CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR 

Half Demon

My legs were rooted at the same spot. His eyes emanated a red glow, but no, I would die before I would allow him to make me his slave.

"Ariel!" His voice growled with anger and power. I refused to budge or respond. I wanted him to end my life rather than use me as a puppet.

He raised his fingers high in a quick motion. I closed my eyes, anticipating his hands on my cheeks—or death! Either way, I wasn't going to live inside that house.

"Daddy," I heard Annie say with her childlike glee, pulling at Ragal's cloth. "I will take care of her."

Hands halted in mid-air and dropped after hearing her. Clearly, Ragal had a soft spot for Annie, one that he never had for his twins.

He breathed deeply and sighed. "Daddy doesn't like it when you interrupt me." He bent down, reaching for her cheeks.

Her beaming smile reached her blue eyes as she spoke. "You told me to take care of her. That's what I am trying to do." She bent her head slightly, looking up at him like a naughty child would after getting caught for bad behavior.

Ragal's face softened, and for the first time, I truly didn't know who he was. He looked different, and it seemed scary to me.

If anyone would tell me a monster would have a heart, I bet it wouldn't be the Alpha King.

"Annie, I am sorry for scolding you," he said as he raised her chin up. I just watched everything with my arms crossed. I certainly knew I wasn't entering the cottage.

Ragal pulled her into a tight hug.

I rolled my eyes at the affection coming from a monster I couldn't care less about.

"Annie, I will be leaving. I have pack matters to attend to. I promise to be back with gifts." Ragal separated himself from her, leaving through the same gate we used to teleport, leaving me with a 15-year-old demon.

After Ragal left, I still stood my ground about not entering the cottage.

"You should come inside. The Stargazers won't be far gone." Annie opened the door wide.

I folded my arms and continued, my legs fervently tapping on the ground, turning my gaze away from her to the gates where Ragal had just disappeared.

"Don't even think about it," Annie caught my stares. "It's not worth it!"

"The Moon God—"

"Shhh! That name isn't allowed here. We are all demons, and we have no gods whatsoever," Annie cut me off.

"What are you? A demon without wings?" I scoffed. Like hell I believe in magic, demons, dark creatures, and whatnot. I left the porch and walked towards the gate in annoyance.

Half expecting to be chased, I kept on looking over my shoulder. Annie was already inside the cottage.

She's a slave and I am not, I reasoned as I quickened my pace.

The sands were black and looked grainy, and they dirtied my shoes. I shrugged the sands off. I had more important things to think about.

Sweat dropped freely from my brows as I swiped it with my arm. My throat was feeling parched, and I wanted to drink water badly.

I couldn't dare go in there when I was so close to freedom, I reasoned, still making my way to the gate.

I noticed the sands never changed, but I kept walking the same distance to the gate.

"What was happening?" I looked up, the gate still looking at me mockingly.

"No, it's so close, I can make it," I breathed in deeply, remembering how far I had gone in my life—my dead kid, my sister's betrayal, being a demon.

I wouldn't give up now!

I struggled between my thirst and the sudden heat all over this place. Phew, this was really hard.

I scanned the surroundings to check the distance I had covered—the sands, the cottage, the gate were not far from each other, but I was still in the same place!

My head was already spinning. I fell on the sand, the sun beating my face as I closed my ears, heart thumping loudly.

I was exhausted, and it didn't help that my chest pains were still aching.

"Moon Goddess, please help me!" I closed my ears intimately while whispering a silent prayer.

I first felt a swirl around my hair, and then it was like everywhere became cool, calm, and quiet.

I sneaked a peek to look at my surroundings. The sun had disappeared, leaving a dark moon in its warmth across the skies.

The cloud was looking more bloody than anything I had seen before. My heartbeat was racing wildly as I watched everything take a different form.

"Was this obedience?" I spun around. My knees became weak. The gate had already disappeared, and the cottage was a bit far from where I was.

"Who is there?" I screamed in fear.

My nerves were getting jittery, and it was all over the place. The sand was slowly giving way.

"Helppppppppp!" I screamed, running, but I was too late. The sand was already pulling me in slowly.

I fought with my hands to keep afloat and not sink, but I realized too late it was useless.

I heard Annie's childish voice in my head with a warning: *We are demons. We do not believe in the Moon Goddess.*

I gulped hard.

Then the voices. At first, I thought I was hallucinating them, but they were loud and strange.

"Haaa, we found something useful in this forsaken place."

My body stiffened, and for a while, I forgot how to scream. I turned around, but I couldn't see anyone.

*Tam, Tam Tam*—footsteps were all around me. Was this the end of a beginning? I repeated in my head, clutching my chest.

The figures were dark and shadowy. The dark moon clothed them well, and the red skies did little to ease my panic.

The sand had stopped sinking me in. Probably it was a trap all along, and I had just fallen straight into it.

"Sniffff, I smell a human," one of the shadows said.

"Me too!" the other voice screamed in delight.

"Not just any human!" a voice louder than t

he rest rang. "It's a half-werewolf and demon!"

"Demon!" the calm voice shrieked. "We can't eat them."