“If you bring out that wonderful pink box most children will gather around. When you open it, bursting with two dozen donuts in at least eight different variations, you expect the children to be delighted. You’ll be surprised to see the faces look in scorn at the sprinkled cake donuts, the apple sweet rolls, the bear claws, and the French curls. Except for a few of the children, they all want puffy sickening sweet and predictable plain glazed donuts.
Those are the same children who will visit another home and tell their friends, “That isn’t the way we do it at OUR house.” At school, rather than listen and learn, they will scorn others for opinions and customs different than their own narrow experiences. Their world is their own home, their classroom, their family, and their street. They have no used for anything outside of that world. Surprisingly these children are often the most aggressive and popular in there schools.”
The Demon took a long thin clawed finger and drew a circle in the sand. His skin was a grayish green, his eyes yellow with deep black pupils that never dilated, and his face a collection of sharp angles that could have been both handsome and disturbing at the same time. As with his companion his leathery wings were folded and tucked close to his back. His tail was wrapped around out of the way.
His companion, a smaller female Demon was the palest of grayish yellow – almost white. Her long white hair was in a braid and hung over her shoulder down the front. Olive green eyes looked back at the male demon who was her teacher.
She blinked sand out of her eyes. “So those are the ones we hit on first, the ones who have narrow singular minds. We go after those who do not see beyond their own three for four doors?”
“Yes.”
A young couple passed by them. He was tall with brown curly hair twisted up in a knot on the top of his head. She was shorter and blonde. They both wore sweaters and walked with their arms around each other.
“What about them? Let’s take them,” said the pale female Demon.
“No. It has been tried. They were not the children who only take the glazed donuts. They were children who from a young age have sought out the world from a different point of view. They were encouraged to be curious. They are cynical and skeptical. They are creative. They are curious. They ask questions. Most of all they are not followers.”
“Isn’t that exactly what we want?”
“Of course it is, but we haven’t been able to tempt them. They are on the high ground so to speak. They question everything. They weigh right and wrong. Their moral compass is too hight for us.”
“But wouldn’t you think that the children who are protected and not exposed will be the least susceptible to our charms?”
“Exactly the opposite. We paint a beautiful picture for them. We suggest that the world is an ugly place that is against them. We can tempt them. We can tempt the selfish and the self absorbed. We can tempt those with small views of the world. We can tempt both those who have seen too much and those who have seen nothing. Those two are the easier recruits.”
“But what about those two walking on the beach?”
“They can’t be touched. They’re hard in their minds but their hearts are pure. They will analyze everything. They’re not religious but they are self righteous. Worst of all they’ll think we’re stupid, or worse funny.”
The female Demon rolled her shoulders then stretched out her wings. “But they can’t see us as we are.”
“No they can’t,” said the male.
Anyone walking by would see a young couple sitting in the sand, not that unlike the the couple walking along the beach. She looked pretty and pale like a cartoon princess. He was handsome in a hipster sort of way. People who walked along the beach smiled at them. Their tiny red sharp toothed demon pet who the female had on a leash looked like an adorable beagle mix.
“We can fool some of them,” said the male, “but not everyone, and it isn’t always the ones you expect. Even some of the good ones will still pick out the glazed donuts. You just never know.”
As the young couple in the warm sweaters who walked arm in arm walked back to their car they glanced at the attractive seated couple who sat in the sand with their dog. The dog barked and the woman told it to be quiet.
The young man held his girlfriend’s arm a little tighter, “I get a bad vibe off of those two.”
“I do too,” said the young woman. “I don’t know what it is. They kind of creep me out.”
“You wanna get coffee? There’s a great little bakery not far from here.”
“That would be great,” she said. “A raspberry filled scone sounds great right now.”
The Demons watched the couple as they walked to their car.
The male Demon shuttered. “They gave me a strange warm cozy vibe. I feel kind of sick.”
“Me too,” said the female. “You wanna get breakfast?”
“Sure. They mentioned the bakery around the corner. Let’s not go there.”
The wind kicked up and blew sand across the beach covering up the cloven prints and tiny claw tracks left behind.
Juliette aka Vampire Maman
2019 Nano Pablano Cheer Peppers.
