The Demon's Claim [House of Arcane #2]

I opened my eyes to see that I was in the darkness. Pitch black as I cannot see anything at all. I don’t know where I was and what I was supposed to do but I know that I don’t want to be here after all.

It was all spooky and scary.

“Hello!” I shouted as if anyone would hear me. Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. Who knows where I was.

“Is anybody there?” I asked again and then I was staring at my feet. I gasped before I realized that I was floating around in this…darkness before a figure showed up in front of me. It was blinding light at first but then I blinked and saw that there was someone in front of me.

Someone like me but…different.

“Hello, Nora,” the figure said before I was blinking my eyes at her. She was smiling at me as her blonde mane which infused with the light was floating freely and her eyes…her eyes were green.

Not much like my blue-green eyes.

“Who are you?” I asked her as I was looking at her not mistaken face. We are the same person she seemed ancient, wiser and more matured.

“I am sure you have questions and all that but I will not be answering much for I have limited time to tell you everything. However,” the woman said before she raised her hand and went for my forehead.

“I wish you to know everything about yourself and mine,” she said before I was looking at her.

“What are you—“

She touched my forehead and everything was playing in front of my retina for the world to see.

I was inside a house, with a woman that was talking to another woman. She was looking at me with anger before I felt something inside me. A relief? Or was it regret?

Then I was walking along with a man next to me. I was talking about someone named Abigail. I felt familiar yet not at all. But I know deep down that she was playing an important part in my life.

Then, Abigail came and she was looking different. She has powers now for she made a deal with the devil.

The Satan, Lord of the Underworld himself.

Then, the man was after her as I was walking back home. I was scolded by my mother and she told me to settle for the most powerful warlock of them all. But something doesn’t feel right in my heart. Like I wanted to belong and my mother was forbidding me to do so.

I went to a ball and I met someone. I was smiling at him before he asked me for my first dance. I did not know his name but his blonde mane and the black mask was enough for me to guess.

Logan but he was different.

I was having the best time of my life. I was talking to him like no one else existed in this world. But I never see him again as he went away that night after a kiss that we shared in secret. I did not tell anyone, even my mother that I have fallen in love with a person that I never see again.

Later, a proposal came and my mother accepted it for my behalf. I wanted to reject him but he was the prince of the Monster realm.

I should have known that my mother would do something about this.

Then, I was talking to Abigail again, feeling different now. Now, I know that my mother has caused her so much misery in her life. I don’t want that for my only cousin, for she was my only sister and family I have left.

So I disobeyed my mother and paid the price. I showed to my husband that I was not a pure witch. I drew the magic from the dark world as well as my mother. She threw me in the dungeon before I traced a pentagram and it ended up as La Porte de Tenebres. And someone came.

I gasped at first for who I was looking. It was the blonde hair, red ruby eyes Logan. But he called himself Lucifer Satan now. And he explained to me that he was waiting for my mother to be collected her dues. I don’t have any strength to fight him for I was reunited with the man that I loved. But for some reason, he was not feeling the same.

But that changed when he kissed me.

We were back in the forest for I saw that my mother was floating in the air, punishing my cousin and her lover. I wanted to help but Luc said that I have to stay behind and let him handled it. I did and he was making my mother suffered for what she had promised and did not deliver.

Luc, or Logan, was talking to the Abigail and her lover before he came back to me. He was explaining that I will be stuck with him now. That he had waited for a long time for this.

And then we kissed.

We appeared in the kingdom that I knew as Underworld. I was looking at the majestic castle before I was feeling Logan’s hand on mine. I turned to look at him and saw that he was smiling at me before he pulled me again and he was kissing me on the lips.

We teleported to the bedroom as I can see that it has a king bed and all the necessities that I will be needing for. I thought I will be sleeping here alone but when Logan was pulling at my tunic, I turned to look at him.

“What are you doing?” I asked him as my heartbeat was beating so fast I was sure that he will hear it. Logan chuckled before he was kissing my naked shoulder. I shivered before he whispered in my ear for the words that I have longed for.

“You belong to me, Cornelia, and I am to you. You are my promised bride and you will stay by my side as my Queen for all eternity as long as we both shall live,” he said and I know that somewhere in my heart, he was telling the truth. That I trusted it with my life and I let Logan showed me what his love meant for me.

And he delivered for I was begging for more and more of his gentleness, kindness but most importantly, his love. My only love. My eternity and forever.

Later, after a few days, I have to accompany him again to get something done. I was wearing the onyx engagement ring that he had for years to be given to his bride. I smiled for the first time of my life as I was feeling whole and Logan was the person that was feeling the void inside my heart. I paired it with a black dress and went to help Logan to perform his duty that he promised my cousin and her lover for a chance of happiness together.

*****

Months passed, 5 months to be exact, when I was strolling around the castle with my husband, Logan. He was attentive to my need and he fulfilled everything that I desired. And my insatiable appetite for his handsome face and body against me every night.

I was feeling unwell before Logan asked me what was wrong. I shook my head as I don’t know what was going on until I felt another presence.

A darker force than Logan’s.

“Something bad is coming this way, my love,” I said to Logan as I was staring into his red ruby eyes. He was arching his eyebrows before a guard was coming to report that we were under attack by a man.

Named Ezekiel.

Logan was frustrated before he ordered me to stay hidden and he will take care of it. But I don’t want him to go alone. I will come with him as I was telling him that I will be an asset for him. Logan was hesitating at first before he agreed. We went to find the guy and he was standing at the edge of the mountain, throwing destruction in his wake.

“I have come for my rightful place, brother and I will start with your castle,” he said as his green eyes flickered to me before I was suddenly feeling pain in my stomach. I can sense it. The end was nigh and it was coming for both of us.

I turned to Logan before I was smiling at him, “Our love will forever be together, no matter where we are, Luc. I will find you and when we’re reincarnated, I will find my way back to you as you are to me for you are my eternity,” I said before I kissed him.

One last kiss to remember this timeline of our lives together.

I pulled away before I was going for Ezekiel. I will not let him get to Luc for he was the essence of my existence. I drew my sword and I fought for my life. But I was not a swordswoman for I was a witch and in the end, I will rebirth again.

Only this time, I hoped that Logan will love me for whoever I turned out to be.

*****

I blinked my eyes before I was looking at the floating woman before she was smiling at me. I don’t know what to say for she was showing her memories but it felt like I was her.

Like I was in those moments with her, as a part of her.

“Who are you? What am I? Why am I feeling like this?” I asked her before I felt a tear streaked my cheek. I touched it before the woman was touching her forehead to me.

“There are mysteries in the world that you will not understand , young Nora. But all that you need to know was that your name was Cornelia Hayes in the past and the bride of Lucifer Satan, the lord of the Underworld. You have been attacked and killed in the war but you are given a second chance to live your life together. In the Mortal Realm and away from this madness that was happening all over the place,” the woman said before everything clicked.

The way that Logan despised me, saying that he will never sleep with me (but ending up with me anyway)

The way that Ezekiel and Logan were desperate to find this Cornelia person in their life, the person that was supposed to be me.

“What will happen now? That I have known the truth?” I asked her before she smiled at me. Then, kissed my forehead.

“What you have always known deep inside your heart. The truth of everything, Nora McCarthy. Do not afraid for your destiny will always intertwine with him, no matter where you are in the world,” she said as the light faded and I was blinking into the darkness again.

Only it was not the darkness but a pair of two turquoise eyes that I have fallen in love with in the first place.