19 The Real Enemy

Neil and Abby had been searching for Saria for almost 2 hours now. Sneaking around the village was a bit easier with Abby as a cover. All Neil had to do was wear a hood to cover his face. "Are you sure this Saria girl is hiding in this village? What if she went to another village?" Abby asked, "That's a very likely thing, but I want to make sure this village is clear before I head out and search the other places." Abby looked at Neil suspiciously. "You are going to take me to see Yuki, right?" "Yea I will, I already told you, quit nagging. First we need to meet up with Seth, I don't think Saria is in this village." Abby began to protest. "Look here if you think I'll search every village with you before you take me to Yuki you are wrong. I wanna see her now!" Neil had made her upset, he really found women troublesome, their moods always changed dramatically for the smallest of things. "Fine fine, I'll ask Seth if he can take you back to the castle to see her. I don't think I can bear being with you any longer." "You are such a jerk, I can't believe I though you were sweet!" Neil chuckled, "I am a demon, demons aren't sweet, we are just good pretenders." He beamed her a huge smile. She hated how good looking he was, and maybe hated herself more for letting that affect her so much.

They made their way to the a small shed right outside the village. Abby was familiar with it, she and Yuki used to play house there when they were younger. The shed wasn't too far from Yuki's house so they'd always spend time there growing up. "Seth should be here any moment." Abby couldn't lie and say she wasn't nervous, she really didn't know who the enemy was. For all she knew this was all a trap and they were going to kill her. Hearing Seth was coming didn't put her at ease at all, on the contrary she became more tense. Soon they heard the door swing open and in came Seth. The sun had already gone down and the weather had grown quite cloudy. "There you are." He said talking to Neil, then noticed Abby was in the room. "What's wrong, why is she here?" Abby felt uneasy around Seth, she always had, he had this air of darkness and intimidation around him so thick you could cut it with a knife. "Well you see, something else came up besides Saria. This Shiro guy... he might be causing some major problems for us." Neil explained everything to Seth regarding what Abby believed was happening and what the villages were planning.

Seth crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, contemplating his next actions. "This is a problem indeed. How do we convince everyone that what Shiro said is a lie. At this rate the humans will probably attempt to attack the demons and they'll die." Neil said, Abby looked down then spoke. "If you are speaking the truth, why would Yuki leave her grandma behind, I don't believe you." Seth looked at her. "Why don't you ask her grandma herself." Seth said, he didn't need to waste his energy explaining himself to her, she would not believe him unless she heard it from Yuki or her grandma. Abby suddenly came to the realization that he was right, she could of just gone and asked herself. She sighed in exhaustion realizing she had wasted her entire day following Neil around for nothing. "You are right, she doesn't live that far I'll go talk to her now." With that said she walked out of the shed, Neil called to her before she left. "It looks like it's going to rain, you sure you'll be okay?" Abby turned around to face him, she seemed a bit confused, he was asking like he cared. She didn't respond and headed on her way.

"What a rude girl, she is a pain." Seth looked at Neil and didn't even want to ask. "So what did you find on Saria?" "She's not in this village, that's for sure, I looked everywhere. Where do you want me to look next?" Seth thought for a second. "Don't.. if she really intends to go after my life she'd have to come to me sooner or later. Yuki is safe in the castle, so she would have trouble getting near her. Let it go for now, this lie is a bigger concern to me now." "If they attack, they'll die. If they die, Yuki may not forgive you." Seth shot a warning glare at Neil. He had better watch his tone. He didn't need to state the obvious, Yuki would never forgive him if more people died at the hands of demons, so what should he do? "This is a pain but, I really don't see any way to talk our way out this mess." Seth said. "So what do you want to do then? " "Fence all the villages." Neil looked at Seth almost in disbelief. Then he began laughing. "Are you crazy? I'm sorry but did you say fence the villages? Do you have any idea the amount of time and power that would take?" "I am not asking you to build a wooden fence idiot, we need to build a wall, a very tall and thick wall." "Yea I heard you the first time, but like I said it's like you asking us to build a mountain, and I assume you want this done as soon as possible, without anyone realizing?" "Yes." Neil laughed again, "It's impossible Seth, we are demons not gods. It would take time and effort to do all that."

The room was quiet for a moment. "I'll do it then." Neil's face grew serious. "What do you mean you'll do it?" "I will make the wall, we can't have anyone wonder off past the river and die." "Seth you don't mean, you'll use that?" Seth looked at Neil and smirked "I am not your Prince just because of who my father was. I am your Prince because of my power." Seth then pushed himself off the wall and walked out, he vanished into the dark. Neil stood there in silence, Seth was the only one who could do such things, but he never thought he'd go that far. All for the sake of not having Yuki be upset with him. He shook his head, he never would of thought he'd go that far for a human. Speaking of humans, he thought he'd go check on Abby and watch her face as she found out she had been tricked by Shiro. He made his way swiftly through the night and went to the old lady's house. Abby arrived at the lady's house, before she knocked she head something break inside. She immediately though it was a burglar, she busted the door and went inside fearing the old woman was in danger. What she walked into was much worse than anything she had ever imagined. There in the living room stood Shiro with Yuki's grandmother, Shiro held a knife to the lady's throat. He turned and saw who had barged in. "W-what is going on? Shiro? What are you doing?" Realization settled in a moment too late. Shiro dug the knife into the lady's heart and Abby watched as the life left her body. "No! Shiro what have you done!?" He threw the woman's dead body aside and Abby ran to the body, hoping there was still some way she could save her. "What a shame Abby, if only hadn't come by. But you just had to get in the way huh!? No matter I'll simply get rid of you too!"

He launched himself at her with a knife on hand, she froze there in place, her life flashing before her eyes. This was it she thought, she would die and not have been able to help Yuki, she couldn't do anything to save her grandma either. Yuki would probably hate her for it, she though. Shiro prepared to kill her and in one smooth motion he swung his knife at Abby. Abby felt something warm trickle down her arm and face, she opened her eyes to see what it was. Blood, blood was all over her. She was waiting to feel the pain coming from where all the blood had came from, but she felt nothing. She looked up and in front of her stood none other that Neil. "N-Neil?" Then she realized, the blood, it wasn't hers, it was Neil's. He stood there with a knife piercing his right arm. Blood gushing everywhere. He had protected her, he shielded her from Shiro. "What have you done! You are hurt!" Abby yelled worried. "You should be worried about yourself, just what were you doing? Freezing like that?" She began to cry, she felt horribly guilty. "Don't cry, it's not over yet, focus!" She wiped her tears away and looked up, Shiro was smirking. "Well what do you know, you do bleed."