X I I - [ D A E M O N ]

are desperate. They've been calling the police every half an hour or so, asking them the same question over and over again: have you found our daughter?

The police, on the other hand, are tired and frustrated. Every time the phone would ring, they would simply let out an exasperated sigh and say, "No, Mam/Sir, we haven't."

That's because she's as good as dead.

For all it's worth, Feia is a very clever girl. Disposing her sister's body in the woods where there are bears and such and cleaning up her mess spotless is most definitely the trick―no one suspects her of anything.

Which makes it so helpful since she's my right hand.

And of course, there is the act. Her ability to force herself to cry seems to actually come in handy, but it also makes me wonder just what else she fakes.

"Daemon,"

I look up from the overseeing orb to see Feia standing in the middle of the room in a sleek tank top, cotton shorts and flip-flops.

"Hmm? What are you doing here, My Sweet?" I ask, making the orb disappear.

"You know how my parents are," She huffs and walks towards me with arms crossed in front of her. "All they talk about is that bitch of my sister. I need a place where she's nothing but the piece of shit she is."

I feel a smirk etch its way onto my face. "Wanna continue where we left off?"

"Maybe next time, yeah?" Feia smirks at me right back with one raised eyebrow. "I don't think I intend on sleeping with a demon while my sister is missing." She says, faux sadness.

I snort. "Please, Feia. Enough of the unbelievably good act."

"But losing my one and only sister is so hard for me." Feia says, lips trembling. She then bursts out into a maniacal laugh and sits on the edge of my table, sighing. "I'm so glad she's gone."

"Would you like to see her?"

Feia's lips presses into a straight line and her expression is suddenly cold. She then ever so slowly turns to face me. "What?"

"See her." I say again and she cocks an eyebrow. "Torture her?"

Feia's face relaxes once more and she gives me a smile. "Yes, most definitely."

I grin at her. "Follow me."

well, well. If it isn't little Lina." Feia taunts as she walks in front of her sister's soul with her arms crossed in front of her. "How are you liking your new home, baby sister?"

The soul of her sister makes a kind of snorting sound and Feia snaps her head at its direction in an instant. Then, out of nowhere, the soul starts squirming and howling in pain while Feia simply glares at it.

"You're not going to fucking disrespect us, you despicable cunt. This here, Lina, is Satan." She snatches the blurry figure of the soul and tightens her grip around its neck, making it gasp for air and its one eye pop out of its sockets. "And I am his Little Helper, his right hand. So you either fucking us or face the consequences."

For a moment, the soul is still. Then, with an almost inaudible whisper, it spits, "I'd rather take my chances than respect you fuckers."

Feia lets go of her sister and looks away. "Very well, then. Your choice." She then turns back around with a sinister smile on her face and hands cupped together. "Let the fun begin."

laughing aloud when we get back to my office.

"Did you see her face?!" She says, wiping away a stray tear. "That bitch! She was so scared!"

"Absolutely terrified," I agree, nodding. Tormenting her sister had become Feia's favorite thing to do in Hell, and might I say, she is actually good at it.

"Anyway, I should go back now. Parents are probably looking for me. Hell, they might even be holding a search party right now."

I make the overseeing orb appear in my palms and look at it with a bored expression. "No, no, don't worry. Just a crap-load of worrying and whatnot. Oh—" I squint at it and shake my head, sighing. "They're picking up the phone."

Feia rolls her eyes, mumbles, "motherfucker" and is gone without another word.

I look at the spot where she was standing and then back to the orb. Feia is opening the front door, and her parents talk quickly into the phone before hanging up and scurrying to their beloved daughter. Feia just shakes her head and gives them a strained smile, saying that she's fine and simply lost track of time.

I smirk at her reply full of bullshit and nod even though I know that she can't see it. Feia gives her parents a tight hug, but looks up discreetly right at me and flips her middle finger.

This girl is far too smart. Choosing her as my right hand was the right thing to do. I mentally take note to pat myself in the back later on for doing such a great job as Satan.

My father would've been proud if he hadn't aged to six-hundred and sixty-six and turned to ash like the rest of the Satans before him.

His own father's right hand, however, still lives.

Malphas.

He's older than at least most of us here in Hell and he is supposed to be my right hand.

He , actually, when I was first crowned as Hell's ruler. That time, it had been a kind of traditional rule that he would always be Satan's right hand. But when I found out about Feia, I contravened against it and fired Malphas on the spot; after all, rules are meant to be broken.

He didn't take it that well, but he is the type to follow orders and protocol so he begrudgingly accepted the fact that he was purposeless and relocated himself. Now he helps Azazel take charge of his demon army.

Despite the fact that he's over two thousand years old, however, he doesn't look a day over thirty-five. We demons have the ability to look far younger than we originally are—a perk and a curse we are all marked with.

What's sad about being Satan is that you are only immortal until such time you reach the age of six hundred and sixty-six. Like my father and his father, I will, too, turn into ash once I've come of age. And even by then I should have an heir to the throne, a descendant of my line—a child.

But it's not like I even have to worry about it for another four centuries or so. I have time.

And of course, there is my theory about Feia being a Satan. There hasn't been any female Satans, for some reason, and most females are either a goddess of the Underworld like Lilith, a succubus, or a maid. Perhaps I might just have given Feia a tad bit too much of my ability and caused her to be powerful enough to control me. I mean, it's never happened before, but as Bub had said, in this fucking snow globe of a world, anything can happen.

I snap out of my thoughts and peer into the orb once more. Feia's father is opening the front door, her mother and herself standing behind him and peering over his shoulders. On the front porch, two officers stand with their hats held against their chest, identical weary expressions mixed with looks of sympathy on their faces.

"Sir, we have found your daughter." The officer who knocked on the door said. Tears start flowing rapidly down Feia's mother's cheeks and she embraced Feia tightly. Feia faux-cried tears of joy, but it all stops when the officer continues, "Apparently she ran to a nearby forest and had gotten lost. Unfortunately, however..." The officer sighs and looks down at his shoes. "It appears that she's been devoured by a bear or a pack of wolves. We are sorry, Sir. Your daughter is dead. Please come by the Angelvale Medical Center's morgue for body identification tomorrow."

And in that moment, Feia's mother collapses onto the floor. Her father, still taking it all in, just nods and thanks the officer before closing the door shut behind them with fresh tears falling down his own cheeks. Feia, on the other hand, is hyperventilating terribly and holding onto her father like she is the most fragile thing ever.

After a couple of minutes of staying in the same position, Feia's father pulls away and tells her to go upstairs and rest while he takes care of her fainted mother. She obliges, tells her father she loves him, and drags her body up the stairs.

Only once she's locked inside her room does a wicked grin appear on her face. She then starts giggling out of nowhere, and it quickly turns into a menacing laugh full of joy and satisfaction. If I hadn't been so proud, maybe, I might be creeped out by now.

And I could've sworn that there was a glimpse of red in her ocean-blue eyes as she laughs.