After what seemed to be the sixth time of him laying me in that bed and destroying me through and thorough, I was finally able to roam the castle. I was becoming so comfortable and I was sure it was going to be hard for me to leave, if that day ever came and if Maddox planned on letting me leave.

"What's up, dickface?" I clapped the shoulder of my grey-eyed companion, startling him with a jolt. "Oh, hey Troy!" He reached in to give me a hug and I had to stifle a wince as he squeezed my body tightly. "I missed you, bro," He rubbed my back and I chuckled, pulling away from him to go get some Lucky Charms out of the cabinet. "What are you doing anyway? Finally getting your head of Zero's ass?" I raised a brow and he blushed, a brown arm coming to wrap around his neck. "What makes you think that?" Zero, or Kamryn, smirked and I shook my head, seeing how in love with each other they were.

Barf.

"When do you two plan on telling the dear demon lord that you two are together?" I questioned, seeing them pale on the spot. "I mean, you guys are pretty obvious about it so if he doesn't know now, he will know even before you tell him," I shrugged, pouring some milk into my delicious meal. "Who knows? He sees all, o holy one, so maybe he already knows," That might've been the truth. Maddox literally saw everything with those gold eyes of his. If it didn't matter to him, then that was good because it meant that you weren't on his hit list.

As for me, I stayed at the top of that hit list.

"But I don't know..." Zero trailed off, lacking confidence in herself and in her actions. "The hell's with that passive ass attitude, Zero? Aren't you supposed to be the big ass, bad ass torture guardian around here or something like that?" Her eyes widened as I shoveled some cereal into my mouth, fighting the urge to moan. "Own your shit and be proud of it. You deserve to be happy too," I rolled my eyes, knowing she was contemplating Sir Alistair's behavior. "Your precious puppy lord will be okay. If anything, I'll deal with it if it turns out that he's not okay with it," I didn't know why I always had to offer to throw myself under the bus for other people and their problems.

Either way, I was sure that Maddox wouldn't care and if he really did, I would do my best to convince him otherwise. 

"Just be yourself and you'll be okay, I promise," I whispered and she nodded, giving Avery a kiss on the cheek before throwing me a wave as she headed out of the kitchen. "I have guardian duties to tend to," She whistled and that was the last I heard of her.

"You always seem to know what to say, don't you Troy?" I tilted my head as I chewed sloppily, looking at Avery's dumb ass. "Huh? What are you talking about? I was just telling ya'll to stop whining and do your thing," I shrugged and he fixed me with a knowing gleam in those eyes of his, and I looked away. "You're a lot kinder than you like to think you are," I stared at him, wanting him to choke on a spoon. "No, I am an asshole. I just pick and choose when to tone it down," He snorted, letting me know that he believed not a single word of what I said. 

"You're a bitch," I retorted, gathering the tell that he could see right through me. He could see through the facade that I was putting up and I wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Back home, no one could tell what I was thinking or the motives behind what I did. Here, I was just as transparent as water and no one would let me live down the fact that I was secretly nice.

Ew, that word tasted like shit on my tongue.

"Whatever," I tossed the milk into the sink, watching Stefani and her crew cook various meals in the other kitchen across. "I'm going to see my parents. Hopefully you'll have some common sense by the time I get back," I shifted in my ripped jeans, pushing my hair back as I flicked him on the cheek on my way out of the kitchen.

"Hey, Troy!" I heard a voice and I looked ahead to see Availa and Lexica walking towards me, waving at me. Aw, they were happy to see me just like I was happy to see them. "Hi babes!" Availa reached in to hug me and I internally keened, hugging her tightly. "What are you two up to?" I questioned and Lexica shrugged. "We are unsure. Sir Alistair has relieved us of our daily tasks, so we're just chatting and whatnot," I was a bit taken aback by the fact that someone as anal and as particular as Maddox Kane would be nice enough to allow them a break when he had never done that in the time that they had been here.

That was suspicious. Really suspicious. Maddox was a kind lord, but he wasn't that fucking kind. He wanted shit done and he wanted it done on his watch.

"That's interesting," I mumbled, knowing that they caught onto the feeling of unease that I was having. "Very interesting," Lexica started to toy with her gun that was in the holster around her waist and I tried to think of the possibilities of why Maddox would do that. It was something small but we all knew Maddox and his uptight behavior. Something this small meant something big. 

The last time that I saw him was this morning, when he rolled over to kiss my cheek as he hopped out of the bed, presumably to start his day. He hadn't said anything, but he exited the room quietly. I didn't think anything of it because he seemed to be acting normally, but I should've known something was up.

Because we all knew Maddox Kane.

"I don't know, Taen," I furrowed my brow at the unusual term of endearment that came out of Lexica's mouth. I would've called her out on it, but we had more important matters at hand. "I'll look into it and if I have any questions," Because of course, I'm going to have questions. I was only human after all. "I'll come find you," Lexica seemed relieved, which made the situation worse because normally, she would be calm about the way Maddox acted. She wouldn't typically rely on anyone else so for her to rely on me, that was scary.

"Thank you, Troy," Availa mused and I could see that she was a little bit happier hearing that news. Just what the hell was happening? "We'll catch you later, Taen," I blinked confusedly as Lexica waved at me, following Availa in the opposite directions.

It seemed that everyone was on some shit.

I shook my head as I headed down the stairwell to the basement, wanting to spend some quality time with my parents. I hoped that they weren't acting weird like everyone else because that would gave truth to my biggest fear.

I sighed as I opened the big door to the bunker, seeing my parents standing there with similar smiles on their faces, their mouths threatening to consume their faces as I stepped into the spacious room.

As I saw, Vasily and Maria Morelli looked as radiant as ever.

"My baby!" My mother grabbed me into her arms, kissing my cheeks as she used to do when I was little. "Mom..." I whined, hugging her back with as much intent as she had given me. I secretly missed her a hell of a lot, which was funny considering that I made it my mission to go and see her and my father every day. "Have you been on your best behavior, Troy?" Vasily raised a brow, ruffling my hair. "You know I have," I scowled playfully, knowing full well that Maddox came down here when I wasn't around to talk his ass off about me. 

How cute was that? "I always am," I rolled my eyes, realizing that what I said may or may not have been the truth, but they didn't need to know that. "How's Avery and Jade?" Maria asked, reminding me of the time that I introduced her to my two friends. It was funny because before Maddox ascended to Earth, I didn't really think that I would be friends with them, but as circumstances called for it, we were. "Avery is good, just dealing with some love life issues," I shuddered and my mother gave me a look that said that I was a hypocrite. "Jade is good as well. She just wants to be free is all," And I couldn't blame her. I wanted that feeling for a long time. 

"Ah," Vasily hummed, giving me a sad look. I was sure he didn't know the full story of why he was here, but it made me wonder what things would change if he did know. "How are things with you and Sir Alistair?" Maria grinned and I looked at her, trying to comprehend what she was so happy for. Any other time, especially in the beginning, she would berate me for doing stuff that landed me in Hell, to begin with. Now, she was just as happy as she could be, not at all curious or nervous about my safety, seeing that I was always within ten feet of the demon lord.

I wasn't gonna question her thought process or anything like that.

"We're okay, more than okay, mom. I'm gonna go see him once I finish up here, you know, check upon him," I couldn't say too much because they would start to panic. "Oh?" My father raised a brow. "You were on your way to see us before?" I nodded, not understanding what they were getting at. "No, I think you should go see him and then come back," My mother was adamant about that and I couldn't understand why. 

"For what though?" I grunted and she stared at me as if she raised a stupid child. "We come after the demon lord," She said and I furrowed my brow at the disgusting sentence. "As if. He would fucking hope to come before you two," I folded my arms, wondering if that was what he told her. "No, he knows that and we know that," So that wasn't his idea. "But if you are the key to fixing things, Troy, the key to making him happy, the key to everything else," My mother obviously knew more than she let on. "I'd rather you not waste time with us. Anything could happen in a split second," That much was true.

"Fine," I stood up, kissing her on the forehead. "Not because you're right but because I know how Maddox gets when he's alone for too long," That man started to think deeply and when he did, it didn't go well. I clapped my father's shoulder as he hugged me, promising them that I would be back. As I walked out, I couldn't tell if my mother was smiling happily or sadly because she always knew how to hide it.

I shook my head. Maybe everyone was having an off day and I was just the only one that was normal. I rolled my eyes, ascending the stairs one by one, canvassing the hallways one by one, until they led to me that familiar dark wing. 

I walked into the bedroom to see Maddox sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. "What's up?" I called out and he slowly looked over to me as I walked over to him, offering me a small smile that felt fake. I stood in front of him, reaching in to hug him sideways, grimacing when I touched him. 

I could feel his tense and hard stature and I reached up to massage his shoulders, enticing a groan of relief from him. "Damn Maddox, the hell's got you so pent up?" I raised a brow and he shook his head, flicking his gaze away from me. That was how I knew that he was lying because when he was telling the truth, he couldn't help but stare straight at you so you knew that he meant every single word that came out of his mouth. 

I stared at him as he wrapped his arms around me, putting his head in my chest. "Do you think that you could just hold me, you know, for a little bit?" His deep voice was muffled by my chest, but I could hear the deep-riddled angst that he held. I furrowed my brow as I nodded, moving my hands to his hair to run them through his soft locks. He took a deep breath, sighing against my stomach. I could feel the veins in his temples and I knew that he was thinking immensely about something. 

"Hey," I whispered softly as he clutched me tightly. "It's gonna be okay," I murmured, hugging him to my body. "...I hope so," His voice was gruff and dark and it was completely unusual to see him so unsure of himself. I mean, there were times where he would voice his opinion about things and we'd talk about it and he would come to a conclusion with a smile as if everything was fine, but nothing like this.

He didn't seem confident anymore. 

"I wish I could stay in your arms forever. It's funny how time changes things. Before, I had planned to kill you when I arrived on Earth," His voice seemed so far away, but it was evident that he was right here. "But when I laid eyes on you," Maddox murmured, caressing the skin of my back under my shirt. His touch seemed so soft yet so unlike him, it was hard to describe. "I knew that there was no way in hell that I could," I narrowed my eyes at the first word of profanity that he used. Even as the demon lord, he never cursed, so it was disturbingly and shockingly odd that he used one now. His exotic voice made the word seem so foreign to his mouth and I grunted, unsure of what to do. Something had to be wrong.

So I decided to change the subject, not wanting him to get deeper and deeper into whatever it was that was mulling over his mind. "Coming here, I was pretty close-minded, not wanting to get involved with others because I had the image of you that I wanted in mind," I said as he listened. "Being here, meeting you, meeting everyone else, it has made me reevaluate a lot," I wasn't sure if this was the time nor if he really needed to hear it, but I couldn't stop myself.

"You know Maddox, you're making me rethink this whole I don't believe in love thing." I confessed, sure he understood the implications of what I was saying. He was quiet, rigid even, so I continued to speak, a burn of my cheeks reminding me of what I was saying exactly. "Just for you, I'll love you." I whispered, a smile on my lips as I finally came to terms with what my heart was trying to tell me. Maddox then removed his arms from me, standing up abruptly. He looked at me with a look that seemed to say, 'why now?' before letting out a sigh of indignation as he walked towards the door of the room. I was so confused. What just happened? "Maddox?" I called out and he looked back at me, giving me such a pained stare, a gold stare that reflected the brokenness of his heart, before smiling begrudgingly. 

"If you say so, Mr. Morelli."

I narrowed my eyes at the sound of his distant, almost vacant voice, wondering what was wrong with him. He never used to sound so utterly defeated. He paid me no last glance, which he normally did to blow me a kiss before he exited the room, but this time, he kept walking. I went to comment on his strange behavior, but the swirling of the sky caught my attention. I walked over to the window, feeling a harsh wind whipping past my skin like sharp blades and I looked up to see the clouds swirling about, a maroon tint with hint of fire threatening to burn Hell. It looked as if it was going to start pouring black rain, adding hail to the mixture. "What the fuck?" I hissed, afraid of what I was looking at.

Alas, I knew that this was the calm before the storm.