A Beautiful Torment (A Beautiful Book. 2) **ON HOLD**

Chapter Two - Ding Dong the Princess is Dead

"So, you're evil?"

I rolled my eyes for the millionth time, fighting the urge to snort and bare my fangs. I thought about it a moment, and came to the conclusion that I would scare the annoying boy a little. Maybe get him to leave me alone. I felt my canines lengthen behind my closed lips. In a flash, I bared them at the all too curious Anzel. "Only slightly." A small smile grew on my lips.

Wait, what?

I shouldn't be smiling at him. But I was.

We were sitting on the little, old ratty couch, The Big Bang Theory playing on the TV screen in front of us. I hadn't moved in hours, refusing to get up from the little tattered piece of fabric I called salvation at the moment. Only Anzel and Yopi were brave enough to talk to me (besides Ziv, of course) and even when they did, I did my best to ignore them. Nobody else was in the room but us.

Anzel grinned, his golden irises flicking to my fangs. His eyes gleamed longingly. "Wicked."

A small wave of pride buzzed through me.

I reached out and gripped the channel controller sitting in the crack of the cushions, hitting the Guide button to check the time. It was four thirty in the morning, and I stifled a yawn. You would think sleeping for a few days, and waking up at ten at night would be refreshing, but the extra sleep only seemed to make me more tired.

But I refused to sleep with the enemy in the room next door.They all had Archangel blades. Similar to the ruby blade that killed my father.

I shivered.

"But aren't you the daughter of Devil?"

The small smile vanished.

I was the daughter of the Devil. Two things changed that. One: Devil was just a label that went with the demon that ruled over Hell. Lucifer was no longer the Devil. Asmodeus was. Two: My father was dead, and I was the cause. The King was dead. I hadn't listened to him, went behind his back, and even doubted him.

My throat threatened to close, and I pushed my tongue to the roof of my mouth to force the sensation back. I blinked rapidly, the golden haze in my vision fading.I'd lost my title as well. I was no longer the Princess.

A sick realization slithered through my gut.I'd lost both of my parents in less than three months time. My mother's death was nothing more than a pin prick to the heart, but as for my father... I felt as if my heart had been ripped out of my chest, thrown in a blender, and then fed to a pack of ravenous wolves.

Speaking of wolves.... I thought of Fillin, my father's hell hound that I could only imagine was still in Hell, stuck to Asmodeus's side like stink on a pig. I wonder if he hates me for leaving him there.

It's not like I had a choice, but the thought still flattened me like a pancake. I cringed.

I shouldn't have went with Charles to that stupid pub. I shouldn't have caved to the call of my father. I shouldn't have went behind his back and tried to find the answers on my own, with the Horsemen of the Apocalypse hot on my heels, assisting me at every turn.

I could feel two small holes being burned into the side of my cheek, Anzel's gaze sharp, expecting. I sighed, defeated. "Yes, I was the daughter of the Devil."

"Was?" he asked.

"Yes, was," I snapped, finally turning to make eye contact with him. "I used to be the daughter of the Devil, just like I used to be the princess of Hell. I'm not anymore, so let it go, or I promise you you'll be eating out of a straw the rest of your life."

He didn't miss a beat, and when he shook his head, moving red tipped hair out of his face, I noticed he was smiling. Fighting back laughter, actually."'Bout time you admitted it," he snickered.