Intertwined: love, fire and sacrifice

2. Around Hell

Laius

I went to our bedroom and saw my very contemplative and somewhat sad mate, which made me exhale sharply in frustration. I don’t want to see her like this, I want my Sugar happy, laughing, smiling, moaning. 

She turned her beautiful face to look at me and flashed me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“I’ve told Avalon and Elric that I won’t come back… for now. Then, I cut our mind-link.” 

I walked towards her and pulled her into my embrace. “It’s the best thing to do, Sugar. The bond will get weaker and soon you will feel better. It will get better.” 

I didn’t know myself if it was true or not,  but I wanted to comfort her, distract her until her sadness goes away. Hopefully, it will be soon. 

Liv sighed; I knew she also hoped so. She hoped that closing the link would be the best for those two dorks and for herself. I felt it through our bond, her hesitancy, her hope and wish that Avalon and Elric would be fine. 

“I want to show you around the castle and the Realm. The first time I showed you around, you didn’t see that much. I’ll introduce you to everyone and then I will officially crown you my Queen.” That would be the perfect distraction. Besides that, I was looking forward to showing her Hell, our home, and making her my queen. 

She looked at me a bit shocked. Of course, she knew that it would happen, but I think the fact that it will happen sooner than later was still a little overwhelming for her. She will soon be my Queen. The Queen of Hell. 

I smiled at her and tucked a strand of her silver-blond silky hair behind her ear. “You will be an amazing Queen, Sweets.” My Sugar is a natural, and Hell and I are very lucky, blessed to have her as our queen. I captured her lips in a rough kiss. “Let’s start our tour before I change my mind and decide to keep you in the room for myself,” I added with a mischievous grin. 

I took my Sweets to many large gothic sitting rooms, we have many of those in Hell, more seats than butts to occupy them, probably. There are also some bedrooms in the castle, but most demons live in their own places, caves, dens, and houses. Demons are as different and quirky as they come. In one of the meeting rooms, we met my assistant, Medeia, which was a good coincidence, since I was already planning to introduce her to Liv. 

“Medeia, this is our Queen, Livia,” I uttered.  

Medeia bowed down to the both of us. “Your majesties.” 

An idea occurred to me, and I said, rubbing my chin, “She will be your personal maid, Sweets.”

Medeia gazed at me with a startled look, but she wouldn’t contradict my decision. I knew she didn’t expect it and she has never been a maid before. She was in a much higher position as my assistant. 

“You will be spending some time together and she can be with you, while I am in meetings or busy with other business,” I said looking at my beautiful female. 

I didn’t want to leave my mate for even a second. I was feeling quite possessive and protective towards my Sugar, and I feared that somehow her other mates could get to her, take her away from Hell, from me. But I have a hell of a lot of work to do, Hell is the biggest Realm, and life in Hell must go on. I’ve to take care of at least some of the duties I can’t delegate to my second in command. 

“So, you should call me Livia or Liv.” My sweet Liv smiled. 

Medeia only nodded in response; she was still shocked by my announcement. 

I’m the King of Hell, I trust no one. But I distrust Medeia less than average and I couldn’t think about anyone better to be around Liv when I was busy. I could have thought about Lucius, my second in command, but the mere idea of having an unmated male near my woman unsettled me. 

We moved to the next room, the library. Grey, one of the souls that came to live in Hell some centuries ago, was there. He was wearing his typical outfit, old-fashioned clothes, a long-tailed coat, and a narrow-brimmed hat. Who dresses like this in Hell? It’s very hot here. Grey flashed Liv a bright smile and bowed down to me in his very exaggerated way.  

“Grey, that’s my mate and our Queen, Livia.” Grey also bowed down to her in a dramatic manner. 

“That’s Grey, our librarian,” I added, turning to Sugar. 

“I’m not a librarian, I’m an artist. An artist to be confused with the art itself.” Grey interjected, visibly offended by the way I referred to him. 

“Ignore him. He’s a narcissist lunatic,” I told Liv through our bond. 

“Do you want me to paint your portrait, my Queen? Only beauty has the ability to capture beauty.” Grey dared to say flirting. 

“Dorian! Stay away from my mate! If you ever look at her again, I will burn you, resurrect you, and burn you again for the rest of damn eternity!” I growled, as I felt my eyes glowing red and a thin rope of smoke left my ears. 

Grey cowered away and lowered his head. 

Sugar wrapped her hand around my arm, “Let’s go to see the next room.” 

“Goodbye milady…” Grey gasped and slapped his mouth just after these words left his lips. “Forgive my faux pas, Goodbye, my Queen” He bowed down dramatically without looking at her. 

~*~

Liv

Grey didn’t even look at me in his last bow. Damnit, no male in this Realm will ever look at me in the eyes after we finish this tour. That will be so awkward. Thanks for that Hottie!  

I hope Laius was only kidding on his threat, but anyways, better move to the next room. 

‘My Queen’, it sounds weird. I know that I’ll be officially Laius’ queen soon, but it was still a bit weird to hear someone referring to me like this.

After the library, we went to a very large and crowded kitchen. People were running like headless chickens and looking about to lose their minds, a man started to scream, and a huge flame went up one of the stoves violently and quickly as if it was blown by a dragon. Everyone was yelling frantically and crashing into each other while scurrying about. Well, that was somehow how I imagined Hell. An overcrowded kitchen with mean chefs and hysterical cooks running to get the always burning food.

“That’s the kitchen of Hell, where prominent and arrogant chefs who used to torture their staff, have to work as part of their castigation. All their staff here are rookies who can’t cook to save their lives. They’re also all vegan, gluten intolerant, and allergic to nuts. If the chefs yell ‘fired’ or try to fire the workforce anyhow, the chefs themselves will be caught by actual fire. So, they can’t have a fit and lose it with the staff.” Laius explained. 

“But how about the staff? Why are they punished too?” I was feeling bad for anyone who had to work for those chefs in this hell of a kitchen. 

“They are not real, they are illusions, Sugar. But the chefs can’t see that.” 

“That is... creative,” I muttered, still a bit perplexed. 

So many similarities between Hell and reality shows, that’s disturbing. That place needs some reforms. Even bad people need a break, dammit! I will try to throw them a bone when I become Queen.  

We moved forward with our little tour and went to a dark gothic bar, where a single bartender was behind the bar counter pouring a drink for himself. The bartender was a pale man with raven hair, and he was wearing vintage round sunglasses even though there wasn’t much light in the bar. He looked quite weird.  

“Wait, is he drinking blood?” I asked. 

“Yes, he is. That’s our bar, BARcchanalia. The bartender is the old and not so good Vlad, a centuries-old vampire.” Laius turned to the barman, who just then eyed us “Vlad, that’s my mate and Queen, Livia.”

“King Laius! Triple whiskey? … Domnița mea*, I am pleased to meet you.” He said, looking at me and bowing down. 

“Nice to meet you,” I replied with a small smile. 

“Do you want a drink, Sugar?” 

“Yes, why not?” I answered, “What do you recommend?” I asked, turning to look at the Vlad vamp.

“Dirty Red Head Sl*t or Brain Haemorrhage.” He answered. 

“What?” I was confused. What is the vamp talking about? 

“They are both cocktails, the first one is with old gold Hell whiskey, Chambord raspberry liqueur, and southern comfort from the Pixie Realm. The second one is with Bailey’s, Leprechaun cream, and grenadine syrup.” The bartender explained.

“Okay, a Brain Haemorrhage please,” I asked. My Hottie and I sat down on the tall chairs by the counter and Vlad quickly brought us our drinks. 

Laius drank his whiskey in a single gulp, making me look at him a bit shocked, then he flashed me that dimpled smile. 'Oh, Goddess! It’s getting even hotter here.'  

“Wow, that’s strong,” I muttered after sipping my drink. 

“As the alcohol in Hell always is, Sweets. We don’t do soft drinks.” Laius replied. 

“It’s quite funny that there is a bar in your… our castle,” I said. Hell was full of surprises, just like Laius.

~*~

Laius

“It’s quite funny that there is a bar in your… our castle.” Liv commented, making me smile, I was glad she corrected herself and used the word ‘our. ` It was indeed hers as well, I would give her the whole world, correction the whole underworld, in a blink of an eye. 

“Hell is a party place, Sugar. We have the best raves and great rock stars in here, some of them in the Elysium part though.” 

“Nobody knows how to party and throw orgies as the Hell folks.” Vlad added with a lopsided smile. 

“What’s the difference between here and Elysium? Is it like different hoods?” she asked. 

I chuckled, “Different dead souls of humans and some other beings go to the different parts of Hell, according to how naughty they were. The goody-goodies go to Elysium.”

“So, every dead soul goes to Hell?” Liv asked. She really didn’t know much about it. 

“Most of the supernatural immortal beings ascend to the Ether, the other dimension, instead of dying. Thus, they don’t come to Hell. Everyone else comes down here, every dead soul. The nastiest ones to the different Pits of Tartarus and the most wholesome ones to the Elysium Fields.” I answered. 

“Where else would they go? To the Pixie Kingdom?” Vlad interjected, which earned him my vicious glare. No one can talk like this to my female. 

I pulled my Sugar closer, lifted her onto my lap, and wrapped a possessive arm around her waist, I have to touch her, be as close as possible. 

“Is Elysium really different from this part of Hell?” She asked. I was happy about her curiosity and interest to get to know about my home, our home. 

“Yes, Sugar. It’s very different, there people aren’t tortured, they have a peaceful vanilla life. The landscape is also quite different, you will like it there. We can go there another day. We should also take Lelea and Mel there, they'll like it as well.” 

She answered me with a pretty smile, and I kissed her smiling plump lips.