Change of Heart

Chapter 7

Did I just hear him right? "The king...of hell?" Only fooling myself, I laughed as if it was some kind of joke. "That was a great one, now really, what happened?"

He raised his eyebrows at me. "You don't believe me?" It wasn't that I didn't so much as I didn't want too. Alex closed the distance between us and I instantly stopped laughing. "You want me to prove it to you? I'll drag you down to hell myself."

I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. It was almost as if I was frozen in time. As I closed my mouth, he backed away and started flipping through the pages again. It was as if a sudden weight was lifted from my shoulders. I could feel the beating of my heart throughout my entire body.

"Hey." Alex called. I jumped looking up at him as he gave me a wake up call. "Snap out of it."

"Sorry..." I whispered underneath my breath. He was right though, I had to keep it together. As I swallowed, I asked him. "What was that, thing earlier?"

Alex sat down on my bed and rested his arms on his knees. "That was a tracking demon, most likely sent out by Zander. I can only guess that he sent it in hopes that it would take you to him."

Tracking...demon!? "So then that demon was tracking...me?"

He nodded. "Yes. The only reason why it left was because your presence disappeared when I was holding you. If you made a sound, it would've heard you and figured out where you were."

So he was able to trick it because he's also... "So...are you a demon, too? I mean, you-"

"Yes." Without hesitating, he cut me off. "I'm a demon, though I don't act it. I used to be human, so I remember what it's like." For some reason, when he admitted it, I wasn't scared. I felt...closer to him, just knowing that he had admitted it. He looked over at me and the side of his lips lifted. "Why are you getting so flustered? Could it that you really have fallen for me?"

My eyes widened and I looked away. Crap, I didn't realize how hot my face was. "No, that's not it..." But it was...I had fallen for him. I just didn't realize until now. Had I felt this way before too when I saw him in those images? "Anyways, why is this, Zander after me?"

Alex sighed. "My guess is that it had to do with my dreams. Before he became the king of hell, I told him about the dreams I had." I could tell that his whole body tensed up when he clenched his fists. A chain reaction. "He was always mesmerized by them, so curious. One day, Zander told me that he was going to search for you and find you even if it meant losing his life. I told him that it wasn't any of his business, but he said he wanted you for himself. Apparently, you have something he wants, but he never told me what it was."

What could I have that he would want? I wrapped my fingers around the bottom of my shirt and squeezed. The more I'm hearing this, the more uneasy I feel.

"I didn't know why he was so interested in my dreams because I only saw them as dreams. But now I understand." He stood to his feet and closed the gap between us. "Zander somehow knew that those dreams weren't dreams, but visions. And because it was you, you must be very important for him to go to such lengths."

"But why me? Why does it have to be me?" I demanded.

"You said you had those images too, right? Well, you were the chosen one. As to what you were chosen for, that I can't tell you."

Chosen one? Now he's talking as if I'm some sort of prophet for world domination or something. "But that still doesn't explain what it is he's after."

Alex let out a rough sigh. "Clearly you haven't been listening to a word I've said. I don't know why, he never told me the reason."

"What'll happen if one of those things come back?" I urged. But wait, how did he even know when to come when he did?

"They'll have to get past me first." He placed his hand on my head. "Believe it or not, I'm a tracking demon, too. That's why I was able to find you."

My eyes widened. "Y-you're a tracker?"

He laughed a little. "Yea. Though I'm not just a tracker, that's probably what I'm best at. Even better then Zander, which is probably why he sent weaklings like those to do his dirty work. Since I wasn't able to get rid of them, they're probably on their way back to him to report in."

I pushed my lips together. If only I had told him before, things would've been less complicated. At least he would've been able to see it coming. "So is that how you knew to come here? Because you sensed them?"

"Actually, that was just mere coincidence. I was already coming over, they just happened to get in the way."

"Oh..." Suddenly, the image of us kissing appeared again, and a burst of flames exploded. Screaming out in agony, I fell to the floor. A shockwave of pain shot throughout my entire body. I could slightly hear Alex calling my name. Once, twice, three times...then nothing.