Darkness in darkness, that's what sleep had become. You could hide from darkness in the light, and light in the darkness; but not darkness within darkness. Jean was getting used to this by now, seeing all of those horrible images in her head. But they were still unsettling and seemed to get more real with each passing minute.

"Eve…" Jean whispered in her sleep.

He ran a hand threw Jeans hair as she slept. His touch soft enough as not to disturb her nightmares. He examined her body and saw the wounds that covered her and pulled a medical pack from his bag and began dressing the wounds.

"Hmm…" Jean opened her eyes and stared at the new figure, "AH!"

"WOAH!" The figure fell to the ground in shock.

"Who are you and what are you doing!?" Jean stood up and shouted.

Climbing to his feet the figure held out his hand, "I'm Leonard, but everyone calls me Leon."

Reluctantly, Jean took his hand and shook it as she stared at him. He was pretty tall, about 6'1", short black hair, deep brown eyes, and a body she would die for. Realizing she had stared at him a little to long, Jean blushed and turned her face away from Leon.

"Umm… I'm Jean."

"Nice to meet you Jean," Leon smiled at her, "Mind if I finish patching you up?"

"Oh… no, that would be great."

Jean sat back down and rolled up her shirtsleeve so he would have an easier time at cleaning and bandaging the wounds. This just reassured her that she was alive after all that had happened. She could feel the sting of the antiseptic and his hands on her skin.

"God…" Jean thought to herself, "He is so cute! Why did I have to meet him now?"

Leon stood up, "All set Jean."

Blushing, Jean rubbed her arm, "Feels great. Thank you."

"Heh heh, no problem."

"Umm…" She looked down at the ground, "How did you… survive this place?"

"Huh?" Leon looked confused, "Survive what? There's nothing out here. And all the roads are blocked off by some major chasms."

Shocked, Jean turned toward Leon and grabbed his arms, "You didn't see them!? How could you miss all of those horrible things?!"

Leon opened his mouth to say something but he was fixated on Jean's eyes, they had taken on a crimson tint. It was like the fires of Hell itself were burning in them.

"I… I just…" He trailed off.

"Tell me!" She dug her nails into his arm.

"I don't know anything!" He tore from her grip, "I only remember my name! I got hit on the head with a board before all of this, and don't know what's going on!"

Jean stared at him inquisitively, "How do you know you got hit in the head with a board?"

"I woke up in what I'm assuming is my house with a pile of debris next to me, and one of the boards had a blood smear on it." He pushed back his hair to show Jean the deep gash on his head.

"I… I'm sorry. I've been paranoid lately with everything," She moved closer to Leon as she started to cry, "I can't… can't take this! I've lost everyone! Hold me!"

She fell into his arms and sobbed loudly into his shirt. Thrown off guard by this Leon hesitantly hugged her. They were both lost in this town, no, in Hell. He didn't know what to do or how to survive, but she did. And she was lost emotionally, and he wasn't. They would compliment one another, balance each other out, become one in order to live. Leon was now caught up the emotional outpouring, he rested his head on Jeans shoulder and began to cry himself. After several minutes of crying, Jean pushed herself from Leon and wiped the remaining tears from her eyes.

"It's time to go."

"Where? Everything's blocked off."

"We'll find a way." Jean punched her open palm.

Once again she stepped into the darkness, but this time not alone. She had an ally in her fight. Looking to her right she saw the bridge that led back into the main part of the town.

"That looks like a good place to start." Jean said walking in that direction.

Leon followed, close behind her. Something caught her eye up ahead. Something didn't seem right.

Leon squinted, "Can you see something Jean?"

Taking in a deep breath Jean coughed and spit on the ground, "I can taste it."

"Huh?" Leon looked at her in awe.

A shriek pierced the darkness as a winged creature soared out of the darkness and swatted at Jeans' head.

"No good!" She screamed, "The other way!"

They sprinted down the road, the creature still following them. They reached a crossroads and stopped yet again.

Jean bit her lip, "Damn it!"

"What is it Jean?" Leon struggling for breath.

"There up here too! Back!"

"Back where!?" Leon looked panicked, "Their everywhere!"

"Back to the hospital! It's the only way!"

Turning on their heels they rushed back toward the hospital, a cool breeze blowing in their faces. Turning down the road that led to the hospital, Jean felt slight relief. She could feel that there was nothing up ahead that posed any immediate danger to them. They continued down the road, the shrieks of the creatures still audible behind them. Jean cut suddenly in front of Leon and opened the hospital gates. When Leon had gotten into the courtyard, she closed the gates and locked them with the hospital key.

"Not done yet," Jean choked out, "Inside!"

Leon, who was sitting on the ground catching his breath, stood up and stumbled toward the door. Once they were both safely inside Jean locked the door with the key.

"What the hell were those things, Jean?"

"Those are the things I was telling you about."

"So, you've seen them before?"

Jean paused for a moment, "Well… not them."

Leon stared at her for a moment, her eyes had a crimson tint to them again; only brighter than before. "Then what?"

"I saw the Demon."

Leon was confused more than ever now, "What Demon?"

"The head Demon. The reason the town is like this," Jean sat down in one of the waiting room chairs, "If you don't mind, I'm feeling really tired. I'm going to sleep for a while."

"But, you just woke up."

"I know, I'm just need some more sleep." Jean closed her eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello Jean." Adriel took her hand and kissed it.

Jean looked coldly at her hand, "What do you want?"

Adriel walked around her in his cool fashion like he did before and leaned up against one of the trees, "Just to chat."

Sitting down on the ground Jean crossed her legs and stared at him, "You never want to do just that."

"True," He extended his finger out and a butterfly rested on it, "You know me well Jean."

"Didn't take me long to figure you out." Jean spit on the ground.

"Something wrong dear?" Adriel let the butterfly go, "Not feeling good?"

"Can't get this taste out of my mouth."

Adriel crouched next to Jean and placed his head on her shoulder, "Want to know what that taste is?" He sniffed at the air, "Such a delicious smell."

Jean turned around, "It's disgusting, that's what it is."

He caressed her cheek with his hand, "You'll get used to it I'm sure." He moved his hooded face toward her and kissed her.

She was shocked. Why was he doing this? He was getting stranger with every meeting of them.

She pushed him away from her breaking the odd kiss, "Why did you do that!?"

"I love that taste you see. And it's even better when it comes from something that is still alive."

Jean rose to her feet, "What is it!? Tell me!"

"Jean," Adriel seemed to float as he stood, "You will find out everything very soon."

She grabbed his robe, "You will tell me now!"

"Have you seen yourself lately? In the mirror I mean."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Adriel held out a mirror, "Take a good look."

Jean snorted at him as she let go of the robe and snatched the mirror form him. He held it up and stared into it. She could hardly believe what she looked like. Did Leon see any of this?

"What's wrong with my eyes!? Why are they red? Their blood red!" She threw the mirror to the ground and watched it shatter and the glass fly into the air.

"Since you're so insistent on things, I guess I will tell you some things."

Jean fell to her knees and cried. She had been doing this a lot lately, but she had gotten used to it by now.

"Every person has a soul you see, and that soul is reflected in every persons eyes. Your soul has been tainted; taken on a darkness if you will. Since the town is comprised of nothing but darkness now it's only natural for you to start absorbing that darkness into your body and soul."

Jean could hardly believe that this was happening to her, the tears just kept pouring out. "Will I ever be normal again? Will I ever be pure?"

"That," Adriel turned his back to her, "I will not answer. It's time for you to go back."

"No! I don't want to turn into one of those things! Don't do it!"

Adriel snapped his fingers and the garden swirled once again into total darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jean awoke suddenly, her clothes drenched in sweat. She wiped her face and looked for Leon. But how could he face him now? She was turning into something horrible, and she didn't know what. Standing up she started her search for Leon, but her movements were slow, because she was ashamed of herself now.

"Leon?" Jeans' voice was weak and timid, "Where are you?"

"ARGH!"

"NO! Not Leon too!" She didn't care anymore, she rushed toward the scream.

She opened the hall door and made her way toward the staff room, back to the beginning of everything. Jean could feel the adrenaline pulsing through her body, and something else. She knew it had to be the darkness within her.

Jean kicked the door off its hinges and stepped into the room, "LEON!"

"J-Jean… get… aw-away!" The Demons massive claw was wrapped around Leons' body.

"NO! It stops now!" Jean charged at the beast and smashed into its arm.

Roaring in pain, it flung Leon into the wall, there was a loud series of cracks as his fell to the floor in a heap.

"NO! You won't take him away from me."

The Demon glared at her, "Try it."

"You… you can talk!?" Jean stepped back.

"My power has returned, I am capable of more than just speech." It charged at her and slashed at her.

Jean remembered this trick before and fell to the floor to dodge, when the claw had passed her she pushed off the ground and crushed its elbow. It roared out in pain as it held it's broken limb.

"You must die so we may survive." Jean raised her fists and saw a faint red aura start to form.

The Demon stared at her and laughed, "HAHA! Look at you girl, you've absorbed my dark power. You can save nobody know. Your touch will be like flames upon others skin and you will rot inside your own body!"

"I will live! I will become pure!"

"Hmph, maybe some other time." The Demon disappeared in a flash of fire and the room was once again dark.

"Leon!" Jean hurried toward his side.

"Jean, *cough*, sorry about this."

"Don't be sorry Leon," She held his head in her hands, "I should be sorry for not being awake before this happened."

"Let's just say it's this damn towns fault." He weakly raised his hand and caressed her cheek.

She held his hand there and cried again, "Leon," She bent down and kissed him. She could fell his life flicker out, absorbed by the town.

Standing up, she wiped the tears from her eyes and spit at the ground. The taste had returned, worse than before. She froze in fear when she realized what the taste was. It was the taste of death and decay. She could taste the death in this town. That's why she could sense those monsters. And the chilling feelings she had before, they were just the beginnings of all of this. She was different now. Was she better than the Demon? Or was she simply becoming its Hell Spawn?