Wish Upon A Demon

24.

CHAPTER - TWENTY FOUR

“Can you find where she is?” I ask demon boy.

“Already did, let’s go.” I’m taken out to my balcony and within a second, I’m swooped into the arms of demon boy before I look down and realize that I’m way above the ground. I close my eyes. I had always had a fear of heights, and flying several feet above the ground wasn’t helping. Don’t drop me. “Don’t worry, I won’t.” Demon boy assures me. I look up at him. “How is it that you can read my mind, but I cant read yours?” I question. Demon boy has his eyes on me only for a second, before he averts them ahead.

“It’s not that you can’t read minds. If you concentrate, you can hear the thoughts of all mortals and demons. But we Royals, have learned to put up a barrier to our thoughts, preventing others from accessing our minds and thoughts.” He says, grip tightening on my waist as though he was afraid I would slip and fall. “You can read the minds of your enemies, like the hunters and the fallen?” I ask. “Some of them, yes, but most of them have learned to put up barriers as well.” He says. The thought of hunters brings me back to Alexandria. Who were those people laughing in the background? Why did they capture her?

Alexandria and I weren’t close. The only time we would talk to each other was when we’d bump into each other. But I hated the thought of someone being harmed because of me, and once again that voice in my head confirmed that I had something to do with Alexandria being caught. “Stay silent.” Demon boy said as we landed in a dark alley. It was freezing and even though I had a sweater on, the cold had penetrated the fabric, reaching my skin. I wrapped my hands around my self. “Where are they?” I whispered – asked. “Keep quiet.” Demon boy says, taking a turn. “Let me go!” I hear a plea. “Alexa.” I ran towards the sound, demon boy’s hands pulling me back, holding a hand to my mouth. “I said, keep quiet.” He says. Her sounds get louder and there’s that ugly sound of metal being scraped against a wall. I struggle in demon boy’s hold, wanting to break free and get my friend out of their hands.

“Please!” I wasn’t ready to hear her pleas anymore, so in a split second, I elbowed demon boy in the stomach and ran. My feet fell into several puddles, making loud noises. I didn’t care. I rushed to the next alley when my eyes fell on several men, weapons in their hands, and malicious looks in their eyes like they were ready to kill, a bruised Alexandria on the floor, and wings emerging from their backs. Wings. They were the Fallen. And the weapons in their hands, with carvings in the front similar to the weapons I had seen in Michael’s house, made me believe that the Fallen weren’t alone either.

“Ah, you came.” A man said, pulling up Alexandria by her hair. She released a moan of protest and pain, and I saw his grip on her hair tighten. “Looks like this little new-born demon here was the right choice to attract Faye Martin here.” He says. Newborn demon? I looked to Alexandria, who had her eyes scrunched in pain. Suddenly, I knew why Dawn Rose Michaels had nodded to Alexandria Monroe back at the café. They were of the same kind. We were of the same kind.

“Let go of the girl, Marcus.” A man steps up. Nolan. Nolan Shaw. I stifle in a gasp when the guy – Marcus – lets go of Alexandria. She drops to the ground with a groan. Nolan meets my confused gaze and speaks. “See, we could have come to your house and gotten a hold of you. But if we had done that, Zylen King and his soldiers would attack. Which is why we needed the both of you to come to us, alone.” Nolan Shaw explains.

“Do not start a fight which you can’t win, Shaw.” Demon boy warns, in a hard tone that I don’t recognize. “Ah, Zylen King, overconfident as ever.” A familiar voice teases from behind. I was right before, the Fallen and the hunters were together in this. “This fight wouldn’t have started if you had respected the territorial barriers and not set sight on the humans in our world.” Michael sneers, not taking his eyes off Zylen. “Faye Martin is one of us. She had always been one of us. She comes from demon ancestry. And while we are on the topic of territorial barriers, what reason do you have to justify the death of her family, who were innocent people living a calm and normal life?” Demon boy questions, angrily. Michael looks confused now.

“We didn’t do anything to her,” Michael says, finally and Nolan nods in agreement. “We don’t trust you.” I finally say. “I believe that your family had to do something with the death of mine. And as for being a demon, I was turned into one with my consent, and I don’t regret it.” I lie about the consent part but don’t lie about the not regretting it part. “Can’t you see what’s happening here, Faye? He’s manipulating you, they’re all manipulating you.” Nolan Shaw says calmly, taking a step forward. “No, they aren’t. Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you’ve just misunderstood each other? Didn’t you ever feel like this was high time that the disputes and hatred towards each other should be ended?” I say.

“That can only happen through a war,” Michael says, clenching his jaw. “Then war you shall get.” Zylen growls. I stop him. “Let my friend go,” I say. “No.” It’s a simple word from Nolan’s mouth, but it’s enough to fuel my anger. I take steps towards them, unknown confidence bursting through me making me ready to take on anyone when Michael’s words stop me. “You’re making a mistake, Faye.” He says. “He’s using you.” Michael continues, and I feel my demon boy close behind me. “He’ll use you until he ruins you. He’ll ruin you. He doesn’t want you, Faye. He wants your position. He’s pretending, only so one day he can take everything away from you, and leave you alone.” The truth in Michael’s voice makes me doubt who Zylen really was.

A hand is wrapped around me, pulling me close to a body.

“Stop clouding her head with lies,” Zylen warns. “Why demon prince? Afraid she’ll find out who you really are and you’ll never be able to achieve your aim, which happens to be to merge Elvive’s and your kingdom and mount the throne?” Michael asks, mockingly. Zylen wanted to merge the two kingdoms. When I spent my time in the demon kingdom, I had learned that there were six demon kingdoms in total. Four of the six kingdoms were small and two kingdoms; Hiaven and Friella were the largest. So, merging the two largest kingdoms together would make Zylen’s family rule above all.

But where did I fit into this equation?

And then it hit me.

Elvive was my grandmother and the future Queen to Friella, which made me the true heir to the throne. I had never thought about that. And the only way to merge the kingdoms was either through war or matrimony. And since the war would lead to a financial loss, matrimony was the right choice. So if Zylen were to ever get married to me, he would become the King of both Kingdoms.

“Everything adding up in your head now, Faye?” Nolan questions, his angry eyes on Zylen. I look up at the man who’s holding me close, afraid to let me go. I don’t feel like being near his anymore, not when I know that he was probably only using me.

“Don’t listen to them, Faye. I’m not using you.” Demon boy says.

I speak up.

“I trust Zylen. So, leave.” I say, sternly. Michael looks at me like he can’t believe his words, and Nolan’s eyes show acceptance of defeat. “Faye-” Michael starts but I cut him off. “Please leave. My decisions are my own and they are final.” I say, not looking into anyone’s eyes. They take steps forward, and I’m unable to meet Michael’s gaze as he leaves. The wings on their back retract, and the weapons are put inside as they leave, emptying the alley, leaving Zylen, Alexandria and I alone in silence and darkness

I walk up to Alexandria, withhold her up. Demon boy offers me a hand, which I don’t refuse. In no time, we are back home, in front of the steps of my porch. I wasn’t stupid; I had put two and two together. But I had to find out from him, I wanted to know if that was the truth from him. I sat down on the porch steps, holding Alexandria close, her head on my lap. “Is it true?” I asked. I sounded like a woman questioning her husband if he was cheating, but to me, this situation was no better than that. I knew demon boy had read my mind back in the alley and knew everything I thought, and I wanted to know from him if that was the truth. I hoped it wasn’t.

Demon boy didn’t answer.

I nodded. His silence was all the answer he could give me. I had to thank him though for making me realize that he couldn’t be trusted, and also, I had to give him a handshake for pulling off an act so well that I wondered why he didn’t consider becoming an actor. “Go,” I tell him, rising up, holding unconscious Alexandria tightly so she wouldn’t fall. “Faye, give me a –” I cut him off with a wave of my hand. I didn’t want to listen to anything anymore. I was afraid that more words from his mouth would make me doubt the truth and favor him.

I had feelings for him, yes. But I was willing to get over it. And one way to do that was to stay away from me. That ulterior motive of his that I had been searching from the beginning was finally revealed to me, and it crushed me. It made me lose all trust in him. I could never – would never believe him again. I knew better than that now. “Just go,” I said to demon boy who didn’t budge. I swatted away his hand that reached for me, and screamed, “Go!” He steps back, eyes glowing in an unreadable emotion before he turned and within the blink of an eye, he was gone. I held Alexandria close as I walked to my door.

I unlocked the door to my house with the key in my pocket and shut it with a bang.