Chosen by a Monster

Copyright Copyright © 2023 by Lylah Taylor All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by copyright law. Contents Content Warnings Dedication 1. Sephina 2. Sephina Council Rules 3. Aurel 4. Sephina 5. Sephina 6. Aurel 7. Sephina 8. Aurel 9. Sephina 10. Aurel 11. Sephina 12. Aurel 13. Sephina 14. Aurel 15. Sephina 16. Aurel 17. Sephina 18. Aurel 19. Sephina 20. Aurel 21. Sephina 22. Aurel 23. Sephina 24. Aurel 25. Sephina 26. Aurel 27. Sephina 28. Sephina 29. Aurel 30. Sephina 31. Sephina 32. Aurel 33. Sephina 34. Aurel 35. Sephina 36. Sephina 37. Aurel 38. Sephina 39. Aurel 40. Aurel 41. Sephina 42. Sephina 43. Aurel 44. Aurel 45. Sephina Thank You, Reader ♥ Other Works About Author Acknowledgments Content Warnings This story falls under the dark romance category, meaning it contains sensitive subjects. Please be advised, and take care. On page: Accidental Physical Abuse, Alcohol, Attempted Sexual Assault, BDSM Elements, Blood, Cursing, Death, Dubious Consent, Explicit Sex, Human Trafficking, Misogyny, Murder, Power Dynamics, Servitude, Violence. Mention of: Cheating Dedication To all those who try and hold it together while wanting to fall apart. ♥ Chapter one Sephina Standing at the rift as an Offering to hell wasn’t how I envisioned my day—or life—ending. Every nervous beat of my heart threatened to lodge in my severely drying throat. Being in a line up on a platform to a high-energy, swirling gateway of light, guarded by monstrous creatures, didn’t feel real. Remembering a time when hell was religious mythology seemed so distant, and it turns out, it wasn’t what we’d thought. The world quickly adjusted to the shock, and not a day went by when it wasn’t at the forefront of discussions or news reports. Understandably. When the monsters first established the rift, they’d sent a very clear message: they were in charge. The destruction of Washington, D.C. was swift, essentially happening in the blink of an eye. Whatever they’d done to it had permanently changed the landscape. Mists of black fog, dancing ash, and the earth threatening to crumble into streams of lava that continuously ran throughout didn’t diminish, even after more time had passed. There would be no reclaiming the city, or inhabiting it again. An eternal demonstration of absolute power and sickly decay, forever stamped in time. World leaders were quick to listen to the monster’s demands, abjuring any resemblance of control. They’d said we’d been allowed to live in our realm unbothered for the most part, aside from random encounters over the centuries that sparked rumors of demons and other monstrous creatures, because we’d posed no threat, and everything had been in balance. I guess because of our placement in the expanding universe, something about the alignment of our two realms had been thrown off, an unknown scale tipping in the cosmos that altered our reality. Hence, the unclosing rift, an open channel of connection to feed them pieces of our world. In exchange for not taking over dominion of our planet, they bargained. Small batches of sacrificial human life. The broadcasted conference of world leaders expressed their “understanding of this difficult circumstance”, but how it was the only option for humanity to continue. Either our world ended, or a few deemed as “Offerings” would take the fall. A very pragmatic approach. Growing up, my father dabbled in the not-so-legal sorts of business. Mafia, gangs, corrupt politicians, whichever group at the time he could use to distribute his knock-off pharmaceuticals were the type I’d grown up around. I understood from a very young age that if you fuck around, you find out. There were some things you just don’t do, regardless of what the law threatened otherwise. So when the global announcement was made, I didn’t form much opinion over it. Those in power who used force to get their way generally got it, and the rest of us should keep our heads down—these monsters were no different. Our family had been struggling financially before, but after the announcement, Daddy’s business boomed. People desperately wanted to escape this new reality, and we essentially became millionaires overnight. My father was approached by multiple mob heads for ample sized orders to funnel through their distribution. Which in truth, allowed me to bury my head further in the sand. I spent my days shopping with my girlfriends, or taking them to exclusive resorts. If I was home more at our lavish, drenched-in-marble mansion, I would have noticed the signs. Market demand is a dangerous force when you’re not prepared to dish out the supply, and your customers aren’t lawful citizens. My father promised a supply that fate was never going to provide, and he’d spent the money before he held it in his hands. Shipments went missing, product got destroyed or stolen, and too quickly profit was gone, leaving him with crushing debt to dangerous people. Desperate men backed into a corner aren’t trustworthy. If I’d have known then what I knew now, I wouldn’t have come home from my latest trip to Italy. FBI agents were the last people I’d expected to see as I pulled up to our gorgeous mansion. Reluctance inundated my freshly sun-kissed body. The rhythmic click of my heels resounded off the stone, then tile as I’d stepped into the foyer. There my father stood, his new friends dispersed in odd points along the edges of the room. My father briefly explained that in order to survive the inevitable hits placed on him since he couldn’t pay the loans, he’d made a deal with the government. His calm demeanor ran through me like a freight-train. I couldn’t wait to hear the punch line, but dreaded it at the same time. The attention from the agents burned my skin, their eyes intent on me. They’d pay his debts as long as he provided information about the various organizations we’d been connected to my whole life.