Holy crap! (if you'll pardon me saying so) This is the first story I've had that has EVER made 10,000 words!! cheers And in only 12 weeks! (if I did the math right, which is unlikely)
Insaneoveranime: I am working on your fic, it should be ready sometime...but I don't want to be specific in case I get writer's block or whatever. It IS coming, I'll tell you that. I keep my commitments. Congrats!
Stary Angel1: So glad you are! And thank you very much for your compliments!
Hentaikoneko: YOU!!! glomps Thank you!!! feels very loved I'm so touched...
Chisakami Saiyuki: Hey! You're new!! Glad to "see" a new person in the DK world! I'm happy you're joining us here, and especially happy that you've discovered my story! I'm thrilled that you like it, and I hope I am keeping all those nasty characters (Nadil, Shyrendora, etc...) in their correct personalities. Most stories don't focus on the dark aspects, and I want this to be as pure to the character's nature as possible.
Ginsing: Yes, true, you DID do that. I give you credit. nods And I only have one muse, and weirdly enough I didn't know she WAS my muse, until after I'd wrote that chapter. Strange, hmm? Yes, I know that chapter was a little pointless...This one should help tie it back together, however. praying
Mad Hatter: huggles You're back!!! I was so sad when I didn't get a review!! And, as you may realize when you find this one, the rating is now R and therefore does not appear on the main page, unless you bookmark is as "Rating: R", which is what I do, personally. I don't like missing stories either...glomps THANK YOU!!!!! ego is quite enlarged I am SO happy you love my ficcy...I work hard on it...and yes, I agree with you about most R/C. I like knowing that not everyone/everything is perfect, and that people have faults. That's the metaphor here...the "inner demons" that they all have to fight.
Lisa: Lisa! hugs No problem! And yes, I'll explain.
Aquajogger: yes, this is it. And this isn't your AU, so no, they aren't.
Holy...I was updating with 59 reviews, because I had waited weeks, and the 60th one never came. And then, minutes before I post this, it comes. #60. Lexzzz, I love you. Thank you for supporting me, that is so much appreciated. Here's your update.
:::Chapter 7:::
Shyrendora stood, framed in the doorway, her height dwarfing me as I sulked in the tub.
"Get out and dressed," she spat at me, venom dripping from her every word.
Angrily I heeded her words, knowing the punishment if I failed to follow her instructions. She always had been the quicker one to flame. My clothes were piled neatly, pressed and beautiful, but smelling of cinders and blood. I felt a little queasy as I slid into my undergarments. Silk, satin, velvet...it seemed that no expense had been spared for my outfit. And there, at the bottom of the pile, I saw it.
My Dragon Amulet.
Hastily I slipped it on, tying it in a taut bow around my throat and slipping it into the folds of my blouse. I didn't know if it was intentionally left for me, and I didn't want to risk losing my only defense against dark Cesia.
"I saw your sheets," Shyrendora said sharply, breaking me from my distractions, and shackling my wrists with her tone. "The blood...it was yours, wasn't it?"
I couldn't speak, suddenly feeling as though ice had frozen my veins. But I nodded, stepping back as she swore. The shackles appeared around my ankles, and I was frozen.
"That was a foolish thing to do. You are still tainted." she wrinkled her nose in disgust and whispered, "...so tainted..."
"And so?" I asked, albeit a bit haughtily. What did it matter what I did with Nadil? Or, to be more accurate, what Nadil did to me.
The shackles tightened.
"It matters," she said as I dressed, looking at me with her penetrating, death-like eyes. "because your blood is foul, vulgar, rancid. When you tore, you blood was fresh and potent. You are cursed, and that charm travels under your skin. It lives in your veins."
"My blood is no more poisoned than yours," I spat back to her. "and you are forced to split yourself, to divide your life by another's. You will never lead more than a half-life."
"You bitch," she murmured, fire seeming to leap out from behind her, flame licking it's way up and around her body. "You are an insult to us all. A mockery of a demon. A joke, a lie, a wicked whore."
But something had overcome me (perhaps, now, I think it may have been one facet of my darkness), and glared at her, angrily rising to meet the challenge of her words. And then, much to my surprise, considering my offence, I found my voice.
"A whore? Barely a day goes by when someone does not grace your bed, Shyrendora. What are you going to do to me? Turn me into a slave of yours, like Gil? Or a prize of power to be won, like Nadil? A like soul, as Shydeman...he is the one to most often grace you, I would say. Or am I just an ordinary demon, kept for your own sick fantasies, as Fedelta is? But no..." I paused, my stifled grin escaping into a wider, toothy snarl. "I really am just another body. I am just like your brother. I am nothing more than a used toy, like the Black Dragon Officer."
Her eyes flared angrily, darting over and coating me with rage and hatred. She erupted like a volcano, unleashing the full blast of her rage upon me.
"Tetheus was not who you say he is. He was a noble demon. My lover, my heart, my soul. Blood made no difference then. And neither shall yours when I spill it across the floor."
Back and forth we went, hissing spite like jousting serpents. Black versus white, dark versus light. With the Dragon Amulet on, I could no longer feel my other side fighting for control. Just Shyrendora, standing before me in long robes, smirking with anger and interest. I was competition to her, just another body valued by Lord Nadil, for one reason or another. Just another person standing between her and the most powerful being to walk Kainaldia.
"Oh yes," she said before she left, the corners of her ruby lips twitching into a catlike smirk. "Lord Nadil asked me to give you this." She bent down, her scent cold and icy. Crimson lips met mine with a crushing, lustful tune; a sort of dark passion melding in our shared breath. My eyes closed, and I was lost to her; lost to this eerie feeling. I felt so numb and yet so alive, as if every cell of my being were bursting with explosive energy, but at the same time, so dully lethargic. I was frozen within the very essence of death, as if my soul was leaving me in this one kiss. She bit my bottom lip, coaxing my mouth open, and I was surprised that I complied, perhaps too willingly. She smiled into the kiss, and I felt myself want more from her. And then it hit me.
I was being cursed.
And I was no longer in control enough to stop it. She whispered something softly into my mouth, forcing broken tendrils of air to caress my skin. I did not even feel the ground as I hit it, numb and dizzy and tired as I was.
When I finally regained control over my body, the glowing rays of dusk shone into the perfect, spider-webbed glass, illuminating the room in yet another array of colors, this time darting between blood-red and midnight blue. Shyrendora was gone, having left me to lie unconscious on the floor, tied and bound within my mind. While I had been numb before, I was now being cut into with a thousand shards of broken glass, twisting into every part of my body. My head swam with shattered images, warped and twisted music played timidly in minor keys, and my vision was constantly blurred with tears and stars.
I staggered out of the bathroom and onto the small balcony beyond the bedroom, my nausea relieved when I felt the cool air swirl around me, holding me in a fashion so comforting--it reminded me of the parents I had never had. I had to hold myself up with the balcony, but so what? I had my power, I had my wind, and I was safe. Dark Cesia had been concealed again, and I was back. I hated Nadil with all my heart and soul, but at least I was protected by him. No one could harm me now, for although my eyes still spun with a dozen fairy lights, although my body still swayed with the dizziness of an unrequited love, and although part of me was forever trapped within the abyss that became my mind, I was untouchable.
And that made me irresistibly powerful.
:::End of Chapter 7:::
Goodness, a tiny bit of yuri in this fic too? And before any yaoi! My goodness. Shyrendora/Cesia. I know most (probably all) of you hate me for pairing up Cesia with all these evil, creepy sadists...but hey, it's still creepy, isn't it? I apologize, I just think that Cesia would be toyed with, especially around Nadil's castle, and that she would be used.
Sorry for the long wait, school started up, and I was distracted by this guy...long story. Anyway, I apologize for making you all wait, and here I am! ::is thinking of making a side Tetheus/Shyrendora story::
Cesia is my favorite female DK character by a mile, so it will work out for her, I promise.
Please R&R, ideas or suggestions are loved, as is constructive criticism, and of course, compliments! ;
Thank you, everyone!!!
Holy...I was updating with 59 reviews, because I had waited weeks, and the 60th one never came. And then, minutes before I post this, it comes. #60. Lexzzz, I love you. Thank you for supporting me, that is so much appreciated. Here's your update.
The more reviews/suggestions I get, the faster I update! (This unfortunately means that I am going to wait for my 70 review before I update again. I need time to write that next chapter...)
Lady Dragonnaine