The Devil’s Mark

The air smelled of brimstone and rain. Kai shivered, the damp night clinging to his thin jacket as he stumbled through the alleyways of the city. He wasn’t supposed to be here—he knew that—but something primal had drawn him to this part of town, where shadows lingered longer and the neon lights fizzled into nothingness.

A sudden gust of wind carried a whisper, soft yet commanding, curling around his neck like a lover’s caress. Kai froze. “Who’s there?” His voice cracked, betraying the fear coiling in his chest.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

The words didn’t come from the mouth of a man but from the darkness itself. Kai’s heart thundered, and instinct screamed at him to run—but curiosity, or perhaps something darker, rooted him in place.

From the shadows, a figure emerged. Tall, impossibly elegant, with eyes like molten gold that pierced through the dimness. His presence was overwhelming, a gravity that forced Kai to his knees without a thought. He was beautiful. Terrifyingly beautiful.

“I am Luca,” the figure said, his voice silk draped over steel. “And you… are mine.”

Kai’s stomach churned. The certainty in Luca’s claim sent shivers down his spine. “M-Mine? I—I don’t understand.”

“You will,” Luca murmured, stepping closer. The streetlights flickered and dimmed as if the world itself recoiled from him. “You are marked, human. From the moment you drew your first breath, your soul belonged to me.”

Kai’s breath hitched. He’d always felt… different, unmoored from the world around him, as if some invisible tether pulled him toward something he could never see. Could this be it? This presence, this—devil king—was that tether made flesh.

“I’m not… I don’t—” He swallowed hard, words failing him. The warmth emanating from Luca pressed against him even from a distance. It wasn’t human. It couldn’t be.

Luca smiled, slow, dangerous. “You will learn obedience, pleasure, and fear—all at once.” He extended a hand, pale and long-fingered. “Come to me, Kai. Do not resist. It’s futile.”

Kai’s body betrayed him, muscles slackening as he stepped forward, drawn like iron to a magnet. The alley seemed to expand, twisting around them, shadows bending to Luca’s will. When their hands touched, heat flared through Kai like wildfire. Pain? Pleasure? Both. He could not tell.

“You feel that, little one?” Luca’s voice was a rumble against Kai’s chest. “That is your soul awakening. It screams for me.”

Kai trembled. His lips parted. “I… I don’t understand…”

Luca bent closer, golden eyes locked onto Kai’s like a predator savoring its hunt. “You will. And when you do… you will want me as much as I want you. I am your king, your demon, your sin incarnate. You are mine, and you will learn the meaning of desire that burns hotter than any hell.”

Kai’s knees buckled, and he let himself fall into Luca’s embrace. The world spun, dark and dizzying. His heart pounded not with fear but with something deeper, something primal.

Outside, the rain began to pour, washing the streets clean, but the darkness in the alley remained—intensified. And in that darkness, Kai’s fate was sealed.

He had been found.

And Luca—the devil king with the molten gaze and a claim that could not be broken—was already too far inside his soul.

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