Beckah’s face went through a serious of changes. At first, she looked surprised, cold and then her expression was calculating. “I wondered why you felt so familiar,” she said eventually. “You two were twins all along. Your first names are similar as well.” Clara noticed that she hadn’t addressed the accusation of bullying. It felt like it was deliberate. Beckah looked at Xavier and nodded. “It also explains why you managed to snag Xavier,” she added. “He feels a lot of guilt for what happened in high school. He’s only dating you because he helped kill your sister.” Clara took Xavier’s hand before he could do anything. She was sensing that he was very angry at being goaded by Beckah. “Xavier and I have talked about the past situation with my sister and he admitted to being partially responsible. My grandfather has the police report from back then and your name was brought up during investigation. Of course, you and your friends got off any charges,” she said calmly. “Whatev
Clara had a whole series of petty tricks planned for Beckah. She had taken some inspiration from Beckah’s high school bullying tactics to make it feel more satisfying. “Your evil streak is showing,” Caiden said with a smirk. “She shouldn’t have driven me to death,” Clara said with a shrug. The taxi pulled over to the side of the road after the light turned green and Clara was pleased to see Beckah get out with a scowl on her face. “If she runs, she’s got time to get to the investment company,” Clara noted. Beckah was wearing practical shoes so it was possible to run. The US wasn’t as pedestrian friendly as the UK so it wouldn’t be an easy route to run. “No, she gets another taxi,” Caiden said. “I checked the future just now.” Beckah waved her hand frantically at a taxi that was going past and managed to flag it down. “That will be her only good luck today,” Clara vowed and started following behind. The taxi driver had clearly been told to drive fast judging by the wa
“It was a shame we couldn’t hang around to watch her reaction,” Clara said to Caiden. “You were worried about an unfamiliar car being noticed coming and going in the neighbourhood,” Caiden pointed out. “You can’t achieve revenge if you get arrested for stalking Beckah.” “I can get Arthur to hack her security cameras at some point so I can watch a video of her freaking out,” Clara said. “That’s something for when I’ve finished with my revenge.” It was odd to think she would get so much satisfaction through watching a video of Beckah sticking her hand into a dog poo, but that was how her life had turned out. “Are you planning to keep up the rat gifting?” the demon asked. “You have a whole box in the hotel fridge.” “Don’t remind me,” Clara said. “I’m hoping they don’t start to rot. I’ll send a few more in different ways.” This day was intended to be one of the worst for Beckah, but that didn’t mean she was going to let her off easily tomorrow. She still had over two years' worth o
“My work trip has been arranged for the second half of next month,” Arthur told her. “Does that work out for you?” “It’s perfect,” Clara said. “I do need your skills to help me.” “I’m glad I can be of assistance to you,” Arthur said. “I had already guessed that you went to the US to get revenge for your sister. Your face when we last met up said it all. Now you look like you're deep into planning something."Clara wondered exactly what else Arthur had guessed about her. She had asked him for lots of odd things over the years and he never said much until recently. “I have done some things already, but I need your expertise,” Clara told him. “I’ll pay for you to have a penthouse suite at the hotel I’m staying at. It’s very luxurious.” “Anyone would think you’re my sugar mother,” Arthur said with a laugh. “I look forward to my luxurious penthouse suite that I don’t have to pay for.” They made arrangements between them and Arthur caught her up with the London gossip. Clara told him a
She turned to Caiden. He was a demon who could see the future; he would know the answer. She just had to hope he would tell her. “What do I need to add to the plan to break her?” she asked. Caiden pointed at her phone. “You’re about to be given a very good suggestion.” Her phone began to buzz and she saw that Xavier was calling her. It was not a particularly unexpected call; he had said that he would try to come up with an idea for her. “Hello,” she said. “I’ve just watched Beckah leave an unsuccessful meeting because she had a very sudden attack of diarrhoea.” Xavier snorted. “It seems I’ve caught you in the right mood. I have an idea for you that I think will be effective.” “I’m listening,” Clara said. “It’s taken you a few days to come up with something.” “I looked up ideas online and realised that you had probably already done the same thing,” Xavier admitted. “I had a new idea yesterday and I’ve spent a lot of time procuring resources for it.” Clara was intrigued t
Clara was pleased to hear that her anonymous mail had incited a terrified reaction from Beckah. If she kept up the other harassment alongside the series of anonymous mail, she could see Beckah reaching her breaking point. “What did she do after she screamed?” Clara asked eagerly. “She locked the door of her office and pulled down the blinds. The photo went in the shredder and she was looking extremely paranoid when I left,” Caiden said. “She doesn’t even realise there’s more coming.” Clara grinned. It was a shame she didn’t have a secret camera in Beckah’s office so she could see the reaction herself. That was something to think about in the future. “I’ll send some more out today. I’ll send one to her house and one to her office. I’ll space them out so she gets at least one a day so she will be always wondering if she’s going to get another one the following day,” Clara said. She would have to lay in wait for Beckah outside her office so she could see how the bully was doing in p
Clara drove to the airport a day later to pick up Arthur. It was easy to pick him out of all the new arrivals due to the dark hoodie and platformed sneakers. The hacker had a distinctive taste in fashion. “You look excited to see me,” Arthur noted in surprise when they met at the airport. “More excited than usual.” Clara coughed awkwardly. She was excited to see a friend from home after over six weeks in a foreign country and for the advancement for her plan. “You’re right, I have an ulterior motive,” she said as they walked outside. “Do I have to start hacking immediately?” Arthur asked with a yawn. “It was a long flight.” It was currently mid-afternoon and whilst Clara was keen to work on her plan, she had empathy for Arthur. It had been a long flight and he had a full-time job. “No, you can check in and relax,” she assured him. “Do you still have tomorrow free?” Arthur hadn’t come to the US to see her; he had come for his job and Clara knew she was going to have to work aro
Clara pulled down the brim of her hat and went to queue at the counter. It was fortunate that Beckah always chose a busy time to get her morning coffee. She was able to blend in easily with the crowd. Caiden who had been waiting by the door, moved close to Beckah and slipped his hand into her handbag and picked out her phone. He handed it to Clara and she dropped out of the queue to return to her table with the stolen phone in her hand. She placed it down carefully next to the hacker. “Here you go,” she said. “We’ve got to work quickly before she notices.” Arthur plugged the phone into his laptop and started work on her phone. “I’m going to d******d what she’s got on there and upload my own software,” he explained. “Her files could be an interesting read.” Clara waited for him to finish with Beckah’s phone. The queue was moving forward at a fast pace due to the efficiency of the counter staff and she was getting tense. Caiden had confirmed that the plan went off without a h
“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