The Queen's Forbidden Love

Chapter 7

Claudia's POV:

I did not recognize the voice that came from behind me but I could feel his presence and the look on Bella's face was more than enough for me to know who he was along with what he was. Even if Bella weren't with me, I would know just by the feel of him along with his scent. The scent of a demon is very unique, one that you will never forget. Higher-ranked demons will have a different scent from lower-ranked ones as well.

"Especially with a demon such as myself in the building with you," He continued to say from behind me.

"Even a demon isn't enough to keep me from going where I want to go," I snapped back at him.

He placed his hand on my shoulder, sending a warning through his hand and into me. I could feel the power that he held and knew that if he were to find me alone, it would be a battle difficult for me to win. Demons aren't like any other supernatural. They aren't ones that just get stronger as the years go on with new generations like all the other supernaturals. The powers they possess are based on their ranking.

All demons are created. They are not produced the same way as other supernaturals or humans. They are implanted into a host. Depending on the demon will depend on if the host is killed or not. All demons will kill the host. Low-ranked ones are guaranteed to kill the host and will grow rapidly to keep from getting killed themselves, but the higher-ranking ones can choose if the host is killed or not from the pregnancy or birth. This is not something that happens very often but there are a few cases of them happening. I happened to have gotten lucky to meet one of the most powerful demons in the world and she did not kill her host when she was born. In fact, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be alive right now to tell about her or to continue with my duties as the royal witch.

"Awfully confident. Maybe I need to show you how wrong you are," He told me in a deep tone as the power in his hand increased, causing me to wince a little in pain.

"Even you aren't allowed to do anything to me here that may alert any of the humans to what you or I may be," I reminded him.

The pain in my shoulder from his hand didn't let up, telling me that being in a room full of humans wasn't going to stop him from at least inflicting pain. He knew just as well as I did that I would do whatever I needed to do in order to not leak our existence to the humans. Because of that, I breathed in deeply, clenched my teeth, and tightened my grip on the chair to help control my reaction to the pain I was feeling as he increased his power into my shoulder.

"Got quite the control there, don't you, Claudia," He snickered behind me as his claws formed on the ends of his fingers, shooting into my shoulder and causing me to gasp in pain.

"Why don't you just leave her alone?" Bella snapped, pulling his attention off of me and over to her.

"Ah, a crystal witch. I haven't played with one of those in a long time," He snarled with a smile on his face as his grip started to let up on my shoulder and his claws retracted.

"She wouldn't be much of a challenge for you," I quickly said to try to get his attention back on me.

His other hand was quick to come around and grab my upper arm. He pulled on me hard, pulling me from my seat and turning me around till I was facing him. He was more than a foot taller than I was, probably close to six and a half feet in height. Typically they are. The high-ranking demons are huge to begin with and for them to be in human form, that usually means they are large as a human as well.

"Are you suggesting to take you in her place?" He asked as he looked down into my eyes with his black-as-night eyes.

"I'm not suggesting anything," I told him as I glared up at him.

"Sounds like you are offering and even if you aren't, you're the one I wanted to start with," He told me as he pulled me even closer to his body.

"Claudia!" Bella whisper yelled in fear as she stood up from her chair.

"No, Bella," I snapped at her as I put my hand up to stop her and shook my head at the same time.

"Stay here where you will be safe," I told her but I could see that she wasn't wanting to listen.

"I will be alright," I told her, trying to convince her but it was hard to sound convincing when I wasn't sure myself.

He knew as well as I did that taking me somewhere secluded, allowing him to come at me at full power, that I wouldn't survive this confrontation. He's just too high of a ranking for me to be able to compete with. Most high-ranking demons don't cause an issue but if one does, more than one royal is usually called upon to take care of the matter.

Usually, if I sense a demon of his strength or higher, I would use my teleportation potion to remove myself from the area as fast as I could. This is the main reason any witch would carry such a potion with them at all times. I'm just starting to work with Bella to make the potion herself and to get her used to using it. Even now, I have intentions of using one to get back to Bella and then one again to get back to our cabin even if that meant the rental car was left behind.

He pulled me till I was in front of him, my back up against his chest, as he started to walk with me to the exit of the building. The problem with demons, which is one reason why they are so dangerous, they feel warm against you. Everything about them is designed to lure you in and to trick you so they can devour you. The way they look, smell, sound, and feel all play a part in luring you in.

The dim lights and the loud music were more than enough to keep anyone from noticing what was going on. No one here would suspect any foul play. They would just think we were looking for someplace to be alone.

"You will be the second royal witch that I will have under my belt as one that I have killed," He whispered into my ear.

"You haven't killed me yet," I snapped back at him, causing him to chuckle deeply with his demon vocals.

"Do you really think you are going to have a chance once I have you alone?" He asked me as we stepped out of the building and onto the sidewalk.

"Just remember, strength and power don't always mean you'll win," I told him, causing him to chuckle as he turned and we started to walk down the sidewalk.

"Don't try to kid yourself, Claudia. You know just like I do that you won't stand a chance." He reminded me as we walked down an alley and stopped in front of a metal door of an abandoned building.

"You do realize that even in an abandoned building, a fight won't be concealed from the humans," I told him as I opened the door.

"You will make sure that won't happen by watching what magic is used against me," He snapped as he shoved me hard into the open room, causing me to stumble forward.

Before I had a chance to catch my footing, he shimmered in front of me, catching me by the shoulders with his hands. This is what makes it so difficult to beat a demon, low or high ranking. Even if they are partially distorted by their shimmering, they can't be touched. The shimmer will also distort anything I were to throw at him, electricity, fire, objects, explosions, rendering all of it useless as it passes through the distortion. The shimmering only lasts for a second or two before they are gone, only to reappear somewhere else almost instantly after.

"Now, don't be falling and hurting yourself already. We haven't hardly gotten started!" He snickered as he held onto me.

I turned my hand the best that I could and shot a bolt of lightning into his lower abdomen. He let go of me the moment it hit his body, sending him through the air and against the nearby wall. I knew that even though this shot him across the room with a powerful blow, no damage to him would have been done. Nothing that I will do to him will weaken him in any way. I took that chance to take off running in the opposite direction, using my hand to try to pull out one of the potion bottles from my purse. Teleporting out of here will be my only hope of survival.

I screamed in pain when a bolt of fire hit me in the back, causing my hand to pull out of my purse with the bottle, throwing it accidentally from my hand as I fell to the floor. The potion exploded several feet from me when it hit the floor. I could feel the heat in my back as my blood started to run down and soak my shorts. I tried to move but the pain I felt shooting through my body was excruciating!

"You think you're going to just teleport away from me!" He shouted as he shimmered next to me, grabbing my purse with his hand and burning it and all of its contents to ash.

As my purse burnt to ash, the entire surface area that touched my body also burned the skin, causing me to scream in pain for the few seconds it took to burn. He grabbed me and threw me across the room, hitting a pile of empty oil drums, and pushing them in different directions as my body fell to the floor. He was next to me in a flash, grabbing me and pulling me into a standing position, forcing me to face him.

"We're just getting started, Claudia," He said devilishly with a smile.

---

Bell's POV:

I know that Claudia told me that she would be okay and I know that she's the royal witch and all but that demon is a very high-ranking demon. One that I know for certain she isn't powerful enough to kill. It isn't just physical strength that he will have above hers, it's the power behind anything he would throw at her. She will feel everything ten times more than if she were to do the same thing to herself with her power.

Just the thought of what he could do to her was enough for me to not listen to her orders. I can't just let him kill her because that is exactly what he will do. Her defense will not be powerful enough to damage him enough to weaken him for her to get away. The idea of him hurting her like that was enough for me to disobey a direct order from her. I could feel the intense need to do as she had said and because I could disobey her meant that she was already getting hurt and her power was weakening.

I pulled my phone out and scrolled through till I found the one number that I knew she would probably kill me over if she knew that I had and called it. I will just have to deal with her later, at least, hopefully, she will be alive to reprimand me.

---

Claudia's POV:

I was lying on my back, in a puddle of my own blood as the demon walked around me. My strength was weakening. Each time I tried to hit him with something, all it did was move him backward. Not once did it actually hurt him. Not once did it weaken him or rip him apart. He kept shimmering to avoid anything that I had tried and if I did manage to hit him, he just got back up and laughed. Yet, each time he hit me something, it ripped me up. I can feel the blood all over my body from everything he has done to me. I can't even surround myself with an invisible barrier, I don't have the strength left in my body to create one.

I tried to run away a few times but with his shimmering, I wasn't fast enough. Without my potions, that all burned up in my purse, there is no way I would be able to get away from him. I was so weak that all I wanted to do was lay here and fall asleep. I was losing my will to keep going and the loss of my strength made it even harder to want to keep going.

"Not time to die yet!" I heard him shout as he leaned down and backhanded me in the face.

The power of his hit was more than enough for me to scream in pain as I rolled to my side. It still wasn't enough for me to find the energy or power to try to get away. Even with the pain in my cheek, all I wanted to do was lay on the cold floor in the smeared blood.

"I'm not done playing with you!" He continued to shout.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that it was wrong to hit a woman?" I suddenly heard a familiar deep growl.

I wanted to look to see who it was but I was too weak to move. I kept going in and out of consciousness but I didn't fight it. If it was my time, then I was ready.

"A vampire is going to try to stop me from killing a witch!" The demon shouted in disbelief with a laugh mixed in.

"I would think you would want to help! After all, this witch is a royal! She kills your kind!" He continued to shout in the direction of the vampire.

I tried to move to see who it was but just that little bit of movement was extremely painful. It caused me to hiss in pain and lay the side of my face back on the cold concrete.

"My intentions with the witch are not of your concern!" I heard the vampire shout from deep in his voice as he released a growl.

"You are not powerful enough to take me on!" The demon screeched into his high vocals, hurting my ears with the pitch of his screech.

"You forget, demon...you may shimmer from place to place in seconds but that won't be enough for you to catch me!" I heard the vampire shout.

Before I had a chance to register his meaning, I was picked up out of my blood. The movement was so fast that if I had the strength to open my eyes to see what had happened, I would have surely gotten nauseous from the speed and thrown up all over. Within seconds, we were out of town and in the mountains. I could feel the coolness of the air as it wisped past my skin. Once the motion had stopped, I used all the strength I had to open my eyes to look at the one who saved me from one death intending to finish me off himself by draining me of my remaining blood.

Before my eyes could register who it was that had me in his arms, everything went black.