"What should we do?" Evangeline asked her with a worried tone.

"You should go," Cecilia said.

"And you?" Cecilia could tell that Evangeline wanted to yell but she kept her voice in a whisper, "I can't leave you."

"I'm not going to wait forever," the man said in black said in an inpatient tone.

Cecilia started growing and while she was doing so, she formed her twin blades. When she was full size, she stabbed the pig in the head.

Evangeline stood next to her with a katana sword in her hands.

"You, the green one," the man said, "you should have considered yourself lucky that I let you live the first time. Why do you come again?"

Evangeline stayed silent.

The man sighed, "fine, don't say anything. I don't care much for you anyway. It's the purple one I am curious about."

She could feel his eyes roam her body but she kept her neutral mask on.

"You are the stronger one. I can feel it," he said.

"You could say that," Cecilia said. She could feel Evangeline glare at her.

"Hm," the man smiled, "you are even more stunning to see with my own eyes. And this energy you are giving off, it tastes so good." He licked his lips, "I could just eat you up."

"You have seen me through different eyes?" Cecilia asked.

"Scared?" the man took a step closer to them.

Cecilia raised her weapons, "more like pissed off."

"I do not wish to fight you. If I did, you both would be dead by now," the man said.

"As if I would allow that," Cecilia shot back.

"As if you have a choice," he laughed.

Her hold on her weapons tightened.

"Now go," the demon said, "before I kill the green one. I don't need the green one." Cecilia could sense how scared Evangeline was and if she could sense it, the demon in front of them could as well. 

"But you need me?" Cecilia asked.

"I want you," the man said. Her mind was then filled with scenes that could not be true. Images of her naked with him grouping her body. His naked body hovering over hers. His tongue wondering her body. She quickly pushed him out and took a step back.

"Cece?" Evangeline asked worriedly.

"How dare you?" Cecilia was breathing hard.

"What? I thought you would enjoy experiencing your future," he said. The look of satisfaction on his face was sickening to her.

"That is not my future," Cecilia said, regaining herself.

"Again, you don't have a choice in the matter," he said.

"It's time to go," Evangeline grabbed her hand and they were back to their original meeting location.

"I was not done!" Cecilia yelled at her.

Evangeline was taken back and looked genuinely hurt.

Cecilia closed her eyes and grabbed her head, "I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"The situation was getting way out of hand. I need to report this," Evan said.

"I wanted to get more information out of him," Cecilia said, "I could have handled it alone. If you wanted to leave, you should have just left with out me."

"You know I could not do that," she said. She might have been right but Cecilia was too upset to admit it.

"What did he show you?" Evangeline asked.

"I can't tell you," Cecilia said. 

Cecilia was about to start entering Leon's home coordinates when a thought crossed her mind. What if Evangeline was tainted? That could explain why the demon did not kill her the first time. The first time could even be when he tainted her. 

Then again, she was genuinely scared in his presence. 

She faced Evangeline, "nobody can know what we just witnessed."

"I need to report this to Gerald Green right away!" Evangeline yelled, "and who are you to give me orders?" 

"I said nobody can know," Cecilia then slammed her forehead against Evangeline's forehead. 

What Cecilia was doing was dangerous, especially if Evangeline was tainted. Cecilia was transporting her mental energy inside Evangeline's mind. It was similar to what Cecilia did to get into Leon's dreams. Since Cecilia had the element of surprise on her side and since she was able to get physical contact, she bypassed Evangeline's mental defenses. 

Cecilia was in complete darkness. 

"Get out!" Evangeline was in a glass box, pounding against the invisible wall, "get out of my head!"

"I have to be cautious. If you were in my position, you would understand," Cecilia said. 

"What are you talking about?" Evangeline kept hitting the wall. 

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you," Cecilia said. She looked around for any sign of the demon's presence but found nothing. 

"Show me her memories since being on Earth," Cecilia said out loud. All in a rush, Cecilia witnessed Evangeline's life on Earth. It took only a few seconds to see everything but Cecilia was able to process it. There was no evidence of Evangeline being tainted. After first seeing the demon, she was so scared that she transported right away. 

"Alter the last thirty minutes," Cecilia said out loud. She deleted the demon all together and instead changed the memory to where all they saw was sins roaming. Since there was nothing significant, they left and were back at the meeting point. Evangeline would then report that nothing happened and all they witnessed were sins, the usual. 

"Done," Cecilia said. She walked over to the glass box where Evangeline was now sitting and crying silent tears. 

"I wish I was as strong as you," she whispered.

Cecilia looked at her with pity, "You're not going to remember any of this."

"Good," she said. 

Cecilia mentally pulled away from her. 

"Well that was disappointing," Evangeline chuckled, "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"It's okay. It was strange seeing so many sins at once," Cecilia said, "Well, I'm going to head back now. Goodnight." Cecilia started tapping the coordinates on her left palm. 

Cecilia appeared in Leon's bedroom. She again found him sleeping on the floor with "Fluffy" curled around him. Her tiger was more tensed than usual and he looked fiercely at her.

"I know," she bent down and touched her tiger's face, "I know I let him get to me. It looked too real. I could, I could feel it." While she was seeing the images, she was feeling his slender hands, feeling the wetness of his tongue. It was as if she was remembering a memory, but that was impossible. That must be how powerful he was, he could put false images like that directly in her mind. She was not going to let him do that again.

Her tiger kept eye contact with her.

"I know. We are going to kill him," she said.

She then picked up Leon and put him back in bed. She tucked him in and kissed his forehead.

"Christmas Eve is tomorrow," she said, "and something bad is going to happen but I will keep you safe, no matter what."

To Leader James

I need you to see something right away but I cannot afford to leave Leon so instead I will send you footage of what happened in the Shadow World.

Attach video from eye piece from 0100 to 0143 today.

Before she thought "send" she put more thought into it. What kept James from being tainted from the demon? Anyone around her could be tainted.

She hardly trusted anyone to begin with, but now she flat out could only rely on herself.

Erase message completely.

She wanted to ask for help from her brother but the same thought lingered. What if her brother did not actually change, what if it was the demon trying to get her to open up to him? To trick her into trusting him.

As much as she wished that was false, she could not risk it.

She sat down on the rocking chair and massaged her temples. Her tiger walked over to her and placed his head in her lap.

"I need you to conserve your energy for tomorrow," Cecilia said as she petted him.

He started shrinking and returned on her upper arm.

She leaned back into the chair and waited for the sun to come.

By the time Leon awoke, she had already gathered his clothes. She readied two sets, one that was formal and another that was not. The formal would be the ones he would meet the Valiants in and for picture taking. The non formal clothes were pajamas he would be comfortable in.

"Cece?" he sat up in bed.

"Good morning," she walked over to him and kissed him on the forehead.

"Good morning," he kissed her on the cheek.

"Your clothes are on the chair," she told him as he rolled out of bed. He started tucking in the corners of the bed and smoothed out his blanket.

He then walked over to the rocking chair, grabbed the formal pile, and went to the rest room.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth!" she yelled after him.

"Okay!" he yelled back. She heard the door quietly close.

She grabbed his backpack that he usually took to school, it had a cartoon firetruck on the front. She then picked up one of his toy firetrucks and placed it in the bag. She placed the pajamas in. The last thing she put in the bag was the present she was going to give him. The bracelet was in a red box with a blue bow on top.

A few minutes passed and he walked back into his room with a brush in his hands, "can you brush my hair?" His shirt and pants were both black and he was wearing a sky blue bow with snow flakes on it around his neck.

"I would love to," she took the brush from him. She sat down on the rocking chair and he sat in front of her on the floor.

She started brushing his hair back.

"Cece?" he said.

"Yes, my child?"

"I love you."

She could feel tears building up and tried her hardest to keep them at bay.

"I love you more, Leon," She said.

"No, I love you more. I love you times a million."

"I love you times infinity."

"What is 'infinity'?"

"It means never ending, just like my love for you."

He turned around and hugged her.

She held the back of his head with one hand and rubbed his back with the other.

"Are you ready, Leon?" she heard his father say from down the hall.

"Yes!" Leon pulled away and picked up his backpack. He grabbed her hand, "let's go, Cece!"

"Mr. Valiant sent a car for us," Nana said when Leon and Cecilia walked into the kitchen, "it is waiting for us."

Nana closed the lid to what smelled like a container of cookies.

"They should like cookies, right?" Nana asked.

Leon nodded his head excitedly, "if they don't, I'll gladly eat them all!"

Cecilia and Nana laughed.

"Leave some for the Valiant's, Leon," his father laughed as he walked into the kitchen.

Cecilia was taken back by how handsome he looked. It was amazing what a little bit of sleep and a shower could do. He was wearing black slacks, a white button up shirt, and a sky blue tie with snow men on it.

"Why are you staring at my dad," Leon looked up at her.

"What? Me? Staring? No," Cecilia nervously laughed.

"You were staring," Leon said.

"Hush, Leon," Cecilia stared him down.

"Cece is staring at Papa," Leon said out loud.

Nana started laughing and she could see his father's face turn red.

"He wasn't Mr. February for nothing," Nana said.

"Mom," Mr. Boston sounded embarrassed.

"Why are you like this, Leon," Cecilia was also embarrassed.

Leon started laughing.

"Let's go already," Mr. Boston started walking to the door.

"I agree with your dad," Cecilia started pulling Leon towards the door.

"Of course you do," Leon smiled up at her.

"You're so irritating sometimes," she sighed.

"But you love me times infinity anyway," he said.

"I do," she smiled.

On the street in front of the house was a black limousine.

The driver opened the door to the back seats.

"Thank you," Leon gave the man a smile. The driver smiled back.

When all the family was inside, the driver closed the door and soon they were moving.

"I wonder what kind of food they are going to serve," Nana wondered out loud.

"I'm sure what ever it is, it's going to be great," Mr. Boston said.

*

"Thank you for joining us," Mr. Valiant and Sillie meet them at the door. He was wearing black slacks and a white button up shirt with a black tie with a reindeer with a red nose on the middle of it.

The Valiant's house was very large and painted white. The front was lined with white pillars.

"Thank you for having us," Mr. Boston shook his hand.

"Please come in," Mr. Valiant smiled.

"Leon!" Sillie had a big smile on her face. She was wearing a white dress that touched her knees.

"Sillie!" Leon let go of Cecilia's hand and ran to Sillie, embracing her in a big hug. When they let go of each other, they walked into the house hand in hand.

"I'm glad our children are such good friends," Mr. Valiant told Mr. Boston and Nana, "I was worried she would not make friends at school because of her...of her disability. But Leon is a sweet kid."

"I am glad they have each other," Mr. Boston agreed.

"Oh hello," a woman dressed in a white gown walked into the living area where they had gathered. She had shoulder length blond hair and green eyes.

"I am Olivia Valiant, Sillie's mother," she smiled, showing perfectly aligned  white teeth.

"Hello, Mrs. Valiant! You look beautiful!" Leon hugged her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Hello, Leon. You look handsome as always," she had to bend down in order to kiss him on the cheek.

Cecilia then realized that something was missing, or more like someone.

"Where is Elijah?" Cecilia asked Sillie.

"He's in my bedroom. He said he had to wrap my gift," she said, "my room is down the hall."

"Thank you," Cecilia said.

As she was walking down the hall, she realized that this house resembled a lot like the Imaginary World, white and clean. The tile was white marble and the walls were painted white.

She found an open door where Elijah was sitting on a white fluffy rug in the middle of the white tiled room. The room was large and was the size of all the bedrooms in Leon's house combined. On one wall was a queen size bed with white covers. Another wall was completely covered floor to ceiling with books.

It seemed he had not noticed she was there so she leaned against the wall and watched him struggling to wrap a book.

"This sucks!" he whined out loud.

"Do you need help?" she asked.

He slightly jumped, "Cece!"

She chuckled and sat down next to him. She took the book from him and started wrapping it.

"Thank you," he said.

"It's of no trouble," she said.

"Picture time!" the voice came from Mrs. Valiant.

"Cecilia?" Elijah placed a hand over hers.

Cecilia could feel her heart beat pick up, "yes?"

She kept looking down at the now wrapped book.

"I'm glad we can spend Christmas Eve together," he smiled.