Chapter 6: A Demon Prince

'An offer?! From a demon prince?!' 

Hazel looked on confusedly with her hands still clutching the dagger plunged into her by her beloved.

She held onto the dagger as if it was some life source.

"Don't be afraid," The demon prince said as he sauntered towards her.

"Where am I?" Hazel said as she took her eyes off of the red eyed phantom walking towards her and gazed around.

She was in a place that seemed empty yet filled; she was in perpetual darkness but she was still able to see the phantom before her as clear as day.

"You're nowhere," The demon prince said with a smile.

Hazel tried to let her wolf out but it seemed like there was an emptiness in her as her wolf didn't surface. For the first time in her life, she felt entirely naked and alone.

Raglan chuckled, "that is useless, your wolf is dead–died some minutes ago. Its just you now."

Hazel just stared mortified at him without saying a word.

"Take a walk with me," Raglan said in a tender tone as he held out his hand to Hazel.

Hazel was not about to jump into any trust relationship right now, not after being killed by the one she loved and so she ignored his offer of his hand.

However, she followed him when he started walking away.

"Where am I?" Hazel asked once more. 

"You are nowhere, " Raglan repeated again. "You are neither with the dead nor alive. You are in the middle," he added.

A gasp escaped Hazel's lips as Raglan words sunk into her. 

For the first time, her hands left the handle of the dagger and she slowly brought her hands up to her face as she observed her blood soaked hands.

"No," She mumbled out in a cry of disbelief.

"I cannot be dead. This cannot be happening!" She cried out as she protested.

Raglan was not the least bit moved by her tears. He just stood watching her.

Being the harbinger of death, he had experienced a lot of souls wailing in denial to their predicament. 

"I have to go back!" Hazel addressed Raglan.

"I cannot be dead, I need to go back!" she protested.

Calmly and assuredly, Raglan answered her, "I know and that is why I have an offer for you."

Hazel gazed at him with confused, tear filled eyes laced with a glimmer of hope.

Looking into her eyes, Raglan said, "You can either decide if you want to die or return to the land of the living and exert revenge on your sister and her lover."

He said no more but looked at her intensely as he watched his words sink into her head.

He watched as his green eyes changed from being filled with sadness, to being filled with hope and to the result he desired–eyes filled with undiluted hate and vengeance.

"I want to go back," She said defiantly with rage firing up in her eyes. It was a sharp contrast to the wailing little scared girl she had been earlier on. 

A little sinister smile crept up the face of the demon prince.

"Good," He said. "You will get your life back. " 

"But at a cost," he added.

All through the moments they'd been together, Hazel had felt no fear being in his presence but all of a sudden, she felt chills go down her spine. Who the hell was this man and how was he going to give her back her life?

"What are you?" Hazel asked Raglan jn a scared voice.

"I am a demon prince. I am the prince of the underworld," He answered her.

He saw the fear in her eyes and so he assured her, "I won't hurt you. I am only here to help you."

"Why?" Hazel asked. She still was not sure about trusting this man.

"Because despite what people think, I am not actually evil, now, are you prepared to pay the cost for your life?" he replied.

Hazel knew that any price she had to pay for her life was not going to be an easy one but as the thought of Maeve's sinister smile and Asher's betrayal flashed through her eyes, she knew that whatever it would cost her to exert her revenge was going to be worthwhile. 

"Yes," She answered.

"Good. I will give you back your life, and you can go and have your revenge but first,  you would have to do something for me. You are going to kill the seven people," he said.

"They are the seven Alpha's of the house of midnight and I want every last one of them dead and only then will I give you back your life," He added.

"Why can't you do that yourself? You're literally Death," Hazel argued.

"I can't. I may rule over death but I cannot dish it out."

"Why do you even want them dead?" Hazel asked. She did not know why she had to be an assassin to seven people who she had nothing to do with.

"Because I want to do something for humanity. You see, these seven Alpha's have preyed on people for years now. They have committed too many atrocities and I am tired of having to receive innocent souls sent over to this realm because of these treacherous seven and it is about time I end their reign," Raglan said.

"But why me? Why not someone else? I am just a kid. How am I supposed to be able to kill seven powerful Alphas?"

In a nonchalant tone and a shrug of his shoulder, Raglan said, "it has to be you because I made a bet with myself that I would pick the next person who happens to drop by here."

He did not tell her that it was because she had messed with the balance of earth by being dead. She was not supposed to die and her death could lead to far more chaos so he had to send her back. He was just using the opportunity to get what he wanted.

"And as for how you are going to carry it out, I have that sorted out," He added.

Hazel was still shook by what was going on and so she just kept on staring at him in silence.

"You cannot go back to earth in this same body. You need to be undercover and that is why I am going to give you a new body. However, if you complete the task I have given you, you will cease to be a ghost and you will finally have your old life and body back."

"And if I fail?" She asked.

"You die," Raglan answered with a finality to his voice that almost broke Hazel's heart to pieces.

And when she thought that was the worst that could happen, he added, "and someone you love dies also."

Hazel's heart skipped. Asher was going to die if she failed? People would say she was crazy to feel something for the same man who loved her but she knew it was not his fault.

He had been bewitched by that evil of a sister.

She did not have any ill feelings towards him and her revenge mission was more to save him rather than kill him. 

Asher was not her enemy. She knew who her enemy was and she had shared a womb with her.

She was also doing this for her parents. It could be either any of them that would be killed. There was no way she was ever going to let any of her family ever get hurt. Including Maeve. She alone would be the one to harm Maeve and she would make sure she gained as much pleasure as she could from it. 

Raglan noticed how deeply affected she was by his words and he decided to utilize the moment.

Raglan then stretched forth his left hand and offered it to Hazel.

Hazel gazed into his outstretched palm where she saw a necklace laying on it.

The necklace was a simple gold chain which had on it a crystal pendant. 

As she admired the necklace, Raglan said, "every time you kill any of the Alphas, this pendant will fill up with a drop of blood till all seven are dead. And if you fail, your blood and the one of your loved ones will be used to fill it up."

He spoke so calmly but his words sounded like a threat and she treated it as such.

"Take it," He commanded and Hazel reached out her hand and picked it up. 

There was no going back now. She had sealed her fate and it was time for her new life to begin.