I Want to Experiment

“I knew you are the Lady and so I marked you.”

Alexander had gotten the last stair and was just walking to the empty chair, next to the sofa I was sitting on. He sat gracefully as if he had not just thrown a bomb at me. His face, which was cut to perfection, looked at me in a cold stare. He looked ageless, even his facial hair looked immortal.

I was reminded by the time he took my virginity. He told me that his age was 3333 and I giggled it off thinking he was just trying to make me feel better.

Had it been true all along?

“H– how?”

Alexander pointed to my stomach. “I poured my seed on you, remember?” He smirked despite still pinning me down with his cold eyes.

“Seed?”

“My semen.”

Heat rose to my cheeks instantly. But before I could make sense of the word, I heard the other guys snorted. I whipped my face to see them all putting on sour faces. They seemed not to like the fact that I had sex with Alexander.

“I ingrained a smell on you so I can always track you down,” Alexander continued to say, “I didn’t think you’d found a way to get out from my contract though.”

I blinked several times.

“But… I took anti-pregnancy pills all the time…”

“As stated in the contract,” Alexander cut me off, “But the smell I ingrained cannot be washed off like that, Ann.”

Tony snorted hard. “You did not even have to have sex with her–“

“But why wouldn’t I?” Alexander said, his eyes roaming my body. I found myself blushing more.

“So, have you decided to stay?” Michael asked.

I exchanged glances with each man. The cold angel whose eyes were like ice. The considerate demon albeit weird. The spoiled superstar. And my former sugar daddy that looked at me in… disdain.

“Did I do something wrong to you?” I suddenly asked Alexander. I just had to know if he was doing all this because I have wronged him before. If he marked me because he had a grudge against me.

His eyes darkened and instantly, I felt the air became heavier. There was a growing pressure on my breathing and the air smelled stale. I felt my hairs on my skin rising as Alexander’s eyes got more and more intense.

*Is this magic?*, I thought. How terrifying. I could feel my legs started to shake.

“Wrong? No,” he chuckled deep but his eyes were still glaring. “You did not do anything wrong.”

“He’s just upset that you managed to get out of his contract,” Tony rolled her eyes.

“Why is that…?” I sat down again as my feet started to feel weak. While avoiding Alexander’s intimidating gaze, I focused on Tony. It was funny that I found more comfort on the demon than on my former sugar daddy.

“Because when you are bounded with his contract, it made you exclusively for him,” Michael explained, “He found you so he made the first move. Then he bound you immediately with a contract. Since you signed the contract that gave him claim over you willingly, we could not approach you.”

“It’s cheating basically,” Renald said. He pouted as if he was on the losing end of a game and he could not take it.

“A smart play, Renald,” Alexander corrected him. I swore I saw Renald shrunk when Alexander talked to him. It was nice to know that he did not only have that effect on me. “It is a game after all.”

“A game?” I raised my voice. I was still scared and shocked, but the word did not sit still with me. “You’re basically saying that my life is a game?”

The men went silent. And that was when I knew that they did think my life was just a game. According to what they said, the Lady had cycles of life. My life was just another cycle of the game. So, if I died, they would just have to wait until another cycle came along and played the game again.

*Barbarians. Assholes. Sons of bitches*. I cursed them with all my might but my tongue would not produce the sound.

“Don’t take it personally,” said Michael, always in his cold tone, “It’s a matter of life and death for the Underworlders.”

“Ha! And what about me?” I asked, “Do I not have a say in all this?”

“You do,” Alexander said, “And that’s the annoying thing of all this.”

“What?” I blinked at Alexander. Did he just imply that me having my own thoughts was annoying to him? How arrogant and presumptuous… That was so him! Urgh! This was why I quit being his sugar baby.

“We have to acquire your consent in everything,” said Renald, “That was why we needed you to enter the mansion willingly. And you can order us around–“

“Only Renald!” the other three men said in a heartbeat. Renald whimpered a little because he was the odd one out.

“Renald is part werewolf. And though he is an alpha albeit rogue, he has acknowledged…,” Tony pointed to Alexander reluctantly, “Him as the Father. And since you have slept with him, you essentially are in a higher hierarchy than Renald.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. One, Tony mentioned Alexander as ‘him’ instead of Father like they told me before. It was as if Tony was avoiding calling Alexander with ‘father’. Two, he just told me that I could order about Renald.

“Renald. Stand.” I did not think much about it, to be honest. Did not even think it would work too, even though it worked on my apartment before.

But Renald quickly stood up as if his body moved on its own accord.

*Holy Beelzebub*, I thought.

“Sit.”

Renald sat again. This time he whimpered, he certainly did not like to be ordered about. “Sorry, I had to test it out,” I assured him, “I won’t be ordering you about.”

The boy smiled at me. If he was in his wolf form, I could have seen him wagging his tail.

I cleared my throat. Renald had distracted me from what I had been preparing to say.

“I will stay,” I told them my decision, “But I have one condition.”

The men raised their eyebrows. Michael and Tony looked at each other while Alexander still looked at me as if he was drilling my head with his gaze.

“I presume there is no way for me to get out of the ‘deadline’ set by nature?” I asked.

Renald tilted his head, thinking. “We can make you an immortal like Alexander,” Tony started saying but was cut off by Alexander.

“But we will only do that after you crown the Dark Lord.”

I stared at them each. This time, I did not shy away from Alexander’s gaze as well. “I don’t want to be an immortal. I want a normal mortal life.”

“Then…,” Renald was about to continue but Alexander cut him off too.

“That’s not possible.”

“Can you not cut people off when they are talking?” I raised my voice to Alexander. He was still making me feel intimidated but I was more annoyed then. After all, they needed me to be willing to stay in their mansion and under their protection. They needed me to crown one of them as the Dark Lord.

They needed me.

So, why should I feel intimidated in the first place?

I could see the other three men gawked at me raising my voice at Alexander. My former sugar daddy only looked at me coldly, a sign I should continue.

“Then I will stay on one condition,” I raised my chin to Alexander, letting him know I was done feeling intimidated.

“What is that?” Alexander asked. He gave pressure on each syllable then he clicked his tongue. I knew that tone. He was not happy with me raising my voice on him. When I was still his sugar baby, I would step back occasionally. But right then, he needed me more than I needed him. So I would not back away.

“I want to experiment on each of you.”

“Huh?” Tony and Renald were dumbfounded. But Michael started to look amused. While Alexander was still… unamused.

“I want to experiment on how your cells could make you immortal. So I can find the answers I need to cure myself.”

Alexander covered his mouth but I knew he was laughing at me. I knew the man’s small gestures inside and out. He thought I was being crazy and too ahead of myself.

“How about we talk it over dinner then? We can also talk about how you will crown one of us,” Alexander said. With his words, suddenly Xavier appeared behind him from a door underneath the stairs. I did not even realize that Xavier had gone out while we were talking.

“Dinner is served, Master,” Xavier said.

Alexander stood up. He was talking to each of us but his gaze was still pinned on me. “Shall we?”

I gulped. I did not really have any other choice about the matter, did I?