((Authors note: thanks for sticking with it.))

Chapter 4: Trouble's prelude

"Halt in the name of Prince Malphas" Sebastian ordered sharply. He didn't want her to run, after all she had been helpful to him. Leica walked forward a bit, not wanting to stop, she felt that it would be intruding on him and his contract. But then she was ordered to stop. The conflict within her, the want to run, but part of her saying that he could help. She stopped just as Sebastian was going to run to stop her. She didn't turn around but she stopped. Sebastian sighed a little catching up with her, he gently turned her around and pulled down her hood, looking at her beaten up appearance. "What happened?" He asked her softly.

Leica looked to the ground "I-I don't want to burden you, your highness." She said softly. Sebastian gave her a stern look telling her to tell him, she caved in after a 5 minute staring contest with the prince, she fiddled about with a small fireball to keep her calm as she told the prince what her father and sister did. Sebastian nodded leading the girl into the house where he told her to remove her cloak. His eyes widening in shock a bit, seeing the extent of her injuries.

"You're sister did this" he commented appalled at the extent to the damage to her wings. Such a good looking set of wings as well. Leica nodded mutely. Sebastian sighed helping to speed up her natural healing process by applying salves and bandages, it might have been a human method but it worked. Leica sat and let him do that, she didn't say anything. Sebastian finished treating her injuries before going over to Mark. He kissed him gently. "Might it be alright for her to stay a while?" Well he didn't think it safe for her to be going back to her father.

Mark nodded "That's fine" he said softly.

Sebastian nodded going back over to Leica, after giving Mark a quick kiss. "You're welcome to stay here for a while, until you have things sorted out." He said. Leica looked at Sebastian and nodded

"Thank-you" she replied quietly.

Sebastian acknowledged it. "Well then…" he began hesitantly. "This is Mark. He's my contract… and then some…"

Leica nodded and smiled, "I'm glad you found him" she said knowing his other option.

"So am I" Sebastian replied softly going over to Mark and kissing him softly. He kissed his demon back. Leica however curled up into a ball. Sebastian who had caught that out of the corner of his eye, broke away from the kiss first, he looked at the girl concerned. "You alright" he asked worriedly. Leica gave no response, she was scared. It was written in her posture, he glance back at Mark before going and kneeling next to the demoness. "Are you alright?" he asked her softly.

Leica momentarily looked up from where she was, "I'm scared." She whispered.

Sebastian let out a sigh. "You don't have to be. He can't hurt you now."

Leica nodded hesitantly, shifting about a little. "Have you heard about the demoness who's her own sword and shield? A demoness who's killed hundreds of demons and their contracts." She said quietly.

Sebastian had to think for a moment, he had, after all, heard many rumours and such in his life. "Yes… father issued a royal warrant for her head, but called it off surprisingly quick, what of it?" he asked. Leica was hesitant to answer that, but Sebastian knew that if given space, she would answer it in her own time, after all she had come back to him after her father hurt her, even if it took a little coaxing.

"T-that demoness is, is…" she stuttered out a little before whispering "…me" she curled deeper into the ball she was in.

Sebastian tried to hide his surprise, some great job he did to that, "You?" He asked in shock before recovering. "Wow…" he added with admiration.

Leica just looked at him confused. "It's just all part of fathers plan." She said quietly.

The prince stared at her. "What plan" he asked quietly.

"He…he" Leica began before gripping her stomach in pain. Sebastian put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked concerned

"It's nothing" Leica replied biting through another wave of pain. Sebastian growled at her. "It's not nothing so what's wrong?"

Mark looked at Sebastian, "You're a demon and you can't tell." He teased slightly before turning serious. "She's pregnant, she doesn't look old enough to be pregnant but she is. And before you ask how I know, we had a lot of girls who used to come to the orphanage pregnant and give birth, naturally they didn't want their family's to know."

Sebastian turned to stare at his contract "What?!" he half screamed at him. Mark just sighed. "She's pregnant." Sebastian turned back to Leica. "Did you're father do anything to you?" He asked, deadly serious. Leica nodded hesitantly, she didn't want anyone to know that she was. She was surprised that the human figured it out. Sebastian made a disgusted noise at the back of his throat. "What did he do" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

Leica shifted a little hoping that it would help the pain. "He's been experimenting on me, altering my body beyond its years. One of them was to make my body that of a fully grown adult demon." Leica began. "One day I came back from doing something he ordered me to do, he got pissed, claiming that I had messed up. He started beating me, then he took it one step further and raped me." She began to cry. "It's all because he want's power. And I'm the person he's using to get that power."

The Prince couldn't believe what he was hearing. Bastard" he growled. He couldn't think of anything to say that was comforting. "Do you wish to keep the child?" He asked finally, thinking that was the most obvious thing to ask.

"I-I don't know" Leica replied quietly. She didn't know. She was just a child still, well about 13 in human years.

Sebastian started at her, "but are you certain you can provide for it, nurture it, and love it?" He asked. "It will be an outcast one way or another." He added quietly. Leica sighed and shook her head, "I'm just a child." Sebastian looked her in the eye, dead serious, "are you sure you want to keep it?" He repeated quietly.

"No" Leica finally whispered. "How can I promise it a good life with what I wake up to?" Sebastian nodded gravely. "Wise move…" he said quietly. Leica nodded she looked down at her hands she felt ashamed.

"Hey…" he said gently, "it's nothing to be ashamed about. "Bu…" Leica went to say but cut herself short. Her father just made her feel that everything was her fault. Sebastian calmed the girl the best he could leading her over to the bed where he gave her a glass of warm milk, which Leica accepted and drank quietly.

Sebastian went back over to Mark and hugged him, needing reassurance for himself. "Oh my god…" he breathed in his ear. Mark simply hugged his demon back, allowing him to vent if he needed to do so. That's just what the prince did, he quietly vented his newfound frustration. He then finally realised something, "you're my first real contract" he breathed as the realisation had struck him. Mark chuckled a little, "I would have expected someone like you to have had many."

The demon just laughed, "Sorry to disappoint." He joked. "Who said anything about disappointment?" Mark said hugging Sebastian tightly. Sebastian returned the hug just as tight. "You're an amazing contract." Mark smiled kissing him in thanks, to which Sebastian happily returned. He hoped that Marks revenge towards all those who had a hand in his abuse at the orphanage, would take a very long time. Which it would, partly because Mark sort of forgot that he wanted revenge, and well Sebastian wasn't too fussed if he had, after all Mark was the reason he wasn't stuck in a marriage that he didn't want. Sebastian sighed, playing with Marks hair, making him sleepy. A smirk formed across the demons face. "Tired?" He asked quietly. Mark nodded, "a little." He replied quietly.

Sebastian glanced over at Leica who had fallen asleep on the bed. "If you don't mind, Mark, Leica will be taking half your bed…" he said pointedly. "I'll sleep on the sofa.

"If you wish" Mark replied, "or you could just move her onto the sofa." Sebastian glanced at Leica again. "It might be best to leave her there, as much as I want to move her," he trailed a finger down Mark's chest. "She is with child. I will sleep on the sofa. Goodnight." With that he left. Mark sighed before turning in for the night, climbing into the untaken half of the bed.

Sebastian fell asleep only after long period of time, worrying and thinking. He didn't sleep well though, after all who would, especially with the fact that he broke of the marriage contract at the forefront of his mind. He got up the next morning and made breakfast for all of them, and by all of them he meant Leica and Mark. Mark by this point in time was starting to wake, well he usually woke around this time of day. Leica however kept sleeping, the child growing inside her was taking up a lot of her energy. Sebastian, like usual brought Mark's breakfast over to him which the human accepted and started to eat it. Being carful of the demoness still asleep next to him. Sebastian simply bowed respectfully and stepped back, watching for signs of Leica waking up. By the time the demoness was waking up, Mark had eaten and was sat in his usual chair reading. Sebastian brought the remaining food to Leica. "Feeling nauseous?" he asked her quietly, helping her sit up.

"A little" Leica replied just as quietly as she had been asked, she was a little stiff but then she had never slept on a bed before, well not in a long time at least. Sebastian nodded and brought a wooden bucket over to her and placed it beside the bed, he smiled gently at her, well in truth he had a lot to thank her about, she smiled back a little, eating a bit of the food Sebastian had prepared. Once again Sebastian stood back respectfully, thinking about the defence mechanisms he could rig up to ensure nothing bad came of Mark.

Leica ate as much of the food as she could, she physically didn't eat a lot, and the only reason why she ate this food is because she needed the strength. She slid of the bed despite a surge of pregnancy related pain that ran through the girl. Naturally Sebastian noticed her discomfort. "Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"I'm fine" Leica replied, maybe a little too quick. But like always the prince didn't need to worry about her, it wasn't necessary, he had his contract, and that's what should take priority. "I think I need to get back, before my father blows his top." Sebastian stared at the girl. He objected heavily. "He'll kill you!" he said, stunned that the girl would suggest something as stupid as that.

Leica looked at the prince, her gaze was one that showed she didn't want to go back. "He values his experiment too much, his weapon too much to actually kill me"

Sebastian shifted nervously, "If you say so" he replied uncertainly, "If there's anything wrong, just come back alright?" Leica grabbed her cloak and put it on.

"See you around Prince Malphas." She said to Sebastian before turning to his contract, "nice meeting you Mark" she added. Mark simply nodded and with that Leica went on her way back home, the pains just continued to grow but she hid it.

Sebastian watched her leave with an uncomfortable feeling in his gut, he walked back over to Mark and hugged him, "I don't think we should have let her go off" Sebastian said quietly nibbling on his ear a little.

"I have that feeling too" Mark replied, melting a little as his demon did that. Sebastian sighed into his ear, hugging the human tightly and burying his head in his neck, Mark sighed, hugging him still, stroking his hair. Sebastian continued to hug him, drifting off a little, Mark watched him, maybe sleeping would be beneficial to the demon; well considering when he usually slept his mind was churning over other things. He eventually fell asleep, hugging Mark and snoring softly.

~~~meanwhile~~~

Leviathan was back at home waiting for Leica to return, well, she had seemingly disappeared, and subsequently, he was going to punish her, but he wasn't going to like what he was going to find out. Leica stumbled into her house, clutching stomach, gasping in pain, she wasn't close to giving birth, she was just suffering from some sort of effect from the pregnancy, "where the hell have you been?!" Leviathan roared at her. The girl gulped.

"I went walking and I bumped into Prince Malphas. I asked if he'd reconsider." Leica replied.

"And…?" Leviathan replied, still glaring at the girl. So it takes you the best part of a day and the night to go for a walk and bump into a prince and ask him a simple question.

"And… he said that he as happy as he was." Leica replied, still met by the glare from her father. It was then that, Leanne and Lucas come into the house fighting, well if it wasn't something that involved Leica, then the girl was happy as it meant that his attention was diverted, but if it wasn't…

"If you tell him," Lucas began, "I promise I will kill you." Leanne just laughed and slashed her brother's face with a small knife. The boy then proceeded to strangle his sister. Leviathan turned to Leanne, "tell me what?" he asked, his voice a dangerous growl.

"The truth about what she was really doing the rest of yesterday and last night." Leanne replied, she floored Lucas and sat on him, holding a knife to his throat so that he couldn't do anything to help Leica.

"Tell me" Leviathan growled at Leanne, though he kept his glare on Leica.

"She spent the night at a certain demon princes abode in the human realm, with him and his contract." Leanne replied, Leica by this point had slipped to the floor from the pain, and she started crawling away.

"YOU WHAT?!" he screamed at Leica kicking her in the ribs, "AND YOU DIDN'T KILL HIS CONTRACT?!"

Leica collapsed to the floor with a gasp. "No. Because there is no way I'm letting you have your way" she snapped, before she screamed in pain. Leanne turned to her father, "I know exactly where it is, I can take care of it for you." She smirked. Leica managed to growl at her sister, "leave them be" she spat at her, "for the love of Lord Lucifer himself, just leave them be."

Leviathan considered Leanne's offer, glaring more at Leica, he nodded, "go, my sweet daughter," he said with a smirk, "go and make him pay." Leanne nodded and left to go to the human realm. Leviathan then picked Leica up by her hair and dragged her, despite the kicking and thrashing about, to a metal table where he proceeded to chain her. He sliced open her abdomen, giving the girl no form of painkillers whatsoever, he ignored the screams that passed her lips, he removed the tiny foetus, smirking as he placed it into a tiny bottle before stitching her abdomen up, "This will fetch a good price on the black market." Leica whimpered and cried, well it certainly was one way to get rid of the child. He untied the girl and showed her the foetus to scare her, "this, is yours" he said shaking the bottle a little. Leica stared at her father, it scared her yes, not at the fact that, that was what was growing inside of her but more of the fact that her father just did that to her. He simply laughed and kept the bottle away. It was then that Leica climbed off of the table, she had to go stop Leanne, she didn't care how she was going to do it, she knew she just needed to stop the girl, whatever it took.

The older demon grabbed her arm, "Where do you think you're going?!" He barked at her. She yanked her arm from her father's grip, only for him to grab it again and grip it harder.

"Where do you think" she growled slightly.

"Don't take that tone with me, child" He growled and backhanded her, hard.

Leica teared a little, "so I'm a child now" she snapped.

Leviathan punched her in the stomach. "Don't. Take. That. Tone. With. Me." He said punching her hard with each word, and each time a gasp left her lips. Leica semi-collapsed to the floor. "Pathetic" she replied managing a weak laugh. Her father simply summoned fire and burnt her arms and legs. Leviathan stomped on one of her legs, crushing it with his demonic strength. The girl screamed again, her scream full of pure pain. She, however crawled over to the door, she didn't know how she would get to where Sebastian and Mark were, she just knew she had to stop Leanne.

Leviathan decided that he would amuse himself by watching Leica struggle and suffer, he knew she was no threat to Leanne. The only threat that there was would be Lucas, but after what Leanne had done to him he had left the house, he didn't want to see Leica suffer and he knew that anything he did to stop what was happening would only land Leica in more trouble. So to him it didn't seem worth it. Leica managed to reach the door and use that to help her to stand, though it was painful, what with the broken leg and her bleeding stomach from where her father had punched the stitches. Thankfully for Leica, for the time being, Leviathan had thought she had given up and had accidentally dozed off. Leica managed to get outside where she was helped to the nearest portal by her brother, she thanked him quietly. "If he asks where you are I'll play the dumb idiot. Okay?" Lucas said, Leica nodded, and hugged her brother before struggling through to the human realm. Lucas watched her until he couldn't see her any more, he then started to make his way back home.

~~~ To be continued ~~~

Leviathan suddenly realised Leica's aura had disappeared, waking up and running outside to see where she had gone.

Leanne was nearing Sebastian and his contracts abode, walking slowly towards it, making her plan of attack. Because well she was doing this on the spot she had no planning time.