Neuhaus sighed as he pulled his hat down over the side of his face. The child had left before he had woken up. He had awoken with a sore back, most likely from sleeping on the floor. Whoever said doing that was good for you must have been crazy, in his own opinion. When he had gone to glance at his small guest, Angel had been gone. The bed was neatly made, and there were a few coins on the pillow, along with a small, handwritten note that simply said 'Thank You'.

He was outside again now, stopping at the door of the local store. A bell rang overhead as he entered, and a cheery female voice sounded from behind the counter.

"Welcome, what can I do for you to-" the voice stopped, and he heard a woman. "Well! It's been a while since your face has popped into my store. How've you been? What brings you back?"

"Pure business, I assure you," Neuhaus said simply. "About the troubles recently. I will be leaving after the full moon. For now, though, I came to the store to pick up a bit of milk, since I don't have any at home." The woman behind the counter nodded and rummaged around.

"Alrighty then. Just wait a moment." She went to the refrigerator behind the counter, and came out with a pint carton of milk. "There you are. A bit of milk, just as requested. And don't worry about the cost, consider it a welcome home gift, from your friend." She placed it into a paper back and slid it across the counter. "Was there anything else you needed?"

"...Actually, there was one thing." The woman tilted her head and looked at him curiously.

"Oh really? What is it? Did you need some food too?"

"No, nothing like that," Neuhaus said as he shook his head. "Well...would you happen to have seen a child recently?" The woman looked confused more than curious now.

"A...child?... Well, I see a lot of children around every day, so you might need to be specific. What does your child look like?" Neuhaus sighed an ran a hand through his hair.

"He's not my child," he said quickly. "Well... he's a boy child, that much is for certain. He was wearing all white, and had very long, blond hair." From the expression on her face, it was clear she had no inkling of who he was talking about. Neuhaus sighed and shook his head. "Well, the child was wandering about on his own yesterday evening, so I allowed him into my home in order to give him a place to stay the night. He left in the early hours of the morning, though..." The woman smiled as he trailed off.

"I see, you got worried about the child, so now you're out looking for him, right?" Neuhaus grunted noncommittally, but that only drew another smile. "You're such a nice person, even though your face looks scary with that eyepatch you've got now." Neuhaus only sighed and adjusted the hat over the left side of his face. He knew it made him scary, didn't mean she had to go and say it aloud. "Well, I haven't seen him, but if he comes in here, I'll be sure to send someone to let you know."

"Thank you," he said kindly as he bowed his head to her. "Well, thanks for the milk, but I need to go start preparing. The full moon isn't too far away." The shopkeeper smiled and nodded.

"Right. Well, if you need anything else, never hesitate to ask. Have a good day~" He grunted a response and left the shop with his milk. Neuhaus sighed against the brisk chill permeating the air. He pulled his coat up around him and walked on, unaware of the blue eyes following him from around the corner of the building as he walked the path for home.

–

Wow, look at that. He's just going around asking if people have seen you? Now didn't I tell you that guy was weird? Arthur nodded as he shifted back a bit of hair.

"I don't know... I thought he seemed sort of nice." He had, at Caliburn's suggestion, left in the wee hours of the morning. He had left a note on the bed, thanking his benefactor for his kindness and generosity, and a bit of money for the food he had eaten, but he still left. This wasn't anything new, Caliburn usually suggested leaving early, before the people had awoken. He had questioned this at first, but after vividly worded images of being separated from Caliburn and put in a place with horrible strangers had left the girl's lips, he stopped questioning.

I wouldn't worry about him. We only need to hang around here for a few days, until the full moon comes around. Then we can be out of this little hick village and be on our way. She noticed Arthur was messing with his hair, pushing it back and fidgeting with it. What's wrong? Hair bugging you?

"Yeah, it keeps falling in my face. I like my bangs because they hide the scar, but the rest of it is so long, it gets in the way. I wish I had something to tie it back with."

We'll get you a ribbon or something when we can find another shop, Caliburn promised.

"...Okay."

–

Neuhaus sighed when he had made his way home again. The left side of his face was throbbing unceasingly, especially just under the eyepatch he wore. He always tried to keep that part hidden just under the brim of his hat, so no one would ask questions. It worked, no odd stares or questions, but that didn't stop it from hurting.

Once the milk had been put away, he sat down on the edge of his bed and rubbed the skin around the eyepatch. Oh, his eye-socket was definitely throbbing now. He cursed quietly under his breath and reached for the bottle of pain medication that he had stored in a desk drawer. He swallowed down two of them without water, then just sat there, silent.

–

Neuhaus let out a low huff and watched the cloud of breath dissipate in front of him. Three days had passed since that child had come into his home, and though he had searched for him in many places, and asked many people, he had found no hint that he was even in the town anymore. It was as if that little blond had just picked up all traces of himself and floated on with the wind.

Well, as he kept trying to tell himself, what happened to that child wasn't his problem. He was gone, there was nothing he could do, he had no responsibility to worry. That was that. Wherever that child was, he was no longer anything to worry about. At least, not for him.

For now, he had bigger concerns on his mind. Mainly, the job at hand. He was scouring the dark nights of the streets, lit up only by the lamps, the moon, and the stars. Most everyone was asleep. That suited him just fine. No one to get in the way. While the mice slept peacefully in their beds, the dog hunted down the rats. The over-sized compass he used thumped softly against his back as he crept along, quietly so as to not stop any chance he might have had in catching what he was hunting for.

A fear demon was his quarry. People had come into the exorcist consultations for weeks and weeks, asking for help with this evil creature. It caused hallucinations, massive fears. Some people found themselves confined to their beds for weeks afterwards, thanks to the demon's evil powers. At last, he had been sent in, to deal with the creature's powers. He was one of the few qualified to do so who wasn't busy at the moment.

The man was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a large crash and the sound of reverberating metal coming from a nearby alley. He jumped, keeping a hand on the compass he carried, just in case. For a moment, he began to relax, believing that the sound may have just been an alley cat knocking over a garbage can. However, this idea was quickly disproved when a loud roar ripped through the night. With a grunt, Neuhaus ran towards the source of the sound, prepared to face whatever had made the noise.

He froze, however, when he saw what was going on in that alley.

–

Arthur was thrown back, barely saved from impalement by using Caliburn as a shield. The massive creature towered over him, darker than shadow and shiftier than breeze. He shook his hair out of his face as it got into his eyes, and barely was able to shift away from another claw coming down. This demon was strong, much more so than any other that he had faced so far in his demon-fighting training with Caliburn.

On the left! Caliburn told him urgently. Arthur tumbled out of the way just in time to avoid a shadowy, crushing foot. With his hair whipping about in the wind, it was getting more difficult to fight. He slashed out blindly, and was rewarded with a screech of pain. However, he had to quickly come up to guard again as one of its smaller kin came at him from the side.

This is getting rough, he thought quickly. I'd better use a big move, if I want to kill it... He grabbed onto a lock of hair, and swung Caliburn upwards in order to slice off the hair. A flash of darkness entered his vision, and the blond found himself flung backwards as pain exploded in his arm. His wrist throbbed intensely, and he lost his grip on Caliburn, who was flung to the other side of the alley where she landed with a loud metallic clatter.

"Caliburn!" he cried out. He tried to stand, but collapsed when pain shot up in the arm he tried to push himself to his feet with. Blue eyes stared up in fear as the demon loomed over him, threateningly staring down at him with glowing red slits for eyes. Arthur closed his eyes and covered his head, awaiting the intense, slicing pain of being impaled by its' claws.

It never came.

There was a screech of pain, and the sound of a large body being flung against brick. A low, heavy rasping sound was breathing just over him. When he attempted to look up, his heart skipped several beats.

A large, dark creature loomed over him, one leg over each side of him. Dark, unnameable fluids dripped from a gaping hole of a mouth, with jagged and broken teeth showing from the depths. The boy froze, and he was certain his heart nearly stopped. The thing looked like some sort of weird, stitched-together creature of hairless human flesh, with gangly, spider-like arms in the place of legs.

"Bring him! Now!" Arthur started at the sound of the familiar voice, and let out a yelp as he felt a spidery, lumpy arm scoop him up. A hiss of warm, rank breath on his face made him cough, but he clung on for dear life as he was rushed over to the voice's origin. He was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, and the large creature bolted off again, only to begin fighting with the creature in the alley that had just been about to kill him.

What on earth... he thought to himself. The blond jumped when he saw another shadow loom over him. However, when he saw the shadow's origin, he was more confused then scared. Mr. Neuhaus?

"Are you alright?" The eyepatched man looked down at him briefly, then up at the naberius he controlled. "It didn't drip anything on you, did it?" When Arthur shook his head, the man nodded and shouted some sort of command in Latin at the creature. As Arthur's understanding of Latin was brief at best, he only understood the most basic of it. Attack.

The shadowy creature did as it was ordered, practically throwing itself at the other demon in its frenzy to follow the master's orders. Though the creature seemed jerky and unstable, ready to fall apart at any given moment, its ferocity frightened the blond, though he had seen such fierceness before in an attacking demon.

"You stay back, I can deal with this," Neuhaus said sharply. He had no idea what this child had been thinking, facing off against a demon like this all on his own. Well, whatever it was, the boy was going to explain himself for this little stunt. Willing or not.

Despite the order, however, Arthur was still staring at Caliburn, who had been tossed against the wall, and was now lying still on the ground. He knew he could finish this, if he could just get to his sword... Without a second thought, the blond burst forward, racing between the two dueling creatures for the sword.

"No! Get back here!" Neuhaus swore inwardly, preparing to send more creatures to defend the child from harm, or send his naberius to do it. However, the child darted through the battle without harm, rolled, and scooped up his sword from the ground. He gripped at his blade, wincing from the injured wrist from a moment ago. However, he refused to simply give this up.

It's now or never, Arthur, Caliburn said simply, sounding calm despite the danger of the situation.

"R-right," Arthur agreed. They had to finish this now, while it was distracted. "Mister Neuhaus! Get your demon out of the way!" Before Neuhaus could object, Arthur reached up his hand and gripped at a lock of his hair. With one swift movement, he swung Caliburn upwards, and sliced off the hair in that one move. The hair disappeared in a series of sharp, bright crackles, and a faint glow seemed to surround the child. It traveled up his arm, from the hand that held the sword, and went to surround his entire body in a bright, heavenly glow.

Mmm~ Now that is what I am talking about~ Caliburn cooed from her sword, in a voice that even Neuhaus could hear from his distance. Before he could register the fact that the sword had talked, Arthur narrowed his eyes, glaring seriously at the fear demon he had been fighting.

"Now." He pulled his sword back over his shoulder, preparing to swing down. "Angel SLASH!" He brought the sword down in a large arc in the demons' direction, and a bright curve of energy erupted from the movement. It went right at the demon, staying true to its course until it hit. Neuhaus's naberius, seeing the danger coming, gurgled and quickly dodged out of the way. The fear demon, however was not quite so quick. The energy curve hit it dead on, and seemed to flash even more brightly until the creature was cleaved cleanly in half. The demon released one last, anguished shriek of pain before it disintegrated, leaving nothing but small sparks of energy, and stray flakes of drifting dark matter.

When the deed was done, Neuhaus stared on in amazement. A child that young, taking down a demon with that much power all on his own? This was just unheard of. How could that even be possible? They had sent him because he was one of the few qualified to take on something of this rank. And yet here this was, a child, defeating it with a single attack. And the fact that a voice came out of seemingly nowhere when he picked up that sword... was it a demon sword? A demon sword on top of all of this?

"That... that was incredible," he found himself murmuring. He simply couldn't help it. The sheer idea of something like this just astounded him. "How did you..." he trailed off in his question when he saw how the child, Angel, was looking. The blond stood in the spot from whence he had performed his last attack, his arms hung at his sides as he stared straight ahead. In the light of the full moon, his eyes seemed glassy and out of focus. "Are you alright?" Suddenly, Angel's grip loosened, and his sword fell out of his hand and clattered on the ground. "Hey!"

Just as Neuhaus shouted, the child pitched forward and fell to the ground, completely unconscious.