A/N – Finally, this update has been done for a few hours but I was kicked off my computer.
Again, thanx to my reviwers SailorC, Iceflame55, and websurfer – unfortunately, my other story got more reviews so it got updated first (hint hint)
Here comes the crossover! Finally….
Chapter 3: Alliances
The demon sat upon his thrown as his slaves cleaned the aftermath of his "entertainment" from the floor and walls. A lesser demon came before his master and bowed.
"Master, there is a quintet of demons who demand an audience with you. Shall I have them killed or do you wish to meet them?"
Before the demon king could answer, there was a scream from behind the closed throne room doors. The doors were thrown open with such force they ripped from their hinges. In their place stood five figures, all with swords.
The leader stepped forward and absently killed anyone, both human and demon, that was within reach. Casually, the demon observed her surroundings.
"A little tacky, but with a new paint job and curtains this place could become habitable."
The demon king drew himself to his full height of seven feet and looked down on the tiny demon.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are?" he roared, reaching for his weapon – a double-bladed axe.
"Oh, I'm Slayer. Nice to meet you."
The demon froze abruptly.
"You're the Elite!?" he exclaimed in disbelief and fear.
Seeing the movement, the other four warriors laughed derisively. Gawain stepped forward and relieved the former-king of his weapon.
"Ah, so you have heard of us then?" he drawled.
The Elite laughed again, enjoying the fearsome overlord's abject terror. The former king fell to his knees before the blond girl.
"Please, if you spare my life neither you nor your master shall ever see or hear of me again," the demon begged from down on his knees.
Slayer thought it over, then brought out a gold coin – one side bearing his image and the other the emblem of his kingdom.
"Tails you live, heads your dead." And with that Slayer tossed the coin in the air. So intent on the coin, the demon lord did not notice the slayer sliding her sword free of its scabbard. With a clean slice, the demon's head separated from its neck. The movement was so quick, the face still held the same hopeful expression.
"Heads it is," Slayer said dryly, with an evil smirk.
All five demons left the new throne room of the demon king Caligula laughing.
********************
Slayer bowed before her master with her comrades, fighting the urge to push the fallen strands of her blond hair behind her ears. Her master did not allow them to stir until he was ready to address them. In the hundred years since she began her service to Caligula, the blond girl had learned to accept these games of dominance.
She grimaced internally as she remembered her first years as Elite, much of which was spent in the Chamber as punishment for insubordination, or most often, inappropriate remarks.
When Gawain had offered her a way to live without losing herself completely, she had taken it. However, she had insisted on one condition. That she be allowed to join the Elite.
It had taken Caligula a year to agree to the condition. The demon king had merely wanted a spirited pet to entertain and impress his peers – not another halfling warrior. Caligula forced Emrys to perform the spell, binding the slayer to his favourite ring and in doing so, to himself. But the spell had not worked as the demon had expected.
While it was true the girl had to do whatever he ordered; she did only what he ordered. The demon king found it tedious to be forced to order the girl to do menial labours like sleeping or eating. The slayer's passive resistance lasted a year before Caligula finally gave in.
It was during her first battle that she was officially named 'Slayer'. The slayer, her name lost, had been answering to 'Vandala', which meant property in the demonic language. The Elite had been sent to a particularly dangerous dimension. The slayer had been separated from the other four Elite, whom were captured.
The demon lord decided on a public execution – to solidify his own authority, as well as please his subjects. Gawain was certain of his death, when she appeared.
By the time the slayer reached them, she was covered in blood. The spectators, humans and demons, watched in awe as the tiny human dealt death to any demon warrior in her vicinity. Suddenly, she was on the platform with her comrades. Free, they took up arms to her aid; only to find it was unnecessary. The enemy warriors bowed before her, offering their master's life in return for their own.
The battle became a matter of legends, and soon Slayer became the leader of the Elite. In the near hundred year of her leadership, she had only lost two comrades. Slayer, Gawain, and Emrys were then joined by Talyn and Danyl. Together, they are so wildly feared that Caligula ruled a vast empire with almost no dissention amongst its ranks.
Gawain, kneeling beside Slayer, knew where her thoughts led since she always thought of her past, that she remembered anyway, during these idle moments.
Slayer had not changed much in the years he had known her. She was still impetuous, strong-willed, and possessed an interesting sense of humour.
The greatest change was one he viewed with mixed feelings.
For the first ten years or so, Slayer never hurt a human, slave or enemy, nor cared if anyone knew she was likely human or at least half-human. Gawain was still unsure if she fully human or a halfling like himself. She treated her human slaves as equals, much to the infuriation of other demons who had no slaves of their own.
But that changed when a human she trusted completely attempted to kill her – and almost succeeding.
As the woman lay dying at the slayer's feet, she asked why. To which the slave replied, "Even if you look and act human, you are a demon and deserve to die."
The girl took the words to heart and preceded to kill anyone, human or demon, that suggested that she was anything other than a demon. Though she still treated her slaves well, the barrier between master and slave remained. Being a demon himself, though only by half, Gawain was happy when Slayer began to see herself as a demon. He was saddened, however, by the pain his friend had experienced at the hands of a mere human.
But Gawain occasionally wondered if Slayer was human. That would mean not only could humans be powerful equals, but that he followed one such human. Such a human was completely different from the grovelling idiotic humans slaves he was accustomed to. For someone who had spent his entire life hating his human heritage, it was a frightening and intriguing thought.
Maybe humans were different where Slayer was from.
Caligula finally gestured for the quintet to rise.
"I have asked you here to inform you that in a few days you will be leaving for a new dimension. However, I will be accompanying you this time."
The five warriors started. Then their faces settled into expressions of worry. If the master is injured – none of us would survive the night.
Slayer stepped forward.
"Master, if I may, why should you endanger your noble self?" she asked in the complimentary court language she had learnt over the years.
"It's a stipulation in an alliance with a human wizard I have forged. Unfortunately, unless he opens the portal from his world to here, there would be no way for me to send my troops to his dimension. By the terms of the alliance, I deliver his greatest enemy into his care and he delivers the Orb of Orcas into mine."
Caligula chuckled.
"Of course, we will then try to double-cross each other, but I doubt a human will have enough power to defeat either me or my Elite."
Gawain stepped forward beside his leader.
"What is the name of this wizard, Master?"
"Voldemort."
TBC