Ultimate Assassin Saga: Woodlands

These were horrid acts that no matter how long he lived and no matter how much good he did, he could never wash away. The memories would live forever in his mind, in his soul, and most especially, scarred into his soul. He deserved to suffer eternally for all the death that he'd caused and yet here he was fighting on to reach a better life for himself.

What sort of hypocrite was he?

Just as his self pity was starting to kick into overdrive, he felt a small hand on his shoulder, squeezing to give him comfort. Eyes shooting open at the contact, the Chaos Demon looked at the hand at his shoulder. He looked up the hand and up the arm to the woman that had rested her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. She stared at him, her eyes filled with tears for him and he blinked, surprised by the sight.

Why would she be crying for him? There was no reason for her to feel sorry for the things that he'd done. She hadn't been the one to raise her sword again and again, cutting down innocents. It had all been him and there was no forgiveness for men like him. Men such as he deserved to burn in the fiery pits of hell for all eternity, never knowing rest and never knowing redemption. That was what he deserved, but try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to end his own life.

That would've been the real justice for those that he'd killed. To end his own life and to sink into hell where he belonged would've been the justice that the people that he'd killed deserved. However, he just couldn't bring himself to do it. The Command Assassin was just too weak and too cowardly to commit that sort of sacrifice to his so called redemption. He liked to believe that he was a good man that would do anything to clean his soul and start anew, but he wasn't. He was still the same selfish bastard that he'd always been.

"You must stop beating yourself up over things that you can't change." Leera's soft voice bit through the bitter recrimination and drew him from his despair. He looked at her, shocked to see her tears spilling down her cheeks and he longed to do the same, but he simply could not. He wasn't strong enough to cry, though he wished that he could. When she saw him look at her, she smiled a small, gentle smile, only one side of her lips turning up the slightest bit. "If you truly wish to redeem yourself, then you must live. Live and do good in the names of all those that you slaughtered. That is the way that you can make it up to them.

The Chaos Demon blinked as he stared at her. Could she be right? Could it be that simple? Or was he simply hoping beyond hope that she was right and that they didn't deserve his death to avenge their deaths? He didn't know which one it was, but he would do as she'd said. He would live his life and damned be the one's that told him that he should die for those that he'd killed. It was a long time ago and he was a better person now. He would fight for those that he'd killed in the past and he would destroy evil. He would do this not for himself and not for Trissieal, but for those that deserved it.

"Thank you." Acheron found himself telling the Star Elf at his side with genuine gratitude. He hadn't meant to say the words, but now that they were out, he couldn't pull them back in. Not that he'd want to anyway. He meant the words after all and she deserved them. "You have helped me greatly and I know that you're right. I shall fight for those that I slaughtered. I can only hope that they will forgive me for what I did to them in the past."

The Star Elf woman smiled and uncrossed her legs, pushing to her feet. Even as she stood on her feet looking down at him, the top of his head was still at her shoulders. It was something that he found to be quite funny, but he curbed the impulse to laugh. This was far too serious a situation to ruin it with laughter after all.

Leera smiled at him and nodded her head sagely. Then, she turned and walked to the edge of the hut roof. Before he could say a word to her, she gathered her strength into her legs and she leaped off of the roof, flying through the air elegantly. He watched her as she flew through the air, and when gravity took over, she fell to the ground of the village with just as much grace as she'd flown off of the roof. She was truly a beautiful spectacle, but he knew that if he were to be caught watching her, she would probably be annoyed.

Snorting and shaking his head, the Chaos Demon lay back on top of the roof, stretching his legs out. He stared at the roof, and even though he should return to the palace for his sleep tonight, he just couldn't bring himself to get up. He was simply too comfortable right here and he didn't want to move anytime soon. The roof was simply way too comfortable and he raised his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers behind his head to pillow his head in his palms.

Acheron found his eyes slowly closing and he didn't even try to fight it back as his eyes closed slowly, drifting off to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

Rachel lay in her bed of furs and stared at the roof, unable to sleep. Her mind was in chaos which prevented her from sleep or anything else that she might've wanted to do. Right now, all she wanted to do was close her eyes and go to sleep, but she found that nearly impossible to do. All she could do was think about the Chaos Demon and the night that they'd shared in her bed.

Acheron had been the most patient and kind of lovers, but when she'd wanted him to, he'd picked up the pace. It was almost like he could read her mind and adjust accordingly to make her feel as good as possible. He'd brought her pleasure more than three times before he'd finally taken his pleasure of her body and she was completely unused to that. Most men tended to take their pleasure of a woman's body without caring if she received pleasure as well, but not him. He made sure that she was well and duly pleasured.

Cursing herself for her foolish thoughts, the Star Elf shook her head and she rolled over onto her side. She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep, but after several minutes and being no closer to getting to sleep, she opened her eyes with a sigh. She rolled back onto her back once more and she sat up, allowing the furs to slip into her lap, exposing her naked breasts to the air, but she didn't care.

The Elf warrior raised a slender hand to her face and ran her fingers over her face, tired beyond belief. She simply couldn't go to sleep and there was nothing that she could do for it she knew. No matter how hard she tried, she wouldn't be able to sleep and she knew it. She should just get up and continue on with her day, but she couldn't seem to bring herself to get out of bed either.

Rachel simply couldn't get the Chaos Demon out of her mind. She could still recall the huge size of his body and all of the scars that marked him. Another woman might've thought the scars ugly, but not her. She'd thought that they were beautiful, marking his life as a hard and difficult one that he'd overcome to be right there with her at the time.

Shaking her head, the Warrior pushed back the sheet, revealing her fully naked body and she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She pushed to her feet and stretched her arms over her head, loosening the muscles in her shoulders and her back. That done, she allowed her arms to fall down by her sides and she walked across the room to the wooden dresser in the corner.

Rachel knelt down and grabbed the drawers, pulling one of the drawers out. Peering inside, she reached inside and pulled out a pair of black thong panties. She smiled as she got back to her feet and bent down, pulling the thong up her legs. She sighed as the material settled between the cheeks of her buttocks and covered her most private of parts. She rather enjoyed thong panties. They were soft, and even though the string went up between the cheeks of your buttocks, they were still quite comfortable.

That done, the Star Elf pulled out her other clothing and pulled it on, dressing quickly enough. She stood in the darkness of her room dressed in a low cut black top that showed the cleavage of her breasts and a short cut black leather skirt that fell to just past her thighs. She smoothed the skirt down her legs and she shook her long black hair out over her shoulders.

The Warrior walked across the floor and up to the front door of her hut. She pulled open the door and stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her. She walked to the edge of the porch and she looked out at the other homes set up on the ridges, the silver light of the waxing moon illuminating the small village of Star Elves.

Rachel stepped off of the porch and walked slowly down the ridges of the village down towards the palace. However, she took a step to the right and she walked slowly down the path off to the right. She'd walked only ten feet when she saw another Star Elf female leaping off of the roof of one of the huts on the outskirts of the village and leaping away. She frowned at that. Just what the hell was that about?

She supposed that she should see who was on top of the hut to see what was going on. That was the only way that she was going to see what the Princess had been doing. She didn't really care about the comings and goings of the Princess of her people, but it was a curious thing that she would be moving around in the middle of the night. It was interesting.

Waiting until Leera from gone from her view, the Warrior ducked out from behind the building she'd been hiding behind and she made her way towards the edge of the village. She'd been able to see clearly which hut she'd leaped from and she was quite interested to see who it was that she'd been visiting with. There was no doubt in her mind that Leera had been visiting with someone after all.

Finally reaching the corner of the village, the Star elf stopped and she narrowed her eyes as she looked up at the roof of the hut. She could see almost perfectly at this angle and who she saw on top of the hut was a surprise to her. It was Acheron and he was already laying back on the roof, his finger laced behind his head.

Rachel shook her head in denial and stared. Just what had the Princess and Acheron been doing up on that roof all alone in the middle of the night? Thoughts began to pour through her mind and not one of them were good for her mental health.

He'd gone from her bed to the Princess'. That was the only explanation for what she'd seen here. He hadn't returned to her bed and had simply gone to another woman's bed without a second thought. He didn't seem to care and he didn't look ready to return to her bed either. That angered her, but she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. If she yelled at him, then she would be the one who was in question because of her bringing him into her bed and no one would take her serious again. She would be just another woman who spread her legs for a man who didn't love her.

The Star Elf gritted her teeth and she glared at the Chaos Demon. He didn't turn of course, but she hadn't expected him to. He didn't know she was there after all and there was no reason for him to notice her. The fact that he continued to ignore her presence angered her more and more. However, she kept herself in check and she didn't jump on top of the hut to rage at him like she wanted to.

She didn't want to appear as an irrational woman.

The Warrior woman turned away from the vision of the Chaos Demon and she walked away. Her hair flapped out behind her, signalling like a flag behind her as she moved. Her long legged strides ate up the ground below her, and when she reached her home, she swung open the door before charging inside, her anger firing her blood beyond all belief. She wanted to destroy something, to break something, but all she did was walk across her hut and sit down on the end of her bed of furs.

Rachel spread her legs with her feet flat on the floor and she rested her arms on her thighs. She stared at the floor and her anger fired through her blood. She hated feeling the way she felt right now, but there was nothing she could do about that now. Absolutely nothing. She was lost in her sea of emotions and she was slowly, but surely drowning in those hectic emotions.

The Warrior woman straightened and she ran a hand over her face. She was tired, tired beyond belief, but she couldn't close her eyes and go to sleep. Especially not after what she'd seen tonight and with the emotions filling her now. If she saw Acheron now, she would slam him with all her might, and even though it would feel good, she knew that it wasn't a good idea. She would be demonized and vilified if she attacked him, that she knew.

She lay back on her bed and she stared up at the roof. This was the only thing that she could really do right now was lay back and stare at the roof. There was nothing more that she could do and not have consequences over doing it. She closed her eyes and she sighed heavily, her mind lost in whirl.

Shido, Lord of the Blood Demons, stood in his office staring out his window. The trees of the High Forest loomed beyond, appearing as beautiful and majestic as they had the day before. He couldn't seem to pull himself away from the nature however. It was like he was drawn to it, like a moth to a flame, but a flame that didn't burn. It continued to reward him again and again, bringing him back for more the very next day.

He was tall, standing at over six foot tall, and he was extremely lanky though packed with light muscle. He had long lavender colored hair that fell unrestrained to the middle of his back and blood red eyes that glowed out of an alabaster, roguishly handsome face. He wore a long sleeve button up silk purple shirt, tight black linen pants, ankle high black leather boots, and a black leather coat that fell to the backs of his thighs.

One might look upon the Blood Demon and think that he wasn't a danger. They would be wrong. Of all the Blood Demons in existence, he was quite possibly the most dangerous and most deadly of them all. He wasn't the Lord of the Blood Demons for no reason after all. He'd attained his spot as Lord through his own sheer blood lust and his abilities in battle.

Few could stand against him in battle and few had ever tried.

Shido could remember his time as a soldier of the campaign being lead by their General, Acheron. For a young Blood Demon, it was a lot of fun. He got to kill and murder to his heart's content with others at his back. He hadn't thought twice about killing the people, not caring about their suffering and their grief.

Centuries later, things were different. HE was different. He could remember the faces of every single man, woman, and child that he'd killed. They'd been haunting him for the past two years and he found himself wondering if the faces would ever stop coming to him. He didn't think they would, and if he were honest with himself, he didn't want them to. They were his penance after all and he wanted redemption more than he wanted his next breath.

The Blood Demon knew that he could never be forgiven for the lives that he'd stolen or for the grief that he'd caused, but he couldn't allow it to consume him either. He had a family that cared about and loved him. They were what mattered now, not some old ghosts come to haunt his heart and dreams.

His Mate, Leanna, was the most vocal about their being something wrong with him. He pretended that he was okay, but when he woke up at night from a horrible nightmare, she was there with him and knew that something was plaguing him. In his attempts to protect her, he found that he was growing more and more distant from his Mate. He didn't want to lose her, but he also didn't see how he couldn't. He didn't deserve happiness with all of the blood that he'd spilled over the years.

If anything, he deserved a bloody, violent death, much like he'd given to so many others.

Shaking his head, the Blood Lord turned away from the window and he stared at his office. It was a little room with only one bit of furniture and that was his desk. That was the only furniture that he really needed if he were honest with himself. It wasn't like he did much of anything in here. He just came to his office to get away from his Mate and the rest of his people so he could wallow in a sea of guilt that was slowly drowning him.

Banishing those thoughts, Shido walked across the office and layed a hand on the back of the chair pushed under his desk. He pulled it back and he sank down into it, pulling it back up towards the desk. He sighed and lay his hands palms down on the wooden desk in front of him. With that done, he stared at the unmarked wood and he remembered. He remembered a time when things were much easier and all he had to do was kill to get by. Now, things were much harder and his duties were many.

Duty. This was what it meant to be a Lord of a Demon clan. It was his duty that had caused him to fight side by side with Acheron during the campaigns and it was his duty that had lead him to desert the Empire with his clan. He didn't know if that was the wisest decision that he'd ever made, but now that it was done, he couldn't go back. Hells, he wouldn't go back even if he could. He liked being free of Dalkia and the Emperor. Free of the strict regiment and free of the worrying about a knife in the back while walking down the street.

Freedom was the right of all sentient beings, but freedom came in many different ways. Some people would call Dalkia freedom because one could kill and not have to worry about being thrown in jail for it. You were free to kill, loot, steal, burn, and rape anything that you wanted. If you were caught, you were stopped and put down for what you were doing. That was all there was to it and it was system that worked quite well, but at the same time, it bred resentment.

Sitting back in his chair, the Blood Demon sighed and he ran a hand over his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. There was a headache brewing behind his eyes, and from what he could tell, it was going to be a painful one.

He allowed his hand to fall to the desk and he tilted his head back, staring at the roof. He was surprised that the forces of Dalkia were yet to come. He'd expected them much sooner than this, but he wasn't going to complain. The longer that the Dalkian armies stayed out of the Wilds, the more likely that it was that they would survive. That was all this was really about after all. Survival.

When the Blood Demon clan had come to the High Forest, they'd made allies with the Amazons, and as allies, they'd promised them their blades if they needed it. So far, the Amazons didn't need them and he was glad for that. He didn't want to have to sacrifice any of his men anytime soon, but he knew that battle was coming soon. All they could do right now was sit and wait for it. Being only a mile south of the Amazon village gave them an advantage to be able to walk out their front doors and be at the Amazon village in only a second.

After all, Blood Demons were credited for their speed and ferocity above all else. There wasn't another Demon - or any other species for that matter - that could match the speed of a Blood Demon and that was one of the things that had kept them alive so long. However, they did have their drawbacks. The most notable drawback of being a Blood Demon was the uneven ration of males to females born every generation.

For every one female born, there were ten males born, and because of this, it created a heavy male population. To make up for this, males were often partnered off with another male. This was done to teach them about sex and to help them with sexual release as well as build friendships. Most males would go their entire lives without ever having sex with a woman, and because of his mandate to never Mate outside of the species, there was little choice for the males of their species. They spent their lives with their partners, and if they were lucky, they would have a Mate to bare their children, though it wasn't very likely.