The pounding footsteps echoed in his head yet his only thought was to keep running, keep going. Dashing down the dark deserted streets at night, splashing through the muddy puddles and still the lone figure kept going. Away from the hellish dogs chasing him, they finally found him. He could no longer hear them but knew they were there, they would always be just behind him. He turned down and alley way and doubled over, resting his hands on his knees and taking in deep, gasping breaths. The man's black hair fell over his crystal blue eyes, his black jacket and gray button up were spattered with blood and his jeans ripped up. He leaned back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting. Tears slid down his cheeks and he let out a shuddering breath, so this is how things would end? They were all dead and in the end he couldn't avenge them. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall and the memories all seemed to flood back in order. Right back to where everything seemed to have truly started this for him, right back at the crossroads where he made that decision that night to save a life.

(~)

The blonde boy stood at the crossroads in the dead of the night, the moonlight reflecting off his silvery blue eyes. The darkness of the night seemed to press in around him as he stood in the wilderness and waited, waited for the demon to show he knew would. After a few more minutes a women showed up wearing a short black dress. Black locks of wavy hair flowing down over her shoulders, she was slim and curvy but the blood red eyes ruined the image.

Arin turned his cold gaze to the demon as she walked toward him, arrogance in every stride as she eyed him with a particular lust burning in her demonic eyes. She stopped short a foot away from him, gazing up at him with a smirk on her soft pink-red lips. She tilted her head to the side as she gave him a once over.

"You aren't my usual customer. You're definitely pretty enough to attract any girl you want, and judging by those aristocrat clothes you have on you have the money." The demon purred out to him, Arin stared down at her with a slight disgust burning in his silvery eyes.

"I am not here out of lust demon, nor for wealth. I wish you to rid my sister of the black plague she has contracted." Arin growled to the demon who let out a short bark of laughter.

"Really? That's all? You're going to bore me to death with your nobility!" The demon said in a slightly whiny voice, pretending to pout up at him. He scoffed at her tone though.

"You won't turn down this deal demon." Arin responded coldly to her, she looked up fully interested now.

"I won't?" She asked, arching an eyebrow at her. Arin was willing to give up everything for his younger sister, and he was prepared to offer the demon his soul.

"No, because I'm giving you my soul and in return you will cure of this disease." Arin said, keeping his tone cold and neutral. He refused to show how much this hurt him, he was happy he was ensuring his sister's life but in utter despair that he wouldn't be there to witness her growing up. Interest seemed to glow in the red of the demon and a smile slid up her lips.

"Well this is unexpected! We usually don't get these, people just want to try and give us loyalty." She said, her eyes scanning over Arin with a slight bit of respect in their ruby depths.

"You are wasting my time creature of Hell, take it or not." He growled, she gave a hasty nod, knowing her boss would be furious and she gave it up.

"Yes! But for this big of a mess to clean up I cannot offer you ten years. You will only get a few months." She warned him, but her tone barely held any graveness to it at all. If anything it was excited, oh how pleased her superiors would be!

"Very well." He muttered, the demon seemed extremely pleased at this, before Arin could react though the demon had pulled him down into a kiss. Her mouth parted his and he shivered slightly as he quite literally felt the demonic energy inside her. The demon pulled away with an arrogant smirk and vicious delight gleaming in her eyes.

"See you in four months." She purred out, turning and walking away from him. But just like that she disappeared from sight and Arin was left standing in the crossroads feeling more alone than ever. Rain suddenly broke overhead as if the heavens themselves were mourning for the soul they had lost. He tilted his head up to stare at the dark, swirling mass of clouds overhead as they poured out their own misery it seemed. His own tears made their way down his face, he closed his eyes and hung his head. Even if he had just saved his sister's life he didn't feel noble, he didn't feel proud. He only felt a cold terror seeping into him, he was to die in four months. It was human instinct to fear this and he did, it was also human instinct to want to survive yet this part of him seemed to have been rendered useless. He felt no more will to live, his job was done and that was that and it couldn't be undone. He would die and there was nothing he could do, yet he had brought it upon himself to save a life.

(~)

Hell. This was where he was taken after the hellhounds came for him. It was a barren landscape with isolated buildings for torture and to teach the young demons. But his own torture wasn't usually physical, it was mental and emotional His soul was left to wander the barren places, see horrible things and remember his old life. He heard the screams and wails of the lost and tortured, felt the black energy the seemed to press against him at every turn and corner. He could hear the snarls and howls of the hellhounds as they were made or just wandered Hell. As he did himself, picking his way across the never ending and barren landscape that was now his home. Grief and misery tormented him the whole time, was his family alive and well? Or were they all dead? Or how many years had he been down here? Or had it been only days? He saw faces he would never see again in vivid detail as if they were standing in front of him. He soon began to give up hope, hope that he would ever find anything or anyone. He would be alone forever, wandering this place of pain and fire, rage and darkness. It would seem just as every shred of hope abandon Arin that the demons came with their wicked smiles and horrible words.

"Yes! Yes it is time!" They purred out, confusion swamped Arin. Was time for what? But his question was answered as it seemed a horrible darkness engulfed him, he felt as though he was drowning in it. It slowly seemed to take hold of him, and as the last shred of light faded away from him so did the last memory of his sister.

(~)

He learned what to do and what not to do, he learned what he was supposed to be. He met the other young demons yet still he didn't feel like one of them, after learning everything he had to he still didn't think of himself as one. He simply couldn't accept the fact that he was a demon, a monster of Hell. The thing that people fear will come and get them, he hated this idea. But it wasn't the other demons he hated, the things that taught him how to be one. He didn't hate the people who feared him when he once was one. No, Arin if anything hated the divine creatures of Heaven he had heard about from the other demons, the angels. He had heard of their magnificent power, their love for humans. If they loved humans so much then why not help them? Why leave them to suffer? And perhaps that it was his resentment in him that drew him closer to the demons that trained him. The demons soon deemed Arin trained enough to lead a small band of demons to silence a group of rebellious fallen angels. The idea pleased Arin very much so, even if the angels were fallen they were still angels.

So they went to Earth and possessed their hosts. His host, a man with black hair and brilliant blue eyes who wore a black jacket, gray button up and jeans. He felt in some way close to his host that the other demons didn't feel, like this was truly him. This era was rather new to Arin but it was the twenty-first century and he was utterly baffled by the things he saw. But with some explanations of the other demons he soon grew very accustom to the strange things around him. He found out that they were in a small town in a state called Wyoming, the place held a certain appeal to Arin for whatever reason. But he soon was focused on their mission, after exploring some they found an abandon warehouse where they could stay for a while. They made plans of how to silence the fallen angels, there were only seven in the group including Arin. One of the girls were his demonic age and he felt a bit more comfortable around her for this reason. Her name was Ruby and they soon became great friends as they planned together.

Over the course of the weeks they stayed, they found that the angel's hideout was an abandon building in the foothills. They began to contemplate how to break in to the place. Finally they came with a strategy to split into two uneven groups of three and four and break into the place and corner the angels.

In the middle of the night the demons sneaked into the town and stole two vehicles, soon they were off to the foothills. As the sky began to lighten to a dull gray they pulled up a little ways away from the warehouse and divided the weapons up and got into their groups. Arin took his group toward the front of the warehouse, they were be the team to distract the fallen angels while the other came in back to help finish them off. Arin gave Ruby a nod as they stood side by side, preparing to kick the door down and burst into the room. Without hesitation then Arin slammed his foot into the old, wooden door and it burst open to reveal twelve surprised fallen angels in vessels. All Hell seemed to break loose as each one of them reacted, the fighting began.

Arin and Ruby battled side by side against the fallen angels that fought against them, a seemingly unstoppable team against them. In the end though they were the last two standing, they were deeply angry that the rest of their team had been killed.

"Come on, let's report back to Hell." He muttered to the blonde demoness, who glanced up from staring at one of their fallen comrades. She gave him a sharp nod and they walked out of the place, but just like that they were back in Hell. They made their way to the castle-like place that the high ranking demons stayed at. A great dark gray stone building with towers and a large bridge for them to pass over the bloody river that ran beneath it. They walked by each others side as they contemplated how to tell the others the rest of the team had been killed, but surely they didn't expect all of them to have survived this mission. They finally got to the large black gates that surrounded the castle but someone was waiting for them outside. Her host had short blonde hair with a red leather jacket, a gray tank top and jeans. She wore a slight smirk on her lips as she watched the two approaching, Arin had never seen her before but Ruby had. Judging by the way she tensed up, this demoness made her nervous.

"Meg." Ruby murmured, inclining her head to the other demon who gave her a nod.

"You two the only ones who made it back? Gotta say the others might not be happy but," Meg shrugged as if it was no big deal. "they will have to get over it, they couldn't have expected you all to make it. Well I'll be back." Meg replied, Ruby flinched slightly and shifted a little closer to Arin.

"Yeah, guess so." Ruby murmured to her, the other demon turned on her heel though and walked back to the place. Arin frowned though as he watched her go and turned to Ruby.

"I've never seen her before, who is she?" He asked, curiosity getting the best of him for now.

"Well her true name isn't Meg, that's her host's name. But she is Azazel's daughter and trust me, you don't want to mess with her." Ruby murmured, clearly uneasy while they waited for Meg to return with other orders. They waited a while before the demoness finally came back, though she didn't appear to be bothered or troubled by anything if the higher ups said anything.

"They said you did good, you are free to whatever for now." Meg said with a shrug, Arin couldn't believe it though. They could do whatever? He frowned as Meg turned to leave, getting ready to call out but Ruby grabbed his arm to get his attention. He turned to face her, about to ask what was wrong but she simply shook her head. He sighed softly and remained silent as he watched the other demon walk away and back into the castle.

"Let's go back to Earth, I like it there." Ruby murmured to him, he nodded to her and once again in the blink of an eye they were back on Earth. They were back in Wyoming but at some log home in the middle of no where, he raised an eyebrow at her and she smirked slightly.

"No one lives here anymore, the people who owned it just left and well now it's ours." She declared, he couldn't help but smile a bit. He did have a place to call home other than Hell, it was theirs.