She ran. She ran, and they chased her. She ran blindly, it was almost impossible to see in the dark. Suddenly, she tripped over an unidentified object jutting out from her right. She heard footsteps behind her. By the time she had pushed herself to her feet, they had caught up with her. They grabbed her arms before she could start running again. She heard more footsteps, but these were in front of her.

            “Well well well,” said a male voice.

            She assumed the voice and the footsteps belonged to the same person. She was right. There was a lone streetlight ahead of her. The mystery man stepped into its light, and she could see him clearly. He was bald, and he wore an all black suit. His mouth was smirking. He had on mirror sunglasses, so she couldn’t see his eyes. All she could see was herself. Her long rusty hair, her stormy gray eyes. But most importantly, she could see her ears start to change and she could feel her tail beginning to grow. Please, not now, she silently begged. She willed herself to stop changing. Finally, she managed to speak.

            “What do you want with me?” she asked.

            “Ally Zalo, we are part of the World Wide Bureau of Crime, otherwise known as the WWBC.”

            “So?” she shot back.

            “So, we are arresting you on the treat that you could destroy the world!”

            Ally’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?” she asked.

            “Don’t lie demon. You know” the bald man said.

            The word “demon” hit Ally like a stone. How does he know that? Did he see my ears? Or my tail?

            The bald man smiled cruelly, as if he knew what she was thinking. “Now, let’s go!” he barked.

            Instantly, the two men holding her arms lifted her up and started to carry her over to a sleek black car that was parked on the other side of the street. She kicked her feet and struggled, but their grip was firm. They approached the car. One of the let go to open the back door. The other handcuffed her, and threw her in. They slammed the door closed, and got into the front of the car. Automatically, her window rolled down. The bald man was looking in.

            “Have fun” he said cruelly.

            She glared at him as the window closed.

            The car started. Every time the car turned or stopped, she was jerked into a different position. Eventually though, the car stopped inside a parking garage. The two men got out of the car, but the left her there.

            “Hey!” she shouted. “What about me?”

            “You stay here brat!” said the man that was driving. “The boss will come and deal with you later!” He slammed the door, and walked away.

            “Great! Just great!” Ally said aloud. She sighed as she shifted herself into a sitting position. She brought her knees up to her chest, and settled down for a long wait.

To her dismay, the driver came to get her within five minutes. He opened the door to let her out.

            “Come on brat” he said as she struggled out. Once she was on her feet, he pushed her forward. She stumbled a little, but she refused to move after that.

            “I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers!” she said.

            “Damn brat.” He reached into his jacket and retrieved his gun. Putting it against her head, he pushed her forward again. “Move” he growled.

            Should I stay and demand answers, or move? Her natural instinct to win won out, and she started walking. She could hear footsteps behind her, but the gun remained on her. Finally, she couldn’t bear the silence. “Please, tell me what I did” she begged.

            “You really don’t know?”

            “No, I don’t. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

            There was a moment of silence before the driver put his gun away. He removed her handcuffs, but he grabbed her arm so she couldn’t escape. “I’m trusting you, alright?” he said.

            “Thank you” Ally said as she rubbed her sore wrists.

            “I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Mike.”

            “I’m Ally” she said shyly.

            Mike smiled as he took out his cell phone. Faintly, Ally could hear it ringing.

            After a minute or two, Mike said “What do I do with her?” He smiled again as he received an answer. “Will do.” There was a click as the person on the other end hung up. “I have to put these back on your wrists” Mike said gently. Ally felt the cold metal close around her once again. He pushed her, and they started to walk. At least the gun is gone she thought.

**********

            Mike grabbed her shoulder. “We’re here” he said.

            Ally looked up at a huge gray door. There were bars across a small window near the top, right under the “13” that was imprinted. “This is a prison cell, isn’t it?” she whispered.

            Mike was silent. He unlocked the door with a key, which he had around his neck. The door creaked open. He pushed her in and stepped in behind her, just as the door swung closed. The handcuffs came off yet again. “I think we owe you some answers” he finally said. “It’s kind of a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?”

            “I’m not going anywhere” Ally said. “Take all the time you need.”

Mike took a deep breath. “I’ll start with who we are. You and I are in a holding cell for the World Wide Bureau of Crime, otherwise known as the WWBC. We go around the world helping to stop terrorism, helping countries reach compromises peacefully, and helping prevent wars.”

            “What does that have to do with me?” Ally asked.

            “Hang on. I’m getting there. Now, just last month, archeologists dug up some ancient hieroglyphics, which we have just finished translating.”

            “What do they say?” She leaned forward, intrigued by all this new information.

            He pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and started reading off of it. “Demons are real. And they are powerful. They can and will destroy the world as soon as possible. However, they need the stone. If they can destroy it, they can destroy the world. And nothing will stop them from getting it. But there is hope. Only half-demons have the power to unlock the secrets of the stone. Only they can release the demons’ true power, the power that is kept in check by the stone. If the half-demon is pure of heart, the world will be saved, the demons’ power locked away. But, if the half-demon is full of malice and evil intent, the world will be plunged into shadows…forever.”

            Ally stared at Mike, her face full of amazement. “So you’re gathering all the half-demons so the full demons have no choice but to come to you!”

            “Exactly.”

            “But what if they kill you?”

            “Then I die.”

            She couldn’t believe how brave he was. For the first time, she actually looked at him. “He’s kind of cute” she whispered to herself.

            “What was that? I didn’t hear you.”

            “Ah…nothing.” Ally blushed and looked at the floor. His bright blue eyes went well with his short red hair in her mind. He looked about twenty. To break the awkward silence, she said “How long will I be here?”

            “A long time” Mike said apologetically. “The WWBC will provide food, water, a second pair of clothes, and a blanket. But you will have to do everything with a guard at the door.”

            “A female guard, I hope.” She eyed him suspiciously.

            “Of course!” he replied shortly. He stood up and left. “I’ll be back later with your guard” he muttered as he closed the door.

            “Ok ok. No need to get huffy” she said. But only the cold metal door heard her.

“Shach” Ally said aloud, cursing in demon. Well, at least now I have some time to think.” She sighed and sat on the small bed. I wonder how many half-demons they have now. Maybe I’ll meet some other people. But I’m way too low in class. The only people that would even talk to me would be the oldies. I hate this stupid ranking. I wish I could change it. Then I could be in the hundreds, instead of the thousands. Using her finger, she traced the number 1384 on the bed. The hundreds would be nice. Even a three hundred. Suddenly, there was banging at the door, followed by the sound of the lock turning. The door swung open, and the bald man stepped in. Ally’s fists clenched. “What do you want?” she asked, trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

            “There’s been a change in plans. We have a new location for you.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

            “Hey! Stop it!” She kicked his shin, but he just tightened his grip. “That hurts!” she protested. Why is he so strong? Normal humans shouldn’t be able to hurt me she thought as her fear grew.

            Before she could even think of escaping, the bald man stopped in front of another prison cell, imprinted with the number 60.

            Standing next to the door was none other than Mike! “Are you sure this is a good idea boss?” he asked.

            “You idiot!” the bald man said. “Of course I don’t! But we have no other choice. Now open the door.”

            Mike obeyed, hesitantly doing as his boss said.

            “Get in there!” the bald man said as he shoved Ally through the open doorway, slamming the door the second she was in.

            She heard a click as the door locked behind her.

Ally looked around the room. It was exactly the same as her other cell, but this one had a second bed hanging above the first.

            There was some rustling, and then she saw a head looking down at her from the top bunk. The rustler had spiky black hair down to his shoulders, and calm, forest green eyes.

            As he jumped down to join her on the floor, she could see the simple black number tattoo on his right hand. 100 she thought. What’s an infar doing here? She started to open her mouth to ask for his name, and then quickly shut it. Mentally, she slapped herself. Remember who you’re talking to she scolded. She knelt down and put her own tattooed hand over her heart. “1384, Ally Zalo, at your service sir” she said, addressing him the way she had been taught.

            “I’m Jack Johnson” he said simply.

            Ally was shocked. Infars rarely gave out their real names, and they never gave them to someone with as low a ranking as herself.

            “Stand up” Jack said.

            She stood, waiting for his next command.

            “You want to say something, don’t you?”

            “Yes sir.”

            “Then I give you permission to speak freely with me.”

            Ally gasped rather loudly. “You…But you’re…And I’m…Why would…” she babbled.

            “Yes, I’m an infar, you are a leenar, and it gets lonely and boring when you can’t talk to someone informally.”

            “I…Thank you very much!” she exclaimed, bowing as she spoke.

            “Stop with all the formal stuff! Let’s start over. I’m Jack.”

            “And I’m Ally.” They shook hands.

            “You look like you have questions” Jack said.

            “Only one” she admitted. “How did you become an ifnar?”

Jack looked at her. “What do you mean?”

            “I-I was always taught that half-demons were the least respected, and that we could never amount to anything, and that we would never become anything more than a leenar.”

            “And who said that?”

            “My babysitter.”

            He raised his eyebrows. “Who was your babysitter?”

            “Her name was Lucia.”

            Jack’s eyes widened. “Lucia said that?”

            Ally nodded.

            “That’s unusual.” He lapsed into silence.

            “So…how did you become an ifnar?”

            He smiled. “Hard work and determination.”

            Ally was silent.

            “I know I know. It’s really cliché.” Jack rolled his eyes. Then, he got serious. “If you don’t mind my asking, who are your parents?”

            She frowned. “To be quite honest, I’m not entirely sure.”

            “Oh?” he said with a confused look in his eyes. “What do you mean?”

            She sighed and sat on her new bed, gesturing for Jack to join her. “It’s kind of confusing.”

“Like I said” Ally started “Lucia was my babysitter. My mom, the human, was never home. She was always away on a business trip, leaving my demon father to take care of me. He was also usually gone, doing some important demon type thing. He said he had hired ‘the best demon babysitter he knew’. So all my time was spent with Lucia. She taught me math and science and history and reading, I was home schooled, along with demon languages and demon respect.” She made a face. “That was the worst part.”

            “So you truly never knew your parents” Jack said. “That’s so sad.”

            Ally was silent for a while, and then said “How do you know Lucia?”

            “She was my babysitter too, when I was younger.”

            “Oh.”

            “Yeah.”

            “So…”

            “What?”

            “What should we do now?”

            Jack tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

            “Should we stay here, or try to escape?”

            He smiled. “I say, we pretend to escape. The WWBC is already on edge. None of them wanted to put you in here. They’re afraid that two demons are better than one, to put it simply. We can make them even antsier by dropping hints about escaping, and about meeting with others. Then, when they’re totally scrambled, we use a different escape plan!”

            “In theory, that’s a good idea” Ally said. “But if they think we’re trying to escape, wouldn’t they up security around us? Or worse yet, separate us? Or both?”

            Jack’s face turned bright red. “I…I didn’t think about that” he stuttered.

            She smiled. “Don’t worry about it. It’s late. Why don’t we get some sleep?”

            “Sure” he said. His face was still red as he climbed up to the top bunk.

            She slipped into the bottom one. Pushing all thoughts out of her mind, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Ally was awoken by a loud bang. She sat up quickly, her heart pounding. Looking around, she noticed two trays of food on the floor. She heard footsteps and another bang as the door closed loudly for the second time.

            Jack woke up as the door slammed. “Alright! I’m starving!” he said. He jumped off the top bed and grabbed both trays. “Here” he said, handing Ally her tray. He sat down next to her and started to eat. She just picked at her food.

**********

            A while later, someone came to take their trays back. “Johnson. Follow me” said the agent with their dirty plates. She handcuffed Jack and shoved him outside. The door closed. Ally heard the lock click into place, and she was left alone yet again.

**********

            She had been alone for no more than a minute when she heard a loud bang come from the other side of the door. The gun shot echoed, making Ally cringe. She silently crept to the door of her cell, wishing with her entire heart that Jack was still alive. She put her ear to the door.

“Getting more dangerous, are we?”

            Ally sighed with relief as she heard Jack’s voice.

            There was about half a moment of silence, and then Jack spoke again. “Foam bullets? Weak.”

            “They were only to test you” said a new voice.

            Ally’s mind worked furiously to put a name with that very familiar voice.

            “Test me?” Jack said, pulling Ally’s thoughts back.

            “Just to make sure you’re still the same” the second voice said gruffly. “Now, down to business.”

            “I need to contact him soon” Jack said. “He’s getting restless. If I don’t report back soon, we’ll both be in trouble.”

            “But now we have the girl. She’s a useful bargaining chip.”

            There was silence, broken only by footsteps.

            “Let’s break this up” Jack said. “I’ll contact him in two days time. Until then, continue on as you normally would.”

            The locked door clicked again, telling Ally to scamper back to her bunk. She sat down just in time to see Jack shoved back in. He pulled his hands apart, and the handcuffs full harmlessly to the floor.

            Ally hugged him as he sat next to her again. “You’re ok” she said, more a command than a question.

            “Yeah, I’m fine” he said, hugging her back. “C’mon, why don’t you get some rest? You look really pale.”

            “Yeah, sure” she said. She laid down on her bunk, and Jack sat with her. She closed her eyes.

            It was dark. She could barely see her hands in front of her. “Get her!” someone shouted. Her subconscious recognized the voice as the same voice from outside her cell. “Ally Zalo, Ally Zalo, Ally Zalo, Ally, Ally, Ally…ALLY!”

            Ally’s head jerked up. She didn’t realize she was screaming until she felt Jack’s hand over her mouth.

            “Ally, calm down.” His eyes were filled with concern.

            She took a shuddering breath, and then pushed his hand off her mouth. “I-I’m fine” she said shakily. The cell itself was dark, indicating that it was nighttime outside.

            Jack wrapped his arms protectively around Ally. Even as her heart beat returned to normal, her mind continued to race. She had finally recognized the voice from earlier.

Why would the bald man work with Jack? And who are they contacting? And what girl? And… Ally’s mind spun with questions. She turned onto her back, unable to sleep. Finally, she reached a conclusion. She’d just have to follow Jack.

**********

Jack’s Point Of View

            “Yeah, I’m fine” Jack said, sitting next to Ally. “Why don’t you get some rest? You look really pale.”

            But Jack’s mind was thinking something totally different. He didn’t see Ally as a leenar, a half demon, a friend, a lover, not even a girl. He saw her as his key. She was his key to power and respect. And with any luck, he would become the leader of the invasion; he may even replace the current demon lord. His only concern was Ally. He didn’t know exactly how much she had heard. There was a chance she heard everything, and yet she may have heard nothing. He frowned, trying out different scenarios in his mind.

            She doesn’t really know her father, so she’ll be less willing to go with him. He might not even want her.

            A scream penetrated Jack’s thoughts. He looked over at Ally. She was still asleep, obviously having a nightmare. He sighed and tried to wake her. “Ally, Ally, Ally…ALLY!” He shouted over her screaming and put his hand over her mouth to quiet the noise.

            She sat up quickly, and her eyes flew open.

            “Ally, calm down” he said, putting on a concerned face.

            She took a few breaths and then pushed his hand away. “I-I’m fine” she said.

            He wrapped his arms around her, doing the perfect things to make her trust him.

**********

Later, he could hear Ally toss around in her bunk. There was no doubt that she was still awake. Jack scowled at the ceiling. If he could keep her in the dark for a few more days, he’d have his key. His precious key…