𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐬

Chapter 53

Third-Person POV.

The underworld was not for the faint-hearted, it was not for the weak, and it was not for the kind. The first ruler of hell, former queen Lucilia Devon, made it so that the kingdom of death lived up to their reputation. Screams of terror, cries of pain, and bloodthirsty laughter echoed all throughout the crimson skies of hell. Demons clashed against each other, killing, stabbing, hurting, and torturing, for violence was their drug, and pain was their salvation. However, if not pain, there was pleasure. Amidst the cries and the groans, there were the moans, the whimpers, and the begging. If hell could be called anything other than the land of pain, it would be called the kingdom of pleasure.

Hell, in a way, was the exact replica of the human world, except people were actually allowed to do whatever they wanted. It was a kingdom where you could hold a knife and stab someone freely, with no consequences to your actions... The underworld was a human's paradise.

Unfortunately, this same paradise was suffering from extreme changes, or in other words, a new ruler, king Lucifer Devon. He was unkind, unjust, and merciless, just like his older sister, but instead of continuing her example, he became too complacent. The king believed that his sister's reputation would save him all the trouble of gaining the demons' favor, thus he began carelessly altering hell to his liking. Unluckily for him, the demons did not see him as their king, but rather, a spoiled prince who was deemed unfit to rule such deadly beings. Due to this, the revolutions started one by one, each of them sharing the same goal, but believing in different outcomes. However, their desired results did not matter, for they all wanted the same thing, the king's head on a plate.

One of these revolutions was led by a demon rogue named Stefan Salvator, a former council member, and the father of Mallory Smith-Salvator and her multiple deceased or missing siblings. This man was known for his uncontrollable lust, and as an incubus, he never stopped until he was satisfied. He would take women, no matter their kind, and would use them for his own pleasure. Oftentimes, he would deliberately leave his victims pregnant in order to trap them into a relationship with him, where he will continue to use and mistreat them until their death inevitably comes. Unfortunately, this meant that Stefan only saw Mallory's mother as just another woman to add to his collection of victims. He never saw her as anything other than a woman to use, to control, and to ruin. After this, he nonchalantly continued on with his streak, taking women as he goes. The man was respected in the world of sex demons, and he was often seen as the perfect example of an incubus, devoid of any failures and mistakes.

But they were wrong, so incredibly utterly wrong.. for Stefan's first mistake was creating the second mate of the demigoddess known as the all-knowing being, Gaia. His second mistake was letting his daughter live and escape from his hold. His third mistake, on the other hand, began when a portal opened before him.

His eyes widened and he stood in shock as five women emerged from the portal, their faces devoid of any emotion, and their presence, alone, created a powerful atmosphere that shook each of his soldiers to their core. He looked at all of them, analyzing each of the intruders, until he set his sights on his own daughter, whom he recognized only because her appearance was strikingly similar to his. They had the same bright emerald eyes, the same pointed nose, the same wavy jet black hair, and the same hatred in their eyes. There was no doubt about it, she was definitely Stefan's daughter.

His fists clenched, and he felt an insane rise in anger as he stared at his own offspring. He knew who she was, and what she has been doing. He knew everything about how his daughter was mated to not just an ethereal demigoddess, but also to one of the most beautiful princess in the world. To say that Stefan felt jealous was an understatement, for he believed that it was actually his fate to become the mate of a demigoddess and a princess, that he must have unknowingly passed it down to Mallory when she was born. While his logic may be off, he firmly believed that his daughter took away his own destiny, and this increased his hatred for her. He genuinely felt that he was the rightful mate of the demigoddess and the princess, not his daughter.