Alliance With Shadows

Chapter 9

Following Mercy, Luc found that his mind was in the clouds thinking, which often meant he had to snap himself out of his world and caught bits and pieces of what Mercy was talking to him about. If he didn’t keep his head on straight and keep focused he would not help her in a fight, it would get her hurt or even worse. He shook his head violently; he couldn’t think about that, the thought alone sent his demon into a rampage within him. He needed to stop thinking about what they just had together, how it hurt to see her walk away and act as nothing happened. He needed to forget his feelings and just move on. He felt a little growl within himself. It seemed the demon was becoming its own being; which worried him. This was what his father was turning the darklings into now, each darkling was now a being with not only a dark side but a literal demon inside of them that they could either fight and end up dying or accept and become the dark beings they are now. He seemed to be the only one willing to fight the demon after his last rampage; he didn’t like not being in control. Although being around Mercy he found it was very hard to keep himself under control, he was glad that the demon itself never rampaged nor tried to take over when he was with Mercy.

            I like her

            “What?” Luc looked at Mercy when he heard the whisper.

            “Huh? I was just saying that we should probably look around town first and then look towards the outskirts of town for the best results in hunting for renegades. You were zoned out and your eyes sort of glazed over.”

            “Oh really? I didn’t hear you; I thought I heard something else.” Shaking his head, it was nothing he was just hearing things then.

            I said I like her

            Luc looked at Mercy again and she was just walking beside him humming a tune in her head. Who is speaking? He thought to himself.

            I am you. I am the demon that is now inside each darkling.

            How are you speaking?

            I am not my own being; I am your own demon that you have been fighting.

            So you are my soul? Luc was confused, he hadn’t heard of the darker being inside the darklings becoming an actual being that could talk.

            I am not a soul. I am a being. We are strong in some and weak in others.

            How is this possible? Luc then looked at Mercy hoping he wasn’t saying this aloud.

            Do not fear you are not speaking out loud. I am inside you; you could say you are just talking to yourself. Do you not know the story of how we demons live inside you? Has your father hidden from you the reason why darklings have become so much darker? How the balance of light and dark has now tipped?

            My father has not told me anything!

            Just keep walking and loosen up! You are to tense she will know something is wrong. I will explain this to you then.

            Luc continued to walk beside Mercy as she led them to the grounds where she wanted to hunt. He was surprised this being inside him was so strong.

            Your father has been messing with beings and magic he should not be messing with. He has now infected each darkling with a demon to make his army stronger to overtake the light.

            How did he do this?

            He has made deals with dark beings that should never be dealt with. He has widened his knowledge of the dark arts. He has infected them with a mixture of dark arts and his own blood.

            Is that why this war has lasted so long?

            No one is strong enough to beat anyone armed with such magic. There is only so much the light can do to make sure the balance does not tip anymore.

            Just another reason why my father must be stopped. So you are saying that you are an actual demon inside of me?

            I wouldn’t say I’m an actual demon; I could not live as a being myself. I must be attached to someone. It is part of the spell your father has put on the darklings.

            But how are the new darklings so dark?

            Your father used his blood for the spell. So the spell itself is passed through blood, so with each birth of a new darkling, the spell is transferred to them.

            So are all darklings able to talk to the demons inside of them?

            No, you are the only one.

            Why is that?

            You are your father’s son. As much as you wish not to be attached to him, his blood runs through you. His spell is very strong inside of you which allows the ‘demonic blood’ as you may put it to be so strong that it becomes a being itself.

            So since you are a being inside me can you take over my body and make it your own like the others? Luc was a bit worried about the answer. If this being could take over his body it was no longer safe to be around Mercy. He promised after his first possession that he would never hurt anyone else.

            Do not worry. I may be the darkest part of you but I find that harming that woman would have no benefit for me.

            What do you mean?

            You care deeply for this woman whether you wish to admit it or not. To harm you is to harm me, we are the same after all. What you feel I feel.

            You feel what I feel?

            The demon sighed. Yes.

            What exactly can you feel?

            Must I spell it out for you? I can feel what you feel; meaning if I take over your body to harm her I would feel your pain, regret and utter disgust with yourself. When she pleasured you I can feel the pleasure you feel. I must say the touch of light is more pleasurable than the taste of bloodshed your father wishes for.

            Luc growled.

            “Are you okay?” Mercy stopped and stared at him. That growl was deep and a bit unnerving, how can a man sound like that? It sounded primal.

            “Yes, I am fine. Sorry, I must have been daydreaming and not realized what I was thinking about.” He smiled at her hoping the smile would convince her to continue walking. She smiled back and continued walking. He sighed; he didn’t like that this demon inside of him could feel what she did to him, nor bask in her light.

             Do not worry I am not a being that is capable of love, I only no hate and bloodshed. But she seems to be able to calm the need I have to take over your body for bloodshed. If you wish to conquer your father and help the other darklings she is the key.

            What do you mean she is the key?

            Do you not remember the story of the Warrior of Light and Dark aligning?

            I only heard it once, my father forbids me to talk to the Oracles after that and never allowed me to go back to the human realm.

            Do you not see the story revealing itself? You are a Warrior of the Dark; she is the Warrior of the Light.

            Luc stopped in his tracks. s**t! The story had been about him all along; it was why his father had killed so many darklings living in the human realm and why he had not been allowed to come back to this realm. This was the reason why Halcyon had killed Luc’s mother, she was the only reason he enjoyed coming to the human realm. She had been the only reason the demon inside stayed dormant. It all made sense now, his father never wanted the Oracle’s premonition to come true. It would ruin all of his plans to take over the realms. Halcyon didn’t want his son to be the reason he failed.

            Do you understand now?

            Yes, I understand that I have to kill my father to free the darklings. He looked up to find Mercy standing a few feet away humming a tune looking towards the sky. He couldn’t help but smile; as he smiled she looked back down and found him smiling at her.

            “What?” Mercy laughed.

            “Nothing just wondering why you stopped walking.” Luc walked up beside her.

            “Well you seemed a bit distracted and when you stopped walking you had a very serious look on your face as if you were fighting with yourself. So I figured I would just stand here and wait for you to come back to your senses. It seemed to be a serious thought process” she laughed, “so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

             Luc laughed, “did I have that serious of a face?’

            “Yeah seemed to be important, and when I get that way I can’t be disturbed or I lose my train of thought so I figured I would leave you be till you figured it out.”

            “Well thank you for the consideration but you should have snapped me out of it. What if a renegade had attacked?” Luc shivered at the thought.

            Mercy took his hand and smiled, “I’m not completely helpless, plus it seems to be a very quiet day today so I figured I would just keep you company while you sorted out your thoughts.”

            Luc’s brows furrowed, “So you decided not to go renegade hunting because I was out of it?”

            Mercy laughed, “Not entirely but it would be a lot easier for me to hunt if my partner didn’t have his head in the clouds.”

            Luc tugged on her hand and walked towards the direction they were going to hunt, “Well I’m okay now so let’s go.” He didn’t want to be the reason she couldn’t do the job she loved to do. She wanted to protect the people here and she couldn’t do that with him thinking and talking to himself.

            She laughed and tugged back, “Did you not notice how late it was? Were you that deep in thought to notice the sun is setting? We have been walking around since this afternoon.”

            Shocked he looked up and saw she was correct, he had been so deep in thought that he hadn’t noticed. He had been so deep in thought to notice they had been walking for hours around the city. She had been looking for renegades all day while he had been zoned out.

            “Like I said it’s been a quiet day, which is sorta a bummer. I was hoping I could at least kick a little butt on my first day back. Though this just means I don’t have to stop by my parents' house to check in since I didn’t fight today, I just get to call.” She winked at him. He seemed so deep in thought that she made sure not to go into the dangerous parts of town where most of the renegades go, plus since this was her first day back she could bet that the Priestess made sure to have enough Valkyries on staff just in case she didn’t work. So the town was safe, not that Luc needed to know he already seemed to feel bad he had ruined her first day back. “Don’t worry about it okay! We can come back out tomorrow and walk the perimeter again. Quiet days aren’t days you want to pass up so let’s just head back home and see how Teague is. Then we can go get something to eat.”

            Luc couldn’t help but try to hide his face at the sudden heat rising in his face; she had just included him when saying home. Not that she had meant it that way but coming to terms with how he felt about her, that simple word made him smile. Home. He had never had a place to call home and she was just saying it like it was normal. “I’m sure Teague wants to know what happened today.”

            Mercy looked up at Luc and saw that he still had a soft blush on his face; she laughed not wanting to point it out. She was sure he had hoped it went away before he said anything. “Well, I’m sure he will be disappointed that we didn’t see any action today. Now that I’m thinking about food you guys go out a lot for food right.”

            “Yes, I suppose we do.” He didn’t quite understand why she had brought that up.

            “Well since you are now staying at my place you don’t have to go out so much you can just make yourself something if you would like.”

            “Um. Well thank you but I have never cooked a day in my life, nor have I had a home-cooked meal so I would have no clue how to cook or bake.” Luc laughed. “I wouldn’t want to accidentally burn down your home.”

            “Well, that would be a bad thing. Hum…” Mercy tapped her chin thinking, “Well I suppose I could teach you a few easy things, although compared to my mother I can’t cook many things. I often just make a gate myself to go over there to eat.”

            “I’m not sure how easy teaching me would be but I’m willing to try. I’ll be here in this realm for a while so I should get used to cooking myself.”

            “How about we make a trade-off?”

            “Trade-off?”

            “Yeah, I will teach you something about the Human Realm. Then you will teach me something.”

            “Well, I’m not sure what I could teach you we are both Valkyries.”

            “Well…um there is one thing that I would like you to teach me.” Mercy began twiddling her thumbs; she wasn’t sure how to ask. She wanted to learn how he just disappeared the first night they meet. But if it was a gift that he was just able to do like her being able to hear metal, then he wouldn’t be able to teach her.

            “Well, what is it you wish me to teach you?” Luc was a bit curious; what on Earth would she possibly want him to teach her.

            “Well, I would really like to know and learn how you disappeared that one night.”

            Luc laughed, “Well it’s a simple transportation spell I learned. The spell itself is simple but you have to have a clear mind. You have to have a place in mind when transporting and you can’t let your mind wander and think of somewhere else. It is one of the downsides of the spell; you have to have complete focus when using the spell.”

            “Well focus for me wouldn’t be too hard; it would be similar to my weapon reequip. I can’t think of two weapons at the same time or else I would impale myself. I have to have an order in which I want them to come if I want multiple weapons out at a time.”

            “You can make weapons appear?”

            “Yes, it’s a gift I was given. I can store weapons inside me.” She looked up to find Luc confused, “Well it’s hard to describe it, I can make the weapon smaller and it is stored on my skin like an invisible tattoo, when I wish for a weapon I make I appear on my skin like a tattoo and then I will force it out and then I have a weapon to use during a fight. I don’t know how to really explain.”

            “It’s alright it’s a gift, gifts are always hard to explain. They are not bound by the laws of magic like spells.”

            “Yeah, I suppose your right. Well anyways back on the subject of food, what would you like?” She was glad he understood that she couldn’t explain the gift well, she had a feeling it would just lead to her rambling and she didn’t need him to think she was crazy.

            “Well, we could just ask Teague since we just made it back to your house,” walking and talking sure made the time go by a bit faster than he wanted. He still wanted to just talk with her; it had been a while since he just had a conversation with someone.

            “Oh, you’re right.” She was surprised they made it home so fast, she looked at her watch. That hour and a half walk went fast, she didn’t even realize they had been talking that much, or maybe they were just walking faster than she thought since they had been talking. Sighing, man she was enjoying just hanging out with someone, not that hanging out with Morgan was boring. Girl talk only went so far before she got bored, a Gnome and a Valkyrie just had different ideas of fun. She opened the door to her home, “Hey Teague we’re back!”

            Teague ran up to greet them, “You guys were gone for so long! You didn’t leave down any food for me, I’m starving!”

            Mercy scratched behind his ear, “I’m sorry, but I’m not used to having furry guests around. I’ll try to make sure to remember the next time okay?”

            Teague wagged his tail happily, “Well as long as you don’t forget about me next time.”

            “So what would you like? I’m going to make you both a home-cooked meal. Luc told me you guys usually go out for food so I figured I would cook for you guys.”

            Teague ran for the kitchen, “Well let’s see what you have! A bed, TV and a home-cooked meal I’ll never want to go back to the Underworld again!”

            Luc laughed, “Looks like you are going to have a permanent resident if you don’t stop spoiling him.”

            Mercy smiled heading for the kitchen, “Nah he wouldn’t choose me over you so I think I’m safe.”

            Luc smiled if only she knew she was spoiling him as well. They both would choose her over the Underworld in a heartbeat. He sat at the barstool watching as she gathered things around the kitchen to start cooking. He could hear her humming a tune, he smiled. She always seemed so happy to be with him and Teague, not bothered by the fact that they came out of nowhere and just started living with her. He tried not to frown at the thought that they would have to leave after the mission, he would no longer have a viable reason to stay here.

            She could be the reason you stay.

            He sighed, she can’t be the reason, it’s not allowed.

            When you kill your father who would stop you?

            The light

            You really think that? You can always change their mind.

            It’s a rule that has been in place for many years, a mind may waiver in belief but the heart is much harder to change. They would not accept us. They would not accept her.

            And that’s what it comes down to. Her.

            He grunted, his demon had a point. He was more worried about her being accepted among her people than he was about himself. As much as he wanted to deny it, he cared about her more than he was willing to admit.

            “Luc, you okay?”

            He looked up to find Mercy staring at him with concern. He was making a habit of zoning out and making her worry. “Yes I’m fine was just thinking again.”

            Mercy frowned, “You sure have been thinking a lot today, are you sure you’re okay?”

            Luc nodded, “I’ll be fine.”

            Mercy stared at him, not entirely believing him. She sighed, “Alright well dinner is done so you can eat up and then go to sleep, maybe sleeping will help clear your mind.”

            Luc nodded accepting the plate she handed to him, “You may be right.”

            Mercy sat in the barstool next to him and began eating, looking at him every so often. He had not seemed like himself after this morning, maybe their fling had affected him more than he was willing to admit. He could just as easily be thinking about something else she supposed.  Shaking her head she continued to eat, maybe she needed some sleep to clear her mind as well.