The music is thumping, deafening. I'm jumping along with the other patrons, my hands are in the air, and Alistair is gripping my hips. Once in a while, I feel his lips and his nose buried in my neck. It doesn't bother me, nor does it turn me on. Well, maybe it's a tad annoying.

I close my eyes and feed off the energy of mostly humans in the room. I can sense the others- non-humans but I ignore them. I'm trying to forget everything just for a little while. Forget Astaroth and his demands. Forget Sacha and this emptiness in me when he's not around. Forget the Grimoires. Forget tomorrow.

Forgetting Sacha is a tall order but I manage to lose myself in the music and the atmosphere for a few minutes.

Suddenly, the hair on my arms and the back of my neck stand on ends and I open my eyes. The feeling of being watched is strong, my skin is burning from the heat of it. My eyes clash with those of one of the dancers in the cage directly in front of me. Her shapely naked body is painted iridescent scales of red, white, and gold. I think she's supposed to be a fire-breathing dragon of some sort. Her eyes and smile are inviting and her body moves provocatively as though she's putting on a show just for me.

"I think you have an admirer, darling," says Alistair in my ear, his hands are stroking the skin of my barely covered stomach. "I think she's inviting you to dance up there with her."

I see the invitation but I look away, dismissing her. That's not it. It's not her interest or attention that sets my pulse racing and brings my sense up on high alert.

"He's here," I yell in Alistair's ear. The very depth of my being knows he's here.

"Who?"

My gaze sweeps upward and stops at a tall figure watching me from the top of the stairs on the mezzanine. My heart pounds faster in my chest, my stomach flips, and my breath grows ragged and heavy. Sacha.

I feel Alistair brushes a kiss on my jaw as I keep my eyes on Sacha who's watching us. A bit of guilt is niggling at the edge of my conscience but I don't understand why. Alistair drops another kiss on my neck and even with the fifty feet or so separating us, I can feel the surge of his fury.

"What are you talking about?" asks Alistair again in my ear. But then, "Oh, f*ck!" I guess he figures out what I was talking about now.

Alistair's hands on my hips propel me to move but I only manage to take a step before a hulking figure of a Nephilim guard is blocking our way. "Follow me," the man says in a deep voice that rises above the sound of the deafening music. He turns around and someone else, another massive guard behind us, puts his large hand on Alistair's shoulder.

I hear Alistair behind me letting loose a few more expletives as we follow the Nephilim guard toward the stairs.

Nerve and excitement cause my stomach to clench and I almost let out a giggle. Only Sacha can get me into this state of euphoria no matter what the circumstances are. All my senses come to life. I'm not bored for the first time tonight. This feeling, fueled by the adrenaline rush that I crave, akin to the feeling that I get from jumping off bridges or rushing down the snowy mountain at a breakneck speed. I must be crazy.

Alistair is still close behind me but his hands aren't on my hips anymore. I can feel his reluctance to move toward where we're being lead to by the two Nephilim guards.

"If you're scared of Sacha, why did you bring me here tonight?" I ask him.

"I'm not scared of him," he quickly denies, straightening the collar of his Remy Leather suede jacket, looking offended. "He doesn't care," he mutters, after a while, sounding like a misbehaved or a guilty little boy. "Once I have you, he'll leave you alone and move on to another woman."

Will he?

Sacha is in a dark suit and a tie as though he just came out of a business meeting or event. His hair is swept back, sleek and shiny, making his high cheekbones and his aristocratic nose look more prominent. He looks like one of those high fashion European male models.

His gorgeous eyes are dark with haughty disdain and his sharp jaw is clenched tight as he watches us climb up the stairs. One hand is shoved deep into the pocket of his dress pants while the other is gripping the iron railing.

The closer I get to him, the more I feel the strength of his anger, like a thunderstorm cloud swirling around him. It's almost electric, one wrong move and I'd get the jolt of its deadly current.

The moment my feet touch the top of the stairs, his hand comes out to grip my arm and I'm being shoved behind him.

"Sacha..." says Alistair before Sacha's fist connects with his face and he goes sprawling on the floor.

Before he can utter another word, Sacha is gripping the collar of his jacket, pulling him to his feet as though he weighs nothing, and slugs him a couple more times.

His head snapped back, blood is flying and splattering everywhere and soon, he's back on the floor. If Alistair was a regular human, he'd probably be dead.

"Dude!" he yells, as he crawls on his elbows and back, trying to get away from the menacing and stony-faced Sacha. Even sprawling on the floor, he seems unsteady. He stops a few feet away and raises one hand in surrender while another is covering his bloody nose. His eyes seem unfocused. "Why?"

"I told you she's off-limits!"

"But you never cared if I slept with any of them before."

"You sleep with her and you die!" Sacha snarls, ready to pounce on the half-demon man again.

"I get it! Okay! I get it!" says Alistair, awkwardly pushing himself back even further. I don't know if Alistair really gets it. If anything, he looks rather puzzled.

"You're not welcome anywhere near me or what's mine," Sacha grits out through clenched teeth.

"F*ck!" I hear Alistair curses behind us as Sacha drags me away with an iron grip around my wrists.

We're not heading out of the club and I don't know where he's taking me. But with the mood that he's in now, I think it's wise not to argue or say anything.

He pulls me through a dark, quiet corridor with the two guards following closely behind us. The sound of the pounding music grows fainter with every step that we take.

He drags me into a waiting elevator at the end of the corridor and one of the guards presses the button that goes up to the fifth floor instead of going down.

When we reach the fifth floor, the guards stay in the elevator while he pulls me out by my wrist.

I turn around to look at the guards as if they would offer me any assistance but they just nod at him as the door closes on them.

We're going through another hallway with a thick carpet floor.

"Where are you taking me?" I finally demand to know as we walk past several doors. It's plush and looks like a hallway of a posh hotel but with dimmer lights.

He doesn't answer me as he continues to propel me forward. He's like a tightly wound spring, ready to uncoil.

My stomach feels heavy with nerves. I'm also curious and anxious, so I extend my hearing to find out if there's anyone behind those closed doors.

These walls are thick, but from my hearing, I can tell that all but one is empty. From the third room to our left, I hear a woman's moan of ecstasy as well as a male grunting and the sound of slapping skin against skin.

I don't have time to ponder on that as Sacha unlocked the door directly across the hall from it with a card.

He explodes as soon as the door slams shut behind us. "I really can't leave you alone, can I?" he bellows. "Were you trying to make me jealous or do you really have no clue?"

I open my mouth to answer but pause as my eyes take in the room that we're currently in. The walls are painted cream and red with scarlet velvet curtains. In the middle of the room is a kingsize four-poster bed with white beddings but the canopy is draped with deep crimson shimmery silk fabric.

"Is this a sex room?" I blurt out. I know some clubs with such rooms for their VIPs at the back and I have no doubt, Sacha will always be a VIP wherever he goes. At any clubs. And women throw themselves at him...

Sacha curses and runs his fingers through his thick dark hair as though frustrated. "Damn it, Danica! Are you playing with me right now?"

"No, I am being serious!"

"Then answer me! What part of being mine don't you understand? Haven't I made myself absolutely clear to you?" He faces me. One hand clutches my arm. "Being mine means no other men, Danica. You, are mine!"

"But I'm not yours!" I scream, feeling equally frustrated. What does being his mean anyway? "I belong to Astaroth! My life belongs to him!"

His nostrils flare and his eyes glitter in anger. "Why?" he barks out. "Why do you have to belong to him? Why can't you be mine? Why are you so loyal to him, Danica?" His both hands come up to grip my shoulders tightly in frustration. "Why must you follow his orders? What did you get out of it? Tell me, Danica! Tell me!"

"So I can live okay?" I yell back. Then I gasp, surprised at my own admission and outburst. I didn't mean to say that, he just made me so...angry! And frustrated.

But I can't seem to keep my mouth shut. With him, sometimes it's like I've swallowed a truth serum. "My reward is not getting punished...or killed." I stare at my feet. "I hate getting lashed and I hate it, even more, when he uses his Excruciarch. The pain is like being burnt alive." From the inside out. There's no pain like it in this world. Sometimes I pray for something other than death because death is not an escape from him. "If I do as I'm told, I get to live another day...or another month. Another year."

He drops his hands from my shoulders as though my skin was scorching hot.

"And because he's the only thing that is constant," I feel the energy shift but I dare not look up. I don't want to see pity in his eyes. Or worse, disgust. I'm such a pathetic, pathetic being. "No one else stayed. Everyone else left or got taken away. But he stays and it's the only thing that I know. I only know how to follow his orders."

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Hello, dearies!

Sorry for the late update. I wasn't feeling well yesterday. Anyway, I hope you like today's update. If you want to read three chapters ahead, go to:

https://Inkitt.app.link/RA_NicoleRidd3y

My next update is going to be on Tuesday.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay safe and healthy!

Much love,

Nicole♥