Hell Butterfly - By CassidyChaos
Faster… faster… She could taste the sweet air of the Mortal Realm flooding down through the open gate. Her wings whirred so swiftly they were a blue-green blur, and oh, how they ached. Her shoulders where on fire, an agony she would gladly endure knowing freedom was finally within her grasp.
Summoning the magic for a final push Lorelei rocketed past the massive wriggling form of her master and up into the moonlit night. She pulled wings in still ascending and flung her arms wide as if to embrace the sky itself. Ecstasy, freedom and the thrill of victory coursed through her veins with every beat of her hammering heart.
"Rhine?" she gasped. Twisting in midair, the magic of her spell the only thing holding her aloft, she franticly sought the Rhine's familiar form. Lorelei stopped short her jewel green eyes taking in the scene below.
A sword-wielding figure in red was doing battle with the hideous monstrosity that was her master, Zelagor. Zelagor in his true form was a disgusting mass of spines, tentacles and slime. Lorelei loathed his very existence. But where was Rhine? There below, caught in the grip of one of Zelagor's tentacles, her cloak torn away was the glittering golden-skinned Rhine.
"Sister… no," she breathed in horror. They were so close; there was no turning back now. Reaching inside her cloak Lorelei pulled out her inky black bow, Argus, and began firing at the beast below.
"Aim for the center spine," she called to red clad swordsman. No longer able to stay aloft without unfurling her fragile wings again she let herself fall.
"BETRAYER!" roared Zelagor. The tentacle clutching Rhine flailed back and forth shaking the woman like a ragdoll leaving a cloud of shimmering dust in the air.
"I've told you slimy bastards a thousand times… but…. you…. just… won't… listen," the swordsman snarled between swings. "Entry to this world is off-limits to the likes of you."
Dropping her bow Lorelei charged forward dodging bloody chunks of demon flesh hacked off by the swordsman. With a leap, she managed to grab Rhine's arm only to have a tentacle coil about her own leg tearing her away and slamming her to the ground.
"Go…," the golden-skinned woman said. "Go… save yourself." A breath later, she was gone, dragged back into the abyss.
"RHINE!"
The swordsman approached and casually sliced the slimy appendage freeing Lorelei's leg. The skeleton adorning his blade leered at her, its eyes blazing with unholy light. The warrior before her was so caked in blood and gore she could barely make out his features. His frost white hair fell in front of his face but never managed to obscure his icy blue eyes.
"CAPTURE THE FAE!" Zelagor bellowed in rage. "DO NOT LET HER ESCAPE!"
"Wow, you really pissed him off," the swordsman quipped.
This man… who was he? The aura of power coming off him was incredibly intense. Lorelei had never felt anything like it before. One of Zelagor's massive tentacles slammed the ground a scant inches from where the warrior was standing blasting dirt and debris into the air.
"Oh now that was just rude," the white haired man growled.
"The center spine," Lorelei said quickly scrambling to her feet. "Shatter it and he'll die."
The massive demon roared again using its bulk to force the gate open wider allowing dozens of smaller demons, its minions, to boil forth.
The warrior shoved his great sword down through the nearest tentacle pinning it to the earth and quickly drew a pair of what Lorelei guessed were human weapons. He quickly began firing at a flock of harpies circling overhead just as they started to dive.
The Fae darted away, going for her bow, only to wind up flat in the dirt as a scarecrow climbing out of the gate snagged her ankle. She cursed under her breath and kicked the bag of bugs in the face with a sickening squish. "Eeewww," she said with disgust as slime coated her bare foot.
If she wanted her freedom, she'd have to fight for it. She could only pray that Zelagor's famous temper would keep him from enforcing the Bond.
But God doesn't listen to the prayers of devils.
"Enough!" squid face roared. "Tabhair do máistir!" the beast intoned. (Heed your master!)
"No!" Lorelei shrieked as eldritch energy formed a collar about her neck and then forming link by glowing link it raced toward Zelagor. She clawed at it, desperate to stop its progress, but to no avail.
"Sléacht!" the demon ordered and immediately the Fae's legs buckled and slammed into the ground. (Kneel!)
She looked around wildly for anything she could use. Twisting around she spotted her bow; if she bent herself over backwards, she might be able to snag it with her fingertips. Lorelei flung herself back, arms stretching over her head, reaching for Argus. Her cloak parted revealing the thin white shrift beneath; bowed over in this position she was completely exposed but it was a desperate gamble she was willing to make.
There was the sharp sound of a gunshot and Argus slammed into her waiting hand. Righting herself she turned to see the man in red still blasting away at the rapidly dwindling group of lesser devils. He wasn't even looking at her. Had he helped her or was it just a lucky stray shot?
If she lived through this she'd have to thank him, but there was no time to dwell on it now. A tentacle wound its way around the mystic chain and began dragging her back toward the gate.
The man holstered his guns and snatched up his great sword; the cloaked woman had gotten herself in a quiet a bit of trouble. Even kneeling, she stubbornly refused to admit defeat and continued firing her bow at the demon lord. She's feisty, he thought. But she's running on fumes. From where he was, he could see that her fingers were raw and bleeding from firing her bow so often and her arms were starting to shake. "Guess I better put an end to this…"
"I HATE YOU!" she screamed losing her last arrow. It lodged in his right eye but served to do little more than irritate her master. The power of her bow was fully depleted now making it about as useless as a stick. Lorelei hung her head. She was defeated. She knew the fate that awaited her; she would be dragged back into the Deep Realms where alongside her sister she would suffer every torture and humiliation a devil could dream up.
"Oh Lucifer, if only I'd been stronger", the Fae lamented. If she had been she and Rhine would have made a run for it ages ago and then maybe she wouldn't have been Bound to an arrogant overgrown squid like Zelagor. Lorelei lifted her face to the velvet sky of the Mortal Realm memorizing its cool silver orb and a thousand distant lights. When they cut her, when they burnt off her wings and broke her bones that is what she would think of; a sight no Fae but the fabled Tatiana has seen in untold centuries, that beautiful sky.
The frosty haired warrior sliced off every slimy appendage that came near him. "I will destroy you!" Zelegor howled in pain.
"Oh just shut the fuck up and die already, you mutated sea urchin," the man snarled launching himself at the demon lord. "You're beginning to piss me off."
He slammed the skeletal great sword down, slicing through the central spine in the demon lord's back. There was a breathless pause and then it shattered; the instant it did so the shackles binding the Fae shattered as well.
For a moment, her world went red; red aura, red coat, red demon blood spraying everywhere.
"Heh, some guys just don't know how to treat a lady. You ok, babe?" he asked glancing her way.
"Yes," she gasped. Air rushed back into her lungs but the strange feeling of lightness would not go away. Lorelei dug her fingers into the blood soaked soil seeking an anchor, something real to focus on. She only ever felt this way when she was Unbound. "I'm free," she whispered her head still reeling.
She climbed unsteadily to her feet and took a few staggering steps watching as the broken carcass of her master tumbled back into the abyss. A satified smile tugged at her lips. Turning she saw the last of Zelagor's minions fleeinginto the darkness.
The man in red didn't bother to chase them instead he shoved his blade down into the open Hell Gate. Energy crackled and swirled wildly about him as the power in the sword sealed the portal. "What a pain," he grumbled to himself. His blue eyes gazed at the woman only breifly, perhaps wondering why she hadn't fled like the others.
"This is the Human World isn't it?" She shivered pulling the tattered cloak tighter about her slender frame. "It's so cold and… I thought it would be… brighter."
"It's winter and the sun's not up yet," the white haired warrior explained. "Give it about an hour," he said noting the cold pale light edging the horizon.
"The sun," she said, closing her eyes, savoring the very idea of it. She turned to leave only to find a blade leveled at her throat.
"Tisk, tisk, and where do you think you're going?" he asked. "Let's have a look at you," using the tip of his blade, he knocked back the cowl hiding her face. His eyes widened slightly and sly smile spread across his handsome features, apparently, he approved of what he saw.
She had pale creamy skin, high cheekbones, plump pink lips and large luminous green eyes. She could have put the models in his favorite dirty magazine to shame. "Yes, very nice," he said. Her cloak hid most of her curves from view but not her long slender legs and dainty feet, both of which were bare and spattered with blood and grime.
"You're a devil aren't you?" Lorelei asked giving her hair a toss, her silken tresses so black they shone blue in the moonlight. "Why didn't you transform? You could have defeated him easily."
"And ruin my pretty face," he scoffed scratching his chin with his free hand. "Nah," he shrugged. "Besides where's the challenge in that?"
The Fae was bewildered to say the least. 'Who was this man who tore apart demon lords using only a fraction of his power?' she wondered. "You killed my master, Zelagor. The Bond is broken…," she said quietly.
"What Bond?" he asked spinning his sword before hooking it across his back. When she didn't answer right away he reached out grabbing her by the arm and hauled her closer. "What Bond?" he repeated. "Tell me or I'll blow your pretty little head off," he said pulling his silver gun and cocking it for emphasis.
"A Fae must obey her master, the Bond enforces obedience." The man scowled, he didn't like where this was going and the poor little she-devil looked positively miserable. "You defeated my master, as victor it is your right to claim whatever spoils you desire," she explained biting her lip.
"And that includes you?"
"Yes," she whispered feeling her heart sink.
"What's your name?" he asked holstering the gun beside its dark twin.
"Lorelei…"
He stared at her for the longest time, his icy gaze seeming to penetrate her very soul.
"Go… and stay out of trouble," he ordered, roughly shoving her away.
Lorelei stood there utterly stunned. Not once, in all the history of the Deep Realms had anyone ever refused to bind a Fae.
"Kill him! Kill the son of Sparda!" a voice shrieked from overhead. The harpies had returned – with reinforcements.
AN: Okies here is the complete chapter all corrected and uploaded. Please R&R. I'd like to hear what you do and don't like about it and what I can do to improve. If anyone is interested in Beta-ing my stuff, please PM me. My internet access is limited so please be patient about the updates. Ya get 'em when ya get 'em. =^.^= *Flamers will be run over with a fire truck*