Val discovered very quickly that the revolving door of nannies had resulted in the children having no regular schedule or activities. The children seemed fine with this notion, as it allowed them to run amok and do as they pleased. She could tell she had her work cut out for herself between wrangling them and figuring out how to do it.

Alexander had been exceedingly unhelpful in providing her with any details as to a regiment or preferences other than stating their names and sex. While coloring with Lily, she began to wonder if the man was involved with his children at all other than cohabitating with them.

"Is that a dog?" Val asked Lily.

It was more blob than a dog, but she was trying to elicit more conversation. She was very reserved compared to her brother and she wanted to draw her out. She nodded her head in agreement. Val did not know if that meant it was a dog or if she was just placating Val so she would stop talking to her.

"What kind of dog is it?" Val pressed.

"Big," Lily said around her thumb.
Val suddenly imagined a hellhound flopping on his back at Lily's feet. She could see well the tongue lolling out and tail wagging as Lily scratched its broad chest. It was surprising how easy it was to imagine the timid girl surrounded by a whole pack of them.

"I like big dogs. How big?" Val continued asking.

Val was noting an eerie quiet in the penthouse that intuition told her didn't bode well. She looked around but did not see AJ anywhere in sight. Val's suspicions began to rise at his absence, and she started to rise to go look for him.

"Big as me," Lily said with a mischievous grin.

"That sounds nice," Val said distractedly. "Keep coloring munchkin, I'm going to check on your brother."

Val walked down the hall to check his bedroom. She tried to open his door, but it seemed to be stuck. She tried again but only gained an inch and realized it wasn't stuck, something was blocking it.

"AJ," Val called. "AJ, can you open your door please?"

"No," AJ called back petulantly.

Well, they were off to a fantastic start, Val thought. He had largely glowered at her, much like his father, since her arrival. Luckily the four year old was a bite sized package of his father and should be more manageable. Manageable if she could figure out how to manage children, that was.

"AJ, I need to be able to get to you in case something happens," Val explained.

"No, I take care myself," AJ shouted.

Great, logic failed to penetrate his petulance. She needed to remember that logic to her was not the same as toddler logic. She also needed to remember Lammia's words of wisdom to think of how she wanted to be treated as a child.

"What if there was a fire and I needed to get you out?" Val suggested.

"No fire, go away," AJ demanded.

Well, this wasn't going well. She flicked through her mind to find a different tact. She wished she had been given more time to read the manual and prepare, she didn't have experience with human children.

"Don't you want to come color with your sister?" Val asked.

"No, you go away," AJ said stubbornly.

"What do you want to do?" Val tried.

"You go away and Daddy come home," AJ said.

Now they were getting somewhere Val thought. She had been told they had cycled through several nannies lately. Now to figure out if it was her specifically or nannies in general.

Her heart reached out to the boy. She could understand well the feeling of wanting to be with a distant parent. Val had vied for the attention of her own father enough before she had been carted off to Hell to understand. It did not matter how much went on around a person, a parents affections were to be treasured.

"Is it me specifically you don't like or any nanny?" Val asked him.

"I liked Tatia," AJ admitted after a pregnant pause.

She did not remember seeing the name of Tatia in the recent string of names. She must have been further back on the list than she saw briefly. She would have to make sure to read the full profiles at the first chance.

"What did you like about Tatia?" Val pushed.

"She did fun things with us," he said snidely.

Fun, she could work with that. Her definition of fun might be different than his though. What she needed was to get in there to see him face to face.

"We can work on fun, but I need you to open the door please," Val reminded him.

"No, you go away," AJ reiterated.

And there went Val's patience. She was in charge here and this little twerp needed to learn that. She had been raised in Hell, she was a distinguished graduate of the Academy of Cambions, and she would not be bowed by a four year old human.

"Don't say I didn't ask nicely," Val said in a warning tone.

Val looked down the hall to make sure she couldn't see Lily before looking back at the door and snapping her fingers. She vanished and rematerialized in the middle of his room. Seeing her, he let out a scream she was surprised didn't shatter the windows instantly.

"I did ask nicely," Val pointed out, letting her eyes turn red and her horns start to pop out of her forehead. "Maybe next time you'll remember that."

AJ replied by throwing everything he could in her direction. The gall of the kid was grating on her nerves, but Val would give him a pass for terror. She examined her long nails unconcerned as the fluff ricocheted off her.

Something shiny caught her attention as it streaked through the air. Rotating her hand, she suspended it in mid air to get a better look. She plucked it out of the air and stared at the cross curiously.

The craftsmanship of the work was remarkable and unique. If she did not know better, she would mark it as the creation of a dwarf. The markings on it were also common for a personal artifact for a demon.

How had he managed to acquire such an artifact? She had not sensed any demon blood in him or his sister. Val knew that their nannies had all been demons or cambions, perhaps it had been left behind by one of them.

AJ screamed in rage this time and charged her like a miniature bull. Val barely paid him any head while he began pummeling her leg until she felt his sharp little incisors trying to penetrate her leg. Reaching down, she grabbed him by the back of the pants and lifted him to eye level before she looked at him curiously.

"If you want me to catch fire, you could just ask me nicely," Val told him.

AJ began whimpering and Val suddenly felt terrible for scaring him. She had nothing to feel bad about, she reminded herself. She was just doing what she needed to in order to establish dominance so they could start getting on. The little rascal had tried to smite her.

"Would you like me to put you down?" Val asked him.

AJ nodded without looking at her.

"I need you to use your words please," Val enforced.

"Down please," AJ whispered.

Val immediately let go and he thumped onto the floor. She snapped her fingers, and the mattress blockade was shifted as the door opened and she flashed back to her nice human form. AJ lifted his head and then drew back in horror.

"How you do that?" AJ yelled.

"How did I do what? It was only a mattress, not that hard to push out of the way," Val said.

"Your eyes ared red," AJ stated.

"Were, not ared," Val corrected. "Wait, my eyes are red?"

She rushed into the Jack and Jill bathroom to look into her eyes with feigned concern. She made a show of looking in the mirror from several angles. She walked back into the room and held out his cross.

"My eyes do not appear to be red, young man. Are you imagining things?" Val asked.

Was she gaslighting him, absolutely. Did she feel a little guilty about it, oddly yes. Was she going to keep doing it to get him to play with the program, you bet your bottom dollar she was.

"I know what I saw," AJ stood his ground.

Val leaned down so that she was on eye level again.

"A vivid imagination is a good thing AJ, but it goes hand in hand with knowing the difference between what is in your mind and what is real," Val explained slowly.

AJ suddenly looked uncertain. She could see the self doubt warring with his confidence in what he had witnessed. Maybe there was more to this apprenticeship than she had thought on first look. He was young and malleable; she wasn't sure this would work as well on a mature corrupted soul.

"Would you like help putting your bed back together?" Val asked him sweetly.

AJ nodded mutely and Val cocked an eyebrow.

"Yes please," he said dejectedly.

Progress.