Our Inner Demons

“Hmmph, so now you’re gonna talk to me, huh?”

She’s sulking.

She’s really sulking.

What’s with this girl? Earlier, she was saying some really mean stuff. And now she’s sulking?

This is Roxy’s sister?

“Alright, well, no point beating around the bush. Allow me to introduce myself.”

The girl stands up on the bed in the middle of the void, and strikes a pose.

“My name is Vessandra von Clara Gritor. Etch it into your brain, you puny reptile! And bow before me! For I am the Heir and Ruler of the Kingdom of Gritor, one of the Pillars of the Demon Realm! Grovel at my feet, and worship me! Ah ha ha!”

What?

I grimace as she cackles to herself.

“Vessa... whatsit?”

“Wow. You really must have a peanut for a brain. Very well, the great Vessandra von Clara Gritor shall take pity on your pitiable soul! Be grateful, insignificant being! I shall grant you the privilege to call me simply ‘Ves’! Prostrate yourself before me!”

“...Ves?”

“Yeah,” she says as she plomps back down onto the bed next to me, her grandiose demeanour vanishing in an instant. “That’s how I was taught to introduce myself back home. Pretty cringey, huh? Ves is fine, just call me Ves. How about you?”

What’s with this easygoing attitude? Wasn’t she just telling me about how much she was going to make me suffer?

“Well, yeah. That was before. This is now.”

Gak! Did she hear that? Wait, can she read my mind?

“Well of course I can, you big dummy. Haven’t you figured it out yet? Alright, you’re a bit slow on the uptake, so let me get some things straight. And unlike that bastard Rox, I’m gonna be toooootally honest with you, ‘kay?

“First things first, earlier? I was just trying to scare you into giving me control. Rox told you about that, right? Oooobviously, having control over your body would be ideal, so I thought that if I overwhelmed you you’d crack. Didn’t work, clearly, but can you blame a girl for trying?”

I... guess that makes sense? I don’t like it, but I get it.

“Right? Ok. Next. Like I said, having control would be ideal, but after all that shit that Rox told you, I bet you’re gonna be pretty guarded against me. So that’s pretty much off the table. Since we’re gonna be stuck together for the long haul, I figure we might as well get chummy. Better to be besties than enemies, right?”

“...what’s ‘besties’?”

“Oooooh, you are sooooo out of it. Hello, best bud Ves calling, anyone in there? Aaahahaha!”

Oh, I think I get it. We’re... best friends now?

I mean, I don’t think I’m really in a position to be talking, as I’ve already become best friends with Roxy, Ravana, Timothy, and Rufus too probably. But isn’t this moving a bit too fast?

It’s not that far-fetched, I guess.

I take a moment to examine the strange girl having a laughing fit on my bed.

It’s hard for me to really judge a species I’ve never heard of before, but by looking at Roxy I instantly knew she was a grown woman.

This Ves, though?

She looks like a kid. About my age, maybe a bit older.

Her skin is a greyish blue, and her dark, ebony horns sort of curve up and back past her head. She wears a sort of gleeful smile with razor sharp teeth.

Actually, I think I’m noticing a sort of pattern.

Everything about Roxy was red. Her ashen skin. Her deep, crimson eyes. Her long, flowing hair. Everything had at least a tinge of red.

But for Ves, her colour is blue.

Especially her eyes. They’re an icy blue that pierce right through me.

I thought they were supposed to be sisters, but honestly they look nothing alike. Is that just a thing with demons?

Though, I suppose I can’t really say anything. Drah’kin vary in colour too. I’m a pretty common green colour, but my sister is an extremely rare red.

So maybe it’s something like that?

Still, there’s a lot of difference between them. I can hardly believe that they’re related.

The thing that bothers me the most though, despite how I try to ignore it, is a metal chain coming out of her chest. It falls off her body and snakes its way over to where it connects to my own chest, right over my three gashes.

Proof of the curse.

Lying on her back, Ves wipes a tear from her eye and sighs. I guess she’s done laughing.

This is kinda like a sleepover, huh?

I've never really been on one before. But I’d imagine this is what it'd be like.

Honestly, I can’t remember even being alone with another kid before. Especially not a girl.

She may be a demon possessing me, who was just threatening me moments before. But I gotta admit, seeing her like this, she’s actually kinda cute.

“Oooooooh, ooooooooooooh, I heard that! You just thought I was cute, didn’t you? Hmmm, hmmm! Well, I can’t say that you’re wrong! But I guess this is your type, huh?”

At once, she’s all over me.

Type? Honestly, I have no idea what she means, but she has such a smug look on her face that it’s making me a little mad.

“How can you hear my thoughts, anyways?”

I push her off me.

“Hah, you reeeeally haven’t figured it out, yet, huh? Alright, I’ll give you a hint. Look around. Don’t you recognize where we are?”

Um, not really? There’s nothing here, just an endless blackness all around. It’s completely empty. What am I supposed to recognize?

“Yessssss, exactly!! It’s completely empty! Just. Like. Your. Head! Aaahahahaha!!”

Ouch, rude. Is she calling me stupid? I have plenty going on in my head, thank you very much!

But wait, does that mean she’s saying...

“Yuuuup, you got it. This is your mind. Or at least, a deep part of it that I’m living in. That’s why I can also hear your thoughts, get it? Because I’m in your miiiiiiind.”

Talk about an invasion of privacy! I want her out! Get out of my head!

Well, I guess that’s the whole problem, huh? She can’t.

Darn.

“You still haven’t answered my question, you know?”

Huh? Question?

“I mean, I oooooobviously already know, but c’mon! Introduce yourself!”

Ah.

“My name is, um, Cytchenrok, Lintel. You can just call me Lint, I guess?”

She slaps me on the back.

“Nice to meetcha, reptile.”