A/N: DEAR. GOD. How old was I when I started this? Why must it make my eyes bleed to read now? Ah but with this second pass I can make it decent again. Like a second polishing of a stone.

Warnings; rating may rise. Contains dark themes, blood, violence, death and supernatural magic. Random shippings; but the main is Contest. The rest are subtle and I would be spoiling things if I told you. Yay~

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Chapter One

Tasks

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Green flames billowed under the dark clad figure's feet as he approached the black iron throne of his master. The stench of sulfur, of burning blood and flesh, or evil and decay, seeped into his heavily scarred skin. Black eyes flicked around, avoiding the scenery and eye contact with the damned souls his kind tormented.

His kind now, at least. His classmates - if one could call them classes - had scare let him forget he was once a human. But not anymore.

With a murmured command, his body warped back into the form he had once held, and would assume if he survived here long enough to ever make it to the surface. In appearance, he was a 15 year old boy, with silky emerald hair and matching green eyes. In truth, he was a demon.

Well, an apprentice demon, anyways. Hardly any power at all, more like a servant to the higher ones like the one that had summoned him, sitting on the chair with a naked demoness on his lap who was crooning to him as she ran her long nailed fingers through his dull purple hair.

"I've got a task for you at last, my worthless little Messenger. Aren't you thankful? Say it, Messenger. Bow at my feet."

Had he been less trained, the young demon would have flared up at that, but his face remained entirely calm despite the resentment and disgust that twisted in his hollow chest. I was the best of my year, the flicker of his true self that remained protested, but out loud he stated plainly, "I am honored, White-eyes. "

He bowed low, and received a gash across his shoulder blades for the movement.

The demon smirked again as the fuchsia haired demoness purred, violet eyes flashing as she ran her tongue along the side of his neck. "So you should be. Your Shade said you were one of his best students in all his years. "

At the mention of his friend, if a demon could call anything a friend, a flicker of pride and joy flashed behind his emerald eyes. "I thank him. "

"You're welcome, " another voice added from the shadows. Another demon stepped forward and shifted from his tall, pale true form to that of his original form; a handsome brown-haired young man, with dark brown eyes that glimmered in the low lights. He greeted the Messenger telepathically by his human name.

Hello, Drew.

The soothing greeting lessened the sting of the still bleeding injuries across his back; but no one moved to heal it, so Drew stayed bent over as sticky, dark blood oozed down his skin.

"I want a soul, " his White-eyes, and the owner of Drew's soul, commanded.

Not surprising. He had a tendency to collect those things; they were the source of his power, and what separated the white-eyed demon from his black eyed ilk.

"But not just any soul," he continued. "A particular soul. "

His two demon audience remained silent, despite the unusual request. The White-eyes smirked, flexing his fingers and conjuring up a real time picture of the person he was referring to.

"May Maple. Her family just moved to the little town of Fairburg, so she'll probably be in need of a favor, if you know what I mean."

The Shade peered closer at the image of the sleeping brunette. "Doesn't look like the kind to want to off someone," he stated coolly.

"Maybe boy trouble?" Drew suggested, a vague memory of his life as a human pricking at him like a thorn and causing him to forget the all too important rule of not speaking unless spoken too in front of a superior, especially White-eyes.

The Shade gritted his teeth, sinking in a talon from his true form into Drew's leg as the White-eyes glared down at them. Mentally scolding the Messenger, the Shade turned his attention to the demoness.

"Ah, I thought it was you, Jessie. Miss me any?"

The diversion worked, causing the White-eyes to throw a boulder the size of a car at the Shade's head with a jealous hiss. "Watch it, Shade. If I didn't need you to help Messenger here, I'd banish you to the bottom of the ocean."

Unperturbed, the Shade shrugged. "Very well, White-eyes. We'll be on our way. How long you want her contract to be?"

"One year."

The Messenger and Shade exchanged glances. Ten years was the norm, very few being desperate to settle for five, but one year?

"...As you wish. " The Shade nodded his head, muttered a couple words in the demonic magic tongue, then Drew and the Shade were whisked out of the White-eye's dark chamber and into the moonlit streets of Fairburg.

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Drew paced in the mess of a place that was their 'house' as the Shade kept up a steady stream of magical commands, causing rotten wood to be restored and hard like new, slaying thousands of insects, and generally cleaning the place up. When it was all finished, he flopped down on the stained blue sofa and smirked.

"Nothing like the old bachelor pad to remind me of the good old days, " he sighed. "What's the matter, Drew? "

The Messenger demon was shifting his weight from one leg to the other, shivering as he adjusted to the palette of colors of the surface. He lacked any memories from his previous time as a human, so everything was foreign and almost unwelcome. "...Just kind of nervous. Were you ever nervous, Shade? "

The Shade eyed him coldly. "Number one rule on the surface, call all other demons by their names, not their species. Subtly is vital for our work; if humans knew that we were the reigning paranormal forces, they'd never leave their churches. Now, ask that question again. "

"Were you ever nervous...um... " Drew racked his brain. "Hang on... I know this... "

"Gary, " he sighed. "The name's Gary."

"Right. Gary. " Drew blinked. "Well... where you?"

"Noooo, no one's ever NERVOUS on their first trip back to the surface as a demon. Nope. Nada. Never. " Gary said slowly, sarcasm dripping from his tone, eye closed in an arrogant, know it all way. Condescension and general abrasiveness was the norm of demon behavior, but the Shade Gary had once been a human, too; evil had just come naturally to him, and his personality had melted in with the true demons until few remembered his origins.

"...that was kind of a stupid question, I guess?"

The Shade's eyes flicked open, a familiar smirk crossing his face. "Yeah. Now, let's go get you into your new school, Mr. Oak. "

"Oak?"

"Yes, you moron." Gary's voice had a bite to it as he let his eyes blacken over and glared at Drew. "All humans have last names because there's so many of them. And treat that name with respect, because it was my last name 220 years ago. "

"You're old, " Drew said suddenly, slapping a hand over his mouth, thinking about his words to late. The Shade snorted contemptuously.

"And to think, you were a prime student of mine. Yeah, I'm older than you are. So what? Your White-eyes is three times my age, at least. Now, come on. We gotta go check out the school, and there's not better way to do that then register you."

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Drew sighed. "This is so weird."

Gary rolled his eyes. "Stop acting like you've never been to a school before." The two demons were walking coolly down the hall, on their way to the principal's office. The Shade had altered his appearance to look to be about twenty years of age, Drew leaving his at fifteen.

"Sorry."

The Shade smirked and winked at a passing teacher, causing her to partly swoon. "Chill, Drew. I'm sure you'll do fine. You were one of my best students, you know. "

"I though that was just because you were playing favorites?" Drew tilted his head to one side, causing his emerald hair to cover one luminous eye.

"Eh. Partly. But give yourself some credit, hmm?" Gary straightened his black button-up shirt collar, fluidly pushing the door open and plastering on a sexy smirk as he spotted the pretty blonde principal.

"Hello, there, Ms. Takura. I'm here about enrolling my son?"

"That's MRS. Takura to you, and I already told-" The blonde stopped in mid sentence, fiery hazel eyes meeting Gary's dark chocolate ones. The typical reaction given by the majority of female humans upon seeing his striking good looks.

The Shade softened his smile. "...You were saying...?"

"I...er.. ahem. " The principal gathered her composure together, coughing to clear her throat, then resuming her business tone. "Mr. Oak, I-"

"Please, Mrs. Takura. Mr. Oak is my father. Just call me Gary, " he ended, giving Drew a hidden hand signal that meant, watch the door.

Unobtrusively, Drew slid to the doorway, leaning against it with feigned disinterest, avoiding eye contact as his mentor went to work.

The blonde scowled. "Mr. Oak, as I already told you over the phone, I cannot accept your son here as the deadline-"

Gary leaned further over the table, eyes blackening as he said softly. "Yes, you can. You'll make an exception for us." His voice was deep, almost growling, yet thick with magic and malice.

It was an aggressive form of suggestion; the main tactic of true demons, who could not entirely assume human form, and a useful weapon to turned demons.

Returning to his previous position, and clearing his eyes, he smirked and spoke again in his regular tone. "Thank you very much, Mrs. Takura."

Shaking her head, the principal blinked, and then continued the work at her desk. "You're welcome, Gary. Just fill out these papers here, and we'll let your son-"

"Adopted son," Gary correctly, his eyes following her every move, heavy with lust that made her fidget.

"...Yes. Here," and Mrs. Takura slid the papers across her desk, toying with her wedding ring cautiously. She missed the satisfied glance that slid between the two 'Oaks'.

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May Maple hurried through the hall, head down, books clutched possessively to her chest as she left detention, eager to get home to the comfort of her bedroom. She hadn't been here a week, and was already in trouble for something.

It was that stupid junior, Savannah, and her posse of the popular who made it their job to give every new student a 'warm welcome'; usually involving public humiliation, or so another . She'd never had real problems with bullying back home.

Typically, May was a mild, quiet, and shy sort of person, but they had gone too far.

"'Well, hello there May-bell-ine!" The tanned hazel eyed cheerleader had tossed her golden brown ponytail over her shoulder arrogantly, back by the rest of the squad and surrounded by wistful wannabes as she taunted the girl unloading her books into a dusty locker. "Pity you don't actually use makeup. It would do you good. But then again, you can only cover up so much ugly! "

The hall echoed with her shrill laughter mingling with the mirth of her admirers and followers, May's jaw tightening but made a point to ignore them.

Miffed at being ignored, Savannah ripped a picture from May's open locker. "Oh, what's this?"

It was a picture of a small golden mutt puppy, with large dark eyes, upright ears and a fluffy tail. "Oh, gawd, that's ugly. What is it? You in a Halloween costume?"

"Her name was Hazel," May hissed. "She was my dog until we moved and had to give her away. Now give that back... please."

Savannah held it out, May swiftly grabbing a hold of the corner, the older girl suddenly twisting her wrist and pulling, tearing the picture neatly in half.

"Oops, " she said, smirking evilly. However, her expression quickly changed as May's fist came crashing into her eye.'

She'd heard things about the town before they'd arrived - or more accurately, her little brother had researched in on the web and wasted no time telling everyone what a terrible idea moving was - her mother blamed their paranoid old babysitter - about the dark history of the town. The stories were as varied and colorful as a costume shop; some said the town had been built over sacred Native land, some said it was haunted by ghosts of witch trial victims, some said it was an old battlefield, but all of them agreed that Fairbanks was a place of darkness.

May was inclined to agree with them. She had a short fuse, she'd admit that any day; but she'd never punched anyone since grade school. It was like the town brought out the worst of her.

Still; Savannah should have a nice bruise for tomorrow.

The brunette let herself have a tiny smile of satisfaction, sighing heavily, then paused at the sound of footsteps ahead of her. Rounding a corner was the most gorgeous boy she had ever seen, with thick shining, exotic looking green hair and striking emerald eyes. Flicking a glance upward, he gave her a brief once over, eyes traveling from her simple blue and silver sneakers, up her long thin legs, past the denim skirt and pink and white polo shirt with a butterfly on it to land on her sapphire eyes and flinch slightly.

What was that flinch for? Oh, come on; I'm not that ugly to a smug jerk like you, am I? She bit her lip and considered snapping at him and then remembered how quickly she'd been slapped into detention before.

Quickly he looked away, a slight smile of recognition crossing his features before he flicked his bangs out of the way and continued his walk down the hall, followed by a tall and before unnoticed man. The man gave her a friendly smirk before continuing after the boy, oblivious to May's frozen in place state.

Forget his strange looks; he's so cute when he smiles. May had to suppress a quiet squeal of glee as she headed up the hall to the principle's office.

I can't wait to get to know them...

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