Stephen woke up at eight o’clock sharp. For weeks, this little demon had been following him. He found it on the way home from work and it had not left him alone since. No one else could see it and attempts to tell people about it only made him a pariah. People looked at him with odd expressions, whispered behind his back. He was the crazy cooch that talked about a demon that did not exist.

It sat on the bed next to where Stephen slept, staring at him, smiling. It was almost always smiling. It was weird like that. Like it was in near-perpetual happiness.

The demon slept during the day and became active at night. Stephen was not actually sure it was nocturnal. The demon had a tendency to back itself into a corner during the night. Like his closet. Stephen deduced it was actually just afraid of the dark and ran to a place that had limited access to hide. So, like his closet. Odd. The stories were wrong he guessed.

Stephen got up. He threw the covers off him and over the demon. It made a surprised sound and struggled to get the covers off. Stephen’s daily routine was interrupted by the demon teleporting into his bathroom. Half the time it would follow him into the shower and clean itself. The other half it would just sit there and wait for Stephen to finish everything.

Once done, Stephen went to get his clothes. The demon of course followed him back out. Stephen would get breakfast at a local café. Coffee too. He needed that. His job was being the groundskeeper of a medium-sized accounting firm. The land they were on required upkeep. Mowing, trash, weeding, and so on.

It was a good job. The demon followed him out the door and to the café. He had long gotten used to it being around him. It was harmless, despite being a demon. As he was walking, he heard the demon trip and fall forward. Every so often, it would trip over its own feet. It went down and made a squeak. Stephen didn’t bother to try to help it. He kept walking. The demon would catch up.

Stephen got to the café and ordered his usual. The demon sat behind him as he talked to the cashier and paid. A breakfast sandwich and a coffee. As he was making his way to a seat, he spied something odd. There was a demon. Not his. Sitting on a woman’s head. She would say some things. And that demon moved its mouth as if it was responding back.

Stephen stopped walking. And of course, his demon walked into him. He could feel it look up at him in confusion. The woman noticed the commotion and was confused too until she looked down and saw his demon walking around him to get in front of Stephen while looking up at his face. The woman beckoned Stephen to come over and have a seat. Nothing better to do and this was the first time he had ever seen a second demon, Stephen did so.

“Hi. I’m Sandy.” The woman stood up to shake his hand. She was a bit shorter than him. Her hair was light brown and her eyes were hazel. She was wearing her hair in a bun behind her. Her clothes looked trendy. Maybe someone from minor nobility.

The demon continued to sit on her head.

As a comparison, Stephen was shaved bald. All male commoners were shaved bald. His eyes were pale green, though. His clothes were drab. Made him look like a prisoner. Most male commoners did.

“Stephen.”

“Not much of a talker, I guess, Stephen,” as Stephen shook her hand and sat down.

“No. Not really. You can see it?”

“Yes. His name is Spot. Short for Spartacus Flavius Maximus. And even that is short for his people’s name for him. He’s a Catalum, or puppy dog. He likes Old Roman culture.”

Stephen eyed the demon on her head. Like his, it had four legs, a tail, floppy ears, and a snout. This “Spot” demon was obviously named so because its spots were vaguely heart-shaped, with a big fully heart-shaped one over its left eye. It made a low whining sound and tilted its head to the side. Spot was seemingly confused. Then it moved its head back to normal and started to happy smile.

Stephen’s demon got on top of his shoe and laid its body against his boot.

Sandy continued: “Catalums are aliens native to the Andromeda galaxy and command an empire that spans the Virgo Supercluster. They only look superficially like dogs from the home world. Their biology is definitely alien.

“Sometimes, the empire will assign a Catalum to people they deem trustworthy and safe. Spot was assigned to me ten years ago and I’ve been traveling this world with him in tow. His people have an extremely advanced series of cloaking technology placed on their members that only allow us trustworthy people to see them.

“Have ... you been shunned because no one else can see yours?”

Stephen nodded. His eyes moistened thinking back about how far his life went down when he tried to convince people of his demon.

“That’s ... disappointing. While I do not think it was the fault of your little one, it’s tragic that you had to deal with that.”

Sandy reached down under the table and Stephen’s demon walked over to her hands. She picked it up and placed it on the table. It made some sounds. Sandy scritched it behind its right ear.

“His name is Maxwell. Short for Maximillian Wellington the Third. Apparently, he’s a student of history. And was around the time when Napoleon tried to conquer Europe.”

“Wait, wasn’t that a thousand years ago?”

“Indeed. The Catalum people attained biological immortality millions of years ago. Maxwell is a little over a thousand years old. Spot is a youngster and only about thirty years old.

“Although, really, they’re both babies. They won’t be considered mentally adults until the ten-thousand-year mark.

“Maxwell cannot speak Basic. Spot can. Also, by the way, if you haven’t noticed, Spot likes to sit on my head.”

“Din’ notice.” Stephen chuckled. He was warming up to the woman and the two demons. He was no longer seeing Maxwell as an evil omen.

“Well, that’s because Catalums come from a planet that required them as a species to live on tops of plateaus. They’re adept climbers and only when they transitioned from small tribes to a civilization, they ventured into the planet’s valleys. That was when they could fend off their predators. They have a tendency to sit on top of people or on high places.”

“These Catalums...,” Stephen began, “Are they afraid of the dark?”

Sandy looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Why yes, they are afraid of the dark. Spot told me their home system is dominated by a pair of orange stars. Their planet was effectively daylight all day and all night. A twenty-eight-hour day of which twenty-four were legit daylight. And tidally locked so there was no fluctuation throughout the year. It doesn’t help that the majority of their predators lived in the dark crevices in the valleys and had dark or black colored coats.