Hello all!

So this chapter will be a lot more calm since the last one, a "calm before the storm" so to speak lol. This one will be looking briefly at her thoughts on this new life, as well as look a little deeper at what exactly it means for her to be possessed by the demon. Hopefully you enjoy the more calm chapter, because in the next one all hell breaks loose:)

A Choice to Trust

Night had fallen over Velahadra and while Edward and Stella retreated to their rooms to sleep Te'ijel walked along the sewer tunnels until she found the entrance into the jungle, walking soundlessly through the trees as she looked up at the stars.

"Wife?"

She spun to see Galahad standing only mere feet away and raised a brow.

"Yes husband."

"Something has been troubling you for the last couple of days. What is it?"

Te'ijel took a long breath, running her tongue absently along her newly restored fangs.

"I've been thinking about what happens next if we fail. Or rather, when we fail."

Galahad opened his mouth but Te'ijel held up a hand.

"It is not a matter of if Galahad, and you know it as well as I do. I have joined this because after all I have done I refuse to simply give up. But when we come face to face with Mel as she starts the takeover the resistance will lose and she will cement her rule over a new world."

Galahad slumped, rubbing his face wearily. Vampires did not tire physically, but mental exhaustion had as great a effect on them as it did on humans.

"I know. What are you thinking?"

"I am not a quitter, and I do not give up willingly. But I am not a fool either, we are fighting a losing battle and to continue this will be to face defeat and lose Mel. Edward and Stella are willingly blinding themselves to the truth and I have no interest in continuing this foolish charade that we can defeat a Prophecy that even the oracle says cannot be stopped. I joined this because I couldn't just give up after all we've been through to stop the prophecy, but this is a foolish venture that will cause more harm then good and I refuse to entertain the deluded notion that this rebellion will be if any use to us any longer."

"So you wish to just allow her to take over the world and enslave everyone?" Galahad asked, sounding incredulous.

Te'ijal snorted and gestured around her with one arm.

"Look around you crumpet, do the citizens of this city look enslaved? Has the magic that governs Aia become dark and crippling to the humans? Have you not noticed that the dragon guild that is here has willingly thrown their lot in with Mel? I heard them speaking, all of the magical beings that live on Aia have joined Mel's side, they have been promised the freedom to live without fear of royalty proclaiming rewards in trade for their destruction. The playing field is being evened, yet humans aren't being oppressed and enslaved."

Then her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Edward is a good man, but he is a fool and soon he will be the loser in this game. I am not a loser, and I will not throw in with a loser. I will stay here and attempt to pull them back to mitigate the disasters that could come of this, but when the battle comes I will be throwing my lot in with Mel. It is up to you which way you decide to stand."

With that Te'ijal stalked off, passing Galahad without even one teasing or taunting remark. Funny enough, for Galahad that single action shook him more then her words did as he closed his eyes

Mel was sitting on the throne with one arm hanging idly off the side and the other gripping the staff that was braced on the floor to her left and spinning it gently between her fingers. Gyendal stood on her right leaning casually against the side of the throne as they waited for the next darkling.

They were having a messenger from every single city, human or inhuman, in Aia coming with reports about the state of those cities and the level of compliance with the new rule. The reports had mostly gone as expected, the non-humans had all thrown their support in on her side and those who could fight were preparing for war to join Mel's forces among the vampires and darklings. Mel had found someone who could make sunscreen that was strong enough to protect the vampires and after getting the recipe had several darklings working with the man to make enough to cover all the vampires willing to fight for as long as it would be necessary during the war.

Then there was the humans cities.

"So your telling me that the ones that had royals governing them are rebelling now?"

"Yes. The nobles who are not on our side are stirring up the others in anger, claiming that so long as their royals held their title and authority they would never bow to another. This anger and problem-causing is separate from the resistance as far as we can tell but he resistance is capitalizing on this and has grown again."

Mel nodded slowly.

"That poses a problem." She said quietly, leaning back in her seat.

Fingers touched her arm and she glanced up at Gyendal.

"If I may?"

Mel waved a hand lazily in permission.

"Feel free to throw in. It's not like I have any brilliant ideas on how to deal with this."

"Perhaps they gave us the answer within their rebellion claim."

Mel raised a brow and Gyendal smirked slightly.

"It's really quite simple. They say that they will not bow unless the royals...aren't truly royal anymore."

Mel blinked.

"You mean strip them of their title?"

"Correct."

"Huh." Mel muttered, leaning forward slightly as she thought about his suggestion. "That...could actually work."

"It could. People would not accept it immediately, but we could potentially take each ruler to their city and publicly strip them of their titles. Then reimprison them and move in on the city..."

He continued to speak but Mel stopped listening as the strangest feeling of vertigo overcame her. Her grip on the staff tightened and the metal began to heat up. Her vision tunnelled before going hyperclear and her body straightened without her command, her head turning slowly to face the darkling head on.

"No, we'll just kill them all. Then the problem will be solved." Mel's voice said against her will. The darkling and Gyendal both stopped and stared at her.

"You want us to kill the royals?" The darkling asked in surprise.

"Mel, killing them could push those who might side with us right onto the side of the rebellion. We cannot kill them and risk more humans and even magica creatures changing sides." Gyendal stated.

"Are you sure you want to kill them?" The darkling asked, uncertain.

"Ye-..." Mel frantically grappled the invisible force that was worming through her mind for control, her breathing accelerating and her head bowing as she hid her face from view to hide the pained grimace as she somehow managed to block off her mind using Mage-ward tricks she had been taught at the School of War and Magic.

"No. No, that's a bad idea. I'm-I'm just tired and not thinking clearly. Ignore what I said, we cannot kill the royals." She finally got out, raising her head enough that she could meet the darklings eyes.

The darkling nodded, clearly confused before bowing and scuttling off to make room for the next darkling with a report. There was a uneasy silence while they waited and Mel shifted so that she was leaning back in her chair still while continuing to keep her face out of sight of Gyendal.

At the base of her head she could already feel a headache building, the throbbing pain making Mel grit her teeth.

"What's going on with you?" Gyendal questioned sharply.

"Nothing. I'm just tired." Mel answered curtly as the next darkling came out for their report.

"Let's just get the reports over with."

As darkling after darkling came through to give reports Mel found herself leaning heavily on the side of her throne as she tried to mask the mounting pain in her head. It felt like a thousand razors were stabbing into her and Mel felt her vision waver slightly as the pain waves reached their peak before lessening slightly again.

"...and so that why we are starting to prepare our own forces here in Underfall."

"Good...that's good." Mel murmured in response, only having caught part of what the darkling was saying.

As she shifted she felt her vision waver again and with mounting panic realized that if she didn't leave now she was going to pass out in front of the darklings and other monsters that worked in the castle. Standing abruptly, she nearly fell over had she not caught herself on the staff.

"Excuse me." She squeezed out before somehow making it off the dais and to the stairs, desperation not to appear weak in front of her subjects allowing her to hurry up the stairs without falling or stumbling as she shoved the door open and rushed into her hall.

"Cancel the rest of the meetings for the rest of the day." She heard Gyendal order from down in the throne room as the hall door began to close.

She stumbled down the hall, dry heaving from the pain induced nausea. Her grip on her staff was white knuckled as she fumbled with her doorknob, shoving the door open. She managed to stagger several steps into her room before her knees gave out from under her and she collapsed to the ground.

"Stop..." She whispered, her hand that wasn't holding the stadd coming up to grip her head, fingers curling into her hair and tugging at the roots as they clenched into fists.

"What in-...Mel?!"

There was a shuff of fabric moving and she opened bleary eyes to see Gyendal leaning over her.

"Help me up." She rasped, her threat clenching again with the wave of nausea.

An arm slid behind her shoulders and she was lifted into a sitting position, helping her stand and move over to the bed where Mel dropped down, sweat glistening on her brow and her breathing heavy.

"Give me the staff, you cannot sleep with the staff in the bed." He ordered, prying the staff from her grip.

The moment the wood had been pulled from her grasp the pain started receding ever so slightly. Mel gave a soft sigh before closing her eyes and drifting away.

When she woke up again the first thing she noticed was that the room was darker then it had been when she had gone to sleep. A quick glance down at her clothes showed her that she had been changed out of the black garb she wore during her meeting and into a loose nightgown that allowed her skin to breath and when sehe rolled her head to the side so she could look out the window Mel realized that night had fallen.

With a soft groan she sat up, rubbing her temples with sigh as she glanced around. Much to her relief the pain was all but completely gone, but she didn't know how long it would stay away.

"You're finally awake."

Mel looked up to see Gyendal exit the ensuit, clearly dressed for sleep as he tossed his clothing from the day onto a chair and came to sit on the bed, light from the candle reflecting off his white skin. He released his hair from the braid it was usually in, the black strands falling along his bare shoulders.

"What time is it?"

"One in the morning."

Mel nodded, rubbing her face.

"Mel."

She looked up only to blink at the anger and startlingly enough also the hint of concern in Gyendal's stare as he turned to face her.

"What was that? I want a explanation. While you were out cold Yemite told me that something similar to this had happened when you first came into power, and that you had made a cryptic comment about who was truly ruling. What's going on with you?!"

Mel sighed heavily, lying back on the pillows and staring blankly at the vaulted ceiling above them. She really didn't want to talk about it, she hated the idea of admitting weakness. Of admitting that she wasn't strong enough to control the demon of the staff. But she had to tell him, to trust him as her right hand enough to share this. Someone had to know, in case something happened.

"You already know that the Staff of Destiny comes from the demon realm, correct?" She finally said.

"Of course, I am not a idiot."

"Yeah, well the staff was not the only thing from the demon realm that came back with me. It turns out that the staff holds the soul of a powerful demon, one so powerful that when it took control of me it killed Mordred effortlessly. Mordred was going to kill me using the staff, but the demon saved me. He said he had chosen me."

The look on Gyendal's face as he absorbed her words would have been comical had this not been such a serious topic. His usually smooth and emotionless expression was gone as he gaped at her, jaw hanging open and eyes wide.

"Y-you were chosen by a demon?!" He finally exploded, shooting to his feet and pacing along the far side of the bed. "And it never occurred to you, that just maybe it would have been a wise idea to tell your right hand about this little tidbit?!"

"I didn't think it mattered." Mel muttered, the excuse sounding rather foolish to her in light of what had just taken place earlier.

Gyendal said nothing, but the poisonous glare he shot at her made words unnecessary to get across how angry he was.

"And how does this tie into you collapsing and acting strange?"

Mel closed her eyes for a moment.

"The demon for the most part leaves me be, so long as I do his bidding. But at times he takes over and attempts to force me into doing something, if I try to resist he punishes me with pain in my head. The first time it happened before we exchanged oaths and I made you my right hand, I had only just started preparing to rule and it had hit me exactly what I was doing. I tried to stop, I was going to run, but the demon taught me a valuable lesson that I only have so much control over what I do. He wanted me to kill the royals, when I fought back and revoked that order the pain attacked with a vengeance."

That explanation was met with no response and eventually Mel opened her eyes, looking over at the vampire sitting on his side of the bed.

The comically shocked expression was gone just as Mel had anticipated, his eyes still reflected how startled he was but along with the shock she could see sardonic amusement and he snorted.

"So you're just as much a caged dog as I am. Except I do believe I have more control then you do with your demon friend."

Mel sneered and he let out a soft huff of amusement before pushing back the quilt covers and sliding beneath them, the quilt settling comfortably over them both as Gyendal swished a hand as the flickering light from the lamp on the fireplace mantel across the way went out.

Since his forced transition back into a vampire with the staff he had still retained a few of the "unfavourable" qualities as he called them, from being human. He was no longer able to survive on a diet of blood alone, he now also required some meat as well. And he also required sleep.

"This could potentially change things, you having the demon that can control. I'll need to be constantly on my guard for strange policies or anything out of e norm coming from you." Gyendal said, his voice breaking silence of the bedroom.

Mel sighed.

"Possibly. Although, I doubt you have to worry very much. According to the books I've read about him the demon will never ever be able to take full control. A book that they had copied from the records of Aveyond at first said that he would be able to, but a later volume written by a darkling that had gone down to the Demon Realm the last time the portal opened said that his soul had actually been shattered, and all but one part had been permanently destroyed. Without a full soul the demon will never be able to take permanent control of either my mind or body. He can only act in short intervals."

Gyendal hummed in thought and Mel felt an arm wrap around her waist, pulling her snugly into a cold chest.

"That makes no sense, why would they leave one shard alive and make it into a deadly weapon?"

Mel shifted into a more comfortable position before explaining.

"The only reason they kept one shard was if they destroyed the entirety of his soul it would kill his children who all control one of the seven deadly sins seeing as they are only extensions of him, and without his children the fabric of the realms that tied it all together would slowly began to unravel from the darker side of the weave. The seven deadly sins make up half the dark weave, alongside the daevas, and without the seven sins the daeva's could not hold the weave between realms. Everything that creates the balance of Aia and all the realms must always be in place, or everything will fall apart. So the king of the Demon Realm formed this staff to imprison the soul shard."

"I see."

Mel hummed in agreement and they fell silent, just laying there and enjoying the peace and quiet that the night brought. Eventually Mel heard Gyendal's breathing deepen and even out, having fallen asleep.

Unlike Gyendal, Mel did not fall asleep and over a hour after they had turned out the lights she was still lying awake, staring up into the darkness.

How screwed her life had become. Here she was, the queen of Underfall and once she finished conquering the earth she will have fully fulfilled the prophecy she had sworn never to be part of. She was fighting on the opposite side of all her friends now, and the man who had been her sworn enemy she was now lying in the arms of.

Mel gave a mental shake of her head before tightly closing her eyes, there was no use in dwelling on her circumstances now. She would never change them, she might as well just accept her life as is.

So what did you think? Reviews are welcome! Flames shall be laughed at, posted for others to laugh at, and ignored as I continue the story.