BITE ME

Underworld Realm The royal castle ballroom was an incredible outburst of hues and wonderful colours. In the flickering magical hanging candlelight, the satin-and-silk-draped underworld soul maidens swirled in the arms of dashing demons, the glorious flare of their dark jewels and diamonds making a rainbow of sparkling fireworks that was reflected in the enchanted mirrors that were set in the ballroom walls. The luxurious pageantry was nearly dazzling, but it was not the passing sight that caught and held the attention of the several noble demon guests. That honour belongs entirely to the one and only son of the prince of the underworld, Xeon Morningstar, the hybrid demon werewolf and the next god of werewolves, and tonight was the night his father, Lord Deveon, the prince and the keeper of souls, would announce his successor. After all, the prince had ten long millennia as the keeper of the underworld, and it was time for him to retire and enjoy his life outside the realm. With a mug pretence that belonged completely to the elite, Lord Deveon moved through the underworld crowd, needing only a lift of his slender hand to have them part like the Red Sea to clear him a path, or a glimpse from his smouldering ebony devil eyes to send the matrons and a few cavaliers into a fluttering uproar of artificial enthusiasm. But, something was doomed to happen, and none of them expected it. A living, mortal soul accidentally penetrated their party. However, much to her annoyance, Mathena Wyatt, the intruder, smiled at their guest. Most importantly, she was just an ordinary mortal soul who drifted from her sleep and accidentally visited the realm of death without anyone knowing it. Faith? Maybe! But no one knows. Yet, she did her own share of fluttering as she caught sight of that faintly lustrous, exquisitely chiselled silhouette of Xeon Morningstar. It was foolish because a hybrid demon like Xeon would never pay attention to a lowly minor soul like her who spent her evenings in some dark corner or another. Moreover, such a royal demon did take notice of a beautiful, innocent, and alluring fresh soul who would boldly urge the most hardened demon. Which was the only reason that Mathena forced herself to follow in the wake of his lean, elegant form as he left the ballroom and made his way up the elegant and gold-encrusted staircase. Being a low-unrecognisable soul meant that she was urged to take on whatever dreadful duty happened to crop up, and on this night, her horrible chore consisted of keeping a close eye on the most attractive woman on earth, the one who was so popular and famous but died of a drug overdose. Mistress Maccona, who was clearly intrigued by a demon such as the dangerous Xeon Morningstar, had a night of passion that might very well end in humiliation for the whole royal family. So Mathena watched her mistress like a mother hen. Rushing to keep the muscled Xeon form in sight, Mathena recklessly hiked up the ordinary muslin of her white flora dress. As she had expected, he turned at the top of the stairs and made his way up the passageway that led to the private rooms. Probably for a quick f**k! All she needed to do was ensure that Mistress Maccona was not the heir to that scandalous role, and Mathena could return to her dark corner in the ballroom and watch the other ordinary demons and souls enjoy their evening. Frowning at the thought, Mathena paused as her quarry slid through a door and vanished. f**k! Now what? Although she had seen nothing of the mistress, that was no assurance that Maconna was not already concealed in the room awaiting Xeon's appearance and ready to pounce on the prince's son. Cursing her vain and self-centered task, which Mathena deemed nothing beyond her own pleasure, she then moved forward and carefully pushed open the heavy door. She would just take a quick peek and then... "F*ck!" A noise was wrenched from her throat as slender, strong fingers grasped her wrist in a cold, brutal grip, yanking her into the dark chamber and slamming the door behind her. "Who are you, mortal?" Xeon Morningstar grumbled behind her. "s**t!..." "I repeat, who are you?" "Sir, I- I'm Mathena, y-your highness, prince-king, s-sir." Mathena's voice trembled, yet she talked far too much already and she simply couldn’t stop staring at his deep azure remarkable eyes, but she supposed that was what she did when she was nervous. One can only hope she has less cause for nerves as the rest of her life unfolds when she sees him. Oh hell, those stupid Hollywood movies didn't do him justice! Xeon Morningstar was the most handsome man she had ever seen. Beyond beautiful, he was the epitome of manliness-smouldering hotness. And looking at him this close, she realized Xeon was indeed a man of magnificence and elegance. He wasn’t a male underwear model, but he should have been. The lush, mother lode-jet-black hair he groomed so carefully had rippling excellence, a sign of his promising health and power. His only blemish was that he had beetle-brows that looked at her knit in frustration. Maybe more questions she assumed. "What are you doing here, mortal?" "I- well, sir," "You are so pure and innocent... I can see through you. What business do you-" "Um-well… I'm Mathena, and I think I died, OK, um-maybe? " She paused, then looked at him in the eye, "I'm actually in a coma, for God knows how long, and I guess I f*****g died?... Yes, I think, I died." He smirked, "I don't think so… and you have the nerve to lie to me? I can see the light still hovering over you." For a minute, Xeon sighed and furrowed his nose. A light so powerful and bright that it belonged only to the living soul, and while the woman brightened up, blinking those exceedingly confused brown chestnut eyes at him, for a minute, he felt frighteningly off balance. Odd. He was never that unfocused before. But looking at her pool of remarkable orbs, he was all the more curious. "You mean I have not died just yet, sire? Um-? Odd... But I'm here at your boring party? How?" Oh yes, she knew exactly how... But a little lie could save her from him, right? "A boring party? Hmmm, you are correct, the celebration was indeed tedious and I wanted nothing to do with it." "Wow! No surprise there... So your highness, sir, did you come here because mistress Maconna is waiting for you to f**k her, ...um-here?" "Who?" Xeon mused. "Maconna, the famous soul among the, you know, the pretty singer? actress? Maconna? Who died last week from a drug overdose?" "Oh, yes, the little whore... I don't care about her. I came here because of you." "Wow! Seriously? Why?" Damn if she wasn't blushing. Perhaps her soul was so beautiful that even the son of the prince of the underworld was intrigued by her, or maybe he was just as bored as she was. After all, she wasn't a party girl and he wasn't either. "Because you are not supposed to be here, mortal." "Then, why did Mr Boat Guy give me the coins for his boat and let me travel on the river styx if I'm not supposed to be here?" "Well, I alone could see the light in you. Maybe he thought you were just a normal dark soul. Mr Boat Guy did not see your light. I am the... well, the future keeper of souls, and maybe my father was so busy that he didn't see your light either." "You don't sound sure!" "I'm certain. Why would you question me? I am the future soul keeper of this realm and the god of werewolves." "Whatever...and if your father did find out about me?" She asked, her brow raised. "He will corrupt your soul, torture you to no end until all the lights fade and you will be nothing but a dark, angry, ordinary soul." "Oh! You are simply scaring me." "No, I'm merely curious about such a soul as you. So, Mathena, what brought you here?" "I-I don't know, hell... I d-don't even know why I’m here." "Well, let me tell you this, maybe you are cursed seeing the underworld even in your coma stage, or something else brought you here, but then it's my birthday. So shall I give you a gift?" "What sort of gift?" She inquired, clearly curious. "Amnesty... I will give you that. It's your lucky day after all, and well, let me put it this way: first of all, either you are telling me the truth, that you were in a coma and your soul accidentally drifted here, or you did a f*****g demon ritual to conjure someone from this realm and instead of summoning one, you accidentally drifted here, so what is it?" "Amnesty, so you won't turn me into your father?" "Yes," he answered in a bored tone, inspecting his nails as if it was so important. "Well-um, was I that obvious?" "Yes, again," Xeon smirked and gestured for her to follow him to the balcony, where she obliged, gasping at the beautiful scenery. To say that he was more than stunned was an understatement. It was beautiful. Otherworldly wonderful. "I-I actually did a little dark magical rite, I didn't mean it though, I- f*****g thought it was just some fancy Latin thingy. One moment I was standing in the bloody salt-thingy-circle and then one thing led to another." "What made you want to summon someone from here? Didn’t you know it's very dangerous?" "I know, but I'm too d-desperate, I w-want to-well-trade something, my soul..." Mathena replied, and while she prided herself on the fact that she was barely nervous, now seemed like a fairly worthy time to examine that long-forgotten emotion, and besides, Xeon, the future soul keeper—if indeed he was the large wolf-devil-kind of a man standing before her—was not at all what she had expected, and he was so f*****g hot and handsome that she had never had a crush before; her twenty-year-old self had never been so intimate with anyone. Not because she was a tomboy or anything, but because she disliked physical contact, despised people, and had been alone since high school. Well, to her surprise, she loves being alone. Not even her rich and famous family could do anything about it. Yes, she was born with a golden fork and a spoon in her mouth, but she was never the spoiled-brat kind of mortal. She was rather the opposite—aloof, a nerd, and naive. "Oh really now? Trade your soul for what?" Xeon pondered. "I want to be normal... just a normal human." She replied with a sigh.