7. Lukas

/Lukas POV/


The red room was almost blinding as I stepped in. My eyes narrowed when I noticed my friend, Leo sitting on the couch. What was he doing here? Not that I did not appreciate the company in the castle but most of them wear assigned a certain task. It pisses me off if they are not completed on time. 




"Leo? Fancy seeing you here" I hummed, walking towards the huge chair. Sometimes the entire house felt like over the top but it was something I had to do for establishing my rule over the castle. To let the servants and other demons know that I was the real King of Hell. 





Leo let out a breath, "What did you do?" 




I frowned at his question. It was so vague! Pulling the chair closer I stared at him hoping to read something off his face. Years of practice made it easy for me to guess what others were thinking. Maybe that's why I had an upper hand on most of the battles and emerged victoriously.  





The demons had no real age more like there was nothing which would define their age. I met Leo when I was doing my measly duties. Usually, the low ranking demons had to prove their worth by training themselves to be strong enough to control human minds. 





At first, it was Lucifer, our original master of Hell's simple rule because he wanted to rile up his father. The easiest thing would be to control the toys he made, the humans of course. Even after he was caged the tradition sort of continued. 





All the demons had to go through basic training to have a place up in hell. The ones who failed thrown away in the Purgatory to guard the place. That's one of the harshest punishment anyone could receive. 





Leo was almost failing in his low levels, too scared and fragile for someone who was supposed to be a demon. Naturally, no one had encouraged him to do better because that would mean they would lose their spot. So I forwarded my hand towards him and together we raised our levels. The rest was history. 




Leo moved back, an annoyed look crossing his face, "Are you doing your face reading thing again?" 





For most upper-level demons, it is important to have a special power, something that made him or her different from the helpless, weak human beings. Leo was a skilled runner. He could make grown demons hide away in shame. 




Leaning back I sighed, "I was trying before you rudely interrupted" 




"Be serious Lukas it's not funny" 




"Fine!" I exclaimed, "What got your knickers in a twist?"




"Those ridiculous fairies summoned you" 




At that, my face changed. They were really pushing their luck. The three fairies- Gia, Sia, Mia were the guardians of Fate. It was in their hands to look upon the fates of others, humans mostly. As a tradition, I had to pay my visit to him on my coronation. Ever since that day they were annoying about everything. 




"Do they not know that I'm the King of Hell, bloody hell!" I gritted my teeth together looking around the room. 




Red fascinated me. There was just something about the colour. Blood, fire and everything lethal was red so I summoned the demons to take over the bodies of dead artists from the past and help me rebuild the place. It was against the law but it was my place. 





Every wall in the room was painted red and even the light in the rooms where bright red bulbs. Most of my faithful friends, I can count them on my hand gathers in the very red room for our meetings. 




Leo sighed, "You know them! They do not care about others status." 



Everything about that was true. It was ridiculous how they had everyone in the palm of their hands. Even death was a slave to their whimsical demands. As they were in control of everyone's fate they informed death about the decisions which would cause an ultimate end to humans life. In the beginning, I used to think that they would just sit around and discuss it like some game. It was different than I had imagined though. 





"What do they want with me?" 




"You fucked up Lukas" Leo whispered, his voice so low and quiet that I had to strain my ears to catch it. What was he talking about? 





The last time I went on a killing spree was because those losers had it coming. They were about to plant bombs in the entire city and as always The almighty does nothing but sit on his throne and whine about humans being wise. It was months ago and I had to endure a long lecture because of that which almost made me rethink my decision of ending them. 




"Fucked up? What did I do now?" 




He folded his arms together and raised his eyebrows at me, "Did you go on earth recently?" 




I avoided his eyes. Most of the time visiting the earth was one of the pleasures I enjoyed. There were so many things to do and I could forget about all the duties for once. My ears would be free of those cries begging for mercy. The air I breathe would feel fresh and not something made of ash and blood. Years of torturing people should have made me habitual by now but it didn't. 




"Yes for a drink" I lied



Leo snorted, "Seriously? For a drink? You have an entire bar downstairs." 




"I wanted to feel alive for once. Fuck you're making it sound like I did something wrong" 




"You know it's wrong. The celestial creatures are not allowed to contaminate the earth." Leo sighed.




I stood up, angrily stalking towards the mini bar, "We are neither of those Leo! Can't you see that? Besides what's the problem if I go up there for one night? Everything was taken care of" 




"Then why did the fairies tell me it's important? It must be something you are forgetting" 




With my breathing hitched in my throat, my hands stilled on the bottle. My eyes clenched tight as I thought about the previous night. How stupid I could be to let someone lure me like that? Something took over me the moment I stepped into that club because there was no way that I felt something for a human. 




Talia. That name. Her eyes. It was so familiar yet I couldn't place it somehow. When she asked me to come back to a place I should have said no but my mouth was not functioning. Like an idiot, I followed back home and promised to stay. She was doing something to me. That was the only explanation I could come up with. Maybe she was a witch of some kind because I could not read her thoughts. 





Whenever I tried to stare at her for too long my head was clouded with different thoughts. All of them leading back to her. As her warm body laid next to mine I felt alive. Like it was a memory. How could that be possible if I was meeting her for the first time? 





"Lukas" Leo cleared his throat and I blinked back. 




"I don't know what you want to know" I shrugged, focused on opening the new bottle of the whiskey. 




Demons had no real stomach for hunger. It did not matter if they eat or not. The drinks and food were sort of an accessory, something to make ourselves feel like a privilege. Most of them use the very reason to throw parties. 




"I just want to know if there's something you are not telling me." 



I could feel Leo's stare digging into me. That's the other thing I could never get rid of. He was very perspective for his own good. In the hundreds of years of friendship we had, he is sure that he knows everything about me. 




"Here" I handed him a glass of whiskey to which he made a face. He was not particularly fond of whiskey. His drinks always were fruity and colourful. Sometimes fooled you into thinking he has a sense of taste and was a human. 




"Thanks" He cringed, placing the glass on the table beside him. As I sat down facing him he made a face. 




"Are you going to tell me?" 





Taking a sip, I swirled the glass around, "Fine. I may have slept with a girl" 




"Lukas" 




"What? Don't act like you don't do that. I know all about your love for Anna" I huffed.




He got flustered, his cheeks tinting but shook his head, "It's different"



"How so?"



"It is. We are not talking about that" 



I rolled my eyes at his defensive stance. Anna was someone he was seeing and she's a human on earth. As he's an upper-level demon he enters into Anna's husband's body and plays house with her. It's been going on for a few years. 




"Fine"



"You know that you need to see them, right?" Leo questioned. He was referring to the fairies. 



"Yeah"
***