Thank you to my one reviewer, who is anonymous. which makes me sad cause I have to respond to you on here! =( lol but that's okay. All the questions you're asking are pretty much answered in this chapter. As for who the guy was talking to before... he's delusional, so no he's not talking to demons, or any kind of monster from Jace and Clary's world. He is mundane, as well as the boy. I saw a movie about a boy who had been kidnapped and raised by a serial killer, it had a sad sad ending. So this is what I hoped could've happened if the ending were different. Could you save the traumatized/damaged mind of a young child like this one?Also I found that this story could be a whole new experience for Jace and Clary that makes their relationship even stronger. So you'll see... Enjoy! =)

4 Perception.

I looked up, squinting my eyes in the darkness. I was pretty sure the boy was looking at me no one else was around the corner, and his gaze pointed in my direction. From what I could see from the distance, the boy was thin, pale and had light brown hair that covered his eyes, and ended just below his ears.

I took a couple of steps forward to try and get a closer look- I don't know why everyone has the habit of doing that, like two feet is going to be a big difference to at least a hundred yards. I knew it was Halloween, and that boys like to vandalize places on that night of all nights. Hell, Simon and I did it a couple of times, but some people are strict about trespassers, no matter who they are.

"Hey!" I shouted up to him. He didn't make any sudden movements; he seemed to be still looking at me. He didn't turn his gaze to prove me wrong or right. He continued to stand still in the window just… staring. "As much fun as you seem to be having!" I shouted. "I think you better get out of there, some farmers around here will shoot trespassers on sight!" But the boy did not waver. I tried to stay very quiet, to see if there were possibly other children there with him, making noise from joking around behind him, but all I heard was silence. Nothing but the breeze in the trees, and the birds and crickets chirping the night away. The music blaring not far behind me, the laughter of teenagers and young adults, but for the life of me not a sound of a single child coming from the boy's direction.

An unsettling feeling rumbled in my stomach. At first I couldn't decipher whether I was going to be sick, or if it was intuition. I stopped looking at the boy for a moment to feel out whether or not I would throw up. Nothing came up, and nothing felt as though it was building up. So I ruled out that possibility. Something was wrong.

The driver never mentioned anything about the man having a child. Perhaps I'm wrong? Like the driver would know everything, right? And even if he did, why would he find it necessary to mention a boy? I looked back up at the child, who was still staring at me. I tried hard to make out more details of his from where I stood. He looked curious.

Why curious? Hasn't he ever seen a teenage girl before?

I decided to walk closer, not once taking my curious eyes away from the boy, when I got decently closer, I shouted up to him again.

"Hey, are you okay?" He didn't answer me. "How can I get in? Can I come up?" Then finally a reaction, the boy ran from sight. "No wait!" I started jogging towards the building, heading for the pathway that leads up to both the old house and entrance into the abandoned building. As I got closer I saw an old antique truck pulling out of the driveway. For some reason, I had the urge to hide. Like someone or something was telling me to hide. I listened to my gut, it has yet to fail me so far, I mean I'm still alive after fighting demons, and dealing with a psychotic dad! I jumped out of sight into a nearby bush. The truck pulled out on to the road, and drove off down the hill, and out of sight. Perfect timing.

I jumped back on my feet and started jogging up the path that the truck came from. If the man was home, how did he not know that a child was sneaking around his property? I also wondered why in the world I felt so uncomfortable, and why I wouldn't listen to my intuition now.

But something else told me that there was something bad going on here. I needed to see if that kid was okay. I ran past a tall scarecrow like thing that stood at the very top of the path, just before the house. Only instead of a pumpkin head, or stuffed potato bag, it was the skull of a bull. It was rather cool looking I must say. I wondered if it was to celebrate Halloween, or if it really was some kind of scarecrow.

Brushing it off I continued into the old building. The door was oddly wide open. I slowly emerged through the darkness. The place was so old that everything was covered rust. She could see where they hung the meat; back when the place was up and running. Gates where the cattle- or whatever they slaughtered here. I entered into another door, to see all the tools hanging from above. Hooks, and machete's, I shivered. I know it use to be a slaughterhouse, but something was terribly wrong about this place.

And I was a demon hunter. I've seen terrible things, and if this place gives me the shakes, then something is not right at all. I took out my sensor, hidden in my underwear along with my steal. No demon detection… not one.

Then suddenly I heard movement, my head snapped up to see a shadow, the shadow of the boy far ahead. His head was peaking around the corner of a doorway leading to a lit room. "Hey!" I called out, but suddenly he ran from my sight. I jogged after him again, coming to another hallway that ended with a gate, and the boy standing behind it. "Hey!" I said again, and again he took off. Damn this kid!

"Hey! Wait! Stop messing around I just wanna talk to you!" I chased after him, going through the gate, and to another room. I looked around to see a dirty mattress, some crates, and one tiny table with an open book on it. Was this where he slept? I asked myself. If it was… it was disgusting. Dirty, and straw was thrown all over. My eyes went back to the salt-n-pepper notebook sitting on the table. I took my one hand to open it; the first thing I saw was a lock of hair, taped to the paper, along with a newspaper clipping about a missing girl. I flipped the page to find another article about a missing girl. A small bracelet was taped to the book, and a little note written in sloppy handwriting but clear enough to read.

Tuesday

Another one yesterday, and she didn't even put up a fight. She left quite a mess in the foyer, but that's what I have the boy for. I just couldn't take cleaning it up any longer..

What!

It was then that I noticed that the page was covered in finger prints…. Bloody fingerprints… I had stepped into the lair of a fucking serial killer. Just great! If you want my honest opinion, I would rather deal with almost any demon than a serial killer on any day of the week.

They love to listen to their victims scream, they love to keep them alive, just long enough to watch them writhe in pain. Jeffery Dahmer use to inject acid into the brains of his victims when they were awake and aware too! Can you imagine? Feeling, your brain melt inside your skull?

Another shiver passed through me, and for some odd reason I flipped a page one last time, to find another newspaper clipping, only this time it was about a boy….

Six-year-old Adam Crystal is still missing after 3 months of investigation on a brutal massacre against the boy's family. Mother and father were found repeatedly stabbed in the chest and stomach areas, in the middle of their living room floor. The baby girl, Abigail, age two, was found by the Adam's closet strangled to death. The boy is missing, and the police are still undergoing the investigation of the murders and the kidnapping…

And there below the paragraph was a picture of him at age six. He had bright eyes, and bright smile, and a mushroom haircut. I couldn't help but think he was probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Even cuter than Max was. The poor thing, had to watch his whole family die, and here he is. Stuck with this maniac. Then I glanced over at the hand written message to the right side of the page.

Saturday, 2004

I brought home a boy from in town today. He doesn't talk much; I can't tell if he's either scared or just stupid. Either way, he's perfect; he's young, young enough to learn the business.

My hand had swiftly moved to cover my mouth in shock. He planned to teach this kid to do his bidding! I looked at the date again 2004… that was five years ago!

Another movement.

I turned around, and saw nothing, but assumed the boy was moving around in the other room. I had made a decision to get the poor thing out of here. I followed the sound calling for him, but no answer, just movement. I passed many disturbing things along the way. Jars full of blood, intestines, liver, kidneys.

This man was no doctor, he was a murderer.

I realized I was in another area of the building now; I think I had entered where they hunt the animals by their hind legs and slice them. I heard ruffling, and turned to see the boy peeking from a crack in a small pen. As soon as he made eye contact he ran again.

God I was not in the mood for tag! The Angel knows it could be a matter of minutes before that guy returns; I had to get him out of here now! I ran around the pen, trying to keep up, finally I saw him dive under a table, he was hiding from me…. Why?

"Hey…" I whispered softly as I got closer. "Are you okay?" He didn't answer, he just scooted himself further back under the table. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you, I want to help you." I got a little closer, and he jerked back, I could tell that his head hit the wall that the table was against. I winced for him, because it sounded like it hurt, but he didn't react to it. "Is your name Adam?" I asked him. Finally a positive reaction, he slowly came out from under the table. It took me a second to realize that the table had a variety of different sharp weapons. All laid out neatly from big to small. Machetes to large kitchen knives.

Jesus Christ.

Soon his face was in the light of the lamp from the other side of the room. I could see him fully now. His face was thin, his eyes had dark circles around them, and a long scar traveled along his cheek. From his hairline, to the corner of his mouth, the scar stretched. This man had been torturing him! I didn't remember seeing a scar in the picture, that's for sure. He looked starved, like the man barely fed him, he could pass for one of those sad looking kids playing in a fungus infested puddle on TV.

'For one dollar you could give Magoo clean water!'

"Come here." I offered my hand; he stared at it, almost as if he were hesitating to take it. "Look, you can't stay here it's not safe." I said to him, he was slowly coming out from under the table, when suddenly something must've changed his mind, because he quickly ducked back under.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"You shouldn't be down here!" Came a dark deep voice I turned around to see a tall man, but before I could comprehend anything, I felt a crack to the head, and everything went black….

0o0o0

She lay there on a pile of hay. He started to strip her of her black coat, and whatever was on her, like her cell phone, another weird looking cell phone, and a fancy looking stick. Almost forgetting his looked at the child who was on his hands and knees watching him tie up the girl's hands.

"Good work." He said to the boy, before hanging her from the wooden pole like all the others.

This one would be no different. He thought, as he slowly stood up and walked away from the man and girl almost as if he were bored.

I know what you're all thinking, with the guy gone, and the door wide opened, why wouldn't the kid leave? That's freaking stupid! Well there's good reason. One them being that if you were kidnapped while REALLY REALLY REALLY YOUNG like this poor kid, and was raised the way he was, your mind settles with your environment. Steven Styner was kidnapped back in 1969, raised by a man who molested and abused him, there were many times when Steven could have escaped, but he didn't. It's because at that point, because he was only 7 years old when he was taken, he settled into his surroundings. At that point he was scared to go home, because basically he was already fucked up at that point. The only reason why he went home was because he saved another boy that his abductor had taken. He wasn't going to tell the police who he was at first, just drop off the boy at the police station and leave, but the kid got scared after going inside and ran back out to Steven. Well as you can see, Steven HAD to tell the police the whole story at that point. Hence going home at age 15, after being abducted at age 7. It took him some time to resettle into a normal life, but he did. BUT it took time...