A.N. This is the rest of Chapter 2, so excuse the short length but it was meant to be part of the post of the previous one. Now this is effectively Chapter 3.

The Outsider

“Be gone Outsider, I refuse thee admittance!” Morgan growled, and lunged forward with his sword. Oh God! Did he call the thing Outsider? I saw Morgan's sword cut through the air with vicious intent, strength of magic and muscle behind it…

I breathed in relief; Morgan had easily taken down demons I'd gone to an inch of my reserves to defeat.

Morgan's long sword whistled and then I saw sparks fly off with sound of metal striking metal. The sword stopped an inch away from the Outsider's chest - blocked by a…wand! An honest to goodness wand! Not even a blasting rod, hell a staff! No, he stood there, holding his wand cross-wise across his chest and the sharp edge of the sword rested against the flat of the wand.

Morgan was struggling to push the blade past the wand but the Outsider just stood there with a little smile. Morgan towered over him in height and weight, but it might as well have been the other way round.

“Swords, muggle?” he asked amused, his manic eyes glinted in the fires the wardens had set inside the warehouse. Muggle?

“Not just any sword demon!” Morgan grunted, and tried to pull back the sword. I could hear it thrumming from magic. Morgan was right, a warden's sword can be a powerful artifact and right then he was pouring all his magic into it. But this was an Outsider, who knew what powers he had.

The Outsider grinned wide and I saw Morgan fly back thrown by an invisible force. Again Morgan lunged at him, feinting high striking to the side, again the wooden wand blocked and held the sword.

“A sword…is a sword…is a snake,” the Outsider smiled wide and suddenly instead of his signature sword Morgan was holding a large cobra by the tail. The cobra reared and Morgan dropped it just in time.

The Outsider hissed at the cobra, my skin crawled, the cobra slithered up his leg and wrapped around his neck flaring its hood and baring its fangs at Morgan. I wish I'd had less blood loss, it was getting in the way of me panicking, seeing an Outsider play with the Chief Warden and turn his magic sword into a pet cobra was grounds for panic and retreat. Somehow the logical reaction is always beyond me.

Morgan had paled with anger, the vicious cobra used to be a symbol of his office, is it wrong that I was cheering the Outsider on?

I was back in Morgan's corner when the Outsider started talking to the cobra again, the hissing and spitting noises filled the room like evil whispers or I was just getting dizzy.

I saw Morgan arch his left hand back and fire leapt from it to pool in his right palm. That's not fair, how can he have this much control over a third element? I saw the Outsider's eyes widen, maybe in surprise? Morgan saw this and inclined his head arrogantly before the fire pooling in his palm shot at the Outsider and enveloped him.

It was the most hideous thing I heard…I knew what would happen to the Outsider, how his skin would boil and tear and how he would scream, but he didn't do that and its one of the most horrible things I've heard.

When I had fought my master, I'd burned him, even then when I was high on black magic coursing through my veins and burning my master's flesh I was disgusted by the smell and his screams. Even when I tasted murder like honey his screams had cut into me, but it was nothing like when the Outsider burned.

…He laughed!

Morgan's rushing flames on the heel of his guttural incantations writhed around the doubled over form of the Outsider and he laughed!

Laughed as if he was going to burst from it, laughed in high peels of unholy mirth, laughing uncontrollably like he'd just seen Moe slap Curly - he was enjoying being on fire!

My eyes were drying and tearing and drying from the heat of Morgan's magic, but I couldn't look away from the boy form of the demon Outsider. I looked around, thinking I'd lost my mind, everything around me was destroyed and burned and instead of people shouting and moaning in pain there was a kid in a kiln laughing to high…Hell!

He was walking, laughing, jumping, skipping towards Morgan. Morgan kept the pillar of fire on the Outsider lunatic and kept incanting in Old German, strange man. The spectacle wearing, wand toting Outsider hopped, giggled and burned but closed the distance between himself and Morgan, looking like some prince of Hell come to the world of men.

“Sword and fire, muggle,” he giggled, “drip drop muggle,” he held his sides laughing, “tick tock, muggle, tick tock motherfucker!” From inside the tower of fire hundreds of pure white doves flew out, their wings caught Morgan's fire, but they didn't stop and dove at him like angels of vengeance, while the demon burned and giggled…drip drop.

Morgan crashed to the floor his evocation had quaked and heaved, the burning doves gouged him and some struck with their beaks, some slapped his face with their fiery wings, and more fell unable to fly but rolled and hopped to him like demented wingless mutants to tear his flesh. Why wasn't Morgan screaming? Why wasn't he shouting anything?

I saw blood shine on the pure white doves and then I saw Morgan's face for a moment and I saw why he wasn't screaming A wingless dove had shoved its head and body into his mouth and he was flailing about trying to get it out and fighting off the other doves, he couldn't cast his magic. The corners of his lips had been scratched, and blood marred the snow white feathers of the dove chocking him.

Morgan's fire had burned out, so I looked to see if I could finish off the demon. I dragged myself up, channeling the pain in my arm to my magic, ready to face the husk of…Hell's Bells! He was staring at me the picture of health of a demon-not-forgotten-in-the-oven-too-long!

Lucky for me suddenly the birds exploded out and away from Morgan and he stumbled onto his feet, hacking out feathers. For a few long moments the only sound was Morgan coughing and the hundreds of birds falling to the ground dead. In the middle of it all the Outsider stood being showered by his conjured doves but they somehow missed him and fell around him in a circular heap.

Morgan slammed his staff down on the ground and it rippled out from it in a wave, the Outsider was thrown off his feet, along with me and we both landed on the not so soft and bloody down feather carpeting of doves. He didn't wait and called up water and ice, out of the ground stalagmites with cold sharp point came up aiming for the Outsider, I saw him jump and dodge but there was no telling where they would come up, I was scared enough for myself and hoped I didn't get caught in the cross fire.

My magic and body was still weak, the summoning circle had taken everything from me and I just laid there watching them, and trying to pump my pain into my magic. Someone fired off a shot and I looked around wildly, scared Murphy was already here, I shouldn't have left her that note. The Outsider suddenly appeared in front of me with the sound of a gunshot and then disappeared just as fast with the sound of another gunshot, right before a row of icy stalagmites cut through the ground where he was.

I rolled away onto my wounded shoulder and cursed Morgan. The Outsider never stayed in one place, then with the faintest sound he appeared behind Morgan who felt him and moved but too late. I saw a fiery cat-o-nine tails shoot out form his wand and he lashed the length of Morgan's body and staff. The tails pulled Morgan bodily do the ground while slicing and burning his flesh. The staff was cut in multiple pieces and Morgan fell bleeding and pressing the deepest of the nine burning cuts on him, but even then he didn't scream. Morgan might be a suspicious bastard but he is a tough one, I had to give him that. The Outsider quickly flicked his wand at him and Morgan's lips were sealed with a thick thread, then he hissed at the cobra and it tripled in size and wrapped itself around Morgan.

This was it, Morgan was beaten, I was next and I was too tired, too hurt. I saw the old warlock's gun a foot away from me and grabbed it, I aimed at the Outsider who was standing still with his wand at his side. The hammer cocked back and I thought I might just be able to slow it down because he, I suppose I should accept that whatever it was at least it was a 'he,' didn't try to stop me.

Something hard and fast hit my hand ripping the gun away. Same hard and fast thing landed a blow on my face and I jerked back still on the ground, when I opened my eyes one of the two walocks that had finished the summoning was standing above me with his staff. I just can't get a break.

“A sacrifice of blood for you, Speaker, blood of innocents.” The warlocks tempted him, if the Outsider drank the blood it was all over, he would accept his summons from the warlocks and they would have him under their control. His head snapped to the warlock standing by the few unbroken flasks of blood and the children they had sacrificed.

“You sacrificed innocents for me?” he asked, sounding like he didn't do much talking usually. I wasn't about to let him defile their bodies, from what I'd seen they looked like homeless children the Warlocks had caught. I twitched and that was enough to earn another blow.

“He's mine!” the Outsider snarled and once again I felt magic just waiting on his tongue. The warlock above me bowed but kept the end of his staff on my throat.

“Accept the sacrifice Speaker, and take our master,” the second warlock solicited bowing slightly. Guzman was down, having taken the full brunt of the demon's will. Morgan was watching everything like I was knowing what was coming, that we'd failed.

The thing kneeled besides the children, some didn't look too much younger than the Outsider did himself. Probably took that form to confuse us and play on our sympathies, of course, a trick like that never stopped the wardens. I wondered if it was going to eat the children, the Outsiders were the boogeymen to even us Wizards.

Our world is connected with Nevernever, the faerie world, and the Netherworld, of the dead. Some of us know about all these worlds and can crossover; Wizards have the most power and ability when it comes to crossing. It takes incredible power for something to come over from the Nevernever into our world and only the most powerful Faeries on that side can tear into our world. So it is mostly Wizards walking back and forth and summoning nasties from places they should be deep in the Nevernever or far in the Netherworld.

But then there is the Outside, beyond the furthest reaches of our world. Opening the gates to the Outside and summoning something from it is against one of the seven laws of the white council. The sentence for doing so is almost always death, because creatures and beings of such terrible power exist in the Outside that there are only a handful of powers in all our worlds that can stand up to them, even the magic of the White Council fails against them.

And now one of them was carefully examining the blood stains on the street children's lips, maybe the monster wanted to see if they were worthy. I felt my blood boil and hated being too tired to do anything, to fight to kill…

“Accept the sacrifice…and take your master? Is that why you summoned me?” the Outsider calmly spoke.

“Yes, Speaker, you must accept the sacrifice,” the warlock urged.

“Why did your men attack me if you called me?” the Outsider kept on talking slowly, calmly as if he didn't want to rush himself.

“Those white council slaves are not with us, Speaker. They tried to stop us, killed eight of our number!” The warlock was angry, guess he really hates us, I didn't feel much different.

“You killed these children…for me?” the Outsider asked with a hint of something that warned me something was going to happen. The warlock was saying yes, but I froze at the sight of the demon closing the bloodied eyes of a child under his hand and bowing his head, that gesture was too human.

“Who were they?” he asked.

“No one, worthless low lives taken from the street, no one will mi-” The warlock never got to finish his sentence.

“Crucio!” the demon's voice turned high and spit fell from his bared teeth. Black magic like I'd never felt before spread from the wand, it wasn't seductive, it didn't call to me. It was so deep and powerful I could feel the malevolence in it scratching at my insides, I desperately wanted to call it to me and turn it outwards but I couldn't give in; this was the sort of magic you fell to and fell deep.

The warlock howled in pain from the depth of his soul and was trembling on the ground. The warlock above me stood slack jawed for a second then stupidly threw a ball of some green light at the Outsider's back. I don't know how he saw it, but he moved with a grace I hadn't seen before and turning in one fluid motion sent a silver light twisting back.

The spell struck the warlock lifting him off his feet and turned him to stone in the air, when he fell he shattered on the ground and the Outsider was already cursing the warlock at his feet again.

“I'm not going to kill you, I'm going to keep you alive and I will make you suffer for murdering them for me. There are so many things worse than death, I can't wait!” The Outsider paused, speaking to the passed out warlock who'd lost control and messed himself. There was no one left now, I was next, but now I didn't have my anger for magic, I didn't understand why he would care about the kids.

Harry James Potter

How many times do I have to see children dead? They killed these four children to summon me, to break me out of prison. They didn't want to sacrifice me, they had already done that and for me.

I looked around and saw no one was left standing, one of the two wizards who'd tried to make me submit to them was still conscious. He was no threat; I'd seen his bloody arm right away, but he tried to break my will and now it was my turn to break his.…