that left her. Valtiel looked like a dark parody of an angel. An avenging angel, she thought. A sob tore from her throat. What had she gotten herself into, wandering into this town?
“Fucking freak!” Will screamed. He rushed Valtiel with the knife held over his head.
Valtiel dodged Will’s downward slash easily. A clawed hand shot out, and Will cursed sharply. Gwen heard the sound of tearing cloth, and Will’s hand lifted to hold his side. Crimson fluid soon seeped from beneath his fingers, and he looked up at Valtiel with narrowed eyes.
“Care to try again?” Valtiel asked. His voice held little emotion, and his expression held even less, only a slight upturn of his lips that suggested an arrogant smirk.
“Think you’re fucking smart, don’t you?” Will hissed. When he rushed again, it wasn’t towards Valtiel.
Gwen screamed as he bore down on her. Instinct made her roll to one side, and the blade made a horrible screeching sound as it scraped across the concrete where she’d been lying. She kicked out blindly with her foot, and her heel connected with his knee cap. She heard Will curse sharply before her world exploded in pain. Gwen cried out as the blade bit deep into her thigh, and then screamed when Will twisted the blade as he pulled it out. She let out a desperate sob when Will lifted the knife to stab at her again. His arm started to descend, and then, quite suddenly, there was a considerable length of flashing steel between her and Will. It deflected his blow quite easily.
“Another freak?” Will hissed.
Gwen rolled her head backwards and felt her stomach drop sharply. The pyramid headed demon stood right behind her, and it had been the blade of his oversized butcher knife that had saved her from Will’s attack. He was so close that Gwen could feel the heat radiating from his body. She started to tremble visibly when the helmeted head tilted downwards slightly, and even though she could not see them, Gwen could feel his eyes on her.
“Well met, Brother.” Valtiel’s voice dripped with thinly veiled fury. “I think it is time I leave this wretched little man in your care.”
Pyramid Head moved so quickly that it took Gwen a moment to register the fact that the demon had moved around her and encircled Will’s neck with a large hand. He shook the man hard, and Will groaned. The switchblade fell to the concrete with a clatter. The demon dropped the giant blade he was carrying, and it fell to the concrete with a dull thud. He wrapped his now free hand around Will’s right wrist and started to pull.
He means to rip him apart! She shook her head, not wanting to see, and yet unable to look away. Will started to scream in pain, and Gwen heard a terrible popping sound as his shoulder joint started to separate.
“Don’t look.” Valtiel appeared in her line of vision, and he knelt next to her and pulled her into his arms. His dark wings flexed outward before they lowered and surrounded her in a cocoon of black down.
Gwen sobbed and wrapped her arms around his waist, not quite able to bring herself to care that his back was slick with his own blood. She closed her eyes and tucked her head beneath his chin as Will’s screams intensified. She could hear Valtiel’s heart beating beneath her ear and she latched onto the sound and tried to use it to drown out the sounds of ripping flesh and cartilage. It seemed like an eternity before the screaming stopped.
Gwen whimpered in pain when Valtiel quite suddenly gathered her close and lifted her from the ground. She caught a glimpse of the carnage and felt a sudden, sharp coldness wash over her. Her teeth started to chatter and her vision grayed around the edges.
Too much! It’s just all too much! Gwen thought. Her vision blurred, and the darkness mercifully claimed her.

*****

Valtiel used his wings to fly Gwen to her haven. He carried her to the second floor of the mansion and lay her gently on the tiled floor of the huge bathroom. He went to the huge claw-footed tub in the corner and turned the water on. He adjusted the temperature and rocked back on his heels to watch the tub fill. As the tub filled, Valtiel slowly regained his human form. His eyes grew pale again and his hands returned to normal. Ebony feathers began to fall from his wings, the down breaking up and dissipating before even hitting the white tiles of the floor. Very soon the skin on his back was smooth as it had ever been, and there were no signs of the knife wounds Will had inflicted or the great black wings Valtiel had sprouted.
Gwen remained unconscious as Valtiel gently stripped her clothing away. He quashed the fury that tried to rise within when he removed the ruined T-shirt from her form--Will was dead and would harm her no more. He pulled her limp form off the tiles enough to slide his hands beneath her back and unhook her bra. He removed it quickly and moved on to her jeans. He had to go more slowly then, as the denim of her jeans was crusted with blood around the knife wound in her right thigh. He somehow managed to get them off without waking her, which concerned him a little. How much blood had she lost?
Valtiel inspected the wound more closely and was relieved to find that it hadn’t damaged any major arteries. It was still seeping blood, but not quickly enough to be a life-threatening. The only real worry they had now was infection, and Valtiel hoped that a soak in the tub and alcohol in the wound would take care of that. He quickly removed her underwear and socks and then carefully lowered her into the steaming water.

*****

Gwen woke to the sensation of pleasantly warm water and fingers massaging shampoo into her hair. She lay there for a moment and concentrated on the sensations rather than the memories that were trying to surface. She knew the memories were going to hurt, and she didn’t want to face them, not yet. The fingers moved away from her scalp, and a moment later she felt warm water sluice through her hair. The fingers returned, this time gently caressing her cheek.
“I know that you are awake.”
“Valtiel.”
“Yes.”
Gwen opened her eyes and slowly lifted her head. He knelt next to the tub, his pale eyes watching her closely. He reached out to touch her face again, and Gwen noted that his fingers were no longer the twisted talons they had been when he’d faced Will. She shuddered a little as she thought about the rapist, and what had befallen him.
“Don’t think about it,” Valtiel said softly, as if he were reading her mind. He brushed a strand of her damp hair behind her ear and gave her a slight smile.
“It’s hard not to,” Gwen whispered. She shifted in the tub slightly, and the movement made the wound in her thigh protest sharply. Her eyes filled with tears of pain and she worried her lower lip between her teeth. The water she sat in had a faint pinkish hue, and she noted that the wound was still seeping thin threads of crimson into the tub.
“You’re going to be alright.” Valtiel touched her face again to gain her attention. “As long as I doesn’t get infected it won’t be life threatening.”
“Well, lets hope it doesn’t get infected then,” Gwen said. She looked into his pale eyes, and as she did so, she allowed herself to remember what had transpired a short hour past. “Valtiel, you saved me. You and that . . .”
“My brother,” Valtiel said with a wry smile. “He is known as the Red Pyramid.”
“You both saved me,” Gwen said again. “Why?”
“I have already told you. You do not belong here, Gwen, and it disturbs both of us.   You . . .” Valtiel’s words faltered to a halt. He gazed into her eyes for several moments before he continued. “You did not deserve what he had planned for you. We never meant for him to get as far as he did with you, but the dark gave out before I could reach you.”
“You called it,” Gwen interrupted. “I saw you do it right after Will attacked you.”

“Yes,” Valtiel admitted. “But I can not control how long it stays, and my brother can only exist in the darkness.”
“He tried to warn me, right before he disappeared that last time,” Gwen said. “I was too frightened to realize what he meant. But I see it now, he actually tried to warn me about Will.”
“Even so,” Valtiel said with a nod. “I am sorry that we did not do better.”
“You did well enough,” Gwen said. She shivered suddenly, and realized that the water was growing cool around her. “I want to get out and dry off, Valtiel. It’s getting cold in here.”
It then occurred to Gwen that she was naked in front of a man she hardly new. Not even a man, really, she thought. She was surprised how comfortable she felt with Valtiel, even when he was forced to slide an arm around her naked waist and help her from the tub. He wrapped her in an oversized towel and sat her on the toilet before taking a smaller towel and rubbing her hair dry. Once he had her dry, he helped her into a pink terry robe, and then actually lifted her into his arms and carried her into the adjoining room.
“Where are we?” Gwen asked as she took in the four-posted bed. It was draped in dusty rose chiffon and piled high with blankets and pillows. The room was large. Besides the bed there were two wing-backed chairs facing a small fireplace. A fire burned in the hearth, and the air in the room was considerably warmer than what it had been in the bathroom.
“I’ve created you a safe haven,” Valtiel said. He set her on the edge of the bed and went back to the bathroom for a moment. He emerged a moment later with a first-aid kit in one hand and a clean towel in the other.
“Created?” She watched him rip the towel in to strips with his bare hands. “Valtiel, what are you, exactly?”
“A demon.” He finished shredding the towel and set the strips aside. He took one and folded it so that it was a rectangular shaped dressing. He knelt next to the bed and then gave her a questioning look. Gwen realized he was asking permission to open her robe and so that he could get at the wound in her thigh. Gwen shifted slightly and let the robe fall open enough to expose the still-seeping wound. It was halfway between her groin and knee. Valtiel pulled a bottle of alcohol from the kit, and Gwen swallowed hard at the sight.
“It’s going to hurt . . . A lot,” Valtiel said quietly.
“Get it over with,” she whispered. She fisted her hands in the comforter as he opened the bottle. His free hand settled on her knee and gripped it firmly before he poured the liquid over her wound. Gwen screamed as the burning pain radiated outward. Tears filled and overflowed from her eyes, and her leg bucked sharply, but Valtiel’s grip kept her from pulling away. Gwen allowed herself to fall back onto the bed, her teeth clenched and sobs wracking her frame. She was dimly aware of him pressing the make-shift bandage against the wound and securing it in place with surgical tape. When the pain finally lessened, she found that Valtiel had crawled onto the bed beside her. He was propped up on an elbow next to her and was looking down at her with his pale eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Valtiel murmured.
“No, it had to be done,” Gwen said with a weak smile. She sighed then and asked the inevitable question. “What happens to me now?”
“There are only two options, really,” Valtiel said. He closed his eyes for a moment before the looked at her again. “Death, or . . .” He hesitated and seemed horribly torn between going on or not saying anything at all.
“Or?”
“Or you become one of us,” Valtiel finally finished in a hushed voice. He clearly did not like either option, and the knowledge made something in Gwen’s heart do a slight flip-flop. It touched her that this creature was worried for her, despite the obvious discomfort the emotion caused him.
“Become one of you? Is that possible?” Gwen whispered.
“Yes.” Valtiel’s expression grew troubled again. “But it is a painful process.”
“So is death,” Gwen said with a dark laugh. Her laughter faded and she sighed heavily. “I don’t want to die, Valtiel.”
“And I do not want to hurt you, Gwen.” Valtiel’s voice was a hushed whisper. “But if you are to stay here, it is the only way to ensure your safety. You must be bound to us in order to survive. And as I said, it is painful. The sigils must be etched into your very skin, and the final binding burns within the blood for hours afterwards.”
Gwen digested that in silence for a moment. It certainly sounded painful, but the thought of death was much less appealing. But did she actually want to live forever, as something that wasn’t human? And in Silent Hill? She met Valtiel’s pale gaze. There was such sorrow in his pale eyes as he waited for her final decision. Despite what she knew about this place, and his role, Gwen couldn’t really see him as evil at all. Quite the contrary, she realized that she was starting to like Valtiel a great deal.
“When do we get started?” She asked.
His expression registered momentary surprise before he shook his head. “Not until we have both rested. And when it is time. . .if you are willing . . .I can distract you from the pain.” His words were hesitant, as if he were loathe to even suggest what he was thinking.
“How so?” Gwen asked, made curious by the way Valtiel suddenly would not meet her eyes. She reached up and cupped a pale cheek with her hand, and he grew very still under her touch. He exhaled slowly and leaned into her touch, his eyes closed. His skin was warm beneath her hand, and Gwen found herself running the pad of her thumb over his lips. Valtiel exhaled sharply, but almost silently at the touch. His soft gray eyes opened slowly, and Gwen suddenly knew what he was offering to do. Despite what Valtiel seemed to think, she wasn’t completely innocent. She wasn’t a virgin, and she was no stranger at all to the desire she saw in the depths of Valtiel’s eyes.
“Does the thought of it disgust you?” Valtiel asked softly. “You have seen what I am . . .”
Gwen shook her head slightly. The thought didn’t disgust her at all. Quite the contrary, she had felt herself grow warm at the thought of this ethereal being lavishing such attention on her. Strangely enough, she felt humbled that he would even consider it. She gave him a slight smile and slid her hand from his cheek to tangle her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. He offered no resistance when she pulled him downwards.
“Kiss me?” Gwen whispered. She closed her eyes as Valtiel’s countenance grew closer, and then his warm lips were upon hers. Gwen sighed and relaxed into the bed. Her mouth opened slightly, and she felt Valtiel’s tongue tentatively probe between her lips. She moaned softly and opened her mouth further and invited him in. Their tongues slid against one another in slow, sensuous movements, and Gwen made a bereft sound when she was forced to break the kiss or pass out from the lack of air. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled up at the demon.
“I think I’d like the kind of distraction you’re offering,” Gwen told him.
“Sleep, first,” Valtiel whispered. His lips pressed a kiss to her cheek. “It can wait a little longer.”
Gwen touched his cheek again. “You really don’t want to do this to me, do you?”
Valtiel sighed. “It pains me, the thought of it. You . . .you are the purest human I have ever laid eyes on, and you do not deserve this fate. I still can not fathom why you were drawn here, but now that you are here, I am drawn to you. You shine in this dark place, and I am like a moth to the flame, except, I will not die in it. I will only corrupt you, and the thought is unbearable to me.”
“Don’t agonize over it,” Gwen said. “There’s no other way, right? I don’t blame you for it, Valtiel. You didn’t make me take an unfamiliar drive on a dark night. It’s my own damn fault I’m here, you know. I have to face the consequences, right? I don’t blame you for it, and I never will.”
“Your resilience astounds me,” Valtiel whispered, and he did, indeed, sound amazed. “Most would have chosen death by now, or at the very least, be in denial of the situation. But here you sit, facing it head on and without any apparent fear . . .”
“I’m very afraid,” Gwen interrupted. “I . . .I don’t like pain much, to be honest, but the thought of death scares me more. . .”
Valtiel’s expression softened. “You fear the afterlife? Do you think you will be damned, Gwen Landers? If that is your reason for choosing a life in Silent Hill, then please rethink it. I know you would go on to a much better place . . .”
“It’s not that,” Gwen said. “I . . .I just can’t help this feeling that I’m not supposed to die yet. And if the only way for me to live here is to become like you, then so be it. Why fight the inevitable? I’d rather just get it over with and get on with, well, life.”
Valtiel’s expression became pained. “Life? In Silent Hill?”
“Valtiel, are we going to continue running in circles with this?” Gwen interrupted gently. “Like you said when I first got here, what’s done is done. I’m here, and there’s no way out. The way I see it, you’re helping me, really.”
“The only way I know how,” Valtiel said with a sad smile.
“Then it’s enough,” Gwen reassured him. A sudden yawn caught her off guard, and she realized in that moment that she was horribly tired. Her leg throbbed, and her body ached with fatigue. “I think I want to sleep now.”
“A good idea,” Valtiel murmured.
“Stay?” Gwen murmured. She allowed Valtiel to sit her up long enough to turn the covers down on the bed.
“If you like.” Valtiel carefully shifted her and slid her beneath the covers.
“Please.”
Valtiel, who was still naked from the waist up, removed his shoes, and then hesitated with his hands at the button of the dark jeans he wore. The uncertainty was in his eyes again, and Gwen could see he was warring with himself.
“You might as well finish,” Gwen said.
He started slightly, and then sighed. His fingers made deft work of button and zipper, and then the denim was falling to the floor. Gwen let her eyes wander over his naked form. He was all whipcord muscle, from his shoulders down to his feet, and his pale skin was flawless in the room’s dim lighting. He was beautiful, and Gwen found that she had a sudden urge to weep when he turned his gaze upon her. She could see by his expression that he still agonized over her predicament and the role he would have to play in it. There was something else there, something that had been there from the very beginning of their conversation concerning her fate, and Gwen was finally able to identify it.
Fear.
“Valtiel, will you answer a question honestly for me?”
“Of course.”
“You’re afraid that I will change my mind and choose death after all, aren’t you?”
Valtiel didn’t answer right away. He just gazed at her with his pale eyes, still as a statue. After a moment his expression became resigned, and he gave a slow, careful nod. Gwen felt tears sting her eyes as he made the admission, for so many things suddenly made sense.   The only other person in this hell was the Red Pyramid, and then only when the darkness came. How alone did Valtiel feel in this world of faceless creatures and relentless mist?
Gwen found herself thinking that perhaps her being drawn to Silent Hill hadn’t been an accident at all. Whatever it was that drew people in must have decided that the Prince of Silent Hill had been alone long enough. That had to be it, and the more Gwen thought about it, the more convinced she became that she was right. She was also fairly certain Valtiel had no idea at all that it had been him that had caused the city to draw her in. Gwen took one look into his pale eyes and decided that she wouldn’t enlighten him, either--he already carried enough guilt and she had no desire to add to it.
“Gwen?” Valtiel actually sounded afraid now.
Gwen gave him a reassuring smile and held her hand out. “Come to bed. I’m cold.”

*****

When Gwen finally slipped into sleep, it was deep and restful. She was tucked against his left side, and hadn’t seemed the least bit bothered that he was completely nude. Her head rested on his chest, and her even breaths were warm against his skin. Valtiel had his left arm wrapped around her shoulders beneath the blankets, and he lay there and just listened to her breathe.
/Valtiel?/
Brother.
/Is all well?/
She sleeps, Valtiel replied. I believe she will be fine.
A pregnant pause, and then: /It is not the human I am concerned about. You war with yourself, Valtiel. Do the emotions this woman has stirred frighten you that much?/
They terrify me, Valtiel admitted. Brother, is it possible for things like us to have such emotions? We are demons . . .are we capable of . . .love?
Another long pause. /I do not think it impossible. Will you be able to do what must be done, or shall I?/
I will do it, Valtiel returned.
/Undoubtedly the better plan./ Valtiel detected dry humor and a bit of self-depreciation in his brother’s tone. /She will eventually learn not to fear me./
Valtiel’s lips twitched in a slight smile. If she hasn’t already. Valtiel sighed and closed his eyes. I must sleep now. The binding will take much effort on my part, and I must be rested.
/Even so. If you have need of me, call me. I will do what I can to help, if it comes to that./
I know it, Valtiel returned. His brother did not reply, and a few moments later, Valtiel allowed himself to slip into sleep.

*****

Gwen woke to soft caresses. She sighed softly as Valtiel’s fingers trailed across her collar bone and then lower. His hand slipped beneath the soft terry cloth of her robe and gently cupped her right breast. She moaned softly as his fingers gently kneaded her flesh and then carefully rolled her nipple between them. His hand opened the robe further.
“Valtiel!” Gwen gasped as she felt his tongue circle her nipple, and then his lips closed around the nub and he exerted gentle suction. Her back came off the bed as the pleasure radiated downwards and pooled in her groin.
“Are you ready, Gwen?” His voice was muffled against her skin. His lips were planting gentle kisses along the curve of her breast, and he placed one on her sternum before lavishing attention on her left breast.
“As I’ll ever be,” Gwen managed. His caresses left her breathless--such things had never felt so good with anyone else.
He drew away a little and touched her face. “Gwen, open your eyes for me.”
Gwen opened them, and found herself staring into liquid black eyes. The bed was overshadowed by his vast wings, and the fingers that touched her face were once again tipped with dark, razor sharp talons. “Valtiel?”
“I must do this in my true form,” he murmured to her. “And now I must ask for you to trust me much further than you already have. The runes I am about to carve into your flesh are intricate, and it will require my total concentration to complete them. As much as you have agreed to this, you will try to escape me, once I have begun, and such a struggle may cause an imperfection in the sigils. I . . .I need to immobilize you until I have finished.”
And even though she knew it was completely inappropriate under the circumstances, Gwen found herself giggling a little. “You want to tie me to the bed, don’t you?”
“It’s not a laughing matter,” Valtiel said, but Gwen could see his lips were twitching a little.
“Of course not,” Gwen said, and she tried to wipe the smile from her face. “It’s okay,” she said. “I trust you.”
Valtiel brushed a kiss across her lips. “I know, and it amazes me.”
He moved away long enough to retrieve the rest of the strips of toweling that he’d made earlier and returned to the head of the bed. He tied one end around each wrist and then tied each wrist to the headboard. It wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it wasn’t overly uncomfortable, either. Gwen tugged at them experimentally and discovered that the binds were tight enough that they most likely wouldn’t give, even if she really did start to struggle.
Valtiel undid the tie on her robe and opened it completely, so that she was lying naked in the folds of cloth. He climbed back onto the bed and straddled her hips. He was gloriously beautiful in his nudity, and Gwen found herself likening him to an angel again. His pale skin seemed to glow in the light of the fire, and his great dark wings were a study of avian perfection.
“You’re beautiful, you know that, right?” Gwen whispered to him.
The words seemed to startle him into stillness, and he gazed down at her with wide, liquid black eyes. A single tear formed in the corner of his right eye and Gwen suddenly wished she was not tied to the bed. She wanted to kiss that tear away more than anything. Valtiel made a startled sound and reached up to touch the bit of moisture with one taloned finger, and his expression became one of wonder.
“I did not think it was possible,” he said in a hushed voice. He bent down and kissed Gwen deeply. She pushed herself up and into him as far as the restraints would allow and gave as good as she got. Their tongues entwined and Gwen moaned as arousal swept over and through her.
“Valtiel!” She gasped his name as he broke the kiss. She could feel that he was aroused as well--his hard length was pressed into her stomach, and when he sat back, it stood proudly from the nest of black curls at his groin.
“It is time,” Valtiel murmured. His expression became sorrowful again. “I am sorry, Gwen. I am sorry that this will be painful.”
“I know,” she said. “Go ahead, Valtiel. It will be okay.”
He gave her a look that said he hoped she would still say that when he was through. He leaned forward and placed an opened mouth kiss on her left collarbone, and then lifted his hand. Gwen gasped sharply as he pierced the skin there with a single talon and started to etch a symbol into her skin. Tears filled her eyes and spilled over, and her breathing became shallow and quick as the stinging pain grew with each cut. It was like the cat scratches the family pet had given her as a child, but deeper and much more painful than anything Fluffy had ever inflicted.
Valtiel was murmuring incantations beneath his breath as he worked, and five minutes later he lifted his hand from her skin and leaned forward to place a kiss in the center of the first symbol. He muttered a final word as he placed the kiss. Gwen screamed. The sigil felt as if it were burning its way into her flesh and bone. She twisted on the bed hard, but Valtiel’s weight and the restraints kept her in place. The burn faded to a dull ache a moment later, and Gwen, sweating and trembling, fell back against the bed with a sob.
The sob turned into a soft moan when Valtiel slowly lapped the blood away. Each movement of his tongue was slow and sensuous, and Gwen felt her arousal rising again.   He finished cleaning off the fresh wounds and shifted to kiss her on the lips. Gwen tasted her own blood on his lips. Any other time it might have disgusted her, but now, it seemed darkly decadent, and she opened her mouth to allow his tongue to mate with hers. He broke the kiss slowly, his lips lingering on hers, before he pulled away.
“You did very well,” he whispered to her. “Are you ready for the next?”
Gwen nodded. “How many more?”
“Seven the size of the first, and one larger one,” Valtiel told her. “Once they are done, I will finish the spell . . .and that is when the true pain will come. I will give you what pleasure I can until that moment, but once the binding begins to burn its way into your system, no pleasure will lessen that pain. It will stay with you until the binding has run its course. Are you sure this is what you want?”
Gwen closed her eyes and took a deep, centering breath. Valtiel’s fingers were tracing circles around her nipples again, hardening them into sensitive nubs. It sent shivers down her spine and made her want more than just that teasing touch. She sighed when she felt his lips close around her right nipple. His tongue was so warm it was almost hot as he flicked at the little bud of flesh.
“I’m sure,” Gwen whispered and opened her eyes. “Keep going, Valtiel.”
Time lost all meaning to Gwen. There were alternating periods of excruciating pain and great pleasure as Valtiel continued to carve intricate whorls and sigils into her skin. He would finish one, seal it, and hold her as the burn made her scream, and then spend several minutes lavishing pleasurable attention upon her. It seemed like an eternity had passed when he finished with the last and largest of the nine. He touched the center and whispered a final word. This one burned hotter and longer than the others, and Gwen was hoarse from screaming when the burn finally faded.
She discovered, when she came to herself, that Valtiel had untied her hands and had lifted her from the bed into his embrace. She wrapped her arms weakly around his shoulders and hid her face in the crook of his neck. The skin along her collar bones and between her breasts stung and ached, and blood still seeped from the carvings there. She shuddered as his hands started to map out the skin on her back and went lower to her buttocks. Valtiel kneaded the flesh there, and then lifted her slightly and shifted their bodies so that he was leaning against the headboard and she was straddling his lap.
“Yes!” The word left Gwen in a drawn out hiss as he lowered her onto his arousal. She threw her head back and moaned deep in her throat as his hardness filled her. She forgot about the pain as she ground her hips downward, forcing him deeper. She gasped as his hardness brushed against sensitive areas within. She lifted herself slightly and rocked downward again, panting with pleasure.
“You call me beautiful, but you should see yourself right now,” Valtiel whispered. He wrapped one arm against her waist to support her as she moved against him. “No one has ever stirred such emotions in me.” He pressed his forehead against hers. His liquid eyes shone in the firelight as he gazed at her. “I do not want to finish the spell. I do not want to be the cause of such torture.”
“You have to finish,” Gwen breathed. She kissed him and rotated her hips again. The movement wrenched a pleasured whimper from Valtiel. She moved her arms to encircle his neck and deepened the kiss. She broke the kiss and pressed their foreheads together again. “I want you to finish. I want to be with you, Valtiel.”
He went very still as she spoke the words. “That is what I don’t understand.”
“Because you’ve never known love before, have you?” Gwen whispered to him. She started to move again, her hips rotating in slight circles as she rode his length. Each stroke was bliss, and she emitted a soft pant of pleasure with each and every one. She could feel the tension coiling tight within her, and knew it was going to break soon.
“Love?” Valtiel whispered. His hands dropped to her hips, and he started to match her movements with his own. His hips pulsed upwards with each of her downward movements, driving him deeper within.
“Yes, love,” Gwen whispered. She closed her eyes as a particularly sharp thrust nearly sent her over the edge. “Ah, slow down,” she whispered to him. “So good, Valtiel. . .it’s so good and I want it to last a bit longer!”
She emitted a soft, surprised sound when he tumbled her backward. She reached up to pull him down for a kiss as he thrust deep into her with a very slow stroke. He moved like that for several moments, his hips moving slowly, his hardness slowly dragging in and out of her. Each thrust was deliciously drawn out and designed to bring her closer and closer to the precipice without letting her tumble over it.
“Finish it, Valtiel,” Gwen panted. The next words she spoke seemed to come from deep within, and even if they surprised her, she knew they were true the moment she spoke them. “I love you.”
Valtiel’s jaw trembled, and he gave her another deep kiss before he was able to reply. “The most precious gift I’ve ever received, or ever will,” he whispered to her.
“Finish it,” Gwen urged again.
Valtiel nodded. He continued thrust into her, slowly, drawing out her pleasure for as long as he could. At the same time, he placed a kiss in the center of the first circular sigil he had carved and started to whisper another incantation. His lips moved from sigil to sigil, until he finally placed a kiss at the center of the largest. He whispered a few final words, and Gwen felt something within her begin to shift. Valtiel picked up the pace then, his strokes becoming faster and deeper.
“Valtiel!” She all but screamed his name as she fell over the edge into a pleasure hazed abyss. Her hands clutched at his arms, and she was certain her nails dug into his pale skin as she rode out wave after wave of pleasure. He went over the edge a moment after she did, his whole form shuddering above her.
She collapsed into the bed. She still trembled as tiny aftershocks of pleasure traversed her spine. She felt boneless as she looked up into his eyes. He withdrew from her and pulled her up so that she was once again in his embrace and straddling his lap. He peeled the robe from her shoulders and tossed it aside, leaving her completely nude in his embrace. He shifted them again so that he was sitting cross-legged on the bed and she was sitting cross wise in his lap, her back supported by his right arm and her head tucked beneath his chin.
Gwen watched as he used the talon on the thumb of his free hand to pierce the tip of his index finger. A fat, dark drop of blood welled there. He pressed a kiss to her temple, and his arm wrapped tighter around her waist.
“Are you ready?” He whispered, his voice nearly inaudible.
Gwen nodded a little. Already she noticed that the sigils were starting to hurt--not the burning stinging pain she’d felt when he’d placed them, but rather they were growing cold. And the cold was growing more intense, and very soon she thought it might begin to feel like burning again.
Valtiel whispered to her. “I am sorry for this, but it will be over soon.”
“I know,” she whispered. Her voice was strained for the cold spreading outward from the sigils was beginning to be a sensation that bordered on pain. “Do it, Valtiel.”
Tears filled Valtiel’s eyes as he lowered his bloody finger and touched the center of the largest sigil and whispered a single word. “Finis.”
The cold instantly became more intense, and it spread through her entire being and continued to intensify. She grit her teeth and remained silent for as long as she could, but within seconds the cold began to burn in her veins.
Gwen screamed, and found that once she started, she could not stop.

*****

Gwen screamed until she was hoarse, and then continued to scream almost soundlessly when her vocal chords gave out. Valtiel held her tightly, hating himself the whole time. She was shivering in his arms, and her body was feverish against his own. He realized about an hour in that she was trying to speak and he moved his head so that her lips were against the shell of his ear.
“Cold. Cold, Valtiel.” The words were a barely discernable rasp in his ear.
He cursed himself as he wrapped her in a blanket and held her close to him. It didn’t help. Gwen continued to chant the word like it was a mantra. Valtiel gathered her close and stood from the bed. There was only one place he knew of that might possibly be warm enough to comfort her now. He carried her to the double doors that led out to a veranda and kicked the doors open. He stood out on the balcony and took flight, Gwen held tightly against him. He flew to the roof of Silent Hill’s hospital.
Brother, I am bringing her to your sanctuary. She needs a greater warmth than I can give her now.
/I am waiting./
Valtiel shifted Gwen’s weight as he crouched on the roof. He muttered a quick incantation to bring forth the valve, and then turned it. The darkness descended quickly, and the hospital transformed into a conglomeration of twisted steel and barbed wire. Valtiel thought nothing of it. He gathered Gwen’s trembling body close and stepped off the edge of the roof. He landed easily on the concrete and turned and entered the hospital proper.   He made his way inward and downward, to the very deepest depths of the hospital, where he knew his brother stayed when he was not needed. It was here that the fires of Silent Hill burned the hottest without being searing, and it was there Valtiel knew Gwen would find relief from the cold that burned in her limbs. It was here that the darkness always existed.
The Red Pyramid was waiting for him at the doorway of his sanctuary. Valtiel handed her over, and his brother gathered her gently against him. Gwen moaned softly, and then settled against the Red Pyramid’s chest. It was then that Valtiel felt the wards twinge on the edge of the city. He snarled with displeasure. He did not want to leave Gwen!
/Go, deal with the sinner. I will keep her warm until the transformation is complete./
She will be terrified when she wakes, Valtiel said. She fears you. He felt the new arrival move past a second set of wards and knew he could not stay. It was his duty to mete out the appropriate punishment to the damned souls that ventured into Silent Hill, and it was a duty he could not forsake, not even for love.
/She will adjust,/ the Red Pyramid assured him. /Go, Valtiel. Return when you can./
Valtiel nodded and went.

*****

Gwen couldn’t have said how long she was lost in the haze of bitter cold and unbearable pain. She had been aware of nothing else but the agony that had wracked her to the center of her very bones. At one point she had been dimly aware that Valtiel was carrying her somewhere, and then she’d felt the air around her get considerably warmer. Someone much warmer than Valtiel had then embraced her, and as the warmth of that embrace permeated her limbs, it seemed as if the pain from the burning cold lessened a little. Gwen had been able to slip into sleep after that.
When she woke, the pain was absent and she was wrapped in a warm embrace. She lay there for a moment, realizing that whoever she was lying on was sitting up on the bed, most likely propped against the headboard. She was lying on her side, her hips nestled between her comforter’s legs and her head resting against a muscular chest. She was wrapped in a blanket, and a pair of strong arms held her close.
Gwen knew it was not Valtiel that held her. The one that held her was considerably larger in stature than Valtiel, and the muscles beneath her cheek were harder and more deeply defined than Valtiel’s. She felt a flash of fear as her logical mind took over and reasoned out just who it was that likely held her. She swallowed hard and slowly opened her eyes.
She was surprised to find that the room, while dimly lit, seemed clean. The walls seemed to be covered with pristine white tiles, and the floor was stainless steel. The sheets they lie on were gray, as if they’d been washed one time too many, but were clean none-the-less. There was a large wood-burning stove in the corner, and it was the room’s only source of light. The doors were wide open on the stove, and a bright fire burned there. The flames flickered, and a glint on the edge of her vision drew her gaze to the room’s only other piece of furniture, a table pushed up against the wall, next to the door.
She went very still when her vision adjusted enough to make out the source of the glint. The pyramid shaped helmet rested on the table’s surface, and next to it was the giant knife that had saved her from Will’s final attack. She glanced down at the arm wrapped around her waist. It was muscular and the pale skin was mottled with numerous scars. She swallowed hard before slowly shifting her head so she could look up at Valtiel’s brother.
/You are awake./
Gwen found she could not speak. The eyes that looked down at her were vibrant green, even in the dim lighting. His hair was dark and fell nearly to his shoulders. But it was his face that had left her speechless. It was a familiar face, and Gwen found herself reaching up to touch a pale cheek.
“You’re twins!” she exclaimed. Outside of the difference in the color of their eyes, the Red Pyramid shared Valtiel’s features. The fear she felt faded with the realization.
/Yes./ He reached up to move a damp strand of hair from her eyes. /Are you well?/
Gwen thought about it for a moment. “I’m still a little cold,” she finally answered.
/It will fade soon. The worst is over, I think./ He pulled her back against his chest and wrapped his arms around her again.
Gwen settled back into the warmth, content to stay there for a little longer. “Where is Valtiel?”
/Dealing with an intruder. He will return for you as soon as he is able./
Gwen shuddered a little. She knew how very dire the dealing with intruders could be. She decided not to think about it and contented herself with watching the flames in the stove. She had nearly dozed off when the Red Pyramid spoke again.
/Thank you for your sacrifice./
Gwen frowned a little. “Sacrifice?”
The arms around her tightened their embrace a little, and she felt him press a kiss against the crown of her head. /Your humanity for his happiness./
Gwen felt tears prick at her eyes. “Then it was his loneliness that called me here,” she whispered.
/I believe so, yes. Most would have chosen death rather than choose the path you took. It was a very brave and selfless thing, Gwen Landers. You have my eternal gratitude./
Gwen frowned. “But what about you?”
His laugh was a deep rumble in her mind. /I do not allow myself to feel, Gwen. I can not. You saw the rapist’s fate. I have long forgotten how to care. My emotions are locked away because they have to be. I am content knowing that Valtiel has found respite. He is the only thing I have allowed myself to care for. Do not worry for me, sister. Things are as they should be./
Gwen found herself smiling a little. Sister. She supposed that was an appropriate title now, wasn’t it? She did, after all, intend to spend eternity by Valtiel’s side. She closed her eyes and let herself relax against the Red Pyramid. She was almost warm now, and she felt sleep tugging at her again.
/Sleep. When you wake the transformation should be complete, and Valtiel will be with us again./
“Mm.” Gwen inhaled deeply, a soul-felt sigh. She was asleep before she finished exhaling.

*****

When Valtiel returned to his brother’s sanctuary, the sight that greeted him made him stop and stare with astonishment. His brother was reclined on the bed and held Gwen in his embrace as if she were his treasured child. It was a sight Valtiel had never thought he’d see, but even that was not what had truly astonished him.
/It is not what you were expecting, is it?/
Valtiel met his brother’s gaze for a moment and then slowly shook his head.   The Red Pyramid’s eyes glowed vibrantly in the light that seemed to radiate from Gwen’s skin. It was all around her, a soft, pure glow of such beauty that it brought tears to his eyes. Her skin was like pale alabaster, and his brother had been forced to allow the blanket to fall to her waist in order to make room for the pair of wings that must have sprouted from her shoulder blades in the final moments of transformation. They were pale ivory and the feathers were luminescent and reflected the firelight with an opalescent sheen.
And even her appearance did not astound him as much as the fact that her soul still shone as brightly as it had the moment she had first entered Silent Hill. The shock of it brought him to his knees. He knelt on the floor, his head slowly moving side to side, as if trying to deny the reality of it.
“This . . .this is impossible,” Valtiel said. “She’s . . .” He couldn’t finish the sentence, because it seemed so utterly fantastic to him. How could she remain so pure after all that had transpired between them? How was it that he, a demon of the darkness, had created this creature of pure, holy light?
/You cannot deny it. Look how the darkness flees from her very skin!/
“An angel,” Valtiel whispered. Such a fantastic thought, but the proof was before his very eyes. He had only seen an angel in Silent Hill once before, when an innocent soul had been dragged along with one of the damned. The man had murdered her shortly after arriving at Silent Hill, and Valtiel had caught a quick glimpse of the celestial being that had come to retrieve the girl’s soul. Valtiel had nearly wept at the sight of it, for the creature had been beautiful beyond words, even if he had only seen it for a brief moment.
/Yes, an angel,/ his brother returned gently. /It is not so surprising to me, Valtiel. Despite what you think, you loved Gwen the moment you set eyes on her. Everything you have done for her, you did out of love. And she gave herself freely to you and expected nothing in return. You know as well as I that such a sacrifice is sacred, Valtiel, and she was rewarded for it./
Valtiel nodded slightly, even as another realization made more tears rise to his eyes. “She can leave now, brother, if it so pleases her.” And she could. Angels were able to walk the boundaries between hell and heaven and everything in between. The thought made him happy for her and, at the same time, terrified him to the core.
“It doesn’t please me at all,” came the soft reply.
Gwen stirred in the Red Pyramid’s embrace. She lifted her head from his chest, and stretched. It was a glorious sight, as her wings extended outward and nearly filled the room. The blanket fell away from her nude body, and her radiance was almost more than Valtiel’s eyes, used to darkness, could take. Her blonde hair shone like pale gold in the firelight, and her brown eyes held an inner light that made them shine. Gwen shifted and leaned up to kiss the Red Pyramid on the cheek.
“Thank you for keeping me warm, brother,” Gwen said. She smiled a little, and then shifted herself out of the Red Pyramid’s lap and stood from the bed. She crossed the room and lowered herself to her knees before Valtiel. She slid pale fingers beneath his chin and lifted his head so that she could look him in the eye.
“Gwen . . .” Valtiel found there was nothing he could say in the face of what he found in her eyes. She loved him. It was an obvious in her eyes and in the way her lips curled into a smile just for him.
“I could never leave you, Valtiel,” she whispered to him. “I love you.”
Valtiel bit back a sob as he pulled her into his embrace and held her tight against him. He buried his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder. He felt the brush of feathers as her wings closed around him and overlapped his own. Ivory and ebony feathers brushed together, and some fell whisper soft around them in a rain of white and black down. His emotions were almost painful in their intensity as he clung to her.
“I love you,” he whispered against her flesh.
Her answering laugh rang like silver bells in the dark room, and when she answered him her tone was indulgent and loving all at once. “I know.”
“You’re really going to stay?” He was clinging to her so tight that he was certain he was causing discomfort, but he was afraid to let go, lest she disappear.
She shifted, and he felt her lips against his temple. “Yes, my love, forever.”

*****

Epilogue

Detective Ralph Daniels stood in the center of the deserted street and resisted the urge to stamp his foot in frustration.
I know that sick son of a bitch brought that boy up here, he thought. He turned around and scowled as he noted the sun was starting to run for the horizon. Around him, the streets of Silent Hill were quiet as a tomb. He’d searched most of the town already--the school, the hospital, and he was on his way to a diner he’d spotted on the corner of the next street. He knew he was probably going to have to come back with reinforcements and more officers, but didn’t like the idea much. He wasn’t entirely sure the kid would survive the night if he did that.   The detective wanted to find him now, before that bastard could do any real harm to him.
“Where did you go?” Detective Daniels wondered out loud. He’d followed the trail to the abandoned mining town, and had even found the guy’s car just outside the city limits. The trail went cold after that. No foot prints that he could see, which was very odd as the car had been found in the ditch in soft dirt. There should have been footprints there.
The detective wandered down to the diner, and tried the door. It was unlocked, so he went in. He knew before he searched that he wasn’t going to find anything. There was a fine layer of dust over everything, and none of it had been disturbed. His were the only footprints there. He was just getting ready to enter the men’s bathroom when he heard the diner door open. Gut instinct made him draw his gun and whirl around to face the front door.
“Hello, Detective.”
The woman was the most beautiful he’d ever seen. Her blonde hair shone in the afternoon light, and she was dressed in faded jeans and a pure white poet’s shirt. She stood tall in white leather boots that sported two and a half inch heels, and over the whole ensemble was a black leather trench coat that would have been too long had it not been for the added height the boots gave her. She had not buttoned the shirt entirely, and as such, Detective Daniels was afforded a glimpse of what looked like an intricate tattoo that spanned the width of her collar bone and disappeared beneath the white fabric.
“Hello,” he returned evenly. He cautiously relaxed his stance and then lowered the gun. “Who are you?”
“My name is Gwen,” she said with a slight smile. “And I think I have something you’re looking for.”
It was then that he noticed the kid. He was hiding behind the folds of the woman’s coat and peering out at him. With some gentle coaxing, Gwen was able to get the boy to come out.
“Kid, I’ve been looking for you all day,” Detective Daniels said. He put the gun away and held out his hand. “Your name is Aidan, right?”
The boy, a ten-year-old with dark auburn hair and apple cheeks, nodded.
“Well, Aidan, I’m a policeman, and if you come with me I’ll take you home to your family now.”
The boy looked up at Gwen, a question in his eyes.
“It’s alright, sweetie,” the woman said. “He’s a good man. You can trust him.”
The boy turned away from her and all but ran to the detective. Detective Daniels lifted the boy into his arms and let him wrap his small arms around his neck. Detective Daniels turned to the woman, and found that she was already turning to leave.
“Hey, wait a minute!” he called out to her.
Gwen opened the door and turned to face him. Detective Daniels felt his blood run cold as he caught a glimpse of what was beyond the door. He glanced at the window again, just to be certain that it was still a clear and sunny afternoon outside, before he looked through the open door again. Darkness. It was utterly impossible, but all that lay beyond the open door was a pitch black darkness that the light from inside the diner did very little to penetrate.
“Was there something, Detective?”
“Where is the guy that kidnapped him?” The boy in his arms shivered as he asked the question.
Gwen smiled a little and shook her head. “You won’t find him, Detective. He is gone from this world.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“You don’t want to know,” Aidan said in a shaky whisper. “You really don’t want to know.”
The woman smiled a little sadly as she regarded Aidan. “Take him home, Detective. His kidnapper will find the justice he deserves.” Gwen turned and walked into the darkness. The door banged shut behind her.
Detective Daniels put the boy on his feet and rushed forward to open the door. It opened onto the well-lit street, and there was no sign of the woman at all. He stared at the street for several moments before he felt the boy tugging at the sleeve of his jacket.
“Please, I want to go home,” he said.
“Yeah, okay.” He took his hand and walked out of the diner. He paused in the street and looked around at the quiet facades that surrounded him. Something . . . something wasn’t quite right here. He looked down at the boy tugging at his hand and thought that perhaps he’d have an answer for him, if pressed for it. Something in the way he kept looking furtively around him made the detective decide that it might be best if they weren’t there when the sun finally set. He’d come back up here tomorrow, with a full search team in broad daylight and look for the convict, although he had a suspicion they would find nothing.
He squeezed Aidan‘s hand and mustered a reassuring smile. “Let’s go, kid.”

*****

“They’ve gone,” Gwen said. She turned her head to look at the demon that stood next to her in the darkness. The Red Pyramid’s helmeted head nodded once before it turned to regard the wretch he held in his iron grip. The man was kneeling on the iron latticework that had replaced the asphalt when the darkness had come. He was openly weeping, and his hands kept trying to pry the Red Pyramid’s fingers from his hair.
“Help me! Please! You got the kid out of here! Get me out too, please!”
Gwen turned her head slightly and regarded the man with a sad smile. “He didn’t belong here. You, however, do.”   She shrugged the dark coat she wore off her shoulders to reveal the ivory wings she had folded tight against her back. She draped the coat over her arm and unfurled her feathered pinions. They were luminescent and shed a soft glow in the darkness. She reached out and touched the Red Pyramid’s shoulder in a familiar gesture. It still bothered her sometimes that the worst of the killings were left to him, even if his victims did deserve it.
/Good evening, sister./ No emotion was revealed in his voice, but the fact that he had even said them spoke volumes. He cared for her, just as he cared for his brother. It had taken Gwen a long time to realize it. Had they been alone in the darkness, Gwen would have embraced him before leaving him.
“Good evening, brother. I go to Valtiel.”
She ignored the convict’s pleas as she left him to his fate and used her wings to become airborne. It had taken her a few tries before she’d mastered flight, but Valtiel had been a good and patient teacher. Once above the city, she turned her head towards the only light, other than herself, that shone in the darkness. She winged her way towards the old Victorian Mansion and the one that awaited her there.
Valtiel was waiting for her on the balcony. His pale eyes watched as she landed, and then he stepped forward to touch her face. “The child?”
“On his way home,” Gwen said with a smile. She stepped closer and offered him the coat she still held in her arms. He took it from her and put it on before pulling her close.
“I am glad,” Valtiel whispered into her golden hair. He slid fingers beneath her chin and tilted her head back so that he could give her a gentle kiss. “Come inside, angel. Let me show you how much I love you.”
“Only if I get to return the favor,” Gwen said.
“Of course,” Valtiel said. He kissed her again before taking her hand and leading her from the balcony and into the bedroom.
Gwen paused long enough to close the doors behind them, effectively shutting out the anguished screaming that had started from deep within the darkness that blanketed Silent Hill.

****
OWARI
- 1
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Safe Passage