The sky was the dark blue-black of late night, or early morning, the glaring red light from the clock read 3:30 in the morning. He only required about three hours of sleep a night, and that was to keep at bay the nasty habit of sleeping for three or four days straight to catch up on missed sleep. The idea of passing days away sleeping, when there were much more productive things to do which were enjoyable, like hunting and harassing people, and playing with the pups of his pack. The normally silent part of his mind reminded him of the time spent in various gardens at home, including his zen garden, or secretly puttering around in the re-furnished kitchen, working on a surprise. He lay there next to her, waiting for the sun to rise, when it would be time for her to begin stirring, letting his mind drift back to when he first met her.

I had been going to clean up Das' grave. It had been centuries since her death, but it felt like yesterday. A huge, gaping hole resided in my heart and soul where her presence once filled me. Das, my bonded and life had been murdered five centuries, six months and twelve days ago, but who was counting? Around the grave I had planted her favorite flowers and herbs, a small, fitting tribute. Or that was the plan before a disturbance in the clearing caught my attention. Ok, a girl caught my attention.

She was young, maybe 10, not that I was a judge of elven aging. I was a demon, after all, not an elf—different race, different aging, and not much reason to enter the Elven Lands, thus no contact with elven children. She was pretty enough, but would be heartbreakingly beautiful as she grew into her looks: the typically long hair of royal elves, silver and brushing her lower back in gentle waves, large green eyes that picked up everything around her, and, most…distinctive was the obvious air of dominance. She was born to rule. Studying her more closely, I realized there were other signs of her rule…softness in her eyes spoke of compassion, chin said she was stubborn through and through. It would have been interesting to watch her grow up.

Her companion was…a tiny (later I was to learn aggressive and possessive) midget of elf. He looked several years her junior, sporting white-blond hair, almost as long as hers, gray-blue eyes. They were both in pants and tucked in shirts, though her clothes were a little baggy, suggesting they were borrowed, not from her closet. They were trying to pet what looked like an animal, dog or cat. Unfortunately, it was more interested in eating the kiddies rather than playing nice.

It's none of my business. I don't know them. This is Hell, they came here on their own volition. What ever happened to them, they knew it was a possibility. They're just a couple of…shit, I was going to kill the critter and save the kiddies. I sighed, resigned, walking over to the pair of children.

"Eat me, I dare you! Overgrown ball of fluff!" Somewhat surprisingly, it was the girl yelling, defying their newfound "friend" to go through with its threats. The boy, hovered several paces back, whimpering and trying to stop his companion from doing something stupid, like actually being eaten, after proclaiming that she would kill it if it ate her.

I couldn't help the grin tugging at my mouth, listening to her berating the…shit, the psychotic demon. Ok, this went from vaguely amusing, to thoroughly amusing and cute to watch, to seriously fucked up.

Quietly unsheathing my sword, not that anyone actually would have heard the metal clearing the leather sheath, with the yelling and threatening the hellcat-to-be was doing. I snuck in, noticed by the demon only after I lunged between it and the girl, who would have been bitten almost in half, had I not dove forward. Normally, people hiss, or make some other sign of discomfort when they have huge jaws clamp around their skin and tear down to muscle. Not me. Nope, I snarled and hacked at it. Venting centuries of hurt and anger, that I couldn't kill the one to kill my Das. It felt good, felt right that the demon would be on the receiving end of all the pain. I wanted to dish far more out, but my body wasn't cooperating. When it was finally dead, head hacked off, and kicked half a mile away, among other things, I realized why.

Taking stock, I found my wings, not exactly clean of battle-wounds prior to the skirmish, torn, actual holes from overly large teeth, my right arm nearly severed at the shoulder, muscle showing on my left forearm, a concussion, and my knee wasn't working right, for some reason. All in all, I was fine.

I patted the kids on the head and left the clearing, heading toward the wood where I knew another clearing with water, and protection in the form of a wolf pack waited. It seemed ages to walk, I don't hobble, the 50 yards or so to the trees then another 30 yards through woods.

A rustling brought him out of his thoughts. Looking around, hand half way to his stash of weapons, he spotted the source of the disturbance…one of the pups was "sneaking" closer to the two members of his pack who were two-leggers. Noticing that he was spotted, the pup wagged his tail and trotted between him and the object of his early morning musing. As if knowing where the pup was, she rolled over and flopped an arm around him, scratching his side gently, still sound asleep. Satisfied that there was no dander, he brushes a finger down her cheek, a feather light touch that went unnoticed, and allowed his mind to take him where it would. Of course, the memory of first meeting Kat'a, stirred to life the memory of first spotting Das. How could it not, with both introductions being over a grave. It was sheer irony, however, that he met Kat'a over Das' grave. Kat'a was after all the reincarnation of Das.

"Das!" quietly hissed the slightly older demon next to her, forcing her swaying legs to cease their monotonous movement.

"Das, mom will kill you if you don't stop fidgeting," whispered the older demon, her eldest brother, seated on her other side. They chose seats carefully, flanking her, guarding her from the interested or admiring looks she received from the males her age.

A hand clasped on her shoulder, warningly. "Atal'daisia," growled her father in her ear. She immediately quit fidgeting doing a very good impression of a statue.

I chuckled quietly, watching the exchange. As a result of my preoccupation, I nearly jumped a mile out of my own skin when I was on the receiving end of a hand clamping on my shoulder. I looked up to find my eldest brother glaring a warning. Being young enough to not care about demeanor or reputation, yet, I had no qualms making a face at him and sticking out my tongue.

"Do that again, and I will cut out your tongue," he growled softly. That might seem harsh or an idle threat to you, but not only did I believe him, it was the way of our family. We are demons, and among our family trying to kill each other is practically a sign of affection. Also, we've been compared to Mafia families, in either annoyed or amused tones. I admit it, there are similarities; hell, over the centuries I've sent assassins after my baby brother on numerous occasions, and on my eldest, and all my younger brothers, but that's another story. And they on me…see, familial affection.

I grabbed his hand and tried to pry it off my shoulder, but he just tightened his grip. "Piss off, Li," I hissed. The bastard that he was, he just smirked and held on.

After what seemed ages, I was allowed freedom not only from my stupid brother's death grip, but also from sitting quietly. Working kinks out of my shoulder from the pressure he'd put on it, I dodged away from my family before they could do something really unforgivable, like ask why I was distracted enough that Li had actually been able to grab me, or worse yet, tease me about liking the girl.

Once again, I found my thoughts wandering, and once again paid the price. I was meandering through the crowd, trying to loose my family and ran straight into a solid wall of demon. Back peddling, I muttered an apology (you would too if face-to-face with a demon several feet taller, bulkier, and heavier than you) and realized it was her brother. He was handsome, all clean lines, tall, about 6'7", light brown hair tumbling in waves to his shoulders, piercing hazel eyes. I gulped at the muscles in his arms and torso. His arrogantly protruding wings seemed gigantic. Not that I wasn't well built, but when you take into account that he was several centuries older than myself…

Sighing in exasperation, she shoved the glaring giant out of her way and stomped off, growing about her brothers being unbelievable and a host of other offenses. Grabbing my opportunity, and hoping the crowd was thick enough still to be lost in it, I chased after her.

"Hey! Wait up," I called, half hoping she'd stop and half dreading it.

She turned on her heel to face me and I skidded to a stop. She was younger than me, maybe a few centuries, give or take a decade. Brown hair hit her mid-back and bangs shielded her eyes.

"If you want to talk, that's fine, but we're moving," she announced and continued walking towards a gap in the near-by forest.

O…kay, then. I hurried after her. "What's you're name, anyway?"

"Das," she said, tone clipped. "Call me anything else, and I'll hurt you."

I couldn't help but grinning at that. "Fair enough, Das," I replied. "Where are we going?"

"I don't know where you're going, but I am going to get the hell out of this stupid dress," she grumbled, quickening her pace toward the tree line, now ten yards off.

"Oh." Damnit, I can't just stand there and watch some girl I don't even know change. That will just get me hurt, or at least this one would hurt me. Then again, that could be fun.

"HEY!" she called, snapping her fingers in my face. "Don't be so obvious about what you're thinking. If you want to stick around, fine, but you are standing on this side of the trees, and keeping guard. I do not need Myrs to come looking for me, and finding both of us in the forest. Or worse, for him to realize that I snuck off earlier and stashed real clothes here."

The rustling of leaves and plants being moved seemed to echo as she searched for her clothing, or was changing, I tried not to think about either possibility. "Myrs?" I asked.

"My brother. My stupid, overprotective, annoying oldest brother." She poked her head around the tree, smirking. "The one you ran into."

I groaned. Just what I needed: to be seen with his sister when he's in a bad mood. I sighed, and with more determination than before kept my eyes straight ahead, on the crowds, rather than sneaking glances back at the trees. I flinched at the sounds of a zipper either opening or closing, and thought harder about Mrys not finding us. It would have been bad enough to get into a fight with him, but with my luck, he'd fight with me, and then take me to my family. Li, of course, would know what was going on, damn observant bastard, and then he'd blab his big mouth to our parents, and things would go from bad to worse.

"All clear?" piped a voice behind me.

I jumped and turned, and damn near fell over. While the dress she'd been wearing had clung to her hips, the pants she was wearing were just tight enough to see that there were curves, but left the rest to the imagination. Her shirt a light green, tucked neatly into her pants, shone dully in the sun's rays. It too hinted that the wearer was female, but left the rest to the imagination. It took a few tries before I managed a weak "no sign of your brother, or mine".

She seemed satisfied with that and beamed at me. "Excellent. Shall we?"

"Before they send a search party," I agreed.

"Oh, its probably too late for that," she answered casually and strolled back toward the masses.

Grumbling, I caught up with her and tried to find out more about her.

I nearly yelped when a hand grabbed me from behind. "Have fun?" Li growled in my ear. "Hope so, because Dad's furious that you wandered away."

"HEY! Quit threatening him! He didn't do anything," Das fumed at Li, glaring at the usual "charmer".

He smirked and let me go. "So, he was with you, neh?"

She glared, looking for all the world like a put upon cat, a decidedly unhappy put upon cat. "Yeah," she said aggressively, "he was with me." She eyed him thoughtfully. "And he's probably better company than you could hope to be," she mused; studying…something she saw the rest of us didn't around my unfortunate brother. She then scowled and kicked his shin hard enough for all of us to hear a muffled crack! and slammed her heel down on his foot before grabbing my arm and stalked off.

Turning around, I almost laughed at the taken aback expression on his face. I grinned and continued walking with her.

"Mom," she said, catching up with her parents. "This is…um…what was your name again?"

I jerked myself back to reality, and stopped staring at her ass. "Kierys."

"Oh. This is Kierys. He…" she trailed off at the look on her mother's face. "Mom?"

Her mother just smirked. "I know who he is, and his family. Take me to them," she commanded, albeit politely.

I shrugged and lead the way back to my still shocked brother, who had by now been surrounded by the rest of my family. We were nearly even with Li, who was scowling at me, probably promising all the pain he could dish out, when my mother ran towards us and hugged Das' mother. I don't think anyone caught what was said between the two, as Das and I looked on in bewilderment.

She took one step forward, before a hand clamped onto her shoulder, holding her back. "Let me go," she scowled up at Myrs and dug her nails into his hand calmly until he let go. It suddenly made sense why Li didn't faze her: she had her own version living with her. "Damn bully," she grumbled, moving out of arm and wing range, which happened to mean closer to me. Not that I was about to complain.

"Well, it was wonderful to see you again, stop by sometime," her mother said, hugging my mother again. That was just too weird. What are the odds, realistically speaking, of our mothers knowing one another? Especially knowing each other that well, and running into each other at a bloody boring funeral?

"We will," my mother promised, and herded us off, though I lingered as long as possible next to Das. "Kierys!" she snapped, realizing I hadn't moved.

I shot Das a look of apology and turned to follow the troop of demons heading home.

It wasn't a noise or feeling that roused him. It was the sun, whose rays pierced the blinds like a spear of energy. Now that he was more conscious, he could hear the morning animals stirring and greeting the morning in their own noisy way. The pup, bored now that the time for sleep had passed pounced the slumbering body, or tried before hands grabbing him prevented the reach of his target.

"Leave her," he commanded quietly. Ever obedient, the pup tucked his tail and tried to lick the demon's jaw in apology. He waited another minute, to reinforce the lesson before bringing the wolf pup closer to his body. Ecstatic, the pup wriggled at the alpha's acceptance and attention, drawing a wry chuckle from the still brooding demon.

The pup barked, tail wagging madly and his entire body wriggling with the desire to play.

Sighing wistfully, the demon scooped up the small furry body and returned him to the protection of the pack before returning to his nightly post. Back with his slumbering companion, he stretched out on the bed and waited with quiet patience for his shift as guard to arrive.