A few weeks had passed since the water maiden and cult incidents and I had just remembered...

"I didn't get paid!!!", I screamed in an outburst.

Rolling in my bed before falling asleep, the realization had hit me. 

"Boooo!"

I was so upset. Well, I couldn't be too upset, I got a beast egg at least… And a pig, but I can't buy anything with that! 

Not only that, but with all the crises happening, everyone, including myself, forgot about my birthday! Not by a few days, but by months! Whole seasons have changed and I unwittingly aged up. 

"I should retire… Get a normal paying job", I mumbled to myself.

As I lay in bed, I began to feel eyes on me. I tried my best to ignore it, but the feeling seemed to grow. I finally relented.

“Okay, okay, okay”, I growled and opened my eyes.

A large black mass with red glowing eyes stood at the foot of my bed. When I finally sat up, it shrunk into a four-eared cat-like beast.

“A demon familiar?”, I said, "You shouldn't be away from your master", I looked at it, confused.

"Unless... Shit!” I jumped up and ran to the closet.

A demon is near town and needs help. 

At night, If I’m not already out, I dress as a man, not dissimilar to my brother, I might add. It helps to not be questioned as to why I'm out so late. I rushed to put on the male clothes and a fake mustache, grabbed my medical kit, and ran out the room.

Earth demons are bound to live their lives on the surface world. They cannot enter the Negative world without permission until after death. A demon, if injured, is bad news, it'll attract other demons that want to absorb its life force and power. Stronger demons are no problem as they have a greater consciousness, but lesser demons are brainless and instinct-driven. They could go on a rampage in town if they go mad from the sudden increase in power.

The little familiar impatiently circled me as I ran down the hall to my mother's room. I banged on the door as hard as I could.

“Mother! Demon! Mother, wake up! Demon!”

“Goddamn it, child! I heard you the first time!”, she said with one eye open, "Go ahead. I'll prepare everything here"

I nodded and ran to the stables to get my horse. When she saw the familiar, she panicked.

“Whoa, Lilith, it's okay, sweetie! He's not going to hurt you”, I soothed her angst.

She does fine with most occults, but demons seem to be where she draws the line. Nervously, she stomped around as I attached the wagon to her and set off into the night. The demon cat led the way to the western forest.

Already, signs of demons were in the area, for animals were fleeing and the air was heavy. As I followed, the familiar suddenly hopped into a bush to the left. I yielded and jumped off. Entering the clearing hidden behind the brush, an Earth demon with long, wavy black hair and gold eyes laid against a tree, bleeding profusely. Lesser demons were drawing near, but luckily, this demon still had enough strength to hold up a barrier to keep them at bay. I rushed over to the edge of his barrier and loudly announced myself. If I tried to enter without his permission, I'd disintegrate in a blink of an eye.

“I am the Caretaker Jylan Aniceta, I am here at your request”, I stated.

“Jylan...”, he looked at me groggily and opened the barrier just enough for me to hop in, then closed it again. "Aren't caretakers only women? What a strange costume... You dress like a man, but smell like a woman", he commented and chuckled in what could only be described as delirium.

"Well there's no hiding anything from that nose, I suppose", I said as I pulled off my hat and mustache and rushed over to his side.

The stab wound in his abdomen was deep, coupled with several other lacerations, he was losing a lot of blood. I quickly blew a silent whistle to alert Mother of the direction I was in, as I pulled out some cloth and witch hazel to clean it enough to get a better look. I heard the dogs howling which meant the message was received.

"Got into a bit of a battle, I see”, I said to distract him before touching the wound.

He let out a low growl at the pain as I wiped his stomach. "Bastards tried to take my territory", he replied.

Earth demons are very sensitive about their territories and will fight to the death to keep them. 

Obviously, he seemed to have survived by the skin of his teeth. It was bad. I hastily got out a cotton cloth to wrap around his abdomen. I needed to get him on the wagon and to treatment fast.

"Can you walk? Or at least stand up a bit?", I asked.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. I took it as a "no" and whistled for Lilith. She trotted over and stopped right before the barrier. She nervously shuffled, ready to bolt at any second.

"Please let her in", I said as I whistled again for her to turn around to back the wagon part in.

He did so and I quickly unfolded the back of the wagon into a ramp.

"Okay, bear with me", I breathed, as I tied strips of fabric under his arms to drag him onto the wagon.

"This is going to hurt, so on a count of three. 3. 2. 1....", I pulled him along the ground and up the ramp in one full go, then loaded up to leave.

He screamed in ear-shattering agony, then quieted down into labored breaths. 

“Drop the barrier, please”

With a flick of his finger, it dropped and I set off. Lilith was frantic having a demon behind her, so I pushed her to run as fast as possible. As we reached the western gate, Mother was waiting. She slapped on the last talisman just as we passed under the arch. These will keep the lesser demons at bay while we treat him. 

We took him down to the basement where any power surges can be contained and got to work. Stitching up a demon is much like stitching up a human, minus the murderous power fluxes while writhing in pain and instinctive lashing out at any living being in proximity.

Most demons can heal easily, but if they're hit with demonic power or weapons, they're much like humans against swords, potentially deadly. To deal with this, we have to absorb the demonic power in the wound, then it'll just become a normal cut that will heal at demonic speed. Luckily, quartz crystals are handy for this. They cleanse residual aura; just need one of the right sizes to collect it. Too small and it will shatter.

Mother brought the biggest ones she had in storage.

"Brace yourself. This may be a long night”, she warned as she placed the first crystal on his abdomen and I worked on controlling the bleeding. Black smoke was drawn up into the crystal, coloring the once-clear quartz, black. She quickly changed to another before the other cracked.

"You must have made someone very powerful, very angry", she said to him.

“She started it”, he coughed.

Suddenly, a powerful pulse escaped his person. I gasped for breath, but luckily the absorption crystals embedded in the bed and necklaces stopped most of it from hitting our bodies. The stone from Yadte glowed especially bright, but I had no time to think about it as another pulse hit us, causing me to drop to the floor. My head was spinning and I could hear my heartbeat.

“Get up, Jylan!”, Mother shouted, but her words were muffled behind my heavy breaths.

I finally managed to peel myself from the floor and stumble to the bedside to wipe up the blood. I squeezed my eyes shut a few times to refocus. The demon was staring at me from the corner of his eyes. 

“I-I am sorry”, I apologized and cleaned the blood from his face.

Hands shaking, Mother continued to change the crystals as they filled up, despite the heaviness permeating throughout the room, threatening to steal our last breath. I continued to feel dizzy but managed to dress his wounds to contain the bleeding. Well after dawn, the last crystal finally came up clear and his healing ability kicked in. Mother and I collapsed on the floor, exhausted and unable to move.

“Hey”, I swallowed heavily, “You think I could retire early? I’m obviously not cut out for this caretaker business, Mother”

“Jylan”

“Yes?”

“Shut up”

“heh”, I chuckled weakly and fell asleep on the floor. 

We must have slept there for hours as the town bell was tolling for the night hour. I sat up in excruciating pain with uncontrollable coughing. Mother still laid on the floor a few paces away and the demon- was gone.

“Mother, wake up”, I shook her, but she didn’t respond, “Mother!”, I yelled again. 

I checked her pulse, it was there, but weak. 

“Mother, what's wrong?!”

I lifted her up and painfully dragged her up the stairs to the guest room. Examining her for a wound, I found nothing. 

“Mother…Momma please, what’s wrong?”

Was it the demon? That ungrateful bastard and his dark energy.

Sprinting down the hallway, I crashed into my mother’s study where she kept her crystals. They don’t work the same way on humans, but it’s worth a try. Gathering as many as I could in my filthy apron, I returned to Mother and placed them on her body. If there’s residual energy they should absorb it.

But nothing happened. 

Panic filled me as I wrecked my brain for any solutions I had learned from my teachings. I kept drawing a blank. 

“Purifying crystals are the only solution for demonic energy in the body, but-”, nibbling on my nail nervously, an idea struck me.

I raced to the study again and pulled out a red box full of talismans. Talismans can make a barrier that repels demons, so maybe it can repel the energy. I placed a few on Mother’s cardinal points with a quartz crystal in the middle. Still, nothing, and she was sweating profusely. I removed the talismans and sat trying to find another way.

“That demon!”, I growled to myself, “I have to find him to fix this!”

Jumping up, I covered Mother and left to go find him. Earth demons are hard to track if you’re not one yourself, luckily there’s an energy compass in the basement. Touching it to a filled crystal in the bed from last night, it pointed me in his direction. I quickly changed my clothes and began to follow the arrow, but it was doing something rather peculiar. The arrow was changing rapidly within the house.

“What is going on? Did his energy fill the entire estate?”, I asked as I followed the arrow. As I reached the main corridor, it finally steadied and pointed straight, but it only led me to the kitchen doors. Confused, I pushed them open to find the Earth demon, leisurely dressed in robes and comfortably drinking coffee at the counter. 

“You!”, I began.

“Finally, you’re awake”, he said, approaching me. 

He grabbed my arm, then suddenly we were at the western gate of town. 

Coughing painfully, he said, “Would you be so kind as to take down the talisman, I can’t get out in this state”

I shook off his grasp, “No!”, I screamed.

“What?”, his eyes flashed.

“My mother is ill after helping you! You need to take responsibility and heal her! Now!”, I roared uncontrollably, “You want out, you fix it!”

“No. How about you let me out?”

He tried to intimidate me with his presence, but I stared at him defiantly. 

“Fix. It.”

His jaw tensed at my words, he grabbed my arm again, and we were back in the kitchen. 

“Stubborn little cub, aren’t you?”, he growled as he finished his coffee.

“We don’t ask for payment, so fixing your damage is the least you can do!”, I barked.

He groaned as he put down his cup.

“Lead the way, kitten”

I walked out of the kitchen, signaling him to follow me. In the guestroom, he pushed past me and flung the covers off of Mother. 

“You’re being rude”, I protested as I snatched the covers from his hands.

He looked at her closely as though trying to find something, then he looked at my chest where Yadte’s iridescent stone shone brightly.

“You… already have your solution”, he pointed, “Though I’m not sure how you, a human, managed to come across such a thing”

I looked down at the stone, “What do you mean?”

“It’s an absorption stone. It absorbs various energies much more efficiently than crystals. Last I checked, those were banned by all councils due to their unsavory uses”, he smirked, “Count yourself lucky”

Unsure of what he meant, I pulled off the necklace and pressed it against Mother’s body. It glowed even brighter, then dulled to its original self. Mother coughed violently and rolled over to vomit out a dark substance.

“Momma!”, I cried and rushed to help her.

She wheezed painfully several times until she could breathe normally. Swallowing heavily, she pushed herself up to sit.

“Good. Remove the barrier”, the demon said, offering no words of comfort.

“No”, Mother choked out, “You’re too weak to go out there”

He looked shocked and offended at her words.

“Whoever injured you obviously meant for you to die after using that kind of power”, she coughed, “and they will not stop until you do. Going out there now will be your death, and quite a waste for nearly causing mine.”

His eyes grew black in fury at her words, but his body buckled under the pressure.

“See?”

He glared at Mother for a prolonged time, then, with a huff, left the room.

“Maybe it’s time we both retire huh?”

I laughed, stifling tears as I hugged her tightly. 

“But Mother, do you know what this is?”

“Yes, I knew the moment you returned from Yadte some months ago”

“You knew, yet you said nothing?”

“The less you know about it, the better. If Yadte gave such a thing to you, I knew there was a significant purpose and I shouldn’t question it”

“How am I supposed to become a great caretaker if you keep hiding all these secrets from me?

“Aren’t you retiring?”

I scowled at her, “And leave you here to fend for yourself, pleaseee, besides you and grandma would never let me anyway”

“Don’t be so sure of that. Your performance has not been great”

I sat with my mouth agape, “The thanks I get!”

“Begone child, take care of the house while I go into cleansing to rid myself of the rest of this energy”

I puffed hot air at her and stomped out of the room growling. 

“That’s really the thanks I get?!”, I raged.

Stomping away to the kitchen to finally eat, I found the demon begrudgingly chewing on some bread and cheese. 

“Sure, sure make yourself comfortable, Mr. Demon”, I hissed sarcastically.

“The name’s Kanchi, child”

“Okay, Mr. Kan... “, he flinched at my butchering of his name, but said nothing as I grabbed some of the food he was eating and left. 

Kanchi stayed with us for many months and we got to learn about things from him. His only flaw was that he knew nothing of personal space. 

“Hey!”, he shouted.

“Ah!”, I screamed, clutching my blanket, “What!?”

“Can I cook this pig?”, he held up a squealing porker.

“No, it’s too young. Get out”, I grumbled and flopped back down in my bed.

Annoyed, he turned to leave, but then something caught his eye.

 “You're a very dangerous little girl”, he said, examining my beast egg, “but it's a bit small, it seems it's been sealed”

He picked it up and light shot wildly through the air, then he put it down. It was now bigger than before. 

“There, now it should be ready to hatch soon”, he smiled.

“What is it?”, I asked.

“You don't know?”

I shook my head.

“Then you're in for a surprise”, he smirked leaving my room.

“Hey!”, I shouted after him, then turned to the sound of cracking.

My egg was hatching! As I peered in, yellow eyes were looking back at me.