"I thought you were dead."

My mother chuckled as she rubbed my cheek, a tear escaping her eye. "Oh, Troy. Ever so brutally honest," She said if as if she was going to give me a lecture, but it sounded like she had missed it. I had missed her too. There was no way that I could put in words the feeling that racked my body when I laid eyes on my mother and father. I had been without them for four years, 1460 days, thinking that they were dead and there was no way that I could ever see them again without dying myself.

But here they were before me, smiling as if everything was okay. They didn't seem to have pain marks on them or anything out of the ordinary. They looked the same as they did all that time ago and I was so fucking happy to see them. The tears that I had been holding back for a long time, just came rushing through, not giving me a chance to even try to slow them down. They were here, they were really here. None of this ghost bullshit. They were here, in my arms, telling me how much they loved me.

"Son, you grew up so nicely," Vasily smirked, but I could see the love and affection in his eyes. "Are you mad that I look better than you?" I teased, grateful that we were able to fall in our old routine. There was nothing like the bond with your parents. It was the most painful thing in my life to have them ripped away from me because of that demon lord and his stinking rules. I missed them so much like one could not understand nor feel the way that my heart ripped into pieces when I realized that they were gone.

"Nah, you wish you could look as good as this," Vasily chuckled, motioning to himself despite the tears in his eyes. I bit my lip to stop the tears from coming once again as I took them into my arms, relishing in their touch. "I missed you guys so much..." I whispered, shutting my eyes. "We missed you too, baby," Mom rubbed my hair, one of her tears falling into one of the strands. "We missed you." She repeated herself once again and I pulled away, wanting to get a good look at them.

"You guys look the exact same," I muttered, wiping my face as the void in my heart began to repair itself. "Well, you look different, more mature," Vasily recalled and I tilted my head, knowing that I was a lot shorter and a lot lankier the last time he had seen me. Time would heal all wounds and I would make every single moment and minute with them count. "What is this?" I motioned to the crowd of humans before me, wondering what the hell they were doing here. Some of them looked extremely familiar, so I knew they came from No Man's Land. The question was: why?

There were so many of them here and the weird part was the fact that they looked so happy and content, despite being taken from their home. Well, it wasn't exactly a home because that deranged city had no homey feeling to it. It was where you went to spend the rest of your life in solitude.

I whirled around on my feet, so many questions in my mind. "Were you scared? Did he do anything to hurt you? Do I need to kill him? Trust me," I nodded fervently, thinking of many ways of how I would kill Maddox. "I will," Maria furrowed her brows, shaking her head, giving me that look that told me that she thought nothing of what I was thinking. "No, Troy. I'm pretty happy down here. I'm not sure if you know what exactly you are talking about," She stepped closer, taking my hand in hers. "What kind of things have you been hearing about our Sir?" I was absolutely confused as to the way she was acting.

"They always told me that you two were dead," I blinked. "They said that you along with the other humans who used to be there were dead," My mother shook her head sadly, offering me a grim smile. "As you can see, love," She put my thumb on her palm. "I'm completely alive." No way. There was no way. "B-but how?" I couldn't understand the whole logic behind this. What was happening right now? "We don't even know ourselves," Maria motioned to her, my father, and every other human in the room, their eyes glancing back and forth awkwardly. "But if you really want to know, try asking Sir Alistair himself."

I looked at her as if she had just told me she smoked crack for a living. "Y-you seriously want me to ask Maddox," Her eyes widened a bit at the use of his actual name. "Why he has all of us down here? Why I'm still alive despite everything that I've done? What his plans for us are?" I chuckled humorlessly, running a hand through my hair. "As if I hadn't tried so many times already," I grumbled in mere annoyance, frustration filling me. I was mad with him and I was mad with myself because my reason for hating him all these years was slowly diminishing the longer I stood here with my parents.

"Yes," Vasily threw out, nodding his head in an adamant manner. "If you're still alive and kicking after everything, then that should mean something. Sir doesn't like a deed like that go unpunished." He explained and part of me wanted to yell that I was indeed being punished, just not in the way that he thought, but I kept it to myself. Imagine what he would do if he knew. Though it had been four years, my father could call upon his mean streak if someone pissed him off.

"I don't want to talk to that ass—" I stopped in stride, reminding myself of who I was talking to. "Buttface," I cut my eyes at nothing in particular, watching the humans go in and out of the doors inside the room. I wasn't too sure what they did down here, but in due time, I would find out. "Please son," Maria ruffled her dress, fixing me with a stern look that begged me to do as she asked. I let out a sigh, wondering why she wanted to me to do it anyway. There was panic and there was awe slapping me across the face.

Everything was just happening so fast.

I couldn't keep up. What did this mean? Why were they here? Why did he let us think that our families were dead?

Suddenly, the door crept opened and a familiar head poked her way in. "Troy!" Availa beamed and I couldn't deny the soft feeling in my chest. "I'll be back, okay?" I said to my parents and they nodded. I wanted nothing more but to spend the time I had with them, but knowing Maria Morelli, she wouldn't let me get out of talking to that damn lord.

He could piss off.

Maria kissed my forehead before pushing me in the direction of my loyal servant, shudders wracking my body from the intense time I had here. "Hey, love," I winked at Availa and she blushed. "Did you come to check on me?" She held her arm out for me and I grabbed onto it, watching as she began to slowly transport us to my bedroom. "Oh!" She shook her head happily. "I knew you would be okay." I frowned as I took a seat on my bed, trying to figure out what she wanted for me.

I couldn't help but be confused as to why the way things happened.

"Why did he try to kill you, Availa?" I asked with my arms folded and she shook her head, a smile on her lips. "It really wasn't like that. It was my fault," She waved her hands. "I just asked him what happened to the demon Lady," She mentioned the mother Natanya and I remembered her telling me that she had died. "And what happened?" I bit my lip and she sighed. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but speaking of her is taboo here in the kingdom," Availa whispered and I listened intently. "Asking about her or even mentioning her in the presence of Sir Alistair will trigger his inner demon," She explained and I clicked my teeth, wondering what she meant by that.

"What do you mean, inner demon?" I questioned. "Isn't the one that you saw today the demon inside of him?" I referenced back to the floating creature who had black eyes and fire around his body. That was extremely creepy. "No," My servant shook her head. "That's just one of his many forms. That's the one that tells everyone that he will shift into his inner demon and once he does," She gulped, her eyes changing colors.

"There's nothing we can do."

Her tone told me all that I needed to know. It told me that Maddox became a complete monster, unable to return back to his origin without some help. If his own demons couldn't help him calm down and not turn into something absolutely scary, something I had no idea what it looked like, then no one knew what could.

"So why didn't he, you know, go past the point of no return?" I gestured with my hands, remembering that he was so fucking mad. He was extremely angry and I could feel it but instead of killing us and taking on the final form, he just calmed down and his human form appeared. Availa looked surprised that I didn't know why and she clapped her hands together quietly, ruffling her apron.

"It was you, Troy," I had no idea what she was talking about, but I listened anyway. "Because you intervened," Availa had a grin on her lips as she looked at me. "He didn't change," She sounded so hopeful and I wanted to know why. "Well, yeah. I stopped him from killing you so he had a little moment of confusion and shock, duh." I retorted. Anyone at that moment would be dumbstruck if some little bitch ran in undetected, trying to play Captain Save-a-Demon.

"No, Sir Alistair knew you were coming," She confessed and I sat there, eyes narrowed and jaw dropped so far, I feared it would break the floor. "He can sense you before you come." She shrugged, leaving it up to the demon mojo he had going on. "Something about him makes no sense to me," I scoffed, realizing how complex this man was. First, he literally made up these dumb ass rules for us humans to follow in the shithole city that he made for us to live and then he got so upset that he literally came to Earth because I was acting a fool. Then, he made a grand entrance and dragged me to Hell. Third, he sexually tortured me for whatever reason and despite who it was, my body reacted. Fourth, he let me think that my family and everyone else was dead, only for him to show me the exact opposite.

I really didn't get him.

"If you don't mind," I stood up, a plan in mind. "Can you direct me to Maddox's room?" Availa hesitantly nodded, grabbing my hand. Within seconds, I was no longer in my room, but in a very dark hallway that led up to two black double doors. "Those doors are the entrance to his wing. You will find the doors to his quarters inside," I nodded, looking at her. "Will you come?" She shook her head in reply, the smile of a maiden greeting me. "I'm not allowed to," She said before she turned and walked away. I put a hand to my chin, my mind conjuring up needless solutions. We just couldn't have a fellow demon banned from her lord's quarters.

All of sudden, my leg was grasped with a small body, and I had a recollection of who it was. "Hi Emily," I rubbed the little girl's head. "Do you know if your lord is awake?" I asked and she shook her head, grabbing my hand as she stepped down. "Sir Alistair is sleeping." Emily played with my fingers as she smiled up at me. "Do you want to go wake him?" I grinned mischievously and she nodded enthusiastically. "Emily!" I heard another voice coming down the hall, the candlelight flickering as a body hovered in the air.

"Oh, it's you," I hadn't seen Lexica since I first arrived here, which wasn't that long ago. "Oh, hello," The second division commander greeted, falling to her feet as she approached me. She was a lot nicer to me when it was just us, compared to Nya. "What are you doing here?" She asked and I pointed to the door. "I need to speak with Maddox," I said and she sighed, taking Emily into her hand as she looked at me.

"I'm sorry, Troy," Lexica muttered apologetically. "But it appears that Sir Alistair is still sleeping." I rolled my eyes, knowing that this bastard had enough sleep. It was always night here, so it didn't make sense that he was continuing to sleep. I had more important matters with him, and it didn't feel right to let another night pass without me telling him what I had to say.

Did this bastard sleep every single hour, what the fuck?

"I don't care. I'm going to wake him up," I groaned and the fellow demon raised her brow, not in a threatening manner, that was for sure. I had thought she was going to tell me to piss off unless I wanted an angry lord on my hands, but all she did was shrug. "Okay, go ahead." That was all that I needed and I went charging towards the black doors. To my surprise, they opened with a single touch of my palm and I slid in to even darker hallways. This man was really depressing. I was so shocked that he didn't have the sound of souls groaning as you walked along the path. Further down, was two more black doors that were shut tightly and I went to go knock, hearing no response.

He had to be in here. "Maddox!?" I yelled, using the latch to push the door open. "I know you're in here, you asshole!" The bedroom itself was grand with a black bed in the middle, nothing but candles to dim the room. "Madd—oh," The door closed behind me as I laid eyes on the man of the hour, wondering if I should laugh out loud or laugh to myself at the pure, comical sight of him.

There he was, standing in a matching black silk pajama set, the long pants with the long sleeve shirt with the cute little nightcap to boot. His body was glowing with fire on alarm as he stared, wide-eyed at me. He had one hand stuck in a bag of Hot Cheetos as he turned to me, his other hand feeding the chips to his mouth. "What the hell?" I sputtered, utterly confused and amused at the sight in front of me.

"I could've killed you, Mr. Morelli," He fixed me with a sharp glare, the fire radiating back into his body. I rolled my eyes, stepping closer. This was unusual territory, the dark and gloom of the master's bedroom. "You wouldn't have," It was quite odd that I was casually having a conversation with someone who ruined my life once upon a time, but some things were changing and I didn't know how to keep up. "And don't call me that. Just call me Troy," I motioned and he continued to chew on his snack.

"Okay, Troy," Maddox confirmed and I jumped at the way his exotic voice enunciated my name. It sounded so sexy, so enthralling, so dirty coming from him. I swallowed tightly, sweat coming to my forehead. "Yea, why are you sleeping? Why are you sleeping so much?" I folded my arms and he chuckled, looking like a normal human being rather than a demon. I guess this was his day off from looking so badass.

"I like to prioritize my sleep over everything else."

I stared as if he was dumb. My brows were lowered, my mind rolling to try to understand if this scary fool really just said that to me. "Thriller night head ass," I rolled my eyes. Maddox stuffed a handful of hot chips in his mouth, looking completely unbothered. "So for the sake of my parents," I folded my arms and he turned to me, slowly chewing. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you kidnapped us for a reason." Maddox stopped chewing, giving me a fixed look and I continued. "So this is me trying to tell you that this would be time to say 'sure, let's get to know each other even though it's fucking pointless because I plan to kill you all,' and we can go on with our day." I stated and he thought carefully.

"I do like killing."

I groaned, stepping closer to him as he had an aura of heat, which I wanted to use to feel warm. This wasn't me accepting him. This was me just using him for purposes like such. He was still a dickhead and he could kiss my ass. "I still hate you, I think you should know that," He chuckled, nodding slowly. "I know," He relented with a soft smirk playing at his red lips.

We stood, the moment of time still, looking into each other's eyes as our feet somehow drifted closer. Maddox didn't say a single word, the demon of Hell appearing as a mere human with feelings in front of me, and I didn't dare to ruin the moment, despite wondering why my chest was tightening. It must've been gas.

"What do you plan to do with us, Maddox?" I had to ask before all of us got too deep and realized that he was a lot eviller than he put on. His gold eyes gleamed as he snacked more, his expression cool and calm, unlike how it was earlier. "Didn't I tell you not to call me that, Troy?" He raised a perfectly arched brow and I gulped, seeing a whole new light around him. "And do not worry. You might hate me for all that I have done, but I'll promise you'll know." He sighed, his hand surprising me as it reached out to caress my cheek, his eyes softening. "I'm not that sinful man that you think I am," He confessed, a stand of his hair falling over his eyes and I couldn't look away if I wanted to.

This man was a wild night and a calm sunny day all in one.

Just who was Maddox Kane?