The Devil's obsession with the Heiress

"And what are you worried about? They are all sinners... their souls belong to us. Doesn’t the thought of tasting their delicious, tainted souls excite you?" his inner voice pressed more aggressively this time, making Gavriel bite down on his lower lip until the skin broke and his own blood spilled.

"Shut up," he hissed, his voice low and lethal.

"Why? Why hesitate? Is it because of that little rose? Hm... she seems by far the most enticin-"

"I said shut up!" Gavriel’s voice rose, agitation flaring at the mere mention of her.

Forcing himself to stop, he tightened the leash around his darkness, aware of how dangerously tempting those words sounded, even to his own ears.

And yet, unbidden, her face surfaced in his mind. Her eyes, her voice, her hair, her lips... everything about her was irresistibly captivating, enough to draw even a being like him towards her.

With only the thought of her, Gavriel felt himself grow hotter, as if he were being consumed by a different kind of fire, and his darkness stirred excitedly in response.

Just when he felt he could no longer pull himself out of the spiral he was sinking into, he suddenly stilled as he sensed a familiar presence nearby.

Gritting his teeth, he hissed, "Do you want to die... Reve?"

Reve shivered at the sheer menace in his master’s voice and bowed his head lower.

"Forgive me, Master, for disturbing you. But there is a problem, and I seek your permission to intervene if needed."

"You think... I care about any problems right now..." Gavriel exhaled, his voice low and icy, sending a chill through Reve.

With his master’s power leaking out at such a dangerous rate, even before midnight, it was enough to kill him if he lingered any longer.

Reve’s body trembled, yet something told him that failing to report this would bring far worse consequences.

"But, Master... it concerns that woman."

As soon as those words left Reve’s lips, a quiet stillness settled in the air.

Gavriel’s eyes finally snapped open, revealing them to be a shimmering blood-red with black slits at their centre.

​

....

[Music recommendation: Mos Elian - Piece of Hope]

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​Back in Mar Azura, which remained shrouded in complete darkness, Aliana huffed as she continued to run with all her might.

Surprisingly, she couldn’t spot a single human in sight. It seemed they were either busy fixing the power issue or concentrated on the gala nearby.

In a way, she was glad not to be spotted. With her current dishevelled state and blood dripping from her arms due to the glass shards, word would definitely travel fast. Especially with the media present, it would be disastrous, to say the least.

However, she couldn’t afford to care about her reputation as the evil spirits advanced toward her.

They appeared out of nowhere, blocking her path again and again, forcing her to dodge or lash out with that strange force from her hands. Which seemed to drive them back, if only temporarily.

It was the only reason she had managed to survive this long instead of being dragged to wherever they intended to take her.

’Did they have some kind of intervention and decide to terrorise me all at once after two days of silence, or were they simply looking to feast on a lovely full moon night?’

Even in such dire conditions, her brain worked overtime.

She was beginning to truly curse her luck. Or better yet, she thought that she might have actually been cursed to go through an ordeal that no normal human could survive.

"Being chased by lunatic ghosts was definitely not on my bucket list before I died!" she huffed, breathless as she panicked.

The darkness pressed in around her, but her eyes had adjusted just enough because of the cool glow of the moon. Helping her make out faint shapes along the corridor.

Even as her mind tried to make sense of the situation, Aliana was terrified.

She had never been this scared in her life. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

But giving up was not an option, so she pushed herself. Ignoring the burn in her legs and the sting of her wounds, she continued until she finally saw the place she had been running towards.

Just as she saw her destination, only a couple of doors away, she moved toward it with hope flickering in her eyes.

She had barely taken three steps when her body was slammed violently against the wall.

Before Aliana could react, her hands were forced up, her wrists pinned in place by an unseen grip that held her there like iron.

A sinister whisper echoed in her ear, "Got you," before hysterical, evil laughter broke out all around her.

She couldn’t see them, couldn’t count how many there were, but their presence pressed in from every side, suffocating the air around her.

Aliana gasped as her face was pushed harshly against the wall, her body shaking uncontrollably as panic clawed its way through her. She struggled, twisting, trying to break free, but it was useless. It felt as though multiple hands held her down, tightening their grip with every second she fought.

Cold, dread crawled up her spine, as her eyes began to sting. The tears she had fought so hard to hold back finally spilled over, slipping down her cheeks.

A broken, desperate plea escaped her trembling lips. "P-please... let me go. I haven’t done anything to any of you..."

But her words only fed them.

Their laughter grew louder and crueller.

"Aw... the princess is crying," one of them hissed, dripping with delight.

"Don’t worry... you’ll be in a much better place soon."

At that, something inside her snapped. The thought of being dragged away, somewhere no one could ever reach her, somewhere she would be completely alone with no one to help.

Her lips parted on their own before a scream tore out of her chest, "Gavriel!!!"

As soon as she uttered his name, the ghosts around her stilled. It was as if they were struck with shock at hearing that name fall from her lips.

A thick, suffocating darkness flooded the hallway, sending a wave of cold dread through every entity present. Before any of them could turn or comprehend what was happening, a surge of dark power swept through from one side, wiping them out in an instant.

A cold gust of wind rose unnaturally, and Aliana squeezed her eyes shut as her hair whipped across her face. The air filled with piercing, agonised screeches before everything fell silent all at once.

For a heartbeat, she didn’t move, her erratic pulse ringing loudly in her ears. Still trembling, she slowly registered the pressure that had been pinning her arms and face fading away completely.

At that realisation, she cautiously opened her eyes and turned her head ever so slightly, only to find no one... except a single figure standing in the darkness.

His icy blue eyes locked onto hers as he stood a few steps away, clad in dark clothing. His long black overcoat moved with the night breeze under the pale moonlight, giving him the presence of something almost otherworldly, like a reaper who had come to claim her soul.

A few seconds passed in silence before he finally parted his lips and called out in a deep, velvety voice, "Aliana."