She Belongs To The Devil

Slash! Clank! Swoosh!     

"Arghhh…"     

Joyce suddenly found herself in the middle of a battlefield… or rather in the middle of the battle-sky. The atmosphere was full of the battle cries and the sounds of weapons striking against each other.     

And what more? It didn't look like some normal battle and it didn't feel like an ordinary dream.     

Everywhere she looked, she saw creatures with wings clashing against each other. Some had a divine aura around them while some had a dangerous aura. Some were wielding weapons while some were wielding magic.     

"Aaaahhhh!" A man who looked like an angel flew right towards her while wielding a spiky mace.     

Joyce quickly did some complex hand gestures that she had never done in her life before. A ball of fire appeared in between her palms. And without a second of hesitation, she threw it at her opponent.     

Before he could reach her, a hole was blasted in his chest. He looked down at his own chest in shock, and the next thing she knew, that angel dropped from the sky.     

"Mackenzie! Stay behind me!" Joyce suddenly heard someone shouting at her.     

She turned to look at the source of that commanding voice. That person suddenly swooped in and spread out his massive wings in front of her like a shield.     

"I asked you to stay behind, Mackenzie! Why won't you listen to me?" he reprimanded her while he finished off a few opponents who were in front of them.     

And Joyce complained, "But I am not a child anymore! I can help you, you know." She turned to her side and shot another fireball at a few arrows that were heading their way. The arrows got melted into nothing.     

"I can watch your back," she said again and turned her back at that man. She glared at some enemies who were swooshing closer towards them.     

"Joy…" Joyce furrowed her brows in confusion after suddenly hearing a soft voice calling her from somewhere around. She looked around but didn't see anyone.     

"Joyce…" She heard the same voice again. This time, a little louder and clearer.     

"Vlad?" she thought to herself and searched around for him. "He isn't here, is he?" She was worried for him since he didn't have any wings.     

"Wait! Neither do I! How am I flying?" Joyce looked at her shoulders but before she could verify anything, she got woken up from her vivid dream.     

Vlad was looking at her with a worried look on his face. He gently cupped her cheek and asked, "Joy? Are you okay? You are sweating so much. Were you having a nightmare?"     

Joyce found herself breathing heavily and covered in sweats.     

The air, the pressure of the battle, her opponents, everything looked so surreal that Joyce felt like she was actually present there just a moment ago.     

"Joyce, what is it? Did you have a bad dream?" Vlad asked his wife again. She had been grunting and throwing her hands and legs for a while now, which was why he woke her up.     

Joyce looked at her husband's worried face. She herself wasn't sure if that dream was just a bad dream or a future premonition. She wiped her forehead and swallowed. "I… I don't know. I think I saw a battle between angels and demons."     

Vlad knitted his brows together and asked, "You saw the future?"     

Joyce held her head and took a deep breath in. And she whispered in a confused voice, "I have no idea. I was also there. I think I was in someone else's body. But everything felt very real to me."     

She darted her eyes around while recalling that dream. And she said again, "Uncle Theodore called me Mackenzie. I've never heard about this Mackenzie from him."     

"Maybe I saw a distant future? The way he protected her…" she contemplated for a while and voiced out what that felt like, "It seemed as if he was protecting his daughter. Maybe Uncle Theodore and Aunty Adeline will have another daughter in the future?"     

Vlad also believed that his wife had seen the future. And he suggested to her, "Maybe what you saw will happen sooner or later. You should warn your uncle about it."     

Joyce also thought the same. "Yes, I think I should write a letter to Wyverndale."     

Vlad suddenly recalled the good news that he didn't get to tell his wife earlier. "Kenneth will come here in four days, along with Ariel, Niylah, Ramon, and Zach. Maybe you can ask Ariel to pass along the message to her father."     

Joyce turned her head and gave a hard glare to her husband. "My cousins are coming here? Since when did you know?"     

"I got to know about it in the afternoon. I received a letter from Kenneth."     

"And you're telling this to me now?" Joyce crossed her arms over her chest and gave a reprimanding look to her husband.     

Vlad defensively replied, "Hey, don't get angry at me now, love. I wanted to tell you that as soon as I walked in here. But you were busy practicing spells and then you went away. And when you came back, I… forgot."     

Joyce gave a smile to her husband and shifted closer to him. And she mumbled to her husband, "So, my cousins are coming here to meet me, huh?"     

Vlad lay down beside his wife and pulled her in a warm embrace. "Yes. Are you excited to meet them?"     

"Yes, very!" Joyce smiled brightly and buried her face in her husband's chest. And she mumbled in a muffled voice, "I haven't seen them for two whole years. I wonder what they all look like now. Zach must have grown a lot."     

Vlad was happy to see his wife excited. He planted a kiss on her head and said, "I'm sure he grew up the most. You will find out in a few days."     

He lovingly stroked his hand on his wife's back and then asked her, "By the way, who is Damien? Kenneth had mentioned that he was also coming along with them."     

"Did you just say, Damien?" Joyce looked at her husband and asked in a shocked voice.     

Vlad gave a nod.     

Joyce laughed in shock. "That brat!" She laughed again, this time in happiness. "He finally decided to come out of his hiding, huh! I wonder what he looks like now."     

She took a deep breath in and said, "Ah! It's going to be so much fun if he is also coming along with them."     

"Is he also one of your cousins?" Vlad asked, seeing how happy Joyce was to hear his name.     

Joyce shook her head. Her eyes dilated and her lips curved up a little when she recalled her memories with Damien. "He is not my cousin. He is a friend of Ariel's. But he is like a brother to me."     

"Hmm… Then you must be pretty close with him," Vlad said with a smile. He was also eager to meet this person called Damien since his wife seemed to be fond of him. "I can't wait to meet him and everyone else."     

"Oh! But I should warn you." Joyce looked at her husband and said with a smile, "He is a demon, born and raised in Hell. But there's no need to worry too much. He doesn't bite."