I gulped a few times. It wouldn´t be fair to be afraid now.

A shadow showed up behind the throne, creeping down the stairs. It was father´s old demon, Ted.

He sneaked towards me and caressed my cheek.

I didn´t move an inch and neither did Sarah. Why had he stopped Appledorn, but didn´t touch this demon? Because I told him to not interfere on his own anymore?

“Ah, Sarazeel. Did I not give you clear orders?”,

Asked Ted´s Owner, our father, him now. It was humiliating to know that he had met my own demon before me. And even dared to give him orders. I finally pushed Ted´s hand of me and took a deep breath.

“I am sorry, old man, but it looks like you have almost no control over this nice family of yours.”

Father didn´t even really react to what he had said and turned his gaze over to the woman that had brought us here in the first place.

“What happened?”

I heard the teacher approaching behind me, just to suddenly come to a frightened halt again.

“I had no clue what was happening at first. I was outside with my class, the youngsters without demons, when we suddenly saw a huge shadow on the ground. When I looked up I saw Kara flying on that thing.”

Father looked almost stunned for a second.

“Flying?... She must have lost her brain again! She´s lucky to be alive. How nice of you, Sarazeel.”

My demon didn´t answer or even face into the direction of our leader.

Now that I thought about it, he could have just as well killed me. Probably. I wasn´t quite sure about his powers. Was there more to him not killing me than not being able to do so for whatever reason?

Did he have a Master before me? Or was he one of the demons that only had one Master all their lives and would die with them?

Father takes a short turn.

“Alright. Kara, You´ll start going to the demon classes again, starting tomorrow. I won´t tolerate you missing anymore. Additionally, I want you to give the demon the following orders. I want him to never leave the families compartment without a definite order, ..”

I breathed in slowly. Without a order? He was trying to trick me into making him obey anyone´s order. Better act quickly before he could figure out a smarter way to make me say the wrong things.

“I order you to never leave the compartment without my definite instructions. You are not allowed to hurt anyone without my order. And never again obey someone else, tell me immediately, if somebody tries to make you do that.”

“Whatever you wish for will do Mistress.”

Hella smoth for a mere demon.

“That was tolerable, Kara. You can go now.”

Deep down in my chest I felt slight annoyance, even anger because of Father´s condescension. But then again, did I really care?

“Oh, and the demon will live in your room, of course. You know that, right?”

Father turned around, and for a second the attention of the room seemed diverted from us. Still, it was like there was something unsolved in the air. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sarazeel lifting his head again to meet the eyes of Father´s demon.

Then hell broke loose, at least for a few seconds. Father, the Master of the sect and Ted, his demon started to scream out of the top of their lungs. Everybody jumped and ran as if their life was in danger. My head felt heavy, all of this seemed unreal and dreamlike. Clouds pressed against the insides of my ears and I felt sick.

Through the curtain of my hair I saw father slowly closing his eyes whilst screaming.

When he opened them again, he had stopped screaming and looked at the chaos before him as if he was suprised by it.

“What is going on here??”

I felt his dark presence, still next to me, moving slightly. Sarazeel seemed less human than before, but apart from his strangely glowing eyes I couldn´t make out what gave me this impression.

“You won´t even be important, Ara, you know that.”

I looked back at my father as fast as I could, just to see him full of emotion and anger.

We must be related after all, is all I could think, before I started to feel something pulling the insides of my head apart. My vision crumbled for a second.

Then everything that had just happened was erased from my mind.

The only thing I remembered was that there was something missing. I looked around, but everything seemed normal. What had father just said? The demon would stay in my room?

I shook my head softly. Of course, my demon would stay in my room. Why was my head such a mess right now?

“I don´t know what you´re talking about, Sarazeel. You better go now, Kara.”

I stared at my demon. Sarazeel hadn´t talked for a while now. What even was the last thing he had said? My head hurt.

I looked around the room once more, but everyones attention now focusesd on some papers being handed out.

Shaking my head, I slowly turned around and left the room, my demon following close by.

So this had been the reason he had hidden his identity the first time I had met him. It made sense after all.

He looked at his mistress slim back before him.

So he had to end up as the demon to a daughter of such a man.

Just imagining his father would have ever been made known to such an atrocity. Sarzazeel pulled his shoulders up for a second. Who would that mighty being try to kill first? His son or Ara? Him or Kara?

He smirked for a humorless second. Not as if it mattered anymore.

Sarazeel shifted his thoughts. This girl, his mistress, she was behaving so strangely, it was wrecking his head. He pulled in a bit of air.

It would be stupid to take advantage of the gaps in her orders without planning ahead. If he did it would only result in her learning to give smarter orders.

It was best to gain her trust first. If he was able to get to know her a bit, of that he was sure, he would be able to read her like a book. She was only a human, after all.

He decided not to tell her about what had happened before her father erased Karas mind. She wouldn´t ever find out, and it was not important for her to know.

My room was small, the bed narrow.

Appledorn had followed us to the door and I causally sat down on my bed while my demon leaned against the wall opposing me.

The teacher stared at me for a few seconds, then threw a short, scarred glance at my demon before leaving the room with a sigh.

Light travelled through the small window. The floor was naked and made the room less welcoming than it already was. A cupboard, a bed and the cold ground – this was my assigned living space.

I looked up at my demon who stareed at some dust on the window shelf.

“So, will you survive me?”