Cedric the Demonic Knight

by Valerie Willis

  “I hear you can always take a vampire’s word.” Cedric’s eyes flashed a warning, reassuring that the statement held weight. “I have never had the chance to test this. Don’t make me regret it.”

  “My word is true. Come, I will tell you about this moroi you seek.” Cedric gripped Angeline’s hand as they followed him inside. She was sending wavering waves of panic as she struggled to keep herself calm. “It is your blood that has caught my interest; its scent was overwhelming. It holds my greatest concerns and not in terms of feeding, but in regards to the information you are seeking.”

  They came to a tall room that was much like the library at Cedric’s manor, and there in the center sat a woman in a crimson dress. Her skin was white as milk, her brown wavy hair reached the floor, and her yellow eyes widened at the sight of Cedric. Vladimir removed his cloak and offered the seats that faced her before taking his place next to the woman in red. One bloody tear fell from the girl’s eyes as she stared surprisingly at Cedric. Chills crawled across Cedric’s skin as the scent from her tear, her blood, hit his nose. There was something uncanny and familiar about it. He had never come across a pureblood vampire before and here he sat in the home of two as their guests. There was something going on and centering on him.

  “You said you suspected that the moroi from here was your mother, no?” Vladimir shot a look to his silent companion before looking back at Cedric. “I assume this relates to Sorceress Morrighan.”

  “Yes, since it’s the only recent account in the last several hundred years of one being old enough to be forced to conceive a child through the use of Dark Magics.” He looked from one to the other, seeing a look of concern that they held in those solemn faces. “What do you know about her?”

  “She was ours.” The woman’s voice was like that of a songbird’s and she looked off to the distance. “Was ours. She has left this world.”

  “Yes, that moroi was our daughter and there is no mistake that you are her son. I can smell our bloodlines within that magical concoction you call your blood.” His yellow eyes faded for a moment before continuing his lecture. “The village here was kind to us. We provided protection to them on numerous occasions, and they were more than happy to raise and care for her. Our hope was to give her a normal, human life. We envy how fragile and simple their lives are and it was our hope that she get to experience that. Morrighan’s chimeras came for her, destroying that dream as we all failed to track them down in time. By this point Morrighan and her bounded mate Boto had conducted their experiment and she held the fruit of their efforts within her belly. There were no hopes for a pureblood to face Morrighan’s magic and the army of the King Incubus. We had no choice but to give up after word had travelled of her and the newborn’s deaths. The relief was that their creation had failed and she would not be suffering from a second attempt. They had shattered the village here and those we had held dear. Seeing you here, and free of her magical leashes, gives me some hope after all. At least she bore a son capable of being a free-willed spirit.”

  “I’m an abomination.” Cedric broke away from their hopeful stares, failing to keep the wave of anger that he sent up Angeline’s hand before releasing his grip. “I have lived a wretched life and destroyed what I held close. I live to destroy Morrighan and to put an end to this torment she has created for everyone. My hope is to see her last breath before giving my own.”

  “I see.” The woman’s voice was soft as she reached over to touch his hand, her flesh cold. “You’re so warm. She was warm like that.”

  “Excuse Charlotte,” He pulled her hand away, wiping the tear off her cheek as she sat still as a statue. “She has been broken from this. There isn’t much life left in her since she stopped feeding. In her eyes, she lived to see her daughter have the life of happiness, free of torment, and that was shattered.”

  “It’s ok.” Cedric’s voice softened as he looked into faded yellow eyes of pain. Charlotte’s eyes held a look that he knew all too well from his own experiences. “It’s not easy. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t human, we all hurt from loss.”

  “Precisely,” A hint of a smile hit Vladimir’s face, the first signs of his fangs they had seen all night. “And don’t forget that. You and your Lady may rest here. Please, find sanctuary in our home whenever you find a need in the future. You are, by blood right, family and entitled to anything that is ours. Tomorrow I will see what we can discover about inherited abilities. It seems there are some there, but that can wait until you’ve recovered from your wounds. I assume you were also looking to see what abilities a moroi held, being that you’ve fully mastered your incubine traits thus far.”

  “Thank you. That is one of my greatest concerns in fact. With no books or knowledge out there of moroi traits other than how to identify them, I fear I have a harder time knowing when that bloodline comes forward and how to even use it. It’s a great honor to be accepted in a Pureblood’s home like this.” Cedric stood and bowed as he stared deep into Vladimir’s eyes, having a newfound respect for him and his kind. “I look forward to learning more about my heritage from my very own grandfather.”

  Motioning Angeline to follow, Vladimir led the two of them to a room down the hall. The decorations in the room were extravagant in nature. Everything covered in gold, silk, and ivory, far more outlandish than House de Romulus had been. The bed was huge and softer than any other she had sat on in the past. Cedric flopped face down onto the bed, exhausted from the fight still. Looking over, she was astonished to see that the wounds had already healed on his back, but her side was still throbbing. This was far faster than she had recalled he could heal. She reached over to rub her hand over it and in response received a wave of curiosity from him. His green eyes caught her brown ones, freezing her in the act.

  “What are you doing?” He seemed irritated as he frowned at her. “Do you have to constantly touch me now?”

  “I was just surprised.” Jerking her hand away, her face reddened. “Your wounds are gone. Did you always heal this quickly?”

  “Yes.” He looked away. “I told you before; it wasn’t the wounds that were the problem.”

  “I see.” Relieving herself of her bow and pack, she curled up in the bed. “Sorry, I should listen to you more.”

  “How should you ever understand it,” It was a sour note that struck her hard. “You’re too young and naive.”

  #

  Sliding out of the bed, Cedric left her sleeping there knowing if anything should happen he would feel it from her directly. Pacing down the hall, he found Vladimir and Charlotte sitting in the library still. Nodding to one another, he followed his newfound Grandfather to an empty ballroom where they both could speak freely. After smelling Charlotte’s blood, Cedric understood the sensation in which they had felt when they sensed his. It was the sensation of being part of one another and it resonated throughout the body. It was neither pain nor pleasure like his experiences with his incubine traits, but something calm and stern. It was the embodiment of power and pride, ancient in touch, taste, and smell. There was no excitement or distraction from it but a heightened awareness in his surroundings and the slowing of time.

  “I take it you can feel it now?” Vladimir started rolling up his sleeves as he gave a coy smile. “That, my grandson, is the stronger of your two bloodlines. That is the same blood and power your mother held and that I even hold still. It is what allows you to push back the vile incubine taint, to be able to take in the energy of other demons and increase your healing by dining on humans. This is what adds to your strength, speed, and stamina. It is why the moroi are feared and hunted so severely. The moroi instincts fuel the tenacity in which you push yourself to your limits in order to survive, but also refine who you are. Do you feel how it vibrates so close to one with the same lineage? Like two crystals of the same pitch?”

  “Yes. It is nothing like what I have felt before. It seems I have been using my moroi abilities this whole time, but why is it letting itself be known to me here?” Ce
dric watched as Vladimir walked over and bowed before a golden statue of a deity he had not seen before. It looked down at its follower surrounded by candles in peaceful calm. “I have never actually felt the blood itself like I have with the incubine blood. I have fought over the excitements, blood boiling over pleasures and pains, yet this one has stayed silent even in times when I now see it was in control. Is this normal?”

  “Yes, your moroi lineage would never entice or distract you.” Standing again, he walked to the far wall that held an array of strange weaponry from a distant land. “The nature of incubus is an animalistic one. They have been crawling on this earth longer than we vampires have but nothing has changed through the age of time in concerns to them taming the blood they hold. Their cravings for desires of the flesh rule every movement and thought, yet no signs of them wanting to break free of this behavior. Thus, we consider them lesser beings. You on the other hand, you have blindly struggled on your own, using the unknown to drown the known is a courageous feat. It is this aspect that I admire most about how far you have come. Now you have met your rope’s end but fortune smiles down on you. You found me.”

  “A good friend of mine insisted that I was using my moroi side. I suppose I should have listened to the old dog more.” Watching him remove one of the smaller sheathed daggers, he rolled his shoulders and popped his neck. “Are we planning to spar?”

  “No, but I will need this if I wish to pass wisdom and awareness to you.” Walking back to the statue, he held one arm out and sliced his wrist wide open, letting it spill into the golden cup that the figure held in two of its many hands. “This is not as ceremonious as the ritual would normally be for a pureblood. Under the circumstances, this is the appropriate time for you to take this in. Call this your right of passage to be here.”

  “I don’t understand.” The smell of the blood engulfed him, making the vibration he was feeling to increase. “What do you intend for me to do?”

  “Drink.” Filling the goblet, he allowed the cut to heal and placed the cold black drink into Cedric’s hands. “There will be no masquerade ball, nor the meeting of other pureblood lines and kin in your passage, Cedric. You have passed the traditional one hundred year mark and unlike your brethren, this is essential to your survival. Drinking the blood of one of your elders grants you their knowledge. You will absorb and retain abilities that this line holds and information about whom and what you are. It will be instant soon as you drink the last drop. It takes a particular amount for this to trigger and the process hits a point of acceptance shortly after that. In our society, this is handed down, given, to the younger ones, but there have been those who take it forcefully for their own lusts for power. These sinners are sentenced to death. Please, take this gift that your mother was never able to give you directly, as I had done for her.”

  “She lived for a hundred years?” Their eyes locked but the glare was unchanging from Vladimir. “I see, then I will drink.”

  Cedric held the cup to his lips, feeling the vibrating intensify his awareness. His own heart and blood had long gone quiet to him. The only sound that thudded in his ears was Angeline’s beating heart on the other end of the manor. Other than this melody, the vibration of Vladimir and Charlotte’s presence were his pillars of connection to a side he had had no access to until now. Taking one last breath, he engulfed the thick cold lacquer. It was foul in flavor, almost choking him as he forced it down. As he drew more from the never-ending cup, his eyes began to roll back, fading to white. The last drop hit his tongue and unlike the icy sour filth that had spilled forth prior, this one morsel was warm and sweet. It cleaned his palette as it slid back and into him, relieving him of the torment that had come before it.

  A mixture of ice and heat filled his veins as he fell back in agony. His bloodlines twisting, recreating him in ways he could not grasp as memories from an ocean of individuals spoke to him all at once. Each having something important he needed to know but there was one in that ocean that shined the brightest. Her red hair was a rose in the sea of black and her green eyes cut through him as it pushed him back out of this sea of chaos. Gasping he rolled to his side, coughing. His body continued to tremble, his system in shock. His hair had lost its black tips and the way his blood fought to be cold or hot was alarming. It was like dying and coming back to life constantly. There was no pleasure from the pain he was enduring as he began to sweat and shake. He clenched his teeth as his head filled with information, feeling as if his eyes would burst. No longer able to contain it all, he let out a scream as the cold took hold and then exploded into a searing heat once again.

  It was slow at first; the relief that the heat brought worked him over and took the pain of his blood battling itself away. Panting, it felt like he had spent several hours without the ability to breathe. After a few more minutes, he could hear the rushing of his own blood in his ears again. His vision blurred, he managed to sit back up as everything he retained started settling in his mind, finding its rightful places. As his eyes focused again, Vladimir drew closer; his yellow eyes seemed to glow. Closing his eyes, Cedric fought to regain his focus of thoughts, but the pain in his neck interrupted him. Vladimir had latched onto his neck, each swallow echoing in Cedric’s ears. He could not move, but the pain soon started giving way to a new feeling. It was sentimental and comforting in nature, unlike the pleasure and arousal that he would have experienced before. It made him relax, drowsy even until he felt the release.

  “I am sorry to alarm you.” Vladimir wiped the blood from his mouth as he walked away. “It is customary that the receiver allow the other to drink from them, in hopes of exchanging any new adaptations or information. It is also how we try to check if you have a power lust.”

  “I would have liked a warning on how that was going to go.” Rubbing his neck free of the excess blood, he was confident his bite mark had healed and gone. “Did you get anything out of that?”

  “Yes. Normal purebloods experience only pleasure when drinking another’s blood, but for you and your mother, it becomes a struggle of life and death before allowing you the information that it holds.” He grabbed a larger weapon off the wall and slid it open to check the blade. “There is a power lust within you, but it’s not the kind that reflects our definition. You do not have any desire to chase down other purebloods. If you are going to go to war, you will need a stronger sword though. Take this daito from the distant land in the east. I was there for some time, and you have the art written in your blood. You should know by instinct how to use this curved long sword fit for any daimyo or Lord. May it protect you in the future, my grandson.”

  Taking the sword from him, Cedric could feel the information there; no different from his sword training he had spent years obtaining. Battles that he never fought gave him in depth experience and visions of a strange place echoed in his mind. The daito was light and the craftsmanship was astonishing as he admired the strength in its folded metal. Sheathing it, he bowed to Vladimir, thankful that he had been lucky enough to receive so much from him.

  He turned to the doorway, where Angeline stood wide-eyed. He had failed to consider that she would have experienced the whiplash of his pain, especially since he had failed to pull all of it to himself. Their eyes connected and she ran to him hugging him tight, trembling against his chest. Her hair was covered in sweat and she was cold to the touch. Somehow, she managed to hold back the tears and sobs, but there was no mistaking that she had felt every drop of pain. He could feel the waves of her anxiety, fighting it along with the fear and confusion on what she had witnessed and felt. Nodding at Vladimir, they returned to their room. She stayed silent as they lay in bed falling asleep from exhaustion.

  Chapter Seventeen: The Hunt

  Waking from the tickling in his nose, Cedric found himself hugging onto the sleeping Angeline. His nose and mouth shoved into the top of her head, he indulged in breathing in her scent with a long drawn out inhale. Huffing into her hair, she shook her head away, snuggling her face into his fo
rearms. The thoughts that came to him were foreign and it took a moment to get them to slow down and in one language. All that knowledge taken in so suddenly was almost too much for him. He understood now what he was capable of and more importantly, knew how to use his powers effectively. It was clearer to him on why he had been seen as nothing more than a lost puppy to the rest of the demonic world. His pride and false sense of security was far from the truth of where he sat on the totem pole of power. Compared to those on the list, not only was he lacking in brute strength and abilities, but also he was nowhere near having the amount of knowledge and experience needed to take anyone down that was in the top of the pyramid.

  A wave of anxiety snuck out of Angeline and he merely shoved his cheek against her head. It dissipated and nothing but a soothing calm started in its place. The sounds of her blood and heartbeat had taken on a surreal presence, which excited him in so many ways that it made him tense. The moroi blood had infused itself to the incubine bloodline. He would have to learn how to read it all over again, including what its intentions were towards Angeline.

  I can hear every part of her, the blood whispering through her body, the song of her heart, and with the sense of touch that sends my skin crawling, it is uncanny. Will I be able to control this new blend? I know that I was made complete last night when the mix of my bloodlines was purified with the help of the blood of my elder. My mind screams the answers, but I have my doubts.

  “Why did you not cry or scream? Why did you willingly take the pain?” Angeline shriveled in his arms, spooked that he had noticed she was awake. “I couldn’t take the pain away and I barely handled it myself.”

  “I promised not to cry anymore.” Angeline was mumbling, trying to pull herself out of his arms as waves of panic and fear leaked from her. “Let me up.”