The Daemon

Okay, since this is NaNo, I have written ahead a bit before I have posted so, any wishes and suggestions unfortunately cannot be put in until or unless I edit. I am a bit behind but I am determined not to give up. We even had a chimney fire in the house and I still typed that night. Oh that was a mess. Thank goodness the dry chem did not damage any electronics. The story I feel is a bit on the slow side but I am trying to describe what I see of this world in my head. Feel free to let me know how I am doing and any suggestions will be taken into consideration. Thanks so much for reading. --Hel



Chapter 7


Silver eyes gazed at the little boy. He had used his powers to make the boy sleep so that it would be easier to transport him. For two days now they had been searching for him. The little boy was his now. No one was waiting for him and he had lost all that he had.

Kairen Enyant, vampire lord and complete fuck up had caused it all. How could he make it up to the boy?
Aranata, meaning beloved one, and he was until now. All of his family was dead. His parents when they first came for him and his sisters two days ago.

Unknown to the young one, his sisters had taken a strong poison. They had died in each other’s arms the morning after he had escaped.

When the vampire lord had entered the camp in the morning two days ago, there was chaos. Apparently many of the demons that had been captured for the slave trade had escaped. A couple of tents were smoldering ruins and several people were bloody or unconscious.

An ogre of a man sat curled around a figure, crying and sobbing. A weasely man looked sad and patted the ogre’s back. At their feet was another figure that seemed awfully familiar.

“What happened here?” anger colored his voice.

“Ahh! Boss, you’re here!” The weasel man had jumped up and his eyes bulged in horror. “Um…well you see there was a mass escape of sorts and…well.”

His eyes roamed everywhere but would not look straight at the vampire lord.

“The kids missin’ and all and we don’t know where he went and his sisters died this morning.” Everything was confessed in a rush and he cringed.

“YOU WERE NOT TO HARM THE FAMILY!” Kairen roared. This was bad, so very bad. It had taken him nearly the whole month to make preparations for the children. He had met with various men to find a legal way to take them all in. The eldest would not be a problem since she had a fiancée, but the younger two would need to be taken care of. Now he had come walking into this.

“B-but we didn’t kill the girls. They were dead when we found ‘em. And Pauly here loved the one girl. She meant everythin’ to him.” The ogre, Pauly, nodded his head and buried his ugly tear stained face in the dead girl’s hair. Flashes of memories of a smiling face in the distance, dancing and congratulations went through his mind. He wanted to rip out his own hair in frustration and guilt.

“What were you incompetents thinking!? What I know of the type of demons these sisters are end up dying a slow death when they are forced and impregnated. They would have died anyway. From the smell of them, they were both pregnant. It would have killed them anyway if they even made it to childbirth. Their children were likely to be stillborn or die shortly after from not being supported by their mother’s life energy.” The two humans paled.

“My girl was pregnant?” Pauly started to wail. “I woulda taken care of them! I woulda!” The weasel man shook his head.

“We roughed up the other girl a bit when we took them but no one had raped her. We’ve been havin’ her be the camp doc. No one wanted to hurt her cause she was takin’ care o’ us all. That she is pregnant is a surprise. There is only one of us that I can think of that would do something like that and he wanted the boy too. His name is Percy. He’s got stringy brown hair and beady black eyes. Maybe is a couple inches shorter than you milord. Saw him yesterday and can’t find him at all today. He may have taken the boy.”

Kairen wanted to kill them for what they had done but he had enough blood on his hands.

“Where was the boy?”

“Like we said, milord, he disappeared in the chaos of the morning. Their sleeping space was around here so he coulda run off into the woods there. Maybe one of the others who escaped took him with them. Maybe Percy got him. We’ll try to track him down but he’s always been good at gettin’ away.” The last bit was said a bit quietly.

With a growl, Kairen tossed a purse of coins at the men.

“I should not even give you the payment. Due to your gross incompetence, even if I find the boy, he may die anyway. He needed his family!” Kairen started to turn so that he may track the child. “The money is for your silence since the child is not even here. Do not show your face again anywhere near my lands. I will take the girls home with me when I find Aranata, have their bodies prepared and ready for me.”

“Whatever you say, sir,” they said as they coward away from the lord who now had red eyes and had bared his fangs.

Kairen carefully carried Aranata on his horse and headed for home. He had the slavers wrap the sisters’ bodies and place them in a cart. A mule type of animal pulled the cart behind them. He had made sure the boy still slept. It would not do to have the poor thing wake up to see what had happened to his remaining family.


Three days later found them entering the town at dawn. The town was not large but was well off due to the unified governance of the different demons in the area. Most had their homes above or around their businesses and some lived in the surrounding trees, river or grounds. Very few people were up and the one he wished to see the least was the one who noticed them. The brown haired man trotted up to them and watched quietly, taking in the wrapped bodies in the cart and the little boy cradled in Kairen’s arms.

Without a word, Makhail reached up for Aranata so that Kairen could dismount. He turned around with the boy leaving the lord to follow.

“Mother,” he called softly after entering their home. A small woman with almost blonde hair and golden brown eyes entered the living area.

“Oh my, the poor thing,” she said as she grabbed up Aranata. “My little Ara, your grandma is on her way baby.”

“Grandmother?” Kairen asked with a brow cocked.

“Yes, his grandmother lives a ways away and was notified of her missing grandchildren and the date of the funeral for his parents. The local priests have put a preserving spell on them so that she may arrive on time.”

“Mother, they need to see to Airen and Kana as well.” Makhail looked at his mother with much pain in his eyes. The redness in the whites of his eyes told of tears held back.

“Oh no,” the whispered words held such pain. She buried her face into the little boy’s hair and you could hear her cry. Makhail went to them and wrapped his arms around them both.

“Thank you Lord Kairen for bringing them back to us,” Makhail said.

“No thanks are needed.” Kairen’s heart bled in guilt and shame. He had started all of this and he needed to find some way to make it right.

“Where were they, milord?” Makhail’s mother looked up to him with a tear streaked face.

“Human slavers had taken them. I found them three days out in the woods.”

“Slavers,” Makhail said in anger. “They destroyed a whole family and left a boy orphaned for what!? They killed my Airen and her sister and all for what I ask you?”

The lord shuddered in pain, some of it self-induced and some was what his mental abilities had gleaned. He vowed to take care of the boy with or without his grandmother’s say.


Grandmother Kiiren showed up two days later. “Grandmother” as she liked to be called, had explained that the demon clan Kiiren was an ancient and almost forgotten race. The rulers of their world had exchanged three times since the clan had power and that they were content to only influence their little corner of world. They had not been a very prolific and were slowly dying out. The gifts of their race made it so that certain events in life affected their health. Mental abilities were strong in their race and anything that affected them mentally could disturb the tenuous balance of power and sanity. Many of them were also gifted with beauty and grace. It was passed down as a sort of legend in their family that they were descended from a mighty and just ruler of long ago, one that was on par with the human tales of King Arthur and such.

Because of the frailty of the child, Lord Kairen had yet to go home and refused to be separated from Aranata. The funeral pyres were lit once darkness fell and all the townsfolk were in attendance. Though Aranata functioned, Kairen kept a barrier in his mind so that the family’s death would be felt at a distance. The boy had yet to speak and there was a sort of knowledge in his eyes that worried everyone. The catatonic state he was in before his grandmother was able to work him out of it, made everyone fear for his health.

Makhail’s family hosted all who came to say good-bye to the Kiiren family in a wake and then a reception after the funeral. All accepted that Kairen had done the best he could and rescued the boy before he died as well. None suspected that he had been the root cause of it all and it ate away at him in guilt every time he looked at Aranata.
Afterwards, Grandmother decided to bring Ara with her but Kairen refused.

“This was his home. These are the people he knows. I cannot condone leaving with him when he is in such a fragile state and cannot fully comprehend the fact that he is with family and on his way to a new home.” Kaiiren desperately argued with the woman. “I am willing to hire someone to take care of his parent’s store so that he may decide what to do with it when he is older. I am also willing to take him into my home which is nearby so that he may see all those he knows. I am NOT willing to let him leave like this. I can even have a small home built in town so that you can stay with him if you’d like.”

“I am glad of your generosity Lord Kairen but you have no idea how to take care of a child. You are a bachelor are you not?”

“What does that have to do with anything? Ara is young but not so young that he cannot let me know what he needs.”

The old demoness looked hard into his eyes. He wanted to squirm and confess everything to her but would not.

“I am willing to compromise with you sir. You have helped recover Ara from those humans and you are correct in saying that he is too damaged to travel.” Grandmother took a deep breath. “I will take you up on the offer of having a small home built for the two of us. In the meantime we will stay here with Makhail’s family instead of with you. The store will be run by one of my family members whom I will send for. I do not think the memories of the night he was taken will be good for him so we will definitely not use the home behind the store any time soon.”

Kairen wanted to sag in relief his beautiful broken boy would not be taken far from him.

“There is a stipulation in staying though.”

Kairen froze in trepidation.

“You will be learning all I can teach you in child rearing as well as what you need to look out for once his powers start to develop.” Grandmother still eyed him with caution. “I can see that you are starting to love the boy and in consideration of your feelings we will stay but heed my warning; one step out of line with you and I will take him so far away that you will never be able to find him again.”

“Yes ma’am,” Kairen felt light as a feather that they would be here and he would be allowed access to Aranata but felt the weight of tons weighing him down at her stare. He could not decide what to feel first or more.


Construction was well underway for the little cottage that would house Ara. Makhail had taken to watching the little boy like a hawk, afraid that the last link to his deceased Airen would disappear as well. Lord Kairen was put through the ringer by Grandmother to make him a suitable caretaker for her grandson. And Aranata was as silent as ever. His knowing eyes would look at those around him and draw shudders from the others. They all spoke of the fact that this little boy who had been so young and happy was now like an old soul. His eyes spoke of all that was broken in him.

“Grandmother,” Kairen started as he looked off at Ara sitting in the distance. “How can I bring him back? He had such fire and life before. Now he just wanders around like a beautiful but broken doll.”

“You cannot do anything at this juncture. He is grieving and yet in some ways is not aware of it. He has not cried once since I have been here and that is not healthy but forcing him to do so could make the situation worse.” Sad eyes watched the young demon and they fervently hoped and prayed that he would recover.