The Demon's Bride

Esther then sharply inhale her breaths, "Then tell me, how would we be able to enter his house? You know the consequences if you don't help me, do you?"

Venervy shake her hands as a way to show her surrender. "NO! Of course I would help you. While the lord warned me to not bring you to his presence, he also warned me to protect you. And the second warning is more important than the first."

As much as Esther wanted to say she is strong enough to protect herself, her couldn't help but throb at the concern that Beelzebub shown for her. He pushed her away yet he still concerned about him. Why?

"How?" Esther then asked, her blue eyes filled with determination.

Late at night, Beelzebub gazed at the white moon on the black sky, his handsome face was covered by a red mask as a the dress code of party requires for a mask to cover their identity. Beelzebub had chosen this for people to not bother him who currently at an ill mind.

His golden hair was not a rare color for him to hide but he could see the thirsty eyes of the demons who was searching for him for their own gains and therefore chose to hide his golden hair color into a tame brown color.

"The Lord should be on his death bed by now, what are you searching him for?" One demon asked the woman who was beside him, both of them had a bull's mask to cover their identity without knowing the person of their conversation was standing right beside them.

"At the least I won't mind accompanying him on his death bed," replied the woman, her hourglass body was fully emphasized by the gown she wore.

"Since when had you decided to become a benevolent person?" The man chuckled in response.

"Oh please, I do not wish to become a benevolent person but if I am on his death bed, being the only person who still stay with him despite him tip-toeing around death, it would impress him enough to let me have some of his wealth, don't you think?"

Greed, thought Beelzebub. Each demons have their greed, some weak, some harmless, and some obsessive like his own greed and curse that affected him.

He should be angered by the people around him who want to use his name for their advantage but Beelzebub had enough history of people like them to be bothered by it anymore.

To think that he finally found a person who wouldn't want to use him… and that person was Esther.

He recalled the time he tried to seduced Esther to gain information for who she was working for. His question was sinfully attractive when he asked her, "I can grant all the wish that you have, whatever your greed wants you, if you agree to be my partner in crime, I can promise your wish to be fulfilled."

Even with eyes closed, Beelzebub recall freshly the sharp gaze that Esther directed toward him. Her beautiful place made her glare even more intense.

"I don't need your help," her stubborn words were firm and that side of her piqued Beelzebub's interest. "If I wish for something, I would be the one to fulfill it myself. I do not need anyone's help as I trust no one. Can you give me a reason on why I can trust you?"

"Why did she attract you into such level? You were never this interested in person before." freℯ𝓌e𝚋𝐧𝘰vℯl.𝐜𝚘𝗺

"She was similar to a cat," answered Beelzebub with his eyes still in a daze staring at the moon. "It was curiosity that pulls me into her but as I know her strong side, her weak side, along the way, she had turned into someone more meaningful than a simple cat—"

Realizing that the person who asked him was not his mind but a person who had leaned on the marble railing.

"You," Beelzebub met the man's red eyes to immediately recognize who the person was. Immediately, Beelzebub raised his hand to caught the man's collar but the other had casually pushed him by his shoulder before twisting his arm and pushing him to the floor.

"Rude. Mannerless, Beelzebub," the man's voice was distinct enough for Beelzebub to confirm his guess.

"Ian!" Beelzebub struggled to get up, feeling the pain on his shoulder and he could sense his shoulder bone was fractured by the light push Ian had delivered.

Since Ian came back to life, instead of being weaker, it was the complete opposite as Ian became stronger than he should be.

"You should be with your child," commented Beelzebub. "And not here in Hell."

"My wife wished for me to bring her to meeting her family in Hell. How can I refuse? And before that wish, she exceptionally expressed to me her wish to help her aunt. By aunt, it's Esther," the moment Ian dropped Esther's name, it was as though he had also dropped an explosive that shook Beelzebub's eyes.

He glared at Ian at once. "So much for your pure name. Your wife wished for you to protect her aunt but how dare you sent her to Asmodeus? Were you in right mind? You should know that he loathe you the most."

"Ah, that?" Ian chuckled faintly. "I know of course how much that Asmodeus hated me even though I won fairly on the duel that he proposed. What a crybaby."

"Then why did you bring her there? He would kill her!" Beelzebub's eyes turned deeper in color and his horns slowly protrude from the side of his head.

His anger was visible and Ian couldn't help but grin at the way his friend was transparent now.

"I did a small trick that I did when I was young, putting honey to attract bee. I just had a brilliant idea when I thought if I put Esther on a dangerous situation, a certain someone would come to rescue her like a knight with white horse," Ian snapped his finger and raised his shoulders to prove his point. "Although I do have to mention, I was disappointed to see that the knight only sent his horse to safe his beloved instead of coming to safe her personally. Such a coward you are."

"Don't play fool, Ian. You know why I am doing this. I am pushing her away but you keep pulling her back to me. It's difficult for me to stand around her," Beelzebub clicked his tongue to express his frustration. "I do not want to have anything to do with me. Not again."

Ian's eyes moved to behind me where he saw shadow moving away. "You thought I was the one who had pulled her to you? You are wrong there, Beelzebub. It wasn't I who had pulled her back to you but you. If from the beginning you don't want her, why did you try keep her away? Why now? Be a man and see through what you have started."

Ian turned away as if to leave but Beelzebub was not done. "You know that if I pursue her what will happen is a terrible outcome. I am doing this to protect her!"

"Well currently you are hurting the said person you wish to protect. Talk. You have mouth, use it. And think of a solution using that pretty head of yours. I will leave now before my wife become worried. Unlike you, I have achieved what I call a happiness."

Beelzebub ruffled his hair when Ian left. If someone had pulled the same trick under his nose as Ian did, he would have killed the person but he couldn't when it's Ian.

'Why can't you?' The question that he heard wasn't said by anyone animated but the reflection of his own face on the colored glass pane. 'Because he is your friend? You should cast him away now. He is useless on your plan. He wasn't able to achieve his immortality and died. Remember, you only befriended him

Beelzebub's hand immediately slammed on the surface of the glass, creating a large crack and with his tightened jaw he cursed. "Can't you shut up just for once?"

More guests arrived in the party hall but Beelzebub could only feel his mood starting to plummet at the thought of Esther. He left, disappearing to his room and letting only one candle to light his room dimly.

When he closed his eyes, he could drift into the darkness after days of not sleeping but it didn't take him a minute before he was woken up again but a soft voice calling for his name.

Beelzebub opened his eyes to meet the bright, large blue eyes of the woman who stood in front of his chair. "Dream," whispered Beelzebub, not the least surprised by Esther's appearance as it wasn't the first time for him to meet Esther in his dream.

His memories was quite exceptional, praised Beelzebub to himself.

Seeing Esther's face up close, he could see the small two moles on her cheeks, her lips that were glossy and her eyelashes that was longer below than the upper one.

Her long black hair fell softly from the side of her shoulder, and Beelzebub had only sat while staring at her in awe, as if his soul was taken away from the mesmerizing view in front of him.

"I don't want you to be here," Beelzebub whispered while looking at her, still in a daze.

"Because you hate me that much?" Asked Esther who he thought to be a fragment of his imagination.

"Hate you? How?" Beelzebub questioned. Pushing himself from the chair he cut the distance between them in two short steps. His large hand touched her chin before sliding down to her neck, feeling her beating nerves. "My memories seem to be in perfect shape today. You appear no different from the real you. You're beautiful to the point—"

"Point?" Esther urged his words to continue.

Beelzebub slide his fingers across her skin. The paleness of her skin urged the desire to turn it to crimson with his lips, "To the point it is killing me."

Esther's lips opened to speak when she felt her face raised with Beelzebub who was holding her lower chin. In a moment of inaction, Esther felt his lips wrapping hers. The warmth of his mouth spread all over her lips, startling her.