OK, Everyone, this is it! The very end of this story. After this, there is no more. This is the part where you finally get to see what Azazel was planning all along. He may have given up on corrupting Kurt, but that doesn't mean he's no longer out to get him--in the cruelest way possible.

So here it is at last, the Epilogue to Belasco's Beatrice. Thank you very much for reading, and especially for all your reviews. They're all deeply, deeply appreciated. Thank you!

In a realm out of time, in a dimension as isolated as it was barren, Azazel lounged on his stony throne. A flickering image wavered gently before him, a wall of holographic light projected down from the high, craggy ceiling. From the side, the projection seemed little more than a thin white line of glowing energy, barely a centimeter thick. From the front, however, the image was as clear and encompassing as a window—a window that looked out into another world.

"You are still here, Master," Ydrazil's slow, surprised voice rumbled from the doorway. The hulking figure was nearly invisible in the relative darkness behind bright projection. "Mephistopheles is waiting for you to cross with him into Your Earth."

Azazel looked up, but his thoughtful expression didn't change. "Oh, Ydrazil," he said, as though he was just noticing his presence now. "Come here, my boy. I wish to show you something."

Ydrazil cringed, but did as he was bidden, lumbering silently across the room to lurk behind his master's throne.

"I'm planning to visit them tonight." Azazel nodded toward the projection with a small, surprisingly tender smile. "What do you think?"

Ydrazil blinked, staring at the images in confusion. It looked like footage shot by a hand-held camera, somewhat shaky and unprofessional. Whoever was holding the camera was pointing it up into the lower branches of a large tree, where two small, grinning children were climbing. Just then, a slender, female hand came into the shot, beckoning the children down. They leapt to the ground with astonishing agility. Both children were blue with pointed ears and tails, but so many of the inhabitants of Azazel's realm sported those features Ydrazil barely noted it.

"Twins, you know," Azazel grinned proudly, his glowing eyes fixed to the projection. "A fortunate accident, I would say, since neither of their parents is getting any younger."

Ydrazil frowned, wondering if he should risk asking why they were watching this, when the camera tilted up to focus on a laughing man the demon recognized at once.

"But Master," he gasped. "That's—isn't that—?"

"The one who got away?" Azazel smirked with surprising good humor. "Or so he thinks. The feed from the microchip I implanted in my daughter-in-law's temple is working perfectly, wouldn't you say? Even after seven years. I must admit I'm impressed. I really should commend those boys and girls in the lab."

"But Master," Ydrazil said again, "why would you go to visit him? He hates you."

Azazel laughed. "Ah, my thick, foolish Ydrazil, you see the world in such stark tones. No, my Kurt doesn't hate me. He distrusts me, he despises me, he resents me, and he rebels against all I stand for, but he doesn't hate me." He leaned forward in his throne, his gleaming eyes calculating as he focused in on the roughhousing twins.

"But I am not traveling to my Earth to visit him," the demon proclaimed. "I am going to meet my grandchildren. Tonight, after their loving parents have tucked them safely into their beds."

Ydrazil frowned in confusion. "But why, my lord—if I may be so bold," the nervous demon stammered. "Of what use could two children be to you?"

"Children don't stay children forever, Ydrazil," Azazel chided him. "These happy youngsters will one day grow into restless teenagers: naïve, impressionable, pigheaded, and most of all, desperate to assert their independence from overprotective parents too old to fully appreciate their frustration. But I will show them understanding; offer them the freedom they desire. And they will come to me. They will come to me of their own free will, and I will have revenged myself upon my rebellious son once and for all."

At that glorious thought, the demon began to laugh, a cold triumphant cackle. After a moment, Ydrazil joined in although he still wasn't sure he entirely understood his master's plan.

"Why go now, then?" he inquired cautiously. "Why not wait until they are teenagers?"

Azazel rolled his golden eyes. "And have them shy away like sheep from a wolf?" He shook his head. "No, I must approach them now, while they are still too young to understand my position. I'll go in disguise as well. After all, what self-respecting parents would believe their children's tales of the boogieman in the closet?"

Ydrazil nearly choked trying to swallow a laugh. "Boogieman?" he repeated incredulously. Azazel shot him a look.

"Yes, I will have to play the clown for a while," he admitted in distaste. "Unfortunately, it is the best way to earn their trust without raising the suspicions of their parents. But once I finally do reveal myself, they will be all the more eager to come with me to my 'fairy tale' realm." He smirked darkly, then sighed.

"That is where I went wrong with Kurt, I know," he admitted. "I left him in the care of Margali, thinking a sorceress such as she would be too concerned with keeping her place on the Winding Way to nurture a fuzzy, blue child. But to my surprise, she left the Way in favor of raising the children, completely ruining my son with notions of forgiveness and love. By the time I finally returned to him, he had already found acceptance with his team of deluded do-gooders and it was too late to undo the damage."

Azazel scowled, baring his fangs as he slammed his fist down upon the arm of his throne. "I will not make the same mistake with my grandchildren. Their potential is far too great to be lost to the forces of good."

Ydrazil nodded, opening his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything he was interrupted by the appearance of a tall, dapper man in a tailored business suit.

"Father," the man said in Mephisto's voice, "the doorway to your Earth closes in three minutes. What is the hold up?"

"There is no hold up," Azazel told him sharply. "You simply have no patience. Are you prepared for your mission?"

"Fully," Mephisto assured him stiffly. "But, with respect, we must leave now if I am to be on time for the meeting to get that videogame we designed on the shelves."

Azazel hit a camouflaged button on the side of his throne, then stood and strode over to his disguised son as the projection flickered, then faded away completely.

"After you, then," he nodded, then shot one last glare at the cringing Ydrazil.

"You are not to discuss what we talked about with anyone, is that understood," he said. Ydrazil nodded.

"Yes, Master," the hulking demon assured him quickly. "I wouldn't dream of it."

"Good," Azazel nodded in satisfaction. Then, with a swish of his long, powerful tail, he turned to follow his son from the room.

Ydrazil watched them go, then sat down on the stone step before his master's throne with a deep sigh, staring out at the place where the images of the happy family had been flickering only minutes before. It had seemed a scene out of paradise to the scarred, brutalized demon, and for a brief moment, Ydrazil felt a strange stab of pity for the children. It only lasted a second, and Ydrazil hastily pushed the unfamiliar emotion from his heart in a burst of confused panic, not knowing why he should feel that way.

It was wrong to question Azazel in anything, particularly when it came to how he chose to manipulate his family. If he thought it was best to lure those children from their family, then it was best and that was all there was to it.

Nodding firmly to himself, Ydrazil strode to the corner and picked up his mop and bucket, washing away his doubts as he lost himself in scrubbing at the stones of his master's throne room. Within a matter of minutes, the entire conversation he'd had with Azazel had faded away, along with the memory of the two smiling boys.