Thanks to a dare gone wrong, Maggie Brumfield finds out the hard way that Heaven and Hell are real.
Prince Laudon, Lucifer's son and the current ruler of Hell, has locked Maggie into a sinister deal that grants him temporary ownership of her soul...
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LAUDON'S POV
"My prince, you have been at this for hours. I think it would do you good to take a break."
Laudon doesn't respond to Zul. He doesn't move. He doesn't blink. He doesn't look as if he's even breathing. He continues staring off into space, completely oblivious of his surroundings. Zul enters the room with a worried expression etched on his face. He stands in front of Laudon's desk waving both hands, trying to capture the prince's attention.
"Laudon! Can you hear me?" Zul yells. "Wherever you are, please come back to me."
Zul reaches across the desk to touch Laudon's face. It does the trick to knock him out of whatever daydream he'd been stuck in. Laudon reacts impulsively, standing from his desk to fling Zul to the other side of the room. It isn't enough to take Zul off guard, however. Like a cat, Zul lands on his feet. He laughs while walking back to Laudon.
"Sorry," Laudon says. "For a second there, I didn't know who you were. I didn't know where I was. Everything seemed so... unfamiliar."
"No need to apologize. I am glad to have you back. And I am also pleased to see that you can protect yourself even when your mind is elsewhere." Zul straightens out his clothes before taking a seat in front of Laudon's desk. "I have never seen you zone out like that before."
"The first time it happened was the day after I sent the girl back to earth." Laudon sits down and sighs. He leans back in his chair and stares at the ceiling. "Since then, I've caught myself doing it twice more. I don't understand it. I don't know why this is happening to me."
Laudon and Zul sit in silence as the former briefly goes back over his daydream. Or maybe it had been a vision? Laudon isn't entirely sure. He has more questions than answers. He wants to know more about the beautiful woman in white, her hair long and dark, eyes golden. He wants to know why whenever she speaks to him, he hears nothing. He wants to know why she is locked in a cage like a prisoner. He wants to know why she keeps trying to contact him through hazy visions.
Who is she? What does she want? Could she be real, or is this all something that Laudon's perturbed mind has conjured up? After Laudon tells Zul about everything that he's been experiencing, Zul begins to wonder all the same things.
"You say these visions started after you sent the girl home," Zul says. "Do you think it is possible that she might have... damaged you, in some way? I hate to speculate, but she has already successfully attacked you. It would be foolish of me to say that you have remained the same since meeting her because you have not. You have changed."
Laudon doesn't comment on Zul's statement. "I need to see Myrlande. If anyone can figure out what's happening to me, it's her."
Like Zul, Myrlande has also been around since before Laudon was born. She has on more than one occasion worked alongside Lucifer, and even helped Zul in raising Laudon. That and more is why Laudon trusts her wholeheartedly. He trusts her to be honest and not sugarcoat anything. If she uncovers that something is indeed wrong with him, she won't hesitate to tell him the truth.
