“His eyes vermillion, beard a greasy black, his belly broad, his fingers all sharp-nailed, he mauls and skins, then hacks in four, these souls.”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy
“Take her to my chambers and tell Rodriguez that I caught her. He will be pleased,” I heard her saying, and she sounded ecstatic. “I have a feeling that the dark lord will pay me a visit quicker than I expected.”
I forced myself to move, but my muscles failed to obey me and my body felt numb all over. Anger resurfaced, tightening my skin, but all the energy was useless, turning into an invisible bubble. Alexis’s skin was radiant, her eyes were gleaming, and she looked perfect.
Nameless had betrayed me. Last night he sat at the table, agreeing with everything I was saying. No wonder he was so eager to help out.
He glanced at me with a detached look in his eyes and I wished that I could move, because I was ready to strangle him.
I should have known that he was helping her, but how long had this been going on? Me finding him in Gjoll; him telling me that she was powerful. None of this was an act or pretence.
Zara had been under Alexis’s control–this wasn’t made up, and she must have tortured Nameless at some point too. This didn’t make any sense.
“Yes, mistress,” Nameless answered. He sounded lucid and alert. I was certain that he wasn’t under any spell. He was doing this because he was truly serving her. Coward. I should have let Zach lock him up.
Some other human men lifted me up and my numb body was carried out of the room. They covered my face with something so I couldn’t see where that bitch was taking me. She knew about my plan from the very beginning, so she must have been waiting for me in her chambers. I failed to make a connection with Ricky. We were separated. I truly hoped that he and Paul had managed to escape.
They carried me out for some distance and for a long time no one was saying anything. Nameless was most likely walking behind them. I was tossed in the back of a van and then heard the engine running. I still couldn’t see a thing, but it was probably dark. I had no idea what Alexis was planning to do with me now. My perfectly prepared plan had fallen to pieces before it even began.
Counting or swearing didn’t help. This was entirely my fault. I had trusted Nameless and he used me. I couldn’t rely on anyone helping me this time around. Cyril’s hands were tied too. My father didn’t give a damn and even if he did I knew that I had to figure a way out of this crappy situation myself.
Then, I was dragged out again, and carried somewhere else. Later on the bag was removed from my head and I saw Alexis. Someone must have sat me in the chair because that bitch was now sitting in front of me. She wore a long green dress, and smiled at me like this was the best day of her life. I was losing control, and anger blasted through me like a thunderstorm.
Ricky’s potions had probably worn off by now, and I must have looked like a complete idiot, nearly sliding off the chair because I couldn’t control my body. In my head I kept telling myself that her spell would stop working soon. She had me, and I just needed to wait for that moment when I’d get my magic back.
She sighed like she was bored, and got up from her chair. Seconds rolled by and then she stood in front of me, grabbing my cheeks. It didn’t matter. I still couldn’t feel a thing.
“I have you now, little mongrel whore, under my full control. You shouldn’t have messed with me. Now you’re going to regret it forever,” she hissed. Her charms were twisting my guts and I wanted to scream but couldn’t. It was harder to pretend that I could resist her, but I was hurting from inside out. Her charms were spreading like a venom in my body.
My mind was like a sponge, absorbing everything that was going on, but I was unable to make any kind of response.
Seconds later she smiled again and then poured something into my throat. It was a fiery liquid that started burning me. My guts couldn’t take it. I wanted to stick my fingers into my mouth and throw up. Whatever was in that flask, it quickly began sucking my abilities out of each cell. I felt it getting into my bloodstream. There was no more tingling, and my magic was vanishing as my heart beat steadily in my chest. My demonic soul was falling to pieces and Alexis stood by me and laughed.
Then darkness came, and the last thing I remembered was that creepy wide smile on her face.
I stretched my arms and legs, releasing the tension in my body. I lay on the cold ground, trying to gather the strength to lift myself up. Half of my left side felt numb, probably because I had been lying in an awkward position for too long. I really needed to stop getting knocked unconscious. I’d lost count of how many times that happened recently.
My fingers were really stiff, and my energy felt completely absent. I couldn’t tap into my source. I remembered bits and pieces from the moment Alexis caught me in her chambers and I wished that I had been better prepared.
Suddenly I shot back to my feet, thinking I was having a real panic attack. This time around something felt different.
I couldn’t sense any demons or humans around me. Well, it was difficult to figure out if it was because of the fact that I was in the middle of nowhere or because my energy had been somehow stolen from me. Alexis wasn’t skilled enough to do such a thing. My demonic DNA had been implanted into my soul. She couldn’t physically make me a human, and yet I had this terrible feeling in my gut that it was exactly what she had done.
She’d locked me in a cell and when I tried to recall everything that happened, my memories were blurry but they slowly came back. It happened just before I was about to open the gates of hell. Nameless had betrayed me, betrayed the whole group.
I rolled my head around and kept on breathing. Sweat was dripping down my face and my chest felt like it had cracked open. I suddenly remembered sitting in a chair and Alexis pouring something into my mouth. I must have passed out after that. My throat went dry and I felt like a tonne of heavy bricks cascaded down to my stomach.
“No, she couldn’t have… That’s almost impossible,” I whispered to myself as the realisation that I was no longer a mongrel washed over me.
That bitch had stripped me of all my demonic power. I felt empty, lost, and I hated the new me more with every passing second. My pulse sped up and blood pounded in my ears. I had lost the connection with Matilda and Ricky, couldn’t sense anyone else’s emotions like I used to before Alexis had trapped me inside this cell. Panic knifed through my chest, tearing my confidence apart. I’d taken my demonic power for granted so many times, and now it was lost forever. Seconds later I had my fingers around the bars and was screaming at the top of my lungs.
It was official. I had lost it.
“Get me out of here, you bitch!”
No one answered me and no one was coming to my rescue. The silence buzzed in my ears. I had no idea where that bitch was keeping me, and that didn’t matter. I was just a human now, not even Lucifer’s daughter anymore.
It took a while before anyone showed up. I lifted myself off the ground, and seeing Princess Layla in a place like this shook me to the core.
“Hello, Maxine, I’m glad that they finally caught you,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.
Only now it hit me how useful it was to recognise someone else’s emotions and knowing what others felt. Now that emptiness was unbearable. I couldn’t fucking take it.
It was obvious that Alexis had sent Arthur’s aunt in here. She needed to make sure that she kicked me when I was down.
“We both know that I have been framed. I had nothing to do with Arthur’s death. Alexis is manipulating you,” I said, knowing I was wasting my breath on her. Princess Layla’s mind had obviously been poisoned.
She stared at me with disappointment and resentment. She never truly trusted me, even when others praised me. She was always aware that there was something going on between me and Arthur.
“Stop lying to me. You are a murderer and there is plenty of evidence,” she said and then tried to grab me, but I backed away to the wall. She was filled with pain, and I understood it. She had lost her nephew.
“Don’t be blind, Layla. Alexis is using you. How can you not see it?” I shook my head knowing that there was no point explaining anything to her. She was filled with vengeance towards me. I felt so down not feeling my magic, not sensing anyone’s emotions.
“You will rot in this prison forever,” Layla said. “No one knows that we are keeping you here. Soon the decision will be made and you will pay for everything you’ve done.”
“Wait, hold on. What do you mean that no one knows? What decision? Get Rodriguez in here. I need to speak to him!” I shouted after her, but she was already walking away.
I shook the bars, but her steps echoed in my ears. She disappeared in the darkness shortly after that.
I hated this. I detested the fact that Alexis had changed me. She knew the emptiness could break me and that was her intention from the beginning. She was slowly crushing any hope that was left inside me.
I kept banging my legs over the metal bars, but no one else showed up, not even the guards with water and food. I wasn’t hungry, but someone eventually should tell me what was going to happen with me.
The cell had a bunk bed and a basic toilet. I sat there for ages, losing track of time. Frustration and anger boiled inside me. This wasn’t the kind of anger that let me open the gates of hell. Now I was just a human being, and without my magic I was no one.
I must have dozed off after several hours, because when I woke up there was someone standing on the other side of the cell. I shot back on my feet, trying to grab her, but she backed away from me, laughing.
“What the fuck have you done to me, bitch?”
“Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that,” she sang. “You aren’t going to live for long without your mongrel abilities.”
“At some point I will get out of here and I’ll kill you, and I’ll take my time to enjoy it,” I said, as my pulse pounded in my ears. She had that magical glow around her, and I wished I could do something to wipe that stupid smile off her face. There were so many ways I could hurt her.
“I have won and you should accept it,” Alexis said. “I’ve always been the one. Now that I’m healed I can put my master plan in motion. Lucifer will pay for what he did to me, now that I have his favourite daughter.”
“Lucifer? You removed my power because of him? Do you really think that he gives damn about me?” I asked, wondering how long she was planning to keep me in here.
Days, weeks … who knew? She wasn’t going to wait forever.
She smoothed her red hair and bit her lip.
Then she created a ball of light on the surface of her palm and played with it for a moment. Every ounce of my blood riddled with frustration.
She had found the way to defeat me with that spell. I was no one without my abilities.
“I have spent enough time with him to know that he will come for you and I’ll be waiting,” she said. “My family had a certain position in hell, but the dark lord never respected them. Now this is going to change. Rodriguez helped me put this little plan of mine together. It was so clever, don’t you think?”
“What did you do to my friends?” I asked.
“Your little group has been arrested so they won’t cause any more trouble. The Royals are under my full control and that old demon is willing to do anything just to hang on to his position. He will even go against the dark lord.”
No one was stupid enough to go against Lucifer, and yet Alexis was convinced that she could defeat him.
My father had always controlled the entire population of hell, but things on earth were more complicated. I only began to realise that now. Rodriguez was Lucifer’s right hand in the palace, but the old demon went over his head. Lucifer lost control of the royals and his hands were tied because of the election.
“You won’t get away with this. Lucifer will destroy you.”
“Maybe or maybe not. He’s the prince of hell not the prince of earth and his influence only goes so far. Right now, I’m in charge of the palace and I’ll be the one bringing him down. And he won’t dare to even try to remove me, because he can’t. That’s the beauty of it.”