"You ate all the food!"
Himanshu’s loud, frustrated voice shattered the heavy silence of the living room in an instant.
Standing at the kitchen door, Himanshu stared at the empty pots on the gas stove like he couldn’t believe his own eyes. An entire large pot of rice and a vegetable dish made for four people... everything was gone. The pots were so clean it looked like someone had just washed them.
He snapped his head towards the living room. The Demon was still sitting on the sofa in the exact same posture. There wasn’t a single ounce of regret or shame on her face.
"Yeah," the Demon replied in a completely flat voice, without even taking her eyes off the TV. "I ate it."
"Yeah? Just ’yeah’?" Himanshu marched into the hall with fast steps, his fists clenched tightly. "That was food for the whole day! Mom made it for both of us. How the hell can you stuff down food meant for two people all by yourself?"
The Demon let out a light sigh and muted the TV. She looked at Himanshu with her cold red eyes.
"My powers are gone, human. This weak body needs a lot of energy to survive and heal. I was starving, so I ate. What is there to scream about?"
’What is there to scream about?’ Hearing this, the veins in Himanshu’s head felt like they were going to burst.
A volcano had been boiling inside him since this morning. That terrible humiliation at school, acting like a laughing maniac to save himself from Dhruv, and above all... running away like a coward after seeing Priya alone on the street. He hated himself, his weakness. And on top of that, not a single grain of food had gone into his stomach for the past seven hours. The hunger and frustration had completely destroyed his ability to think straight.
"What is there to scream about?" Himanshu yelled at the top of his lungs. His face had turned red with anger. "Who do you think you are? You forced your way into my life! You took my bed, snatched my phone, you threaten me over every little thing! And now my food too? You aren’t some ’Demon Queen’! You’re just a massive glutton, an ungrateful parasite who only knows how to suck other people’s blood!"
Hearing this, the Demon’s fingers, which were resting on the sofa cushion, suddenly dug in. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"What did you say? Forced my way into your life?" The Demon’s voice now held a deep, terrifying growl. "If you hadn’t pulled that lowly stunt, I wouldn’t even have to look at the face of a bug like you today. I am stuck here because of you!"
But right now, Himanshu wasn’t going to back down either. Hunger and frustration had completely killed the fear inside him.
"That’s just because my luck is absolute trash!"
"Otherwise, there would be a Demon Queen sitting in every single house today! It wasn’t my fault..."
A suffocating silence suddenly dropped over the living room.
The second those last words left Himanshu’s mouth, the room’s temperature dropped, turning ice cold.
It didn’t take Himanshu even a second to realize his mistake. All that frustration about Priya and his hunger-fueled anger vanished into thin air in an instant. He saw that the Demon’s red eyes weren’t just glaring at him anymore, they were actually glowing... like a ruthless predator.
’Shit!’
The Demon didn’t even stand up from the sofa... in just a blink, she was standing right in front of Himanshu. Her speed was so fast that Himanshu’s eyes couldn’t even track her.
Before Himanshu could raise his hands to defend himself or try to run back...
BAM!
A brutal punch from the Demon landed straight in the dead center of Himanshu’s stomach.
"Aaagh...!"
Himanshu’s eyes bulged out. All the air left his lungs in a single violent jerk. A pain shot through his stomach like someone had twisted his intestines from the inside. He dropped straight to his knees on the floor.
Coughing and writhing, Himanshu grabbed his stomach tightly. Drool started dripping from his mouth out of sheer pain.
The Demon looked down at Himanshu on the floor with cold eyes.
"Keep your voice down, insect." There was no anger in the Demon’s voice, just a terrifying calmness. "My powers might have weakened... but I don’t need any powers to snap that fragile neck of yours. Don’t you ever dare talk to me in that tone again."
Without looking back, the Demon went back and sat on the sofa, turning the TV volume up again.
Lying on the floor, Himanshu just kept coughing badly. His eyes watered from the pain.
’I won’t forget this,’ he thought. ’Taking out all my frustration on a literal Demon. Good thing she only punched me...’
After staying on the floor for about five minutes, Himanshu somehow used the wall for support and stood up. There was still a dull, throbbing pain in his stomach, but his hunger was heavily overpowering that pain. He had to eat something, otherwise he was seriously going to die of starvation.
Limping and clutching his stomach, he went back into the kitchen.
He opened the fridge. Inside, there were some eggs, a few tomatoes, onions, and bread. Taking a deep breath, he took all the stuff out. Since his mom was always working since his childhood, Himanshu was used to doing things himself. He knew how to cook basic food really well.
He quietly put the chopping board on the slab, took out a knife, and started peeling the onions without making a sound.
Right then, he felt someone standing right behind him.
Without turning, Himanshu’s body stiffened instantly. He thought the Demon had come to beat him up again.
But then the Demon’s voice came,
"I’ll help you."
Himanshu’s hands stopped. He very carefully turned his head to look back. The Demon was standing at the kitchen door with her arms crossed. There was no anger in her eyes.
"What?" Himanshu asked in confusion.
"I ate all your food," the Demon said, staring at the vegetables on the chopping board. "The rule of nature is to trade. I don’t have a habit of freeloading. I’m not a beggar who just eats for free and sits around. I will help you cook."
Himanshu immediately shook his head. "No... absolutely not. I don’t need any help from you. I’ll make it myself. Please just go outside and watch your Discovery Channel."
He was terrified she might end up burning the entire kitchen down.
The Demon’s red eyes narrowed slightly. She took a step inside the kitchen.
"I said I will help. Either you give me some work... or I’m gonna beat you up right here again."
Himanshu gulped hard.
’Is she crazy? Offering help by threatening me!’
For the sake of his life and his remaining intact bones, Himanshu quietly surrendered. He took out another knife and slid two onions and a tomato toward the Demon on the chopping board.
"You have to cut these into small pieces," Himanshu said, taking a step back. "Just be careful... don’t cut your fingers."
The Demon picked up that small kitchen knife like she was drawing a sword or a dagger on a battlefield. In her entire life, she had never chopped a vegetable. For her, ’cutting’ always meant slicing an enemy’s neck or body.
Himanshu stood on his side, busy whisking eggs. He kept stealing side glances at the Demon. She was running the knife over the onion in a very weird and dangerous way. Her entire focus was on that tiny onion like it was some kind of time-bomb.
Then suddenly... Slice!
The Demon misjudged her own strength and struck the knife on the chopping board so hard that it slipped and went straight into her finger.
And right after that, a very faint hiss echoed. "Sss..."
Himanshu spun around in a flash.
The knife was dropped on the chopping board. Dark red blood was oozing from the index finger of the Demon’s left hand. The white onion placed on the board had turned red with blood.
Himanshu panicked instantly. All his anger and fear vanished for a moment.
"Hey! I told you to be careful! Here, let me see."
But the Demon jerked her hand back. Her face still held that weird carelessness and pride.
"Stay quiet, human. This is just a minor scratch. You are forgetting who I am. It will heal up in a few seconds."
The Demon started staring at her finger with pure confidence. She was just waiting for her demonic healing powers to do their job and make that deep cut vanish in the blink of an eye, just like it always did.
But a second passed... five seconds passed... ten seconds went by.
The wound didn’t heal. The blood showed no signs of stopping. Drops of red blood started sliding down the Demon’s finger, falling onto the clean kitchen floor with a ’drip-drip’ sound.
The Demon was just staring at that dark ’red’ blood dripping from her finger... which now looked exactly like any normal human’s blood.
For the very first time, a strange confusion and a slight fear appeared in the Demon’s red eyes. She looked at her own finger like it was some alien object.
"Why... why isn’t it healing?" the Demon mumbled to herself. Her voice didn’t have that earlier arrogance anymore; instead, it held a weird sense of panic.
Himanshu took out a bandage and some antiseptic from the drawer and stepped towards the Demon.
"Because your powers are gone," Himanshu said in a very calm voice.
Without waiting for the Demon’s permission, he stepped forward and gently took her blood-soaked hand into his own. The Demon’s body shivered for a split second, like she wasn’t used to a human’s touch at all. But this time... she didn’t pull her hand back. She was just staring at her sliced finger and her red blood dropping on the floor in a state of deep shock.
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