I blinked. My father? 

"What about him?" I asked, massaging my neck and moving forward.

"I've met your father before. He landed right here, outside the lake, bleeding to death. I was watching from beneath the surface, watching as he breathed his last moments."

"Impossible," I argued, fighting a wave of emotions as they spiralled out of my control. "My father died of natural causes. I wasn't there when he died, but his body was buried in front of me in the Daemonic Cemetery..."

The Lady glanced at me sadly and then turned away, vanishing into the dark. 

"Where are you going?" I called after her, flailing an arm. "I need to know-"

Then she returned. A body in her hands.

I recognised his features as if we had met moments ago. His set jawline, gelled hair, short-cropped beard...

And just like that, tears were flowing freely down my cheeks. I did not feel embarrassed, nor humiliated to be crying like this, being a demon that I am. I only felt sorrow, the likes of which superseded the pain of living in isolation for five years. 

More sorrow came as I saw the agitation in his peace. He was not at peace when he died, he was not calm, accepting. He was worried, fretful, and anger forced my tears to stop as I narrowed down the people who had denied my father a dignified death.

"How did this come to pass?" I asked, tearing my gaze away from my father's corpse.

"I do not know," replied the Lady gloomily. "All I know is that he died in front of me, suffering pain and agony. I apologise that you must discover this now."

I slammed my fist against the wall and the Lady flinched. I was angrier than ever. I had not been present at my father's death and had been fed lies about him. He had been beaten to death by demons, not fever. 

And there were only two people who could have done this, who could have hurt my father like this. 

"I need the sword," I said, staring hard at the Lady. "I need to fix things. My father has been murdered, but it is not too late to avenge him."

The Lady sighed and drifted towards me, a shimmering sword appearing in her hands as she did.

"Take it," she whispered. "Take it, and I hope you succeed in your quest. But do remember," she warned as I grabbed the sword from her, "Killing those who have wronged you will not gain you your father back."

"No," I agreed, "But I will gain my kingdom back, and I will have avenged my father through it. Also," I added, "I will allow myself the satisfaction of the twins' absence from this realm."

"You are not an ordinary demon," she remarked, and I noticed the barest trace of a smile on her face through the dinge. 

"I know," I replied. "But I am still a demon."

"May luck be with you, and may you find who you really are," the Lady said, vanishing in a cloudy mist before my eyes, leaving me alone in the dark.

***

OK. Find a blade. Check.

Now, all that was left was to go back to my realm, regain my throne and destroy the two twins that had made my life a living hell.

I was still shaken, however, from the experience of seeing my father's dead manifest in front of me. I could not believe it. This had been the twins' plan all along. Kill the father, dethrone the son, rule in his stead. And then what? Rule the kingdom, that's all?

"Well not for long," I murmured to myself, stealing through the shadows towards the hotel Andrew had booked. 

As I entered the apartment, I could sense there was something wrong. Tables had been upturned, bedsheets had been torn, the mirror had been shattered. All of Andrew's small belongings had been ransacked. 

And Andrew himself was nowhere to be found.

Instead, I found a letter. A crumpled up piece of paper lying in the midst of the chaos. 

Dear cousin, it is a pleasure to see that you have learned new tricks during your exile. It will make killing you more satisfactory and fun to do, seeing that the exile was unable to do just that. However, we most disapprove of you befriending a human. It is an act of treachery and breaches the code that the old demons had long since followed. But I guess rules matter nothing to you, as would the human, seeing that you carelessly abandoned him for us.

We await you in the Realm and hope you do not take long, considering that the human does not have time enough to spend in existence. Hurry now.

Your's truly,

Daemonis

I tore the letter into pieces and stormed out of the hotel, feeling tears prickling my eyes, prevented only by the upsurge of wrath I felt so horribly right now.

Dark clouds gathered around as I struggled to contain myself. Some people passing by hurried indoors, watchful of the inevitable storm that towered above. Soon, there was only me, all alone in the street.

A dark charm settled around me, clouds of wispy black spiralling round and round, raising me up into the sky as I closed my eyes, held out my arms. Thunder groaned above, lightning struck, winds howled. 

The area was enveloped in a dark canvas that I had conjured up using the Suit. I was going back to my Realm, the Realm that had been forcefully taken from me, the Realm my father had been killed over.

People appeared screaming, pointing up in the sky, afraid, confused at what was happening. It was God's wrath, they yelled, it was a sign of anger.

It was anger, yes, I agreed, but not of God. 

It was the anger of a demon.

More thunder roared, more lightning flashed as I touched the sky, curled in a misty blanket of dark wind, sandy, dusty. Vengeance was on my mind, as I counted down what had been taken from me by two devils. There were only ten seconds until I left Earth, the place where I had suffered for so long.

10, 9, 8...

My kingdom.

7, 6, 5...

My father.

4, 3, 2...

My only true friend.

1...

In a great whirlwind of dark sand, I vanished, leaving behind tiny wisps of mist that dissipated in the air.

***