Hiriotus ran and ran as fast as his legs could carry. He heaved for breath but his lungs hurt. He knew the devils were coming to hunt them. He had been running for a while now. There was a deep wound on his back and he was bleeding a lot. He knew he wasn't going to live the night.

Suddenly he fell somewhere. His eyes began to close and he opened them again when he saw a woman.

She had a white dress and a white cloth wrapped around her head. She was looking at him wide-eyed but it didn't seem like she was scared. Instead her scent told him, she was shocked and overwhelmed.

But what was it? Her scent was very alluring, almost like humans. Wait! Was she a human?!

What was a human doing in Hell? Other than souls, a human flesh couldn't breath the fire in hell. They would die instantly.

Hiriotus moved his head around that ached now and his eyes were blurry. It was dark there but he could see the surroundings clearly. He could sense a lot of humans nearby.

The woman gestured something with her hands, "Me. Is. Lily." She pointed at herself. "Are. You. Alien?" She pointed at him.

There was a moment of silence in Hiriotus's mind as he registered her words and when he did, he felt anger rolling off from his skin.

The woman gestured again saying, "You. Hurt. Me. Nurse." She gestured some incoherent gestures which he failed to understand.

"I know English, Lady!" He growled in frustration. Now his head hurt more. He wanted to rip that annoying woman's heart and drink her blood but he felt his body wouldn't move.

"Oh! Then half of the problems are solved!" She exclaimed and stretched out her hands toward him. He looked at her warily. What was she doing? Was she offering her blood and soul to him?

"Can you stand up? I am a nurse. Maybe I can treat you." She said. Hiriotus wasn't sure what to do, especially because he knew human resources wouldn't work on him. What he needed right now was a fresh soul and their blood offering. This woman seemed perfect for that.

He might as well try to convince her to offer herself. A wicked grin appeared on his face but the woman hadn't seemed to notice it since it was dark.

He stretched out his hands and the woman somehow managed to hold him on her small, lean shoulders. She took him to her house and to her bedroom and started to clean the wounds.

He hissed as she applied some ointments. She apologized, "Sorry. I am new to this. Please bear with me?"

She cleaned everything and she even sponged him with warm water and cleaned his dirt as well as his wounds. She did everything with so much care that he didn't understand what her purpose was.

She must have some ulterior motives if she was doing all of this. Humans didn't do anything without any motives. He knew that much. But he decided to wait until she revealed it herself. Maybe that way he could make her offer herself to him.

That was how Hiriotus met a human for the first time. He had listened and had knowledge on them but he never had met one before. Maybe this was his greatest opportunity to be stronger when acquiring a large amount of souls? Who cared if it took time to get just one soul? After all, he wasn't going to die anytime soon.

Time went by as his wounds healed. It didn't take him long, just over a month but he pretended to be sick while the woman took care of him. He saw how she struggled in that house. She couldn't make much money to carry two people yet she did without saying anything to him. But he knew, sooner or later, she would tell her motives to him.

One day, he saw a note on the table. The woman left it. It said to eat the dinner as she would come late. He ate it and when she came, she was exhausted.

He saw she was working overtime and was waiting for her next paycheck. But she skipped her meal that night.

In the morning, she would eat breakfast but she wouldn't eat dinner. Soon, he noticed her body lost a vast amount of weight and yet she would do all the things for him. She was very chatty and it annoyed him from time to time but one day, she collapsed.

Her body had weakened so much that she couldn't even stand up. He was perplexed as to why wouldn't she tell him her motives? He might not be a powerful demon but he was powerful enough to grant a few of her wishes.

While she was unconscious on her bed, Hiriotus took care of her and he felt a bit lonely without her chatty self. He acquired a human form and would go out to take medicines and food for her.

When she finally recovered, she thanked him and it made his heart skip a beat. He didn't know what was happening. Once she gained herself back, she was back to her chatty self but this time, it didn't annoy him instead, he started to get fond of her.

Soon Hiriotus forgot all about his evil plan that he had planned. Instead he started to act like a human and always kept his eyes on her. Whenever trouble found her, he would appear there to save her and protect her.

He didn't understand these new and foreign things that were happening to him. And then one day, he couldn't control himself and claimed her.

He didn't know why but this felt right. The woman oneday said to marry her but he refused. It pained her and it pained him as well.

He decided to go away but then they found out she was pregnant with his child. Hiriotus's ground vaporized from beneath his feet. He didn't know what to do anymore and he didn't understand what his feelings were. He should be feeling angry, devastated yet he felt...happy.

When the baby was born, Robert, he couldn't help himself but to break into tears. He was so happy that he wanted to cherish each moment he was spending here in the human world.

He thanked the woman, Lily, for everything. She made him a father, she made him a man, she made him the happiest demon and he decided to marry her.

They got married and Hiriotus almost forgot that he was a devil. Because he was smart and intelligent, he got a good job and started to live with Lily and their child.

There was a time when he couldn't go without seeing his wife and his child. He never let anyone harm them. He protected them and he couldn't even think about his life without them.

One day, he realized, if he went back to his demon form, he wouldn't come back to the human form he had before; instead, it would become the younger version that he had acquired at the moment of their beginning. So, he decided to let go of all those demonic powers he held. He stopped using them and used them only if the situation demanded.

And then, Lily collapsed again. He went to the doctor and they said she had an incurable disease and no matter what he tried, she only had a few years to live. His heart broke into pieces.

Hiriotus never thought of this. He could never imagine his life without Lily.

He felt like he was being punished because he knew this love between them was forbidden yet he let himself sway with the flow and not once he thought of the outcome.

He had been living with Lily for years and he was acting like a human that he forgot he was a demon. He forgot that he was going to live for more years than her. He forgot Lily was just a small, very small part of his vast life span.

He knew now why it was forbidden to fall in love with a human. He cried, he screamed, he begged but what was done was done.

Lily would leave him. Her soul was never his to begin with. Even if he got her soul now, he wouldn't have it because it would become a part of his powers. But he wanted to have her as an individual, not a part of his powers. He was devastated.

He wanted to become a human so he could end his life once Lily was gone but that wasn't possible. Not unless Satan or God granted but why would they come just to aid a small low class demon who had only a silly wish to spend his entire life with his love of life.

He knew they could never be together and death was certain with human lives. Death would take her away and he had no power to stop this.

With time, as Robert grew up, he understood the meaning of life. He saw Lily's features in Robert. He realized life grew like this in humans. They die leaving a small piece of themselves behind and they would grow and leave another small piece of them. But in all those pieces, they would live. Maybe the memories and the individualities were gone, but they would live in them.

Human lives were fascinating yet terrifying. He came to love this creation of God and came to realize why Satan was the one who was in charge of Hell.

He decided he wouldn't brood over the fact that Lily would be gone, instead he would cherish each and every moment they would spend together from now on. He would cherish their child and see her through him. She might go away but she wouldn't leave him entirely. She would leave Robert. And she would forever live in his heart...

And if one day, when it would be his time to die, he would embrace death and go look for her. He would forever search for her even if it might take him centuries.

Because Hiriotus only loved Lily, the human lady and she forever will remain the only one...