Read with BonusRead with Bonus

Chapter 3

We entered the dark room as my eyes zoned in on the only thing that I could manage to see - a very small yet brightly lit stage over to my far left.

Lupin wasted no time in grabbing my small wrist in his hand (not that it hurt) but it was enough to jump me out of my trance as he now began to drag me towards the stage.

"Get up there and stand still, I'll sort everything else out. Don't fucking make a scene either... for both our sakes!" He hissed out, as I instantly do as I'm told and climb up the steps and on to the bright area.

I grimaced from the white lights hanging before me, as I tried to look around in a panic and suss out what was going on - having no luck when only seeing the depth of the dark room looking back.

I can't see anyone in here, however I can weirdly sense that the room is filled with people.

I can hear small clangs of glasses signalling that people are drinking, I can hear soft whispers from people talking as if they were at a social event and I can hear the faint shuffling of chairs and movement. The weirdest thing though, causing my ears to strain further, was that all of the sounds seemed to be muffled as if there were a thin wall or window separating me from everyone else out there.

I look back over to where I had climbed onto the stage from and I can only very slightly see Lupins figure still standing where I had left him.

He is watching me closely as I watch him back, waiting for a further instruction.

During this moment, something soon clicks in my brain causing me to realise that all of the people in this room must be staring at me. I must be somewhat the main focus in the room because why else would I be standing on a stage like this? These people, whoever they are, must all be watching me as I stand here under the bright heated lights, squirming like an ant before them.

What is this place?

My eyes start to water slightly from the sudden discomfort and fear that I was feeling as my brain began to catch up with all of this. I attempted to silently plead with Lupin through my eyes - hoping that he could take the awkwardness away for me.

Lupin was of course not my friend but he was the only familiar face that I had here and in a weird twisted way he did save my life from my father...right?

I felt frozen stiff as my breathing increased rapidly from knowing that I was being watched by God only knows how many eyes.

Just as the first tear leaked down my cheek, a buzzer sounded out causing me to jump slightly on the spot. My eyes widen as I look back to Lupin who was now signalling for me to come over to him.

I slowly make my way towards him, climbing back down the steps before moving closer to him (probably closer than necessary) but I just wanted out of this room.

To say I was now terrified was an understatement as I felt my body tremble like a leaf in the wind. Lupin was by no means kind to me, but I couldn't help not wanting him to leave my side...

As hostile as he's been since we got here, I still have to remember that I'd be dead by now if it weren't for him. That's all I could think.

I should be dead right now.

That small thought was enough to comfort me in this fucked up situation as my mind was slow at realising what was actually going on here.

"Lupin..." I whisper as quietly as I could, still feeling a thousand burning eyes looking at me despite the fact that I couldn't see anything.

"Follow me." He suddenly states, grabbing my wrist once again and leading me back through the same white doors that we had came in through.

"W-What now? What was that? What is going on? C-Can you please tell me what that was?" I ramble as soon as the doors close behind us, feeling extremely overwhelmed now.

"Shut up! That part was the least of your worries!" He snaps, leaning in closer towards my face causing me to flinch again.

Flinching was a habit of mine due to my father. Whenever someone got too close or raised their voice I would undoubtedly flinch. I was always teased at school for it too... kids would purposely move too close to me or give me frights knowing I would flinch and jump a mile in the air.

Kids can be cruel... especially the ones at my school...

I watch him as he takes a step backwards, rubbing his hand down his face in a stressed state.

"I'm taking you to a room to wait." He states sharply, turning and walking towards a door which was further down the hall as I picked up my pace to follow him.

This place was nothing but long corridors and random doors.

We passed another strong looking man on the way, who had another girl following closely behind him, them both seeming to be moving towards the room that we had just came from.

She had her head hung low as she passed us, shuffling her feet along the hallway and I couldn't help but feel sorry for her.

I didn't know who she was, or where she had been, but I had a disturbing feeling in the pit of my stomach just from the sight of her.

I continued to follow Lupin as we entered a small room that held a couple of brown leather couches and a switched on TV playing what looked to be... a news channel? Not like the one I watched back home though, this was different.

The channel was on mute so I could only see a strange looking man and woman sitting at a desk and discussing - what I'm assuming to be - the scripted text below them that read -'Human sale rates increase as demons scramble to find suitable targets to transport'.

What the fuck?

Did I just read that correctly?

As I stand gawking at the TV reading the news strip over and over again, Lupin soon clears his throat loudly causing me to turn and see him gesturing for me to sit at the other seat in the room.

I follow his lead and stiffly sit in the chair across from him as he watches my every move closely.

"I want you to know that despite me being a demon... I am not the stereotypical demon that you humans have come to know. I am not all evil nor am I from hell... I just need money." He trails off abruptly as I try to piece together what the heck was going on.

He's insane. Am I being pranked on some TV show? What the fuck is seriously going on now?

"This is a very dangerous world Dani and if you don't follow our rules and play the game right then you won't survive... we have been stuck in dark times for the past fifty years and nothing will change that now... our King is the only one with the power to turn it all around and even he doesn't care about this world and it's depressed state anymore... As selfish as this all seems, I actually need you to help me." He stares right through me as he speaks, causing my mouth to fall open at his last words...

He needs me to help him? How can I possibly help this man?

"My help?" I manage to choke out in a gulp, coming to terms with the fact that I must be dreaming.

Yes. That's it.

This must be some weird as hell dream. But do I really want to wake up and go back to my father? No. So I'll take it for the time being...

"I have a family... A son and a wife. I promised her I would make our lives better but to do that I need to make money. A lot of money. There aren't many ways to make good money in this world anymore which then led me to you... you are one of the richest trades in our world now Dani... if I sell you then I will be able to provide a lot better for my family. I will be able to move up in the ranks to live a better life." He explains, showing me a vulnerable side as compared to the angry one that I had been getting previously.

He also used my name twice rather than just calling me 'human' as if It was some disease.

I still don't understand how he knows my name though but I wasn't up for questioning him on it right now.

I couldn't process what he was trying to say nor could I understand any of it but I'm trying my best to work it out for my own sake.

"Y-You saved me from my father... and I guess I would be dead right now if you didn't show up and bring me here..." I begin, my tone wary and quiet.

"...and if this is the way that I can repay you for that th-then so be it... but can you at least tell me what is actually going on. I-I- don't understand any of this." I gulp as my words trail out, him studying me intensely as I speak.

I waited for a moment, hoping for him to finally speak... which he did.

"I shouldn't have picked you!" He mutters out, directing the statement more to himself than at me.

"You're too pure for this shit... they will rip you apart here." He states again, causing me to shiver at his bold statement.

Rip me apart.

Who will? I can't surely be in another world? It's physically impossible... isn't it? Either I need to start coming to terms with all of this or this man has seriously lost his mind? What if he's deranged!

Nonetheless... he saved me. The fear of my father is greater than any other emotion I can feel right now and if this is my only chance of escape then I'll see where it takes me...

"Now listen up... Someone is likely to buy you from me Dani and after that I can't control what happens to you... make sure you do whatever they want you to do and just hope that you got a good one..." He leans forward, suddenly becoming a lot more serious as he looks at me to ensure that I take in his words.

Get a good one?

Before I can reply or ask any further questions, a loud knock hammers down on the door causing us both to stiffen.

He nods slowly to me, almost looking sad, before he stands from his chair and moves to open the door- which I didn't realise had automatically locked from the inside after we entered.

"M-My King!" I hear Lupin stutter out in a panic, causing me to turn on the chair to see who had managed to make him a nervous wreck so fast.

I turn to see Lupin who is now on his knees, head bowed, which caused the hairs on my arms to stand alert almost instantly.

What the fuck do I do? Do I get down on the floor and bow to this man too? Is this actually a real King? All I can do at this point is violently shake in my chair and wait for something else to happen...

The man referred to as the 'King' entered the room at his full height, ignoring Lupin completely as he walked straight over to sit opposite from me on the other chair.

He relaxed his posture into the seat, his ankle resting on top of his opposite leg in a relaxed position as the confidence radiating from him was smacking me directly in the face.

I peeked up slightly, before immediately diverting my eyes back down to my lap.

He never spoke, just stared at me as I began to fidget with my hands...

I then began pulling at a thread hanging from my leggings desperately wanting this full thing to end...

The tense silence was on the verge of killing me at this point as I began to count the holes on my leggings to distract my mind...

I squirmed under his gaze, glancing away occasionally to see Lupin still on the floor not daring to make a move.

I mean I get why... this man reeked of sheer dominance. He was the definition of power. If what Lupin had said turned out to be all true then there was no doubt in my mind that this man was clearly the king of this other 'world'.

What am I saying? Am I actually accepting that I have somehow travelled to another world? Why was I so willing to accept this as a possibility?

Maybe because the reality was that I felt safer anywhere that was away from my father...

But in that case, why was this 'King' just sitting here opposite me? Stuffed in this tiny room? Staring deeply into my soul? Surely as a 'King' he has far better places to be right?

More time passed and I remained scared to look at him for longer than a second. I couldn't actually tell what he looked like but I could see that he wore a casual black hoodie with sleek black joggers to match and I swear from a quick glance I saw tattoos covering his neck and hands?

Why was I even thinking about his appearance right now? He could probably kill me in a split second... scratch that, he most definitely could kill me any moment now!

But yet I couldn't deny that he was drawing me in.

I was so tempted to look up and study his facial features but I refrained, waiting for him to make the first move...

Previous Chapter
Next Chapter