The Last Exorcist

Lexa lashed out with one of her whips. and the demoness caught it with ease as she ripped it roughly out of the Exorcist's hand. It

clattered to the ground, and lost its arcane charge. Keziah wasn't even hurt from touching it.

"Any last words, human?," Keziah snarled as she closed in on her prey.

"Yeah -- I have a few..."

Lexa cried out in pain as she jammed her fingers deep into her own wound, roughly worrying it even and making it bleed even more.

"Corrosa en Vitae!"

The Exorcist flung her bloody hand out towards Keziah, and she shrieked as it splashed across her face and neck, burning her with fierce, arcane power that fired Lexa's blood. Lexa looked up at the sound of wings beating in the air and saw Belial coming around as Keziah struggled to open her eyes. He went to grab her when the demoness recovered and a hand shot out around his neck.

Belial struggled against her strong grasp, clawing deep furrows into Keziah's arm, but she was undaunted as she raised her other hand.

"I'll feast on your heart!" she roared and for a moment Lexa was deafened by her rage. Her ears rang and she wavered on her feet.

Through her vertigo, Lexa saw that Belial was about to get his heart torn out. She reached for her other whip, muttering a hasty chant. It straitened at the flick of her wrist, the tip a gleaming point in the dark.

"Keziah!"

The demoness snapped her attention to Lexa and there was searing pain, as the Exorcist stabbed her through the thin leather that barely covered her torso with the straightened whip. She stared at the human, stunned for a precious moment, as she dropped Belial. Lexa reached out to inscribe a glowing sigil in the air and thrust it towards the demoness with her hand. It burned Keziah as it landed on her exposed skin she started to vanish.

"You go back now...", Lexa growled between her teeth, as Keziah shrieked, still impaled on the whip that the Exorcist's force of will kept strait. The demoness tried to claw her as she faded but her talons passed harmlessly across Lexa's face.

When the demoness was gone, Lexa dropped her whip. It softened and curled in on itself, normal woven black leather, once more. She dropped to her knees and threw back her head, a hysterical laugh shaking her aching body.

"Some protector I turned out to be..."

Lexa ran her bloodied hand down her face as her laughter died, and she turned towards Belial who was pulling himself up from the battered roof top.

"Great idea, Lexa...", she chided herself as she searched her pockets for that cigarette.

Belial slowly walked over to her and knelt down beside her. The gashes in Lexa's arms looked worse and she'd lost a lot more blood.

"You could've told me that she was a badass, Belial."

"You wouldn't listen," he growled.

"Belial?"

"What!"

"I think... I think I'm going into shock." Lexa grinned stupidly as she fell against his chest. "At least there's no more zombies. No more Keziah. For now."

Belial pulled away from her abruptly. If he didn't do something soon, Lexa wouldn't make it to Menasha.

"So cold," Lexa slurred, as her mind started to go all fuzzy. "Kiss me, Belial..."

The demon Prince gently pressed his lips to hers, at first, and then more ardent, but she didn't respond. Lexa's lips, her whole body grew colder by the moment.

"Mistress," he murmured as he gently laid her down on the rooftop.

There was one thing Belial could think to do. Lexa had given her life for him, protected him, just as she said she would, and now he would spare a little bit of himself for her.

Belial opened up the palm of his hand with a sharp talon. With his blood, he inscribed Lexa's forehead with elegant, infernal script. A shock ran through him as the sigil began to glow. He bent to kiss her again, his wings curving around her and this time, he felt the cold flow of his own spirit run from him to her.

Lexa's body arched violently into his at the sudden jolt of infernal life force that ran through her. There was pain, but just as much pleasure, as Belial reveled in the press of her body against his. He kissed her deeper, more insistent, as he felt Lexa's lips part against his, while she siphoned off his life. He pressed back into her, longing to feel her flesh beneath such restrictive clothing. The sheer ecstasy in being able to kiss his Mistress, made it difficult to tear himself away, but if he didn't, she'd take all of him, leaving only a husk.

With a growl of agony, Belial tore himself away from Lexa's mouth and the glowing script on her forehead dimmed to nothing. Her eyes slowly opened to the demon who was panting and shaking above her. She felt something wet drip down the bridge of her nose, something that smelled faintly like brimstone.

"What," Lexa said, groggy, as she touched her forehead. "What did you..."

She saw Belial's bloody hand and backed away from him slightly.

"What did you do?"

"I saved your life, Lexa," Belial rasped, still weak from the loss of himself to her. "just as you saved mine."

Lexa felt herself tingling faintly all over, but mostly in the arm that had been clawed. She looked down to see the last of her wound knit itself back together. It closed almost seamlessly, leaving a faint scar.

She looked back at Belial; his kiss had left her lips moist. She licked them slightly, the bold, dark, taste of him still clinging to them. It was a guilty, dangerous pleasure that she indulged herself in just then, and she quickly turned away to look out over the city. Lexa tried to ignore Belial coming up behind her as she squinted in the moonlight. Far below her, the dead lay, fallen and motionless now that Keziah's puppet hand was no longer there to direct them.

"Keziah's going to be pissed," Lexa muttered, as she turned back to Belial who was looming over her just then.

He was impressed that Lexa, this human had stood her ground against the demoness, much less lived.

"You... didn't kill her?" Belial asked, a faint tinge of surprise in his voice.

"Hell no!," Lexa snorted as she tried to get up. She wobbled a little on her feet and Belial caught her so she didn't stumble over the edge of the roof. "I just banished her. I couldn't fight her off, so I did the next best thing. It might buy us some time, but we'll see her again."

"We'll be safe in Menasha."

"I hope you're right... How are we getting there again?"

Belial willed his scythe to appear and he made a long, vertical cut before them. Lexa didn't understand what he'd done until she saw a thin, silver strand appear in the air and there was a tearing sound as it expanded open.

Lexa stared at the silvery, ragged edges of the portal and beyond, into a place with a reddish cast. It vaguely reminded her of colorized pictures of Mars that she'd seen on the TV once, when there still had been TV. Belial had torn a hole between her world and his.

"Come." Belial said as he stretched one of his wings around her, intent on herding her though the portal he had cut. Lexa's feet stuttered, resistant to step onto the hellish, red soil of Menasha. She felt hot wind scour her cheeks, and she didn't even want to begin to know what was lurking behind that rift.

"Oh. God..." she murmured, terrified

"It's just a suburb of Hell," Belial said, throwing her own words back at her, as he gave her a push the way a mother bird did when she pushed her young from the nest.

Lexa stumbled in and Belial stepped through as the rift closed behind them. Everywhere she looked, she was bereft of anything familiar, as she held her hand up against the angry, red sky that glared down on her. There were monstrous, buzzard-like creatures with gaping maws of razor teeth and Lexa watched, with disgust and horror as they alighted on crucified corpses that lined either side of what appeared to be a worn road or path. The buzzard things tore into the corpses and the squelching sound of tearing flesh and the snapping of bone made Lexa wretch.

It took her a moment to reign in her stomach and when she did, she looked up to find Belial holding out his large hand to her. Lexa took it, steadying herself, and they began to walk down the vile road together.

"Shadow Thorn is not far." Belial said, as they walked. "I've managed to maintain this small stronghold while I've been looking for you."

Lexa barely heard Belial, as she walked, on guard in case one of the buzzard things decided to come down and visit. She didn't like it here; something unnatural reverberated through the air and it made Lexa's skin crawl. In the distance, she saw an old keep coming into view, that was Shadow Thorn. Her stomach lurched and fear clawed in her chest. Lexa wondered just what the hell she'd really gotten herself into now.