Chapter 3: Secrets
Zepar was going out. Again. He planned to leave her there alone. Again. And there was nothing she could do about it. Again.
He wouldn't tell her where he had been the past few nights, and she had known better than to ask, but now his constant absences had begun to concern her. She desperately wanted to know if she had done something wrong. He was clearly doing something behind her back, because he'd never kept secrets from her before. This, she decided, was probably a very big secret, and she was tired of waiting.
She had watched him leave the night before, a little cautiously. After all, it may have been that he had business. It was only three days after the Ceremony, and Lord Zepar was the heir to the Plane of Hell, after all. Perhaps he had spoken with his Uncle and begun some sort of business for when he would eventually take over?
But this made three days running, and she was suspicious by nature. No. This time, she, Enepsigos, was going to learn the truth. Either he would tell her, or she'd learn it on her own.
Enepsigos sighed, watching Zepar dress out of the corner of her eye, wondering when the best time to strike would be. There had been a time, when they had both been younger, when he told her everything, when his world was shared completely and easily with her. But the years had changed them both. He kept his distance, and she let him do it. Enough was enough.
"So," she said quietly, and he made a soft noise to let her know he was listening, even as he continued to dress.
She slipped from her chair to watch him.
"I thought," she began slowly, her eyes fixed on his hands as they worked, "that you might like to do something fun tonight."
"I'm busy. I'm going out." Aha, so it was true, as she had suspected. She drew a breath.
"Oh?" Better keep up with the innocent act, not let him on to the fact she was vying for information. "I thought you went out last night." He did not look up.
"I've got things to do." She bit her lip in contemplation and for a moment said nothing, then decided to play her cards.
"Where are you going?" she said quietly. "Are you going to leave me here alone again, Master?" He finally looked to her, crossing his arms and shaking his head.
"Its none of your business," he stated flatly. "And yes, I'm leaving you here." Enepsigos felt a flash of uncertainty run through her, but then she pressed on.
"You've been gone three nights. I'm worried. Is there something the matter you haven't told me about? I want to help if there is." He turned away again, straightening his collar a little.
"There's nothing wrong. And what could you do anyway?" That stung, and she recoiled a little from the statement before gritting her teeth.
"I have a right to know why you keep vanishing then!" she protested. "Each night you walk out that door without a word to me, and each night I watch you go. Where are you going? Tell me!" He waved her off.
"I'm leaving. I don't know when I'll be back."
What Enepsigos did next she could hardly believe. In an instant she had flung herself after him and latched on to the only thing she could reach as he reached to open the door: his leg.
"Lord Zepar! Wait!" she cried, holding him back. Alarmed, he just stared back at her a moment, trying to work out how she had crossed the floor so quickly and what had possessed her to physically hold him back.
"Enepsigos..." he said quietly, his tone a little dangerous. She shook her head.
"Stop leaving me behind! I'm your servant, I belong to you! I can't let you go again without knowing where you are! Leave me alone, then, if you want, let me sit here alone and go whereever you're going, but just tell me where!"
Enepsigos could hardly keep the desperation from her voice, and she hated how weak she sounded, so she buckled down and made her demands.
"Stop leaving me here! Stop going off! I have a right to know where you're going and what you're doing and I insist you tell me now!" She recognized it for a mistake the moment the words came out of her mouth. Instantly she let go, backing away a little on her knees as Zepar bristled. She sensed the anger rising off him like heat waves and her lip quivered a little. Then he slowly sank down before her, leaning towards her with a glacial stare.
"If I ever hear demands from your mouth again, Enepsigos, I will kill you. You are mine, and you belong to me, and I can do as I please with you. I will not banish you to the ether, I will destroy you entirely. I am a Prince of Hell, and a mere minion does not have the right to command me." His voice was like ice. Enepsigos gritted her teeth.
"Can't you see?" she said softly, her eyes meeting his with more determination than she knew she had. "Can you see how much..." she broke off and looked away. "I'm sorry. I'm worried, and I hate being left alone." He rose, reaching out to brush aside her fringe before turning back to the door.
"I'll be back later. Behave yourself. That's enough trouble out of you for a day, you hear me?" She just bowed her head, and as he slipped through the door, she felt the shudder of the air as the it closed heavily behind him.
But she wasn't giving up. Now she knew something was the matter. If he didn't deem her trustworthy enough to tell her, well she'd find out her own way.
She'd follow him. Easy as that. She'd find out what he was up to, or her name wasn't Enepsigos.
***
Enepsigos was intrigued. After giving him a small head start, she had proceeded to follow him from the house as planned, but things had taken an interesting turn when he had entered the Mirror Valley. Perhaps it was as she had suspected, and he was about the Demon King's business. But he had bypassed the Eternal Tower, the only populated place in the Mirror Valley, and had continued beyond the Monument deep into the woods that cloaked the autumnal plane.
What in the name of Hell was he doing? He stood there, framed by the picturesque scene of peaceful nighttime beauty, and did...nothing. She waited, half hidden behind a tree, wondering what he was waiting for. Was something meant to happen? Was someone else supposed to be there?
Her question was answered only moments later, when she heard the soft sound of someone hurrying through the woods nearby? She whipped about in time to duck down and hide herself as a woman appeared, clad in white, wings at her back, her hair like spun gold. For a moment Enepsigos was frozen. She could hardly believe it. She paused, trying to gather her breath, and peered back towards Zepar for a quick glance. What she saw made her breath catch in her throat again.
"Mihr," she heard Zepar say in greeting, and then the angel was in his arms. He held her gently, smiling as their foreheads touched, and Enepsigos felt her heart ache. Reality spun away. She was watching a fiction before her. What was this? What was she watching? It couldn't be real.
'Kill her. Let it be a trap, a trick...anything....' She felt the odd sensation of surrealism as it settled over her that she was seeing the truth. He was here to meet this...this angel, not to kill her. Nothing was going to happen. She couldn't take her eyes off them until at last he reached up and softly drew the angel into the gentlest kiss Enepsigos had ever seen. She tore her eyes away and pressed herself back against the tree, unable to breathe.
He had never ever kissed her the way he kissed that angel. He never smiled at her so gently she thought her heart would melt away. She was his tool, sent where he wished, to do his bidding, and that was all.
Her heart was breaking. She closed her eyes, trying to will it away, then finally felt the flash of anger that shot through her.
No. She would not let this be. This...this Mihr...would taste her fury. She was a demon, and she'd be damned if a pure innocent little weak angel got the better of her. This was war: a war for Lord Zepar's heart, and she would win.
"I can't stay. They'll be looking for me," she heard the angel say, and recognized her chance. Soon Zepar would pass back this way himself, and then he would find her. She had to move now. She rose, slipping off back through the woods, but this time she did not turn towards the Hell Gate and home. Instead, she made her way towards the Heaven Gate, with jealousy in her heart and destruction in her mind.
***
Mihr was not entirely oblivious. She had been feeling slightly cornered, like she were being watched, since leaving Zepar by the lake. Even so, she was surprised to actually find herself confronted by a demon there and then.
The woman before her looked angry and determined, and Mihr could feel the ripples of anger and hatred and sorrow emanating from her.
"Hold it right there, little angel bitch," the demon called to her, and Mihr looked back, sighing softly. "You're in demon territory here." Mihr licked her lips, watching as the demon approached her.
"I was returning home through the Heaven Gate. I'm not causing any trouble. Just let me leave." The demon shook her head.
"No, we'll fight this out like angels and demons always have done. You're not getting away from me so easily." She took up an aggressive stance and Mihr shifted a little uncomfortably.
"I shouldn't fight you. We're in a truce, and it would end badly, you know," she said quietly. "Letting me leave will be better for both of us.
"Oh, I don't think so. I'm not letting you go anywhere." Mihr closed her eyes a moment. She was only a short distance from the road and that meant she was very close to the gate. Perhaps she could just leave this demon behind and continue on her way.
"I need to be home before dawn. I'm sorry. Just let me go home, and we can both continue on our way." She gave a small bow of head in farewell and turned, thinking perhaps the demon would leave her alone. But it was not to be. The demon was making a stand.
Mihr felt a raging heat suddenly spring up behind her, washing over her with threatening ease, and she looked back just in time to see and dodge the first of the demon's attacks.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mihr demanded, staring wide-eyed back at the demon. Had she really just attacked her.
"You're trespassing, and I'm going to kill you," the other woman stated frankly, a smirk on her face. Mihr stared.
"We're under a truce! You'll reopen the theater of war!" she shot back, incredulous. Attacking an angel this close to the Heaven Gate? Who was this woman?
"I already told you," the demon stated coolly and clearly. "I am not letting you go."
Something snapped in Mihr and she realized suddenly she'd have to react. She couldn't just let the demon before her kill her. Fine then, if she wanted a fight, so be it. She forgot for a moment about Lord Sidriel and Lady Sachael and decided instead that the best way to get home now was to fight her.
So be it.
She saw the demon before her begin to draw in more of he power, readying another attack, and Mihr reacted without thought, opening herself up to the power of the Plane of Heaven.
Another ball of fire shot toward her, then another, and a wall of golden light erupted about her, absorbing the fireballs and forming a protective shield.
Mihr felt the power flowing about her and drew a deep breath, thinking back to all of Lady Sachael and Lord Sidriel's teachings. She could feel the power of Heaven coursing through her, and basked in the glow and the pleasure of it, a little smile touching her lips as she calmly held the forcefield in place. She didn't want to attack this demon, provoke her further. If she could help it, she would simply avoid her attacks until the demon ran out of energy.
Enepsigos glared at her, then shook her head, letting the hellfire drop away.
"Fine then," she hissed, gritting her teeth and opening her body to lightning and calling upon the power of storms, the power reserved for the demonic elite. "Let's see you stop this!"
Her energy drew into an orb of crackling electricity in her hands, and she grinned.
"Got you now, bitch." She released the energy.
Enepsigos was not an electricity demon by nature. Using such energies wore her out quickly. As a minion, she could hardly even tap into such power without the risk of destroying herself. Even so, she was surprised at how quickly. Even one pulse had stolen much of her energy, and she found herself struggling to launch another. She carefully formed a smaller energy ball in her hands, fighting against the fatigue and weariness such a costly move had caused.
On the other hand, Mihr's shield had absorbed the hit again, but her force field was that of a regular angel, and it could not entirely repel the lightning energy wielded by the royal court of the Demon Plane. She grimaced, panting in a similar state to Enepsigos, and fought to reflect the second lightning orb the demon sent hurtling her way.
It worked. She repelled it, and for a moment they both stood.Then both of them slipped to their knees, glaring at one another.
Mihr sighed, shaking her head, and Enepsigos let out a grim laugh.
"This isn't about my trespassing, is it?" the angel said gently.
"Of course it is!" Enepsigos spat, a flash of annoyance going through her.
"No." Mihr gave a slight smile. "This is about Lord Zepar."
Mihr could feel the hesitation within Enepsigos and she smiled, panting a little at the effort. Her force field was beginning to fail on her, but Enepsigos was also losing power. Mihr met the demon's eyes.
"It's okay," she said. "I understand." She felt her own sense of worry for Zepar, but pushed it down and away. "You hate me because of him, and I know. It's okay to hate me. Hate me all you want. But you must find a way to admit to him you love him."
"What are you talking about?" Enepsigos spat back, shaking a little as her lightning began to dissolve into the air about them. "Don't speak to me like you know anything about me. And you're an angel. You should go preaching about things you can't possibly understand."
Mihr sighed, noticing the first rays of sunlight beginning to appear as their energies at last faded into nothingness. Perhaps now it was done.
"You're a little idiot," the demon hissed. Mihr glanced back, blinking, then slowly rose to her feet. The demon followed. "This has nothing to do with me. This is about you. Angels. You don't understand what it means to cross a line. I'm not done yet. I'll show you." And with that the demon charged.
"I'll make you sorry you ever set foot in this valley!" Mihr watched as she draw nearer, and some tumultuous emotion she'd never before felt rose within her. It took her a moment to realize what it was: anger.
And then she had no more time to think. She reacted.
Enepsigos recoiled from the slap, staring at the ground, then sidelong at the angel, cupping her cheek where it stung. That had been a hard hit, and she had never in a million years seen it coming. The angel had fire in her eyes for a brief moment, and then suddenly she brought a hand up to her mouth, her eyes going wide.
"I'm so sorry," the angel said softly, sounding genuinely upset by the realization of what she'd done. Enepsigos stared, then blinked.
"What the hell?" The angel swallowed.
"I didn't mean...well...it's just..." she swallowed, then closed her eyes. "This is not the way to declare your love to Zepar!" Enepsigos stared at her, then slowly turned away, sinking down into an exhausted seat and considering the morning sunlight shining down on the brilliance of the Mirror Valley. By now Zepar would be home, and he would have noticed her missing, and here she was, stuck with a stupid angel, who was determined to get her to admit her love to her Master at all costs, while wooing him herself on the side. Enepsigos sighed, and curled her knees up to her chest, the fight gone out of her, weary beyond belief, and vaguely noticed that the angel was seated beside her.
"I don't understand you one lick," Enepsigos muttered, gazing at the dry grass at her feet as it rustled in the light morning breeze. "You meet him, you clearly love him, and then you want me to go and confess myself? You don't make any sense." Mihr simply smiled a little besider her staring out in the direction of the Heaven Gate and basking a little in the sunlight. She was late, but at last this had been resolved.
"I think," she said quietly, "that love is a complicated thing." Then she closed her eyes a moment. "Thank you, though." Enepsigos narrowed her eyes.
"What for?"
"For making me realize I do love him," Mihr replied. "Thank you very much."
END CHAPTER 3
Naw that poor demon lady :( I feel for her.
ReplyDeletexD Oh Enep... that sure backfired! Still, I LOVED their fight scene, and all your photos were just stunning.
ReplyDeleteI think my two favourites were the one with Enep grabbing onto Zep's leg, and the one with Mihr and Enep on their knees glaring at each other. <3 Awesome job.