Moondance

Chloe realized that she probably should be getting settled into her room, maybe even going to bed. But living at this school presented a new and exciting opportunity for Chloe. She could walk off campus, whenever she wanted to, without the risk of causing an international incident! She didn’t live in a prison anymore!

So there she was, walking by herself, at night, in her school uniform. She was going to see about getting new clothes tomorrow; wearing a uniform for another school in a place without uniforms made her feel like she was in a ridiculous costume. And the skirt felt way too short on her freakish legs. Someone was going to mistake her for an incredibly niche sex worker if she kept this up. And It didn’t help that the first guy he met on this island thought he’d summoned a succubus when he saw her.

But the island was beautiful. Chloe had never been anywhere this tropical before. She didn’t think she’d ever be allowed to, either, until a few days ago. And take look at that lake! And the moon, and the stars, and the way their warped reflections flickered and danced on the water’s surface! It was sublime!

…And take a look at that ominous-looking dude brooding at the edge of the lake. Chloe realized that she might have made a miscalculation, walking around alone at night on an island populated by people with supernatural powers. Some of them might not have had her best interests at heart. Chloe resolved to handle this situation – being near a Person She Did Not Know and Who Might Be Dangerous – by sneaking past him and hoping he didn’t notice her.

Instead of being sneaky, Chloe stepped on a twig directly behind him. She stopped in place and flinched.

Broody McSitsbythelake was apparently also a living, breathing jump-scare. When the twig snapped, he spun around to stare at her with glowing, red eyes. Chloe jumped in surprise. Her feet rose several feet off the ground, and she stumbled backwards on landing, nearly falling over and landing on her rear in the process.

He seemed to calm down. Or at least the eyes stopped glowing, and he gave her a friendly smile and greeted her. Chloe responded by laughing nervously, shaking a little, still recovering from the surge of adrenaline and the overwhelming urge to flee or fight.

“Y-yes,” she managed to say after a few seconds. “It is pretty good out.” She watched him uncertainly, still unable to tell if he was a threat.

“Oh, okay, sure. That’s a relief,” Chloe remarked dryly. She was decidedly not reassured, with all his talk of people in general being ‘out to get you,’ and his specific promise that he wouldn’t attack her. It sounded like a couple of veiled threats, to her.

That reminded her: she could be intimidating too. “But I think I’ll keep my guard up anyway. You never know who might be out to get you, you know.” She smirked. As a demonlike creature who needed to drain others’ life force to sustain herself, Chloe was definitely in a position to drop veiled threats.

With the saber-rattling out of the way, she had to sate her curiosity: “So... what’s with the glowy red eyes? I mean, if it’s okay for me to ask that.” She would be completely okay with explaining why she looked like a servant of the devil, but some people were more sensitive about their inhuman sides. Take horse-boy, for instance: he didn’t like it when people knew he was actually a horse and not a boy. Even if Chloe thought that was a stupid thing to be sensitive about, she would respect it.

He had a demon form? Like an actual, real demon? As someone who was some kind of pseudo-demon instead of a real one, Chloe had a lot of questions for someone like him.

But he asked his question before she could get to hers.

“I, uh… well. These are the only clothes I own right now.” She straightened out her skirt, wishing that it was longer. “I was ‘summoned’ here, or something, while I was getting ready for school, which was apparently in another dimension. The guy who summoned me thought I was a literal demon from hell, at first. Technically I’m a human though. I just have a genetic disorder that turned me into this like a year ago. Which sounds like some comic book bullshit,” she chuckled, “but hey, so does everything else here.”

Chloe was sure those wouldn’t be the last of his questions. People got held up on the ‘another dimension’ and ‘technically a human’ details of her story. And she’d sit politely through her whole interrogation, for the chance to talk to an actual demon.

“Depends on your definition of fun,” Chloe retorted. It was… an exciting ride, she would give it that, but not necessarily in a good way.

“And… yeah, I’m sort of a fraudulent demon, being a human and all." Chuckle. "But what about you? Are you a real demon? Or… is that even a thing?”

Though on some level it occurred to her that demons could be dangerous, Chloe’s curiosity was outweighing her self-preservation at the moment. If Chloe was going to be mistaken for a demon for the rest of her time here, she’d want to know a few things about actual demons. Besides, she could probably take this guy in a fight. Or at least run faster than he could. She hoped.