She Belongs To The Devil

"I love helping children."

"And eating them?" Damien folded his arms, not buying the bullshit that the lady was selling.

That woman laughed at the top of her lungs as though she had heard the joke of the century. She wiped her tears and asked Damien, "Do you think that a dead human like me can devour the son of the ancient demoness?"

Damien narrowed his eyes at her and said in a mocking tone, "Well, even though you're a dead human, I see that you have a lot of tricks up your sleeve. Who is to say that you aren't some ancient one yourself who is disguised in the skin of a human?"

"You sure are a cautious one," that lady flicked her palm and some lines and symbols appeared in front of Damien. It looked like some sort of map.

She pointed her finger at one corner of the pandemonium and then said, "If you want my help then this is where you can find me."

Damien took a glance at the map that she had shown. But he didn't think that he would go searching for this suspicious lady again.

"If you still get confused then ask anyone where you can find Maple. They will show you where I live." That woman smiled and waved her hand at Damien.

And she disappeared from his view.

"What the…" Damien had a frown on his forehead. "Even I can't teleport when I am a demon of the upper level. And she says she's a human but she can teleport?"

He sneered and mumbled, "As if I would believe that crap."

Damien took a deep breath in and looked around him. He thought of asking/coercing other demons to help him get the plant. But his mind kept on getting diverted to that creepy lady and he thought of calling it a day.

"I will think of something tomorrow." He thought to himself and then flew towards his home.

---

In the Earth Realm, Ariel was also carrying out some necessary plans for her and Damien's escape from the Palace.

While she was in the class, she kept on pondering about several things. She was planning how she was going to 'make' Damien stay over in the Palace next weekend without making it sound unnatural to her parents.

After finishing the theory classes as well as training for the day, Ariel went straight to the library to check the map of their continent.

"Hmm… let's see…" she unfolded the map and located her Palace on it. "So, this is where I am right now."

She then searched for the Kingdom with Mihir written on it. "Okay, we need to fly over the hills to get to the other side." She ran her fingers over the map and mumbled, "And if we follow this path and go over the source of Ethereal River, we can reach there faster."

She checked another map with the updated information about villages and cities of all five Kingdoms.

Ariel furrowed her brows after seeing the settlement locations in Mihir. "What? Why aren't there any settlements closer to the borders? The closest village is Venzor. It is still so far away from the border."

Ariel sighed while tapping at the map and mumbled, "Ugh! It's going to take some more time before we get to see the vampires."

"Vampires… I will get to see what they actually look like. Not just them, I will get to see what the world looks like."

A sudden smile lurked on Ariel's lips. Her whole body screamed with excitement by just thinking about the night her wings would finally be set free.

She kept on looking at the map until she memorized each and every part of the whole continent.

And she headed out to complete another task for today.

"Ariel. What a pleasant surprise." Nefriti looked at the little girl who had entered her quarter and complained, "How come you never come here to meet your aunt? We live within the same compound yet it's so hard to see your face."

Ariel looked around and whispered, "I don't want to encounter that deadly husband of yours. He will make me sit down for a private lesson if he sees me playing around."

Nefriti burst into laughter upon hearing such a remark about Fenris. "Oh, honey… I will ask him not to do that. So come visit me often, okay?"

Ariel smiled and nodded. "Well, if you can do that then I will come here as often as I can."

"Alright. Deal."

Ariel was looking around the quarter so Nefriti understood who she was actually looking for.

Nefriti pinched Ariel's nose and welcome her niece inside her quarter. "Come. He should be in his room."

Ariel followed her aunt while trying to spot Fenris. When she didn't see him, she asked Nefriti, "Aunty, is your husband not around today?"

Nefriti smiled and replied, "Don't worry. He has gone hunting with the pack."

Ariel let out a quiet sigh.

"Zach?" Nefriti knocked on Zachariah's door and then informed him, "Ariel is here to see you."

They both could hear Zach running towards the door. He opened the door with a wide smile on his face. "Ary, you came here to play with me?" he happily pulled Ariel inside without wasting a second.

Nefriti was happy to see Zachariah being so fond of Ariel. "Shall I send some snacks for the two of you?"

"Yesss…" Zachariah happily raised his hand and shouted.

"Okay." Before closing the door, Nefriti warned them, "Don't jump on the bed though. You two will break it like before."

Both Ariel and Zachariah gave a guilty grin to Nefriti.

Ariel and Zachariah then began playing their favorite game – snakes and ladders. Fenris had brought the game set from his visit to Tarrin. Ever since then, it had been their go-to game whenever the two of them were together.

They were also munching on some strawberries while playing the game.

"By the way," Ariel rolled the dice on the board and said while moving her piece, "Do you know that Damien can grow…"

Ariel clasped her mouth as if she just had a slip up of her tongue.

"Grow what?" Zachariah asked with curiosity.

Ariel removed her hand from her mouth and cleared her throat. And she pretended to not know what her cousin was talking about. "Grow? Did I say something? I don't recall."

Zachariah tilted his head and denied in a pampered voice, "No, you were about to say something about Damien! What is it? Tell me."

"No. I wasn't going to say anything. You must have misheard." Ariel handed the dice roller to Zachariah and added, "Roll it."

However, Zachariah was now even more curious. "You are hiding something from me, aren't you?" He clung to his cousin's arm and asked her, "Tell me, Ary. What is it? What can Damien grow?"

Ariel scratched her head as if she was having difficulty in deciding whether to reveal the secret to Zachariah or not.

She then heaved a sigh and said, "It's a secret about Damien. But I will tell you if you promise not to tell that to anyone. You can't even say it to an ant or a butterfly."

Zachariah grinned and promptly nodded his head. He pressed his palm over his heart and promised, "I won't reveal it to anyone. I swear."

A corner of Ariel's lips curved up ever so slightly. "Good. Then listen."

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