Eyre remained locked in Kai's embrace. Now that she was so close to him, she could not help but tense up. His attempt at making her heart calm down only provoked her even further in such a way, that sent shivers down her spine. 

It felt as if Kai had grounded himself and she did not wish to disturb that peace. 

They spent a good moment like that before Eyre felt a hand running up her spine until it offered support at the back of her neck.

“Eyre...” Kai whispered, with a voice more hoarse than usual. “I beg you, please be more careful,” there was no sign of annoyance hidden within his voice, only pure worry struck her when he finally released her again. 

Kai sought Eyre's eyes only for a split second before he picked up the bag that had dropped to the ground when he caught her in the fall. 

With heavy steps, Kai followed the path once again. Eyre felt her heavy heartbeat as she followed behind closely, just like he used to.

***

When they finally reached a point where the road split in two, the ambient noise from a large riverbank reached them both. 

The path curled along the riverbank with large stone boulders along the edge to keep the river from flooding the area. 

At the end of the path, they could see the two-story stone cottage with a blue-tiled roof and a chimney on the side. 

Flower bushes were lined up under the windows and a bench was placed along the path with a wide view over the riverbank.

The moment the cottage came into Kai's field of view he stopped in his tracks. A cold chill ran down his spine and locked him in place. 

A cloud of shredded memories flashed through Kai's mind. His heart raised with an alarming speed as his gaze scouted the area. He lost track of everything else around him and had only one thing in mind: the garden at the back of the house. With weary steps, he made his way along a smaller path to a wooden arch filled with roses and followed the path back around the house. 

The garden was overgrown along the edges, where the wooden fence divided the garden and the forest. Wildflowers were thriving and almost overthrown a small wooden gate at the far back of the yard. 

Kai stepped closer with the feel of a suffocating grip around his heart,  in fear of what awaited him. However, he hesitated at the sound of Eyre’s quick footsteps catching up to him. 

“Kai!” she called, all out of breath.

Kai tightened his grip on the bag and didn’t move an inch until she reached his side, only then did it hit him that he had strayed from her side at a far greater distance than he had ever dared before. 

“Are you okay?” she asked and placed a hand on his forearm. 

He simply nodded and faked a smile. “I thought I sensed the presence of someone else, must have been an animal,” he lied. There was no one around them, and the animals hated his presence enough to keep a clear distance from him.

Eyre sighed in relief and had not seemed to notice the rare occasion of him breaching the distance. Instead, she ushered him to follow her and lead them both up to the back door on the porch. 

Once inside, they were greeted by a small hallway with a staircase to the second floor. From the hallway, they had the living room on their right side and here Kai stopped in his tracks once more. 

There was an odd sense of familiarity over the place and it was the same feeling that had caught him off guard outside. However, this time it was much stronger.

There was a stone fireplace centred along the long wall, windows were facing towards the front and the backyard of the house. Leaving enough natural light most of the time.

The fireplace purged a bit from the wall with a wooden plank placed on top. It was decorated with a knitted table runner and pictures, all dusty from lack of cleaning. 

A couch and two armchairs were placed in front of the fireplace, and on each side of the fireplace, bookcases filled up the rest of the wall space. Under the window to the front yard stood a wooden desk with a chair, where the backyard windows hosted space for firewood and a chest for storage.

Eyre had begun removing the white cloth covering the furniture and placed it all in a laundry basket. Her father had left it as is ever since his wife, Eyre's mother,  passed away, as a form of tribute to the love she had for it. 

Kai simply stood by and watched her work, completely taken aback by the sight. He remembered now; the part of his memory that had been completely blanked out. His stomach turned when he made his way to the pictures on the top of the fireplace. He grabbed one of the pictures and wiped off the dust. There it was a clear picture of Eyre and her mother from when she was still a child. 

Eyre looked at him all curious and was about to ask him something when he suddenly rushed out the back door again. 

“Kai!” she yelled. His behaviour startled her, and she followed him to the backyard door, but he was already gone.

Kai sprinted through the backyard, jumped over the wooden gate and climbed further into the forest up on a hill where both the sun and the moon would be able to shed light on a humble spot. 

A stone plate with engravings was placed on it and he already knew without reading it. This is where Eyre's mother was buried. His face turned pale and although he knew that this sight was to be expected, he never imagined it to happen the way it did.

The picture was glued to his hand as he fell on his knees right in front of the plate. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten everything. 

“Eleen…” His words got stuck in his throat. He recollected all the years he spent just observing Eleen, as she lived her life in peace and although she had been aware of his presence she feigned ignorance until her husband suddenly went away on a long business trip. From that moment on, she started talking to herself, telling stories to the plants and wildlife around her. 

Then one-day Eleen openly called him out, but Kai remained hidden with the thought of severing the bond of possession prematurely, now that he had been discovered. 

Then on the following day, Eleen asked him for a favour. She asked for his permission to allow her child to be born and grow up safe and sound, on the promise that she in return would let him rest easy and remain hidden under her protection.

Back then, Kai had no objections. He had slowly gotten used to the dull daily life and Eleen had become the first human he had ever felt attached to. 

As time went by Eleen ended up being alone around the house with her newborn daughter and thus Kai picked up the heavier chores around the house. 

They kept a peaceful life for a long time, but then one day, Eleen's brother, Theon, ended all of that by the time Eyre was about 5 years old. 

Theon had caught Eleen and Kai off guard conversing about life as a demon and Theon had, of course, pressured Eleen to sewer the bond right away, but she remained stubborn and unfazed by his nagging.

Theon then returned a week later to apologise for his behaviour and offered her a box filled with wine, poisoned wine. 

It took more than a month for the symptoms of fatigue and other ailments to show and by then it was already too late to heal. 

Theon then returned once again, but this time with the intent to kill. 

Eleen and Kai were presented with a fake antidote and Kai ended up agreeing to all demands in return for saving Eleen's life. 

Kai was then locked up in the cellar, willingly accepting drugs and torture.

Eyre, who had witnessed everything, was eventually left to fend for herself with the entire house occupied by Theon and his men. 

At one point Eyre snuck up to the bedroom to seek comfort from her mother, but what met the little girl instead was the sight of a monster devouring the remnants of her mother's body. 

Eyre then ran down into the basement, where she knew Kai had been locked up. She desperately tried to reach out to him for comfort, crying and begging for help, but with no strength left Kai could do nothing but watch her getting dragged away by Theon’s men.

***

Kai's lack of judgement and soft heart led to careless mistakes. Mistakes that had ended up taking away the only thing he had ever wanted to protect. 

Eleen's grave was proof of his inability to succeed. Humans were nothing but a source of power for demons. He understood this and yet the emotional scar of letting a dear friend die simply because of his existence, was too much of a burden to bear. He had been subdued and tortured to the point of not caring about his surroundings and by the time he realised that Eleen had left the earth, he gave up trying to fend off the drugs. 

By the time he woke up, he had no recollection of what had happened or where he was, and he had since wandered around, aimlessly.

“Kai?!” Eyre called from a distance, which brought him back up on his feet. He took one last look at the frame in his hand and let his thumb run over the picture. When his thumb reached the little girl in the picture it finally dimmed on him. 

“Eyre…?” He whispered her name in disbelief, but when she called out to him again it was like a pure instinct that made him react. 

Kai dropped the frame and turned around with a searching glance before he ran back down the hill. 

He could make out her silhouette from the lantern in her hand and felt his heart sink deeper into his stomach with every step he made towards her.

When Eyre noticed him running down the hill, she sat the lantern down on the ground. 

Kai ran at her with a frazzled, almost desperate expression. His demonic features were all out when he reached her and for a moment she ended up thinking that it was all over. She fully believed at that moment that he had decided to kill her, but instead, she was wrapped up in a tight embrace. 

Kai was shaking and kept trying to get her as far into his arms as possible. Though it felt rough and made it hard to breathe, she was safe. Without warning, he pressed his lips gently against her temple while he stroked the back of her head. 

The little girl, Eleen's daughter, Eyre, was alive and that was all that mattered to him at this point.