Loving Merritt Forever

Loving Merritt After 42

"I was going to kill you." Merritt told the human man who had appeared in front of her. Standing strong. The demon wanted her near, needed to manipulate her, she did not think the demon wanted to kill her. At least not right away. It wanted her for some kind of larger purpose. She was a tool, a means to an end. These theatrics were meant to get her off balance. Steer her on the course the demon wanted.

The sound of the demon and human laughing together in an unnatural harmony was made louder as two extra voices joined in. Specters of Asher and Levi appearing from the darkness to either side of Shatter. "Little dove, you were only ever bait in our plans." Levi told her, speaking like he was talking to someone of slow wits.

"Bait is all she is good for. Aside from fucking, that ass grips a cock like no other, especially when fucked raw without warming her up." Asher said. Words designed to hurt Merritt. "It does however, turn out I have quite a talent for killing." His eyes glowing red. "To think I had to kill dozens of times, trying to rescue you. Only for you to have shacked up with a dark elf the day after I met our Master." Feigning a look of hurt in a face that wasn't Asher's. Just a bad approximation of what he had been.

"No." Merritt couldn't help but start to argue back. That wasn't how it had been. Xi was there. Putting his hand on her shoulder. Grounding her. Reminding her of what was real.

"Do not hear their words, they are only meant to manipulate you. Stick to your purpose tonight." Xi whispered in her ears, reminding her that the dead could only hurt her here, if she let them.

Turning away again to stick to her plan. Just like she had done when it had only been empty ghost like forms of Levi and Asher trying to turn her from her mission.

This time, she was not so easily able to walk away from the trap. Shatter wasn't a specter. He had form. He was actually here. Merritt turned back with superhuman speed at the sound of a gun firing. Xi had been shot. Merritt wasn't fast enough. Xi moved like lightning, far quicker than Shatter or the demon puppeting him had expected. Few knew anything of dark elves. A fact that held true even among demons.

Xi did not consider himself to be an expert fighter, the worst fighter of The Dark Elves were still war machines on their own anywhere outside their brutal society. Shatter had fought and won against many enemies, but this time he was soundly out matched. As the body died, blood gurgling in its throat, the voice of the man and demon spoke together. "I have many forms. You will submit to one." One last gasp and the body that was Shatter, was dead. Dark tendrils drifting up into the air from his body. Carried away to nothing on the wind.

Merritt ran to look at Xi. Searching for where he had been shot. It turned out the bullet had barely glanced over his bicep. He had moved enough out of the intended path to save his heart. It was a superficial wound, nothing serious. While Shatter was a mess of stab wounds and slices. Merritt had never seen anyone move like Xi did. With more grace and control than Asher ever had when fighting. Every movement lightning fast, smooth and precise.

As Merritt and Xi tried again to move towards Merritt's target, Asher and Levi called after her. Bantering between themselves behind Merritt's back "Don't worry Asher, we always knew she was easy. I picked her up on her wedding day. Still in a dress meant for another man." Levi's voice called through the woods. Except Levi had never spoken to her with such hate in his voice.

Asher laughing with Levi over her most painful memories. "Once she had you, she pursued me, one cock wasn't enough for her." Asher yelled out. His words echoing through the woods. Making a mockery of how hard Merritt had tried to resist feeling anything for Asher. It had been his own goddess who decided they should be tied together. It hadn't been her choice. It was fate. The false specters of her loves were ruining all her memories.

Xi could read Merritt's unease in how she was carrying her body, the specters were haunting her. "Whatever they are saying Merritt, it is not real. I can not see or hear them. You need to deny them. They are not real. They are not what they appear. Fight the influence of the demon!" Xi pleaded with her. He wished he could hear what the demon was whispering. If he knew the words that were hurting her, he could better counter them.

Xi was not supposed to know anything about how demons were summoned and controlled. That was information only meant for women. Xi had a voracious appetite for reading and not all the libraries in Central were well guarded. This was a demon already tied to Merritt. She needed to conquer it. Only she would be able to stand against this demon without a lot of effort, losses or some kind of magic Xi did not know.

The Matron's called this menarche. First blood. The test for a dark elf girl, to become accepted as a woman. Each daughter needed to invoke a demon, and control its power. Most daughter's choose to summon something easy and simple. One with a clear path to victory, a banshee, a lower spren of some kind, any of the weak classes of demons.

Highborn daughter's ones who sought to take control of the Matron position of their houses one day, might try something larger. Merritt was facing a menarche, with no matron to guide her. Only a lower born male with no magic who had never been taught. He had promised to guard her back, to do what he could. He would hold true to his word. Like a vow. Even if they were deeply out matched

Merritt focused on what was actually real around her. The forest, Xi holding her hand and pulling her forward, The smell of his skin. Like spring water heavy with vital minerals. The monster that was still hunting them above the heavy canopy of the trees. Ignoring voices her heart wanted to listen to, just to hear them one last time. Her mind forcing her to ignore the call of her heart.

Crying blood red tears as she took the lead once again, still holding onto Xi's hand as she walked through the darkest forest she had ever seen. The flapping and ticking of the monster in the air following them as they moved through the woods. Xi helping to guide her over roots and stones, making sure they went around sharp sided ravines.Xi kept her safe as she walked towards the heart and center of the demon.

Without warning, Merritt again doubled over at her waist. Letting go of Xi's hand to hold her stomach. This time she felt it grow and shift under her hands. "Something isn't right." She said. She didn't understand any thing that happened since the communications went dark. Really if she was honest with herself, she had been in over her head since she had died.

Xi looked at Merritt, specifically at her lower belly, The faint sound he could hear that was impossible. "You are pregnant?" He asked her. He had seen the signs more than often enough to know when breeding was successful. Merritt looked like she had a confirmed healthy pregnancy now, when her belly had been flat when they started this mission.

"I can't be pregnant, I'm dead." Merritt said, the demon changed it's tune. The lullaby sound she always preferred took a more upbeat note.

Merritt, bent over at the waist again, another sharp stabbing pain. An ache deep in her belly and back blooming around the edges of her vision. Merritt refused to accept what had been said. Kept walking blind through the forest. She knew she could not be pregnant. She was dead. Had been for months it was impossible that a fetus could have lived inside a vampire body.

Xi and Merritt kept walking. Until the forest started to thin. Lights were up ahead. Merritt was not surprised when they emerged from the tree line and saw the mansion Merritt had seen before. The sky overhead was tinged purple the area was so heavily clouded with dark magic. Everything in Merritt was telling her she needed to run away from here. While her mind knew this was the home of what she was seeking. What Marisol hoped to lure out into the open.