Xavier was on her list of revenge targets because he had broken her heart on the day she had died. She considered him to be culpable for her death. Clara froze up for a long moment and then another powerful gust of wind reminded her of the situation she was in. She was in a new body and she was out for revenge. She couldn’t just stare back at him silently. “I think this was all of the sketches I saw,” Xavier said with a smile. Clara tucked the sketches back into her sketchbook and clutched it tight to her chest so they wouldn’t fall out again. Now she had to work out what to say to Xavier. Caiden was silently watching nearby so she could only guess that events were currently going smoothly. “...Thank you for your help. I will get going now.” “Did you draw those sketches?” Xavier asked. Clara looked at him sharply. Things were slotting into place. Xavier had a distant look in his eyes. Caiden had told her to adopt her older style of sketching and her natural hair colour. Xavier h
Clara clung to Caiden whilst she quietly cried. Caiden responded by hugging her tighter. Eventually her tears stopped and she wanted to wipe her face. Caiden was one step ahead of her and wiped her wet face with a black silk handkerchief she hadn’t seen before. “Was that a gift from the demon king?” she asked. “It was,” Caiden said and put it back in his pocket. “He really likes me. I can’t work out why, I’m the worst performing demon.” “Is it because of me?” Clara asked with more tears threatening to fall. “No,” Caiden said immediately. “Apparently I’m too nice to be a good demon.” Hearing Caiden’s problem distracted Clara completely from her dilemma. She couldn’t believe that Caiden wasn’t considered to be a decent demon because he was too nice. It was true that he was nice, but she didn’t personally think that was a problem. “What do they think you should do instead?” she questioned. “Scare me so I can’t sleep?” “Apparently, I should get you to track down and kill your
The unexpected request was not what Clara had wanted to hear. She wanted to get her revenge against Xavier completed quickly and not drawn out over the week. There was also the question of whether or not he was actually trying to ask her out on a date. Clara didn’t want to find out if he really wanted to date her or if she had misunderstood. There was a way out of the situation that should work. Caiden’s odd suggestion from the night before had likely been referring to this. “If we meet tomorrow, it can’t be a date. I have a boyfriend,” she said firmly. She knew that she was going to need to go straight to see Arthur after parting with Xavier tonight to explain that he was going to have to pretend to be her boyfriend if Xavier saw them together. Xavier looked disappointed. There was no other way to describe the look on his face. Clara frowned. She was annoyed that he wanted a date with someone who reminded him of her original self. He had been so mean to her the day she had
The statement had the benefit of confirming that his first love was Clara Kennedy. Now there was no mistaking who his first love was. Clara knew she had an opportunity to torment him. She was angry enough to use her own death to twist his emotions. “Was it your fault?” she questioned. “You look regretful.” “I was most definitely a factor in her decision to take her own life,” Xavier admitted. “We went to the same high school. She was the scholarship student and was bullied by pretty much every student at that school. I sat next to her for a semester in Physics and I developed a crush on her.” “Did you bully her?” Clara asked plainly. She pleased in some way that Xavier knew he had played a part in her death. “I didn’t. I didn’t stand up for her either which does make me as bad as everyone else really. On the day that she committed suicide, her biggest bullies used me to torment her. I should have stood up to them and defended her. I eternally regret everything I did that da
Clara sighed and got up from her cramped position. Now that she was calmer, she could feel her back aching. She had spent too much time sitting down on the coach and lounging against the bathtub to speak to Caiden was taking its toll. “I’ve calmed down now,” she said. “I’m not keen on getting revenge. I’ll make my final decision in the morning. In the meantime, do you have any suggestions on how to torment him in case I change my mind?” “I’ll let you know tomorrow,” Caiden said very insincerely. Clara glared at him. If the demon wasn’t even going to pretend that there was a revenge plan in the works, it was obvious that she never chose revenge for Xavier. *** Clara wasn’t surprised when Arthur sat next to her at breakfast and handed her a stack of paper. Now she had to pretend she didn’t already know all the information Arthur had given her. “I looked up Xavier King. He does good investigative work,” Arthur told her. “Here are some of his articles and other information about him
Caiden’s smile was one of understanding and Clara smiled back. They were close enough to be able to tell how the other person was feeling. “You know, you can use him instead,” Caiden said. “Just because you’re not getting revenge against him doesn’t mean he can’t be part of a future revenge plan.” “Is that a hint?” Clara asked. “If you think I’ll need him because he’s an investigative reporter, you’re wrong. I have Arthur for things like that.” “It’s not quite because of that. Xavier has a vendetta against the same people as you. It will help to have some way to contact him when you meet your targets later on.” Clara nodded and lurched into action. The demon was trying to subtly tell her that she would need Xavier in the future. She ran up the beach and caught up with Xavier. “Xavier!” she called out. “Can we exchange contact information?” Xavier looked delighted to be asked that question. “I wasn’t expecting this, however I am willing to give you my number and my email address
Clara took a moment to process Caiden’s words. He was in love with her?She had never expected a love confession from the demon she was contracted to. Clara stared at him with wide eyes. She had never ever felt so lost for words. Some part of her brain registered that she had technically received two love confessions in the past week. Clara had never ever considered Caiden as someone she would be romantically attracted to. He was very kind and she enjoyed spending time with him, but she had never thought of romantic love in relation to him. “I can see you are too shocked to speak,” Caiden said softly. “I thought this would happen. I am aware that you probably don’t return my feelings. I just couldn’t stay silent on the matter for any longer.” Clara opened her mouth and closed it again. She didn’t know how to reply. She couldn’t reject him right after he confessed and she couldn’t return his confession either. She had been put on the spot. She could feel her cheeks heating up. She
“Who am I going to encounter by working at St. Clair?” Clara asked excitedly. “When do I ever tell you that much information?” Caiden retorted and poked her cheek. “Have some patience.” Clara pouted and blinked her eyes. Caiden simply ignored her. Despite being in love with her, he was immune to her pouty face. “Is it one of the four bitches?” she questioned. “You can tell me that much.” “It is,” the demon confirmed. “I didn’t know you had any other targets in mind.” Clara resumed picking out clothes that were suitable for working in an office. Due to the fact that she would be working at a fashion company as the granddaughter of the CEO, she had to think about her outfits carefully. “We’ve never actually fully discussed who we consider revenge targets. At one point I considered my youngest step brother as a target.” When she had drawn up a list of people to get revenge on early on, she had written Ryan’s name down. He had destroyed all her possessions on that day and in
“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