Stories of Teenage Demons

Maria, as a demon, had incredible mental capabilities. She could sometimes think on a level akin to that of the criminally insane, like Hannibal Lecter. So needless to say, Maria was very intelligent and had a wide understanding of nearly everything.

But nobody, not even Maria, can understand everything.

And if there was one thing Maria didn't understand, it was Love.

I mean, think about it. When did she ever need Love? She spent her entire life in the fiery depths of Hell. Where's there even any room for Love?

So she didn't understand how her brother could feel that... Was it an emotion? She just didn't know. But he could feel it, and he felt it so much. He would always say he loved things. He loved the dark, he loved fire, he loved the screams of the damned. Damien also loved some people, as absurd as that sounds. He said that he loved Maria and Valerie and Kyle and Dani and Anne. He loved their father too. Wasn't that odd?

Damien said that Love was something that Humans always knew. It was ingrained into their very beings, even their Souls. And if you could understand Love, you could understand Humans. If you understood them, they were that much easier to corrupt. That was the merit that Love brought him.

Maria would always scoff and argue that she'd been corrupting Humans without Love for quite a while and hasn't really had trouble. Why would she need to make an easy task easier?

But secretly, she was jealous and curious (other Human feelings).

She sometimes -- no, all the time -- wondered how he had learned Love when she hadn't.

Maria often contemplated Love. Is it something that could be learned? How can you learn it? Can you only feel it for certain things or people? Can you choose those things and people? Why do people try to keep the things they love a secret. What does love feel like?

She would never let her brother know how Love intrigued her. She would never let anyone know.

But sometimes, when no one was looking, she would stare at fire or people or anything, just to see if she could feel this Love.

The fire and screams and darkness brought her an inexplicable joy, along with a few other things. The people close to her had a special quality, too. They made Maria smile and feel warm. She asked her brother if these things were Love.

"There are different kinds of Love," her twin said knowingly. "There's the Love you feel for family and the Love you feel for friends, which are similar. There's also things you Love, which are things that make you happy. But then there's always a special person that everyone meets someday. They make you feel like you've never felt before. Maybe once you find the person, you'll know that kind of Love. You feel the friend Love, family Love, and Love of things close to you. You're learning."

Maria smiled and thanked him and even deigned to give him a hug, because that's what Love is all about, right?

But the final kind of Love bothered her. Would she ever meet that special person? Would she ever feel that kind of Love?

And suddenly, she felt that bothersome intrigue and questions that Love had given her before.

Little did Maria know that soon she would know that kind of Love as well.

Until then? Well, until then she was glad that she had learned.