Asher's mist hit me like a brick wall, and I could feel it all over my skin as my body sucked it in like a vacuum. It didn't even have a chance to hit Draydon because my body became a vortex. Every ounce of dark energy that Asher spewed poured into my body, but the scariest part was that I liked it. It felt like the fuel that I needed to finally feel full. Whatever my body had been craving, trying to satisfy with sex, it was getting it now. Every ounce of me filled with the energy, and I opened my mouth and sucked it in until there wasn't a single drop left.
I stood in-between the two guys, as they both stared on in disbelief.
I didn't care though because I finally felt right. I felt full, but more importantly I felt powerful.
But before I had a chance to even relish in that fact, I turned to Draydon to make sure he was okay.
In a split second I felt Asher’s arms wrap around my waist before we evaporated into a thick cloud of black smoke, teleporting far from the hotel.
"What the hell? Where the fuck are we going?"
"It's time you stopped by to say hi to your pop."
There was a cool gust of wind that swept over us, and next thing I knew we appeared somewhere else completely.
"Get the fuck off of me!" I sent a sharp elbow into Asher's rib cage and he folded forward, releasing me from his grasp.
I spun around, the familiar rage creeping up, before I realized that we were standing in the same place we were before, only this time a blue haze seemed to cover everything.
"What the hell! Where did you take me?" I fumed.
"Welcome to the underworld baby." He winked.
Chapter 11
"First of all, don't call me baby. Don't ever let that leave your mouth again. Second, if this is really the underworld, where is all the fire? And torture? And pitchforks?"
Asher half groaned and half laughed at the question. All his laughter did was add more fuel to the fiery anger that was building up in the pit of my stomach.
After consuming whatever that dark mist was that had come out of him, I felt stronger, yes, but so did my emotions— the hot anger included.
"I think you're mixing up the Underworld and hell." He faked wiping a tear from his eye. "Hell is the punishment place, banishment and what not. The underworld, however, is just the place that supernatural souls go when they die, the half decent ones at least."
I wrinkled my brow trying to make sense of what he was saying.
"Well, either way why the hell did you bring me here?"
I glanced around the hallway, nearly everything was the same, all the way down to the stains in the carpet.
"I brought you here because, like I said, I think it's time you and your dear old Dad had a talk. I'm sick of being put in the middle of your family feuds, there are much better things I could do with my time than princess guarding, all because you decided to set the top world up in flames. For some reason he wants to keep your stubborn ass alive, why is beyond me."
"Hey, take it easy." I huffed.
"You are cute though, I'll give you that."
"I'll look a lot cuter with your bleeding heart between my fingers." I said through gritted teeth and a scowl.
I thought it would push Asher away, but instead he took a step forward, closing the space between us.
"You're right, you would." He brought his hand up to my face and brushed his fingertips across my chin, pulling my eyes up to level with his.
His eyes locked on to mine and it felt like he was staring into my soul. His lips pouted ever so slightly, and he clenched his already sharp jaw, slowly inching his face toward mine.
I leaned in too, quickly closing the space until he was only millimeters away, and just before our lips were about to brush against each other I wound up and sent a fist sailing into his stomach.
He grunted and stumbled back with a devilish grin on his face. My fist may have connected with his chiseled abs, but I packed enough punch to do a little damage.
"I don't know how well that works with the demon chicks here, but I'm not one of them." I crossed my arms and glared down at him trying to catch his breath on the ground.
"Actually... you are..." He said between staggered breaths.
He knew what I meant, I wasn't about to waste any more time playing his games. Like he said, the surface world was on fire. Who knew how much damage had been done by the governors’ spell already? I didn't have time to spare, I needed to work on freeing my mother from her hunter trapper and find a way to put an end to the countrywide madness that was ensuing. If not for myself then for her.
My mother deserved to wake up from her magical slumber to a world that wasn't on fucking fire.
"Are you going to bring me to him? Or are you just going to cry there like a baby?"
I couldn't stop the smirk that graced my lips looking down at the demon blubbering like an idiot as he pulled himself together and got to his feet.
"Actually, about that" Asher trailed off, and rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly.
"About what?" I raised a brown, waiting for the punchline.
"I may have lied about your father sending me after you." He feigned a laugh. "And while I'm at it, I may have lied about also being a top-level demon."
My head was reeling, because first of all, I barely understood what the fuck any of it meant.
"So you stalked me, killed a few people, then kidnapped me and dragged me to the underworld all for nothing?"
My anger simmered, but this time it simmered behind my eyes. I could feel them growing a bright shade of red, and the darkness I'd consumed was threatening to come out.
"I had to lie to get you here! This place is a fucking mess without your father, and until now you were only a myth."
I pressed pause on my anger and my eyes simmered back to their normal shade.
"What the hell does that even mean?"
Asher reached for my hand, but I pulled away.
"I can't tell you, I have to show you." He said, forcibly grabbing my wrist. I went to swing at him with my other hand, but he grabbed it and pulled my body close to his, holding me tightly.
"Hang on, feisty pants." He gripped me so tightly that I couldn't move, and within a second we evaporated into another puff of smoke and wind, teleporting to an unfamiliar hallway.
"Where the hell are we?" I pushed him away, forcing him to release me.
There wasn't another person in sight, and the thick layer of dust that coated everything told me that it hadn't been occupied in a while.
Despite the dust, the architecture of the hallway was exquisite.
"Where the hell did you take me?"
"Not hell, the underworld remember?"
I rolled my eyes and balled up a fist as a silent threat.
"Your dad is the king of the underworld, and this is his castle."
His words stopped me dead in my tracks. I was sure that by the way my eyes bulged he could tell. I didn't know why, but I felt sick to my stomach at the thought of anyone other than the man who raised me being my father.
Did he know? Or was it a secret from him too?
If you have a kid who's half-demon, I doubted that you wouldn't be able to tell. No matter how normal I felt, a parent has hunches.
Asher's voice faded into the background, and I started to walk down the hallway. Knowing that the house was a part of my past— a part of who I am— I saw it in a different light. I noticed the portraits hanging on the walls of naked women, whom I prayed to god that I wasn't related to.