Paladin's Dance

Curled horns rustle in the hedge, small white arms clutching a stuffed paladin. “You said you had him wrapped around your little finger. So why are we here?”

“Shut up, Mimi.” A larger set of horns hisses back. The succubus chews on the tip of her tail while she peers through the leaves.

The rattle and clash of steel sounds from the clearing at the bottom of the hill. A knight and a paladin circle each other in a shining silver dance. The full plate clinks and clanks, the tall shining fighter embossed with holy symbols carries a warhammer in one hand, a buckler in the other, sword sheathed at his side. The heavy hammer head swings out with power and grace of years of ingrained muscle memory.

The shorter knight, in grubby patchwork plate armor cobbled together from several suits, skips back out of range and brings a halberd to bear with two skilled hands, razor edge flashing in the noon sun.

“That cheating little prayer monkey.” Rosie doesn’t even notice her fangs sinking into her sensitive spade as the knight dodges another hammer strike and whips the weighted butt of the halberd around to ring the paladin’s helmet like a gong.

The junk pile knight thunders a rich contralto laugh as the holy mountain staggers back. “Come on, Eldin. We’re just warming up. Without all your lucky charms, you still know how to fight or what?”

“God…do I.” The paladin returns with a thick passionate tenor as he rights his dented helm and bull rushes the smaller foe to get in close.

The succubus steals the stuffed hero from the imp and cuddles it so hard the stitches start to pop. Mimi tries futilely to save the little prince from her best friend. “They’re just sparring. Don’t blow a gasket.”

Demonic claws sink into the plush. “You don’t get it. Full armor and real combat weapons. You know how much trust that takes? This is like third base for that bucket head.” She never expected it to come to this when she had a totally different kind of fight with him yesterday.

It all started with him walking into her room without knocking half an hour early, just like the big excited galoot, probably to give her the whole boring story about the welcome committee where he got to represent the church at as town paladin.

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“You won’t believe it Rosie! I shook hands with THE Sir Eglemore! And I found out my old friend Andy just blew into town with the supply caravan for the festi…” He stops as he spies the other occupant in the room struggling to get dressed. “Why is a kid pulling his pants on in here?” He tries to take his helmet off dramatically and the chinstrap sticks. He tries again and the catch hooks into his mail mitten, locking it shut. It would almost be comical if he wasn’t so pissed off. “YOU CAN”T TELL BECAUSE OF MY HELMET, BUT I’M GIVING YOU THE MOST DAMNING LOOK RIGHT NOW!” He rattles the inn apartment.

She kisses the baker’s boy on the cheek and smacks his ass to send him scurrying out the door.

“Don’t be mad.” The blue succubus helps her boyfriend untangle himself. “I like you, a lot. But I’m a demon, Eldin. I need sex, all the time from lots of people. That’s why we’re in an open relationship. Like you don’t have any ‘friends’ on the side.” She pinches his butt. “You’re practically the town mascot, always having half a dozen women falling over you.”

The paladin doesn’t raise his voice again. He just looks stunned like someone cracked him over the head. “You know I don’t. I-I thought we were in a serious relationship, that we were committed.” Disbelief and denial cloud his face. “This isn’t normal, Rosie! I don’t care what you are. I don’t feel comfortable sharing you with half the town.”

“I AM A DEMON. Look, you can deal with it, or man up and go out to find some special friends of your own.” She stuffs a bottle of aphrodisiac in his hand.

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That’s when she really fucked up. She knew it now when it was too late, that she decided to bully him instead of talk things out. Seemed like a good idea at the time, the softhearted oaf always let her push him around before. He had turned and left without a word.

The first sign something was really wrong, she didn’t see until she visited his cottage that night. She had knocked on the door in her finest dress, covering just enough, revealing all the right curves and cleavage. Rosie was so sure it would work.
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He takes a lot longer to come to the door than usual. She gives him her best smile and an extra dose of charm magic. “Look, I felt really bad about earlier today. I thought I’d show my favorite guy an extra special time to make up for it.”

“Not tonight. I, uh, have some preparations to make for the festival.” His face is red from beer and laughter. He should be mad or moping, something’s terribly off, only his puffy red eyes attest to the legions of tears shed. She can hear his racing heart, smell the pheromones and something else. The sound of a mug clunks on the table inside.

Her eyes fly wide. “Is someone in there with...”

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He slammed the door in her face, and she never found out for sure, not until she followed them in the morning and wound up in this hedge, watching them fight.
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The raggedy knight snags Eldin’s ankle with the hook of the halberd and sends him sprawling into the grass. The paladin tries to roll and recover only to find the spear-like tip pointed at his throat. He drops his hammer and hold up his fingers to yield.

“I’ve been fighting bandits for four years while you’ve just been playing and praying.” The knight reaches out a gauntleted hand to help him up. “I told you, you were going to get trounced.”

The defeated combatant clasps it firmly.

“H-h-h-hand holding.” Rosie hisses as Mimi wrenches her fluffy buddy from the distracted demon’s hands. The imp frowns at the flattened toy, cotton stuffing spewing out every which way and starts to draw a magic circle in the dirt.

“I lost, fair and square.” Eldin wheezes as he staggers to his feet, brushing off the clods and grass marring his prized symbol of office.

The knight removes her helmet, revealing a flushed red face and messy short brown hair. “At least now that armor looks like you used it for more than just a parade.” She smiles as the morning wind blows through her sweaty hair, cooling her down. “And I won a date to the festival.”

The succubus looks like she’s about to explode while she huddles in her hiding spot. “Not if I have anything to say about it, you little skank.”

Mimi pulls on her tunic, hugging the revitalized stuffed paladin. “Why are you so mad Rosie? You said you gave him a free pass.”

 “He wasn’t supposed to actually use it!” She pulls on her tail until it pops. “He’s a paladin. He doesn’t believe in that kind of stuff. We always go the festival together. This was going to be our third year.”

“Rosie.” The little imp prods.

“What?” The bigger demon rounds on the smaller shortstack.

Mimi passes over her little hero comfortingly. “You’re crying.”

The blue girl chokes back a sob as she buries her wet face in the cloth. “No, I’m not.”

He avoided her after that and spent all his time with the knight. Rosie considered turning the wench into a succubus, but that would just cost her the one advantage she had. But if that merc thought she was getting him without a fight, she was wrong.

The day of the festival comes, banners waving, bands playing, food and entertainers and peddlers and cobblers. Everyone is celebrating or helping along the celebration. She’s dressed in her best attire, apology practiced a hundred times. She’s going to rock his world so hard he won’t even remember why he gave some ragamuffin caravan guard a second glance. This time she doesn’t let them avoid her and pins them down at the feast table.

Rosie looms over the seated knight, making sure to puff out her chest and flare her wings to look as intimidating as possible. “I’m glad you could catch up with your friend. But I’ll be stealing my boyfriend away for the rest of the evening.  This is always a big event for us, isn’t it Eldin? And I want to be sure to make some happy memories with you tonight. I’m sure I can introduce your friend to some nice single guys if she wants some company. ” She pours every last bit of charm into her words, strikes the sexiest pose she can and holds out her hand to take the paladin’s.

The knight looks ready to fight right then and there. That’s fine by Rosie. Her lover just sits there, body language clearly screaming that he wishes the succubus wasn’t here right now.

That stabs deep. The demon grits her teeth. “Well come on. It’s not like you prefer scruffy, brunette, athletic, HUMAN girls.”

Eldin stands from the table and looks her dead in the eye. “What if I do?”

It dawns on her then. She was so wrapped up in hating the competition that it never hit before. He would never cheat, so if he’s here on a date with someone else that means only one thing. How could she have been so blind? “Are you breaking up with me?” She squeaks and trembles like a child.

The paladin sighs and looks back at his old friend. “One dance.” He calls as takes the demon by the hand to mingle with all the other humans and monsters spinning through the cobblestones of the small town square.

They waltz to the slow tune as they did last year and the year before. Rosy could almost forget anything was wrong if she just didn’t look into his eyes. She rests her head against his jerkin, nestling into the leather. “I’m sorry about the other day. I didn’t mean it like I said. Please, don’t leave me.”

The demon wraps him up in her black leathery wings and he stops dancing through the crowd. He hugs her back, big strong hands caressing her horns and thick midnight blue hair. It’s a bad news hug. She knows. Eldin tilts her chin up to make her look at him. “You broke up with me the day you told me I wasn’t enough for you and that you didn’t care that I only wanted you.”

“I made a huge mistake. I do care.” He’ll listen. He has to. If any sweet thing he ever said to her matters then he must believe. “I don’t want other women touching you. And I can change, I promise. It would be hard but it could just be the two of us. I love...”

“Don’t make a scene.” He shushes her with a finger to lush purple lips. “You’re embarrassing yourself. You said it. It’s what you are. I don’t blame you for sleeping around, but I could never marry someone like that. I could never trust you again.” There it is in his face, his cracking voice, the raw hurt, the proof that he loved her. The demon reaches out her hand to touch his face. It will be okay. She can still make it okay. She just needs a chance.

Eldin brushes her hand away and Rosy knows with crushing certainty that chance isn’t going to come.  “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m leaving after this. I think it’s finally time I had a grand adventure. Take care of yourself my blue rose.” The music ends. The dance is over. It’s all over.

Many men had touched Rosie’s body, but only one had ever touched her heart. When he left to travel with the knight Andrea, he ripped it out and took it with him. All that was left was a shell, numb and cold that no stranger in her bed could fill. In the end, she couldn’t stand seeing people or talking to them and moved far out into the forest.  Alone, with only Mimi’s stuffed paladin for company, she learned the most bitter revelation of all, that she never actually needed sex to survive.

Decades pass, a long time, but not nearly as long for a succubus. Until one day, the sound of a horse galloping through her forest draws the demon out of her hermitage. She finds the rider resting by a small pool, a paladin. His armor is dinged and scuffed, a hodgepodge of replacement parts from various blacksmiths in far flung lands. But the helmet, that old helmet, even beaten and repaired a hundred times she’d recognize it.

He refills his waterskin from the calm surface of the pond and takes off his helmet for a drink. The demon’s heart falls. He’s too young, far too young to be her paladin. Then she looks closer, that familiar hawkish nose, those ruddy cheeks and sharp eyes, all sitting under an unkept mess of hair the same color as the knight’s.

Rosie cocks her pointy ear toward the threadbare plushy in her hand. “I know Nidle. I’m not going to screw it up this time.”