Chapter 004

Serephine’s POV

I awakened to the sound of faint conversation. And as my eyes opened and took in the pristine white sky above me, my brain spiraled in confusion.

How could a demon make it to heaven? But then a face peered at me from above—the gaze of the man who ordered my first arrest. I groaned realizing I was still trapped in the world of the mortals.

I tried to turn, but I had been laid on my back—a stupid decision, I must say, considering my backside still throbbed from the strokes I received earlier, before the …I was poisoned! The realization that I had almost died triggered a surge of panic in my chest, and I soon began to hyperventilate.

“I want to go home,” I started, helplessly trying to scramble out of the bed.

I couldn’t afford to die as a mortal. I’d rather go back and serve Sycora and Nyctos as a bottom-barrel demon than die as a pathetic mortal. But the man beside my bed pinned me down, his fingers digging into my arm until it stung.

Knowing he’d do worse If I didn’t stop, I let my body relax. Just as I expected, he loosened his grip.

Another man entered and greeted him; I learned this man’s name was Camden, second-in command to Alpha Chase.

“What did you find?” Camden asked the guard who had just walked in.

“She didn’t try to kill herself. A guard had mistakenly served her a poison meal meant for another prisoner on death row..”

“Where is that guard now?”

“In a cell. The Alpha already ordered his arrest.”

Camden went silent for a moment.

“You may leave now,” he said finally.

The guard bowed to him and left the room.

It turned out I was in a hospital, the food I ingested was a poisoned meal meant for someone else that had somehow ended in my cell. How much worse could it get with these mortals?

“Vasper sent you, didn’t he?” he asked, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at me.

“Vasper?” I repeated. “Who is that?”

A sly smile tugged at his lips when I said that. “We will revisit this conversation later. Do not try anything funny. The territory is well-secured,” He warned—or rather, threatened—before walking out.

Once I was left alone, I attempted to turn to my stomach again, but the door opened and a man in a white coat—the kind I normally heard them call “Doctor” when I was still a demon—walked in. The glamorous woman that reminded me of Sycora trailed behind him.

“As you can see, she’s improving fast,” the doctor said to the woman.

“As she should,” she smirked arrogantly before speaking to me. “Enough of the drama, time to go now.”

The doctor smiled softly. “She isn’t fully recovered yet. Let’s give her a day or two, some of the substance is still—”

“Servants don’t get such luxury, Dr. Daniel.”

“Servants?” he whispered slowly, his gaze drifting from her to my face. “That’s strange,” he continued.

“What’s strange?”

“She looks more like a model than a servant,” he said, and her face hardened.

“Well, as of today, she is my servant.” She announced proudly. “The Alpha is too busy tending to better things so I’ll take it from here.”

“I am not your servant!” I snarled, and a blinding slap landed on my face.

The doctor gasped, almost stepping in between us, but she pointed a finger at him, warning him to stay out of it if he still loved his job. He backed down, folding his hands behind him as he watched her grab me by my hair.

“Time to go, servant girl,” she sneered.

I held the roots of my hair, wincing in pain as I fell out of the bed, scrambling to my feet as I stumbled behind her.

She pulled me all the way to a yard, with everyone watching her humiliate me without doing anything to help. Was she that powerful?

“Susan!” She barked out, flinging me down to bow before her.

“Yes, Lady Vera!” A maid scurried to stand in front of her.

“Get me a blade, or scissors. Anything sharp will do,” she ordered, an eerie smile dancing on her crimson lips.

“Yes, My Lady.” Susan bowed and disappeared into the building.

“She looks like a model, right?” She scoffed. “Let’s see what she’ll look like by the time I’m done reconstructing her.”

Her words sent cold shivers down my spine. I clamped my hands together, trembling as I begged her for leniency. How quickly I cowered. Sycora and Nyctos must be having a field day watching me get humiliated like this.

“Shut up!” She barked, her sharp blue eyes penetrating mine.

The maid returned with a knife.

A big grin appeared on Vera’s face the moment she saw the knife.

“Great choice, Susan,” she patted the girl’s cheek and took the knife from her. “Hold her down!”

“Yes, My Lady!” Susan ran to stand behind me. I wiggled between Vera and her, begging Vera not to do anything stupid while turning to Susan to make sure she didn’t grab my hands.

Vera called another maid nearby and instructed both girls to pin me down. Without any form of defiance, they obeyed. Each maid took a hand and pressed me down, scratching my face against the ground while their legs stepped on my back to keep in place.

Vera lowered herself down and held the glinting blade up, a cynical expression reflecting on her face before she took a handful of my burgundy hair and began to cut it off. She went round, chopping the strands off in an uneven fashion. By the time she was done, I had screamed until I lost my voice.

“Sit her up!” She ordered and they dragged me to my feet.

I could barely stand so I simply dangled between both maids. As I stared at her standing there with a knife and a smug expression, my chest heaved, my anguish slowly drifting to fury.

She circled us, her eyes fixed solely on me. “I think this looks okay for a servant, but I can’t help but feel something is missing,” she cooed to herself.

Before I knew what was happening, her hand snapped across my

arm in a fluid motion and the squelch of a knife tearing through flesh echoed in the air. The maids let go of me instantly, fearing the blade would accidentally slit them, too.

I groaned in terror, quickly wrapping my hand around the wound. Another strike swept across the side of my face, and I clutched that as well.

Vera chuckled, swinging the knife between her fingers as she beamed with excitement. “Now you look like a servant.”