Exodius Demon

Leliana

Oh, Alucard, I thought to myself as I swooped down quickly to him at the foot of the tree he’d run into. It was clear he had never flown before or he would have known to either fly high enough to avoid things or pay attention to where he was going. I landed near him and quickly ran over to him, not worrying about my wings for the moment.

“Alucard? Can you hear me? Are you all right?” I knelt down next to him. His wings had disappeared when he fell, so I turned him over onto his back and shook him gently.

“My head hurts,” he mumbled, without opening his eyes.

“You silly jerk! First you run off on me and now you’re ramming your head into trees.” I was trying not to cry as I tended to him, overjoyed to see him again but concerned for his injuries. He didn’t appear to have anything severely wrong with him other than a really bad bump on his head and several small cuts. He was definitely going to have bruises all over him for a while, too, after a crash like that.

“Alucard…” I said softly, lifting him up and nuzzling my head on top of his gently and then pressing his head to my chest. I carefully moved him away from the tree a bit as he grumbled incoherently, then I slid one of my wings under his head. It wasn’t much, and it was somewhat uncomfortable for me, but the feathers were soft and I hoped they would ease his head.

“Leliana? Is it really you?” He rolled over and patted my side for a moment, then ran his hand along my waist.

“Yes, it’s really me,” I whispered. I took his hand and pressed it to my cheek as we lay there snuggled together on the ground. I waited and hoped he would feel better soon, a mix of fear and concern plaguing me. Though we’d only been apart for a short time, in my heart it felt like months; the last thing I wanted was for him to leave me again, permanently.

“I’m sorry I left, Leli, I’m so sorry.” He began to cry and I pulled him closer to me and gently pressed my head to his.

“Shhhh, don’t worry. It’s in the past now; focus on the present.” I was holding him, trying to be a comfort to him as he mumbled and sobbed.

It was so strange to see him like this. The way he was acting made him seem so delicate; I couldn’t remember ever seeing him so upset about anything. He seemed to be in as much agony as if somebody had twisted a blade in his leg to make him scream. I was worried that he wouldn’t make it through the night with his head injury.

“So THIS is what I ran all the way out here to see? You and he wanted some alone time away from me, did you?” Melic shouted.

Alucard seemed to respond to the noise, though he was still speaking so low and incoherently that I couldn’t tell if his reaction to Melic was good or bad.

“Keep it down, Melic. He hurt his head really badly. I’m worried he won’t even last the night,” I whispered, just loud enough for her to hear me.

Hearing me, Alucard groaned, “I’m fine, Leliana, I’m just going to walk around looking like a unicorn for a while. Somebody blow out the sun, it’s too bright—and shut that stupid Dryad up before I do it myself.”

“I’d like to see you try, stupid!” she retorted.

Alucard tried to get up but I wouldn’t let him sit up; so, instead, he opened his eyes so he could see which direction to reach in for Melic, but I’d had enough of their childish behavior.

“Both of you, stop it! Alucard, you’re hurt. You need to rest. Just lie here with me, hold me close and don’t let me go. I missed you so much! Melic, knock it off or I’ll get up and knock you out for provoking him!”

Alucard laid back down on the ground and sluggishly wrapped his arms around me and held me tight in them. He was much stronger than he looked, even without his demon assisting him. Despite the fact that Melic was standing there glaring at us, I was as happy as I could be at the moment. I still couldn’t stop worrying about how badly Alucard might really be hurt. I’d have been looking for a healer if I wasn’t afraid to move him, but he’d hit the tree really hard and it seemed safest for him to just rest quietly for a while. I honestly believed if it had been anyone but him, they probably would have died on impact.

I began to feel sleepy as the sun went down. The time was passing quickly and I folded my other wing over us as best I could to try to keep us warm during the coming night.

“This is boring!” Melic whined. “How long are we going to sit here?”

“However long it takes for Alucard to feel better,” I said quietly, pressing my face to his cheek. I closed my eyes.

“Can I sleep with you two so I can stay warm, too?” Melic asked in a more reasonable tone.

I opened one eye and looked up at her for a moment, then raised an eyebrow at her and laid my head back down. “Go ahead, but you’d better watch where your hands go,” I said softly.

Melic rustled through my feathers, carefully tucking herself under my other wing behind Alucard and turning her back to him. It didn’t take much longer after we all stopped moving before I felt myself drifting off to sleep, though I was still worried.

I wasn’t sure how long I’d been asleep when I woke to loud noises coming from the darkness under the trees. I lifted my wing slightly to see what was there but couldn’t spot anything. I looked down at Alucard and noticed that he was no longer beside me. Melic was gone, too. I sat up quickly and looked around for them.

I wanted to call out their names, but at night that was a bad idea for so many reasons—starting with the fact that I had no idea what kind of beasts might be lurking in the area looking for something to eat. I stood up carefully and quietly folded up my wings; the one we’d been lying on ached a little. There was no sign anywhere of Alucard or Melic as I circled around slowly. I was beginning to wonder if they had wandered into the woods for some reason. It made sense for Melic, because she felt more at home under the trees—she was a Dryad, after all—but why would Alucard go in there? Why would he follow Melic anywhere at all?

Unless...had he decided to follow her into the woods and kill her? Was his demon controlling him now? I patted my leg and felt the dagger still strapped tightly to my thigh, so I inched quietly towards the woods. It was pitch-black from the tree line and beyond; the moon light seemed to disappear completely.

A hand reached out from the shadows suddenly and gripped my shirt, pulling me quickly under the cover of the trees. I screamed in surprise as I felt myself being hauled rapidly through the darkness despite my efforts to get free. The fact that my feet were dragging dragging on the ground and my arms were flailing didn’t slow my captor down at all, or even seem to faze it.

I thought of a moderately desperate move I could make, but since I had no idea what kind of danger I was in now I had to at least consider it; whatever was holding me only had hold of my shirt, after all. With a heavy sigh I made my wings disappear, then slipped out of the garment and took off running. Before I got very far I felt a strong grip on my arm and I was swung around roughly and slammed into something hard. My head throbbed and I felt really dizzy; I was sure that even if I had been able to see anything in the dark, everything would be spinning.

All I could clearly tell was that I was on the ground. I tried to stand up and was not even able to manage to get up on my hands and knees before something roughly grabbed my leg and dragged me back to the ground as I was still trying to regain my senses.

“Are you ready for this?” It was the demon’s voice. I was grabbed by the neck and slammed against a tree.

“Ready for what?” I squeaked, barely able to breathe because of his grip around my throat.

Fire abruptly spread in a ring around us, lighting the area inside the circle. Glowing red eyes stared at me from an unfamiliar and frightening face with pitch-black skin and rows of sharp teeth that grinned at me.

“You’re all mine now, woman. He won’t be able to save you this time.” The demon laughed hysterically as he stared at me with madness in his eyes. “I’m going to violate every ounce of your being,” he said, squeezing my throat still tighter.

As I raised my hands to grasp the monster’s scaly arm, I realized it was Alucard’s demon from the way it had referred to me. As I was trying to peel its fingers away from my neck, its other hand reached up and grabbed my breast roughly. Until now I’d forgotten that I had slipped out of my shirt, and the creature pulled and squeezed my breast painfully.

“How about I start by raping you? Then I’ll kill you slowly, and after that I’ll drink your blood!” it said excitedly. The hand on my breast slid up and down my torso until it reached my waist, then he pressed his body close to mine where I stood trapped against the tree.

I raised my knee up and rammed it into the demon’s groin, and he instantly let go of my throat and roared with pain. Quickly, while I had the advantage, I grabbed his head and smashed it into my knee twice, as hard as I could. He sank to his knees, keening.

“Violate that, you sick son of a bitch!” I shouted. I kicked him in the head with all my strength while he still down. A nimbus of light begin to glow brightly around me as I stood over the demon. He wasn’t wearing clothing, but he was covered in small scales, even on his genitals. His body was sleek; his fingers were thin but ended in sharp claws, and his feet had only three toes on each, also with large claws that looked like they would be good for slashing. He had a tail that appeared to have small barbs on it—altogether one very odd-looking creature.

I turned to walk away and the tail whipped up and wrapped around my leg tightly, yanking me off my feet before I could react. The demon leaped to his feet and grabbed my leg in both hands and swung me around, slamming me off the nearest tree.

“BITCH!” he snarled. He threw me onto the ground and stomped on my chest, pressing his foot down on it and forcing the air out of my lungs. “You’re in my world! What made you think you could beat me?” He was clearly angry, and though his skin was as black as the night around us, his blood was as red as mine.

I reached down to my thigh and pulled my dagger out of its sheath. The demon began laughing again and paid no attention to what I was doing until I drove it into his foot. He roared in pain and kicked me as hard as he could, sending me into the air. I’m not sure how I did it, but I managed to land on my feet, although I almost fell over. I raised the dagger, ready to go at him again.

“I’m going to rip out your heart and feed it to you!” he snarled.

“Blah blah, shut up and fight, you prick.” I charged at him with the dagger, ready to strike. As soon as I got close I swung the blade at him expertly, but he dodged each swing. The demon moved a lot faster than I did, though he was still having difficulty evading the blade.

Just when I thought I had him he grabbed my arm and punched me in the stomach, completely knocking the wind out of me. He hit me in the face and I dropped the dagger; he continued his assault, hitting me repeatedly. He drove his fist into my stomach hard and I fekl to my knees, gasping for air.

“So much for giving me any kind of fight. You’re a pathetic creature.” He grabbed a handful of my hair and jerked roughly. “Now you’re going to submit, once and for all!” He pushed my face towards his groin.

I leaned forward and bit down hard where my mouth landed, causing the demon to screech loudly and jump up and down in a panic. He cuffed me on the top of my head as hard and, in turn, I bit down harder and this time I began tugging with my teeth. When I finally let go, the demon fell to his knees, holding himself tightly and shouting obscenities.

I wiped my mouth in distaste. “Touch me again and you’ll wish you’d never met me, beast.” I stood up, grabbed his head, and rammed his face into my knee over and over, relentlessly, even after the demon went limp and stopped growling.

An aura of pinkish-red light surrounded me, glowing brightly and warming my skin. I was about stomp on the demon’s head a few times before I walked away when all of a sudden he dissolved into mist and disappeared.

“Where did you go? Get back here—I’m not done with you yet!” I shouted, looking around for him angrily.

Everything suddenly went dark again and then faded out slowly. Just as slowly, the sound of chirping birds became audible. I could feel feathers touching my skin, as well as a warm body next to me, with its arms wrapped around me.

I rubbed my eyes gently before opening them and seeing Alucard cuddled next to me on one of my wings. He was still asleep, from the look of it, and it seemed I must have been sleeping, too, when I was fighting with the demon. Of course that explained why he hadn’t looked like Alucard. It didn’t explain how he’d managed to get into my dreams to attack me, though. What did he hope to accomplish by that? And what was that aura around me? I saw it twice, but I didn’t know if it was something good or something bad that was happening to me.

The bump on his head appeared to be gone now, though there was a deep bruise in place of it that I imagined wouldn’t go away any time soon. It was soothing, in a way, to have him in my arms like this, with his around me. I felt so safe as he held me, even though I knew we were only as safe as the day would let us be at this moment.

I ran my hand through his hair gently for a moment and Alucard began to stir, taking a deep breath and reaching his hand up to touch mine. He took my hand in his and kissed the top of it softly before opening his eyes; a wide smile spread across his face as he looked at me with his soft emerald-green eyes.

“Good morning, Leli.” He let go of my hand and caressed my cheek gently with his own. “Have you been awake long? You should have woken me. I don’t imagine this is very comfortable for you.” He sat up carefully, trying not to hurt me as he got off the wing I’d slid under him. Then he turned and noticed that Melic had been lying behind him.

“Why was that behind me?” he asked disdainfully. “I wouldn’t put it past her to violate me in my sleep or something.” He looked a little annoyed at the sight of her, let alone the idea of her touching him.

“She wouldn’t have unless she wanted to die, because she she knows I would rip that pretty little head of hers right off those scrawny shoulders.” I attempted to be reassuring, though he might not have known I was telling the truth. If Melic ever tried to take him from me I would kill her for it.

“Melic!” he shouted, startling her out of her sleep. “Get off Leli’s wing!”

“Make love to me,” she said sleepily, then, seeming to realize who she was talking to although her eyes were still only half-open, she sat up quickly. There were large bags under her eyes that made it look as though she hadn’t slept at all the previous night.

“Get off Leli’s wing so she can get up.” Alucard’s tone was a little kinder this time.

“Oh, sorry, stupid,” she mumbled, clumsily disentangling herself from my wing.

I stood up as soon as it was free and stretched out my wings as wide as they’d go, as well as working the kinks out of my arms and legs. When I was done, the first thing I did was walk up to Alucard and throw my arms around him and press my lips to his. “I love you, Alucard—just thought I’d make sure you knew.” I smiled and released him, but when I tried to walk away he grasped my arm gently and pulled me back.

Alucard leaned in close and returned my kiss with a deep passion I could feel even in his touch, before he broke it off with a smile on his face. “I love you, too, Leli. I’m sorry I left you—” I stopped him with a hand against his lips.

“Shhh. It’s in the past, Alucard. Just know that if you ever do it again, I’ll hunt you for the rest of my life just so I can smack you in the head.” I hugged him tight once more before stepping away. “I’ll be back in a minute. I’m going to stretch my wings,” I told him, and I took off into the air.

Alucard

I turned to look at Melic, who was looking into the sky and kicking the dirt lightly, pretending she didn’t notice me looking. I glared at her sternly and she backed up a little, regarding me with a touch of concern as though she thought I was going to do something to her.

“What are you staring at?” I asked her. I intended it as a rhetorical question, but it this was Melic, and chances were she’d reply.

“I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet,” she answered sarcastically.

I already felt myself fighting the urge not to choke her or slap the crap out of her just to amuse myself. She was often rude to me and saw no reason to be otherwise. Then there was the fact that she would probably continue trying to seduce Leliana, now more than before, just to make me angry.

It seemed Leli and I both remembered everything we had shared with each other in the spirit realm. It felt a little strange to be open about my feelings for her after so long. I wanted to make her as happy as possible for as long as I could; however, there was still Horael to contend with.

There was also the matter of what he’d told me about Merrick; I needed to figure out how to find him, too. It was going to be very dangerous, and I really didn’t want to put Leli in harm’s way for my sake or anyone else’s. I had no idea where any of this was going to lead me, but somehow I knew without having to ask that Leli was willing to follow me to the end, even if it meant death.

I watched her soar through the air as I thought about everything that was to come soon, starting with revisiting the castle I’d hated so much when I was trapped within it. I was curious to see whether or not Argus was still in charge and, if not, who replaced him. The man never had seemed to trust anyone, while I was there, especially his hunters; after all, they were meant to hunt and kill mages, if need be. I don’t imagine even Argus, with all his ability, was eager to fight with them. Maybe I’d even had a wrong impression when I was younger and Argus only appeared to be in charge, when really it was the hunters who were.

“Stupid?” Melic interrupted my thoughts suddenly. “Do you really love Leli?” she asked. For her it was a strange question, with no provocation for it.

“What?” I looked at her, caught off-guard by her question.

“She loves you, stupid! Do you love her? Is it that hard to understand?” she snapped.

“Yes, I love Leliana—I have longer than she may know. What business is it of yours?” I answered her calmly and then turned my attention back to Leli. She appeared to be playing with the birds as she turned and dove, and it made me want to try flying again despite my first result. My head still ached.

“If you break her heart, I will kill you myself!” Melic said intensely.

I couldn’t help myself. Though I knew she was trying to be serious with me, something about the idea of her killing me without some powerful help was funny to me. Melic, of all creatures in the world, to be the one to kill me—an amusing thought.

“Stop laughing, you stupid, jerk-faced idiot!” she spat through gritted teeth.

“Melic, do you have any idea what it would take for you to kill me?” I was trying to humor her and not laugh any more.

“Ummm…I don’t know—splash you with holy water?” She sounded unsure of herself.

I snickered a little, trying really hard not to laugh at her again so I wouldn’t aggravate her any further than I already had. She stamped her feet in a fit of temper and mumbled to herself.

“I could do it, you know!” she said suddenly.

“All right, Melic, I believe you. Calm down.” I managed to keep a straight face this time.

Leliana landed on the ground not far from me with a bright smile on her face as she made her wings disappear again. She looked radiant as ever from her long flight to stretch her wings after having us lie on them all night. Her soft, beautiful feathers made me want to get mine out again and join her in the air, free and happy, soaring through the clouds.

Not yours—MINE! I loaned them to you and nothing more, idiot! Horael snarled.

Normally I would have been irritated by his behavior, but it wasn’t bothering me now. I wasn’t sure how anything could when I was seeing Leli the way I was. Even better was that she was returning my gaze with as much admiration as I knew was in mine.

“So, where are we off to now?” she asked finally, breaking the silent staring we were doing.

“Actually, I’m not sure how to say it.” I hesitated for a moment. “I need to go to the castle of the magi in the mountains west of here. I need the help of the mage hunters, if I can get it.”

Leliana’s smile faded away as though I’d told a bad joke. “What do you want to go there for? Alucard, it’s incredibly dangerous, even for you!”

“I need to see if they can find somebody for me, Leli, somebody I urgently need to find.” I was very reluctant to tell her I wanted to look into something Horael had shown me. I hadn’t liked the idea of deceiving her even before we’dexpressed any sort of affection towards each other.

“Who? Who could we possibly need to find? What would require you needing to go to a place like that?” she demanded.

“Leli, please trust that I know what I’m doing. I need you to be with me for support. It’s not like I want to return to that place. I used to live there.” I was looking her in the eyes, and although she was upset she seemed to understand.

“Alucard, I really hate the idea of finally being able to love you openly only to have you get yourself killed someplace like that.” She said it softly, but I knew she was still upset. She took a few steps towards me and grasped my hand gently. “If you really have to go there, Alucard, I won’t leave you now, although I really wish you wouldn’t.”

“Thank you, Leliana.” I embraced her warmly and held her tight for a moment before releasing her.

“Just, please, Alucard, be careful.” Leli placed her hand on my cheek. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t, Leliana.” I held her again.

“Oh, for the love of the forest! Can we just get moving? All this mushy crap is getting on my last nerve! Why don’t you two just go find a tree somewhere, already, and make love to your heart’s content, while I watch and move on?” Melic piped up suddenly.

I looked at Leli with a devious smile on my face, and she seemed to realize right away what I was thinking.

“That sounds good to me. You can hold me up on this tree right over here, Alucard. I’ll get naked now,” she said amorously, leaning against the tree invitingly with her arms in the air.

Melic was practically drooling and she was fumbling with her pants excitedly, trying to get the button undone, when Leli smacked her lightly in the head.

“What was that for?” Melic asked, looking wounded.

“You really think we were going to do it? In front of you, no less?” Leli shook her head.

“Let’s get a move on. This is going to be a long trip, especially on foot.” I walked into the woods we had rested outside of the night before.

Melic grumbled loudly as she followed close behind me, with Leliana behind her, . I could hear some of what she was saying, which made it hard not to laugh at her again. It was going to be a long trip into the west; the forest we were in was unknown to me, but I did know that all we had to do was go straight through it. On the other side was a well-traveled merchant road that led up into the mountains some distance before it disappeared; from there all we had to do was keep walking.

When we came to a sign that said TRAVELERS NOT WELCOME, I knew we were closer to the castle than I’d ever wanted to be again. It was at least a few days away still, but we would manage it even if we had to settle for sleeping on the ground until we got someplace we could resupply besides the small village before us. I had already stirred up the villagers too recently to think I was welcome here now; besides, I didn’t have any money left.

It wasn’t something I was worrying much about right now. For the moment I just wanted to enjoy the company I was in and continue on our way with Leli’s hand in mine.