My mouth felt like the Sahara desert when I finally woke up. How long had I slept? My eyes flicked towards the window. The purple, Netherworldlian sky was darkening to a mauve. The moon was starting to peek through the clouds.

Sitting up, I felt dizzy. I could move my arm though. In fact, apart from the sickness, I felt good as new. Sickness? I gagged and stood on very shaky feet. There must be a bathroom here. Demons had to go toilet. Everyone goes toilet.

There was a door in the corner. Flinging it open did in fact reveal a bathroom. My throat burned as I heaved into the toilet. I coughed again and sat back. I hadn't really been sick, but I still felt a little better.

I sat in the window seat for lack of a better place to sit. Below me, the streets spanned as far as the eye could see. Across the way, something exploded and I jumped back. A monster appeared and started yelling. I wondered if that monster was the janitor or something.

I thought about the mission today. I needed to go and find out whether it was my Mom that I saw. I had to know. A part of me knew it might not be her, but I had to know. I'm sure I could go back tomorrow and find out.

The door opened and arms wrapped around me. I smiled and leaned back. I was so happy Chris was back. I turned round and hugged him. In fact, I didn't want to let go.

"So, you're going to stay glued to me forever." He chuckled.

"Yep, never letting go, ever." I said, hugging him tighter.

"That'll be fun when I have to change clothes." He replied, voice close to my ear.

The hairs on the nape of my neck stood and I felt my skin prickle slightly. I moved backwards and giggled, nervously. I'm sure Chris wouldn't mind me going back to the deserted road as long as I was with Andy.

"So, the road?" I asked. "Are we going back tomorrow?"

"Andy and Ricky are." Chris replied, sitting on the bed.

"Well, I wanna go too." I stated, and his eyes narrowed.

"You fell off a cliffside, broke your arm and could have been badly hurt. What makes you think I'm going to let you go back?" Chris snapped.

Uh oh. I took a shaky breath. I'd never heard him take that tone with me. Well, I had when we first met, when he'd snapped at Tris to send me home. I knew he wouldn't hurt me, but I also knew he wasn't going to back down easy.

"The fact that I'm an adult and can make my own decisions." I said, standing. Part of me hoped that I looked mature and decisive.

"An adult that wants to follow an illusion off a cliff. That's a new one." He said.

"It could have been my Mom, but I won't know unless I go back." I could hear myself becoming frantic.

"I highly doubt your mother would intentionally harm you."

My breathing was heavy. Was he arguing with me? Were we in a fight? Why couldn't he understand why I wanted to do this. I shuffled nervously.

"I won't get hurt again." I said, softly.

"It's not your decision to make." Chris replied, and I glared at him.

"I'm not your employee, you know." I snapped.

"I know that, but right now you're behaving like a child." He fired back.

Some people get angry and scream. My anger tends to dissipate and I can never find the words. Instead, my fight or flight response kicked in and I shifted on the spot, eyes going to the door. I was a child. Making my decision, I moved towards the door. My hand landed on the handle.

Chris' hand enveloped mine and I turned to glare at him. My gaze faltered though and I looked down.

"I don't want to fight so let me leave." I whispered.

"You think this is a fight?" He chuckled then, surprising me.

"Well, what would you call it?" I sniffled.

"A minor disagreement." He said, shrugging.

We weren't screaming at each other, which was a good thing.

"You called me a child." I said, rubbing my eyes. Nope, not crying.

Call it insecurity, but I didn't like that he'd called me a child. I'd read enough websites about relationships to know that we were meant to be equals. I'm not sure what prompted me to start researching how to be in a relationship. Maybe it was the need to prove that I was an adult. Time to change tack.

"We're meant to be equals. It's a good basis for a relationship." I snapped.

"We are equals," He replied, smirking at me. "Whatever magazine or webpage you got that from probably also advised that we communicate and not run away, like you're trying to to do."

Freakin' jerk. I got the distinct feeling I wouldn't be able to escape even if I tried. I bit down on my lower lip and thought for a moment.

"You can't keep me here. I'm not your prisoner." I said, and was surprised when he raised a brow at me.

"I don't view you as a prisoner, but you are mine." He replied, pupils dilating slightly.

"N-nope, don't even think-"

My protest was cut short when he leaned down, pressing his lips to mine. My mouth had been slightly parted at the time and his tongue pushed past my lips. I didn't want to respond at first, but I gave in.

I kissed back, nervously. My hands were holding onto Chris' jacket, knuckles going numb from how tight my grip was. I was distinctly aware that we were pressed against a door, but I was too far gone to care. His hands gripped my legs, lifting me easily, pressing me into the door.

I was so involved in kissing him that I didn't realise we were on the bed until my back hit the bed throw. My legs were wrapped round Chris' waist and I untangled myself a little. The kiss stopped, but only so his lips could travel down my jaw and to my neck. I gasped when he bit down, then soothed the skin with a gentle kiss.

My eyes met his. Brown met pure black and I gulped. The way he looked at me made my knees tremble. How far would this go? His eyes left mine and resumed their journey down my neck till he got to the collar of my t-shirt. I felt a cold hand graze the hem of my t-shirt and caress my stomach. My body shrank away and Chris pulled back, pupils slowly returning to normal.

I was breathing heavily and trembling a little. In a way, it had been scary, but also exciting. I could feel the blush rise on my cheeks. He leaned down again so we were facing each other.

"I still want to go back." I stated, and he sighed.

"I know, but it's a bad idea to follow the dead." He replied, tracing a hand across my stomach.

My eyes went to his hand and I analysed the tattoos for something to do. My gaze went to his neck then and looked at the tattoo there. I smiled and turned, lifting my hand to touch the lines.

"This is so cool. Did it hurt?" I asked.

"No, it felt like unicorns were licking my skin." He replied, sarcasm. He was good at sarcasm.

"Demons feel pain?" I was curious now.

"Demons do feel pain. Death might not affect us, but pain does." Chris said.

His voice sounded clipped, like he was remembering something. I thought about the photo and shuffled nervously. Was I sweating? I should say something. I wanted to know everything about him.

"Have you ever felt pain?" I asked. It seemed the best way to approach the subject.

"I assume you're referring to Sabrina?" He said.

My eyes widened and I looked at him. He knew I'd found the photo. How else could I explain the look in his eyes. Was he mad? He didn't seem mad.

"I'm sorry about what happened to her." I murmured.

"Don't be sorry. It was partially my fault it happened." He replied.

"No, it wasn't. You didn't know what Eric would do." I said.

I thought about Sabrina. I felt sorry for her. How safe was I? She had clearly thought she'd been safe, but Eric had managed to get to her and hurt her.

"You are safe," Chris said, interrupting my thoughts.

I smiled and I actually believed him. I was still a little scared, but I trusted Chris. My eyes closed and I shuffled closer.

*******************

"It seems to like humans." Andy stated, staring down the road.

This was interesting. Returning to the road. Andy had bleeped Chris mid-morning. They weren't able to locate this entity. It was decided that whatever it was, was attracted to humans. Would it appear again?

My eyes trailed down the road. I saw it then. The figure of a woman walking away from us. From the back she did look like my Mom, but I realised if she turned around then she wouldn't be my mother.

Whether the entity realised this was unclear, but it stopped and turned. I yelped and leapt back. It had no face.

"Shapeshifter." Andy called.

"How strong?" Chris asked. He pulled me closer.

"Low level. Scared." Andy replied.

The shapeshifter changed forms and lunged. It was mish-mash of human and animal parts. Andy removed a gun from the holster at his waist and fired a couple of shots. The shapeshifter flew skywards and dodged.

For something low level, it sure seemed strong. Chris sighed and stood. We'd been sitting on the bench. The Grim-Scythe seemed a part of him. The shapeshifter didn't get any closer as it was sliced in two. The creature disippated and we were left on an empty road.

"That was so bad-ass." Devin smiled.

He'd come along too. I assumed as part of training. Chris lowered the scythe and it disappeared as though becoming a part of him again.

"Maybe, if you paid attention to lessons then you could do that." Andy said, nudging Devin.

"Yeah, totally, then I could marry Junko." Devin grinned.

Andy caught the look Chris sent them.

"Or if you valued your existence you could keep your mouth shut." Andy stated.

I laughed at this. I did wonder if I'd ever see my Mom again.

**************

"Have you and Junko made up yet?" Hunter asked.

"No, not yet. Why?" Collette responded.

Hunter merely shrugged and stared across the quad towards the college. He toyed with the cross necklace round his neck.

"Maybe, you guys should. It would be great to go on a double-date, wouldn't it?" He grinned, and Collette smiled too.

"Y-yeah, you're right. We shouldn't waste years of friendship." She said.

Liam watched them, uneasily.

Notes