Dria
"Did you really think we weren't watching?" Garrick gripes.
Garrick, Calcifer and Eric escort me to the sacellum. All stone columns, alcoves, and undercrofts, it's darker than the church but thankfully lit by candles and torches.
"Well I thought I'd at least be able to pray in peace for a few minutes before you showed up. I'm still allowed to do that, aren't I?" Again, I know I shouldn't have snuck out just to get Adriel's attention.
A whistle stops me and my guards in our tracks.
Two men step out of the darkness of an alcove in front of us. I scent the air.
Humans. I smell something along with that human scent that stings my nose. Something holy.
"You found a way to get into The Underworld." I give them a Get serious sort of look. "We paid your world a visit so you pay us one?" I shake my head. "The Church really needs to sort out its priorities."
"Demons belong in Hell or dead," one of the men says. He's dressed in a short sleeved button down and khaki pants. I wonder what he has on him that's giving him the same scent as the man beside him. I scent the air around them again and smell something new this time, faint but there all the same.
Demon's blood.
They really do have a lot of nerve coming here and I'm surprised no one's picked them off yet. Then again that might have something to do with the other man who is wearing red and black clergyman's cloth. I recognize him as a priest of some order. Demons in The Underworld's corridors must have either avoided him or gotten taken out by the both of them. I eye the slender sword sheathed at his side. I start with him.
"You are—" I lick my finger and stick it in the air "—Anthony." The priest look a little surprised that I know his name. I give him a closer look. Tall dark, and handsome. Nice.
Khaki Pants glares at me. "That demon knows your name!"
Oh the disrespect. I don't even want to know what that one's name is.
"Of course I do." My cerise dress is a little too tight for a curtsy but I do one anyway. "It's a little talent of mine. It's Alexandria, soon-to-be Queen of The Underworld. I would say it's a pleasure to meet you but I take it you are the ones who shot up the party I was at the other night."
"Seeing that you're still standing here means the guns were ineffective," Khaki says. "We decided on a more direct approach."
The priests draws his sword.
My eyes go red with bloodlust as anticipation thrills through me.
"Oooo, a sword fight. I haven't done one of those in awhile."
Eric walks into my line of sight.
"My man, we really can't let you do that," he says to the two men.
Garrick and Calcifer stand at Eric sides, blocking me from view. I smell the others before I see them standing around me. Damus. Therius. Kel. Wynferd. Fane.
"What're y'all doing here," I say, irritated, my gaze still on the priest just visible beyond Eric's arm. "I got this."
Eric pulls out two glinting knives from their sheaths at his waist.
"And we got you."
"This is exactly why we didn't want you taking any of the byways into the human world," Kel says, twirling his staff in one hand.
"We!?" I say. "You had meetings about restricting me?"
"Of course we did," Wynferd says shamelessly, "wayward woman."
"I thought Adriel—"
Fane elaborates, "He discussed it with us and we all agreed it was for the best."
So it wasn't just Adriel alone being bossy and withholding.
"You're all traitors," I tell them, more irritated.
"Your safety is our priority," Therius says. Eight of The Nine take up position around the corridor.
Khaki Pants waggles a finger at us. "I don't think we'll be fighting all of you." He throws something onto the floor that shatters hard. A light flashes around us, blinding me for an instant.
When my vision clears, I look around to see all of my guards rocky and unmoving as the stone columns holding up the ceiling, handsome statues of themselves.
I scent the air and go very still. I can feel my eight guards alive inside of their stone shells. Their energy is strong enough to break through and soon. I smile. It's for the best.
They'll never accuse me of not fighting my own fights.
Rolling my eyes, I lick my finger and put it in the air again. "Fine, I'll give it to you. That was a pretty good one...Elijah Glasford."
"Your guardians are turned to stone." He seems put off by the fact that I know his name and that I'm not afraid at being singled out and fighting alone. "Without them, what do you think you can do—"
I interrupt with a wave of my hand. "And what do you think they're going to do to you once they get out? You can't fight all eight of them, let alone me."
Barehanded, I take on a stance and face the priest.
We dance. Oh how we dance. With split second timing, I use my fists to block the blade. When he moves faster and comes at me, I let him pass through me...until I can't. I'm just playing with the both of them, really, until I see Glasford moving out the corner of my eye. The moment of distraction costs me and the priest lunges at him my chest.
I gasp as I'm taken down to the floor, the sword slicing through me, and I lay there stunned until the priest's handsome face peers down at me. Glasford appears beside him.
"Kill her now," Glasford says. "Her powers are too unpredictable."
"You can't hurt me with this," I spit up at them. "I am sanctified."
"The sword is blessed so you must be a holy-resistant demon. Interesting," says the priest.
"Not holy-resistant. Sanctified." I eye his sword sticking out of my chest. "You're good and good-looking. Have you ever considered becoming a demon?"
"Enough!" Adriel commands.
My shadow ripples on the floor beside me. The priest and Glasford moves away from me, watching as my final demon guard rises and steps free of the shadow.
"Well someone sure took his time joining the party," I gasp then grunt in pain. It actually does hurt even if it isn't enough to kill me.
"I let you fight your own fight, Alexandria," Adriel glares as he stands between me and the priest. "You decided to get hit on purpose."
"I'm testing my limits! Stay out of it."
"You're being a brat! A spoiled, sadomasochistic brat! You are done here."
He draws his sword from the sheath at his back. The blade flares to life in a magnificent white-hot blaze of flames.
Adriel
I release a quiet, shuddering breath to myself.
I knew Dria wouldn't die from the wound as soon as I knew I wasn't quick enough to stop it. But damn my heart almost stopped dead in my chest. I died a little inside when I felt her pain rip through me.
No more. I'll finish this and we'll go back to the house where Alexandria belongs until the coronation. I can't say I'll be happy in seeing a parade of suitors coming in and out of the place until the fall equinox but I can't have members of The Church casually showing up to execute her either.
"You don't want to do this, Priest Anthony, er—" Holding my sword in one hand, I pull out a scroll of parchment from my belt with the other, unroll it one-handed. It is blank until my gaze touches it and I read— "DeMarco. Yeah, Priest DeMarco, you really don't want to do this. You've already hurt my Queen. I'm giving you one chance to leave."
His head jerks back. He glances at Dria then back at me. "How did you demons know my name?"
"Your names are our business," I wave the parchment at him. Honestly, we just like to know who the holy people are. I chuckle to myself. It freaks them out.
I scent the air again, sure this time. The man with the priest, Glasford, is a demon hunter. That explains his attitude, his presence here, and the scent of demon's blood on him.
"A black shadow demon? That's too funny," Glasford says.
"Yes, I'm Black. The jokes about my skin color and my ability? In Hell? Done to death. So just stop." Yes... racist jokes exist even in Hell. Or should I say especially in Hell. For that reason, even playful jokes made by people my color or darker were never funny.
"Do not mock him, Elijah," DeMarco says. "We were lucky to have delayed the other eight demons. This one is a surprise."
I put the scroll away. "Leave. Now."
"Kill him," Glasford says, "then finish her."
"I don't think so," I say, taking stance. This is going to hurt. For them.
"We're leaving," says Priest DeMarco.
"What!" Glasford says. "We have managed to come further than any of the Order. Use the Decrees, kill the Queen and her demons. Slay the source of all evil."
"Do you not see his sword? It is not a demon's blade." DeMarco steps back.
"This fight is over." I sheathe my sword and go to Alexandria.
"Are you ready, my Queen?" I ask gently, kneeling down to stroke her hair.
She nods, staring into my eyes, and in a quick motion I withdraw the sword from her chest and toss it away. DeMarco catches it by the hilt as I knew he would.
I breath a sigh of relief that bleeding stops almost immediately as I scoop Alexandria into my arms and lift her up.
"You were there the whole time?" Dria whispers, arms going around my neck.
"I'll always be there, Alexandria," I whisper.