Chapter 2

A mirror, no, millions of mirrors surrounded me. I was on display for all to see, but the audience alone was myself. Every move I made, every step I took had me running around in endless circles. This maze would not end.

I did not recognize the woman in the mirror, running and gasping for air. I panicked,  punching the glass for good measure. The pain stung me for a moment, but I reached for the hilt of my sword out of habit. Unfortunately, I grabbed onto nothing. The witch took away my weapon, no doubt, my appearance, too.

Hazel eyes replaced my violet ones, the jet black hair I once wore was now a shade of brown. The woman facing around me was revolting. I almost gagged just by looking at her. My hand came to cup my face. My sharp claws were replaced with regular human nails. Nails that were now red with blood because of the earlier stunt I pulled. I cringed at the thought of not being able to slay my prey in one feral swipe.

I detested humans. They were so weak, body and soul.

My blood not stopping after a measly cut irritated me. My wounds would have patched themselves up by now.

What does a human do when a wound like this is gushing out succulent blood? It didn't take me long to remember. They applied pressure on it to try and stop the bleeding. With a human nose, my hand smelled salty and metallic. I missed my demon senses. I would have eaten my whole hand already.

I chuckled to myself.

My soul was on the line here if I didn’t find answers. First off, where in the hell did Idoya send me to? I’ve never been to this world. It was new to me and if this was her version of a funhouse, then I didn't want to know what other twisted versions of fun she had under her conniving sleeve.

I cleaned my wound with the front of my shirt, not knowing what else to do.

A ray of light shined down. The light reflected the whole room of mirrors. The palms of my hands came up to shield my eyes. A warm feeling spread throughout my shoulders, caressing my cheeks and massaging the scalp of my head. It felt so good, until I felt it. The imprints of what seemed to be fingers dug into my arms, enveloping them. It didn’t help that I was shaking. I crouched, waiting for something else to happen.

“Honey! Wake up!” said a deep husky voice. It was faint, but it didn’t stop goosebumps from forming their way onto my skin. I kept shaking, wondering if this was the witch’s doing.

“Wake up,” gently demanded the voice. I felt heat on the side of my neck. “Jeremy is crying and we played rock-paper-scissors on who is going to check up on our son.” The tingles in my stomach fluttered unnaturally.

I wanted to punch them to shut them up.

My body shook one last time before I made the mistake I would regret even after death.

I slowly opened my eyes, my hands unfolding my face. A comfortable presence pressed behind me. My spine instantly relaxed and I snuggled under a cotton ball that was near my head.

I am on a cloud, I thought, drifting in the heavens.

Heavens? I scoffed, internally. Demons, like me, don’t go to heaven, but at this point I loved the sensation the warmness was causing to my mortal body.

My body shifted, strong hands were on my shoulder, touching me like delicate glass, shaking me awake.

“W-what?” I groaned against the pillow. My body clearly didn’t want to get up, yet.

The luscious voice chuckled. “It’s your turn, Luz. We had our fun earlier.” I could hear the desire in his voice. I fully awakened now that he immediately brought a blush to the tips of my ears.

I shot up and got a good look at this man who affected on me.

He smiled, looking at me with such love. In all my years of being a demon, I let this man become the only reason I became self-conscious. Just with a smile. His laugh lines, my tongue watered, I wanted to have a taste. His black hair, neither too long or too short, framed the sides of his face, bed head evident in the tangled, yet, perfect mess. Perfect for my fingers to dig into that scalp of his. His light brown skin made my tongue want to explore other dark and forbidden places.

I clutched my chest, confused. He brought his hand to the long tendrils of my hair, I flinched in response, not used to people touching me. Why was I allowing him to begin with? My claws would have ended this poor man if I only could bring up the gall to do it.

I was with a man, in a bed,  lost in another realm, again.

Damn that Idoya, the bitch.

“Who are you?” I hissed, backing away from him, already missing the warmth his hands provided. “And, what have you done with my powers?”

“Oh, so you want to play that game again now do you?” He pulled me to him, our bodies pressed against each other. A familiarity echoed between them.

I squirmed against him, unwillingly trying to escape his hold. I needed to get the hell away from him. He had powers of his own.

This person wasn’t human.

He brought his lips to my forehead, leaving a searing mark on my skin as he got up to aid this “Jeremy” he was talking about.

He was next to the bed, bringing the blanket up to cover me,“You get yourself warm, you’re as cold as the dead.” His voice laced with concern.

He walked away to the other side of the house, towards the wailing of a small boy. Jeremy, he said the boy’s name was.

Curiosity got the better of me, I got up to follow him, throwing the blanket from under me to the floor. The bed we were laying in was huge. It could fit a whole village on it. Images of us rolling around in it in a naughty dance deepened the redness that was still apparent on my face.

I denied everything.

I got to Jeremy’s room. Baby blues met my eyes. The whole room was the sky personified. If that man wasn’t on the chair with a crying child in his arms, then I would have thought I walked into the wrong room.

“Luz? You couldn’t go back to sleep? That’s weird. You always went back to bed.”

I didn’t answer, but observed the way he carried the child tenderly.

Jeremy hiccupped every now and then, calming down just from his touch. The lad was asleep in an instant. I caught myself smiling at the serene expression he had. It was almost cute. I leaned on the door frame, watching him.

I frowned. I don’t like humans, so why was I smiling at a pathetic little weakling?

It’s the human woman. My frown deepened.

I straightened up. The mirror nailed on the wall caught my attention. I really thought it was a dream, but the woman with the brown long hair and hazel eyes was before me. I looked to my hand, the wound wasn’t there anymore. I didn’t smell the saltiness of the blood or metallic.

Did I heal myself without knowing? Were my powers back?

“Luz? What’s wrong?”

My hands fisted on my sides. “Could you cut it out? My name is not Luz! It’s Amaranta, dammit.”

The man looked puzzled, his brown creamy eyes hard to read.

He shook his head, his attention going back to the baby. “Go back to sleep, mama. You must be tired.”

I narrowed my eyes. “That’s the same thing that the witch said before she sent me on a stupid mission to do her dirty work!”

He continued to stare at me. “Yes, and my name isn’t Abriel, Luz.” He carefully got up with a sleeping Jeremy and set him on his crib. He was at my side in less than a second.

I rubbed my temples, confusing myself all the more. Where was I? Who were these people?

“Hey,” he said, reaching for me, again. “You…” His arm stopped mid-way.

My mind fogged, everything felt wrong.

The witch coming into view, he petted Abriel’s head like a queen would do to her pet cat. That act pissed me off. Luz’s body screamed from the inside.

Damn, this human must be the jealous type.

I wouldn’t blame her.

“Idoya! You bitch! What have you done?” I hissed.

She clucked her tongue, “You forgot? What a useless demon you are.” She shook her head in disappointment, “And, here I thought you were a high class demon. Seems like I made a mistake.”

Her shoulders slumped in her theatrics. “I guess I‘ll have to take your soul now...since you don’t want to follow orders.” She ran her finger along Abriel’s jaw. “I could take this one as a slave,” she purred.

I waited for Abriel’s reaction, but it never came. His mouth was open, staring straight at me. He wasn’t even breathing.

She gasped, my arms acting like windmills.

From bottles, to binkies, to diapers, to the trashcan, I threw whatever I could get my hands on.

She must die.

Idoya grabbed my arms, throwing me across the room to land on Jeremy’s crib.

This was why I said humans were weak. She was too strong for me.

“Tell me what I’m supposed to do!”

She walked the little distance to me, her arm extending, pointing to the crib.

“You want him?” It took a few seconds to register the vision I had earlier. “You turned me human just for this?” I yelled.

It happened too fast. The cracking of bones, the searing pain of my fingers. Her body laid on top of mine. My hand was in her grip. Her white irises bore into my eyes. She smiled, loving the reaction she was getting.

I screamed in pain. Human and pain, the duo never complemented each other.

“Alright! Let go, please! I beg of you,” sobs escaped my mouth. My head faced the ground, too ashamed to raise it. The darkness, I welcomed it.

“Luz? What are you doing?” Abriel’s voice filled my head, immediately soothing my nightmare. “Get up from there.” He picked me up and had me in a bear hug, kissing my temples.

It was as if the witch was never there. My hand magically healed itself, too.

All throughout his affections, I glared at the crib mocking me.

It was either kill or be killed, Jeremy, and Amaranta saves her own ass in the end.