She Belongs To The Devil

Ariel leaned forward and then whispered in Zachariah's ear, "Damien can grow long and pointy horns exactly at midnight. I saw it once when I was a kid. They looked really dangerous."

"Really? Why is he keeping it a secret then?" Zachariah looked at Ariel with shocked eyes and asked in a whisper, "And why has he never shown it to me?"

Ariel pursed her lips and sighed. "Sadly his horns only grow for a minute right at midnight. I guess he hasn't told anyone else about his horns because of the same reason. They disappear quickly and he might have been a little embarrassed."

Zachariah threw the dice along with its roller on the board and pouted, "I want to see his horns."

Ariel moved her sad gaze out of the window and mumbled, "I wish I could also see his glorious horns one more time. But he always runs home right after dinner. He has to. My dad never allows him to stay over at my place saying that I'm a girl and he's a boy."

"What wrong with that?" Zachariah furrowed his brows and asked, "You two are best friends, right? Can't you two even have a sleepover?" He grinned and added, "And invite me as well? So that I can also see his glorious horns?"

Ariel flopped down on the bed and said in a melancholic tone, "If only I was a boy… maybe then my Dad would have agreed to let him stay."

Zachariah widened his eyes and asked excitedly, "What if I ask Damien to stay over at my place?" His eyes widened even further and he added, "Or maybe all of us cousins, along with Damien, can stay over here. Uncle Theodore would allow that, wouldn't he?"

Ariel pressed her lips together and thought for a while. And she replied, "Maybe Damien won't like it if everyone sees his horns." She looked at her cousin and implied, "But maybe his heart will melt for the youngest of us."

Zachariah bit his nails and darted his eyes around while going into deep thoughts. It was evident on his face that he badly wanted to see Damien's horns.

Though the kid was smart, he couldn't think of a solution right away.

So Ariel fed some ideas to him. "Maybe you and Damien can sleep together in your room? And the rest of us will sleep in another room. That way, you can secretly see Damien's horns at midnight."

Zachariah clapped his hands and smiled, "That's a great idea!"

Ariel's face was beaming with happiness because everything was going according to her plan.

And she subtly planted the idea in Zachariah's head that they were going to have a sleepover the coming weekend while also making sure that Zachariah would be the one to ask Damien to stay over.

"But I'm not going to insist that Damien stays here the coming weekend. If I do then my dad will surely take Damien back to Hell. You know how he likes to do the exact opposite of what I ask."

"Don't worry." Zachariah rolled the dice and said with a smirk, "I will invite Damien for the sleepover. And all the others as well."

Zachariah's made his game piece climb the ladder while excitedly announcing, "I can't wait for the weekend."

"Me too," Ariel exclaimed in her mind.

---

The weekend was almost at the door.

Damien still hadn't been able to retrieve the Zobekker plant from the Garden of Tribulation.

He had tried asking a few shady demons if that plant could even be poisoned or rendered immobile so that it wouldn't attack him. Some of the demons confirmed that it was indeed possible.

However, he couldn't get any answer regarding what could be done with the plant so that it wouldn't suck his soul or any others' souls.

Damien even considered taking something else entirely and deceiving Joyce by saying that he had sealed its power of sucking the soul.

"Ariel and I will already be back in the Palace by the time she realizes that the plant I got for her is a fake."

However, he couldn't go through with this plan of his because he knew how Joyce was. He was sure she would get back to him one way or another if she found out that she was deceived.

Also, he would hate it if Ariel also thought of him as a liar and a deceiver.

"I think I better do a quick background check on that lady," Damien thought to himself after thinking about it for quite a long time. "I need to know what she is."

"She said her name was Maple, right? And she lives inside the pandemonium." Damien walked out of the back gate of his mansion so that he could sneak away easily.

He spread out his wings and flew in the direction of the capital city of Hell.

After flying for almost an hour, Damien finally reached that street where that woman had pinpointed on the map.

Damien was a little taken aback to see that street so bustling with the demons. It didn't feel like it was a part of Hell at all. All kinds of demons, souls, and monsters were roaming around that street. They were talking, laughing, fighting, eating, and simply living their best lives.

This place looked like a distant dream to Damien because where he lived, they were constantly training, and fighting to protect their boundaries. They were always on the lookout for any war breaking out or for any monsters coming to attack them in a horde.

But here, these demons looked like they had nothing to worry about except enjoying and fooling around.

"Mother said that this part of the Hell was filthy. But it looks quite the opposite." Damien was thinking to himself as he flew up above the street.

There were several shops on that particular street. Most of the shops were selling weapons, potions, samples of magic circles, books of spells, and whatnots.

Damien even noticed that there were several buildings where female demons were dragging the male demons inside. And the demons who walked out of those places looked all red and drunk.

Damien shook his head at those drunkards and wondered, "Does liquor even taste good? It smells awful! I don't know why they even like to ingest such disgusting things when you don't even need it to survive."

"Hey, this is a no-flying zone!" Damien suddenly heard one of the demons shouting from the street below him. "The soldiers will punish you if they find you violating the law."

Damien wasn't aware that there was such a law here in the pandemonium. But he was thankful for that old-looking demon for warning him. Getting punished here was the last thing that he wanted.

He quickly flew down to the street and gently landed beside that old demon. He then asked, "Do you know someone by the name of Maple here?"

That old demon lightly touched his long and pointy chin and answered, "Maple? Yeah, she's very famous here. Why? Do you need to buy something from her?"

Damien assumed that she owned a shop somewhere near and nodded his head so as not to raise suspicion that he wasn't from this part of the Hell.

Damien then asked that man, "Can you show me where she lives?"

That demon pointed towards the end of the alley and said, "The shop that's painted red is hers." That demon felt that Damien was skeptical. So he tried to ensure the kid, "She's good at what she does. So, whatever you need, you can buy from her."

Damien thanked that old demon and then walked towards the end of the alley.

But before he reached the deadend, he was stopped by a succubus who was wearing very exposing clothes. "My my... Boy, are you here to see some women at such a young age?"

Damien nodded his head innocently. How would a twelve-year-old boy who hadn't even ventured into the heart of Hell, where all sins were promoted highly, know what that succubus really meant?

The succubus covered her mouth in surprise as well as amusement. She chuckled softly and looked into Damien's dreamy eyes. "If you are looking for someone young then I have someone inside," she whispered and gave him a wink.

However, Damien already knew where he would find the woman who he was looking for.

So instead, he asked that succubus, "Do you know Maple? What is she exactly?"

The sweet expression on that succubus' face instantly turned into that of hatred and anger. And she sneered at Damien, "Ugh! So you're here for that witch!"

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