Monday morning came pretty quickly. My caregivers were being extra hard on me because my first trip to the human world was this weekend.I finished up my training and headed for school. "Be good (y/n), and remember to keep your grades up. You have extra practices tonight, so no fooling around after classes." "Yes, Nyx." I replied flatly. Of my two caregivers, Nyx was by far the softest. She had stern rules, but was fair. She's the only reason I was allowed to spend the night with Lilu over the weekend. Zagan was the hard ass. He for whatever reason hates humans. Since blood demons like Arioch are very similar to humans, he hates them too. They also bond with at least one human. He's disgusted by that. I think it's cool. I wish I was a blood demon sometimes, but I can't be one and I know it. Nyx and I have neutral opinions of humans, especially me. I've never even seen one. I don't care about them and I just happen to like blood demons just fine...especially Arioch. I grabbed my bag and headed for school. I hoped against all hope that I'd run into Circe and Arioch, but I didn't. In fact, I spent so much time searching for at least one of them that I was almost late getting into school. I hit my first class and sat around watching time tick by. Academically, I'm set for life. School is easy for me, especially anything involving art. I love art. Naturally, since I was looking forward to something the day dragged on. When that last minute ticked by, I bolted from my class and started scouring the hallways. I caught a glimpse of Arioch. Circe wasn't around. Perfect, I wanted some time alone with him. I casually strolled to his locker. "Hi." I said. He looked over at me and gave me his infamous little half smile. "Nice to see you again." he said. I got nervous and lost track of what I was saying. "Um..." I started. He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Yeah...I was just wondering...what are you doing Friday?" He thought about it for a moment. "Nothing that I'm aware of. Why?" I froze again. "(Y/N), I'm starting to worry about you. You keep drifting off into space." "I'm sorry...what are you doing Friday?" he looked at me, clearly puzzled. "I just said nothing..." I wanted to smack myself. "I want to hang out."I finally blurted out. He looked a bit relieved. "Why didn't you say so?" I had no response. "Nerves?" "As long as Mark doesn't call me up I'm free. I'd like hanging out. Your place or mine?" "Definitely yours...and who is Mark?" "My human." "Oh. I never knew his name." "Yeah, I don't really discuss work at school." "Makes sense...so do you want to walk me home after school Friday?" "Sure. Just meet me back here." I felt like I was having a heart attack. "Sounds great!" I said, turning and walking away. I looked over my shoulder to see Arioch staring at me like I was insane. He'll get over it. I told Lilu my good news and she just stared at me. "We're going to the human world first thing Saturday morning. How are you going to pull this off? Your caregivers aren't going to let you out of their sight Friday." "They're going to have to. If I beg Nyx she might give in. I dunno." "You really didn't think this through (y/n). You don't even seem to have an alibi. This is a mistake. You are going to get busted and Zagan is going to slaughter you. Also, there is NO way that Nyx is going to let you go...she's just as strict as Zagan, but she's nicer about things. You'd better get a hold of him and tell him the truth." "No, I don't want to ruin anything..." "You'd rather your caregivers catch you? Do you have any idea what they'd do to you? To him? If you like this guy so much you might want to think twice about endangering him." She had a point. I could see Zagan flying off the chain and trying to hurt him. "Nyx and Zagan are going to have to learn to let me make some of my own choices. I'm old enough to date, I'm old enough to do whatever I want with boys. If they really want me to be honest, I'll flat out tell them my intentions." Lilu looked at me very sternly. "I don't think that's a good idea. It's your choice. You are seriously playing with fire now though. You know how your caregivers are. They micromanage you and don't like seeing you near anyone who isn't just like you...Arioch is your opposite." I shrugged. "Like I said, it's happening. I will make something work." I walked away, hoping against hope that I could actually pull that off. After a long evening of training I approached Zagan. "Zagan may I ask you a question?" "Of course (y/n). You know you can." "Would you be angry if I became friends with a blood demon." He sat up. "You know I would. Why? Is there one with you somewhere right now?" He rose from his seated position and started to search. "No, Zagan. I have to ask, though, why can't it be that you dislike them and I'm friends with them? Most demons get along just fine anyway. Your views are outdated. Nyx thinks so, too." "I don't like your attitude (y/n). I taught you to train hard and work hard. You're sharp, you're pretty, and you're talented. That's all that matters. You need to stay on the line Nyx and I put you on. It's the only one for you. The only thing you should be concerned about is making good fear demon friends, and bettering yourself. You have everything you could ever want. Look around you. See all of the nice clothes, handbags, and things of that nature? We gave these to you-I simply don't understand how you could possibly want anything else than what you have." I was silent and angry. I decided to talk to Nyx instead. "Nyx?" "Yes (y/n), I'm outside." I stepped out. "Nyx, why does Zagan hate blood demons? How can you stand to be with someone like him?" Nyx looked up at me, blinking her dull red eyes. "(Y/N), everyone has their views. Zagan won't change, and I've learned to accept that." I sighed. "But I want to be friends with blood demons..." "(Y/N), when you are an adult you can do whatever you want. Zagan is prejudiced against them. When we met, he made me get rid of all of my blood demon friends. I miss them terribly, but I had to give them up to be here." I was taken aback. "Why would you stab your friends in the back? Weren't they there for you?" Nyx was quiet. "Zagan said that's what needed to happen. That's all there is to it. I was not happy about having to surrender our friendships, but it needed to be done for me to be where I am now. Why all of the sudden blood demon questions?" "No reason. Thanks Nyx." "Did you practice? Saturday is a big day." I sighed. "I practiced for 3 hours after getting home. I just wanna go to bed." "I understand, but Saturday IS a big day. I'd like you to go out and practice haunting. I think you've done enough shapeshifting for today." Arguing with Nyx or Zagan is impossible. They WILL win. I simply marched myself into the back yard and began practicing. "You need to remember that humans can see you at all times. Your entire backside is uncovered." I huffed. "No attitude (y/n), or I'll add practice." I bit my lip. I hid better. "Perfect! Now levitate." I felt like rolling my eyes. Levitating was something pretty much every demon over 2 thousand could do with no problems. "I don't see any levitation!" I levitated. "Good, excellent. Now teleport for a few minutes. I want to see souvenirs from every place you go." I was so beat. I just wanted to go to sleep and dream about Arioch giving me my first meaningful kiss. No such luck. I practiced for another 2 hours before Nyx finally let me go to sleep. "You did very well (y/n)." She said, putting an arm around me. "Zagan and I want to see you at your best, that's why we push you." That's what they always said. Honestly, I felt like they were just living through me. "Good night, Nyx." I said, walking into my room. "Good night." she called after me. I needed this week to pass quickly.
I bumped into Circe first thing the next morning. "Where's Arioch?" I asked, concerned. "Probably at home. Mammon needs him." "Who is Mammon?" "Mammon is our male caregiver." I never knew their caregivers' names. "Who is your female caregiver?" "Her name is Lilith. I'm sure you've seen her around. She's always doing something." I felt like I was bothering Circe so I tried walking away. "(Y/N) wait." she called after me. "Arioch says to tell you hi from him. He says he's looking forward to Friday night." My heart skipped a beat. "O-oh...tell him I'm excited too." I said. Circe just nodded at me. "I'll see you around." she said, stalking off. I think she hated school more than anyone else. I had to laugh. I wondered what he was doing with Mammon. I ran into Lilu and she immediately asked what my game plan was. "I have no game plan." I said. It was true. "I tested the waters with Zagan and he has no tolerance for blood demons. None." Lilu gave me a funny look. "Duh." she said. "I know, I just thought I'd ask..." Lilu shrugged. "It's a good thing you can't die like a human...because you'd be on your deathbed right now if you could." I sighed. "Maybe." I said. "No you WOULD be. You're going to get caught, I'm telling you." "I probably will. But it's worth it. Maybe you're right. Maybe he's a total fuck up, but by me getting caught with him I'll be showing Nyx and Zagan that I'm tired of living under their thumbs so much." Lilu looked less than confident. "It's up to you." she said, gathering her things. I attended my classes and tried to keep my mind off of Arioch. I was growing nervous about going out on Friday. I had no excuses to give to Nyx and Zagan.
The rest of the week was made up of training harder than I've ever trained before, daydreaming about Arioch and trying to think of a lie. Come Friday morning I approached Nyx and Zagan. "Nyx, Zagan, I know that tomorrow is important, but is there any way I could go out with my friends tonight? I promise not to be out really late, and I'll have my phone on me so if you need to call me you can. Please?" Zagan immediately said no. Nyx did shortly afterward. My heart sank. "Please, Nyx. I've done all that you've asked me to. I trained extra hard, all I'm asking for is a night out. Just one night, just a few hours really. Zagan? Come on guys...I've done so well this week." "We agree with that assessment, but tomorrow, like you said is really important. You need to come home and train." I felt anger bubbling up inside of me. I was no longer the helpless baby who needed Zagan and Nyx to do everything for me. Prim and proper, neat and perfect. That's all I ever heard. I didn't want to be that way. I wanted to be me. I WANT to be me. I want blood demons and fear demons for friends, I want to stay out late and party, I wanted to be like everyone else. For fuck's sake, I'm not preppy. I've had no real adventures because I've been taught that fun is bad. The most I've ever been able to do was sleep over at Lilu's house, but only after Lilu and her caregivers were thoroughly examined by Zagan and Nyx. "Zagan. Nyx. I am not a small child anymore.I think that I deserve a bit of freedom." "Watch your tone (y/n)." Zagan warned. That was it. I took my things and left. If they thought I was coming straight home from school, they were out of their damn minds. "(Y/N), where are you going in that mood? You need to straighten yourself out! You are behaving like the very child you insisted you weren't. This is improper behavior, control yourself!"Nyx cried. I huffed and slammed the door behind me. I heard the door squeak open. It was Zagan. "I believe Nyx was talking to you." he said, sternly. "Was she? I couldn't hear her over the sound of me slamming the door and breaking out of this prison." I had never spoken to anyone like that before. It felt good to blow off that steam. Zagan tore after me, grabbing my arm. "Let go! You are hurting me!" I said, trying to break away. "I don't intend to, but you will not show that kind of disrespect around here!" I pulled my arm free. "Don't grab me like that!" I said, feeling a bit of fear. Zagan saw this and apologized again. "I did not intend to hurt you, but you have shown a great deal of disrespect to Nyx and me. That is unacceptable." I stared at him for a long time before simply walking off, hoping to find Arioch on the way to school.
