The Demon King

The amount of fear that I feel right now is overwhelming. I am alone and vulnerable, and I don’t even have the ability to fight back. The demon’s strength is remarkable, his hold on me is without mercy.

“Let go of me!” I yell as I am dragged from behind the giant oak tree.

“You see? I told you guys that I smelt someone,” The demon holding me says. He presses my body onto him, giving me no way to free myself.

“Okay, you made your point, let her go,” One of his friends says, he sounds nervous.

This is my first interaction with another species. All I have known is this town and my own people, werewolves. 

“Let her go? Seriously, Jose?” The one holding me tightly replies. 

His friends look uncomfortable with what is happening, and I continue to yell for help, hoping that someone would hear me and come to my rescue. I don’t want to die.

From all the stories that I have been told about demons, I expected them to look like evil itself. I expected them to look disfigured and disgusting, but looking at them right now, they are way different from my expectation.

They look entirely normal, except for their darkened eyes and the powerful stench of sulfur on them.

“Please let me go,” I start to cry when I realize that no one can hear my screams. This night just gets worse and worse.

“Might I remind you? This is Werewolf Territory, we are not supposed to be here. The moment we let her go, she is going to run straight to the Alpha and tell him about us. That could cause another war!” The one holding me explains.

“I swear I am not going to tell anyone,” I try to convince them, and they all just stare at me.

“So what do you propose that we do?” The one called Jose asks.

“We can take her back to Hades,” The one holding me says, and my lips tremble as more tears fall from my eyes freely. 

“Please…” I continue to beg them, but they’re not listening to me.

“Okay, then let’s get it done, the longer we stay here while she cries loudly, the more likely we are to get caught,” Jose says, and I continue to try to jerk my body from the hold of the one holding me.

In my attempt to free myself, I elbow the demon’s stomach with force and he lets go of me for a quick second, giving me the small opportunity to run. 

“Sh*t, get her!” They all chase after me as I run as fast as I can. All I can hear right now is their rushed footsteps and my heavy breathing. I pass by trees and the dirt scrunch under my feet with each step I take.

My legs continue to move in swift movements and I can finally see the road that leads out of the forest. With nothing but hope in my heart, I thrust more of my weight forward in order to increase my speed.

“Stop her!” I hear one of them say loudly and before I know it, I am being body slammed to the dirt-covered ground.

My body hits the ground with a strong force and my head bangs against something really hard, causing me to be knocked unconscious.

***

My eyes open slowly and a huge pain arrests my head, causing me to groan as I sit up from my lying position. It seems to be that I am in a room, I don’t recognize it but the theme looks strange. 

I feel thirsty and lightheaded.

Everything in this room is dark-themed except for the fancy chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling, it emits white light. There are empty picture frames hanging on the wall and the room smells like burnt matches.

Images of me running away from demons that were chasing me pop into my mind, reminding me of what happened to me. I was chased and kidnapped.

I don’t know where I’m at, but I have an idea. I may be in Demon Territory.

I must have been knocked out when one of those demons that were chasing me body slammed me to the ground.

I drag my body from the bed I am on and stand to my feet. My head is still hurting but my main concern right now is to find a way to get out of here. It’s a miracle that I am not dead already. Demons don’t have the reputation of being merciful or kind.

I walk towards the door and I try to turn the knob in an attempt to get it open, but it's locked. I try the door a few more times and then I give up. It just won’t open.

I walk back to the bed and sit on it, and then a sudden sound grabs my attention. It’s the door, someone is coming in.

I hold my breath as the door unlocks and slowly opens. A man dressed in all-black clothing walks in with a curious look on his face. I let go of my breath and I prepare to defend myself against him if I have to.

“Hi,” He says softly as he closes the door once he is in. “I’m guessing you are confused and afraid,” He begins.

He stands by the door and makes no attempt to come closer to me, and I am grateful. I know that he is a demon because his eyes are darkened and there are small distinct tattoo-like marks on his face.

The guys that attacked me in the woods had the same marking on their faces but theirs were not as much.

“My guys told me everything that happened and I just want to say that I am terribly sorry, they are being punished as we speak,” He flashes me a small smile as he explains.

“You’re a demon, aren’t you?” I speak for the first time, and he nods slowly.

“I’m the leader of demons, or in short, a demon king,” He folds his arm on his chest. He is very attractive and speaks gracefully.

“Am I in hell?” I ask him, and he laughs.

“No, you’re definitely not. Hell is for the punished and condemned, it’s for the ones that death has claimed,” He takes a step closer to me. “What can I call you?” He inquires.

“Lara Zane,” I reply to him smoothly, and he smiles. He has a charming smile.

“And you’re a she-wolf…” He says as if he already knows. “It’s pretty easy to tell if someone is a werewolf, their aura screams their identity,” He adds, and then he takes another step.

“What were your people doing in our territory?” I ask him boldly, and he scoffs softly.

“They were there on their own, I had nothing to do with it. I know very well about the laws that were set in place after the war; no one is to step into the other one’s territory unannounced,” The demon king explains.

His voice is rough yet smooth, there is no perfect way to describe it, but what I can say is that I like hearing it.

“It’s an act of war,” I say as I stand on my feet.

“Which is why they are being punished for their actions, and why I apologized to you,” He takes another step. He is now within an arm’s reach from me, and he is staring at the side of my head.

“You’re hurt,” He says as he raises his hand to inspect the small wound on my head. Instead of me backing away, I allow him to look at the wound. I stare into his eyes and it is like looking into a very deep darkened pit with no end. 

As soon as his hand touches my wound, I flinch. It felt as if hot coal had been placed on me.

“It’s alright, you’re healed,” He withdraws his hand and the pain that I was once feeling before has now completely vanished.

“How did you do that?” I ask him in disbelief as I place my hand to where I was once hurt, the wound is literally gone!

“I have certain abilities,” He smirks. “I am prepared to take you back to your town and apologize to your people,” He informs me.

I should be jumping at this opportunity, but instead, I am contemplating whether I even want to go back. Back home, everyone sees me as the low-ranked omega who can not shift into her wolf. I have been bullied for years because of it.

And now that I was publically rejected by the Alpha, I would be the talk of the town. Going back does not seem like an option that I would enjoy, it seems like more years of bullying and torture.

“You don’t have to,” I reply to him as I sigh loudly, and he raises his eyebrows in confusion. “Because I’m staying…”