Defiant Destiny Ch. 04

***Cyrea***

Descending the elevator I could feel Dante's presence slowly slip out of my mental reach. A lingering taste of his lust was the last thing I felt through our bond. He was going to claim Layla, I was sure of it! My mate, my wonderful mate. An excited giggle escaped my lips. We only said our goodbyes a mere minute ago, and already I was eagerly anticipating seeing them again.

I closed my eyes and licked my lips in anticipation. Dante had become a powerful demon after my bite, and I was very eager to see, taste and feel how Layla's soul would strengthen him further. Lewd fantasies flooded my mind, fueling my desire for my mate. Feeling his power coursing through him while he'd be sliding his muscular body along mine... Images of a freshly fucked Layla laying in bed with us, Dante's cum dripping out of her soaking pussy made me moan and squeeze a nipple. How I longed to lap his delicious cum from her pussy - I could almost taste it now... Oh, how I couldn't wait for these fantasies to become reality!

Too soon did the elevator ping its arrival in the lobby, disturbing my lecherous thoughts and I took a deep breath before stepping into the lobby. Destiny first, pleasure later.

Stepping out, I was not surprised to pick up the lingering scent of sex on both doormen. I giggled as one of them clearly smelled of Charlene and the other had Layla's scent all over him. I inhaled deeply on my way to the exit door, savoring the residual snippets of lust in the air. Charlene politely greeted me on my way out and I winked at her in return.

On the way home I pondered how to Dream Walk. My plan to visit Eir via my dream sounded so easy when I proposed it, but truth be told - I had no idea how to actually do it. It wasn't like I intentionally traveled to hell the last two times, that just...happened.

Back home I figured I'd do what I normally do when going to sleep - undress and go to bed. I crawled into bed and sighed pleasurably - how I loved our new bed. Dante didn't want to spend a lot of money on buying a new bed after the previous one got all slashed up, but I insisted we'd get a huge, soft and comfortable one. I smiled while I slowly sunk into the soft mattress - it was worth every cent.

Relaxing my body, I willed my mind to focus on Eir and her cave in hell. Through slow and regular breathing I managed to fall into a sort of meditative state and I felt sleep slowly creeping into my mind. My focus on Eir was slipping and I felt the darkness of sleep overtake me.

***

My eyes were closed. A rumbling sound pierced my sleepy haze and my nose started to itch with the penetrating stench of sulfur.

Wait... Sulfur? My eyes snapped open and I was greeted by the dreary darkness of hell.

I squealed in delight. I did it! I was back!

I never thought I'd be happy to be back here... A tiny giggle escaped my lips - the things we'd do for love...

Quickly I beat my wings and took to the skies, looking for that familiar gorge where the Valkyrie made her home. This being my third visit here, I managed to locate it effortlessly and swooped down to land at its mouth. I peered down inside, trying to spot that familiar blue light in the darkness. I saw some blue flashes bursting from it, some small ones, but some really big ones that briefly illuminated the entire gorge. The eerie silence that dominated the area was occasionally broken by a faint roar coming from the gorge.

'Oh, no.... That can't be good...' I thought.

A feeling of dread crawled up my spine and without hesitation I took off, swooping down into the gorge, in search of Eir's cave.

When the gorge became narrower and my wings started scraping along the rocky walls of its walls, preventing me from flying further, I dropped down on foot and ran as fast as I could towards the blue flashes. Occasionally a demonic growl or screech would echo along the dead rocks and my dread increased - that sounded like a battle.

"Hold on Eir, I'm coming..." I whispered to myself and traversed the narrow gorge as quickly as I could, the abundance of sharp rock sticking out everywhere cutting me and slowing me down.

The flashes of light started getting brighter and the sounds of an ongoing battle reached my ears. I could hear the gurgling death screams of several demons, alternated by high pitched wails coming from Eir.

Rounding the corner to the clearance outside Eir's cave entrance I quickly took in the sight - roughly twenty demons lay scattered all over the clearing, either dead or dying. Most had severe cuts all across their bodies or were missing limbs altogether. Many more were still on their feet, some were unscathed, but most had been wounded.

My scouring eyes then spotted the biggest creature of them all and rage filled my chest when I recognized him - a tall winged demon, lean and skinny, completely covered with menacing, black spikes. Tachanka.

He was one of the Demonic Lords who had tried to claim me brutally a few millennia ago. He was pure evil and I hated him with every fiber of my soul. He rode upon an imposing manticore, chains rattling from its paws and wings, which were covered in old, jagged scars. My heart ached for this powerful majestic creature as it had been so savagely enslaved by Lord Tachanka.

The Demonic Lord in question was watching the battle from a safe distance while the majority of his army lay dead or dying. I suppressed a furious growl - what a coward! Physical strength was never his strong suit, and he relied more on wit and cunning to outsmart his opponents.

I was young and weak when Tachanka had captured and abused me. Now though, several millennia later, my strength had grown significantly - especially since my mating with Dante - and I found myself very eager to help Eir in her defense against this monster.

Suddenly a brilliant blue light flashed us all and a huge shockwave pushed me back against a wall, my wings barely missing a sharp spike that jutted out. Tackanka's still standing army was blasted backwards in the shockwave and I gasped in awe when my gaze settled on Eir. She was floating in the air, her body emitting a strong blue, pulsing light. She wielded her staff and the air around her was literally crackling with her magic power.

I saw her mouth move while she was feverishly mumbling a magic spell, her eyes blazing fiercely in their blue light. The air around her crackled and sparked with her magic as ten or so large spears of lightning started forming around her. The spears quickly became brighter and brighter until they resembled bolts of lightning floating in the air, encircling her. With a powerful wave of her hand, Eir launched them at her enemies, slashing and piercing the demons where they went. The excruciating sounds of painful roars echoed throughout the clearing as one demon after the other fell to the floor - some dead, or missing limbs, others gasping their last breath.

My triumphant roar was drowned out by Tackanka's venomous roar of rage. With that thunderous voice of his he barraged his commands to the few demons that were still standing, demanding them to protect their Lord and initiate a full attack on Eir. Bleeding and limping, they scrambled to their feet to blindly follow their master's orders.

Eir had been severely weakened by the battle, however. She landed clumsily on the floor and where the air around her was crackling with her magic moments before, that impressive display of power was reduced to a faint fizzle now. She leaned heavily on her staff, panting hard as she watched the remainders of Tackanka's army prepare for a final attack. Despair crept into her face - realization that she was powerless to defend herself against this final attack was easy to read in her white eyes. She instead braced herself, summoning a makeshift shield around her to draw out her imminent defeat.

Oh, hell no! I was not going to let those demons kill Eir! I summoned all of my power and let it course through me. With tremendous speed I dashed towards the unsuspecting demons in the backline and let my claws rend through all the flesh I could reach. The element of surprise proved essential while the demons in the front were too focused on Eir to realize their allies were dropping like flies behind them. By the time Tackanka's infuriating roar reached their ears, my claws were close behind and slit their throats. Making sure I got every last one of them I dashed towards Eir and stood in front of her, spreading my wings to block her from Tackanka and growling ferociously at him.

Behind me I heard Eir release a relieved breath at seeing me. "Are you alright?" I quickly asked her, not daring to look at her and break my line of sight with a surprised, yet furious Tackanka.

"I used my last power reserve in that attack..." she replied weakly. "I need some time to...replenish," she whispered.

My eyes carefully tracked Tackanka's movements while he steered his manticore to the side of the clearing. "How much time?" I grumbled, watching him closely, looking for any signs of an impending attack.

"A few minutes..." Eir replied, and dragged herself further into the cave, away from Tackanka.

"I'll stall him. For as long as I can... But please... Hurry..." I urged her.

There was no way I could take on Tackanka by myself. No way in hell. Despite my increased strength after being claimed by Dante, I couldn't take on a Demonic Lord, not even a lesser one like the degenerate fuck that was prowling around on his enslaved manticore. My only option was to stall him as long as possible, giving Eir the precious time she needed to replenish her magic. 'Together we might stand a chance,' I dearly hoped.

"Long time no see..." I shouted at him as he steered his manticore further into the clearing, trying to figure out how to handle this new turn of events. Tackanka snarled at my taunt with his horrible nasal voice. With tremendous effort I suppressed a shiver upon hearing that sound. Memories tried to surface of how he abused and insulted me, but I did not let them. The last thing I needed was my own mind crippling me in what was to come.

"Cyrea..." he growled softly, though I could hear him perfectly. "Useless wench!" he roared, steering his manticore to charge at me in full force.

Instead of dodging I strongly beat my wings and flew straight at them. Right before we would impact I evaded, raking my claws deep into the manticore's paws. It snarled loudly in pain and stumbled, almost tossing Tackanka off its back. Tackanka yelped in surprise at the sudden halt in momentum, and frantically grabbed the manticore's manes and leaned back to prevent toppling over its head. He almost succeeded, but then gravity got a hold of him and he fell on his face. The manticore slumped off to the side and began licking its wounds, uncaring about the fate of its master now that he was no longer perched upon its back.

I grinned sadistically when I watched the Demonic Lord, my former torturer, stumble so goofily. My grin turned bigger and I couldn't contain the laughter anymore, clutching my stomach as I laughed hard at his expense. It felt so incredibly good to see him stumble like the worthless lowlife he was.

Tackanka heard my laughter and was not amused in the slightest. He roared mightily and his power poured off of him in waves. He turned towards me and in his wrath tore off a large spike from his back, which he launched at me.

I was taken by surprise and couldn't evade the projectile - it hit my forearm, cutting me deeply. I cried loudly in pain, clutching my wounded arm, blood seeping through my fingers as my body worked on healing the wound.

Tackanka kept tearing off spikes from his back and flung them at me like bullets. I kept dodging them, but was not quick enough to evade them all, and another one cut me in my arm. During his relentless barrage he kept laughing maniacally, spewing insults at me and calling me useless. In his tirade however, he had failed to notice that Eir had recovered significantly and stood at the entrance of her cave, angrily gazing at the scene in front of her. During my dodging I noticed her lips mumble frantically and I saw her magic slowly swirl around her.

I was distracted by Eir only momentarily, but it was enough for a huge spike to slash the back of my neck. Immense pain radiated from the cut and I fell to my knees, clutching my wound and feeling the blood gush out. Tackanka roared his triumph and slowly stalked towards me, moving in for the kill, believing the battle was won.

I glanced at Eir and saw a large lightning bolt slowly forming above her head. I could tell she hadn't finished yet, though. Despite the despair that crept into my mind, I had to figure out a way to stall him just a little longer. I had to...

Suddenly my wound closed completely, significantly faster than my healing skills could have pulled off. I gasped and felt a huge surge of power flow through me, making a powerful roar burst from my chest. My heart rate shot through the roof and I felt adrenaline surging through my veins. I'd recognise that power anywhere, that was Dante's! He was helping me! My head snapped up to see Tackanka nearing me, he was only a few paces from me. From the corner of my eye I saw Eir finishing her lightning bolt.

Letting Dante's power blend in with mine I let out a fearsome growl and I beat my wings to leap at Tachanka with tremendous speed. With the element of surprise at my side I barged into his side, digging my claws deep into his chest and spinned him around to face Eir. Tachanka clearly didn't expect my miraculous recovery and was too slow to react.

I withdrew my claws from his body and allowed my momentum to swing me to the side, landing nimbly on my feet. Time seemed to pass in slow motion while I watched Eir's huge lightning bolt blast through the air and hit Tackanka right in the wound I had inflicted a split second earlier. It was a deep wound, and his healing ability hadn't kicked in yet, so the lightning bolt did full damage on him, wounding him internally and blasting him backwards into the air.

With colossal force he was blown back and crashed into a large, pointy rock that was sticking out from the wall. I breathlessly looked at the rock that jutted out from his chest. Blood and gore had spewed everywhere and his insides were hanging out. I gulped when I saw his heart dangling from his chest, unbeating. His body spasmed and twitched as death set in, followed by total silence.

Eir was panting hard from the exertion and collapsed to the floor. I rushed over to her and crouched down beside her exhausted form. She was covered in drying blood and bits of gore, her dress heavily ripped from the demons' attacks.

"You did it!" I smiled and brushed her blood matted hair out of her face.

Eir was panting heavily, but managed to conjure up a small smile. "Evil bastard... Thought he could capture me and use me... Thank you for rescuing me... I couldn't have beaten him...without you."

"Believe me, the pleasure was all mine," I mumbled as I glanced at Tackanka's corpse. "What do you need to replenish your energy? Can I help you in any way?" I asked her.

Eir groaned and propped herself up on one elbow, looking around the cave. "My staff... " she pointed. "Please, hand it to me."

I scoured in the direction she indicated and spotted her staff laying next to a demonic corpse. Approaching it, I noticed that some of the gemstones I saw last time were missing. As soon as I picked up the staff, its carvings began glowing in a faint red hue. I almost dropped it in surprise and quickly handed it over to Eir. She gasped weakly when she took her staff from me, and the carvings changed color from red to the customary blue I was used to seeing.

Eir eyed me carefully. "Your mate is sharing his strength with you," she noted with a smile. "That is an incredibly noble thing to do. No Master would ever do that for his succubus. You truly have a special bond, Cyrea," she chuckled weakly.

With that lingering smile on her face she inspected the gemstones on her staff, selected a brown one and pried it out. Eir's eyes began glowing and the gemstone levitated above her hand. The gem then started shaking rapidly, shedding the tiniest of sparkly fragments, making it seem as if it was covered in a brown diamond mist. Slowly the gemstone dissolved completely into this sparkly mist and Eir moved her mouth toward her hand. She inhaled the diamond mist deep into her lungs, her eyes shining brighter and brighter. When all the particles were gone she closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. I felt it in the air - it was once again shimmering with her magic.

Slowly Eir opened her eyes and got up. She stared intently at Tackanka's corpse and stumbled over to his remains. I rushed out to support her when she missed a step and nearly fell to the floor. "Easy there, let me help you," I said softly and held her close, allowing her to rest her weight on me as we walked towards Tackanka.

When we reached his remains, gruesomely impaled on the wall, Eir gently untangled herself from my support and stood in front of the corpse. She stared hard at the Demonic Lord that had tried to hurt her moments ago and anger was rolling off of her. Her eyes started glowing fiercely and the carvings in her staff lit up. Eir began mumbling in that foreign tongue of hers and I saw how Tackanka's body began to glow with a dark green hue. The greenish light coming from his body seemed to evaporate from him, swirling round his remains in a green, sparkly cloud. Eir's mumbling became louder and the cloud condensed into an increasingly smaller sphere. The sphere got smaller and smaller until it dropped to the floor as a shiny pebble. Eir walked over to the gem and picked it up, inspecting it. I could see that the dark green rock sparkled and swirled.

"Is that his...soul?" I tentatively asked, not sure if I wanted to know. Eir didn't answer, and kept staring angrily at the gem. An uneasy feeling came over me while I gazed at Eir.

How heavily it was frowned upon, by both heaven and hell, to take someone's immortal soul - it was simply not done. Souls had to be allowed to pass on untouched so that they could be reborn, die and reborn again infinitely. This was how the system worked. Harvesting a soul removed it from that cycle completely, effectively killing it.

Eir was still looking closely at the gem, inspecting it with a venomous stare. "Yes," she replied coldly, and inserted the gem into one of the vacant holes in her staff. My eyes studied her staff. There were probably around ten spherical indentations in it, four of which were now filled with various coloured gemstones. A shiver ran down my spine now that I saw Eir in a completely different light.

Eir looked at me with a cold stare, uncaring of the apprehension visible on my face. "It is the price they pay for crossing me," she said, turning towards me, her stance defiant, daring me to object to her ways.

I sighed in frustration, figuring silence was a better approach than to lecture her on how this was NOT done!

Eir narrowed her eyes at me and squared her jaw. "Thirteen souls I have taken. Thirteen times some demon or angel thought they could use me, control me. Thirteen times have I shown them the error of their ways. I will not be controlled," she slowly spoke in a shaky voice, her eyes fiercely glowing that blue hue and her magic crackling the air around her. Eir's anger was almost palpable - her magic swirled around her, making some of the rubble on the floor levitate and vibrate.

Eir's eyes lit up intensely and for a moment I saw the beginnings of a tear gather in them. I looked at Eir, really looked at her - beyond the anger. It didn't matter that I couldn't see her soul - gazing into her eyes I saw pain, and sadness. A lot of it.