“Please, when I’m on my job call me Death.” Mark chuckled.

“Wha- wha- whawhawha?” Chris looked at Mark in bafflement. He pointed wildly at the bulges in the arms and torso underneath Mark’s robes.

“Oh, this?” Mark grabbed the front of his robes and opened them, revealing a very puffy jacket. “It was getting cold outside, so my Mom made me wear it so I won’t catch pneumonia again.”

Somehow that single phrase killed the mood of the entire evening, Chris thought.

“Mark…” Kou rumbled, his muscles tensing up greatly. Chris, held in Kou’s arms, immediately felt uncomfortable when those rock hard muscles started to push into him. “I thought you were my friend.”

“But I am your friend, big guy!” Mark smiled up at Kou. “You can’t understand how happy I am that I didn’t have to kill ya.”

Kou gawked at Mark. Someone as small and frail as Mark, kill him? The whole idea was ridiculous. Kou was three times taller then Mark, and far outweighed him! Kou could squash him like a bug. But there was no hint of deceit in Mark, so it had to be true. “Mark, start explaining, and make it fast.” Kou growled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

“Kou, calm down.” Chris said quickly, placing his hand on Kou’s shoulder. He definitely didn’t want Kou turning back into a monster again, especially with him still in Kou’s arms.

“Ugh….” Someone groaned. Kou’s head snapped towards Hunter and Mathews, who were both starting to get up. Kou’s hands quickly formed two ham sized fists, ready to strike them back down more permanently.

“Hold it big guy.” Mark said, moving between Kou and the other two. “It’s alright, they won’t hurt you.”

“Hurt me? They just tried to kill us both!” Kou yelled, his fist shaking in violent anger. “And you’re saying they won’t hurt us?”

“S-sorry Chris.” Mathews winced, rubbing a bump on her head. “I really didn’t want to do this, but I really didn’t have much of a choice.”

“I knew Kou was a demon the first moment I laid eyes on him,” Hunter said, brushing off the dust on his robes, “Whenever we encounter demons, we quickly eliminate them before they harm any innocent people. But Kou didn’t act like a demon. I suspected that Kou really was trying to be normal, so I decided to watch and see. When Kou turned into a demon, though, things became more complicated.”

“Wait a minute,” Chris cut in, “did you say you eliminate demons? But you guys are Satanists, right? You said so yourself that you worshiped demons.”

“We lied.” Hunter explained. “We’re actually quite the opposite of demon worshipers.”

“Then why the HELL were you about to sink that freakin’ knife in me!?” Chris yelled, nearly jumping from Kou’s arms to grab Hunter by the shirt and shake him violently, but Kou tightened his hold on Chris slightly, trapping him like a vice.

“Since Kou transformed into a full demon, we were able to see just how dangerous he really is.” Mathews said as delicately as possible. “Since Kou had transformed once and almost killed you Chris, Kou was now a high level threat. If we hadn’t insisted that we should handle this, you both would be dead for sure.”

“That still doesn’t explain why I had this stupid thing carved into me!” Chris pounded his chest where the pentagram was cut in his flesh.

“Let me take care of that for ya.” Mark said as he walked up. Gently, he pressed his cold hand on Chris’s chest.

Chris gasped as he felt a warm glow spread through his body. To his amazement, the cuts on his chest slowly healed themselves right before his eyes. In a few seconds, there wasn’t a trace left, not even the tiniest scar.

“And I guess I should do something about you too, big guy.” Mark looked up into Kou’s face and smiled warmly while his hand moved from Chris’s chest to Kou’s forearm.

Abruptly Kou began to shrink. He grew shorter and his muscles shrunk down until he was of normal height and size again. His hair, skin, teeth and fingernails also returned and his horns receded until they vanished.

Surprised, Kou let Chris down and began inspecting himself. He was once again his usual (but still large) self again, and even the tattoos returned. And it didn’t even hurt a single bit. In fact, it felt warm and fuzzy.

“What did you do?” Kou asked, wide eyed as he stared at his huge hands.

Mark pulled his hand back and grinned. “I-“ Mark suddenly cut off when he fell into a fit of very violent coughing, nearly falling over. Hunter and Mathews instantly rushed to his side and supported him. After a few minutes had passed, the worst had passed and Mark was able to stand on his own again. “I’m alright now.” Mark said hoarsely. Despite his words, there was a small trickle of blood on the corner of his mouth.

“You call that alright?” Kou said, reaching out to support Mark as he began to waver again. “What’s wrong with you anyways?”

“It’s his power.” Mathews said, moving closer to Mark. “It puts a great strain on his body whenever he does something beyond normal capabilities.”

“His power?” Chris asked.

“We all have one.” Hunter said. “I have the power to see the true forms of demons and can observe so closely that I can actually predict movement.”

“I can weaken a demon within ten feet of my body.” Paige said. “And when I touch any part of a demon, that body part is completely drained of strength.”

“And Lucas has one too.” Mark frowned. “Say, where is Lucas anyways?”

“Here…” Everyone turned their heads towards Lucas, who had pried himself from the hole in the wall and was now staggering towards them. His muscles were also greatly diminished, though they were still rather large for a teenager. “I can’t believe you guys forgot about me.” He said with a slightly pained look.

“We didn’t think you were still alive.” Mathews said with a flip of her hair.

“That’s cold, even for you.” Lucas scowled. “Anyways, I can grow bigger and stronger, like you both saw earlier. The catch is that I can’t get any stronger then five times my normal self.”

“And last of all is me.” Ark grinned weakly. “It’s not really much of a power, but it’s enough to get my work done.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Mark.” Hunter sighed. “Without you, we’d be dead several times already.”

“What is it?” Chris asked curiously.

“It’s the power to connect myself with others.” Mark gave a slightly embarrassed laugh.

“Connect yourself with others?” Kou repeated, baffled.

Lucas crossed his arms. “It’s really complicated shit.” He said. “Even I don’t understand it some of the time.”

Mathews gave a soft snort. “It’s not really as complicated as Warrens says.” She gave Lucas an annoyed glance. “He’s just dumb.”

“How mean.” Lucas pouted. “I managed to get a C on my last test.”

“C-“ Mathews corrected.

“C, C minus, what’s the difference?”

“A minus.” She said bluntly.

Hunter gave an impatient cough. “Getting back on track here, Mark can connect his mind, heart and soul with anyone he chooses. With this connection, he can do many things. He could heal injuries or affect the body, like he did with you both. He can also, if he chooses, erase a person’s mind completely or even end his life in a blink of an eye.”

Kou and Chris both blinked at that. So far they were still standing.

“It doesn’t come without a price though.” Hunter continued. “As I said, it puts a great strain on his body whenever he performs a great task, and there are risks involved as well. Also, he can’t connect himself with anyone who isn’t willing, at least not alone. War, Plague and I wear down a demon’s body and mind down enough so that Death can destroy with one fell swoop.”

“When I connected with Kou though, I felt how Kou honestly wanted to be human.” Mark said a bit more strongly. “But I also felt a part of him that wanted to wreck havoc. That’s where this entire night came in, to test you to see if you could hold back that demon.”

“And you passed.” Hunter said with a very faint smile on his lips.

“That still doesn’t explain why you did all this.”[/i] Chris said sourly. “And why didn’t you tell me about the plan?”

“You might’ve warned Kou, so we had to deceive you.” Hunter said.

“Sorry dude.” Lucas apologized. “But since Kou can more or less detect a lies and feelings, we spoon fed you lies so you would be seriously scared shitless to make the whole scheme seem genuine.”

“But you told me what you were going to do when you had your knives raise at me!” Kou protested.

“Ah, that was my fault.” Mark raised a guilty hand. “I kinda twisted your senses around when you were down so you wouldn’t notice.”

The two boys looked at the four, then at each other. “What do you think?” Chris whispered to Kou.

“If they wanted to kill us, they’d have done it already.” Kou whispered back. “I think they’re telling the truth this time.”

“We can hear you guys.” Mathews said sourly.

Kou and Chris exchanged a glance, and then they both relaxed. “Alright, we’ll trust you.” Kou said skeptically. “At least a little bit.”

“You DID try to kill us after all.” Chris pointed out.

Lucas laughed. “I guess that’s fair. Though, I was really hoping we can all be buds after this.”

“Are we buds?” Kou looked down at Chris.

Chris shrugged. “I guess. Are we still friends Mark?”

“You bet.” Mark grinned broadly. “Like it or not, your stuck with us.”

“At least until we decide to kill each other again.”

All of the guys laughed at this. Mathews, however, wasn’t really amused. “How much longer are you going to walk around naked?”

“Huh?” Kou looked down. “WAH!” His hands shot down to cover himself and his face burned red. “Sorry! Sorry!”

Hunter laughed as he removed his robe and moved up to Kou to give it to him.

While the others were distracted by getting Kou covered, Mathews pulled Mark away to talk privately with him. “Alright, spill it. Why were you doing all of the secrecy?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mark said with a straight face.

“Don’t give me that bull.” Mathews snapped. “You avoid us ever since you got out of the hospital, you spend all of your free time with Kou, and tonight you used your power to deliberately pushed Kou into going demon back there to save him. You even wore that stupid jacket under your robes and lower your voice down.”

“I told you, my mom-“

“Bullshit.” Matthews cut him off. “You always take your jacket off as soon as you leave home, so this time shouldn’t have been different. This time you deliberately went out of your way to hide yourself from them.”

Mark sighed. “I really didn’t want to go up against them, Paige. They’re good people, and…and…”

“And they’re your friends.” She completed.

“If they passed the test or escaped, I didn’t want them to hate me for what I did to them.” Mark said a bit sadly.

“You should have known better Mark.” Mathews folded her arms across her breasts. “They’re forgiving guys, so they would’ve understood your reasons if you sat down and talked to them.”

“You’re right.” Mark smiled. “Thanks.”

“I can’t go out looking like this!” Kou exclaimed. Lucas and Chris had tied the robe Hunter donated around Kou’s waist as a makeshift loincloth, which had a huge bulge in the front that was vaguely outlined.

“At least you’re covered now.” Chris pointed out.

“You called this covered?” Kou waved at his package. “I’ve seen wild animals covered better then this!”

“Hey, if you got it, you got it!” Lucas laughed as he patted Kou on the back. •