~~~~ Here's an extra looooooooonnnnnng chapter for my awesome fan fiction followers for putting up with mah writers' block. Plus, my computer deleted seventy pages I hadn't updated yet so I was pissed for a while =) ~~~~
Chapter 14- Her Majesty's Brother's Power
I raised my fist to knock on the door, the sound echoing and reverberating through my entire form. The sound sent chills down my spine as I stood patiently awaiting the opening of the door. After a minute passed by, I allowed my shoulders to slump as I turned to the side and allowed my head to rest on the door.
Just seconds after doing so, I heard a shuffle in the room and the door swung open nearly allowing me to fall. I turned to cast a glare full of contempt at whoever had opened the door, but then, I saw him. It was Prince, or rather, Sir Malphas Alexie Devastia, my eldest brother, in the demonic flesh. He looked up from his desk, messy black and white hair framing his face and filling his piercing red eyes with mysteriously deadly shadows.
I would have laughed at his appearance, except he and I were locked in what was almost like a silent but deadly staring contest. He stared straight facedly at me, his face devoid of any emotion as he silently assessed my every movement. I stared back, making no move to approach him yet. The silence stretched for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was actually only seconds. Slowly Malphas cocked his head to the side and threw me a teasing smirk.
"Not exactly the most ladylike pose for the soon-to-be-new-queen. Is it Victoire? Or should I call you Queen Victoire Marie Devastia?" He finished as he stood from his chair and half bowed for me, a wide toothy grin on his face. His canines sparkled, dangerous yet beautiful as the light reflected from them.
"Call me as you wish, Sir Malphas." I retorted.
"Oh, why thank you for taking my title into consideration, but for you Queen Victoire, it's just Malphas." He smiled as he said so, a look of pure affection and love.
"Why thank you Malphas, you may also drop the formalities. Seeing as I'm not yet queen and you're still my brother, there shall be no need…" I trailed off lowering my head to the floor.
"Is something bothering you Tori?" He asked, genuinely concerned for my wellbeing.
"Not much, it's just… Do you think Allecis or Uphir or even Marieane would mind?" I replied my face still down toward the floor.
"Mind what?" He questioned, his facial expression set in stone.
"Me becoming queen, I mean they, each and every one of them, had a place in line for the throne that was in front of mine, even you, Artemis and Eurynomous. I just can't help but feel like I'm cheating all of you out of this against your will…" I stopped, looking up at Malphas.
My stomach clenched tightly as I witnessed the sadness in his eyes take control of all the happiness that was left and crush it into a million pieces. Malphas had given his place in the thrown up for the job he had wanted, the job to make sure that all young demon fledglings and all others attending this school were making the right decisions in life so that none of them ended up like me. They all had the choice to live their life as they pleased, no strings attached.
On the other hand, there was me, the only demon left to take the throne, the only demon that had the power and ability to kill other demons without so much as flinching. I was like a ghost, always wandering between the many paths I could take to decide my future, never able to pick one. I wondered if I'd still be able to kill a fellow demon when the time came. Would I still be able to fight with as much finesse as I used to?
Magus had crossed the room, his wings, black as night and four times the size of mine, had unfurled into glorious curtains of never ending darkness. I realized what he was doing and allowed my arms to wrap around his thin, but sturdy frame as his wrapped around my own. He closed his wings around us allowing no light besides the light of our glowing red eyes to pierce the darkness. I shivered as I tilted my head back to look up into his eyes, both intriguing and frightening me.
I closed my eyes as he took my chin in his hand and tilted my head farther back, his scent overpowering my own and filling the small, dark space. He leaned his head in toward my own, his lips slightly parted as he moved toward me. His lips met mine and softly parted them granting himself access to do what he pleased, but he knew I wouldn't tolerate games. He nicked his lip with a sharpened canine allowing his blood to stream from the cut, into my mouth and down my throat. He and I growled pleasurably as we both relaxed into the comfort of each other's hold.
Feeding from one another was a very unethical thing according to the angels because it's a pleasurable experience, but to us, it's just as normal as kissing someone. Well, maybe a little more. The only reason why we all don't go around feeding from just anybody is that it often leads to other activities if you go too far with it. In an attempt not to be raped by just anybody, most demons only feed from family members or their lovers.
Normally, I wouldn't feed from my family, but Malphas' blood possesses a special trait that no one else in our family has. His blood has the power to show the one feeding from him things that he has seen in the past when he wills it to. This was the only reason I ever fed from him.
I opened my eyes to stare at my kind, intelligent elder brother. He would always be the better suitor for the throne; I still had yet to understand why he gave his place up. My brother's eyes seemed lonely, but they were full of the hunger that my entire body experienced as I drank the blood he willingly offered me. I stared into them, entranced by their brilliant crimson red tone with flecks of deep mahogany and bright magentas. I realized something as I remained entranced by their depths.
What I had realized was a very dire issue. I realized that I had not completely trusted him at first; it was why I used to keep myself distanced from him. It wasn't exactly at first, but ever since I had adopted my alias as The Mistress Knightshade I had been distancing myself from the others. I was like a caged animal, I felt like if I got to close to them, they would find out my secret. I was being controlled by my actions, unable to escape or free myself from the darkness that always followed and surrounded me because of them.
All I wanted was for my family to be safe and not involved in the matters of my alter ego's business. The Mistress Knightshade, she is the other me and I am the other her. Upon learning of her existence within me I had immediately accepted her as the other me, we are always inseparable, the best of friends. "Only one thing is wrong with having her around" I used to think. That one thing was that she is what attracts the death and darkness to me.
Without her though, I would just be a normal demon, but I would also be alone. We are the same person, but we share our pain equally. When I'm in pain so is she and when she is in pain so am I. Without her I would not be able to continue living. If I couldn't rid myself of her, than I would just have to learn to balance out my life or just tell everyone and get it over with. If I had to pick between the two I would most likely pick the former. There was no way I was about to blurt out to everyone that I was that much of a killer even if some of them did think I ought to be glorified for it.
Malphas nicked my lip with a tooth careful not to break the skin, bringing me back to my senses. Apparently I had enough of his blood for whatever he was about to show me.
I blinked my eyes and he was gone, but I wasn't alone. I was in a wide field that seemed to stretch for miles and miles on end, at least, as far as my eyes could see. It was almost like a quiet little prairie except for one detail I had left out. The field was covered in blood. Bodies lay lifeless, completely surrounding me from all sides. Some faces were familiar, but many were not, and some I couldn't tell due to the immense extent to which they were damaged. I was standing in the middle of the battlefield on which I had died.
I fell to my knees despite the blood stained grass as I watched the battle play out right before my very eyes. It was utterly horrific. It was everywhere, everywhere all around me, the terrifying magnitude of the battle was overwhelming. Just the feeling made me both dizzy and nauseous.
There were no spaces between the bodies, dead or alive. I felt the enormous pressure from the power of all of the creatures' power levels looming over me, daring me to make a move. The taunting worked. I began to whirl around and kick a high level angel square in the jaw, but my foot passed right through. My eyes widened as my foot came back around causing me to stumble and fall right through a dead body. The body remained unchanged.
I gasped in horror, utterly terrified of what was happening as I just sat there and watched. Every movement slowed as I stood running through the many moving bodies, pushing past every one of them even though I could just run through them.
My hands kept fumbling about, searching for something to push off of in order to gain more speed as I stumbled through the accursed field. My heart beat faster and faster as I paced the field looking for myself and my mother, desperately thinking that I could stop either of our deaths from occurring. Demons do not sweat, but something poured down my cheeks as I kept searching. I realized that it was indeed not sweat, but tears. They poured down my face and I roughly brushed them away as I ran, guided by the slight tug of my heart. It was almost as if a string that was attached to my heart was pulling me to my mother and former self.
I arrived right on cue only to see my mother stabbed through the heart with that wretched archangel Gabriel's holy lance. Blood splattered everywhere as her body fell lifeless to the ground though still with a motherly smile on her face. Gabriel smirked and leapt through a window to heaven just barely escaping the wrath of former me's claws.
My former self returned to my mother and watched as her body crumbled away to dust. The ashes blew away on a small breeze carrying my mother toward a new life somewhere, hopefully much better than here. My former self's face was blank, but I could feel both the happiness and sadness intermingling with one another. "Or maybe these feelings are my feelings?" I wondered.
I turned back to my former self and saw her stand. The flames of all of the surrounding creatures suddenly were absorbed and used to create what was almost like a fiery armor around her body. The only difference was that the black and red flames surrounded her in a wolf like form while the bright blue flames seemed to emanate from that form.
Oddly enough, it was hard to take my eyes off of her, almost like I was under a spell or enchantment of the sort. I stole a glance at all of the creatures around her and realized they were also entranced by the mystifying display. No one moved.
No one dared to move around her like they were all scared, but that's because they were. I felt the terrified atmosphere trying to pin me to the ground. It didn't work this time though, now I had the strength to stay here and watch. Lukanatian had never told me about this part of the story, I wondered why. He was standing only a few yards away watching just as I was except in that time.
The former me through her head back and howled a loud, furious and choked howl. It was sad, distressed, angry and brave all at the same time. I could tell that she meant business by the way she stood crouched down low on all fours waiting for any movement she could perceive in her state of mind. A little ways to the right of me, a group of both high and low ranking angels began to back away nervously.
My former me noticed them right away and lunged toward the closest one's throat, effectively ripping it out and allowing blood to splatter and taint her porcelain skin. The angels began running and screaming and killing whoever was in their way, but the demons had a new found power from her display. They were beginning to fight back with an even greater strength than before.
Soon after killing the first one, Matthew began pushing her to kill the rest of them, but after only killing several more angels. My former self collapsed and her eyes switched from red to black to blue and back. Her body convulsed as something attacked her from the inside, it was the sickness. It mixed in with her blood and power turning everything in her body against each other, effectively killing her from the inside out.
She fell to her knees, screaming in pain as everyone stopped and watched, no one moved. My father ran to her side and pulled her into his arms as her eyes slowly faded to a shiny steel color. His eyes widened and he dropped his head and whispered fervently to her as her last minutes ticked past.
"I-I'm so sorry daughter, I, please forgive me. I never wanted to leave you and not only that, but I never planned on leaving such a broken and corrupted world in your hands even though I know that you are quite capable of restoring it to its former glory. Just remember my dearest and strongest daughter, you are to be these peoples' savior and so you must be strong and listen to what the people have to say. As queen you cannot act too stubborn, you must use the proper etiquette that your mother and I have been teaching you all your life. Dear, you must think as you act, neither before, nor after and act as you think. Strike with precision and valiance, use the powers you were born with. No matter how many people dislike you, it is only for one reason, because they are scared of you, they know that you can surpass them, be greater than them, be stronger and more beautiful than them and you will." He stopped and chuckled softly to himself then continued.
"Dear, you must fight just as hard as I had to in order to attain the place as their leader and to attain both their approval and love. It is a long, tiring path that you must take, but I know you can do it, I have faith in you. Victoire you must always think this way 'Killing is not something we do to ourselves, only those who have greatly wronged and disserve punishment.' Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer if you wish to become as valiant and brave of a ruler as myself. No, you will become a ruler even greater and more fit than myself or anyone ever was. You shall live up to your fate and become Natas's rightful successor, destined to receive her power, right the worlds and even surpass her possibly." He finished as her eyes grew darker and darker. She just barely lifted her head and spoke.
"Father, I could never be upset with you, after all, it's not your fault, it's god's fault. I just want to let you know that I love you no matter what and that I will find you and bring you back one day when I, when I'm…queen." My former self said.
With that her head slumped down into his shoulder and a single tear escaped the corner of her eye. I stood wide eyed and watched for the first time I could ever remember, my father cry, I couldn't even remember him crying any of the days before I had died. I let my head fall from the scene, my hair obscuring my view as tears fell in a constant flow from my eyes down to the ground.
I begrudgingly looked back up to watch, partially trying to ignore the tears cascading down my cheeks. In this world, crying was a sign of weakness, but technically it is brave of you to allow someone to see you at your weakest. The ways of both the human and demon worlds confused me more than anything else in life.
I watched as my father drew a fleur de lis made of ashes upon my old body's forehead and laid it softly on the least bloody patch of land he could find nearby.
Slowly my body turned to stars and the stars made their way up to what was now the night sky. There it lay between Lupus and Aquila, with the rest of the past royals who had passed on out of this life and my former self, the star sign of the Fleur Mortelle.
My father turned and began chanting the lines of The Chant of Mass Destruction. I just couldn't watch anymore. I turned and ran back the way I came from. I only ran for a few feet before running into something. I opened my eyes and found Malphas staring at me with a very concerned look on his face.
"How are you? Are you well enough to go back to class?" He asked frantically, opening his wings to reveal his empty office.
"I-I'm fine. Of course I can go to class." I said a bit too flustered sounding for Malphas, he made a disapproving face.
"Malphas stop worrying over me. I should be worrying over you because of all the blood I took. Plus, you've got a school to run; you can't be bothering yourself with just one student." I continued.
"You're my sister though, and not to mention the queen-to-be. You're too much like our father, you care so much about everyone but when comes to yourself, you couldn't care less even if you were on the verge of death." Malphas stated.
"Oh, shut up you're just the same as I am, listen to yourself now." I replied.
Malphas opened his mouth as if to say something then quickly closed it. He cast an ashamed glance down toward the floor and sighed. He always puts family first even after he became the principal of the school. It was a trait that typically ran in the family.
"That's better. I don't like you prioritizing me when you have over four thousand young demons and a few hundred angels to take care of." I said with a small smile.
"Well I know but still, I just got you back, I don't think I'll give you up to death that easily next time, little sister." Malphas replied.
I turned to look up at the clock and my eyes bulged out of my skull. I had been in here for twenty minutes. That meant I was late. Normally I'd be fine with that, but my next class's teacher had a very strict no-late-students policy if I'd remembered correctly.