Joscelin turned and looked at Jeremiah and gave him a little grin. "I can understand why you don't wish to be here anymore. If i were you i would leave as well. Don't worry my dear friend, I should be fine...." A quick look to Horse's confidence boosted her again. "I will see you later outside of hell." She winked at him and turned towards Horse.

Horse told her how he dropped Jeremiah onto a bed of beetles for the fun of it and she couldn't help laughing. "Mighty wicked of you... Where can i learn to do that?" She watched his nails skim his chest. "Yes i would like to meet your... er... friend is it? I think the hall of records sounds quite a lovely place for someone who likes to read." She ended with a smile.

She stood in front of him with her furred hands clasped in front of her and her tail swishing happily back and forth behind her. Her ears stayed pricked up and facing out so she could hear anything that she could. Fear of being a half-breed in their world was running its course but not her... yet. Fear is a very powerful emotion... one never knew what it would do to you.

“Considering that you are partly demon, I suppose I could teach it to you. Do keep in mind, thought, that spindle beetles have been extinct for thousands of years, so Jeremiah will awake on what seems like lumpy sand. Still, it is kind of funny.”

Horse walked around the desk, his tail taking out a pen set he never liked, and approached Joscelin. He took hold of her furry hands and held them warmly for a moment, and then released them.

“He’s a good lad, your Jeremiah,” he said. “It was wise of him to take his leave.” Horse gazed at her a moment. Cat demons were as rare as ... well ... cat demons; and that was pretty rare.

“You are a pretty thing,” he said turning his back to her again, crossing his hands behind his back, and returning to gazing out the window. “Pretty things don't last long in this hole.” He was thinking of his children. “So do me a favour, please.”

He turned back around, looking at her intently – almost grandfatherly.

“Do as I tell you. Trust me. Don't think when I give a command, just do it. Okay? Promise me that.”

It wasn’t Horse’s nature to be so interested in the safety of creatures he didn't know. Somehow, thought, he thought of Joscelin differently.

Suddenly, without waiting for her answer, he smiled broadly.

“The Hall of Records isn’t for reading – it is for listening.”

"Thousand year old dead beetles? That is pretty awesome i will admit." Joscelin was fighting the grin that tried to take over her face. "Jeremiah is pretty good yes. He tries very hard to keep the friends that he has... I think he would take it personally if he ever lost one..." She smiled at the thought that she had at least one person like her and that they would mourn her if she ever saw death.

Horse took hold of her hands, and her tail stilled its swayed movement, uncertainty trying to push in. She tamped it down. Horse's felt so warm, it kind of shocked her that they were so warm. They were kind of rough, as if they were used to doing work and not being pampered like many of todays men... Or demons. When he let her hands go she looked up into his eyes, and listened intently to what he said about the rarity of cat-demons.

"Yes i had noticed that as well. The only cat-demons i had ever met or come across were my mothers people. I have never really seen, met, or even heard of any others. I had also thought that perhaps my bio father had been a rare breed as well... and so i could be a first of my kind... but then reality hit and i figured that it just doesn't work like that. The world never really works like that." Joscelin ended with a bitter smile. Her tail winding and unwinding itself around her legs unconsciously while she thought.

Horse turned away from her stared out the window once again. When he told her that she was pretty it ruffled her fur a bit and she closed her wings around her in a bulky fashion, and her tail slid around her waist to stay. She wasn't one that took compliments well, seeing as she was never raised hearing any but from her mother every now and again.

He turned and stared at her as if he might actually care for her... or a ghost of who she reminded him of? 'His daughter... she was a half-breed too...'

"All i can promise is that i will do my best. I'm not used to taking anyones orders. I guess i have been on my own too long but I will promise to do the best that i possibly can OK? I do want to last a very long time. So... i will try OK?" She tried to show that she was telling the truth to him and most likely failed in the body language are horribly.

"What the crap is a hall of records for if you have to listen to it? Oh geesh I'm going to fall asleep listening aren't i?" She whined just a little. She figured she would be able to find out some pretty nifty stuff looking for her history. Now she was unsure of what would be happening.

"Pish! Lead the way my Demonic Elder...." She flung out her arm while doing a little circle where she stood, to signify that she knew not which way they were going.

“That’s as much as I can expect,” Horse said in answer to Joscelin’s agreement to try. It was probably better than most agreements he’d ever entered into.

“Certainly listening can be quite boring. Take Yanni, for example - or Barry Manilow – or Cher.” His voice shuttered. “But in this case, it’s a matter of listening to Tweedledee and Tweedledum. You’ll figure out what that means later.”

Joscelin spun around and pointed in a comical expression of “Which way?” Horse turned back to face the window and pointed toward it.

“That way,” he said. “Now keep up, please.”

He dove through the window - his wings tight to his back - and fell like a bullet through the wind toward the layer of mist floating just below the peak of The Spires. Just before entering the mist, he reached out his wings and caught the hot updraft. From there he soared and took a wide bank toward the south. Below and just ahead, the ancient building that housed many artifacts, records and a few unsavory characters grew in apparent size as they approached it.

Horse seemed to walk out of the sky as he neared the ground. He stepped firmly onto the walkway that led to the building. He pulled his wings back in tight to his back again and then turned to watch Joscelin’s approach and landing.

Joscelin nodded at Horse's acceptance of her answer. At least he understood if even a little bit. 'Tweedledee and Tweedledum...?' She thought to herself. 'Alice in wonderland.... But this certainly isn't wonderland...'

Horse directed her on which way to go then dove through the window. Expecting her to keep herself up next to him. She stood on the edge of the window sill and inhaled deeply. Enjoying the scent of this new world. She then swan dived out of the office and after Horse.

She watched him open his wings and take a tight turn. She tried to keep up with him but lost him in the mist. she turned the way he did and hoped she would find him without landing on him.

She saw the imposing structure and figured she should stick close to it instead of striking out on her own. She was just coming out of the mist when she saw Horse.

"Ah shit!" She was going too fast to stop herself and tried swerving out of the way. A little too late, she clipped him with her shoulder.

“Well,” Horse said sardonically. “Any landing, as they say.”

Actually, Horse found Joscelin’s landing to be comical and, well, somewhat quaint. First time’s can be much worse than she managed, but he wasn’t going to say so. He watched her get to her feet and waited until the natural embarrassment wore off. That, also, was only natural.

Horse offered a hand to her but did not look at her. He was watching the spires and the entrance to the Synagogue of Satan. He might find her landing comical, but others might see it as an invitation to roast her like a kabob. He wasn’t about to let that happen but he, equally, wasn’t interested in any confrontations. Not at that time, anyway.

“Take my hand,” he said. It was an order. Let’s see if she can follow a simple one. In the meantime he watched the door to the Hall of Records. Hell hath much fury ... male and female. Horse was King, but that only meant that he was target number one.

She grabbed ahold of his hand before he even told her to. Joscelin wanted up before she was seen as weak. This was most definitely on the top of her list of where not to look weak. Her ears were pricked up and turned outward to catch all the sound she could. She bent down and dusted off her furfrom her legs on up.

She fell in step 2 paces behind him off to the side. That way she would try to be in the least confining space around Horse if shit did indeed hit the fan down here.

"Are we close?" Joscelin whispered, for she knew she would be heard by Horse. Why speak in a tone that others would be able to hear and then follow? She learned it paid to be quiet, paid even more to be silent.

She watched Horse's every move in the hopes she would learn to anticipate what may or may not be coming ahead. If he would veer away from something she did too. if it even looked like he placed his feet a certain way she would as well.

She had grown accustomed to liking this life. She wanted to keep it that way too.

“Quite close. It is just ahead through that doorway,” he said motion with a hand toward him. So far Joscelin had not seemed faint of heart, which made Horse’s job a lot easier. In his own way, he was thankful for that.

The position behind him that she had taken revealed that she knew a great deal about preservation. That was a good thing, too. Things could easily get out of hand. Of course, Joscelin had yet to see that manner of which Horse confronted a threat. Hopefully she would not. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

A deep, moving shadow blanketed them for a moment – cast by something very large passing overhead. Horse knew it to be a Manta Ray Demon; not unlike the creatures found in Earthly seas but considerably larger, airborne and nasty as hell. Fortunately, they didn't eat other demons or cat people. Horse ignored it. He simply kept walking to the large stone steps and then continued upward toward the massive double doors of the Synagogue. Once reaching the doors, Horse stopped and gazed upward toward a gargoyle shimmering in the heat. Its eyes glowed briefly, recognizing Horse, and then allowed the doors to open.

“Come inside,” he said reaching back to take her hand again, pulling her closer. He wrapped his right wing around her – like a stuffing a cabbage leaf – allowing only her legs and face to show through. Maybe her tail stuck out, he wasn’t sure. “It’s nothing personal. You really don't want to walk in there unshielded,” he said leading her through the doors. “Trust me on that.”

The doors closed heavily and with a deep sigh behind them. Inside, the space was even more enormous than the doors. The ceiling was a good 100 feet above them, the room as large as a football field. Ahead were a pair of smaller doors set into a wall with numerous and detailed carvings of death, carnage and deviancy. None of it meant much to Horse, having seen it all a thousand times.

The smaller doors opened as they approached them, and then closed behind them. Above, more gargoyles peered down at them, their red and green eyes watching them as they moved. Horse guided Joscelin left and down a long hall with walls like veins of lava. The heat was much greater there. Soon, they reached an archway carved in solid granite. He guided her through it and stood just inside. The room was easily recognizable as a library – although some of the books seemed to be breathing.

“The Hall of Records,” Horse said quietly.

As Joscelin followed Horse along whatever path he took, a shadow encompassed both of them. When Horse looked up, so did she. Joscelin froze where she was. An old safety habit from her island days that stayed with her for her entire life. When she noticed that Horse did not stop then she hurried to catch up to him, thinking that if he didn't stop it should leave them alone.

Horse walked up to a huge giant stone building with double doors, with gargoyles all over it. One was perched right above the doorway staring down as if to stop people from entering the building. 'Bleh.... Creepy...' Joscelin thought to herself.

Horse grabbed her hand again, and pulled her toward him, as the doors started to open. Joscelin tucked her tail around her waist again, unsure of what was going to happen. He then wrapped his oh-so-much-larger-wing around her entire body, encompassing her so only her taloned feet were exposed. Her ears were held down to the sides. A sign that she was very nervous. 'Unshielded?'

"Are you saying that, you are acting as a shield at this moment?" Puzzlement in her voice. "Do i not have the proper attire to 'shield' me? Or is it like the teleporting thing as well?" Joscelin loved information. It told of intelligence and that was sometimes the only thing that kept you alive. Knowing what to do, what not to do, what is what and who is who.

Knowledge is Joscelin's closest friend. It was really the only thing that had kept her alive for so long on her own. She figured she was pretty good at spying and sneaking into places to learn her precious knowledge.

They had walked through a huge room of.... Nothing. 'Why is this room so big to hold nothing? How odd...' They walked through another, smaller set of doors. These doors seemed to be quite descriptive and looked like they showed a battle, or a little taste of the history. Like on Egypt's tombs walls. Once on the other side of those doors, Horse led her down a series of hallways. The walls were beautiful and looked suspiciously like lava, it was warmer here too. Oh how she loved warmth. She was quite toasty at the moment sharing body heat with Horse.

After just about another minute of walking in Horse's wing and holding his hand, they reached a very lovely archway of granite. He just moved through that as well then suddenly stopped. Joscelin looked around herself and noticed all the books. 'Oh the knowledge stored here... The stories held in the pages of these books... They are so lovely, they look amazing and old and... Alive?'

"Is that book breathing?!" Joscelin asked with just a tint of horror. She lived with humans, and never really thought stuff such as this existed.

Horse then almost whispered to her that it was the Hall of Records.

"Oh so we are here... May i touch them? Will i be able to read them?" She so wanted to touch them and open them. Feel the pages with her fingers. Her ears had perked up once she had seen all the books. She was excited again. and the tip of her tail was switching back and forth inbetween her and Horse.