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Prologue - Chapter 4

Several hours later, Nira woke up with a stretch. She was surprised at herself. When on assignment she rarely slept deeply because that left her vulnerable. This time though she'd felt safe on a deep instinctual level, which is what surprised her.

Looking at the realm veil 'window' she saw Mikael there. Blinking a bit before she opened her backpack with a yawn. Reaching in she pulled out her chocolate covered coffee beans. It wasn't as good as a warm, steaming cup of coffee but it kept caffeine in her system. As she munched she said, “Good Morning!”

“Did you sleep well?” Mikael asked, his voice raspy.

“I did. What about you, did you get any sleep?” Nira asked before plopping a couple beans in her mouth.

“I prefer to sleep as little as I can. Sleep is filled with darkness.”

“And by darkness I don't think you mean the darkness of closing your eyes. I'm sorry,” Nira stated, genuinely sad for him. “What is the darkness like?”

“It... is all encompassing. It takes your soul and controls it to get what it wants, chaos. Pure, dark chaos. For us, it is the result of millennia upon millennia of being subjected to evil. Daemoni are not inherently evil, dark creatures.

“We were created with a noble purpose, to punish evil souls to maintain the balance of justice and allow those not deserving of punishment to pass on. When you only know darkness without hope then you eventually become a part of that darkness. In it we eventually lose ourselves completely and are simply unmade.”

“Humans call you demons. You scare most of them because of what you look like. That look is what we've been taught to be afraid of, whether by our entertainment or in books or even in religion. The truth is, yes, some of you are frightening to look upon but not you.

“Every image I have seen of Daemoni princes and those in the upper echelons of the Dark Realms is different from what we traditionally think of as handsome but truthfully, they are rather handsome. Your colors are unique and even beautiful, you are well-muscled tall alphas with wings that remind me of dragons. Why should you look like humans when you aren't? You are Daemoni.”

“You think differently than most humans, Nira Daniels,” Mikael said with what appeared to be a smirk on his face. “While you slept I thought about love and what you said.”

Nira smiled at Mikael. She liked talking to him. He was smart and insightful. “So did you figure out anything?”

“I believe we don't love because we don't know it. All we know is evil and darkness. Our queen and her chosen consort do not love anything but chaos. They only know power and obsession. I wonder if we were to see that love was indeed possible for our kind if the darkness would have the lure that it does. It would give hope where there is none. The Dark Realms can be a beautiful place. That is forgotten by many.”

“Maybe one day I can see it,” Nira mused.

“I think I would enjoy seeing what you thought.”

Nira blushed lightly as she cleared her throat. “I have to go to the bathroom and freshen up. I'll be right back,” Nira mumbled as she quickly stood up and headed outside. She suddenly felt embarrassed. She didn't know why but the fact that Mikael wanted to spend more time with her made her blush like a young schoolgirl.

While she was gone, Mikael found himself once again thinking about her. She was a little human but so strong of spirit. She was beautiful for a human as well. Her lavender eyes sparked with life and so much emotion about everything. He'd never felt that much emotion other than hate and betrayal.

What he found most intriguing was why she didn't think he was hideous. Multiple times now she had mentioned that she thought him handsome. That puzzled him because every human he'd ever come across, dead or alive, was terrified of the Daemoni. The Daemoni themselves simply just accepted it. He’d often wondered if being able to appear as human was why so many Daemoni took such great enjoyment out of appearing in the human realm.

As Nira walked back into the cave he noticed that she seemed to blush every time she looked at him. He found it endearing and puzzling at the same time. “Nira, do you have a mate?”

She was in the middle of taking a drink from her canteen when he asked, causing her to immediately start to cough because of all the questions he might ask, she never expected that one. “No, I don't. Why do you ask that?” she finally got out.

“You puzzle me. Well, most humans do, but you in particular puzzle me. You don't seem to mind that I cannot turn into my human form and you don't mind speaking in Daemoni. You want to spend time talking with me when so many of my own kind avoid me at all costs. You are thoughtful and insightful and extremely beautiful for a human. I haven’t been intrigued by anyone in a very long time, Aera, and you intrigue me.”

“Aera... wait, little one? I'm not that little. I'll have you know that I just reached perfection before others, thank you very much,” Nira huffed, causing Mikael to chuckle, the sound of which brought about a smile to Nira's face. “Wow! That laugh is nice from you.”

“And that smile brightens up even the Dark Realms, Aera.”

“Alright, Dnirya. You call me Aera or little one, I get to call you my prince or Dnirya,” Nira stated slyly.

“Hmmm, I like the way you say that.”

“I think you're flirting with me, Prince Mikael.”

“What is flirting?” Mikael asked, confused.

“How long has it been since you were able to come to Earth?” Nira asked him. As Mikael looked as if he were trying to figure out an answer she couldn't help but appreciate him. She did wonder what he looked like as a human. She could see him as tall and muscled but more lean than muscled with black maybe blue hair. She knew he'd be handsome, very handsome.

“It's been a long time, maybe seven, no eight hundred years.”

“Well, no wonder you don't know what flirting is. Flirting is... well, it's a type of human behavior that involves giving lots of compliments to suggest interest in a deeper relationship with the other person,” Nira blushed again.

“Interesting. Well, unless that involved you coming here I could hardly have a deeper relationship but if I could, well, that would be something I would definitely consider so then I guess I was. I wonder what Damian would think about that,” Mikael chuckled again.

“Why do you say that?”

“Damian has had the responsibility of punishing the souls of Earth that were, simply put, pure evil. Most have no redemption to be found in them. He has been around the ugliest of human souls. As a result, he has been around the darkness for a very long time. That long without knowing the light, without hope, or love as you would say, it has an effect. Damian does not have a fondness for humans, in his view they are all vile creatures.”

“Well, if I had only known the most evil of humans I would probably think that as well so it's not like I can blame him for that. He just needs to be shown that not all humans are evil. He needs to be given hope. It hurts my heart that the Daemoni have lost that,” Nira said softly as she sat thinking. “Your kind provides justice for all of the realms. It seems so wrong that they suffer for it.”

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