"And in today's top news," the news anchor on the TV was starting to say, "two bodies, one human and one angel, were found in an alleyway. Their bodies sucked dry of all their blood. There are no wounds or marks anywhere on the bodies."

My heart stopped for a millisecond after hearing those words. I tried to tune out the TV as best as I could, trying not to hear the story. I tried not to let stuff like this get to me, but...

"That's the tenth time they found bodies like that this month," I stated to Alice, my demon roommate. "Is the city not safe anymore??"

Alice was lying on the living room couch, reading her manga book, shrugged and said, "It's probably just ONEUS."

I turned away from my laptop, dumbfounded. "You've got to be kidding," I said.

"What?" She gave me a look. "You know that they're only the most powerful mafia in the city. I know that I wouldn't want to mess with them."

"You do realize that mafias don't exist anymore?" I questioned.

"Yeah," Alice answered. "But they act like one, so they might as well just be classified as one. They're dangerous as it is, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was them. I mean, who else would be going after angels and humans? Because newsflash, that's exactly something they'll do."

"It's not that," I looked at the TV where it showed the alleyway where the two bodies were found, "I don't think they would leave behind their evidence. Leave bodies behind like that, I mean. You know that no one has ever caught them in any acts or proven them guilty of anything. It's probably just another rogue demon."

"So you're saying that demons, like ONEUS, are guilty? What if we're both wrong and this is an angel's doing?" she asked.

I gave her a look. No way will angels ever do that. Ever since angels, humans, and demons were all living together, nothing has ever been the same. Before the war happened between angels and demons, I always imagined the world was as normal as it possibly could be. No supernatural beings roaming the streets and living peacefully with everyone. Well, that is except for the occasional rogue demons and, as Alice said, the most dangerous mafia-like gang, ONEUS. Not much is known about them, except you better say your prayers if you happen to cross them. Not even some of the angels here can protect you from them, as rumors go.

It's said that their ancestors participated in the war all those years ago, but that's just rumors. The war started when the demons wanted a different lifestyle and wanted to start over. They were treated unfairly and wanted justice. Earth was the only option, since living with angels in their world was out of the question, but the angels weren't having it. So they went to war that lasted one hundred years. The battle was the bloodiest any angel or demon has ever witnessed. They were losing more and more of their kind by the day, fighting for what each side believed in. It wasn't until a powerful demon named Ciaran approached Castiel, the head angel, and made an unexpected offer; an offer that the angels were suspicious of. He proposed that in order for their kind to live on Earth, the angels will have to live there, too. Of course, Castiel didn't like the idea at first, but then a thought crossed into his head.

Maybe demons can change. Maybe it was sending them to live in torment and damnation that changed their minds and wanting to start over. Who would want to live that way for all eternity? So, Castiel agreed to it, on three conditions. If they catch any rogue demons, they have to send them back to damnation. Second, they couldn't hunt humans for food. And third, they can only use their supernatural abilities for the better. They are called the sacred rules. With that, Ciaran and Castiel shook hands and made the deal ending the long time war.

I wasn't there when they came to Earth, but according to my great great grandmother it was "the most spectacular and horrific thing to happen to Earth", at the time. To be honest, I'm a little glad that I didn't have to go through all that. After living in this kind of world for 19 years, I was used to it. I looked at Alice and shook my head.

"I'm not saying that every demon is guilty," I said, "it's just that we will have our rogue demons every once in a while. This one just seems like it's going on a killing spree without leaving behind any evidence. It's really a horrible thing to do for a demon. And angels? Doing this kind of thing? No way."

Alice put her hand up to her forehead in a dramatic, sarcastic fashion and said, "Why must my human roommate and best friend think I'm a horrible person for being a demon?"

That got a laugh out of me. "I'm not saying you're horrible!"

"I'm just kidding!" Alice laughed. "Hey, you could've gotten a worse demon roommate. You could've gotten one that would actually want to have you for supper!"

A shiver went down my spine. Humans were the main meals for demons all those years ago, but now it's pretty much forbidden for a demon to touch a human like that since the war ended. I looked at Alice and the thought of her eating a human was gut wrenching. It's lucky enough for us that demons got used to eating normal human food. Angels didn't have to worry about getting used to eating our food, but from what Alice told me, their kind took forever to have their systems used to it.

"Speaking of supper," I said as I noticed my stomach was growling, "want to grab something to eat?"

Alice closed her book and jumped off the couch and said, "It's about time you asked! I'll go get changed!"

If I knew Alice, it was that she had amazing style. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't jealous of her looks. She had perfect complexion, dark emerald green eyes that seemed to shine even in the darkest environment, and she never gained weight no matter how much she eats. When I style her long blonde hair, I notice it's always smooth and silky to the touch. Part of me wishes I had what she had. But I'm just a human; a boring, powerless human. That was another main difference. Demons and angels were very beautiful in comparison to humans. Not saying humans are ugly, but both of them have that "perfect" look. It's the type of look when you flip through a magazine and see all the models; only demons and angels look more beautiful, even though that might seem impossible.

"You better be ready when I come out! I'm hungry and you don't want to see me when I get to starving!" Alice laughed from her bedroom.

I rolled my eyes, left my laptop on the coffee table, and ran to my room. I scavenged through my closet, and spotted one outfit that Alice bought for me to "up my style in clothing". It was a black one shoulder crop top, ripped black skinny jeans, and a black almost leather-like jacket. Could you tell what her favorite color is? I decided tonight was the night I try it. Surprisingly it looked good. I thought it would be too much black at first, but it was a really nice look. To add some color, I grabbed my ruby heart necklace, added some eyeshadow and eyeliner, and I was ready to go.

"Wow, you look great!" I heard Alice in my doorway making me jump. She had almost all black on, except for the top that I picked out for her. It was a nice dark navy blue cami crop top that crossed across the stomach area. "Whoever picked out that outfit? I told you it would bring out your blue eyes!"

Grabbing my purse, I laughed and said, "Come on, let's go. I'm feeling pizza tonight."

"Awe, I was hoping for human. But I guess I can deal with having pizza," Alice joked as we left the apartment building.

When we made it to the local pizzeria, it was a bit more crowded than we thought it would be. Alice and I were given a little device to let us know when a table would be ready for us. As we were waiting, Alice was telling me of a new employee that joined her job that she finds incredibly sexy and wants to ask him out. He's a fellow demon, like her, and has "eyes like that of melted dark chocolate" and "the deepest color maroon hair she has ever seen". While I hate to let Alice down, part of me was actually listening, but the other part of me was thinking back to the murders this month. Looking down into my purse, I was happy to notice that I still had my pepper spray on me that I bought a while back when the murders were starting to rapidly grow.

"I want to desperately ask him out, but I don't know how and-" Alice stopped her sentence and looked over at me giving me a disgruntled look. "Are you even listening?"

"Of course! I'm just making sure I have pepper spray on me," I explain as I showed her the pink tube.

"You really think we'll need that?" Alice questioned.

"Have you not seen all the murder on the news?" I asked back.

Alice sighed, shook her head, and said, "You know that you have me, right?"

"Alice!" I lowered my voice to a whisper. "You do know that you can't really use your power on people, right?"

She laughed and ran her hand through her hair. "You and your rule following. To remind you, it's illegal to use our powers for bad, like how all those murders are happening. I would think that you would know that by now. But if we're being attacked, we can use them to defend ourselves."

"Yes, I know, but technically speaking that's still hurting a person," I said, even know that they really don't get in trouble if they did use it as a defense.

I wish that I had powers. Not that I would use them for bad, but it would make life a whole lot easier. Like having something elemental added where I can control water or fire. Or being telepathic or to fly. Who am I kidding, flying is actually one that I know doesn't exist. Out of all the cool powers to have existed in fantasy movies and books, if you can call the world I live in a "fantasy", it doesn't exist. Alice's power is night vision and strength; which is actually pretty helpful if you think about it. All demons have some sort of power, whether it is something elemental or something physical. Angels have powers, too, but it's mainly healing. Something that's beneficial to them and other people.

"Oh, come on, our table's ready!" Alice exclaimed in excitement.

We followed the waitress to our table as she set out the menus. She apologized for the wait and for the restaurant being busy. I was never that type of customer who complained constantly about that kind of stuff. Stuff happens and places get busy, especially on a weekend night.

"So, what do you want to get?" Alice asked as she picked up her menu. "Do you want to get a pie for each or do you feel like splitting one?"

I looked over the menu and, being here quite a few times, I already knew what I wanted to get.

"Hm...I think I want-" I started to say, but I looked up at the big front windows behind Alice and saw something unusual.

A man out on the darkened area of the sidewalk on the other side of the street stumbled and leaned against a brick building, looking out of breath. He looked behind him, as if he was being followed, and walked right into the darkened alleyway between the buildings. The man stumbled over a few trash cans, and upon further notice it looked like he might've been drunk. Or worse, he was drugged. My gaze lingered on the man, but it looked like no one was going after him, making my instincts look right. But why did he look scared? My eyes scanned the restaurant to see if anyone else noticed what I saw, but it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves and the food.

"On second thought..." I said, "I have to go to the bathroom really quick."

Alice looked at me confused and then shrugged. "Ok... When you got to go, you got to go. If you're not back, what do you want?"

"Actually I changed my mind about what I want. Let's just get what we usually get and split a pie," I answered getting up, bringing my phone with me. I trusted Alice to watch my purse.

I apologized to Alice in my head as I made my way to the front, even though the bathroom was clearly in the back. An employee noticed me at the front podium and I just gave her the excuse that I dropped my wallet somewhere outside and I have to look for it. She didn't see anything suspicious about it, so I took the chance and exited the building. The streets were bare, except for the few cars that were parked along the curb, and the streetlights that were on casted a glow on parts of the sidewalk. When I felt like I was in the clear, I disappeared from the restaurants view, and made my way across the street from the edge of the building, hoping that the shadows of the buildings could hide me enough on the opposite sidewalk.

I stealthily came across the alleyway I saw the man go into and slid in-between the two buildings, carefully avoiding the garbage that fell over. It was a bit darker than I thought it was, so I pulled out my flashlight on my phone to help me out. Nothing of the unusual seemed to be happening, as of right now. There was no sign of the man anywhere. But I thought too soon when I saw the same man fly across the back of the alleyway and hit the wall with a hard thud. Quickly, I picked up the trashcan and crouched behind it, watching the scene unfold. The man suddenly got lifted into the air, not seeming to fight back the invisible force that was against him.

Out of the shadows at the end of the alleyway came out another man as a giant gust of wind came out of nowhere, his right hand lifted in the air as if he was the one responsible for holding the man up along the wall. From what I could see from my view he had silver hair, a black shiny leather jacket, a white dress shirt accompanied by a skinny black tie, dark grey jeans, and fingerless black shiny black leather gloves. Three other men accompanied him from behind; all dressed the same; black wife beaters with black pants, all wearing black masks. My heart began to beat fast as I put out my flashlight and put my hand over my mouth to stop my breathing from being so loud. Now I wish I had my pepper spray with me.

The silver haired man grinned and came closer to the man pressed against the wall. He didn't respond when he came closer, as if he was avoiding looking at the silver haired man.

"Look at me," the silver haired man said.

His voice was low and demanding, yet it also seemed enchanting in some way, like it was some type of way to invite you in. I've noticed that demons usually have that kind of voice when they want their way. Then my eyes widened at the realization. It couldn't be...

"Go to Hell, Keonhee," the man said.

A low laugh escaped Keonhee's lips and said, "I've already been there, don't really miss it. Now, Leon, look at me."

Keonhee pushed his right hand forward sending Leon's head to knock back against the wall harder. I swear I could've heard a crack, and I feared that if I was found, I would be next. He grunted and opened up his eyes, sending a smile onto Keonhee's face.

"Ah, there we go," Keonhee sounded pleased. "Now, where were we? Ah yes, the money you owe. Xion already interrogated you about it. I'm sure you don't want to go through that again. "

"Fuck you," Leon spit in his direction. "I told Xion that I wasn't going to get the money until next week. I did just as you asked. It almost cost me my life. That's more than what money would owe."

"And you made a deal to give me the money by yesterday." There was an angry fire burning behind Keonhee's eyes, as his bodyguards, I guess that's what they were, started to surround the area a bit more. As if Leon could escape, it looked like Keonhee's invisible hold on him wasn't going to be let up anytime soon. If this was who I thought it was, I had to get out of here. I don't know if it was fear, but something was keeping me in place.

"I don't know if you remember," Keonhee's voice was getting darker. "But making a deal with me, or rather with any demon, you cannot and will not break it. Would you like to see what happens when you break it?"

Leon was silent. As Keonhee came closer to him, he lifted his left hand and placed it on top of his forehead. Leon gave out a gasp of surprise, and then gave out little grunts as if he was fighting something invisible. What was going on? What was he doing to him? I leaned forward trying to get a closer look, but one of his bodyguards slightly turned his head my way, making me duck back.

"Get out of my head." Leon grunted, glaring at Keonhee.

"Oh, but I'm having so much fun! I see that you're depressed. Why not just end it all?" Keonhee asked.

Leon was trying to fight back whatever Keonhee was doing to him. He looked like he was in pain, but there was no physical sign on his body that he was getting hurt at this moment. It must've been internal. Whatever Keonhee's powers are, it was powerful.

"You should just give up. There's no use in continuing," Keonhee said. "Too bad I didn't know this sooner; otherwise I would've had Ravn take care of it. He's skilled in that kind of stuff."

"You're right..." Leon finally said. "I should just give up. My wife left me and took our daughter with her. After all I did, it wasn't enough for them. I tried to get them back, make life better for us, but she didn't agree with me working for gangs like yours. I want to end it. This life is just too much for me."

"Hmmm," Keonhee sounded pleased. "Ending it, just as you should. I'm merciful when I want to be. My boys and I will be thankful for your...sacrifice. I'll make your death as painless as possible. As much as we would rather you be alive, make no mistake that we'll get that money one way or another. As of now, you'll make a fine meal for us."

My eyes widened. He wasn't. No, he couldn't. Demons are forbidden. I had to do something, but my gut was telling me to not interfere. But, I couldn't just let this man die to become a demon's meal. Thoughts went through my head, coming in all at once.

I'm just a boring, powerless human.

Boring.

Powerless.

Powerless. That was the word that stuck with me ever since I was born. Compared to the miracles angles do and the terrifying, yet amazing talents that demons have, I had nothing; nothing to make a miracle and no talent to make me special. I clenched my fists, thinking enough was enough. I was done thinking all these negative things. If there's one thing that I had, it was a voice. All it takes is just one voice to make a difference. My heart was pounding as I stood up and called out to them.

"Stop it! Don't you dare take his life!" I shouted. "You know it's forbidden! Let him live!"

Keonhee whipped his head at me, a shock look on his face. The bodyguards were all of a sudden next to me in a split second, taking my hands and arms in a locked position.

"I knew someone was watching," one of them said.

"Boss, what should we do with her?" Another one asked.

"Let me take care of this one first," Keonhee smirked before turning back to Leon. He closed his hands around his face and in a quick movement he snapped his neck, the sound of bones breaking echoing in the alleyway.

"NO!" I screamed struggling against the bodyguards' grip.

I tried to look around at the public streets and buildings just across from me, but it looked like no one from the pizza shop has noticed what was happening right in front of them. Leon's lifeless body slid down the wall and landed on the ground with a hard thud. I couldn't believe I just witnessed a murder right before my eyes. Keonhee stepped over the body walking casually towards me. He didn't look pissed, but there was definitely something behind his eyes that seemed to say otherwise.

"Well, well, well," Keonhee said as he was mere inches from me, "what do we have here?"

"I can tell you," I glared at him, "someone who's going to tell the police what you've just done."

"Oh, are you now?" Keonhee laughed. "Don't you know who I am?"

My mouth remained shut on the answer. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of him winning. But with me not answering, that just made him smile.

"Ah, so you do know," he stated. "Well, this is certainly a first of someone getting involved with our antics. What should we do with you?"

"Why don't we just have her as another meal to you and your boys?" one of the bodyguards asked.

So...these weren't the other members of the gang?

"As anticipating and delicious as that sounds, may I need to remind you that none of you are Hwanwoong. You know that if any of my boys were here, I would take that into consideration. Unfortunately for me, I put him off guard dog duty and sent him on another important mission. But two meals..." Keonhee licked his lips and smirked at the idea. He reached his left hand and placed it on my forehead just as he did with Leon earlier. I struggled to take his hand off, but his guards had way too strong of a hold on me. I was expecting pain or rather something even worse, but nothing came. Raising my eyebrows in confusion, I didn't know if he was doing anything at all. Leon sure went through something when Keonhee did the same thing.

Keonhee's eyes slightly widened as he took away his hand from me, and went into a thinking position.

"What the fuck? How strange..." he whispered.

He was now walking back and forth in front of me with his hands behind his back, as if he was thinking of a proposition to make.

"I don't do this often, but I'll spare your life, if you accept my deal," Keonhee said.

I stopped struggling at this point. A deal? With a demon? I've never made a deal with one before. Even Alice hasn't asked me to make a deal with her. Maybe this is one of the reasons. She never talked about making deals with her kind. If this was how demons respond with deals being broken, I can see why she never mentioned it. I saw what just happened to Leon when he broke his deal. This was going to possibly be a life or death situation. And I had no choice but to say yes.

"I'm listening," I stated.

"In order to have your life spared, you will have to live with me and my boys at my mansion. I promise that no harm will come to you from anyone, not even my boys. In fact, I'll have them protect you. They might not like it, but they'll have to deal with it. But, you will have to help us," Keonhee declared.

"So be like one of these guys?" I questioned, nodding my head towards the men holding me. I could tell that they were offended by that, but I didn't really care.

Keonhee shook his head. "No, not like them. You will go on missions with them and help us find out who's doing all the killings lately. My gang is already in talks, spreading around like whispers at a campfire. If you take my deal, you'll live another day. But, if you don't, I would think twice before going to the police or even telling your friend over there at the restaurant. Because I'll fucking kill you on the spot."

I swallowed nervously. He wasn't joking. Keonhee was making it so I have to say yes. So, it wasn't ONEUS that's doing the killings. It was someone entirely different. Or, perhaps, this was actually a trap and they were actually the ones doing it,and they were just going to use me as a way to get everyone to keep quiet about it. I had no choice. But what would I tell Alice? She's still waiting for me back at the restaurant; I couldn't just leave my best friend behind. Keonhee was giving me a hard look, waiting for my answer.

"You know, this could be something big for you," Keonhee whispered, coming closer to me. A light pink flushed on my cheeks as he was just inches away, whispering in my ear. "You can be something more than just a boring, powerless human. Work with us and I promise you, it would make your life worth it."

There were those words again. I was tired of hearing them, either from myself or from others. I couldn't tell if this was a trap or something that was genuine. Forgive me, Alice. I'm about to make either a smart choice or a stupid one.

"Fine. I'll take your damn deal." I answered.

"Perfect. I knew you would." Keonhee smiled, leaning away from me. "By the way, I never caught your name."

I hesitated for a second. Giving my name is too dangerous to someone like him, but if I had to go by his rules, I had no choice.

"Rose."

Keonhee smirked, raising his eyebrow in interest. "Hmmm, I think Ravn would be very interested in you just by your name alone. You will see why when we get to the mansion."

That didn't sound entirely comforting.

I gave him a look. "You promise no harm will come to me?"

"A demon's promise," Keonhee didn'tsmile. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.