The Demon Princess Read online

  The Demon Princess

  Copyright © 2020 by Emma DaSilva

  All rights reserved.

  Book Cover designed by Ardent Artist Books

  Header image designed By 千图网

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Published by

  Ardent Artist Books

  ardentartistbooks.com

  Created with Vellum

  Table of Contents

  1. Intruders

  2. The Meaning to My Name

  3. The Demons

  4. Possessed

  5. Arrival of the Associate

  6. Another Emere

  7. Unsaid Words

  8. Revelations

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  About the Author

  1

  Intruders

  Cold chills ran through my body as my heart beat elevated, drops of sweat gathered around my forehead even though it was December’s merciless winter. I started taking quick breathes while tightening the grip around my shabby pan's handle. Panic made me forget the location of my cell phone. Hence, I could not call the police either. The banging on the door started getting louder by every passing second.

  Remember what grandfather said…

  I kept repeating the phrase in my head while thinking about my late grandfather.

  ‘When the grim reaper knocks on your door, stand strong and face him bravely’ was one of the many advices he had given me while I was growing up.

  Who could be thumping on a 17 year old girl's door, that lives alone by herself and has nothing to offer? My guess was, a form of death. I dropped the pan when I remembered something, as if a bulb of hope had just lit up in my head, I ran towards the storage room. After removing a couple of boxes with my trembling hands, I found it.

  A hand gun.

  Grandfather had worked for the police in his youth and had kept his gun safe. To my surprise, it was still filled with bullets—a thud startled me. The intruder had entered my house, I got up and hid behind the door in the storage room. I could hear the resonance of more than one voice across the living room, but I could not make out what they were actually saying. As if they could sense my presence, they averted their steps towards the storage room where I hid. I tried not to breathe so harshly. Just as the first person entered, I took no time in pushing him back and pointed the gun towards him. It was really dark, I could barely see a couple of shadowy figures ahead of me. I turned on the light with my right hand while not letting go of the gun with my left.

  Holy Crap!

  Two huge boys stood in front of me, looking almost as shocked as I was. The one whom my gun was pointed at had light blue eyes that flared in contrast with his dark raven hair that was a bit wavy.

  “Dominic, Ezrah.”

  The other guy, behind him spoke in a foreign language. He was slightly tanned, and had attractive Asian eyes. His brown hair was tied into man bun, and his styled beard covered his jaw and chin.

  “What do you want!” I shouted, as I stressed on the trigger. Truth is, I was not sure if I could pull it, I simply could not bring myself to harm another person. Yet, I had to remain strong in hopes of ‘scarring them away’. The blue eyed guy talked to the other one in the same weird language. That’s when I noticed their attire, it was very peculiar. Their shirts had dragon designs embroidered on them in various shades of light blue and red, their pants were made up of some kind of spandex material, with no pockets. One of them did carry a fanny pack of some sort … or was it a gun holster? Somehow, they looked very confused.

  “Ezrah!” the one at the back exclaimed.

  “You are Ezrah right?” the other one, who had dark hair, finally spoke in English.

  “No, what do you want from me,” I replied while questioning.

  “My name is Dominic, and this is my comrade, Percy.” He looked at the boy next to him, “I mean P—”

  “Persia Onfroy,” the guy with the man bun put his hand on his chest while properly introducing himself. Their names were unusual, but I was not the one to talk.

  “We are Emeres from Wildmere, and you are our only source of hope.”

  2

  The Meaning to My Name

  The three of us rounded up around my coffee table in the living room. I tapped on the table while waiting for them to explain their invasion. I had offered them juice, which they kept looking at instead of drinking. Dominic finally took a sip and turned his head towards Persia, or Percy.

  “Percy I have never tasted anything like this, it is pretty good.”

  It was just some mango juice. “I ask again, what do you guys want?”

  “Do you not work for The Union?” Percy asked.

  Of course I do not. These two queer guys show up at my house at three o’clock in the morning and ask me questions instead of answering mine. Odd names, odd clothes, odd language and odd questions. Do they perhaps come from another country?

  “We come from another world, Wildmere,” Dominic spoke up next.

  I giggled lightly, of course I was kidding—weren’t they? “What? Did you come by using some kind of magic?” I scoffed, the thought of magic was hilarious to me, I was never a believer of supernatural spectacles. That was until the mango juice from Percy's glass started to levitate in air, my jaw dropped as I was left puzzled and astonished at the same time. I stood up with, staggered.

  “She really does not know,” Dominic commented upon seeing my reaction.

  I settled back on my chair as the liquid was cleanly placed back into the cup. “W-Wait, tell me more.” Now I was interested. They were not joking, about them coming from another world. But how was I related to them? I had grown up living normally with my grandfather. My parents passed away when I was younger, I had their picture, they were usual people with usual lives.

  “The situation in Wildmere is catastrophic because of the demons.”

  Grandfather’s stories ringed in my head. Wildmere? Of course I heard of that place. When I was younger, grandfather would tell me mystic tales. According to him, numerous worlds existed within the universe. One of the worlds ended due to excess dark power, it burned to ashes. It was a land of demons, a group of stronger demons escaped and landed onto another realm.

  “The demons were outsiders that took over Wildmere with the help of some dark Emeres,” Percy continued.

  “Dark Emeres?” I asked, curious.

  “Emeres—people like us, who bowed down to the Demon King in greed of dark power.”

  “The Demon King?” I asked, curious again. I noticed Percy’s clenched fists. Although I could not remember all of grandfather’s stories, especially any mention of The Demon King. But one of his stories explained a situation similar to the one in Wildmere, for sure.

  “The Union is an organization, with the strongest Emeres by their side. We are a part of it, and we are sent to Earth on a mission,” Dominic further explained.

  “We already had one of our associates investigating a specific issue on Earth, her name is Ezrah. We have never met her, this gadget was supposed to take us to her.”

  Dominic pulled out a circular shaped device, with a blinking red arrow pointing directly towards me. Magic and Technology, Wildmere was way ahead of us.

  “The device brought us here.”

  According to my analysis of this fictitious situation, they were searching for their associate with the help of a device that brought them to me? Am I supposed to be that associate? I looked at one serious boy, then the other. “But that is impossible, I am literally a human,” I cleared it up although they could alre
ady see it. They looked at each other, concerned. Looks like they could not proceed with their mission without this girl named Ezrah.

  “I might just know—” Percy let go.

  Dominic and I turned our heads towards Percy, who seemed to be in a brown study. He took a few seconds before finally looking at us.

  “What?” Dominic questioned.

  “An Aura Swap,” Percy plainly said.

  Confused, I looked at Dominic who nodded as if he had the knowledge.

  “What was that again?” Dominic asked, he was actually just as bewildered as I was.

  “Every person has a distinctive, invisible aura that this,” he picked up the device, “uses to locate—although very rare, an Aura Swap.”

  “And what is that?” I asked.

  “You came in contact with Ezrah and without knowing it, you both swapped auras.”

  I rolled my eyes. That sounded very fabled and unreal, but so did everything else. I was not that surprised anymore.

  “Who did you come in contact with?” Dominic queried, as if I would know.

  I meet new people on a daily basis, it was impossible to guess. I shrugged my shoulders.

  “An Aura Swap can only last about ten days,” Percy added the information.

  “I have been busy with school and my job for the past couple of weeks,” I confessed, feeling over-whelmed.

  “Then Ezrah is present in either your school or workplace, we will begin the search right away. Lead us to the location.”

  Dominic and Percy got up with fervor, ready to strive. But they did not seem to know that it was four o’clock in the morning, there was no way they would find their associate this early at school or at work.

  “Why don’t you guys rest?” I suggested, hoping they would agree.

  “Well I am tired—”

  “No, we would like to proceed,” Percy cut off Dominic who was about to concur.

  “What is your name?” Dominic asked, out of the blue.

  “Astrid Renouf, but you guys can call me Tri.” As that is what most people called me, or what I liked being called. I was not a big fan of my name, it was different and weird with literally no meaning. My mother had kept it, God knows where she got its idea from.

  “Astrid,” Dominic caught my attention. “It means princess in our language—a brave princess.”

  3

  The Demons

  First lectures were always boring to me. Luckily my seat was fixed behind Philip, a very chubby guy from my class. For the most part, I could doze off. The other night I provided Dominic and Percy with rooms for the time being, warmed up food and explained about my school and job, which was at a coffee shop. As a result, I barely got any sleep. My eyes slowly shut, for the first time school felt relaxing. I was away from all the confusion at home.

  “All right class, we have a new transfer student,” I opened my eyes wide and raised my head while looking towards the door.

  “Meet Dominic.”

  My jaw dropped as Dominic entered, he was wearing a basic blue hoodie and black sweatpants. His hair was combed back, but a few strands still fell to his forehead. His charming smile gleamed as he walked in front of the class elegantly. I could already hear gasps from girls, they sure were breath taken. Dominic's blue eyes scanned the whole class until they met my hazel ones. His smile became more heartfelt, as he walked my way. I tried my best to hide my face and look the other way as if I was unfamiliar with Dominic.

  Please don’t….

  “Hi Astrid.”

  In front of everyone, ignoring the teacher, he greeted me while calling my real name. I could feel their stares like sharp daggers as I struggled to greet back. “What are you doing here?” I whisper-shouted at Dominic.

  “Of course I’m here to find Ezrah.”

  He was being too honest in front of everyone, if they found out about his weird quest, they would certainly take him for a crackhead. For some reason I didn’t want that. I was also worried about him doing his little magic tricks which would create trouble.

  “Shut up and sit down for now,” I pointed towards the empty seat across the other end of the room, Dominic didn’t seem pleased, it was far away from me. He looked at the boy who was settled on the chair next to me, Dominic’s expression seemed unfriendly and frosty. The boy who was not half as masculine as Dominic got up and left for the other chair. Satisfied, Dominic took the chair next to mine while placing his bag on the desk that I knew for sure was empty. Throughout the lecture, he kept giving me smiles. It was right to say he paid more attention towards my face than the teacher.

  “I cannot believe you,” I said, as we followed along the sidewalks.

  Dominic had his hands placed in his pockets as he walked slower, knowing I would be left behind if he kept his normal pace. Which was kind of sweet actually, but then I remembered the embarrassment. Girls kept storming behind me, asking me about my relationship with him and what not.

  “Where did you get these clothes?” I questioned.

  “They were placed behind a glass wall, I took them.”

  Yep, he stole them.

  “They were displayed in a shop. That’s called stealing!”

  “Look,” he stopped walking.

  I turned towards him with crossed arms.

  “I am trying to find the associate,” he said, sternly. All of a sudden his tone got cold and stony.

  I continued walking. I could not keep nagging him anymore, he was not aware of our norms.

  “Astrid, watch out!”

  I could hear a faint growl coming from a certain direction, I could not figure out which one. I quickly looked up, a scary creature identical to a banshee stormed towards me. It felt like one of those dreams where you knew you were going to die.

  Wake up!

  I opened my eyes, I was safe in Dominic’s arms. He had speedily taken me away from the creature.

  “A demoness,” he explained, still holding me near.

  I stood on my feet as I paid attention to his words, it really was a monster. There was no other way of describing it. A demoness? What was happening?! Wake up!

  “Stand back,” Dominic instructed, as he took a couple of steps forward, challenging the creature.

  What is he going to do?

  At that moment, Dominic looked very strong, manly and heroic. He clapped his hands together vertically. As he separated his palms, a ferocious sword formed between them. Its blade was shiny and extensive, and looked as if it had been recently sharpened in order to shed some blood.

  The demoness giggled before aiming towards Dominic.

  The creature could speak? “Be careful!” I shouted while looking around, but there was no one. My street was usually alive with children playing, and men outside mowing their lawns or fixing their cars. I lived around a lively neighborhood but on this day, it was awfully quiet. The streets were bare.

  “You Emeres are worthless!” The demoness wildly screamed before charging towards Dominic. His sword slashed at her form but was grabbed by her long nails. She was trying to break the sword with them.

  “Rest in hell,” Dominic grimaced through clenched teeth. He tightened his grip as a wave of energy propagated from the sword, and the demoness was sent flying.

  As soon as she got back on her feet, Dominic appeared behind her. His sword had already pierced through her torso—I covered my eyes. I removed a couple of fingers, the demoness turned into black flames then disappeared into thin air.

  “What happened?” I cried out loud.

  “When they die, they become the darkness they possess,” he explained, placing the edge of his sword on his left palm and bringing the other one closer to it. The sword disappeared as if it was an illusion from the very beginning.

  “W-Why did that thing attack us?”

  “The demon child probably sent her,” Dominic answered while walking my way. “You all right?” He asked, watching me nod my head.

  Truth is, I was petrified to an extent that it made my blood cur
dle below the sensitive sheath of my skin. I had never seen anything like that before. I knew for sure that monster would give me nightmare for days.

  “It is happening.”

  We both sharply turned our heads as we heard Percy’s voice come closer as he appeared from the street behind us.

  “Good job at holding that,” Dominic praised him, as people, cars, animals started to storm in the area. Seemed like Percy had been holding everyone out through the whole scenario.

  “How?” I mumbled, he heard me.

  “I created a temporary barrier,” Percy simply said.

  Somehow, I understood it. Watching those fantasy movies with my best friend Amber paid off.

  “We need to find Ezrah as soon as possible, the dark forces are aware of us being here.”

  “It seems so,” Dominic remarked, lowering his head.

  I remained quiet as Percy and Dominic spoke.

  “Astrid,” Dominic called out, “I’m sorry, you are being dragged into this.”

  His gaze lowered to my fingers, they were still trembling. I was scared, I wanted to be strong, like my name—but I wasn’t. I remembered all those times when I would hide instead of facing the situation. I always needed others to help me, ever since grandfather passed away—living alone had been hell. If actual robbers had showed up the other night, I would have not been able to do anything. Who knows what could’ve happened, I could not even find my phone or call someone for help. I unexpectedly locked eyes with Dominic. “I want to help you both.” I tightened my fingers into a punch, for the first time my heart wanted to fight the fury. I wanted to be strong.