Read Darkness Becomes Her for Free Online

had happened before she awoke.
    “Here.” The man handed her a bronze mirror he’d conjured out of thin air.
    Heidi grabbed the handle and raised a quizzical eyebrow. “I know what I look like.” At least, she thought she did. She raised the mirror slowly, remembering her pale skin, her unruly red curls, her deep blue eyes, her black horns --
    What the fuck?
    “Horns?! I have horns?!”
    “Every royal demon has horns, princess. I guess I’ll have no choice but to do what I should have done from the beginning, but I’d hoped you’d remember everything on your own this time.” The man bowed low at the waist, though the gesture seemed stiff and mocking. “My name is Baal. I’m the ruler of the Underworld. And you, my blood goddess, are my mate.”
    A muffled cry came from somewhere behind Baal, shifting Heidi’s attention from the mirror to the two men who were struggling in the death grip of two tall guards. At least, she assumed they were guards, judging by the charcoal metal armor they wore. Their faces sported twin snarls. They held each man’s hands bound behind his back, their palms pressed against the men’s mouths to stifle any sound they might make.
    Apprehension swirled in Heidi’s stomach as she returned her attention to the mirror and tried to make sense of what she’d learned. Even her face looked different. She’d always been pale, but now she looked positively ghostly, as though she’d lived without the touch of the sun on her skin for an eternity. Her eyes were rimmed with black makeup, her lashes impossibly long, her full lips the same shade of dark crimson that had almost blinded her when Baal had appeared.
    Something wasn’t right. She didn’t feel like the mate of the ruler of the Underworld. The only thing she felt for this dark creature was dread and mistrust. But her appearance and the power she wielded as easily as breathing told a different story.
    “Why do I put myself through this?” she asked.
    Baal looked her up and down. “Women are difficult to understand, my love. Who am I to begin to speculate on the whims and fancies of the female mind?”
    A surge of anger rose to the back of Heidi’s throat. “Female whims, huh? I don’t buy it. Why would I leave all this without a good reason?”
    “You have a reason.” Baal spoke slowly, as though trying to reason with a child. “Or at least, you think you do. Don’t you get it yet, sweetheart? You’re in Hell. That means you’re dead. D-E-A-D.” He spelled out the word, as though that would make it easier for her brain to grasp. It didn’t help.
    Heidi gaped at him and pinched her arm. “That’s not possible. I can feel everything. I have a real body! I’m not dead!”
    “The Underworld doesn’t work the same way as the mortal realm. Here, you can be as ethereal or corporeal as you wish to be. It doesn’t make a bit of difference. On the other side, however, you don’t exist. Not in your current form, anyway.”
    Heidi’s head felt like it was preparing to split in two. “So how can I travel to the mortal realm, then?”
    “You find a temporary host. You use her body for the duration of your stay. Normally, you return to me on your own. This time, you required a little extra incentive.”
    She grimaced. “What kind of incentive?”
    “I had to get you myself. Trust me, that wasn’t something I enjoyed doing. I put myself at risk every time even a small part of me slips through to the mortal realm.” He waved a hand in the air. “No matter. I needed you back here, and I did what I had to do.”
    “Why would I refuse to return?” She narrowed her gaze. “What happened up there?”
    “Like I said, I don’t understand women. I do know that, usually, mortal ties are easy to break. Not so for someone as… sentimental as you. Something happens when you visit the mortal realm. It calls to you, lulls you into believing you can wreak more havoc up there than you can here. Although that may be true, I need you at