-- Lilith POV, Sunnyvale Barracks Prison --

  The guard looked at her, skeptical, "Do you want to play for my soul, demon?"

  She scrunched her face, then shook her head, "No, I'm just bored and don't know how long they will keep me here."

  "You'll be in there forever, demon", he let her know.

  "That sounds like a pretty long time". She really didn't want to think about that right now. "Guess it's better to learn how to play games with the guards then, huh?"

  He gave her half a shrug, "I've got a game of dice. What do you want to play demon?"

  Ah, the memories. She still couldn't remember anything from before she had been summoned. She came up blank, "I actually do not remember any games to play with dice. What do you want to play?"

  The game he had suggested was fairly simple. One got five dice, rolled all of them once, and then was allowed to roll all or some of them two more times to build certain patterns.

  Now they were sitting in front of each other, the iron bars between them, and they passed the dice from one to the other as they took turns. She had been pretty lucky so far, and now she was about to finish a pattern that he had called a witch hut. Only one more die to roll, and she needed a three. She really hoped to get a three. She had been lucky so far!

  The guard watched her with some interest, the witch hut was a difficult pattern, and she had only a one in six chance left to make it.

  She rolled the die. She really wanted a three. She needed a three. Please a .. her thoughts stopped as she felt something reach out and give the die a nudge. A three.

  "No", barely a whisper, "please no!"

  "What?" The guard was confused. "That was a good roll! You finished your witch hut."

  "But ..." she stammered. "Let me try something, ok?"

  "Huh? Sure. Try." He seemed still confused, but kept watching what she did.

  She took a die. She imagined she needed a one. She wanted a one. She rolled. A one.

  She stared at the die. It didn't budge. A one.

  Maybe just bad luck? Or good luck? She took the die again. A six. A six seemed valuable to her. So many eyes. Surely she would not roll a six just if the she wanted one? She rolled. A six.

  She started to sob.

  "What's wrong demon?" the guard asked.

  With teary eyes she looked at him, "Give me a number please?"

  "Umm, seven?"

  Now she had to laugh despite the tears, "A number that I can roll with one die."

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  "Alright. How about five?"

  She nodded, "Five". This could not be real, but she would only know if she actually tried. A five. A five. Roll a five, die!

  She rolled. Well, that needed a big nudge. Five.

  The guard looked at her, "Five."

  She looked at him again, almost crying once more, "Another number?"

  "Two, if you can do it."

  One more attempt. A two. A two. Roll a two.

  The die rolled. The ground was flat, but the die jumped, spun in the air and fell. A two.

  "I'm a demon", she managed to say.

  "Hah! Could have told you right away with your looks!", the guard offered.

  She pointed at the dice with an open hand, "But how can I play with you if the dice always roll how I want them to roll?"

  "Guess that is how you demons win souls, isn't it?", the guard stated flatly.

  "I don't want to be a demon", she tried to protest.

  "Can't choose. Some are born this way, some are born that way, I guess."

  They sat in silence for a while.

  "Ey, demon. Lets see how good you are at the dice. Roll me a one and a two."

  She picked up two dice, "You want me to to roll the dice and see?"

  "Want to know how good you're at it. With one die you're good. Let's see your skill with two." He pointed at her hand with the two dice. "Roll 'em. Make it a one and a two."

  She tried to focus. A one and a two. Huh. She already could feel that this would be much harder than a single die roll. "It's challenging", she let him know even before she rolled.

  "Guess it is", he admitted.

  She rolled. It was hard, but she made it. A one and two.

  He gave her more and more challenges. Turned out, she was near perfect with one die. Pretty good with two. Three, sometimes. Usually not. Four, nope. Two of the four she could do and hope for actual luck on the other two.

  "Not a master trickster, but not bad either demon. I couldn't even do that with the one die!" The guard was almost praising her.

  She handed him the dice back through the bars, "Thank you for the time and the game while it lasted. Till now I had hoped it was all just like an accident or something. Like I just look ... different."

  He shrugged, "No idea there. You looked like a demon to me right away. Just confirmed it."

  He got up and straightened his garments, "Guess it's good that we didn't play for my soul today, hah?"

  Now she had to laugh despite the dire situation and got up as well, "Maybe next time?"

  "Nah. Not ever demon", and they laughed together for a moment.

  "Hey!", she managed to say with a new smile, "Thanks anyways. I think I'll try to sleep some now. Don't know when the emissary from the king arrives. I don't want to be a sleepy head if it's tomorrow."

  He looked roughly in the direction where she suspected the front entrance to be, "Weather's turning bad. Wouldn't get my hopes up." Then he looked back at her, "But you seem ok to me. Don't make a fuss, don't shout. Guard duty is a chore, you know? Those iron bars there are solid. Still they have me stand here all day and look at you. Even if you can't help it that the dice roll as you want them, anythings better than just standing here and doing nothing all day. I'll bring cards next time. Day after tomorrow. You can't roll the cards in my hands. Then we play a real game."

  She gave him a smile and nodded, "I'm looking forward to it! Still going to sleep now. I think bewitching the dice makes sleepy."

  "Got to stand here two more hours. Sleep well demon."

  Maybe some day she would get used to sleep on a straw heap with the prison clothes on that they had given her. The moment she lay down though, she was just to unpleasantly reminded that horns and straw entangled in very annoying ways. Well, something to deal with once she woke up again. Now she needed sleep.