-Yamin perspective-

  Yalda left on a quest to enhance the magical barrier preventing darkness from entering into the mansion. While she was doing that, Indena and I were staying up and keeping each other company, biding our time until she returned.

  As an unfortunate twist on the day, we seemed to gain a new companion who was very chatty with me especially…

  “So, my lady,” spoke Victor, the sentient grimoire, “how long do you want me to stay in this backpack? It's not very comfortable, you know? Not like holding you in my arms.”

  “P-please don't say w-weird things like that,” I took a stance against his romantic advances, but still blushed at the idea. Even though he wasn’t my crush, he looked like an enhanced form of him when in his human form, so I was torn between my desires.

  “Hmm?” The maid in the corner was alerted to my out of place words.

  The maid, who's name was Veronica Truss, took her time preparing tea and doing a little cleaning up. She'd been working here for as long as I'd known Adalyn, so I was pretty used to her occasionally tidying up.

  “I'm sorry, I was talking to…” I turned over to Indena, faking a smile, “...Indena...”

  “You better not have…” Indena growled in a hushed voice. “Yes, she was talking to me. Nothing to worry about,” she said out loud.

  Her tone wasn't the most convincing, but it got the maid’s attention off of us while she continued to perform her job.

  “My lady, I think you're acting a bit too uptight. Let loose. Let me out and I'll help you relax!”

  He'd been trying to find some excuse, ever since Yalda left, for me to let him out of the backpack and take his human form again, but I wasn't even sure of his capabilities yet. His human form could have been dangerous for all we knew. It was entirely possible that he wasn't actually loyal to me and was just playing things up to get his way.

  “Ugh, stop simping in my mind,” Indena spoke before me, fruitlessly throwing a pillow over her ears as if that would block the telepathy. “How long do you have to hold onto that dumb book for?”

  “Well, Yalda says it's best to keep the book in my bag until her uncle comes back.” That wasn't to say I didn’t agree with her, but there was a moderate disappointment at how I wasn't able to explore more of what the book could do. All it took to rid myself of that curiosity was to remember that we were dealing with dark forces here.

  “Good,” Indena grumbled. “better off that we don't mess with that until her Uncle gets back. Look, I got a massive hangover from using that energy this morning. The sooner we get rid of it, the happier I'd be.”

  “Get rid of me?” Demon Victor sounded offended. “You were all too happy to use my power during that fight. Didn't that mean something to you? I thought we were getting closer.”

  Now he simply sounded like he was toying with her, which prompted her to slap the penguin backpack.

  “I'll burn that book in a bonfire, Yamin!” she shouted to me.

  “S-stop,” I told demon Victor. “You're just getting her mad.”

  “You don't need this lousy girl to protect you, my lady,” Based on Indena’s lack of reaction, I assumed demon Victor was telepathically talking to me alone. “Let me be your protector. Let me be your knight in shining armour.”

  The image of Victor in gorgeous black knight armour appeared in my mind, ripping me from reality. His steed was just as richly dark as his metal, but with red flames for a crest and tail.

  “Come witch or lord, I can protect you,” his voice was so suave and mild. His hand stretched out toward me, offering me a seat behind him.

  As I approached, his armour faded and his muscular torso was outfitted with a simple tunic, soft to the touch.

  “Together, there's no end to what we can do.”

  Ahead of him was a starry field. As I sat on his steed, the horse began to trot over each miraculous orb of light like pads of shimmering clouds.

  “Wait…” I spoke up, stopping the dark horse.

  “Yes, my lady?” Victor turned back, his curly hair dancing gracefully in the stellar wind.

  “I'm sorry, but I promised a friend I wouldn't get involved with you,” I shamefully twisted away.

  “Oh…” his face turned sour. “You mean, that fake angel kid…”

  “Yalda isn’t fake. She’s a real angel. And she is going to be the reason that humanity doesn't have to live in the dark anymore.”

  I summoned the strength to say those words, to openly declare my allegiance To the Eighth Star Angel and her quest to defeat the Devil.

  “So she’s in my way, then…” demon Victor sighed. “So be it… These things can’t be helped.”

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  “You better not be planning to hurt her.” I glared at him.

  “Hurt her? You have my word I won’t, my lady,” he grinned.

  His words weren’t reassuring, like a mischievous child with their fingers crossed behind his back. But before I could voice my concern, another voice broke into my mind and startled both of us.

  “Oi! Wake up!” Indena’s abrasive voice suddenly stole me from my trance-like dream, bringing me back to reality. “Stop spacing out, weirdo.”

  “Uh, sorry…” I blushed, embarrassed that I was so swooned with a demon version of my crush that it literally made me daydream. “I was… thinking about stuff.”

  “I was thinking about ways to burn that book,” Indena said. “Should we toast marshmallows over it too? I can't decide!”

  “We can’t destroy the book,” I argued.

  “Oh, I’ll destroy it, alright,” Indena shouted, falling to her side and turning away from me toward the door. “Just you watch. Uhg… Can’t stand that guy’s voice.”

  Well, he was really pushy. I couldn’t argue that he was a pain in the butt.

  I wasn't one to complain about things, especially since it was much easier to just suffer through the discomfort and prevent a ruckus, but this was getting a bit on my nerves. I never wanted to be involved with demonic stuff, especially since I was part of the Ecclysian church. But what made me upset was the fact that I was slowly starting to accept this lot in life, even a tad curious to know what impact it would have on my future.

  I layed on my side away from Indena, staring out the window, which gave me a view of the grey and rocky moon, Darmos, named after the god of chaos and destruction. Its light was strong, reflecting quite a bit of the sun and blocking a handful of stars around it, but there were still plenty of twinkling orbs to feast my eyes on.

  What a magical thing, the dark of night was. Without that wall of black as a backdrop, the light of the stars would never be seen.

  “I don't know why the two of you are having such a confusing disagreement…” said the voice of Veronica the maid as she stood between our beds, “but might I ask you to make nice soon? It would bring joy to Madame Adalyn's heart to know her guests are in good spirits.”

  She didn't realize that Indena and I weren't actually upset at each other… At least not more than usual.

  “Yeah,” Indena replied. “Sparkle Face and I will be fine.”

  Indena took point in dispelling her concerns. I had to respect that quick thinking. And truthfully, it wasn't a lie.

  “Very good,” Veronica said. “If anything is unresolved at any point, don't hesitate to contact me.”

  She bowed and left the room with her tea set and a bag of cleaning supplies, which looked more full then when she'd originally come in. Indena and I were then left to our own devices.

  “This place sucks,” Indena announced out of the blue.

  “Huh?” I turned back to her. “Why would you say that? Adalyn’s been nothing but kind to us.”

  “I hate being pampered. It makes me feel like someone wants something out of me, and there ain’t no free lunches in this world. Someone’s paying for it.”

  I had a feeling this was just her usual pessimism at work. Adalyn was family to me, and had shown nothing but generosity whenever I was around. Although, she did like having me dress up in outfits from time to time, so maybe that was the compensation she wanted.

  “Well, once this darkness flooded world thing is wrapped up, we can all go home and put it behind us.”

  Indena scoffed, turning toward me while still laying in bed. “You really think things are just going to go back to normal after this? You’ve got some demon queen spirit thing living in you. You’re marked for life.”

  I swallowed nervously as her words quickly set in. An adventurous life was never really something I wanted, much less one riddled with dark adversaries searching for me. The duties as a member of the church may have called on me to be prepared for something like that, but now that I was getting a taste of it, was it really for me?

  Yalda and Indena were fighters… Warriors… Their power was growing by the day. I was just a random girl who couldn’t throw hands with a puppy if I tried. What good would I have been to them?

  “Yamin, don’t doubt yourself so much,” Indena said.

  “Huh?” I perked up, curious as to how she knew what I was thinking.

  “I can tell by your face that you’re freaked out. But listen… Life changes from time to time. We have to ride the wave or we sink under it. I hate having to do everything for you, but I’ll be happy to help you learn how to protect yourself.”

  “I don’t know if that’ll be enough though,” I argued. “I’m just so weak.”

  “As long as you give it your all, I’ll back you up.”

  She managed to calm me down a little bit. Knowing she was willing to help me out was a huge deal that I wasn’t willing to refuse. I wanted to be independent. I wanted to start my own life… Especially a life that was detached from any dark beings…

  Plus, I hated mooching off my mom so much. I wanted to get out of the house already and lose my neet status!

  “Okay,” I clenched my fist and shook it proudly out in front of me. “I’ll… I’ll do my best.”

  “Great. Now shut up about this already.”

  I snickered, knowing her aggression had a little care in it as well.

  “You know, you’ve got a softer heart than you think,” I told her.

  “Of course I do,” she glared. “Hearts are all squishy and gross looking, stupid.”

  Expecting her to embrace a soft moment was a long shot. But at least I knew she was a friend of mine now.

  When we first met, she didn’t like me at all, simply because of my affiliation to the church. I thought she was going to try and kill me or something, but we settled things well enough. She wasn’t that type of person inwardly. Although, I would have loved to have a more in depth conversation with her on those views at some point.

  Who knows... Maybe I could convert her? Hee hee…

  While we were chatting, I noticed the suspicious silence… Demon Victor had been awfully tame in that backpack. It was stardust lined, so maybe his voice was having trouble escaping. To be certain that nothing happened to the book, I unzipped the bag and took a look inside…

  “Looks okay to me,” I commented as I inspected it.

  “That jerk taking a nap or something?” Indena fell back on her pillow. “Whipped loser wouldn't shut up.”

  It seemed strange. His quietness and refusal to respond to me was so odd. But he was still here, since I had the book in hand.

  “Maybe he is sleeping,”

  That was a funny idea, but did demon books need to sleep? Perhaps he got upset with me and refused to talk. Whatever the case might have been, the quiet was nice.

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