Erin had never thought she could feel so conflicted. Being half-demon, she had the power to change anything to her liking, which she usually did, despite her father's constant reminders to keep her powers hidden from the rest of the world. But for the first time in her young life, she didn't want to. She actually wanted to solve things the normal way. The human way.

How could she allow herself to be like this? She never thought she could doubt herself this much.

And all because of… a boy.

Ever since they met when they were twelve, Ash and her had been inseparable. Being the only one outside her family who knew about her true self, and thus the only one who didn't think she was too weird to be with, he was the only one she could rely on for company. And truth be told, Ash didn't have any other friends, so being with her was his only option.

They were together all the way from middle school to high school, which was when things started to change. At the beginning of their sophomore year, she noticed Ash was… different. She hadn't seen him all summer, since they had gone visit his mom's parents in Florida, so she could definitely tell something about him had changed. He had grown taller, and was now taller than her. They had always been around the same height, and she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed about the fact that he was now able to look down at her. She could also notice his shoulders had gotten a bit broader, and… was that muscle on his arms? It wasn't anything special, but it was there! When did he get the time or the patience to work out? The only exercise he ever did was when he played that fitness game on his Vii. But the thing that really stood out on him was his new facial hair. She didn't know how or when he had grown a beard, but that was one stubble no one could miss. Especially since its darkish-blond tone contrasted so well with his naturally tanned skin…

Ever since those changes, Erin saw Ash in a completely different way. How could she not? She couldn't take her eyes off him! Not because she wanted to continuously stare at him, but it seemed that every time she just glanced at him, her gaze would stick to him and refuse budge.

She couldn't understand what was wrong with her, but she didn't like it. Not… one… BIT. It made her angry. So angry she just wanted to blow everything up, or at least use her powers to make it all go away. Yet, at the same time, she didn't. She often found herself wondering what the point was. What was the point of making all of her problems disappear with her magic if that wouldn't make her feel any better? Heck, what was the point of even having these powers?

As if things weren't bad enough already, all those existential thoughts just made her feel even worse.

It all culminated one day during their senior year, when their History teacher said they had to pair up to work on a project about ancient cultures. Ash was quick to declare that he and Erin wanted to form a pair, to which she felt her heart involuntarily skip a beat. As the rest of the class paired up and announced who was working with who, Ash suggested that the two should meet up after class to start working on the project, and that just made her feel a whole lot more nervous. She could barely stand being around him at school, and now he wanted them to be alone together?! To make matters even worse, he asked her if she minded if he went over to her place instead of the other way around, since they would have more room there. She had no choice but to comply.

So there they were, sitting on her bed as they leafed through some of her father's books about ancient civilizations in search of some useful information for their project. Erin was trying her hardest to keep her eyes on the book in front of her, but her gaze kept darting involuntarily towards the boy next to her. She just hoped he didn't notice.

"So I was thinking we could write something about the Incans. They seemed pretty interesting." Ash declared as he closed the book he was reading and placed it on his lap. "What do you think?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever…" she muttered, hiding her face behind her book to avoid eye contact.

"Erin, are you OK?" Ash asked, gently lowering the book away from her face. "You seem more bitter than usual."

"That's ridiculous, I'm always this bitter." She quickly replied, pulling the book in front of her face again.

"Not this much. Is something wrong?"

"Wrong?" she almost growled as she closed the book and tossed it onto the bed. "You wanna know what's wrong, Ash? Well, I'll tell you what's wrong. Me! I'm what's wrong! I'm a freak of nature that shouldn't even exist!"

"Whoa, you're not a freak!" He said with a worried look on his face. "Where did that come from?"

"I am a freak! I'm a half-demon creature who was born with the purpose of tormenting humanity! Do you know how it feels to have that permanent label in your life?!"

"Erin, calm down. You're overreacting." Ash soothed her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. You're in charge of your life, so you decide what to do with it. Nobody's making you do anything else."

"Just because you say that, it doesn't make me any less of a freak." She insisted, slapping away his hand. "I'm marked for life."

"Don't say that, you know it's not true."

"No, I'm literally marked for life."

"What do mean?"

She let out a deep sigh and proceeded to remove her top, carelessly tossing it on floor. Now in her bra, she looked at Ash to see his eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates and his face was beet red.

"Well…" he gulped, trying his best not to look down. "That escalated quickly."

Erin rolled her eye and turned around, pulling her hair over her shoulder as she did. She heard Ash gasp, indicating he could see what was on her back.

"Oh my God." He whispered. "What is that?"

"A birthmark." She replied, her gaze fixed on the headboard before her. "From what I was told, it's my dad's true form and the symbols of the people chosen to defeat him. That's what I meant when I said I was marked for life."

The room fell in absolute silence for a minute, and Erin wondered if all that was too much for him to handle. Suddenly she felt a finger through one of the lines of her birthmark, and she involuntarily let out a sound that was a mix of a moan and a whine. She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth when she felt the finger come to a halt.

"What was that?" he asked, sounding somewhat amused.

"N-nothing!" she quickly replied as she felt her cheeks warm up. "I-It's just that that thing is really sensitive."

Ash removed his finger and she breathed out, relieved that he didn't try anything else. She was about to turn around when she felt something else press against her back: his lips.

He began to pepper her birthmark with kisses, eliciting loud moans from the half-demon girl. Erin bit her lip to keep herself from releasing such lewd sounds, but to no avail. His lips were working wonders, lingering just a bit longer on the spots where she was the most sensitive, and his facial hair brushed softly against her back, sending shivers down her spine.

Erin never thought she could ever feel such bliss. She never thought she could feel so good.

She never thought she could feel so… loved.

Just then, Erin did something she never she would do: she began to cry. Tears ran down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly, not really sure why she was doing that all of a sudden.

"What happened?" asked Ash as he disconnected his lips from her back. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, it's just…" she said as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. "I don't know. I'm just not used to feeling loved, that's all."

"What do you mean? Lots of people love you. There's your parents, your grandparents…"

"I mean outside my family. Everybody hates me because of the way I am. I push people away on purpose because I don't want them to know the real me. And that's because the real me is…" she trailed off as she felt her lip tremble and fresh tears ready to come out. "…a freak."

"No, you're not a freak. Erin, look at me." He said as he moved from the bed to the spot right in from of her. "You are not a freak. You're a wonderful person whom everyone should be lucky to hang out with, and you're my best friend. And most of all…"

He carefully moved her hair away from her left eye, exposing her empty cornea. He kept his hand there as he brought the other one to her face, gently cupping her now wet cheek as gazed deep into her eyes.

"…you're beautiful."

That was it; that was her breaking point. Erin couldn't take it any longer. She grabbed him by his shirt collar and pulled him towards her, pressing his lips against hers in an almost violent manner.

She could tell Ash was shocked; she could feel his face heat up against hers. But his shoc quickly subsided, and he wrapped his arms around her waist in order to return the kiss.

That simple surprise kiss quickly turned into a heated make out session. At some point he felt brave enough to slip his tongue into her mouth, to which she responded by doing the same. She fell back onto the bed, pulling him on top of her without disconnecting their lips.

Erin had never experienced such bliss. She never even thought it would be possible, but now she never wanted to stop. She wanted to stay in Ash's arms forever, feeling like the most loved person in the world.

But she wanted more. As desire suddenly washed over her, she grabbed the hem of his Five Nights at Hoo-Ha's t-shirt with the intention of pulling it off of him.

"Erin sweetie, did you take my ritual candles aga—"

They immediately froze and slowly turned their heads towards the now open door, where Erin's father stood grasping the doorknob looking absolutely stunned by the sight of his daughter in her bra making out with her childhood friend in a very suggestive position. His shock quickly turned into pure rage, his face and eyes turning red.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" he shouted at the top of his lungs as large flames appeared on his hands.

"No-nothing, Mr. Cipher!" Ash stuttered as he stumbled to get off of Erin, falling off the bed in the process. "We were just working on a school project! A-and I was actually about to leave! I just remembered my mom asked me to pick up my sister from school!"

He passed Bill as he walked out the door, the demon watching him like a hawk, and as soon as he was sure the he wasn't looking at him, he brought his hand up to his ear only with his thumb and little finger extended and mouthed the words 'call me' to Erin before rushing down the stairs.

Bill stared down at his daughter with his arms crossed, looking rather displeased with the teenager.

"What do you have to say to yourself?" he asked in a stern tone.

Erin hopped off of the bed walked up to her father, resting her right hand on the side of the door as she maintained eye contact with the humanized demon.

"You should've knocked." She replied before shutting the door on Bill's face.