"You get me zat money by Zursday and zat's final!" Christophe slammed the receiver down onto the table. "Fuck sake…" he muttered.

"Got a bit of a problem?"

He looked up, slightly startled, to find a dark figure standing at his bedroom door, " 'oo ze fuck are you? 'oo let you in 'ere?"

"Your mother let me in," the figure stepped closer, pulling up a chair in front on Christophe's desk and sitting on it backwards, folding his arms over its head. His face was still masked by the darkness of Christophe's room.

" 'oo are you?"

"Me?" A pure white grin of sharp teeth formed before Christophe, "Why… I'm just the Anti-Christ."

It was the beginning of a brand new school day on Friday morning. Damien and Pip sat side by side in their usual registration spot, waiting patiently for Mrs Matthews to show up. They were unusually quiet, but it had been like that almost all week.

Pip was probably just embarrassed that Damien had seen him in such a state when Bill and Fosse were tormenting him. He knew that Damien had seen him in a state plenty of times before, but he felt guilty that it had gotten the two bullies into trouble. Plus, he knew something was up when they didn't show up for school the next day and only yesterday were they reported missing. So Pip knew something serious had happened, he was just too afraid to confront Damien about it. Too afraid to face the truth.

Damien was very well aware that Pip knew in his heart what happened, although he had wished that Pip wouldn't realise how sinister the situation actually was. He didn't have a second thought about it himself, but he was concerned about what Pip thought about it. The light hearted blonde obviously didn't like it, but Damien did it for him. He wondered if he could have done it differently for Pip's sake.

Suddenly, his mobile buzzed in his shirt pocket. He lifted it out without even bothering to check if any teachers were about and checked his messages. There was a small, pink envelope beside the name "MOLE."

'Call at 12:30 sharp. I've got something.'

Damien deleted the message and slipped his phone back into his pocket. Pip looked up at him as if to ask "who was that?" In response, Damien merely smiled sweetly at him and pet his head, stroking his soft, shiny hair.

Mrs Matthews scuttled in in a tizzy, "A-alright class… let's get started," she rushed as she opened up her register and began calling out the names in alphabetical order.

Damien put his arm around Pip and pulled him in closer. He had been doing so the whole week, protecting what was his. But he'd have to leave Pip alone for a while at lunchtime considering he had some serious business to take care of.

"So do you know who it could have been?"

"I 'ave a good idea," Christophe's voice came from the other end of Damien's mobile. He was standing alone behind the school, making sure no one else was there.

"Well then," he answered impatiently, "spit it out. How did you do it and who was it?"

"I told you, I can't be positive but it's a good lead. I 'ad to stick around outside 'is 'ouse before I could get anyzing…"

"Hey wait a minute, I told you no stalking! I don't want you freaking him out."

"You asked me to find out 'oo it was and even if I'm wrong, I'm sure zis will be a very vital piece of information for you."

"So what is it?" Damien barked, growing agitated.

" 'is foster parents…" Christophe said in a low voice.

Damien paused, "Wait… what do you mean?"

"Zey must be alcoholics, but I don't know for sure. All I know is zat zey were blocked last night."

Damien said nothing and just listened carefully.

"Ze guy started yelling at Pip out of the blue. Pip did nozing."

"And then…?"

"And zen 'ee beat 'im."

Damien's eyes widened in horror, "… W-what?"

" 'it 'im, kicked 'im, you know," Christophe answered casually.

"How bad was it?" Damien managed to say.

"Not as brutal as 'ee's probably used to. Judging by 'ow Pip took it I'd say zat 'ee's used to it, maybe even to a lot worse zan zat."

Damien couldn't find anymore words to say. He was shocked. He knew Pip had a crummy life at school, but it never crossed his mind that he had to put up with that sort of abuse all of the time.

"Is zat it, zen?" Christophe broke the silence, suspecting Damien wasn't going to say anything without a prompt.

"Huh?"

"Is ze job done?"

"Y-yeah…" Damien answered half lost. He couldn't think straight at the minute.

"I'll be expecting ze ozer 'alf of my pay by Monday zen."

Damien gave a grunt of approval, nodding slightly even though he knew Christophe wouldn't be able to see that.

"Au revoir zen, mon ami."

Christophe hung up. Damien sat and listened to the dial tone with a blank expression on his face. Slowly, his mouth curled into a scowl and his eyes blazed with raging flames. Someone was going to pay for this. But for the minute, he was concerned with only one thing.

Pip looked up at the fluffy white clouds that hovered above in the bright blue sky and smiled widely. It was such a nice day in South Park, despite everything else that had been going on. It seemed to contrast with all the terrible things that had been happening and compensated for it in its own primitive way.

Pip turned to Damien to see if he was enjoying the scenery as well, but he was just looking straight ahead blankly as they walked along on their usual route. It wasn't long after school and Damien was walking Pip home once more. Soon, they were approaching the street that Damien always left Pip off at. Pip stopped, but Damien continued walking forward without even realising they had arrived.

"Umm… Damien?"

Damien stopped and turned to face Pip, who stepped closer to him.

"We're here."

Damien merely grabbed his arm and pulled him along, continuing on his path.

"D-Damien stop… what are you doing?"

"You're not going back there."

"But I have to! I have to do my chores."

Damien said nothing, still pulling Pip helplessly along. Pip picked up his speed and caught up so he didn't have to be dragged.

"Damien…"

"Just come on."

"But-"

"Quiet," Damien interrupted coldly.

Pip said nothing more and followed along. He was tempted to ask more questions though and didn't cease to worry about what would happen if he wasn't home on time. Damien seemed uncaring. It almost worried Pip.

It wasn't long before they arrived at Damien's house. Pip paused nervously as Damien took out his keys and opened the door. He pulled Pip in, walking quickly in through the hall.

"Dad, I'm home!" he called as they made their way up the stairs, "I've brought a friend, we'll be in my room."

Pip looked around as he ran behind Damien, still in his grip. Their house looked surprisingly normal, if not, fabulous.

'My, Satan must be quite the decorator,' Pip thought as he admired the layout and choice of colours, designs and patterns.

He was pulled into a dark room. Damien shut the door behind them and instantly it went pitch black. Pip looked around frightened, trying to let his eyes adjust. Damien turned the light switch slightly, turning it on so that it gave out a dim glow. Now that Pip could see, he realised that he was in Damien's bedroom. Before he could take it in, Damien pulled him over to the bed and pushed him down onto it, resting him in a sitting position against the large headboard. Damien held onto his shoulders firmly and knelt low over Pip, his ass hovering just above his lap. He leaned in so close that their foreheads were pressed together. Pip blushed deeply.

"U-umm… Damien? W-why… what are you doing? I need to go home…"

"You're not going home tonight."

"W-what do you mean?"

"I mean I'm not letting you go back."

Pip stared at Damien worriedly, "What are you going to do to me?"

"Relax Pip," Damien whispered in his ear as he began to stroke Pip's cheek, "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm protecting you from them."

"W-who's 'them'?"

Damien sat up, coming away from Pip's face so that he could look directly into his eyes better, "You know who I mean Pip. I'd have to be mad to let you go home to that. You don't have to put up with that kind of abuse again."

Pip turned away shamefully, "I-it's not…"

"Not what? Not abuse?" Pip didn't respond. Damien took him by the chin and turned his head to face him, "I know what he did you to Pip."

There was a short pause. Pip looked as though he was about to cry again as his eyes glistened with tears. He sniffed slightly. Damien lay down on his side beside him and looked at the poorly young boy.

"Pip… why didn't you tell me?"

Pip turned away from him, "I… I was scared…"

Damien said nothing and merely stared at the back of Pip's head, thinking. He heard another sniff and Pip raised his hand up to his face as though he were wiping tears away. Damien sat up and turned Pip around, taking him in his arms.

"Hey now… don't cry," he hushed as he pulled him into a warm hug, "You don't need to be scared anymore. You know that."

Pip continued to sniffle into Damien's jumper. Damien pulled him off of his body so that he could look right at him. Pip wiped more tears from his cheek.

"It's ok," Damien whispered as he placed a gentle kiss on Pip's forehead, "You don't have to go back to them ever again."

Pip looked up at him confused, "But Damien… I have to. I live there."

"I'm not letting you go back," Damien replied sternly.

"But-"

"You're staying right here."

Pip looked around, 'In his bed?' He felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Now come on," Damien said as he got off the bed and stood over Pip, pulling Pip up with him, "We might as well let my father know."

"Y-your father?" Pip stuttered.

"Don't worry," Damien laughed, "he's harmless."

Pip didn't look so certain, but nevertheless Damien took him by the hand and led him out of the room, relieved knowing that he wasn't at home when God knows what could happen.

Damien's bathroom was surprisingly warm despite the fact that the walls were lined with marble tiles. A beautiful, old fashioned candle chandelier hung from the ceiling and matching candle holders were placed all around the room, on the windowsill and around the bath. Pip stood on the fluffy, red carpet and lifted the clothes Damien had left for him off of the radiator; a loose black top with the letter "D" on the front and a baggy pair of long, dark blue bottoms. He threw them on quickly, not feeling comfortable with being nude in someone else's house. However, he didn't feel terribly comfortable with any of this. He was extremely unsure of Damien's decision to keep him from going home, but it was too late now. Instead, he went along with whatever Damien had decided on and walked back to his bedroom.

Damien watched as Pip opened the door carefully and walked in, closing the door behind him. He pulled the blanket off of him and opened his legs slightly wider so that Pip could lie against him. He held his arms out to him and Pip walked towards him sheepishly.

"Don't be shy," Damien smiled, still holding his arms out.

Pip climbed into the bed hesitantly, nestling himself up against Damien's warm chest. Damien ran his fingers through his hair.

"You know, you look pretty good in black."

Pip almost giggled, rubbing his cheek against the soft material of Damien's t-shirt. He closed his eyes and Damien pulled the sheets back over the two of them.

"I suppose you're too tired to watch a movie then?"

"Not at all," Pip murmured from his comfort zone.

"The Addams Family?"

"Ok," Pip smiled. It was one of his favourite, non-animated, non-romantic movies.

Damien grabbed the remote on his bedside table and pressed play. Pip hadn't even noticed the TV across from his bed. He sat up slightly and wrapped his arms around Damien's neck so that he could face the TV properly. Damien smiled, wrapping his arms around Pip's waist as the movie began to start. Pip snuggled closer to Damien needily.

"You see?" Damien hushed as he gave Pip a light squeeze, "You're safe now."