Elena
Saturday morning found me staring at the ceiling pretty early. I was counting the different cracks I could see. Eevie was unusually quiet, which had me extra nervous about visiting her family today. From all the horror stories Eevie told me about them, I pictured them as scary demon monsters. They'd eat me alive if I made one wrong move.
Noel had gone to the demon world with Nori yesterday after classes. I wondered how they were fairing. I bet Nori's family was nice. Noel would fit right in with them if it were the case. It was weird not having Noel around last night.
I had called Grandma to catch her up on classes, and she had a lot of questions about Noel. When I asked for advice about what to do, she told me to merely follow my heart and take some chances. I knew what she told me was sound advice, and it actually lightened the weight on my shoulders a bit from listening to her. Grandma could always make me feel better. No matter what.
Alexa and I had hung out the entire night. We painted our nails, made popcorn, and watched a bunch of movies before falling asleep. It was nice to have a girls night. Being an only child and changing schools, I didn't have too many close girl friends. So it was a nice change of pace.
Alexa had gotten up and left already, heading to the library for an early morning study session with a few of her classmates. I peaked over at the window and saw the day was pretty gorgeous out. And here I was, hiding under my covers like a child. Throwing the covers back, I got up and headed to my closet to change for the day.
After I had brushed my teeth and done my hair, I finally coaxed Eevie into talking to me. Hey, how do we even get to the demon realm?
It'd have been really handy to teleport with Nori and Noel, Eevie commented. But we have our own personal demon we can hitch a ride with. I told Alistair when to come get us this morning. He'll teleport us to the manor.
Is there no other way to get to the demon realm? I asked. Surely, there had to be other ways. Otherwise how would nonteleporting demons come back and forth on their own. Surely they didn't have to find a teleporting demon to do so.
If I wanted to, I could open a portal. But they take a lot of energy I don't really want to expel at the moment.We're going to be up against my family today. They might test us, and I want to be at full power.
I felt the blood drain out of my face. What would happen if we failed the test her family set for us? Would I be able to live up to her family's expectations? I didn't think so. They seemed the type to have extremely high expectations not conquerable by normal standards.
But don't you worry. I told you I would protect you, and I will. I could feel her vow binding us, and my worry evaporated. Don't take what my family tells you to heart. They might try to pit us against each other. We must be strong and believe in each other.
I nodded and took a deep breath, letting it all out again. I glanced in the mirror one final time and turned to go to my laptop and bumped into Alistair, who stood grinning down at me.
"Ready to greet the wolves?" he asked with a smirk.
Eevie and I switched, and Eevie replied, "We're as ready as we'll ever be." She didn't seem too confident, but if my family had done all the things hers had to me, I wouldn't want to go visit them, either.
Eevie
Alistair pulled me into an embrace, and in a blink of an eye, we were standing at the gate in front of my family home. It was immaculate as I remembered. Polished on the outside as it was on the inside. The landscaping was perfection, and I could feel Elena taking everything in in awe. On the outside, our home looked like a castle out of fairy tales.
Too bad it was the villain's lair.
"Thank you, Alistair for taking us this far. I will be in touch again before we depart tonight," I promised him with another hug and a kiss to the cheek before I pushed open the gates. Alistair vanished, and I didn't blame him. I wouldn't want to be seen by my family if I had been him, either.
When I reached the door, I didn't bother knocking. Strolling through the doors, I had a butler and a maid greet me- their demeanor changing once they realized who I was. Bowing to me, the butler informed me that my parents had guests. One of our rival clan's, apparently, was checking in to see how I was doing since I had not been seen out and about lately.
Knowing my family, they had found out I was coming and staged the meeting to coincide with when I was due to arrive. This way, the rival clan could see for himself that I was here. It would only help my family for me to be seen as we couldn't let it get out what I had done.
Better to keep up appearances and keep my family happy than incur their wrath for something trivial. Heading up to my old room, I found it had been left exactly as I had left it. IT had been cleaned recently for my impending arrival no doubt. I shucked off clothes and pulled on a small, body tight robe that left my long legs bare. The robe barely covered my ass. I wasn't going to be too complacent.
Nice robe Elena snickered at me. Nori would have a nosebleed looking at you.
Nori would be very privileged to see me like this. The thought of him seeing me right now brought a smile to my lips. Sometimes I wished we had more time to be alone.
Heading back downstairs, I pushed open the door to my father's study where he was sitting on a very expensive leather sofa and his guest on the loveseat across from him. My appearance startled our guest, but my father didn't bat an eye. It was if I had been here the entire time and he had known I was coming.
"Ah, Evelyn. Mr. Yuki was just inquiring to your health. How fortuitous of you to show him yourself," my father said knowingly.
That was not how I envisioned your father looking, Elena confessed.
My father was a big, imposing man of 6'5" and all of 250 pounds of muscle. His hair was cropped short and he had the horns like I did. His hands looked more like bear paws than human hands. His eyes, however, looked like cat eyes. He had no ears or eyebrows.
How did you envision him? I asked Elena.
I thought he'd look less like you and for like some of those slimy, creepy demons we've battled before. You know, a monster.
The worst kind of monster are the ones that look normal, I reminded her as I brought my attention back to the issue at hand.
I bowed to Mr. Yuki, "I thank you, sir, for worrying about my well being, but I suffer from stern discipline only. I am reflecting on my most recent transgressions. It was unbecoming of me to act so out of line recently. The university my father has sent me to is really helping me. I am learning quite a lot."
Mr Yuki inclined his head, the startled look at my appearance slowly easing into a knowing smile. "I am glad to hear of it! But pray tell, which University are you attending?"
I batted my eyes at the demon as I walked over to my father, ignoring Mr. Yuki's question, which wasn't all that out of character for me. "I apologize for interrupting your meeting father, I will let you get back to it." With that, I bowed at the two of them before heading out of the room and closing the doors behind me.
"I had heard you were home, but because you weren't coming to find me, I decided to come to you," a voice pierced the quiet of the manor.
I closed my eyes tightly hoping that when I opened them, my mother would not be standing on the landing of the stairs staring down at me. Opening my eye after several moments proved no such luck. Heaving a sigh, I rounded the stairs and climbed them towards my mother.
"Good morning, Mother," I said amicably enough.
"So lovely to see you, my dear," her voice was loving enough, but I wasn't fooled by the false happiness.
My mother was the real beauty of the family with her slender figure, giant bust, and small waist. Her hair was a fiery red that fell in perfect waves around her face and down over her breasts. Her pointed ears were pierced with diamonds along the cartilage. Her eyes were like mine, more black than white. High cheekbones and a slender neck. Her nails were her biggest weapons as they were hard as iron and sharp as glass. Her teeth were all pointed daggers.
I expected a middle aged, over weight woman, Elena cut in, and I had to keep myself from laughing. My mother was anything but.
"You could have dressed a little more appropriately for Mr. Yuki," my mother chided me.
I shrugged, "Why not let him get a good look at me? Is he who you betrothed me to?" I asked, half kidding. I didn't think they'd actually marry me to someone that much older, but I wouldn't put anything passed them.
"Are you being scandalous on purpose. I would think you'd know better," she hissed at me, her serpent's tongue evident.
"I know how ruthless you and Father can be. I don't underestimate the entirety of your horribleness. I wouldn't put anything passed you."
"You paint us to be such terrible parents when we just want what's best for you," she replied.
"That's because you only do what benefits you. Not what benefits me. You are the most selfish parents I have ever met," I told her
"Take a good, hard look in the mirror when calling your father and I ruthless, young lady. You got to be our heir for a reason."
"I was just a child. Don't you lecture me about that when you were the ones who put me up to it."
"We didn't make you do anything. You could have let your sister or brothers win. But you won. You are here. And you better start living the life they gave you."
"Let me know when Father is out of his meeting so we may discuss what I came here to talk about. When our matter is settled, I am leaving," I pushed passed her and went to my room, falling onto my bed with a heavy sigh.
What did your mother mean when she said you won? Won what? I didn't know you had any siblings.
I don't. Not anymore.
I closed my eyes against the pain that came with thinking of my sister and two older brothers I hadn't seen in over a three hundred years. I would never see them again, and my parents brought it up every chance they got even though they made us fight. They made us do it.
It wasn't my fault.
