They were able to keep this secret for centuries—that was, until her father eventually found out. The betrayal happened because Adaela’s father decided to marry her off to a prince from another realm. Sabine became distant, and Adaela became suspicious. Her instincts were right, though. Sabine was having an affair with the prince on the king’s orders, and he played both of them against one another.
Her trust was shattered. Her father, in a false outrage that a prince would have an affair with a lowborn, forced Adaela to go to war again. Her father had known about Sabine the entire time. She was a plant. In her grief, Adaela lost herself entirely. She lost control of her death magic, and she murdered several hundred Fae from her court, including Sabine. In her grief and anger about the collateral damage, she realized she could no longer be who her father demanded, and the safest thing for her would be to leave the Unseelie realm and begin anew.
“So, with that, I took everything I could from the world, all the treasures and belongings my father had been searching for to amass more power, and I left. He never even knew that the items were right under his nose,” she sobbed. I held her tighter.
“What sort of treasure?” I asked, rubbing her back lightly.
“I cannot speak of it in public, but I do want to tell you. What I can say right now is that I have not been in a serious relationship in almost 100 years. I learned who I was outside of Underhill, and I learned how to be alone. I don’t trust easily, Vada, but you’ve gotten behind my defenses in such a short period of time,” she replied.
“As I’ve told you before, sweet girl, I’m not going anywhere. Do you want to go back to my place and watch a movie? I can make us a cup of coffee, and we can chill for the rest of the night if you’d like. You’re in no state to go home right now, and I’d like to hold you longer if you’ll let me,” I said.
She smiled through her tears, then placed a soft kiss on my lips. “I’d like that.”
April 17th
Iquietly snuck behind the Fomorian, or water demon, and kicked out his knee, making him shout in pain instead of rousing the crowd. I wasn’t the bitch who would fight fair. This fight made eighteen challenges in the last few weeks, and I was ready to end it. I’d let every single demon who’d challenged me go when they tapped out, but tonight, I was out of patience, and out for fucking blood.
“Listen here you little fuckstain. I’m not fucking around. Either you fight or you fucking get out of my face. I don’t have all night,” I snarled.
He quickly turned around, face serious, and stood to his almost seven-foot form. I smirked up at him. He blasted a vicious attack on me with his water magic, conjuring up a megalodon out of the water to try and eat me in one bite. I laughed out loud as I blocked the advance, remembering the night that Adaela and I read that book about the megalodon Shifter. I then remembered what else happened that night, and I was instantly turned on. I decided to use my succubus powers for all they were worth. His water magic could’ve easily takenme down, but I couldn’t be killed. I would always withstand the test of time, because that was how Hashem created me. This demon wasn’t immortal, and he’d chosen the wrong person to fuck with.
I walked toward him seductively, swaying my hips and stripping my armor off slowly. My magic had him tracing my every step, and I focused my attention on his reactions so that my power would have its full effects. I had a tight black tank top underneath the armor, but my seduction magic had him believing that he saw my naked body.
“Oh, you poor boy, you’ve been bad for mommy, haven’t you?” I cooed, disgusted with myself. I had enough practice to not let it show.
He quickly released his megalodon, pouring water all over the coliseum, making the dirt floor muddy around us, but it landed without injuring me. My favorite boots now had mud on them, and my annoyance ratcheted up a notch. As he walked toward me, thinking he was going to get some, I kneed him in the groin, then threw an uppercut to his jaw as he bent over in pain. I didn’t hold back. I sent him flying across the arena, crashing into a boulder about fifteen feet away. I used a burst of speed to meet him where he landed and watched as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
“I don’t have time for this shit. This is your last chance to tap out and accept that I’m your new leader, or I’m taking your head and the head of every single one of you motherfuckers who believes they stand a chance against me,” I whispered in his ear.
“Fuck you, cunt. You’ve been here all of a minute. You don’t deserve the place you’ve been put in,” he spat.
I sighed, takingVindictaout of its sheath. “It’s your funeral. I didn’t want the role to begin with. You guys voted me in, and Itake my responsibilities seriously—whether I wanted them or not.”
He had yet to notice that I stole most of his energy when I seduced him, feeding into my strength. I focused that energy down the blade, swinging my double-handed sword around in circles around my head, waiting for him to realize it. He stood up, a snarl on his face, and I knew in that moment that he was going to make a mistake. He reached for his magic, but there was nothing left, and I laughed.
“Missing something there, big boy?” I taunted.
In his anger, he rushed toward me, no weapon in hand. I moved out of the way of his huge fists, then slammed the hilt of my sword into the back of his head. He went down again. If there was anything I could tell with these fools who have tried to fight me over the last few weeks, it was that they had completely let their fight training go.
“Grab your weapon, you fucking idiot. I’m not going to fight you without it,” I yelled, hearing the crowd starting to boo the Fomorian soldier. I hoped that they were beginning to see why I was put in this position, much as I didn’t want it. I was concerned about what would happen when the real war began.
He recovered quickly for someone who’d received several blows to the head in minutes. Grabbing his sword, he faced me, a challenge in his eyes. “You won’t beat me in hand-to-hand or weapons, bitch.”
“Yeah, I doubt that. When was the last time you trained instead of talking shit? I would bet it was when you started to experience a modicum of safety here that you forgot your training, didn’t you? Now all you have is words.” I shifted my weight so I was more balanced and waited.
He came at me, thrusting his sword down toward my head. I caught his sword with mine, and I had to admit, this demonwas strong. My weight was preventing him from being able to move his blade, and I twisted out of the struggle. Circling around him, I noticed that he favored his left side, often keeping his right open and ready for attack. I faked left, watching his eyes light up as I maneuvered around him, getting to his back and stabbing my blade deep into his kidney. He choked on air as he went to his knees again. Coming up behind him, I pulled his head back by his hair as I whipped out a dagger, droppingVindictato the ground and kicking it out of his reach.
“I told you, I will not tolerate any more challenges to my authority. Either you’re here to help thePax, oryou’re here for something more nefarious. I won’t accept it anymore.” I slit his throat deep, then pushed him back to the dirt floor, watching the life bleed out of him with no emotion on my face.
Death didn’t mean much to me anymore. I’d become numb to it after living under Asmodaeus. Other than losing demons a few weeks ago, this likely was the first death most of these demons had seen in years. I knew without a doubt that there’d be beings in the stands who supported the Formorian, but I acknowledged those who were cheering for me while making note of those who seemed out for blood. I’d have to change their thinking, and soon.
“I am done with the challenges. I’m done wasting my time and breath telling you fuckers that I didn’t want this position, but there’s enough of you out there who voted to put me here. It’s likely that you’d heard of me before, and you know my worth in battle. Every challenge after today will be met with a violent end,” I yelled into the stands.
The crowd grew quiet.
“It is obvious to me that every single being who has challenged me has been living in the past, believing that their strengths would tide them over. You have become too complacent, too comfortable. Beginning tomorrow, anyone who was awarrior before thePaxwill report to me. War is coming, it has been seen by the Fates. It should not have been this easy to kill him,” I spat, kicking at his dead form to make my point.
I walked away from the coliseum seething in anger and frustration. What the fuck had Pan been doing all these years? The Demon Faction was a wreck full of lazy, entitled assholes, and that was changing now. We were a class of warriors. I understood that safety and comfort meant something, but not to the detriment of protecting what we had here. They had to know that peace wouldn’t last.
