Page 1 of My Demon Manny

One

Calux

I loved babies.

Not in the weird demonic 'I want to eat them' way—though I was a demon, no demon had ever eaten a human baby...that I knew of—but in an 'awww, they're so cute; I just wanna hold them and cuddle them all day' way.

The only problem was, as a demon who'd lived in the demon realm until just a few short months ago, it was practically impossible for me to find a baby to cuddle with.

It wasn't like I could just walk up to a human parent and ask to hold their baby. That would bebad. "Call upon me the wrath of the King of Otherworld" bad.

So, I'd started looking for alternatives, and that was when I discovered something life-changing.

There was a job out there where I'd get paid to take care of a baby all day long. All I had to do was finish a twenty-hour course, get my certification, and then apply to a few agencies that connected parents with nannies.

I'd done all of it. I'd had to magic up some papers that said I went to high school and I had my GED, but I actually did the course that taught you how to take care of babies. If I was going to be responsible for helping raise a baby, I wanted to know exactly how to do it right.

I didn't know where exactly my fascination with human babies had started. Maybe it was because I didn't remember the timeIwas human, much less my childhood. I'd just woken up one day and known I was a demon, with no idea what or who I'd been before then.

Maybe I just found it interesting that sweet, innocent babies grew up to be such fascinating individuals. I wanted to know if how a baby was raised changed the type of person they'd grow up to be. Was it possible that a person who did the worst kinds of evils would change completely if they'd had a different childhood?

Of course, there was no true way to test it...until Hitler's soul was reincarnated, I supposed. It was still in the Burning Chasm, nicely being burned to a crisp until it was purified of all its darkness.

Shaking my head, I placed my phone on the coffee table and stood up, heading into my small kitchen. The apartment I lived in was small, cozy, and exactly what I needed. It was paintedin warm colors, and I'd filled it with as many soft and colorful things as I could.

Since I'd checked the live-in nanny box when I applied, there was a possibility I'd have to move out for a while if I was hired, but until then, I was happy living in this place, even though it was much smaller than my chambers in the demon realm.

When I first came to the human world, I'd thought I would miss the demon realm. I'd thought I'd miss my bed, my many silk pillows, and the demon hound, Hella. But surprisingly, I didn't. Okay, well, I missed Hella a bit, but it wasn't like she didn't visit. She preferred to stay with Azazel, since he had a human summoner who gave her a lot of cuddles and treats, but she also stayed with me a lot, so I didn't mind too much.

We hadn't just come to the human world on vacation, though. No, we were on a mission, on standby until something needed our attention.

A few bad souls had escaped the Burning Chasm, and they'd taken a demon with them. Though Mammon—one of the oldest demons currently in existence—had gone willingly, we still needed to get him and those souls back before they created havoc in the human world. They were lying low for now, but we were all on high alert for the moment they started acting.

I didn't know when that would happen, but I wasn't going to just sit around and wait for it. Until something occurred, I was going to live this life we'd been given, and enjoy every moment of being in the human world.

My kettle beeped, and I hopped over to it, pouring the water in a cup and dunking in a tea bag. Emptying a packet of cookies on a plate, I carried them both back to the living room and placed them on the coffee table before switching on the TV.

Humans were such fascinating creatures, and I loved watching the shows they created. They had such creativity, and such a vivid imagination. Somehow, without ever knowing the truth,they'd created their own versions of the realms. They called Afterworld 'Heaven' and the Burning Chasm (or rather its old—now destroyed—counterpart, the Underworld) 'Hell.'

What irked me was that they thought demons were evil creatures who lived in this hell, which was, quite frankly, a bit offensive. I supposed they couldn'talwaysget it right, or mostly right. Still, knowing most of the human-kind thought we were evil when we'd once been humans ourselves wasn't fun.

As I was watching a show that focused more on drama between married couples than anything else—was that truly how much human pairs argued?—my phone pinged, and I almost dropped my teacup in my rush to grab it.

There was an email waiting for me, and I clicked it open, crossing my fingers the way I'd seen a human do on TV when he was hoping for good news.

Calux, you have an interview!

A prospective parent saw your resumé and would like to meet you to see if you'd be the perfect fit for their little one. Below are the listed details. Please reply with a yes if you're interested, and you'll be sent the time and location of the interview.

"Yes!" I cheered, then quickly read the parent's details.

Single dad, looking for a live-in nanny.

Six months old baby boy.

Hitting reply, I sent back a yes, then placed the phone back on the table so I wouldn't keep refreshing it as I waited for a reply.

I had an interview! I was going to completely ace this thing, and then I was going to take the best care of that little boy. I'd put all the human nannies to shame with my nannying skills, just you wait.

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