Their first month of dating passed by quickly. They soon fell into a routine of meeting after work and going on dates. Clara was blissfully happy, but she knew they needed to discuss their future together. Caiden was only living temporarily in the UK after all. She chose to ask after they had finished eating Caiden’s latest attempt at a home cooked romantic meal. His cooking skills were unique to say the least. “Are you going to stay here in London when your job here is finished?” she asked. “Where would you like to live?” he questioned. “Here or in a different country? We have lots of options.” Clara thought about the matter seriously. She had grown up in the US and had been unexpectedly pulled into a different country. She did prefer living in the UK, but there were other countries to try as well. “We can move around,” Clara said. “I think we should make this our main country and travel to other places. That is if you want to. This is a decision we should make as a couple.” Ca
“I’m getting married!” Clara announced happily. She smiled over her coffee and Arthur watched her with a bemused look on his face. "When is the wedding?" he asked. “Next month,” Clara told him. “I was planning to invite you. We’ve only just decided on the date so there’s no invitations to give out yet.” “Do you not have wedding planner then?” the hacker questioned. “Invitations are normally sent out much sooner.” “I don’t want a big wedding,” Clara replied. “James was fine with it and just asked that I invite him.” She was a little surprised that her grandfather had agreed with her desire to have a very small wedding. They both enjoyed high positions in society and people like them normally had grand weddings with a long guest list and a high budget. “I shall consider an invite as a great honour then,” Arthur quipped. “How many guests are invited?” “I’m inviting 12 people,” Clara said. “Caiden has invited a couple of friends. He doesn’t have any relations to invite.” “Of cour
The weather on the day she died was perfect. The sun was shining brightly against the blue sky which was unexpected as the weather had been cold and grey all week. The strangely good weather should have told her that something bad was going to happen. The warm weather meant that Clara sat on the outdoor benches to eat her lunch instead of inside the school cafeteria. It was considerably more fun to sit outside by herself than in the busy cafeteria with all the noise and disdainful stares. She stuck out like a sore thumb at Trinity Academy in her second-hand school uniform. The only good thing right now was that she didn’t have long left to go before she graduated. Clara’s high intelligence unfortunately meant that instead of attending a standard high school where there would be more people in a similar situation as her, she had earned a scholarship to attend a posh private school where all the students came from rich and well-connected families. As a scholarship student with fos
This chapter contains a very brief suicide scene that is not explicitly described. If you wish to skip it, go to the next line break (***). - Clara sniffed and held in the tears that were starting to fall. She wasn’t going to cry in a place where someone from the school could still see her. She would bottle it up like she normally did. The bus ride was a complete blur and soon she was outside the front door of her home. It wasn’t big or attractive, but it was the only place she could call home. The scent of mac and cheese hit her senses as she unlocked the door and she groaned. It was her least favorite meal. It would be the topping on a shitty day at school. She took off her shoes and continued on her way to her room. As the oldest foster child, she had been granted her own room. It was small, but it was all hers. She would change into her most comfortable clothes, read her favourite book and put on a cooling eye mask to relax. Her allowance for the past six months had been spen
Clara took a deep breath to steel herself before facing Caiden. She shouldn’t show that she was having second thoughts about the contract she had just made. She needed to look like she knew what she was doing. “How are you going to help me get revenge if we are still here?” she questioned. Caiden didn’t look perturbed by her question which gave her confidence in his abilities to help her out with her mission for revenge. “I can’t bring you back to life as you were. It’s not something I can do and it wouldn't be possible to get revenge as Clara Kennedy. I caught you here because there is someone with a compatible body available. Your soul can inhabit her body.” Clara narrowed her eyes. It was a relief to hear that she wouldn’t have to return to her old life again, but she was skeptical of his logic. “How is that going to work then?” she asked with a glare. Caiden put his hand on her shoulder and looked down at her. “To explain it in the simplest way, I am going to transplant
“Where have you been?” Clara demanded. “I’ve been feeling so lost.” Caiden had the grace to look guilty. Clara noticed that he was no longer wearing his cloak and was instead wearing a leather jacket and black jeans. Despite the oddly human attire, his horns were still visible and there was still an unearthly vibe to his appearance. “I had to be somewhere else. I knew the transplant was successful and this was the first opportunity I’ve had to come here. Demons don’t belong in the human world you know. I have a ruler to answer to.” The mention of demon life was intriguing, but Clara wanted to know more about her personal situation rather than his. “What happened to the owner of the body I’m in right now?” she asked in a calmer tone. “The doctor wouldn’t say.” “That is a conversation that we can have when we are completely alone,” Caiden said. “The nurse will return very soon and I don’t think it’s the best thing to talk about demon related things with someone else around.” C
Clara was pleased to hear confirmation that she was going to get revenge against those who had hurt her. It gave her some hope that everything would work out for her despite the odd circumstances. She smiled to herself and Caiden patted her head. It was an strangely tender gesture from a demon. “I would like to say that what I can see is far in the future. It’s going to take some time to build up to it. Are you willing to do that?” Caiden asked. Clara didn’t like the idea of waiting a long time to get revenge, she didn’t feel patient right now. She thought about the portrayals of revenge she had seen in popular media. Some people waited a very long time to get revenge and the phrase ‘revenge is a dish best served cold' was often thrown around. She could wait a while so she could perfect her revenge against everyone who had driven her to death. “That’s fine as long as I eventually get revenge,” she replied. *** Breakfast was a simple meal of toast, fruit and orange juice.
“Hello Clara,” the red-haired woman greeted with a snide smile. “I am glad to see you survived your near-death experience. I thought I would never see you again.” Clara felt a chill down her spine from the mysterious woman’s words. She had to be someone who had tormented the real Clarissa. Her body was telling her to run. “I don’t know you,” Clara said plainly and walked past the woman. “Beryl, I thought I said to greet Clara later,” James said sharply. “Did you forget? I don’t want her to get overwhelmed by lots of new faces.” Clara looked back at the woman. Now she had a name to put to the face. Beryl was a good actress; she did look like she was sorry. There was still an insincere look in her eyes despite the apologetic expression on her face. “I forgot, sorry,” Beryl said. “I’ll pop by later to say hello to her.” Clara hoped that she wouldn’t. She didn’t know why Beryl was standing there. James had said there were staff members who worked in the house, but it didn’t fee
“I’m getting married!” Clara announced happily. She smiled over her coffee and Arthur watched her with a bemused look on his face. "When is the wedding?" he asked. “Next month,” Clara told him. “I was planning to invite you. We’ve only just decided on the date so there’s no invitations to give out yet.” “Do you not have wedding planner then?” the hacker questioned. “Invitations are normally sent out much sooner.” “I don’t want a big wedding,” Clara replied. “James was fine with it and just asked that I invite him.” She was a little surprised that her grandfather had agreed with her desire to have a very small wedding. They both enjoyed high positions in society and people like them normally had grand weddings with a long guest list and a high budget. “I shall consider an invite as a great honour then,” Arthur quipped. “How many guests are invited?” “I’m inviting 12 people,” Clara said. “Caiden has invited a couple of friends. He doesn’t have any relations to invite.” “Of cour
Their first month of dating passed by quickly. They soon fell into a routine of meeting after work and going on dates. Clara was blissfully happy, but she knew they needed to discuss their future together. Caiden was only living temporarily in the UK after all. She chose to ask after they had finished eating Caiden’s latest attempt at a home cooked romantic meal. His cooking skills were unique to say the least. “Are you going to stay here in London when your job here is finished?” she asked. “Where would you like to live?” he questioned. “Here or in a different country? We have lots of options.” Clara thought about the matter seriously. She had grown up in the US and had been unexpectedly pulled into a different country. She did prefer living in the UK, but there were other countries to try as well. “We can move around,” Clara said. “I think we should make this our main country and travel to other places. That is if you want to. This is a decision we should make as a couple.” Ca
Clara kept a careful watch on the office building opposite so she wouldn’t miss seeing Caiden leave when his work day had finished. She had already missed seeing him before, she wasn’t going to do it again. Fortunately, he was one of the first people out of the building and Clara immediately began to pack up everything she had brought with her. Caiden entered the coffeeshop and beamed when he saw her waiting by the door. “Excellent. You’re ready to leave on our date,” he said and held his hand out to her. “Can we take a diversion first?” she requested. It was only fair to let Arthur know that she had found Caiden, but she had decided a text wouldn’t suffice and it was better to let them meet in person. “Will it take long?” “I want to introduce you to someone,” she explained. “Arthur has been helping me look for you and I think he would like to see the success of our search.” Caiden looked thoughtful and then he nodded. “I would like to meet him. He has provided assista
When Clara finally looked up from her phone and glanced back at the door, the person she had been waiting for had already left. She had missed a lot in the two minutes her attention had been diverted.A member of staff approached her table with a cup of coffee in her hand. Clara looked around in confusion. “I didn’t order anything,” she said. Clara was aware that she was the strangest customer in the coffeeshop and the staff were probably wondering when she was going to leave. She had been the first customer of the day and had only ordered two drinks in the past three hours. “One of our regulars came in a couple of minutes ago to pick up his online order. He saw you looking tired and bought an expresso for you,” the staff member explained with a smile. “He’s a nice person.” Clara blinked in surprise. She had never noticed any of the customers paying attention to her. The incident must have occurred when she had been occupied with her phone. She checked the name tag on the girl’s
The weeks quickly turned into months and soon an entire year had passed. Clara had taken a position at St. Clair that had enabled her to travel around the world just so she would have better chance of finding Caiden. She returned to the family mansion on the anniversary of her return from the demon realm after an unsuccessful trip to New York. Her actual work had gone well, she just hadn’t found any signs of Caiden in the city. There hadn’t been any traces of Caiden in any of the 10 countries she had travelled to over the past year. He didn’t have any presence on the internet either and Clara didn’t have any idea of how she could improve her search methods. Clara collapsed onto her bed and closed her eyes. She was physically and emotionally exhausted from her search. Despite everything, she wasn’t going to give up. She would sleep for a while and then she would look at other highly populated places to visit. “Clara Kennedy.” Clara’s eyes opened immediately at the sound of
Clara landed on the floor of her bedroom alone and fully aware of the gravity of the situation. She didn’t have Caiden at her side anymore. She needed to find him for that to happen. Clara stood up and realised that her legs were shaking. She had been feeling intimidated by the demon king and had refused to let him know. Now her nerves and lack of sleep had got to her. She took a deep breath to calm down. She had vowed that she would be able to find Caiden and she needed to start working on that.One person came to mind immediately. Arthur would be able to help her. She took her phone out of her pocket and called him. “...Hello?” Arthur asked cautiously when he picked up the call. Clara realised he had assumed that the phone call was someone else using her phone to inform him of her death. “It’s me, Clara,” she told him immediately. “Things have changed. Can we meet up? I have a lot to tell you.” “Of course,” he said. “I think we'll need to go somewhere that allows for private c
Caiden was lost for words as he watched the events that he had foreseen so many times play out in front of him. It was no longer a vision of the future; it was happening in reality. It was finally the end of Clara’s life. Her soul floated in front of him as her eyes slowly closed. Caiden made his decision in that moment. He grabbed hold of Clara’s soul with his hands and pushed it back into her. Despite being very light, her soul wouldn’t move until he exerted all of his power. Clara’s eyes snapped open when her soul returned to her. “...What’s going on?” she asked breathlessly. “I can’t take your soul,” Caiden admitted. “I want you to keep it.” He had no real idea what was going to happen now. The contract had not been fulfilled properly. He had completed his part of the contract and he had stopped Clara from fulfilling her part. There was no precedent to follow here. He was the first demon to refuse a soul. “What’s going to happen to both of us?” Clara questioned weakl
Clara knew that her grandfather was confused to hear her sentimental words. They rarely talked about their personal feelings. “I haven’t been the best grandfather,” James replied with a deep frown. “I brought Beryl here to be your mother figure as I had felt that it would prevent you from becoming like my daughter. It turned out to be the worst decision I have ever made.” Clara could not deny that James’ decision to date Beryl and bring her into the family had been lethal for Clarissa. She decided to focus on something else. “Thank you for rescuing me when I was a baby,” she said. “I’m sure Clara would also thank you for looking for her.” “You don’t need to thank me for that,” James replied. “I would also like to thank you for taking me in instead of leaving me to the care system,” Clara continued. She didn’t know much about the British care system, but it was likely similar to the American one she had lived through. She had been lucky to be adopted by a decent set of foster pa
“It was a good ride,” Arthur said with a wink. “You kept me guessing for so many years. I’m so pleased to finally know what was going on the entire time.” Clara relaxed. The hardest part was over now. “Is everything over now?” he asked a moment later. “You’ve brought all of your targets down apart from Xavier King.” “It is,” she confirmed. Arthur nodded and then he looked deep in thought. He coughed awkwardly before speaking again. “Where did Clarissa go if you are in her body?” he questioned. Clara had been expecting this question. Arthur was the only person who had a connection to Clarissa and knew that she was using her body. It would have been odd if he didn’t ask where Clarissa had gone. “...She died when she committed suicide four years ago,” she explained. “Her body was alive for a short time and I was put into it. I’m sorry to tell that she died all that time ago.” Arthur frowned and looked away. “I see... That’s sad,” he said. “It’s odd to hear that Clariss