The Short Demon King

Chapter 38

The rest of school was very uneventful. I ignored the lectures, read my books, and doodled a bit. It was quite fun walking back home, though, since there were now lots of crunchy leaves piled on the ground to stomp on. I entertained myself by jumping on all of them the whole way home. At the beginning Maya laughed at me, but I eventually encouraged her to join in on the fun.

My joy didn't last long, however as when we opened the door we were met with a surprising sight. Eiling sat at the dining table across from Kevin. She smirked at us as we walked in, but Kevin's eyes were limply lowered.

"What is going on?" I asked cautiously, already fearing the worst. There was no telling what she could have done to him while we were away.

She got up to greet us, sounding as fake as possible. "Oh nothing important, don't worry! I was just getting to know your little friend over here a bit better. It really is crazy that we've been neighbors all these years but I never came by to fully introduce myself!"

My eyebrows scrunched together. Something was wrong. I could feel it.

But first, I had to get her away from the humans. Inhaling sharply, I forced a smile onto my face and led her over towards the doorway.

"You know what? Let's have a nice conversation over here!"

Maya tossed her bag to the side and rushed to Kevin's side. She whispered in his ear, asking what happened and what was wrong. He still seemed shaken, but finally looked up. His gaze was shrouded and hazy—he looked almost guilty.

Eiling followed me without resistance, though she clearly knew my true intentions. She leaned back with crossed arms and watched me, a small smile playing on her lips.

"You know, you never did mention you're immortal. That would've been some real nice information to know earlier," she said nonchalantly.

"Wha-? How did you find that out?"

Her eyes drifted towards Kevin who was still being comforted by his sister. I followed her gaze before turning back to the old lady with a snarl.

"What did you do to him?" I demanded.

She scoffed. "I didn't hurt him, if that's what you're asking. I'm not some monster like you. I just asked a few times."

"So you manipulated him."

She only smirked in response, leaning comfortably against the wall. I growled and stood taller, trying to look more intimidating. She seemed completely unfazed though and kept smiling up at me.

I searched for anything about her I could use as an excuse to force her to leave, but all I saw was a mostly normal human. What could I even say to get her to leave?

I narrowed my eyes. No excuses came to mind, so there wasn't much I could say. I just said the first thing that came to mind, "Leave."

"I'd rather not," she responded snarkily.

"You're not welcome here."

"And neither are you."

I flinched. Despite my best efforts to not let her get to me, those words still stung. Technically neither of us were supposed to be in this realm in the first place, but I knew what she was implying.

Still, I stood my ground and pointed to the door. "Get out. You weren't invited into this house."

"Oh but it's too cold outside for a little, old lady like me. Surely you have some empathy," she pretended to look sad and weak, but this made my rage boil even more.

"GET OUT!" I barked, growing out my fangs to look even more menacing.

Her face grew dark, and I feared the worst. What was she about to do? But she only shook her head with a sigh. Straightening back up, she actually walked over and opened the door.