Long, golden hair. The pale skin of someone that spent more time indoors then out exploring the countryside. Her face, under the bruises, was young and innocent, and the kind of pleasant pretty some boys found both charming and attractive.

Thinking back on it now, Mortis could only compare the change that occurred in him to the one other fateful moment in his life; the one that flung him into this new world and everything that dwelled within. In fact, Izual severing his mind from the Hell Lords, and thus freeing his will, was not all that different to the realization that dawned the moment he saw the girl at all.

She stared at him, terrified at the sight of his demonic form, yet pleading desperately with her eyes. Her lips quivered with fear and exhaustion, and her beautiful, frail body was the jolt Mortis's heart needed to feel.

He finally understood Zac's insistence in the protection of women and children. He understood what it meant to care for something or someone, even if they were a stranger to his eyes. And he understood that vile acts like the one Jake was trying to commit were among the worst possible crimes a man could commit.

Of course, Mortis wouldn't realize until later what a profound effect these new feelings would have on him. How they would develop into morals, how from there he would make human friends, and, eventually, suffer the pain and confusion of the emotions that came packaged with them. That was all in the future. For now, the clear understanding of what was right and wrong in this man-ruled world was enough to get the ball rolling, and Jake of the Thieves Guild was the first in its path.

"Oi, ya listening, ya great blue git?" Jake growled when Mortis continued to look at the girl and not him. "I said wait ya turn."

The girl managed to free an arm from the fat thief's gripping fist, and let her palm fall loosely in Mortis's direction.

"Help… please?" she gasped. Her fingers had been crushed during her resistance, and Mortis was sure at least two were broken. Jake scowled and raised his fist again, ready to back hand her.

"Shuddup, b!tch, I ain't talkin' to –"

The two thieves outside may have been listening intently to the new developments in the carriage, but they certainly weren't prepared for what happened next. The bulging body of Jake came hurtling through the wall they leant against with pressed ears, scattering splinters of wood and both men in all directions. They fell back into their ditch, which had now filled almost entirely with water, and sank with a splash almost up to their necks. Spluttering and clearing mud from their eyes, they stared in horror as Jake, the entire left side of his faced caved in from the chin to his scalp, floated past them and began to head downstream.

"Oh my Lords in Heaven," one thief gasped. They looked to the carriage and saw Mortis leaning out towards them, his eyes blazing and wings moving erratically. His nails were digging deep into the side of the splintery hole, and he looked ready to pounce.

"No, not Heaven, friend," the other thief choked. "That is the wrath of Hell descended upon poor Jake there. Run now, before we experience it ourselves, I reckon."

His partner needed no further convincing. Both thieves crawled from their ditch and fled fearfully into the night. Mortis watched them go, the adrenaline within him eager for the hunt, but his concern for the girl greater.

When he was sure they were well away, Mortis turned and knelt beside the beaten, terrified girl.

"You should be ok. I'm sorry about your father, but my friend is out looking for your brother now. He'll –"

Pain pierced his side like liquid lead, and he let out a cry even Teddery heard as he roamed and called for a lost boy. A strong arm wrapped itself around Mortis's neck, and he felt the pain grow sharper as more pressure was applied.

"Ya dirty demon. Shoulda known better'n to bring a blood drinker like you along."

Dreg had slipped through the gaping hole in the carriage behind them, and thrust that small guild knife deep into Mortis's lower back. He slowly choked Mortis to his knees, and gave the knife a hard twist when the demon raised his claws to slash.

"Ah, none o' that then. Any sudden movements and I'll rip this blade out through ya side and spill ya guts faster'n you killed old Jake there."

Mortis lowered his hands and concentrated on trying to breath under the thief's heavy arm. His wings were getting in the way of Dreg's grip, allowing him some room to gasp, but not much.

"Dreg… you can't hold me all night," he choked. "You're going to slip up… and when you do –"

"I said shut up," Dreg bellowed, giving the knife another twist. "I don't need'ta hold you all night, just till ya pass out from loss of blood. Then I can cut ya up at me leisure."

The gruff thief was so absorbed in his prey that the prospect of the girl jumping in never even crossed his mind. Only when her fingers curled around his head and gouged deeply into his eyes did he realise his mistake.

"Let him go, you bastard," she screamed, digging her fingers in deeper and ignoring the loud 'pop' as one eyeball burst like an over-ripe tomato. Dreg fell backwards screaming, pulling the knife from Mortis's side and stabbing it blinding over his head towards his assailant. The girl dodged the slashes easily, but was forced to let go when he finally nicked her arm.

By this time, however, Mortis had regained his breath and had Dreg firmly in his grip. With one quick motion, he gave the man's head a twist and his movements were instantly quelled. Mortis released him and let the body tumble out of the hole in the carriage, back out onto the road.

Both he and the girl sat silently for a few minutes; he wincing with pain from the wound in his back, she looking in horror at the pieces of jelly and gore still stuck to her fingernails.

"I… I… I…" was all she managed to stammer. She looked up at Mortis her hands still clawed in front of her. He managed a smile and took one of them in his own hand.

"You did well," was all he said.

When Teddery returned not long after, he could only gape at the havoc that had been wrought since his departure into the woods. Lemi had finally found his voice, and was screaming in agony from his place on the road.

From this side, the carriage looked fine to Teddery, but as he entered through the door and peered in, he saw that half the opposing wall had been completely smashed out. One booted foot rested at the base of the hole, and he guessed the rest of Dreg lay just outside on the road

"Bllooooodyyy hell!" Teddery cried , "I said 'ave the carriage ready to travel', not 'blow the freakin' wall out of it'."

Mortis was sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the cushioned chairs. The girl was leaning against the other. Both looked exhausted, but relieved. Apparently they'd been talking.

"Sorry," Mortis said, "Blame Jake if you want. If he wasn't so fat, the hole would've been smaller."

Teddery allowed himself a smirk.

"I bet. Where is our friend Jake, anyway?"

Mortis raised one tired hand and pointed outside, where the ditch that had previously been decent thief cover was now a mini raging river.

"All bad things head down stream," Mortis sighed, "like water under the bridge."

Teddery nodded, not bothering to ask what the demon might mean by that. Now the girl had his attention.

"Ya alright?" he asked sincerely. She nodded, then looked behind him to the door.

"Did you... did you find my brother?"

The thief nodded, and leaned out through the doorway.

"Is all right, kiddo. You can come out now."

A small, frightened face appeared from behind a tree not far off, and the boy emerged. He walked slowly past the screaming Lemi, only giving his dead father a swift and pained glance, before running to the carriage and clearing the doorway in a single bound.

"Ellie, Ellie!" he cried, rushing to his sister and hugging her tightly. She winced slightly from her bruises, but otherwise looked as happy as he did.

"Oh Erod, Erod I'm so glad you're Ok."

Teddery left the two to their reunion, and crouched next to Mortis.

"Ya alright yerself, big guy?"

Mortis grimaced and put a hand to his back. It returned with some blood on it, but far less than before.

"Yes. Dreg got me good, but it's healing. Slowly. I'll be fine. Right now we have more important things to focus on. Like getting you out of here."

Teddery nodded solemnly.

"Yar. Whole guild'll be after me if they work out what 'appened here. Don't worry; I thought up a plan while I was out in the woods. Recon I'll just take this 'ere carriage and go further west. The guild 'as spies everywhere, but it'll be a few weeks before they work out where I am. And that should be plenty o' time for ya to…" he paused, gulping slightly, "for ya to do what ya gotta do."

Mortis looked at the thief leaning over him, surprised that he'd already predicted the demon's future agenda. Then he nodded.

"Yes. It won't take longer then a few weeks, that I'll guarantee. In the meantime, you look after them," he gestured towards the two siblings, who where now in a mixture of tears from being united, the death of their father, and the whole ordeal the night had brought them.

"Yar. No problem. Always wanted kids o' me own," he grinned. He got up and prepared to head outside. "I don't think the 'orses need a driver; they seem pretty well trained, but maybe'll I'll just guide em for awhile anyway –"

Mortis caught his arm and held him firmly.

"How did you know I could feel?" he asked flatly. "Or more importantly, how did you know I would feel? You put a lot of faith into something that neither of us knew for certain could happen."

Teddery just smiled at him.

"Ya know last night, when Dreg gave Zac that slap and ya almost killed him for it? Yer were defendin' your teacher. Yer were defendin' a friend. No, more than a friend: family." He knelt down again so he was at eye level. "Tha's love, Mortis. To ya, Zac is family, and whether ya realise it or not, yer already were feeling. It just took a small… push, to point ya in the right direction."

He stood again and headed for the door.

"Now git out of me carriage," he grinned, "I got a long trip ahead of me."

They made it to where they were going, Mortis heard later on, and went on to live out their lives as normally as an ex-thief and two orphaned noble-children could. He never felt the desire to seek them out; the knowledge they were safe was enough to give him comfort.

When he returned to the house that Zac built, early the morning after the raid that went bad, he was surprised to see his teacher still awake and waiting for him. He looked grave, ashen, as if he'd been up all night worrying. The flush of relief that passed over his face when Mortis walked through the door was confirmation of that fact.

"Ah, you're home lad! How'd it go?"

Mortis paused for a long time, completely unsure of where to start. The part where Jake turned rogue? Or back at the beginning, with the rain and the carriage being late. As it turned out, once he found a way to start, he didn't stop, and the whole tale was spilled to his old friend within an hour.

Zac nodded slowly throughout, his fingers peaked neatly under his chin and resting on one knee. By the time it was over, Mortis was unnerved to see neither surprise nor anger on his teachers face. Zac simply sat quietly, sorting through his own thoughts.

At last he looked at Mortis's face, and he was smiling. Not a forced grin, or that strange, twitching half-smile that comes before one bursts into tears. Really smiling.

"Morty, you've done better then I ever thought you could have. I have to admit, my faith in you wasn't as strong as I would have liked."

Mortis allowed his surprise show. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"What? What on Sanctuary are you talking about?"

"Your final test, me lad, and you passed with flying colours."

Mortis raised an eyebrow. Zac waved it away.

"Yes, I know it sounds corny, but I had to see if all the time I spent talking to you had actually made things sink in or not."

"You… you mean you organised this? All of it?"

"What? No of course not! I had no idea how things were going to pan out. I did, however, know the guild has been slowly disintegrating, rotting from the inside out. The thieves who I worked with back in my day have all retired and been replaced by younger, newer men, who think there's now harm in beating up a defenceless traveller or taking advantage of the odd woman here and there. In short, I believe the time of my thieves' guild has come to an end. No longer do they rob for the challenge, they've just become a pack of common thugs."

Zac paused long enough to stretch his arms and lean back in his chair.

"Now, I've been teaching you the ways of man for a long time now, and I don't think there's much more left for you to learn. So I figured; why not kill two birds with one stone? I've been wondering from the day we met whether you could truly leave behind your Hellish traits of kill, flay and slaughter, and develop into something better. Someone better. Someone who can feel, who has his own beliefs and morals, and can know right from wrong."

Mortis still looked unconvinced, and slightly confused.

"But how did you know something like this was going to happen on last night's raid?"

"Jake was known for having a loud mouth, and this time I guess it was the death of him. One should never announce the crime one will commit before it comes to pass." He chuckled softly to himself. "Laddo, when I sent you out last night, I knew one of three things might happen. Firstly, you might stand idly by, unconcerned and unfazed by Jake's evil doings. Second - Heaven forbid - you might actually join in. Or thirdly; something inside you might shift just enough to set you on a path, one I've been trying me very hardest to push you along since our lessons began."

Mortis frowned and shook his head sadly.

"But I don't know. I don't know what I feel, let alone what I believe in. How can I follow a path that is concealed to me?"

"Just a matter of time. Your beliefs will develop as you do. Just give it time. Now," Zac leaned forward eagerly in his chair, "I believe you have a job to do."

They talked long into the day, for both knew it was the last time they would do so. Zac revealed every secret watering hole, every dark cave the thieves used to hide. All the inner workings of the guild were laid out in Mortis's mind, and he found himself absorbing the information readily and eagerly. Zac described 'the cleansing' in great detail, so by the time they were through, Mortis knew the name of each target and had a description to match.

Before he left, Zac told Mortis how his actions in the coming weeks were going to create a legend within the minds of the common people. Tales of the dark beast who slew over half a thieves guild would spread like wild fire, and from there he would always have enough work to keep his body sharp and his mind even sharper. Not to mention pockets full.

The teacher, believing his student ready beyond a doubt, left him with only a few words of wisdom:
"Listen to your feelings, follow that evil sensing nose, and never take a job if it don't feel right."

And so the cleansing began. One by one, the dishonorable thieves were punished for their crimes, and Mortis came to realize more and more what his true purpose was. No longer did he serve Hell, or merely himself as he had done the past few years. He would help others, if he could, and be the hand of justice that was so often absent in a world ruled by men.

He was by no means perfect; even the strongest willed man can have trouble holding back his fury, let alone a demon who once knew nothing but the endless drive for destruction.

He was the Dune Hunter, he was Demon. He was assassin, and most importantly, he was Mortis. There had never been one like him, and may never be again. He was going to make his time last, one contract at a time.

Of Zac… he heard later the old man had taken up traveling like he'd done when he was younger. Mortis never saw him again, but he knew – he felt – that that particular man's final days had not been wasted.