Page 7 of Queen of the Wicked (Afterlife #1)

Alessia

I t took a lengthy amount of time for the sun to rise. Maybe it was because Alessia had spent a large portion of her day with the Lord of Hell, but truthfully, she found herself more scared of the random snaps of twigs in the forest around them than the demon sleeping inside the tent.

She spent her two-hour watch shift poking the fire to keep it burning and eating another granola bar, but it did nothing to stop the gurgling.

She was used to eating a well-balanced breakfast every morning, followed by a vigorous running session, so her stomach was out of sorts at the sudden routine change.

Finally, when orange and red streaks streamed through the branches of the sycamore trees, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Her shift was ending, so she dipped behind the tent and walked a good couple of feet away before she did her lady business and used the travel-sized toothpaste in her backpack.

She didn’t bring enough clothes to risk changing them so soon.

She had no idea how long they’d be traveling or how close they were to the witch’s cottage, so she returned to the tent in her clothing from yesterday.

It wasn’t like there was a door to knock on, and she didn’t want to just unzip the entrance in case he was indecent. How did demons sleep, anyway? He probably slept with clothing on, right? Did he sleep naked?

Oh, God.

Why was she thinking of the Lord of Hell without clothing?

Her cheeks burned just as the tent unzipped, his eyes narrowing slightly when he saw her lingering there like an imbecile. He had told her to wake him at sunrise, so it was his fault.

“Good morning,” she said, mentally slapping herself.

He muttered a string of curse words as he stepped out of the tent, fully dressed in his outfit from yesterday—a pair of black pants, a black t-shirt, and black boots with metal chains dangling off them. She never noticed yesterday, but the t-shirt clung to his chest and thick planes of muscle.

His pants, however…

He glanced down and scoffed when he caught her staring. “It’s part of the dark magic that runs through my veins, Mortal. Get used to it. Sizes are larger than normal in Hell. I’m surprised you didn’t take my cock’s size along with everything else you stole from me.”

The outline of the thick shaft stopped at his upper thigh, but she didn’t want to stand there gawking at him.

She especially didn’t want him to think she was lusting after him because she wasn’t .

“I guess I had to leave you with something to keep your big ego intact, huh?” She smiled wickedly and began to break down the tent.

“So, how far are we from the witch’s cottage? ”

He ran a hand through his hair as he watched her do all the work. Not that she blamed him since he had never done this before, but still. Help would have been nice. “We should arrive later this afternoon,” he said.

“And should I know anything about the witch? Is there more than one? Are they going to try to kill me, too?”

“Why must you ask so many questions?” He groaned and rubbed his temples. “Nobody can harm you if I tell them not to. I rule the realm of Hell and Earth as well.”

“So that part of my history lesson was true,” she said. “Seraphims aren’t allowed on Earth because it’s technically your territory.”

He nodded. “Precisely. We need to leave if we want to make it there at a reasonable hour.”

“Well, it’d be a lot easier if I had some help . Are you always this lazy?” She propped a hand on her hip, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. “You’re just so used to having your little servants do everything for you, right? Hate to break it to you, Erebos, but I’m not one of your servants.”

He released a ragged sigh before stalking over to help pull out one of the stakes. “Why aren’t you scared of me?” he asked. “Others cower in fear when they are in my mere presence, and yet, you…” He scanned her face as if it would give him an answer. “You are unaffected.”

Alessia glanced around at the vast and empty forest around them.

“Take a look around you. I have no choice but to trust you. My mom is dead, and my mother is missing. I could submit to the fear that’s probably somewhere inside of me, or I can handle what I’m dealt and make the best of it.

Besides, you have no power, so you can’t harm me.

Especially not with the blood pact we made. You’ll die.”

“And the tale of the blood pact I make with others just suddenly sprang into your mind without any research conducted beforehand?”

“As I told you before, yes. It came to me randomly.”

“And has anything else come to you randomly?”

She huffed and began rolling the tent up, ignoring the dirt that stained her pants. “You said I ask a lot of questions? Funny, but no, nothing else. Why are you so curious? Afraid I’m going to see all of the horrible torture you’ve bestowed upon everyone?”

She wouldn’t share the fact that random voices filled her head yesterday when she could have just reached the point of mental insanity. That was the most plausible explanation for it.

“Something like that,” he muttered. “Come on, we’ve got to get going.”

One mile into their trip, the voice entered her head again.

She tried to make it seem like she wasn’t deathly afraid of them, and this time, she didn’t freeze up completely.

Instead, she tripped over her two feet, steadying herself when Erebos looked back at her.

He narrowed his eyes like he always tended to do, but thankfully, he didn’t sense something was off before leading the way again.

Erebos, I’ve sent a team to Earth to start the hunt, but nobody knows your last whereabouts. Where did you run off to? I don’t want Bastian to catch word of your absence. It’ll only make the investigation worse.

Investigation?

What investigation?

She waited to see if they said anything else, and after a few seconds, the gruff voice finally came through again. Who is this? How are you listening to this communication?

Silently slapping a hand over her mouth like she said something aloud, she followed Erebos, her tiny legs trying to keep up with his long, powerful strides.

Would continuing to reply help her or just make it worse? Maybe they could help restore Erebos’s powers, and she could get the information she needed about her mother’s whereabouts from the witch. Then, she could go home and live happily ever after.

Easy.

Releasing a deep breath, she mentally repeated the words that flowed into her head and sent them off into the abyss of wherever they went. Somewhere in Hell, apparently.

My name is Alessia, and that’s a long story that is too long to tell over…this. Erebos is with me, and he is safe.

That is not enough. How are you using this form of communication? Are you telepathic?

No. Well, I don’t know. I’m trying to figure that out. Somehow, Erebos’s powers entered me, and he’s currently without them. We are going to a witch’s cottage to see if they can restore his powers. You are communicating with Erebos, but it’s coming through me instead.

A long, painful silence followed.

Which cottage?

I have no idea. I’ve never been to a witch’s cottage.

Another long silence.

You’re a mortal?

Potentially? I’m not exactly sure. Still trying to figure that part out.

Please inform Erebos that we will be there shortly.

Wait—

But even though she wasn’t physically talking to someone, she could still sense that whoever was on the receiving end of the communication had vanished. The string that tethered them together was now floating astray in her mind, so she released another irritated sigh and pushed ahead.

All of this was so confusing. She didn’t understand what was happening, or why his powers were inside her, but she would gladly give them back if it meant this could be over and done with between them.

She had no interest in being connected with the Lord of Hell, especially since he was such a grump.

Were all men like this? She hadn’t been around enough to tell. Secluded in the country, the only men she saw were the ones in movies or books. Being around Erebos had her thoughts muddled and her emotions all over the place, leaving her torn between loathing him and lusting after him.

Even now, his broad shoulders flexed beneath the t-shirt he wore, and no matter how far ahead he walked, his woodsy, intoxicating scent still made its way to her nose. She despised how quickly she was to inhale it when he gave her no reason to be so drawn to him.

“A lot of sighing back there,” Erebos noted, proving said point. “Getting tired?”

Eight words were all it took to clear Alessia’s head of any remaining lust towards the demon. The man was attractive, sure, but any man would be appealing when this was the first one she’d ever been around.

“No,” she sneered, vowing to ignore his appearance for the rest of eternity. “I run three miles every morning, thank you very much. I’m doing just fine.”

“Then why the sighing?”

Should she tell him about the random communication?

What if she was speaking to someone she wasn’t supposed to?

What if they were an enemy of his? It was doubtful, but if they were, she’d be in deep shit.

It was better to keep her mouth shut. If those people came to rescue them, then great, but she wasn’t saying a word to Erebos about any of it.

He didn’t need to know. Either way, they had to go to the witch’s cottage to get answers.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m upset over this whole fucking situation? Perhaps the fact that I know absolutely nothing about my family, my past, or the reason I’m considered important ? Or the fact that I have your stupid powers flowing through me and don’t know how to use them? They’re useless.”

He scoffed. “You have the highest power in all of the realm running through your veins right now. Watch it.”

“Doesn’t feel very strong to me,” she said. “I can’t feel shit.”

His shoulders tensed beneath the t-shirt, but he continued walking ahead of her, gracefully avoiding rocks and tree stumps without ever looking down. “Do you know who your father is? I mean, you had to know that two women couldn’t have created you.”

“No, really ? I must have missed that biology lesson.”

He whirled to face her. Almost seven inches taller, he loomed over her body as he glared into her eyes, and at that moment, she began to realize why people feared him so much. His eyes were so dark they were almost black, but not as black as when that seraph attacked them.

They continued staring at each other for what felt like an eternity, and the blossoming sensation in her chest began to stir, awakening the buzzing that erupted at the top of her head and traveled to her toes.

“Relax,” Erebos coaxed gently, continuing to scan her eyes. His power must have taken over her again because she could discern the energy just begging to be released. “Take a deep breath, Mortal.”

“It’s Alessia,” she corrected, but the voice that came out of her was not her own. It was otherworldly, possessed even. “Alessia Eastwood.”

He blinked a few times, until finally, he whispered, “ Alessia . Take a breath.”

Although her name on his tongue sounded sweeter than she expected, she wanted to rip his head off for whirling around like that in front of her in the first place.

She was tired of him acting like an ass and not helping her and treating her like she was some stupid, brainless girl.

She had so much power that it was laughable.

She had the power to destroy him and this entire fucking world.

Whoa, where did that come from?

She shook her head as she attempted to clear her thoughts, but the evil inside of her continued to linger. It clawed at her insides, latching onto each muscle and organ until it was climbing up her throat, seconds from exploding into the forest surrounding them.

“Fuck,” he muttered when the ground began to shake.

The rumbling echoed through the trees, and surprisingly, she didn’t need to think about how to use her power.

She already knew how to use it—like it had been ingrained in her for years, waiting patiently for its host to cooperate.

With a swish of her hand, a tornado of leaves swarmed both of them, a security barrier to ensure her enemy had nowhere else to go.

“I’m not your enemy,” he answered, seeming to read her thoughts.

Maybe by using his powers, they’d transfer back into him instead.

She didn’t want them. She didn’t need to be filled with this much evil, but when she took a look behind her, through the tornado of leaves, the sight before her stole her breath away.

Alessia knew it was a mirage, but she relished in it anyway.

She reveled in how much torture she’d be able to bestow upon him for the pain he cast upon her.

The seraph who killed her mom and attempted to kill her was nailed directly to the tree in front of them, his head hanging in the middle of his chest.

Tears pricked the backs of her eyes as she tried to find common ground between right and wrong. She shouldn’t feel this way, but the magic inside of her was too strong. It wanted to murder him all over again. It tried to show him no mercy. It was begging her to kill him.

But then a shimmer of warmth flickered in her chest, like a match trying to light a fire in the middle of a snowstorm. It was small, but she latched onto that flame with all of her might, enjoying the feeling it brought her.

It kept her grounded.

With the wind still whipping her hair in disarray, she jumped back when she noticed Erebos’s hand clamped down on her arm.

He watched the tears rolling down her cheeks, but he didn’t share a lick of what was going on in his mind.

For whatever reason, she knew she could read his thoughts if she wanted to, so she tilted her head to the side as she stared at him, his thoughts flowing just like the ravaging wind around them.

Breathe, he repeated.

Shit. He knew she was in his head.

This will all be over if you just take a breath, Alessia. Listen to me.

Closing her eyes, she did as she was told and inhaled deeply through her nose, counted to ten, then exhaled out of her mouth.

The evil began to coil up inside of her like a rattlesnake, but she got the sense that if provoked again, it wouldn’t take much for it to strike and sink its venom into the first person it encountered.

The burning touch of Erebos’s palm still lingered as he continued to hold her arm, and when the leaves fell back to the ground, the calm settling in once more, she collapsed right along with them.