After Reece and Agatha finished scrubbing the dirt off my body I put on a lime green crop top, and throw a hoodie over it. The temperature here is surprisingly cold. This place is called hell fire but there’s nothing fiery about it. Maybe the heat is reserved for the sinners. I’m on blue skinny jeans and black and white sneakers. Reece and Agatha help comb my long curly black hair and they put it up in a ponytail. Reece and Agatha are both young but Reece is older than Agatha. Reece looks to be in her late twenties meanwhile Agatha looks twenty. Do people age in hell? My guess is no, time stops here. So does that mean I’ll be eighteen forever? While Max is aging I’ll be stuck at being eighteen. Maybe I should stop thinking about Max, I mean he isn’t thinking about me. Literally. But I can’t deny that I miss him so much. I tell Reece and Agatha that I do not like makeup but they insist they put on a little blush and lip gloss, so I agreed, they looked pretty excited to want to touch my face. So I let them. I’ve got to say. I’ve not felt this pampered in forever maybe because my parents wanted to pamper me but I disagreed on multiple occasions. The feeling was good, not gonna lie. It made me forget that I was in hell for a second. “There, you look so beautiful miss,” Agatha says smiling at my reflection. I smile at myself too. I look like a whole new person. Maybe I should accept the fact that this is my new normal. I’m going to be in hell for the rest of my life and I’m going to be Lucifer’s wife and the queen of hell. But seriously of all the sexy potential demons in this world, he couldn’t pick any of them to get married, it’s me he wants to get married to. I wasn’t even born when he made that deal with my parents. What if he sees me and he doesn’t like what he sees? What if he has seen me, he is Lucifer after all he has eyes everywhere. “Okay, I’m ready. Press the button so Ramona will come to escort me to the dining hall.” “Okay, Miss.” Agatha touches the red button and just a few seconds after Ramona takes her hand off of it, Ramona appears. “You rang Miss,” she asks excitedly. “Satan! Ramona calm down for Satan’s sake.” Reece’s bubbly personality disappears when she sees Ramona, and so does Agatha. Geez, what did I miss? Do they not like her? I see Ramona’s face distort into sadness as soon as Reece tells her to calm down. Their smile reappears when they turn to me. “We’re leaving miss, we’ll be around if you need anything.” I nod and they both leave, and they both scowl at Ramona before leaving the room. “Jesus--” Ramona gasps, my eyes widen. “What?” I ask her because she looks like she’s just seen a ghost. “You’re not allowed to say that name here. It’s a sensitive name in this realm.” I scoff. “What? Someone’s emotions are gonna get hurt because I said, Jesus?” “Sssh. Stop it,” she whispers. I raise my eyebrows. “Seriously?” she nods. Wow, I should have known, the devil does have beef with the almighty saviour. It’s their whole thing. I throw my hands in the air and I rise from the chair. “Fine, I won’t say that name again. Shall we?” “Yes, sure.” she walks ahead and when we come out I expect to see the henchmen but they’re nowhere to be found. Oh well, hope they’re gone forever I don’t like people following me. Especially weird-looking men. “So how did you get there so fast?” I ask her. “Oh, through a teleportation closet.” “Teleportation closet.” “Yes, it takes you from one room to the other only when the button’s being pressed. I’m addressed to your room so if you press the button I’m the only one allowed there, no one else.” “What about Reece and Agatha?” “Oh, no they only go to your room to give you a bath and help you with your choice of outfits for the day.” I nod but I still can’t get that look of disapproval out of my head. “Why don’t they like you?” “Huh? Oh, I don’t know.” I look at her with my eyebrows raised. “Are you sure?” “Oh, it’s just demons being demons.” she waves me off. “Ah, that’s the dining hall.” she changes the topic and opens the door to the hall. It’s larger than the dining hall in my house. The table already has lots of food and it’s the pig with the apple in its mouth that catches my attention. Wow, never thought I’d see that in real life. Maids are smiling at me as I make my way for the armchair There’s another armchair and it’s for the almighty dark lord. “Please, miss you can help yourself before he gets here,” Ramona says and I wave her off. I can wait. I don’t care if he’s the devil I’m going to wait for him before I eat. Despite how evil my parents are they raised me with manners. I do look at what’s on the table to see if I’ll enjoy anything. I see mac and cheese, I see some corn, bread, salad, meat, chicken, beef almost everything’s here. My stomach growls, oh God, when did I eat last? I didn’t even eat at my birthday party. I just realized I haven’t eaten all day. I try to distract myself by looking a
Chapter 1 One
I’m seated in the passenger seat of my boyfriend’s car while soft jazz music plays from the speakers and I look up at the stars. I’m wearing a dark hoodie, dark pants and shoes and the car’s parked right outside the store. Max decided to get some stuff because I couldn’t walk in there dressed like a thief. Once that cashier sees a Mexican woman wearing all black he will immediately call the police even if I didn’t attempt to steal.
Max didn’t wear all black because he’s not the one on the run. I am. Why am I running and who might be chasing me? Well, it’s a bit cliche actually. I’m running from my parents, why? Because they’re a bunch of psychopathic Satan worshipers who made a deal with the devil to be wealthy and in exchange they have to give me up for marriage. I have to marry him.
Psychotic, I know. I was ten years old when my parents told me that we’re a family of Satanists and when I turn eighteen I have to get married to the devil. The actual devil, Lucifer, the first fallen angel, God’s enemy Lucifer.
I’m not a practising Satanist, neither am I a practising Christian. I’m not religious and I did not choose to be born into this world. So yes, I’m running with the true love of my life away from all that madness.
I was never supposed to have a boyfriend because I was always destined to get married to the devil. My mom would always tell me that my eyes should be on Lucifer and Lucifer only. Every time I fantasize about getting married I should think of getting married to Lucifer, every time I think of my first kiss I should think of kissing Lucifer, when I touch myself I should think of Lucifer.
So basically, I kept my relationship with Max a secret.
I tried thinking about marrying and kissing a man with horns and a tail but I always end up either grimacing or vomiting. Turns out Lucifer doesn’t have horns and a tail mom told me he’s handsome like that’s going to help matters.
Max is my first love, he and I have never had sex but we have kissed and I have fantasized about getting married to him. I love Max that’s why we decided to run away together while everyone was distracted at my birthday party. My age mates weren’t even there just a bunch of oldies who worship Satan.
When I told Max about Lucifer he was shocked but also not surprised because he grew up in a Christian home he automatically believes in all this stuff and Christians have a saviour complex so he didn’t hesitate when I told him we should run away. He chose to run away with me because he loves me. He also chose to do it because he wants to save me from the devil. It’s what a good Christian would do. I already told myself there’s no way I’m getting married to Lucifer, no fucking way. I love Max and Max is who I want to be with.
I remember every time I told any of my classmates that I was going to get married to the devil, they’d look at me like I was crazy and would call me a witch. Well, technically I am but I don’t use my powers, my parents do. My parents are evil people and I have to run away from them.
A normal Mexican would work hard for what they want but my parents chose to make a deal with the devil to get wealth, success and magic. How dumb is that?
I have done unforgivable things with my powers, unintentionally of course. Ally Blue, the middle school bully is blind because of me. At the time I thought she deserved it but as I grew older I realized she was just a kid raised by an abusive dad who had a lot of growing up to do. Now, she’s blind forever.
I can’t begin to count how many times my mom has forced me to do magic and I’d tell her I didn’t want to. That woman is not a good role model at all, my dad included. I know that they love me and they want what’s best for me, but marrying me off to the devil is not it. I know the devil will take their souls if they don’t comply but can’t they make that sacrifice for me? Don’t they love me enough to not want to send me to hell to get married to public enemy number one?
I’m out of my thoughts when I hear the doorbell jingle and I spot Max carrying a lot of stuff in his hands and headed toward the car. Something falls to the ground while he tries to balance all of it in his hands.
I get out of the car as soon as possible and I head toward him to help. I pick up what seems to be Cheetos, my favourite.
“Aww, you remembered,” I say to him. He smiles at me.
“Anything for you angel.” I blush. Angel is his nickname for me but I blush every time he calls me that. But our couple's name is M&M because the first initial of our name is M, people don’t call us Maria and Max they simply call us M&M. So cute.
I help take some of the stuff from his hands. There are toilet rolls, washing soap, food… everything we need. I still can’t believe we’re doing this. I’m convinced my boyfriend loves me more than my parents do.
We’re headed to the car now.
Max and I met sophomore year at Maston Lane High. I had a huge crush on him. He was the hottest black guy in our school. I think he was the first hot black guy in that school. He was muscular for his age, very mature not like the other dumb teenage boys and he was respectful.
He was raised by his mom so it’s no surprise there. His dad was a deadbeat he never knew him. I still can’t believe his mom gave him his blessing to run away with me. But why am I surprised they’re Christians and like I said. Savior complex.
Max closes the door after he puts all the groceries in the back seat. He begins to breathe in and out. Damn, he’s so hot when he’s sweaty.
“Is that everything?” I ask him and he nods.
“What we need, for now.”
“Hey.” I place my hand on his hand muscular hand and he looks at me and smiles. He has told me countlessly that he forgets his problems every time he looks at me. My face is like a drug to him. I love looking at him as well. He has such beautiful round lips, I love to twirl his dreads and did I mention how much I love his round lips?
“Are we really doing this?”
“Angel I told you, I don’t regret doing this and I would do this for you a thousand times in a heartbeat.” Yes, this man definitely loves me more than my parents do. It’s such a shame really.
I lean next to him and we begin to kiss, kissing him is the best thing to do in this relationship. I love that his lips blend well with my full lips. I love that he loves kissing me and I love that he loves me and I love him too. Every time we kiss or make out we forget about the world around us, everything stands still. We’re lost in each other’s touch.
The car doors fly open which makes us flinch we stop kissing to see what’s going on.
“COME OUT MARIA! DON’T MAKE MATTERS WORSE!”
“YES MIJA, WE JUST WANT WHAT’S BEST FOR US, FOR OUR FAMILY.”
Shit, shit shit. My parents. They found us.
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