Helldancer

Chapter 4

The demon king looked completely stunned. "Little Hari? Little sixteen-year-old Hari? He caused all this trouble? Damn, Hari, you've got taste indeed," he laughed loudly. Motioning me towards him, he called out his welcome. "Ah, Brilynn. Welcome to the royal family of demons. How are you doing? I imagine you're hungry?" He smiled. “Bloodlust, eh? Pretty interesting for a goddess, you are.”

The king had a way about him that whenever he spoke his cheeks puffed out, and when he was silent, he always appeared to be chewing something. He had obviously been quite handsome whilst he was younger, but his looks had wasted away in his old age.

The queen popped out from behind the smaller throne, giggling, obviously quite a bit younger than the king. Her face was unmarred except for a rather large strawberry birthmark across her cheek, although that did nothing to hide her natural beauty and general childlike appearance. Her eyes shone as she skipped up to me. "Hari bit you? Hari did?" the queen questioned joyously.

Confused, I nodded. What was with all this happiness? 

It was pissing me off. 

Everyone should be freaking out about this! I mean…this sort of thing would cause a war between the gods and the demons. A earth-splitting heaven-and-hell battle, a bloody, long, violent war full of extreme pain, suffering, famine…the whole cake. And yet, they were laughing and smiling, even Lucas and Marten had managed to crack a grin, although theirs looked much more threatening.

Hari's eyes widened and he stepped back away from his mother. "Mom…no!" he cautioned, lifting up his hands, palms out.

Their mother had the innocent appearance of a deer as she batted her long eyelashes at her son. "It's just that…" she began dreamily, "My little Harikins…has finally finished puberty!" The queen shrieked and jumped on top of Hari, giving him a huge hug. "Ahhh," she sighed as she kissed him on the cheek. "You see, he's a bit of a late bloomer, my little baby," she explained. "When a demon first gets an urge to bite someone and suck their blood, and does so, that means they have matured!" She squealed like a boy band-infatuated teenager.

A bright red blush spread across Hari's freckled cheeks, and even the tips of his ears were visibly colored with embarrassment as the queen covered his face with more kisses. "Get off," he said, his voice slightly obstructed by his gritted teeth. There was a crunch as he pushed his mother to the floor, and she pouted. "Ouch," she complained, rubbing her ankle. "You're getting strong, Hari-boo," she crooned. She smiled widely and got up carefully, favoring her foot slightly.

Hari stormed out of the room angrily, and Lucas and Marten chased after him with teasing shouts of, "Hari-boo's done with puberty!", "You're all grown up!", "Ooh, strong little Harikins!", and the like. I was left with their parents, alone in the room, and their faces suddenly grew serious.

"Queen," I said, before she cut me off.

"You've caused quite a bit of trouble, Little Miss Goddess," the queen said. "First of all, call me Camilla, not Queen. You're my adoptive daughter now." Her voice had changed quite a bit, and it was no longer squeaky and girlish, it was very calm and somehow warlike. 

I readied myself for a long and boring speech, but respectfully paid attention and allowed her to continue. 

"You know what this means, correct, Brilynn? The daughter of the king and queen of the gods has been turned into a demon, escaped from heaven and descended into hell. Naturally, your parents will assume that this was a plan enacted by us, the king and queen of the demons, instead of their own daughter. I hardly suspect that they know it was you who made this event happen. Zira and Mallark are your parents' names, correct? Yes, I'm right. Mallark, being the king, will take action against us by means of attack and war, definitely.