”Since when?” the voice sounded disappointed and Yan Mei felt an odd satisfaction at having outwitted her on that ground

”The moment in the kitchen, I thought I sensed demonic energy but it faded away so fast I thought it was me, plus the speed with which you batted that water away.” She pointed out as she eyed her

”So you knew?” The demon continued unable to hide her anger at being found out so easily, it was obvious she had planned a big reveal complete with blind hysteria but Yan Mei’s reaction had punctured her ego.

”I actually thought it was a demon possession, not this,” she gestured in front of her

”It’s such a pity that your father has been protecting you for all this while, if not I would have long destroyed you. That protection was particularly clever, I couldn’t harm you myself but nothing was stopping me from burning your world down around you.” She answered viciously, her words aimed at drawing blood

It took a minute for the words to sink in before she reached the heart-wrenching conclusion “no” she gasped

”Yes, how did it feel to be thrown in the streets Yan Mei ” she taunted

”No” Yan Mei protested, unable to keep the tears from her eyes this time, her hands coating along her stomach in a move reminiscent of a long time ago

”And that precious baby, that anguish fed me for years.” The creature crowed, there was no mistaking it’s malevolent joy

”No,” Yan Mei shook her head, unable to understand why unwilling to accept the stark truth in her face. She had thought she was beyond this pain, here she was, broken all over again.

”Is that all you have to say? You should thank daddy dear for your problems, if he had simply taken his demon mate instead of sleeping with a human we wouldn’t be here” the creature taunted, sounding supremely bored.

”No no no”

”Look what he made me do” the words were followed with a smirk

”Yue Yan why?”

”You’re not exactly bright, are you? I’m not Yue Yan , I’ve never been”

”But Lei Zhao ….” She never got to finish her sentence.

Yue Yan…the creature cut in with was surely a bored expression on her face, “was a fool to believe anyone survived that crash, but he wanted to believe it so much that he didn’t even investigate my claims”

”But you look just like Yue Yan … Like her” it was the token protest of a mind that was failing to grasp its new reality. Yan Mei knew this but she couldn’t stop the waves of horror ripping through her

”That’s not even the hard part, you made it all easy by inviting me to your house, so desperate for love that you decided to accept me as your sister.” She gloated, inching closer.

Yan Mei flinched back at those words, cringing over her actions over the past few months “but you saved me so many times, I started to have doubts about you, I believed you changed your mind. I believed you were fighting the demon in you”

”I’m also the one who put you in danger” came the explanation in a time of voice that implied she must be stupid

” I know” despite the words, Yan Mei felt stupid, betrayed but the worst part was the guilt, whatever went wrong here, she had invited this creature into their house and their lives. But she also needed to know why “why go through all that if you’re just going to kill me anyway?”

”I’m a demoness darling, I play with my food,” Yue Yan announced as if that was the only reason worth giving and rushed at her, Yan Mei threw up her hands to protect herself and the two of them clashed with a force that blistered the air around them with energy.

They both staggered back but Yan Mei fell further than Yue Yan before they both straightened and launched at each other again.

It was a show of force, Yue Yan pitched arcs of dark lightning at Yan Mei who danced back as she tried to launch an attack of her own.

Yan Mei flung her hand forward, sending a bolt of energy at the demoness. It hit her square in the chest but the creature barely stopped before launching a counter-attack. Multiple shots that came at her from every direction and threw her three feet in the air before the landed with a thud that rattled all her bones.

Yan Mei quickly rolled to the right to avoid another bolt of energy aimed at her and quickly got to her feet. In just a few minutes she realized there was no way she was going to win on her own. This demoness was very powerful; just like her father and the fact that Yan Mei felt extremely weak and nauseous was not helping her.

Yan Mei attacked and abandoned that plan, and raced through the house in a bid to escape or find Lei Zhao and launch another attack together.

Even as she flew, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Yue Yan the demoness, whatever it was called, was still toying with her, herding her along like sheep.

She burst into the kitchen, her eyes frantically searched for something she could use to defend herself. She headed straight for the knife block and her hands closed around a random hilt as she turned to face the creature that casually walked through the door.

The smile remained the same, but it wasn’t just kicking now, it showed a deep-seated disgust. For the first time, Yan Mei wondered how she had missed it, that hatred simmering all this while.

She looked around the kitchen for something else, the knife felt unbearably flimsy in her hands; she did this taking care to keep Yue Yan within the field of her vision until something broke her concentration.

She spied the slumped body from the corners of her eyes and was instinctively rushing towards it before she realized it was Lei Zhao “oh God no” the clutched knife in her hands falling with a clatter on the tiles

He was sprawled on the floor as if he had collapsed after a blow to the body but his snoring quickly reassured her he still was alive. Her hands clutching his shirts, pounding on his chest as she tried to shake him awake, fear quickly dispelled by rising anger.