Life tricks us, you know?

It makes us feel things for the wrong reasons. It tells us that certain people are responsible for certain outcomes and that makes them despicable human beings. They tell us that the key to being happy and positive is to know hardship, but I happen to know that all of that bogus tale is a fucking lie. I knew hardship and it was extremely painful and hard for me to get over anything but I had to because I was forced to live a life that I never wanted.

Life tricks us in the worst ways possible. It tells us that being cautious will allow us to have a better life, but what good is a life without risks? What good is a life if you're constantly looking over your shoulder, fearful of the unknown? No one knew but they did the same thing every day: look over their shoulder.

"What's the matter?" I heard a voice and I turned to see a tall, dark-skinned girl with black and red curly hair to her shoulders. I gaped at her as she stared at me with her brown eyes, the visible horns coming from her scalp. Was she another one of Maddox's demons? Was she here to kill me? I knew that there were people who were apart of the clan that banded together in order to plot ways against me. "No need to look so scared," She rubbed the side of her neck and I narrowed my eyes in defense. A demon telling me not to look so scared. "Say that after you retract your fangs, demon," I hissed, wondering if purgatory was an actual thing.

"Greetings," She bowed to me like I was her king or something but the last time I checked, that title solely belonged to dickface Maddox. "I am Yara, Guard of Gesenia." I frowned, wondering what the hell she was talking about. "What the hell is that?" I sputtered and the girl stared in distaste, her hand on the tall staff next to her. "Have you been outside to explore the full kingdom yet?" I shook my head in reply. As far as I knew, this castle was as big as it got. "Gesenia is one of the many lands in Hell. I reside over that land with my spies. I'm not sure if you met my spy Xani yet on Earth," Yara seemed pleased with herself and I clicked my teeth, contemplating her purpose in talking to me.

"It's possible, however, I don't make it a habit to remember people," I shrugged casually and Yara chuckled lightly. "You're as humble as Pazul said that you were," Her eyes twinkled and I jumped at the thought of my teacher. "Pazul! When will she come?" I asked, standing closer to Yara despite intense heat leaving her body in waves. "You can see her whenever you like if you go visit Akeros." I had no idea what places these were but I had an inkling that this castle was only in a center of what seemed to be a version of Earth without the oceans.

"...how do you like being here, Troy?" I glared at her, knowing that I didn't tell her my name. "Relax. Everyone here knows of you as the man who stopped Alistair from killing his servant," There was a sense of pride in her directed at me and I smirked, knowing full well that Availa didn't deserve any of that. "Well, I'd do it for anyone, even if I didn't know them." With my own mindful remark, Yara studied me.

"I can see why our Sir has taken a liking to you, Troy," Yara smiled before walking off, presumably in the direction of her king. I had no type of inclination as to what she meant by that, but it was pretty evident that I needed to have a conversation with Maddox. I would not lie, the way that he appeared before me in No Man's Land and the man that I was seeing now, they were totally different people but the same person. There was no disregarding his power and danger as a lord, but seeing him so lax and calm was odd.

And I didn't even know him like that.

"Hey," I heard a body woosh in next to me and I turned to see my friendly demon torture guardian standing there with a dead look on her face. "What's up?" She said nothing, but she grabbed onto my arm and all of a sudden, we weren't on the inside of the kingdom anymore. We were outside, a distance away from that castle, the warm but cool air hitting my face as we looked into the eyes of a lava waterfall. "Wow," I whispered, seeing the red liquid descend into the pool around it. One would've thought the air would smell like fire, but it just smelled like rain.

"It's beautiful..." I relented, taking in the dark but mysterious scenery. This place was nothing like my hometown. There were no roads, no entryways, no portals for them to walk through. It was just land upon land and flowers, for some strange reason. Though it looked like it belonged out of a nightmare, there was beauty about this place.

"Legend has it that if you touch the lava, you'll never see beauty in your skin ever again," Zero snorted, flipping her hair over her shoulders. "I personally don't care because we can't really judge how attractive people are here since we have similar qualities." I raised a brow at her, realizing that it was a different case on Earth. Everyone judged for the lackluster of things and without prevail.

"We have some unattractive people on Earth," I shrugged casually, thinking of their looks and their personality. "You could just say ugly," Zero replied with snark and I rolled my eyes. "Yes, but even they too have their own beautiful qualities." I explained to her, knowing that she wouldn't understand looks from internal heart and soul. One could be extremely attractive, but if their attitude was piss poor, it wouldn't be a balance. Ask me, I would know myself. People seemed to say that I had a terrible attitude so I had no idea whether or not that was true.

"Imagine being ugly, Troy." Zero said as we watched the lava crash down from the waterfall. It was amazing how this thing never grew large enough to burn the entire land. "I wouldn't know." And that was the honest truth. I recalled growing up with high confidence. I knew I was attractive and I knew that I could be nice at times that called for it. That was until Maddox Kane came to town in his big saucer with a promise that changed our world as we knew it.

But for some reason, none of that stopped me.

"Do you mind if I speak with your lord, just for a bit?" Zero gave me a smirk as if she could read my intentions. I was making well with the wish that my parents requested of me and I was trying to tolerate the man. "Let me ask you one thing before I let you go," Zero turned to me, a familial air between us. "Soon, Sir will let you go back home," I had no idea, but I felt a pang as her words resonated in my brain. "But while you're here, take the time to fully get to know everyone. Take the time to travel around the land. Take the time to learn more about him," She turned back to the lava. "We tried but he just won't let us in."

I nodded reluctantly as she grabbed my hand, trying to piece together why she was telling me this. It would be pointless. It would be moot. "I see," And that was the last thing that I heard before I appeared in the middle of a familiar bedroom, the candlelights dimming as the man of the hour dressed in a pair of slacks and a blue shirt turned. "I knew you were coming," That exotic voice washed over my ears and I sighed, making myself immediately comfortable. It wasn't like I wasn't in the demon lair of the most dangerous person in the entire world; one man who could obliterate the nation at will. Right now, he was just some random dude who knew how to entertain me.

He snorted in disbelief and I snapped my head up. "Don't let this fool you, Troy," Maddox folded his arms. "I'm still the same man that you hated from the start. I'm still that man who took your parents from you, so don't feel the need to feel that way," I narrowed my eyes at him, analyzing his posture and body expression. "You say that," I frowned, looking at him with a gaze so sharp, it was almost as if he was letting me have a sneak peek into the window of his soul. "But your eyes are begging me not to hate you, so what is it, Maddox?"

He had no idea what to say. It seemed that I had caught him right in the grasp of my palm and he had nowhere to go. I've caught you, little demon, so tell me all of your thoughts. I wanted him to tell me so I could understand why he did what he did, why he had a whole dungeon full of humans, why he seemed so much nicer than he showed. I wanted to know, but he would have to tell me himself.

"What do you want to do for your birthday?" He suddenly asked and I hummed, flicking my gaze up at him. The change of subject wasn't subtle, but I would go with it. "March 23rd is coming up, and I'd like to know what it is that you'd want to do," I stared at him in thought, realizing that I hadn't celebrated that since my parents were taken away. It was confusing because he didn't seem like the type of person to care about things like that, especially when it was of no benefit to him. "I-I don't know," I stammered and the furrow in Maddox's brows deepened. "I never really celebrated it, to tell you the truth." There was a pained expression in his eyes once he realized that he was the reason for that.

Now, I understood why. It just would've been nice to know when I turned 14 on the way to that dead city.

"I guess if I had to pick," I bit my lip, falling backward on the blankets. "I'd want to spend the day with Jade," I confessed and Maddox loosened his tie around his neck, rolling the cuffs up to expose the veins in his arms. "Jade McKinley, your roommate?" He asked and I nodded. "I'd probably would've never met her under normal circumstances," I looked up at the ceiling, knowing that he was stewing and marinating in a pile of guilt.

"But I'm glad I did. She gave me a lot to remember," I smiled at the thought. I loved Avery, do not get me wrong in any means, but Jade was by my side 24/7. She was there when no one else was. Despite her constant nagging and fears of me dying, she was the greatest person that I had ever had the chance of knowing in that shithole city. "So in a way, I thank you for making that law," I turned to Maddox and he let out a sigh. "Why did you make those anyway? That would be defeating the purpose if you ask me," The demon lord looked at me and I, in a moment of impulse, tapped the area next to me, telling him to lay down.

"Lay your ass down now," I growled as he tried to put up a fight. Demon lord, king of Hell or not, he was going to lay down next to me. I sighed in contentment as his arm touched mine, heat flowing into each other, his hair flicking over my forehead. This was oddly intimate, but I found that he needed it more than I did. "Some of those laws were because of my own need to control," Maddox took a deep breath, the light of the candle on the ceiling distracting us from censoring our thoughts. "But the rest were to protect you all." I don't even think Maddox knew himself that he was disclosing this information, but I had to know.

"In the beginning, it may have seemed like I was the greater enemy and I was doing everything that I could to rip your futures away from you," He mumbled in a tone that had me craning my neck just to look at him. "But even I can't stand to see people suffering. What am I supposed to do when this problem is bigger than me?" He whispered softly and some pieces started to click.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Little by little, the hard, glass wall around this stoic man began to slowly crack. "I'm not your enemy, Troy," Maddox turned his head and looked into my eyes; I knew he was telling the truth because he allowed his lips to turn into a small frown as he looked defeated. "I won't hurt you or anyone else," His voice fell to silence and I slowly turned my head away, looking up to the dark ceiling. People thought that I should fear him because he was an extremely omnipotent man and what he wanted, he got. I wasn't the type to run in the face of danger, so this scenario would be deemed odd to others.

"I never thought you would."

You see, life tricks us into thinking that the impossible is impossible until it isn't.

"Sometimes people do not understand how terribly hard it is to be the demon lord of all demons. They do not comprehend what has been done. If they did," Maddox chuckled humorlessly, rubbing his face and I was seeing a new side of him. I wasn't even sure that it was right for me to see him like this when he was usually a man who oozed dominance with every step he took. "They'd understand that I'm only looking out for them." That was all he said and I found myself questioning everything thus far.

"You are a literal jackass, though," I grimaced and this time, he actually chuckled. None of that fake shit. "I know," He replied in an endearing manner, his body stature relaxed and calm compared to when we first met. I wanted so badly to hate him for all that he had done, but after seeing my parents, some of those feelings slowly sinking into a pile of nothing. "It's kinda odd, you know? Sitting here with you when I've wanted nothing more than to kill you for four years," I stated casually and Maddox stiffened next to me.

I didn't know it then, but my words hurt him. "But rest your little demon head, for I don't feel that anymore," I said and the tension in his body dissipated. I didn't know what I was feeling in fact. I felt like it was a dream, so I could say whatever I wanted and do whatever I wanted, but I would wake up in my bed in that luxury house with Jade tapping me to wake me up. There was no way that this way real because, in my memories years before, Vasily and Maria Morelli were dead.

"But they aren't."

I sat up on accord and he followed suit, staring at me as I stared at him, our eyes moving in unison. We didn't dare say a word as we relished in whatever this was, the synergy flowing between us like soundwaves. We didn't dare say a word because it would be defining what this was, and I wasn't ready to face that yet. Not when I was still trying to get over my hate for him.

Then I spoke. "Why is it that I only see you smile whenever you're in that creepy torture room of yours?" I folded my arms and he chuckled, turning to me with a smirk on his lips, his brows raised as if he was thinking something extremely mischievous. "Do you mean, my Red Room?" I nodded in reply and he sighed, clicking his teeth. "Well, it seems that I have a lot on my mind, a lot of pressure," He ran a hand through his hair, flicking his gold eyes in a different direction.

"I'm not really good with words, so using all of those toys," His voice dipped exotically low and I clicked my tongue, feeling the heat of his words. "They allow me to say what my mouth cannot. It's also a way for me to release all of the frustration inside of me." I nodded in understanding, trying to understand why he picked that of all things on the list to use on me.

"Do you have others that you use them on?" Maddox shook his head, rubbing the markings on his inner wrist. "No. You're the first that I've ever exposed that lifestyle to." He said and I frowned, questioning why. "What do I have to do with that? Why am I the only one?" He licked his white teeth, tilting his head towards me in an endearing manner. "In all honesty, I'm not sure," But he did know. He just wasn't saying anything. "You have ignited that fire in me that I have been looking for," His face gleamed maddeningly as his true sadist came out to play. "It makes me want to break you." He darkly confessed and I blew out air, wondering why he was looking at me so hungrily; a man starved.

"You might as well find some other alternative," I folded my arms, snorting in reply. "Because you can't tame me, no matter what type of toys you use or whatever you torture me with. You must be out of your god damn mind to think that I'll bend to your wishes." I scoffed, wondering where the nerve of this demon came from. I heard a dark chuckle from the right of me and two fingers grabbed my jaw, turning it. I blinked up, looking into two red eyes as horns protruded from his scalp, showing his lustful nature. His eyes slowly trailed down from my own to meet my lips, his claws stroking my jaw as I stared in captivation.

"Do you want me to test that theory?"