Darkness Desires the Purest of Souls

Nightmares and Memories

Riftan was awoken in the middle of the night by a sound that easily made his heart clench painfully and his blood run cold. 

His wife was screaming in the room just across the hall. 

He tried to rationalize with himself that it was Eve probably putting on an act to get a rise out of him, again, but his feet moved on their own. Demon or not, she was still his wife, sort of, and every instinct within him demanded that he make sure she was safe. 

He quickly made his way to her room and didn't bother to knock as ensuring her safety was his greatest concern at that moment. 

Her room was dark but after a quick assessment he soon determined that there was no immediate physical threat. He could see her small form tossing and turning on the bed. As he moved closer, he could see she had broken out into a cold sweat, her brows were scrunched tightly, and small whimpers spilled from her rosy lips. 

With her eyes closed he could almost forget that the woman before him was not his wife. In that moment she looked like his Maxi, and he had to fight the urge to scoop her up in his arms and console her, vowing to never let anything, including her nightmares, hurt her.

He needed her to wake up so that her pained cries which broke his heart would stop.

He knew better than to try to shake her. She would probably lash out and try to strike him if she awoke to find him hovering over her.

"Wake up..." he caught himself before he almost called her Maxi. He knew it was not her but he sure as hell wouldn't give this vile creature the courtesy of being addressed properly as "Eve."

"Wake up," he said a bit louder this time.

The small woman screeched as she bolted upright in bed. Her eyes were wide with panic and her facial features had contorted in fear. 

His breath hitched. She wore a sheer nightgown and even in the dark room, it left nothing to his imagination. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, willing himself to calm down.

His eyes remained shut as he spoke, "I heard you screaming. I came to make sure you were safe. You were having a nightmare." 

"Demons don't have nightmares." she spat. "We do not need sleep but lately I have felt unwell so I thought I might at least try to rest a little."

Her tense muscles softened slightly as she continued, "When demons rest sometimes it is possible that our minds meld with our host. I wasn't having my own nightmare; I was having one of hers."

"What happened?" Riftan asked curiously, concern also laced into his tone.  He wanted to know what awful thing Maxi had imagined that was horrible enough to frighten a demon.

He slowly opened his eyes. Eve clung to the bed sheets holding them up to her chest trying to console herself which also hid her body from Riftan's gaze.

"I was small. Younger, around eight or nine I suppose." she began, unsure why she was suddenly opening up to him, but maybe talking about it would make it seem less real.

"She, not I. You are not her. You are not my wife" he said quietly.

Eve sighed slightly annoyed before speaking again, "Fine. She was in a very fancy library, and she was trying to recite an ancient poem. Her tongue would not cooperate. She stuttered over her words, and I could feel fear rapidly rising within her with each passing second. I heard it before I felt it, the harsh crack of a whip. The next thing I knew she collapsed onto the floor weeping and apologizing but her stutter grew worse as she grew more and more afraid. It just made him angrier. The tall cruel man wearing expensive garments towered over her and between each lash he verbally demoralized her. He called her a worthless, pathetic, humiliating, disgusting, unlovable stutterer." 

"The whip was merciless," she continued. "In her mind as that weak child, she felt defenseless. I could feel the harsh sting of the whip piercing her skin over and over and over and I could do nothing to help her or protect her. Her nightmare felt so real and-"

"That wasn't a nightmare." Riftan spit out through gritted teeth. Eve's eyes had adjusted to the dark room, and she could see that his body was rigid. He was stiff with rage that he was trying desperately to contain. His face was dark and though there was already plenty of space between them she slowly scooted away from him to the far side of the bed. 

"What!?" she gasped softly in disbelief.

"It wasn't a nightmare you witnessed. It was a memory." he said quietly, his voice tight, strangled with emotion.

Eve sat there in silence for a long time as she processed his words.

"What. The. FUCK?!" she screamed. Her loud voice echoed off the bedroom walls. "What the hell has this girl been through?! I relish the pain of others, like any demon would, but only if it is deserved. Even I am disgusted by the torture she endured. I am in her head so I can see all her memories, but this part of her past was so traumatizing that she buried it deep in her own mind so that even I could not see it. She was innocent and good. She was just a helpless child."

"Her father is worse than the foulest scum of the earth," Riftan said with a dark tone, venom dripping in his voice. "Even worse than your kind. I witnessed one of her "punishments." That's what her father had called them. I broke a chair over his head. I nearly killed him; I should have killed him..."

His voice trailed off as his rising fury made it difficult to speak. 

"I swore to her that I would never let anything like that happen to her ever again," he spoke with a resolve that told Eve that he was deadly serious when it came to his promises. 

She spoke quietly with a small smile on her face, "It appears Lord Calypse, that is the one thing we can agree on. I would never allow her to get hurt. I will cherish and protect her. I have grown very fond of her." 

The demon's voice grew soft with affection as she spoke about her bond with her host. 
Riftan cringed. 

"You are hurting her now by keeping her from me, from her friends, and all the people who love her and care about her." he said honestly.

"She's not apart from you." Eve said in an almost proud voice. "You, the knights, and her other friends are with her in her dream world. She is the safest she has ever been inside her own mind. You are with her providing her peace, comfort, and joy." 

"It's not real," he spoke, his voice getting louder as his anger began to rise again. "Even the sweetest of dreams couldn't match the feeling of physically holding her in my arms, cherishing her, loving her." 

Eve gagged as his voice had grown soft with affection and longing. 

"Not gonna happen." she said firmly. "And on that nauseating note, please get out so I can read or something. I sure as hell won't be trying to sleep again anytime soon."

Seeing that she was safe and he was unable to provide her with any comfort he reluctantly turned and began to leave the room. He opened the door to her bedchamber but turned one last time to face her. Her expression was neutral and her unemotional eyes filled him with both rage and sorrow.

"I will get her back," he spoke softly in a serious tone that banished all warmth from the small room. "Nothing will keep me from my wife. A fire breathing dragon could not separate us, so don't tell me that a worthless, foul creature like you could take her from me. No matter the cost, no matter how long it takes, I will have her safe in my arms again where she belongs. Your days are fucking numbered." 

He quickly closed the door leaving the demon to sit alone in the uncomfortable silence of her room.

Good luck with that Commander, she thought with a wicked smirk plastered on her face. You aren't the only one willing to fight for her. Unlike you, bound by a knight's chivalry and all that shit, I have no problem fighting dirty for what I want.

Note: The fact that a literal demon was disgusted by what the Duke did to Maxi once again proves what an awful person he is.