#bdrpdiablo

SNOW This was it. Snow felt the excitement buzzing--even if it was dull, even if it wasn't the way it was supposed to feel (not that she could remember how it was supposed to feel, but, soon. Soon she would. Soon she'd have a beating heart again. Soon she would be able to feel it all again, the magic coursing through her that connected her to everything, all the living beings around her. Soon she would not have to kill in order to survive, she would be able to taste apples again, and bread, and meat. So, there was a pep in her step as she met Diablo to begin walking towards this mysterious cottage on the edge of the woods.

"Is there anyone else that lives with them? Anything else at all I should know?" she asked her companion as they turned down the dirt path that would lead to the house, and hopefully, the Gates.

DIABLO  Diablo walked along the woman. It wasn't usual that he walked places, to be honest. He was even wearing more clothing than usual, because they obviously didn't want to attract any unneeded attention. It was simple, though, and obviously stolen from somewhere the night before. In any case, this could potentially be the best lead toward becoming a full-fledged human for the first time in a century.

"As far as I know, there's nobody else," he responded, looking at the path. "Unless you count the dogs. I don't imagine they'd keep them around all the time, though. That would be rather foolish."

SNOW  "Yes, we'll have to keep an eye out for those," Snow mused, wrinkling her nose.

Fire was, of course, a natural enemy of vampires. One of the only things that could truly kill them outside of decapitation. Shudder at the thought. The little house came into view soon enough and Snow had to think fast then, seeing as if she was not invited in, they may hit a roadblock.

"According to my--limitations as a vampire, I cannot cross the threshold of a private abode without being invited. Which means I may need your help, if it comes to...a bit of coercion."

DIABLO  Diablo blinked. "Okay. Well, how does that work? Does it work if I step inside and then invite you myself? Or does it happen only when the owner allows you in?" he asked, deciding not to question the logic of vampires for the time being. He'd ask about all that later.

SNOW "Only someone who resides within the home, which means I might need your help bringing them outside, for a little friendly interrogation." Snow spun a finger around a lock of hair.

DIABLO Diablo nodded, smiling at her. "Okay, that does make sense. I can lure them out, easily! Or you know, we can trick them into letting you in. Maybe you can pretend like you're hurt. The girl looks like the helping sort anyway."

SNOW "Oh, that's quite the idea," Snow complimented, tilting her head to the side. "Perhaps I twisted my ankle whilst we were out walking? I think I can fake a twisted ankle long enough to convince her. Hopefully our luck holds and she opens the door."

DIABLO Diablo smirked, looking at the house as they got closer to it. It was tiny and nice. It almost felt bad to go in and coerce information out of people. But then again, they were people with access to Hell itself, so it's not like they're a pair of nice elderly ranchers either.

"Then we do that. In case that doesn't work I'll find a way to drag them out, but it won't be necessary. I think we'd be more comfortable, doing things in private."

SNOW Very well, when we get to the door, I shall lean on you for support, you can knock, explain the situation whilst I look--faint. Should not be hard to do, I was, in fact, an actress quite a few times over the years." She smiled at Diablo.

DIABLO  Diablo nodded. "Got it!" he exclaimed, before letting out a chuckle. "Don't be too dramatic, though. It's just an ankle. Actresses always make everything so over the top."

SNOW  Snow rolled her eyes. "I know what I'm doing," she scoffed, just as they entered into the little front garden.

Snow bent down near one of the dying flowerbeds and grabbed a hand full of dirt, smearing it on her jeans, to make it look like she had fallen. Then, she stood back up and went to the door, knocking a few times before looking over at Diablo, wrinkling her nose a bit before she leaned against his side, waiting for someone to appear on the other side of the door.

DIABLO Diablo held on to Snow, serving as her support, before looking up at the door and waiting for someone to come out. Soon, hopefully.

BELLE It was getting close to dinner time and there was water boiling on the stove, though, not much else needed to be done at the moment, which meant Belle was just reading, chewing on her thumbnail as her eyes scanned the pages. Hades was out back, feeding the hounds.

When the knock sounded on the door, Belle furrowed her brow, put her book down before scurrying to toward the door, popping up on her toes to look through the little window on the door that Rajah had so kindly installed for her. She didn't recognize the man and woman on the porch, but she opened the door a bit anyway, cocking her head to the side but smiling.

"Hello," she greeted, "can I help you?"

DIABLO  Diablo put on a somewhat pity-inspiring smile, and greeted the sight of the woman's face with a gesture in Snow's direction.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, miss," the young man apologized. "It so happens that we were walking in the forest, and my sister hurt her ankle. I think it's twisted. Would you... mind if I bring her in for a second and use your phone? We're too far from town to make her hop all the way back."

BELLE  Belle's eyes jumped to the woman at once as the man spoke, taking in the awkward angle she was holding her leg at and the dirt on her jeans. Belle's face crumpled with pity. Her own ankle had been twisted in October, and it had not been fun at all.

"Oh, yes! Of course, please, come in." Belle opened the door wider and moved out of the way. "I-if you can make it to the kitchen, I can grab some ice, if not just, please, sit down in the living room--" she gestured to the room right off the door, "--and I'll do what I can."

DIABLO Diablo smiled once more and held on to Snow's waist, figuring they'd probably be better off pretending until they were firmly inside and all that. So, he helped her hop their way inside and put the woman down in the living room, before looking around.

"Thank you very much, we won't be long," he assured the woman. "Wouldn't want to make your family uncomfortable, after all!" He figured he might try and find out if the man was in the house, too.

SNOW  Snow was regretting being the injured one, if only because hobbling around, having to lean on Diablo for support felt wildly uncomfortable, but--she bit her tongue and kept from letting a triumphant smile loose as she crossed the threshold with no push back from her magic.

Silly little thing. So easily manipulated.

And yes, perhaps she did fall a little dramatically onto the couch, but, the girl wasn't even paying attention, already scurrying into the kitchen to fetch her some ice.

BELLE  Belle closed the door after the siblings and shrugged a little.

"Don't worry about it, oh! And we don't have a landline but I'll grab my cellphone for you, or I can give you the wifi password--I know the cellphone reception out here is hit or miss. I'll--go get that ice, and don't worry about disturbing us, it's really no trouble."

With that she disappeared into the mudroom first, opening up the back door.

"Uhm, Hades--there's a man and woman here, siblings. Apparently the sister sprained her ankle poor thing, but you should probably put the hounds away so they don't catch a glimpse of them."

HADES Hades looked up as the door opened (Baskerville growling instantly, the fucker was so aggressive, nothing like happy-go-lucky Shuck or the Bearer, who stayed calm until it was time to eat). He hissed at the dog to quiet and then nodded Belle's way.

"Right, got it." He looked at the three dogs, maws wet, smelling of meat-- they were only half done with the massive fillets of meat he'd dragged to them.

"You heard her, everyone back inside, take it with you-- don't, Shuck," He glared at the little one as he started to whine. He snapped his fingers and gestured toward the makeshift shacks they'd built, and one by one the hounds disappeared into it, red eyes glowing.

Then Hades ducked back in, glancing at the strangers out of the corner of his eyes. He didn't say anything, just went into the kitchen to get himself some tea.

DIABLO Diablo could swear he heard some unusual growling in the back, but he couldn't be too certain of its origin, and instead made a gesture in the direction of the kitchen.

"That's the man in there," he whispered to his pretend-sister, wondering when would be a good time to blow their own covers.

SNOW  Snow heard the growl too, and the whine--sharp hearing and all that. The woman had called them "the hounds"--as in hellhounds? Perhaps? That was rather naughty, keeping hellhounds in your back garden, but, it just meant that they were in the right place.

She nodded in Diablo's direction, her eyes twinkling triumphantly. "I think you're right," she purred. "We'll just ask a couple of questions and be on our way..."

BELLE  Belle nodded at Hades and turned around, hearing him follow a few steps behind her in the kitchen. She grabbed some ice from the box, putting it in a plastic bag and wrapping a paper towel around it before going into the living room. The woman was perched in Hades' spot on the couch, Belle handed her the bag and turned to her brother.

"Here's my phone, you're free to call a car, if you'd like." She gave him the address. "Hopefully it won't take too long, is there anything else I can do to help?"

HADES Hades put the kettle on, moving 'round the kitchen as he normally would-- getting a mug and the tea leaves and all that sort of thing, when through his own shuffling rose a soft and tender voice.

Uh oh, Hades. Not paying attention. He paused by the counter, nostrils flaring at the sound.

Bit early to be visiting? he quipped to the ghost, feeling her at his back.

Its snack time, Hades. Not paying attention, the ghost said again, sing-song. But Hades had never been good at paying attention-- not to the ghosts. He'd spent his whole life trying to ignore them. He put a bit of honey into his mug, shaking his head.

DIABLO  Diablo took the phone and looked at it for a few seconds.

"Thanks!" he exclaimed, and focused on making a call. He wouldn't just do that, of course. He figured it would be handy to have this number available, and so he decided to have it recorded somewhere. His own phone wasn't there with him, but a call to it would be more than enough to keep the number on track. He figured he'd let Snow ask the questions meanwhile, if she wanted to do that now.

"I'll call someone, just a minute!"

SNOW  Snow took the ice, careful not to touch the woman as she did so, though perhaps it wouldn't have mattered, seeing as the girl's hand was surely cold from the ice. Snow kicked up her foot onto the coffee table and set the ice on her leg. It felt like nothing, really, against her already ice cold skin.

"This is a lovely home you have. Thank you for letting us in, it hurts awfully bad. I'm Snow, by the way, and that is my brother--Derek." Diablo didn't not have any pleasant connotations to it. "And you? Oh, and was there someone else I heard moving about?"

BELLE  "Oh! Yes, I'm Belle," she introduced herself at once, feeling silly for not having done it earlier. "And that's Hades in the kitchen. Please, don't worry, you're not really bothering us at all. We were just getting ready to start dinner, oh, that reminds me."

She raised her voice a little. "Hades, will you turn off the stove, please? Thank you!" She couldn't have the water boiling over while she tended to their guests.

HADES Hades flicked his eyes to the pot and the stove top clicked off without him touching it.

Might want to take a second look... sang the ghost again.

He looked up, jaw tightening a little. He rolled his eyes.

Don't judge a book. And now it was rhyming. He hated ghosts that fancied themselves riddlers.

He poured his tea, then drifted back toward the living room, stopping near the doorway to lean against the frame. And that was when he felt it-- something. He didn't know what it was but it was the same feeling he got when he walked near a graveyard. He didn't react, just stood there, eyes drifting over the shape of the man, the hair of the woman, before he looked at Belle.

"Belle, will you c'mere a second?" he asked as casually as he could-- which was quite casually. Hades was quite the actor himself.

DIABLO Diablo looked over at Hades too, looking him over. He wasn't exactly the most welcoming presence ever, but he didn't seem like a threat, either. He decided to focus on making his call to nobody at all, and acted out a small conversation as he pretended to summon someone to give them a ride, wondering if they'd be able to hear what the two were about to talk about.

SNOW Snow felt the tone change. It was a subtle shift, but after being alive so long, you learned to pick up on such things. Snow's head subtly turned towards Hades and then looked at Diablo and raised her eyebrows. Hopefully he would understand the it may be time look.

BELLE Belle's eyebrows furrowed a little but she nodded at Hades and scurried into the kitchen, wondering what he wanted. "Yes?" she asked, turning on her heel, eyebrows raised expectantly.

HADES "I had a question about dinner, actually, just a second," he said then guided her toward the stove that he'd just switched off-- which Belle would see. Soon as he was far enough away though he faced her, leaning in a little, hand on her upper arm.

"Something's weird. I dunno what, but something feels --" he stopped, trying to find the word, ".... dead in that room," he murmured quietly.

DIABLO Diablo couldn't hear. Immediately, he subtly gazed at Snow, wondering if she knew what was going on. Perhaps he recognized her somehow? That wouldn't be possible, right? Snow didn't know about the guy at first, as far as he knew. Maybe it was nothing.

SNOW  Something feels dead in that room. Snow heard the comment crystal clear and tensed immediately.

This meant two things: one, Hades was--more powerful than originally anticipated and two, this was going to be harder than she originally anticipated.

No matter, no matter. She had a plan. Her excellent hearing would help with that.

"We've been found out," she whispered quietly to Diablo, though her voice was calm. "It's no matter, though, I have a plan."

BELLE  A question about dinner? Immediately Belle felt her heartrate tick up. Hades wouldn't be asking a question about dinner not right now, it didn't make any sense. Something else was going on. Her eyes searched his face, brows furrowed in thought as he spoke.

Dead? Neither of them looked dead. Had they possibly brought a poltergeist in with them?

Or...perhaps...

"Are they possessed? Oh, do you think that's really what they need our help with?" she asked. "O-or, I mean--your help."

HADES  "It's not a ghost," he said at once. He knew that, knew just as he knew there were two ghosts in this room, one in the garden, and Balder upstairs, in Seph's room (he was there every day, silent, like a tomb).

"I know what a ghost feels like," he had lowered his voice to a whisper, feeling even more uneasy. Now that he noticed it, it wouldn't go away. It was like the feeling someone was watching. It was a foul scent-- though the air was clean, the only smell wafting up from his tea. "I-- don't know what this is. But it's not alive."

DIABLO  Diablo blinked, looking at Snow with expectation for her plan. What was it about? They still needed to question the pair so he didn't want to leave.

"I'm listening," he whispered, gesturing at the kitchen. "What do I do?"

SNOW  Snow tilted her head slightly, listening both to Diablo and Hades and Belle whispering in the kitchen.

"I'll grab the girl. I can be rather fast when I want to. You may serve to cause a diversion, or can do most of the talking while I handle Belle. We may just have to roll with the punches. There really isn't a way to predict this Hades, but he is powerful. Keep your guard up."

With that, Snow stood fluidly from the couch, and, without bothering with her injury she made her way to the kitchen, standing in the archway a few feet from the couple by the stove. Her lips curled into a smile.

"You're right," she told Hades, tilting her head slightly.

"We've just got a couple of questions and then we'll be on our way, isn't that right, Diablo?" Snow purred over her shoulder at her companion.

BELLE Belle began chewing on her lip--and funnily enough, she didn't feel frightened, not really. If anything, she was more intrigued and tantalized by this new mystery that had been presented to them. Not alive. Though, they both looked perfectly alive and well (except for Snow's ankle.) So, not possessed. Not ghosts. Or ghouls. Or poltergeists. Belle wracked her brain--alive but dead, alive but dead. It clicked at the same moment Snow came around the corner.

Vampires.

She turned around when she heard Snow's voice--her back having been to the living room. Her eyes dropped to Snow's stylish black boots and dark wash jeans, where she was standing perfectly straight.

"Your--ankle," she said, dumbly, gesturing, as if that was any help at all. It caused Snow's lips to tug up in a bigger smirk, shrugging one of her shoulders.

HADES Hades instantly moved in front of Belle, his arm out like some sort of guard rail, so he might catch Belle if she did something stupid like try to get closer to the two of them. He knew it was the woman now, staring at her from across the kitchen-- it ebbed from her, that undead aura, and if he concentrated on it, he could feel it thick as tar on his skin. It wasn't hard to put two and two together really, the other half of the equation being the vampire attacks in town. And really...made sense, didn't it? He opened the gates, hell hounds flooded to the door-- why not vampires?

Hades scowled, at himself and at this creature in front of him. "You stay on that side of the kitchen and maybe I'll answer," Hades spat. "Step any closer though and it's gonna get toasty in here rather fast."

DIABLO  Diablo smirked.

Now this was what he was there for. He had longed for actually doing something ever since he arrived to this town, and until now he had been watching carefully without intervening anywhere. This would mark the day he stepped toward gaining his true form once more after a hundred years, and he couldn't be more excited. He was so excited, in fact, that he couldn't help but let out an almost maniacal-sounding laugh. He was just so pumped!

"I'm glad you agree!" he exclaimed, grinning widely. "We'll just get our answers then. Where did your pups go, by the way? Sent them back to Hell, or to attack a neighbouring town? I think they like to do that a lot."

SNOW  Snow rolled her eyes at Hades' little threat, though, in the back of her mind she remembered to be cautious. Fire was one of the only mortal enemies of vampires, if he really could light things on fire, it was best to not have that happen.

Her eyes flicked to Diablo. Well, someone was enjoying himself.

"Now, now, Diablo, let's play nice," she chided lightly, though her voice was full of amusement. She could play the good cop to his bad cop, that may work rather well.

"We're curious about a certain--" she pursed her lips "--landmark we are quite sure you might know something about. The Gates of the Underworld, by chance?"

HADES Hades could play dumb. Unlikely. He had three hellhounds in his garden and the powers of the dead at his fingertips. These things could damn him, but at this point he wagered they were more powerful pieces-- knights and rooks to this undead lady's simple pawn (Hades thought this as he flicked his gaze toward the man then back to the woman-- the queen.).

Besides, why play dumb? Why protect the gates? Because it was technically his job? The gates had done nothing but ruin him. Hades thought all this, tilting his head, pausing for a moment before he decided.

"What about them?" he asked.

DIABLO  Diablo grinned, looking at the man. "Where can we find them?" He inquired, almost impatiently, as the man asked about what they wanted.

He didn't seem to be overly uncooperative. Almost as if he was judging whether or not to tell them. That was decent at least.

"And how do they open?"

SNOW  Snow simply nodded a little, eyes fixed on Hades. Unlike Diablo, her excitement was easily tempered. It was because she couldn't exactly feel it humming through her blood. It simply existed. It kept her calm, collected, not at all eager. Though, she was, her fingers were itching for it. But, she simply nodded in confirmation, waiting to see what this Hades would say.

BELLE  They shouldn't tell them anything. Hades shouldn't tell them anything. Belle knew, from Yubaba, from Cassandra--the Gates of the Underworld were for no one to mess with but Hades. They were dangerous. They corrupted. They unleashed things like hellhounds. Whatever these people (vampires?) wanted, it was not going to bode well for Swynlake.

Her gaze flicked to Hades, watching him carefully, her fingers curling around the wrist of the arm he held in front of her like a warning. Think it through.

HADES Once again, a tense silence gripped the group for a few long seconds, Hades' eyes locked on the woman's from across the room. He was thinking it through. He saw the whole board, knew what pieces he had to play and what pieces he had to sacrifice.

And he knew what he would not sacrifice either-- and that was Belle. It all kept routing back to her, every strategy. To lie, to fight, to tell the truth. It all came back to how could this hurt Belle? Because Hades didn't want a fight-- and that wasn't the Hades of old. Once, he'd have already set himself on fire and scared the vampire away with his blue flame. But he'd not used his fire, not really, since Christmas. He'd stopped going to the Gates and he stopped trying to open them. And if he told them the truth-- gave them what they wanted-- he could reveal that weakness, finding himself stumbling back out to that wretched place. He couldn't do that. Couldn't exactly lie with the hellhounds condemning him already.

See, that was the real problem-- he didn't know what they knew. So was this to be a game of poker, not chess? Who had the best poker face?

"Tell me why you want to open them first," he said.

DIABLO  Diablo shrugged. "Nothing too important," the man decided to say, as he didn't know if Snow would want them to know. She looked at her briefly before looking back at the others.

"You should probably send your dogs into them, too. You wouldn't want another hell dog invasion on your hands, right?"

SNOW  She knew that he was stalling--or that he didn't know what pieces to play. Snow saw the chessboard too. She wasn't the greatest strategist--much too overeager. Eva tried to get her to play chess on more than one occasion and Snow just whined the whole way through. Still, she could appreciate the finesse and delicacy this situation needed to be handled with. She shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly.

"We're not planning on letting anything out of them, you can be sure. We'll not be making that mistake."

HADES "Gonna have to be more specific, love," he said to her. "Seein as you're the one asking me for a favour."

DIABLO  Diablo decided to speak up, figuring Snow wasn't too keen on them knowing what she intended to do.

"We need to talk to someone, if we can find them," he decided to say. "I do, rather. It's a... personal matter."

He didn't know how Hell worked. Or if dead people really were there, so he didn't know if that would be a believable excuse. Either way, he stared at the man with the face of a person who was determined to do what he said.

SNOW "A personal matter we'd rather not discuss," Snow purred in agreement. "Which is why we're not seeking out a medium to mediate. Must speak to them ourselves, you see."

HADES Hades snorted. It was a horrible lie. Even the basic myths of the Gates said no mortal could enter them and survive-- so what, were they planning a summons there on its front step? They'd need a medium anyway for that or a sorcerer or something.

Unless-- that was right. She was a vampire. Not a mortal at all, but an immortal.

"So a vampire wants to chit-chat with the dead on behalf of her, what? Boyfriend?" he raised his eyebrows at the man again. "Forgive me for my skepticism, but doesn't sound very convincing. Not that it matters," he said.

"Because I don't know where they are. You got the wrong Acheron. My sister opened the gates, not me. I tried to stop her." The lie came easily, even as he felt his chest grow tight with the thought of Persephone. "She didn't listen."

DIABLO Diablo raised his brow. "You're not implying you don't have the power to open them, are you? Because I wouldn't believe that. We know you can command beasts from the underworld. You can surely find your way there too."

HADES "Hey, I didn't summon them. They escaped when my sister opened the gates and now I'm cleanin' up her mess. Though-- come to think of it, if you find the gates, let me know. Then we can throw the mutts back in where they belong," Hades said with a lift of his eyebrow.

SNOW Snow rolled her eyes. She didn't believe this child for a moment, she knew he would just keep lying and lying. He was right, though, when he said he was doing them a favour. They had nothing to really give him in return.

Which meant that they needed leverage.

As her eyes finished their circuit around her skull, they landed on Belle, the smile on her face growing downright sinister.

"Alright, enough of this," she said in an irritated tone, and then--she ran, became a blur to the average eye. It took her perhaps three seconds to get a hand around Belle's waist and pull her back to the other side of the kitchen. Poor thing, she was so light, she didn't stand a chance.

She felt Belle take a breath, heard her heart begin to pound furiously in her chest. As soon as Belle realized what had happened she kicked her legs out, doing her best to wiggle away, her whole body writhing, but Snow had a hand firmly on her waist, strong as stone. With her other hand, she grabbed Belle's chin and turned her face towards her.

"Now, be a good little hostage," Snow purred, watching Belle's eyes dilate and felt her body go slack. Snow smiled and stroked her hair. "Much better."

Then, she turned Belle's head so her neck was exposed, moving her fingers down it lightly. "Such a beautiful neck...Perhaps you should tell us the truth now, hm?" She smiled at Hades, like he was particularly amusing her.

DIABLO  Diablo couldn't help but smile with excitement at how things were developing. It seemed it was all getting much more fun now, and this was probably what they needed for the guy to tell them all about it. After all, nobody wants their wife or mistress or whatever taken hostage, and it's not like anybody cared about the doors to hell more than their partner, right?

"Like we said, we don't mean to bring anything out. We can even throw the dogs in for you, and save you the trouble, and everyone walks out of here just fine. What do you think?"

HADES Belle was out of his grasp.

It happened fast-- so fast-- Hades' muscles freezing to ice when the woman blurred in front of him. Even if he wanted to act (and he could have, could have caught the blur and slammed her hard against the table, could have turned the house against her and been much much scarier than a vampire and his lackey), he couldn't. It was fear, ice cold, making him useless. Fear and then Belle was in the woman's hands and Hades could barely see straight, as the anger woke up hot and vicious.

He half lunged, every door opening, plates and mugs spitting themselves out and smashing onto the floor. He barely stopped himself from catching fire.

"You hurt her I'll see to it you burn," he spat out harshly. He took a breath. It scraped down his throat. "The gates are at the end of the river, where it runs dry. There. Let her go."

SNOW  Snow hardly flinched as the kitchen exploded and rained down ceramic, crashing onto the floor. She sidestepped a few pieces--one of them cutting into her hostage's leg (who didn't even acknowledge, putty in Snow's hands.) The scent of the blood dilated Snow's pupils and she could feel her fangs itching at the corners of her gums.

Pulling her lips back, she hissed low at Hades, an inhuman sound as her eyes flashed.

"That's not everything we need to know," she chided him, putting her cheek against Belle's hair.

DIABLO Diablo couldn't help but be amused by the spectacle. It was refreshing to be participating in things for once, and he was truly enjoying it. He had a knack for being an evil lackey, apparently. He ought to thank that long-dead sorceress for it.

"How do we open then?" the man inquired with authority in his voice, staring directly at Hades with a playful smirk, having readied himself to transform should the man attempt something against him even if they had the girlfriend hostage. "It's an easy question to answer, and it's worth it, hm?"

HADES And again, Hades had to play his cards right-- right being Belle safe, Belle out of the vampire's arms and no longer their problem.

Which meant he couldn't reveal it was he who opened the gates, especially because Hades didn't know if he could anymore.

So he had to lie, lie fast, lie convincingly, and that's what Hades did. Luckily, he knew all the rumours. He'd read about them.

"You have to open it during an equinox or a solstice, and turn the river water red. I suggest pigs' blood," he said.

SNOW  "Well, lucky for us there is a solstice coming up, isn't it?" Snow purred, her lips still at the curve of Belle's jaw, her eyes zeroed in on Hades. "Thank you for your help, you've been wonderfully cooperative." Her hand stroked down the curve of Belle's neck. "And if you tell anyone about this, well, necks are easy to snap."

She gripped hard at Belle's neck for a moment, two of her nails piercing the delicate skin in little crescent shapes.

Belle hardly flinched.

"You can be sure we'll be back if you're wrong. Diablo, anything to add, my friend?" She smiled at her partner-in-crime.

DIABLO  Diablo admittedly wanted to say something cool and clever, but he had nothing to add that wouldn't potentially diminish how cool they looked. He thought it was all going well enough, and they knew where to find those two in any case if stuff went wrong.

"We'll be watching," he decided to add, smirking at the man. "You should start being more careful with stragers, by the way. You never know, right?" the man suggested, shrugging at them.

This had been a lot of fun. Finally, he turned to Belle. "Thanks for your hospitality!"