6 Demon meets Vampire

The figure wore an open white shirt and pants with a white jacket and vest.

His head was a black cat with flaming eyes and four lava-like wings were gently keeping him suspended in the air.

The ground closed beneath him and he gently descended and set his bare, mucky feet onto the scorched earth.

"Duma filth." the demon hissed. "I should kill you once our contract is over." The demon said playfully as though toying with the idea.

"You cannot do that Byleth. The contract with your true name states you serve and leave me alive." Henry argued.

His voice was a little shaky but his stance was firm.

"Oh, I am only jesting, young Duma." Byleth's tone was totally indifferent but then suddenly change into one of malice.

"How can I forget? After all, the contract that your forefathers bid me to sign, after my unfortunate defeat is what cost me my kingship and cast me down to the Second Estate to make me a mere aristocrat!"

He hissed again, this time showing his full set of feline fangs and then returned to his gentlemanly composure.

"Forgive me, it seems a part of me still resents your ancestors and their bloodline for that. I had hoped to drag their souls to Hell where I would torture them for eternity but alas, those overpowered spirits that call themselves gods got to them first.

"I guess that once I am free of this contract, I will have to settle for their descendants when they die, I suppose, considering that not all of you will make it into the divine realms."

The cat faced demon smiled and chill ran down Henry's spine. "So, where is the army that you wish slain?"

The demon looked around and his flaming eyes landed on Lord Jata.

"Interesting." He said. "I sense no energies coming from this one. How...uncommon on the material plane." Byleth was four thousand years old.

He was no spring chicken but it was his bloodline, power and ambition that saw him rise to be the youngest king of Hell.

He had been around long enough to understand that every sentient entity had vital bodies of energy flowing through them.

These energies could be comparable to a light drizzle, a stream, a river, a sea or an ocean.

To hide one's energies signified great control beyond that where one could be called a mortal.

Demons of the Third Estate did not even have the ability to completely erase their energies.

"Please, allow me to introduce myself." Valerian began. "I, the First Father, Valerian Erebus Jata, the Celestial Star, of a lost empire. I greet you, Archduke of Hell." Valerian laughed a little shyly and informally.

"Well met, Lord Jata." The demon replied, "I, the Archduke, Byleth Omar Sullivan, of the Second Estate, greet the First Father." returning the greeting. "Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea what a First Father is. May you enlighten me?"

"Oh, I completely understand. First Father is the loose translation. The title was Origio Principalis."

Byleth's flames flickered for a second but Valerian continued talking as though he had not noticed.

"My subjects gave me many titles back then." Valerian chuckled as though he had remembered something really funny. "I am the first vampire, you see. The Original Pincipality. The first patriarch. All demon bloodlines descend from me."

Byleth's lips twisted into a wicked smile.

"I do not know where you heard that name from but you failed to use it wisely. Origio Principalis was a feared and absolute figure among all superior races but disappeared eons ago. If He did return then He would definitely not be some little vampire. You almost had me, fool, but now I will kill you for daring to let that name out of your mouth."

An explosive aura suddenly came from the demon as its fine clothes turned black, as though engulfed by fire.

Byleth grew to reach eight feet and his cat like face burst into the flaming head of a lion while his body became one of molten stone.

The burning wings appeared and the demon rose into the sky illuminating the entire wood.

Henry stood in terrified awe of Blyeth Sullivan while unconsciously taking a few steps back.

"This is all you have?" Valerian spoke calmly. "The demon race is not as strong as I thought it would be by now."

Valerian spoke as though he was completely undisturbed by the monstrous sight of Byleth.

"You hold a title of Archduke, which means your status as a noble ranks quite highly in Hell, so why are you so weak?"

Valerian was not mocking Byleth.

Before his forced slumber demons were no threat to noble vampires but they were still formidable foes for those under noble rank and yet, this Archduke would not even survive being trampled by the Stygian stallions that pulled his carriage.

"You insolent fool! I am one of the ten Lords of the Second Estate. How dare you call me weak?!" The Lord Sullivan did not give Valerian the chance to reply and began the attack.

He hurled orange flames at the vampire continuously and curses to decrease his ability to heal and magic control.

He had become so enraged that his own control wavered and he unleashed a fury like no other.

When he was sure that Valerian was defeated, he stopped and smiled.

"It seems you were all talk." Byleth said with a sense of satisfaction as though he had finally scratched an irritating itch.

His good mood only lasted a moment though. He was so happy that he almost missed it.

He had unleashed a volley of attacks in his enraged state and by all sense, some of those attacks were wild and should have spread out but there was no sign of any damage beyond where Valerian was standing.

A huge fire burned brilliantly in that spot but it did not go beyond that spot.

There were subtle traces of a different type of energy in the air but not even the smell of burning flesh or the screams of a dying foe.

There was nothing except those flames which were not dancing as chaotically as they were when they began.

It was like someone had tamed the fires and made them obedient.

"No..." the Archduke felt fear creep up his spine. He only knew this feeling because his father was one of the six Demon Lords but this feeling was more intense than usual. "Could he really be...Him?" he whispered to himself.

"You did it so easily...?" Henry said, first in disbelief then he repeated but this time with more confidence than before. "You defeated him!"

"Release me..." Byleth said softly. He did not take his eyes off the bonfire in front of them.

"What?" Henry asked.

"Release me...now." Blyeth repeated with more urgency in his voice than before. "I must return to Hell, right now! Release me, fool, or we will both die here!"