The smell of a delicious stew filled the air of the clean kitchen that Oriana stepped into. Standing before her, busy with making dinner, was Cyndrea. Oriana had plucked the woman’s name from her late summoner’s memories.

The woman had her back to Oriana. She was dressed in a simple white blouse and blue jeans. Evidently, she hadn’t had time to change yet. The outfit was familiar. Oriana remembered seeing it in her summoner’s memories as well, where he had seen his ex-wife meeting another man at a coffee shop, dressed in that same blouse and jeans.

The only change was that, during the date, her hair had been let down over her back to display her feminine charm. Now, it was held together up in a sloppy ponytail over her shoulder, hastily tied. Yet despite the apparent lack of effort put into her appearance, Cyndrea still had the air of someone diligent and disciplined, with her back straight as she went about her work.

But that air was only surface deep. Her appearance could not hide her true emotions from a demon like Oriana.

Stress and disappointment were the foremost among Cyndrea’s emotions. Exhaustion followed shortly, and when Oriana beckoned the relevant memories from Cyndrea’s mind, she learned why.

Cyndrea was an assistant professor at a nearby university. She was responsible for grading homework and planning much of the teaching materials for the course she taught, hence the exhaustion.

She did her best to find a partner in the little free time she had left, but none of them worked out. Her most recent date, where her ex-husband had seen her, was where her latest prospect decided to break things off with her— hence the stress and disappointment.

All of it left little time for her daughter.

Oriana considered fishing for some more memories, but in the end, she thought better of it. She took without asking, but she only took what she needed and nothing more. She was a mannered demon.

With nothing else to do, Oriana sat down at the dinner table, leaning against her hand. Her movements made no sound at all.

The apartment where Cyndrea lived wasn’t very big. The kitchen was in the same room as the dining table. From where she sat, Oriana had a clear view of Cyndrea from behind. She didn’t mind the view. The woman had a nice figure, even by demon standards. Unlike the man who had called Oriana to this plane, Cyndrea had a serene and warm atmosphere beneath all that stress, and it was pleasant to be around. Oriana could sit here all day.

Thunk-thunk-thunk-thunk… Cyndrea was in the middle of chopping a zucchini when her hand halted mid slice. Then, still holding the knife in her hand, she slowly turned around and looked straight at Oriana, who waved at her. Even upon seeing a stranger in her apartment, Cyndrea did not panic.

“Hi… Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?”

Oriana smiled. “What if I said that I am a demon here to take your life?”

Normally, someone would react with disbelief, but instead, Cyndrea just nodded and turned off the fire. Oriana raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, gazing at Cyndrea with new interest. “You’re not very surprised.”

The woman shrugged. “I didn’t hear the door open, and the lock is still in place.”

Oriana looked at the chains on the door and nodded. “I could have been hiding here already.”

“I already checked the apartment when I came back,” Cyndrea said, shaking her head, then laughed a self-deprecating laugh. “Plenty of experience with that, I suppose.”

From the man’s memories, Oriana already knew that he had once broken in and waited for Cyndrea at her house. He was then arrested and jailed and had only recently been released. After a few more days of staying at home, he saw Cyndrea on a date with another man. That was when he became desperate enough to try and summon a demon and got Oriana.

Oriana wanted to laugh at the way things fit together like a well-made puzzle.

Like a cat toying with her prey, Oriana asked another question. “Don’t you want to know why I am taking your life?”

Cyndrea shook her head, and Oriana grinned. “Your ex-husband. He was the one who summoned me and sent me after you.”

Once again, Cyndra did not show any outward surprise, much to Oriana’s disappointment. Instead, something settled down inside the woman as if her suspicions had been confirmed. All that was left was nothing but helplessness and sadness. She nodded and sighed. “Before you kill me, can I see my daughter one last time?”

Such a simple request was one that Oriana granted without thinking. Cyndrea had such a pleasant feel that Oriana was more than willing to grant a few favors. Even though she was old, it was Oriana’s first time in the mortal plane.

How many humans were like Cyndrea, and how many were like that man who summoned her?

“I’m in a good mood, so I’ll allow you one wish before you die. Rejoice,” Oriana said, sitting back and placing one leg over another, staring at Cyndrea with the haughty smile of a ruler.

She waited—waited for Cyndrea to wish for her own life to be spared. But the reply she expected never came. Cyndrea just nodded and walked past her to the single bedroom in the apartment suite. The smile faded from a bewildered Oriana’s face, and she got up and followed after the woman.

“Let me think about it.”

Since the apartment had only one bedroom, the mother and daughter shared a room. A child that looked about three or four was sleeping on the bed, covered by a thin sheet. Cyndrea stopped and looked down at the child for a long time.

Oriana didn’t interrupt her.

Finally, the woman leaned down and kissed her child on the cheek— a light touch that would not wake the child up.

With that, she straightened and went back to the living room, closing the door to the bedroom behind her. She sat down at the dining table, taking the seat across from where Oriana had sat, and closed her eyes. “I’m ready.”

“Your wish?” Oriana asked. Her heart began to pound in anticipation at what the woman would wish for. Of course, if it was to beg for mercy, she’d grant it, but…

The woman’s words interrupted her thoughts. “I wish that after I am gone, there will be someone who will take care of and love my daughter. That is all I ask.” Cyndrea lowered her head, but Oriana heard the cracking in her voice. “Please.”

“…Okay.” That was all Oriana could get out. She was speechless.

The wish was all wrong. That shouldn’t have been Cyndrea’s wish… The emotions that came from Cyndrea when she made that wish were utterly different from her summoner’s emotions. He had wished for wealth, for immortality, for Oriana’s hand in marriage, and for the ultimate revenge on Cyndra.

To Oriana, the man’s emotions were a blazing hurricane filled with daggers, while Cyndrea’s emotions were like warm waters gently washing over her.

Hate against love. The warmth of the latter was blissful.

As a demon who had spent her whole life in the demon realm alone, Oriana had never experienced something like that before. And there was something else too. Gratitude. Even though Oriana was here to kill her, Cyndrea was still thankful toward her.

Cyndrea did not think that she could be a good mother to her daughter. Instead, she traded her own life for a brighter future for her child. Since the wish had a cost, Oriana probably wouldn’t twist it— was what Oriana gleaned from the woman’s thoughts.

Oriana didn’t know much about humans and love, but if there was one thing she knew, it was that the woman was wrong. No caregiver in the world could do better than Cyndrea, who already loved her child to such an extent. 

On the other hand, she admired the woman’s selflessness, but on the other, Oriana could only shake her head at the woman’s foolishness.

“Your wish is granted.” Her lips pressed in a tight line, Oriana waved her hand, and Cyndrea faded, reduced to dust. As she disappeared, the woman’s eyes had remained closed, accepting her fate. When the last traces of the woman winked out, Oriana sighed and reached out, grabbing at empty air. Then, with a fistful of nothing, she held her hand to her heart.

Darkness gathered on the seat across the table, slowly gaining shape and becoming more defined. Then, with a crackle of power, a woman’s figure broke free from the blurry black fog.

Her eyes opened.

Horns adorned the woman’s head, and scales covered her body. She looked down at herself in disbelief, and her eyes were filled with confusion.

“I… You…” she sputtered, and Oriana smiled at the reaction of the demon sitting in front of her. Finally, something was going to plan.

“Welcome back. Or should I say congratulations on your birth? Do you know what I created you for?” she asked, leaning forward and propping her chin on her hands, enjoying the demon’s reaction to her new body.

Slowly, however, those inhuman traces disappeared, and the demon quickly regained her composure. Hesitation emanated from the demon as if she wished to answer but was afraid to.

The demon dared not raise her hopes.

Oriana’s smile grew deeper as a strange feeling rose up in her chest. She liked the feeling. “You see, I met someone really interesting just now, but before we parted, she left me with a rather troublesome request. That’s why I created you. Do you feel like you’re up to the task?”

Cyndrea stared at Oriana’s lips, following every one of Oriana’s words. For a moment after Oriana finished, there was nothing but silence. Then, droplets gathered at the corners of Cyndrea’s eyes, suspended there for an instant before they rolled down her cheeks.

The newborn demon covered her mouth, muffling her voice, and she nodded as hard as she could. Her shoulders shook from her sobs.

Watching her, that strange feeling that Oriana felt grew stronger, and without realizing it, she placed her hand over her chest, trying to find the root of that feeling. But she grabbed nothing.

“Thank you. Thank you so much….”

Finally, even Cyndrea’s hands couldn’t stop her voice from leaking out, and her sobs became audible. A moment later, the bedroom door opened, and a child toddled out, pausing when she saw Oriana. Then, the child decided to ignore the stranger and ran to her mother.

“Mommy, what’s wrong? Is that strange person bullying you?”

“Dorothy…” Cyndrea picked up her child. “Dorothy, nothing’s wrong, and she’s not bullying me. Don’t say that. Say hi to….”

At Cyndrea’s words, Oriana realized that throughout all this, she still had not introduced herself. Even her summoner had been deemed unworthy of knowing her name, but for some reason, Oriana wanted Cyndrea to know. So for the first time since she was summoned to the human realm, she said her name aloud. “I’m Oriana. Pleased to meet you.”

“Oriana,” Cyndrea repeated and then nodded when she memorized it. She turned to her child. “Dorothy, say hi to Oriana!”

The girl stared at Oriana with her wide, liquid eyes and hesitated. Just moments before, she had been worried that this strange woman was a bad person, but now…

Just when Cyndrea was getting worried that her daughter would stay silent, Dorothy broke out into a wide, sunny smile. “Hi!”

The smile caught Oriana off guard, and all she could do was offer a small wave back. The girl was so tiny. Even as a newborn demon, Oriana had never been that small. For a moment, she was at a loss for what to do.

Luckily, the girl seemed to be satisfied with just that, and after checking once more that her mother was okay, Dorothy stumbled back into the bedroom, leaving just Oriana and Cyndrea in the kitchen.

Cyndrea sighed. “You know, I’ve been active in the dating scene.”

Oriana had been looking through Cyndrea’s memories, so naturally, she knew. But she was unsure where Cyndrea was going with that statement.

“Sometimes, they’re the ones that aren’t satisfied with me, and sometimes I’m not satisfied with them. Finding the right partner is hard, and even when everything seems to click, there is always the chance that it doesn’t work out.”

“That makes sense. So what didn’t work out?” Oriana asked, intrigued by the discussion about human courtship. From what she could glean from the memories she did see, Cyndrea did not dislike her last date.

“Dorothy didn’t like him, and she didn’t like most others I’ve dated. But she likes you. Oriana, if you don’t mind, would you like to stay for dinner?” Cyndrea fluttered her eyelashes.

Seeing the woman’s kind face and bathing in her warm and gentle aura, Oriana’s heart skipped a beat.

 

“Ori, does this look good on me?”

Oriana stood back and swept her eyes up and down Cyndrea’s body in the cramped fitting room. “Of course. Everything looks good on you. But, you still look best with horns.”

At that, Cyndrea stopped turning to show Oriana every angle of her and closed her eyes. Soon, her hair parted as two black tips sprouted from her head, twisted, and finally stopped growing. A few scales flecked her body, and Oriana brought her hands to her mouth.

“Is this better?”

“Oh, yes! Now just stay like that…” Oriana began fishing for her phone.

But before she could finish, someone stuck their head between the fitting room curtains and peeked in. Cyndrea jumped, and the horns and scales disappeared in a flash.

With her eye candy gone, Oriana glared at the intruder, crossing her arms.

A girl who looked about old enough to be in her first few years of college stared back, completely fearless. She pouted. “Mom and Mom! Are you two done yet? You always take so long!” She stretched her words out pitifully.

Seeing that it was just her daughter, Cyndrea breathed a sigh of relief. Even after spending a decade as a demon, she was still not great at manipulating memories. If the intruder had been a store associate, she would have had to ask Oriana for help, and it would end in another “reward” for Oriana at night.

Luckily, it was just her daughter.

She reached out and patted her daughter’s head, pushing the head out from between the curtains in the same motion. “Almost there. Now be patient!”

Dorothy groaned and went back to sitting outside, muttering something that Cyndrea couldn’t make out.

With the distraction gone, Cyndrea turned back to Oriana and smiled, the horns and scales appearing once more. Oriana’s eyes sparkled.

Indeed, Cyndrea looked good in everything, and Oriana wanted to buy everything. And they did buy everything.

As Dorothy clung to Cyndrea at the registers, the worker’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, she’s your daughter? You look young enough to be her sister!”

At that, Cyndrea peeked at Oriana and found Oriana glancing back. They shared a smile.

 

END