THE DEVIL'S HANDMAIDEN DARK REALM SERIES BOOK 1

Chapter 18. FALLEN

Sebastian is just about to take his seat at one of his favorite Broadway shows, seemingly oblivious as to what just happened to Nicole, when an usher approaches him. "Sir, can I see your ticket, please?"

He is extremely irritated by the man's intrusion, but still complies. He sighs in protest and rips his ticket from his jacket pocket and presses it firmly into the usher's hand. He sneers at the man and then starts to berate him.

"What's this about? I paid good money to see this show and now here you are hassling me." The usher responds, "So sorry to bother you sir, but this show is sold out and there have been counterfeit tickets, I'm afraid."

After hearing this, Sebastian rolls his eyes and is immediately defensive. "Sir, are you suggesting I'm some sort of petty criminal? How dare you accuse me of something so ridiculous?"

The usher remains calm and tries to reassure him. "Oh, absolutely not, sir. I'm just doing my job, making sure everyone is in their proper seats and there are no duplicates, is all."

The usher shines his flashlight down on Sebastian's ticket, studies it and then motions for him to follow him. At this point, Sebastian becomes irate. "This is preposterous! Where are you taking me?"

"Sir, calm down." The usher tries again to reassure him as they continue down the aisle together. "I'm taking you to your correct seat. You were just in the wrong section, is all." Sebastian continues to complain the entire time until he realizes that he's guiding him down in front of the stage.

"Here we go sir, your seat is actually right here in the front row. It seems it was upgraded, compliments of a Ms. Morano. Enjoy!"

As the usher starts to walk off, he shouts after him. "Wait a minute! Who is this Ms. Morano person? Oh, you know what, never mind!"

He takes his jacket off and settles back into his seat. From the beaming smile that is now plastered across his face, you would never have known that he was so enraged just a few minutes ago.

Suddenly, as the lights start to dim, a stage light that starts to move across the audience happens to catch a glowing red spark in the usher's eyes right before he disappears.

Sebastian is so excited at this point that he can hardly contain his enthusiasm much longer as he's waiting for the show to begin. When he's interrupted yet again, this time by a lady, he is about ready to explode.

"Pardon me sir, but could you move over? You're in my seat."

"Oh for Pete's sake! I'm not in the wrong seat! I just..." He jumps up and gets right in her face and starts to argue with her, and then his expression immediately changes from a nasty scowl to an adoring grin.

"Allesandra! Oh, are you a sight for sore eyes!" He grabs her, squeezes her tightly and picks her up, and spins her around.

As they take their seats together, he leans over and whispers in her ear. "Please tell me you didn't chicken out." She grabs his face and looks intently into his eyes. "Sebastian, dear, you worry too much. I did what I had to do." "Oh splendid! Daddy will be so pleased!" He suddenly regrets having praised her when he catches a devious look in her eyes at the last second and it's then he realizes she's not telling him the truth.

He doesn't have long to think about it though. Soft music begins to play and the curtains begin to rise. He suddenly forgets all about it as he grabs Allesandra's hand and starts bouncing up in down in his seat with excitement.

Unfortunately, his joy is very short lived. All at once, the room fills with darkness and without warning they are both ripped from their seats by an invisible force.