The Demon's Soul

"Cupcake," I heard an eerie voice behind me and felt my blood run cold at the known voice. Moving the tissue away from my eyes and looked at the mirror in front of me, Ace standing near one of the stalls. He was smiling at me but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

No, no, it wasn’t Ace. It couldn’t be.

"A-Ace?" I stuttered looking at him and turned back to see no one there. My breathing had turned short and I had to hold the platform of the sink from behind to keep me steady.

I heard the flush sound and saw Mia opened the door humming a tune.

"Did you know that our previous principal was kicked out of the college because of some fraud work?" Mia asked me coming towards the sink, "You okay?" she asked once her eyes met mine.

"Did you hear anything?" I asked her.

"No, why?" Mia stared at me for few seconds, "Did something happen? You look like you saw a ghost," she said and I gave her a dry laugh. You have no idea, I thought.

"Yeah, I’m okay," I whispered nodding my head and looked around the bathroom. I opened the door, "What did the principal do?" I asked her changing the subject which actually worked. She went on to tell what happened but my mind was still stuck at what I saw.

I wasn’t hallucinating and I was sure of it. I had enough of sleep last night to know if I was imagining things and his voice felt so real, moreover, he was standing right behind me! But then he wasn’t there when I turned back. What was going on?

For the first time when the class was over, I was happy to get back to the mansion. Telling bye’s to my new friends, I walked to where my guards were standing.

"Master Luke has come to pick you up," Dave informed me as we headed out of the building.

"I see," I replied and saw Gordon staring at me, "What?" I asked him and saw him shake his head.

Coming out of the main entrance, I saw a shiny sleek looking black car in front of me where Luke was leaning his back on it with a lazy look on his face. He was wearing a white cuffed shirt which was folded up until his elbows and black jeans to go with it. The way most of the people steered clear of him meant they knew exactly who he was. When his eyes caught mine, his face broke into a wide smile.

"Lillian my honeybee," he sang loudly and it was enough to set my face aflame with embarrassment. I caught sight of few students looking at me, few shocked with eyes wide and few with pity, like I was the lamb that was going to be butchered soon.

"Don’t call me that!" I whisper yelled at him.

"Call you what, honeybee?" he asked me innocently tilting his head, "I was contemplating on whether to call you sugarplum, honeybee or Firefly but I liked honeybee better," he grinned looking at me. He opened the door for me and I gave him a tight smile getting inside not wanting to continue the argument on what to call me. Already we were gathering enough unwanted attention.

"How was college?" he asked me starting the car, "I heard you made new friends."

"Yeah, it was good. Better than the last two days," I replied to him and opened my bag to pull the skittles out, "Do you want some?" I asked him politely and to my surprise, he picked a few of them from my hands.

"You look surprised," Luke stated, his eyes flickering on my face for a mere second and back on the road, "I love candies, ice cream, chocolates. Are you alright?" he asked me and I raised my brows.

"Yeah, why?"

"I heard you weren’t feeling well after the lunch break. Did someone bother you?" he asked me seriously and my thoughts drifted to what happened in the bathroom. Looking outside the window I said,

"I saw Ace today in the bathroom mirror but he wasn’t there when I turned back," I told him and the car was filled with silence.

"Maybe your still stressed with all the things that happened but I’ll look into what it is and speak to Elvis about it," he said with an assuring smile when I turned to look at him.

"Thank you," I thanked him, "Gordon told you about it?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"Aside from the guards I have appointed for you, I have another person watching you, Lillian. Just so that no harm comes upon you when I’m not around," he said.

"I feel like a thief being on the run and watched over by FBI waiting for me to commit a crime," I said softly sighing. I didn’t want to be over dramatic about the situation but a person needed to be breath. Luke just laughed hearing it.

"Comparing yourself to a murder is quite amusing, honeybee but if you are a thief, I must be the serial killer," he said stopping the car when the traffic lights turned red. For some odd reason, it didn’t seem like he was joking about what he said and I didn’t comment on it, "Would you like to shop or eat first?" he asked me.

"Shopping?" I asked him.

"Yes, shopping. We need some bonding time and you need clothes so let’s have some time for ourselves before going back home, okay?" he asked me. He was right I did need clothes.

"Shopping it is then," I replied and he made a U-turn with his car.

We were in the twelfth shop now, shopping for dresses. There were people attending me every few seconds to show me the dress piece while I was at the changing room, going in and out of the room. Luke sat right in front of the room and made sure we were the only customers in the shop. The whole time he made sure I was given complete attention and was patient while picking my shoes or bags or any clothing store we had been to.

"Turn around, honeybee," he said sitting on the couch relaxed with his legs crossed, "Hmm," was his response.

"Sir, we have another piece of different color in this if you want," the lady manager spoke to please the guy he was talking to.

"What do you think?" Luke asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I think it’s okay," I replied and saw the manager narrow her eyes at me because of the words I used on the designer wear dress I wore.

"It’s a rare piece that was designed and worn by the fashion week model last week, Sir," the lady said with a sweet voice, "You can-"

"Pack the black, red and the dark green ones you showed," Luke said firmly and the manager nodded, leaving us alone, "Those are the ones you picked right?" he asked me and I nodded.

I was the kind of person to pick only one dress when a person insisted on buying me but this was Luke we were talking about. When I told him in the previous store that I didn’t like any of it, he had almost closed the store down for good. Almost.

"I think that’s all I need for now," I said to which he hummed, looking at one of the dresses that was hanging at the corner. When we went to the counter, a person was billing the three dress and the lady spoke.

"I think the blue one suited and you-" she was telling to be cut off by Luke, whose hand was resting on the counter to support his chin.

"Are you telling that my girl doesn’t have a taste... Ms. Lane?" he asked sweetly, his eyes boring into her’s. His other hand was on the counter, fingernails tapping on the glass in question.

"N-no, I’m sorry," she apologized and handed us our bags.

"I thought so," he said smiling at her like nothing happened and took the bags, "Let’s go, honeybee," he placed one of his hand on the back and gently taking me out of the store.