Cedric the Demonic Knight

by Valerie Willis

  “Why?” It was strange to not receive any angry glares this far in to her questioning. “That place has been desolate and abandoned for a very long time. What are we going there for? The stories say not even the foulest creatures come near that place. The travelers stay there for a quick rest because it is safe, but they still say they can hear the cries of the people. It may even be another old highwaymen’s rumor. The villagers were slaughtered and the village was wiped out. No one knows what happened to the creatures that consumed the people there. It’s a great mystery. Why would you want to go to a barren place like that?”

  “It’s my home.” They sat on Barushka in silence as they continued down the path. “I need to do some research and the books I need are in my study.”

  “Your home?” She did her best to hold her composure, biting her bottom lip.

  “Yes.” Looking over his shoulder, he shot a look that made it clear that she was not to ask the question that was rolling across her mind. Did you wipe out Williamsburg?

  The silence that they held was tenser than what it had started as that morning. They both sat rigid on Barushka with the occasional shift in the saddle. Angeline would push herself back away from Cedric as far as the saddle would allow. The more time she spent with him, the more she started to see him as a monster. It was amazing to think that the gossip that was whispered about him was concerning only that he had no wife. Luckily, she was the quick fix for this small rumor. He had everyone fooled about what he truly was. No questions about the fact that he was the only knight capable of the demon jobs he took. Perhaps society had chosen to accept him despite the obvious signs. A groan came from Cedric, and she stopped staring out into the woods. He was hunched over in the seat, sweating once more.

  “What’s wrong? Is the venom still…” The heat radiating off his back was alarming. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.” He pulled Barushka to a stop and slid off the horse to his knees on the ground. “It’s not the venom.”

  “What do you need me to do?” She slid off the horse pausing in her steps when she watched the red in his hair fade to black. “What’s happening to you?”

  “Stay back! Don’t touch me!” He was panting as sweat dripped from his face. “Don’t come any closer to me. Not a step closer.”

  Angeline backed away. If her taking a step closer was the borderline for him, then a few steps back would be safer. Her hand gripped the hilt of the dagger she had been given, stained with Cedric’s blood still. Neither she nor the Shaman could wash the stains out of it, but it looked as if she may have to use it on Cedric himself. He pulled something from his boot, she stepped back further. With an angry shout he stabbed a knife into the center of his hand, pinning it to the ground. Jerking from the action, Angeline looked away grimacing. After a moment she looked back, but what she saw did not help the knots forming in her stomach. Cedric squatted there with a vacant stare, sweat and heat pouring from him as he smiled to himself.

  It was hard to say how long the two of them stood there, both unmoving. She had a tight grip on the dagger’s hilt while he grinned, like an intoxicated fool in a brothel. The huge flapping sound interrupted the awkwardness and called their attention elsewhere. Landing in the path in front of them was a creature like nothing Angeline had ever seen. It stood as tall as Cedric, bat wings spread wide, a tail like that on a snake swished side to side and she was humanistic from the knees up. A set of horns crowned her head, like a ram. One had been broken and it complimented the massive amount of scars that covered her gray colored body. Her clawed fingers and gargoyle’s feet made her menacing as the dark red lips smiled at them. Closing her massive wings, the single clawed fingers that topped the top joint hooked around her neck like a clasp for a cape.

  “Dammit.” Cedric cursed as his panting increased and he pulled the knife from his hand. “Who are you?”

  “I was going to ask you the same thing. I thought I sensed Boto, but instead I find something far more desirable.” Her grin exposed the double set of fangs that chills across Angeline’s skin. “You must be one of his mixed offspring, interesting. So pretty and fresh, I like this option.”

  “Who are you and what does it have to do with me?” His green eyes flashed up into the red colored eyes of the demon. “I am in no mood to play games, demoness.”

  “So angry and aroused I see. That incubine blood is a pain, isn’t it?” She placed a hand on her hip and looked over at Angeline for a moment before continuing her conversation with a giggle. “And traveling with a virgin must be difficult with your blood boiling like that. Hah! You are an interesting find. Not many halflings would be able to fight off that level of want.”

  “Who are you?” Clinching his teeth, fangs were seeping out and the excitement he was feeling was gaining leverage over him. “What do you know of Incubine blood?”.

  “I know a lot. Don’t you realize what’s going on, boy?” Baffled her smile faded for a moment, but crawled back across her face. “I am the Queen Succubus Lillith. I was looking for Boto, and between the heat you’re giving off and the smell of your blood I thought you were him. Amazing that I would mix the two of you up like this!”

  “Lillith.” Paling, he struggled to keep his fears in check as a wave of arousal came across his skin, one of the many he was feeling coming from where she stood. “What would you want from a mix blood like me?”

  “I have a problem you see. It was annoying to think that tomorrow night was my heat’s peak, where I am obligated to conceive more incubi and succubi to spread across this world. That buffoon bonded himself to that bitch-of-a-sorceress and there is no pleasure in having a half dedicated mate for this. I chose the strongest to mate with so that my clutch can benefit the most out of our powers, but here you are, Boto’s offspring. Unbound and just as strong, and the heat coming from you is turning me on as well.” She leaned forward in a provocative manner; she allowed her breast free of her insanely lose chainmail top as she leaned to meet his eye level. “I want you to willingly bind yourself to me, my future mate.”

  “And if I refuse?” Cedric forced himself to look away, feeling the tug of Lillith’s powers encouraging the incubine blood to continue to push forward. “If I choose not to bind or mate with you?”

  “Well, it may not be fun for you.” Standing up right again, she sighed. “In that case, I will be coming for you tomorrow night. At my peak heat, there is no incubus alive that would be able to refuse to lay with me. You will be more than willing then. Especially for a half blood, you’ll be bonded to me whether you intended to or not.”

  Flapping her massive wings, she took to the air again. Angeline had fallen to her knees, shocked by the visit and relieved for the fight that hadn’t come. Her hands shook as she leaned forward and puked the contents from her stomach. There wasn’t a nerve left in her body that hadn’t unraveled in the encounter. Cedric was still breathing fast as he continued to remain frozen. Lillith had made it clear that the waves of pleasure and excitement had been her this whole time. The struggle he was having had nothing to do with Angeline these past weeks, but the Succubus Queen’s heat coming near. For a moment he stared at the blood dried across the dirt under his healed hand. He would have to make a decision, and he had no time to decide.

  “Angeline.” His voice was soft and it caught her attention to hear him say her name. “Do you understand what a binding is?”

  “Ye-yes.” The pounding of her blood hit her ears and she shivered. “Why do you ask?”

  “I will have to lay with you tonight and pray to the Gods I know how to bind us.” He balled his hand in a fist, grabbing up the bloodstained dirt with it, staring at it with a long mournful look. “But you have to willingly accept me. Can you do that?”

  “I-I don’t know.” Shuddering, tears started to fall down her cheeks. “I don’t want to.”

  “I don’t know if I know how to.” Standing, he let the dark grains fall at his feet. “But I do know that being Lillith’s bonded mate is a fat
e worse than hell itself. She’s tortured all of them. There is a reason Boto never allowed her to bind with him, and that tells me all that I would ever need to know.”

  “I know.” Her voice cracked as she hugged her knees. “I know how.”

  “What do you mean by, I know how?” Looking back at her, his green eyes against his black hair gave him a frightening appearance. “How to do what?”

  “The witch, she told me.” Angeline buried her face into her knees as her throat tried to close off her next words. “The witch wanted me to bind myself to you. She said I had to do it. I was to tell you, tell you that you needed to be in the full form. And then, then you would need to satisfy your moroi bloodline at the moment it starts. You would have to do that in order to complete it.”

  “That was the purpose then.” He spit and marched over to her, jerking her to her feet and shoving her on Barushka. “You should have told me. Damn you and your stubborn tongue.”

  The horse neighed in protest of how rough he was being with her. Cedric shot him a boiling stare and the rebellion ended. He mounted and they took off full speed down the trail. Angeline sounded like a banshee behind him as she wailed and sobbed. He could feel her shaking from how hard she was crying. She would find herself too close and would wiggle away, a desperate plea to stay away from him. The sun was fading fast at their backs as they approached the fork in the road. There sat an old cottage, broken in the dim light as they slowed.

  Cedric dismounted Barushka, digging through his pack. Pulling out a key, he unlocked the dusty shelter and went in to inspect it. Angeline was rocking and shuddering as she let her torment come out in shrieks. He pulled her off, carrying her into the musty room, slamming the door with a swift kick. Dropping her on the bed, he worked on getting a fire going. She scrambled to sit up straight and make some distance between them and started hugging her knees once more. Warmth started filling the room as the light of the fire danced shadows across the dusty house. Cedric sat at the edge of the bed, staring off with a glazed look in his eyes. She was being swallowed by fears while Cedric stared out to the unseen as if mourning.

  “I need to tell you something.” His voice was tender and low, and she took a moment to catch her breath as she stared at his back. “I know this idea is devastating to you, but you need to understand how I feel about this. You need to know why this was never supposed to happen.”

  “What is it then?” She watched as the muscles in his back tensed and he drew an unsteady breath. Angeline sniffled as she tried to slow her breathing.

  Chapter Twelve: Haunting Dreams

  “I wasn’t raised as a monster or an abomination. The old knight told me he had found me, just a babe crying in the rotting filth that I had been left in. He was on his way home, to Williamsburg, when he crossed that battlefield and discovered a red haired, green-eyed baby boy. The knight’s heart was touched, and had mistaken me as a blessing. Losing a wife and unborn son the year before, he had thrown himself recklessly into one battle after another to drown his sorrows. His pride kept him from giving up life entirely, but it did not stop him from gambling it away in countless wars and insane hunting missions.

  Growing up as a Lord’s son was an easy life. One free of realizing what I was or who had made me. Lord Cedric de Romulus will be a man I will cherish for the rest of my wretched life. The name in which was passed on to me and one that I am trying not to stain. He was the one who taught me the skills to fight. Preaching to me how agile a fighter must be against the darkest creatures this world contains. I was taught in many arts, sword, archery, spear and more. Spending countless days training, I dedicated myself to mastering riding and war tactics fit for a King. I was just as swift on horseback as I was on my own two feet by the age of twelve. Sparring with the other squires, I rose in the top ranks with alarming speed. I should have known something was wrong. It was far too easy to outdo the rest of the men in any challenge.

  My skills brought the old man joy and he then turned my focus to educating me in reading and writing. He wanted his son to have the best books and teachers. My thirst for knowledge was enormous, as I would not sleep until I had finished the tome I was introduced to. The teachers he brought from all ends of the land marveled at the speed I learned. Once more, it brought great pride and joy to Lord Cedric to see his adoptive son do the House good. The Romulus House would survive through me in essence. That’s the least I could have done for such a great man. A man that not only gave the world hope, but even made a monster like me love him.

  Then there was her. Her skin was soft like the petal of a rose with eyes the color of the sky. Her name was Yvette, a nobleman’s daughter and family friend at best. We had grown up together and as I became of age, my heart and desire were to be with her. I could tell that she was feeling the same. We were no longer the children that chased one another down the hallways, but two fools in love. Looks and comments exchanged were undoubtedly flirting and lust growing. It all seemed good-hearted and nothing in the world could break us apart.

  What I didn’t know was the cost. My foolish, selfish wants would take everything from me. I would soon reveal how much of a monster I could be. The Lord and I had returned from the nearby castle. You wouldn’t recognize its name, it was dying out in that time, but that is where I found it. A ring with a bluestone that matched her eyes and just the right size to place it on her finger is what I came back to Williamsburg with. That would be the last time anyone came back home. It was the last day the village would exist after what would happen that night.

  We had snuck off to the stables, and we were all over one another. The excitement was intoxicating, and if I had recognized the sensation for what it truly was, maybe... I had slid the ring on her finger, proposed to her to be my Lady. The kiss she gave me was far better than the words anyone could have used. Hiking her skirts up, we gave way to our desires. That excitement took hold, and her moaning let me know she could feel it too. As she gave herself to me, I felt hungry for more. There was no mistake that the more she enjoyed it, the more powerful I was feeling. I started to be more aggressive, making her scream in pleasure and pain. Startled she tried to pull away, but I had lost myself to the craving that had taken over.

  I was met with the spray of her blood across my face. At some point, I had become animalistic and with a monstrous motion, I had bitten her neck and shoulder with an ungodly thirst. I realized at that moment what she was afraid of. The man she knew was no longer to be seen, but the horned figure of an incubus lay on top of her. In my panic, I pulled away from her to watch the blue in her eyes fade into death. They reflected her killer, and all I saw was myself. I ran, as far and as fast as I could. That was the other mistake. I should have stayed, and more importantly, gave my father the chance to slay the monster I had become.

  The sun came up in a red color that morning, and something in my gut told me I needed to go back. The closer I came, the richer the smell of blood was in the air. Screaming soon came to my ears and I started running. What I found was harrowing. My love, Yvette, had become something dead and hungry. Everyone she had attacked turned, and there in the center of town was Lord Cedric, the last standing man. He was far too old to be fighting such monsters, and it was clear to me as I approached that he did not know I was to blame. A mob of mauled undead were swamping him. In that moment of distraction, the old man saw me, rejoiced that I was ok and I watched as Yvette crawled unnaturally across the earth, across the other monsters, and latched on to the front of his face. I will never forget the crunching sound, his scream of pain and sheer horror. I stood there frozen and watched as my desire, my true love, devoured and turned the man who gave me everything.

  What made it worse was they were loyal to me. After destroying the man who I held as my own father, they came crawling to me, groveling at my feet in their bloodied and broken forms. They were like the imps you would expect to see crawling about in hell. I kicked one in anger, and it whimpered and asked for more. The begging and pleading for what they could
do to please me was disgusting. Some fought amongst each other at times to be the first to hear my commands, while others were still seeking out any remaining villagers who may have lived through the first wave.

  I don’t remember how many days it took. With the old man’s sword I had slain them all, every last villager, friend, family. I killed them all. With the only command I gave them was for them to line up, kneeling before their grave as I took their heads and buried the rest. The infectious bite that I had left Yvette with had spread its filth in one night. Every child had been struck and it took even longer to find all of the little ones. There was a baby, Ginger’s third child was ravaged across its stomach and turned into one these things. This was when I knew that I was an abomination from the depths of hell.

  I buried him last. My adoptive father, the man who had given me the world and I had sent him to his death. Leaning over his grave, I took my own life over and over again. The pain that I felt every time I woke up alive and had to try yet again was cruel. I was even confident I had managed to decapitate myself, but the screaming always brought me back. It was as if Williamsburg would not let me die. Death was a privilege and I would never have it. This was my prison, and I would not let myself leave it.

  The ground there had been stained black from all the blood spilled. It was foul and no scavenger would come close. Those who dared to attempt to dig up what I had buried were slaughtered, and who did come across the defiled village in the beginning were not human. It was a long while before the fears in men’s hearts and memories faded enough to step foot near there. Before that, I had my share of battles against demonic scavengers that even I never heard of in my studies. A shaman was hired by a neighboring village to come and calm the spirits of the people who died in Williamsburg. It was a mystery to them what had happened here, and no priest would come to do such a daunting task. The people would seek out a safer alternative and a Cynocephali was more than welcomed to risk it. That’s when I met Wylleam. I had managed for the last 20 years to be unseen by what travelled through there, but for some reason the spirits let him know. He still will not tell me what the ghosts and souls of the town have told him about me. The old dog just tells me I already know the story. Neither of us knew what I was or what to do with me at that point.