Maria woke to sunlight streaming through real windows. For a moment, she forgot where she was, thinking she was back in the sleeping area of Blood Farm #17. But this bed was soft, not the hard cots they slept on there. And it was quiet—no moans of pain, no guards shouting.

  Then she remembered. The demon lord had sent her to this strange pce. Baron Cassian's home, the woman called Eliza had said.

  Maria got up carefully. She'd slept in her gray uniform, not trusting the clean clothes in the wardrobe. She didn't want to owe the demons anything, even clothes. The light had taught that demon gifts always had a price, usually blood.

  Her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten the food they'd brought st night, worried it might have drugs. But hunger was a familiar feeling in the farm. She could ignore it a little longer.

  Someone knocked on the door. Maria froze.

  "Good morning," Eliza's voice called. "The Baron has asked that you join him for breakfast if you're feeling rested."

  Maria didn't answer. What did a demon want with her at breakfast? Was she the breakfast?

  "There are others he'd like you to meet," Eliza continued through the door. "People like yourself."

  People like herself? Maria's heart beat faster. Others with the curse? The ones the demon lord had mentioned?

  This could be her chance to start her mission. The light had sent her here to find others who suffered the curse, to share The Promise with them. Maybe that's why she was in this strange pce instead of a punishment room.

  "I'll come," Maria said, moving to the door.

  Eliza smiled when Maria opened it. "Wonderful. Would you like to change first? There are fresh clothes—"

  "No," Maria cut her off. She would keep her gray uniform. It reminded her who she really was—a blood bag on a mission from the light, not a guest of demons.

  Eliza nodded, not seeming bothered. "This way, then."

  They walked through more hallways with soft floors and pretty walls. Maria tried to memorize the path, marking exits in case she needed to run ter. But everything looked different in daylight, and she quickly became lost.

  Finally, they reached a rge room with a long table. Sunlight poured through huge windows that looked out onto green grass and trees. The table had more food on it than Maria had ever seen in one pce—bread and fruit and things she couldn't even name.

  At the table sat a man Maria guessed was Baron Cassian. He didn't look like the demons at Blood Farm #17. He wore normal clothes, not the bck uniforms of the guards or the fine suits of the visiting nobles. But Maria knew not to trust appearances. Demons could look like anyone.

  "Ah, our new guest," the Baron said, standing as Maria entered. "Welcome. Please, join us for breakfast."

  Maria didn't move from the doorway. She scanned the room, counting exits, looking for guards.

  That's when she saw them.

  Sitting at the table were people who looked mostly normal. But something was wrong with them. A woman with eyes that seemed to glow amber. A man whose teeth looked too sharp when he smiled. A boy whose nails looked more like cws.

  Most shocking was a woman sitting near the Baron. Dark-haired with strange silver streaks, she seemed normal until she turned to look at Maria. Her eyes fshed gold for a moment, like an animal's eyes in firelight.

  Maria took a step back. She knew what she was seeing. These were people with the curse—like her. But they weren't hiding it or fighting it. They were sitting at a demon's table, eating his food, looking comfortable in their cursed bodies.

  "It's alright," the Baron said, misreading her fear. "Everyone here is a friend. This is Nara," he gestured to the woman with the gold eyes, "and—"

  "They have the curse," Maria whispered, cutting him off.

  The room went quiet.

  "Curse?" the woman named Nara asked, her head tilting slightly like a curious animal.

  "The punishment," Maria said, her voice growing stronger. "The light curses those who need to pay more than others. Makes us change into beasts. It's a test. We must fight it, not give in to it."

  The people at the table exchanged gnces. The Baron's expression stayed neutral, but Nara's eyes narrowed.

  "You're a wereanimal," Nara said slowly. "Like us. There's no curse. It's just what we are."

  Maria shook her head hard. "No! It's punishment! The light makes us change to test us. If we give in, we lose our souls!"

  "The light?" a younger woman at the table asked, looking confused.

  "The true light that will return when enough blood is paid," Maria expined, her words coming faster now. "It sends the curse to those who must pay more, but we must fight against becoming beasts. The demons want us to give in, to forget we're human!"

  The Baron cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should give our guest some time to adjust before—"

  "You're wrong," Nara interrupted, standing from her chair. "What you're calling a curse is your nature. You're a wereanimal—born that way, from wereanimal parents. There's nothing to fight against."

  Maria felt cold fear wash over her. This woman wasn't just living with the curse—she was corrupted by the demons. She'd forgotten The Promise. Forgotten that they were being punished.

  "The light sent me to find others with the curse," Maria said, backing toward the door. "To remind them of The Promise. When we've suffered enough, when our blood has paid the price, the light will break the dark, and demons will turn to ice..."

  She began reciting the prayer-poem from The Gathering. The words gave her strength, helped her stand straighter despite her fear.

  "Their fangs will break like gss, their power will fade away, the chains will fall to pieces, as the light brings judgment day."

  Some of the people at the table looked uncomfortable now. Others seemed concerned. The Baron and Nara exchanged a gnce that Maria couldn't read.

  "We are more than just blood bags, though they drain us every day," Maria continued, her voice growing louder. "We are children of the light, and freedom is on the way!"

  When she finished, silence filled the room. Maria waited for anger, for punishment. But none came.

  Instead, Nara approached slowly, stopping a few steps away. "Where did you learn these ideas?" she asked, her voice gentler now.

  "The light shows us the truth," Maria answered. "The older ones passed down The Promise before they were processed. I was chosen to share it with others who carry the curse."

  "Processed?" the Baron asked.

  "When blood bags get too old or sick to produce good blood," Maria expined, wondering how a demon didn't know this. "They get processed out. We never see them again."

  Horror flickered across several faces at the table. The Baron's expression darkened.

  "You grew up in a blood farm," Nara said. It wasn't a question.

  Maria nodded. "Blood Farm #17. I was born there."

  "And you've never met another... person with your curse... before now?" Nara asked.

  "No. I was the only one with the curse at the farm." Maria lowered her voice, a habit from years of hiding. "When it started when I was little, some of the older blood bags taught me how to hide during the full moon. They said it was a curse from the light. I learned to hide it or the demons would take me away. I just turned eighteen. They never knew."

  "Baron," Nara said, turning to Cassian, "she has no idea what she is."

  "So it seems," he replied quietly.

  Maria didn't like them talking about her as if she wasn't there. It reminded her of the farm doctors, discussing blood bags like they were just containers, not people.

  "I know what I am," she said firmly. "I'm a blood bag with the curse. But the light has shown me The Promise. The demons will fall when enough blood is paid. We just have to keep faith."

  The people at the table were staring at her now, with expressions Maria couldn't understand. Not anger, not fear, but something that looked almost like... sadness?

  "Your blood hasn't been taken since you arrived, has it?" Nara asked suddenly.

  The question confused Maria. "No. Not yet."

  "And it won't be," the Baron said firmly. "No one here is a 'blood bag,' Maria. Including you."

  Maria shook her head, not believing. This had to be part of the trick. Demons always wanted blood in the end.

  A young man at the table spoke up. "I was kept as a noble's pet, before Baron Cassian found me. I had to perform tricks for the demon's guests and sleep in a cage."

  Maria stared at him. He had the curse too—she could see it in his eyes, which fshed green when he blinked.

  "The light will free us," she told him. "If we keep faith and don't give in to the curse."

  "I was freed already," he replied. "By her." He pointed to Nara.

  Maria looked between them, confusion growing. None of this fit with what she knew about demons and blood farms and the curse.

  "You're confused," Nara said, taking another step toward Maria. "I understand. I'd like to help you understand what you really are."

  "I know what I am," Maria insisted, though doubt had begun to creep in.

  "You think you're cursed, but you're not," Nara continued. "You're a wereanimal—a wolf-strain, specifically. I can tell by your scent. You were born this way. It's not a punishment."

  "No," Maria whispered, but the word cked conviction.

  "The people who kept you in that farm," Nara said, "they lied to you. About everything. They're the ones who hurt you, not some light punishing you."

  "The light is real," Maria said, but her voice shook. "It has to be real."

  "Maybe there is a light," Nara said carefully. "But not the way you were taught. No one deserves to be kept in a farm, to have their blood taken. No one deserves punishment like that."

  Maria felt dizzy. If what this woman said was true, then everything Maria had believed was wrong. But if it wasn't true, then these people were all corrupted by demons, given up to their curse.

  "I need... I need to think," Maria managed, suddenly feeling too crowded in the big room.

  "Of course," the Baron said. "Eliza will take you back to your quarters when you're ready. But please consider joining us for a meal when you feel able. No one here wishes you harm."

  Maria backed toward the door, mind racing. These people with the curse lived openly here. They didn't hide their animal eyes or teeth or cws. They sat at a demon's table and showed no fear.

  Either everything she knew was wrong, or these people had given up being real people for comfort.

  As Eliza appeared beside her, ready to guide her back to her room, Maria felt the walls closing in. These beast-people watched her with strange eyes that fshed animal colors. The demons let them walk free instead of keeping them in cages or farms. Nothing made sense anymore.

  The light had sent her here for a reason. But now she wondered if that reason was to save these cursed ones... or if they were trying to trick her into giving up her own soul to the curse.