Arcanus 8

[catriana_fiction]

Title: Arcanus (Previously known as Demon King)
Series: Original
Genre: Fantasy/Drama/Romance
Rating: M
Chapters: 16/??(WIP)
Summary: He is the Demon King of the West, one of the few true immortals of the western lands. When his kingdom is frozen by 'Olde Magick' he goes out into the world to find clues and answers. Along the way he binds himself to a young vampire, encounters a half-elf that is more than what he seems and quickly begins to realize that freezing his kingdom was only the beginning.
Notes: History lessons. ♥

 

 

8

xxxxx

Securing his longbow, Naliel takes in the demon who is sitting lazily beside his sleeping life mate. Despite the redhead’s casual posture the half-elf could tell that there was rising tension within. More than likely, it had something to do with the woman, the demon has been tense ever since she has come into the picture. He has to admit that he’s quite confused, wasn’t this what Rioran had been waiting for all this time? The two were like awkward teenagers around each other, which was amusing but he worried for his friend. With a small sigh the brunette looks out the ‘window’; it was late afternoon and the vampire would be waking soon. It will take them about a week to reach the human city where the temple resided.

“Naliel.” Rioran’s voice is soft and low, cutting through the silence. The redhead is looking at Liari “Can you scout the area to make sure we’re clear?“

Translation: Give him time alone with the woman. The half-elf had a feeling he’d be ‘disappearing’ quite a bit for a while during this trip, which didn’t bother him at all. He had been the same way with his first wife as it had been an arranged marriage, he understood.

“I will return in a hour.” he tells his friend who does not respond. More than likely the demon is deep in thought. Turning, he begins to leave, stopping right at the door and turning back briefly “Good luck, my friend.”

Rioran’s response is a small snort “I need more than luck dear half-elf. A clue would be nice.”

Smirking, he shook his head briefly before departing.

Sighing, Rioran shifts so that he is lying down beside Liari after the half-elf leaves, frowning in thought. If they were going to make good time it was highly likely that he would have to carry the vampire during the day at points, night did not last as long at the moment. He was fine with this but she wouldn’t be. Liari had always kept an independent streak in her despite how she was raised; she would consider herself a burden, dead weight. So there was that argument he’d have to deal with that he wasn’t looking forward to. The biggest issue, the one that was currently plaguing him, was feeding. There was only one individual whose blood didn’t taste disgusting to her and that was his. Biting his neck was absolutely out of the question, his reaction would not be a good one under the circumstances.

You would think considering the fact that I’m two thousand years old I would have thought this out a bit more thoroughly. He mused darkly, becoming annoyed with himself. This was ridiculous, he was a demon king, he had lived through and fought in wars, he had held plenty of lovers and yet he was awkward around his own life mate. Had it been anyone else Rioran would have laughed at the poor bastard and told him to act like a man. That meant only one thing: as a man he was failing. Epically. This needed to be corrected. Immediately.

Shifting, he wrapped his arms around Liari, pulling her close. Gently he reached out to her mentally to stir her awake. In his foolishness he had allowed her to go almost two days without feeding and her hunger had hit him even while she had been asleep. Of course, Liari being who she was had yet to complain and would not because she knew that taking his blood made him uncomfortable. He would probably have to explain why it made him uncomfortable, it wasn’t for the reasons she was thinking.

The lithe woman stirred, her body stretching out like a cat for a moment before realizing that she was being held. Since he had awakened her a little earlier than normal she was slightly disoriented and groggy. A few unintelligible sounds escaped her lips and then she once again curled up in an attempt to go back to sleep. He found himself smiling at her antics and shifted so that his lips were near her ear.

“Vampireling,” he drawled out, not even trying to hide his amusement. She was definitely hungry but apparently sleep was more important. Liari had always been a strange girl. “It’s time to wake up, you need to feed.”

When she didn’t immediately respond he ‘poked’ her mentally and she jerked slightly, surprised at the strange and sudden sensation. His arms tightened around her and he tried again “You need to feed, I could feel your hunger even while you slumbered.”

Half awake she turns so that she can face him. Hazel eyes are hooded as she blinked up at him sleepily before letting out a light yawn “I suppose I could go hunt…”

She was going to make this difficult, he knew she was. “Liari, you’re not going to hunt, take what you need from me, we’re together now.” When she frowned in confusion and opened her mouth to protest he growled softly at her “We’re not having this discussion every time you need to feed, Vampireling.”

There was silence as the two stared at each other for a moment. Before he could try cut her off she suddenly blurted out “But it makes you uncomfortable.” Which of course sent them into another silent staring contest. Little sneak, she hadn’t pulled a stunt like that in a while. In response he squeezed her again which earned him a light giggle. He smiled back, relaxing considerably. Despite all the awkwardness, holding her the way he was now actually felt nice.

“There’s a reason it made me uncomfortable but it’s not something you need to worry about any longer.” Another pause and then he gave her a warning look “You have but only five seconds before I decide to do something you will not enjoy.” Knowing that he was not at all bluffing, she shifted so that her back was once again flush with his front and when he offered his wrist she hesitated only a moment before teeth sank into flesh.

Every time she fed from him he tried not to react outwardly and every time he failed. There was the sensation of slight pain before pure pleasure filled him, making him shudder slightly, a soft noise escaping. Every time it was like this and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. At this point he didn’t really want or need to. It wasn’t just the initial bite that he reacted to, the act of her actually drinking his blood sent pleasurable chills through him. It was why it had felt so disturbing when she had been a child but now…

Like before years ago, he felt his lips move along her long neck, the desire to mark her as his strong. He resisted but was unable to keep from trailing kisses and lightly nipping sensitive flesh. It wasn’t even a choice, holding her this close he couldn’t help himself, it just felt too amazing. Of course, his reaction was not what she had been expecting and so she abruptly stopped, face flushed and eyes wide in surprise as she tried to move away from him. In response his grip tightened, lips capturing hers before he even realized what he was doing. It was only for a brief moment but when he pulled away she looked at him in complete and total shock, eyes widened in an almost comical fashion.

“When you take my blood,” he began, loosening his grip on her as he regained himself “the sensation is…” he tried to think of the proper word and realized that he’d just have to out and say it “very…arousing.” She gasped and he gave her a wry smile “That was why I always felt so uncomfortable. It was…disturbing to feel like that with a child. Very, very disturbing.”

“Oh.” She said rather lamely, her facial expression showing that she really had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to feel but ‘shocked’ was right at the top. Resisting the urge to chuckle he stood and helped her to her feet, putting an arm around her waist. His life mate was tense, embarrassed, and nervous which was counterproductive.

“Liari, relax.” She looked up at him and he sighed “I won’t hurt you or force myself on you but...” Now he was feeling awkward again and he let her go, turning towards the exit “Naliel should be back soon, we will head out on the path then.” A pause. They had a lot of work to do concerning them as a couple “Vampireling, as awkward as this is, it’s not going to go away. We’re life mates, we’re going to react to each other.” He shrugged “If anything your feeding is probably the best step we could take for…” he waved a hand around “this. Us.”

“I –“ he paused and looked at her, taking note of the myriad of emotions shifting on her beautiful face. Biting her lip she met his gaze “I didn’t mind it.” She admitted and gave him a small smile.

Smirking, he held out his hand and she took it after grabbing her bag, the two leaving the little shack that was now considered good as abandoned.

 

xxxxx

An hour into their walking Naliel came to a sudden stop, drawing curious stares from the couple. He wasn’t tense, if anything he looked thoughtful, as if he were trying to remember something important. Rioran gave it a full minute before he crossed his arms and began to look slightly irritated.

“Care to share with the rest of the group, elf?” he asked gruffly and Liari idly wondered how someone as old as him could be so impatient.

“I’ve never been patient.” He grumbled at her mentally and she smiled. “Waiting for you to become an adult and being bored to tears in Varian lands was enough patience to last a lifetime for me.”

Instead of responding the Hunter dug into the small pack at his side and pulled out a small rolled up map. Motioning for the two to venture closer he had Rioran hold one end while he held the other. “There.” He pointed to the human town of Crest Falls “There’s a train there that will take us to Wyst City and it’ll cut off at least three to four days of travel. After that we can take an airship to the Bavarian Kingdom which is very close to Liunos territory. It’ll only take us another half day to reach Crest Falls.”

The demon raised an eyebrow in interest “Huh. An airship huh? I have yet to go on one of those, it’s only been the last decade or so that they have been around.” Letting go of the map Rioran dug into his pocket and pulled out a small bag. “Three gold kon should do it right?” he slid out three oval shaped gold pieces “One for each of us?”

“My friend, I have more than enough money for my own ticket,” Naliel said, frowning slightly “Besides, you still have to travel back home and Liunos lands are even farther from your territories than Varian. Besides, it’s a gold and five silver kon to ride on the airship alone, it doesn’t include actually having a cabin. I’d say maybe eight silver for the train.”

Rolling his eyes, the redhead put the small bag back into his pocket “Extortion. No wonder human kings are so rich. Fine, but don’t ever say I’ve never tried to be nice to you.” He turned to Liari “I have never been on an airship before but I’ve told you about trains.” She flashes him a smile as they continue on the path.

“I have read about airships,” she tells him, unable to help the light of excitement in her eyes “and I remember talking to you for hours as a little girl about how badly I wanted to ride on a train.”

The demon chuckled lightly “The first night we did you refused to go to sleep until I shared my memories of riding one with you.”

“I have been on an airship once,” Naliel chimed in, his expression pleasant in light of the cheerful atmosphere “It is…very interesting. It’s powered using a mixture of air magic and steam technology. Someone explained it to me in depth once but it was definitely confusing. What I do know is that instead of taking weeks to get to the Bavarian Kingdom it will only take days.”

Rioran made a thoughtful noise “I’ll contact Oris and tell him to expect us a little earlier.” When he began to dig in his pocket again Liari gave him a strange look and he returned it, raising an eyebrow “What.”

The vampire continued to frown slightly “Um, how much do you hold in your pockets?” his expression turned blank at the question and she elaborated “I mean, they don’t look that deep yet you seem to be able to pull quite a bit of items from them.”

His response was to laugh at her, which only made her give him a dirty look “Liari, my clothes are enchanted.” he explained “They don’t look like much but they’re highly resistant to the elements and I can hold a rather substantial amount of items within the pockets.” He tilted his head toward Naliel “The half-elf here also wears enchanted clothing, you notice when he moves you cannot hear him, correct?”

Her gaze shifted over to the other brunette and she realized that she couldn’t hear his foot falls. The vampire hadn’t even given it thought until the demon had brought it up.

“We really won’t be able to get you anything of that nature until we reach the Bavarian kingdom.” The redhead told her “Wyst City is where the temple is but it’s also where we will purchase you some blades. We could get you something before then but it’s better to go to a city, the quality is usually better and most of the time you can find blades with enchantments that have been imported.” There was a dark undertone to Rioran’s voice and Liari knew it probably had something to do with the fact that very soon she would need those items for her kind would be racing to hunt her down and kill her. Not only had she abandoned and disgraced her family she had left with a demon of all creatures. Briefly, she wondered if Eris would be the one leading the assault, she would not blame him for being angry enough to seek revenge.

“Liari, listen to me very carefully,” Rioran’s voice in her mind was a low, dangerous rumble “you need to harden your heart, Vampireling, because I will kill anyone who dares to harm you and I will show them no mercy when I do. If the fool personally comes to hunt you I do not wish to see you in the state you are in now, longing for forgiveness and drowning yourself in guilt. It is upsetting.”

The irritation and slight frustration was clear in his tone and she remained silent, her heart sinking a bit at the rising tension between them. One step forward and two steps back for them it seemed.

 

xxxxx

“I was perhaps wondering if you would indulge me with some knowledge my demon friend.” Naliel was leaning against the wall of the little inn the trio had stopped at for the day. The sun had not yet raised but Liari was already beginning to look rather tired. The half-elf could only smile at the picture in front of him. Rioran was sitting up on the bed, his back against the headboard. Liari was curled up beside him, her head resting on his chest with his arm around her shoulders. There was a strange gleam in Rioran’s eyes for a moment as he regarded his life mate before looking up at his friend. He was given a look.

“I am beginning to wonder if you ask all of these questions because you are genuinely curious or because you wish to have ammunition to use against me later.”

“Both.” He answered smoothly and the redhead shrugged.

“Fair enough. What is it you wish to know?”

“You claimed that you are the youngest demon king yet I have heard that usually when one ascends they are tested by the others, mostly for potential territorial or manipulation purposes.”

Rioran’s bundle shifted and the young vampire looked up at her life mate, hazel eyes hooded but curious. Briefly he smiled down at her before looking at Naliel “You know, I am going to have to start charging you for these questions, at the very least have you sign over your soul to me or whatever it is humans think we do. You do realize that I am spilling information that has never been given to outsiders, yes?”

Ice blue eyes blinked “Well, you are more than welcome to keep silent, if you so choose. Questions do not need to be answered. As for my soul, it was given quite some time ago to an individual named Sarnaiel.”

The redhead gave him a look “That sounded incredibly sappy and yet I find myself vaguely intrigued.” Rioran raised an eyebrow “I thought you once told me your wife had been human. You tell me yours and I’ll tell you mine.”

There was a moment of silence before he sighed “Very well, although it is not exactly a good tale. You will probably find it to be incredibly boring.”

Rioran’s grin was unmistakenable “Indulge me.”

“I was born around the time the war ended,” the half-elf began “because my father did not wish for my mother to be without her kind we held a rather strict alliance with the neighboring kingdom. My mother was technically royalty, she was the young cousin of the king at that time. In any case, it was decided shortly after my birth that I would marry a strained ally of the king in an attempt to bridge the gap. As I was my mother’s son and the son of a high elf lord the marriage was favored although the lord of the lands at that time did not have a child. It was not until I was in my early forties that the family finally had a daughter and so she was slated to marry me upon her sixteenth birthday. Humans seem to have this…thing about marrying young, I am not entirely sure why.”

“So you married her.” It was not a question. Liari shifted once more, looking at Naliel although she was definitely struggling to stay awake “There was no bitching or moaning?” the demon king wanted to know.

“From her, yes.” He smiled “For me it was duty and in all honesty a half-elf still will live much longer than a human. Although I was very young I was also a very patient individual. Sarnaiel and I grew up together, he was a dark elf that was abandoned as a baby and my father took him in.”

Rioran looked impressed “Dark elf? They’re about as rare as high elves.”

The Hunters’ smile was wistful “Indeed. Although the both of us knew I would eventually have to marry we ended up becoming lovers anyway.” Something crossed his features but it was gone before Rioran could determine what “When the girl was born I left him although neither of us was happy about it. It was something we had known would happen eventually, humans frown upon things such as multiple partners or even partners of the same sex and I did not wish to be the reason the alliance was lost. In any case we were wed and like you with Liari, I also tried hard to bond with her. I tried to get to know her and genuinely be a good husband to her, it was not her fault she had been dragged into such a situation and I thought that perhaps in time I could come to care for her, if nothing else.”

There was a small pause and the demon king frowned “I get the feeling that things did not go quite as planned.”

Naliel chuckled lightly “Ah. Yes, well…” he coughed “Seven months into our marriage I discovered that my wife was five months pregnant…and I had not touched her.”

Rioran actually burst out laughing, jarring the half-awake vampire. She blinked a few times and with a yawn fell back asleep “You’re joking.”

Surprisingly, Naliel also found it amusing “No, I wish I were. It did explain why she had been trying so desperately to get me into her bed, however, but I had wanted to court her properly and so had refused. Initially I was infuriated, not because I held any sort of romantic feelings for her but because I had deprived myself of the person I loved for almost seventeen years only to be cheated on almost immediately. It had been…very difficult those years to stay true to my future spouse and I had been disgusted by her lack of self-control.

“So I openly began to see Sarnaiel once more. I didn’t divorce her although because of her infidelity I most certainly could have. I did not want the alliance strained, that was the only reason I had kept silent. She continued to see her lover and I continued to see mine, we were married in name only. Then, for some strange reason I still have yet to fathom she claimed that she had fallen in love with me almost ten years after the fact. I was raising her daughter as my own although it was painfully obvious I was not the father. My mother had a Dukal father and so she was dark of skin unlike her other relatives, it is the reason I am also darker than most high elves. The child was as pale as Liari with brown eyes and reddish-brown hair. The scandal it caused was something you would not even believe, the girl knew early on I was not her father because of it. So ten years later my wife had finally decided that she wished to actually be with me and I had absolutely no desire to be with her. At all. Well, this did not go over well with her, especially because Sarnaiel was a man and well…you would have had to have known him to understand.” He waved a hand dismissively although there was an amused twitch to his lips “It was one huge annoyance and I eventually moved out of my own home and stayed with him until she eventually passed away of old age. I think she might have had other children, I truly had stopped caring once she had become difficult to deal with. Her daughter married a human male and we held a close relationship until she too eventually passed away from old age. “

“This is why I don’t mess with humans,” Rioran shook his head “their lives are too short and they do rather idiotic things because of it. And what of your lover? Did you not marry? You speak of him in past tense.”

At this Naliel turned his gaze away, expression unreadable “Marriage is not really an elven concept although it is practiced for whoever wishes it. In a sense you could have considered us to be married, we were together for, more or less, almost two centuries. Most of our lives really. Sarnaiel…died five years ago in a hunting accident.” When Rioran gave him a wide-eyed look he smiled sadly “There was a reason you did not hear from me for almost seven months that time. And before you scold me, you had other burdens to deal with, I did not wish to add mine to it. I never told you I had a lover so I did not see a reason to tell you he died.”

“I am sorry for your loss.” He said sincerely. This was the first time Rioran had ever been truly attached to someone. He had held lovers in the past of course, male and female, but he could not imagine not having Liari at his side now that he had her. He did not love her but he cared deeply and she was his life mate after all. She was also not his lover and yet…

“Do not worry over it, Rioran,” the half-elf drug him out of his thoughts “It does still pain me to think of him, as I have loved him all of my life, but these past few years have helped.” He gave the other male a small smile “Now then, I do believe it is your half of story-telling time.”

He snorted “While my story is not nearly as full of drama as yours, I will first confirm your statement regarding testing recently ascended demon kings. There is not a race alive that does not know greed and there is not a kingdom that does not wish to expand its borders. We cannot take over a kingdom directly, it doesn’t work that way, but we can take their land if they’re not strong enough to deal with the pressures. As I’ve said, I am the youngest demon king to ascend period. When I did recover from gaining my new powers I was forced to meet with each and every other demon king. Xersi I won over immediately, he is not a greedy individual, perhaps because he is too stupid to contemplate such things. Rias was rather annoying but also easily handled. She did try to seduce me once and it was a rather interesting romp until she realized she wasn’t going to get what she wanted. We…don’t really get along now because of that. It’s her own fault really for thinking I was an idiot. Gladian…he was the one whose opinion would have made me or broken me and I had known it then.”

xxxxx

Do not give into fear. He is ancient but you are still a demon king and he must respect that. If you allow yourself to falter and do not gain the Ice King’s favor you might as well pass on your powers to someone more competent.

The young demon – no, demon king – had to admit that there were times when he was completely baffled at the fact that his father truly and honestly had passed down his powers to him before he had even hit a century in age. As he walked into the beautiful yet deadly icy halls of the northern demon king’s abode the only thought going through his head was whether or not he would have to fight the male. In a true battle Rioran would be demolished – only to be brought back again as he could no longer truly die – and while a thorough beating was nothing new to him, frostbite wasn’t really a favorite of his.

The castle was made to be intimidating, icy walls and sculptures, the cold, foreboding feeling. Vaguely he wondered how the old bastard would look, demons could look any age or be any gender they desired if they were skilled enough. Would he look like a decrepit old fossil or…

“You’re a redhead.” Was the first thing Gladian said when Rioran entered the massive throne room. The northern king was in elaborate blue plate mail armor, long white hair tinted with blue was pulled back revealing a slight widow’s peak. A very massive sword that looked as if it were made of ice was leaning against his throne, Rioran was sure the damn thing was bigger than him. “And you have shitty taste in clothes.”

Looking down at himself Rioran took in his plain beige shirt and black pants with simple shoes before looking back up at Gladian “Well, it keeps me from having to spend an hour getting my armor off just so I can take a piss.” His face was completely devoid of all emotion “And I hear red is in this century, ask Rias.” He smirked at this.

A cold, dark sensation filled the entire room and hit the western king hard although he fought not to show it. It was as if his very soul was being frozen from the inside out, spreading throughout his body. The temperature, which had already been rather frosty, dropped considerably and even his blood felt cold in his veins. The power Gladian was pouring out wasn’t even an inkling of his true strength, Rioran knew. It didn’t make sense, nothing should be this powerful, it was insane.

He was absolutely fucking terrified of this male and he seriously wanted to run the hell out and tell his father to go fuck himself for putting him against this when he was practically a child in comparison to the standard demon. What made his father think he could go against this creature that shouldn’t even logically exist? Anyone with that much power should have exploded by now or something. Still he stood there, his green gaze impassive as he fought down his irrational urges and tried to use the brain his father always told him he had. Obviously, the demon was testing him, wanting to see if he’d crack. Those cold blue eyes, almost white, stared hard at him, the crimson irises almost seeming to glow, to bore into him. He knew the other demon could feel his fear, probably smell it, he was old as hell after all.

“You have a mouth on you child.” The king spat and Rioran felt his irritation rise, enough to where self preservation flew out the window. He had never been known for his temper.

“And you’re an old fuck that hasn’t had the good sense to curl over and die.” The redhead snapped “State what you want with me and let me be on my way, I refuse to stand here if you’re just going to insult me –“

His words were cut off as he shifted from speaking to chanting, a shield emerging automatically as a massive blade slammed into it, aiming for his neck. Spears of ice erupted around them as the two demon kings glared at each other. Wind whipped violently, slicing into the spears and trying to slice into the northern king but failing. After a second Gladian smiled.

One moment Rioran had been standing there, knowing that he was completely out of his league, the next he had slammed into the icy wall on the other side of the throne room, falling flat on his face as he tried to fight off the nausea from the incredible blow that had just been dealt to his stomach. He hadn’t even seen the old bastard move and now he was, yep, that was blood he was coughing up. Still, he struggled to stand, knowing that if he didn’t, if he let this creature prove him weak he would always be considered weak and none of the other demon kings would take him seriously. He would forever be a pushover, a disgrace to his predecessors. Holding his stomach he struggled to stand, wiping his bloodied mouth with a sleeve, eyes narrowed.

The northern king looked beautiful with his magnificent blue armor, long pale hair and wings of…ice? Indeed, instead of the normal leather wings of demon kind Gladian’s wings seemed to be made out of pure ice. Despite that they seemed as flexible as normal wings and it took a lot for Rioran to tear his gaze from the beauty of this man to look him straight in the eyes once more.

There was a large clinking sound as Gladian’s massive sword was thrust into the icy ground. The older, taller male stood only a few feet away from the young demon, his gaze still impassive, cold. He tilted Rioran’s chin up, keeping his gaze locked on the younger, searching. For what the western king had no idea.

Then the old man did something that completely baffled Rioran, he started laughing.

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