A/N: Okay, yeah, my music is officially getting really, really creepy and I'm so ready to get on with things and type some calming juicy yaoi (okay maybe yaoi isn't that calming but… you get my point!) and then go to sleep… yup. I'm officially creeped out of my skin…

Disclaimer: I wonder if the actual owners, who are not me, get this creeped out while designing Slender: The Arrival, DMC isn't creepy, but it's too awesome for me to own…

CAN'T RUN.

"No, no, shh… it'll be okay…" Dante held his hands out in a calming gesture at the girl, her scent drifting his way and confirming that she was, indeed, Natalie.

"NO! You're a monster!" She screamed and the devil hunter paused, not drawing any closer, he had quite a bit of experience with traumatized kids, he had to in his line of work, kids would get scared of anything that moved after being attacked and dragged away by demons. He squatted, trying to make himself appear smaller and tried to meet her eyes.

"It's…" he trailed off when he felt his tail slide over the ground, the half devil paused and looked down at himself, when had he taken on his devil form…? He couldn't recall, this forest was messing with his brain, with a flash of red lightning it fell away and he started again with the little girl.

"It's okay, I'm a good guy, I'm gonna take you back to your sister and mommy and daddy, okay…?" the girl shook her head.

"They don't know… they don't know what I see… only Master can help with what I see and you're not him." Master…? Dante thought to himself, but now was not the time to be questioning the girl.

"Don't you miss them? Isn't that why you were crying?"

"Yes… but I can't go back…."

"Why not?"

"Master says I can't." she whispered, the half devil huffed, he could barely make out something approaching them, it felt human, almost. This little girl was small enough… he resumed his demon form and scooped the girl up in his arms, ignoring her kicks and screams.

"I'll deal with your master." He growled, just then something skidded to a stop from between the trees, it looked human, well in the loosest meaning of the word. It stared at him with empty eye sockets and simply pointed at the girl in his arms. Dante flared his wings and snarled at the thing, it let out an odd moan and then leapt at him but the red devil was too fast, he leapt into the air and clawed his way above the trees, fighting the squirming and kicking girl in his arms the whole way. He was pretty sure that she even bit him a few times, but it was well worth it once he burst through the tree cover and into the bright moonlight. Once above the forest the slayer could see how large it was and how thickly doused in the demon's control it was. Natalie had quit struggling and gone unconscious the second he pulled her through the top of the trees but he wasn't sure how long that'd last. What on earth, or in hell, could create something so utterly eerie…? Dante didn't have an answer as he sped back to the house to drop the girl where she belonged.

-Predator and Prey-

Where am I…? Nero thought to himself when consciousness returned to him. He sat up and looked around, it was dark, but the area around him was lit with the light of a nearly full moon. He seemed to be…

"Shit." Nero muttered to himself. He was on a tiny, tiny spit of land in the middle of a rather large pond, not large enough to call a lake but almost. The former Holy Knight was no foreigner to swimming, growing up on a tropical island would do that to you but in these circumstances… he'd rather not touch the water… The teen got to his feet and walked to the edge and looked in, trying to see the bottom, the first couple inches were clear but beyond that…? Nothing but inky black… He cast about with his mind and for a fleeting second he felt Dante's presence and then it was once more overwhelmed by the aura of the monstrosity that he'd met earlier. The partial devil noticed that Red Queen's comforting weight was absent from his back and swore violently when realizing Blue Rose wasn't resting on his thigh either, he didn't even have the damn flashlight that Dante'd given him.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" he muttered when he spotted his beloved blade stuck into the sand across the pond. There was no choice now… it was swim or wait till morning, and something told him that the creature forcing him to play this game wouldn't let him wait till the sun rose, it'd have him back in that black foggy forest by the time dawn struck one way or another. With a slightly shaky sigh the teen hooked his boots off his feet and began wading in the water. As soon as he did he heard a loud crack from the woods to his left and a slight screech, Nero peered across the pond as best he could but it was darker that way and even his vision was of no help. After another deep breath he braved the cold darkness that the pond had to offer and dove in.

A/N: Okay, a slight break in the creepy and a little short but I'm sorry, with this music and darkness and unfamiliar-ness of this house, after about an hour I started seeing things… that's not a good thing… no siree… so I am very, very done with this until tomorrow when I'm typing in the car and can be a little calmer cause there's, y'know, other people around, I'll type it in the early morning so it'll still be dark but it'll be a little less creepy, y'know? And on another note, there's actually probably only another couple chapters of this left, I never intended it to be long, maybe I'll just make the last chapter extra long and then it won't go above eight… which I feel would be a little fitting… hmm… *is desperately trying to calm nerves…*

Till next time,

-Winged Element