Shit, my throat felt so sore…

I cranked my eyelids open and saw sunlight, its rays peeking through the blinds of my bedroom. I held my breath, confused about how I got here. It was Sunday morning already, which meant that I was out for at least seven hours.

My body sprang into action, sitting on my bed while my eyes roamed my bedroom. I wasn’t alone, doing a double take to the goth girl sitting on my armchair in the corner with a huge black book with a leather spine. My lips hang ajar—Wren was keeping me company. But, if that’s the case, then where the hell was everyone else? Especially Lumi?

Oh crap, Lumi…

I scratched the side of my head, everything that had happened last night hitting me all at once. It was giving me a migraine, from the way I put that curse on her to the way I—Shit, Jenna!

I leaped off of bed, however no sooner did my feet touch the floor did Wren shut me down with a, “Sit.” Her eyes pulled away from her book and locked on me. “Just where do you think you’re going?”

“Jenna!” I managed to say, my voice scratchy and dry.

“You mean the girl you left for dead?”

I stared at Wren terrified. “Please, don’t tell me I—”

“You nearly drained her dry. We had to formulate a memory erasing spell, not the easiest spell in the world. Its ingredients are demanding, but Lumi and Trista pushed through. After that, Ruby brought her to the nearest hospital, where she is expected to recover.”

“Fuck, for Christ sake…” My stomach churned, the blood I’d digested bubbling inside me. I bucked it, running past Wren and heading straight for the bathroom. Hugging the toilet, I expelled some of the blood I’d taken from my victim. And once my stomach finally settled down, a screen popped up in front of me.

Blood Requirement Satisfied.

Samael, Underworld Prince of Darkness

Specialties: Flame Magic

Pact Score: 0

Domain Members: Lumi, Ruby, Wren, Trista

House of Samael Buffs: 5% power boost within close proximity

House of Samael Stronghold: Bottom 5%

Bloodlust Bar: 80/100

“What the fuck?” I stuttered, my ass dropping on the floor confused. “What the hell is this?”

“Your spiritual guidance came back?” Wren said. I noticed her leaning by the door when the screen suddenly vanished. “Trista mentioned the possibility of it being triggered only after you feed. I guess she was right. What a smart cookie.”

“What does it all mean?”

“Well, what did you see? No one but you can see your spiritual guidance. It’s an aid that is summoned only after someone of royal blood reincarnates.”

“I get the specialty and the domain members, but… this other stuff… Pact score?”

“The number of pacts you’ve sealed.”

“You mean I’m required to make demon deals?!”

“How else did you expect to overpower these reckless demons? You have to support your own faction. Make sure we rise on top. I’m sure Lumi told you that when you came back. Without pacts, we are weak in the Underworld. We need it to maintain power. And since you are expected to take your father’s throne, power is what you need. That pact score reflects the number of pacts within your domain. So if I go out there and seal a deal, then it goes up. Same with the other girls.”

“So does that mean you girls haven’t sealed any pacts?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s at zero…”

She grunted. “Great, it reset.”

“How were you keeping count before?”

“Demon deals is a business. We have record books. Trista is in charge of accounting.”

“So do they become void?”

“I don’t know. I wasn’t expecting for all of our hard work to melt away when bled out.”

I deadpanned her. “Thanks for the sympathy. And what’s with this buff? It said House of Samael Buffs: 5% power boost within close proximity.”

“Buffs are actually a concept in the Underworld for princes, and they only become available after you become intimate with a member of your domain…”

I cleared my throat and pivoted my head to hide my subtle blush.

“The old Samael had plenty… Lumi made sure her master and her sisters were covered.”

“Heh, yeah, I could see that.” I turned to her. “What about House of Samael Stronghold? Right now, it’s at bottom 5%.”

“A terrible way to start off this crusade of yours. It means that our faction is the lowest of the low. Mainly because our previous pacts weren’t counted, and our pact score is sitting at 0.”

“Break this pact thing down to me in layman’s terms. I thought blood was what made demons stronger, and the lack of it made us weaker. Lumi said pacts are what make the underworld strive. Without it, it will fall. But these factions claim their own pacts, and it makes demons stronger as well.”

“In a sense of authority. United, demons seal pacts to support their realm. Individually, demons seal pacts to claim their realm. It is universal law that when the kingdom falls, the family with the highest number of pact deals takes the throne.”

“Why can’t we overthrow that law?”

“You can’t be serious? First, the no kill demons rule, and now the no pact rule?”

“N-no, I’m not saying that…”

“That’s exactly what you’re saying.”

I got up on my feet and turned around to wash my face in the sink. Wren was right—it was exactly what I was saying. But unlike snatching up a priestess for an exorcism, I couldn’t work my way around this pact requirement. Lumi had told me pacts were needed from the very beginning. Not to mention, these people weren’t being forced into it. No one put a gun to my mother’s head and forced her to sign on the dotted line. So why the hell did it hurt so much?

I guess it was the idea of working with a demon, and knowing the repercussions weren’t too far behind. Either way, people had free will. They were to decide. They were in charge of their own souls. In my mother’s case, I wished someone were there to tell her that it was a bad idea. Even though I wouldn’t have been born—at least she’d be healthy, and all of those people wouldn’t have had to die under this horrendous family curse…

I rinsed my mouth out with mouthwash, and then turned off the faucet. I saw Wren standing there staring at me from the mirror with her renowned pissy face. She was upset with me. I kept fucking up. I get it. I had to start acting like a demon for my girls, and that meant accepting all the ties that came with it. Good and bad.

“Why did you bite into that girl?” Wren finally asked me. I knew she’d been itching to from the moment I woke up. “In your stubborn sense of righteousness, I didn’t think you’d attack your own kind.”

I turned around and reached for the towel to dry my face, giving her an empty answer.

“It was blood psychosis, wasn’t it?”

“Hell, I don’t know what it was… One minute, I was Isaac, and the next—” I stopped short. “No, I have no one to blame but myself. I lost it.”

“You need to take this feeding off your harem seriously.”

“I’m sorry, the idea of biting into anyone doesn’t sit right with me! Demon or otherwise! I am still human.” I seethed.

“You have the mind of a mortal! Get that straight! You haven’t been human since Persallus killed you. Remember that. Stop holding onto it for dear life and own up to what you are, before it puts everyone in your harem in danger!”

“You think I wanted to snap like that and attack that girl? Samael was—”

“Samael?” She cocked her eyebrow at me. “You mean, the old Samael?”

I rolled my shoulders down and sulked. “Yeah… it just felt like my old attitude broke through.”

“So, it was blood psychosis. Everyone experiences it differently.”

“I was still at 10% according to Lumi.”

“Could be that the first episode has a wider margin. Which means, you can’t take any more chances.”

“Damn it… that blood lust was strong. I was able to stop myself from hurting Lumi, but… around humans, it’s a different ballpark entirely.”

“Do yourself a favor and purge this humanity from your blood. It’d do you a world of good. But at the same time, don’t turn into that.” She turned her back on me. “Don’t turn into the old version of yourself. Lumi would never admit it, but the old you had plenty of faults. And I’d hate for him to come back. To be honest, I’d rather deal with the human you than the old you, even though I prefer them both out of your system.”

“Wren, I can’t promise to lose myself in this mission.”

“That’s not what I’m asking you to do. You can still be Isaac and a demon.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“No one said it was. But what’s the alternative? Dropping to 0 bloodlust? Resurrecting until you turn into a monster?”

“I don’t want to do that.” I tensed. “Back at the pizzeria, the look on her face, the feeling of being trapped in my own body… I don’t want to ever be in a position like that again…”

“Then you better drink up,” Wren said seriously. “Outbursts like that will draw too much attention to you, and that is what you don’t want. Being on a hunter’s radar is never good news.”

“I’m sorry. It’s my job to protect you girls. I’m going to do a better job at this.”

“Take today off from test trials, from work, from that hospital, from us, from everyone,” Wren suggested. “You need time for yourself. I seem to be the only one who thinks you’re way over your head here. You need some space to think all of this through and get acclimated. It’s a process, so it should feel like one. Being thrown into the Lion’s Den isn’t going to help anyone here.”

Wren walked out, closing the bathroom door behind her. I think that was her showing me that she cared about me, and that she wanted us to succeed. As a house, as a family. I’d take her offer without a question. While Wren went off to tell the others to give me some space, I planned on taking a walk to clear my head.

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