Thaumatology 12: Vengeance Read online

  ‘My Gracious Lady,’ Graggil said, sweeping into what he probably thought was an elegant bow. ‘It is concerning the region south of my lands that I wish to speak. I feel it would be most appropriate if I were to bring them under my wing. I am sure that the Overlord will find that I am able to service any requirements that she has far better than a common Devos and a Lorril.’ The demon had confirmed Faran’s assessment in under a minute; it was impressive really.

  ‘Graggil,’ Ceri said after a second of consideration, ‘do I look like an idiot?’

  ‘No, Lady!’ The response came out along with widening eyes. It was likely he had hoped she had not had time to understand the political situation in her new world and if he had held lands further from her castle, he might have been right. Unfortunately, while she had never walked through his lands, she was quite intimate with the people governing the regions he wanted to usurp.

  ‘So, would I have personally selected Torn and Jubilia for their positions if I wanted you to walk in and take over?’

  ‘Uh… no, Lady?’

  Ceri gave him a smile. ‘Good, you’re learning. Let me make this quite clear, Graggil. I intend to be a hands-off sort of Overlord. I’m not going to stick my nose in your business, or anyone else’s, unless I really have to. However, if you try to move your border so much as a hand’s breadth south, you will spend the rest of your life as a statue in my front hall.’

  ‘Yes, Overlord,’ Graggil replied, bowing as he retreated toward the door. In fact, bowing all the way out of the room.

  ‘Are they all going to be like this?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘No,’ Faran replied, ‘some of them will be sneakier about it, and some of them will just ask you to go to bed with them.’

  The Overlord of All Demons heaved a sigh. ‘All right, let’s get the next one in.’

  ~~~

  ‘You know that big machine down in the torture chamber?’ Ceri asked as she slumped into the hugely oversized chair in her private chambers. ‘The one with the big iron plate with the spikes and you get squashed and skewered at the same time?’

  Lily settled onto a cushion on the floor beside her. ‘Yes, I remember it. Why?’

  ‘Could you put me in it and kill me?’

  The half-succubus gave her a smirk. ‘No, of course not. I’m your bound demon. I can’t harm you, even if you order me to.’

  ‘Damn. When we did that, I never realised there would be such a huge downside. Seriously, three hours of listening to whining creatures capable of demolishing a small army acting like spoiled children. How did I get this job?!’

  ‘You put on your infinitely-great-grandfather’s hat.’

  Rolling her eyes upward, Ceri could see the edge of the iron circlet sitting around her head. Gorefguhadget’s Iron Crown, though maybe they would be renaming it if she survived wearing it long enough. ‘Not my cleverest idea.’

  ‘We would both be Molech’s personal pleasure slaves and you would have no mind if you hadn’t put it on, Mistress.’

  Ceri turned her head as Hiffy stepped into the room carrying a tray. ‘Somehow that’s starting to sound like a pleasant fate in comparison. You know, Hiffy, you don’t have to act like you’re my personal servant. You could have sent someone with that.’ Raising her hand, she gestured at a side table built for someone twice her height and it lifted slightly to float over to sit beside her chair. It was not actually a conspicuous overuse of magic; the furniture in the room weighed a ton.

  Hiffy put the tray down on it. ‘Inak says that the Overlord should be waited upon by the head of staff or, preferably, his far more attractive assistant since she’s easier on the eye and the Overlord should not have to put up with looking at a grumpy old goat.’ It did sound like Ruffa. ‘I brought wine, cheese, sliced meats, and bread. You’ll need to keep your strength up.’

  Ceri looked at the tray of food. ‘Do you think that knife is sharp enough to slit my wrists?’

  ‘I would be most grateful if the Mistress could avoid killing herself before she’s tried out some of the toys in the dungeon on me,’ Hiffy replied.

  ‘I suppose that’s something to look forward to. All right, I’ll keep the suicide for later. Oh, we need some new furniture for this room. Something a little more to scale.’

  Hiffy nodded. ‘It is all rather large.’

  ‘Keep one of the big chairs in case I need to entertain one of the Lords in here, but a human-sized chair, and a loveseat. And… does “chaise longue” translate? Something for lounging on. Lilith gives exceptionally good lounge.’

  Hiffy giggled. ‘I believe I understand what you’re after. What about the bed? We could replace that with something more your size if you wish.’

  ‘No, the bed is fine. More room for when there’s three or four in it.’

  ‘When are you going to get four in it?’ Lily asked, frowning. Ceri was certainly not shy of multiple partners, but she had been a little more… selective about who they were since the influence of the dragons had been removed; there were very few people in this world Lily expected her to select.

  ‘I was hoping we might persuade Michael to come over. I know he’s not fond of demons, but he’s got used to Faran and he’s mostly going to meet det here. I figure if he sees that they’re just like any normal human or werewolf he’ll get over it.’

  ‘He is very good at adapting to new circumstances, Mistress.’

  ‘And we really need to keep you on a low-demon diet.’

  ‘Oh. Yes, I hadn’t thought of that.’ Lily had spent several months in the Demon Realm as the prisoner of Matthew Barnes, thaumatologist turned demon, and had been forced to feed on a lot of demons to the point of killing them. As a result, the metaphysical nature of her body had changed: her demonic half had been strengthened, her body had been tied more closely to the demons’ universe, and her appetite for sex and feeding from it had become far more intense. Ceri had been trying to figure out how to put her back to normal, but so far the only method she had come up with was to have her feed exclusively on people from Earth. It was a slow process.

  ‘Pardon me, Mistress,’ Hiffy said, ‘but who is Michael?’

  ‘He’s a werewolf,’ Ceri responded without thinking, and then realised that werewolves were not something most det had ever heard of. ‘He’s a man who is able to transform into a sort of beast-man. I’m his mate, which is a bit like marriage over here. I’d like him to come over because… well, I like him being part of my life, all of it, but it also means that Lil isn’t just feeding off me.’ She gave the blue-skinned det a wicked grin. ‘And considering that demons tend to be a bit rougher about sex than humans, we can set him loose on you and I can sit back and enjoy the show.’

  Hiffy’s eyes widened. ‘Oh… my.’

  ‘If I feed from him,’ Lily said, also smirking, ‘I can keep him going like a steam train for half an hour.’

  A slightly darker blue flush crept over Hiffy’s throat and upper chest, and she licked her lips. ‘That sounds… I would, of course, be happy to entertain my Lady in any way she wishes. I do have one question, if I may?’

  ‘Of course,’ Ceri replied.

  ‘What’s a “steam train?”’

  ~~~

  ‘How are things going in Quatilan?’ Ceri asked from her throne. She was speaking to what appeared to be a tall but relatively human-sized woman with long, black hair and dark eyes: Jubilia, the new Lord of Quatilan and its environs.

  ‘Well, Lady,’ Jubilia replied, ‘as I suggested when you appointed me, some of the demons under my command were somewhat unwilling to treat me seriously. A Lorril as a Lord is relatively unheard of, but I was able to assert myself adequately and they’ve fallen into line.’

  ‘Assert yourself?’

  ‘I picked the worst offender out and executed him on the throne room floor in front of the other Captains.’ She gave a malicious grin. ‘They all saw how he was unable to resist me, and then I made them watch as I fed on him for thirty minutes before his body gave out. Jus
t to be sure, though, I have one of them come to my rooms every night. It’s a useful way to feed and you should see the looks of relief on their faces when they get to stagger out.’

  Ceri smiled. ‘It sounds like you have everything in hand.’

  Jubilia nodded, bowing slightly and sending a shiver through her dress, which appeared to be made of crystal bead curtains. ‘I’ve had some people I trust go over Molech’s treasure chambers and I know what the estates are worth. I came here with ten thousand gold pieces, which should tide you over until the money starts coming in from the other Lords.’

  Ceri gave a cough. ‘I’d imagine it will. I have a project for you. The Lords have always been very strict in controlling their gates to other worlds, but I doubt you’ll want tradesmen marching through your throne room if we manage to establish trade links to the fae Otherworld. So, I’d like you to start constructing a more public facility. There’s a silver mine at Nedarish just outside your territories, and I’m sure there are other possible sources of trade within them. We’ll trial the trade system in your lands and expand to other places later.’

  Jubilia pursed her lips. ‘It will still need to be kept secure. It can be sited outside the city… I think, perhaps, that constructing a market area around the gate building might be useful. We may be able to get some two-way trade going if the fae court is willing to condone it. Especially if they are willing to build the same sort of facility.’

  ‘And this is why I have people like you around.’ Ceri turned to Faran, standing at her right. ‘Faran, could you make sure that Jubilia discusses this with Ophelia? Our fae ambassador will probably have some selling to do to Oberon and Titania, but it does sound like an excellent idea.’

  ‘Lady Jubilia has an appointment with Lady Ophelia in the morning, Overlord,’ Faran replied. ‘I’ll shuffle some of the others to allow for a longer discussion.’

  ‘Excellent. Anything you particularly wanted to discuss, Jubilia?’

  ‘There is one thing. Molech set up a… research and education facility. Some of the richer families sent their more promising children there to learn magic and there were various questionable experiments conducted there. I was considering shutting it down, but after your speech about education I thought you might prefer if it was expanded.’

  ‘Without the questionable experiments,’ Ceri suggested.

  ‘Indeed. I can’t condone some of the things they were doing there and I’m a demon. Of course, it will take some time and depend on economics.’

  Ceri nodded. ‘If you decide to go ahead with it, the Overlord will sponsor some promising poorer students to go there. On Earth it would probably be called a “university.”’

  ‘University…’ Jubilia rolled the English word around as if getting a feel for it. ‘I think that is as good a word for it as any. Thank you, Lady.’ She bowed and started back out of the throne room.

  ‘Only a few months on the throne and the new Overlord is introducing English words into the language,’ Faran commented.

  ‘Well I don’t know enough Devotik to come up with a suitable native word.’

  ‘Then you will have to attend to your studies more attentively, Lady.’

  ‘Huh,’ Ceri grunted, rolling her eyes. ‘Go get the next one. I’ll read some more of the blessed book tonight.’

  ~~~

  ‘The blessed book’ was called One Thousand Nights and it was something like a cross between a fantasy story and a sex manual written thousands of years ago. Faran had been amazed to discover a copy of it in the castle library made by a famous printer and complete with all the original plates. Ceri had to admit that it was beautiful. The pictures that started each chapter looked more like something from a modern fantasy book cover: amazing, hand-coloured, highly detailed, and very erotic without being too pornographic. The stories were not too bad either, even if their main concern was what part of what demon went where. Her problem was that Faran had her reading it aloud.

  ‘Uh…’ Ceri frowned at the characters and then finished the sentence she was working on. ‘Ha nikit Shivika pa en tavikona, and there is no way that is even comfortable let alone pleasurable. I mean, what about breathing for starters?’

  ‘Demons are a lot more resilient than humans,’ Lily pointed out, ‘and they like their play a little rougher.’

  ‘And the text does point out that it requires considerable preparation,’ Faran added. ‘Timing is everything with that one. Climax should come just before asphyxia.’

  ‘Hence the “intense squirming action?”’ Ceri asked, still not being sold on it.

  ‘Precisely,’ Faran agreed.

  ‘It isn’t like I’ll be doing it to my Shivika,’ Lily said. ‘My shapeshifting isn’t up to it. I can manifest a tail…’

  ‘And I enjoy it a lot when you do,’ Ceri put in.

  Lily gave her a grin. ‘I can’t do the gross body modification that trick calls for.’

  ‘To some extent it is a shame,’ Faran said, his tone regretful.

  ‘I’m thinking not so much,’ Ceri disagreed.

  ‘Ah, but you miss one vital point, I think. The Lorril’s Shivika gains great pleasure from the act, to be sure, but more than that she demonstrates her trust in her hinita. It would be easy to have an accident happen.’

  ‘The Mistress is trusting her submissive to almost kill her, but not actually do it?’

  ‘Allowing someone else to hold your life in their hands, is that not the greatest demonstration of trust?’

  Hackney, London, Earth.

  Anne Chisolm was not sure how she had ended up in his arms, but there she was, naked among the trees of Wick Woodland, sprawled in the leaf litter like a wild animal.

  She had been running; she ran every evening, around the edge of Hackney Marsh and then through the trees. Tonight she was a little later than usual; it had been getting dark when she began and now the night had closed in entirely. She had not considered that a problem, even though she knew there were things in the world which might hunt at night. It had been safe since the dragons had fallen.

  Then she had seen him. He was nothing more than a shadow, a dark shape in the darkness, and he had said nothing, remained unmoving when she saw him. But she had felt him calling her, had almost stumbled toward him as her legs became jelly. All she knew was that she wanted him, wanted to let him do anything he wished to her. He had stripped her, pushed her down into the damp soil, entered her hard, and she had groaned as her body gave itself up to him.

  Now he pulled out, pushed her onto her back, and was inside her again before her hazy brain could catch up. She sensed him over her more than saw him, felt his breath on her neck, then the sudden sharp pain. She let out a cry which rapidly became a moan as the toxins spread through her system and the pleasure washed over her.

  Somehow Anne Chisolm knew that her life was slipping away as he fucked her, but she did not care.

  March 25th.

  ‘Vampire?’ Kate Middleshaw suggested, looking down at the body near her feet.

  ‘Hard to tell,’ her partner, John Radcliff, replied, frowning. ‘They don’t normally rip the head off after a kill.’ He gave a shrug. ‘Most of them wouldn’t have killed her. Do we have an ID?’

  ‘Anne Chisolm. She lived in Sunnyhill Close, just beside the park. There are tracksuit bottoms over by that tree. We haven’t found whatever else she was wearing. Looks like she was out running and he dragged her in here.’

  John shook his head. ‘He didn’t drag. That’s what’s bothering me. Her hands and knees are scuffed up, sure, but the rest of her is unmarked…’

  ‘Aside from her head being torn off.’

  ‘Aside from that, obviously. The pants aren’t torn. Either she took them off herself or her attacker did it without resistance. A vampire old enough to have that kind of control over someone doesn’t have the equipment to commit rape.’

  ‘There’s one kind that does.’ There was a cold edge to Kate’s voice when she spoke, but John had considered that op
tion already.

  ‘If there was another Ancient in town, we’d know about it. Lorna would have felt it and she’d have told me. If she didn’t, I think some of the older vampires would have warned us. They don’t want a repeat of last time any more than we do.’

  ‘If it’s not a vamp, then what?’

  ‘Demon? Incubus, maybe. They could fake an apparent vampire kill and they’d be more inclined to engage in sex with the victim.’

  ‘That means we have to eliminate the one incubus we know about,’ Kate said with a sigh.

  ‘Let’s just hope he has a good alibi,’ John replied.

  Kennington.

  The door of the odd-looking house on the corner of Kennington Park opened and the two detectives were faced by a tall, slim, very attractive woman with long, black hair. She smiled as soon as she saw them, then the smile faltered as she recognised the serious expressions.

  ‘Detectives,’ Gwyn said, ‘is there a problem?’

  ‘Is Ceri or Lily in?’ John asked.

  ‘No… You’d better come inside. You know where the lounge is.’

  Closing the door behind them, she followed them up the stairs to the first landing and then through into the lounge. There was a fire burning low in the grate, staving off the cool of the spring day, and she had them sit in the chairs in front of it, retrieving a straight-backed chair to sit on herself.

  ‘Ceri is… out of town, on business,’ Gwyn explained. ‘Lily is with her, of course.’

  ‘Right,’ John said, frowning. ‘I don’t suppose you know where Lily’s father is?’

  ‘Actually, I do. Why?’

  John nodded to Kate. ‘We’ve had a suspicious death,’ Kate explained. ‘We can’t be sure it was an incubus, or even a demon, but there are reasons to suspect it might be and, obviously, we need to eliminate the one incubus we know is in town…’

  ‘Faran is definitely not responsible,’ Gwyn interrupted.

  ‘You’re that sure?’ John asked.