Chapter 4Demon's view

The air.

To most it is a source of life, to me it is a source of death. If I stay in it too long, my life (or rather existence) that I have enjoyed for more years than I am willing to count, is over. This world is becoming more difficult for me to be in, less people believe, less people are open to my intrusions. It was a pity that my movements were limited to those with certain abilities and openness. I had been lucky, in a way, with my previous vessel. Not only had the body been quite willing after all they'd done to her, but both her likeness and powers were quite useful. It's almost ironic, we were only as strong as our vessels, even though we make our vessels stronger than anything they themselves would ever be able to achieve.

I hadn't met any of my kind of years.

There had to be a few around, but we were both hunted and desired, either by those who sought to end us or those that wished to gain power. We usually had no interest in either group, so we kept low, avoided others of the same kind and just lived interesting lives. And my life in particular had been very good. Guiding that vampire girl around had been surprisingly amusing. But all good, or evil, things must come to an end eventually. It was a pity that mine came much too early.

Suicide.

The little girl had been much stronger than I'd thought. She didn't exactly manage to do it herself but was still strong enough to arrange it without my knowledge. The fiend. Though 'the angel' is more appropriate. She had managed to keep Amy relatively safe despite my attempts to play with her. In fact, it had been a continuous source of amusement that I valued greatly. That's the biggest problem with being an immortal with no emotions: lack of entertainment. You try to sit motionless in a darkened room for more than an hour and be amused.

And then try it for a year.

Or hundreds of years.

They called my kind demon, evil and malicious. And we could be, oh yes. But, did they not realize that the pain of others was the best kind of amusement? The only kind that lasted us through the centuries. Existence is just so boring if you don't spice it up. Ironically to us it seems like you humans have the same idea. War, torture, reality-TV. Pain is the premier content of most of your entertainment. And it's not really new either, all through the ages pain and misery have been what people enjoy. Mostly as an alternative to their own boring lives.

We just add spice.

Anyway, suicide. I'm not entirely sure how she managed to get a message out to her mother, telling her where she'd be on a moment of weakness. They were well prepared too, it was hardly possible for me to defend. Usually, inhabiting a body had the advantage that people didn't want it to die, but she, their Queen, knew very well that Isabel had lived in pain for a very long time. Even before I got to her, so she should actually thank me for taking her away from that terrible place. Not that the Isabel felt like that, despite wanting to escape. She had tried to resist me almost from the first moment I entered her. It made it all the more fun. Just having a willing vessel wasn't nearly as much fun as a fighting one. And fight she did, all through our lifespan. She even managed to warn my toy in sneaky ways that had me admiring her vitality.

That time has gone and past, I look through new eyes now. Digging a little through the memories when I first entered showed me this was one of the children they saved. The irony. I knew Amy's memory was good enough to have this face in there somewhere. But it would only come into play when directly faced, not while passing on the streets. Besides, this body had changed.

Amy had surprised me though. Finding me, even in this new body. I'm not exactly sure how that worked, as Vampires are supposed to lose their 'magical' entanglement on the turning. It was a law that even I could not break. Otherwise, I'd chosen a vampire body long ago, it would have made things so much easier. Now I had, at most, maybe two hundred years with a vessel. Usually a lot less, as hosting me can be rather tiring for such a frail body. While I could keep it intact with ease, the cells still knew that someone was wrong. It wasn't a perfect body either, I didn't, by far, have enough time to search. The gypsies had chosen their method well, protected well and letting her die slowly. It had taken me agonizing hours to find someone suitable. It was lucky (Hah!) that I recalled where they had brought those children.

This body was... So much more boring.

Still, it wasn't completely powerless. Walking through the world with different people to torture and tease was certainly pleasant. Especially when I moved cities. With some manipulation and display of intellect, I'd managed to get one of the richer families to 'choose me' for a fund that would allow me to study. Not that I liked going to school that much, but it was a place of intense emotions where I could have some good old fun.

And get away from that hunting ginger maniac.

Not that it was that hard to stay out of her reach, but it was a bother I'd rather not have. Here I could have subtle to unsubtle fun. Even more so when I found out that one of the girls here seemed to be a learning witch. The curse she did on that other girl was positively hilarious! Her inventiveness should have been applauded. I just smirked though the whole thing. It was rare that someone else supplied my entertainment. However, she wasn't such bad witch after all when I noticed she had lifted the curse. Not just a bungling fool then but someone to be reckoned with. It was not unsafe to assume that she had a book telling her about monsters, demons and my kind. So I couldn't be too obvious.

A challenge!