“Then I’m honoured to be your first,” she replies, and I laugh.
“You may regret that choice, Pops,” I tell her, and she grins.
“You gave me a nickname, that means we are friends for life,” she tells me, her voice dripping with overexcitement. “Now we have cleared that up—”
“Daesyn Heartlocke, we need to talk.” A man’s voice makes me come to a halt. I slowly turn around to see the man, and I try not to show any fear on my face as I stare at one of only two overlord demons left in the worlds.
Overlord demons are not to be messed with, everyone knows that. They were created to destroy the world, and one is currently a king.
The other is right in front of me, and it’s not the first time that we have met—and I want to punch him.
“Seth,” I coldly reply. “What is an overlord demon doing in the Reaper Realm?”
“I was invited, darling,” he replies, crossing his muscular arms as he leans on the tree. His eyes slowly roll down my body, making me shiver.
“A-an ov-er-erlord demon?” Poppy sputters out. Shit, I forgot she was here.
“Poppy, go back to our room,” I softly tell her, never taking my eyes off Seth. Dressed in an expensive suit, he looks out of place here in the forest. Seth’s white hair is cut shorter than the last time I saw him, but his red eyes are still as haunting as the first time I met him. He is the very definition of a beautiful man.
But a fuck boy nonetheless, which reminds why I don’t like him, and the circumstances of how we met enter my mind, forcing me to remember it all again.
“Tell me where the fuck he is,” I demand, pressing my dagger deeper into his chest with my foot. I wish I had brought Mossy with me to help me search for his brother, but bringing a fae monkey is a bad idea around this place. I need to fit in, not stick out like a sore thumb. “It’s snowing and I want to get home to watch some Netflix and chill after chasing your sorry ass halfway across a demon compound.”
“Fuck off, you stupid reaper,” he shouts at me.
“I will if you tell me where your brother is. See, my boss wants to know, and I want to get paid,” I remind him. We had this conversation already, but damn, this demon is stupid.
“Blood is stronger than anything you can do to me,” he roars as I press the dagger deeper. I watch him curiously, not really understanding why he would give up his life for his deadbeat brother.
“Your brother killed five human girls, and one of them was half-demon. My boss’s half bastard kid,” I tell him, and his eyes widen in fear. “He sent me to find your brother, and I will do it with or without your help. So tell me where he is.”
“Club Ame,” he splutters. “Now let me go!”
“Nah, I will get a bonus for killing you,” I counter and lift my gun from my side. He screams as I shoot him in the head, a fair and easy death considering how much he has pissed me off tonight. I pull my dagger out of his chest and skip my way back into the street full of demons. I know the club he spoke about, and it won’t be hard to get in.
Ten minutes later, I’m inside the club, and they didn’t even look my way twice or ask how old I am. I’m certain if they knew I’m just sixteen, there is no way they would have let me in. Being confident is sometimes the best way to appear older.
I eye the crowds of people as I make my way to an empty booth and slide into the seat.
“You don’t belong in my club, little one,” a demon with long white hair and glowing red eyes states as he takes the seat next to me. He’s wearing a suit that no doubt costs more than my entire apartment building put together. “You’re wrapped in trouble and smell like magic I’ve not seen in a long time.”
“Look the other way then. I have a demon I’m here to capture and take back to my boss,” I warn him.
The demon smirks. “My name is Seth. I like you already. What is your name?”
“Daesyn Heartlocke,” I answer.
“Syn...well, tell me who it is you are here for, and I will help you,” he replies, spreading his arms and making up a nickname.
“I accept help from no one. It never comes without a price,” I retort.
“This time, it does,” he replies, and against my better judgment, I don’t run away.
I should have.
“You’ve grown up a lot since we last met, my darling Syn,” he comments. “Maybe I should have found you sooner.”
“I’m not sixteen and stupid anymore. Your charms won’t work. What do you want?” I demand. I lied to Poppy before, I did have a friend before her. But in my mind, he was never just a friend, he was a man I was in love with when I was just a silly girl. He never once thought of me like that, and he made that very, very clear on my seventeenth birthday. In fact, it’s still one of the most embarrassing memories I have.
“You don’t look happy to see me, Syn,” he seductively murmurs, and it does things to me that I wish it didn’t. “If that is the case, you will not like the fact I’m sticking around for the academy test.”
“Don’t you have overlord demon shit to do?” I ask, my heart pounding in my chest.
“No,” he replies with a smirk. “See you around, Syn.”
He disappears into flames, his glowing red eyes the last thing I see before he is gone.
“I still don’t get how you knew an overlord demon?” Poppy questions as we both stand in front of the mirror in our dresses. Poppy’s dress is a deep pink colour and fitted to perfection underneath a lacy petal cover, and it really suits her. Her hair is up in a bun with soft strands falling out around her face, and it is finished off with a pretty diamond necklace. I have to admit, the dress that the professor made for me is unique and stunning. Almost like a fairy tale dress, the silk comes in tight with a corset at the top and flows out into a long skirt at the bottom. The whole dress is covered in stunning embroidery and beading to make it look like a sword is going down the middle of my chest and stopping at the bottom of my stomach, with lots of lace to look like vines spreading up into a V shape on my chest. My hair is down and curled in big locks, with two braids on each side of my head with tiny little purple crystal butterfly clips holding them up. With Poppy and I having a slight amount of makeup on, we really do look the part of queens in training. Professor Nordvik left ten minutes ago after helping us into our dresses and magically doing our makeup and hair. I have to learn how she does that.
“You know I was an assassin. One of my jobs was in his club, and he took a liking to me. He helped me find the demon I was looking for, and then he just stuck around. He helped me on dozens of my jobs for about a year...” I drift off because it still hurts to think of when he left and never came back. I replace the hurt with anger, my usual and totally unhealthy coping mechanism. “Anyway, I haven’t seen him in just over three years.”
“You’re not telling me everything, and that’s cool,” she replies, but she sounds a little hurt.
“It’s not that...I just don’t like talking about Seth. He was the only guy I let hurt me,” I admit, biting on my lip. “I was looking for a connection to anything other than Mossy, and Seth was right there and kind to me. It was my fault I pushed him away by having feelings for him that he did not return.”
“Maybe he left because you were too young and he felt the same way?” Poppy softly asks. I laugh and shake my head.
