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This was written with the permission of the author of Stalkers. It is told by Dura Rivaina, a young fire demon and friend of Lai. Please don't use these characters without asking first.
Everyone has had one of those days, if you're me you've had seven or eight. I can remember the day that I met Lai, not because she would become my best friend, but because it was one of those days. You know, the kind that starts out all sunny and cheerful, but you didn't get any sleep. Not that it's ever sunny on the demon plane, but the hellfire was burning brightly. Now I, a child of Rivaina, am a minor fire demon. As such I am lorded over by my father, the Lord Rivaina. That morning my father sent a sprite to me first thing to request my presence. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and did up my bright red hair carefully. Finally I had to don my pesky court clothes. I love the formal Flame Silks that I have to wear to the court, but they are a pain in the ass to put on.
Like a good girl I arrive in the hall on time. When I am announced to the court I enter the throne room walking tall and lady-like.
"Dura," my father's voice boomed out over the great hall. As his youngest child and a subject of his city I bowed to my father showing him the respect due a man of his station. Now before I tell you why he called me to the court that day I guess I should give you a little background on the situation. All demons can travel the planes between the mortal and demon worlds. We look just like the humans of the mortal realm most of the time. Each branch of the demon family has different powers and are known by different characteristics. Fire demons usually always have red hair and eyes in their human forms, extremely short tempers, and a great like for really hot places. The greater point of this all is this: we, the fire demons of Rivaina, have been forbidden to wander the human plane without express permission from my father. This rule is the only code that I regularly break. Of course, I thought that no one knew what I was doing and I was wrong.
"I am glad to see that you are so willing to forego the rules of your birthplace," when father started with that I knew I was in for it. I really didn't expect to get off as easy as I did though. "The human plane is only to be visited when I say so! What's next child, trying to forge another demon weapon?" Later I would wonder if he knew at the time that I was going to do just that, then again it was more then one thousand years later until I did that. In the peanut gallery my brothers and sisters are laughing silently at me at father berates me about my misconduct. They always hated how he liked me the most. "However, your idol pursuits are about to come to head; I need someone who knows the mortal plane to investigate an unusual occurrence there. Our blood sucking relatives have heard wind of half-breed. An immortal blessed vampiress that has a human soul. Our cousin Amerdin apparently made her a little over two decades ago. You will go to the mortal city of Rome and find this blessed child, Lai. I must know if this is true and decide what to do about it." Bowing again I rose to leave when Lord Rivaina stopped me, "Dura, if you wonder off the track of obtaining this knowledge you will be punished with a bath in the great salt seas." I hurried out of the great hall with that threat chasing on my heels, every fire demon hates water more then anything else.
Taking a short cut back to my room, I appropriated clothing that would place me as a young Roman woman of some good standing. Teleporting from place to place on the same plane is a normal experience for all demons, but from plane to plane is another experience altogether. It feels like someone has removed your soul and slammed in back into your body again. For that reason I always look to teleport to a place where it is quiet. Seeing the day I was having I should have known that my teleport was cursed also. I should have landed in an alleyway next to bathhouse near the city square, a landing place I knew well. This time however, I landed in the bathhouse. Instead of a moment or two of peace, I was assaulted by several young men. No matter what time I live in men always seem to think that women are there to serve them and that they can take liberties from them. After convincing them that I wasn't there for them, I escaped out on the busy streets of Rome.
Father is nothing if not correct. Using his directions I was at the house where the half-breed had last been seen in less then an hour. As I watched the servants come and go through the outer doorway leading to the inner courtyard, I wondered about the girl herself. Here I need to interject another explanation. Demons see the human soul, not the physical self. Therefore, if you are beautiful on the outside and have an ugly soul, you will appear ugly to us. So the child of a Vampire would appear much like a vampire to me with some characteristics of a human soul. Vampires can assume a human exterior, but a demon can always tell the difference. They are very pale, thin and scraggly looking. This is offset by the wings that they carry on their backs. Beautiful full wings, like an angels but always any color but white. Even in the beauty, something about them screams wrong. That's how you can tell them from the demons of justice, whose very presence is a comfort.
So there I was, having located the residence of our reluctant half-breed, I was only left with finding her. In my guise as a young Roman Lady, I introduced myself to the Lord of the household. I gained entrance as the fabled 'Friend of a Friend' and was invited to dine with the family. Again I was exposed to a large volume of traffic, both servant and household, and still no half-breed child. Begging need of rest I was shown to a room for the night. Frustrated by the lack a half-breed I was ready to return to my father and tell him he must have heard wrong, my musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.
I granted entrance and when the door swung open, the two of us stood in shock staring at each other. The young woman who had been appointed to serve me in my chamber stood in front of me. She had red hair, blue eyes, well tanned skin, and white wings with golden flecks in them. She had me off kilter for a few moments, as the feeling of unease that accompanied the presence of a vampire settled into a dull ache in the back of my head.
From the look in her eyes, she could tell what I really was also. I was curious as to exactly what she saw and wondered how I could convince her it was just a trick of the light. As she circled around me I felt my first real pang of apprehension. What kind of strength did she have and what was the condition of her soul. It takes a lot to kill a demon, a common vampire can't, could the half-breed child?
She broke through my thoughts when she spoke, "Why is your hair on fire?"
I drew in a breath to speak, but didn't really know where to start. I guessed that direct would be the best route to go. "I think that you and I should talk," I started sitting on the edge of the bed. I gestured for her to do the same and after she had joined me I started again. "I am Dura Rivaina, who are you?"
"I am Lai."
"Lai, do you ever feel that you are different from the others?"
"Sometimes...," she trailed off looking at me closely. "Are you a goddess come to take me to the other gods?"
She was so young yet, she didn't know at all what awaited her. At that point even I didn't know what awaited her, I just knew what if I let her fall into my father's grasp it would not be good. She really had no clue as to what made her special. I didn't really know how to tell her about herself, so I settled for as close to the truth as I could get with out scaring her, relying on her personal beliefs to take me as someone who was there to guide her to a better future. I explained to her that her mother had been attacked just before she was born. As she was born, she was blessed by the gods in return for the untimely death of her mother. I pulled her to what passed as a mirror in that time and used my deeper sight to make her see herself as I saw her. When she fainted I was reminded how weak young mortals often were. Placing her on the bed I thought about all the good things she might do with her found immortality, I just had to be careful to keep her out of harms way until she had a good set of values to tell good from evil.
There was doubt but a great bit of hope in her eyes as I explained her potential to Lai. Against my father's instructions I led her from the house late that night. It took us nearly three weeks, traveling as humans would, to travel across the land to met with a man who I thought would make a suitable teacher. Along the way I explained my nature to her and why it seemed my hair was on fire. I also took the time to teach her how to use her sight to see herself as I saw her. At the end of second week she could see herself in the streams and rivers that we passed by. Slowly a friendship formed between the two of us. When I left her in the care of a demon of Justice who lived amongst humans, Gand, I knew that I would be back to see her soon.
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