Chapter 1:

Ellie was looking at the other children playing through the window of the church with a smile on her face. The sun shone bright creating a feeling of warmth despite the cold spring wind.

"I remember when you were that age, it feels like only yesterday." Ellie turned to see that it was Asmodious who had spoken.

Asmodious was an elderly looking man but he was tall and elegant his long white hair and beard made him look like a village elder and his pitch black eyes made him look unkind and angry. In truth he was in his prime still and was the kindest man you could have ever met.

"Punished again?" he enquired looking at her kneeling on the floor.

Ellie stood up showing her slim figure, her ebony hair plaited down her back and her pale blue eyes sparkled and shone with life and happiness.

"How did you guess?" she smiled mischievously.

"Simply because it's you Ellie," he sighed.

Ellie had a habit of annoying Miranda who despite looking kind and gentle was very strict and cold. Miranda was in charge of the children at the orphanage and saw to it that the were taken care of and fed but also punished when they misbehaved and Ellie was often the one misbehaving.

"What did you do this time?" he asked

"Well I snuck out into town this morning to watch the sunrise at the pier, I'm old enough now, I'm nearly 18 afterall, but Miranda said because I didn't tell her where I was going I was in trouble so I should reflect on what i did wrong whilst kneeling and i have been here since."

Asmodious smiled he understood why Miranda was concerned. He was too. He had raised this girl from the first night she was left on their doorstep and it was clear Ellie was different from everyone else. There were no horns, no tail, no wings, no scales not even fangs or fur she was different because she was ordinary. She couldn't use magic and she couldn't shapeshift he didn't know if she would survive in the outside world. He feared the day when she would set out on her own without his protection. Recently it brought him a great sense of foreboding as that day loomed closer for she was merely a week away from turning 18.