We three were just trading stares at each other, Yamin and I a variety of confusion, while the curly haired demon dude had a dopey confident grin. He seemed very relaxed while leaning on the railing of the roof and shooting Yamin a few doting winks.

  He looked so weirdly human, but with some demonic features. Tiny horns, pointy ears, red eyes… But the one thing that I couldn’t feel was his aura. That would have told me a lot about him.

  Is this guy the other demonic source I was hunting?

  It suddenly made a lot of sense to think Yamin’s book was a source of darkness, but I never expected this weirdo to be its humanoid form.

  I found myself making a series of motions and silent words to try and get an explanation out of Yamin, but she returned those actions, showing she was just as lost as I was.

  “Uh…” I turned my gaze over to the guy. “So, you're the grimoire?” I asked.

  “The name’s Victor, cupcake,” he shot me a finger gun, which invoked a slight amount of ptsd. “Yeah, I guess you could say I'm that dusty book. I prefer this form, personally.” He turned to Yamin and winked again. “It’s much more fun being human. So, why don’t we get started with the excitement?”

  “And, what exactly does that mean?” Yamin’s face cringed..

  “I was thinking it's about time we got married,” he answered.

  Hold up…

  “Huh?!” I uttered.

  “Eh?!” Yamin was astounded. “M-ma-married? Woah, I think…”

  The blush on her face faded and she started brushing her chin, thoughtfully checking him out. Was she actually thinking of taking up his offer?! Did she not realize this guy was clearly a demon, one of our sworn enemies?

  “Yamin, he's a demon!” I summoned my spear and pointed it at the guy. “You better not try anything on her, bub!”

  “Wooh!” he broke out into a cold sweat, Holding his hand open a few inches from my spear. Cursed black fire spawned in his palm. “Hey, I wasn’t looking for any trouble, but I won't take threats sitting down.”

  I couldn’t get a read on his strength, mostly because his power was hidden by whatever was suppressing the dark energy. He mentioned some sort of suppression arts, which possibly had to do with the barrier. But if that was the case, it seemed to be simply hiding dark energy rather than fully suppressing it.

  “Wait, Yalda,” Yamin put a hand on my spear and pressed it downward. “I don't think he wants to hurt us.”

  He seemed more like a masher to me. Those flirty looks he was sending at Yamin were creeping me out though. Otherwise his romantic advances, I had to agree that he wasn't much of a threat.

  “Alright, then what do you suggest we do about him?”

  “Let’s talk.” She turned his way with a fist over her heart. “V-Victor…” she struggled to address him. “I need to ask you something…”

  Didn’t Yamin have a crush on someone named Victor? There was that note I found…

  “Yes, my lady?” Victor kneeled down and took up her hand that wasn’t over her heart. “Your beauty captivates me. I'll listen to every word and answer any question you ask.”

  “Laying it on thick, aren’t we?” I rolled my eyes at that Casanova.

  “Look,” Yamin said, “First, I need clarification. Are you truly the grimoire? And if so, how are you here?”

  “I am the human form of your grimoire, my lady. A loyal servant crafted in the image of your desires. With your delicate, artistic fingers, you gave me new life.”

  Yamin stood there with an aghast expression. Her torpor was finally broken when she nervously bit her lip.

  “Oh my gosh. Are you telling me that when I drew my crush… I mean, Victor in the book, you took on his face and became real?”

  “That’s exactly what happened,” he nodded.

  So Yamin made this guy through a drawing in her grimoire, which meant he was technically the book itself. That sort of power seemed crazy if she could just animate her drawings like that.

  “Mr. Victor,” I called out to him. “Can you explain exactly what the grimoire does?”

  “What can't it do?” he replied. “Anything my lady sets her mind on is possible through this book. Her imagination is the key. And once she writes it in here, it becomes reality.”

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked, tilting my head down slightly but keeping my eyes on him.

  He motioned his hands as if opening a book. Suddenly the grimoire was in his clutches, open to a blank page.

  Yamin was instructed to draw a stick figure. Not just at random, but with an added intention behind it.

  “I want this stick figure to…” she turned around, looking at the pool, “...jump into that pool!”

  The stick figure she'd drawn was summoned up in a whirling spiral of visible dark energy. The two dimensional being searched around for his purpose until discovering the pool.

  Without a second thought, he jumped in and melted into the water like dark ink dissipating into the ocean.

  “Freaky!” Yamin commented with an excited smile.

  “Hmm…” I hummed, not as impressed.

  This seemed like one of those things that was too good to be true. And seeing as darkness was involved, there had to be a catch. Everyone knows the law of equivalent exchange. Things can’t be created from nothing. Alchemists of the full and metallic variety would know exactly what I'm talking about.

  “What's the catch here?” I asked. “How is she able to do this?”

  “The stronger the creation she draws from in this book, the more mana must be sacrificed to create it.” He gestured over the balcony, showing us a desolate waste of murky sand and dead trees. “That was the cost of my summoning.”

  “Oh no…” All that land used to be teeming with life. I remembered the vibrant flowers and beautifully trimmed trees we saw on our way here. Now it looked like Elysium did when Anima and Janus were stealing all the spirit energy. Some energy was coming back here though, so it seemed like nature was slowly healing, but still...

  “I did this?” Yamin asked, appalled at the discovery.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Now that I think about it, it wasn't the first time this had happened. Back on the train, when we were testing the book in the bathroom, there was a plant that died as we came out. The book must have stolen the life from it while we were trying to figure out how it worked.

  “Yamin, listen to me…” I announced, clearly as I could. “This thing is dangerous. If it gets into the wrong hands, who knows what sort of evil it can make? You can't use it anymore. You need to hide it. Put it away. Don't even look at it!”

  If the consequences of using this book was stealing life energy from around it, then no amount of imagination coming to life was worthwhile. So far we'd only seen plants affected, but what if people could be too? We had to contain this thing before it was too late.

  “Ehem…” Victor cleared his throat. “Let me put your mind at ease, because my lady is the only one who’s able to use me,” he grinchingly smiled. “And I’m ready to be used all she wants…”

  Ignoring his dumb attempt at advances, I was confused by his claim that Yamin was the only one that could use the book.

  “What about her makes that possible?”

  “She’s my queen,” he replied. “I won’t listen to anyone else.”

  “Does that mean it's willingly, or you have no choice?” Yamin asked.

  “Nobody has quite the same soul as you,” he told her. “If anyone else tried to write something down, it wouldn’t have the same power behind it.”

  So it had something to do with her soul then. Which made a lot of sense, since we already knew that the demons wanted something similar from her.

  “I don’t think it matters much whether she’s the only one that can use it or not,” I said. “There’s still a lot of danger, and I don’t want this thing being abused.”

  Yamin looked torn with my order, but ultimately nodded, realizing the threat this thing posed as well.

  She just needed to keep it safe until Uncle could come back with something to contain it in. It wouldn't be long before then. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach though, so keeping a watchful eye over her seemed like a good idea.

  “V-victor, please turn back into the book for me,” Yamin ordered. “I need to keep you hidden for now.”

  He suddenly looked uncooperative, turning his face away and scratching the back of his head.

  “Seriously? That’s what you're going to ask me to do?”

  “Whatever happened to, ‘I won’t listen to anyone else’ and all that?” I mockingly asked.

  “I won’t listen to anyone else, but how am I supposed to serve my lady as a lousy book alone? Besides, I can summon it up whenever she feels like drawing in it, so I say it's safer like this.”

  He had a disobedient tone in his voice, like an angsty teenager. I had a feeling that this was going to be difficult. There was a little truth in his words, because it would be a lot harder for the book to be in danger if nobody could find it, but we had no idea what this guy was capable of.

  “L-look…” Yamin put her hands on her hips in an attempt to look more authoritative. Although, that silly struggle on her face to keep from crying wasn’t making her look any tougher. “I-I’m o-ordering you to become a book a-again…”

  You know, if she could give the same attitude as when she pushed him off her earlier, he might actually listen to her. It reminded me of when we were ordering him to do stuff on the train.

  “Try getting more angry,” I told her.

  “O-oh…” she cleared her throat. “I-idiot!” she yelled at Victor.

  Victor’s eyes widened at her outburst.

  “You stupid idiot! Turn back into a book or… Or I’ll… um…”

  I ran up to her ear and whispered something.

  “Oh, that’s good…” she nodded to me. “Turn back into a book or I’ll make you clean the toilets with a toothbrush!”

  “Your toothbrush…” I repeated what I said quietly.

  “My toothbrush?!” she looked shocked and disgusted.

  “No, ‘your’ as in ‘his!’ I’m telling you exactly what to say!” I clarified, feeling like the meaning was lost at this point.

  It must have been something about her voice, or maybe he felt bad for her, but Victor was looking enchanted with her once again.

  “Of course, my lady…” he bowed his head like a servant. “Whatever was I thinking, not listening to you?”

  His body began to darken like a silhouette. Moments later his form shrank down into the rectangular shape of a book, and the grimoire was returned to its original form.

  Since Indena wasn’t here, I think it was fair for me to say something in her stead…

  “This guy’s whipped.”

  “Got that right, cupcake!” his voice echoed in my mind. “Just let me know if you need anything, my lady. I’ll always be ready for some fun with you.”

  “I don’t like the way you said that!” she opened the book and slammed it shut forcefully.

  “Oh! Do that again!” he cheered.

  I really felt bad for Yamin having to deal with this guy… He was a freak like none-other I’d ever met.

  -☆☆☆-

  Yamin and I went back to her room. I decided to stay with her the night, just in case anything funny happened. Indena was in the room too, so we didn’t have a whole lot to worry about. She was already asleep, so we figured it was best to let her know what was going on in the morning. Not that a herd of elephants could wake her up…

  “Mr. Victor,” I spoke up. “You mentioned before that there were suppression arts being used?”

  “I did,” he spoke telepathically. “Curious? I figured you had something to do with it.”

  He explained that someone had put up a barrier of some kind that was meant to suppress dark energy, but clearly it wasn’t strong enough to do much more than mask it away, as well as keep it from getting inside.

  “That kinda’ makes sense, since the mansion is covered by a barrier.” I put a curious finger to my chin. “But why is it just masking the darkness and not actually getting rid of it?”

  “Maybe it’s because it was already on the inside,” Yamin added, stuffing the book into her penguin bag for safety. Victor made a series of funny noises while she crammed him in. “I mean, we do have this demon book in here, right?”

  “Maybe…” I shrugged. “But if this barrier is supposed to be anything like the one at the church, the book needed to be contained in a blessed seal.”

  “Well, all I have is a blessed penguin,” she lifted up her stardust lined backpack. “I guess if nothing can get inside, we should be fine. Right?”

  I wasn’t going to bank on that. We’d already had some darkness activity, and the fact that I couldn't sense anything had me really on edge.

  “I really wish we would have stayed at the church…” I turned to the door, watching it open. One of the maids entered and brought us some tea per Yamin’s request.

  “But that would have been an issue for me if we went to the church, right? Since I couldn’t be separated from it right now,” she said, laying back in her bed. “This book is a pain...”

  She had that part right. This book was annoying.

  I needed to have a talk with Adalyn about that barrier if it was what was keeping the darkness from being detected. Maybe she put it up wrong, or maybe it needed to be adjusted. Unfortunately she was probably already asleep, so it would have to wait until the morning.

  Well, maybe someone else in the mansion knew about the barrier.

  “Excuse me, Miss maid?” I asked the maid preparing tea.

  “Mistress Yalda, what can I do for you?” she asked.

  I explained that I was trying to figure out who made the barrier around the house, and apparently Miss Cynthia was the one who set it up.

  “Do you happen to know where she is?” I asked.

  “I believe the last time I saw her was in the kitchen, which was not long ago at all.”

  Then it looked like that was where I was going. Hopefully there was a way to upgrade this barrier for the better.

  Before leaving, I left Indena in charge. Believe it or not, I actually got her to wake up and hold down the fort while I was away.

  “If anything attacks, protect Yamin. Okay?” I requested her.

  “Yeah, yeah… Whatever…” Indena waved at me before folding her arms and keeping watch with a grumpy face. “Can’t get any rest in here, I tell you.”

  “Well, you know what they say,” Yamin started. “There’s no rest for the wicked.”

  “Can it, Twinkle Eyes!” Indena shouted.

  -The final piece of Yalda art from @CenturyRobot!-

  -Thank you so much!! All the art has been amazing! It's 3 of 3-

  Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please support me, Taylor The Writer, here on Royal Road! :)