Damian just looked on with a blank expression. This was definitely the demon he saw, no doubt whatsoever. What was nabbing at his mind was the fact that it was Carter floating in front of him with a smile. He could have said many things but he simply frowned and cursed at the demon with an angry tone "You bastard." With that, he balled up his hands and grew tense, he was having a very bad day and he was not happy that Carter was under the demon's control.

Lotus stopped looking around completely lost and confused. "Wait did I kill them all?" She looked around "Where's the bodies?" Lotus stood there deeply confused.

Tsubaki, being rather close to Lotus felt obligated to reply.

"I don't think they were really real. Like bubbles. One minute they're there and the next, they are not."

Of course saying this made her realize that, in fact, she had not defeated any type of supernatural being, and she began to pout. That also meant that this creature was all the more powerful, so she scanned around trying to notice whether or not the one in front of them was to be the treat or if something else was amiss.

"But they didn't taste like bubbles..." Lotus said even more confused "What do bubbles have to do with bats?" Dot looked around at the mere mention of bubbles.

"Carter!" cried Evelyn in disbelief and anger "What are you doing here?!"

"Come now child," cooed the demon playfully "This isn't rocket science. Your friend Carter now belongs to me"

"You bastard!" yelled Damian.

"Oh hush," snapped the demon "It could have just as easily been you. Especially considering your name. Anyways, now to ask the question you've all been pondering. Will you be able to fight your ally, your friend?" Maximilian tossed Evelyn her glaive and held his own sword out as his response. "You family demon hunters, always so quick to kill your friends. Take note everyone! These two will cut you down without a moment's notice"

"Carter, you fool!" yelled Evelyn to the unresponsive boy, bearing a twisted smile with a dream-like expression. If there was one thing that was difficult to fix, it was a demon deal. She took off into the air and immediately flew towards it with her glaive raised. However, what happened next she did not expect; Johnny flew down from above striking her in the back, knocking her into the ground and sending up a cloud of smoke.

Damian, Lotus, and Tsubaki stared in shock at the effortless manner that he had taken out someone who was believed to be a more than a competent fighter in her own right. Johnny landed on the ground in front of the demon who only smiled sinisterly.

"Leave Evelyn alone" spoke Johnny sternly and then he flew at Lotus with his billhooks poised to strike.



The demon continued to struggle against the binds summoned by Ms. Ignianus who leaned on her staff impatiently.

"Come on! Come on!" she urged the children, "Can't wait all night can we?"

Adi remained off to the side, still clutching the demon head that he had severed earlier. Still not entirely sure what had changed within him to allow him to accomplish such feats moments before; he decided he would simply observe.

Li approached the demon warily. Regardless of whether it was trapped or not, it was still an Exitimus and not to be underestimated. He thought for a moment, not entirely sure what to ask. What did one typically ask a demon in these situations? There was so much that they all alluded to and laughed about without actually revealing anything. Where would he even begin?

"Why are there so many of your kind here tonight?" he finally asked.

"We were looking for a soul to nibble. You up for the offer?" sneered the demon.

"Lie" spoke Li calmly and he pressed his energy imbued finger into where there would typically be a painful pressure point in the human body, and to his surprise the demon yelped. The demon glowered at the boy but said nothing further. Using both of his hands, covered in energy, Li jabbed a finger into either side of the demon's torso, causing it to lurch upwards against its bindings in pain. Li was generally a peaceful boy, and torturing individuals was never something he would enjoy, but somehow, knowing that this creature had played a part in the death of so many of his friends, made the screams a bit more bearable.

"Why. Were. You. Here" asked the boy sternly once more, refusing to move his hands from the demon's body. The energy he emitted was nearly enough to exercise the demon but he refrained from doing so, leaving it in a painful limbo between worlds.

"THERE WAS SOMETHING" gasped the demon.

"What was it?" asked the boy not letting up.

"A surge! A powerful surge! We all felt it. The angels were stirring! It led us here!" cried out the demon. Li removed his hands from the demon and stepped away to think for a moment. He looked over at Adi who seemed to nod in agreement.

"He's right about the angels. Someone saved me while I was pinned by the Exitimus before you arrived."

"Alright," finally spoke Li, wringing his hands before turning back to face the demon who looked remarkably pale, "Now tell us about the explosion" Logan and Adi looked toward Li, their expressions equally pained, and tinged with anger as Dom watched on with a mix of horror and awe at the sheer amount of things he had witnessed.

"Never" spoke the demon adamantly.



Lotus curled up into a ball and agilely dodged Johnny's incoming assault, as he flew overhead missing her by a few strands of her pink hair. She turned to face him, a low growl rumbling in her throat, as he made a u-turn to strike at her again.

Meanwhile Carter flew towards Damian who simply raised his hands not wanting to hurt one of the first friends he made coming to this school. The boy had no will to bring harm to his friends, and would try to restrain him instead. Carter on the other hand had no qualms with cutting down Damian. He was merely a puppet of the demon and would do whatever it willed.

"Arx, be my shield!" a glowing shield of energy appeared in front of Damian just as Tsubaki ran in front of him, and Carter bounced off of it like a large rock, causing Tsubaki to stagger backwards with the force of energy.

"Damian," she groaned "He's not Carter anymore. You have to fight."

Maximilian, still without a source of water to manipulate, was forced to wield his summoned broadsword. This wasn't entirely an issue for the boy, for he was more than exceptionally skilled in the use of the weapon. He circled around the battle and approached the demon who appeared to be occupied by the battle before it. However, it had long taken note of his approach and pulled on its various ghostly tendons hovering about it, sending one of the floating rocks hurtling towards the boy.



It was almost like a fish, the flickering pool of power that seemed to be just within Daniel's grasp as he meditated. One moment it was there, right in his grasp, and the next moment it was not, having deftly slipped out from between his fingers like an eel. He stretched himself farther, much farther than he ever had before, and lured the energy he was seeking with the pool of energy that he had within himself. Being a Vitri, his strong spirituality made his spirit vast and full of power, at least for a human of his age. Unbeknownst to him, this made him a great prospect for the ether, and eventually it accepted him.

It was like a warm kiss on the cheek, or a hug, as the mighty ether formed a link with him. In the blink of an eye he felt like the most powerful being on Earth, he saw all the things he could do with just a snap of a finger or a nod of his head, and then just a quickly the feeling passed. One thing that remained however was the connection to the ether.

A wave of energy emanated from the boy, causing the magically powered lights in the room to burn bright white and all the members of the club looked at the boy with shock, while Ashley glowed like a mother watching her child ride his bike for the first time.

It was then that Basil decided to acknowledge Daniel's existence and leaned over the boy to whisper in his ear "I know what you are"



Without missing a step, Maximilian deftly dodged the incoming rock thrown by the demon and continued towards it with a more purposeful gait and his sword ready for anything, but the demon was not done. It continued to throw rock after rock, which only served to further slow Maximilian as he dodged each and every flying boulder. Until suddenly, a familiar white sphere of light struck the demon as its back was turned. Maximilian looked up to see Evelyn flying on the opposite side of the demon, looking worse for wear, with her uniform torn and scratches on her body, but a look of fierce determination in her eyes. They mutually greeted each other silently and charged at the demon with their weapons raised.

Lotus flipped backwards acrobatically and landed on her feet gracefully as Johnny flew to strike her again while yelling out "Monster!" She didn't stop to question why he thought she was a monster and instead roared as she jumped remarkably high in the air and pounced on the boy, pinning him to the ground. They rolled around on the ground, Lotus scratching at him with her claws, though doing little damage because of Arx's protection, until he threw her off of him. She turned mid-air and landed on her feet once again. The irises of her eyes turning into slits as she snarled,

"Now, you're making me mad" she growled.

"I won't let you hurt anyone you monster" threatened Johnny.

Carter got up, and brushed himself off before casually walking towards the shield, pulling back his arm and punching it squarely in the middle. The shield shattered with a "BOOM" as Tsubaki went flying backwards onto the ground, with her arms raised over her head. Damian, no longer able to simply stand and watch, pointed his hands towards Carter and streams of green electricity surged forth from his fingertips striking the boy, who shook violently as he was shocked and fell to the ground.

"Ligare!" yelled Tsubaki while drawing her sigil in the air, and chains shot out from the sigil surrounding the boy as he struggled against the binding.

"How-He was barely even scratched!" commented Damian, surprised that Carter was able to withstand the burst of electricity he had released.

"The powers granted by demons are said to be great" spoke Tsubaki in a strained voice as she struggled to maintain the bind, "Go help the others, we must defeat the demon if we hope to release its hold on them" Damian nodded and seemed to disappear, having turned himself invisible, and ran towards the demon.



This time, Adi approached the demon while Li and Logan stood behind him and Dom remained off to the side. Clearly, this was something personal, and he didn't want to get involved.

"Who is this prince that you refer to? The one behind the explosion," spoke Adi, remembering what one of the earlier demons had let slip from before.

"You can do what you want to me" snarled the demon "But I will not reveal anything"

"Very well," replied Adi, and he took out his glowing karambit and stuck it into the demon's gut, twisting it slowly. It howled loudly with a multi-toned voice and once again pulled at its restraints to no avail. Holes began to appear in its jet black suit and ashen flesh, letting holy energy shine through as if a light bulb had been placed into a broken shell.

<"We will rip your wings from you-"> the demon groaned loudly as Adi ignored its threat and pushed the karambit a bit further into it, twisting it even slower. "WE DO NOT KNOW WHERE THEY ARE!" It slumped to the ground, quivering and panting.

"That's a start" spoke Adi as he kneeled over the creature.

"Yes, it is" Logan and Dom turned to face the intruder, believing it to be another demon, only to find a young man approximately in his early twenties. He stood a bit over six feet tall, with broad shoulders, and sharp features to his face. His skin was dark brown, and his hair was long and black pulled into a loose ponytail with a few strands of hair framing either side of his face. Most striking were his amber eyes. It was the angel from before, though he wore street clothes, a navy blue hoody, black jeans and sandals.

Not sure what to do, Logan and Dom looked over at Adi and Li. "At ease" spoke Adi reassuringly, though honestly, he was not sure whether he himself could trust the angel, "This is Yuriel, an angel"

"Do continue on abomination" spoke Yuriel, walking past Logan and Dom towards the demon. Its eyes narrowed as it saw the angel, and it shuddered. The chains that were binding had disappeared, along with Ms. Ignianus, but it did not matter for so long as the angel wished it, the demon would not be able to leave.

" All of them," he sneered "Your pawns, we were not able to capture their souls."

"Then where are they?" piped up Logan.

"We do not know."

"Now for my initial question," not having forgotten that the demon had avoided what he had initially asked "The prince you spoke of earlier?" further questioned Adi.

"He rules Darren."



Their footwork was graceful and their strikes deft as Maximilian and Evelyn closed in around the demon. However they remained at a stalemate, it countered both of them by manipulating its various tendrils about itself defensively, blocking their every move. Suddenly a burst of green electricity flew through the air towards the demon. It was shocked both literally and figuratively, allowing Evelyn and Maximilian to close in on the creature and finally slash at it with their blades.

Lotus summoned Dot who growled along beside her as she stood facing Johnny. He spun in a spiral, flying upwards and the striking downwards with his billhooks but both girl and tiger dodge to either side. This was his undoing. Dot was able to tear away the right billhook, while Lotus grabbed the other. Their minds linked, they didn't even have to voice their plan as Lotus spun to the side catching Johnny unawares from the side, to which he turned to counter her, which allowed the large tiger to pin the boy facedown onto the ground.

"Don't move" Lotus threatened, "Dot will eat you alive if I tell her to."

Together, Maximilian, Evelyn and Damian circled the demon. They each attacked at different intervals to keep the demon from knowing when and where an attack would come. Evelyn fired a wisp; Damian loosed a bolt of electricity; Maximilian lunged with his broadsword. Much to their surprise they were wearing it out. Its attacks were getting sluggish and it left itself vulnerable more often after every round. It was in that split second, as the demon went to attack Evelyn that Maximilian closed in and swung his broadsword into the spine of the demon.

The world around them seemed to flicker for a moment, threatening to fade out of existence, and the various tendons of the demon fell to the ground limp. The demon lurched backwards screaming in pain, as Maximilian swung once more into the same position he had struck it before. Evelyn threw her glaive to the ground and flew at breakneck speeds towards the demon with her crucifix-knife in her hand, and stabbed it in the chest.

"Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti! Revertere ad abyssum!" she yelled as a bright light emanated from the dagger and the world around them began to crumble and fall apart.

"I'M NOT GOING ALONE!!" laughed the demon maniacally as a giant gate opened and began to drag the demon, Carter, and Johnny into it.



"Daniel and I need to have a chat" spoke Basil casually as he roughly pulled him up from the ground.

"What are you going to do to him?" questioned Ashley "I don't want you to scare away our newest and potentially greatest member"

"Don't worry about it" he replied gruffly "I won't hurt a hair on your pet's head" and he dragged the boy out of the room and back into the hall that Daniel had been in earlier. They walked in silence, Daniel following hesitantly, though knowing that running in this place probably wouldn't do him any good. Eventually they stopped in front of one of the doors.

"This is my room," said Basil finally, and he opened the door and led the boy into it. The room was fairly dark and grungy with a few magical lights in various corners though were kept dimmed. Various posters of bands plastered the black walls and a guitar in one of the corners. On bookshelves were various books on numerous topics: some on philosophy, some on sigils, and most on magic. The floor was littered with texts and blank papers, and sigils were carved into the walls. Of course, Daniel being a Vitri, did not know what any of them meant, so simply stood in silence as he observed the room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked bluntly "Did Alice send you here? I'm not going back."

"What?! No!" exclaimed Daniel "She doesn't even know I'm here...none of them do"

"Then what are you doing here? Aren't you Omnivident?"

"I want to learn real magic!" replied Daniel emphatically "That's all I've ever wanted."

Basil eyed the boy suspiciously, and then opened the door to his room once again to show the boy out. "Whatever" he finally said "The Magi here don't know about the omnivident. I intend to keep it that way."

"Definitely!" replied Daniel quickly as he scurried out of the room into the hallway.

"I hope he didn't give you any trouble" spoke Ashley with crossed arms.

"N-No, it's fine."

"Good, don't worry about Basil. He's more bark than bite."

"Thanks" replied Daniel while looking at the ground "Anyways, I've got to go..."

"That's fine" she said cheerfully, "As a member of the club feel free to pop by any time. Just don't hang out here for too long, or the teachers will think you've been skipping classes," she added with a laugh, "Welcome to the club Daniel"



The ride had been hectic, to say the least, but eventually Alice and Phora made it to the school grounds, though something was distinctly off. Then entire school seemed to emanate magic.

"Do you feel that?" she asked her pint-sized companion.

"Yeah! Maybe there's something in there we can kill!" piped up the pixie cheerfully.

They walked through the doors and it was clear that something was very wrong. The halls were absolutely empty. Alice looked at her watch, it was barely after 8, there was no way everyone would have gone to bed already.

It was then that she heard footsteps approaching.

"Alright! Killing time!" crowed Phora as she flew about in the air excitedly.

"Be careful" reminded Alice as she drew her bow and pointed it in the direction of the stranger.

"Hey, isn't that-" began Phora.

"Chantelle? What are you doing here? What's going on?"

"Oh Alice!" she exclaimed "Thank goodness you're here! There was a demon, and everyone was in danger, so I put them all to sleep. I know this makes no sense, but I had no choice, everyone was in danger...your comrades! They've been fighting the demon for a while now, I don't know what's become of them."

Alice's eyes widened at the prospect of the kids in danger. She wasn't going to let anything happen to them while they were under her protection.

"Chantelle, you've got some explaining to do, but now's not the time. Take me to where the kids are!" Chantelle nodded and they ran down the halls of the school and headed for the dormitory. Her heart sank as she realized that the demonic energy she felt grew stronger and stronger and they found themselves standing before Johnny and Carter's bedroom.

"Phora..." she began while looking into the dimension that was manifested inside where Johnny and Carter's dorm room were supposed to be.

"Weeeee! I know what that means! Twice in one day too", the pixie suddenly disappeared as a column of light appeared around Alice and she immediately began to transform as the fusion took control of her body. Without saying another word, Alice took flight and flew into the dimension that had once been a bedroom.



Adi, Li, Logan and Dom looked at each other as if they had misheard what the demon had said.

"He's right" spoke Yuriel, as if reading their minds.

"How can that be?" asked Li.

"The explosion greatly disturbed the balance in Darren," continued Yuriel "Without protectors such as yourselves to defend the city from the plans of the demons, there was nothing stopping them from making headway in the war. Why else do you think demons are bold enough to attack in the middle of the day? This is their territory, but that does not mean it will stay that way," and Yuriel turned to the demon who cringed under the angel's gaze, "Where is the prince now?" he commanded.

"I don't know"

"Adi, if you don't mind-" began Yuriel.

"HE'S FOUND A HOST!" exclaimed the demon "We do not know who the host is, but the prince has taken flesh in order to further our prospects in Darren."

"And that's all you know?" replied Yuriel.

"Yes, you've condemned me to the pit for at least a century."

"Good. The less of your kind on this plane, the better," and with a flick of his wrist the a pillar of fire erupted from the ground where the demon was. Adi tossed the severed demon's head into the flames as well, as it had grown quiet and unresponsive. Yuriel waved his hand and the flames disappeared leaving not even the sulphuric remains on the ground.

"Well boys, we have a lead,"



Evelyn yanked her crucifix-dagger from the chest of the demon as it was sucked into the gates. Tsubaki collapsed, no longer able to hold the binds of Ligare and Carter was freed, only to be quickly dragged towards the gates, while Johnny had slipped out from underneath Dot as he was dragged towards the gates as well. It was then that Johnny and Carter seemed to have suddenly woke up. As if they had been in one long nightmare. Their fears were only made greater as they took note of their being dragged towards the giant gates.

Damian lunged for both of them grabbing Johnny's hand while holding onto a rock outcrop, pulling desperately in a life or death match of tug-of-war. He wasn't about to lose his friend. Lotus order Dot to grab Carter by the back of his shirt with her teeth to keep him away from the gates while Maximilian and Evelyn tried to cut through the tendrils with their bladed weapons. All the while a great moaning, mixed with sinister laughing echoed throughout the dimension as the floating rocks began to fall.

Suddenly, above them swooped Alice, who was fused with Phora and she dived towards Johnny with her claws outstretched. It took her a few seconds, but she sliced through the tendril that was attached to Johnny causing both him and Damian to tumble backwards onto the ground. However as she went over to cut loose Carter, his shirt ripped and with a cry of desperation he was pulled into the gate which shut immediately behind him.

The world seemed to ripple as a wave of energy emanated from the closed gate, and the dimension that they were in disappeared. They all found themselves standing on furniture in Johnny and Carter's dorm room, which looked as though nothing at all had happened in it.

They all looked at each other in silence, not entirely processing what had just occurred. Carter was gone.

-CHAPTER 2 END-

Chapter 3 Prequel

Despite the grey weather, brilliant sunlight shone through the large bay windows in Miss Rachel's office. The door opened from behind Derek, who sat in one of the chairs in front of her desk waiting for his appointment to commence. Miss Rachel shuffled through various papers in folders and sat down at her desk ignoring the boy's presence for a few seconds before she looked up at him and smiled. She smiled a very knowing smile.

"Ah, Mr. Loansfield," she said while lacing her fingers together in front of her face thoughtfully as her amber eyes seemed to peer into his very being "So you've decided that the Darren Archive Club will be your extra-curricular activity? You are a bit late, but I suppose that is to be expected of you" She smiled, in response to his expression before continuing, "Nevertheless, I suppose a crash course shall be sufficient. Today, you learn about omnividence, and your arte. Sir William?"

OOC: Derrick now has a rudimentary grasp of his abilities, and the spirit realm.
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CHAPTER 3: UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Autumn/Winter, Monday 12:00

A thick fog hung over the city of Darren as a chilled wind blew through the streets blowing about all the leaves that had fallen to the ground. A light frost coated the windows and the grass was brittle, crunching under each step. The school halls hummed with life and mirth as the students prepared for the encroaching exams and looked forward to winter break. Little did they know, all of them had been in danger a mere three days ago.

Johnny had spent the entire weekend in the s****. His soul was in critical condition, and it was up to Miss Shields to prevent it from further corrupting; a process that required her to stay up for over 48 hours. Ultimately it was a success, though Johnny continued to suffer from cripplingly terrifying nightmares; dreams in which he would be continually tortured by monsters.

The group had noticeably grown smaller as well. Adi had left with Yuriel; who, while under the guise of a "relative", had convinced Adi's father that it would be beneficial for the boy's studies to spend time in Indonesia. In actuality, Yuriel had taken Adi to an undisclosed location where the boy would learn to control his newfound abilities. Gregory, having missed everything that had occurred while away for the national baseball championships, had also withdrawn from Arclight Academy. One of the coaches recognized the youth's talent and offered him a scholarship he wasn't able to refuse. No one was quite sure what had happened to August. Rumours were going around the school that he had run away from home, or that he was kicked out of school; both were plausible considering his behaviour.

As the lunch bells rang, the members of the Darren Archive Club made their way to the meeting room where they found that all the chairs had been arranged in a semi-circle facing the board. A sullen air hovered in the room as the room filled; the events of Friday and Carter's demise had profoundly impacted each of the members. Rumour had it that Miss Rachel was back in town. Hopefully she would have answers, or at least give them direction. Derrek's presence in the room was notably odd. The first years had seen him around in class, but he had never indicated that he had been invited to the Darren Archive Club; the seniors did not know who he was at all, just another freshman scurrying through the halls; regardless, they all assumed Miss Rachel would have an explanation.

After a few minutes, everyone's PDAs in the room began to buzz.

As the bells rang for lunch, Evelyn exited her classroom without so much as a goodbye to Bernice as they parted ways. She walked into the club room where the rest of her remaining peers had assembled and she sat down on one of the chairs without acknowledging any of them. To the average observer, it was as if the girl who had been slowly opening up had once again shut herself off from everyone around her; all swaddled in an air of superiority. It was her eyes, which were aimed at the ground, that betrayed her. She was greatly troubled.

The attack at the school had jarred her to the core. Never, in all her life, or in any of the stories from her older sisters had she heard of a demon attack on Arclight property. Even the bus explosion had occurred outside the school gates. If the information that Li, Logan and Dom had returned with was true, did that not mean that they were all in danger? She had trouble sleeping at night all weekend; the slightest sounds stirring her from her sleep, her crucifix poised to stab whoever was there. Even when she did sleep, her dreams replayed Carter being dragged into the very Gates of Hell, and all she could do was watch. For the first time in her life, she felt powerless.

She was jolted from her thoughts once again as her PDA vibrated and she read the message. Without a word, she got up from her seat and walked to the back of the room which led to the secret passage leading them into the s****. The bookcase slid aside and she walked down the steep stairs.

Derrek took to the information Miss Racheal told him pretty well, being relaxed was part of having to deal crazy people with magic powers. Strangely he had gotten to the room on time, if not early, so that he could settle in and get cozy. He reconized a few people, like some of the other first years, and the Japanese exchange kid, but the only two he had learned the names of were Lotus, who was atractive enough to stare at while lessons were happening, and Alice, because what boy in this school didn't know about Alice? Everyone that came in seemed upset, each in their own way, which was rather uncomfitable, which was a bit annoying.

When he got the message he took a bit to retrieve his PDA. His first thought was that he wasn't going first, but some of the people around him had already made their way there, so that wasn't an issue. Under his breathe he mumbled, "This is going to seriously suck."

--------

The past few days had been pretty tough for Tsubaki. She kept feeling as though her failing to keep Ligare stable was why Carter was dragged off, and she didn't even know him, what would it have been like if one of the people she actually talked to was lost. What if it was Alice, which was so nice to her, or Logan that talked to her in class from time to time, or even Sangeeta, who was worried enough about Tsubaki to ask over the weekend what happened. Tsubaki wasn't even able to tell her the truth, and when Sangeeta left to give Tsubaki a bit of time alone Tsubaki tried to call on Iter to find Carter, but it wouldn't manifest, since the boy was now beyond this earthly realm. It didn't make her feel any better.

Everyone one else looked pretty upset too, even the new boy, though his look was not a look of sorrow. Upon receiving the message Tsubaki got up and followed Evelyn down into the s****. She wanted to say something, but any progress that was made to calm herself around Evelyn last week was suddenly moot again, with the wall Evelyn had made for herself.

Johnathan sat there, still in a trance like state, and didn't notice his PDA at first. He had been like that all weekend, over the loss of Carter. It was so bad, he didn't even notice Miss Shields repairing his soul. Not even the nightmares could compare. The only person he could easily say is his best friend in the school. Gone. He couldn't shake the feeling that it was his fault. If he hadn't signed that demon contract, things might have turned out differently. 

He forced himself to stand up and follow the rest of the students down the steps. His only slight slimmer of hope was Rachel. 

Considering the events that had occurred, the lack of any sleep Damian had since then was no surprise. However, the issue was not that he couldn't sleep but rather that he didn't want to. While others felt sorrow or sadness, all that Damian felt was anger and a deep hate for the supernatural. Assuming he could find the will to speak, the anger would reflect in his attitude. As the pda rang and the others made their way to the s****, Damian followed them almost eagerly.

Lotus had just gotten her tray piled with a plethora of various meats. She glanced around the lunch room. She stood there a moment before she realized she didn't really have any friends here yet. She longed for someone to hangout with. Lotus walked over to an empty table sitting down alone. She grabbed a hand full of meats and plunged it into her maw. She went for a second hand full, Then her PDA went off. She looked at the accursed message. Lotus let out a near silent growl before dumping her tray and walking toward the club room. She arrived as the others began to moved downstairs. She followed them allowing her footsteps to flow silently over the steps. As she moved Dot slowly began to materialize behind her. Lotus looked at the others moving downstairs with her.
"Umm...Guys? Who's Miss Rachel?" Lotus asked unsure of who exactly asked a bunch of children to enter a dark s**** and closed the door tightly.

Logan focused intently on the training dummy, as if he intended to bore a hole through it with his gaze alone. However, his weapon of choice was something a bit more substantial. From a prone position, the junior took aim with a Whitworth rifle. He had been practicing with it since Saturday, though it had felt quite unnerving knowing that he was training a room away from someone recovering from severe spiritual trauma. Still, in that time, he had become intimate with the weapon's mechanisms. Once the sights were aligned, he cut his breath and remained perfectly still. After a few seconds, he felt the reverberations caused by his heartbeat. He quickly found the rhythm of the beating, then began to slowly and smoothly pull the trigger. Suddenly, there was a sharp click, then a dull crack. To any normal person, of course, the click of the rifle's hammer being released and the impact of the projectile on the dummy would sound simultaneous. All that was absent was the loud bang of the gunpowder being ignited, and for that, there was good reason. He took aim and prepared to fire again. However, instead of his heartbeat, Logan felt his stomach growl. Skipping lunch wasn't like him, but he hadn't had much of an appetite lately. Just then, the junior felt his PDA vibrating in his pocket. He withdrew it and checked the latest message. Apparently, Miss Rachel had returned. Strange. He hadn't heard her come in.

Logan sighed and returned the device to his pocket. He didn't want to think about the Darren Archive Club right now, or the events of three days ago. Carter was missing, Johnny had been hospitalized, and several others, including his own roommate, had just up and left. To top it all off, he now knew that the demon responsible for the bus wreck had taken a host, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. More than anything, he wanted to be hunting down that monster. However, since he was already in the s**** and literally ten steps away from the meeting place, he decided he might as well drop by. Unsurprisingly, he was the first to arrive. He quickly took a seat and waited, arms crossed, expression contorted into a scowl. The others arrived a few seconds later. He noticed that a newcomer, Derrek, was among them, but he wasn't in the mood for introductions. In fact, he completely ignored everything going on around him, including Lotus's question.

There was a time when the Darren Archive Club sat atop the supernatural food chain. The club used to be completely untouchable, and every demon, evil spirit, and monster knew they would only remain on Earth until the SDI glanced in their direction.

"Alice."

Just months ago, Darren had the world's finest collection of Omnivident foot soldiers. The very clubroom where the dozen or so remaining members gathered was once a bustling small town, where the brilliant alchemists went about their experiments, where the swordsmen sparred, where the newcomers pored over ancient texts describing the usage of their abilities.

"Hey, Alice."

Or maybe it was just her imagination? Alice was finding those memories harder and harder to grasp. One by one her various friendships, adventures, and romances seemed to slip away. Slowly but surely all of her treasured experiences were giving way to an enormous gaping hole. When did this start? Did it begin as soon as they all perished? Or was this a reaction to seeing the influences of hell once again swallow the people she thought she could protect? Either way, Alice felt as if she was losing everything worth fighting for.

"Aaaaaaliiiiiiice!"

The senior opened her eyes to find Phora inches from her face, standing on the desk. Her totem had tears welled up in her silver eyes, which were starting to turn puffy and red. It was always strange to see her like this. Phora had a certain strength of will which Alice had always admired, but in small ways the pixie tended to remind her master that she had the heart of a child. For the past few days, the totem walked instead of flying, cowering from behind Alice at the world that was oblivious to her.

"I'm sorry I didn't save them!" The creature began to sob, and Alice wrapped her arms around her closest friend and ally, wings and all, embracing her. "I'm weak... I'm so weak..." She muttered.

"It's not your fault, Phora." Alice said, pulling away from the hug to give a warm smile and pat her on the head. This seemed to frustrate Phora, who crossed her arms.

"Don't give me that!" She shot back. Alice couldn't help but grin at the fury which was igniting in the pixie's eyes. "Stop smiling at me! I mean it, damn you! Next time we're flying right through that gate, and we're going to beat up the goat man, and we're going to drag Carter out! Understand?!"

Alice stood up. "Alright, then, let's go down to the s**** and find out how to do all that." Phora, in her eagerness, launched herself off the desk, nearly knocking it over, and flew ahead of her master through the s**** door.

Daniel, who entered the room just as the fairy had started to cry, was petrified of Alice. Ever since he awakened his magical prowess he could feel her power hanging over the school, and it threatened to drown out everything else without careful focus. Now, with her terrifyingly powerful totem gone, it was slightly more bearable. He studied the girl, noticing how beautiful she was as she laughed by herself and twiddled with the ribbon in her hair.

She stopped laughing and looked him straight in the eye. He thought his heart might explode on the spot. "What are you looking at?!" She said teasingly, but Daniel took it as a threat and took off running down the stairs, with a pile of glass panes in his hands. Hopefully none of the "normal" students would notice their windows were missing, Alice thought as she walked down the stairs to the s****.

The past few days have been a roller coaster of feelings. In all his years being omnidivident, Li has never experienced anything like this before. The combination of all the recent events really made Li take a break from it all and try to focus on school. On top of that, Adi decided to leave with Yuriel. It was strange without him around. Li never realized how much of a duo they were until he was gone. When the lunch bell went off, Li did exactly what was expected and went to lunch. When his PDA went off, he then went straight to the Darren Archive club room and down into the s****. Most people were there already including a new face. There was a bit of an awkward silence, quickly broken by Lotus

"Umm...Guys? Who's Miss Rachel?" She asked. Slightly surprised, he forgot many of the newcomers didn't know about Miss Rachel as she was absent when they joined. Looking like one of the few who actually knew the answer, Li spoke up.

"Ah right, you guys haven't met Miss Rachel. She's the one who runs all of this. Recently she went away after the events of...our last mission," Li paused, remembering what happened then. "Anyway, it's good that she's back."

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Dom was fairly quiet for the past few days. He's spent a lot of his time skipping his classes in the s**** of the school. It was interesting learning what was down there. Sometimes he would train his abilities, but more often then not, he would sleep in the library. This time around, he was watching Logan practice with a new weapon, a rifle. Logan didn't talk much, it was obvious something was bothering him. In response, Dom didn't say much to him either. He just sat there and silently watched.

When his PDA went off, he got up from the ground to head to the meeting area of the s****. He heard of who Miss Rachel was, but not exactly what she was capable off. Slightly excited, he casually walked to everyone else, seeing a new face in the group.

Maximilian had stirred himself forth from a late afternoon nap as the school bells rang for lunch. The boy felt as though he could have remained dormant for the rest of the day and he more than likely would have had he not experienced the events of three days prior. Sitting up and stretching his arms. Maximilian couldn't help but immediately lose himself in thought over the last few days, or to be more precise he couldn't help but think about Evelyn. Of all those who were involved Evelyn seemed to have been taking the aftermath of their conflict the worst and although Maximilian knew Evelyn never really respected or liked him he couldn't help but feel worried for the girl. Maximilian had never cared much for his subordinates until now, and even now he barely knew anything about them leading him to continuously distance himself from them but for some odd reason he couldn't keep himself from worrying about Evelyn. Was it because she had essentially saved him numerous times from fatal danger?

Rising from his bed Maximilian headed directly for the club room, still stuck in thought over why he felt like he owed that girl so much. Upon entering the club room his PDA buzzed and before he was even given the chance to read it his classmates took off towards the s****. It was obvious what the message was and so Maximilian wasted no time reading the it, instead he decided it would be best to try and put his irrational concerns to rest. Hastily he followed Evelyn down the stairs and before opening his mouth he quickly examined her demeanor. Evelyn seemed as proud and dignified as ever but just as he was ready to dismiss his concerns the thought of Evelyn's worn body and fiery eyes flashed into his mind. Anger and desperation was all that he could think of, it was what he saw in her eyes when they were fighting together, and though he himself might have been looking fairly rough at the time as well he was certain he was in no where near the same shape as Evelyn. Taking a deep breath Maximilian leaned discretely forward to get a look at Evelyn's eyes, if there was anything the boy knew about people, but especially girls, it was that their emotions always shone through their eyes. Bingo, just as he had expected. Her attitude and looks were marketing a lie that her eyes couldn't sell. To Maximilian, Evelyn now appeared worried, lost, even maybe defeated. Jerking himself away from his quick bit of peeping, he recomposed himself and took a moment to try and think of a way to approach the troubled girl.

"Evelyn-" he spoke out her name sincerely to catch her attention just in case his strange motions and behaviour hadn't already. "are you alright?"