Hello again! Just a quick note to say that this chapter is a bit long, I had to combine two smaller chapters while revising because they couldn't quite stand alone on their own. Anyways, back to the story. Enjoy!

(A special thanks to Mirror Rose 21! You rock my socks! )

By six thirty I was feeling the day baring down on my feet. An uncomfortable girl makes for some entirely uncomfortable company, but no better than Vergil deserved.by thenI was pretty surehe was a hired knife. I didn't have any expectations really,just that the guy would try to kill me. Hired knifes were something I had experience with and I stopped feeling bad about hurting them a long time ago. For his sake, Vergil better not be a hired knife, I'd hate to have to hurt him. That being said, I can't believe I ended up waiting twenty minutes for the guy to even show.

He arrived out of nowhere. Literally. I was sitting there contemplating how the new Carnival staff managed to get my scorch marks out of the carpet and walls, and then he was there sitting in the opposing seat. I don't know how he got there, but when I finally noticed him he was waiting expectantly for my attention. I nearly spit up my water because of him.

"You own me seven fifty for the coffee," I informed him, deciding not to comment on his sudden appearance. I'd seen that trick before. "After you conveniently forgot to pay, it was taken out of my check." He didn't say anything, but he raised his eyebrows.

"Normal people at least try to make a point of being on time too," I replied to his stare. "Assuming know the meaning of the words." I don't know what it is, but this guy seriously rubs me the wrong way. I'm still trying to put a finger on it. Most likely it was because everything about him irritated me. Especially his mild smirking amused expression. I'm not anyone's personal joke. I lit a cigarette and leaned back.

"So?" I prompted

He looked at me expectantly, "So?"

I gave him a look, "You have my bag?" And Id, and house keys...

"You can have it," he put my bag on the table top, "after you answer a single question for me." I sucked on my cig, considering. Hopefully he didn't see how much he was unnerving me right now. God, for a hired knife he was pretty good.

"What kind of question?" I asked as I tapped ashes into an ash tray. I should have known this was coming. Damn, another headache. Just my luck. He stared at me with cold eyes.

"What were you doing there last night?"

"Nothing," I replied. My head, it felt like there was a fucking jackhammer gnome brigade up there. Tiffany, a friend of mine, had given me pills for them. Unfortunately they weren't working. For a nurse she was doing a horrible job treating me. I'd been at her house last night, she was going to hook me up with something different, something that would work with any luck. I had been heading home from her house last night. Vergil raised an eye brow and a look of-hatred? Contempt? Disbelief?-flitted across his face. I rolled my eyes and sucked on my cigarette.

"I don't particularly enjoy liars," he replied coolly. "Tell me what you were doing there."

"What if I were to say it was none of you damning business?" I snapped.

"It is entirely my business," he replied quietly.

"Have you ever heard of the term 'invasion of privacy'?" I asked him.

"Have you ever had a dislocated arm?" he retorted coolly. I snorted. Yeah right.

"And how the hell would you pull off something like that?" I demanded. Like lightening, his hand attached itself to my left elbow, the tips of his fingers dug in, squeezing the tender inside and exposed funny bone together. He twisted it just a fraction of a hair. I gritted my teeth together to keep from yelping. I tried to pull my arm away, but it didn't budge an inch. The only thing that changed was that his grip tightened, making the pain worse.

"I could do a lot more than just dislocate it," he told me quietly. "Answer my question." I glowered at him and didn't say anything. He raised an eyebrow and did that fraction movement thing on my elbow again, holding it in place this time. Fire flared to life up my arm, I winced as the pain grew nearly unbearable in the space of a couple seconds. God he was good, whoever was paying him seriously wanted me dead this time.

"Hello hon," a curly red haired waitress said. Vergil let go instantly. Yes, interference run by the waitress in the dumpy brown apron. I swiftly jerked my arm under the table and into the relative safety of my lap. There I massaged it till the pain faded. "Can I get you two anything?'

"We're fine," Vergil replied in a flat voice, not looking at her. He was staring at me. If I screamed for help, and he got to me before the help did, I was as good as dead. Vergil just moved up from 'minor annoyance' to 'full blow problem'.

"I want a slice of cheese cake and your biggest mug of hot chocolate," I told her as she turned to leave. Her face brightened up as she began to write down the order.

Vergil sighed, drawing my attention. He leaned back and rested his right hand on the table top and inch from his fork. He raised an eyebrow at me. The meaning of his message was unmistakable, get rid of her or I will. I suppressed a shudder.

"Of course hon," the waitress replied, "anything else?"

"No thank you," I forced a smile at her.

"Alright I'll be right back with your orders." I watched her walk off before turning to back to him.

"You're a real asshole you know that?" I asked him.

"I'm not going to ask you a second time," he said. "A simple answer will work if a longer one is beyond you." I gave him a dirty look. Who did he think he was, demanding things from me? The waitress returned with the cheesecake and hot chocolate. I stared at him over my cheesecake, considering. So he wanted a simple answer did he?

"Fuck you," I replied. He smirked at me, the corner of his mouth tipping skyward. His eyes were iced diamonds.

"As you wish," he replied.

The back door of the restaurant swung open as I stumbled out into the alleyway. Behind me, he closed the metal door. The staff hadn't even bothered to stop him from dragging me out here.

"Jackass," I snapped, turning to him, "Who the hell do you think you are?" He tossed my bag to my feet.

"What were you doing there last night?" He asked me coolly. His voice held an edge.

"Would you have believed me if I said I was taking a walk?" I asked mildly asI reached down for my messenger bag.He raised an eyebrow at that, his face a mask. Goddamn he was hard to read. And then, because I couldn't resist. "Why? What aren't you telling me?"

"What aren't you telling me?"

"Never had friends as child did you?" I asked him. He chuckled, stuffing his hands into his pockets. I don't see what's so funny. His laughter trailed off as he eyed me, a smirk still on his face.

"You're going to die, Lauren."

"Go to hell," I snapped. Does he seriously believe he's the first one to ever tell me this? It still chills me when I hear that though.

"Alright little human, if you wish to be so stubborn, you will reap your just desserts," he said. "Because of your presence in that construction sight last night, you're going to die, for the simple fact that you were there."

"What?" I asked him. He shrugged, and headed off down the ally. "Hey," I snapped, "who's going to kill me?"

"They," he said, glancing at me over his shoulder. I sure as hell hope his they weren't the same as my they, that simple fact alone was the only reason I decided to follow him down that ally.

"You were just released from a mental facility, weren't you?" I trailed behind him. He didn't pause when I started to walk beside him, just glanced over at me with a mild lookI couldn't interpet.

"Demons," he replied. I felt my heart beat literally stop. God, his they and my they were the same They. Crap. The Order…

"Bullshit," I replied evenly. He stopped walking and turned to me. I stared him in the eye, shivering in the night air.

"They're very real," he reassured me softly.

"And what the hell do they have to do with me being there?" I demanded.

"Well I suppose that depends," he replied.

"On what?" I snapped.

"On why you were there. On whether or not you see what I see," he said.

"And what shouldI see?" I asked him.

"Proof," he told me grinning. It was the devil's own grin. I snorted.

"Keep it to yourself," I turned to leave. Like lightning he reached out and swung me around. His hands snaked around my waist one running up my back and the other was running down, both pulling me in close. The Pervert! I felt my blood boil.
"Get your goddamning hands off my-" I started. I never got a chance to finish what I was going to say because right behind him was a spider. A really big spider. It filled the small alleyway completely. I hate spiders, and that one appeared to have been following us.

"Oh god," I whispered, sucking in the cold night air. I heard him chuckle in my ear.

"Ah, now she believes. They've been looking for you for quite a while, I might add. Scared already Lauren?" he whispered quietly, in my ear. His voice was mocking. "I thought you were tougher than that." The spider was slowly lurching towards us.

"My name is Lor," I hissed back in between my teeth, "So bite me for not believing." The spiders were coming closer, the fangs in their mouths twitching, their huge black bead eyes were blinking. I had no doubt that it saw the two of us with all six of it's eyes. I shuddered.

"Hmm, first you tell me to fuck you, now you ask me to bite you. Which is the better offer, I wonder?" he asked me, his breath hot against my earlobe in the cool night. I could feel his mouth curling into a grin against my skin. The hell I said that.

"Fuck you and the horse you rode in on," I hissed angrily, "that wasn't a fucking offer." And that thing was coming closer. I struggled to free myself, but his hand was at the back of my head, fingers entwined in my hair, his other arm was wrapped around me now, pinning my arms at my side. I had to hand it to him, he knew what he was doing.

"Be a good girl and save us both a little grief," he quietly told me, "you don't want todoor say anything for the next ten minutes. Understood Lauren?"

"My name is Lor," I hissed again, trying to free my hands. He pulled my head back, painfully tightening his hold on my hair. It hurt, not a whole lot, but enough.

"Do you understand?" he asked me quietly, seriously, scarily. The spider was so close now, it bent it's head down and looked me, eye to eyes, the pinchers at the mouth moving rapidly, and a small amount of drool falling from its maws. That just wasn't right.

"Yes, Vergil," I shuddered again. The pain in my head was making me see spots.

"Good. I'm glad we understand each other," hereplied easily. He tightened his grip on me for a moment, nearly crushing the breathout of me. A moment latter I was flying backwards. I sprawled out, scraping my hands across the pavement.I'd never met someone as strong as him, my handswere bleeding and looked likechewed up When I looked up, Vergil was hacking the spider up with a sword, a katana actually. God, I've never seen a katana used like that. It looked like liquid lightning. The way the spider died, it scared me more than the spider itself did.

Then he turned around with the sword still out. Fuck me. Scrabbling, I dug my heels into the pavement. How could I be so stupid to pass up that kind of opportunity to get the hell away? Fuck, what had I been thinking? He was a hired knife. He was hired to fucking kill me! When he lunged, I ducked, falling on my ass again as I squeezed my eyes shut.

I jumped when the screaming came not from me, but directly left of my head. I opened my eyes just in time to see him cut the thing's head off, his blade coming to a stop a millimeter just before it smashed into my own face. The sword's edge gently teased my check, the hard metal cold as ice against my skin. Slowly he lowered the blade, his face was completely impassive. The jerk.

Ignoring him,I looked down to whatever it was that had fallen into my lap. It looked like a wooden skull-like head with red orange eyes that were slowly cooling to blackness, like embers did.. It smelled like the inside of a tar pit. That's the way Demons smell, the memory of her voice whispered in my ear. Taking a deep breath I tossed the skull down the alleyway.

"Friend of yours?" I asked faintly. He yanked me to my feet, an approving expession on his face.

"For a human, you're not quite as pathetic as I thought you'd be," he informed me. He grabbed my arm and nearly dragged me down the ally. I said nothing as he opened the door to a car and shoved me in the front seat. Demons? In the city? That wasn't possible. This was a safe place. Wasn't it? And what exactly did he mean by 'for a human'?