To Bewitch a Devil

“Sit”, he told her, holding her hand and guiding her to the bed. “I have news for you.”

“I am all ears.”

“The full moon will be out in two days,” Zavian was talking quietly, making Neera lean in closer. “And then I can make you a demon.”

Neera pulled back in a snap, and her breath caught in her chest. This was something she wanted as well. She reminded herself. She had the looks of a demon, so it won’t be hard to blend in with the rest of them. But what did it feel like? To transition into a completely different being?

“And how will we go about it?” She asked, injecting an enthused curiosity in her voice.

“You are going to have to drink my blood”, Zavian said. Neera scrunched her nose and gagged out of reflex.

“I’m sorry”, she put a hand to her mouth. “Just blood in general…”

“I understand,” Zavian said, a ghost of a smile appearing on his face. “It is the only way. And after that, blood will be history.”

.....

“I can do it because it is what I truly want to do,” The initial shock wore off. Neera’s hands tingled, a feeling of weightlessness overcoming her. “I would get to be with you forever. I want nothing more than that.”

“And me too.”

“And do I get to have fangs too?”

Zavian’s laugh filled the room with color. “Yes, Neera. And after some centuries, you get the power to see people’s past through their palms”, he held her palm flat against his and smiled at her. The smile broke, and Neera could see the start of a grimace on his face.

“Why have you been going to that secluded spot in the garden with the Queen all this while?” Zavian asked.

“Don’t worry. It’s still our own spot. She likes it there, since the day she followed me there,” Neera explained.

“She has been asking you a lot about me too”, Zavian continued as he read her past through her palm.

“Because she cares about you,” Neera’s words were low. “She is sweet, but sometimes she would have a hard time seeing us together.”

“I don’t think she does,” Zavian said. “This is a marriage of duty, not of love. She cares because it’s her duty to, as Queen. And Neera, don’t tell anyone about you becoming a demon, not even her.”

“I won’t”, Neera promised.

“And hopefully, one day, you would agree to be my Queen,” Zavian added.

Neera took on the joke with a light chuckle. “I’d always be your concubine, Zavian.”

“But I don’t want that.”

Neera searched his face, his jaw was set, a telltale sign he was being serious with her.

“Zavian, you have a Queen…”

“Who I have no need for,” Zavian cut her off. “I still don’t want you to be a concubine. I want you as Queen.”

Neera stood. “But Her Majesty would be devastated.”

“Neera, this position to her is born out of duty,” Zavian reiterated. He pulled Neera back to sit next to him. “Jasmine is the sweet, motherly kind, and I don’t want heirs from her. It would be wicked on my part to keep her as my wife.”

“I worry about what will be of her, Zavian,” Neera sighed. She leaned her head against his chest, the steady beating of his heart comforting her. “Can we not discuss this now? Can we only focus on what is ahead of us and leave anything for the future when we get there?”

Zavian pressed a kiss on her head. “Of course, one at a time.”

But even as the assurance that she would become a demon had been set, there was a certain familiar apprehension that crawled down Neera’s neck and nested in her belly. There were no conflicting thoughts or doubts anymore, but there was a promise of something, and it was something Neera would soon come to find out not too far into the future.

….

Jasmine heard the click of the door and the silent push as it opened.

She kept her gaze on the bottle of oil held between her thighs and her hand worked in running a brush through her hair. She could sense the hesitation from the entrant. The moon cast its light through the window, hiding only the King’s face from view. Beside her, a candle burned, and she knew he must have a clear view of her. He must have expected her to be asleep.

The nightgown she wore was sheer and hugged her at every curve. Zavian, out of respect, looked away.

“I came to take something here”, Zavian announced, even when he needn’t not to.

He made his way to the vanity table, looking through each glass bottle, searching. Jasmine set the bottle of oil aside and stood, the silky nightgown as velvety as her hair. She approached the King, footsteps quiet, and Zavian paused.

“Is there something you need?” He asked her without turning back.

When she didn’t respond, he turned to give her his attention. His eyes flicked down her frame and returned to her face. That was all he gave her. There was no hunger for her, no sparkle of fire in her eyes, no heat of desire. He assessed her as he would do to any other woman he came across on the street, only to gauge their needs, his duty as King needed tending to.

‘I sometimes get scared here”, Jasmine said, her voice fluttering. “Last night there was a bird that kept pecking at my window, and somehow I heard it in my dreams and had a nightmare of a bird pecking me violently. It must be with everything going on in the Kingdoms.”