Page 254 of Evil Hearts

Chapter 8: The Final Temptation

T hough I had no love for Belraxas—no illusions about his true intentions—I could not deny the hold he had over me. His power, his unyielding confidence, and the sheer weight of his existence were intoxicating. He didn’t speak of love; he spoke of power, of control, of darkness. He didn’t want me because he cared for me. He wanted me because I was a weapon—something with the potential to match his own dark nature—as well as a need to satiate the hunger that now grew within him.

It was an addiction. And we were both codependent.

At times, I would see flashes of something in him. There were moments, brief as they were, where I could almost imagine he felt something for me. A strange fascination that went beyond the admiration for my coldness. But those moments were fleeting, swallowed by the eternal darkness he served. He was a demon, after all, and demons did not love. They devoured.

His manipulations were subtle, like a spider weaving a web. At first, I resisted. I told myself I would not be some pawn in his game. But the more time I spent with him, the more I felt myself drawn to him. The things he said—the promises he made —sounded too good to be true. His words wrapped around me like chains, and I found myself unable to break free.

I wasn’t ready to admit it, but I began to see the beauty in the chaos he thrived in. There was no mercy here. No rules. Just endless torment and power beyond anything I could ever achieve as a mortal.

“You’re wasting your time with these fleeting pleasures, Lena,” he said, his voice a smooth caress, like the hiss of a serpent in the dark. “In the underworld, you could have it all. You could have me.”

The temptation grew. It wrapped around me, slowly at first, until I couldn’t breathe without feeling it, the pull of hellfire, the promise of eternity, of suffering—of more .

And yet, there was still a part of me, a small, stubborn part, that held onto the mortal world. The world where I could still taste blood, feel the rush of the kill, and watch the terror in their eyes before the end came. It wasn’t finished yet. Not by a long shot.

“You’re not going to get a different answer, Balraxas. It’s still no.” I swallowed, trying to push back the unease building in my chest. “I’m not finished. Not yet.”

For a long moment, Belraxas stood there, his metaphorical gaze burning into mine with an intensity that made my skin crawl. He didn’t speak, but I could feel the weight of his demeanor, the unspoken promise that he was waiting, watching.

“You will return,” he said, his voice steady but filled with something darker, something resigned. “You will return to me, Lena, when you are done with your games. When you’ve caused all the destruction you crave. I will be waiting. And when you are ready, I will claim you, body and soul.”

I turned away, unable to be in his presence any longer. The pull of his words was too strong, too heavy to bear. And yet, despite everything, I couldn’t let go. The mortal world still had a grip on me—its chaos, its fragility , its death. I wasn’t finished yet. There were too many lives to take, too much suffering to cause.

And with that, I stepped away from him, from the underworld, from everything he promised.

This target died much too quickly for my liking, making irrational rage boil within me.

I kicked the corpse, upturning the table of tools, scattering it all over the floor.

“Why is it different? Why did you do this to me, you stupid demon?” I hissed as I grabbed a shovel leaning against the wall and slamming it into the man’s femur. The crack echoed around me, but the somber atmosphere still hung around me.

Was my humanity draining each time I was with Balraxas? Was that why I felt so numb? The vibrant crimson color of blood also began to look duller each time I took a life, as if the world was slowly turning into a black and white movie.

“Balraxas!” I cried out, infuriated, discontented. I fell to my knees with resignation, dropping the shovel, slapping the side of my head to see if it would rewire my brain synapses somehow.

When the air shifted, I grabbed a blade and swung it in his direction, lobbing off his right hand, the severed limb falling with a thud beside the corpse.

“You,” I snarled, seeing nothing but a new shade of red. I was intoxicated by the thrill I hadn’t felt in a long time. Leaping on top of him, I slammed my blade into his chest cavity again and again, relishing in the way his blood sprayed across my face. Licking my lips, I moaned with carnal desire, getting to my feet, grabbing another tool and slamming my heel against his skull to keep him in place.

The saw cut through his flesh deliciously, his shoulder socket much like a human’s anatomy, surprisingly. My nipples peaked as I watched him pant, letting me take out my rage, smiling at me from the floor.

I ripped off my clothes and slid my body against his, using his blood as lubrication to create the friction I needed for my clit as I rode him selfishly. When one of his limbs reached around, I grabbed it and dug my nails into it until his flesh split and the limb retreated back from whence it came.

The smile never left his face, and neither did my desires. Leaning over, I licked the wound on his shoulder, savoring his taste on my tongue before grabbing his face for a debauched kiss. His remaining hand slowly but surely, wrapped around me, pulling me against him like a lover. I sobbed and laughed against his lips as his limbs slithered inside of me as if I was its home.

“You called for me,” he groaned when he filled my holes completely. “You cried out my name.”

I shook my head, still halfway in denial, my hands cradling his ugly face.

“You’ve ruined me,” I accused, my voice breathier than I wanted it to be as he began fucking me.

“I could say the same about you, little mortal.”

When the world trembled and the ground vanished beneath me, I felt no fear, no doubt about the path my choices had led me down. Was it fate that tied us together or something more calamitous?

We tumbled onto black satin sheets, the roar of volcanic eruptions echoing in the background. I couldn’t hear the tortured screams, though I knew they were there—they always were.

The moment felt pivotal. We had come together, entangled in limbs in what felt like a million times but there was something different about this moment.

“You knew I’d always be back, didn’t you?” I panted, riding him and digging my nails into his regenerated arm, feeling its tangibility.

“The same way I always knew I would never be able to stay away from you,” he replied easily, his hands crawling up my sides to hold me at my rib cage.

My pleasure climbed quickly, and I slowed my pace to edge us both, making his hips twitch.

“You ignored the gifts I left you, Lena. Do you not like severed heads at your door?”

I slapped his chest and rode him harder. “No, I didn’t like it because it wasn’t me doing it, you fool! You know how much I like having a hand in such things.”

He let out a raw laugh and thrusted harder against me from below, threatening to scramble my brain. He sat up and wrapped his arms tightly around me, continuing to double penetrate both my pussy and my ass at the same time.

“You know how much I love your hate, little mortal. It’s all I ever wanted,” he sighed as one of his phallic limbs released inside of me, lubricating the hole further.

I grabbed his face and kissed him, loving the way his large tongue always fights to dominate me and gag me.

“I hate you for making me want you, because I don’t think I can ever leave here again.”

He laid me down onto my back and pounded into my holes until flames danced behind my lids from the most exquisite, painful climax I ever experienced. When he sank his teeth into my shoulder, I cried out and dug my nails right over where his eyes should have been, peeling the skin away to reveal that there were actually eyes hidden behind the flesh—and they were morbidly beautiful.

“There was never an escape from me, Lena. It was only a matter of when you would stop fighting us, not if.”

He released his seed into me until my body couldn’t contain it, splashing onto the satin sheets beneath us. The waves of my climax was the last thing I felt before my body began to burn in flames, the sounds of distant screams drowning out the sound of me crying out his name.