Clara woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She groaned after seeing the early time and then she remembered that she had something to look forward to. She silenced her alarm and reached for her phone. The email account that was connected to all her fake social media accounts was jammed with notifications for new comments on her posts. Clara flicked through the comments to see that people were angry with Victoria and wanted her cancelled. Clara was pleased with that and checked the news sites to see if her posts had received sufficient traction to warrant new articles. The top post on the first news site was about the downfall of Victoria Hayes courtesy of a leaked video. Clara nodded in satisfaction and moved onto another new website. She found the same results there. She had been asleep for seven hours and this much had already happened. She was expecting other things to occur over the course of the day as more people became aware of the scandal.Clara took note of the time. S
Clara waited for Victoria’s reply. There was no way that Victoria would turn down an opportunity to revitalise her career. “I’ll meet with you,” was the eventual reply. “It would have to be somewhere private. Our last meeting was a disaster.” Victoria’s normally confident tone was gone and she sounded considerably more subdued and miserable. “What’s your room number?” Clara asked. Victoria willingly gave out her room number and Clara entered the hotel. Caiden appeared at her side when she walked through the hotel lobby. “Don’t worry about her getting violent, that won’t happen. You are in the superior position,” Caiden reassured her. Clara hadn’t been too concerned about Victoria trying to attack her, but she appreciated that Caiden had thought she might be worried about it.“Thank you,” she said. “Are you staying to watch?” “I think I will,” Caiden said. “You can ask me to leave if it gets too personal.” Clara smiled at him. “I will do that.” She had preferred to speak to X
Caiden ruffled her hair with an affectionate smile.“I’m glad to hear that you’re satisfied. You planned this one without any help and I wasn’t really needed this time.” “You were emotional support,” Clara replied. “That’s still an important job.” Caiden didn’t reply and looked at her expectantly. Clara stared back and then she realised that he was waiting for a reply to his confession from all that time ago. “I haven’t forgotten that I now need to give you an honest reply to your confession,” she said. The demon nodded eagerly. Clara wanted to smile at his cuteness, but she needed to look unaffected. “That’s right. I’ve been patiently waiting for a long time now,” Caiden said. “Are you ready to give me a reply now?” Clara took a deep breath. She had spent a lot of time over the past planning how she was going to word her reply in between working on her revenge plan.“I am ready to reply. If I dated you, there would be several hurdles to overcome. Firstly, you are the one who wi
Clara woke up and was disappointed to see that she was alone in her bed. Caiden had been next to her when she went to sleep. She reminded herself that he was a demon and the human realm wasn’t his home. She sat up and thought about what had transpired the previous day. Her revenge against Victoria had been completed with the bully’s apology and now she was in a romantic relationship with demon she was bonded to.They had kissed a lot and Clara had gone to sleep with a smile on her face. She had felt like she had no worries. Now she remembered that there was a time limit on their relationship and Caiden was going to be the one who would end her life. Clara shook her head to banish her dark thoughts, she was just going to have to do her best to forget about the true facts of their relationship. Clara got out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast. James was sitting at the table with his full English breakfast as he did every Sunday. “Good morning, Clarissa,” he said. “Is there any
Caiden smiled at her tenderly. “The story of how I developed romantic feelings for you is a very complicated story,” he said. “Start at the beginning then,” Clara stated simply. She wasn’t going to let him worm out of explaining his feelings to her. Things like that were important in a relationship. She really had no idea what part of her he had fallen in love with. “Your unshakeable personality is one of the factors,” the demon replied. “You strive for what you believe in and that is something to fall in love with. You don’t like injustice and you have turned into a confident woman despite what happened in your past.” Clara nodded. Caiden had picked out her good aspects. She hadn’t felt like a confident person when she had first been reborn into Clarissa’s body, she had been terrified of Beryl and upset by Clarissa’s memories. After getting revenge against Beryl, she had felt more self-assured about herself. She had suffered with her insecurities when she had encountered
“Is there anything you wanted to do with me?” Caiden asked once they wound down their kissing session and moved to the couch. Clara looked at him in confusion. It sounded like a dirty question, but from his face she could tell it was innocently meant. “In what way?” she asked. “Well, I can’t shower you with gifts so I want to know if there are any activities we could do that would make us feel like a real couple,” Caiden explained. “Since you’re the human here, I thought you might have some ideas.” Clara considered the question. She hadn’t thought they would be able to have normal dates that other couples could go on. They certainly couldn’t have a romantic meal at a restaurant as she would be the only person eating and she would look strange having a candlelit dinner by herself.They couldn’t go to an amusement park on a date either. Caiden wouldn’t be able to go on any rides or eat snacks. Physical activities were out of the question as well. Perhaps they could look around some
Clara had never spent much time wondering where Clarissa’s soul had gone. Over time she had come to think of Clarissa’s body as her own rather than a body she had borrowed. To hear that a demon could have consumed her soul was a shock to her. “Is it possible for a demon to have eaten her soul?” she asked. Caiden looked serious when he replied. “She is not listed as being contracted to any demons. I didn’t see any demons in her memories when I looked through them before giving them to you. Demons cannot take a human’s soul without a contract being involved.” Clara turned over that information in her head. It was true that none of Clarissa’s memories featured demons in any way. “That’s odd,” she agreed. “Have you asked any other demons about it?” “I did go back and ask an older demon about how a demon could collect a soul without being contracted with the holder of the soul,” Caiden said. “There is a way.” “What is it?” “A demon can collect souls if they have been wagered as par
“I would be willing to represent you at an event,” Clara said quickly. There was no way she was going to turn down his offer and let the opportunity slip from her grasp. “Don’t you want to know more information about the event first?” James asked in surprise. Clara realised she had answered a little too eagerly and backtracked. “I just want to help you out in any way I can,” she replied. “Where is the event being held?” “It’s at the Grand Junction here in London” he told her. “It’s an important event on the fashion calendar so I normally never miss it. Unfortunately, I would need to go on the business trip as my presence has been specially requested.” “Do I have to make any speeches?” “No, just socialise well with all the other guests and no matter what you do, do not offend anyone. You won’t necessarily like a lot of the other guests, but you need to remember that you are representing the company and myself and investors will be there.” “I understand,” Clara said. “I t
“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