"Tabitha!"
My lips thinned at the familiar voice, but I refused to acknowledge it, focusing instead on hanging the freshly washed clothes.
It was a fine day—too fine for yet another unwanted visit.
What the hell is he doing here again?
"Tabitha! Tabitha!"
His voice grew louder, each call grating against my patience. Then, I felt it—the unmistakable weight of his demonic aura pressing against my back.
I exhaled slowly before turning around, meeting the unsettling depth of his crimson eyes.
"What is it now, Yosuke?" My voice was calm, but my patience was wearing thin.
As expected, he wasn’t alone. Tyler and Kurama stood beside him, their usual smirks firmly in place. They were clad in those scarlet red overtunics—the ones I had stitched for them long ago when I still lived in the Demon Realm. Knee-high leather boots completed their ensemble, an almost ceremonial uniform of sorts.
Kurama’s sharp gaze flickered toward Yosuke. "How dare you address her so informally?" he hissed before delivering a swift smack to the back of Yosuke’s head.
Yosuke snickered, unfazed. "I can’t help it! Her blood smells too good."
That earned him another jab.
"All right, all right!" He groaned, rubbing the sore spot before shifting his gaze back to me—his eyes now void of their predatory gleam. "Apologies, milady."
Tyler, ever the composed one, spoke next. "Are you prepared for your final mission, milady?"
I shook my head. "I told you, I'm not going."
I turned my back to them, signaling the end of the conversation.
Kurama, however, was relentless. "But you must. The Rulers have already decided. If you refuse, punishment will follow."
I let out a bitter laugh, my frustration spilling over. "Punishment? They've been punishing me since the day I was born. What more could they possibly do?"
The air grew heavy with my words, but I wasn’t finished. "And why does it have to be me? There are plenty of tamers in the Demon Realm. Let them handle him. My mother is sick—I can’t leave her, not now."
A quiet sigh passed between them.
Kurama approached, pressing a memo into my hand. I barely spared it a glance before looking away.
He hesitated, then carefully placed it atop the dried clothes beside me. "When you're ready, call us."
Tyler’s voice softened. "We’ll be waiting."
And just like that, they vanished into thin air.
I exhaled sharply, my gaze flicking to the memo. There was no need to read it; the message was always the same. I could probably recite it backward if I wanted to.
How touching—the mighty Rulers deigning to send me this piece of garbage. I should be honored, really.
Sarcasm dripped from my thoughts as I rolled my eyes.
My gaze fell to the mark on my wrist. θάνατος. The Greek word for Thanatos—Death.
It was the insignia branded onto me when I was thirteen, marking my fate as a descendant tamer.
It nearly cost me my life during my first battle.
Yosuke, Tyler, and Kurama were among those I had tamed—descendants from the lines of Libra, Pisces, and Sagittarius, respectively.
I should be proud, I suppose. After all, I had managed to subdue eight of them. But now, I was being summoned back to Aiden’s realm, tasked with completing the twelve.
Aiden, one of the three ruling sovereigns of the Demon Realm. His brother, Adonis, governed the Spirit Realm, while Lelith reigned over the Human Realm.
With a resigned sigh, I picked up the memo and entered the house.
I barely had time to react before my mother appeared in the doorway. Instinctively, I hid the memo behind my back.
She smiled knowingly. "There's no need to hide it. I saw them."
Her gentle hand rested on my shoulder, her touch warm despite her frailness.
"You know your duty. You must fulfill it."
I clenched my jaw. "I can't leave you, Mom. Not like this."
Not when you could die at any moment.
She cupped my cheek, her fingers featherlight. "I'll be fine. I'll be here when you return. And you know as well as I do—everyone is counting on you."
I bit my lip, my eyes scanning the frailty of her form.
Damn them.
Thousands of years had passed since the chaos—the day the descendants lost control, storming the human world in an unrelenting bloodbath.
They had gone berserk, slaughtering thousands.
The Rulers, desperate to quell the destruction, found only one solution—taming. And so, tamers were created.
With what little concern I had left for humanity, I made my decision.
Mom helped me pack what I needed for my return to hell, and together, we waited for Kurama inside our modest home nestled within the barn.
"I'll be back soon, got it?" I said, forcing a smirk.
She nodded, and I pulled her into a tight hug.
"Take care, okay?" she murmured. "Don't let those descendants defeat you."
I chuckled dryly. "Losing isn’t in my vocabulary. And besides—this is my last mission. There's no way I'm failing."
I pulled away, turning to Kurama, who stood patiently behind me.
Mom’s lips moved silently. Goodbye, my child.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. "Goodbye, Mom."
And then, in a flash of blinding light, we were gone.
Kurama beamed. "A wise choice, milady."
I scoffed. "You have no idea how difficult it was to make."
As the colossal gates of the Demon Realm materialized before us, I inhaled sharply.
It had been a long time since I last stood here.
Yet nothing had changed.
For clarity’s sake, the Demon Realm was not some infernal pit of monstrous horrors. No, it was far more... refined.
It was a world of underworld creatures, eerily similar to humans—only far more powerful.
The gates creaked open, revealing a realm that could easily be mistaken for Earth. Skyscrapers, ports, and a river winding through the heart of the city—it bore a striking resemblance to New York, right down to what could have been its own version of the Hudson River.
I knew how ironic it sounded, but demons weren’t the horned, grotesque beasts humans imagined.
They were beautiful. Deceptively so.
Once, they had been angels.
There was a saying:
"Demons aren’t born—they are made."
And truer words had never been spoken.