BRAVING THE DARKNESS: One Night With The Demon King
BENEATH HER DARKNESS: The Alpha’s Little Demon Book 2
Chapter 53 – He’s Up To Something (PATREA)
Weeks passed, and I was still reeling from the feeling of being Lucius’ queen and the queen of two kingdoms.
Today is one of those days where I had to fulfill a duty for our demons.
“Open your palms and let your hand feed on their souls,” Lucius instructed me as w e stared at the pit of fire, where I could hear souls full of anguish and pain.
I swallowed hard, but I couldn’t raise my hand. I was slowly accepting the ways of the underworld, but my heart was shattering at the cries I could hear at the moment.
“In time, your heart will harden. The souls you hear are undeserving of your pity, whether they are judged or not in the realms they belong to. If their souls went straight to the pits of hell, it only means that they were meant to be here. They were irredeemable and had never regretted their actions. We do not throw away souls that were sincerely regretful of their misdeeds before they died. That’s why the veils of realms exist. In there, they were given time to redeem themselves before they would be judged again.”
I remained quiet, looking at the images my head conjured from the bottom of the fire pit.
“I am not saying you should not feel sorry. But those below don’t deserve your pity. “
“Do you think Lucien is there?”
“I am sure he’s there. We can pay him a visit if you want.”
“I don’t want to be reminded of him anymore.” I forced a chuckle. “And Guillermo?”
“Probably not. He might be annoying, but I don’t think he violated any rules of the realm, as my father had been doing.”
“So, you mean Nyneve is not there as well?”
“She is. I’m sure of that.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nyneve tried to harm you and Althea. Demons could kill any demon and get away with it. That’s part of our world here. It wouldn’t taint their demons’ souls. But once they cross realms and create chaos there for no reason at all, then judgment begins.”
“And your father violated so many laws of the realms when he took humans in here for his s*e*xual pleasure.”
“He violated some in their own realms too. My father was a vicious incubus. He deserves where he is now.”
“But how about Lucy? She used her succubus form?”
“It’s part of our demon sensuality. S*e*x with an incubus or succubus is just a dream. Or nightmare, I would say. The problem is when demons make it a reality. When they get their victims pregnant, it means the act is more than a dream. It became physical.”
“So, they won’t judge Lucy for that?”
“It’s consensual. Besides, I don’t think she assaulted Stone.” He chuckled.
“Did you ever use your incubus form?”
“Do you want me to answer that?”
I nodded my head. I knew it would hurt, but I wanted to know everything about him before I came into his life.
“I did, but I didn’t do a physical one.”
“The girl you visited. Is she special?” I felt a tinge of jealousy for the human or species for whom he used his succubus form.
He chuckled before his face turned serious as he tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “I did it because I wanted to f*uc*k, not because of anything. I f*uc*k, and I move on. I can’t even remember the females I visited, and it was probably just two times.”
“Don’t do it again.”
“No. Never again. I honestly didn’t enjoy it. I want my female responsive, plus I never take pleasure in taking something not freely given. I did it because of peer pressure. I was a young demon then. Besides, I’ve got everything I want and need here with me.” A smug smirk tugged on his m*outh before his eyes turned full red. “I am more than happy to give you all the l*ust surging from within my body, Patrea.”
“And I am willing to take all of it,” I answered immediately as my l*ips curled into a smile.
“Don’t smile at me like that, my queen. You’re making me forget we are in the pits of hell, and we need energy.”
My hand flew to my m*outh as I chuckled softly. I totally forgot that we were here s o I could learn how to summon energy from the dead souls in hell to feed our demons.
“I’m sorry, I forgot.” I turned and faced the direction of the pit of fire before extending my hand up. “I’m ready when you are.”
Lucius leaned closer and k*issed my temple before he faced the same direction I was looking and raised his hand. “Take only what you can. There’s no need to force yourself to take many, as it’s a heavy load. I can take care of the rest.”
I nodded my head, and soon, Lucius’ silent words dug into my head before the fire in front of us swirled as if a water tornado was hitting the middle of it.
The cries got louder, and my heart kept clenching in pain, but I remembered what Lucius told me, so I tried my best to keep my emotions in check.
If I felt any pity for them, I would not be able to take energy from them, and I would not be able to give my demons anything.
I closed my eyes as my hand spread its fingers wide open, accepting that the souls below were rotten souls, and didn’t deserve any of my heart.
I felt a surge of power crawling into my fingers, making my eyes snap open, and I saw electricity-like veins touching the tips of my fingers from the fire all around us. My eyes darted to Lucius, and our eyes locked. Even without saying anything, I felt the pride he was feeling at the moment.
I was doing it right. A smirk formed on my face as I gave Lucius a wink. I felt more energy surging i n, and it excited me more. The underworld had welcomed me as part of them, and there was nothing I could complain about.
But at this moment, as energies from the dead souls were coursing through my whole body — I felt triumphant.
I knew I would be able to provide for our demons. It made me feel important. I would not be given this privilege if I didn’t deserve it.
“You did well today, my love,” Lucius told me as he squeezed my hand that he was holding. We were in the tower of Athwart, overlooking the vast area that now belonged to us. “As you’d been doing every day since I met you.”
“Aren’t you too smitten that you couldn’t find any fault with me?” I teased him before we felt a presence behind us.
“[Is there anything you need, Simon?]” Lucius asked without looking back.
Simon was previously Lucien’s right-hand demon and was then assigned to be the main demon of Athwart in our absence.
“[We found Prince Alastor, my king. He was taken and chained to the dungeon. Would you like to meet him now?]”
Simon stated, and Lucius turned around to face him, taking me with him.
“[Yes. Go ahead and make room for us in there. Make sure he is isolated from the rest.”
Simon didn’t answer but tipped his head down before disappearing.
Lucius faced me, his knuckles running down my cheek. “Would you like to come with me, or would you rather stay here?”
“I want to see him.”
“I will kill him.” He said it in a firm tone, and I couldn’t blame him.
We couldn’t fully enjoy our kingdoms as Alastor had been recruiting demons that didn’t belong to any kingdom and sending them either on Athwart or Kalmerus for suicide missions.
These demons that he was using were weak and useless compared to the demons we had, so we knew he was up to something more. He was using them as a decoy to distract us.
“I’d be honored to witness that, my king.” I didn’t like killing anyone, but killing him was far better than him using demons who just wanted to survive the underworld for his own good.
“Okay then. Are you ready?” He asked as he squeezed my hand, and I nodded my head in response.
In seconds, our bodies appeared in the dungeon — at the deepest part of the tower of Athwart.
The place was dark and smelled of burnt skin and rotten blood, making the still air pungent.
Lucius let go of my hand as we walked to where a naked demon was heavily chained.
“[It’s about time we finally meet again, Alastor.]” Lucius greeted him.
“[You don’t deserve this kingdom!]” Alastor roared. His eyes were full red and swirling in anger.
“[And you do? You didn’t even step up to protect it. What kind of a king you will b e?”] Lucius mocked him.
“[Give me my kingdom back or I will make sure I kill your queen right before your….]”
He was not able to finish his words when a bolt of lightning shot from Lucius’ hand directly into his heart. At the same time, a scream escaped my throat. “Stop!”
The wind swirled around my body, and m y hair rose up while my heart thudded loudly. But it was too late. The man chained to the wall dropped dead. His heart burned and melted down to the dingy ground.
The air tornado around me calmed down and disappeared, but my chest was still heaving as I looked at Lucius in disbelief. “I was bound to kill him, Patrea. I just made it sooner.” He said this as our eyes locked, his orbs still blazing red. “Don’t judge me, Patrea.”
“You don’t understand, Lucius.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s not Alastor,” I said in a throaty voice. My throat felt so dry.
“What?” Lucius’ forehead creased as his gaze shifted back and forth between me and the dead demon on the ground.
“This demon is covered with black magic, so black that I couldn’t breathe while I tried to reach the source of the magic.”
“Did you say he is not Alastor?”
“Yes. It’s not him.”
“I knew it!” He hissed loudly as he threw a punch in the air, his eyes blazing red as smoke rose from his skin. “It was impossible to catch him without him creating chaos!”
“He’s up to something, Lucius. He wants us to believe he is dead.”
My chest continued heaving as I kept staring at the dead body.
The magic wasn’t wearing off. He still looked like Alastor, including the strong aura that was enveloping him. It only meant one thing. Alastor had a black witch or a powerful demon on his side.
ALTHEA.
It was the first day of class at my new university, so I was obviously a bit nervous, but I knew no one could smell me being a witch. I had been using the same potion I had when I was still at my first university.
Nothing would go wrong — I reminded myself as I sat on the first seat that caught my attention. It was almost at the back of the classroom.
I was back with humans.
As much as Blade insisted I attend the university within his territory, my course was not offered there. He then suggested I wait for the next term, as he would make sure that the university would offer my course by then. But I didn’t want to waste any time.
So, he was left with no choice but to enroll me in a university 40 minutes away from his pack — in human territory.
“Is the seat beside you taken?” A deep baritone voice snapped me out of my thoughts and made me slowly turn my head in the direction of the voice.
A smiling man with black hair covering part of his eyes was staring at me as if he wanted to read my soul. And it made me uncomfortable.
“I’m not sure. I’m new here. I just took a seat. I’m not even sure if this is assigned t o someone.” I tapped the armrest of my chair.
He flashed me a smug smirk that emphasized his deep dimples before he took the seat beside me. “Actually, that’s my seat.”
“Oh,” I said, preparing to stand up, but his hand, which was too cold, held my forearm, and I swore I felt static when our skin touched.
“Don’t. You can take that seat. This one is vacant. I can stay here.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes. By the way, what’s your name?”
“Althea.” I answered and looked as he extended a hand. I took it for a handshake but immediately withdrew it before he could speak.
“Nice to meet you, Althea. My name is Alas.” I just smiled at him and adjusted myself to look straight ahead since the professor had just come in, but I felt him lean closer. “It’s a boring subject, so I am pleased to sit beside an interesting female rather than thread this class for the next hour on my own.”
I didn’t reply and just let my eyes look ahead, but I could still feel his stare on m y skin, and it was making my throat dry. Too dry.
Author’s Note:
Here’s the second one. Thank you for waiting, lovelies. I am already in the process of wrapping up the last few chapters of this book and paving the way for Althea and Blade’s story, so please bear with me. For those who are not aware yet, Althea and Blade will have their own book (separate book – not in here) with the title BEYOND THE DARKNESS: The Alpha’s Little Witch. I don’t have a tentative date yet, so if you can keep this book in your library, you will get a notification once the new book is out. ❤ Thank you for all the comments and gems you showered this book! You are all amazing!