Chapter 10

Chaos at the Dispatch

William T. Spears sat at his desk, an open folder in his lap, scanning over the lists within. His glasses slid a bit down his nose, but he quickly used the end of his Death Scythe, a spear-like rod that could extend, to push them back into place. His cold golden eyes narrowed as he looked again and again over the numbers. No matter how many times he looked over them, they still did not add up. This frustrated the Shinigami beyond belief. He prided himself on being punctual, but if this kept up he would have to put in overtime; and he despised overtime.

Suddenly, several loud cries of surprise sounded from outside of his office, followed by loud yelling and the sounds of things being thrown and smashed. William groaned in irritation and smoothed down his somewhat messy dark brown hair before standing up and striding to the door. If that chaos was caused by a certain red-head he was going to personally kill him.

When William opened the door and stepped out, he was met by a scene more chaotic than what he had pictured. Eric, Alan, and Ronald were all tearing the office apart, swinging their Death Scythes wildly. Eclipse was standing as close to the wall as she could get, a terrified look on her face. Grell, the red-head he had previously blamed for the trouble, was grinning and cat-calling. And in the center of all of the chaos was him. Sebastian Michaelis. William's glasses flashed, and he felt his blood begin to boil.

"Everyone STOP!" he yelled, growling lowly for emphasis.

The room went silent as everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him. The silence persisted for a moment as the Shinigami tried to process the situation, but it didn't last long; it was broken by Grell Sutcliffe.

"Look, Will~! It's my dear Bassy! My love has come for me at last! I've been waiting for you for so long, my sweet Bassy!" the flamboyant Shinigami grinned and jumped at Sebastian, who was shaking off a shudder of disgust.

The demon easily side-stepped, causing Grell to land face-first at his feet. The Shinigami looked up at him and pouted, then his pointy-toothed grin returned.

"Oh, you've not changed a bit!Your cold nature sends chills up my spine, you handsome devil!" he swooned.

The other Shinigami and Eclipse simply watched as Sebastian shuddered again and pulled a disgusted face, looking like he had just smelled something rotten.

"Please stop saying such vile things. It's simply unsavory, especially in front of my master." the demon growled.

"At least we agree on something." Alan muttered, readjusting his glasses.

"Alan, Eric, and Grell. Get back to work or we'll all be doing unpaid overtime. As for Ronald, Eclipse, and...the noxious beast...I want an explanation. In my office. Now." Will's voice was icy, and Ron and Eclipse both shivered anxiously.

The other Shinigami quickly returned to work as William led Ronald, Eclipse, and Sebastian into his office. As soon as the door was shut firmly behind them, William turned on his heel and glared angrily at them.

"Ronald Knox, would you care to explain why there is a demon in the Dispatch?" he hissed lividly.

"He and Eclipse have a contract, and she wanted to talk to you." Ronald's voice was a terrified squeak, and Sebastian smirked in amusement at the man's evident fear.

William turned his head sharply to give Eclipse a chilling glare, and she leaned a bit closer to Sebastian in fear. Sebastian glared back at the Shinigami and wrapped an arm reassuringly around the terrified young woman.

"Stop intimidating her, William. Can we not discuss this like adults?" he growled, his eyes glowing a vivid red.

"You will speak when I address you, demon! Hold your tongue!" William hissed.

Sebastian was about to snap back, but Eclipse nudged him and shook her head at him.

"It's fine, Sebastian. He has a right to be angry. We did cause a lot of chaos back there." she said softly.

"That's not what I'm upset about! Eclipse, you willingly made a contract with a demon? After everything that Eric, Alan, Ronald, and I told you about them you still went and did it? You have no idea how much that hurts me! I, who mentored you and came to trust you as another hard worker, even if your job involves music and not souls! And Ronald, Eric, Alan! Your friends! Do you have any idea the trouble this is going to put us through? Do you know how difficult it is to kill a demon as old as this one?" William asked, pointing his Death Scythe at Sebastian so that the end was mere inches from the tip of his nose.

"Yes, I know, but I did it for the music, Will! You know how much I love music! It's that one universal thing that we can all understand. And I don't just mean different races of people! Humans, angels, demons and Shinigami alike can all understand the emotions caused by music. I have to save the music, William. And I think my soul is certainly worth saving the music so people of the future can listen to something other than rap. You understand, don't you?"

"No, I don't. The soul is a precious thing, a thing to be guarded and cherished. Not sold to a greedy demon to gobble up without any respect or care for what it is!"

"I did it for the music, and Sebastian is very respectful of my soul. I trust him to take care of it after this. I trust him to put it to use as a good meal. And I hope he never forgets what this strong soul was fighting for. The freedom to make any kind of music you like without being afraid for your life."

William sighed and slumped back, falling tiredly into his chair. He looked at Eclipse and Sebastian silently over the rims of his glasses. He suddenly looked much older than he was; it was evident that the Shinigami was overworked, and in need of a break.

"I'm too tired to deal with this. I'll kill the demon later. What do you want from me, Eclipse? What can I do to help you?" he asked quietly, all of the spirit gone from his now weary voice.

"We need the list of all of the Beats Gang members, and their information." Eclipse replied softly.

William grabbed the folder he had been looking through and tossed it at them. Sebastian caught it easily and scanned through it before nodding at his master. She sighed and cast a sorrowful glance at Will.

"At least you won't have to worry about them anymore." she tried to reassure him.

"Yes, but at what cost? Your soul? To me, dear little girl...that's not worth it."