STALKER

With a heavy sigh Diya rested her head on the table of their meeting room.

"What's wrong? That sounded heavy." Sargon said as he blissfully patted Lia's head.

"We're running out of humans." She said in a heavy dead toned voice.

"We'll just hunt more." He casually said.

"That's the thing, the demons have all raided all the nearby villages and eaten all of the villagers as of yesterday, if this keeps up, there won't be any more left in this part of the country after all; your army has grown by the thousand with each weekly attack." she turned her head so her other cheek was on the table.

"A little more and we'll have to feed them poultry." Sargon chuckled.

"That's it!" Diya slammed her hand down on the table. "We've got an exceptional amount of live stocks and vegetables, what do you think? Shall we try it?" she said in excitement.

With great effort, meat was introduced to a group of demons who were skeptical at first, but lavished the meal down to the bone. With a look of success, orders were given out to cultivate the land for farming and growing vegetables and live stocks. At first the demons were against it, but after tasting the meat and being encouraged by the first tasters, they reluctantly took up the new work.

"It's soo nice seeing them not sitting around or starting fights anymore, now I don't need to be a referee." Diya wiped a tear away "If only their master could follow their footsteps." She eyed him.

"Nice joke, that's worth about seventy points." Sargon sarcastically replied. Just then Diya felt someone watching her, she immediately used far sight and looked all over but saw or sensed nothing.

The next day she took Lia outside, as they walked past all the demons they were greeted and Lia grew somewhat of a fan club, that's because none has seen a beast-men this up close; and despite being seen as their master's pet, she was still a higher class demon. Diya had Lia practice her barrier magic spell and have her extend it as far as she could. The next day she had her re-enforce the barrier. The third day she had the demons try to break it down all while still feeling these lurking eyes on her. This routine repeated for the next week. At this time Diya had dark circles under her eyes, Lia who picked up on the strange behavior waited for when Sargon was sparring with his elite demons so Diya would be alone. She went to the balcony where Diya would always stand watch.

"Um, lady Diya." Lia popped her head at the entrance to the balcony.

"Ahh Lia?" she glanced her. "you're relieved of duty today so rest well for tomorrow."

"It's not that." Lia made her way in.

"What's wrong then? Do you need something?" Diya asked as Lia now stood next to her. Despite their height difference Lia is always intimidated by Diya's sheer aura and the mirage she saw would always appear every now and then.

"Can I help you with something?" Diya asked as she turned to face her. It felt like do or die for Lia, she decided to take the die part and let it out.

"I want to talk with you, girl to girl!" she yelled. Dumb folded she let out a small laugh.

"I wish I was more brave like you, let's talk." she spoke after her small outburst.

Lia complimented her by telling her she was well adored among the demons, they exchanged small talk, now that the ice was broken Lia move in and ask her what was bothering her, Diya tried to shake it off by changing the subject.

"Don't run, I have been running all my life until I got here I finally stopped, so if you need a person to depend on, even if I'm not strong as you, or even a friend I'll be there for you." Lia said as she grabbed Diya's hand. Diya couldn't believe the audacity of this girl that she just stared at her as if she was about to eat her, all to be interrupted by a stray axe. The axe came from below where they were sparring. Lia retrieved it and tossed it back.

"You, really are something else." Diya finally smiled and proceeded to tell her what was happened.

Lia suggested speaking to their master, but Diya refused saying she didn't wish to burden him with small troubles. She also expressed how she was grateful for Lia, and that she could confine with her, not as a boss to subordinate, but as a friend to.

That night Lia was permitted to stay on the same floor where Diya's and Sargon's rooms were. She later found a note on her dresser thank you for taking care of Diya this is your reward. Now that she knew hard work resulted in merits, she silently vowed to give it her best.

That night Diya was woken up by a blood thirsty presence. It was just at the edge of the boarder she could tell it was for her. Immediately she took to her balcony and used far sight to determine who the guest was but all she saw was a black shadow.

"Are you just expressing a greeting, or are you going to attack which is it? Or is it testing me?" she muttered and without thinking she used one of her skill Intimidate with all of her aura. That move made everything in the castle wake up,

"Whoever woke her up is going to be sorry." Sargon said as he casually slid out from his bed eyes still closed.

With her eyes glued to the shadow, she extended her aura filling the barrier, hoping that was enough to scare of the intruder. She gripped the banister so tightly it broke.

"Get lost." She said as she broke the barrier aiming for the shadow that disappeared into the earth. She didn't even notice that Sargon and Lia were in the room.

Sargon casts Drain consuming what she had left and then casts Sleep. He instructed Lia to fortify the barrier until morning, and the demons to increase shifts reporting anything suspicious to him immediately. The remainder of the night he couldn't sleep, instead he watched over Diya as she slept just before she woke he went back to his room. With a pissed expression

"Just who or what was messing with my subjects?" he growled.

It was also the first time experiencing a taste of Diya's power even if it was just her aura, just how strong is she or was she before she became his subordinate? The next morning Diya apologized for causing a commotion then set out to the barrier. She also mentioned that it was the first time since she became a demon that she felt threatened. At the scene there was a residue of high level magic. It was also on par with Diya's aura. Sargon did a sense projector on the magic, but couldn't determine where it came from and whoever sent it was good. He couldn't help but smile.

"Begin preparations, they'll be back." He said as they made their way back inside the castle.