chapter 3

My mind woke up finally, which meant it was either I was alive or somebody was here to take my spirit to heaven... or hell. I don’t think I deserved hell; I was such an angel while on earth. I played by the rules. Never did anything that was unbecoming of me. There was a cold draft around me. Is this how cold heaven was? You are going to hell. My past selves appeared in front of me, laughing sadistically. “Shut up,” I replied, and they disappeared.

From my eyelids, I could see white lights that came and went like magic. I slowly opened my eyes and then blinked a few times. I saw a blank ceiling in the dark.

My head is pounding. My body is cold.

When I looked around me, I found someone sitting at my side. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. It was probably Xavier, but I couldn’t be too sure. The person was sitting down with their legs crossed and their hands outstretched, thumb and middle finger pressed together, in some kind of Buddha style. The things that were going through my head.

“Good, you are awake,” a deep voice said in the darkness, and then I saw the light. It was Xavier that brought me here, and he was the one meditating beside me.

“What did you do to me?” I asked.

“I brought you back from death. Say thank you.” The audacity of this man. He killed me, I remember now, and he was telling me to say thank you.

“THANK YOU?!” I exclaimed. How dare he!

“You are welcome” I could slap this man any moment.

“No, Xavier. I am not welcome. Where is my dad?” I forgot all about the pounding in my head.

“He is safely floating between life and death.” What did he mean by that? “and you have school today. That’s why I woke you up.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“No, I don’t. Today is Saturday,” I replied, still wondering about his sentence.

“No… Baby, today is Monday,” He replied smiling sweetly. Too sweet for my liking. I normally hated sexual thinking-inducing smiles, but his smile was so cute.

“How? The last thing I remember is... YOU! You killed me.” I pointed my index finger at him. I was curious as to how I was talking to him if he killed me. I was so sure, though. I felt my soul slipping away from the world and my senses were foggy while one of his goonies held me.

“And I brought you back,” he smacked my finger away, “didn’t anyone tell you that pointing is rude?” He asked me. I’m sure my dad would have told me sooner or later if Xavier hadn’t rudely snatched me away from him.

“No, Xavier, unfortunately not. So, what exactly are you? Some kind of Buddha god?”

“Huh?” he whispered under his breath like he couldn’t believe what I just said.

“Stick to the question Xeko,” I knew his name was Xavier I just wanted to push his buttons a bit. I wanted to know how far I could go.

“It’s Xavier and seriously a Buddha god? No, I’m a- I’m a demon. I thought that was obvious,” He said in a ‘duh,’ tone. Well, no shit.

I started pacing around the room, trying to find a way out of this freak show. A demon was standing in front of me. He didn’t look like a demon. He looked normal. Demons have horns, don’t they? “Okay, this is getting weird really fast”

“I know it is weird,” he said, holding out his arms. I guess now was the time I would fall into his arms. As if.

“That a demon is standing right in front of me, wanting to marry me? Yeah, it is not exactly what you see in reality. Xavier… I am dead, aren’t I? You’re Hades, coming to take me to the afterlife.”

“That IS my job. You are right about some things. I am hades. But you are still very much alive. Yes, I want to marry you.” He touched my face, and that made me calm down a bit. He had this soothing effect. When I realized he was probably using his magic on me, I gently pushed his hand away, smiling awkwardly. “You know, you don’t need to be afraid of me. You just need to do what I want and what I want isn’t a lot. If you look past the demon part, I’m your normal human, except I don’t get sick, I can’t die and I can bend the ways of the earth,” he said. I blinked.

“Can you… predict what’s coming out in my test?”

He thought about it for a while. “No.”

“You’re lying.”

“Yes. I wouldn’t do that, though. Things like that. You know… seeing the future brings negative effects.”

“That’s so cool. I might consider marrying you.”

“Really?”

“No, of course not. I don’t know how it works in the underworld…” he cut me off.

“Calling it hell is fine.”

I exhaled. “Either way, I cannot marry you. I barely even know you.”

“Then get to know me. I didn’t bring you here so we’ll marry immediately. I’m not crazy.” I beg to differ.

“You killed my father,” I whispered in disbelief.

“I didn’t. He is in a limbo-like stage. I can bring him back if I want to,” he pointed out and held my cheek softly, looking me squarely in the eyes. I saw the gold in his eyes and he was trying to put me in a trance again. I couldn’t break my stare. “I am a really nice guy, Winter.” He smiled at me. He was so handsome.

“Uh,” I said, why did my brain go numb at that moment

“What was that?” he asked

“I think I can try,” I nodded.

“Good,” he smiled wider while looking at my lips. “let’s get you ready for school, huh?” he took my hand and led me out of the room. I looked around and saw that we were actually at a different house from mine.

“Where is this?” I started jogging behind him to keep up with his long strides.

“This is my house.”

“And that room?”

“It’s just a random room. I use it for spells and to contact my father.”

“Your father, aren’t you like the main devil or?..”

“There is no main devil... we are all equal. Well… not exactly. I am a royal, and I have certain abilities that other demons do not. My father is the highest and when I take the position of king, I would be the highest demon. The way it’s done in England.”

I wondered about it for a long time.

“You just have to get used to it to understand it.” he winked at me. I understand it. It’s just… all my life I have believed there was only one devil.

“Great! Not only am I getting married to a demon, but I also have to be posh and proper.” he laughed. “Do you also have secrets that if it gets out, everyone would be ruined?”

“Coming to think of it…” I narrowed my eyes at him as he led me up the stairs, I admired the beautiful interior of the house but it was lacking colour, it seemed like everywhere I looked I could see the inside of a sixty’s newspaper, even his pictures were in black and white.

“Your house really lacks colour.” I looked around with admiration. This is my kind of place.

“That’s because I have been living here for almost one hundred and fifty years. I recently remodelled. It suits your tastes, doesn’t it?” he said, looking around as well. His words made me scoff.

“Don’t tell me you remodelled your house to make me happy.”

“Whatever makes you happy makes me happy. So I am happy with it as well.” Aw. That was very interesting to hear.

“So what, you just stalk me?”

“It’s called actively learning more about you without your knowledge for pleasure.” I parted my lips. I needed to backtrack a little.

“Whoa! You are one hundred and fifty years old. I can’t marry a guy that’s a billion years older than me.”

“How old do you think I am? I said I have lived here for almost one hundred and fifty years. I am way older than that.” He laughed.

“How old are you?”

“Five hundred and seventy-eight. Demons age differently. I will age in another twenty-two years. I am twenty-three in human years, but besides that, it’s not like my kisses taste like dust or anything.”

“I didn’t need to know that,” I said as we reached the top of the first flight of stairs. There was a huge wall-length mirror standing there. That is when I noticed I was no longer wearing the party dress that I was wearing a few days ago. I was in a pair of grey pyjamas.

“How did I get into these?”

“I changed you.” He replied to me like it didn't even matter. He saw my nakedness. He might as well sleep with me, right?

“You saw my naked body?” I blushed and looked away in embarrassment. I had never been naked with any man, not even my father. I had a nanny when I was a baby and she took care of me till I was about fourteen years when she had taught me everything I needed to know about being a girl.

“Did you want to stay in that dress? I just figured you wouldn’t want to wake up to looking like a bloody tissue. Next time, I’ll leave you as you are.”

“Huh. What a man.” I muttered under my breath. We finally got to a room, and it had a really pretty view of the skyline. I could just die here.

“Whoa, this is a really pleasant view” I went to the window and stared out. I am pretty sure I could see my school from here if I tried to look for it.

“I love the view too.” Weirdo.

“Is this like your room or something?”

“This is our room.”

“Our? We are sharing a room?”

“Yes, of course. Just get ready for school” he waved his hand, dismissing me before I could make further comments. I grunted, then sat on the bed.

“Hey, you are late in case you didn’t know.”

“What time is it?”

“It is thirty minutes to eight, and it takes those thirty minutes to get to your school from here, so if you don’t want to be punished, you need to get a move on.”

“You are not my father. I’m ditching school today. ”

“So you want to be mediocre?” I gasped at his rude comment. “bathroom’s that way” he pointed to a door. I went to the door and looked for the handle.

“I can’t open it without a handle. Do you walk through walls?”

“I am not a ghost. Push it.”

This man was making me feel like an idiot. I pushed in the door with a little more force than I was supposed to and it didn’t budge. “Just help me” Xavier rolled his eyes, came beside me and pressed the door gently and it opened. Way to make me feel stupid.

I looked around the bathroom immediately I stepped into it and pushed the fact that I would still have to figure out how I was going to get out after the shower I was about to take. It was white all over, with little hints of grey and black, something I was going to have a problem adapting to since I most definitely hated black now because of this guy.

I removed my nightwear. I hoped he at least had the decency to bring my clothes here, and he didn’t expect me to lounge around in his clothes. I wouldn’t mind his clothes, though. He smells nice, and that was the only thing I was going to like about him throughout this stupid arrangement until I escape it, yes I was going to escape it. Not because Xavier was ugly, believe me, he was far from ugly, far from handsome even he was breathtakingly beautiful, he looked like a Greek god, of course, he was a demon so he looked like a Greek demon right, but because Xavier was a lunatic, a psycho maniac, idiot who believed I was going to marry him after one night of meeting him.

I ran the hot water, then poured shampoo on my hair, then started massaging it into my scalp as fast as I could. I didn’t want to be late for school, so I could tell Chloe and Zoe about it. After the shower, I went to the door, and luckily for me, there was something to use to pull the door forward.

The cold air from the air conditioning unit in his bedroom hit my skin immediately. I stepped out, and I shivered slightly. He was not in the room. Forgive me if I couldn’t resist the urge to say ‘thank god’ briefly.

There were clothes on the bed for me to wear. I didn’t know who the clothes belonged to, but they were oddly my style. So he was already treating me like a doll he could buy things for. I am a person who enjoys it when people take it upon themselves to take my daily struggles as their own. I personally hated picking out clothes in the morning, so Xavier doing it for me was just the icing on the cake.

I was going to run away still.

I shoved on the clothes he left for me, wishing he would do this task for me as well. I am a lazy person. What can I say?

I followed my head to where I thought my captor would be. I walked around for what seemed to be hours until I found the stairs. The closer I got to the lower floor, the stronger the smell of breakfast. Mouth-watering breakfast. I followed the smell and found myself in what I assumed was the kitchen. There was a woman cooking. She looked like she knew what she was doing. It smelled like she knew what she was doing. I am going to marry her instead. I noticed Xavier sitting down, reading a newspaper. Who still reads a newspaper? I scoffed in my head. ‘MORROW REGISTER’ was printed boldly on the front page. I have never seen that newspaper in my life.

“Long live the queen. I am glad the queen is done taking her time in the bathroom while school waits for her,” he said sarcastically, and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Who are you rolling your eyes at?” he wasn’t even looking at me. Yet, He knew.

“Who else is here?” I asked.

“Don’t do that again. I do not tolerate disrespect. Let us both be respectful to one another, understood?” Xavier still wasn’t looking at me. He couldn’t possibly be calm all the damn time. “Reka,” the woman turned around and bowed her head. “meet Winter, your future queen.” The woman glanced at me and bowed. I caught sight of her face. She was so beautiful. Her beauty was not from earth, it was as if she was made carefully.

“Go on with what you were doing, Reka.” She bowed again before turning back her cooking.

“Does she not talk?” I asked.

“Not unless she needs to.”

“I don’t like that.”

“Not everyone is a chatterbox like you.” He chuckled.

“Tchh. I am not a chatterbox. Reka,” Reka jumped slightly like she had been caught doing something bad. She bowed. “Am I a chatterbox?”

She bowed again. “Your highness, you are a wonderful communicator,” I smiled. She has been trained all her life for such questions.

Reka bowed before bringing me breakfast. The divine smell hit my nose, and I immediately dug in, eating like a starved dog. I was a starved dog. I had not even realized how hungry I was until the eggs hit my tongue.

“Be quick, you are late.”

“Are you done with the newspaper?” without a word, Xavier handed me the newspaper. I will never see a more interesting print. The first page was discussing ways to gain new souls ‘the ultimate demon guide’. I also read about new fantasticals in the making.

“Sorry that you brought me back to the land of the living late,” I said with my mouth full of food. Xavier raised his eyebrows. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You are perfect, my mother is going to hate you,” His sentence was worded weirdly. I didn’t know what meaning to read from it.

“Why don’t you pick a demon to be your wife since I don’t meet your expectations?”

“You didn’t hear the part about you being perfect? You will be my wife. No words about it again. You will also become a demon, so don’t worry.” I choked.

“Pardon me.”

“I explained how ageing works in the demon world. The only way for you to age at the same pace as me is to become a demon.”

“I am a Christian,” I said. I almost believed in myself.

“Yeah, sure” he looked at his breakfast again. He was not sure whether he wanted to eat human food. Maybe it could burn him from his insides.

“JESUS, JESUS, JESUS,” I started chanting around him, hoping that he would just go away.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Trying to cast you away to the abyss you came from,” Xavier laughed lowly, then it turned to a full laugh.

“You can’t get rid of me so easily. I can say Jesus too. Nothing would happen to me.”

“How can I get rid of you, then? What can kill you?”

“And why in hell will I tell you that?”

“Because I am your future wife.”

“Said Delilah to Samson. Get up.”

“I am not done yet.”

“You have plenty of time to eat everything you want later since we are going out.”

“I never agreed to that-” I started protesting, then he cut me off immediately.

“Yes you did, you said you would get to know me so we are going out so you can get to know me/”

“I d-don’t think I said that.”

“I could have sworn I heard you say that” He looked into my eyes for a long period and me, being unable to look away from his magnificent gold eyes I sat there like an idiot wasting my time while I should have been in school “Do you remember now?”

“I think I do” It was official. I would never succeed in escaping unless I could figure out a way to stop looking into his eyes, or I could at least not be affected by them.

But they were so pretty.