Chapter 4 — The Morning Routine
As I slept peacefully in my room the pillow hugged the back of my head like it had missed me. My room was exactly how I liked it — dark and warm, purple and black everywhere. Curtains thick enough to block out the morning light, soft blankets layered on top of each other, fairy lights strung along the headboard casting just enough of a purple glow to make the whole room feel like it was breathing.
I felt a shift from the pillow as if something was pulling the right side of it down. I didn't care because Noxx would always bark if anything left my room without permission.
But he didn't bark this time.
"Hmm?"
A heavy fluffy weight rolled against the side of my head — gentle at first, like something trying to wake me up without committing to it. I tried to ignore it. The weight increased and pushed down harder.
"Mmmm… what… what is it?"
I opened my eyes.
Noxx was right there in his smaller form, staring at me with the happiest expression he owned. Tongue out. Tail already going. He had shifted down just small enough to fit on my pillow and wake me up with maximum cuteness. I stared at him with completely dead eyes.
He froze. Then started whimpering.
"You should've just laid on me in your bigger form."
YIPE!
I grabbed him anyway and hugged him so tight I almost forgot that Belzagus was going to come through my door any second for morning training.
"OH RIGHT!"
THUMP
I pushed Noxx off me and sat up. Nira was already on the other side of the room turning on my shower without being asked, like she had been doing it every morning for two years.
"He's about to show up. Hurry up and wash up."
I stripped and stepped into the shower making all the noise in the world because heavy footsteps were already rising from the bottom of the staircase.
THUD
THUD
THUD
Each step getting closer. The heavy boots reached the landing. Then my door.
I washed my hair so fast that soap got in my eyes.
"Ouch!"
KNOCK KNOCK
Two heavy but gentle knocks landed on my door.
"YEAH! GIMME FIVE MINUTES."
Everything went quiet after that. Nothing but the sound of running water hitting my body. I stood there getting myself mentally prepared for what was waiting on the other side of that door.
I turned off the water and stepped out with my robe draped over me.
"Don't move so fast."
Nira was already holding the hairdryer with one hand and a comb with the other. I brushed my teeth and pulled on my gym clothes while she dried and combed my hair, then went to put the hairdryer exactly where it belonged. They had both learned to live with my OCD. Somehow it had rubbed off on them too.
"ALMOST READY!"
Silence from the door. Like he was already gone.
I stepped out of the bathroom in my purple and black gym clothes. A new designer set — initials only, SV, embedded on the heart of the sports bra and on the hip of the shorts. The purple and black sneakers had extra grip built in for sprints.
I really needed to ask Bel where he kept finding these clothes.
I wanted more.
"Alright… Time to suffer."
I walked to the door and grabbed the handle before I could talk myself out of it. I pulled it open fast.
Belzagus was already leaning against the wall like he had been there for a while. Brown paper bag in his right hand. Duffle bag full of gym equipment in the other. He wore black gym clothes
with purple trim — same SV designer brand. The muscle shirt fit close enough to show exactly what two years of serious training had done to him. His arms had that faint purple Abyss energy running beneath the skin like cracked lines. His large curved black horns caught the hallway light.
His black hair had grown long and wild — the kind of wild that moved like it had its own energy. He had wanted to cut it. Madina said no and complained until he agreed just to restore some peace.
Honestly she was right.
"How long have you been waiting?"
His pitch black eyes found mine the moment the door opened.
"Took you long enough."
I rolled my eyes and snatched the brown bag from his hand. Noxx followed behind me with Nira already perched on top of his head like she owned the view. I opened the bag and pulled out the protein drink Belzagus always pre-made — peanut butter and chocolate mixed with oats. Always delicious. Always just enough to survive whatever he was about to put me through.
He followed me down the stairs carrying a clipboard with a new routine already mapped out.
"It's six in the morning. We're running around the house until seven."
I stopped at the front door.
A full circle around my house was a quarter mile each lap. My legs already felt it just thinking about it. Then Belzagus patted me on the back.
"Brisk jog this time. Don't worry."
The dread lifted immediately.
I opened the front door and the morning hit me all at once. The sun was just beginning to pull itself over the horizon, painting the sky in deep purple and gold that faded slowly into pale blue. The air was cool and clean — that specific kind of quiet that only exists before the world fully wakes up.
The morning breeze caught my face the moment I stepped off the porch. I inhaled slowly and let it fill my lungs completely. Cold. Fresh. The kind of breath that reminds you that you're alive.
Belzagus dropped his duffle bag at the front entrance before we set off. Side by side — his long strides easy and controlled, mine already finding rhythm. Noxx toddled behind us with Nira on his head, her black hair catching the breeze. The purple and gold morning light stretched across the front grounds as we reached the gate and started the first lap.
Jessica came out to close the gate and move the bag somewhere safer. She stood there watching us disappear around the side of the house.
CLANG
"Those two never break routine." She said it quietly to no one. "Malphas said not to worry about it. Even if they act human sometimes."
Me and Belzagus jogged around the house fifteen times without speaking. My mind settled into a flow state that made a rhythm with each step. Pulse steady. Breathing through my nose and out my mouth.
"How long till we stop. My legs are getting tired bro."
Neither of us had broken a sweat after the warm up. That concerned me. We both checked and confirmed what we already suspected — we needed to push harder just to feel it now. Demon bodies had a way of raising the bar without asking.
Belzagus checked his watch. Five minutes to seven.
"Alright. Let's stop here."
We slowed down at the gate and found Oralax and Amanda already waiting with an ice box full of cold water bottles.Oralax stood with his heavy katana resting over his arm. Amanda sat nearby sipping her tea like she was watching a nature documentary.
I looked at her.
"Wanna join in on a few rounds?"
Her face shifted immediately — worried and calculating, like she already knew it was a trap. She looked at my stomach like I had personally removed the word feminine from the dictionary.
"N… No thanks Princess. I like to feel my arms and legs when I run away from danger."
I giggled and started walking away until Oralax grabbed my hood with a small tug. I turned and gave him a confused stare.
"Something wrong?"
He smiled. That was enough.
Amanda quietly removed his arm sling and he took off toward Belzagus, leaving his katana behind without a second thought. I rolled my eyes and followed.
"Alright. What are we doing first? Chest? Arms? Legs?"
Belzagus looked at me with a playful grin and held up the black clipboard.
"We are going to hit every muscle group in small sets."
Oralax looked at Belzagus like he had just said something legendary. I looked at Belzagus like he was doing this specifically to spite me.
He placed the clipboard on the grass.
"Twenty push ups. Now."
We dropped into position. My arms didn't burn the way they used to. I remembered crying through two push ups when this started. Now twenty felt like nothing. Oralax followed along beside me.
"Twenty crunches!"
I flipped onto my back, legs curled, hands behind my head. My core fired up immediately with each curl. Oralax made it to eight before he rolled to his side and just looked at me — still moving, still counting, still locked in. Something in his face shifted. He turned back over and kept going even though it felt like a punch every single time.
"STAND UP!"
We both got up. Oralax stood beside me panting like his stomach no longer belonged to him. Belzagus looked at him and smiled.
"Jumping jacks."
Music started from the duffle bag — punchy and motivating. Belzagus and I jumped in sync. Oralax kept up until he couldn't. We kept going without him.
By the time Belzagus finally called it the sun was sitting high and noon had already arrived.
"Training over. Go wash up. I'll have brunch ready."
I breathed deep and nodded. Noxx shifted into his bigger form — mean looking to everyone else, but to me he just looked like an oversized pit bull with too many teeth. He lowered his head and I climbed onto his back.
"Oralax — guest room is yours again."
I patted Noxx's side and he started moving through the house. I laid flat on his back and let him carry me.
"Thank you. I won't let you down."
Noxx rounded the hallway and stopped in the doorway as Ritchie stepped out of my father's office. We made eye contact — him sliding an envelope into his jacket pocket, me draped over a
giant demon dog like I had no bones left.
"You got a raise again?"
He averted his eyes and walked in front of Noxx then bowed like someone who had just been upgraded into something more than what he was.
"I will be joining you and Jessica on the train ceremony."
I stared at him from Noxx's back with the flattest expression I owned.
"So he's sending you to babysit me too."
Ritchie straightened up proudly.
"I prefer the term escort."
"I don't."
Noxx kept walking. I laid back down and stared at the ceiling as we moved through the house.
My father really never stopped adding people to my life without asking.