It had been a week and a half since I learned about demons, and I had been slowly learning more and more about my supernatural abilities. It seemed that there was quite a lot that I could do, if the situation called for it: basic fighting skills, some inherent knowledge of basic weapons, enhanced strength, and enhanced senses. Sebastian had also, at Ciel's "order," taken to learning about my lineage and studying what I might be able to do at night.

It seemed that I dated back to one of the main branches of the original family, to one Claudius Hellsing. As Sebastian explained it to me, demonic heritage was exceptionally difficult to rid yourself of; the blood hardly diluted with each generation, becoming a near permanent fixation in the carrier's genes, and, therefore, in their children's genes, as well. Sebastian also told me that it seemed that there were those who carried the genes dormant and those in which the traits became active. It took three days of gruesome, exhausting trials and tests, under the guise of teaching me how to use my abilities, before Sebastian felt the need to enlighten both Ciel and I that the cause of my sudden onset of demonic ability was probably due to the daily presence of Sebastian in my class. He explained that he first suspected it on the first night of training, when I had grown stronger each passing moment that he had been forced to utilize his beyond human powers. He had needed more than that to go on, of course, so he had been working ways to test his theory into the lessons that I was taking in the afternoon. It seemed that my powers were reacting to the presence of other demons, though I was learning to control them little by little.

"It's like waking up," Sebastian had told me, tilting his head to me with that pleasant smirk of his, bangs teasing over his brow just so. I had said something about a hell of a wake-up call, and then berated him for keeping me up late at night and keeping me from my studies. Not that my ability to perform in my classes had dropped much; with each passing night, my senses were growing more acute, and with them, the growing need to obsess over and every finite detail. Until it was perfect, until no fault could be found in my methods – that was, Ciel had informed me after noticing, a demon's aesthetic. I promptly informed him that modern psychologists would call it a nasty case of perfectionism. Despite how tired it could make me some nights, though, I found that I never got exhausted anymore, not like I used to. Tired, sure, I was plenty tired a lot, and sure as hell I was physically sore a lot, with how hard I was working every night, but never really fall-asleep-during-the-middle-of-the-day tired. From the fact that demons didn't need sleep, I gathered that this was a part of my newfound abilities.

"Lydia? Again?" I jumped a bit and was pulled from my musings by Lauchman. It was the last class of the day, so, of course, I always ended up daydreaming in it.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I've been working ahead and I already did this lesson. I got distracted." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Worked ahead? Really, I don't know what happened with you. You went from never doing homework to working ahead in a matter of weeks. I guess you're doing well in the class though… exceptionally well," he muttered under his breath, low enough where the other students wouldn't have been able to hear it. "Whatever, I guess you're not bothering anyone else." I sat up and tried to at least listen to his lesson as he continued through the example. Good thing I did, because he showed something that I had previously missed trying to do it on my own. When class was over, I sighed and tried to hurry out as usual, not content with being stuck behind the slow shambling of the other students.

"Oh, Lydia, do you have a minute?" I paused and fidgeted as Lauchman stopped me.

"Sure," I said, setting my stuff back down and waiting for the others to leave the room; it didn't take too long. I eyed Lauchman expectantly.

"Lydia, I have to ask you a kind of personal question, so don't take this the wrong way, but –" he seemed as uncomfortable as I was with this. "Are you and Sebastian in a relationship? I only ask because if you are, I need to make sure that the math department doesn't know, because they might think that you and he would act unfairly, although I know that neither of you would…" he sighed loudly.

"Umm…" my face heated. "No? We've been hanging out, but that's it, I promise," I shuffled. "I mean, he's been –" He's been what? Helping me release my inner demon? "He's my sensei. Martial arts lessons," I segued smoothly, settling into the fib rather comfortably. Hey, the best lies are the ones that are still partially true. I stopped fidgeting.

"Oh," Lauchman blinked. "I didn't expect that."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "He needed a place to sit one day and I had an open seat out in the courtyard. We talked and I found out that he taught martial arts. I always wanted to get back into it, I did it when I was younger, so I took him up on it."

"I see. Has he been the reason that you worked ahead? He gave you help?"

"No," I chuckled, understanding what he meant. "It kind of rubbed off on me, though. You know how he is…" Lauchman returned the chuckle.

"Yes, I know. Well, I won't keep you stuck in here any longer, that's all I wanted to know…" I nodded understanding and turned to get my stuff and leave. "By the way…" I turned again. "I know this isn't my place, and I may sound weird saying this, but… you could do worse." With that, Lauchman gave me an awkward smile and I gathered my things and hurried out.

Well meaning Lauchman, awkward but kind-hearted to a fault. What he didn't know was that he had just, inadvertedly, given me advice to date a demon, no matter how valid I thought that advice might be given my own devilish nature. That was one fucking awkward conversation, though. And I'd have to remember to tell Sebastian so that he could collaborate with my lie… I paused and adjusted the backpack on my shoulder before I huffed out loudly and started off again.

Sebastian had left to go to Maine for a few days with Ciel to manage some of their business deals, so I would not be meeting him for the next two days. Which was, as much as I wanted to get into the exciting life of a demon, a happy break. I would have plenty of time to catch up on everything that I had been putting off – like laundry. And grocery shopping. And that research paper due next week that I hadn't started. I groaned and shook my head, pressing the heel of my hand to my temple. I wonder if Sebastian would bitch too much about it if I took the liberty of a vacation day every now and then. After all, I still needed sleep, unlike him.

"…and I know it'd be a lot of fun." I started and managed to stop half an inch from a light pole I had almost walked into; my eye twitched as the familiar purr drifted to my ears. A soft, smooth voice with a slight Latino flair to the words. My eyes darted around until I honed in on Creepy McFuck himself, lounging back against a wall and chatting up some pretty blonde sorority girl. Probably looking to get invited to a party and trick someone into making a deal with him. I regained my composure and stood up a little more straight as a fire burned in my belly. Nope, no, nuh-uh, no-fucking-way, that loser asshole was not making a deal in my turf. Especially not after he had already gotten fair warning. I put on a falsely sweet smile and strode up to the duo.

"Oh, sweetheart?" I said loudly and innocently. "What are you still doing here? I thought you said you had to go back home and take care of your mother." I fluttered my eyelashes at them. The girl looked confused for a moment before it clicked in her head.

"She's your girlfriend?" She scowled at him. "Fuck you!" She turned to me. "I hope you know that he's been hitting on me. You should dump his ass and find someone better," she huffed out. I put on a convincing hurt and confused face and she turned and began to stomp away.

"Oy, wait! She's not my…" he trailed off as he realized it was hopeless. He turned a glare toward me. "You. Your guardian's not in town, fragile thing. That was a bad idea." I met his gaze with my own before I grinned and quickly slammed my hand next to his head. He didn't flinch, his face remaining emotionless, but I had effectively trapped him there. Too bad it was broad daylight.

"I thought I made it clear that you weren't supposed to be around here," I growled out. "I'm going to kill you for this."

"You? It's broad daylight. You aren't going to do a thing. And I'd like for you to follow me down some back alley at night," he smirked back. "I could tear you apart. I can't imagine why he lets you hang around his turf, but I assume it has something to do with the fact that you aren't any threat to him." My brow twitched for a moment before I broke into a fit of giggles, pulling back a ways to bend over a little. My eyes flicked up back to him.

"God, you're stupid, aren't you? A stupid, indiscriminant glutton," I taunted. A smirk of my own was making its way over my face. "It's between class periods and this is the back edge of campus. There's no one around to see me kick your ass." With that, I lunged for him, at once gathering all of my strength to smash into the wall where he was; he moved out of the way of the strike and my fist left a painfully earned dent in the wall. I whipped my head around to duck a kick of his own as I uncurled my hand: it had hurt like a motherfucker, but, as usual, no actual damage. I moved with slightly jagged strikes, narrowly missing him with each one; he moved with more grace than I did, yet with less than Sebastian, and so I, too, took no hits.

After minutes of this, we both retreated to re-evaluate the situation. It seemed lucky that we had both come to the same conclusion at the same time: this was getting us nowhere, and we were pressing our luck here in the middle of the day. We both paused crouching, a few feet from each other, when he spoke up.

"Should we end this for now?" I eyed him suspiciously. Could I trust him? "It's not useful if either one of us gets caught. And leaving a body here makes this place useless for me anyways, with all the attention it'll draw."

"I agree," I said cautiously.

"So let's be slightly more civil about this. This is the 21st century, after all. If humans can move past being so Medieval, then so can we." I relaxed more and nodded. "Good. So let's set up a time and a place where we can meet in peace and resume this." I nodded again.

"Fine. How about the house where Ciel and Sebastian stay tonight?" I grinned. "They're gone, so it's not like they're a problem. It's secluded, and there's an archery range in the back that gives us a wide open field to really move in." Okay, that last line was a bluff of sorts; I really had been moving as well as I could, and I had no clue how I would even use up more space. After all, I was new to this. But, who cared, right? Someone had to teach this blithering fuck a lesson or two (and possibly also erase him from existence) and right now I was really feeling that that person was me. New to this or not, he was getting his ass beat down.

"Sounds good to me. If you don't show…" He didn't need to finish the statement to let me know he'd be dropping the honor and throttling me in my sleep. I shivered a little but stood firm and nodded. He turned without another word and strode off, leaving me standing next to where I had put my backpack with a twisting in my gut. Good god, what had I just done…?

The phone rang a few times and I paced back and forth. "Pick up, pick up…" I muttered. Finally, a click.

"Michaelis."

"Hey friend-o. Um, I sort of did a thing."

"Lydia? You couldn't last two days without calling for something…? What did you do?" He sounded slightly annoyed that I had called.

"Uhh, well, that other demon from the other day was back around him, and so I got all pissed he was back in your territory and tried to fight him, but it was the middle of the day, and…" I bit my lip. Sebastian remained silent. "I'm participating in an old-west style duel at Ciel's house in a few hours…?" Sebastian was quiet for a good minute. I paced nervously. Finally, I heard a long, drawn out sight.

"Lydia, why would you not just wait two days? You know that I could handle it when I got back. And the house…! If you get one speck of blood…!"

"I couldn't help it!" I protested. "I was so mad that I'm lucky I didn't destroy that building where we were! It just sort of… happened," I admitted. "Is that a demon kind of thing? To fight it out? Because that's what I wanted to do."

"Yes," he sighed. I could picture him slapping his hand over his face in a dramatic caricature of his frustration. "Do try and be careful, it would be annoying to have you killed after all that time I invested in you."

I nodded, and then, realizing he was on the phone, gave a short, "Yes. Any helpful tips and tricks?" I added.

"Win quickly, before you get worn down. He will last loner than you. No mercy."

"No mercy? Are you kidding me? You think I would hold back against the kind of presumptuous twat that comes slithering back into your territory even after you gave them a warning…!" I felt that rage bubbling up in me again. "Sebastian Michaelis," I growled, "I'll be coming for you next if you talk to me like that!"

A soft giggle. I could almost hear his smirk. "Fine. However, remember that I take threats very seriously. I will hold you to it when I get back."

"Hold me to it or hold me to you…?" I blurted before I could stop myself.

"Well, we'll have to see, won't we?" He simply said. The phone hung up.

I pondered what had compelled me to say something like that and briefly wondered if shoving my foot this far up my mouth was another ability I was gleaning from my demon side.

I shook my head. No, it wasn't like Sebastian gave half a shit; he had said himself that he knew he was ridiculously hot. He probably was just happy to get off the phone with me and get back to whatever he was doing.

"Sebastian, was that Lydia? What is she doing with the house?" Ciel asked Sebastian as he returned the phone to his pocket.

"She is going to fight a demon in the back yard. It seems that annoying prat that started all of this is back around."

"Is she going to be able to kill him?" Ciel sighed, returning to his book.

"Ordinarily, I would think that an inexperienced half-demon would stand no chance against a full-fledged demon. However, you know how we tend to make contracts, and the kind of demon who would lurk around a college campus for desperate teenagers is pathetic, indeed. And, Lydia reminds me somewhat of you, young demon," Sebastian teased Ciel. "She is not one to die when it is obvious that she should." Ciel gave an annoyed "humph" and slouched into his chair, leaving the elder demon to himself once again.

Thoughts troubled Sebastian. It was uncharacteristic of him to bother rooting for anyone who didn't stand to directly benefit him. Then again, the girl was a refreshing and very welcome distraction from his boredom. A soul worth taking only came around once every couple hundred years on average, and wasn't a distraction from that boredom worth this attention…? No, Sebastian grimaced internally. There was simply no denying that he was fixated an unusual amount on her. There was something about her that made him… want wasn't the right word. Neither was covet, for the attraction was not that powerful. But there was the hint of a magnetic draw there, pulling him toward her little by little.

If he didn't find out what it was soon, Sebastian thought that he would go insane. He needed a serious brake from this – he had heard that the manager of the local branch of one of Ciel's companies nearby had several cats as pets. Maybe he would be courteously stopping by later…