The Mighty Belthazor

The witch must've had a feeling she was being followed, the way she kept looking over her shoulder. She quickened her pace as she headed home from work, her breath making little white clouds in the cold evening air.

Bel's heart was pounding nervously. If he didn't kill the girl, his father's soul would be destroyed. But if he did kill her, Phoebe would never forgive him. It would prove that he was just a demon after all, not a man. Everything he'd gain since his first attempt to leave the Underworld would be lost. His friends, his respect...everything. His own soul would be lost.

( The girl turned into the alleyway beside the dry cleaners. )


[ooc: locked to one who knows who he is, NFB due to distance.]

Bel paced the empty suite, trying to reign in the demon inside him. All this week he'd had difficulty controlling it. The slightest thing would set his temper off, and he couldn't stop himself from playing with Anders like he was some sort of toy. His demon side was in constant struggle with his human soul, and lately it felt like the human half was losing. It was worse than it had been over the summer -- ever since his last visit to the Underworld.

Raynor. He was responsible for this. He had to be.

( Bel shimmered to the Underworld to the meeting chamber of the Brotherhood. )

Saturday morning, Bel shimmered to the Underworld to present the amulet to Raynor. Raynor was pleased, of course. "How did you do it?" he asked, accepting the amulet.

"Does it matter?" Bel said wearily. "You got what you wanted. Now give me what I want."

Raynor shook his head. "I'm not done with you yet, Belthazor."

"But you said once I got the amulet," Bel protested.

"I said once you had fulfilled your duties to the Underworld," Raynor corrected. "There is still work for you to do."

Bel sighed and dropped his head. "What next?" he asked.

"There's a spell in the Charmed One's Book of Shadows," Raynor explained. "One that activates the amulet when both pieces are joined. You will get the spell."

"I can't touch the Book of Shadows!" Bel said. "How am I supposed to do that?"

"You'll find a way," Raynor said, patting his shoulder. "I know you will."

"But the amulet is useless in the hands of evil," Bel pointed out. "What good will it do you?"

"Good magic can be perverted," Raynor said. "Just get me the spell."

"And then what?" Bel said. "Will you give me my father's soul then?"

"The only way you'll learn that is to do what you're told," Raynor said. "Remember who and what you are, Belthazor. You're a demon. You serve the Source, you always will. Nothing will change that. Now go, and bring me the spell."

"I will," Bel said unhappily. He shimmered back to Fandom, trying to figure out his next move.

Bel shimmered in to the familiar Underworld cavern, a place he hadn't set foot in for months. It was empty save for Raynor, waiting calmly. "Belthazor," he said. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint. This is, after all, where you belong."

"I came to tell you I'm not going to do it," Bel said, shaking his head. "I don't belong to you anymore." He steeled himself with the words of support from his friends and kept himself wary for any sort of attack from Raynor or the shadows around them. It wouldn't surprise him if Vornac was just waiting for an opportunity to take him down again.

( Cut for length. )

[ooc: NFB due to distance.]

Bel wandered aimlessly through the halls, avoiding...everyone. Phoebe wanted her grandmother and oldest sister to meet him this weekend, and he still wasn't so sure about that. And he really didn't want to see all the happy reunions of parents and children that other people were having. Jealousy, he knew. After all, he didn't have a loving mother or father who wanted to see him. His father was dead, his mother was (thankfully) dead now, and the rest of the Underworld thought he was dead.

He sighed, his hands stuffed in his pockets, his head down as he rounded a random corner.

[ooc: for those who know who they are. If you have a desire to jump in, please to be pinging me on AIM first.]