Chapter 1

I wish I could say that I despised the vermin known as demons. But I've come to realize that you can't really hate what you help, in the long-run. I'll admit I've given the demons more than their fair share of grief, thanks to my bitter distaste and hypocritical views, but I can't say that I regret doing what I did.

Before I met Sebastian Michaelis, I did truly hate demons. They weren't like us with ethics and morals, and thank the gods they weren't like angels; obsessed with the purification of human souls and discarding the world's filth. They'd wipe out their own kind, if that were the case. No, demons were sort of their own category, much like humans were. They acted like animals when they weren't tamed, but there were some that were extraordinarily talented at human feats, like playing an instrument without breaking it, or dancing without leaving footprints in a hardwood floor.

Sebastian Michaelis was a combination of all these things, and more. He acted like an animal, every once in a blue moon, but he could play any given song on a violin and dance better than any man could ever hope to accomplish. He could do something in five minutes that would take the average human five years to do equally as well, but those aren't the reasons why I wound up falling in love with him.

I fell in love with him because I was stupid. I let my conscience come before my work and just like that; boom, head-over-heels! What's so wrong with me loving a demon? I'm a Grim Reaper, and Grim Reapers are supposed to hate demons, and vice versa. Of course, I wouldn't be the only one. One of my fellow co-workers was just as madly in love with Sebastian as I; only I was able to do a much better job at keeping my true feelings hidden, which might have been one of the reasons things happened as they did.

But how, exactly, does a Grin Reaper fall in love with a demon? Does it take getting nearly killed, as what had happened to Grell Sutcliff? Does it take the sexual interest Ashe Landers held? Does it take good looks? Charm? A love potion or a spell?

For me, all it took was a broken wing.

You see, every demon takes after some sort of animal, element, or living thing that they're able to strongly represent. Sebastian was a crow demon and had been living with a large nest of demons at the time.

And I suppose that's where this whole mess started.

I hated work. No, I really hated work; and I especially hated working with Grell.

"Can we hold hands, William? Let's take some time off together, William! Can we stop at the Phantomhive Manor, on the way, William?"

"No, no, and definitely not," was always my response. I'll admit the offer to take some time off sounded very attractive, to me. But with Grell? No way. I'd rather work.

We were supposed to be reaping the souls of a nest of demons that resided in an abandoned warehouse, which was why I really hated work. Demon souls put up a fight before they were forced to pass on, and it was never an easy task to take on with my death scythe. It was also the reason why I was with Grell. He loved to use his death scythe on demons (as Sebastian Michaelis would know all too well) and if nothing else, he would serve as the perfect distraction to the filthy vermin while I did my work. The To-Die List stated that the demons would burn to death. What a joke. Creatures that came from a place of fire and brimstone couldn't burn to death, could they?

It's incredible to believe how wrong I was. As expected, the warehouse we were sent to was burning to the ground, and I could already see the reels of Cinematic Records rising up from within the smoke. Unless there were humans being held captive, there were demons burning to death.

Several escaped just by running out the front entrance to the building. I recognized one of them as Ciel Phantomhive. Hmm, funny . . . If that earl is there, then his pain-in-the-arse butler shouldn't be far behind. However, Ciel didn't seem to be at all concerned as to where Sebastian Michaelis was. He only looked straight ahead of him and ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

What happened after that was just routine. I reaped the souls of three demons; none of which were Sebastian, and Grell had yet to pitch a fit over the butler in some way. He hadn't seen anything from him either.

It wasn't until the fire went out and I started to look around that I finally saw him. He was the same as ever; black hair, pale skin, red eyes. The only difference in his appearance that I could see from as far away as I was were the pair of gigantic black wings that were folded across his back

I could tell there was something wrong with him. He was sluggish. One wing was functioning just fine, but the other just hung there, like it didn't work.

Curious, I bounded down to where he was. He looked like he was trying to fly, but his one wing wasn't cooperating. It hung at an oddly painful angle. It was broken.

"Well, this is a shame, "I commented, "Who knew demon bones could break?"

Sebastian seemed to get irritated by my comment, "Laugh it up, Reaper. But I assure you, my wing is fine; it's just a little stiff, that's all."

"I've never seen a stiff limb bend at an angel like that."

"It's fine."

"Alright, then let's see you fly."

Sebastian made an irritated sound and stood himself straight. He took off at a sprint and flapped his wings. It looked like he was about to prove me wrong and take off into the air, but his one wing failed him and he dropped like a stone; skidding across the ground.

"Okay . . ." he moaned, "Maybe I'm not-so-fine."

Some part of me began to feel sympathy for Sebastian. It was like I was picking on the weak, and technically I was. A downed demon is a dead demon, even if they could handle themselves as well as Sebastian could.

"I could help you," I offered.

"No, thank you. I'll be fine."

I let out a sigh, "The way I see it, you have no other option. Either you let me help you, or you take the risk of me having to collect your soul later. Other immortals will surely take advantage of your weakened state. Now, are you going to let me help you, or not?"

Sebastian seemed to be torn. Of course, any other demon would have refused, regardless of their circumstances and odds of survival. But I had known Sebastian for being more indifferent towards my kind. He wasn't your average demon that caused havoc and liked to scare the religious people or tempt the innocent into doing dark or dirty deeds. He wasn't the typical demon.

"Very well," he finally said, "I'll go."

I was somewhat relieved by his response. That would be one less demon I didn't have to wrangle the soul out of. There was just one problem I was faced with.

What on earth was I going to do with an injured demon?