“I’m sorry that I was… well…,” Kylia’s words trailed off as if simply speaking such ‘human’ words was taking everything she had.

“A jerk?” Feron chimed. Kylia’s anger filled glare returned in full and pointed directly at Feron. “Sorry. Don’t mind me.”

“Do not give me an impossible task then,” Kylia growled.

“Easy there, Demon Princess.”

“Try me, Hybrid!” The temperature of the room began to climb again before Kylia collected herself for a second time, surprising Harriett once again. Then, her slightly calmed gaze shifted back to focus on Harriett once more. “Ignoring the fake demon over there, I guess I oughta get this out before someone rudely angers me again. Harriett, you are a weak human.”

Harriett didn’t know whether she should acknowledge what she had just heard or remain silent.

“Wow, you are wonderful at apologies, aren’t you?” Feron asked, sparing Harriett the trouble of answering.

“Let me finish, man. Jeez.” Kylia sighed before continuing, “You are a weak human, Harriett. But, it… was… well, it was wrong of me to insult you for simply being what you are. I may be a…,” Kylia took a second to glare at Feron again before speaking directly to Harriett once more, “well, a jerk. But I am still a Demon Lord’s daughter… that is also a jerk. So accept this apology so that I can stop acting like a human, okay?” At this, Kylia placed both of her hands on her hips and bent down closer to Harriett. “Well, you accept my apology, right? Right?”

“Um, well… um…,” Harriett’s mind was so worn out that even attempting to activate her vocal cords took everything in her. But her mind cleared long enough to remind her that if a Demon Lord’s daughter could suck up her anger filled emotions for long enough to apologize, then Harriett could extinguish her anxiety long enough to give a sincere reply. “Yes, I accept it. Despite the fact that you were… well… a jerk… in the grand scheme of things, you weren’t any more of a jerk than this one over here.” Harriett pointed over her shoulder at Feron, which caused the Vampire Prince to let out an audible gasp.

Kylia released a strangely heartfelt laugh before rising back to her full stature. “A little spunk to your words, huh, human?” she bellowed as a smile came upon her face. “If making fun of this one over here had been the theme of the night, then perhaps we could have gotten along from the get-go.”

“You know, we still could,” Harriett added.

“Could what?” Kylia asked.

“Get along. I mean, this is still our first meeting. It isn’t like our relationship is already set in stone to be bad, right?”

“Ick,” Kylia said with a gag, “Don’t tell me that you are going to try and be my friend. Oh, demons, you are going to try and be my friend, aren’t you?”

“We definitely don’t have to try if you don’t want us to,” Feron stated. “In fact, please don’t make us. It would mean oh so much to us, and to me. Mostly me.”

Kylia stepped over to stand before Feron. Then, a devilish smirk overtook her face. “So me being friends with this weak human over here would pain you greatly, would it?”

Feron rose off the bed and to his full stature before Kylia. “You being friends with anyone would be a great challenge that I’d love to see.”

“Really…?” For some reason that Harriett couldn’t pin down, Kylia’s face lit up as if she had just thought of the idea to trump all ideas. And for that, Harriett did not have a good feeling about anything that was about to follow. Kylia suddenly jumped on to the bed and hit it on the right side of where Harriett was sitting. The force the Demon Princess had landed with nearly sent Harriett flying off the bed and onto the hard floor below. But luckily, Harriett had managed to grab her blanket with her right hand in order to steady herself. “Alright then,” Kylia excitedly stated, “Then a friendship, we will form.”

“Uh, what?” Harriett confusingly stated.

But Kylia simply slugged Harriett across her right arm before letting out a heartfelt laugh. “It is just as I stated. If it annoys this Hybrid over here, then I’ll do it, no matter what it is. Such is the pride of a Demon Lord.”

“But you aren’t a Demon Lord,” Feron corrected.

“And you aren’t a Demon. Guess we are all fakes tonight, aren’t we?”

“Oh the fakest,” Feron added.

Kylia continued to smirk as she looked from Feron to Harriett. “Well, weak human, what do you say? Care to have a friend like me? You should know that having a future Demon Lord in your pocket might make your boring human life a little better. But my friendship doesn’t come cheap.”

“What do you mean?” Harriett asked as she began to rub her arm where Kylia had slugged her. (Although it pains me to say this, the bruise she is going to wake up with is not going to be pretty. But that’ll be a battle for Mrs. Carefree in the morning.)

“What do I mean? Sheesh, do I have to spell it out for you?” At this, Kylia pointed at the center of Harriett’s chest. “That power sleeping inside you, I want you to use it on me.”

“What???” Harriett replied back with a fully flabbergasted tone.

“Quit asking what, human. It’s just as I said. I was told by my father that you have this well of infinite magic inside of you,” Kylia opened her arms widely as she spoke, “And not just any type of magic. The dense kind that is capable of unleashing some real hell, literally. I want you to use it to fight me.”

“Wha---,” Harriett caught herself before she was possibly slugged again. “Fight you? First, why? Second, why? Third---?”

“Let me guess, why?” Kylia interrupted.

“I wasn’t going to say that, but it does fit the narrative I had going,” Harriett timidly replied.

“Well, I suppose an answer is deserved if I am to get what I want. Ya see, as I was stating upstairs before, this dinner night you caused me to be at interrupted my training to be the next Demon Lord. And because of you, my siblings will definitely get an advantage over me. But your magic is not only potent, but unpredictable, according to my father. You could use it on me in ways that could make me stronger! Wouldn’t that be great?”

“Fantastic,” Feron sarcastically added.

“Least you realize that, Hybrid,” Kylia barked back at him before focusing back on Harriett. “What do you say? How do you feel about helping me become the next Demon Lord? Doesn’t sound like a bad friendship, right?”

“Doesn’t sound entirely good either, if you ask me,” Feron stated.

“That’s why I didn’t ask you,” Kylia coldly replied. “If I wanted a fake demon for a friend, I’d just look in the trash.”

“Make sure you check the second dumpster for second rate Demon nobility then and you might see a familiar face.”

“Okay, enough of that right now,” Harriett firmly stated, drawing both Kylia’s and Feron’s attention towards her. Seeing her best friend bicker with Kylia stirred an old feeling in her that always seemed to usurp control of her main emotions: Annoyance with her best friend. Somehow, Feron was always able to snap her out of whatever stupor she was in simply by speaking. And for that, she both loved and detested him. Mostly detested at this particular instance. But nevertheless, her temporary grasp on her confidence allowed her to say what she next had to say.

“Kylia,” Harriett began, “Even if I wanted to help you through fighting you, which I don’t, by the way, it wouldn’t do you any good.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kylia bellowed. “You trying to say that you’d beat me? Because I assure you that you wouldn’t.”

“It’s not that,” Harriett continued, “I mean, I’m not saying I could beat you! I mean, I might be able to, but I am not saying that in any way right at this very moment even if I was quite confident that my magic would overwhelm you… which I’m not!”

“Your point?” Kylia chided, her fingers beginning to tap Harriett’s comforter in constant repetitive spurts.

Harriett swallowed before continuing. “Well, it’s just that, it’s not that I don’t want to help you or anyone else with my magic. It’s that… you know what? I’ll just say it and embarrass myself here and now. I can’t control my magic. Even if I wanted to use it on you, at minimum, you would die. At maximum, you’d most likely still die, but it would probably be in some creative way that would astonish the magic community for decades.”

At this, Kylia balled one of her hands into a fist and nailed it against her open palm. “This sounds like a challenge then! Good, with your punitive attitude as it is, this should be good for me.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Harriett shouted as she jumped from her bed, but still faced Kylia and Feron. “This isn’t a game or a challenge to me. This is real life. And I am a walking magic bomb. With the slightest loss in the little control I have right now, I could obliterate so much more than you know.” She sighed before stressfully running her hands through her tightly bound hair. “I just wish I had paid more attention in our class so long ago, Feron.”

“That Preschool Private Class thing?” Feron asked.

“Yeah. It was pretty long ago, but maybe it would have helped me more if I hadn’t been so afraid the entire time.”