Skaydal - Demon's Forever

✦Dolly✦ The annual festival had always made Skaydal feel smaller and bigger at the same time. Smaller, because everyone gathered in one place, crowding the town square until there was barely room to move between the stalls, tables, games, and lights strung from post to post. Bigger, because every year I noticed someone new watching me. I sat at one of the long picnic tables near the food stalls, wedged between Aria and Cassian, while Rowan, Mila, and Elias claimed the opposite bench. In the center of the table was a massive plate of loaded fries, piled so high that it looked like a dare. There was bacon, minced beef, shredded chicken, chorizo sausage, sliced chilies, and so much cheese that the fries underneath were losing their fight to stay crisp. “This is disgusting,” Aria announced as she stabbed her plastic fork into the pile. Mila leaned over and dragged a chunk of cheese toward her side. “You say that every year,” “And every year, I eat it anyway,” Aria countered with a smirk. “That’s because you are training to be Luna,” Rowan replied. “Leadership means sacrifice,” he was teasing her, and she didn’t miss it as she pointed her loaded fork at him. “Careful. One day I will be in charge of your complaints,” Cassian laughed and stole one of the bigger pieces of chicken. “You already act like you are,” “And yet, somehow, you keep surviving,” Aria replied as she finally took the bite. I smiled as I simply allowed their chatter to settle around me. This was easy. This was familiar. This was safe. Cassian and Rowan argued over which stall had the better meat skewers. Mila watched the target-throwing game because she was convinced the owner had fixed the axes. Aria pretended she was above festival nonsense while secretly checking the flower stall where her mother, Sierna, had been chatting for twenty minutes. Elias sat across from me, quieter than the others. My brother had always been good at blending into noise without needing to become part of it. He had Amani’s gentle eyes and Josiah’s habit of noticing too much. “You ok?” he asked. “I’m deciding if that’s beef or a warning,” I said as I eyed the plate. Elias chuckled as he tore a piece of cheese and popped it into his mouth. “Could be both,” he finally said, and Mila snorted. “Eat it before my dad comes by and steals half,” she said, referring to her father, Zack. “Your dad wouldn’t steal from innocent young adults,” I told her. Mila gave me a look. “My dad once called dessert sharing a pack weakness,” “Sounds about right…but I remember Mato apologizing for that,” Elias said, and Mila rolled her eyes. “He always does that,” across the square, a child knocked over wooden wolf figures with a beanbag. The band near the gazebo tuned their instruments. Burned sugar drifted through the air with grilled meat, fried dough, smoke, perfume, and damp grass. Skaydal was alive. May’s Diner had a stall near the main path, where Felicia handed out coffee with the same tired smile she had worn since breakfast. Techno Café had a booth covered in wires, games, and blinking screens, while Carmen bossed someone around. I also spotted Jett, who pretended he hated the festival while he tried to fight the smile we all knew was hidden beneath his cold exterior. Near the vineyard display, Conrad and Callum stood with Ronnie between them, laughing at something Blaise had said. Blaise looked pleased with herself, which probably meant whatever she had said had offended at least one person. I loved them. All of them. Skaydal had raised me with more love than I knew what to do with. Josiah and Amani had never made me feel unwanted. Elias had never made me feel like I wasn’t his sister. My friends had grown up beside me, fought with me, defended me, annoyed me, and dragged me into things I pretended to hate. But love didn’t change what I was. A demon. And not just a demon, but the only one living in Skaydal. No matter how many festivals I attended, no matter how many people smiled at me, there was always a space around me that no one else could step into. Wolves had wolves. Witches had witches. Hybrids had their own complicated history. Humans at least understood being human. And I had darkness under my skin that sometimes hummed when the music grew too loud. “Dolly?” I blinked and looked up. Elias was watching me. “What?” I asked as I eyed him. Why was he watching me that way? He didn’t smile as he gestured to my hand that rested on the table. I glanced down, and my fingers were curled against the edge of the table, my nails digging into the wood hard enough to leave thin marks behind. I loosened them quickly and pulled my hand into my lap. “I’m fine,” I hurriedly reassured him. Cassian looked away from Rowan and frowned. “That sounded like the kind of fine that means nobody should believe you,” he said, because of course, he didn’t miss a thing. “It means I’m fine,” I argued. Mila sat straighter. “Is someone bothering you?” “No,” I snapped, and Aria’s teasing expression faded. “Dolly,” she whispered. I hated when they all looked at me like that. Not because they were unkind. Because they cared, and sometimes caring felt too close to fear. “I just…” I paused. Something had shifted, and I couldn’t explain it at first. The festival was still loud. People still laughed. Children still ran between the stalls. Music still scraped and warmed up near the gazebo. But beneath all of it, something pressed against the edge of my senses. Not magic. Not wolf. Not witch. Not a demon in the way I knew a demon. I turned my head slowly, scanning the festival. Elias followed my gaze. “What’s wrong?” “I don’t know,” I admitted, and my voice came out quieter than I meant it to. Cassian stood halfway, already protective. Rowan did the same, slower but sharper. Mila’s hand moved toward the small blade she carried because Zack had trained her too well. Aria looked toward the adults first, already thinking like her mother. But I barely noticed them. Because then I saw him. He stood near the old lantern post at the edge of the festival lights, just beyond the busiest part of the square. He wasn’t talking to anyone. He wasn’t pretending to look at a stall or waiting in line for food. He was watching me. He wore dark clothing that did nothing to hide his broad shoulders. His dark hair flopped in the breeze, but it was his eyes that took my breath away. Pale grey, but cold in a way that made me shiver. Because even from where I sat, with music and laughter between us, I felt him like a warning. He didn’t look away. And neither could I. ✦✦✦