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It was supposed to be a simple starlight picnic, just like last time. Arnice was supposed to clear out any demonic fiends on this hill, making it safe for a human like Lilysse. It was supposed to be a brief romantic reprise from their fates.
Yet the sight of purple blood splattering all over their food was all too real.
A beastly fiend stood behind Arnice, having impaled a talon through her chest. Purple blood trailed from the corner of her mouth, the blue blood of the Nightlord having mixed with her red human blood to transform her into a half-demon long ago. Lilysse could only stare, wide-eyed, too frightened to even scream.
With a painful grunt Arnice seized the claw in her chest and snapped it in half, and the fiend let out a horrific shriek. Her chest bleeding profusely, Arnice summoned her supernatural blade and turned to strike the fiend.
Lilysse knew Arnice was strong. The Curia, the organization dedicated to defending humanity from demonkind by any means necessary, forced Arnice to hunt fiends because of that inhuman, half-demon strength of hers. Lilysse knew that Arnice faced danger every night she left the walls of Hotel Ende, and the scent of that unnatural purple blood grew stronger.
The fiend was large, considerably larger than Arnice, and somehow both Arnice and Lilysse had missed it. Demonic blue blood gushed from where Arnice had broken its claw, and it lunged for her Arnice, snarling. She dodged to the side, but its claws still managed to slash her across the gut and arm, sending purple blood flying. Clenching her teeth, she raised her sword to bring it down on the fiend.
The fiend caught the blade in its hand and jabbed a claw into Arnice's gut. She gagged, and even more blood dripped from her mouth. Her body went limp and the fiend tossed her aside, her blood staining the grass.
"Arnice!" Lilysse screamed, finding her voice again. Unfortunately, that drew the fiend's attention, and it began to advance on Lilysse, and she was too paralyzed by fear to move.
The scent of demonic blood all around her, Lilysse could only watch as the fiend came closer. What could she do? She was merely the Saint, meant to sacrifice herself to stop the revival of the Nightlord. She had accepted that duty, if it meant protecting Arnice. But if Arnice was gone…
An animalistic scream erupted from behind the fiend, but before it could turn, an armored first plunged through its chest, holding its still-beating heart. That bloody fist crushed the heart, and the fiend's body crumbled to dust, revealing Arnice covered in blood of purple and blue.
She smiled faintly, and blood still bubbled from her lips. "Good… looks like none of the fiend's blood got on you…" She collapsed to the ground, and Lilysse tried to rush forward but froze, remembering what happened to humans who touched demonic blood.
At worst, she would become a mindless fiend who hungered for human blood. Or she would become a half-demon like Arnice, and she knew Arnice would never forgive herself if she condemned Lilysse to the same endless fate as herself.
Lilysse twisted her fingers in her skirt. But what if there was some way for the Saint marked for sacrifice to be with the woman she loved…?
"Lily…" Arnice moaned, and carefully Lilysse edged closer to her. The gashes in her torso were deep enough that even bone and muscle were visible, and Lilysse could just barely make out her beating heart as well. Her arm was nearly torn at the elbow, being held together only by tendons and muscle, and that inhuman blood still flowed freely. No human could survive such injuries. But Arnice wasn't human, and still Lilysse found her beautiful.
And because Arnice held demonic blood within her, Lilysse knew what would help her heal.
With a deep breath, Lilysse knelt at Arnice's side and took a handkerchief to clean the blood from Arnice's face, and while Arnice's eyes went wide, she didn't protest. Lilysse then bit her thumb, hard enough to draw blood, and pressed it to Arnice's lips, smearing red blood all over them. Weakly, hesitantly, Arnice licked the blood, her tongue warm against Lilysse's thumb, and carefully swallowed.
As a Saint, Lilysse knew that her blood was especially delicious to demons, and she also knew how much Arnice despised herself for that inhuman longing for blood. Thus Arnice would be angry with her, but she would offer all the blood in her body to ensure Arnice's life.
The change was almost immediate. Arnice's wounds began to heal, reconnecting the muscles and flesh like a spider spinning a web. Her blood pulsed with a faint violet glow, and soon Lilysse was no longer able to see her exposed beating heart. Lilysse touched Arnice's soft hair, and she could not tear her gaze from such grotesque beauty. A normal woman probably would've been frightened of such a sight, but Lilysse loved Arnice too much to turn away.
Finally the wounds closed, leaving only torn and bloodied clothing as the only evidence that they ever existed. The front of Arnice's shirt was especially torn, exposing much of her breasts, and color had returned to her skin. She stared up at Lilysse with those beautiful red eyes of hers, and as the uncomfortable silence lingered, Lilysse began to prepare herself for yet another scolding from Arnice.
A heavy sigh fell from Arnice's lips, the bright lips that Lilysse wanted so desperately to kiss. "I'm sorry, Lily," she said unexpectedly. "I was careless."
Lilysse blinked in surprised. "What do you mean?"
Arnice raised a bloody hand, almost touching Lilysse's cheek but not quite. "I should've noticed that fiend. But I was just so excited to have another picnic with you, and I put you in danger…"
In this moment, Lilysse wanted nothing more than to clasp Arnice's hand between hers. She wanted to embrace Arnice, to kiss her over and over, but covered in demonic blood as she was, she would refuse for Lilysse's sake. "It's my fault," Lilysse muttered. "I'm the one who kept pressuring you to bring me here again, even knowing how dangerous the night is."
Again Arnice sighed. "Even though our entire relationship was orchestrated by the Curia, I still sometimes wonder what we'd be like if we weren't knight and saint, if I were a normal human and not a monster."
"You aren't a monster," Lilysse said firmly, and she shifted so that she could rest Arnice's head on her lap. Blood still lay all around them, but Lilysse could do at least this much for Arnice safely.
Arnice's eyes went wide. "You can still say that, even seeing me as I am now?"
"Yes." Lilysse smiled. "You're beautiful, Arnice, the most beautiful woman I know."
"Lily…" Arnice too smiled, a grim, careful smile. "I will save you, I promise."
The Saint and her knight - it was only because the Curia had forced those roles upon them that Lilysse and Arnice had met. But Lilysse didn't mind, threading her fingers through Arnice's hair. For Arnice, she would offer even her own beating heart.
Under the stars, purple blood shimmered, and Lilysse held Arnice a little while longer.