Once Eclipse crossed the outer barrier, Amy hugged him. "I knew you could do it."

"Yes, only thanks to your cookies." He returned the hug.

His eyes fell on Silver who was once more leaning against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Eclipse was sure he took too long to persuade her.

The psychic bounced off the wall and walked past them. Amy let go off Eclipse, and Silver's hand patted his shoulder. "Good job, Eclipse."

The small demon froze. He was praised by Silver! That never happened before. Amy smiled, happy the psychic started to acknowledge her partner.

Silver entered the room first, heading toward his small barrier.

The demoness bristled. Eclipse wasn't joking about their third member's power. She could smell it around him. She was now sure she made the right decision if only to avoid the torture. She gulped, watching his every step.

"Given your reaction, it seems Eclipse mentioned me in full details." He smiled. "Good, because I have enough of wasted time-ugh!" He held his stomach.

"Let's not get too ahead," Amy reminded him together with her elbow. "She first needs medical attention." She reached to her handbag, taking out two rolls of bandages.

"How many of them you took with you?" asked grumpy Silver.

"Enough to throw a mummy party," she replied with an impish smile. "Can you please release your barrier. There is no proper space for her to move. Can you two also wait outside before I change her bandage."

"What for?" Silver inquired. He understood the barrier but waiting outside?

"She is a girl."

"And?" Silver shrugged his shoulders and waved with his hand in a wide gesture to emphases on his question.

"It means it would be rude for boys to see her naked."

Silver amber eye twitched. "Are you crazy?" This was the stupidest reason he had ever heard. "Like there is anything to peek on any of you!"

Once that sentence left his mouth, a wave of cold sweat engulfed him.

Amy's fierce eyes turned stone cold, piercing him.

The psychic gulped against his will.

"Fine," he growled, and with a few hand gestures, the barrier was gone.

The demoness jerked her body as she lost the wall behind her.

The psychic left them without a word. Eclipse quickly followed him. Silver stomped out of the outer barrier. Once there, he threw his hands in the air.

"Gaah!" he roared. "What's with her?" he snapped his question on Eclipse who quickly backed down.

"Girls like to look pretty," the small demon mumbled.

"And what? She is like fourteen! What's her problem?"

Eclipse scratched behind his head. "I think she takes being a girl seriously."

Silver snorted ashamed by his outburst, he leaned against the wall with crossed arms. Why couldn't he just slap her and be done with it? He was the boss here! He tucked his head between shoulders and mumbled one complaint after another.

Amy's face was still frowning. The psychic wasn't a rude person, but he was insensitive and had little understanding of girl's needs. She sighed and turned toward the demoness.

Her agile body jerked and twisted in one leap to get on all fours, facing the girl. She growled and winced in pain.

"Don't move," Amy whispered to soothe her, "your wounds are open." She slowly approached her.

The demoness relaxed a bit. The dangerous aura around Amy was gone but so much to a kind person! She was now sure this woman was more dangerous than that man. She forced herself to sat down.

Amy moved behind her and slowly removed the bandage.

It was a strange feeling. The demoness never let any mortal get so close to her. With each heartbeat she expected treachery. Trusting agents could never bring anything good, right? Her breathing turned sharped, her chest was widely moving, and her body was overcome by shivers and coldness.

A silent melody slowly entered her ears, and she soon relaxed. She turned her head back, glancing bloody bandage on the ground. Amy's face was calm, and the girl continued to whisper the simple song.

The demoness would completely calm down if her eyes didn't fell on her back. Tears rushed from her eyes. Instead of wings, she had two red holes. She snapped her head back and let the tears fall down. There was no way she could fly again.

"Miss Demoness?" Amy called her, but there was no response. Amy repeated it for a few times before the demoness turned her head to her. "I'm going to apply the ointment, so it's going to sting a bit. Please, try not to jerk too much."

The demon girl nodded, not bothering to wipe her face. The lass put the medical liniment at her fingers, gently rubbing it in the wound.

"Kyaaah!" the demoness yelled. "That hurts!" she barked. She reached forward, digging her claws into the ground in an attempt to dash away.

"That's why I warned you!" Amy caught her tail, but she got dragged instead.

"Let go of my tail!"

"Then stop running!" Amy called.

The lass poured her inner energy into the other's body, letting it spread. The demoness stopped moving and gasped. What was that warm feeling? It completely erased her pain.

"What did you do to me?" the demoness asked.

Amy went weak in her knees and thudded on the ground. "I just injected you with my inner energy. I have recently learned it can ease the pain," she gasped. "But I didn't think I would feel so tired. I must have overdone it." She sheepishly smiled, scratching in her quills. "Will you now allow me to finish your treatment?"

The demoness nodded, and this time she made sure to hold her tail. The rest of the ointment was applied without any incident. The demoness only from time to time released a happy moan. The hot feeling from Amy's fingers caressed her and brought relief.

"Now, it's finished," Amy silently gasped as she fixed the new bandage. "I hope your wound won't reopen."

The demoness checked on her shoulders. She was sure she would be stiff, but she felt completely fine. She stood up and offered her hand to the lass. Amy accepted it with a smile and thank you. When she dusted her skirt, Silver and Eclipse approached them.

"Can we finally move to the main point, or do you need to exchange more girly stuff?" the psychic asked with visible sarcasm.

"Before that, the introduction is in the order." Amy walked a bit closer, assuming a position next to the psychic. "My name is Amy." She gestured toward her partner. "This is Eclipse, my trusted partner, and this grumpy person is Silver, but he can be sweet too."

He let out a silent hiss but decided not to comment it. Amy glanced at the demoness, noticing she was about an inch or two taller than her.

"What do you want to now?" she asked, signaling she was open to answers.

"How did you got on the street?" Silver was adamant about leading the questioning.

The demoness wiped her palms into her tights. "I was hunting like usually when I was suddenly attacked by those black creatures. I never saw them before. The biggest one ripped my wings." A silent hiss escaped her, and she bit her lip to stop more tears from falling.

"I was able to escape thanks to a nearby manhole. When I crawled out, I must have passed out."

"How many of those black creatures you saw?"

She thought a bit, and her eyes moved from one person to another. "I think there were two of the big ones."

"Any other?"

She bit her thumb. Her life was on the line here, she had to satisfy them. "Some small blobs tried to suck my blood, but I got rid of them."

"Have you killed any person?"

"No."

"Have you eaten any?" Silver was merciless with his questions.

She clenched her fists. "What it has to do with those black creatures?"

"You aren't the one asking here," the psychic growled and successfully blocked a hit aimed at his gut with his elbow. However, he underestimated Amy's heel that dug into his toes. "Just answer," he growled, ignoring the pain.

The demoness bared her teeth. "I only ate some corpses. I never hunt down a living mortal."

"But you still ate them."

She slightly moved her right leg back. She should have know better! Trusting mortals was never a wise choice.

"Where is your hideout?"

She backed down more.

Silver's eyes squinted. He was watching her like an eagle, or he might be surpassing the pain shooting from his still crushed toes.

"So far you have answered all of my questions, not giving me a reason to ask you the other way."

She knew what the psychic meant; the torture. But she still couldn't let him have it without a fight. "Why do you need to know?"

Before could Silver respond, Amy said, "That's my question too." She stretched her neck to see into his eyes. "I'm sure you can answer my question." The tension between them could be cut and served as a dessert.

"I'm not going to waste this opportunity to not learn something about your kind." Silver looked straight into her yellow eyes. "Your answer will determinate my next action."

The demoness checked on Eclipse. He slowly nodded and plead her with his eyes to cooperate.

Her claws dug into her palms. "I'll show you that place, but you have to promise me something."

"You aren't in posi--" He bit his lip since Amy put an extra effort in crashing his toes.

"Please, state your wish," his partner said, "if it's in our power, we will do your best to keep it."

"You will let the others go."

"So you are a part of a group?" Silver pierced her with his amber eyes.

"Yes, we are all weak, so we decided to stay together." She dug her toes into the ground. "You promise?"

"Very well," Silver agreed quite fast.

It surprised them, and Amy stopped harassing his poor toes.

"Then, I'll show you the way," the demoness responded.

Before they headed there, Amy poured her inner energy into Silver's feet, healing it. She sent him an apologetic smile he acknowledged by a simple nod.

The demoness led them through streets and abandoned buildings, up and down to roofs. Eclipse was walking next to her, silently conversing. He offered her his cookies she gladly accepted. The sweetness couldn't solve her problem or shoo her worries, but it made her feel a bit better.

They continued for a couple of minutes when the demoness froze. Her nostrils widen while her irises shrunk. "No... No..." she whispered and dashed forward. Eclipse was hot at her tail with his teammates not far behind.

The group followed the demoness to a small building. She jumped through a broken window, going deeper. Silver quickly glanced the inner rooms. From the leftover wallpapers, he guessed this used to be one from the thousands of hostels in the city.

The psychic jumped over the old table and stopped when Amy halted. His eyes fell on the red room. The red was bright only because it came from blood.

The demoness was standing in the middle of the big room. Her face was stained by streams of tears. Her mouth was ajar, gasping for air, unable to fill the lungs.

"The Black Ones..." she whispered. "They were here... I'll kill them!" she shrieked, and half mad with anger she turned around.

Her escape was stopped by Eclipse who hugged her.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "I'll kill those bastards!" she scratched his back and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

However, Eclipse refused to let her go. He patted her quills, and Amy quickly poured her inner energy inside of her. The lass hoped it could calm her down. Her claws stopped tearing Eclipse's back with ferocity, but her fangs refused to let go.

Silver walked around them, scanning the room. Based on the size it was meant for meetings. On one wall was still old and dirty picture, and under it was a couch in a great need for a new coating and filling. The middle-sized carpet completely lost its color and had torn edges with a big hole in the upper corner.

Except for that, there was a big table that was surprisingly in good shape and five chairs around it. He was sure each demon had one. He looked under his foot since he stepped on something squishy.

His stomach made somersault; it was a small arm ripped at a shoulder. His eyes darted toward the walls. Were those blood stains so vivid when he entered? They were literally everywhere, just a bit more and the whole room was colored in crimson. He shook his head and headed to an ajar door.

He lightly opened them, the screeching of the metal filled his ears. The ground was covered by old mattresses with blankets over them. Each was differently folded or left how it was tossed when the demon woke up.

One seemed to like to sleep like a cat, and the one with folded blanket must have liked a clean space. His fingers touched a dark stain on another blanket of gray color. 'Was this one munching on the corner?' A random thought across Silver's mind as his eyes glanced over the last two blankets.

Silver stood up, and his eyes fell on torn teddy-bear. Its body was barely holding together, and the sewing was visible and barely serving its purpose. What caught his attention was a small ribbon around its neck. On the first glance, he could tell it was added at the later time.

'An abandoned toy was cherished by a demon,' he muttered in his mind. What irony. However, there was another mystery he noticed. His blood was boiling. But why? He didn't feel sorry for them. They were demons after all.

He stepped closer to a small chest in the corner. He opened it and jerked. There was a sketch-book with broken crayons next to it. He picked it, and with his fingers shaking, he looked at the first page. He didn't need to be genius to understand somebody drew five demons holding their hands. The next page showed a tree, grass, river, and sun. The text in the sky read as "wana zee".

'A demon... wished to see a sun?' If so, it wasn't making any sense. Why would a creature of the night wish to see a sun? He closed it, not wanting to see anything else. As he returned it, he noticed a fairy tale book was hidden under it. He closed the chest and left the room.

Above the threshold, with the demoness' laments in the background, he understood why was their death ticking him off so much.

A family.

They were a family.

They shared the bond he was ripped from.

Were demons truly able to feel compassion and kindness? He didn't want to admit it. He killed many of them in the past. Each of them was aggressive and ready to sink their fangs into living bodies.

He went to one corner where he noticed the traces of blood were cut off. Something was standing there, and Black Arms took it. His ears suddenly jerked as he heard the demoness mumbled something before shouting at Amy, "Made me your tool!"

The demoness pushed Eclipse away and grabbed the lass' shoulders, shaking with her. "My name is Steelar!"

All of their eyes shot open. She told them her name so easily!

"Make me your slave! Your Weapon! I don't care!" She coughed on her own tears. "Just give me the power to kill them!" Steelar rested her forehead on Amy's shoulder, loudly weeping.

The pink hedgehog slowly put her energy into her, until it lullabied her. Amy then looked at Silver, who silently nodded. He gave them a silent consent to take her away. She did so, and Eclipse sniffed around the whole room, trying to find anything they could use. His face was twisted with anger, the despair was firmly soaked into the walls.

Silver folded his hands behind his back and tightly clenched them. Setting this aside, from where Black Arms came from? At first, he thought they were in cohorts with demons, that they were some sub-species or something.

Were they part of smaller fraction trying to seize power? Or was somebody behind them with plans to harness the power Darkness Mensis possessed?

Dr. Finitevus' face flashed in his mind. This man was enough crazy and powerful to pull something like that.