Disclaimer: I do not own Durarara! :(

'Shit, why can't I heal as fast as he does?' Akabayashi swung down at the demon's jaw with what little strength he had left only to finally have his cane fly away from his hand. A clang resonated with a strange finality through the underground hall as his weapon hit the ground, rolling away deliberately before it slowed to a stop.

Akabayashi felt his legs give way, and he fell unceremoniously to the floor. He had put up a good fight, he admitted to himself, as a regular human would have been dead by now. He supposed he was lucky none of his broken ribs from the two punches the other had landed had punctured his lungs. He immediately retracted that thought when the demon kicked him one more time in the stomach for good measure.

"Ack!" He let out a hacking cough, feeling the blood collect in his throat, threatening to end his life by asphyxiation. Akabayashi looked over at the Orihara girl, finding her crawling towards him. 'No! What are you doing?'

"I'm sorry," she choked out, eyes wide with anticipation as she looked up at their attacker towering above them.

The demon regarded the two of them for a moment and finally raised a hand up for the final blow.

"Wait, Shiki!" a new voice, one Akabayashi had not heard from in a while, yelled. The demon paused and eyed his new enemy, his eyes widening when he saw the company the human brought with him.

Akabayashi dared to look up and met eyes with his longtime colleague. However, the expression he saw on the other now was unlike any he had ever seen before. He had always seen them calculating, confident, and occasionally cordial when there was a client, but those dark eyes now were furious, a pitch black, and there was something else in them, something... The thoughts stopped there as he let out another hacking cough and tried in vain to take in some air.

That action seemed to be the trigger for Shiki. A series of sequential pops, one after another, followed, and the demon took two steps back, clutching his chest to stem the blood that spilled out.

"Ugh," the demon groaned as he fell to one knee, unable to heal from the one unfortunate bullet that had lodged itself in his clavicle. His abdomen had already begun healing, but the initial attack had knocked the wind out of him.

"Tch," Shiki spat as he reloaded his handgun with a new magazine. He raised the weapon swiftly and aimed for the demon's head, right between the horns.

Before he could fire the final round, another demon replaced his range of vision.

"Move, Izaya," he demanded, almost unable to contain the dripping anger in his voice.

"You've done enough. I will deal with him," Izaya declared, his pupils red slits. Shiki could see the anger in them, much reflective of his own. He did not know if it was directed at the monster lying on the ground behind the informant or himself, but at this moment, he could care less. All he wanted was for the demon who attacked Akabayashi to die.

The two of them stared each other down, each unwilling to budge.

"You're not planning to kill him, are you?" Shiki whispered, moving his gun to Izaya's heart. "You know I cannot allow such a transgression."

"Demons are not allowed to kill or fight each other. My doing nothing and letting you kill this poor soul here would be an inconvenience for the future."

Shiki snorted, nodding to the one behind Izaya. "Are you sure your poor soul would be saved when he stabs you in the back? They're willing to kill their own blood just to satisfy their so called rules."

"Well, for society to run, rules must be enforced. Our interpretations may be a tad different, but I'm sure we can figure something out." Izaya smiled cordially, and Shiki recognized some of the life returning returning to the other's eyes. He had forgotten the last time he had seen the informant this passionate. The yakuza executive could almost see the wheels turning in the informant's head.

Shiki blinked and finally laughed, the tension between them momentarily cut. "That is one thing that I would have never expected to come from your mouth."

Izaya shrugged, sensing the de-escalation, and he motioned to Akabayashi and his sister. "They need a doctor."

"I can see that." Shiki lowered his gun.

Izaya met eyes with the demon, blood red ones reflective of his own, and the two of them remained silent as Shiki and his men began to move Mairu and Akabayashi to their cars on the streets above.

"It's okay, I got you," Akabayashi could hear someone whisper as he was hoisted to his feet. He attempted to support himself out, but even that proved too much for him at this point. He collapsed again and let his entire weight lean on the man next to him. Akabayashi grinned and let the darkness take him for the time being. Shinra was a good doctor after all.

"Akabayashi!" That was definitely Shiki's voice. He smiled and let out a breath.

"Shit!" Shiki began to lift his colleague up when someone stopped him.

"It'll be faster if I..." Shizuo trailed off, looking from the hopefully only unconscious man in his arms back at Izaya, who gave him a curt nod.

"I'll be fine," Izaya mouthed to him, and Shizuo looked back to Shiki, who nodded. The fortissimo of Ikebukuro lifted the man effortlessly and darted out of the passage with Shiki close behind.

Izaya and the demon were suddenly alone in the underground walkway, the only sound the drop of rain that had begun tapping on the outside streets.

"Unbelievable," Izaya finally hissed, bending down to eye level with the other demon.

"If you find it so repulsive, then why did you save me?" the demon asked carefully as Izaya examined the wound. He bit back a cry when the demon prince dug his nails in mercilessly.

"Consider yourself lucky. If I had sent Mamoru, you'd be dead by now."

'Shiki definitely went beyond my expectations through...'

He bit his lip, waving the thought away. "I need you to tell me who is behind all of this."

The demon almost laughed, making Izaya stop the work on his shoulder to look at him. "That is hardly a reason."

"Your point?"

"You were able to find us down here so easily. I highly doubt that you will need one such as I to tell you what you already know." He groaned when Izaya suddenly ripped out the bullet and clutched at his chest, feeling the wound close.

Izaya shook the blood from his hands before digging out a handkerchief to clean off the remaining mess. "I sensed regret in you."

The demon made no comment at this.

"What did you see in me? You could have attacked me earlier when I had my back turned and probably taken out Shiki too since he was so distracted."

The demon finally smiled, a genuine almost child-like sparkle in his eyes. "I saw her." He pointed at Izaya. "In you."

Izaya contemplated that statement. It was his initial intention after all, but he never expected the other to bring it up. "Do you think it's plausible?"

The demon nodded. "Kyouko did 'adopt' you after all. Like you said, everything has been unbelievable. A few strings can always be pulled."

Izaya regarded him for a moment. "Then what of the one who started this? You pledged your allegiance to him just a little too easily."

The demon bowed his head, eyes downcast. "We are weak without her, Izaya-sama. Our judgement has been clouded by these many years mixing with the humans. But you..." he looked up the demon prince. "How have you not lost to them? You who has walked among them for already a century..."

Izaya shook his head, thinking of Tsugaru. "I had help."

.

"Everything's going to be alright," Aoba whispered when he saw Kururi staring blankly out the window. "I've already texted your brother." He made a small scowl. "I hate to admit it, but he's got more resources than I do at the moment with Ikebukuro evacuated and all."

"Izaya's not in Ikebukuro."

"Huh?"

He waited for an explanation but received no response.

"Wait, so the rumors are true?"

Kururi hugged her knees tighter. "He's not coming back."

Aoba frowned. "That's..." he stopped, finding himself unable to prod any further. This wasn't the time to dwell on what they didn't have. "Who else is here then?" he muttered to himself. It was then he heard it: footsteps outside. "Shit!" he mouthed, motioning for Kururi to come off the table and hide under the desks with him. "How did he track us?"

"He probably never lost me in the first place," Kururi whispered back. "It's like a game for them."

"Shit," Aoba cursed again for good measure. The footsteps stopped in front of their door, and the handle turned slowly. Finding the office locked, their assailant took the liberty of pulling the metal door clean off of its hinges.

The demon sighed as he leaned the door against the wall in the corridor. "Why defy the inevitable?" he announced himself to them as he stepped into the office. The sound of thunder outside echoed out any response the two would have given him. He peered around the desk, instantly spotting his target. Aoba gritted his teeth and jumped to his feet, putting himself between the demon and Kururi.

"Did you not hear me the first time?" he asked the boy, peering down at the teenager. "Why defy the inevitable? Why defy us?"

"Why are you targeting her?" Aoba returned the questions with one of his own.

"That is not of your concern." The demon sighed, a tired, lonely sound.

"You..." Aoba began, but the other regained his resolve quickly enough before Aoba could use it to his advantage.

"Now..." He took a step towards Aoba and picked him up by the collar before he could react. "Out of my way, human," the demon growled before tossing him aside. Aoba flew across the office and slammed into the wall, sliding to the floor in a heap, groaning.

"Aoba!" Kururi yelled as she ducked under the demon and ran to his side.

"Forget about me! R-run!" Aoba urged her through the pain. His head was still spinning from the impact, and he could barely make out Kururi through the stars.

"Run!" Aoba yelled when he finally saw the demon right behind his classmate.

The demon sighed and aimed a well placed strike at the back of Kururi's neck. The younger Orihara twin whirled around in time to see the claws stop millimeters away from her wide eyes, held back by another clawed hand.

"What are you doing?" Mamoru growled at the other demon, his eyes a dangerous red.

"M-Mamoru!" Kururi stuttered.

The demon swung at Mamoru, and he grabbed the other arm, squeezing down until they heard a crack. The other shook him off with a cry and jumped back a distance. "Why are you meddling in our affairs?"

"You know it is sacrilege to kill another demon," Mamoru replied, his voice low and dangerous.

The demon pointed at Kururi furiously with his good arm. "Her very existence is sacrilege to our kind!"

Mamoru took a step towards him. "Are you saying that you would kill me to get to one of your own matriarch's blood?"

The demon flinched. "We are unable to move on until they are cleansed."

"If that the only case, then why have you terrorized the entirety of Ikebukuro in doing so?"

The demon straightened up, seeming to find new resolve. "We will claim it back as our birthright. Why must we always live in hiding from the humans?"

"And that gives you the right to kill those weaker than you? That makes you no different from them."

That seemed to have struck a chord in the other, and the demon hesitated, unable to find a response. He finally looked down at his healing arm. "I will withdraw for today. They will find the twins eventually, and we will reclaim Ikebukuro," he seemed to be saying more to himself than the others.

Mamoru sighed, a look of pity on his face. "You do not know what you are getting into."

The demons eyes grew wide. "Are you saying that the humans will win?"

"One with a gun can take down a hundred of us."

The red eyes hesitated yet again before narrowing, unable to accept what he had just heard. "Ridiculous." With that, he was gone.

Mamoru did not pursue him and instead looked down to Kururi, who was attempting to help Aoba to his feet.

"Let us get you and him to someplace safe."

Happy Holidays! As always, thank you for reading!