The Devil's Lover: The Wish

The Devil’s Lover: The
Wish

By Dahlia Lu

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 Dahlia Lu

Cover Image Copyright
IStockphoto.com

All rights reserved. No part of this
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articles or reviews-without permission in writing from its
author.

The characters and events portrayed in
this book are fictions or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to
real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not
intended by the author.

Smashwords Edition, License
Notes
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Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is dedicated to my family and
the love of my life. I would also like to thank my editor, Brooke
Pierce, for her meticulous efforts in making this publication
possible.

Prologue

It was a long way home. Kali debated
whether she should chase after the school bus she had just missed
or call a taxi. She was so far off the main road that she highly
doubted a taxi would even be able to find her. In fact, she was
surprised there was even a gas station here in the first place; the
only reason it were still in business was because the owners gouged
those poor passer-by who were desperate for a little gas and had no
other options.

This was meant to be a pit stop. The
bus had traveled a couple of hours off the main road, and she had
assumed they were lost, but the teacher insisted that the resort
was nearby. The students and chaperones couldn’t wait to get to a
bathroom when they spotted the small gas station on the side of the
road. It was a rundown shack with a sloppy rendering of the word
‘Gas’ in paint on the side of the building. There was a rotten
smell about the place that even the thick gasoline fumes could not
cover. Her classmates lined up one to use the bathroom. Since she
had a reputation for being slow, Kali ended up last in
line.

She was not surprise to find the
bathroom’s wall covered in splotches of green moss. She was not
surprised when the cheap light bulb flickered on and off.  And
she definitely was not surprised when her mischievous “friends,” if
she could call them that, did to the door to lock her in. She
sighed. Kali knew they liked to pick on her, but she hadn’t
expected them to pull a stunt like that in the middle of nowhere.
She was dumb enough to fall for it…again.

After fifteen minutes of pushing and
kicking the flimsy door, she finally managed to free herself.
Swearing she’d never step foot in a gas station bathroom, she was
just in time to see the bus pulling away onto the road. If there
was anything worse than being the subject of a stupid prank, it was
being forgotten by the prankster. Even worse, the weather was
getting dark and gloomy. Her mood was quickly beginning to match
the sky.

Plopping down on the bench outside the
shack, she tried to figure out the next best course of action. The
suspicious glances the big, sloppy middle-aged man kept sneaking
towards her from behind his counter did not make her problem
solving skills any more efficient. She didn’t know what he intended
to say or do to her, but she did know she didn’t want to stick
around to find out. Kali stood up and started down the road towards
the direction they had come.

The road snaked around the side of the
mountain, and was narrow and unstable enough that she felt uneasy
pressed up against the wall as she walked. The rain trickled at
first. She decided to continue her trek until she could find some
type of civilization.

The heavens were beginning to churn as
she walked on, with bolts of lightning racing behind dark, ominous
clouds. Deafening thunder began to follow the flashes of light more
quickly as the storm moved overhead. The mud beneath her feet was
starting to swallow her shoes, a sign that clearly indicated
frequent rain in this area. Kali debated once more whether she
should continue on in hopes of finding shelter or if she should
turn back to that rat’s nest of a gas station. The weather was
becoming less encouraging by the second. Going back to the shack,
with its sturdy room seemed to be the safest bet.

Hearing a sudden grinding noise above
her, Kali braced herself when a large boulder came tumbling from
the wall of the mountain, landing several feet away from where she
stood, where it created a large obstacle in her return path.
Kneeling down, she approached the edge to see how far she would
fall if she missed her footing. The pure height made her
dizzy.

The ground beneath her began to
grumble. If her senses did not deceive her, she would say that the
earth was actually moving. Kali got up and pelted down the narrow
path. Her only hope was to find a stable area where the earth felt
solid and stationary. The dirt began to slip down the hill and onto
the path, bouncing out into space as larger chunks followed. It
happened faster than Kali could fathom. As she spun around, she
felt her ankle twist as she stepped into a new hole. The ground
beneath her foot collapsed, and she was suddenly spinning out into
the air over the edge of the cliff.  There were a few seconds
of rushing wind, and then the world descended into
darkness.

She could hear her own shallow
breathing echoing in her head when she woke up, and she could feel
her faint heart beat throbbing inside her chest. When she finally
forced her eyes to open, the world was a blur around her. A voice
inside her head was begging her to stand up, and apparently would
not be quieted. Kali slowly sat up, then struggled to stand up. Her
body felt weak and numb, almost as if it belonged to someone else.
She could vaguely see that she had fallen through the roof of a
cave, and a path in front of her traced through the rock and earth.
Perhaps further on it would offer shelter from the raging storm
that was streaming through the hole over her
head.  

Seeing a light at the end of the
tunnel, Kali let out a sigh of relief and moved toward it without
much thought. The deeper she traveled, the brighter the light
seemed to shine in her eyes. Perhaps there was someone there who
could help her… anybody would do! A larger space at the end of the
tunnel glimmered with the glowing of mineral deposits in the cave
wall, creating the light that had raised her hopes. Her heart sank.
There wasn’t anyone here, only a massive domed chamber that seemed
to echo her own heartbeat and a lot of glow-in-the-dark
rocks.

She felt a warm and thick liquid
running down from her head to her back. Suspicious, her right hand
traveled to the back of her head, touching the sticky liquid.
Holding her breath unconsciously, she brought her hand around in
front of her eyes. Crimson blood, still very warm, stained her
fingers. She could feel it running down her calf and forming a
puddle at her feet. Kali began to feel weaker. The sight of blood
always freaked her out. She took a few steps, eyes still glued to
the red wetness on her hand. Soon, she felt her strength draining
away. Without realizing she was falling until too late, she slumped
to the floor as her body gave out.

The ground was cold and hard, but some
of her blood managed to seep into the dirt and rocks. More found a
passage carved into the ground, filling up the trough as it
continued to flow around the divot through the stone.  If
she’d been upright, she would have noticed that it seemed to fill a
well-defined shape, clearly a carving of some sort.

Kali’s eyes filled with
tears as the horror of her situation grasp onto her. She could feel
the warm water spilling down her cheeks to mix with the blood under
her head. She swore she saw her whole life flashing before her
eyes.
Her vision began to melt as she
gasped her final breath. Right before the darkness claimed her, she
saw him.

Chapter 1: Obscure
Intentions

Kali let out a horrified scream. She
had never experienced such an intense fear; it felt like it was
engulfing her very soul. At the same time, she felt the life slowly
drained from her body. The end was ever so near. There were still
so many things she hasn’t had the chance to try. So many things
left undone. It can’t end now; I’m much too young to
die!

The door to her bedroom burst open. A
tall, masculine figure entered from the bright light in the
hallway. She instinctively winced, then opened her eyes again. A
pair of golden eyes was locked on her. It took her several seconds
to recognize their owner.

His eyes quickly scanned her body for
any physical injury, and then he inspected the rest of the room for
intruders. When he was sure they were completely alone, his
attention returned to her. He was talking to her, but his voice was
so faint that she could barely hear what he was saying. The volume
of his voice slowly increased before she could panic. For that
short moment, she thought she had gone deaf.

“…
answer me,” he demanded
urgently, “What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”

She grabbed onto the hard muscles of
his arm. He could tell she was desperately confused. “There was…I
was…dying. Chevalier, I was dying! There was this mudslide and I
hit my head…and this cave…I’ve never been so frightened in my whole
life!”

He gently patted her arm to comfort
her. “It was only a bad dream, that’s all. Calm down.”

“
You don’t understand,”
she shook her head, “There was this man…no, this thing, it was in
the cave and it talked to me! It was saying something in a strange
language, but I understood him!”

“
What did he say?”
Chevalier asked.

“
Something about
prolonging my life…” the memory of the event began to fade,
“something about a wish…”

Suddenly she realized that what she
said were completely irrational. How could he possibly believe her,
if she couldn't even believe it herself? Shaking off the memory,
she lay her head back down onto the pillow.

“
Never mind…,” she said.
“It was just a weird dream.”

†††††

They waited patiently, anticipating
the arrival of their master. They could feel his presence coming
closer. They all turned their attention as if the movement was
rehearsed, swinging their faces to the double doors. The stone
doors creaked open, letting a breath of fresh air into the enclosed
room. Several long moments later, their master walked through the
doors with an air of innate confidence. His luminous fair skin and
ethereal blue eyes demanded immediate attention, which he received
in full.

He walked passed them without so much
as a glance and stood in front of his rightful throne. The master
turned to look at his subjects, who stood completely silent while
he seated himself. They bowed to him in unison once again. A
beautiful female offered him a glass of red wine served on a golden
platter, and he gladly received it.

“
My Lord, Lucifer,” a
young man with soft pale green eyes and golden auburn hair appeared
in front of the aisle. His voice echoed through the dome room. As
he walked toward the throne, the feathers from his magnificent
black wings were falling off and disintegrating before they could
reach the ground. The wings seemed to disappear from his back as he
approached. The others in the room bowed to him with the same
respect they showed their man on the throne. He dropped to one knee
before his master. “Your awakening is ahead of
schedule.”

Lucifer sat on his throne, arrogantly
swirling the glass of blood wine in his hand.

“
It was unexpected,” he
said. His perfectly balanced face and grayish platinum hair
reflected off the silver surface of the wine glass. “What of Arvin
and Acelin?”

“
They are deep in their
slumber,” Soren informed his master. “Only you are awake before
your time, my Lord. I was concerned when I did not know your
whereabouts the last several days.”