Chapter One

She caught his eye that day in the forest.

He had only kidnapped her to lure younger brother into a fight, but now he couldn't get her out of his mind. She was so...fragile. Not in a way that made him think of prey, but in a way that made him want to hold her close so she wouldn't break.

Amaimon frowned when he thought back on that feeling. He had always wanted to break things; to test their strength and prove his was greater. But wanting to stop something from being broken, that was new.

There was something about her that made him consider taking her as his own. He had even gone through the pretense of a human wedding ceremony, though the kiss had been a little much. A kiss like that could have taken her face off. Usually, that thought would have excited him, but it actually made his insides all cold and squirmy. She had such a...nice face. A nose, some eyes, lips, and skin. Very symmetrical and soft. And human.

Sitting on top of the clock tower of True Cross Academy, Amaimon leaned back and looked at the light-polluted sky, barely able to see the stars past the glare. Her eyes were green like leaves, which, being the Earth King, he couldn't help but appreciate. He had kind of wanted to tear them out and keep them, but...he had also kind of wanted to just keep looking at them. Forever.

Foolish thoughts, he knew. He was no mortal; demons had no place pondering the niceness of a human's face, or looking at their green eyes. That girl must have bewitched him, somehow. Perhaps it was the smell of lemongrass in her hair, and the way it reminded him of Amahara, the garden where he reined. The flowers there were so beautiful that it was rumored to be a garden of God, rather than that of a demon, but that was just human nonsense.

Either way, he wasn't going to let this continue. If he couldn't stop thinking about her, then he would just have to kill her. Simple as that.

Amaimon leapt from the tower and let himself fall all the way to the ground. The concrete cracked beneath his pointed shoes, and he straightened and walked over to the nearest tree. He could have asked a rock, of maybe a flower, but trees were the most reliable, even one as young as this was quite wise.

"I need to find someone," he said to it. "A young female human. She's a student in the exorcist school. She has yellow hair."

The tree shifted, its leaves shivering with uncertainty. Amaimon frowned at its hesitance. He was the Earth King; the plants and animals, and even the very soil, were his subjects. One of them had never resisted his power before.

[A human place with flowers,] the tree said at last. Amaimon put his hand on its trunk so he would know where it was and see it. It was a little shop, it looked like, but he couldn't see the flowers. As if sensing his malicious intent, the tree shifted again. [She has been kind to us, your majesty,] it said. [Kind to us.]

Amaimon was tempted to ask what the tree meant, but chances were it wouldn't tell him. Trees did love to be mysterious. Instead, he nodded his thanks and then raced off, bounding over any buildings that got in his way. It took him less than an hour to reach the shop, and he walked casually up the steps and through the front door. He blinked around at the unimaginably dangerous exorcist supplies lining the shelves, and realized he should have expected it.

He found nothing on the ground floor of the shop, but once he climbed the stairs, he came across an older human sleeping in a bed. He walked over and tilted his head as he looked down at her. Should he kill this one? Perhaps not; she seemed like she would be too boring, even if he woke her up first.

So Amaimon wandered away. Eventually, he determined that there was no one else in the house. Had the tree lied? Lying was a human habit, but demons had learned it over the years. Maybe the trees were catching on, too...?

But then Amaimon heard an odd noise from outside. He opened the back door and saw the girl. And the flowers.

For a moment, he was stunned, looking around at them, but then he focused on her. She was kneeling in a flower bed, watering the night-blooming flowers carefully, humming as she worked. Amaimon regarded her with interest. Had she really gotten up in the dead of night to dote on his subjects? That was so–

Amaimon didn't allow himself to finish that thought. He approached her, his footsteps silent on the dew-covered grass. She was facing away from him, so she wouldn't see him until it was too late, which may have been for the best. Yet another strange thought, coming from a demon who delighted in viewing the many desperate faces of his prey.

He reached out with his clawed hand, determined to snatch her life away...

But he couldn't do it.

Amaimon stayed frozen with his hand mere inches from her neck, listening to her hum and chat amicably with the flowers, smelling the lemongrass of her hair even over the sweet perfume of the garden, and he had no choice but to admit that, this time, he had met something more dangerous than himself. This human girl was making him powerless without any effort at all. It was incredible.

And terrifying.

Amaimon withdrew his hand and stood there, not sure if he should run or stay, when suddenly she began to turn towards him to water the next flower bed.

He ran for his life.