The Demon Prince

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟔

𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐟𝐨𝐫

There was not a moment that I left Meliodas his side for the last 3000 years. Our lives revolved around the curse that was placed on Meliodas and Elizabeth. Every few years, one of her resurrections would join our side once again. It hurt me, to see their love story start all over again . . . Until her eyes turned that bright orange colour again. We knew by now that we had only three days. Whenever she got back her memories, Elizabeth had died by the end of the third day. I had no idea how Meliodas did it time and time again, fall in love with her, mourn her. She died in his arms every time. I had found him many times now, clinging to her lifeless body, silent tears streaming down his cheeks. I knew he blamed himself, even I blamed myself. We had promised to break her curse, but we hadn't found a single solution. Maybe she blamed us as well, the real Elizabeth. But the truth was, the curse was too strong for us. It was created by the Gods, only the power of a God would be able to break that curse again. Even with the daughter of Belialuin, who now went by the name of Merlin, on our side, nothing seemed to work.

At least, not until Merlin uttered the words : ❛ I bet this is out of the question, but if you would become the next Demon King, you would have the power to break the curse. ❜ Meliodas' eyes narrowed, as if even suggesting something like that was in itself a crime. I held my breath, the tension between the three of us rising. ❛ No, you are right. That is out of the question. ❜ Meliodas his voice was cold, cutting through me like a knife. Merlin only laughed. ❛ I'm sorry I brought it up. ❜ The ominous aura surrounding Meliodas disappeared in the blink of an eye, that boyish grin once again painted on his face. There were times that he scared me. Every time that Elizabeth died, I could see him change more and more. This existence was a torture for him, I could see it. 105 versions of Elizabeth had passed, and with each one I could see that Meliodas returned more and more to his old self. We were all losing hope, him the most of us all.

For now we had settled down in the Kingdom of Danafor, one of the mightiest Kingdoms in Brittania. I spend my days locked inside of our cabin, hidden from the public eye. Vampires weren't welcome any Kingdom, just by being here I was risking the death penalty. But how could I stay away from Danafor, especially after meeting the Holy Knight named Liz. The moment Meliodas laid his eyes on her, I could see that once again his soul was at peace. She could calm the storm in him like no one else could. It didn't take long for Meliodas to be appointed as a Holy Knight as well. There was no way that they would ever refuse him, not with all the power that he had. So every night, we sat inside of the hut with Meliodas and Liz, laughing, sharing jokes . . . I watched him return to a love struck boy, and day by day she was falling for him as well. This Elizabeth brought hope back into my world. For the first time in nearly three millennia, she was different. Unlike the Goddess Elizabeth, and every reincarnation of her, this girl had a pink pixie cut. Both of us were hoping that maybe the Gods had let go of their vendetta against the lovers.

But the Gods were cruel. We were wrong to ever get our hopes up again.

In just a few hours, the entire Kingdom had fallen. Fraudrin, one of the Demons that had never been locked away in the Coffin of Eternal Darkness, had found the last piece of the Coffin hidden away here. All this time, it had been right under our noses. We had searched every corner of Brittania for the relic, never managing to find a single piece. I cursed myself; all of our blissful days had made us forget about one of our main goals. Now, the purple Demon stood there, towering over the square as the rain fell on our skin. All of the people had been killed - their blood used in the hope to break the seal. With the damage already done, for a second, I hoped that he would succeed. It had been such a long time since Zeldris appeared into one of my dreams . . . I didn't even know if he was still alive. If he was dead . . . Once again I cursed myself; I should have been in there with him. I was supposed to have suffered the same fate. Every night now, I lay in bed thinking about him, trying to reach out . . . But I never succeeded. Maybe I still wasn't strong enough.

Dark clouds gathered above us, the sky swarming with the blue bird Demons. It were the lowest Demons that came out, I doubted that even this amount of blood would be able to free the Ten Commandments. I should've done something, anything to stop Fraudrin. I didn't move even one inch.

Thousands of years ago I would've done something, I would've tried harder to protect the Humans. They had been my allies. But they had so easily turned their back on me. All it took was one look at my crimson eyes, my fangs. I had lived a life of exile for all of these centuries, only ever being accepted by Elizabeth, Meliodas and Merlin. I wondered what they would do when they found out that their beloved Meliodas was a Demon, a powerful one. Would they be afraid of him as well? He had perfected his ability to act like nothing more than a human, leaving me to fend for myself. There was no one there that recognized, nor appreciated the darkness within me. Except for Zeldris. If Fraudrin succeeded, he would be by my side, his darkness calling to my own.

Those thoughts died out quickly when the gates closed once again. I saw Fraudrin staring into the air, and then I heard Elizabeth . . . No, he couldn't know about her - he would kill her the second he remembered her face. My legs were still frozen in place when I heard her scream filling the air, piercing through my own body. ❛ ELIZABETH! ❜ I screamed out, her blue eyes locking with my own. I could do nothing more but watch the light fade from them when Fraudrin pierced her body. Everyone had died, every single living thing that I had cared about. Waddle, the bird Meliodas and Elizabeth had taken care of, my own pet monkey Loco . . . They were all killed by this monster.

His onyx eyes gazed over at me, a smirking forming on his lips. ❛ You. You were one of the Goddesses. Both of you. ❜ I fell to the ground, he would kill me. This was the end of my life, Meliodas had to go on without me.

Before the Demon could come any closer, the smirk faded from his lips. Meliodas, my hero, had arrived. ❛ You're - you're Meliodas of the Demon Race, aren't you? ❜ The sweat was breaking on his forehead, but Meliodas never answered him. I saw him kneel down next to Liz, hugging her body tight. This wasn't fair. This Elizabeth had been our hope, she had never even regained her memories. We both hadn't been able to prepare for her death . . .

I felt the change in Meliodas when he was consumed by his own wrath, his dark aura finally taking over completely. This was it, he had returned to the Meliodas, the most feared Demon in the Holy War. He had no control over his emotions, nor his powers. I had to get out of here, if I didn't, the explosion of his power would kill me. As I soared up, I gave Fraudrin one last look. He was scared, he knew he was going to die. Good. He deserved it. I hoped that Meliodas made him suffer. I flew away from the Kingdom as fast as I could, not even looking back when I heard the explosion. I already knew what I would see; a crater where Danafor had once been, the ashes falling from the sky. The Kingdom would never be rebuild again. All of the people that had survived Fraudrin's attack where now surely dead. Danafor was gone. Destroyed by one of their own Holy Knights, one of the people that had sworn to protect the nation and serve their king.

When all of the adrenaline finally left my body, I fell from the sky. Even though I as a Vampire with impressive regeneration powers, I felt like the helpless Goddess who's wings were destroyed, falling to her death. I reached out my hand to the sky, hoping that he would show up to save me this time. ❛ Please, help me. Zeldris, help me. ❜

Armoured arms caught me right before I hit the ground. Yes, I knew it. He had returned to save me. I gazed up, expecting to be met with either emerald or onyx eyes . . . But met blue ones instead. I jumped out of his arms, averting my eyes to the ground before he could see what I was.

❛ I am a Holy Knight of the Kingdom of Liones, what happened here? ❜ Despite the situation, his voice was calm, gentle. The feeling of peace washed over me. He gave me something to hold onto in the middle of all this chaos. ❛ I - Danafor was attacked. T- the . . . ❜
Before I could even finish my sentence, a blond male made his was out of the smoke, the tears rolling over his cheek. The murderous energy from before was still emitting from his body. In his arms was a baby, not even making a sound. It was as if the baby was unaware of all the horrors that happened. How it had survived, I had no idea. The Holy Knight and its companion stepped over to Meliodas, their arms stretching to take the baby from him. In only a matter of seconds his blade was pointed too their throats.

❛ Get your hands off of my woman! ❜ He snarled, almost as if he was a savage beast. The two men stumbled backwards. ❛ Your woman? ❜ One of them asked, looking at me with a puzzled look in his eyes.

I could only smile, because at the moment Meliodas had spoken those words, her piercing blue eyes had gazed at me. I would recognize those eyes anywhere; Elizabeth. It was now the 107th version of my sister, and I could only pray that this was the one we would save. If we would fail again, I had no idea what would happen to Meliodas.

⭒ ✦ ⭒

That night I tossed and turned as I lay in bed, the memories from that day replaying in my head. I had been so . . . Weak. I didn't do anything to save Elizabeth - I just stood there, frozen. I lay in bed, my eyes swollen and red from the tears I'd shed. I called out to him, hoping that he would hear me now: ❛ Zeldris, please. I need you. I want you here. ❜

A soft hand was caressing my hair, whispering in my ear : ❛ You called for me? ❜ That voice, I would recognize that voice everywhere . . . He had listened, he came to me in my moment of despair. I didn't care about my dignity, didn't care what he would think of me when I pulled him into my embrace, clinging to him. ❛ Where have you been? ❜ My voice sounded as broken as I felt inside. Part of me expected him to push me away, we hadn't been this close before. Instead, he pulled me tighter against his chest, his fingers intertwining with my hair. ❛ I - I don't have that much magical power left, Illyria. I need to save my strength. ❜ Was he . . . Dying? Could he possibly die inside the Coffin of Eternal Darkness. He cupped my cheeks, lifting my chin so our eyes were locked with one another. ❛ Tell me everything that happened. ❜ So I told him, everything that had been eating at me for these past three millennia. About the curse that was placed on Elizabeth and Meliodas, about what happened today. His onyx eyes appeared once again at the mention of Fraudrin, how he had recognized me as a member of the Goddess Race from 3000 years ago. ❛ I felt it today, how Fraudrin was opening the seal. But it just - it wasn't enough. ❜ His eyes turned sad, I swear I could see tears forming. Now I was the one to pull him closer. ❛ I never asked. What's it like in there? ❜ ❛ Hell. ❜ We sat there in silence for a while, just staring at each other. ❛ If your power is gone, how are you here? ❜ His frown turned into a smile as he squeezed into my hand. ❛ You did this. Your cries brought me here. ❜ I couldn't help but smile. After all of this time, longing for him, I had finally done it. I had created this dream. ❛ I don't want to wake up again, Zeldris. ❜ ❛ You have to. You still have a promise to fulfil. ❜ He pulled me into his lap, gently rocking me while his fingers traced my back. ❛ It's just - I don't want to leave your side again. ❜ He laughed, shaking his head. ❛ I have been with you for every single day, you just haven't noticed it yet. ❜