Wish Upon A Demon

18.

CHAPTER - EIGHTEEN

Demon boy or Zylen as I heard his mother call him was a heavy sleeper.

I didn’t know when I had stumbled into the room I was given and slept in. But when I woke up this morning, I found the demon boy snoring beside me. So, I had fallen off the bed, again. However, my scream and the sound of my fall didn’t wake the demon up, but it did make him turn to the other side, groaning. A little woman had entered and given me a new dress with some other garments. I had accepted it with a smile and then looked down at myself. Figured that I could take a shower before sleepy head woke up, I did exactly that. And then I sat on one of the chairs opposite the bed.

However, after three hours of looking around, I grew tired.

So, I threw a pillow at his face. I didn’t know what was making me this confident all of a sudden, but I didn’t stop. “Wake up!” I said after I had hit the pillow on his face for the thirty-seventh time. And then my eyes fell on the jar of water on the bedside table. Demon boy woke up with a gasp, water dripping down his face. I crossed my arms. “Take me back home,” I say, sternly. Running his hand through his hair, demon boy groaned and flopped back on the bed, only to get when he felt the water soak his shirt. “No.” Demon boy replied, walking past me to the bathroom, and before I could follow and bother him, he closed the door on my face.

How was I going to get back home?

What was I going to do?

Why was I even here?

I waited until demon boy got out of the bathroom and that was for about sixty minutes and when he did, he was dressed, clean and his hair was dripping. He walked past me once more. “Take me back home,” I said once more. “Take me back home.” I kept saying over and over again. It was the weekend, but that didn’t mean that I could laze around wherever I was right now, because I had a life, and it wasn’t over here. “You are not going home!” Demon boy says stepping outside the room. “Wait, wait. Just take me back home.” I say, walking – running after him. “Sorry, love.” Demon boy takes a turn, and then he’s gone.

“I have a project to complete dammit. I don’t want to fail!” My words echo through the empty hallway, and I’m left standing alone with a frown on my face. I sigh and once again the same thought echoes through my head.

Why was I here?

“Let’s have a talk, honey.” Demon boy’s mother gripped my hand. I didn’t object. It’s lush and green around the area where she takes me to sit. I saw two couples walking by where the demon’s mother and I were sitting, and they wave and smile at her while walking past. “Those are Zylen’s cousins, Zeus and Zachariah with their wives.” She says to me with a smile. I nod. A woman comes by and pours what looks like tea into the two cups in front of us. “Lemon tea.” Demon boy’s mother confirms. “I guarantee you’ll like it.” She says further.

And then like a thought hit her, she chuckles and says, “Oh, how silly of me. I’m Verona King, Zylen’s mother and Queen of Hiaven.” I had just lifted the cup to my lips when I keep it back, hearing her words. I knew demon boy was a prince so I should’ve put two and two together. I assumed Hiaven was the name of the place I was in, and I didn’t know how to reply to her words.

“Oh, there’s no need to say anything honey, I can imagine how awkward it is for you,” Verona says. So, she’s a fan of mind reading to, I think. “I’m F-” I start when she cuts me off, “I know, Faye Martin.” She looks at me, her happy, cheery smile dimming to a sad one. “Hmm, you look so much like her.” She mutters. “Like who?” I ask, and she looks up like she had not expected me to hear that. “My friend,” She says and there’s a distant look in the Queen Verona’s eyes. “Oh,” I say, stupidly. “She died.” Queen Verona continues. “Oh,” I say, understandingly. “Enough about that now, so tell me how my Zylen –” I cut her off this time.

“I’m sorry, I know this is disrespectful but do you know when I will be returning home?” I ask. Her hand, which was placed on mine, slips off. “Why? Do you not like the kingdom?” She asks, sipping her tea. “It’s not that, but this place is where you live, and I’m sure you would hate to leave it, just like I would hate to leave my place so really I –“ The Queen cuts me off again. “Oh, I was just teasing you, honey. I believe it’s called to be ‘just kidding’ in your world.” She laughs lightly. I press my lips together. “Don’t worry, I’ll knock some sense into my boy so that you get home as soon as possible.” She says, shaking her head.

“You know, he may come off as the biggest...biggest...-” It looked like she was searching for the right word and when she found it, she clapped her hands, “-Douchebag. He may come off as the biggest douchebag but underneath his terrible behavior towards women, he’s a real softie.” She says, and at this point to know whether to laugh or die. “And I know that my son does enjoy your company.” Queen Verona continues. “I agree, his approach and everything else wasn’t very gentleman-ish, but he’s my son and he’s a great boy.” She continues. “So, you know everything?” I ask, eyes wide. “Zylen can’t keep secrets from his mother, and even if he tries to, I read his mind, so there’s really no room for escape.” I was confused about how calm this lady was.

But I couldn’t lie, this situation was comical.

“I also know that there’s a reason why my son couldn’t make a trip to your world for the past few weeks.” Verona King says. “What is it?” I blurt out before I can stop myself. “Well, I assume the correct term would be ‘grounded’.” She says, her teacup empty and mine still full. “Grounded?” I ask. It was hard to believe that the demon boy could be grounded. Especially since he was a prince and all. Verona nods and continues, “Yes, he came to your world without his father’s knowledge, so his father was pretty angry when he returned from the conference with the hunters.”

Guess demon boy didn’t have complete control in his world like he had in mine.

Wait, hunters? “Hunters, you say?” I ask, finally taking my first sip of the lemon tea. Hmm, the Queen was right, this did taste amazing. “Yes, hunters. All of them live in your world, but they’ve found ways to disrupt events in our world, those sneaky bastards.” Queen Verona shakes her head. “Question: These hunters, what to do they hunt exactly?” I ask. “Us, honey. Of course, if they did come to hunt us, we would finish them within a couple of minutes, but doesn’t stop them from trying.” I take in Verona’s words. Demon hunters. Michael and his family were demon hunters.

So did that mean that Nolan was one too?

He and his buddies did look scary and not to mention their neighborhood. Even thinking of it gave me the creeps.

“Nolan? Nolan J. Shaw?” Verona asks, and without thinking, I nod. “Oh, honey, he’s not a hunter, he’s one of the Fallen.” Fallen, as in, Fallen Angel? “Yes, Fallen Angel,” Verona confirms. What was up with everybody reading my mind? “Oh, don’t bother about that honey, it’s just something we demons like to do,” Verona says, smiling. “So, these Fallen Angels –” I start only to be cut off by Verona King waving me off,

“They’re quite similar to us, except they have wings. Like helloo, don’t take the aesthetic away from fairies. Anyway, enough about them, let’s talk about you.” Verona says, grasping my hand once more. “Okay, what do you want to know?” I ask, giving her a smile back. This woman was nice, much, much, better than her son. “You can start by telling me when you and my son are getting mar –” She’s cut off by a deep voice, that I know belongs to one person. Demon boy. “Mother, hope you enjoyed your chat, but I’ve come to take my pet back.” Zylen growls. Verona merely lifts an eyebrow.

“Pet? What pet? I wasn’t aware you got a pet Zylen?” She asks, excitedly. “I meant the girl you were talking to, mother.” Demon boy clarifies. “My, my, Zylen. I didn’t think I raised you that badly that you refer to beautiful, young girls as pets. Also, this beautiful, young lady has an equally beautiful name, which you have to use since you both are getting ma –“ A hand is slapped over the Queen’s mouth.

As Zylen and his mother are quarreling, I take the opportunity to quietly slip out and back to the palace. I think the demon boy noticed my absence because a minute later because I heard footsteps after me, and Verona King’s voice calling out her son’s name, trying to stop him. I run through random hallways, fearing what would happen if I was caught. I thought demons didn’t get scars but that misunderstanding was erased when I caught a faint cut from today morning from when I had smacked his face with the lamp. During the chase, I entered a slightly darker hallway. Without thinking, I darted to the end of, reaching a door. There was no escape. I tried to open the door but the knob wouldn’t budge, and after two minutes of rattling, I managed to break it open, only to have my mouth dropped open. Within was an empty room, with very little furniture draped in white cloth in contrast to its wide area. But that was not what had caught my mind. It was the portrait hung up on one of the light brown walls.

In which there was a person I knew.