23 The demon

The Jackson mansion was overflowing with people who were busy partying hard. It was flagged by expensive cars, security guards, and elites of San Francisco city. The music blared through a dozen boom boxes where skimpily clad women were grooving to the beats with drinks in their hands.

The huge estate was situated in the prominent area of the Gold Coast that housed the 12,000 square foot mansion and was surrounded by a vast garden that sported gazebos and swimming pools.

Despite the open air and the lively environment, Ryan was feeling claustrophobic. He hated his father's parties and the artificial sweetness displayed by everyone around, who he was sure were jealous of his father's success.

He respected and feared his father, the powerful business tycoon, Mr William Jackson, who in reality was the Greater Demon, Arrog. Ryan was an immortal, a half-demon who had stopped aging after reaching 20 but, in fact, was 100 years old.

Of all the seven princes of hell, only Arrog had managed to achieve a physical form. While other demons still struggled to find a body, trying to nudge humans to commit sins. Arrog was the demon of pride, the strongest sin that made humans blissfully unaware of how pompous or egoistic they were.

The other demons feared him and his wrath. Arrog hadn't stayed satisfied with being a human and now wished to create a race of half-devils that would poison the human minds.

Ryan's father had had a penchant for human women, a quality seen by other demons as weak. Ryan had been the offspring of the devil and his human mother that he had lost recently.

He had heard of Arrog failing to have a male heir and killing every other woman who had birthed him a daughter. Ryan's mother had birthed twins-a son and a daughter. Arrog had been pleased with Ryan's mother for giving him the perfect son he had asked for and thus left her alive.

His father had had even left his sister alive when Ryan's mother had thrown herself at Arrog's heels, begging him to spare the life of her daughter- of their daughter.

Ryan and his sister were mostly raised by his single mother, whose family had abandoned her for good. Apart from the monthly check that his father handed over to his mom by a servant, Ryan had never heard from his father.

However, when Ryan had reached the age of 18, a man named William Jackson had shown up and claimed him as his own. His mother had loved the demon with all her heart and agreed to let her beloved son go wishing he could change his father's heart.

Ryan was his father's crowning prince, a trophy he often liked to show off. Ryan had strived hard to excel at every hurdle or challenge flung at him by his father. He had done everything his father had asked him to do, and his reward was his father's eyes that had shone with pride over his son.

Whenever Ryan was at the mansion, one business associate or the other would show up with his daughter, trying to marry her off to him. Ryan had inherited some powers from his father though he wasn't as adept as him. He could read minds and see through the petty minds of people who eyed him no more than a business deal, a confirmed ticket to riches.

However, Ryan was only interested in a particular girl with glasses sliding down her nose.

It had been six months since Ryan had met Zara. He had been employed by his father on a mission to find the girl hidden away by Gabriel and bring her to him, unharmed. Arrog had never explicitly shared the details though Ryan had gathered bits about the celestial weapon and how Zara was the key to it.

Ryan had combed the planet, visiting every possible place until he had bumped into her so close to home- in the same country. Her soul had cried out to him when he had first seen her.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of his father in his room, "Ryan, my boy, how are you doing? And why are you locked up in your room?"

"I was waiting for you here; you know how I hate those parties."

His father drawled, "Yes, but you know that money and drinks make humans weak, so it's easy for me to carry out my work, incite jealously and hatred in their brains that are the size of peanuts. Now, how far have you come with the girl?"