As a demon, I thought I knew about cursed objects. I turned a normal sword into one that cut through humans as easily as the wind and turned them into undead minions, one ghost and one zombie. It was a fun year, until it ran out of energy and I couldn’t figure out how to recharge it. In the end, I just used it as a normal weapon since it was still very sharp.      

          I wonder if it survived the fire…

          Making cursed objects isn’t as easy as throwing it into a fire with a whole lotta bodies. It requires materials, a terrible location, timing, and then a whole lotta bodies. Luck, or the lack of it, plays a large part while making an “naturally occurring” one. I prefer making my own since you never know what kind of effect you’ll end up with.

          The “heart plate” above my head vibrated in what I can only say was ungodly glee. If that thing wasn’t cursed, nothing in this, or any world is. Considering what I remember of that incident, it certainly had enough of a body count. Angels might have gotten off without any casualties, but the rest of us…

          “Easy, easy.” She gently patted the brat that was about to double over. The question was, is it shock or does he find this funny?

          “Deep breath.”

          “Is it like this every day?” He finally managed to ask.

          “So far, yes. Expect that one time we slept for three days straight.”

          “You mean you slept.”

          “I’ll throw that into the sealed chest.”

          “Gemi could use the company.” Her head popped up, trying to see over the kid’s head to give me a happy look.

          “Right, new sealed chest it is.”

          “Pfft” He started laughing again.

          A white fluff was struggling to be seen as she tried to send me a panicked look this time. Finally, her wings wrapped around us both as if she was trying to smother the problem.

          “Speak properly before the old woman has a heart attack” Which reminds me, I should have a look at their health.

          Oh! What if she has a really complicated health problem or an old disease that was eradicated centuries ago because she was too stubborn to go to a doctor? That’d be a great object lesson!

          “Blackie, why do I feel like your glowing eyes has nothing to do with the warm, touching moment we’re having as a family?”

          “What? I wasn’t paying attention.”

          We sat down at some point and Aena’s wings were acting like a tent with a few little light orbs outside diffusing light over all three of us. I feel like I’ve gotten too used to light, this much light and I was still in my comfort. I pulled my wings around me to feel darker.

          “…Vel was just saying he’s very happy to have a lively environment and will now call us Mother and Father.”

          “That’s not what-”

          “Great, now let’s do a health exam and find out what’s wrong with you, and the kid too, I guess.”

          “Worried about our health?” she nudged the kid, “See? Told you so.”

          “Told him what?”

          “I’ve got a few achy scars but other than that, I’ve never been sick a day in my life.”

          “I knew it, what underlying conditions do we find that you never bother to get treated?”

          “Underlying?” Vel dragged himself closer to my side as I pulled her arm and rolled her sleeve to get a feel for her pulse while prying open her jaw to look at her teeth with my other hand. I pulled her around, forgetting to slow down and explain what I was looking at and why.

          She was managed to raise her eyebrow at me, which was impressive as I was forcing her open, reminding me. The kid was trying to peer around me like a curious bird. I rolled my eyes back at her.

          “Her pulse is normal for an angel.” I handed off a hand. “I don’t like listening to hearts since that puts my head where they can bite it.” She opened her mouth to retort, but I held it open to show her teeth. “She shows signs of filing her teeth, which is why they’re pointier than normal, but that’s not something we care about.”

          “I whas a rebel-ous p-een” she mumbled through my hand.

          “Her tongue and temperature on the other hand, are something we should care about.”

          “…Is it supposed to be that dark red color?”

          “No.”

          “Wha?”

          I grinned at them both despite the excruciating pain and cracking sounds as my skin split in several places.

          “Feel her mouth.”

          “Can I not?”

          I looked at the mouth in question with very sharp teeth were starting to dig into my hand.

          “Fine, put a finger on my thumb.”

          “…It feels a little cold?”

          “Exactly. Angels are supposed to be living heaters, but her mouth is below room temperature.”

          “Is she sick?”

          “Im thik?”

          “Yes.”

          “How bad?”

          “Deab?”

          “You should probably move your hand now…” Vel eyed the teeth that disappeared slowly into my skin every time she tried to talk.

          “She has a demonic disease called Blood-borne. It occurs when someone is exposed to blood for an extended period of time. I haven’t seen it in years!”

          “Ya-y”

          “How long is “an extended period of time?”

          “I was about to ask actually, how the heck did you manage to get it? I though it died out a literal millennia when armies discovered bathing. It takes a year of being exposed to blood, mostly demon, to even risk it, and a decade at least to get a case this bad!”

          Velris stared at me a moment, then at her sheepish face. I coughed, forcing the smile off my face. I tilted her head back, forcing blood down her throat.

          “Anyhow, the cure is rather ironic.”

          “…Blood?”

          “No, I just like blood-loss for the he-ck of it. Yes, it’s blood.”

          “How much will she need to get better?”

          “More than I have in my body. Let go.” I shook my hand free, or I would have if she hadn’t immediately spat it out.