“My beloved girls, please,” Lord Aesir calmly stated as he approached his wife and daughter with open arms, “We are guests in the home of the Carefree family. I do not wish to provide such an esteemed family with the embarrassment that is us.”

“Oh? So you have heard of us, Lord Aesir?” Roy Carefree mellowly stated before looking at his wife. “Dear, would you be so kind as to lead them to the dinner table in the dining room?”

Mrs. Carefree nodded to her husband. “Come this way, everyone. We can talk and walk along the way. And before you say anything, Lord Aesir, yes, the lemon cakes are ready.”

Lord Aesir’s mouth dropped significantly before he manually closed it with his hand. “Careful, Mr. Carefree, or I might choose this one as my next wife in a hundred or so years.”

Mr. Carefree gave a heartfelt laugh before answering, “Please, Lord Aesir. In a hundred years, if I’m still around, I’ll gladly hand her over. And please, call me Roy.”

“As you wish, Roy,” Lord Aesir bellowed. “Since we are not in the Underworld, the suffix of simply Lord would not work. Call me Aesir.”

The two men shared a nod and a smile. But as Roy Carefree looked forward again, he found his gaze met by the annoyed and puffed out cheeks of his beautiful and sneering wife. Feeling a slight bit of nervousness beginning to encroach about his very being, Mr. Carefree coughed into his hand. “I sh--- should finish setting the table!” he exclaimed, running past his wife as her sneer changed to a smile.

“You must teach me how you did that,” Sandra Infern stated as she arrived at Caroline Carefree’s side.

“If this night goes well, I’ll teach you everything I know,” Caroline Carefree replied.

Together as a combined group now, everyone proceeded to the dining room in the back of the house. The walls were a faded white and there were two medium sized, crystal chandeliers hanging over a wooden dining room table. Thanks to the natural speed of Roy Carefree (His many years on the track team in high school did wonders for his magical career), the dining room table had been properly set up for everyone to have an ample amount of room. The Infern family sat on the right side of the table with Lord Aesir taking the middle chair. While Harriett and Feron each took two seats on the left side of the table with both of their seats on the side of the table closest to the door in which they had entered from.

As Harriett, Feron, and the Inferns waited patiently for Mr. and Mrs. Carefree to finish cooking the food, Harriett couldn’t help but feel a bit better about the night’s current progress. So far, her biggest positive about the night was that no one had been killed yet. Though she knew that it was a highly improbable thought to have at the moment, she reminded the rational part of her brain that each person currently residing in the house, including herself, most likely held enough power to level a city. With a heavy gulp running down her throat, she let that truly negative thought pass out of her mind.

Next, she decided to think about her guests. Mrs. Infern seemed to be quite a decent human being, at least as far as Harriett could discern. Her demeanor was gentle, yet stern when necessary, and her attitude was pleasant and yet cunning. Harriett could definitely see why Lord Aesir had chosen to marry her.

Kylia, on the other hand, seemed to be quite an unpredictable component to the night. The half-demon’s eyes constantly darted between her father, her mother and her phone, with a snicker of attitude being sounded every time her eyes completed their trifecta circuit. If Harriett wasn’t careful, she knew that Kylia might cause the disturbance Harriett had been so sure that her father would cause sometime tonight.

Finally, Harriett’s vision descended back upon the main cause of tonight’s little get together: Lord Aesir. The Lord sat in idle conversation with his wife, his facial expression reflecting genuine care and what actually appeared to be love for his wife. And as if reading her mind at that exact moment, which Harriett held little doubt in her mind that he was, Lord Aesir glanced towards her for but a moment and winked before returning to the conversation he had been having with his wife. Harriett herself snickered this time.

“You okay?” Feron asked from Harriett’s left side.

“Peachy,” Harriett lied.

“Isn’t peachy the adjective old people used to use when things weren’t in fact “peachy?””

Harriett turned to look at Feron and said nothing for a solid glare had slid its way onto her face, which said all that needed to be said.

Feron held up his hands in defeat once again. “Alright, alright, I get it. Jeez, just trying to lighten the mood.” And with that, Feron picked up his cup of water and started to drink it to avoid any further “Feron comments” from slipping out of his mouth. Truth be told, Harriett knew that Feron had only been trying to help. And though her anger had gotten the best of her and was still in fact getting the best of her, she made a mental note to apologize to him when this night was said and done.

After another 5 minutes, Mr. and Mrs. Carefree called for Feron to assist them with bringing the food into the dining room. Feron got up and disappeared through the entranceway to the kitchen, which sat to the left of the door where everyone had originally entered from. In a matter of moments, multiple dishes began to float through the door and gently landed on the dining room table. Grilled chicken, assortments of vegetables, well blended dishes of fruits and chocolates, there seemed to be no end to the variety of dishes that Feron continued to levitate through the entranceway. Harriett knew that her mother had most likely gone above and beyond for tonight’s gathering. But Harriett then had to quickly remind herself that what might seem as above and beyond to both herself and the average humans was in fact just another Tuesday night to the wonderfully skillful and powerful woman that was her mother. After 9 dishes had floated out and onto the table, Feron re-entered the dining room, followed by Mr. Carefree, whom took a seat opposite his daughter. Finally, Mrs. Carefree came through the entranceway with the largest plate of lemon cakes Harriett had ever seen. Harriett wasn’t even sure that they owned a plate that large. Nevertheless, the smile that had already been gracing Lord Aesir’s lips grew even wider when Mrs. Carefree placed the entire plate of lemon cakes in front of the demon lord.

“They are still warm to the touch, Lord Aesir, so please be careful when biting into them,” Mrs. Carefree said with a smile.

Lord Aesir barely held back the saliva beginning to overflow in his mouth before he spoke. “Your kindness knows no bounds, Mrs. Carefree. If you are ever in the business of private catering, I would like to hire you as my castle’s new head chef. The pay is beyond fair and I’d be more than happy to offer in some personal servants of your own.”

“My word,” Mrs. Carefree began, a bit taken back by Lord Aesir’s words, “Well, should I ever quit my day job, I will most definitely take your job opportunity under consideration. But until then, the only servants I want are the husband and daughter kind. At least with them, I can feel a bit better when forcing them to do what I ask. You understand, I’m sure.”

Lord Aesir let out a heartfelt laugh. “Of course I do,” he chuckled, “You humans have always been quite strange when it involves servitude. But I shall not press the matter any further as to delay this meal of great fortune any longer. Come, please sit and let us begin.”

Mrs. Carefree gave a smile and nod to Lord Aesir before sitting down near her husband.

“Would anyone like to say a few words before we eat?” Mrs. Carefree asked, her eyes taking the time to pause on everyone about the table in order to gauge their reaction to what she had just said. “No need to be shy. Anything will do. Even something as simple as to be thankful for this strange gathering of such interesting folks. I cooked, so I am free to abstain from this. Harriett?”

Harriett’s eyes went wide and her anxiety doubled. “Uh, um, mom? What?” Her brain was so disheveled that it felt like it was just loading the closest words it could say onto a conveyor belt and launching them out of her mouth at top speed.

Mrs. Carefree waved her hand before herself. “Easy there, Hare, no need to push yourself with such elegant words. I won’t put you on the spot.” Harriett’s soul itself sighed with relief. “Anyone else?”

A loud ‘ow’ emerged from Kylia’s lips as her father elbowed her in the side.

“What the heck, dad?” Kylia bellowed out loud as anger began to radiate from every pore on her face.

“Well, since you’ve been such an esteemed house guest, I figured that you, my lovely and youngest daughter, would like to start us off. It would truly make your dear, dear father happy.” The way Lord Aesir had emphasized his second “dear” to Kylia struck a cord of fear deep within Harriett’s heart, but she speedily covered it up as to not alert Lord Aesir. “Well?” he asked.