Eric held Nikita close as they walked down a large road of the Middle Demon kingdom, eyeing it's inhabitants warrily as thet crouded around.

Nikita pressed close to Erik, looking around with nervous, firghtened glances.

"That's him!"  Someone called.  "It's the Last King!"  The crowding around them doubled quickly.

Erik's eyes narrowed slightly and he held Nikita closer. "Nikita, I fear I may have made a mistake..." he said softly.

From the side they could dimly make out words past the clamor of the crowd.  "So, following the anonymous tip, we find that the rumours are true and the Last King is indeed in our realm."  There was pushing among the throng and after a moment a few people, one with a strange device attached to his eye and the other clutching a strange form of wand approached them.  The wand was thrust out toward Erik.  "Kar Erik, can you tell our viewing audience what your plans are?  Are you going to destroy our realm as you did you own?"

Erik pulled back, eyeing the man warily.  "I am mearly looking for a place for myself and my Nikita to dwell... do kindly leave us be...."

The wand returned to the speaker.  "So the rumours that you destroyed the High Demon realm for the honour of a Harem boy are true?"  Again the wand was thrust at Erik.

Erik recoiled again. "I said, kindly leave us be!" he snapped, holding Nikita even closer.

Nikita, hearing and feeling Erik's uncertainty, snarled at the reporter.  The demon turned to him.  "And this would be that Nikita?"  He smiled at the boy as the camera turned.  Nikita saw his reflection in the lens and his eyes widened before he turned and buried his face against Erik.

Erik's eyes narrowed again. "I have warned you twice..." he said, voice dangerous. He lifted his hand, energy crackling around it. "The next warning will not be so civil..."

The crowd fell back a few steps, reporter and cameraman with it.  "You heard it here first," the demon said to the camera.  "The rumours are true."

"Kar Erik!" another voice called.  "Show us your true form!"

Once the call went out, all the voices in the crowd clamoured for it.

Erik raised an eyebrow. "THis is a most odd place, Nikita..." he said softly. He hesiatated a moment, debating the action.

Nikita nodded agreement, glancing up momentarily.  There was a camera flash and he buried his face against Erik again.

"Cease disturbing Nikita!" Erik snapped, movign to hide the boy with his body. "I will not comply with anything if you insist on acting this way towards us!"

Instantly the cameras stopped.  There was a soft buzz of voices and then a single reporter stepped forward.  "Accept our apologies, Kar Erik, we never expected you to come here.  Would you satisfy the crowd's curiosity and show your true form?"

Erik debated a moment, then gave a single nod. Closeing his eyes breifly, he let himself relax. HIs soft white wings gently and artisticly billowed out behind him as his hair paled and tumbled out as if being released from a bun. He gave a small shake of his head and streached his wings a moment before letting them self folded agaist his back.

Nikita's soft sigh and worshipful gaze was echoed by the crowd.  There was silence as everyone stared at him.

"Gorgeous," he heard murmured from one side.

There was flashing as numerous pictures were taken.

Erik blinked, slightly confused by the reactions. He eyed the masses slightly warrily.

"Why ever did you keep that form secert?" asked someone in the crowd.

Erik raised an eyebrow. "I wished not to be seen as weak..." he said slowly, still not quiet understanding the middle demons mentality.

"With looks like that who needs strength," a female voice purred.

Erik's eyebrow raised further.

Nikita growled proprietorily, then stopped, looking up at Erik contritely.

"I do not understand these middle demons," Erik said quietly. "Come Nikita... Let us be off..."

Nikita followed closely, glancing back at the crowd following them.

"Kar Erik!" a voice called.  "What do you plan to do while in this realm?"

"Kar Erik!" shouted another.  "How long are you staying?"

Suddenly, everyone was calling questions to the Last King of the High Demon Realm.

Erik sighed. "I will not be staying at all if you insist on harassing me as such..."

Nikita stayed close, frightened by the people.  Then his attention was drawn to a store window.  Eyes widening, he moved away from Erik, peering through the window like a small child.

"Hm? What is it Nikita?" he asked.

Nikita pointed through the window, where plush dolls of Erik in his human and demon form were displayed.

Erik raised an eyebrow. "What in the seven hells...?"

There was chuckling from the crowd following them.

"Shopkeeper must have been watching the news," someone said.

Erik continued to look at the plushes. "Come Nikita...." He said, briskly walking into the store.

Nikita blinked and followed him.  The majority of the crowd remained outside, but one of the reporters followed them.

Erik went to the person behind the counter. "Who is responcible for the dolls in the window?" he asked sharply.

The storekeeper looked up from behind the counter. "Oh, yes.. You!" he said, cheerfully.  "You have been quite an inspiration lately.  Been making a lot of money. These things are selling quickly." He turned to Nikita. "Would you like a Kar Erik Plushi?" he held out both dolls for him to see, demon and human. "Which would you like?"

Erik's eyebrow rose. "You are making money off my image...?"

"Yes!" he was interupted by the phone ringing. "Excuse me a moment.." He picked up the phone.  "Yes? Can I help you?.... Oh, yes, you'd better order quickly-- what? How many? 65?  Of each?" He grabbed a pen and jotted stuff down. "Ok.. I'll have the delivery boy teleport them off in a few.. Good day.." He turned back to Erik and Nikita. Looking at Nikita, he asked, "So, have you decided which you'd like yet?"

Nikita wasn't looking at him, smiling down at the demon form plushie he held.

Erik sighed. "I will never understand you middle demons..." He shook his head slightly. "You will give Nikita as many and which ever of those he wishes, else you will pay consequences for using my image with out permission to advance your own position...."

"But, I will have to charge him for them..." the storekeeper said politely. "but, since he does know you... " he did some quick calculations. "I can get him a 10% discount.."

The reporter sidled up to him and muttered, "He's a harem boy."

The storekeeper blinked.  "Oh.  Oh, my apologies.  I'll put them on your bill then, Kar Erik...."

Erik scowled, hightly irratated. "There will be no bill... I know not how your strange culture works, but these dolls were made without my consent, which angers me greatly...."

The storekeeper stepped back a step from behind the counter. "Forgive me.. I will make a note of that to my manager. Will there be anything else?"

Erik looked at Nikita. "Nikita, is there anything you wish?"

Nikita looked up with a smile and reattached himself to Erik's arm, cuddling the plushie close.

Erik smiled. "If Nikita wishes another doll of my image, I do expect you to suply him. Do inform your supriour of that...." he said to the shopkeeper

"Well, then... please make sure you let everyone know where you got that Kar Erik Plushi!" he said to them. "I will inform my manager of that, sir.. Do have a good day!" he answered cheerfully, turning around to help another customer.

Erik sighed slightly and exited the store once more. "I fear I will not know how to adjust to this strange world, Nikita..."

Nikita snuggled close to the man's side.  "It's nice," he said, holding the plushie tightly.

Erik smiled softly. "I am glad it pleases you..."

"THERE HE IS!!" A bunch of hyper high school aged girls crowed around Erik.

"Kar Erik!" one said, rather loudly. "Can I have your autograph!!?"

"Me too!" another said, each holding out a pen and paper to him.

Erik recoiled. "Are you people all mad?!" he exclaimed, pulling Nikita closer.

"Please?!" One girl answered.

"Will you come out to dinner with me?" another asked.

Nikita buried his face against Erik, whimpering slightly.

"Begone!" Erik snapped, curling his wings to hide Nikita and moving away from the girls.

The girls hurriedly ran over to them.

Two girls stayed behind, admiring his wings. "He's got really pretty wings..."

"Yeah," her friend agreed. "I love demons with wings.." she answered dreamily.

Erik scooped Nikita into his arms and continued his controlled flightly. "This realm is as insane as mine was stupid...."

Nikita nuzzled against Erik's wings, trying to comfort the man while he was still confused and distraught himself.

"Wait! Kar Erik!" the girls shouted, following him. "Can you take a picture with me?!"

"I want one too!"  another shouted.

Erik whirled, eyes blazing, wings going black as they flashed out to full length. "Would you kindly BEGONE!" he yelled.

There was a collective sigh of utter happiness.  "He's so pretty...."  "He's got such an aura..."  "Those wings...."  "I have to get a plushie...."  "I'm gonna dye the wings on mine black...."

One of them looked at Nikita.  "Where'd you get that?"

Wordlessly, Nikita pointed back down the street.

Erik let out a sigh. "Even here, I am not fearful," he said, voice saddenly slightly. "Come Nikita..." he said, turning and heading back towards his destroyed realm. "I fear there is not place for us here."

There was a chuckle nearby.  "For demons with no experience with a monarch, they're doing rather well, Kar Erik," a deep voice said.  "Give the place a chance.  Where else will you go?"

There was a flash nearby from a camera as a snoopy reporter took a shot of Kar Erik in his black wings. "Thanks!" he shouted as he ran off in the direction of the Plushie store.

Erik paused in his step and turned to see the source of the voice.. "Somwhere where I will not be contantly pestered..."  He glared at the cameraman's retreating form.

"It'll last a week and then they'll find something more interesting.  Always happens," the ram horned demon said with another chuckle.  "Less if you find the right place to live.  And I hope you were planning on asking me if you could stay in my city rather than just coming in unannounced, celebrity that you are."

"Are you the currenty ruler of this place?" Erik asked. "I regreat I have little knowlage of this realm, as my own had the most irratating tendancy to ignore it."

"I am the mayor of this city.  Little more than a figurehead to the city council sometimes, but yes, nominally ruler."

Erik nodded. "Forgive my rudeness. I was unaware there was protocal here."

The mayor nodded. "Quite alright, seeing as you are new here.. all the more reason to stay though, right?" he smiled.

Erik exhailed. "Honestly? I only wish to go hide somwhere away from this insanity..."

"There's some real estate not far outside town that's been for sale for a while.  No one likes dealing with ghosts, so it's still empty although normally it would have been snapped up in an instant.  Lovely estate."

"Ghosts?" Erik smiled slightly.

The mayor shrugged.  "Some people just don't know when to let go."

Erik shrugged.

"Would you like to see it?" the mayor asked.

Erik nodded.

The mayor hailed a taxi and directed it to the haunted estate.

Erik looked slightly uneasy inside of the car. "Such... unusial things your realm has...."

The mayor laughed.  "I suppose if you aren't used to it."

The cab driver chuckled at Erik's comment. "Never driven around a celebrity before," he nodded over to the rear view mirror where there was a small Kar Erik plushie hanging by a string.

Erik raised an eyebrow at the plushie and sighed. "it's most alarming...."

"Have you been to that store yet?" the driver asked. "It was pretty crowed there earlier..."

Erik sighed once more. "My Nikita wished one of the dolls in my image. It alarms me that others wish the same..."

"You're the celebrity of the moment," the mayor said.  "It'll die down soon enough."

"I do hope so... I'm unused to this..."

The driver looked in his mirror at them in the back. "So, you gonna be staying here for good?"

"I have little idea and I would appreciate you not asking so many questions of me..."

"Sorry," the driver asnwered, as they pulled into the driveway. He put the car in park and turned around. "It's like I said before... Never had a celebrity in here before. I hope you'll stay for a while.."

Erik exited the cab, still holding Nikita and servayed the prperty.

The property was on a cliff overlooking water.  It was bounded by high stone walls, with trees on the inside to add extra privacy.  The drive up to the house ran through tended gardens, bright with flowers.  The house itself was four or five stories high and wide.  There were gargoyles carved above the immense front doors and sitting on the roof and at the gutters.  The house had an ancient and almost despondant air to it.

Erik looked at it a moment, then gave a small smile.

"So you like the outside?" the mayor asked.

Erik nodded.

With a smile, the mayor led the way to the door.  It was opened by a wolf eared demon.  "Sir?"

"Kar Erik is thinking of making his home here.  I thought I'd show him the place."

The demon butler bowed.  "Of course, sir.  I'll call the maid for a tour?"

Erik nodded. "That would be most appriciated," he said, putting an arm around NIkita's shoulders. "REminds me almost of the castle...."

Nikita looked around the large foyer and nodded.

The butler rang a bell and in a moment a maid, similarly with wolf ears, came down from the next floor.  She curtsied.  "Have you been told of the ghost, sir?"

Erik gave a small smile that was almost condecending. "No, I have not," he comented, tone expecting to hear the story,

The maid nodded.  "If you'll come this way?  Most prospective owners like to see the state of the kitchen and work rooms, to see if they're likely to suffer from poisoning."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "Poisoning?"

"The people who can afford the property are generally rich and paranoid," the maid explained.  "We do our best to put them at ease."  Her smile, wolfish, didn't seem to be meant as reassuring.

"I have been dealing with threats on my life for quiet a while," Erik assured. "I am quite able to handel them."

"In that case," the maid said, "We can start the tour with the front room and the den."  She veered to one side, entering a dark room.  With the flip of a switch it filled with light.  "This is the room the old Master used to meet people.  He felt that the view over the cliff would intimidate them."

Erik gave a snort. "Pathetic, needing such things to intimidate..."   He looked at Nikita for his reaction to the room.

Nikita peered out the window, then tested out the main chair, delighting in finding that it spun.  Aftera moment he rejoined Erik, steps slightly wavering.

The maid smiled at him.  "The next room is the den.  It's where the TV and computer are."  She flicked on the light in the next room.  "We've kept the computer and its services up to date.  We've been using it ourselves."  The room was larger and had large plush couches in it, as well as a low, soft looking love seat.

Erik blinked. "Computer? TV?" he repeated the words. "What are those? I fear I know not how this realm is...."

The maid smiled again.  "I'm sure there are others better able to explain them than I.  Suffice it to say that they're entertainment and communication devices."

Nikita trailed a hand across the back of the loveseat as they walked through, looking at it longingly, then up at Erik again.

The tour continued through the sitting room and into the game room, which had a pool table in it as well as a video game system on one wall.

Erik continued to look more and more confused as he was shown around. "Much to learn..." he said in an almost overwhelmed voice.

The maid then led them upstairs through bathrooms and bedrooms and storage rooms and other sitting rooms.  There was even a playroom on the third floor.

About half an hour later the tour was done.  Nikita cocked his head to one side.  "Thought it was haunted?" he said in confusion.

"Ah," the maid said, "The mistress' ghost is a night visiter."

Erik raised an eyebrow. "A former resident still beleiving to own the place?"

"Oh no.  The Mistress is simply looking for the Master.  I think she forgot she killed him.  Most potential owners don't last a night in the Master bedroom."

Erik gave a snort.

"She was quite lovely," the maid said with a nostalgic smile.  "And quite lethal to the smitten men who forget that she's dead.  A shame, really.  Ghosts give a place such a sense of history."

"Mmm. But they must remember that their place is IN history..."

"Many of them do.  The library's ghost is always ready to talk about history.  Quite a favorite in the college crowd."

Erik perked up. "Libary?"

"Yes, the city one.  It's not far.  Its ghost is the founder of the city."

"The-- the city has a library?!" Erik exclaimed, face lighting up. He gave an exclamation of joy and hugged Nikita.

Nikita lit up with happiness at Erik's happiness, snuggling close to the man.

"Yes.  It's next to the college campus and down the street from the highschool," said the mayor, who had been silent for a while.

"College? Highschool?" Erik blinked.

"College," the mayor repeated.  "The higher education for adults.  Highschool.  The highest education for children."

Erik's eyes went wide. "You-- you have a system for educating the masses?" he asked, stunned.

"Of course.  What use is an uneducated demon when much of our city services require precise use of both science and magic?"

Erik hugged NIkita tightly. "If I would have know this realm was such, I would have forsaken my own all the more soon!"

"Out of curiosity," the mayor asked, "Will you be making use of the rehabilitation school for your... friend, or leaving him trained?"

Erik blinked. "Rehabilitation school?" he repeated, confused.

"The Harem keepers have a school for Harem children who are taken out, especially the slaves, so that they can join society easier."  He shrugged.  "Some like to have their pets remain pets, but most take advantage of it."

Erik held Nikita protectivly. "Nikita is not a pet..." he said, tone sharp.

Nikita melted into Erik's arms.

"He is, however, trained to think only of his Master's pleasure, whoever that master is.  And to only deal with the world through that master, if he has one," said the mayor, not impressed.

Erik was quiet a moment. "I will not force Nikita to do anything he does not wish, therefor this choice is his," he finaly stated.

Nikita's eyes widened, almost seeming to be filled with fear.  "Nikita will do whatever Master wishes," he said.

"Nikita..." Erik said softly, turning the boy to look into his eyes. "I wish you do to what you wish."

The boy's eyes widened further as he was asked something completely out of his training.  "Nikita... wants to be with Master...." he said carefully.

"You will be Nikita..." Erik said paitently with a smile.

"Nothing else matters."

Erik hugged the boy with a small smile.

Nikita melted into the embrace.  "Master is all that matters," he said softly.

Erik smiled softly. "Nikita matters too..."

Nikita smiled radiently.  "Nikita loves Master," he said softly.  "I love you."

Erik smiled. "And I love you as well, NIkita..." he said softly, stroking the boy's hair.  He gave a small sigh and turned to the mayor. "This school you spoke of.. do tell me more about it..."

"It's run by the Harem masters," the mayor said.  "The former Harem children get taught some science and history, more math and reading, and how to deal with people who aren't 'masters.'  From what I've seen, it's effective."

Erik nodded. "Nikita..." he adressed the boy. "Would you be willing to go to this school?"

Nikita clung to his Erik plushie.  "Nikita would to anything for Master...."

Erik gave a small sad smile. "I know..."

Nikita looked worried.  "Master isn't happy?"

"Nikita... you need to think of your own needs and wants as well..."

The boy shifted uncomfortably.  "Nikita just wants to make Master happy...."

"And I wish to make you happy as well... But you cannot just live for one person. You have taught me that," he smiled.

Nikita's eyes widened and then he smiled.  "I will go," he said finally.  "And make you proud of me."

Erik smiled and hugged him. "I know you will."

Nikita hugged him back energetically.  "So we're living here, Master?"

Erik looked around. "Do you like it?" he asked with a smile.

"It's pretty."

Erik smiled and turned to the Mayor. "I beleive this place would make a wonderous residence. What fee is there?"

"Well," the mayor considered.  "As you're a foreign dignitary, we can consider this the embassy."  He smiled.  "No one wants to live here anyway, so it's all being paid for out of government pockets due to the old owners will."

Erik nodded. "My thanks..."

"I'm sure the servants, such as they are, will help you in every way possible."

Erik nodded. "I do fear it may take me a while to get used to this realm... it all seems to forgin..."

"Well, from what I've heard the High Demon realm was very medieval.  No doubt you'll figure it out quickly."
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