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49: Speak Of The Devil

Chapter Forty-Nine: Speak Of The Devil

Marceline woke up.

Her eyes fluttered open to see a pair of light yellow eyes with slit neon pink pupils staring right at her. She exclaimed in shock at the sight of the demon-like humanoid.

"Haha! Oh, Marceline," Helena cackled and backed up a couple of steps before settling with a wicked grin on her face. "Awake at last."

"Wha-?" Marceline sat up straightaway, leaning against a wall, placing her hand over her palpitating heart. "W-Where am I?"

Her eyes flitted around the bright room and realized that she was in a kitchen. Through a window, she could see flames outside, corroborating that she was still in the Nightosphere. Helena stood several feet away from her in her demon form, her true form. She had a light blue skin tone, pointy ears, long blue-black hair and was sharply dressed a dark business suit.

"You're in my house," Helena answered in a fake welcoming voice. "I happened to find you and I brought you here when you lost consciousness."

Marceline mentally face-palmed herself for her earlier altercation with a few demons, and for fainting upon seeing that monstrous head. She vividly remembered the large horned head with tentacles growing from the lower face and a vertical-opening mouth. She shuddered, knowing that image would forever be imprinted on her memory.

"Wait a sec," she stood up upon processing her words in her head. "You found me? But I didn't see you before this."

Helena chortled and Marceline noticed that the inside of her mouth was green, with the hue of green getting slightly darker the closer to the back of her throat.

"Did you see the large cloud of blood mist with the shooting green lasers?"

"Y-Yeah?"

"And my monstrous head?"

"Yeah-Oh."

Helena neared Marceline. The raven-haired girl couldn't help but feel inferior to the ruler of the Nightosphere because unlike herself, the latter possessed a tall, domineering, coldly supercilious and compelling presence, and she found herself in a vulnerable position with her back pressed against the wall.

Helena stopped about an arm's length away from her. "Now Marceline, come on, I'm not going to hurt you."

"Y-You killed my dog." Marceline said, her words barely audible but there nonetheless.

Helena seemed to have completely ignored her statement as she proceeded to ask her own question, "Where's Marshall?"

Where's Marshall? Marceline was sick of hearing that same question again and again. People at school always asked about him; they never paid attention to her. It was always Marshall Lee.

"I came here on my own," she declared, almost too proudly for her own good. "Using a portal spell."

"Really?" Helena sort of scoffed at that but took her word for it and moved to peer through the window. "The Nightosphere isn't safe for a human to wander around in."

Marceline noticed how awkward the demon's movements were but shook it off anyway as she retorted, "Just 'cause I'm human doesn't mean I can't take care of myself."

"So, what exactly is your intention of coming here, then?"

"I-I...uh..."

Helena snickered then changed the subject. "How's Marshall?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Marceline returned, feeling the sassy side of her kick in; she wasn't going to let herself be intimidated by the Lady of Evil.

"As you've already known, we're not on good terms."

Marceline crossed her arms, ready to defend her boyfriend on his behalf. "Why do you even hate him anyway?"

Helena pursed her eyebrows at that idea. "I don't hate him."

"Well, then why does he hate you?"

Helena sighed in annoyance at the human girl's persistent inquiries. She could very easily shut her up but she was just beginning to be amused by her boldness. Therefore she decided to address the elephant in the room regarding her son and herself.

"Perhaps it was because I did something that hurt his feelings."

That was when Marceline found herself listening to the demon queen recount the incident which caused a rift in her and Marshall's relationship. The incident from the past that involved Helena herself, a teenage Marshall, an abandoned diner...and fries.