The Demon’s Bride

The kiss was lingering and felt eternal but all things come to end at a point Beelzebub felt Esther's hold on his arm fading away as she pushed her body backward. 

Her heart beat fast like never before and she also knew Beelzebub's heart was beating quickly as hers as she felt his heartbeat's pace when her hand was pressed on his chest before. 

She stared at him who looked baffled. "It's not pleasant to have someone kissing you without your notice, doesn't it? Especially when they are mistaken as someone else."

Beelzebub didn't have enough opportunity to inquire Esther what her kiss meant as she had walked away from him and outside of the room swiftly, leaving him to only lick his tongue to preserve the warmth of her kiss he had felt earlier.

Esther came across Venervy when she ran out off the corridor and the witch who saw her appeared confused when looking at her face. 

"Your face is so red! You have turned into a boiled prawn, are you sure you are alright?" She inquired.

Esther felt the back of her ears heating up in embarrassment when she screamed, "I have never been better than today!" She didn't even want to remember the reckless action she took when kissing back Beelzebub forcefully. Her body moved when she thought about having to leave Beelzebub.. Deep down she was angry toward him but at the same time, she wasn't able to hold herself back.

She didn't want to realize and she didn't want to admit it but she knew. 

She knew that she had fallen for Beelzebub. Her heartbeat that drum against her ears were not her illusion as she wished it to be. 

To think that love finally come around for her. Should she be happy? But when she recall Beelzebub's cold shoulder attitude, she couldn't help but endure the sharp pain in her heart. 

Ignoring her pain so she wouldn't only focus on it, Esther turned to say at Venervy, "Your lord said that it would be alright to stay here." The witch nodded her head quickly and she turned to the tall human man who stood beside Venervy. "And sorry, Dalton. I will continue to protect my promise to you and bring you to meet your brother's soul but for now, I have another urgent case I have to take care."

"That's not a problem," Dalton replied as if he knew this would happen. "Can I ask one thing, Miss Esther?"

Esther tilted her head and nodded, "What is it?"

"Is there a church in Hell?"

The next morning, Esther accompanied Dalton to the only church in Hell. One might question why there would be a church in Hell but considering Satan's wife was an angel, it shouldn't be a far fetched thing for Hell to have one single church at its land.

Esther wasn't exactly sure why Dalton wanted to be in the Church and the man explained that he needed to put his mind at ease in a place that's also located in the mortal's world. 

It should be a simple trip for Esther until Beelzebub decided to come along. 

Standing before the carriage Esther looked questionably at Beelzebub who had came with his hands crossed. 

"Why are you here?" She questioned. Last night, as she wasn't able to sleep after kissing Beelzebub, Esther stared at the ceiling while thinking if she would be able to speak normally toward Beelzebub again now that she had realized her feelings for him. 

Unexpectedly to her worries, she could talk finely toward Beelzebub. The only problem being her heart that was too loud for her to focus. She keep her eyes to only look at the scene are around her as the moment she put her guard down, her gaze would immediately attracted to admired Beelzebub's handsome face. 

She stared at his hands at a time, realizing how large it was and how prominent was his green veins that colored his arm in lines with his muscles. 

She didn't had time to think of it before but deep down she had known Beelzebub was such a handsome man who could steal the breaths of those women around him and including her. Before she could notice, she had been staring more than necessary and quickly, Esther looked away to not meet his eyes.

Yet even without looking at him, her mind was filled with nothing but him in his thought to the point where she hated it.

Esther then wondered. If last night he pushed her to his bed, would things have changed then? Will she resist the temptation of feeling more of his body warmth?

"I'm here to visit the church," said Beelzebub, an obvious lie that Esther could see even with her eyes closed. 

Esther sighed and shook her head, thinking this was the extent of their conversation which turned out to be false when Beelzebub asked, "And why are you going to the church alone with Dalton?"

There was a faint emphasis on the word alone when Beelzebub spoke but Esther was busy with trying to pull a cool face that she failed to notice it.

"I promised him," she replied simply. 

"Promise to stay with him to the church?" Beelzebub inquired and Esther rolled her eyes.

"He promised to help me and I promise to do the same. I don't know if you are thinking Dalton in untrustworthy because of Ernest but I find him to be a man with a high responsibility sense and unlike someone," Esther's eyes sharply looked up and down at him, "His manner is very gentle as well.

Beelzebub's eyes narrowed chillingly but Esther had looked away when this occur. She then turned to find for Dalton who was still inside the house. "Maybe you wish to pray for that woman you mistaken me as?"

"What woman?" Beelzebub had wanted to question this since yesterday when Esther burst out of his room, saying that he had mistaken her as someone else.

Esther bite the insides of her cheeks, "Yesterday night you said, it wasn't our first time. I expect it wasn't your first time with the woman you wanted to kiss, didn't you? What a shame that I came."

Beelzebub's eyes widened. A shame? He questioned in his mind. Esther didn't know how every night he had been dreaming of her endlessly. How at every seconds when he relax, her delicate face would appear on his mind. 

He had dreamt kissing her multiple times that last night he wasn't able to tell which was his dream and which was the reality. Even though he was in a daze when kissing her, he didn't forget how soft her lips was and how sweet her breathy voice gasp for breaths beside his ears. 

"And what a shame for you to kiss me out of spite," Beelzebub can't help but retort, meeting Esther's wide eyes. "You are really a stubborn person, aren't you? Did you give kisses to just anyone?"

"Do I look like such a person?" Esther retorted too quickly before her head could process before realizing how close she was to admitting she had kissed him because of her feeling.

"Exactly. Do you help people every time? And if it is to help them will you kiss them?" Beelzebub's question intensify when he walked closer to her, causing her to press her back toward the carriage as he continue to shorten their distance. 

"Although from what I know and your kiss yesterday, you are terrible at it and it is your first time," Beelzebub raised his hand only to stop them. His greed was urging him to hold Esther, to touch her, and to possess her—

When his thought became dangerous, Beelzebub pulled away from her. She was too much temptation to him, simply just a lot more than he could handle. 

"You should protect yourself, Esther and don't carelessly kiss people simply out of spite or to help them. You don't know what a kiss can lead to."

Esther was left speechless when Beelzebub entered the carriage, gulping her saliva to moist her throat that felt dry at once.

Dalton came not long after. As he entered he saw Esther making her place on one side of the seat and Beelzebub sitting on the only other side, they were seated in front of each other but none of them look at the other as if they were avoiding to do so.

Torn between which seat he had to choose Dalton made his way to Esther's side as he thought sitting next to Beelzebub would only put him on danger but before he could sit, Beelzebub pulled him by the back of his collar, saying coolly, "There's enough space here. Sit."

Esther seeing this only shake her head in response silently.