Halfling (editing in process)

Chapter Fourteen

Payne had let Aria sleep; after what she had been through the girl more than deserved some rest. She had wrapped the sleeping girl up in the blanket after using a simple spell to dress her in a cotton dress and set her near the crackling fire. She had also put around her neck another necklace like the one before, a small dagger that rested close to her heart, near that adorable little swirl. Payne could see the trouble on Aria's face, it seemed her dreams were not being kind, but there was nothing she could do about that, at least while she was awake and standing guard.

The demoness, acknowledged as one of the most sadistic creatures to ever walk the underworld, born from wrath and lust, a chilling combo that allowed her to relish in agony in a way that had given her quite the reputation in the underworld, was infatuated with a halfling. She supposed she should have been more upset by the notion, but from the second she had laid eyes on the unnatural being that was Aria, daughter of Azael and some nameless elf woman, she had been enthralled. Sure; at first it had been the want to hear her scream like countless others, to feel her flesh tear under her weapons, under her nails and perhaps even her teeth; but she had been watching the girl from her home. The girl possessed an attitude and spunk that she admired; and a loveliness that far surpassed any of the humans that she played with in her home. The fact that the girl didn't fear her and met with her on an equal ground that not many could stand on was another endearing thing about the halfling.

The fascination had turned into a softer emotion that she hadn't understood. Giving Aria the necklace the first time had been a spur of the moment idea, and it seemed like it had been very beneficial to the female. If she hadn't been able to defend herself for those few short moments her and Javen might have come across a worse scene, they could have been too late. But the knowledge that Azael had captured Aria had filled her with a fury that she had never felt before. The moment she had seen the demon, about to force himself on her, something that even the demoness of pain didn't do, her control had snapped. She was calm now, and was picking blood out from under her nails while she watched Aria sleep.

She looked up when Javen finally came back with two rabbits, freshly gutted, slung over his shoulder. He sat down on the other end of the two and began to skin the rabbits with a short blade pulled from his boot. Payne had picked up that he too had grown more tolerant of his half-sister. They had been picking at one another since the day they had met in that big tree. When the elf had seen Azael, like her, he had been filled with fury; his for several reasons. On one hand standing in front of him was the demon that had raped his mother, and had ultimately caused her death; on the other, there was his last living relative, despite her demonic side, the last being his mother had called out to, about to share the same fate. When Payne had appeared a moment after Azael had disappeared with Aria, Javen had taken the relic they had been searching for, an enchanted quiver. He hadn't been happy when they had gotten to Azael's realm of shadows, but he had been as determined as she was.

And now she believed Azael to be dead; it was the only way to explain the absence of his mark on Aria's arm. She would go talk to Lucien in a few days to see what happened, but until then she wanted to stay with Aria to make sure she healed.

"I did not expect the root to take effect so quickly." Payne commented quietly, dark eyes catching the gleam from the fire as she looked to the elven man opposite of her.

"It is very potent. I figured she needed rest and she sure as hell wasn't going to get it by herself. Our healers use it for more serious injuries to keep the wounded under while they heal them." He replied.

Payne nodded her head lightly, going quiet for a few moments while she watched him skin the rabbits, and saw Aria's face had gone passive, her breathing quieting.

"Thank you." Payne said quietly.

Javen simply shrugged and skewered one of the rabbits and placed it over the fire and began working on the other.

"You care for her." He commented after a moment. "I didn't think that demons could feel affection for anything else but themselves and their material possessions."

Payne rolled her eyes. "We can feel all the emotions you can elf." She replied. "We are selfish creatures that like to think of ourselves rather than others, but we can love. I know demons that have been together hundreds of years without getting with another, inseparable. It is rare, but it can happen. Kind of like Aria, a rare blending of two worlds."

Javen scoffed. "And the reasons why all of elven females are blessed at birth, sometimes before, so demons cannot impregnate them."

"And that is what makes her a rare beauty; she will be the only one unless someone raises an unblessed elven brat; which no one wants to do. To others she is an abomination, elves believe her tainted and something to be destroyed, and to demons she is weak because of her elven blood, probably meant to be enslaved or kept as some kind of pet. I think she can be so much more; her power can grow in both demonic and elven, especially with your mother's bracelet amplifying her power. What about you Javen? Do you think her something to be killed without thought? Can you look at her, someone that has been isolated her entire life, hidden from both worlds, one because they would destroy her and the other because his prize wasn't old enough to fuck yet? If she hadn't held the key for you to destroy Azael, would you have just killed her, knowing she is of your own flesh and blood?"

Javen didn't reply, didn't even look up at her. From her spot at the fire Payne could tell he was deep in thought, and that was good enough for her. The second rabbit was soon put on the fire and they both went quiet, the sounds of the fire crackling and the meat sizzling blending with the sounds of the forest around them. He took one of the rabbits off the flame after few minutes and, after a moment's hesitation, gave her the rabbit and got the other for himself.

"Feeding a demon are you?" Payne questioned with a wry smile, a little shiver going through her body as she ripped a chunk off the meat, the burning sensation anyone else would have felt a little jolt of pleasure instead. "You know they say if you feed animals they stick around."

Javen glared at her and rolled his eyes. "If you are to be taking care of my sister you better not eat her." He replied.

Payne smiled, and they ate in silence, not friends, not quite allies, but on acceptable terms, and, for that, Payne counted it as a win.