Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (37 page)

“Girl?” Sasha softly repeated. “You called me… a girl.”

“You’re a reptile girl, that word is in your name,” Daemon reminded her.

“No, that’s not what I meant. You called me a
girl
, like… I wasn’t a monster.”

“What defines a monster for you?” Daemon questioned.

“What do you mean?” she asked with confusion. “Those that are not human, like me. I’m a monster.”

Daemon watched her for a while in silence then slowly held his gloved hand up, with Sasha looking to it then to him with wonder as his cold blue eyes started to make her feel weaker with their firm gaze. He then removed his glove, causing Sasha’s eyes to widen and her mouth to open in shock.

“Like me?” Daemon repeated.

“Wh… wha… what are you?” Sasha cried out as she dropped back and stared at his reptilian hand. “Your hand! Your hand, why is your hand like that?”

“What?” Tabitha exclaimed with surprise.

“His hand is scaly like yours?” Scay said with wonder.

“At first the only explanation I could think of was perhaps he altered it with some form of twisted magic,” Sasha explained. “But then...”

Sasha gasped as she saw Daemon holding his reptilian hand out to the side, then screamed in horror as his arm started to shift from human skin to dark scales.

“Because this is what I am,” Daemon answered her.

“Oh my god!” Sasha screamed as his arm turned into that of a monster, with a sharpened bone sticking out behind his elbow while his upper arm formed small talons that curved upward along his limb. The swordsman kept a calm expression as he slowly moved his arm about, eyeing his transformed limb then turning his sights onto Sasha who was frozen in place with wide eyes at him.

“It can’t be,” Sasha nervously stuttered. “Your hand, your arm… you… you’re not… you’re not…”

“Human?” Daemon said raising an eyebrow at her.

Sasha froze in place as she stared at him with complete shock, seeing the swordsman under the moonlight having a monstrous reptilian arm while his cold blue eyes seemed to show something chilling behind their piercing gaze.

“It can’t be…” she breathed out. “You’re a male, you can’t be… you can’t be a…”

She wavered then dropped back as she lost consciousness, lying on the grass while a few droplets of water on her breasts and belly rolled off onto the ground. Daemon watched as the reptile girl fainted then looked to his arm, slowly tilting it while the scales and talons receded and shifted to human skin again. However his hand remained the same, still appearing like that of a monster with its black scales and sharp nails. He put back on his glove then looked down to Sasha and he stood up over her, seeing the girl remaining still and quiet after she had fainted from the shock of seeing him like that.

*****

“Whoa, hold it!” Tabitha shouted as she and Scay were staring at Sasha with disbelief. Rulo and Forrus however weren’t showing any surprise or concern from Sasha’s story, rather they were watching the two stunned girls solemnly while Sasha was looking down at her satchel still.

“What do you mean his arm was all scaly and different?” Scay asked holding her own arm with concern.

“What are you trying to pull here?” Tabitha accused the reptile girl. “You’re talking like he’s some sort of monster or something.”

“My master
is
a monster,” Sasha snapped at her.

“Bullshit! There are no male monsters in Eden. Everyone knows this. You’re just trying to scare us with some made-up story about him.”

“You’ve seen how he’s different, haven’t you?” Sasha questioned as she tilted her head slightly. “He can go for days without eating, his strength and stamina are far above that of humans, his reaction time is sharper than you would dare give him credit for, and the look behind those eyes of his… you can see something else lies behind them.”

“You think you can scare us that easily?” Tabitha demanded.

“
EEP!
” Scay squeaked before she quickly wrapped her tail around herself, the naga then dropping down onto her side and rolling slightly while she hid behind her tail and hair again. Tabitha glanced down to the trembling girl then to Sasha with a dull stare.

“You think you can scare
me
that easily?”

“I don’t know how easily you frighten,” Sasha replied, with Tabitha watching her very carefully as the reptile girl looked up at the night sky with a distant gaze. “I was certainly scared when he first showed me. I thought I was dreaming, perhaps delirious from my injury, but it wasn’t like that at all. He really isn’t human, at least not completely.”

“What do you mean not completely?” Tabitha slowly asked. “Just what are you saying he is?”

*****

Sasha awoke with a gasp, eyes opening quickly before she sat up and looked around franticly before her sights rested on Daemon nearby. The swordsman was sitting on a collapsed stone pillar, having one leg up on the fallen mainstay and looking at his gloved hand which he tilted slightly in the moonlight. The reptile girl scrambled around on her hands and knees to face him while keeping low to the ground, eyes locked onto Daemon while she shakily took a few breaths. The swordsman merely glanced to her while remaining quiet, watching her cowering before her with a nervously swaying tail.

“Master,” she breathed out while trying to keep her voice steady.

“I told you before, I’m not your master,” he reminded her. “And get up; I don’t want you bowing to me either.”

Sasha lifted herself up on her knees while keeping her hands down at her sides, still leaning forward as if bowing slightly to him while she had her head lowered a bit as well.

“Master, you-”

“What is your name?” Daemon interrupted with.

“My name?” she repeated with a jump. “Um... it’s Sasha. Sasha, my master.”

“Sasha, I told you to stop calling me that, remember?” he said again with a stern tone. “I call you by your name, so you call me by mine.”

“I’m sorry, master! I mean, Daemon!” Sasha pleaded with eyes shut tight.

“Stop it,” Daemon ordered as he got off the pillar and walked over to her. “Stop trembling before me, I’m not going to hurt you.”

Sasha glanced up to him with one eye opened a peek then slowly looked at him with wonder as he stood before her. Taking a careful step she then stood up while keeping her eyes locked onto his, seeing no anger or malice in them yet feeling a slightly cold sensation from them.

“You’re… you’re a monster,” she spoke faintly. “I don’t believe it, how can this be possible?”

“A better question is why are you so insistent on following me,” Daemon dryly said.

“No, I’m quite certain you being a monster is about as puzzling as anything could be,” Sasha assured while shaking her head. “There are no male monsters in Eden, and yet… I’m looking at one. Where did you come from? What are you? Are there others like you as well?”

Daemon merely stared at her in silence, with Sasha growing more uneasy by the second until she shut her eyes and nodded quickly.

“I’m sorry, I have no right to pry about this, you don’t have to answer my questions. I apologize about being so demanding, it isn’t my place. I’ll still serve you and do anything you say without fail, I swear. Monster or human, you’re still my-” She froze then slowly opened her eyes to see Daemon raising an eyebrow at her.

“My… Daemon,” she carefully finished.

“Why do you wish to serve me so badly? I never bested you in combat or even challenged you to a fight.”

“You came to my rescue and have brought me from that horrid place I used to call a home to here,” Sasha praised, looking around the area which actually had plants and wildlife in it compared to the graveyard that was once her home before she turned to Daemon with a joyous smile. “And you proved without a shadow of a doubt that you are the only one I would ever wish to mate with. Your strength, your valor, the way you gave me a life worth living in this world. You being a monster doesn’t change anything, you’re still the one my life belongs to and I shall gratefully give it to you.”

She then stepped towards him and unsnapped the belts holding her hip guards in place, dropping them to the ground as she smiled coyly at the swordsman with her hips swaying along with her tail behind her.

“My soul and body are all yours, Daemon. Please, grant me my wish of mothering daughters who would have your strength and courage. I humbly ask that you give me your seed, and in return you may do whatever you want with me.”

Daemon held out a hand and stopped her by the shoulder, the girl looking to it then to him with a worried smile.

“I promise to pleasure you to my fullest,” she insisted. “You may be my first but I swear I’ll learn all that you desire in a mate and give you that every day for the rest of your life. I’ll be a perfect mate for you, I really will.”

“I will not be doing anything like that with you,” Daemon stated before lowering his hand. Sasha looked at him worriedly then down to her body as she held her arms across her stomach under her breasts.

“Please, I may be a monster, but-”

“It has nothing to do with that,” Daemon said shaking his head. Sasha turned her eyes to him with concern as he kept a solemn expression on his face. “I told you before I’m not looking to find a mate.”

“But… you have me now. Please, give me a chance to-”

“Sasha,” Daemon spoke, halting her words and causing her to jump slightly. “The answer is no. I cannot give you what you want. That being said you should go and find another who can. I am not the one you should be following after.”

“But why not? It is because I’m a monster, isn’t it? Why does that bother you when you yourself are one as well? I don’t understand, why won’t you have me? You can do anything you want with me!” Sasha cried out as she started to break down into tears. “Please, don’t send me away! Why can’t we mate together? I’ll do anything to earn that from you, just name it!”

“I can’t do that with you,” Daemon said again. “I can’t do that with anyone, Sasha. I have a purpose to accomplish in this world, that is the only thing I strive for, the only thing that I can focus on.”

“A purpose?” Sasha asked as she wiped her tears away.

“Yes, and as such I cannot give you what you ask of me. I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Like I said you should go and find another, one who can give you the life you want.”

Daemon turned to walk away before Sasha quickly grabbed his hand, earning a questioning glance from him as she held onto him with desperation in her eyes.

“And once you complete your goal, when you accomplish whatever that may be, what then?” she asked moving around to his front. “If that is truly the only thing keeping you from selecting a mate in life, then if it was finished would you take me as yours?”

“Why would you want me as your mate? I’m not even human.”

“You’re the one I want,” Sasha implored him with a saddened smile. “You’ve already claimed me as yours, whether you accept it or not, and I’m going to stay by your side where I belong. I’ll help you with whatever it is you’re after, do everything I can so you can complete your quest, just please do not turn me away. Monster or human, you’re the one who has my life now.” Daemon watched in silence as she let go of his hand and backed up before kneeling down before him, her expression of determination as she looked up at him.

“Like I said before, either take me with you, or mercifully end my life. If you were to cast me away, it would kill me all the same.”

“I don’t need your help,” Daemon said shaking his head.

“You have it anyway.”

“I don’t need you slowing me down.”

“I’ll become stronger and keep pace with you, I swear it.”

“Don’t you fear me for what I am?”

“I’m not even sure what you are exactly, but I don’t fear you now.”

Daemon slowly breathed out, seeming to hold in his aggravation for her persistence as she stood back up and held her hands together in a pleading manner.

“I promise, Daemon Warrick,” she humbly vowed. “That I shall either become worthy of you or die trying. Please allow me to accompany you and aid you however I can. If there is any way we can be together then I beg of you to allow it, I’ll wait as long as it takes to mate with you if that’s what I must do.”

A warm breeze rolled through the area, with the grass swaying with a quiet rustle while dust blew about amongst the stone ruins. Sasha anxiously awaited Daemon’s response, watching him just staring at her with his cold blue eyes while he remained silent. She didn’t falter or flinch from the long period of silence that formed between them, keeping her poise and holding onto hope that he would accept her with everything she had. After a while he looked up at the night sky, gazing up at the stars with a solemn expression before turning and walking away.

“Wait, please don’t-” Sasha cried out before he stopped and glanced back to her.

“I’ll be back tomorrow night,” he said, with the reptile girl jumping a bit and watching him with surprise. “Take this time to rest and consider what you’re asking of me. If when I return you are able to hold your sword up properly and still wish to follow me then I won’t stop you.”

Sasha smiled brightly with her tail waving around behind her as Daemon turned his eyes back before him again.

“Just know that if you choose to come with me there’s no going back,” he warned her, the girl not showing fear or concern to that but rather enthusiasm for his promise to come back for her. “Once you know what I know, you won’t be able to shut it out from your mind.”

“I will be ready when you return,” Sasha promised with a determined smile. “Nothing shall scare me away from you. I will be worthy of being your mate, master.”

“Sasha.”

“I mean, Daemon,” Sasha corrected with a twitch and a nervous smile. Daemon rolled his eyes and started walking away before the reptile girl called out to him again. “Daemon? If I may ask, what manner of monster are you?”

The swordsman stopped and glanced back to her, seeing her watching him with a curious smile while her tail slowly swayed around behind her.

“A cambion,” he answered, with Sasha showing wonder to that.

“Cambion,” she gently repeated to herself, her smile then returning as she giggled softly. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll be waiting for you to come back, I won’t disappoint you.”