Heart of Darkness

Rayven rushed back to his room with clenched fists. What was wrong with him? He wanted to bury himself for his stupidity. He had told himself to keep distance between them, knowing how her nearness affected him. Somewhere far away he could feel his heart acting in a way it shouldn't. And his body acted like that of a man and even worse. Of that of a hungry demon.

He could still feel the warmth of her body in his arms, her sweet scent, and those bewitching blue eyes… he cursed. He brought this upon himself. He had only said those things to make her stay. To not ruin his plans.

But why was she crying?!

How could she care about someone like him? She shouldn't. As much as that brought some strange warmth into his chest, she shouldn't.

Damn the woman. She must be a witch to have him this spellbound.

Rayven spent the rest of his night in agony. Even though he changed his clothes and washed himself he could still smell her scent.

He went to the mirror to look at his face. The scars didn't start to heal yet, which explained why he didn't get the urge to scar himself yet. But for some odd reason, he wanted to do it willingly this time. Again. What was wrong with him? This was the second time he wanted to do such a thing.

He hated this. He remembers the first time, Lucrezia cursed him to scar himself. To cut through the face people worshipped. No matter how cruel he was, people could never deny his beauty. Both men and women would line up, just to get a glimpse of his face. Now, they could barely look at him. Why would he want to do this to himself?

He recalled the pain of scarring his face for the first time. He stood in front of the mirror, screaming inside, trying to stop himself but to no avail. He lifted the dagger and cut through his smooth unblemished skin. More than the pain from the scar was the pain of seeing his face destroyed as he continued to cut until half his face was unrecognizable.

"Why half the face?" He had asked Lucrezia.

"I don't want you to forget what you look like without the scars." She told him.

So the other half of his face was to remind him of what he could look like without the scars. What he used to look like.

Well, it had been so long now that he didn't even bother to look at that part of his face to remember what he looked like. Now it was nothing but a faint memory.

As to not scare Angelica right when they were getting married he decided to cut his hands instead of his face. The last thing he needed was for her to change her mind about the marriage. She had already tried to escape tonight.

Also, this marriage thing. How was he going to plan it? He wanted to make it small. He didn't like nuisance but then people would think he wasn't giving the wedding much importance because he was marrying a ….

He clenched his jaw. The least he could do for her was give her the wedding she deserved since she wasn't getting the husband she deserved.

Rayven sighed. Now he had to do the difficult task of telling the others. They would be surprised but they would also tease him, not understanding why he was doing it. Well, there was no way to avoid it so he just had to do it.

******

Acheron was getting ready for sleep when Rayven reached him telepathically. The demon asked him for help. Shocking. Acheron knew it had to do with the beautiful blue-eyed lady in his house that he hadn't thrown out yet. Very interesting, and now he couldn't wait to find out what he was up to.

It seemed like he had an announcement to make and wanted him to arrange a meeting with everyone. Acheron rolled his eyes. And he couldn't do that alone?

Well, since he was curious he decided to be kind and do it for him. He invited everyone over to his home, without letting them know why. A surprise would be good. Acheron had his suspicions of what Rayven wanted to announce and he was so thrilled to see everyone's reaction, especially Skender's.

This would be fun.

When the demons arrived at his home, they wondered what was going on?

"Are we having a party?" Lazarus asked.

"Depends on whether you will like the news you will hear or not," Acheron replied.

Rayven was the last one to arrive and everyone realized he was the one with the news. He came to sit among them, looking unbothered like his usual self.

"So you are the one with the news?" Blayze asked.

"Yes," Rayven replied then went straight to the point. "I am getting married."

Vitale almost choked on his drink and Lazarus smirked knowingly at Acheron.

"Well, that was a surprise. From wanting to die to getting married." Blayze spoke.

Skender rose from his seat. "Where is Angelica?" He asked.

"In some room in my castle," Rayven replied causing Skender to rush through the room, grab him by the color and force him out of the couch.

"What did you do to her?" He asked between clenched teeth.

"Nothing. Yet." Rayven said calmly infuriating him even more.

"Why would she agree to marry you then? How did she get to your castle?"

Acheron could understand Skender's concerns knowing the person Rayven was but he didn't think Rayven had forced Angelica in any way.

"She went to Rayven on her own," Acheron said. "After being taken to a brothel and being market as a prostitute."

Skender froze and turned to Acheron slowly. "What… what did you say?"

Acheron nodded. He had done his research after the day he found out that Angelica went to Rayven. He had wondered what made her seek him out.

Skender released Rayven and his arms fell. Acheron could see his face turn pale and then just quietly he left without another word. He would need some time for himself, and punish himself some more. It would be better if he just forgot about that woman. She wasn't his responsibility especially now that Rayven was going to marry her.

"So you are not only marrying a traitor's daughter but a prostitute as well?" Vitale asked.

Rayven shot him a hard glare and Vitale shrugged.

"Well, the prostitute part won't be a problem but you are part of the royal court, and marrying a traitor's daughter will cause problems for you and Skender," Mazzon said.

"No. It will cause problems for Skender which I don't mind. He will get to clean my mess for the first time." Rayven said.

"Can I ask why you are marrying her despite everything?" Blayze asked curiously.

Rayven was quiet for a moment and Acheron became curious to hear his reply.

"Because I want to," Rayven replied.

Acheron smirked. Typical Rayven.

"Does she know what you are?"

"No. And I don't plan to tell her."

Acheron knew this still had to do with his plan of dying. He knew Rayven wouldn't give it up so easily but the man didn't know what awaited him.

"Well well… it wasn't a party but it will be a wedding. An interesting one," Lazarus said. "Can we help you with the preparations? I want to see you the dark Lord with his wife. Fast."

"Then perhaps I will leave all the preparations for you," Rayven said.