Chapter 9

It was Theanna’s birthday and she was finally eighteen. Averic had taken her to dinner and treated her like a queen. He was so different from Damian. She’d only been on a few dates with Averic and she was trying to be happy.

One question swirled in her head all night: why couldn’t she just enjoy herself? Why did she keep thinking about Damian? Why did she feel guilty every time she felt an ounce of joy with Averic? Everyone was constantly telling her that she was naive, maybe she was. She should talk with Helen about her thoughts and feelings and try to better understand them.

As Averic walked her to the front door of her apartment he said to her, “Happy Birthday, Thea! I hope you had a wonderful day.”

“I did, thanks to you,” she smiled as she kissed his cheek. Mentally, she found herself debating whether to ask him in or not. They’d agreed to take it slow, but there was slow and there was at a snail’s pace. Nervously, she asked, “Do you want to come in?”

“I do. I really do. But, I won’t. I will when it’s something we both desperately want. We’ll know when it’s the right time. Besides, I have to leave very early for the Madrid office,” he stated with a smile. Averic Stanchek was tall and blonde with blue eyes. He was a doctor and specialized in Mythic anatomy. He was very kind to her and a bit nerdish with his glasses. She found him to be cute and funny whereas Damian was dark, handsome, but very moody.

“Hopefully you won’t be gone long. Please, call me when you can,” Thea smiled at him.

“I’ll call you when I get checked into my hotel. I may even text you before that.”

“I’d like that.” Standing up on her tiptoes she gave him a soft kiss on his lips. “Thank you for everything, Averic!”

“Goodnight, beautiful!”

Thea watched as he left before turning towards her teal-colored door and unlocking her apartment. Opening her door, she turned on the light before entering and settling in. Taking off her high heels and deep in thought, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a gruff, “I don’t like him.”

Turning around to see Damian sitting at her dining table looking angry, she looked at him in surprise. After all this time he had the gall to appear without permission in HER apartment and make comments about her life which he had no part in? Yeah, no! “I don’t care. I like him.”

“I don’t want you seeing him any more,” he demanded, his eyes flashing in anger.

As Thea heard his demand and felt his anger, she became insanely, overwhelmingly angry. Every ounce of pain, every hurt, every bit of the anger inside of her directed at him bubbled to the surface. “I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU WANT!” she snarled out, her horns appearing in full form. “You and I are long past done. GET OUT OF MY HOME!”

“No! You’re my betrothed!” Damian growled as he stood up and approached her. There was a fire in his eyes she’d never seen before. It sparked her outrage even further.

“Whatever the hell that means! You can’t appear in my home after avoiding me for years and suddenly make demands on my life. The day you walked away from me, you gave up any claim to me. Our betrothal is a joke and something that should’ve never been. Go find someone else to stalk!” Thea ordered as she started to stomp away.

Damian grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop, spinning her towards him. She thumped against his hard chest, eyes flashing as they started to turn red in color. “You and I are bonded,” Damian snarled dangerously. There was no way he was letting her go now. She would learn who she belonged with and it wasn't some blonde human boy.

Breathing hard, her heart racing, she looked into his eyes. She loved him so much it felt as if it would kill her. All she wanted was to be happy with him. She’d always wanted it to be him. Seeing the fire their fight had sparked in his eyes she demanded, “Do it! Kiss me!”

Damian stared into her eyes and very nearly did what she demanded. He wanted to, by the gods he wanted to. Not like this though. He didn't want their first kiss to be in anger. Pulling away at the last moment, he growled at himself.

Tears filled Thea’s eyes as she pulled free. “So you don’t want me but I can’t be with anyone else either? I have loved you and you’ve avoided and hid from me. I will not love someone who despises being near me. I WON'T DO IT! Go back to Ikisat, to your harem and leave me the hell alone!”

Turning her back towards him to hide her tears, Damian pulled her back around and suddenly kissed her. The idea of her no longer loving him destroyed any resolve inside of him. It wasn't a nice or gentle kiss, but rather one filled with anger and pain. “You are mine, Zoqa! Always!”

Thea slapped him hard. “No! I’m not! GET OUT!”

Damian snarled loudly before throwing a ball of angry energy and destroying the couch in her living room as he disappeared from her home. Thea screamed as her anger and pain overwhelmed her, releasing a wave of pent up energy that destroyed her apartment, leaving it in smouldering ruins. Sobbing, she collapsed onto the floor, as she cried out every emotion she was feeling and had felt for way too long.

If this was love, why did it hurt so much? Why did she feel like she wanted to crawl into a ball and die? All she wanted was to be normal, to love and be loved in return by someone who didn't go around thinking he knew what was best for her. All he did was hurt her and that pain had finally become too much.

~~*~~

A long while later, Galena appeared in the remains of the dark, smouldering apartment. Everything was destroyed and smoking as if a bomb had gone off. What was once the cutest hippie-esque apartment was now in ruins. Everything smelled of sulphur and ash.

“Theanna?” she called out tentatively. She knew she was here, but something was very, very wrong. Unease continued to fill her as she righted a lamp and turned it on. As she did, she heard a hiss of pain coming from a darkened corner. “Theanna? Baby-girl?”

“Galena...” she heard coming from the corner in a raspy voice.

Approaching the voice as she stepped over debris, Galena saw what appeared to be a person shrouded in darkness, crouched as if hiding from her. As Galena’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, she saw a full set of Daemoni horns along with Thea’s pink hair. The horns had never been so long. This wasn’t good at all. This was quickly becoming just like the vision she'd had before coming. “Nihasia? Is that your name?”

“Galena... how is it you know our name?” the Daemoness asked, her voice hissing as if that of a snake.

Galena watched as she slowly uncurled herself and stood as she turned around to face her. Galena couldn't hold in the gasp of horror at what she saw. This wasn't Theanna. This was a creature even the Daemoni would fear.

Her skin was a swirling dark color that seemed to absorb the light from all around her. Her eyes were a blood red in a face no longer beautiful but rather distorted and fearsome. Her teeth were razor sharp, her nails were claws that she used to further destroy the furniture around her.

It was her eyes that terrified Galena the most. She saw not even an ounce of humanity in her eyes. She saw instead anger, pain and a desire to destroy everything. Her eyes reminded her of the eyes of Mordecai.

Steeling herself so that she didn't show Nihasia her fear she answered her, “I had a vision. A vision of a Daemoness more powerful than even Innara. Feared by all.”

Nihasia closed her eyes and smiled a smile filled with cruelty at her words. “Feared by all. We like that!”

“Where is Theanna, Nihasia?”

“She is resting now. She needed me to take over for a while. Your prince...” she said with such derision that Galena found herself cringing.

“Damian loves Theanna so very much,” Galena tried to defend.

“LIES! He is cruel and wants to control and possess us. Maybe we should just destroy him and end the pain. Yes... we like that idea. It would be such fun to watch Ikisat fall into ruin.”

Galena became very nervous. If her vision continued to be true, Nihasia was powerful enough to kill a Daemoni prince quite easily. If she killed Damian the repercussions would be disastrous. She had to do something! “But if you destroy Damian will that not also cause Theanna great pain. They are bonded. It could cause her harm that neither of you would recover from.”

Nihasia thought about that. “You are right, sadly. But we want to have fun. Let’s play a game, Galena. Can you find us?” she asked with an evil laugh as she suddenly vanished from the room in a blink of an eye.

Nihasia arrived in Ikisat with one and only one desire, to rid them of the pain coursing through their heart. If Damian didn’t exist, he couldn’t break their heart anymore. It was simple, the rest they would figure out. Right now she had to ease the pain. Damian had hurt them too much.

She'd arrived in the area of Ikisat where it was always night and there were halls upon stone halls filled with endless rooms. Each room was used to punish souls in their afterlife for all sorts of dark, delicious acts. The darker the soul, the better it tasted to Nihasia. All manner of creatures ended up here in the punishment rooms, each one unique in their taste and their power.

She paused as she listened to the screams that filled the silence of the halls, never a better sound had she heard. The stench of death and decay was as appetizing to her as freshly baked cookies to a child. Maybe once Damian had been dealt with she would enjoy these punishment rooms a bit before she destroyed Ikisat.

First though, Damian. Never again must he be allowed to hurt them for he had too much power over Theanna. Nihasia knew where to find him, so strong was their bonded link.

Arriving at one of the many punishment rooms she found him in his full Daemoni state. He truly was beautiful. It was a shame he deserved pain and destruction. They could have such fun... enough of that thinking though. It was time to end the pain. With a loud snarl she approached him and grabbed a wing, tossing him across the room as if he were a mere toy.

He snarled in outraged anger as he landed on his feet and turned to see who would dare to attack him. Wait... “Who are you Daemoness? Why do you attack me?”

Nihasia’s teeth elongated as did her claws as she hissed, “Do you not know me, Dnirya? You claim we are bonded, we are to be mates, and yet you do not know your Zoqa?” Her words were filled with such hate and pain that lesser Daemoni shrank away in fear.

“Theanna?!?” Damian blinked in shock.

“Wrong!” Nihasia screamed as she clawed him, removing a chunk of flesh and causing him to howl in pain. Smiling at his pain as she watched his black blood flow freely, she spat at him in derision. “I am Nihasia, true protector of Theanna. You have caused us so much pain, so much anguish, I was called upon to save us from you.”

Damian could sense the immense power that Nihasia possessed, power that he’d only ever felt from Lord Lucifer himself and from one other, Theanna as a young innocent child. If Nihasia was in control of those powers he knew his time was limited and that he deserved whatever punishment was to be handed to him.

Through their connection, their bond, Thea’s pain fed his own and he knew whatever Nihasia planned to do was not enough, would never be enough. Galena had been right and now he had to pay. “I have hurt you, Zoqa. I am truly sorry.”

A wave of power emitted from Nihasia, knocking Damian off of his feet, as she screamed and flew at him. “Do not dare call us that! We are not your beloved. We are not your mate,” she screeched as she ripped flesh from him. “I will destroy you and watch as Ikisat falls, then I will rule all realms so that none can ever hurt us again!”

“What have I done?” Damian moaned as darkness overcame him.