I’m pleased to announce that CeresOktavia and I have been working on something together which combines our original characters, Marlianken and Malphas! Words cannot express how thrilled I am about what we have been putting together. When the first chapter is complete, I’ll be posting it to AO3.
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A swift, sweeping kick to his ankles sent the six-foot-six Arch Devil spilling to the earth. Malphas landed hard on his back, and grunted as the force of the fall crushed the air from his lungs and he once again found himself pinned with a knee to his chest.
"You have to try a different tactic, or you will continue to wind up flat on your back." Marlianken taunted him with a light shake of her head.
Flustered, Malphas begrudgingly nodded in agreement, and she let him up and fluffed her glossy black wings, inadvertently fanning her scent towards him and his senses were flooded with a major distraction. Her scent was nothing short of intoxicating...it reminded him of an ocean breeze being carried from the shore to pass through the branches of a coniferous forest.
It had always been pleasant, an aroma he enjoyed, but since the past three times she had visited him at the Stables, it had blossomed to become all-consuming in it's power; something had changed.
And with the halter top she was wearing, so much of her porcelain skin was exposed, making it almost potent enough to make his eyes roll in his head, and the Arch Devil could not help but wonder if she was aware of this and doing it on purpose.
Teasing him. Tormenting him.
The Arch Devil was beyond frustrated at this point. The object of the exercise was to catch her, but merely tagging her would be a victory in of itself; with the addition of her clone doubles, it was next to impossible as they darted wildly all around him. He was fast, but she was lighter on her feet, and his size inevitably gave her the edge in a chase. He may as well have been a charging bull trying to match the swift gait and nimble turns of a graceful gazelle.
And trying to determine which was the true her whilst two doppelgängers ran amok in the midst of the chase? Forget it.
He was under the impression he had finally caught her not twenty minutes ago, and had tackled her to the earth, but her face remained completely expressionless when it should have been shocked and winded.
"Nice try, buddy!" He heard her call out from behind him, and the clone beneath him disintegrated as she recalled them. Malphas growled and ran his claws through his hair in frustration.
Malphas was glad she came without alone this time. He would be admittedly embarrassed if anyone else were to witness how many times she had deceived him and put him on the ground.
The Trickster Class was definitely his most formidable opponent.
"What is your advantage?" She hinted as he picked himself up off of the grass and swept his shoulder-length hair out of his face. "That is what will assure your success."
Malphas dusted off his violet pin-striped tail coat and straightened his tie.
As far as Malphas was concerned, Marlianken held all the cards in this situation. She was quicker, a conjurer of clones and phantasms, capable of flight, and could knock him on his ass time and time again with little effort. Not even Demiurge had succeeded in taking him down as effectively as Marlianken could.
The succubus shifted her stance as she braced herself for their next round. Two shadow forms split off from her person and began morphing, their surfaces bubbling like boiling oil before settling into identical shapes which mirrored her own; they were indistinguishable, down to the finest detail, sharing her lip piercings, her horns, the thin, tightly woven braids on the left side of her head, and even that beautiful bluish sheen to her feathers. All three took off in different directions as they began to run circles around him once more.
Malphas was not without his own advantages, though. But which could be used to subdue her? His massive size? Brute strength? Heightened sense of hearing and-
'I'm a fucking fool for missing that. One thing clone doubles cannot possibly copy is scent and pheromones.'
Malphas had been so discombobulated by both his humiliation and her overpowering scent that not once had it even crossed his mind to use it against her to his advantage.
His muscles coiled in preparation to charge as he waited for the figures to sprint by him, and the first that darted past him carried no scent to speak of; a clone. He ignored it. The demon watched them all like a hawk, analyzing their faces; seeking the betrayal of an expression or a glint in the eye which would give Marlianken away, now that he knew what to look for. Each figure remained expressionless, focused on their path so as to maintain the illusion.
The next dashed past him, and that effervescent, ocean's breeze trailed behind her.
Malphas bolted after her, locked on to his prey. His tall frame gave him a lengthy stride, and he was closing in fast.
Her clone doubles flanked and ran alongside him, endeavoring to offer a distraction. Malphas retaliated by whipping his armor-plated tail in wide arc and ripping their legs wide open at the thighs; had they been flesh and blood, the wounds he delivered would have likely been fatal, so they disintegrated on impact. With three more strides he was right behind her, and before she shake him by darting this way or that, he sprung, seizing her in both arms. They both went crashing to the ground in a tangled heap.
"I have you now!" He declared with a triumphant laugh, and she rolled them.
How the Hell does she always manage to come out on top?
Malphas regarded their position; Marlianken was perched astride his waist and had her hands planted on his chest, and his own rested just above her hips.
"Looks like you finally caught me." She smirked, and then began toying with her lip-ring, shifting it back and forth in that way which drove him completely insane.
The demon swallowed thickly, fighting to control his breathing, among other things. Her pheromones had his head swimming and it would not be long before his instincts drowned out his rationality completely. He had to close his eyes.
It was bad enough when she would pin him down, but now she was fucking straddling him. He could feel the heat of her thighs, her palms on his chest, and the scenarios running through his mind were far from appropriate. He should know better than to-
"Are you alright?" She asked with a quirk of her delicate brow. "You look a little flushed."
When The Arch Devil opened his eyes to look at her, the intensity of his sapphire gaze practically scorched her as they roamed over the exposed flesh of her torso, her neck, shoulders, and upper chest, all that was revealed by her white halter top. Her scent buzzed all around him, and his hindbrain, the portion of his mind which housed his most primal Incubus instincts which he endeavored to keep on a tight leash clawed for the reins of his body, and to his horror, it was fucking winning.
'Mount her. Rut her. Knot her.'
Malphas' resolve was slipping through his fingers like water by the second.
"Your scent...it's so...appealing. I'm finding it..." He confessed as he licked his lips, his chest tightened with anxiety and burgeoning desire. "...increasingly difficult to ignore."
Malphas looked down, averting his gaze, ashamed by how little control he had over himself. She was his comrade, he shouldn't-
But Sweet Fucking Hades, he wanted to fuck her.
Marlianken tilted his face back up to look at her, and she swore she could feel his gaze like an actual weight.
"Hey, it's okay. I can't deny that your scent is enough to make me a little crazy, too." She admitted with a coy smile. "It's kind of why I like to pin you down...because then I smell like you afterwards."
However, she omitted the fact that when she returned to Nazarick after their visits or sparring sessions, she liked to sleep with the clothes she had worn that day, making a little nest on her bed out of all which had soaked up his scent.
Malphas smelled exactly how she thought an Alpha Devil should. Like wildfire, scorched cinnamon and leather; absolutely, unequivocally palatable.
She was drawn to so many things when it came to the Arch Devil, and it could never be narrowed down to just one. But if she did have to pick, she wondered if it was the width of his massive shoulders, or the way his shirt strained to stretch across the broadness of his chest, or how he towered over her, making her feel so deliciously small and feminine? Or was it the way his long, gold-adorned ears sharply jutted out of the stark contrast of his luscious black mane? Perhaps it was how he was simply a perfectly balanced combination of carnivorous beauty and lethal power, like a panther? Not to mention he possessed such aesthetically pleasing features; a sharp jawline that she was so very tempted to trace her fingers over, elegant contours to his cheekbones, a prominent brow, deep-set eyes and a regal but not quite aquiline nose.
Of course a Devil would be just that; devilishly handsome.
It was all of it, really; but Marlianken always found his eyes to be the most striking thing about him, though. To say Malphas' eyes were blue was to say the sun was merely yellow; such an utter understatement was practically insulting.
His multi-faceted gemstone eyes were oceans in of themselves,crystal clear and about a dozen hues of blue- shimmering and roiling and churning. She thought if she were to gaze into the depths of his eyes for long enough, she might hear waves crashing against the shore and feel the cool spray of mist on her skin.
And they were far more expressive than she had ever initially perceived when they had first met. After getting to know him, she noticed if he were in a mood such as angry or brooding or depressed, they would darken to a chilling indigo, like arctic seas, and would reflect so little light that they resembled chips of obsidian rather than sapphires. But if he were happy or excited, they'd shine and sparkle more lively than anything, like the summer sun glittering over a lake.
Everything; it was everything about him that was irresistible.
Her infatuation with him had been getting worse over the past few weeks. During this month, she found it extremely difficult, if not painful to be away from him. Marlianken was now coming to the Bicorn stables at least three to four times a week, always armed with an excuse to be there, whether it were along the lines of teaching Malphas how to defeat a phantasm without a banishing spell or to improve on her own hand-to hand combat skills.
She tried to convince herself it was simply her pheromones responding to his when her mind contemplated how the softness of his long hair might feel if it tickled over her bare thighs. How the sharp of his canines would graze her tender flesh. She reasoned that it wasn't her fault when her eyes lingered on how his muscles flexed beneath his tailcoat as he would toss one hundred-and-fifty-pound round bales of hay into the Bicorn arenas as though they were sacks of cotton.
And who could blame her? A show of masculine strength is just plain sexy, and this Alpha Devil was bigger and stronger than most, so who wouldn't want a piece of that? Who wouldn't want to feel his weight and power?
At first, Malphas was positive she must be fucking with him when she said she enjoyed his scent too. But no one was laughing, so that was promising.
They were both still and stared at one another for a interminable minute.
'She WANTS to smell like me?'
A female wanted to share his scent. The notion preened at his most primal side, and especially the Alpha in him; that was something he had never experienced he thrill of.
Malphas had shared his bed with a several females; dark elves, and other heteromorphs, but none which had truly wanted him, or had taken the time to know him beforehand. He honestly could not even remember any of their names, and it was equally doubtful they could recall his either. He was ashamed to admit they had been meager one-night stands with women who were as shit-faced drunk as he was at the time; and he invariably found his bed empty the morning after. Alas, he had only slept with them because he was desperately trying to forget about Demiurge. In cruder terms, they were all disappointingly quick and unfulfilling spite-fucks.
But this beautiful succubus, the only one who made an effort to come see him at least a few times a month, wanted to share his scent; wear his signature, openly display to other demons that she was his. She was the first of his own race classification who had shown any interest in him; and he wondered if this was why he felt so magnetically drawn to her.
Not only that, but she smelled so fucking good that he wanted to devour her. Why was her scent so damned delectable? Almost as though...
He honestly wouldn't know, because he had never met one, but that would actually explain a lot. From what he had been told, when he found one which he were compatible with, he would know because he wouldn't be able to get he or she out of his head and their scent would drive him into a nearly feral state of mind, if not trigger an early Rut.
'If she is an Omega, I want her to be mine.'
Perhaps that was why it seemed as though his skin was suddenly too tight, why it felt like his blood was running scalding hot. Whatever she was, she was having an unprecedented effect on him, and as he feared, it was causing him to fall into Rut at an alarming rate.
Now it was Marlianken's turn to look away from him. Her face fell, and Malphas' heart sank.
"What's wrong?" Malphas asked.
"I'm not her. It's her that you see, isn't it?" The hurt in her voice made him flinch, as though her words were razor blades. "I'm just...just a copy."
'Shit. I must have been staring for too long.'
Malphas shook his head. He knew her pain all too well.
"No, that's not it at all. And there is always a rough draft before the Masterpiece, Marlianken. Believe me, I know it hurts, to constantly compare yourself to them; I always used to compare my abilities with Demiurge's; seeing my flaws which he had reconstructed and streamlined out of him, and in many areas I will never measure up to him. I may be stronger, but he will always outmatch me in intelligence and speed." Malphas sighed. "I was a mere sketch before the painting, and it took years for me to get over being cast aside after Demiurge was created. But...I realized, without the foundation for a sculpture, the drawings and concepts, the beauty to follow can never be. The Guardians who protect our Supreme Ones, my brother included, wouldn't exist without us. We are the first step, the blueprints for something remarkable; whether we are rough drafts, prototypes, or even copies, and are no less because of it. We still serve a purpose. If you ask me, you are her better half."
He hoped she knew it was true, and could find comfort in it. Malphas only wanted her, not the one she was created to mimic; her- the one who was there for him when Demiurge wasn't, the one made his isolation less lonely.
"It's you, not her, that I see." He promised, and her violet eyes met his. Malphas' gaze drifted down to her mouth, and she was seemingly transfixed by the way he leaned up carefully, so as not to topple her. His hands remained in place, maintaining their hold on her hips.
Marlianken thought it would be soft, by the way he leaned in so slowly. But when his lips brushed against hers, and how they covered her own, it was a spark of Hellfire flame as he claimed her mouth; his lips molded to hers with a skill only attainable through lifetimes of practice. His tongue gently swept over her plush lower lip, requesting entry, and she practically melted as she let him in. He tasted like caramel, dark lust and power. His devilishly long tongue expertly curled in her mouth, urging her own to life.
It took her completely by surprise, how his kiss somehow possessed all that was him and yet was completely unexpected in its undercurrent of ferocity; it was gentle but threaded with barely-restrained desire, scathingly hot and possessive.
His hands slid down her sides, falling at her thighs to grasp firmly as he rolled his hips upwards so that she ground against his rapidly growing erection through his trousers, pulling a low moan from her lips.
"Can you feel it? What YOU do to me?" He murmured, his voice gaining a steely but urgent edge.
His large hands drifted their way back up her abdomen and slipped under her shirt, and he inhaled sharply at what he felt beneath his fingertips.
She was so soft. He had nothing to compare it to, other than warm silk. He was thankful he had not worn his gloves today.
He gradually moved upward, watching her face carefully to ensure she was comfortable with what he was doing, and where he was taking this. The demon gently cupped her breasts and began to ever so slowly massage the feminine swells which fit perfectly in his hands.
Malphas minded his talons, and his fingers were strong, calloused from farm work, and the masculine roughness and gentle pricks of claws made her flesh tingle and caused her skin to break out in goosebumps. Her hands were just as curious as his, roving over the hard plains of his chest, feeling the solid muscle flex beneath his shirt, and occasionally straying up and over his shoulders to play in the silky strands of raven hair at the nape of his neck. He shuddered at the contact, his hypersensitive flesh threatening to overload his nervous system. One hand wandered from his mane to one of his long, pierced ears. She lightly traced the sharp, delicate curve with a finger, earning a shiver and hiss of pleasure.
"Gods of Darkness Below, I want you." He growled huskily.
He delighted in how her violet eyes which matched his tailcoat sparkled with excitement, and she gave him a sultry smirk.
"How badly do you want me, Malphas?" She asked sweetly. "Enough to catch me?"
Confusion flashed over his face and then her raven wings fluttered, propelling her backwards and out of his grasp before she lighted a few feet away. She smiled teasingly at him, challenging him to take her, and then sprinted away foot.