Jake tilted his head up to the night sky, the moon now nearing its peak will soon descend. He stopped following the rest of the group shortly after he started. He honestly did not care what happened to the girl. It wasn't like she had done anything wrong except attempting to decapitate him with a towel holder. He sighed as he sat in the corner of Dia's café. It had long since closed for the night, but he decided to take his time before going back to her. He knew she would probably destroy the first one she saw, and he would make sure that it won't be him.

The stillness was nice, being around nine other guys moments like this were rare, and often they overlooked him because of the rowdiness of the others. He never cared, or if he did, he'd never say. It was easier to get away with things if the others were too much of a distraction to draw any attention to what he was doing.

He twitched slightly; he knew that he had been away too long. Usually, willpower could make it easy to overlook the starting effects as the group who ran off more than likely were ignoring it currently. When there was nothing to do but sit down and relax a moment, Jake could clearly feel the tether that tied him to Dia. The thought to leave Dia hadn't occurred to any of them, but that tether made it impossible for them to stay away from her too long. It didn't take long to notice the effects nor did it take long for them to be bloody painful either.

He stood up and stretched slightly, as he felt his chest began to ache dully where his heart should be. He began to run following the feel of the tether. He wondered why Dia decided to go back to the other girl's home instead of back where she lived. No one understood why Dia did some of the things, and finding this demon girl so intriguing was near the top of the list.

As he neared to where Dia was located, he felt the edges of his heart start to burn as if someone had run a knife straight through him and where the cuts leaked out pain, as hot as molten lava. He crossed a threshold, and a small wave of relief washed over him as the spreading heat and pain halted and started to recede slowly.

While the pain had stopped, he still felt the shadow of the pain linger, and he continued further until he was at the base of the apartment complex. Leonard, Chris and the Twins lazily stood around the front of the building; Chris, looking frustrated and provocable as Leonard spotted Jake and waved. Jake stared at them indifferently as they stared back.

"Anyone else with you?" Chris inquired furrowing his face into a glare and crossing his arms to give the appearance of being nonchalant. The twins stood behind him on both sides mocking his stance.

"Nah, just me." Jake shrugged past them and decided to see Dia despite knowing that she was more than likely in a foul mood for what Steve had plotted. He walked through the apartment complex and up the stairs. He didn't have to; it just made him feel slightly alive to have the laws of physics apply.

The pain had dulled to a light simmer of heat in his chest by now, as he entered the main room of the apartment. Fatima defiantly kept using her bad hand ignoring the grumbles from Kate. She caught sight of him, then proceeded to ignore him with slight resentment.

He walked past and searched for Dia. He discovered her in Fatima's room sleeping on her bed. Someone had picked up the pile of clothes and dumped them on top of her. Jake sighed and sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her to wake up. Knowing it would take either five minutes or a whole day, he waited patiently, mainly because waking her up was the worst thing anyone could do.

"Hey Jake, I was wondering when you were going to be back," Dia stirred slightly, one eye open to see him with the rest of her face buried in the pillow. With a yawn, she stretched, sat up bunching the blanket in her hands and wrapped it around her shoulder to keep warm.

"I didn't think you would want to see any of us for a while," he stated matter of fact.

"Oh, I don't, but now that you're here. You're going to tell me what their plan is and what you're going to do to stop it." His face recoiled with dismay; she gazed into his eyes with a serious and deadly expression.

"Me?"

She shrugged nonchalantly, "Well, you, the idiots standing outside avoiding me." She sighed irritated, "the point is, this is your mess, and you idiots should clean it up." Leaving the bed, she dragged the blanket with her and left Jake behind in the room. Clothes fell back to the floor in a tangled pile that was likely to remain there for a while.

Fatima had her head against the table, the bowl of beads left untouched and small half-filled containers of beads scattered on the table. Dia heard her breathing slightly heavier than normal and figured she fell asleep. Until she shot her head back up, "don't ever take up jewelry as a hobby, organizing it is worse than Hell itself."

"Getting frustrated?"

"Way beyond that now, I should probably go to bed and save what's left of my sanity." She stared blankly at the table, "but there's too much work to leave undone!" She whined and slammed her head against the table. "I'm okay..."

Dia stared at the dismal mass of the girl and began to wonder if she was always this hap hazardous to herself. "If you had sanity, you lost it long ago."

*

Dark stood along the roof of Grey's estate; he rubbed his jaw tenderly. He expected a fight, just didn't think that he would have been so quickly thrown out. He cursed at himself for not being more meticulous with his plan, and now he waited for Grey to make his move or, at least, slip up enough to reveal some clue as to where Dia was. He absentmindedly twisted some rings on his finger as he calculated his next move.

"Damn, that man. He's going to interfere now." Dark cocked his head to the side looking at the city lights from a distance. "I thought with the name Grey he would be old, but no, they should call him Silver instead, that wouldn't be so misleading." Dark pondered some more as he began to focus more on his next plot.

He heard some whispering behind his ear distracting him enough to break concentration. He tilted his head enough just barely to make out the words. Although he wasn't in heaven, he had enough connections to gather information for him from above. His jaw clenched, he thought he had heard something about a demon problem from the voice mail, but confirmation, that inklings of demonic power were scattered through the city. Having to deal with such petty creatures was irritating without being on an important mission.

On top of that, there was a sizable report on ghosts hanging around everywhere Dia has been that was recorded. Some of which, Dark began to suspect leeched onto her and became attached, that is how her energy had become impossible to track. Such parasites in search to cheat death to keep from entering Heaven or Hell and using Dia as a catalyst to do so, the thought made his blood boil. He dashed off the roof and leaped down just outside of the tree line.

He lightly landed on the grass and half turned to the house with a sneer on his face. Dealing with Grey only set him back, and was a waste of precious time. He glared in the man's general direction, "I hope he knows this won't be the last encounter after I find Dia, I am coming back to send him straight to Hell."

Loud rumbling growls were audible from behind causing Dark to glance over his shoulder. A dark figure about the height of his waist lunged at him, as at least a dozen more darted to his direction. He managed to half step out of the way from the first attack and knocked the assailant aside. It resulted in a loud yelp, and the other figures increased in hostility, snarling at Dark as he edged away into the woods. The figures pursued him however as he escaped into the thicket of trees.

He dashed into the shadows of looming trees and underbrush of thorns and bushes beneath the canopy high above, his eyes scanning for the stars for any sign of an opening so he could fly out without risk of damaging his wings or showing signs of his presence. He would rather a stealthy escape. However the crunch of dry decaying leaves was near impossible not to hear, and even if he was light on his feet, the beasts were already on his scent. His best plan was to out run them enough to make it out of the tree line.

He swiftly reached a small clearing, not tiny but enough space in the trees for him to fly out. He muttered a few words under his breath, a spell to break the incantation concealing his wings. With a smirk, he felt them span out from his back, just short of being twice the length of his arms, his feathers were an ashen shadowy black.

He turned to face the dogs charging at him at full speed, He poised his wings, and once they broke the threshold into the clearing, he swept the pack backward with one sweep of his wings, launching himself into the air in the same movement. Some jumped back onto their paws and began to circle underneath him as others stumbled to get back up from colliding with trees

A shrill whistle cut through the silence and the dogs retreated the way they came. Dark let out an irritated breath looking back at the house where he could just imagine Grey's smug face knowing that the mortal outwitted the immortal.

Grey watched from the window in his study, as his dogs ran back toward the house from the clearing. He knew Dark was going to hang around to see if he was stupid enough to make some contact with Dia after he was supposedly kicked out. He flexed his knuckles, wishing he had done more than just slugging the angel in the face. He wasn't stupid, dealing with angels was risky and dangerously stupid. Most mortals couldn't even scratch one without being easily slaughtered.

With a turn on his heel, he stepped away from the window and sat back in his chair. He poured himself another glass of liquor and began to message his contact in the underground. He could not contact Dia directly, but with the vast eyes and ears of the group he could make sure that the angel's movements will be tracked and alerted to Dia before dawn. If the angel was able to reach Dia, he would be one of the first to know as well.

The temperature dropped drastically; white wisps were visible with each breath he took. It forced him to take a moment and composed himself and lightly set his glass back down with more reluctance than anything. He turned his gaze to the door; a tall woman stood there wearing a fitted red dress barely modest enough not to be considered lewd.

She leaned against the door frame, long dark brunette hair covered half her face. Power radiated from her that could put men with the strongest wills into a trance. She smiled hauntingly with lips the color of dark crimson. Grey was careful not to look into her luminous green eyes that constantly shifted as if they were made of liquid.

She approached his desk with languid speed and movement, too graceful for any creature on this plane of existence. She would have made a promising career in dancing if she wasn't so predatory with each shift. "Oh Grey, it has been just too long. While the grey hair does suit you, I hate to be reminded how you are merely mortal. I am afraid that before the next time I return, you'll exit from this world."

"My dear, I had wished to be gone from the world before I saw you again." She haughtily laughed and sat down in his lap. Grey made no effort to entice the women further. He would have shoved her off if it weren't for her wrapping her arms around his neck.

"So how is my favorite mortal fairing? I sense there was an angel here recently, his revolting energy still lingers." She made a face of disgust, as Grey studied her carefully. She forced herself to be expressive with her facial reactions. Demons have black charcoal for hearts and no emotions other than a burning passion for power and death.

Grey sighed irritated with the vixen who began to inch her hands down. "Why don't you tell me why you're really here, Joan," he demanded with a sardonic edge in his voice. She dramatically leaned her head against his chest.

"Oh Grey, why must you always get to the point of things?" She feigned disappointment with a sigh. She pulled away and grumbled to herself before turning back around with her best disarming smile. Grey skeptically glared at her until she caved. "You're no fun today! What happened to the Grey who played the game charmingly?"

"I have more on my mind than to play your silly game," he said it plainly and without a hint of emotion.

"Fine, I am looking for a girl and I want to know if your sources can locate her for me." For a split second, his expression changed to anger, thinking she was after Dia as well. Joan didn't seem to notice as she continued, "her name is Fatima, a hopeless case for a demon really. Such a waste of power and potential. However, strong enough to break out of hell by herself."

He took a moment, never once had he heard of any escaped demons by the name. He amused himself from the mystery; he smirked, "and what do you plan to do when you find her, my dear."

Joan turned to him and huffed, "That isn't your business, and plus you're not any fun today. So why should I tell you?" She faced away from him, side glancing to see if that was enough to get under his skin.

Grey surmised how to get the answer from her and brushed her hair behind her ear and cupped her face gently to pull it close to his. "If you don't tell me, I will find out through other means. So why don't you save me the trouble."

She purred as she leaned against his chest again, "well, I'm going to kill her, obviously."