Heretic Ch. 03

The creature screeched as it collapsed to the ground. Two halves tried to crawl away both seeming to have heads. Trails of black ichor bubbled in its wake as it made its way towards the shadowy edge of the clearing.

Maelice lunged forward, and plunged her blade into the demon's back. Both heads shrieked as fresh ichor gushed from the wound. Inky smoke swirled upwards around the blade, and Maelice twisted. The thing shrivelled upon the ground and eyes stared from the cloak like back of its head.

About to pull her blade up Maelice was thrown across the clearing. Claws scraped against the mail along her belly before she landed hard on the ground. With a gasp for breath, she scrambled to her knee. A glance across the clearing showed her sword still jammed into a demon's back. She reached to the satchel at her side, but did not see the flicker of shadow as it flew at her.

Air blasted from her lungs as it hit her, and smashed her against a tree. She gulped for air, desperate to fill her lungs as she shoved her hand into the satchel. She found the flask of holy water and pulled it up, twisting the cap with her thumb as she did.

Maelice saw the shadow at the last moment. It dove at her from the twisted branches above. Maelice's arm shot up in reflex as the demon swiped at her face. Holy water splashed upwards, sprinkled across the fiend's arm as its claw raked down her brow to her cheek, narrowly missing her eye.

Blood streamed from the open wound but the demon recoiled with a hiss. Flask in hand, Maelice rushed forward but was hit from the side. Picked up and carried into the branches above. She looked down, vaguely aware of a face within a swirling morass of shadow and smoke. Maelice upended the flask and punched down at the shape that bore her upwards. Her fist sunk into its mass like punching a deep puddle.

She gasped at the sharp cold that pierced her flesh, before a scream of pain tore out from her throat. The sound was drowned even in her own ears by the screech from the fiend. The pair of them plummeted to the ground, the demon thrashing in agony as holy water spilled inside it.

It burst in clouds and goo when they struck, and Maelice groaned as she picked herself up. Ichor was splattered across her front and had sprayed across the grass, but she did not dally, even as blood dribbled into her eye. She hissed at the sting, clenching one eye closed, and rushed around the fire to where the first demon was still pinned. Its second half had crawled back to it, skeletal arms reaching out from its smokey mass to grasp at the blade.

It sizzled as it tried to pull, the fiend shrieking in agony as it desperately tried to free itself.

From the corner of her good eye, Maelice saw movement. She plunged her hand into the fire with gritted teeth and grabbed a stout stick. As flames consumed the cloth arm of her habit, she swung wide. The stick smashed against the diving demon and snapped in half with a shower of embers. The flames were snuffed out but the creature was smashed to the ground.

Maelice dove for her sword. She managed to grasp the blade and swung upwards at the lower half of the demon that was trying to free itself. The steel sliced through where a second face seemed to be and split it in half. Ichor sprayed upwards, and a hundred eyes all seemed to blink at her from the split form before her.

Before she'd even registered the sight, the eyes vanished, and the fiend melted down into a black puddle on the ground.

Laughter pealed across the glade. Sword in hand, Maelice looked about her, and found the demon hovering near the fire. Half of a skull like visage stared at her, a dozen tiny eyes blinking at her in its one visible socket. Maelice quickly wiped her eye with the back of her hand, but trying to open it only brought more pain so she kept it scrunched tight.

"Again I underestimate you. My siblings have paid the price for it as well," the fiend said, and Maelice moved towards it. It laughed, and the sound mingled with Elke's screams, as it slipped around the fire. "No, I think not. I rather enjoy an intact spirit, and it seems you have shattered that of my siblings."

"Then stop your flight, so you can see them again," Maelice said, only to be met with another laugh.

"But why? Then I will not get what I crave. Oh, I may have to give up on the souls in this particular abbey, pledged to God too strongly, or given themselves to Lilith it seems. The serpent bitch that she is," the demon said, the skull half of its face twisted into a vile grin of drool and a half dozen tongues. "But there are so many others, and their souls will taste just as fine as these ones did. My sin is not pride, Sister Maelice, I can admit when I am beaten."

"Just like that?" Maelice asked, blade still held before her, ready to strike. She wasn't entirely surprised when the demon just laughed at her again.

"My siblings are slain, and with that horrid blessing of a whore Goddess, they might truly be slain. Or perhaps among the lost, doomed to forget themselves and become babbling maniacs in Hell. I'd say we paid the price for our attempts. Oh... oh but I do have one victory," the demon said with a giggle that poured out from a mouth in its chest.

Maelice grunted in reply, and the demon slipped away from the fire, curled around the wretched form of Elke suspended above the ground.

"An eternal screaming martyr?" Maelice asked as she carefully paced towards the fiend. It looked at her over Elke's shoulder as one hand clamped over her mouth to stifle the agonized wails.

"Very little is eternal. She will die, at some point. And when she does, her soul is mine. I've already claimed it. So what do you do demon slayer? Leave her to agony until someone finally figures out to cut off her head? Or send her to me directly? That choice is yours, and all the sins with it upon your soul," the demon said. Maelice pursed her lips as she stared up at the demon.

"We will meet again," Maelice said.

"Forgive me when I say that I am not looking forward to that particular reunion. But, until that day comes, I shall leave you to your victory," the demon said, and snapped away into the darkness.

Maelice stood and watched as the shadows of the forest were pulled in its wake to leave a surprisingly beautiful morning. Sunlight streamed in through the treetops, and ghouls that had hidden themselves in the dark were left exposed. Dozens of them, all in flight after the demon.

But any beauty, any sense of victory was snatched as Elke let out another scream. Maelice turned to her, the display no less grotesque in the daylight. She looked down at Maelice, as the warrior stepped up to her.

"Harlot who spread her legs for the devil's cock. Whore who turned her back on God. I see you for the serpent fornicator that you are. I saw you last night, covered in that whore fiend's filth. The enjoyment you took from it. The abbey is lost, it had to be cleansed with the blood of the wicked," Elke shouted down at Maelice.

The warrior let out a sigh, and grasped the hilt of her blade two handed. She looked upwards, and swung at Elke's neck.

~***~

Streams of sunlight warmed the naked skin of Maelice's back. She grunted as she felt Rochelle slide out from under her arm and go to find her scattered clothes.

"If you struggle to rise this early, perhaps you should not keep us up all night," Rochelle said, and Maelice opened her eyes to see the woman's bared skin before she pulled on her habit.

"I believe last night was your fault," Maelice said and grunted as she sat up. Rochelle looked back, and took note of the bruises that coloured the warrior's ribs and shoulder. She couldn't help but smile as she sat on the edge of the bed, before she gently turned Maelice's face towards her.

"How's it look?" Maelice asked as Rochelle looked at the stitches she'd done herself a few days ago. They ran from just under the edge of her wimple, over her brown eye, to the bottom of her cheek.

"Healing well, though it will leave a scar. I'll clean it again after morning meal," Rochelle said before she pressed her lips to her lover's cheek and stood up from the bed.

"I'm not hungry. I'll wait until dinner," Maelice said and turned to press a kiss to Rochelle's hip, and started to slide inwards with tongue and lips to her stomach. Rochelle frowned, but didn't stop the march of kisses across her skin.

"You've said that the past six days. You've also barely eaten at the evening meal. You need to eat properly to get your strength back up," Rochelle said.

"Don't worry. I know how to take care of myself," Maelice purred as she began to descend from Rochelle's stomach to the fine hairs of her mound. Rochelle bit her lip as lust swirled in with her concerns.

"You might, but first you actually have to do it," Rochelle said though her voice hiked in the final words as Maelice's tongue found the sweet nectar of her cunt. The nun closed her eyes, as Maelice slowly licked along the petals of her sex. Then, just as suddenly she pulled back.

"I will. Now, don't you have chores to get to?" Maelice whispered, as a kiss brushed against sensitive flesh with each word, before she let her tongue curl inside the woman. Rochelle gripped Maelice tight by the hair as her back arched. A hungry moan spilled from her mouth as the juices of her arousal spilled into Maelice.

"I have some time for, personal prayer," she said as Maelice dragged her tongue downwards, the very tip glided over the spongy flesh within to pull another deep moan from the nun.

"Good girl," Maelice said and looked up, her lower face glistened as she grasped Rochelle's hips.

With a swift tug, Maelice pulled Rochelle onto the bed and earned a laughing squeal. The nun managed to land on hands and knees as Maelice shifted behind her. As she knelt behind Rochelle, Maelice pushed down on the woman's back, until her breasts pressed to the mattress they had shared these past few nights.

"Our Goddess wishes to hear your moans," Maelice said with a grin as she grasped the woman's rear cheeks. Rochelle gasped, utterly exposed, and grasped the pillow their heads had rested upon.

Maelice leaned in, and pressed her tongue to the woman's clit. There was a hungry moan, as Maelice dragged her slick pink muscle along the petals of Rochelle's cunt and into the cleft of her ass. She didn't stop until she found the sweet, earthy flavour of her rear, and pressed against it with her juice drenched tongue.

"Lilith praised," Rochelle moaned as her tight little ring of muscle opened for Maelice's tongue, and the warrior pushed deep as her lips pressed to skin. Rochelle let out another mewl of pleasure, as Maelice released one of the woman's cheeks, and moved her fingers down to Rochelle's dribbling cunt.

A higher moan spilled into the room, and likely the hall, as Maelice pushed her fingers inside her lover's sex. Without pause she began to thrust and savoured each sound she earned. Her tongue continue to squirm inside Rochelle's ass, as the nun pushed her hips back against the penetration.

It was not long before she was screaming out her pleasure, with a heavy flow of slick juices that pattered upon the mattress. Maelice groaned, and slowly pulled her tongue free. She pressed a kiss to Rochelle's rear cheek and slid her fingers free as the nun dropped her hips to the bed.

Maelice smiled, and gave on last kiss to the woman's rump before she made to stand. Rochelle grasped her wrist though to stop her. The nun rolled onto her side with a wide grin.

"What kind of lover would I be, if I did not return the favour?" she said, and pulled Maelice down for a kiss.

~***~

Door closed behind her, Maelice left Rochelle to clean herself up and dress. Maelice had been quicker, even getting into her armoured habit. She still looked a sight, though the stains had all been carefully washed out. The cloth on her right arm burned away to the elbow, tears along her back and down her legs, all showing the linked metal rings hidden beneath.

As she stepped out into the hallway though, she got only a few smirk filled curtsies from the lay sisters who had returned to their rooms a few nights previous. Likely, all these women had heard the prayers she and Rochelle had committed to. While they commenced a few of their own, she was sure.

As she did every morning, Maelice made her way down into the cloister. She paused and stared over at the cell that had held Ankhta. The bricks were stained black around the door frame. Every afternoon a few of the lay sisters would set at the stonework with soap and vinegar. Every day the marks became less pronounced, and Maelice hoped it could be cleaned by the time the abbey could open once more for patients.

The succubus herself had left without a word to anyone shortly after Maelice had emerged from the forest with news of Elke's death and the defeat of Mammon's fiends. Whether to return to Hell, to track the escaped one, or something else entirely, Maelice couldn't be sure.

"You stare every day," Emilie said in French, and Maelice turned to see the mother superior standing in the garden. The woman looked tired, but wore a smile.

"Much has changed because of what you kept in that room. But only in this small slice of the world. Everywhere else the sun rises and sets as it always has," Maelice said, and Emilie shrugged as she moved closer.

"As it will here as well. We will practice in secret, and protect ourselves from the schemes of the world, as we always have. But what of you Maelice. What will you do now?" Emilie asked, and Maelice looked down upon the stone floors a moment; she had not truly thought about what would come after.

"Return to Rome, and prepare my sisters as much I can. If you hear word that I was burned at the stake, then I failed. If you hear nothing, then I succeeded. We will need the signs Ankhta has given us, and others will crawl up from Hell to take what they want from us," Maelice said and looked back to the mother superior, who just nodded.

"Your path is a bloody one. Perhaps now you can walk it with more confidence. You will be going into the forest shortly?" Emilie asked and Maelice nodded in return.

"I do. Two days ago I found a wayward ghoul sniffing about the road. Until I am sure this place is safe, and that fiend is truly gone, I would prefer that all the sisters stay inside," Maelice said.

"I lost two of this convent in that forest. I can rest knowing at least they were given decent burials, but I have no intention of losing more. How long, until you are sure?" Emilie asked, and Maelice could only shrug.

"When Dieter returns with the next cart. I will depart with him, as I arrived," Maelice said.

"Then I shall see you at the evening meal Sister Maelice. I pray, that you find nothing out there. When this is done though, I'd like you to show me to Elke's grave. I would like to say my farewells, even if she was the cause of three other deaths. She was a good woman, before she let madness take her."

"Of course," Maelice promised.

Emilie stood a moment, as if she pondered something else to say, but instead moved off towards the abbey's library. Maelice stood by the doorway to Ankhta's former cell and was about to walk off when a glint of silver caught her eye. She stepped inwards, where crusted remains of flesh and slime crunched beneath her boots.

Her crucifix. With a short humourless laugh Maelice knelt and pulled it free, flakes of the succubus's dried corruption crumbling off easily to show the silver beneath. The cord was snapped, and caked with the remnants. Maelice pushed the idol into her satchel, and left the room.

~***~

The forest was old, and full of ghosts Maelice knew. Still it had a beauty to it now that the sun danced along the branches and cast cool shadows upon the woodland floor. The birdsong was sweet, and set a pleasant mood upon the stroll as the warrior moved among the trees. She listened for movement, watched for signs of the last fiend, though she believed him well and truly gone from here.

It was nice to be on her own, without anyone in sight. No white noise of prayer and work spun together, just the whisper of wind in the leaves and the birdsong.

She came eventually to the ichor spattered glade. The smell of blood still clung to the air here, curled together with wood smoke from the fire. It was silent, for no bird or beast dared come to this unholy ground. It was foul, tainted.

Maelice gathered some wood, and small sticks and carefully built herself a fresh fire on the ashes of yesterday's. With steel and flint she soon had it started, a spark given life to flame. She watched as her kindling was consumed, and the larger sticks began to catch.

The warrior rose to her feet and stripped naked. She laid her garments and her weapons carefully beside the firepit, and savoured the heat against her bared skin. She pulled a knife from her belongings, and turned about.

"Good morning Elke," Maelice said, and approached with the knife bared.

END