Title: Celestial Gold
Genre: Fantasy
Writing Prompt Used: Write a story that begins with the line, “Her laugh broke the silence.”

*     *     *

Her laugh, tinkling like silver bells, broke the silence.

Alex blinked at the little raven-haired girl that stood at the other end of the clearing in a cheery yellow dress. His eyes shifted to the shadowed tree line, wondering what trickery the sorceress was conjuring.

If it was to befuddle his mind, it was working.

Alex turned back to the little girl, who giggled again, holding her stomach with her small hands.

“Who are you,” he called to the girl, his senses straining, searching for any signs of the sorceress.

The little girl answered, “Have you seen my daddy?”

“No, little one, I’ve not seen your father, ” Alex replied. “What is your name?”

“No one’s seen him. He hides good. But I’ll find him,” the girl said with a grin that sent an uneasy chill down Alex’s spine.

He tried again, “What is your name?”

“Have you seen my sister? ”

Alex grew impatient and snapped, “No, child. I’ve not seen your father nor your sister nor your mother!”

“Mother is gone,” the little girl answered, the laughter in her emerald eyes fading away as she looked up at the stars longingly. “There is only Daddy and Cara.”

Cara. The sister, Alex surmised. It wasn’t her name, but it was a name and that was a start. He sheathed his broadsword and dropped to one knee. Doing his best appear friendly, Alex, who was renowned across the realm for being a ruthless demon, extended his hand.

“Come, little one,” he said, “let us find your father and your sister. I’m sure Cara misses you.”

A cold wisp of wind fluttered across the clearing and Alex slowly lowered his hand. Was it merely his imagination, or was the little girl staring back at him with demon eyes?

Just a trick of the moonlight, Alex told himself.

The little girl smiled slowly, and something about her white teeth grinning beneath the moon disturbed Alex. Where had the sorceress gone?

Skipping, the girl crossed the clearing, the ruffles on the hem of her yellow dress flittering with each hop. She stopped in front of Alex.

“You know where Cara is?”

Alex nodded, “Yes, little one. She is at my home. Cara and your father are my guests. Come, I will take you to them.”

Whatever it takes, Alex thought to himself. I’ll take her to the nearest tavern and let the barmaids deal with it. They’re always simpering about the cuteness of children. Once the child is gone, I’ll come back here and hunt for the sorceress.

“They are not for helping,” the girl said slow and sternly as she gripped Alex’s wrist in her small hand. Her hand was not large enough to wrap around his wrists completely, but her nails felt like cold iron as they broke through his thick skin and drew black demon’s blood.

The tiny, razor sharp nails released his skin and Alex gritted his teeth against the throbbing pain in his wrists. He looked down at the little girl with rage in his sapphire eyes. He raised his hand to strike the little girl down and faltered as his sapphire eyes saw the glinting gold of her nails marred with his black blood.

It couldn’t possibly be.

The little girl’s nails were made of celestial gold.

Celestial gold, the only substance strong enough to kill a  Mortae Révei demon.

Alex refused to believe that this small child, who could be no more than seven or eight winters, was celestial in any way. Celestial gold was a weapon crafted and wielded by Aingael.

“You can’t hit me,” she said, breaking his scattered thoughts.

Alex snarled.

He was the most powerful Mortae Révei demon in this realm, and no little girl was going to make his reputation sink.

The little girl giggled and grinned.

Alex found himself staring at the sharp points of her tiny fangs.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

“I am everything you want,” she answered with a voice that was too sultry for her child’s form.

“You, child, are nothing I want nor need,” he said dangerously, ignoring the heat roiling in the pit of his stomach that her adult’s voice had ignited, “If you do not leave now, I will send you to the Hell Fire’s myself!”

“I can’t go there,” the little girl answered with a pout. “I’m too good.”

Alex was growing tired of this. The sorceress he was chasing had vanished and he was left with a strange little girl. He neither cared for losing his target or dealing with a child. He pushed the little girl away from him.

“Be gone with you,” he said darkly as he turned to leave the clearing.

“No one ever wants to play,” the little girl’s voice whispered.

Alex looked over his shoulder and then spun around, searching.

The little girl was gone.

In her place, lay an unconscious and beautifully naked woman.

My sorceress.

Alex knelt and scooped the exquisitely naked woman into his arms. Her skin was moon-kissed and her nails glittered like tiny suns.

Celestial gold.

My goddess.

Alex had many questions for the alluring creature in his arms.

But for tonight, she would sleep in his arms, and like Death, he would watch over her.

*     *     *

Well, this idea definitely began to flesh out into a full-fledged novel as I was writing it. This “story” will probably end up being  scene in said longer story. But for now, it’s saved here and in my writing notebook with other ideas that came to my  mind as I was writing it.

…but isn’t that how it always goes?