A Demon's Heart

There were tiny things that looked like daggers at the bottom of the statue where Lilith's feet would have been and Shenia could only guess that those were the artists representations of the fire that was supposedly eating her from the inside out.

It was one of those things, very sharp on the top, that he handed to her as she too rose from the bed and looked at him with a question in her large brown eyes. He made no answer to her as he laid back down on her bed and looked at her eyes.

"I love you, my Nia (my purpose) and if I do not survive this I want you to always hold my memory dear to your heart and never despair for we will always be together in our dreams," he told her as he put on a smile for her benefit.

She was crying as she held onto the piece of flame that he had broken off and she cried more as he told her the horrid thing that she had to do with it. She would have to make tiny incisions, hundreds of them, all over his body so that he would become a sort of blood sacrifice to the lesser god who had made him what he was. In that way, his demon blood could be drawn out of him and as if flowed back to the lesser god he could be blessed with a new life force and a real heart.

That would happen if he was lucky, but if he was not lucky then he would bleed to death and have to depart from the mortal world forever. Shenia held on to the flame, which seemed a sacrificial knife to her then, and began to pray for the salvation of his soul so that he could return to her and stay with her forever as he wanted. She was praying even as she raised the dagger and began to cut into Ladon's soft skin with it.

The blood that poured out of his wounds as she cut was as black as the statue, as black as the flame that she was using as a knife. As she was cutting him, he kept his eyes open, silently begging her not to stop until his entire body was covered with gashes and he let out no signs of pain.

Within his own head, he was screaming in anguish, but he knew that if he cried out his love would stop and he would lose her in seven days anyway. She was screaming in her own head too and every time she sliced his skin with the surprisingly sharp piece of flame, she felt that she was cutting into her own skin and watching the ruby red life gush out in teardrops. As it was, she continued to cut and when she was done, she could no longer even see her white sheets. Even her hands were black, but she did not dare leave her love to wash them.

Instead, she watched him and he looked at her through eyes that seemed to be able to convey nothing but love and concern. He was concerned about her and he was the one in danger of bleeding to death, she thought to herself, and she kissed his forehead as she turned her thoughts back to prayers. As soon as she did that, as soon as she kissed him, the colour of the blood that flowed from his wounds changed to red and she was sure that it was a good development.

She smiled even as tears poured down her plump cheeks and she kissed him again even as he winced from the contact with his raw skin. She pulled away, scared to hurt him again, but he held his arms out to her so that she could come into his embrace again and at first she shook her head. He mouthed the word 'please' and so she got up from where she had collapsed after all the cutting and laid beside him so he could wrap his arms around her again.

To her surprise, he did not wince when her skin came into contact with hers, he simply sighed and laid his head on her shoulder as he breathed in her scent. She was sure that he was going to die, but she held on tightly to a glimmer of hope and began to pray with more passion so that she did not even know that she was saying her prayers aloud and he could hear every word she said. He closed his eyes and listened her voice even as he wondered how long he would be allowed to feel her in his arms before he bled to death.

They barely knew it, but they laid there for seven full days. Shenia never stopped praying and Ladon's heart never stopped whispering her name as he listened to the rising and falling rhythm of her soothing voice. It was on the seventh day that Ladon's heart stopped whispering and his Nia's eyes popped open in surprise as she tried to get as close to him as she could in what she thought were his final moments.

Her prayers were still on her lips and she was still mouthing them even as she hugged her lover and hoped that he would do well to stay in heaven until she got there. She thought of taking the flame she had used as a dagger to slash her wrists, but she knew very well that that was no way to get into heaven and spend an eternity with those she loved most in the world. She kissed his lips and after a few seconds he was kissing her back, holding her tightly and she heard another heartbeat whose strong rhythm was in tune with hers.

She allowed her fingers to touch his chest even as she melted into his kiss and she did indeed feel it beating instead of the dull hum of the whisper that she could barely detect when she touched him. She then moved her hand to his neck and found a strong and steady pulse that certainly had not been there before. In her excitement, she pulled away from him and looked into his sparkling gray eyes and beheld a light that only shined in those whose souls had been touched by God in some special way.

Not only his eyes, but his whole body looked and felt different. Nothing about him had radiated anything close to evil before, but with the change that was in him it seemed that he was nothing but goodness and angelic intent, embodied by her prayers. She was certain then that the demon in him had been drawn out with his blood and as she looked at him and smiled, all the foul blood drained away and all his wounds disappeared. He smiled at her for he was alive, healed and human.

"No one can take me away from you now, my Nia," he said as he pulled her back to him and kissed her.

"I love you," she murmured when the broke apart for a little air.

"And I love you," he answered, "with all my heart and soul."

Even as she kissed her strange Knight again, Shenia was sure that she heard the sound of Lilith cursing her in a fit of rage, but she ignored it as she enjoyed the miraculous thing that she had done with what had once been a demon's heart.