I woke up and looked out the window.

The sun is bright and blinding at the same time.

I sit up and slide out of bed and go to the door where Mother and Father are.

Mother is in the kitchen making ramen for breakfast, as she usually does.

Upong came in with eggs that we got the last time we went shopping.

I made my way to the living room where Aelin and my other brothers are.

I grabbed Aelin's arm and dragged her outside.

She yanked and pulled trying to get out of my grip, but I still had a tight grip, I knew she wanted to get out of my grip but that didn't make me stop holding on to her arm because I don't like to let go of her, mainly because she's my younger sister, and I don't listen to those who are younger than me.

***

Two years later I have to climb this Mountain are I won't be able to help her she's in danger.

Please be safe! Please be safe! Please be safe!

I grabbed a rock and pulled myself up.

I groaned. "Ugh! This is so hard!"

"Sorry for making you climb so fast. Did I by chance frighten you with the way I worded that?" Uncle Jin Lin asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. But it's fine. As long as she's fine. Right?"

Sister hummed from behind Uncle Jin Lin.

"Hm," I hummed with her.

I grabbed her arm. Yanked her and went to the shrine to see if Brother was good. He should be okay, but you never know am I right? Oh whatever, I need to make sure. Even if he's dead. I always come here but things are changing. The seasons are changing it'll be winter soon, so I'll have to come here every day to make sure that the shrine is good looking.

I looked over at Aelin."Are you fine? I need to know if you can help me tomorrow.

She nodded.

***

I walked down the street to the lake.

I washed the clothes and hung them up.

Then walked up to my dad's ramen shop and got some ramen. "Can I get some ramen? I won't be able to go home to night."

"Here, have it for free. You're my child so you get it for free," he said, and wiped the table.

***

after I got done eating, I handed dad the bowl and headed outside.

I went to the local hotel and went to the front desk.

"Can I book a room?" I asked the man at the desk.

"No."

"Okay, thank you for letting me know that you are full of people," I said, turning around.

But before I could he shoved a key in my hand. "No."

"Uh?"

"Sorry, my father only knows how to say no," a girl said, grabbing my hands. "Here, I'll take you to your room."

"Uh, thank you," I said.

"Oh, by the way, my name's Nonomi. Yours?" she said.

"Aejin."

"Oh, what a pretty name. And here's your room," Nonomi said. "See you around?"

"See you around," I said, stepping into the room.

***

I grabbed my blanket and pull it over my head.

No! Get up! Stop being lazy! You have work to do today! So, stop being lazy! Get up! Geeeettt uuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Their gone."

"Huh?"

"We suffered because of you! We suffered! Not you!"

"Aelin," I said. "Since when did you talk?"

"I always knew. and you know what I'm gonna make you pay for this."

"Ahh! What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Stop! Stop all this none since!"

"Aelin! Let her go you freak!"

"She's a demon," a man said. "Come with me and you can have a family member."

"Fine, but where?"

"Training," and so he was off.

***

It's been a few days since then.

(Oh, by the way, my dear readers, she is training to become a demon hunter.)

And I've been training alright. Even though I have no clue about what I'm training for.

***

It's been three years and I'm a demon hunter now.

It wasn't that hard a job, really. Demons weren't nice, sure, but at least killing them was easy.

All demon hunters are issued basic stuff. Swords, herbs, med kits, guns, a very special thing called a 'vortex' which was basically a black hole in a bottle, and, of course, the mandatory pet demon.

Yes, you heard me right. The mandatory pet demon.

My demon was my little sister. She got turned after an attack on my family. Her and I barely managed to escape with our lives. The rest. . .passed to somewhere better.

My sister, Aelin, was super mouthy, though.

"When are we going to make it off this stupid mission?!" She groaned.

"Patience, Aelin. Demons are evasive little fuckers," I replied, eye resting behind the scope of my rifle.

She played with her hair. "It's annoying."

A flash of shadow.

"Shh!" I hissed. I homed in on the shadow.

It was a young boy. He had light brown hair, pale skin, dark gray eyes. His hair was styled strangely. He must be a local.

As I homed in on him, he did the same with me. Fellow demon hunter, I see.

The trees rustled above him and a hideous demon jumped from the foliage. My bullet lodged itself in her skull before she even reached the ground. She crumpled mid-air and hit the ground in a red heap.

The boy looked at me as I stood.

"Almost got you!" I called. "I've been tracking her for two months, so I must say thank you for acting as bait."

He cracked a smile. "It's my pleasure. My name's Nara. And you?"

"Aejin, and this here's my little sister, Aelin," I said, gesturing to Aelin.

He nodded. Then gestured to the person next to him. "This is---"

"Hi, I'm Nonomi! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance!" She shook our hands eagerly.

I tucked my gun at my hip. "Same to you. Are you locals?"

"No, we're here on hunter business, as you are," Nara said.

Aelin grabbed his face and inspected it. "Hmm. You're awfully cute to be a hunter."

Nara took her wrist. "Thank you."

I pulled her off by the back of her collar. "Leave the poor guy alone. Sorry about that, she's a little bit rabid."

Nara waved his hand. "No need. Nonomi can be overbearing, so I'm well accustomed to it."

I pointed my thumb toward the town. "We're headed back, now. Want to join us?"

"We would be honored," Nara said. "Come, Nonomi."

And the four of us departed.

We got ready for our adventure to the bottom of the mountain.

"Aejin are you ready?" Nara asked.

"Almost!" I yelled though the door.

"Okay," Nara said. "We'll wait for you.

"Alright!" I yelled again. I finished getting my stuff for our adventure.

"I'm done," I said, slinging my backpack around my shoulder. "What about you guys?"

Nonomi said. "I'm ready."

Aelin looked at me with that annoyed look she always has on her face. "I hate this why am I always involved?"

"Because," Nara said. "And I'm ready."

"Okay let's go then."

I hate that old hag of a master, when he spoke, I flinch. "Safe travel."

I flip him off.

Then walk out the door.

***

We have made it halfway down the in two hours! Finally!

"Can we move any faster?" Aelin asked, pulling her hair.

"We can only go as fast as we can."

Nonomi nudged her. "We'll be there soon, 'kay?"

"Fine," Aelin said.

Nara looked over at Nonomi. "Don't do that."

"What?'

"Nudge people, Mom told us when she was alive not to nudge people."

"Fine, fine."

"That's honestly funny!" I laughed.

"Yeah, but mom was always funny," Nara said.

I grabbed his hand.

He looked at me weirdly.

I pulled away. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that without asking!"

"No you're fine."

Things between Nara and me only got more awkward from there.

For one, I had the very horrible problem of glancing at him repeatedly. Two, it felt weird to walk too close to each other. Three, I was pretty sure he hated me.

I supposed that was no big deal. Plenty of people hated me. It was just. . .I didn't like the thought of Nara specifically hating me.

He didn't seem to have any problems though.

"The foot of the mountain isn't far," Nara said. "Maybe a mile further."

"That's too long!" Aelin whined, tugging at her hair. "This is so annoying."

I tapped the back of her head. "Manners, Aelin. What have I told you about manners?"

She groaned and pulled her bangs over her face. "In company, manners are of the utmost importance."

I smiled. "Exactly."

Nonomi held her hand up to Aelin. "If you're cold, you can hold my hand."

Aelin looked surprised, then bared her teeth. "Stay away from me."

I frowned at her. "Aelin."

She stiffened, rolled her eyes, and grabbed Nonomi's hand.

"This is purely because I don't want my sister mad," I heard her whisper to Nonomi.

Nonomi smiled. "That's fine. I'm just glad you won't get cold."

Something flashed over Aelin's face---admiration?---and then she looked down. "Yeah. Sure."

I smirked when I saw that the tips of her ears were red. Not many people could fluster my sister. Nonomi truly was special.

"We're here!"

I turned and saw Nara waving at us from a little ahead.

I waved back. "We're coming!"

We caught up with him and saw the rather large town of Etherium. It really was ethereal. Pretty much heaven on earth.

I looked at the girls. "Okay, me and Nara will take care of the main chunk of business. You two go have fun. Maybe go shopping or something."

Aelin gaze snapped up to mine. "No, no, I'll go with---"

"Aelin." I gave her a sharp look.

I saw pleading in her eyes. "Please?"

"No. My word is final," I said. "Nara, let's go."

Nara nodded and we began our search through Etherium. On an average day, it wasn't hard to find a demon hunter base. Today, sadly, was not an ordinary day.

We ran into six undercover demons, three regular demons, and an old man yapping about some purple goddess he met.

Having dealt with those, we finally stumbled upon the one and only base in Etherium.

Inside we found a. . .receptionist?

"Welcome, how may I help you?"

She was pretty. Long black hair like silk, white skin that reminded me of jade, black eyes like coals. She looked bored, like she'd been doing this job too long. She was probably as tall as Nara. Her face was soft in its curves, her eyebrows slightly high set. She wore a form-hugging black dress that flared at the bottom, and knee-high laced boots.

"We're here to order four large watermelons," Nara said, tapping the counter with his knuckles. Not morse code, just erratic taps.

The woman nodded and handed him a folder. "Everything you need is in there. Have a wonderful day."

Nara inclined his head. "Thank you. Aejin, ready?"

I shrugged a shoulder. "I don't have a choice."

We found a quiet table in the base and looked over everything in the folder. Stores to restock our gear, gun cleaning shops, sword care shops, vortex restocks, a med kit/herb restock store, and, of course, the necessary salon.

Nara frowned at the last one. "Do we have to go?"

"You don't want to go?!" I asked, baffled. "Salons are amazing."

Nara glanced up. "I've never been."

I gasped. "No way. You have to come now! I won't let you stay."

This got a chuckle out of him. "Sure."

I leaned back in my chair, tipping it onto its back legs. "I wonder how the girls are doing. I hope they're not fighting."

Nara shrugged. "Nonomi doesn't like fighting. I'm sure they're fine."

I frowned. "Let's hope so."

We decided to hit the sword care shop first.

I stuffed the folder in my bag and slung it over my shoulder. "Ready."

Nara gestured to the door and we left.

I really did wonder how the girls were doing.

Nonomi pulled me into a shop, and my nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of cooking pork and barbeque.

My mouth began to salivate. I shook my head.

Nonomi looked over at me. "Something wrong? Do you not like the smell?"

"No. In fact, it's the opposite," I said. "I'm famished."

"Well, I'll get you some food, then."

We found a table and Nonomi made me sit and wait while she ordered. I started to get anxious when ten minutes passed.

But then she came over, arms laden with plates. She set them all down carefully and sat. "I ordered quite a bit, so I hope you're hungry."

I clenched my fists 'til my knuckles were white to restrain myself from tearing into the pork ribs. I bowed.

"Thank you for this meal."

And then I dug in. Being a demon doesn't suck, most of the time. Until you're presented with meat. Then it's almost impossible to not eat it.

When I finished, I licked the excess barbeque from my fingers. "Thanks so much, Nonomi. That was gre---"

I stopped talking when I noticed her face.

She burst out laughing and I felt defensive all of a sudden.

"What?"

"You're just so cute," she said. Then covered her mouth.

My face warmed. "Yeah, whatever."

She picked up a napkin and stood. Then walked over to me and kneeled.

She began scrubbing my face clean.

"Hey!" I swatted at her. "Hey! Stop, I can take care of myself!"

Nonomi grabbed my hand. "Let me finish."

I begrudgingly folded my hands in my lap and waited for her.

When she finished, I immediately wiped my face on my sleeve. Nothing came off. My face was clean.

"Thank you," I muttered.

She smiled. "You're welcome."

My ears burned and I turned away. "Where do we go next?"

"We have to pay first. Then we'll go to the springs," Nonomi said.

"Okay," I replied indifferently, even though inside I was melting.

This woman.

She was killing me. I was dying because of her.

She poisoned the food.