What is a difference?

He was leading someone uninitiated in the arts of magic into an odd situation, and that much he was used to doing. Not like this was the first time that he had brought someone into his world, but then again that was how life worked. His senses were keen upon the magic that was rich within the air, causing his skin to tingle and even make his stomach jump with butterflies. Nothing like what people equated with love, but it did manage to make hima  little uncomfortable with the whole thing. Considering the fact they were braking in, and his own ability to see within the dark, Samael didn’t bother turning on the lights and looked around the main room.

Nothing that needed face beating materialized, instead though there were a few things that likely had some magical value though he quickly turned to the large bookcase with various thickly bound tomes that didn’t look like it fit within the shop itself. He ended up moving through the books, reaching them as fast as he could for anything that could suggest that one of them were the book or even having some clue to where he would find the book.

However one thing would call out to Jake in particular, that being an antique mirror of special design. The frame looked like it were weaved with black iron and embedded with various dark colored gems, though the mirror itself seemed only to reflect Jake itself as if demanding he look into it.

Jake found himself emitting a small growl when he realized there was no one here, he also felt like smacking himself on the side of the head. He had his vision, he could have turned that on and looked around to see if anyone was inside. And he would have indeed turned it on if it wasn't for a call. It was mental, he couldn't hear anything, but he could feel it. He had only glanced at it for a second in his anger but now he found himself slowly moving towards the mirror, looking into his own reflection.

A lot of thoughts came up as he walked towards it, that this was the face of a strange creature, normal looking yet underneath. He was angel, demon, holy, unholy. He also thought about his eyes, blue. Like his mother. And his hair, black like hers. Was he all her? Was there anything of his father inside him? "Sa..." Jake tried calling out to the cambion, realizing that he could not look away from the mirror... Did he even want to? No... he was.. quite happy to just.. look at himself.. look at... what he was.. A strange being? A strange creature? Or... was there a name.. for what he was... Heh. What would Nathanial think of him. How he hated demons..

Continuing to read through the tomes found him nothing, though he would keep doing so. If anything else maybe he could find something in the vein of interesting magics, something that could lead them to the book. He was blind for now to Jake’s plight, which was being drawn into the odd mirror that forcibly ripped his attention towards it. He would hear a faint voice, flowing through the back of his head. “Nothing more than a mutt. Not even a mother could love something like you.” It spoke, calm and without bias. Yet it would inspire anger within the one that heard it, drawing them into a blackness of hate beyond normal conception.

Time passed by, seconds but eventually he would find that he was no longer in the antique room but elsewhere. “You hate it, don’t you? This not know what you are or why you are?” Shadows rose and swirled around him, intangible hands within the scape that was nothing more than darkness itself. The only thing that shined outside of the darkness was the mirror behind him. “You hate that what you thought you were is nothing more than a lie.” Each word likely inspired the hate that is suggested.

“What is it that you desire? To satiate this hatred? That I can offer you.” Should he turn towards the source of the voice, he would see an odd woman within black garb, like a dress almost with mailed hands and an odd beaked mask with a plume of white hair trailing from it. An odd katana hung at her waist, and she moved like a shade within this darkness. “You, who are both blessed and cursed.”

When the first words spoke, Jake could not help but listen, some part of him understood, the logical side of him, understood that this voice was... wrong. But his emotions were too rough to listen to logic, and with each word that spurred hatred inside him, acting on things he had already thought before, things that had just happened. He was angry.

He was angry to the point he had no clue where he was anymore, surrounded by nothing but darkness and the voice that soothed him with thoughts that only brought more anger. He breath was shallow and seething, his fists were clenched. Logic tried to take back control, remind him that he was to take control of his emotions, he had always taken control, but he couldn't care for logic, he only wanted anger to fill the void that was his heart.

But that anger subsided, still there, just not as prominent, when the source of the voice became tangible. He turned to face her, the woman that had brought all this anger inside him to life, pent up from head to toe. A part of him wanted to attack her, another part wanted to listen more, listen because of the choice she offered. Finding he could not even open his mouth to give words, he simply nodded, his body shaking as he did so. What could she offer to sate this lust of anger, this emotion so boiled inside him, he wanted to punch the ground with his ability to destroy this entire building, to feel the pain that would shoot up his hand and arm. What. Would she offer.

“You seek answers with the ravens cur, but you search in the wrong place.” She stopped, what looked to be maybe a few good feet away from Jake. ”Perhaps I could give you the answers that you seek, but all things have a price my young friend.” Whether she was smirking was unknown, though it was difficult to tell with the mask she wore. Shadow rose, swirling around her and rising like comforting hands around her. “Now, what is it that you seek? What do you search for?”

The more she spoke, the more he... calmed. No, he couldn't call it calm, he was still angry, in fact, he wanted nothing more then to punch the nearest thing, her. But he held back, logic taking over emotion, memory reminding him what he was here for. He suffered, what he suffered today was... horrible. He wanted answers, yes. But he also wanted to help Samael, get rid of this mark on his chest, he wanted to find whoever made his mom this way and rip there head off...

Taking a deep breath, slow and calculated, Jake let it out while staring at the woman. He knew if she said something to anger him, if he said the wrong thing, he would teeter over the edge. So. He had to be... calm. "First.. I want to know... Who. You. Are.." Jake said, taking another breath, he was okay, he was doing okay. He didn't like the idea of a price, he was here because he didn't want to make a deal with a demon before, and for all he knew, she was a demon. "I... I want... I want to find... The book of Ravens... My... Own anger, can wait." Some part of him regretted every god damned word, he wanted to take them back, to ask who did this to his mom, he wanted to so badly ask. But that wasn't him. It wasn't. And he made his choice, he just had to live with it.

The woman watched him, teetering on the edge of rage as Jake worked over words and eventually they did take some form. A question that likely flowed through his mind came out, causing the woman to chuckle in bemusement. “I have been called many names, but the most common is The Good Sister. I have come to this world to bring about the hand of Fate itself, something you play a part within.” She responded, answering more questions than asked, but likely just giving the answers gave clarity to the situation. “The tome you seek I have within my hands, and it I will bestow upon you. Just know that you play with forces beyond even your comprehension. Beware where you tread one caught between worlds.” With a flourish she produced a thick tome bound in odd black leather, writing runes playing across the surface of it.

“I know we will meet again, but for now take care.” Space would fade around him, and Jake would find himself standing back in the shop, with the book in his hands, thrumming with some manner of power.

”Hey Jake, where did you find that book?” Samael asked suddenly.

Jake listened, he was good at that, listening. It was something he did often, listened and thought. He was calculating like that, silent but always listening. But what he heard was... well... not something he truly wanted to know, it made some and little sense, he had a part to play in the hand of fate? And he was caught in a tread between worlds. He could take a few ways to... well think of that. But he also had a focus and that was the book in his hand and a farewell that bode a possible meeting with that woman once again. The good sister.

Finding himself back in the store, meaning he was... elsewhere, he jumped when Samael spoke and looked to him and then the book in his hand. "Umm.. Yea?" The anger that he had inside him seemed to cool as the seconds passed away, which was good. He didn't need to be angry at Samael right now... if a demon came along however... "Umm. Sam. We need to.. talk about something." Jake said, finding a seat as he began to detail his... talk with the Good sister, from the mirror to the darkened room to her clothes and the way she spoke. "So. That... It's confusing and annoying because all I want to do is get this done but then I'm told fate stuff and I just.. Want to punch something really hard." Jake said, before realizing he still held the book and held it out to Samael. Knowing he would know what to do with it.

Jake had said something about having something to speak with him about, though preparing himself for that something was different. He spoke about something including meeting someone that called herself The Good Sister, a name that meant nothing to him. That was something that Samael made sure to make clear, considering that he didn’t need to be accused of lying. Honestly, he could smell the tension coming from the male but then again maybe his experience with the odd woman within a mirror was messing with him. There was mention of him wanting to punch things, something that likely would have only made things all the more annoying.

”lrts hold off on the punching things hard. You tend to cause collateral damage when you do that.” He said with a casual dismissive gesture, taking the book handed to him and giving the cover a glance. Something about it called to him, bringing about an odd tugging sensation within his chest that felt oddly comforting more than anything else. ”Wonder what that angel wanted with this anyway.” What an angel could want with demonic magic was beyond him, but that was nothing he could be okay with. Likely it was something really stupid, or stupidly dangerous as some angels dabbled into.

”Though he never did say we couldn’t read what was in this book.”