Exodius Demon

Merrick

I was still just a child when I found myself waking in darkness; wherever I was lying, it was cold and somewhat damp. I hadn’t the faintest idea how I’d got there, but I knew right away that I wanted to get out. The air was stifling, and I felt a great pressure on my body, pressing down on it and holding me in place. I pushed myself upward, trying to sit up, unsure if I was on my back or belly. The only thing I knew was that I had to get out before it was too late. The discomfort of suffocation was quickly becoming urgent; with each breath I drew in, I had to push harder.

I’m not sure how long it took for me to actually break through into clear, cold air, but when I finally managed it I took in several deep breaths of fresh air, relieved to have escaped. After I had lain there for several minutes, recovering, I looked around me and saw that I had been buried underground for some reason. I wasn’t dead, as far as I could tell, yet I lay next to a giant mound of assorted bones. Am I in hell? I thought to myself. The moon was shining brightly, and the air that night was freezing, just like the ground the earth that had covered me.

You’re not in hell yet, child, but you will earn your passage there. An unknown voice hissed suddenly, startling me. I looked around to see if anyone or anything else was close by that I hadn’t seen or sensed while I was catching my breath, but I saw nothing.

“What on earth?” I muttered to myself. I crawled the rest of the way out of the hole I’d been in, wondering if I was losing my mind and hearing things. I worried that I might be hallucinating because of the time I’d spent underground.

You aren’t doing anything you shouldn’t be yet, boy! Listen to me and you might yet live; otherwise you WILL die. The voice hissed at me again, but I couldn’t see where it was coming from even though it sounded as though someone was speaking right into my ear. At the time I had no idea it was coming from inside me, but I wasn’t all that interested, either.

I stood up slowly, my legs wobbling frequently as I tried to keep my balance. I was uncertain how long I’d been buried there in the ground and what kind of harm might have come from it, if any. When I finally managed to get my balance, my mind wandered to Alucard; I wondered where he was and what he was doing. I was curious whether he had been buried too, possibly nearby, or if he was still in the tower somewhere.

Don’t worry about him! He thinks of himself, not you. Don’t you dare worry for him, human! the voice snarled loudly, startling me. My head was throbbing badly as I started to walk, unsure which direction I was going. I realized that standing here by these abandoned bones wouldn’t help my situation. I needed to find shelter from the bitter cold before I froze to death.

As I wandered through the night, shivering and wiping mucus from my nose, the voice in my head spoke to me. It offered me power in exchange for my emotions; it wanted my humanity, to make me a demon, it said. Everything in me said this was wrong, and that it would doubtless backfire on me in some way, but I was tempted even so. Power was something I had wanted for as long as I could remember. I had no idea with what I was making a deal, or where the voice was coming from, but eventually it told me it was a creature that was inside of me.

It seemed sincere enough to me then, and I have no regrets for what I decided to do that night, as a result of wanting to both survive and be strong.

If you truly wish to become a demon, human, you must take the life of an innocent without regret or remorse. Then my power will be yours.

“So be it,” I whispered.

I stumbled onward for what seemed like days before I came across a small hovel, not much more than a shack. It seemed very small for someone to be living in it, but judging from the smoke rising out of the crude chimney, somebody was there.

Remember our deal, human! the creature hissed at me excitedly as I barged in the front door of the hut, slamming it behind me. I lost no time going over to the fireplace, squeezing my way between crowded stacks of chairs and tables. A surprised-looking old man was eating his dinner at one of the tables that had space for a dish or two on its surface. He had a bushy white beard, and a friendly smile slowly crossed his wrinkled lips.

I ignored him as I sat down in front of the fireplace, blocking most of the heat as I tried desperately to warm up. The voice kept urging me to kill the old man. I was considering it, but as yet he hadn’t done anything to me, hadn’t even yelled at me for barging into his house so rudely.

“Hmmm….” I could hear him humming rather tonelessly behind me. I turned my head slightly to see him standing up. He stabbed something on his plate with a fork, then he slowly shuffled over to me with a wide grin on his face and offered me the plate. “Here, son, eat this. You’ll feel better.”

Kill him! Take his life! He might take yours first if you don’t, anyway, the voice goaded as I eyed the fork. The old man smiled warmly at me as he held out the food. I took the fork in my hand and looked down at the three tines, all of them sharp.

Do it! Do it now! the voice hissed.

“Go ahead, son.” The old man smiled innocently, unaware of the danger he was in.

The words of both of them danced around in my throbbing head, repeating over and over again and getting louder as they continued. I stared up at the old man’s smiling face, my hand trembling from gripping the fork so tightly. Everything got fuzzy for a moment, and when my vision adjusted the fork was embedded in the old man’s neck.

His eyes widened when I jerked the fork out of his neck, and he fell heavily to the ground, the food in his hand scattering when he dropped the plate. His body seized violently and blood poured out of the wound on his neck, quickly becoming a puddle on the floor. I backed up a little, my hands shaking. The old man looked up at me with a mixture of physical pain from the wound and emotional hurt as if he had been betrayed by a friend.

I started to dry heave as he died, his eyes never leaving mine. Eventually his eyes dulled and the flow of blood became sluggish and then stopped.

The old man was dead; I had killed him, and he had done nothing to me. Why did you do that? I thought to myself. What warranted killing this man? He was just offering you food. What were you thinking?

Excellent! Soon you will be ready to merge with me and become something greater than a human! The voice was back, echoing excitedly through the hovel.

“What are you talking about? Where are you?” I shouted.

Inside you, idiot! I’m the result of your ritual. You wanted power and now you have it—if you’re willing to give up your humanity for it. Do as I say, and power will be yours! The voice roared loudly in my head, making it throb.

The old man was just the first of many. I had chosen that night to do as the creature inside me said so I could gain great power. Humans were weak, and I didn’t want to be weak. I wanted to be a force to be reckoned with, a god. The creature kept its word, too. As time went on I became something people only whispered about, for fear anything louder would bring my wrath down on them.

I traveled through small villages, killing at will without remorse or hesitation, preying on anything that moved, including livestock. I even fed off their corpses from time to time, drinking their blood while it was still warm. Nothing I came across survived—that is, not until the first time I came across a Drow. There was only one that day, but the creature didn’t turn away in fear when I roared at it. The Drow merely stood there, glaring into my eyes with a heartlessness I understood well, as it considered killing me for food—or at least trying to.

Use my power, fool, and enter its mind. Read its thoughts and communicate with it. This creature and others like it can be made to follow you when you’re no longer human. The creature inside me was right about the Drow. Nothing made a better army than those naturally armored creatures; they were fast and vicious in their attacks, as well as relentless. As long as a Drow was still breathing it wouldn’t stop trying to kill its target; and now I fought at the same level of relentlessness.

Now, months later as I stood outside the castle that had once held me prisoner, I glared at the entrance which I knew was still heavily warded against magic, including barriers against physical assault. I was here to prove my power once and for all, now that I was a full-fledged demon. When I merged willingly with the creature inside me, my power had become tremendous, and with the army of Drow I now led, nothing could stop me.

My Drow were waiting behind me for the wall to come down and the way to be opened for them to enter. I laughed as I drew off energy from the magic of the wards themselves in order to destroy them altogether. Nothing was going to stop me now. Even though Argus thought his wards were perfect, I was going to show him the basic principle of pressure: everything breaks if you apply enough force.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” I said aloud. I was rather pleased with myself just then.

I drew back my hand when I had gathered enough energy from the wards upon the door and without a moment’s hesitation I threw it forward, releasing a large blast of fire. It blew the door right off its hinges and even removed part of the wall around it. Drow flooded into the building, roaring triumphantly as people inside immediately went on the defensive.

I listened to their screams as the Drow tore them apart, despite the castle’s inhabitants’ best efforts to chase them out. The sound of it was music to my ears. I entered through the hole in the wall before the smoke had even cleared, and grabbed by his neck the first person to run past me.

I watched the terrified youth look into my eyes as I lifted him off the ground. Then I rammed my bare hand into his ribcage and pulled out his heart. It gave a few more feeble beats before it stopped; the youth’s eyes were so wide I thought they might pop out.

I just smiled and began looking through the bodies for survivors of the wounds the Drow had inflicted as they charged through the stone halls, some stopping to feed on their kills. I’m feeling a little hungry myself, now that I think about it.

I knelt down by one of the bodies. It was a female of particular beauty, or so I thought. Her hair was a dark auburn, even more so with her blood soaking it; her eyes, though lifeless now, were a deep blue. Her face was flawless—no scars, scratches, or other injuries. Her body was finely shaped, slim with lovely curves about the waist and torso. She was missing her stomach—it had been torn out in one bite, from the look of it; she had either died of shock or bled to death, it didn’t matter which to me. I reached into the wound and pulled out her heart as well.

“Such a sweet thing. I might have had some fun with you before you died, had I reached you first.” I laughed. “Your loss, woman.” I took a bite from the heart as if it was an apple, and continued on my way down the hall.

My target was none of these underling mages; I already knew they had absolutely no chance against me in groups, let alone one on one. Not that any of them were organizing themselves to combat my army. My target was Argus, and no matter how many hunters he had huddled in his study with him, I was going to kill them all.

He was going to die slowly. I couldn’t wait to get hold of him and show him what true pain was.


Leliana

It was strange, I thought to myself. I leaned against a maple tree, watching Alucard as he slept under a grand oak in a forest full of every tree but those, it seemed. Melic was sleeping in a tree somewhere behind mine, up among the branches. Usually it was Alucard who couldn’t sleep, but for some reason tonight our positions were reversed: he seemed to be having no trouble sleeping, and I was wide awake.

I suppose it was because of my concern about the things he’d told me about the old castle he used to live in, and how worried I was about losing him if we went there. It might have been foolish of me, but I had a stupid idea stuck in my head that the mage hunters would capture or kill him. If they trapped him within the walls, I wouldn’t be able to remove the wards he’d told me about, try as I might.

With the way I felt about our journey right now, I really wanted to be held; but at the same time I didn’t want to wake Alucard when his demon was letting him sleep for once. It bothered me how little sleep he actually got when that bastard of a creature inside him began to torment him. The last thing he needed was to listen to me whine about my little unease about where we were going.

“Leli, you should know better than that,” he whispered quietly from where he lay.

I was surprised he was awake. His eyes had been shut the entire time I’d been watching him; he hadn’t even blinked. “What do you mean?” I asked, no louder than he. The last thing I wanted to do right now was wake Melic and get her started screeching at us for something silly.

“Come over here. If you need me, then sleep isn’t important—but you are.” He stretched out his arms to me, still lying there with his eyes shut.

I crawled over to him on hands and knees as quietly as I could and snuggled in close to him, pressing my back against him as he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to him. I felt so safe as he held me, and for a brief moment my mind was at ease as we cuddled.

“So what is on your mind, Leli?” he asked me, sweetly kissing the back of my neck once and sending pleasant shivers down my back.

I knew he had to be tired, but he was unwilling to go to sleep while I was distressed over what might happen when we reached the castle. For all I knew, I was worrying for no reason, and when we got there the mages would cooperate with us. Of course, there were still the hunters to consider; it would be foolish not to. For the moment, though, those things seemed to be less of a concern, and I found more comfort in his arms than I’d first thought I might.

“It’s nothing that can’t be fixed by being held.”

“Then I’ll hold you for as long as it takes you to feel at ease.”

I rolled around to face him and he opened his eyes to gaze at me with his soft emerald eyes, then smiled at me warmly. I smiled back at him; somehow I had forgotten my troubles while I lay there in his arms. Before I knew what I was doing I leaned in to kiss him sweetly on the lips. He pressed his forehead to mine gently as we continued for a moment more before stopping to smile at each other once more. I kissed him again, more passionately this time, lightly brushing my tongue over his lips as I did so that I could taste him.

As we continued, our hands began to wander along each other’s bodies. Alucard’s went under my shirt and softly touched my back with his fingertips; one of mine went up the front of his shirt. As I caressed his chest, a light hum of pleasure escaped my mouth and flowed right into his, the touch of his fingers like silk on my skin. It was exotic in a way, as well as arousing, to be lying under a tree making out with him while he had his hands on my bare skin. Though he wasn’t doing anything more than caressing me lightly, I found myself desiring more.

I took my hand out from under Alucard’s shirt and pulled on his arm until his hand was in mine, and then led it up the front of my shirt until he was touching my breast. I pressed his hand to it firmly and looked him in the eyes enticingly. “Touch me, Alucard. I want your hands on me,” I whispered. I reached up and playfully tugged on his earlobe with my mouth.

Alucard took his arm out from under me and moved that hand to my breast and began to fondle me lightly. Then he took his other hand away from mine and slowly slid it along my torso until he reached my belly. He flattened his hand against my skin and slipped it under my pants and between my legs.

I stopped to look in his eyes once more, biting my lip hopefully at the thought of what he was about to do, and lifted my leg to give him better access. He slipped his fingers inside and began to rub me slowly at first, steadily hastening and then stopping to hold his hand in one place. I felt as though I was melting under his touch; I wanted to let my body go limp and let him do what he would to me. It felt so right. As he continued I began to feel myself twitch involuntarily as jolts of pleasure surged through me. Just when I thought it couldn’t get much better than it was at that precise moment, Alucard began to kiss and nip at my neck, sensually pulling on my flesh with his teeth.

“Aaaa-lucard!” A soft moan escaped my lips. I was getting closer and closer to my climax, and he wasn’t letting up at all. My body felt incredibly hot and my breathing grew heavier as he continued. I’d even begun to hold my breath every so often, the better to concentrate on the intense feelings that were swamping me. I rolled over onto my back and Alucard’s hands followed me. I dug my nails into the ground, arching my back and trying hard not to cry out and wake Melic. I hoped she would just keep sleeping.

The sensations Alucard was creating increased and I felt myself growing closer and closer to climax. Alucard let go of my breast and stopped nipping my skin but his hand continued to move over me and he watched my face intently. I didn’t pay much attention to anything except his hand until he suddenly stopped. I opened my eyew and was about to sit up when I felt him slide my pants down quickly. Then I felt the stroke of something new touching me and the rush of pleasure began all over again. I looked down to see that he was lapping at me with his tongue, gently stroking and pressing with it. I trembled at how good it felt, and I was fighting the urge to clamp my legs on his head to hold it there. I was breathing heavily again and I was beginning to sweat a little.

Then, with pleased surprise, I felt him slowly slide two fingers into me; he started to slide them in and out of my body, making my face flush with heat and my body tremble with delight. The pleasure was building so immensely that I could barely contain myself and I felt like I was going to burst or cry out his name. I sat up for a moment and stopped Alucard, quickly tugging off his shirt and biting my lip with excitement as he looked at me in confusion.

“Pants—lose them now. Hurry!” I said quietly but firmly. Understanding dawned and he quickly stood up and kicked off his boots, then took off his pants while I busied myself removing my shirt and boots. I wanted every bit of myself exposed to him and available for him. I wanted to feel nothing more than our skin pressed together, and I hoped I was making this clear to him when I jerked him down between my legs. The feel of his tongue and fingers were still fresh in my mind, and I was still trembling a little as I made myself comfortable on my back.

Without any further coaxing or directing Alucard aligned his pelvis with mine and gently slid himself into my very warm and waiting inside. I raised my hips up to meet his inward thrust and lowered them as he pulled back, moving in sync with him. His pace quickened and I felt a rush of emotion like never before. I pulled him down closer to me so I could lean up and suck on the side of his neck.

Alucard moaned as I pulled on the skin lightly, suckling on it, lifting my hips to meet his every thrust. After a few more minutes I could feel myself tightening around Alucard as a rush of pleasure over took me. I collapsed bonelessly onto the ground, my back arching as I neared the edge of release. Alucard seemed almost to be holding his breath as his pace increased, and I couldn’t contain myself any longer. I dug my nails into his back and pressed my face into his neck as I moaned loudly with my climax.

He thrust a few more times and gave a low, heavy moan and buried himself inside of me as deeply as he could. A pleasant tingle ran down my back, making me shudder a little as I flopped down on the ground, breathing heavily. I felt exhausted as I lay there with a goofy smile on my face, looking up at Alucard.

He stayed inside me for what seemed like a long time before he finally pulled out and lay back down next to me; he was breathing a little heavily himself. I gently rolled him over onto his back and rested my head on his chest with, one arm around him and one of my legs flung over his. He placed an arm around me as well and stroked my cheek gently with his hand.

“I love you, Leli,” he whispered softly.

“I love you, too, Alucard, now and forever,” I whispered back. I closed my eyes and rested on him, and before long I fell asleep, happy and at peace.

The dreams that followed were sweet and peaceful, for a change. I found myself lying hand in hand with Alucard in a field of wild flowers. There was a lovely fragrance in the air that would ease anyone into relaxation. Children could be heard laughing and playing together nearby, and I suddenly wondered if they were Alucard’s and mine.

“What is going on here?” Melic’s shrill voice startled me out of my dream and woke Alucard too. I had fallen asleep on him the previous night, and neither of us was dressed.

“What is all this? Why is it I’m not allowed to have any fun, but you two can?” she shouted, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently as she scowled at us.

“It’s called making love, not giving slutty Dryads a show. Now shut up and let us sleep,” Alucard grumbled at her, rolling over to snuggle me in his arms. Though I badly wanted to let him, we had to get up.

“Sweetie, we need to get dressed. We’re both still naked,” I whispered to him, giving him a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Oh, sure—kiss him now! Rub it in my face, why don’t you? You two are unbelievably unfair!” Melic ranted.

All of her noise and complaining was beginning to make me want to smack the crap out of her just to shut her up, not to mention it would make me feel better. I felt a little dirty at the moment, not for what I’d done with Alucard but because my naked body was being looked at by somebody like Melic. I had exposed myself to her once, but that was when I was trying to illustrate how to wear clothes, and even then I’d felt rather badly. She’d known the whole time—she just wanted to get a glimpse of my body, so she’d let me think she didn’t understand just so she could get a peek at my chest.

“What’s unfair about two people in love expressing it to each other?”I glared at her and got dressed as quickly as possible, while Alucard took his time.

“You didn’t include me in your expression! How could you?” She pouted indignantly.

“Sex is not something you’re supposed to have multiple participants in. It’s between couples!” I shouted, annoyed. She was so childish, seeing serious matters as something you did for fun, just because you felt like it. I wondered if she was even capable of loving anyone; I suspected that with her it was just a game of lie with whoever you felt like, whenever you wanted to.

“How would you know? I bet stupid there is the only person you’ve ever been naked with!” she retorted nastily. I lost my temper completely at that point and punched her in the face as hard as I could, knocking her to the ground.

Blood trickled down Melic’s chin from her lip and she stared at me with wide, heartbroken eyes. Then tears began to run steadily down her cheeks as she sniffled a little and stood up. She didn’t cry, for once, though; she simply wiped her face and looked at the ground sadly. Then, without a word, she walked off into the woods and left us where we stood.

“If I knew that’s all it would take to get rid of her, I would have hit her myself,” Alucard muttered.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of her walking off. Belatedly I felt bad for hitting her; but she was so infuriating, especially since she didn’t seem to understand much of anything outside her own world. The poor girl was very unknowledgeable about how people other than her own lived. Then I wondered about “her” people. It had crossed my mind a few times that we never saw more of her people. I was beginning to wonder why she was the only one we’d seen in all this time.

“Alucard, I know I’m probably going to regret this, but should we go after her?”

He looked at me with one eyebrow raised, like I’d gone insane, as he finished lashing his dagger to the opposite thigh from the one where I carried mine. It was odd for him to suddenly wear it there when before he’d always insisted it be strapped to his back. His eyes had hints of yellow in them, too, which was bothering me a little. I wondered if his demon was trying to take control of him again.

“What? Is something wrong?” he asked, noticing me staring.

“No, nothing’s wrong. Let’s just get going.” We began walking, hand in hand.

I was worried about Alucard because as far as I knew, his eyes only turned colors when his demon was bothering him. At the moment, however, he seemed normal. His head wasn’t bothering him this morning or he wouldn’t have been so calm. He always told me the pain from it was excruciating. He kept looking down at me with a warm smile on his face when he noticed I was still staring at him. Every bit of his behavior told me it was him, but still I couldn’t stop wondering why his eyes were changing.

“Leli,” he whispered suddenly, “look who’s following us again.” He grinned and I turned my head back slightly in time to see a quick glimpse of blonde hair as its owner darted behind a tree.

“She just won’t leave us, will she?” I murmured. Alucard just shook his head.

I’d been feeling bad for Melic since I’d hit her, but now I wished she’d just left and gone her own way. She was beginning to irritate me in the worst imaginable way, and it was looking like there was no end in sight.