Hell's Consort

Luna had never been so disgusted in her immortal life as an Amazon.

Even if her short Vampire life had craved blood since it was her lifeline, the scent of the children's essence dripping on her hair had made her look away immediately, wrinkling her nose as she leaned one hand on the dead trunk of  this ancient hanging tree.

She swallowed hard as she held her breath at the smell of blood and the stench of the rotten flesh hanging on its branches.

Simultaneously, the wing-like creatures appeared like the demonic version of ravens, crows, and vultures with glowing red eyes and larger claws and tiny hands attached to the tip of their scaly wings.

Luna saw how one vulture had a dry eyeball between its beaks with veins still attached to it.

Pressing his hands against her heaving stomach, Luna shook her head and tried her best not to throw up.

Every child's face was imprinted on Luna's head since their flesh's skin was not fully removed.

The demonic creatures, layer by layer, gradually peeled off Their skin.

Luna refused to look above her head again since it wasn't needed when she could vividly see it in her mind's eye.

She suddenly lost the strength to stand as she crouched down on the ground, clutching both her hands on the dirt to ground her—reminding herself where she was.

Luna's skin tightened as if something was crawling in her flesh.

She had risen from her position and stared at the well, instead, to distract her wild thoughts.

Luna could feel that she was slowly losing her sanity.

Her head was aching and spinning as she struggled to breathe.

She lost control of her body, and her consciousness started to fade.

Luna almost screamed when a hole bursting with white light materialized on the wall near the large ancient tree.

She was almost sucked into it, but she pulled her hand in panic.

+++

Luna was suddenly transported into the scene itself—where the Human witch had made her sacrifice in a small kitchen where the dead bodies of children laid, part by part, pile after pile.

She had witnessed everything that happened in that dark room at an accelerated pace.

The witch who made a sacrifice had shoulder-length black hair covered with a black veil and long black dress.

It was the first time she had witnessed how people's clothing from the Human Realm's had looked like.

The name—it was at the tip of her tongue—a voice telling her it was a nun's dress.

The lady was a nun from a chapel, running an orphanage.

Luna wasn't supposed to recognize these words because she wasn't from the Human Realm, but… the voices in her head had explained the things impulsively, making her understand.

She saw the six children, ranging from eight to twelve, tied to a chair.

The witch had twisted off their nails one by one.

Every time they scream, the witch had threatened to remove their teeth while they were still alive.

If they as much as a twitch from the agony of the witch's torture, the nun under the Archdemon of Envy's contract would whip them a hundred times.

The other children couldn't take the witch's slow persecution, and Luna had watched the life flash in front of their eyes as their stares full of unshed tears from holding back so much pain grew dull.

Some children had a low tolerance of pain and died in fifteen minutes of a slow, agonizing death.

The strongest one, an eleven-year-old female with thin-blond hair who owned the blue eyes, lasted for an hour.

She had a determined look on her face while she was scalped.

As Luna watched this particular child, Luna was reminded of her power and the difficulties she had experienced as an Amazon, her journey from a mere consort, then to a High Priestess.

She had become the Empress by succeeding despite her own struggles, but she realized her experiences were perhaps, nothing compared to this child.

The blond girl used all her remaining strength to fight even on her last breath, not giving the satisfaction to let the witch hear her screams.

Luna's face was flooded with never-ending tears as she pressed a fist against her mouth, her cheeks puffed with outrage at the injustice of this bitch hurting these innocent, helpless children.

She can only stare at the witch's doing, for she could not travel back in time to stop the witch's sacrifice.

Luna choked at the bitter tang in her mouth, burning her throat when Luna eyed the witch chopped the children's dead bodies with a large butcher knife.

The witch had eyes that appeared cold, dead, and flat, but she was smiling pleasantly as she removed their vital organs before placing their cut-up body parts in a large basin.

It was as clear as day that a demonic creature possessed the witch—what Luna wasn't sure at that time was if it was the Archdemon of Envy.

Luna watches the witch brought them to a secluded area, in the middle of nowhere, before setting the flesh on fire and burning them in the woods.

Oh, how much she could wish to be somewhere else than here.

She backed away with a shudder as she covered her mouth and nose with her palms from the smell of burning flesh like she was actually there with the nun.

After she had finished with her dark rituals, the nun walked a quarter of a mile away from the woods back to the quiet highway road where trucks rarely drive by.

The nun opened her car door, went inside, pulled the pistol from the glove compartment, and shot herself dead.

+++

Luna landed ungraciously on her butt, her skirts in heaps.

She stood up and recovered, staring at the puzzle in front of her.

Luna was back in Hell with the Archdemon of Gluttony.

What she saw right at this moment was merely a memory, but it pierced her heart that she couldn't do anything about it.

The witch had already made her choice and fulfilled her contract with the Archdemon of Envy to pay her debts.

Any interference of her wickedness will only back bounce to the one who tried to change the past events.

The water in the deep well had shown her what had happened in the Human Realm.

All Luna could do was to mourn for the children's demise.

She walked away from the ancient tree and the cursed well to regain composure.

Even if it was done, Luna's mind replayed what she had seen in agonizing detail.

"I did this for you, Amare." The Archdemon of Gluttony whispered as he approached her.

She suddenly had the urge to flee.

Despite that, Luna remained frozen in her place, summoning enough courage to talk about what Ravin had done.

"So, are you blaming me for this?" Luna rubbed at her exposed forearms as she shivered in disgust, continuing, "That if it weren't for me, you would not have done this?"

Ravin's brows furrowed in confusion.

The bastard hadn't completely grasped the idea of why Luna's fists were shaking with fury.

"It wasn't me who had done this." Ravin's eyebrows lowered and pinched together. "I told you it was the Archdemon of Envy."

Luna desired to punch the Archdemon in his handsome face so that she could untwist his psychopathic mind.

It didn't make any difference, Ravin. You, Archdemons, flock together, sacrificing the lives of innocent people so easily, and it wouldn't matter to you because you are an Archdemon. You wouldn't care because they didn't matter to you." Luna repeated what the Archdemon of Gluttony had said to her, devoid of emotion. "These innocent children had nothing to do with you."

The Archdemon of Gluttony maintained eye contact, and there was no hint of remorse in his golden eyes."I wouldn't take any responsibility for what the Archdemon of Envy had done, Amare."

Her face blanched.

She wasn't sure if the Archdemon felt any guilt or even apologetic of what he had done—of what the Archdemon of Envy had done.

The Archdemon of Gluttony had passed the blame on the Archdemon of Envy, washing his own hands of this unspeakable crime.

Luna longed to avert her gaze no matter how difficult it was.

"I asked her to strengthen our connection, so I could claim you as my Queen in Hell without knowing what she had done." He reasoned out uncertainly as he ran a frustrated hand through his raven locks.

Even if he hadn't done it himself, because it was supposed to be the Archdemon of Envy's payment of her debt to Ravin, it didn't actually make any difference.

Ravin was a horrible cold-blooded monster, and he had actually allowed this atrocity just to take her back.

The Archdemon even expected her to be ecstatic about what he had done, positive that she would like his offering.

Six children were sacrificed for such a stupid reason just so he could strengthen their blood bond and thicken the cords between them, beating her husband, Apollyon.

He did this so that Ravin can drag her to Hell whenever he pleased.

Shaking her head, Luna clenched her jaw in anger.

"I only told the Archdemon of Envy that she could do 'whatever-it-takes-to-take-you-back' without any specific instructions," Ravin said as his face flushed red, appearing a bit guilty now.

She turned her back on him when he had neared.

Luna's muscles quivered as heat flushed through her body and said, "You are an Archdemon, Ravin. You, of all demons, should have known that you should not be vague when it comes to binding contracts with other demonic creatures, especially your fellow Archdemons."

"I thought you would be pleased," Ravin replied as he grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face him. "I was planning to give them to you as a gift along with binding your soul to me here in Hell."