Hera’s eyes flutter open right when the clock struck twelve. She stares at the ceiling for a while then slowly sits up. Her cheeks are still wet from all the crying she did. Her foster parents have yet again beaten her up that night and locked her up in her room or basically– the basement, a place that’s dark, and dreary, a place spacious but close to empty and a place that’s so cold and so lonely. It’s not fit for a bedroom at all but she has no choice. It’s either this ‘room’ or the streets.

Her bed isn’t even a proper bed. It’s nothing but old comforters that she piled up on top of each other to shield her back from the cold floor and her pillow is a torn cushion from the living room that she covered up with patches. Hera sighs as she throws the ratty covers off her body and lets the faint moonlight shine on her bruised legs. Her eyes start stinging just seeing them; the image of her father hitting her with his cane made her flinch and shiver in fear. She wipes an escaped tear and gets out of her bed, limping.

She didn’t know what she had done to deserve this life. It’s bad enough that her real parents left her in an orphanage when she was still a mere baby but being randomly given away to a foster family that didn’t even want a child to begin with is even worse. She didn’t hate her real parents though. Her old caretaker had told her never to hold a grudge on anyone because there’s always a reason why people hurt you.

She was too young to understand it then and all she really cared about was food and play. Unfortunately though, the orphanage she lived in had a horrible fire incident that almost took her life away. All the surviving children were forced to stay with random foster families and that was when her life started to spiral down.  

She remembered being excited to live in a new house despite the tragedy. She was excited to have a new family, to finally be able to call someone ‘omma’ and ‘appa’ but she never really expected her life to end up like this. Still, she didn’t have it in her to hate on her foster parents no matter how badly they’re treating her. It’s engraved in her mind after all, to never hold a grudge because they have a reason for hurting her. What that reason is? She has no idea and she’s still hoping to figure it out.

Hera heaves a deep sigh as she stares out her tiny barred window. She hugs herself, wondering how the others were doing. She wondered if they’re happy with their new families, if they’re loved, if they’re safe. She wished they were. She wished they weren’t in a position like hers because none of them deserved it.

Hera is eighteen and she’s still stuck in the basement, only coming out to cook and ‘serve’ her parents. She wasn’t even permitted to go to school. She studied all that she knew herself, reading books upon books that her father owned in his study. Her neighbors haven’t even seen her. If they did, her parents would’ve been arrested long ago. They’ve beaten her up and tortured her to a point where she thought she was going to die but she’s surprised that she hasn’t. For some weird reason, she survives. It’s as if something was stopping her from meeting her death. Soon, she slowly starts to realize that her being alive has its purpose.

It was an eerie night. Clouds outside were thick and dark. Rain poured heavily, so heavy that rain water started to seep through the cracks on the ground of the basement. Lightning struck, sending flashes of bright light in her almost pitch black room. Thunder roared, loud and frighteningly but Hera wasn’t afraid. She was too busy crying, curled up in a ball at the corner of her dark room, bruises covering her arms and her feet bloodied.

Her mother had seen her eating what was supposed to be saved as her mother’s midnight snack. Hera had no idea of course. She was just starving because her father had punished her, forbidding her to even a bite of food for half the day. She just wanted to have at least a little of something in her stomach. She wasn’t planning on finishing everything, just a few bites and she would be good but her mother had caught her. The rage in the woman’s eyes burned like wildfire and Hera was too stunned to make a run for it.

Her screams of pain and her pleas were ignored like they always were. She has said she was sorry and she tried to explain to her mother but she should know by now that none of those work. So now here she was, feeling her lungs squeeze as she tried to catch her breath from all her crying. Her mind was in a huge haze. She was sick of being tortured. She was sick of tolerating all the pain and suffering. ‘Why can’t I just die? Why don’t they just ing kill me?’ she said in her mind, knocking her forehead on her folded arms.

“Not yet.”

She gasped, her head shooting up from her arms. “Who said that?” she whispered with a shaky voice. Her eyes dart around her empty room, the only thing making her see anything was the flashes of lightning outside. There’s no one there though. How could there be anyone? She’s alone. She always is. Hera shook her head. “I must be hearing things…” she whispered, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

“But you’re not.”

She gasped again. She swore she could hear someone speaking but the voice is unfamiliar. It could not have belonged to her parents. The girl looks around one more time but to no avail, there’s really no one. Has she gone completely crazy? She didn’t remember her mother hitting her on the head but she might as well have lost her mind from all their tormenting anyway. The girls shook her head again, eyes tightly shut as her head rested on her folded arms again.

Just then, her skin started to prickle. She feels goosebumps running down her arms and legs. Her heart is beating erratically but she has no idea why. She can suddenly hear incoherent whispering around her, some sound close and some are far. Some are loud in her ear but some come off fading. When her eyes flutter open, a dark figure by her door made her breathing shallow. 

She shoots up from the ground, blinking rapidly and rubbing her eyes in disbelief. Is she seeing things now too? Her head spun and she lost balance for a moment. One of her hand flew up to her forehead while the other was slapped onto the wall to steady herself. Hera shut her eyes again as she ducked her head, willing herself to stop being so affected by a mere shadow. “It’s just an illusion, a hallucination… How hungry am I?” she mumbled to herself as she slowly opened her eyes to look up.

Her eyes widened. The shadow was moving towards her. Every time the lightning flashes, it’s closer than before; icy blue orbs are looking right at in the dark, holding her in her place. She felt her entire body stiffen but not because she was scared or in shock but almost as if there was something trying to paralyze her. The girl’s breath was stuck in . Its right in front of her now but it’s not a thing. ‘It’s a person, a man,’ she thought with an attempt to furrow her eyebrows but couldn’t. His body was wrapped with chains and he has a collar strapped on his neck. She can see scars under his collar and peeking out of his dress shirt.

Hera took a sharp breath as if she’s emerged from the ocean. Her body slacked and her brows finally furrowed at the sight of the man’s icy blue orbs turning into solid black. He took a step closer and she pressed herself against the wall in an attempt to move farther. His dark eyes look bare of any emotion or light. They resembled mysterious black holes and she feels as if they’re her in. She shouldn’t be mesmerized by the hollowness of his eyes but she strangely is, unable to look away from such an intense and unreadable gaze.

He didn’t look real. He looked like something she’d just be imagining but he definitely felt real. His hand rose up and touched her face. It felt soft against her cheek. It was so, so cold but it was still gentle and light on her skin. “She’s the one,” he had said. His voice sounded familiar. Was he the one talking in her head? “She is the one,” he repeated, his hand dropping from her face. Strangely enough, no matter how cold his hand was, it left a burning sensation on her skin and his voice, it was like velvet and it made her stomach twist into knots. When he took a step back and finally looked away, she gasped. There were others appearing before her.

Ever since that fateful night, they have always been coming back for her. It started with them only coming when she was locked up in her room or if she was crying herself to sleep but then they started to come almost every night. The more they came to her, the more she grew attached to them.

“When will they be back?” she says wistfully as she holds onto the bars of her window. She used to never understand why she misses them the moment they leave and look for them whenever she can. Nobody in the right mind would want to be associated with them but she soon realizes that to her, they are the closest things to friends, to family. She cares for them, she loves them, most especially the demon that found her that night and saved her.

“Baekhyun…” Even the sheer sound of his name has the power to make her feel better and safe which is probably the last thing she should ever feel about a demon. Hera sighs for the nth time, her eyes closed and her head hung low.

It should be wrong. Falling for an evil entity is wrong but why does she feel like it’s the only thing going right in her life right now? Is he even really in love with her too? Do demons know love? Do they even have real emotions? Hera grips on the bars a little tighter.

On the first nights that they visit her, they circle around her, observing her in dark, whispering to her in her mind and seemingly waiting for something that she had no idea about. She had already known what they are and what she is to them. She didn’t fully understand and they purposely left out a few things but she didn’t care then. It’s not like she can decline anyway. Like the rest of the things in her life, she had no choice. They have marked her theirs, their possession and no one can cast away demons who have consumed them.

The sacrifice was supposed to be made long ago. Baekhyun and his legion was supposed to be free of the bound long ago but one night had changed everything for them, for him.

Hera was shaking in utter fear. Her parents had gone far into torturing her that night. His father has used a Taser on her. Every time she whimpered, he would tase her and laugh like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. Her mother did nothing but tighten the knot of the ropes that bound her hands. She too, laughed at her agony. Once she was thrown into the basement, they appeared in a hurry.

Baekhyun didn’t understand what he felt at all. Hera couldn’t even walk properly to her bed, her knees kept giving up on her. It came to a point where she gave up too and struggled to crawl to her bed. His chest was constricting. He felt the urge to punish, to give her parents a taste of their own medicine. He didn’t know what came over him. For the first time since he stepped foot in this house, he got out of the basement, something that he wasn’t supposed to do. The rest panicked when they noticed him gone.

“What the does he think he’s doing?” Jongin hissed when they found him near the kitchen, his icy blue orbs compelling the girl’s mother to stuff herself with tons and tons of food. Baekhyun hisses too but it wasn’t because of his clan members. The collar around his neck was tightening but he ignored it.

With even more demons around her, the woman began to eat even more, almost like she was just stuffing food down without even chewing. She was choking, her eyes watering and her face reddening. She moaned, almost as if pleading herself to stop but she couldn’t. She was gagging uncontrollably but her hands wouldn’t stop from feeding her. It feels as though they have a mind of their own. The demons feel a sting on their chain clad bodies but the sound of giggling shifted their attentions. They all turned to locate where it came from.

Hera had a fist to her smiling lips. She cleared when she noticed them staring but the smile on her lips was still there. The imaged of it burned in Baekhyun’s mind. He liked seeing that smile and he liked hearing her giggle even if it was for a brief moment. “Thanks,” Hera said, stifling another giggle.

She felt so much better now. She’s no longer scared and her body isn’t in pain anymore. She noticed that this happens whenever her demons are with her. It’s like their sustaining her life, healing her physical wounds and maybe even her emotional wounds too. Hera, feeling utterly happy, neared Baekhyun and wrapped her arms around him. The demon, for the first time in his entire existence, grew stiff. His eyes are wide, a peculiar and foreign warmth spreading in his chest.

A soft gasp escaped her lips when she realized what she has just done. What was she thinking? Why did she do that? Hera tried to pull away but he hugged her back. His arms around her were tight and for some weird reason, his embrace felt secure. She started to relax in his hold and unconsciously buried her face in the crook of his neck. She had expected him to feel cold but he’s warm, so warm that she didn’t want to let go anymore. If the others hadn’t broken them apart because of her mother’s barfing, she really wouldn’t have let go at all.

“Hera!!!” The girl jumps at her mother’s shout. The demons vanished and she felt empty the moment they’re gone. Hesitantly, she stepped into the kitchen. It was a mess in there and it smelled rancid. Her mother’s eyes were still in tears even if they were glaring at her for a reason she didn’t know of. Her arms were tightly wrapped around her stomach as she walked past Hera, muttering a ‘clean this up!’ before disappearing upstairs to probably continue puking.

Hera sighed, holding her breath the best way she could as she did what she was told to do. Her demons appeared again, staring down at her as she cleaned the mess her mother made. Baekhyun was the only one by the kitchen door, his face crumpled and his body doubled over. That was the first time Baekhyun has ever received a punishment from his master but oddly enough, he didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything anymore, except for Hera.

The demon didn’t understand what was happening to him and so did Hera. At first, she thought her weird feelings whenever Baekhyun did things for her, seemingly showing concern for her, was just an effect of their possession of her. They own her emotions too after all and maybe he’s playing with her feelings this way. She tried to fight it. Baekhyun did too but whatever attraction they had for each other felt so strong and overpowering. It ran deep in their souls and drowned them on dry land. It was something they just couldn’t keep fighting anymore and so they gave in. Until now, they didn’t know if their choice is for their own good or the death of them.

Hera’s ears suddenly perk and she looks up, eyes twinkling with excitement. The clanking chains and ominous atmosphere could only mean one thing. Her demons are back. “You’re not doing this,” Baekhyun says, almost running to her with his dark eyes finally showing something. Hera’s chest feels like it’s going to explode. Why is he so perfect? So attractive? Everything about him is so alluring and tempting. Not just him but his fellow demons too.

They arrive one at a time in a puff of pitch black smoke like they always do but this time, their steps have a sense of urgency in them. They have the same chains adorning their sinful bodies and leather collars around their flawless necks, all an indication of who they belong to and where they belong.

Baekhyun is the first one to reach her. He roughly cups the back of her neck and crashes his lips on hers. The girl gasps into the kiss and just when her eyes start to close, he pulls away. “You’re not doing this!” he repeats a little louder now, his eyes boring into hers.

Hera’s lips part to say something but he knows what she’d say so the demon twists away from her immediately. He’s completely furious. “You should’ve told her everything!” he screams. His glare is directed to their leader whose jaw is tightly clenched. “Does it ing matter now, Baekhyun? We’re running out of time! We…” he trails. Even as their stern and powerful leader, he too, feels what Baekhyun is feeling. He and the rest of them are having second thoughts about this but there are so many risks ahead of them now.

He glances at the rest of his clan members who look just as reluctant as he is. “We’ve stalled this long enough