The Devil's Lover: The Wish (10 page)

The door from the hallway led to a
brighter room with a domed ceiling. Two stairways swept up either
side of the room, framing three large doors in the middle. Lucifer
led Kali through the middle door into a cold and spacious room.
There was a long red carpet leading to the altar; on that altar was
an imposing throne.

“
Is this the throne room?”
Kali asked.

“
Very perceptive,” he
praised her. He strode down the altar, not letting go of her hand.
He seated himself on the throne, overlooking the room.

“
Isn't this place too big
for one person?” Kali asked curiously.

"There are others like myself. Only
the highest ranked demons are granted access to this
castle.”

“
I haven’t seen anyone
since we got here.”

“
They will arrive
shortly,” Lucifer pointed to the hallway they had passed through.
Many summoning circles suddenly seemed to draw themselves the
marble floor. From each circle, a demon emerged. Feathers from
their wings flew in every direction.

Their clothing clearly indicated that
they were nobles and aristocrats. The females were embellished with
beautiful jewelry, and the male wore baroque period adornments.
They approached the throne and bowed before their master. "My lord,
you've returned.”

The human girl caught their attention
right away. They glanced at each other, obviously silently debating
how they should react to this intrusion.

A male demon came closer to inspect
her. “Is she a souvenir from the mortal world, Lord
Lucifer?”

“
Since when do I answer to
you?” Lucifer asked.

The male demon stepped back,
threatened by Lucifer’s tone. A gorgeous female demon came to
Lucifer’s side and placed both of her arms on his shoulders. “Are
you so bored that you must bring a human to our realm, my lord?”
she whispered into his ear.

Soren flew into through a window into
the throne room, landing before the altar.

“
You should remember your
place, Adria.” he said to the female demon.

“
My place is beside Lord
Lucifer,” she responded. 
“May we have her once you’re done with her?” another male demon
peered at the girl.

Lucifer reached for Kali’s hand and
pulled her toward him to sit neatly on his lap. He lifted her chin
with the tips of his finger and placed a kiss on her lips. She was
speechless and didn't know how to react.

“
She is my woman,” Lucifer
declared. “I will hand her over to no one.”

The demons looked to each other,
perplexed. He sounded too serious to be taken casually. Was it an
official declaration?

“
It means,” Soren
explained, “Lord Lucifer had placed all of Hell, including us,
beneath her feet.” 

†††††

Lucifer walked down the long corridor
towards the room at the end. When he tried to open the door, it was
locked. He politely gave a knock to give her a sense of privacy. He
knew she had heard the echoes of his approaching
footsteps.

“
Open the door for me,
Kali,” he said though the door.

“
I don’t want to see you,”
Kali retorted from the bed. She grabbed hold of a fluffy pillow to
bury her face in. Even though she was grateful to him for bringing
Chevalier back to life, she couldn’t help being upset with him. How
could she face him when everything about him was fabricated to
deceive her? What made it even more degrading was that she fell for
his act! He must have laughed at her vulnerabilities.

“
You can’t avoid me
forever,” he said.

She lifted her head up in order to
reply, "I only said I would be your prisoner, I said nothing about
seeing you.”

“
You will not open the
door?” he asked again, still very calmly.

“
No!” she made it clear to
him. “I never want to see you again.”

He materialized on the other side of
the door, startling her. Knowing was one thing, but seeing was
another. “That is part of the bargain, unfortunately.”

She turned away from him. She still
hadn’t gotten used to his grayish platinum hair yet, even though
the color complemented his pale blue eyes. She was convinced that
no one else could pull off such a bold color.

“
They said you refused to
eat.”

“
That doesn’t concern
you,” she was being difficult and she knew it.

He lifted up a lock of her hair and
pressed it against his lips, “I don’t want to see you withered to
nothing. You are mine.”

“
You’ve deceived me with
your manipulative ways!” she buried her face in the pillow again to
hide the blush on her face. “I hate you,” she muttered.

“
Shall we sleep?” he asked
as he seated himself on the side of the bed.

“
Sleep?” She inched back.
“You’re going to stay here tonight?”

“
Isn’t it customary for
husband and wife to sleep in the same bed?” he pulled her down and
trapped her in his arms. She struggled to get free. When she
realized that she couldn’t, she bit his forearm. He was
unresponsive.

“
You really don’t want me
to stay?” he asked for confirmation. 

“
I don’t want to see you,
or your kind!” she sat up and bolted off the bed when he loosened
his grasp. She thought he would be angry with her for her
insolence, but he said nothing and left.

She lay down on the bed again and
covered herself with the blanket. She scanned the room for anything
suspicious before she closed her eyes. It was amazing how the
exhaustion caught up to her. She felt her tense muscles ease into a
state of relaxation. With several slow breaths, she drifted into a
deep sleep.

Kali awoke sometime later, feeling
refreshed. She must have been tired because she rarely could fall
asleep in a strange place. Hell, no less! She stretched her arms
over her head and let out a yawn. She scanned the room again and
discovered several large golden chests at the foot of her bed. It
was intricately decorated with carvings and inlaid with impressive
cut rubies. She looked around, debating whether she should open
it.

Curious, she placed both hands on each
side of the first chest and raised the lid. Inside the box was a
collection of jewelry of unimaginable beauty. The pieces were
heavy, and she couldn’t think of anywhere to wear any of them. No
matter how valuable or invaluable they were, she couldn’t imagine
them being worth anything in Hell. With a regrettable sigh, she
closed the chest.

She opened the second chest and
discovered that it was filled with precious stones: diamonds,
rubies, emeralds, pearls and every other conceivable stone
glistened beneath her fingers. They ranged from pea size to the
size of golf balls. With another sad sigh, she closed this chest,
as well.

The third chest was filled with
clothing, which she found to be most practical. The fabrics were
cool and unbelievably silken to the touch. She had never felt such
soft fabrics. Kali imagined it would feel lovely against her bare
skin. She picked up an article of clothing that was the color of
butter and found that it was a simple long gown. She pressed it
against her body, finding it to be the right length although a
little loose. Ignoring the other chests, she wandered out of her
room to find someplace where she could bathe.

It took her about half an hour,
searching room by room, before she found the bathroom, if it could
be called that. The marble tiles from the hallway stretched into
the room and ended at a shallow pool the size of Chevalier’s
apartment. Kali took a moment to admire the structural elements of
the designs before she explored the rest of the room. When she
realized the pool was the closest thing to a bath, she removed her
clothing and lay it aside.

She tested the clear, not-so-blue and
not-quite-green water with the tip of her toe. It was warm to the
touch, which she found surprising. She submerged her body into the
water and surfaced a few moments later. Leaning her head back, she
let herself float in relaxation. Her golden brown tresses float
freely, like exotic coral in a reef.

Chapter 10: Safer with
Him

She found him in a large library. It
was the first time she'd seen him since she had turned him away.
She didn’t intentionally look for him. She was hungry and wanted to
find her way to the kitchen, but had gotten lost along the way.
This castle was massive in both size and complexity. She had been
given the freedom to explore the castle many times, but even then,
she still got lost every once in a while. 

When he noticed her presence, he
placed the book on his hand back on the shelf. She was impressed
with the pure size of the room. It was ten times, no, maybe fifty
times larger than the school library, if not more. The book shelves
towered as tall as three stories. In the middle of the room was a
built-in marble fountain, which was under a domed glass
ceiling.

“
All these books,” her
eyes jumped from shelves to shelves. “I had never seen so many
books in one place.”

“
Well,” he said, “when you
have abundance of time, you develop hobbies.”

“
You read them all?” she
asked teasingly.

“
Yes,”

“
All of them?” she asked
once again in disbelief.

“
I collect them among
other things.”

"This library is protected by magic so
the materials will not be ravished by time.”

“
How old are all these
books?”

He took a moment to search his memory.
“It started with the Ith’cara people, four hundred fifty-six
thousand years ago,”

Her eyes narrowed. “The history of
civilization only goes back twelve thousands years.”

“
For you, it may
be.”

“
Are you saying there were
many civilizations before us?” 

Her stomach growled. Her face flushed
from embarrassment.

“
Will you eat
now?”

She was too stubborn to say yes. He
took her by the hand and the next minute, they were in the kitchen.
Every room in this castle was enormous. Almost everything was made
of stone in the kitchen. It looked like something straight out of a
medieval fairy tale. There were small loaves of freshly baked bread
on the table, along with some milk.

“
Do you need to eat?” she
asked curiously.

“
I can eat," he said, "but
like everything else, it is not a necessity.”

"Do you need anything to sustain
yourself?"

"No,”

“
Then why is there a
kitchen in the castle?”

“
We didn’t build it,” he
grabbed the bread and handed it over to her, “it was
stolen.”

“
You stole it?” That
explained the piece of land the castle set on. It looked as it if
it were torn from the ground. “Why?”

“
It’s a very long story.
Longer than your lifetime, I’m afraid. In a short few words, they
got on my bad side. Even so, I must commend them on their
craftsmanship. Have your meal. I have other engagements to attend,
but I will return shortly.”

Part of her didn’t want him to
leave.

“
Good riddance,” she
muttered, knowing he could hear her. He turned back. He’d forgotten
one important thing. In an ancient language, he summoned a
protection spell around her.

“
W-what did you just do?”
she asked, surprised.

“
It’s just a precaution,”
he assured her. “Be a good girl until I get back.”

†††††

He was a liar! He said he would return
‘shortly’, but it had been days. She had taken the time to explore
the castle, but even a big place like this could only keep her
occupied for so long. She glanced out of the window and wondered
where Lucifer had gone. She made her way downstairs to the entrance
of the castle. She even tried to open the double doors, but they
wouldn't move an inch. It didn’t take long before she gave
up.

As she walked away, she heard a
creaking sound behind her. Turning around, she saw the doors were
already opened. She could have sworn she heard someone
chuckling.

Running to the edge a few hundred
yards from the castle, Kali looked down and got dizzy from the
height. The castle was situated two hundred yards above ground. It
was not possible for her to get down. She heard a horse neighing in
the distance, coming closer. A black stallion was running toward
her. No it wasn’t a horse, it was a black Pegasus. Its black wings
spread out like the wings of a dove. It stopped in front of
her.

“
I would be more surprised
if I saw a horse with wings a couple of weeks ago. Actually, I
don't even know how long I've been here,” she slowly reached her
hand out to pet the steed. It responded with a friendly whicker. It
jerked its head, telling her to get on its back.

“
You want me to get
on?”

The Pegasus nodded.

“
You can understand
me?”