"You? But…" Evan paused, looking at Kurt as if to get some sort of support. "No offense, but it sounds like this is dangerous. What if it goes after you?"

Wesley looked at them, a small smile on his face as he picked up a gleaming sword. "This is what I was trained for. For my whole life, I was prepared for hunting demons. Now, while there are some things that the Watchers should have done a better job on, like how to… well, that's not important. I know how to identify demons, I know how to find their weaknesses, and I bloody well know how to fight."

"This… hunting demons. It didn't include strange looking mutants, did it?" Kurt sounded worried, shifting a bit on his feet. He seemed to be fidgeting with his watch a great deal, far more than could simply be explained by curiosity for the time.

The bits connected in his mind. "So, this isn't what you truly or normally look like. How is the… altered appearance caused? What do you look like the rest of the time?"

Holding up his wrist, Kurt gestured at the watch. "It's this. It has a built in holographic projector – a friend of the Professor built it for me. And it tells time, and has a little light. Without it I'm… sort of blue."

"Just show him." Evan sighed, rubbing at his head. "We got to fix this before Auntie O gets any worse."

Kurt pushed a little button on the side, and suddenly, his appearance changed. His skin was now blue, and he only had two fingers on each hand. Pointed ears poked through his dark hair, and his eyes were solid yellow. He sort of raised his hands, in the near universal 'hey, I'm unarmed' gesture, and offered a weak smile. Something was moving behind him, and a second glance revealed it to be a slender tail. "The real me."

Wesley blinked, finding the sudden change rather startling. "Well… that's… different." No wonder Kurt worried about the possible inclusion of some mutants among the categories of 'demon', especially with a sword at hand. "I can see why there might be difficulties with school without that… very sophisticated watch. Can you use any weapons?"

For a moment, Kurt was silent, and then the largest smile bloomed on his face, showing long, sharp eyeteeth. "I can use a sword… vell, multiple swords at a time, if they are fairly close. I'm not the best, but there can be an advantage to going against convention. Have you some… like the old Errol Flynn movies?"

"Yes, there are several. How… how many can you use at a time?" Wesley blinked, trying to consider the possibilities at the same time as he tried to remember where that particular box had been packed.

"Three." Kurt was practically bouncing on his toes. "umm… how dangerous is this going to be?"

"Well, we're going to attack a demon capable of looking into your eyes and separating the soul from your body, armed with swords and… well, any useful abilities the two of you might have." Wesley picked up a small package containing a general group of supplies, enough for a couple basic binding rituals, a spell to dispel concealments, and some bandages. While he would never be a powerful mage, he could still do a few very basic things, and it felt a little better to be prepared. "It will be dangerous, and we could get hurt. But if we don't do this… who will?"

"Confidence inspiring… not." Evan's mutter wasn't quite below Wesley's hearing.

Deciding to ignore that for now, he made his way out of the office, and opened the box of swords, his hands brushing over carefully wrapped slender bundles. Carefully, he pulled out three swords, placing them on a table near Kurt. "Do be careful with them, and they are sharp."

Unwrapping them, Kurt grinned again. "These are very nice…"

"Yes well… I can't think of anything else, let's go find this demon." Wesley tried to take a deep breath, his chest feeling tight with nervous dread and anticipation. He could do this, had to be able to do this. As he'd told Evan, if not them, then who? And Ororo's life depended on this… "Here we go."

"Might as well start near where we got attacked by that… de-pearl demon." Evan shivered a little, despite the warmth of the day.

There were signs of the struggle, including an odd looking spike of what appeared to be bone embedded in a tree, stained with a dark fluid. Wesley stared at the sharp object, trying to figure out what it could have come from. Polgara demons had long bone spikes in their arms, but they didn't break away. There was a family of demon species that produced sort of knifelike plates, but those weren't quite like this, and had a broader shape as he recalled. "What… apparently, the demon has been wounded, but…"

"That's mine." Evan didn't quite meet Wesley's eyes, looking almost embarrassed as he stared at the dark stained spike. "I got to work on my aim."

Well, that certainly added a few ideas to Wesley's plan. Part of him was trying to wail that human's just didn't do that, couldn't do that. It was the part of him that like his father, wanted to pretend the mutant issue didn't exist, that there was nothing more to worry about than hostile demons and apocalyptic prophecies, possibly rogue wizards. It was a part of himself that he tried to ignore, knowing that while most people couldn't do such things, some people could do strange, near impossible things. Like hang in the air, held only by the wind. "Possibly you'll be able to distract it with some more of those when we attack."

"That thing did… it hurt Auntie O. I want to do a lot more than just distract it." Evan's voice was thick with anger.

"While I find that idea entirely understandable…" Wesley paused, certain that now was not the time to mention his impossible crush on that very same woman. Swallowing, he tried to start again. "I understand that you are angry. But you must not let that anger rule your actions, or you will make careless mistakes."

Evan glared, and he sighed, but after walking for a ways, he muttered "Easy for you to say."

Wesley just sighed, knowing that the words were far from easy, and far from solely for Evan's benefit. He needed to remember them as well. Do not give in to anger, for that is the path to the Dark… no, that was from a movie. Giving in to anger was the path to stupid mistakes, which was the path to getting killed. He'd rather put that off for a good long time, thank you very much.

End part 4.

The trail was almost too easy to follow, and that very ease was raising alarms in Wesley's mind. Why make it so easy for any potential enemies to follow, unless… "I think we should be very careful. This is too easy, there has to be something, a trap, or… something."

"Right, because tracking demons into the trees is always just too easy." Evan shook his head. "What makes you say this is too easy anyhow?"

"The trail has been exceptionally clear, with several complete footprints. There has been no evasive action, such as streams or trees, not even a simple effort to avoid leaving footprints. Practically the only thing that would make this clearer would be signs, reading 'Del'Perle lair this way'. Even a small child could be more stealthy if they wanted, so why hasn't the demon made some effort to avoid pursuit?" Wesley shook his head, trying to think quickly. If he was wrong, he'd just feel silly. If he was right, they might be killed if they couldn't take precautions.

Glancing back, Evan offered a shrug. "Are you sure it's not just a dumb demon?"

"We couldn't be so fortunate. No, all accounts and records indicate that they are at least as intelligent as the average human, which means there must be a reason." He offered a small shrug, before continuing. "It would make a few things easier, but the stupid demons can't steal souls. They generally just kill people."

"Maybe it's a good thing that it wasn't a stupid demon then." Kurt's voice was somber, as if the possibility of getting killed was disturbing him, which it should be.

There was a cave dug into the side of a hill, the path leading right up to it. Those cautions were almost screaming in his head now, and Wesley felt the urge to shudder. He pulled out a flashlight, clicking it, pleased that his hand was only shaking a little. They moved carefully into the cave, which turned shortly afterwards. It would have been a good place for an ambush.

Apparently, someone else had the same thought. There was a body, a short, stocky man with wild dark hair, dressed in battered jeans and a flannel shirt. He looked to have just collapsed on the ground.

"Logan!" The exclamation emerged from the boys at the same moment, filled with shock and a bit of fear.

Slowly, Wesley knelt down, reaching towards the body. To his surprise, the body was warm, and in fact there was still a pulse, and slow breathing. "He's not dead. I think… I think the demon got him as well."

"But… but he's… he's the guy who knows how to fight! How are we going to get this thing if he couldn't?" Evan looked very worried, and he gestured nervously at the fallen form of Logan.

"I assume that he fights at close range? If there is a requirement for eye contact… How close was it when the demon took…" He couldn't quite say the words. Wesley tried again. " How close was it when it attacked Ororo?"

"It was close. It growled, and reached out… touched her on the forehead, and then she just… crumpled. She was all… it was like she couldn't move when it reached for her." Evan shuddered.

"Well then, it must require being very close, and possibly contact. If we prevent that from happening…" Wesley was thinking out loud, hoping that this wouldn't be his spectacular last mistake ever.

"I think I hear something." Kurt's voice interrupted Wesley's thought.

Then Wesley heard a noise, sort of like a scraping. They all tensed, and the Del'Perle came into view, the flashlight unkind to it's lumpy hide, gleaming on the lower tusks, the curling horns. It looked at them, lips curling away from sharp teeth and it made a sort of rumbling noise, almost like… Was it laughing at them?

Evan made a noise, like a strangled shout, and a blur of motion sent four of those sharp spikes flying at the demon. Kurt leapt towards it, a sword in each hand and one in his tail, tossing insults in German. Wesley lunged as well, hoping that they could manage this successfully. There was also a tiny corner of his mind that wanted to shout 'Aha! I knew this was too easy! Find the demon, of course he wants found… more souls.'

Kurt's attacks weren't very skillful, but there were so many of them that soon the demon had nicks and cuts over it, and a few of those spikes embedded in it's body. It suddenly moved, grabbing Evan and pulling him close, the other hand reaching for his head.

"Nein!" Kurt shouted, trying to pull his friend back.

Wesley reached into the pouch of supplies, pulling out a bag by touch, and hurling the contents right into the demons eyes. Howling, it dropped Evan, frantically rubbing at it's watering eyes. Picking his sword back up, he moved to attack the demon, slicing the head from it's body in two rather inelegant chops. "That's quite enough!"

Evan coughed, looking at the now dead demon. "What did you do to it? It sure freaked out."

"Salt." Wesley leaned for a moment on his sword, trying to calm down.

Kurt glanced over, a tiny smile. "You did not say that it had any vulnerability to salt."

"No special vulnerability to it at all." Wesley corrected with a little smile. "But throw salt into anything's eyes and it's going to hurt."

"I guess that makes sense." Evan sounded stunned, as if the idea wouldn't have occurred to him. "Now what?"

"Now? Now we look for the soul-pearls. There should be at least two, one for Logan, and one for Ororo." Wesley could feel his muscles trying to shake, the aftereffects of the fight. He'd done rather well, he thought.

End part 5.