Chapter One: My Purple Flame

Ever since I was a young girl, I knew that I was different than most kids my age. It wasn't because I was intellectually ahead than all of them, though it was a little odd. No, it was because I am a half-demon. I didn't understand it then, but now it explained why my temper flared so quickly, why I was so incredibly strong and fast and why people always seemed to be so scared of me.

I remember the day my father finally explained who I really was and why I was this way. He sat me down on the bench outside the monastery which we lived in and told me about my mother, who I was never able to meet. Up until that point, by which I was about six or seven, I thought she had simply died. But that day, my father explained to me that she was a demon from the world of Gehenna and that she was very powerful and so was I. He told me that my gifts were nothing to be ashamed of but that people couldn't know about it because they wouldn't understand. It was that day that I began my training.

Shortly after our talk, I transferred out of school and was home-schooled by my father. He taught me much more than any school could. He was once an exorcist, before he met my mom and was on his way to becoming a Paladin, but once he met her, he realized that wasn't what he wanted to do. So he left and built a small monastery that also ran as an orphanage and that's where we lived. He also taught me many forms of combat, so if I ever needed to, I could protect myself.

But then, the year I turned thirteen, my father died.

I remember it was a rainy afternoon, and my father and I were sitting in his office reading books and drinking tea when there was a sudden knock at the door. We usually never received visitors unless it was for shipments from the town or another lost child. This time though, it was a group of exorcists.

*Flashback*

"Father? Who is it?" I asked, my pale lavender eyes wide. My father's usually bright, cheery face went pale and stricken.

"Yuki, I need you to listen and quickly act. Go to your room and get your sword. If needed, protect yourself as best you can but don't leave your room under any circumstances, understand?"

I nodded my head and did as I was told. As I ran to my room, I glimpsed outside through one of the large windows and saw three tall men cloaked in black. They held swords and guns and all kinds of weapons. That was the first day I began to feel afraid. I raced to my room and unsheathed my sword which was right beside my bed. My father had given it to me when I was ten to simply use in only dire emergencies.

I could hear banging on the front door and the shuffle of tiny feet as my father forced the children that we took care of into the emergency cellar. It was hidden behind a secret door in the living room so they would be safe.

Then I heard a crash as our front door was kicked open. My blood ran cold as ice and I stayed right where I was, trusting my father to be rid of these men fast. I could hear yelling, mostly of the other men. Slowly, I made my way to my door, which was creaked open and peered out, where I had a perfect view of what was happening.

My father had his sword out and pointed at the men who seemed to have him cornered. I swallowed a huge lump in my throat and I couldn't seem to shake this immense sense of dread.

"Yotsuda Crosswire, we are under direct orders from the High Council to bestow punishment upon you for your crimes. You have been charged guilty of not only laying with the demon, Sakura, but for also raising the bastard child that you two have created. By doing so, you have sealed your own fate. The punishment, is death." With that, I saw all three men raise their guns…and fire.

My father was fast and skilled, but he was no match for the speed of the bullets and the sheer amount of them. I had to watch, horrified as my father was shot countless times and died instantly. There wasn't a single thing I could do. I had to watch him die. As his body plunked to the floor, that's when I first experienced my true nature of being a demon.

I remember my vision turning red as my body grew warm with the flames that were licking my body, but not burning. My tail swung about and my canines grew to fangs and my eyes narrowed. I swiftly killed two of the men before they even had the chance to remember I was there. I remember clearly holding the last man by the throat and hissing at him.

"You bastards! That was my father!" I blinked back tears as my flames died out and I was more consumed by grief than anger. I still held the man as I whispered with a vicious tone, "Send this warning to your High Council. If another one you damned exorcists EVER sets foot on this property ever again, I will not only kill every single one of you that is on the property, but also the High Council themselves. And that is a promise." I set the man free and watched as he ran away, no doubt to tell the High Council was had occurred.

I shortly afterwards disposed of the men's bodies and buried my father by the Sakura tree in the front of our house, and cleaned up the mess. Then I released the children and staff, telling them that everything was safe and okay now. When they asked about my father, I said he had died a noble death protecting us all, and later told the truth to the staff. We held a small vigil for him and placed a small stone over where he was buried with his name and birthday on it.

Weeks passed and no one showed up. Life soon returned to normal, or at least as normal as possible. But I never forgot what they did.

*Present time*

I shook myself out of my flashback and stared at the small stone. I had just turned sixteen this past week and things seemed to be better. The monastery was all mine by my birthright and I was at peace. I took care of the orphans, teaching them and caring for them. Some had even managed to find good homes. I still kept up with my studies, though I was already farther ahead than most college students. I also trained daily, prepared for anything.

"Yuki? It's getting cold, let's go inside!" I turned to face a small boy with creamy skin and freckles with wild and unruly brown hair and chocolaty brown eyes. Michael had been in our care since he was born and he was like a brother to me. He was about five now and when I turned eighteen, I planned on adopting him. He made my darkest days bright and always managed to put a smile on my face.

"Okay." He held out his hand and I took it. Things seemed to be happy and okay, though I knew really that was far from the truth. My heart still burned with a hatred for what the exorcists had done to my father. Killing him in cold blood just like that. And even though the rational part of me screamed for me to just let it be, I still really wanted revenge.

Oh what to do, what to do.