In the centre of the ring of pride, stood a gargantuan castle painted in crimson red and rottern dark. With a pentagram above it, it marks a very important monument for the denizens of hell. Inside the castle, stood a throne room with two people inside sitting on their throne with massive authority. One was a woman wearing a wavy black dress. Her eyes was as white snow and her pupil with a greyish tone to it. Her skin flares with extreme paleness like a corpse under the moon though her beauty was said to be unrivaled but only to one. This was Lilith, First Queen of Hell. Besides her was another powerful presence. He wore a white tux with a black bowtie and white slacks. He sits with one of his arms holding a staff with a golden apple encrusted on it. His skin was as white as ash as he lets of a charming smile, charming yet intimidating. This... was Lucifer, or at least one of the many forms on which he can take as the supreme ruler of hell.
Suddenly, the castle door blasts open as a demon wearing a knights outfit came running in. He pants and grunts in fatigue as he sprints as fast as he can. Once reaching a massive door, he pushed it with all his might entering the throne room. There her rushed to the king and queen of hell before two of the guards standing in front of him draw out their weapons and blocked his path.
"Please! I have an urgent message for the king!" The demon knelt and showed them a letter. One of the guards snatched it by force and grunts before reading it. His eyes bulge when his mind registers the contents of the message. He quickly gave it back to the demon and signaled his friend by nodding. Both of them immediately reeled their weapon back, letting the demon pass.
The demon stood back up and walks to the throne. Once he reaches a certain distance, he could feel the aura of two of the most powerful people in hell and immediately dropped in fear. Both Lucifer and Lilith kept their eye on him as they wondered why he was presenting himself to them.
"R-royal Highness, King Lucifer and Q-queen Lilith, I came here to deliver a message from Vice Commander Jill who immediately seeks the presence of the King!" The messanger stammers out of fear.
"And why does my Vice Commander require my presence at this very moment?" He spoke in a smaller tone compared to his usual large voice on his more gigantic form.
"Your s-son Damian...
Lucifer's ear perked at the notion of his son.
...He's dying!"
20 minutes earlier,
"DAMIAN!!" Kayla screams in agony as she dashes towards him. She immediately knelt besides him and held his body. It was cold... something she never felt from him.
"Damian...Damian!!!" She shook him widlly trying to wake him up but he stayed unconscious. She could feel his breathing slowing down and his heartbeat starts to fade.
"Please help! Anyone!" She screams trying to get help. Zill immediately slides next to her.
"It's alright! Ashley's gonna get help!" Zill comforts her.
"Move away!" A voice sounded and from far away we see Ashley running towards them with Zechariah, Cameron, Fabian, Jackie and Carrie.
Zill immediately steps aside to let them obeserve him. Carrie knelt in front of him and examined his wound.
"Miss Kayla, how did this happen?" Zechariah asks her with a hint of pity in his voice.
"I-I saw...*sniff* Vince... H-He stabbed him with something a-and then!" She bit her lips as tears starts leaking from her eyes and dropping onto his fur. All of them just watches her in pity as she weeps in fear of losing her loved one.
"It wasn't Vince!" Addison's voice rang from afar.
All of them turned their head to see Addison and Leo supporting a beaten up Vince. He was bruised in a few areas of his body including his face as he was bleeding from his lips and nose.
"I- got attacked" He coughs in pain as blood spat from his mouth.
"Someone attacked me before shoving me down the janitor's closet!" He groans in pain as his whole body was throbbing in pain.
"He also cut me with something and urrgggh" He grunts trying to cope with the excruciating pain.
"Stop, bro! You're gonna hurt yourself!" Leo warns him.
"I'm fine... He cut me and took some of my blood as well before he drank it. Then something happened to him and he looked exactly like me, I didn't remember much after that cause I must have passed out!" Vince explains.
Carrie then suddenly looks at Kayla with a sad expression before turning to Zechariah.
"Zech... I'm sorry... I don't know how to heal him!" Carrie said in a defeated voice.
"Noo..." Kayla croaks as her voice coincides with her tears.
"It's some type of poison but I don't know what" Carrie says.
"I do!" Someone called out from in front of them. It was Jill.
"Demons!!" Fabian hissed before leaping over and trying to slash her with his claw.
"Wait!!" Jack suddenly slides in front of her and attempts to his attack. Fabian gasped in shock before pulling away his claws and landing in front of them.
"Monsieur Jack! Get away from the demon!" Fabian yells at him.
"No, please listen! I called her here!" Jack reveals to all of them. Fabian immediately relaxes his body and listens.
"She's Damian's bodyguard so she'll know what to do!" Jack explains. Jill smiled at him and gave him a peck on his cheeks before turning back to the crowd and looks at them seriously. She went over to Damian's body and sat next to Kayla. Kayla gave her a begging look to which she nodded and examined him thoroughly.
After a few seconds, her eyes bulge and she cursed silently.
"It's Draconic's Bane!" She cursed out to them.
"Sh*t! This is bad!" Carrie realised cursed out loudly.
"Carrie, is there anyway to treat it? Maybe some kind of antidote?" Cameron asks her.
"Sorry Cam but... demonic poison isn't something we can handle, unlike normal poison, there's no antidote for it. It's more like a curse... but only demons know the existence of it including me..." Carrie explains with a dreadful expression on her face. Everyone gasped and became more worried. Then, Jill nods slowly confirming the information they've just received.
"She's right... it's impossible to cure it normally...but...the king might know a way!" Jill suggests. Suddenly, two demons appears and carries Damian's body on a stretcher.
"We need to get the prince to the castle ASAP!" She orders the two demons who nods in return. One of them activated a device which conjures up a portal in front of them.
The three of them then walks towards the portal. Suddenly, someone grabs her hand and stops her in her tracks. She looks behind to see Kayla looking at her.
"Please, I want to come with you!" Kayla begs her.
"WHAT!!" Zill shouts at her.
"No way Kayla! Hell isn't safe for living souls like us!" Jack tried to talk her out of it.
"Jack's right! It's safer for you to be...
"Please!" She begs her with lumps in her voice.
Jill looks at her, feeling conflicted on what to do. She then shakes her head and nods to her giving her the clear. Soon, all four of them went through the portal and in a split second, they've arrived at Damian's palace. If not for the dreadful situation, Kayla would be mesmerised by the sheer size of the collosal building but she was too focused on Damian's conditions to realise anything. Suddenly, a demon came back and knelt in front of Jill.
"Royal Guard Jake reporting for duty, Vice Commander Jill!" He says valiantly in front of her.
"Jake... report the condition of the prince to the king and have him here at the castle quickly. The prince is dying.." Jill mutters the last part to him not wanting Kayla to hear her.
"Go now!" Jill orders as Jake immediately disappears in a puff of smoke.
"Follow me!" Jill then leads them across the castle.
The four of them continued to carry his body until they've reached a certain door. It was made out of pure stone and it was covered in all sorts of writings that Kayla believed to be runes. Jill places her hand on the door and chanted something. Suddenly, her words causes the runes to lit up before the door shook and opened little by little. Dust and pebbles drop from above them and landed on the floor in front of them. The door than fully opens to reveal a large circular room with a large pedestal in front of them. The pedestal was carved with many runes and have demonic engravings on it.
"Bring him in!" Jill orders as the two knights carried his body until they've reached the pedestal. Then, the put down his stretcher and carries his body before gently putting him on top of the pedestal. Suddenly the runes glow before Damian was suddenly lifted off the ground. He hovers in the air frozen before a glass sphere starts to materialize around him. It soon encased him and he floated inside to what it seems to be bluish liquid. She could see bubbles escaping from his mouth proving that he's still alive. Suddenly, runes began to carve themselves on the surface of the glass.
"What do we do now?" Kayla asks Jill.
"We can only wait and see if the King can do anything about it! The Retribution Stand can only stabilise his body for now... I guess the best that we can do is... pray!" Jill said softly to her trying to comfort her.
Suddenly, she went somewhere before coming back.
"Here you go!" Jill says as she hands Kayla a long, dusty and dark robe.
"What's this for?" Kayla asks her confused.
"The king don't take to kindly to non-demonic folks roaming in hell without his permission so cover yourself with that!" Jill suggests at her to which she immediately wrapped it around herself.
"Good! Also, stay close to me and don't show your face, he might find out that you're not s demon!" Jill warns her to which Kayla nods. Suddenly, heavy steps was heard from far away showing that Lucifer is close. Suddenly, a massive figure showed up by the door. It was Lucifer in his large form with Narissa besides him.
"Vice Commander, report! What happened?" Lucifer asks her in a serious tone.
"My lord, it seems that he was poisoned by a demon in disguise with Draconic's Bane but the attacker slipped away!" Jill explains to him.
"DAMN IT!!" He roars causing the room to shake.
"Vice Commander, escort every other person besides the queen and the witch doctor outside now! No one is allowed to enter this room until further orders!" Lucifer orders.
Jill nods to which all of the other demons inside including her exited the room. Kayla also followed behind hiding behind Jill afraid of Lucifer. Soon, the door closed from behind them leaving them alone.
"Lucifer, can't you just reverse it?" Narissa asks him.
"I... can't. My powers won't work with demons of my blood! Plus, his soul is currently unstable, one wrong move and he might..." Lucifer pauses.
"Can the poison be treated?" Narissa asks the witch doctor.
"I'm sorry but... Draconic's Bane is one of the worst of the worst, me and my scholars could try and come up with something but it would take weeks! Even on the chance that we do find a solution, I'm not sure if the prince could...
"Do it! Do anything you can!" Lucifer says to him.
The witch doctor immediately leaves the room to try and find a solution. Narissa moves closer to the sphere and touched it's cold surface. She closed her eyes to feel his energy and she could feel it fading. It definitely broke her heart.
"This is all his fault! I was a fool for letting him roam in the overworld" Lucifer suddenly said which causes Narissa to turn back in shock.
"What do you mean?" Narissa asks him.
"None of this would have happen if he had listened to me!! He's stubbornness caused him greatly!" Lucifer roars. Narissa always believed in Lucifer and she always heeds his words but the words he just spat, it caused something to struck her nerve.
"No Lucifer, this is not the time to blame this on our son! He's currently lying in there fighting for his life for something he didn't even do! It's not his fault!" It was the first time Narissa spoke up to Lucifer in an argument. Lucifer was shocked but maintained his composure.
"Don't protect him Narissa! If he hadn't left hell...
"To escape from the living hell you created from him!" Narissa shouts back, saying what she always believed. Narissa always had a stoic expression but the Narissa in front of him was a different person, it was her will as a mother.
"What are you saying?!! I'm trying to prepare our son for his responsibilities. Was I wrong trying to shape him into the king I want him to be?!!" Lucifer yells at her.
"He's a demon!! The reason he's in there right now is because he chose not to believe that he is one!" Lucifer adds.
"Our son is a demon and he left as a demon because we didn't care for him enough! YOU and ME! If anyone is to blame it would be us!" Narissa says back to him.
"Why am I having this conversation with you?!" Lucifer says to her.
"I am the king and you are just a meer queen! You should listen to me!" Lucifer said which causes Narissa to flinch. She then bit her lip in sadness and grief before walking pass him.
"Lucifer... I've always though of you as a great king! It's one of the reasons I fell for you but now I realised something... you maybe a great king but you're no father!" Narissa says before storming off outside the room. Lucifer turns back and extends his hand.
"Narissa wait!"
But it was too late, she was long gone. Something in him knew that he was wrong for thinking so but he stood firm. He sighs before leaving the room. He took a quick look at his son, before directing his vision to the floor.
"Am I making the right choice?" He thought to himself but he kept firm. Soon, he walks out of the room and left his son. Now, Damian's life relies on his own fate.
Meanwhile,
The door opens revealing a crimson coloured room belonging to a certain anti-Christ. Kayla and Jill walked in and took a look around.
"This is Damian's room!" Jill pointed out to her.
"Ohh..." Kayla said softly as she looks around.
She could see his messy bed, probably since he doesn't clean in that often, a few posters including one with the word the Muppets displayed and a large piano with a black finish on it. She went over to it and her eyes travel, observing the piano. She played a few keys and looks above the piano which has a few framed photographs of Damian and her. She remembered all the moments captured in the photos. Her eyes starts to water, reminiscing of all the good time they've had. Suddenly, she shook her head and wiped her tears. She won't accept the fact that he will die and she knew Damian wouldn't want her to cry so she steels her heart.
"I'll just leave you here for a while! I have to do an official report on this events. I'll come check on you from time to time but don't leave!" Jill says to her before leaving the room.
Kayla stand idly turning around and looking at the room even more. Then, she sat on his bed, trying to figure out a way to visit Damian since the room's blocked off now. As she was, racking her mind to find a solution, suddenly the door of his room opened to reveal a beautiful woman or specifically a demon.
"Ummm, what are you doing in my son's room?" Narissa asks her. Kayla panics as her eyes travels widlly.
"I-uhh, I was just..." Kayla struggles to find an answer.
"What's your name my child?" Narissa asks her.
"M-my name is Kayla." She answers her. Narissa's eye bulges at her answer.
"So you're..." Narissa realised but she pauses, choosing to not continue her words. She suddenly clears her throat and spoke in a stoic voice.
"I'm Narissa, 2nd Queen of Hell, Damian's mother!" She states. Kayla was baffled and out of pure instinct, she bowed down seeing that she's royalty.
"Ohnono, please don't! I don't really prefer formalities especially towards a girl my son has chosen to be his lover!" Narissa said which caused Kayla to look up in shock.
"How did she...
"One of his caretakers told me about you, and I've been wanting to meet the girl who stole my son's heart in the flesh!" She tells her. Kayla flinched since she read her mind.
"Oh yes! I'm also an avid mind-reader so forgive me if that spooked you!" Narissa told her. She proceeds to go closer to her until she was inches from her. She brought out her hand and held Kayla's chin with it. She then proceeds to observe her from top to bottom.
"You're very beautiful, then again, you must get that from my son a lot!" She compliments her. Kayla just stood frozen in fear because Damian and Jill was the only demons she had ever met and seeing another demon which is suppose to be royalty really caused her to freeze.
"Come, seat here!" Narissa says as she sat on Damian's bed and patted a spot next to her.
Kayla just headed her orders and proceeds to sit next to her. Both of them sat in silence before Narissa starts a conversation.
"So... how did you two meet? His caretaker really didn't explain much, only the fact that you both studied at the same school!" Narissa asks her.
"I..I.." Kayla stammers in fear.
"It's okay, I won't hurt you!" Narissa reassures her.
"Well, Damian and I... we... weren't the best of friends. To be precise, I was afraid of him... One day. he played the piano and it was the first time I saw him in a different light..
Turns out, he was different from what I thought and deep inside, he's just another person. We made up and he helped me overcome my own demons and from that day... I fell in love with him!" She says as she held her fists.
Suddenly, Narissa looked and noticed that she was grasping to a ring tightly. The same type of ring she has. Out of nowhere, liquid fell on it like drops of rain. She directs her head up to see Kayla crying as tears flow down from her cheek and drips from her chin. Muffles of pain and grief shrouded her voice. Her eyes bulge seeing the effect he had on her.
Kayla shot her eyes open when she felt something warm around her. She looks to the side when she saw Narissa holding onto her and from her eyes, she saw black liquid flow down.
"It's okay Kayla! Damian's going to be fine!" Narissa says to her trying to control her tears. For a while both of them indulge in comfort trying to cope with their grief. Tears fell and bonds created.
Damian lies idle inside the his chamber of liquids as he floats in the liquid. The empty chambers was suddenly surrounded with vibrations as the door opened revealing two people, Kayla and Narissa.
"Go!" Narissa said to Kayla as Kayla walks slowly towards the sphere. As she reaches it, she places her hands on the cold, smooth surface of the glass. Her hands easily slips when touching the clear glass. As her hands fully plants itself on the surface, somehow she could feel something. Maybe it was in her imagination but she knew Damian is still alive and was trying to reach her. She closes her eyes and pulls out a cross from her pocket. She knelt in front of the sphere and with her palms joined together with the cross in the middle, her mouth starts to open as she chants out her prayers.
"Dear Lord, I am but your humble servant. Forgive me Lord for I have sinned in the past but let that not be my legacy. Let that not be the reason why my words would not reach you today. Dear Lord, today, I have experience the trials you put onto me as my retribution, the grief you showed me. I ask for your strength in this trying times. I ask for your forgiveness on the innocent soul laid out in front of me. Oh Merciful Lord, show him the same mercy you have shown me all these years, purge him of the corruption laid out in his body. Save him from terrible fate that fell upon him...
Narissa just observes her as she prayed and smiles seeing someone caring for demons. She chuckles as for once she hoped some god up there would hear Kayla's prayers. She took a quick glance before leaving the two alone.
As Kayla prayed and prayed, it somehow gave her hope that everything was going to be alright. She knew, even if she's praying for a demon, praying for something she should hate and fear in her life, she knew it would get through.
As the empty chamber echoes with her sound prayers, she fails to notice something creeping up behind her. Suddenly, her whole body was engulfed in a shadow belonging to a person who's heart is as dark as it.
"Who are you?" A large voice calls out from behind her. She looks behind to see a towering figure with fangs as sharp as a blade and a face to menacing to bear. She was standing in the presence of Lucifer.
A/N: Thanks for reading up until now. I'm currently switching from Chance and To Love A Demon so forgive me if there's any delay from any of the two. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Always appreciate your support. Thanks again and I'll see you in the next one! Peace!!