Jeremy

Chapter 10

Jeremy

Feeling cold in Hell wasn’t possible, yet I chilled when I stepped outside with so much skin exposed. Diana and Valefar turned to me as my high heels clicked against the marble steps. Diana was mortified by my bikini-esque costume, but Valefar looked ecstatic. 

“Sera! Who knew you’d scrub up so well?” Valefar rubbed his hands together before skipping over to me. “You look gorgeous,”

“She looks nervous,” Diana pointed out. 

“I look like a hooker,” I helpfully added, slightly shocked that the word even made it past my lips.

“Ah, well,” Valefar waved away my concern. “You’re not a hooker,” his voice was silky and sincere, right up until he added, “you’re not getting paid for it, after all!”

I tried to conceal my sigh, but didn’t do a very good job. 

“My Hellhounds are all lined up for us. This way, this way,” Valefar snaked an arm around my waist and guided me towards the West Wing gardens. 

He was imbued with the aura of a sketchy car salesman. As usual, this was pure business for the Duke of Hell. Any hope I held of him seeing me as family or something more than a tool for him to use and abuse, swiftly bled away as the Hellhounds came into view. 

“Master?” I dared to breathe. “Do I have any choice in my mate?”

“Choice in your mates?” Deliberately plural. “Hmm. I’ll listen to your input, but the final decision rests with me.” That was as generous as Valefar was going to get.

The choice of men was vast. There were a variety of shapes and sizes. A palette of hair colours and skin tones. Some had tattoos. Some had piercings. Some were clearly werewolves Valefar had kidnapped from the Surface, while others were very much original Hellhounds. Monsters woven from shadow and fire; created, rather than birthed. 

The creatures Diana said tore my people to pieces on the Duskborne’s doorstep.

I was scared to think what I would produce if I mated with the original Hellhounds. I was even more scared when I presumed Valefar had added them into the mix to find out exactly what I would produce. Some vicious hybrid with insane powers that Valefar could weaponize, no doubt. 

But the original Hellhounds - the black dogs of Hell - were more beast than human. Would I even be compatible with them? I felt sick to my stomach.

“What about this one, Diana?” Valefar asked as he rapped his knuckles against the naked chest of a surly and burly man. Werewolf, not dog, thankfully. I found it funny how he sought Diana’s input before my own.

Diana glanced at me, then back at the man. “He looks like he’d split her in half,” 

“If anything tore, I could just sew her back together.” Valefar shrugged and moved on to another lad in the line, ignoring how I flinched at the thought of a needle and thread piercing my most delicate bits. 

Shorter. Leaner. Rounder face with softer features. That was the next potential man Valefar was drawn to, and he was genuinely cute. His large brown eyes kept glancing at me, even though Valefar had told all of them to keep their eyes forward. 

“What’s your name?” I found myself asking him, eyeing some sort of tattoo on his neck. 

“Jeremy, Miss Lowell,” he bowed his head in greeting, trying to contain his grin. 

Jeremy made me feel like royalty. So much respect and kindness danced within his eyes. The boyish good looks were nothing to sniff at, either. He exuded an energy that screamed ‘childhood crush’. A boy I could have fallen in love with, if I never knew about my fated mate. A boy I would have shared my firsts with in another life; a life where I grew up as a normal teenager on the Surface. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jeremy,” I cooed. If I chose a kind man, would he fake the whole thing for me? If we were forced into it with Valefar breathing over our shoulders, would a man like Jeremy at least be gentle and considerate? 

He gazed at me as though I was the only star in the sky and reached for my hand. “Believe me, Miss, the pleasure’s mi-”

Red mist replaced the handsome face I was admiring. 

Jeremy’s hand went limp against my palm and the headless body stood rigid for a second before it toppled down on top of me. Every fibre in my being urged me to scream until there was no air left in my lungs, but I was too stunned. 

My trembling arms wrapped themselves around Jeremy’s body and I didn’t let him go, even as the crimson liquid dyed my skin. I pressed my face against his shoulder, squeezing him until I could no longer carry the weight. Lowering myself onto my knees, I laid Jeremy down carefully. 

Valefar had killed him with a mere click of his fingers. Was it the magic of the iron cuffs? Valefar’s raw power? 

It didn’t matter how he did it…

I was selfish. I was so concerned about how I was being forced into such a horrible fate that I forgot that these men were victims too. All of them; dolls for Valefar to play with. We weren’t even pets, we were literally toys to him. 

I rose to my feet, soaked in Jeremy’s blood. I turned to Valefar, my heart like caged thunder beneath my ribs.

“Why?” I demanded through grit teeth. 

“I didn’t like him,” Valefar pouted. The demon pouted like a stubborn child!

“You said you’d consider my input!” I yelled so loud that one of the werewolves at the back flinched. 

Valefar’s violet eyes narrowed at me. “I considered it, and found it ridiculous. You were not going to fucking breed with that weasel.”

“You didn’t have to kill him!” I screeched, surrendering myself to my rage. “YOU SAID YOU HAD THE FINAL SAY! YOU COULD HAVE JUST DISMISSED HIM! HE IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOUR TANTRUM!” 

Power. I felt powerful in that moment, like the galaxy itself coursed through my veins. My voice reverberated like the song of a God and I wanted to believe that for a split second, some core thread of Hell snapped under the weight of my might. 

Diana pounced as soon as my foot inched forward. I was knocked off my feet and the back of my head slammed against the ground. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Valefar shout;

“Diana! Sit!” 

And her weight shifted off of me.

I wiped the tears from my eyes, replacing them with smears of Jeremy’s blood. 

As I lay on the floor, I saw Valefar’s face through the corner of my eyes.

He stood there, wide-eyed, staring at me with an expression I had never seen before. 

“Monster,” I whispered in a breath that sounded like ‘master’.