Demonic Inheritance

Calm After The Storm

I circulate my Beast blood allowing my leathery wings to explode outward. The flesh is all the same abyss as the rest of my skin but the patagium between each bone is speckled with white star like dots. Together father and I run and jump off the edge of the roof. Smiling and laughing I lead him towards the town at a slightly slower speed than usual. His speed is fast but nowhere near good enough to match me at top speed.

We land outside the town and tuck away our wings before entering the gate. The townspeople are excited to see me at first but shrink a little at seeing my father. He smiles and waves at them before following me along the street. I follow the smell of kobold all the way to the other side of the town and out a gate into a long unending desert. They had some form of creature waiting here and had fled through the desert. 

“How fast can you run old man?” My father snorts but waves me on.

“After you PRINCESS.” His snarky tone matches mine and I begin to understand it might be genetic. 

With a loud laugh I sprint through the desert and when I see my father keeping up I’m happy. I won’t need to slow down for him. We run for almost an hour before the Kobolds scent becomes strong once again so I slow to a stop. They would be just ahead of us but I don't want them before they reach their ‘arena’. Quietly we stalk them for another two hours until they reach a cave carved into the face of a cliff. My hearing is heightened permanently in this form so I can hear the snarling creatures hidden inside, the chattering of hundreds of kobolds along with the soft whimpers and loud screams of little children.

“No more waiting.” I say to father as I stand to my full 7 feet and leave the cover of darkness he had wrapped around us. 

The chain that had been rattling in my mind since first hearing Milly’s scream falls away and I feel my claws and teeth lengthen further. My face morphs a little more towards my Beast appearance to accommodate the razor sharp teeth. The Kobolds we had been following notice me first and shout an alarm. Giving no time for thought I slice my way through each and everyone of them. It is a one sided m******e but my consciousness was looking for the children while my body just raged. In less than three minutes I had removed over eighty percent of the Kobolds from this cave and the ones remaining curled into balls in a corner where they had ‘surrendered’. I ignored them and moved into the lowest level of the cave system. Sickness washes through me at what I see. 

On one side are creatures of all shapes and sizes going berserk at my presence. Some are growling and trying to escape while others are cowering and wetting themselves. All thirteen are scared beyond themselves.

On the opposite side of the cave are cages piled high filled with children. Lizard people, kobold children and many other races I didn't know yet. The Kobold traffickers hadn’t discriminated. I quickly release the children and by the time my father arrives inside the cave with a group of people behind him the children are all huddled together on the floor. I had used the shirts off the kobolds I killed to dress the children so they are no longer naked. The people with my father begin carrying the children out and my heart breaks with every flinch of their little faces. 

I look away lest I disgrace myself by crying. The remaining Kobolds are still huddled together on a higher level so I head up to them. 

“The fat one who was throwing orders, The mangy one who was in the office and that small one because he looks like a rat. Keep them, dispose of the rest.” I give the order to one of the soldiers father had brought and he sets about his task. 

I wanted to kill them myself but I had just reattached my chain of self control. I didn’t want to let my crazy out again for a long time. After everyone has left and just my father and I are left I head down to the bottom cave again. The creatures are still chained up and no one has touched them just like I wanted. The Kobolds idea to train these creatures was a solid one, their methods were just too f****d up. Walking through the creatures they cower away from me so I limit my demonic aura a little. Pulling the chains from the wall I pull the creatures along behind me and start walking out of the cave system. 

“I have to get home, your mothers called and they are anxious.” he glances at the creatures following me. “You’re bringing them home aren’t you. You know not all creatures can be pets right?”

“Tell that to the ancient Egyptians, sultans of old and pop stars with too much money.” I smile a little as my father laughs but it falls almost immediately. “Do we have a place for those kids to get the help they are going to need?”

“Of course we do. I will even have Elizabeth add a few more Psych Doctors added to the rehab centre.” His mood sours along with mine and I wish I can kill the kobolds all over again. “I cannot believe that I didn't know what was happening in my own kingdom.”

“About that, I have a little plan. I hope you will agree too?” 

“Depends what it is.”

“Give Gael the duty of attending all the backed up requests. He is a genius and can sort them into priority levels. Then I will help you fix this kingdom. Because frankly I don’t want to inherit it while it's falling apart.” I look around us for a moment before looking up into fathers eyes. “Our country is so messed up from the civil war with the queen that any person with a little ambition could push up on us. Do you know how much despair the citizens have thinking you have abandoned them?”

“Ok, lets fix it then.” He nods and I can see a little bit of hurt in his face but someone needed to tell him. With a pat on my flaming curls he takes off into the sky after only three steps.  He flies just as smoothly as when he leaps off a roof and I once again resolve to workout my wings. What's the point of having heavy muscles everywhere else if my lil chicken wings cannot carry me smooth-like.

Walking the creatures back to the castle takes a few hours so by the time I arrive Queen Darcy and her workers have created an entire monster enclosure for my new pets. I gently hug her, and manage to avoid touching her with my flames, before leading my creatures into the enclosure. Fourteen individual cages are built against the walls, their floors covered with straw, food and water already set out and I assign a cage to each of my monsters.

“Alright, I'll be back after school tomorrow. For now just sit, relax and calm down. You are safe.” I coo softly at them and slowly one by one they relax onto their new soft floors and fall asleep. “I must be a goddamned monster whisperer.”

I’m laughing at myself as I head back to the castle and a few of the guards cringe back from my passing. Yea I know how I look, I'm still in my demon form; abyss-like skin with flaming curls and eyes.  A tail covered in spikes and my entire body spattered in Kobold blood. It is definitely a look. I head to my private bathroom and have a quick but thorough shower before falling into my bed and passing out.

“Atreya!!” My name being screamed at a high decibel wakes me and I growl at whoever it is.

“What?” I ask as I sit up and stretch.

“Wake the f**k up. Your damned room is on fire, dumbass.” Logan's matter of fact voice finally makes its way through the haze of sleep. I look around and yelp a little at my surroundings.

“What happened?” I watch as the flames burn everything in my room to ashes. They will die out soon, the bed and drawers are already gone, I had been sleeping on the ashes.

“Your f*****g hair. You are still a full demon right now.” I look down at my body and laugh a little crazily. I hadn’t returned to my human skin before going to bed. 

“So how hasn’t the fire spread to the whole castle? And why didn’t you guys just put it out?” I question the people at the door as the fires finally dwindle to burning cinders.

“Actually we did try to put it out, but they are your flames so they couldn’t be put out while your hair was still feeding them.” He points his thumb over his shoulder at one of the maids. “We have witches. She sealed the room so it wouldn’t escape while we tried to wake you up. You are one heavy sleeper.” 

“Yea, I was exhausted.” I walk across the ashes of my room while slipping back into my human skin. 

“Sis, You know you’re naked right? You burnt your clothes off.” Logan looks away politely and the witch maid steps forward to cover me with a blanket she plucked front of the air.

“Woops. I may need some more clothes now that it's all gone.” As I speak I turn to look behind me but my room was already fixed. I stumble a little then look down at the witch beside me. “That's some handy magic.”

The maid blushes slightly before heading off to finish whatever she was doing before. I walk back into my room and open the drawers. Clothes the same styles as what I usually wear fill them and a brand new four poster bed stands in the centre of the room. I pull my uniform out, including the skirt because it feels like a skirt day, and a pair of bum shorts. After a shower I join the family for breakfast in the dining room I haven’t used until now.

“So, you burnt your room down?” My fathers voice has a tremor to it and when I look at him I can see the strain of him trying to hold back a laugh. 

“Yep, next on the agenda is yours.” Snarky Atreya is out again I should probably muzzle her.

“Oh dear. Well at least wait until I remove my things.” Elizabeth isn’t so polite as to hold back a laugh and it’s a strange phenomenon to see her porcelain face wrinkled with laugh lines.

Darcy and Noelle laugh along with her and my father watches them like they are poisonous spiders.

“Anyway, where are the boys?” Just as the words leave my mouth the boys enter the room. 

None of them wear their human bodies today and I stare in awe. Logan looked basically the same except for the expansion of his muscles and a pair of curving bull horns that sprouted from his temples. He was dressed in overalls like Darcy ready for a long day of hard work.

Justin resembles father and I with straight horns but they are only half the length of mine and bulbous at the base. They narrow to a pointed tip and I can smell poison wafting from them. His skin is brownish red looking like a muted version of fathers. He also gained height in demon form like father and I do standing close to eight feet tall. His ears stood off to the sides in drooping points like Noelle's and he had jewellery hanging off them to match his emo looking get up.

Elijah and Gael wore their uniforms for the university but that was the only part of them that looked normal. Elijah is always pale thanks to his vampire heritage but today he is glowing white. His eyes are completely bright red, no whites, no pupils and his teeth are elongated to an unsettling degree. Atop his head he has small pale milk coloured horns that sprouted from his forehead and curved upwards to his hairline. He had a long white tail that looks like a whip and he seems to be able to move it independently. If anyone saw him like this they would find it impossible to doubt his demonic heritage. His height was still only seven feet, it had not changed from normal, but his lithe frame now had a slight amount of muscle packed atop it.

Gael kept his green skin in demon form and also didn't gain any height remaining at seven feet just like always. He did however have curling rams horns sprouting from his hair and sharpened upper and lower teeth just like mine. Everything else was the same except for the demonic aura that was almost on par with fathers. All my brother gained claws in their demon forms.

“Do any of you have wings?” I can’t help myself from asking.

“All of them.” Father answers from his end of the table as the boys sit down for breakfast.

“Neat. We should all go flying so you can help me build muscles in my wings.” I smile at them as we eat and they all agree before polishing off their breakfasts.

Logan leaves with Darcy to help his mum with work at her massive warehouse. Justin runs off in the direction of the roof with a quick goodbye causing Noelle to smile sweetly at his retreating back. Father, Gael and Elijah stand in the obsidian hallway and let their human skins slip over them. It is a trippy thing to watch and I have to blink a few times to ensure my eyes are working properly. I wonder if my image wavers like that when I change back and forth. The university is bustling when we arrive and Elijah sprints off in the direction of his classes.

“Sis, Dad told me about your plan. I’ll do it. I want to help fix the things my mother broke.” The pain in his face is overwhelming and I pull him down into a tight hug. 

“Your mothers mistakes aren’t your fault. Don’t do this for her, do it for your precious big sister. OK?” I squeeze him once before letting go and he gives a sad smile before heading to his classes. 

I am going to rip up Morgana’s corpse and s**t on it. My little brother suffers because she couldn’t just be a good mother to him but had to go and become an evil queen. I huff and puff my way through the morning classes which cover things like political science and social bullshit. When lunchtime arrives a presence at the edge of my dull humanoid senses piques my interest. I look down the hallway and see Cami in an animated conversation with another girl who looks like her but has blue hair instead of green. The girl is also closer to six feet than Cami’s five. 

I make a beeline towards them and Cami’s head lifts in my direction. When her eyes meet mine her skin glows across her cheeks causing her sister to frown at her.

“Cami, can we talk?” I ask as I stop before her.

“U-um Atreya, this is my sister, Calissa. Calissa this is Atreya.” The introduction could have waited but Cami had taken the time so I acknowledged her sister with a nod before looking back down at her.

“So, are you free?” I want her to drop everything and follow me but I know she has a life. 

“Y-yes. Just wait a moment and I’ll find you in the dining hall.” Her voice is like bells when it's strung in a sentence and I close my eyes while she talks.

“Sure. Don’t take too long.” I turn to leave but my senses are still focused on Cami so I hear her sister's words.

“Why are you making friends with the Crazy Demon Princess?” I can feel Calissa’s eyes boring into my back and I wanna throw her the finger. I refrain as they don’t need to know I can hear them.

“She is nice to me. She actually helped me ward off an assault the other day Cali.” Cami sounds distressed having to convince her sister and now I want to smack sense into her sister.

“Whatever. When she eats you don’t complain.” Calissa says those words as a fact but I hear Cami choke a little and I smile a tiny satisfied smile. 

“I won’t.” Cami whispers, making her sister ask what she said. I finally leave my humanoid hearing distance and head to the dining hall.

The table in the corner is filled with the same people as yesterday but they had left my seat vacated. When I sit down they begin talking about their afternoons and the news. When one of them mentions the bust up of a child kidnapping ring in the Demon kingdom I hide my smile. The news was spreading that a scary ass demon was hired by the king to stop some bad guys and it sounded like a human sci-fi movie plot. My senses tingle and I look up to see Cami floating through the crowd until she stands before our table. My new unnamed friends, because I haven’t memorized their names yet, look up at her with expectant eyes.

“Come here.” I say and wave her around the table. As she shyly walks over the person beside me goes to move. I grab his arm and hold him in place with a shake of my head. The guy's eyebrows furrow but he stays seated.

When Cami reaches my side she fidgets nervously while looking for a chair to sit. With a devil's smile I pull her down to sit on my lap. She squeals a little before hiding her mouth behind her hand. Quickly looking around she lowers her face which is now glowing brightly. The guy beside me flashes a knowing smile and I kick him under the table. Gently, I don’t want to break his leg. 

“Y-you wanted to talk to me?” She asks while sitting rigidly.

“Mmhmm.” I say as I rest my forehead on her shoulder. “I wanted to know if you are free this afternoon?”

“I am.” She whispers quietly into the silence. I look up at the table and raise my eyebrows.

“Don’t let us stop you from conversing.” I say to my unnamed friends and as a group they start talking s**t once again. I hold Cami a little closer and brush my lips across her sensitive ears. “Good. Hang out with me after classes today.” I breath on the tip of her ear and she shivers. 

“Okay.” We sit together for the rest of lunch and by the time we leave she is comfortable enough to engage in conversations with my new friends.

Afternoon classes pass quickly and I finally have my first Beast training class. When I arrive at the outdoor field where the class is to be held a few of the other people gathered are startled. They begin to whisper amongst themselves. By now the entire school knows who I am but none of them had put two and two together. Demon King’s second wife was a Beast which means her daughter must be part Beast. It isn’t rocket science don’t act too shocked. I laugh aloud at my own thoughts and once again people look at me like I'm crazy. The professor walks out wearing nothing but a towel and I laugh a little when I recognize her. 

“You look better as a lion.” I say as she stops before the gathered students.

“And you would look better as a chew toy.” She throws at me and I laugh quietly. Nemean Lions are rude creatures by nature.

“Alright welcome to my lesson. I am professor Aureus and today we will just get a little familiar with each other, learn some history and shift together.” She smiles at the gathered students and they excitedly smile back. My own blood freezes in my veins while a cold sweat breaks on my skin.

“Let us start with some history.

The Beast People are descendants of ancient creatures who gained enough magic to shift their forms. The change from a creature of the world into a thinking being was hard for the first people. They separated from the wild creatures they no longer identified with and created a society away from them. Their life was relatively easy for the most part until the people of Alfheimr discovered them. The first Seelie king and The Griffin Queen, everyone hears this story as children, a tale of romance. However, despite the romance being true, it has a more prominent history as the first pairing between Alfheimr’s people and their mount. The Griffin Queen was lucky enough to have the Seelie King fall in love with her however when the rest of Alfheimr discovered the bond between mount and the people of Alfheimr, a few unscrupulous individuals exploited that bond. This caused the Beast race to go into hiding for a Millenia. 

However three hundred years ago a member of the Beast race came into the open and stole the heart of the Demon King himself.” 

When Aureus says this the entire class turns to stare at me as one and the synchronized motion is enough to give me chills.

“Noone knows the Second Demon Queen's Beast identity however she was strong enough to carve a place in society for all of the Beast Race. The combined power of the Demon King and His two Queens was enough to provide safety for all Beast race members who wished to enter society. After the disappearance of the Second Queen, and the death of the First, the Demon king himself continued their mission of acceptance. Even now the Demon king continues to make way for the Beast Race, allowing us into the schools and accepting us as members of his own kingdom. 

That brings you all up to date on the immediate history. You will have a written essay on the personal history of your own family due in three weeks so I suggest everyone go home and consult your parents and family members. Choose a specific piece of history and write and in depth comparison between then and now. I’ll hand out the official assignment papers after class. It will provide an overview and guide for the essay setup.

Now for the fun part. Let’s shift.”

Professor Aureus’s teaching method is chaotic and some of the students seemed a bit shocked at her switching attitude. In less than a second she had stopped her lecture on our history and exploded into her Nemean Lion form. She is still as awe inspiring as the first time I saw her. Being fire type, her short female mane along with the line of fur along her spine and the tuft on the tip of her tail is alight with flames. Flames also gather along her paws angling up her legs giving her the look of walking on flames. She roars the throaty roar of a lion and the students begin undressing. Each of them begins to shift and I am impressed at the different Beasts in attendance. 

Magmasaurus, Nemean lions of every element type, griffins and a few wolf types are just the beginning. I desperately want to shift into my own Beast however I hold back. It is a little bit too dangerous to be around all these other Beasts I can accidentally hurt. I’ve never actually shifted around another being other than my mother. I even accidentally hurt her that time as well. Professor Aureus looks at me expectantly and chuffs air in my direction.

“Yea, it’s not happening. Do you want everyone here to be in danger?” I’m asking seriously but she still rolls her eyes at me like I am too dramatic. “You doubting me almost makes me wanna risk these people's lives just to show you. But I won’t.”

I wave at her and the other students as I turn to leave. When I reach the door to the castle Cami is waiting for me. She is sitting on the shoulder of one of the Gargoyles that Guard the University and they are chatting away happily. Neither of them notice my approach and when I’m a few paces away I startle them both with a yell. 

“Listen you sentient rock, If you have something priceless in your possession you should remain vigilant. What if I was something evil?” I ask sarcastically however the gargoyle looks at me with a questioning look. 

“Princess.” He bows a little and I can all but hear the thought in his head that I am evil. I’m not, I’m just crazy.

“Atreya, I waited.” Cami’s voice is like bells and would probably annoy other people however it set me off like nothing else. 

“Good. Lets go.” The gargoyle and Cami both flinch back from me before Cami floats down off his shoulder and takes the hand I have held out.

When we turn towards the castle the crystal doors show my reflection and I realise why they startled. My eyes had darkened to a flaming abyss at some point during the conversation. Probably when my mind ran away with Cami’s voice.

Cami follows me, as calmly as she can when everyone is staring at us, all the way to fathers office. Once again I refuse to knock, just because I know it stresses him out, but this time he isn't inside. I drag Cami through the magic door and then into my room at home managing to avoid all my siblings and the mothers. I toss her onto my bed before turning to the drawers and changing out of my uniform into sweats and a singlet. I grab one of my t-shirts out of the draws and toss it at her. 

“Get out of your uniform.” She looks at me with big wide purple eyes before she nods and changes her clothes. I try really hard not to stare at all the perfect light brown skin she was exposing however my will power is at absolute zero. The longer I look the more she glows and when I look into her face she is radiant enough to rival the sun.

“Stop staring.” She whispers the words and I smile. Sitting down on my bed I pull her down beside me and we both lean back against the headboard. 

“So, what do you do for fun?” I want to know all I possibly can about her.

“I read. Mostly novels My aunty smuggled in from the human world.” 

“I understand that. Humans have some interesting imaginations and their misconceptions about the races they fetishize are interesting to read.” We laugh together and Cami drops her head to my shoulder. “Although, I don't really like reading too much myself. I prefer watching movies and tv shows.”

“Yes. Our TV’s in Castle Mayhem get the human channels as well as Alfheimrs’.” Cami speaks casually but my mind gets stuck on her words.

“Castle Mayhem? Do you belong to the Seelie Court?” My curiosity is piqued quite a bit. She lives in Castle mayhem, her tv has human channels and she was being pursued by an Unseelie Prince.

“Oh, yea. I am the Second princess. My older sister Calissa is the first and my older brother Narcissus is the Heir apparent.” She is blushing again but this time there is no glow. She must be embarrassed to be telling me this.

“Nice. I stole myself a Princess.” I pat her cute little head and she sighs in relief. “Did you really think I would stop liking you because you are Seelie?”

“Yes. Many of the people in Alfheimr hate the Seelie. We have a tendency to put ourselves above everyone else. Alot of the Seelie court is made up of assholes.”