When in Gehenna

A House Divided

*A/N: I have no excuse and I am sorry for the wait. This has been the hardest chapter for me to write so far as I started it almost a week ago.

Many exorcists were furious with the way things had continued.  The citizens of Gehenna behaved themselves, and any that did misbehave were quickly taken to Gehenna and dealt with, never to be seen in Assaiah again.  Although many people saw this as a good thing, there were still those who were convinced that the demons were biding their time and waiting for the opportune moment to take over.

Angel had quickly become the leader and organizer of that group.  He had people keeping an eye on demons, watching for any sign of misbehavior.  He emphasized that they needed to be on guard and ready for anything, knowing that the more trigger-happy members of his group were likely to start hostilities.  However, Angel honestly didn't care.  He firmly believed that the demons were plotting to take over Assaiah, and that the longer the demons were allowed to freely roam among mortals, the harder it would be to drive them out and save the world.

Finally, after a year of waiting, Angel knew that what he had been waiting for was going to happen.  When the report finally came in, he could hardly contain his excitement.  One of the Japanese exorcists had destroyed a demon who they claimed had been about to attack a child.  Angel didn't care about whether or not the demon had been about to hurt a human.  All he cared about was that it looked like a demon might have been attacking a child and they now had the perfect excuse to get rid of the rest of the monsters.  He ordered his various branches to mobilize against the demon threat by order of the Vatican.  Not that the Vatican had actually authorized anything, but Angel knew that valuable time would be wasted looking into the incident if the Vatican was involved.  Also, the Vatican would insist on notifying and working with the demons, which would tip their hand and might get the demons to make their move sooner than expected.  No, it was better for everyone that the Vatican remain in the dark until it was too late for them to do anything besides exterminate the vermin and cleanse the world.

* * * * * *

Yukio could tell that something was off in the exorcist community.  The more radical members of the organization seemed to be excited about something, and had taken to walking around fully equipped for battle.  He decided to ask Mephisto if he knew of anything that might be happening with the Vatican that would explain this change in behavior.  Unfortunately, Mephisto hadn't heard anything from the Vatican, although he was beginning to hear rumors of demon killings.  Although nothing was certain, Yukio's information about the radical exorcists was suspicious given the circumstances.  Mephisto decided to keep an ear out for any more information and to also inform Gehenna about what might be happening.  All they could do now is watch and wait for proof.