Shin sat in the living room, not speaking to anyone. It had been a day already, and no sound had escaped his mouth. Everything he remembered about Touma just kept playing through his head, over and over. He heard Weezer blasting from Shuu's room upstairs, and sighed. That was always the way Shuu dealt with things now. Before, he would've gone out somewhere and just been alone, breaking things. But now that Eri had come along, and introduced him to letting go of emotions through music, nobody had needed to worry about where he was.
Shin heard the faint strains of autoharp music coming from down the hall, chords from American Pie. He recognized Eri's sweet voice singing as she stroked the strings with her Last Leg of Liberty pick, and pressed on the chord keys with her perfectly manicured midnight blue nails. He wiped his eyes and stared out the window at the rain. Two gone in two days! First Seiji, now Touma...who would be next? And what had Touma warned him of?
A demon, that was it. A demon that was killing them all, that would destroy all of them. Poor Touma, struck down by a dark angel. He remembered the face of Touma's girlfriend, Midori, as he had told. She had just nodded and went into Eri's room. He had heard lots of things breaking, glass crashing, and a lot of screaming. But Shin knew better than to disturb anything, and he had gone in two hours later. Eri had opened the door, and smiled weakly, telling him that Midori was sleeping.
A door closed and he stood up as Eri walked through the living room. He followed her silently down to the basement, wanting to speak to her. She took no notice that anybody was near her as she opened some sort of safe and took out a case. She took out a violin and walked to the band room, where they all rehearsed. It hadn't been used in a couple days, and Shin shivered as the notes from the violin echoed off the walls. He recognized the melody immediately. He walked over to where Ryo's acoustic guitar was on a stand, picked it up, sat on a stool and began playing along with her, picking the notes and chords carefully.
As soon as Shin began playing with her, Eri turned to him and smiled bleakly. He nodded, the pain in his eyes apparent, but he didn't stop. Neither did she. Instead, the inner turmoil they put into the music became more apparent. Her notes were sweeter, more sorrowful than they had been during any concerts. He didn't normally play guitar, but his hands found the chords like they never had before and he was softer plucking the strings so the notes were less harsh.
"Who do I have to fight now?" Eri sank into a chair, holding her violin to her chest. "Who is it now?"
"A demon." Shin put the guitar back in the stand. "Lunch will be in about fifteen minutes. Think you can handle tray duty?"
"I should be okay." She grinned, or really, tried to.
"Stay sweet for just that much longer." He nodded and walked back up to the kitchen. Eri, sighing hauntingly, stood and walked over to where Touma's base was held on a night-blue stand. She picked it up, and putting the strap over her shoulder, began the bass line for a song. Ryo, upstairs, heard the bass line and ran downstairs, concerned.
"You okay?" He asked as he saw her concentrating.
"Life is a lesson, you learn it when you're through." She shrugged. Ryo picked up his guitar and grinned.
"Last chance for redemption?"
"Turn up your amp." She commanded. Ryo did as bid, and started matching her song. Shuu came down and took his place at the drums. Eri rolled her eyes. "Shin's not coming down. Making turkey sandwiches. Does this mean I don't have tray duty?"
Ryo and Shuu looked at each other quickly. "No." They put the instruments down, or in Shuu's case, drumsticks, and raced upstairs.
"Damn...should've known better." She sighed again. "They are so good at disguising their feelings..."
"Eri! Trays!" Shin called down to the basement. "Hurry up!"
"Coming!" She yelled back and trudged up the stairs.
***

"Eri?" Shin opened his eyes to find that he was in complete darkness. The light in his fish tank wasn't visible; he didn't even think it was even there. "Eri?"
"Nope." A rather cheerful voice answered him. "I'm starting to get bored with you boys."
Shin knew the voice immediately. "Demon!"
"Much faster than Touma. Good job." A young woman hopped off a stool and skipped over to where he lay. "Do you want to die on the floor?"
"No. I don't want to die." Shin groaned as she pulled him off the floor gently.
"See, I like you, Shin. I don't want to hurt you at all, which is funny for me! I mean, I always like killing and hurting and being mean, you know, demon stuff. But you're so different. You hate hurting people, you hate hurting anything...I guess you were my role model. Until I became what I am."
"That's a lie!" Shin put his guard up. She had killed both Touma and Seiji, the two smartest ones of the group. She had outsmarted Touma, gotten him exactly where she wanted him. "You aren't too smart for me. I know your ways." He wasn't feeling like himself at all. He wanted to fight! Every fiber of his body burned to destroy the demon that had ruined his life!
"Oh, you want to fight, do you? That's not like you at all! You want to die in battle?"
"I'll die killing you!" Shin leaped at her, sizing her up at he jumped. She wasn't very big, and rather thin. She shouldn't be that hard to get. Crack! Shin fell to the floor, spasms of pain shooting through his spine. "What?"
The demon rolled her eyes. "You are an idiot. Surely you don't think it would be that easy? I'm not stupid! I can see what moves you're going to make!"
Shin growled. "No, you can't." Instantly, he pulled up his natural shield that Eri had taught him to use. He could hear the demon yell as the blockade shut her out.
"Alright, fine, you wanna play rough?! We'll play rough!" The demon pulled a blade that looked like it was made of ebony. "Take this for size!" She whirled at him, but he dodged, flipping back over her.
"You won't defeat me! I will destroy you for what you have taken! Armour of Torrent, tao Shin!" Shin powered up, then thought the better of it. But it was too late, she couldn't control him! "Super Wave Smasher!"
She deflected the shot, and it hit him. He all of a sudden knew just how powerful he was. He fell, and she flicked her wrist. His armour disappeared, and she straddled his stomach. "Any last words, Shin?" She asked sweetly.
"Not to you!" Shin struggled to get away, but she held him fast.
"Sorry, Shin...but I'm not going to let you warn the others." She raised the dagger and smiled maliciously. She plunged it into his chest, feeling the exquisite pleasure of his pain-filled scream rush through her. He started coughing.
"You...bitch..." He vomited. She hit him in the head and he passed out.
"Well, I'll just let you bleed to death." She moved his body and made a spell so it would disappear.
***
"Shin?" Eri quietly entered his room. "Are you okay?" She frowned as she walked over, and turned on the light. What was the red stuff staining the sheets? Was it blood? She screamed as she saw the wound in his chest.
"Ai!" Shuu raced in. "Querida?" He looked at the bloodied body of his best friend, and immediately turned away. "...tell me this is a joke!"
"Sorry, love..." Eri choked back her sobs. "Come on, let's take care of him..."
"What do you mean?"
"Wash the blood from him, clean him up a little."
"How can you be so fucking calm?!" Shuu looked like he was going to hit her.
"Because I have to." She sniffed. That was it. All the anger that had been boiling in Shuu since Seiji died was released. Before he knew what was happening, his hand had struck the girl. She fell to the side, his hand visible on her cheek. Standing determinedly, she shook her head to clear the fuzziness, and punched him in the nose. "Enough! You had better keep your emotions in check, Faun Shuu-Rei! And if you don't, well, a bloody nose is more than you'll have!" She snapped as she picked up Shin's body and walked into the bathroom. "And you can go tell Ryo about this, RIGHT NOW!"