Claimed

by K. H. Kate

  Regardless, right now, the look on his face was hard to read. When he didn't say a word, I tried again. "Demos, are you alright?"

  "Why do you keep doing this, love?" He finally said, his red eyes dangerously rested in my direction. I couldn't decide if the rage brewing in his eyes were for me or the witches. "You know I'm phasing, the demon in me won't rest until I have those filthy blood on my hands. You know we need to find the cure, for you. So, why?"

  "I-I didn't...I'm not stopping you. I'm just saying that maybe if we talk first and then do all the killing later." I tried to look more confident than I felt.

  "Sometimes I wish you weren't who you are." The flinch came out of nowhere. "I'm the Demon King, your King. I can do whatever I can. And yet, I can never get angry at you, never punish you for defying me. What have you done to me, Emeline?"

  The pressure building in my chest was nothing compared to that lovely smile on Demos's face. He was the Demon King, my King.

  He owned me. And yet...

  "It was just a suggestion, Demos."

  "Hmm. Let's see how your plan works first. But if any witch even shows any amount of disrespect then they're mine to take. You can't deny me that much."

  Fair enough. Quickly swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded and immediately his face brightened. I was stunned again at the ferocity of his gaze.

  "Be careful, they just spelled shut the property." Even if I was different, Demos was far better at feeling things than mine. "Come on, let's go upstairs."

  My words seemed to catch in my throat as soon as we went upstairs. The whole place contained people from different clans mingling around so I decided to look around to buy myself some more time. Every wall in the place had pictures of witches descended from the very first witch and warlock. Everywhere I looked, I only found bits and pieces of a haggard memory I couldn't get away from.

  As if that was not worse enough, suddenly a voice aroused from the corner of the room. At first, it was just a hazy murmur before all of them joined, making it a chanting. No sooner, that made me sucked into oblivion.

  "Now do you, Darkness, the King of Shadows, take Emeline to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

  No! I was back again. I was back in this horrible nightmare. Where was Demos? Why didn't he follow me?

  "Shh...Just relax and let it happen."

  My gaze met the offended man and immediately my blood ran cold. That man had that knife positioned near the girl's throat. And by the glint in his eyes, he was going to do it without any remorse.

  My mouth opened to let out a scream, to warn that girl who looked eerily like myself but no matter how much I tried, nothing left from my lips. No scream, no cry. Only fear as the knife grazed her throat only to run it deep into her skin, enough to seep blood from the wound.

  "Be thi fice le ve te dark creatura, ekius ora le ne vike Emeline!"

  What I couldn't do for the last few minutes, the girl did. She screamed in pain, her cry making me gasp in pain as if it was my own.

  "Eri te ke liae Red clana te Dark- Ahh!"

  Stop! Please, stop! I begged over and over only to watch an even bigger monster crawl its way out of the grave. A man with a dark cloak, a monster with greed for vengeance.

  "Something's getting out of there!"

  A woman near me let out a wail as she was sucked into a swirl of shadows. What was happening? I could no longer see but hear those painful cries. Dark, so dark that my eyes blurred.

  "Save me!"

  "What is that!?″

  "Run, Emie, run."

  I sucked in a breath, feeling something pull me out of that nightmare again. I opened my eyes to see a witch looking at me funnily. I blinked again to notice what was actually wrong with her stare. Her eyes were glazed over, not really seeing me. Was that Demos...true to my thoughts, he was also hovering over me with an unknown emotion. He compelled the witch but why? Before I could ask him, I noticed his gaze on me.

  He wasn't angry anymore.

  His face softened instead.

  "Are you alright, my love?" He asked genuinely concerned. I nodded, staring at the wall ahead of me. This wasn't the room we were in before. Did the witches saw me fall on the ground and helped?

  The thought quickly vanished when Demos opened his mouth. "My veil wasn't strong enough to withhold your fainting so I had to compel her for help. They don't know yet, also...it's not the Coven. We are in a clan."

  As in...we miscalculated and they didn't know that their house had been invaded by us. I nodded again feeling numb. I was still pretty much into the nightmare. They killed that girl.

  Was that how my life ended before?

  "Even if it's not the Coven, I think we should go ahead with the plan." He breathed out only to look at the witch next. "Call your clan leader and tell them that they have special visitors."

  The witch left without any words. I didn't even get time to stand on my feet before I heard numerous voices, all of them coming toward us with anger lashing in the air. The scent was so prominent that even Demos flinched slightly.

  The first woman that entered the room with others looked beautiful as well as strong. Must be the clan leader, I thought with grim acceptance.

  "A Demon and...a Reaper." The woman snarled. "What business do you have with us, creatures?"

  Reaper?

  They thought I was a Reaper? How incredulous!

  Demos bowed his head with a mocking smile on his face. "Demon King to be specific, witch. And this is my soon to be lady."

  Only a slight tremor on her body told me that the woman was scared, but not for herself, oh, no. I noticed how the woman's gaze found her other companions, a look of understanding going through everyone's face. She was afraid of her clan.

  Still, the woman kept her fear in check, boldly staring at Demos's eyes. "And I'm asking again, what do you two want?"

  "My lady seeks a cure for herself." Demos answered, only a fraction of softness in his voice told me that he was waiting for this moment for centuries, wasn't I too? "I wish for you to find it."

  The woman's brow raised in amusement. "This Reaper seeks a cure? Huh! She is an abomination, Demon King. She shouldn't even be alive."

  "Enough!"

  Demos's words felt like fire licking on my flesh as I stepped away. In fear? No. An abomination...wasn't that what I called myself so many times in my head but never dared to voice out in real?

  "This one here is going to be my lady and you respect her as such. All I want her to be a normal demon-"

  "Demon?" The woman laughed like it was a hilarious thought. "You may fool this fiancée of yours but we know better. You are giving her nightshades with your blood, aren't you? You want her to think that she's a demon when she's a Reaper through and through."

  What?

  Not in a million years I could forget the look on Demos's face. Shock. Even more than I was showing by the time I could open my mouth.

  Not to question, of course.

  To laugh. Laugh until tears prickled on my eyes.

  "Emeline, I-"

  "What is she talking about, Demos?" I stammered. "That potion. You give me one every time I fall into that nightmare and I don't remember, I remember nothing after."

  Only this time he forgot and I remembered, oh, how I remembered my death as if it happened only a few hours ago.

  "She is lying!" Demos winced when I flung his hands away, any touch from him feeling like poison to my blood. "They are witches. That's what they do."

  "And demons? You want to tell me they don't lie, they don't deceive the person they claimed to love!?"

  Demos looked utterly helpless. A funny contrast as a man of his position and I would have laughed if my heart wasn't bleeding so much. Pain, betrayal, all of it clung to me like a vice and I felt herself choke.

  No, it was more painful than seeing my supposed death.

  He lied, for so many millennia...

  "You...you did this. Now I'm going to lose her forever!" As soon as the words were spoken
, his teeth came down hard on the witch that helped me earlier. A startled gasp came left from my lips before I could stop myself.

  That girl's eyes begged me to help her and as if she just came back from a trance, a loud scream left from her bloodied lips. Why weren't they helping the girl? Why did I feel so frozen inside as if I had every right to see the Demon King burn on her order?

  Demos was back to his usual self, smirking down at the dead girl in his feet. He raised his hands and started to speak the language of hell. He was going to kill all of them brutally.

  "You can't harm us, not like this!" The woman screamed seeing the feral hunger on Demos's gaze. He truly was gone, wasn't he?

  "Watch me." Two words and he took the woman by neck-snapping it until she could no longer breathe. As he advanced to harm some other witches, I lost my balance, crumbling near the girl who just died. I did this. Demos might kill her but I did this. It was my supposed cure that brought this day to them. My eyes closed in pain, feeling her spirit touch my face.

  My eyes opened immediately.

  Her spirit was still here...

  Unknown to Demos who was sucking the life out of the witches, I touched the girl's hands. Life flared out from my hands to another one and she gasped out. I held her chin and the girl looked at me with adoration.

  "When I say run and alert everyone, you will. Do you understand?" She nodded, smiling.

  I just created another monster.

  But I didn't care either.

  I saw the girl run downstairs where the living ones fought Demos whose eyes had already turned red. For a while, they fought without a distraction until they started to notice the dead members rising alongside them. They looked confused but soon realization drowned them.

  "The Reaper. Kill her!"

  One shout and I was running from them with all I had. The house was just a foggy thing behind me as I pushed myself to run even faster. It almost felt like I was flying. With each step I took, the air around me created a makeshift haze. I looked at it surprised but the air in my lung vanished when strong arms caught me from going any farther. No! I just had to cross the bridge and I could dematerialize! Turning around, I was surprised to see a warlock from that clan.

  "Got you, Reaper."

  "Emeline!" I heard my name called. Demos. "Emeline, where are you!"

  "Let me go!" I yelled out, trying to claw those hands away. He smiled at my pathetic attempt to run. It wasn't funny. Risking my life wasn't a thing to laugh for. My hands raised only to punch him in the face. I thought the momentary distraction was going to work in my favor but his smile vanished, leaving a cold realization.

  I angered him even more.

  "You really really shouldn't have done that." With that, I couldn't find the ground beneath me. It took me a second to realize how I was pushed from the bridge to the cold water. I coughed up water but I couldn't keep up with the current. I didn't know how to swim. Then there was the horrifying realization that I could no longer breathe. Why did Demos betray me? Why did I save the witches only to be harmed by one of them?

  The answers to my question were quickly dying along with my air supply. Bubbles erupt around me and everything passed by in a blur. I tried not to pay attention to the fact that the pounding in my head was getting heavier and my arms were failing to co-operate. Not a second later, my eyes closed as the last drop of my strength faded into nothing.

  "Enjoying the view?"

  "What happened?"

  This time the images flashed so fast that I was afraid I was going to get whiplash. Why was I still down there? Wasn't one memory at a time was enough?

  "What you've done to us, Emie."

  "You didn't answer my question. Bel-Mom, please."

  "Maybe the prophecy was wrong. He didn't give us any power, he gave us death instead. You did something, tell me, were you learning magic without our knowing?"

  Yes, it was wrong to kill me! I wanted to say. I wanted to do a lot of things. Like, get out of here. But did Demos had all the answers he claimed to know? Or would he even let me know when he was lying to me for God knows how many centuries? What if this was my chance to know the entire truth?

  "What have you done?" The woman breathed out.

  What you have done to me, I mused. What you all have done to me.

  "Kill her."

  "Burn her, she killed them!"

  "Don't let her inside of your house! She's satan's child, she'll kill your children!"

  "There's a bounty on her head. Bring her to us and we'll give you plenty of money to live."

  No, no, no! They were wrong, so horribly wrong!

  "I didn't kill them..."

  That creature did.

  Something burned inside of me to at least fight. To push and push until I realized it was someone else that was helping me. Before I could show the shock or take in a deep breath, I wasn't underwater anymore. My lungs burned, trying to fill as much Oxygen as it could take.

  When I was sure it wasn't just another nightmare, my eyes opened. I expected to be alone or with Demos but that wasn't the case. A pair of dark eyes like abyss was also eyeing me curiously. I felt my breath hitch at the intensity of his gaze. Knowing he had my full attention, he hovered over me until he was close to my face, almost touching my lips.

  "What have you done to me?" He breathed out.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The portal left us to a bright hall, only to notice one elegant short woman rushing toward us from the other side of the portal. Her alarming tone didn't go unnoticed nor did it made the woman look any less strange. Instead of fear marring her aura, she only held anger as if...

  "Chi sei-" Her rambling stopped suddenly, her gaze leaving Mikhail's to meet with someone behind him. Mikhail along with I turned to look who just made her pause when she let out a heavily tinted English. "Oh, it's you. Should have known you'd bring hell with you once again."

  Lana grinned at the woman. "And I see you are still your charming self, Allegra."

  "Can't say the same about you." The woman, Allegra let out a sigh. "A clan from nearby needs our help, so please, whatever reason you came here can wait."

  I could wait, heck, that would be the right thing to do. But when it came to my little soul, I was never too careful, was I? So, I stepped forward with venom in my gaze. "It can't wait, little witch."

  She held my gaze with a clenched fist. "It's quite bold of you to be in a territory and threaten its leader, Darkness. Oh, yes, I know who you are. While you may take a skin of a mortal, your shadows cry to be recognized. If I wasn't in a hurry I might have entertained your plea but alas! I need to go so if you can kindly step aside..."

  I let her have it, still quite surprised that a Volkios had known of me when I tried so hard not to be recognizable. Before she could leave though, Lana hurried to match those steps. "Tell me, what's going on?"

  "Oh, for you to leave us shattered again?" Allegra smiled, mirth washing over us in volumes. "No, thank you."

  "Oh, for the love of the devil, let us help. Have you see their faces?" Zed, who finally joined us yelled out in an urgency. In the haze of finding Emie, none of us noticed how many people had been running around us, scared of their minds. So, something had to have happened that concerned even a Coven who always held their head high when it came to danger.

  They needed help, whether this woman in front of me liked it or not.

  Allegra did stop but she didn't turn her head to look at Zed. "You have the aura of a clan leader so I hope you understand-"

  "I do understand." He replied, walking as close to her as he dared. "That's why I'm asking you to think clearly. To tell us what happened there. Your members are scared right now. Even we can see that."

  She looked like she couldn't wait to run any faster. But instead, she turned back with no emotions on her face. "From what I could gather, there was a celebratory function going on but some people crashed it. The people who ran for help said that..." She paused, looking at Lana with a smirk. "Now that they d
escribed how the girl looked like, it awfully reminded me of you, Lana."

  Shots fired.

  I felt that fire went through my vein again. The same one I felt the day I met Emie on her knees near my grave. She was near, it had to be.

  "Where is this clan of yours?" I didn't care that I was cornering a Volkios. I could feel my shadows urge me to go there, to find her. It was the only thing I could hear, the only thing I could breathe out.

  "Where!"

  "The next town." That's the only confirmation I needed to nod at Zed who quickly opened a portal and when I finally jumped into it, I didn't expect to hear those familiar screams. To feel that dread again as she fell into water like her limbs didn't exist anymore.

  And for me, nothing existed either.

  I could only remember going after her.

  I didn't notice the chaos around me nor did I notice Lana, Mikhail, and Zed finishing off every creature who dared to go after my little soul. She was mine to take, not theirs. How dare they push her?

  I was angry. No, I was lividly pissed off. Whoever did this was going to pay, right after I made sure that she was alright and out of harm's away.

  "Can you help me?" I couldn't help but notice her voice trembling a bit. Was she afraid of me? Her red and black hair phase was over and she was back to having her natural auburn hair. Her brown eyes looked darker but they still had the same fierceness in them. Everything was the same. But no one could ignore the fact that she had become drastically thin. Her skin was also filled with so many markings.

  Was she short of souls?

  Malnourished would be the word I was looking for, I realized after staring at her form. But I wasn't the only one staring, she was too.

  I tried not to wither under her scrutiny. I knew what she saw standing in front of her. A man in his mid-twenties, with dark black hair, anger barely able to hold in as he ground his molars. A person who looked more like a nightmare than trustworthy.