Human (18 page)

"Why don't you just create your own cars with magic? These look like a cheap copy," I said as Leonard led me down the street full of shops and bars. There was nothing about these shops that screamed demon.

"It's too expensive," he said, nodding respectfully at a brunette who passed by. I was sure he meant it took too many years of a demon's life to create something as complicated as a car completely by magic.

"Wait, why would you even want to go to the human world if you have all these things already here? I see shopping centers, pubs, restaurants,..." I frowned. "It's a lot like my world. Maybe even more fascinating."

"Ah, my dear. I couldn't agree more with you. But demons, and people, always want what they don't have. They always want to explore new worlds, try to rule them. Why humans travel? Why they move around? Why they want to see something different from the country they live in? It's the same with demons. No matter what we do here, we won't have sunlight. The nature is different. And, of course, some demons want to get more power." Leonard went silent as we passed a couple of demons. One demon glanced my way, regarding me curiously.

Could they feel I wasn't like them? Was it my face that betrayed me as someone not supernatural enough? Leonard put his hand protectively on my shoulder, and we entered a dark building that looked a lot like a shopping center. And it
was
a huge shopping center, very human-looking, except the lights were fainter.

"Is that electricity?" I pointed at the reflectors in the corner.

"No, it's not. It's something similar." He smiled. "Want to buy some sweets?"

"Oh, I'd love to!" I said cheerfully, then remembered I didn't have any money. "But I don't have any demon coins or whatever you guys are using."

"Don't worry about that," Leonard said. "I have plenty. You can get whatever you want."

"Really?" I beamed, and he nodded. "It's not anything...err, not human acceptable?"

"Nope. But it might be slightly addictive." He laughed, and I wasn't sure was that a joke or not. I was already addicted to chocolate, but demon candies couldn't be
that
good, right?

I was completely puzzled when we got to a room full of various candies. There were rows of chocolate of all sizes and shapes, cotton candy, bonbons, cakes... Nope, this wasn't Hell; this was Heaven. My nose tingled from all the delicious scents, and I desperately wanted to taste everything they had in here. A bag of caramels caught my eye, and I immediately thought of my sister. She'd love it here.

"Take whatever you like," Leonard said, distracting me.

"Has Devin been here?" I asked, taking a plastic bag and putting in it some candies I really wanted. It was a bit hard to decide, but I knew I couldn't just take it all.

"No. Maliadades doesn't want him to go to the city."

"Devin's never been here?" I gaped at him. I would have freaked out if I'd spent my whole life in that cave. But if I'd never seen better, maybe I'd be fine with it.

"There was no reason for him to come here." Leonard shrugged. "I tried to convince Maliadades to let me take Devin with me, but he didn't even want to hear about it."

"Does the city have a name?" I said after a few moments of an uncomfortable silence.

"Xronia."

"Nice." I concentrated on the strawberry bonbons, wondering what kind of candies Devin liked. The thing was, he probably wouldn't be able to tell me even if I asked. Compared to mine, his life was seriously messed up.

"Why don't you have bodyguards?" I asked. If Maliadades was the king of this part of Hell, wouldn't demons treat Leonard differently? They would either bow at Leonard's feet or try to harm him to get to Maliadades.

"I don't need them. No one's going to do anything to me here."

"Ok, but why aren't demons bowing to you or something?" I decided I had enough candies for a few weeks, so I looked at Leonard, whose dark eyes unfocused, and his face became deadly serious. A few moments later, he blinked and turned to me.

"Maliadades is the king, not me. Demons believe I'm only his servant. Nothing more." He flashed me a smile. "There are no paparazzi photographs that can prove them wrong. Besides, kings here are treated more like presidents in your world. Only lowlife demons have to do whatever the king tells them to because they would be killed otherwise. Not having enough magic in you is a big problem here. The king is always the one who has the most of the magic."

"Let me guess. The king mustn't use a lot of magic because he needs it to remain a king. That's why he can't really force stronger demons to do what he wants. I mean, he could, but then he'd lose his magic, right?"

"Right. But if there is something those demons get in return, they'll do whatever the king wants. Demons can also challenge each other for power in a fight to the death. The winner can keep the opponent's magic."

"Oh, so that's why many demons can't get out of Hell." The world of demons was so damn complicated and dangerous. I wasn't really thrilled with the idea of staying here forever.

"Yes, but some like it here and don't want to go to Earth, others might be forbidden by magic to go."

"Have you just had a vision a moment ago?" I eyed him suspiciously, wondering why I hadn't had any visions in Hell.

"Maybe." Leonard winked at me, but there was tension in his shoulders. Whatever he had seen, it couldn't have been good.

"Come on, we have other places to visit," he said, and I happily obliged, eager to see more of Xronia and get away from the tempting candies.

I was a bit disappointed when we were back in Maliadades' cave-like home. Leonard had been in a hurry, and I'd only gotten to see a glimpse of the rest of the city. The good thing was that I could finally take off the shades. With my hands full of shopping bags, I went straight to Devin's room. He was sitting on the bed, his head bowed. I dumped the bags on the ground, and he looked up at me, startled. There was a fresh bruise on his cheek, but he looked relieved when he saw me.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "I should have stayed here."

"No, don't be. It's fine." He got up and took a step towards me like he wanted to touch me and make sure I was in one piece. "Maliadades wants to see you. He freaked out when he couldn't find you."

I swallowed, dread spreading in waves through me. If Maliadades wanted to see me, it couldn't be anything good. The sympathetic look on Devin's face told me Maliadades might have found out who my parents were. The only thing I could hope for was that my parent from my demon side wasn't low on their social ladder. Honestly, I kept thinking my parent had to be someone important because how would he or she get into the human world and become acquainted with an angel otherwise?

"Because it's not fair," I said, even though I knew it wasn't just that. God knew I had seen many unfair things in my life and still hadn't done anything to stop them from happening. Had I stood up for a classmate when she'd been bullied? No, but no one else had either. So why did I think I could confront a powerful and dangerous demon to save a boy who was used to the life like that?

"And because I sort of like you," I added, looking away. My cheeks started burning almost instantly, and I couldn't believe I was reacting that way. It was pathetic, really.

"I like you too," Devin said after a moment of silence. My eyes met his dark ones, and my breath got stuck in my chest.

"Yup. It's time to see who can eat more candies!" I picked up my bag of candies, and we went to sit on the bed. Whatever Maliadades wanted with me could wait. At least I hoped it could.

"Hey! I want that one!" I yelled as Devin picked up a nice round chocolate filled with buttercream. He grinned at me, bringing the chocolate to his lips. I threw myself at him, tackling him down on the bed. He looked up at me, his eyes sparkling with amusement. I laughed triumphantly, applying a bit of pressure on his wrist so he would open his palm.

"You win," he breathed, revealing the chocolate in his hand.

"Of course I do." I lowered my head and picked up the chocolate with my teeth. Devin's lips parted slightly as he gazed at me. Not being able to resist, I lowered my mouth to his so he could take a piece of the chocolate too. He just stared at me for a moment, our faces only an inch apart. Then he took a bite, his soft lips brushing against mine.

The door flew open, startling us. Maliadades' furious sneer melted into a sly smile as he took in the scene in front of him. I knew what he thought we'd been doing, but I didn't like that he looked smug about it.

"Perfect. Just perfect," Maliadades said as I sat up and got off of Devin's chest. Devin got up and stood protectively in front of me. Maliadades' smile only widened. That definitely wasn't a good sign.

"I want to talk to you, Ariel. But not here. Come with me to the throne room," Maliadades said, then glanced at Devin. "You can come too."

I came to a stop in the middle of the throne room, watching Maliadades settle himself in his huge chair. He motioned for Devin to come closer, which only made me more afraid. Devin sat down on the stone step just under Maliadades' feet, looking grim. Maliadades obviously had something evil in his mind; something we weren't going to like at all.

"Ah, Ariel. I spent a lot of time thinking how to bypass the whole unknown parent thing, and you gave me a solution to all my problems all by yourself." Maliadades chuckled.

"I don't understand," I said since Maliadades didn't look like he was going to continue. The dark gleam in his eyes was unnerving me, and I shifted from foot to foot, licking my dry lips. I could still feel the taste of chocolate in my mouth and the soft touch of Devin's lips on mine. Devin was observing me from across the room, motionless.

"You know that I can't hurt you since we don't know who your parent is, but there's no rule against this," he said, burying his hand in Devin's hair and pulling so hard that Devin winced. Maliadades' grip on Devin got stronger, nearly lifting him off the floor.

"Stop! Please," I said, my fingers curling into fists.

"You fancy my slave. How cute is that?" Maliadades let go of Devin so abruptly that he fell to the ground. I didn't know what to say.

"I have a request, my dear," Maliadades said, his voice so sweet that it was making me sick. "When the door to the human world opens again, you'll go there and fetch that angel girl for me. Until you appear with her here, I will torture Devin to the point of near-death every single second. Do you understand?"

"What makes you think I'd bring my sister here?" I said, trying to appear undisturbed, but it was a little too late. "Do you really think I'd want to come back?"

"Well, if you can live with the fact that Devin is suffering because of you, then I guess you don't have to come back."

"But you would lose the only demon under your power who can go to the human world." If I could just convince him torturing Devin wasn't in his best interest, maybe he'd come up with something less horrible.

"True. But it's not like I can't get another one. Surely, it would take some time, but I can wait. Besides, I might just put a price on your sister. I know there are some demons who'd love to improve their status." Maliadades shifted in his chair, a smile never leaving his lips.

"If it's so easy, why haven't you done it before?" I glared at him. "You could have sent those demons instead of Devin."

"I don't like your tone, Ariel." Maliadades' face went completely serious in a second. "It's true I could have done it, but I didn't. And you know why? Because I don't feel like giving that demon scum a better status. How could I have known my slave was going to disobey me? Believe me one thing, girl. I will send whoever I need after your sister if you force me to do it."

"Maybe I can..." I wasn't even sure what I was going to say, but Maliadades interrupted me before I could finish.

"No. I don't want to hear another word from you. As soon as the path is clear, you will go and Devin will pay for every second you're away."

"Give me a month before you start hurting Devin," I blurted out. Maybe, just maybe, there was a possibility I could come up with something to save Devin.

"Two days," Maliadades said, frowning.

"But the gate won't even be open! And I told my sister to leave the city. I don't think I can find her and bring her here so fast," I said. There was no way I was getting my sister anywhere near here, but Maliadades didn't have to know that.

"Two weeks and not a second more. If you're not back by then, you know what will happen to your boy," Maliadades said icily. "Or, perhaps, you want a demonstration?"

"No!" I yelled.

"Good. Then I guess we have a deal, half-breed." Maliadades bowed his head mockingly at me. I just gave him an angry glare, wondering how was I supposed to get Devin out of here in only two weeks. But even two weeks were better than nothing. As I looked at Devin's emotionless stare, I didn't know what to think.