Chapter 14

  Flamey Elizabeth Hyde liked her name. It sounded good, very princess-like, and it was a name Daddy had given her. He was already a much better father than old-father had ever been. Good thing he was dead, he would not be missed. Her new father was just the best; he had Crunchymel bars to start with, something she could have never imagined existed. She’d seen pictures of cakes and biscuits — things the children of the Blessed were eating daily, probably — things she herself could have never hoped to have. Not until her new father came along. But her good luck — finally some good luck — had not stopped there. Daddy was human! A human of all things, from the surface world. She had never seen one — no-one had as far as she knew. And somehow, he had shared the very nature of his being with her, going as far as to grant one of her most fervent wishes: to become a princess. Just like the princess in her most treasured possession, the book her mother had given her, before old-father had cut her down in one of his fits of rage. He would not be missed. But she was now Flamey Elizabeth Hyde, the Hellfire Princess of the Fourth Ring. People should now follow her cheerfully, children would play together with her in fields, flowers would bloom like in the surface world and … there was one, small problem: Daddy was human. Which meant he hated her and her kind, as she had heard everyone say whenever she had asked about the Blessed. A problem indeed.

  Luckily, the solution was also present: one of her two aura skills, which her hated and thankfully dead old-father had forced her to take and practice, was finally useful. It had even changed from “Aura of Manipulation” to “Princess Charm”. She instantly took a liking to the skill she used to hate; it had the word “Princess” in it, so it was now a good skill. And it had been helping Daddy to like her, it would help him to not be the same kind of father as the old one had been, it would help her to be the best princess she could be, and it would help Daddy to enjoy her hugs even more. Oh, hugs! There was something strangely wonderful about them, now that she had the chance to mimic the children in her book hugging their fathers and mothers. She had never seen anyone do that here. Oh well, they were missing out, hugs were great. Things were looking up, and she was happy to follow Daddy wherever he went.

  Then another, much bigger problem occurred: the Third Ring found them. An ambush. Daddy fought. Even the mage whom her old, horrible father had kept around fought. But she did not. She crawled and ran and hid. What a blunder. Not very princess-like at all. Would her skill be enough now to keep Daddy liking her? A weak demon like her?

  She had fled far enough, perhaps too far, and she only had a vague sense Daddy was still alive. At the same time all sense of direction and all hope left her in a hurry. Come back direction! Come back hope! But in this place, she wasn’t going to find her way back to him. Could he find her? And if he could, would he come for her? Useless, little, not very princess-like her? She pulled her knees to her chest as she sat in the middle of nowhere, only the hot, firey columns keeping her company and keeping her lost. Shut up firey columns, shut up! Then something happened that had never happened before: a sensation of wetness in the corner of her eyes. What was this? Was this … crying? She wasn’t sure how she knew the word, but she knew for sure no demon had ever cried. So why and how was she? This was … this was a human thing to do. And the tight, horrible feeling in her chest? Also a human thing, probably. She did not like this. Not at all. But she couldn’t stop it, and the little droplets of moisture — tears as they were called apparently — kept coming. How unpleasant.

  After some time, her store of tears close to depletion, she heard the familiar sound of Daddy’s very weird looking flying companion, Whirly. She looked up, saw Whirly coming, so she jumped up and waved her arms as hard as she could. Yes! Whirly would notice her. And Whirly wouldn’t be here if Daddy had not sent him, which meant Daddy was looking for her! She couldn’t remember ever feeling this kind of joy in her entire life. The warmth overwhelmed her — quite the new and novel sensation. If Daddy was looking for her, surely it was because he liked her, right?

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  She followed Whirly for however long it took to finally see Daddy clad in his strange looking armour. She had never seen armour like it, and she had been to old-father’s stores before, and seen all kinds there.

  Hugs were the best, and Daddy was not going to get away from it; she jumped and wrapped herself around him, and he let her. For a few moments. Then, he asked to see her “stats”. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but if he asked then she’d agree as any good princess-like daughter would. Some Hell Mana moved about, but what was a little Mana between father and daughter?

  Then, to her shock and horror the question came; a question she couldn’t have expected or been prepared for in a million years in all the rings of Hell. It fell on and squashed her insides like a warhammer she’d once seen, causing that same unpleasant, even painful feeling that had made her tears fall. Oh no! Daddy knew. He knew it, and he was not happy! This … this … this was the end? Should she deny it? Should she tell the truth? What would make Daddy not angry? She called on her Princess Charm like never before, hoping it would all go away, and she could just tag along the best daddy in Hell like she had been. But it didn’t go away, and she decided to admit everything. He told her to stop using the skill, and he even said he wouldn’t leave her, but she knew that without the skill there was no hope a human would happily have a young demon around, no matter how princess-like. Good-bye, Daddy, it’s been a short time, but it’s been the best. Perhaps death won’t be too unpleasant. And who knows, maybe they’d have Crunchymel bars in death.

  But then Daddy explained something to her. That he’d like her even without the skill, and if he did, then she wouldn’t have to worry about him ever leaving her behind. A shock! A true shock! Was this true? Was this really true? She had no memories or experience to draw on, and she had never been in a life-or-death situation such as this before. What to do, what to do? In the end, she knew she couldn’t do anything else than to trust him and do as he asked. She stopped her skill.

  Daddy didn’t leave. He was still here, looking down on her, almost smiling. He asked some questions. Silly questions, really; why would she feel anything other than joy that her old, horrible, loathsome father was gone? He would not be missed. And why would she hate humans? She had never met one, and she couldn’t wrap her head around why every single demon she had ever asked despised them. Oh, of course; because other demons didn’t have the treasure she had. Of course they didn’t, treasures belonged to princesses, and demons were … well, not very princess-like. Except for her. She even had the title now to prove it.

  She thought about it for a moment; Daddy was still here, he wasn’t leaving it seemed, but nothing was certain yet. Perhaps … perhaps she could trust him a bit more and share her treasure with him, and then he’d understand that if he wanted the best princess daughter anyone could ask for, then she was the only choice. Then she wouldn’t have to use her Princess Charm ever again. Not on Daddy anyway. The thought had a sense of rightness to it, not something she had felt often. It was decided: she brought the book out and gave it to Daddy.

  He turned the pages of the book, scowling and humming; she wasn’t sure what it meant. Had she done the wrong thing? Was this not enough to convince him to let her stay, to let her be his daughter? Oh no! She didn’t have any more ideas, she didn’t have any more treasures to share. What now? What should she do now? Before she could stop herself, she asked that question out loud.

  ‘What … what should I do now?’

  She was sure, very, very sure she had made him angry somehow, again, and this time she was going to be cast out for good. But Daddy smiled at her, and her heart almost stopped as she heard his words.

  ‘You should come over here and give your old man a hug.’

  Flamey Elizabeth Hyde learned something new: the same way the horrid pain in her chest could make her tears fall, immense joy could do the same.

  She leaped at her father, her one and only, weirdly armoured human father, and smothered him with the greatest princess-hug Hell had ever seen.

  Hugs were just the best.