Earth

Dani

Dani finally reached the door at end of the dark hall. She turned the cold metal kob in her hand and swung the door open. A smile crept onto her face at the sight of thirty or so trembling, wide-eyed humans. Some of them looked flat out hopeless. Tears covering some of their faces. Dani shook her head at the sight of them.

"So pathetic you all look." she said as her eyes passed over each of their defeated faces.

The handle to the bucket was in her hand. She was about to throw the acid onto them and watch them melt away when someone caught her eye. It was a boy. Somehow, his life seemed to matter to her. She put the bucket down and grabbed his arm tightly.

"Come with me." she said firmly, but allowed herself to appear slightly friendlier.

Dani turned and looked at the rest of the people around her with the boy's arm still in her hand. A smirk appeared on her face.

"Today's your lucky day. I'm letting you all go." she said and walked out, the boy's arm still in her hand and left the door open.

The hour was late. The sky was pigminted ink flecked with white-out stars that twinkled icily in silence.
The pale light of a lantern flickered solemnly in the empty world as a figure approached it.

A voice sang softly. "...The sun so hot I froze to death, Oh Susanna don't you cry..."

Jasper was on one of his midnight walks again. He flicked idily at the cigarette between his lips that filled the air with smoky perfume, singing a simple tune as he strolled the empty streets. Somehow, he was happier here by himself than anywhere in the world, even his own home. The thought of sleeping in his own room spooked him; it was just so vulnerable. His entire family had disappeared during the night, in the safety of their own beds. He wanted to be the exception.

It was icy cold, but Jasper hardly noticed. He was used to hiking around the city for hours on end. He only wore his gray windbreaker out of custom. He was a night creature. With dreamy, sleepy eyes he glanced up the pale moon, noting the thick foggy clouds that encircled it and floated ever-so-slowly. Strange. It was like an omen, he mused. But he was only kidding himself. He felt perfectly safe, armed with a hidden knife and powerful legs.

"...But if I do not find her, this darkley'll surely die, and when I'm dead and buried...Susanna don't you cry..."

Vaguely, the feeling that he was being watched began to creep up onto him, like dark fingers that wanted to smother his happiness. His eyes scanned the shadows, but saw nothing. He walked faster, reassuring himself that it was only paranoia, and nothing more.

"Well, well, well. It's been a fun hunt."

The human's eyes widened in horror and fear at the taller figure who stepped into the faint light provided by the single bulb flaring in the small, dirty room behind her. The figure's hood had long since fallen down, revealing a smooth chiseled face lined by a few strands of black hair over his forehead and a mouth bared in a slightly feral grin. He was panting slightly but his eyes gleamed in triumph. Despite a torn sleeve and a few bruises he looked rather fine, especially compared to the other battered half-demon that he jerked forward by the collar.

"I'll just deal with you and go on my way. Your... lover..." The half-demon Hunter, Arawn, paused to grin at the word "lover" as if it was a very funny joke. "-knows the rules once you are gone."

No one in the surrounding area stirred an inch as a scream rang out and then cut off short. And in that dark night, no one was looking out of their windows (if they had any in this broken down part of town) to see a hooded figure slip out onto the rough gravel of the road and begin to jog away from the sounds of broken sobbing. As he left, the beams from the streetlight flickered and went dark for a moment. Then it continued to shine weakly as the night wrapped coldly over the crying until it too died away, defeated.

Uriel Gotberg

There was a small local fair happening next to her house and since being at home wasn't something Uriel found much liking to, she climbed out her window and passed through her backyard to go to the fair. She forgot to bring money so she just watched other people on rides wishing she could maybe find a fallen ticket. She stopped in front of the bumper cars and watched the little kids hitting each other then she also noticed some guys in her class showing off to what Uriel liked to call the 'sluts of the school'.
Some of the girls glared at Uriel and started pointing and laughing, Uriel had an urge to tackle them and pull their hair but she just held it in. She knew that no one wanted her around, she was the embarrassment, the girl blessed with a name of God but doesn't even go to church or listen to her parents. The girl that looks like a peaceful beauty and in reality is a loud mouth that doesn't know how to keep her thoughts to herself.

Uriel left the party and went to the field next to it, she climbed up a tree and observed all of the lights and the rides that went up high. Their was always fireworks afterwards and Uriel would always climb up this tree to see them because their was no way she could miss a sing firework in the sky up in that tree. Uriel felt a bit lonely but she knew that there was no way she could meet someone who would support her company.
Uriel just sat back against the tree trunk and gazed up at the sky waiting for the fireworks and also maybe waiting for a miracle.

It was an empty, boring day, Arawn mused as he walked through the city. There were rumors of a few new couples that Arawn felt he should hunt down later, but currently he found he didn't want to. Not yet. For some reason he couldn't find it in himself to want to hunt. So for now he moved casually through the streets, flashing a friendly cheerful smile at anybody who happened to chance by. I wonder why those others choose to go with the humans. Someone was walking by. Arawn greeted them easily without missing a beat and then continued his long meandering journey in both body and mind. His legs moved automatically, carrying him somewhere as he continued to think. It's so stupid, right? But I wonder... I wonder what they feel. There must be something special. Sounds of laughter and shouting slowly processed into his ears and Arawn looked forward.

It looked like a fair. There were rides and games and when Arawn sniffed slightly, he thought he could faintly detect the scents of food. A gust of wind brought the smells more clearly to him, as well as a small slip of paper which flew at his face. Arawn blinked and caught it automatically. He looked at it and saw that it was a ticket. Strange. A person ran up to him, looking around frantically. "Oh geez. Hey, excuse me, did you see a ticket fly by?"

Arawn looked at the stranger. "Nope," he lied easily, pocketing the slip. "Sorry."

He watched with hidden amusement as the other person mutter quietly in irritation and disappointment, "I should've just gone to the movies instead. Here, maybe you can find a use for this now." Arawn looked on in surprise as the other handed him another ticket and then trudged away.

Arawn stared at the other ticket in his hand in slight bemusement. "Hey did you see her?" A group of laughing girls was walking by now, sniggering about something. "Loud mouth Uriel. I saw her going around watching the rides, but I guess since she's so horrible she couldn't get a ticket in. She's probably hanging out by that old tree near the back now. Good riddance." The girls soon hurried off to some other ride as Arawn looked after them. Old tree near the back... He walked for a moment before he caught a glimpse of a pale-skinned girl by a tree. She was staring at the darkening sky, as if waiting for something. She looks like the type the gatherers would get. Arawn's hand slipped into his pocket and fiddled with the paper in there. Well, he was bored and he might as well do something, he decided. There was still some time before night time came... He came to a decision and walked forward.

"Hey," he called as he neared her spot. "I got an extra ticket to the fair and you look like you can use something to do."

Adam

Adam walked down the street with his I-pod blaring in his ears. He never worried that anything would happen. Nothing ever seemed to. He always took the chance just to find that he was right. Life was too safe and too boring. He turned down a dark street and noticed a fair all lit up. It wasn't really his kind of thing, so he continued walking. Adam didn't have a destination in mind, he was just out for a nightly walk to get out of the house. Feeling too safe, he didn't think much of the darkness surrounding him as he made his way down an alley. I wonder where this leads...

Dani

Dani shook her head and brought herself out of her thoughts. It had all been just a silly daydream. How weird. We don't sleep, but we still get stuck in these dreams? She shook off the feeling the dream had brought her in and reminded herself that she had a job to do. A small smile formed on her lips at the thought of watching all those pathetic humans burn at the touch of the Substance. She opened the door to her cell of a room and headed down the main hall that would lead to the room in which the job would be carried out. As her hand came in contact with the doorknob, she yanked the door open and gazed over the fearing mass of humans. None of them were the boy from her dream. She felt silly for even believing that something like that could ever happen. Her slightly pleased spirit had dropped and left behind a disappointed one that led her to go back to her merciless way of being. She reached over and grabbed the bucket and threw it over the humans, watching them all burn and melt away with a smirk on her face. With the job done, she closed the door behind her and headed back down the hall until the next group would arrive.

When the other girl continued staring off into the distance, probably having not heard him, Arawn shrugged to himself. Not that he minded. Still in a strangely good mood though, he went right up to her and let the ticket flutter down onto her lap like a butterfly lighting down gently to rest. Arawn turned and walked away, back towards the fair. He would look around and see if anything appealed to him. In fact, considering that so many people were mingling in this area, Arawn might even find something of interest about free demon-human couples that he could hunt. He doubted it though.

He stuffed his hands into his pocket and strolled along casually, looking for all the world like a cool, calm guy out for a walk. Nothing special. Nothing important. However, his eyes were sharp and observant as they flickered through the crowd, hidden by half-closed eyelids. They made note of anything important he might need. He smiled friendly smile hinted at nothing of his usual work. He just played his part - an actor in his element - of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Fennec stumbled as he was herded into a room, which was filled with the acrid stench of death and rot. He gagged as the putrid stench hit him and he heard a girl sob somewhere behind him and beg for their captors to let her go. He flinched as he heard the last of them, the girl from before, get shoved into the room. He knew it was her because he heard her scream for help as she landed on some poor sod's decaying flesh, which was covered in a seething mound of white, wriggling maggots. There was an unpleasant squish as she landed, squashing the flesh-eating larva into a chunky white pulp. The girl didn't stop screaming.
"It's alright. It's alright. We're gonna be alright. It's just some crazy person obsessed with us. We're gonna be fine. They're gonna ask for a kiss on the cheek or something and then we're gonna go home. We're going to be fine. This is all just some crazy show to freak us out so we'll do whatever they want." Fennec wasn't sure if he was trying to convince himself or the girl. All he knew was that there were numerous gaps in his sentences as he gagged on the rancid air.

Fennec shut hit eyes and stumbled to the door, hardly realizing what he was doing. All he knew was that he wanted out of the room of death they had been entombed within. Zipping his dark gray jacket up, Fennec covered his nose and mouth with his left sleeve, relief flooding through him when the thick fabric seemed to filter some of the diseased air. Opening his eyes, the short boy turned around, his eyes searching every inch of the room for some place that didn't contain traces of decay. Finding none, he settled for standing in front of the door and glaring at it while the other people in the room did whatever. The crying and screaming was giving him a headache.

Turning to the nearest screaming person, he put his right hand on their shoulder, trying his best to look reassuring. The person hit him. The wind knocked from his lungs as he hit the ground, he watched through unfocused, dizzy eyes as the person became startled and then moved to some other corner of the room. As soon as he could breathe again, Fennec sat up, his right arm crossed across his chest like he thought it could make the pain of half-suffocation go away. Looking up as he heard a new noise, Fennec grimaced as he struggled to his feet. It was the sound of the door opening and he wanted to get out of the dungeon he was standing in as soon as possible.


"Hey! Dani-chan!" Jay flounced down the hall and practically tackled his friend.
He was wearing a white t-shirt, black jeans with a checkerboard belt, and white converse that were covered in doodles, as usual. Of course, he had black cat ears clipped in his hair, the dark faux fur a stark contrast against his blond hair. Grinning up at the taller girl, Jay grabbed her arm and pulled her down the hall to the door.
"C'mon! The next group is already here! You wouldn't want me to go alone and then have your human there, would you?" He smiled back at Dani as he pulled her along, surprisingly strong enough to do so even with the size difference between them.
Dani and he had been fast friends since they became half-demons, and they'd agreed that if one of them found their human, the other wouldn't kill the human. In fact, Jay had decided that if Dani found her human, Jay would do everything in his power to help protect the human, too.

As they reached the door at the end of the hall, Jay hastily shoved the door open. He hadn't even bothered to go get a bucket of acid yet. If one of the humans in there was theirs, it would be a waste of acid. After all, Jay had more emotions than the average half-demon and he certainly didn't want to kill. However, one would be surprised at what they would do when they got bored enough.
"Any of these noisy things yours, Dani?" he turned to look at his friend and pushed a strand of her blonde hair out of her face while he waited for a response.

Dani

Dani struggled to stand upright as she was nearly pounced by who she could only guess to be Jay. He has been her best friend the whole time they have been stuck in that Hell hole. She allowed herself to release a smile. Something that she didn't often do. Jay seemed to be the only one that could get them out of her. That was why she allowed him to be her friend. Dani didn't like to have too many others around her. She was one of those types of people that like to have very few, but very close friends. This one was the closest she had ever come to anyone. Perhaps it was the fact that he seemed to have been able to keep more emotion than the rest of them. Emotion was something she longed to have more of. Her loss of emotion had come so deep that she wasn't sure if she'd ever really care about a human.

Dani moved down the hall with Jay since he'd just end up dragging her if she didn't. He seemed so optimistic about finding her human. It was pretty sweet of him to care that much. As soon as he came to the door and swung it open, she hugged him from behind and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're such a sweet friend." she said and walked into the room holding the bucket of acid.

Dani doubted she would ever find her human. Even with her doubts though, she still scanned the room for anything that might spark something in her. It never happened and she usually felt silly for even trying. As usual, she looked at every face in the group. None of them sparked anything. She knew it was just another group. Then she saw the boy closest to the door. She hadn't done a full scan, not really thinking she would find her human. However, something inside her said that she had to protect this boy. She turned around and looked at Jay.

"Jay..." was all she was said.

Dani stared at Jay, unsure of what to do. She had never imagined that she would ever find him, but there he was. Right behind her. She couldn't bring herself to turn around and look at him again. The feeling that had formed at the sight of him was foreign to her.

Jay watched carefully as Dani looked around the room and he grinned as he saw her look at the last boy and then turn to look back at Jay.
"That's him, huh?" Jay grinned wider, if that was even possible, and then reached out to take the bucket of acid from Dani and carefully set it down on the ground.
Grabbing the Dani's hand as well as the boy's, he forced their hands together. Retreating behind them, he pushed them gently toward the door. "Go on you two lovebirds! Fly, fly! You were made for each other, after all." he grinned and turned to look at the rest of the humans. "Well, if it isn't your lucky day, kiddos! Dani-chan here found her human, so I suppose I shouldn't scar him by killing y'all, so that means good news for you; you get to live! If you'll just step this way, I shall kindly take you back to your world."



Fennec was startled when the girl that had come in suddenly turned around with an astonished look on her face. "Wha-" the boy, he supposed his name was Jay, grabbed his hand and shoved it into the girl's so that they were holding hands.
Fennec was too astonished and confused to do anything as Jay began talking about him and Dani being made for each other. "Made for each other? What are you talking about? Who is this girl? Where am I? What are you going to do to me? What's going on?" his questions went unanswered as the boy had already turned around to talk to the other humans in the room.
Not sure what to do, Fennec just stood there confused.



Husky was in a bad mood. He was stalking a particularly young girl that was out jogging. She couldn't have been more than twelve. Husky grinned. A menacing, malicious smile as he slipped through the city under the cover of darkness. Turning into an alleyway he figured would make a good shortcut, he walked into a boy on accident. The impact knocked Husky over, since he was much smaller, and he went sprawling on the filthy ground. Feeling that his fedora had fallen from his head, Husky frowned.
"You made me lose my fedora. That was my favorite fedora." his words portrayed annoyed astonishment, though his face was blank besides for his frown.

Pushing himself lightly to his feet, Husky turned to get a look at the boy who had knocked him over. Not bothering to brush away the dirt that had clung to his dark clothing, Husky stared at the boy for a moment. A streetlamp just outside the alley flickered on timidly, casting just enough light to remove the shroud of darkness from Husky's face. His dark brown eyes seemed especially black in the dim light, giving him a more demonic look. However, his tousled hair and the depression in it from his hat gave an especially contradicting idea. Not to mentioned his fine-boned, moderately feminine facial structure and the fleur de lis tattooed beneath his right eye. His black T-shirt and gray jeans blended into the shadows, but the red collar on his shirt did not, although the collar had slid down to reveal one of the tattoos on Husky's collarbones. It had also revealed the red ribbon that hung loosely around his neck and the bell that hung from it.

As he moved to shift his shirt back into its normal position and fix the neckline to hide the ribbon and bell, the engraved ornament jingled. If one were to think about it, the ribbon and bell were much like the collar one might put on a dog or cat.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Husky stared up at the boy with a challenging gaze, daring him to try something.

The boy he had bumped into was only an inch taller than him, but Husky wouldn't care if the guy was two feet taller; the guy had made him lose his fedora. It was probably filthy from the ground, and there was no way that Fennec was going to let that slide. Carefully sliding his backpack off, he unzipped the top pocket and reached in. Retrieving a plain black fedora, he slipped it on his head casually and zipped the small backpack back up before he pulled it back over his shoulders.

Dani

Dani's face turned bright red when Jay put the boy's hand in her's. She was embarrassed that he was talking to the boy as if everything was fine. The boy seemed confused. Dani didn't blame him.

"Jay...stop it. He doesn't understand yet." she said, trying to hide the embarrassment that she felt.

Her hand tightened around the boy's and she turned to look at him.

"Come with me. I'll answer all your questions. I'm sorry." she said and started leading him down the hall to her room.

Dani was suddenly conscious of every half demon in the hall. The looks on their faces made Dani want to keep her human in a corner so she could keep a better eye on him. They always tried to kill another half demon's human. It was their sick humor. As she continued down the hall with the boy's hand still in hers, she couldn't help but release a small growl at the amused half demon audience.


Adam

Adam hadn't been walking down the alley long before another male bumped into him and fell to the ground from the impact. He glared down at the guy as he spoke.

"Maybe you should watch where you're going." he replied, sounding rather annoyed.

Adam watched the guy in case he was looking for a fight. He wasn't particularly good at fighting, but he knew enough to get him by. The guy pulled another fedora out of his bag.

"People are so ridiculous." he mumbled to himself.

Anya

Anya took her time in brushing her long, brunette hair. It was a struggle to brush it since it went all the way down to her hip. As soon as her hair was all smooth again, she grinned and ran into the kitchen.

"Mom! I'm going to the fair. I'll be back in a couple hours, ok?" she asked and walked out the door without waiting for a response.

Anya heard her mom shout something to her, but she didn't hear it. She was in too much of a hurry to. As she quickly walked down the street, she breathed in the cool night's air. She wondered if she should have worn jeans instead of shorts. It didn't really matter. She was never one to get cold easily. At least she had her sweater. That would be enough for her.

Anya finally arrived in front of the fair. She grinned at the person behind the ticket booth.

"Hi. I need one ticket." she said and stuck her hand in her pocket to retrieve her money.

She quickly paid for her ticket and headed inside the fair. What to do first? She had no clue. It was just nice getting out and into a new surrounding away from the house. She noticed a guy walking around that didn't seem to be there the fair activities either and smiled at him. Anya didn't expect him to smile back or say anything, but she just felt like being friendly.