• What happens when you never die? What if you had to live? Always There, Never changing… If you wish upon a star hard enough and hold your breath under every bridge, will you get your dream?




    Chapter 29
    The sky seemed to fade from the sky and I screamed in horror, my feet seeming to fall into the crack that had been laid out for me.
    “Kari pleases! Save me!” Naomi screamed, tumbling down to the abyss below.

    I shut the book disgusted. Foolish mortals. How easily they perceived that falling to abyss was a bad thing. Unable to turn another page, I lit the book on fire.
    “Suki! Su-uuu-ki! Baby, come on, I need to go to work, the high council called. A gargoyle blowtorched a hotel,” My father called. I appeared before his eyes, smiling.
    “Oh? Do they need the most Supreme Lawyer to decide his fate? Dad, believe me you’ll do great. You always do,” I told him.

    I should probably explain. You may have well guessed that Gargoyles do not exist anywhere other than your nightmares. Well that’s where we live. Your nightmares, the one place everyone is frightened of. The Underworld. No it’s not where the devil lives, but the King can get pretty close. Heheh. I’m a pureblood, almost 100% throwback. Demon of course. I am my father’s secret child. If the council had found out I existed they would test me. Then they would have found out the truth, which is that I’m not a full demon heir. I’m 30% elf. It was a forbidden love, you see. The council insisted on their members having full Demon heirs. My father being the King’s second, was expected to carry an heir, someone to give their magic to when they pass away. Fortunately, we do not die that quickly. The First Fathers who had founded the Goblins and the Elves had one more council member, the one who wanted Demons. Everyone knows the story:


    “We should use pure energy, like the gods have done before us,” The DemonFather had insisted.
    “We should make them carry traits we find useful, like claws or wings,” The GoblinFather urged.
    “Disgusting...We should make them beautiful! They should have little work,” The ElfFather concluded.
    “No! They need to be able to defend themselves. Able to grant wishes like genies, and powers to aid them against mortals,” argued the DemonFather.
    “Genie, huh, like a fairy tale. Become a real man, and see that we are dealing with the real world. The one where genies are laughed at,” The ElfFather and GoblinFather had scoffed, scorning his foolishness.
    Cheeks flushed, the DemonFather swirled power among them.
    “Who are you to scoff at my theories of existence?! I’ll show you! The reign of the Demons shall be forever here, and you shall pay!” DemonFather screeched. In a quick boom of light, the DemonFather was gone, leaving behind only his promise that we shall forever rein the earth.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    And we have, for the most part. Demons are pretty vain in that way. We look at others, and see their flaws, not realizing that in doing that, that is our fatal flaw. As I mentioned, we have unique powers. Mine is I’m sort of like a jumper. I can think of a place appear there instantaneously. My father is like a usual, all fire, little of which I inherited. I’m mostly a psychic. Like moving objects with my mind and teleporting to anywhere I want. Hannah is almost a pure fire throwback though! It’s really rather rare. As I was talking about, our fatal fall is that we see flaws in others. We often laugh at the goblins for their “magical power”. Pshh. They get it all from their fathers and steal elves’ magic. Demon powers come from within and manifests at a startlingly young age. Every Demon, noble or not has powers. True, the nobles tend to have a stronger background in it, but still. Humans are the worst. No offense intended if this book was leaked to the mortal world. I mean, sure you guys are great, despite the fact that you have too little brain power to understand how we work our magic, nor can you use magic... Seriously, I have nothing against humans. A little dim, but they help us get our work done. You read that part about the genies right? About how DemonFather used their magic to help us? So the name stuck. Genie, Demon, Undertaker, Grim Reaper, call us what you will, but they are all the same in the end. I mean sure we live in a place far worse than a forest or a nightmare, but it’s cozy. Back to the subject. We have to grant wishes. After our 15th birthday, when our powers strengthen, our names are put in a drafting list. When you have geniduty, you have to report to the human that called you. When we appear, we must grant three wishes to that person. I mean, kind of cruel to give someone anything, but that’s how Bill Gates ended up so rich right? I mean he wasn’t born a Windows making genius! Oops, I was so busy writing I didn’t realize they had called me. Geniduty. Blech. Care to tag along?
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Hello! You’ve reached a Demon! Feel free to ask for three wishes. They may not include asking for more wishes, killing, or enchanting people to fall in love with you. Also, no you cannot change you type. Sorry.” I drone, forcing a grim smile. It’s a boy around eighteen that has called me. He stares at me in wonder. (See this is why we don’t reveal our identities!) Then he looks confused.
    “A demon? I thought you were a Genie! Can genies be girls?” he asks.
    “Same thing, now come on, I don’t have all day. Wish!” I wave him on.
    “Well, there is this girl...” he begins, but I cut him off.
    “Sir, you’re not allowed to enchant anyone,” I remind him
    “What? But you’re a genie! Make it happen!” he stutters. Wow. Sooo typical of them to think they rule the world. Like I couldn’t send him to his death with a wave of my hand. But since that is strictly forbidden, I throw him my next best thing.
    “It’s in the fine print,” I suggest. He throws me a withering look. I stare back as menacingly as I think I can. He quickly gets the point. Smart man. As he wastes away his three wishes on money and power, I think to myself.
    “So can I do that?” his voice throws me off.
    “Oh… um... sure,” I say shrugging. He grins.
    “As a demon of the North realm, in honor of the fathers, I grant you your wishes!” my voice rings. He stares in wonder again.
    “So your an actual demon?!” he grins. I sigh, hating to go back over the conversation.
    “Please insert another drachmade for another three wishes,” I say opening my palm. He looks confused.
    “Oh, I don’t have another…” he starts, but I vanish before he can continue the conversation.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “Suki? Did you get stuck with another geniduty?” my father asks. I sigh, leaning against the counter.
    “Yes, an eighteen year old,” I tell him.
    “Ouch,” he laughed. I could tell his case had gone well.
    “Did you win?” I asked
    “Yes and No, the judge makes his Final decision tomorrow, but it looked like it was wrapped up. “We just might take this one,” he smiled. I laughed, snapping my fingers and disappearing from his sight.