Chapter Two: A Dance with a Demon

She didn't liked the fact that he showed up at her masked ball tonight. The way he walked confident toward her. How everyone saw him and moved out of his way as if he was the Red Plague itself. Princess Zelda grimaced and looked around for anyone she truly know to escape his interest. Quickly she walked into a big crowd near her hoping that he would lose sight on her. She gasp in her hand when he arrived in front of her with a predatory smile.

"You look lovely, my dear princess." He claimed in a seductive tone and tilted his head to a side.

She didn't look him in the eyes in fear of being suck in them. She just simply said, "Nigel."

"It's too late to be scared of me, Zelda. Far too late."

"Who said I was becoming scared of you?" She snapped, looking at him in the eyes with a glare. His red eyes shine bright as if deep inside of him he was secretly laughing at her. Her eyes lingered on them for a few seconds before she manage to pull away to look to see if anyone was looking at them. No one was. Not a single person stared at them. She hated the fact that she will always find interest in his eyes. So different and unique.

He leaned down a bit to whispered to her ear, "Than why try to hide from me, my princess?"

"Stop calling me 'my princess!'" She took a step back to glare at him. To show him that she was brave enough and not scare as he thought she was.

He growled, sending shivers in her spine, "No, your father give me you so you're MY princess." He grab her hands unexpectedly and led her to the middle of the dancehall. "Dance with me, my princess. Dance with a demon tonight." She heard him smirked and few people moved out of their way. Did no one saw the panic in her eyes as she glance at them? But what good would they do if they did saw? She'll just hurt them in the end, wouldn't she?

"Than promise me you wouldn't hurt anyone tonight and I shall dance with you," Zelda commanded to the demon. She rose her head at him with determine eyes. She was their princess who they look up to. So no more what, she must protect them with her life. But easier said than done.

Emotions flickered in his eyes in a flash that she didn't registered what they were.

He squeeze her hand and pull her forward. In her instinct she place her free hand on his chest. "I think you'd become too confident around me to order me around Princess Zelda. Do you want me to focus you to dance with me unwillingly? And maybe even kill a few people for the fun of it?" He smiled and she shivered on how calm he could be on the mention of killing for fun.

She looked at him in horror and blurted, "You wouldn't!"

"But I would. I have no emotions like you and your fellow people, my princess. Only when I kill do I feel joy." He smiled at that statement.

She said nothing as she dance with him to the music of a violinist. She twirl and he caught hold of her hands again. If he didn't had emotions than how could he feel joy? Was emotions for their kind different than her kind? Maybe so…

He rubbed his chin on the top of her head. "Nothing to say to that? What happen to your Triforce of Wisdom, my princess?" A hint of mocking wasn't missed on her ears.

She was surprise that he knew about the Triforce. Of course every princess of Hyrule was blessed with a Triforce piece which was Wisdom, but for some odd reason she wasn't blessed with it. As if she wasn't worthy for it or there wasn't any danger that required it. She should be content that there wasn't any danger only that Hyrule was on a brink of having no money in the future. But she wanted to have the Wisdom piece. It could help her save Hyrule she always told herself every day. "I don't have it yet," she simply said when she kept her partner of dancing waiting for too long.

He smiled at her, taunting her of knowing something she didn't know herself. "Do you want to know why?" He didn't wait for her answer. "Because everything is at peace in your beloved Kingdom, Hyrule."

"Then why are you here? To start a war?"

"I'm here because your Father needed money to pay off another Kingdom and I happened to be in the neighborhood. So I promised him that if he give me you I'll give him the money. He agreed to it in a flash, signing the paper in a messy handwriting... In blood. But if only he read the whole thing." He let out a playfully tsk.

They said nothing for a while. She took the time to secretly admire his looks. Nigel dressed in deep blackish-red tux with a bright red tie tucked in. His two sides jet black bangs flowed down to chin. His eyes the color of the red rose. The young princess looked down at their linked hands to see the difference of their skin tone. His skin tone whiter than hers.

"I could see why my father wanted me to wear this." She said bitterly with a thin smile. A dress of black with red lace that flowed down to her ankles. A V-shape in her back that barely reached to the bottom of her back spine.

This caused him to look at her hungrily. He brought her closer to his body. "So beautiful." She heard him did in inhuman purr deep inside his chest. His body was cold even through his tux that caused Princess Zelda to shudder by it. He rested his chin on top of her head again to which she found the familiar press of it.

"When did my father signed that contract?" Zelda questioned Nigel. She couldn't believe her father could do such a thing.

"Two weeks ago," was his replied. She started to grow scared.

Two weeks ago when she meet him in the Royal Gardens. She had been shocked than surprise to see him watching her near the shadows with a smirk on his handsome face. No one was allowed past the guards to enter the garden. But she found interest in him right away. So they talked half the day. What was exchanged Zelda couldn't recall. Few days later she would slowly flirt with him. Teasing him by touching his hand and sitting closer with half-closed eyes. He would smile dangerous at her as if he loved her childish flirting or for something else she didn't know. Past two more days and she would lean closer to his face as if to kiss him but only lick his Adam's apple before they parted.

Yes, she had played with him dangerously. Playing too close with fire.

Maybe it was because she was finally a woman of seventeen that she wanted to know how it felt to be with a man. Maybe because he was handsome. Or just maybe because she was a princess and knew she was to be engaged to a prince shorty and, so, she just rebel on that by 'loving some man that caught her eye for a while.' She herself didn't know the real reason. But all she knew was that if she looked into his eyes she was hook to wanting him to focus on her only.

It was only yesterday did she learned what Nigel was really was.

Zelda was in the Royal library scanning through a big book when she saw a page showing a picture of a monster standing over a woman that was lying down on a table. This caught her interest because the monster had deep red eyes. Darker shaded than his. Claws longer than a wolf would have and it had white teeth that shined as bright as the full moon. She rubbed her fingers on the page and pondered with shaky breath.

She read the whole paragraph underneath it feeling horror of what the author wrote. Demons coming from the ground, the shadows, and from summoning portals to look for a mate to carry their children. The reason was nowhere to be seen. Zelda frowned as she reread it again, letting every single information sink in. When not looking for a mate Demons would torture the humans as they gain strength slowly to be powerful at the end.

Demons can at times look like the humans but look more handsome to ensure to get their mates. When they find the mates they want they Mark them by scratching their backs with three claws only. How can the other Demons know which mate has been taken without seeing the Mark has been stated unknown.

The Princess had thought it was silly to try see if she had 'the Mark' only to be horrified at the end. There on her back was three claw marks going from her nape to her lower back. She didn't know what to do at that so she grab the big book and flipped to the last page to read about the author. If the information was true the author had wrote the whole book thirty years again and promised to write part two with more information of the Demons only.

With that read she looked around the library only not to find the second book. When she looked at the mirror she noted that the mark was a light shade of pink. How the maids helping her change in the morning didn't see this amazed yet startled her. In fact, how did she not felt it in the first place?

With Nigel proving that he IS indeed a Demon, Zelda wished she had asked her father to have some knights assigned to watch inside the ballroom too. Just by her looking scared some knight would probably interfere her dance by now.

If only she was strong and smart like her ancestors. The princess bit her lower lip. In the distance the Hyrule Clock Tower strike one o'clock. The smooth yet haunting melody was barely heard from the music inside.

"Excuse me just for a moment my princess. I have business to attend to... With your father."

The way he said it perked her ears. Before she could say anything he let go of her and took several steps back. He did a low mocking bow at her and when he stood up straight he pressed a finger to his pale lips. In her very eyes the shadow from underneath him and the people around rose around his legs, pulling him down to the ground. His human form shifted into a shadowy form with the shadow that only his red eyes stand out.

In an inhuman voice Nigel spoke, "Enjoy the show, Princess Zelda." She widen her eyes on how deep his voice had gotten and the realization of what he just said drawn on her.

"What show?" Zelda muttered before looking around her. Where was her father? She should warn him of Nigel. She should have told him of Nigel long time ago. She cursed herself of not inheriting the magic of Light just like the Triforce of Wisdom as she shoved people out of her way. And she cursed herself for falling in love with him. What was wrong with her? A normal princess falling in love with a demon disguised as a human.

"Father!" Zelda shouted over the music. She didn't care when some of the people stopped and stared at her. "Father!" She had to warn her father right away! She pushed a stubborn man who didn't moved out of her way in frustration.

An elder man, around fifty years old, stopped his chatter with a woman when he heard his daughter screaming his name. He saw her behind the woman's tan shoulder. "Zelda? What is it? Why are you screaming?" That's when he felt a dark presence behind him.

Zelda almost halted, almost, when she saw Nigel forming behind her father. He was still in his shadowy form. She reached out her hand to grab her father, but she was still twenty feet away. She screamed out, "No!" when Nigel moved his arm back to strike a death blow.

The king let out a sharp breath when he felt something sharp went through his stomach. The pain set through his nerves to his brain was too much. He looked down to see a blackish foggy hand with long sharp black claws that had his blood dripping from them.

He started to go to shock as he looked back at his daughter who had paled at the sight of him. Behind him an inhuman voice spoke, "You should had read the contract King of Hyrule. It stated somewhere that I can follow another contract to assassinate you at this time. At this date."

The king opened and closed his mouth repeatedly when the demon spoke to him. Feeling his life slipping away he looked at Zelda and mouthed, 'Run.'

There were tears in her eyes at the scene being played in front of her. Shaking her head and putting down her head she turned around to obey her father last wish. She pushed her legs to go faster despite the annoying heels preventing her to do so.

Nigel saw her took off into the panicking crowd over the dying king's shoulder. "The show isn't over yet my princess." He sounded mock hurt and snapping his fingers he summoned with some dark magic of shadow creatures. Shadowy creatures that jumped out of the shadows from the floor, corners, and the walls to attack the screaming people. However, none dared to attack the escaping princess.

Shape shifting back to his human form, the claws shrink in progress, the King collapsed to the floor dead in front of Nigel's feet. "I always love a chase," Nigel stated to the dead King, and calming stepped over the body. He made his way to the entrance before sinking back to the ground. A smile of delight on his face as screams filled the ballroom.

~1-1-1-1-1~

Zelda tried to hold back all of her tears but found it hard as she ran outside the ballroom. She had to hide. But where? Where to escape that Nigel wouldn't find her? She wondered quickly if she should leave the Castle, but didn't like it. It was the coward's way out, plus he marked her. He would find her in the end.

She reached the Royal Gardens and leaned against the wall to try to rest her ankles a bit. Why did she had to be weak? Why couldn't she be strong and confident as her ancestors?

In a distance she could still hear her people panicking. Guilt hit her hard in the heart. Some princess she was to leave her people behind. She looked up with a grim expression to see a smiling moon in the cloudless sky looking back at her. Smiling directly at her.

Moving away from the wall Zelda wondered where all the guards were at. Were they inside the ballroom trying to protect their people or running away like cowards?

With a heavy sigh she pushed herself away from the brick wall. Until someone grab her from behind around her waist area.

A male's cheerful voice announced, "Got you!"

That voice…

Nigel!

She gasped out loud and grabbed his arms to force him to let her go. But she couldn't escape. Not that he would allowed of course. She shivered as she heard and felt him purred near her neck. "N-No!" She whimpered out the words as she looked at him with plea in her blue eyes. He just smiled at her with that predatory smile.

"So different from last week princess. What happen to you being all flirting to me? Is it because I killed your father?" He questioned her.

She tried to elbow him in the stomach but heard no grunt or felt him losing his grip.

"Don't feel like answering me?" He pretend to sound hurt. "Than answer me this. Should we make love here or at your room?" He muttered in her ear before he grab her chin and force her to kiss him. He licked her lips in a playful manner and she hold her breath. More like she was trying to hold back her moan.

When he released her and she took a needed breath. No, she couldn't let him win. She couldn't lose to him. She took a sharp breathe and objected, "I wouldn't be your mate. You can't make me."

His reply made her knew that she already lost and he won. Even his expression let her know that he knew. "I can by force. Remember I'm not human, my princess." With that he summoned the shadows to surround them both.

~64-64-64-64-64~

Republish and improved version of Dancing with a Demon now renamed A Dance with a Demon. Was uploaded in March 2, 2013. I made this one-shot because I was inspired by a song called Dance with the Devil by Breaking Benjamin through the song probably had a different meaning by it, heh. : ) but anyway, every time I hear that song I keep thinking of a ballroom and a woman is walking around dancers dress in red. Sometimes she will dance and other times just walking and looking around her. But I'm getting side-tracked now…

I used Nigel as its meaning means Dark since I didn't want to keep using Dark Link every time in this story. I used Nox in another story and Nigel seems nice, so yeah. : )

I once thought of planning a sequel of Zelda having a child called Sheik (See what I did there? : D) but yeah still no sequel… oh, will.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy your happy new years and I gave you guys few new versions of my old one-shots of Dark Zelink with more to come. And hopefully I'll continue making more afterwards. : D And there needs to more fanfics of them— damn— even through I'm being selfish of wanting more to read. I love Dark Zelink, okay I admit.

Until next time…

~GreenFantasy64