The First Night

At the table, Ashley ate in silence while looking from Sephirah to Damon. None of them said anything either. Damon had barely touched his food while Sephirah ate with quite an appetite.

Ashley didn't feel comfortable with the awkward silence and kept rushing her food till she choked on the bread she was eating.

"Here, have some water," Sephirah said pouring out some into a glass for her because she was coughing so much.

Once she calmed down, she ate slower. She looked at Damon and he looked back at her with a sharp gaze, Ashley quickly looked away and continued eating.

Nobody had said anything since they started eating and now it was so awkward, she couldn't bear it anymore.

"If I may ask, are the servants here demons too?" Ashley spoke up looking from Damon to Sephirah, expecting one of them to give her an answer.

Sephirah smiled before she answered. "No, they are all humans Ashley."

"But do they know what you people are?" Ashley asked again just to be sure and if they did, did they not care?

"They don't know what we are. The humans are not supposed to be aware of what we are." Sephirah explained.

Ashley became thoughtful. Humans were not supposed to know? Did that mean she couldn't tell Natalie at all?

"But I know."

"Yes, you know because you needed to. You had to be told so that you could understand everything that happened and you could be aware of what is going to happen." Sephirah explained. "Our race is supposed to be kept hidden from the humans unless there is a crucial reason as to why they must ever know about us."

That confirmed that she couldn't just let Natalie know about this yet.

Ashley looked at Damon he had not said anything since but he had stopped eating. She remembered him telling her that he would tell her more about all this later and today he had said she would get to know about everything at the right time.

"Why do you people look like humans?" She asked.

Now Sephirah was quiet for a while and when she was about to speak, Damon spoke up.

"This is not what we truly look like." He said waving his hand over his face to make her understand what he meant.

Ashley suddenly remembered the man in her dreams, he had also turned into a human being and looked just as beautiful as these two. So if he was a demon that means that was their true appearance. The very pale skin, that almost looked white and weirdly pointed ears and blood red eyes then the fangs, it made him look like a vampire especially as they had what looked like stains of blood on them. But he was a demon.

Also, Ashley had seen Damon with claws which meant they also had claws. She looked up when she heard her name. It seemed they had been calling her.

"Are you okay?" Sephirah asked.

"I'm fine." She said and quickly took water to drink.

"You don't have to be scared of us, we won't hurt you."

Oh, she wasn't scared of them, it was the terrible image of the demon that she was terrified of.

"I understand." She said.

Nobody said anything again until dinner was over. Sephirah said she would come by the next day. That might be helpful, Ashley thought. She may or would need a little womanly company during her stay here.

After Sephirah left, Damon came to her.

"You should go to sleep now you have work tomorrow." He told her.

She nodded and turned to walk away from him but he stopped her. Ashley looked at him questioningly.

"Is anything wrong?" She asked him.

"The hall is that way." He said pointing in another direction.

Ashley nodded and quickly walked away from him. She wanted to get away from him so badly that she was going in the wrong direction. Ashley shook her head and walked faster. She used the staircase to go up as she didn't know whether or not she was allowed to use the elevator alone.

Ashley tried to remember which door was the one to her room. She walked through the corridor, trying each door until she got to one that opened. She peeked in and saw that it was the one that belonged to her.

Ashley entered the room and thought of what next to do. She prepared a warm bath and took off her clothes before sitting there in the bathtub with eyes closed, enjoying the feel of the warm water against her skin. Ashley stayed like that for a long time before she rinsed her body and got out of the water.

She wrapped herself in a towel and went into her closet. After changing into her pajamas, she arranged her clothes on the shelves and hangers. She took out her alarm clock and placed it on the beside table.

She wondered how long the night was going to be. Taking out her phone, she laid down and went through it. There was a message from Natalie.

[*How are you doing?] Natalie had sent.

[*I'm better. How's Lacy?]

[*She's eating. I'm glad you're better. Try to sleep well okay. We'll talk tomorrow.]

Ashley smiled. She dropped the phone on the table and adjusted herself in the bed. She kept thinking of everything, she didn't feel sleepy. After lying without being able to sleep for a long time, she got up.

By this time all the servants should have been done with their work. Ashley walked to the door and slowly opened it, first of all poking her head out to see if anyone was around the place. The lights on outside were dim and colorful it almost gave the feel of being in a bar.

'So this was how this place looked at night' Ashley thought to herself. The place looked even more beautiful in the dim lights.

When she was sure that the whole place clear, she looked at Damon's room. The door was closed. She hoped he was inside. Ashley walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind her. She went to stand by the rail and looked down. Everywhere was dark below her.

Ashley was one that was scared of heights and she was high above the ground. She held on to the rail which was the only thing that gave her the mind to be standing where she was.

Her gaze got fixated on Damon's room. She wondered what he was doing. Did demons sleep? Ashley sighed. Whether they slept or not she didn't even want to know.

Ashley thought of exploring the mansion since everyone was asleep and she couldn't sleep, but she became scared and discarded the thought. Maybe some other time. Besides she just got here, she wouldn't want to get into trouble on her first night here.

Returning to her room, she laid down again and closed her eyes. She kept wishing the sleep would come and take her away from real life for a while.

Thankfully, now she was here and she could wish for sleep without getting worried about having the nightmares.