Chapter 5 – Lukas
LUKAS
As a kid—hell, even as a university student now and then—I used to imagine being whisked away.
I’d binge some isekai anime or get lost in a fantasy novel and spend the next few days daydreaming about it.
What if I found a secret portal in the back of my closet?
A time machine? What if I just…fell through some hole in a park?
It was my favorite escape, a detailed fantasy I crafted to avoid studying for exams or dealing with my dad’s latest disappointment.
It was all supposed to be just pretend. It was a game. If I were being honest, maybe a coping mechanism or something. It was never, ever supposed to be real.
And yet, the proof was right in front of me. This wasn’t the glorious adventure I’d pictured. There was no special quest to complete, no cute companions or magical powers.
I sat here in my cum-stained underwear and jeans after coming untouched by a fucking monster.
A demon? Whatever it was. A hysterical laugh bubbled in my throat, but it came out as a choked sob.
All those years spent wishing—not for magic, necessarily, but for something more than the monotonous life I’ve lived—and now I’d gotten it in the most twisted, fucked up way possible.
I would have given anything—anything—to be back in my boring, predictable bedroom right now, or, as I suggested to my friends a million times, at a frat party.
The demon’s head tilted, those hellish eyes pinning me to the spot. My fantasy had just become my nightmare, and there was no waking up.
And then, like a bucket of ice water thrown on the last remaining bits of my sanity, a new thought erupted through my mind.
My friends! Jess! Darcy!
The air left my lungs in a painful rush. My gaze, which had been glued to the empty space where he had been, snapped around the cell. It was empty. Just me, alone with the shattered remnants of the summoning circle and the lingering scent of ozone and sex.
They were gone. He’d…he’d made them disappear.
“What did you do to them?” My words were a harsh whisper, but they ripped the dam open. Panic sawed through the last of the dazed shock. I scrambled to my feet, my legs trembling violently beneath me. “Where are they? What did you do to my friends? Are they alive? Did you kill them? Tell me!”
My breath hitched, coming in short, useless gasps that didn’t seem to reach my lungs. I was hyperventilating, the room starting to swim at the edges. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to physically hold the pieces of my fracturing mind together.
The demon, who had been watching my meltdown with an air of detached curiosity, finally let a slow, deeply amused smile spread across his devastating face. He had the audacity to tap a clawed finger against his chin, pretending to think it over as my world collapsed.
“Hmm,” he rumbled. “Your little friends…” He drew out the silence, savoring my agony—the bastard. He knew exactly what he was doing. Finally, he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “They are alive. I have merely…relocated them. They sleep peacefully outside this building, safe…for now.”
My body sagged in relief at hearing that word. Safe. Realistically, I had no reason to believe him, but some primal, desperate part of me did. He had no reason to lie.
His eyes, burning with hellfire and dark delight, tracked every shift in my expression, savoring my palpable relief. “However, their continued well-being, my little mate, is entirely dependent on your behavior.”
“W-what does that mean?” The question was out before I could stop it, my tone laced with suspicion.
A smile filled with both danger and promise graced his lips.
“Simple. You will come with me to the underworld, my domain. You will give me your loyalty and your body. Do not resist. Do not cause me any trouble. Comply, and the most your friends will suffer is a headache with no memory of tonight. They’ll wake up in their beds and go on to live long, happy lives, unharmed. ”
He leaned in, impossibly close with his lips mere inches from mine, his breath ghosting across my face. My eyes were locked on his, searching for any lies or deceptions among his words.
“But if you fight me, if you so much as think of crossing me, Lukas…I will ensure their suffering. Their souls will be mine to torture and play with for all eternity. Do we have an understanding?”
His threat hung in the air, cold, clear, and absolute. A defiant refusal rose to the tip of my tongue. My fists clenched at my sides. Every instinct screamed to fight, to yell, to do something. But those urges were extinguished like a candle.
My eyes flickered to the door, beyond where Jess and Darcy could be lying helpless, then back to the eight-foot-tall prince of hell who could have eviscerated them without a thought...but hadn’t.
Any fight in me drained out as quickly as it had come, leaving behind a hollow, cold acceptance. I was utterly and completely outmatched. I wasn’t the smartest person, but I knew when to give up.
“Fine,” I whispered, my voice heavy with surrender. “I’ll go with you. Just…don’t hurt them.”
He reached out, and I couldn’t help but tense when those talons came near me, but he was surprisingly gentle as he cupped my chin, forcing my gaze to his.
“Sweet Lukas,” he purred, the endearment sounding both like a caress and a threat. “I give you my vow.”
He leaned in once more, his voice dropping to a whisper that seemed to slither down my chest and vibrate through my body.
“A Demon’s Vow is not like the fleeting promises of mortals, so quick to be made and just as easily broken.
It is binding. To break it would bring danger to my very existence.
Their safety is ensured, and that is a fact, as immutable as the laws that govern the underworld you humans fear. Do you understand?”
I nod. I was both mesmerized and terrified by the absolute certainty in his voice.
This wasn’t a simple reassurance. It was a statement of fact.
But his vow wasn’t made out of kindness—it was a transaction, sealed with a power I couldn’t begin to comprehend and guaranteed by a magic more ancient and solid than anything in my world.
He was telling the truth, and I didn’t simply believe him. I felt the sincerity, the weight of the conditions he set.
Suddenly, a loud crack split the room. A yelp ripped from my mouth as I instinctively clapped my hands over my ears. The ground beneath my feet shook violently.
The demon turned slowly, looking down at that dark void he’d emerged from, then back to me. “The gate is closing.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
He tilted his head, studying me with that look a teacher gives a kid who’s just said something profoundly silly. “It means we’re going home.”
Home? What the fuck does he mean by home?
Before I could process the meaning behind the word, he reached for me.
In one swift, fluid motion, he literally whisked me off my feet, scooping me into his arms like I was a damsel straight out of some Harlequin novel.
A startled squeak escaped me, and I locked my arms around his neck in a death grip.
I knew I wasn’t a lightweight, but he lifted me as if I were.
The sheer, effortless power in the motion should have terrified me more than anything yet, all I could focus on was his overwhelming warmth.
His chest was a furnace against my side, radiating heat that seeped through my clothes and into my chilled skin.
I don’t know why I thought he would be cold like marble.
My hand splayed against the back of his neck, feeling the corded strength of his muscles, reminding me of a sleek, powerful leopard.
He held me securely. Despite the circumstances—and those freaking claws—his grip was gentle.
Firm and unbreakable, yes, but not crushing.
It was a hold that spoke of control, not brute force.
A quiet thought whispered through my mind: I’d never felt so secure.
As soon as that thought materialized, a rush of heat spread through my body. My face felt hot.
He walked toward the centre of the room, pausing in front of that dark abyss in the ground—the gates of hell, I guessed.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a frantic bird trying to escape its cage.
I tightened my grip, burying my face against the solid wall of his chest, inhaling his scent of smoke and amber as he leapt into the darkness.
It took every single ounce of willpower I possessed not to release an ear-shattering scream into his ear, but a strangled whimper was stolen from my lips as the darkness swallowed us whole.
The last thoughts that crossed my mind before I blacked out were that my friends were safe. And I was well and truly his.