Heart of Darkness

“Where is Skender?” Acheron asked when the meeting holder didn’t arrive.

“He must be busy with his lady love or perhaps he got his heart broken again. I am not sure.” Blayze shrugged.

“What did you do?” Acheron asked him.

Lazarus began to shake his head. This man needed some psychiatric help but he was sure Skender could help with that soon.

“I just made things a little more interesting since it was solved too easily,” Blayze said.

“You have issues with Skender. Keep his mate out of it.” Rayven told him.

“Alright, mate. Now that you have your mate you feel protective of mates? How very considerate of you.” Blayze mocked.

They all knew Blayze just wanted somewhere to release his anger. They had all given him that satisfaction except for Skender. Being apathetic Skender hadn’t been affected by his tauntings and tantrums so Blayze became like a child who never got his toy. He diverted his attention completely to Skender, trying his best to anger him and growing more hostile over the years when he failed.

Well, now that Skender had overcome his sin apathy, Blayze was making a mistake. Especially by involving his mate in this.

Rayven glared at him and then ignored him.

Acheron shook his head. “You are harming her, not Skender. She is already confused and scared.”

“She wasn’t enough scared. I thought it would be more dramatic with her being religious. This is boring.” Blayze said. “Vitale, you go to church. Tell me her reaction is too calm.”

Asking Vitale was like asking to be lectured.

“I think you have a prejudice against religious people. People who have a strong faith overcome hardships easier because they believe everything has a purpose. It is not surprising that she is calmer than expected.” Vitale said.

“It is surprising to me. Religious people are less tolerant and now she is going to tolerate a demon?”

“Well, if you tolerate everything then you stand for nothing. I am sure if she truly believed that Skender would stand between her and God, she would not tolerate it.” Vitale spoke.

Lazarus nodded. “So my friend now I am worried for you because Skender is not his old uninterested self who cared for nothing. Now, he won’t tolerate certain things.”

“Maybe you will go to church as well after you have been baptized,” Vitale added taking a sip of his coffee.

Lazarus and Acheron laughed. Rayven shook his head and Mazzon woke up from his sleep. “Has the meeting ended?” He asked.

Lazarus and Acheron laughed even more while Vitale looked at him like the man had lost his mind. “No. The world has ended and we are on the day of judgment.”

The fact that he said it with a straight face made Lazarus laugh even more. “Oh, I can’t anymore.” He said wiping the tears from his eyes. “Vitale, you are learning some humor.”

The demon looked his way. “Not from you.”

Of course not. The man clearly had issues with him lately.

“I will go look for Skender,” Lazarus said standing up.

As he walked through the hall, he saw Roxana leaving Skender’s chamber with a chuckle. She hurried away looking a bit excited.

Lazarus shook his head. Of course, she was the one keeping him busy. Why would he be late otherwise?

When he came into the room he found a different scene than what he expected. Oh. So it was this kind of fun. Did Blayze succeed?

Skender stood up looking pained. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

“Did she ruin your reproductive organs?” Lazarus asked.

Skender chuckled as he sat on the edge of his bed. “Something similar.”

Something similar?

He looked around at the messy room and his slightly unproportional nose.  The smell of blood in the air. “Oh. So you like it like this. I am not judging.”

People were aroused by different things. Some liked to mix pain and pleasure or just be wild. Not surprising for an archdemon who was closer to their more animalistic ancestors.

“We are waiting for you in the meeting hall,” Lazarus said.

Skender stood up, tucking his shirt back into his pants, he adjusted his hair.

“Your nose too.” Lazarus pointed. It was still not quite straight. The woman didn’t go easy on him.

Skender adjusted his nose as well and then was ready to leave but Lazarus blocked his way.

“The claws and fangs my friend.”

“Oh no!” Skender said his eyes gleaming. “They will stay out.”

Oh well, Blayze was dead.

Skender hid his hands under the long sleeves of his jacket as they went to the meeting room. When they arrived Blayze was already gone. What happened to the bragging man? Lazarus didn’t expect him to run away or did he come to his senses finally.

“Blayze is prepared,” Acheron said.

Alright, he was still crazy.

“He said you should come to meet him in the old forest,” Acheron continued.

Skender didn’t waste a moment and the rest followed him quickly eager to see the fight. Maybe they all had a thirst for blood. Even sleepy Mazzon followed them.

Blayze had of course angered himself so he could turn into the huge beast he was cursed to be whenever he became enraged. Lazarus wasn’t sure if being angry right now would help him in any way.

The beast stood with his almighty size and roared into the sky. Then they all turned to Skender to see how he would respond expecting him to transform and roar as well. But he didn’t. He just looked at the beast with a raised brow.

Blayze went for attack first and Skender got hold of his fur, the appearance of his wings suddenly causing the tries to waver. They were enormous causing all of them to stumble back from the strong wind they caused as he picked him and threw him back and forth as if frying a pancake.

The ground cracked and broke while it got smeared with blood. They all stood grimacing a bit waiting for what would come next.

Blayze then turned from a pancake to an axe and Skender used him to chop the trees all while the beast tried to free himself. Skender freed him at last by throwing him into the trees causing four of them to break and fall in line.

It took a while for the beast to get up and Skender waited for him to get his bones back into place. The pain on his face was evident but Blayze was too proud to give up. This would only end with him being completely destroyed and that was what Skender intended to do.

He grabbed him by his fur and flew away with him.

Oh no. Teleporting in the air was only a skill few mastered. Lazarus was sure, Blayze didn’t have that skill, and falling from such a distance would hurt with many days of painful healing to follow.

When Skender traveled so far up that he almost disappeared from their sight, they knew he wasn’t playing around. Then they heard the roar, or scream of the beast getting closer and closer as he fell down. They stepped back not knowing where he would land.

Lazarus looked away as he heard the horrifying sound of crushed bones when Blayze hit the ground. He then turned around to look when everything fell silent. The beast made a hole in the ground where he fell and soon a large rock followed him, covering the ground. Skender landed on top of it, like the angel of death, done burying his next target.

Lazarus was glad he drowned instead of this. The healing of broken bones was painful but even worse was a crushed skull.

“We can have our meeting now,” Skender said as his large wings retracted.