As Anna tortured Nico, I waited outside while leaning against a nearby wall. The succubus' muffled screams echoed throughout the basent. The sound sent chills down my spine. I didn't think it was possible for a living being to feel that much pain. If it was this loud out here, I wondered how loud it was inside the torture chamber itself.
A part of was glad that Anna insisted I stay out here. I didn't know if I'd be able to endure listening to screams without any barriers. Another part scolded for my cowardice. Anna endured much in the First Tiline, and here I was, pushing the dirty work onto her. The least I could do was stand by her side and lend my support.
While I was in the midst of this internal conflict, Leroy showed up. When he heard the screams, his expression faltered. He gestured towards the door to the torture chamber, an unspoken question in his eyes.
"Anna is interrogating the succubus," I said.
"That sounds like more than re interrogation, my lord," Leroy said.
I nodded.
"I know." I gave him a mirthless smile.
Leroy looked troubled by this, but didn't say a word. Instead, he moved to my side and leaned against the wall itself.
I understood his feelings. Weirdly enough, it wasn't who was being tortured that bothered . Demons deserved no pity or sympathy. They were a scourge that spread nothing but pain and death and misery. The cosmos would be a better place if every single one of them disappeared.
It was the torture itself that left uneasy. As Anna said earlier, she sacrificed her principles in order to fight off the demons during the First Tiline. Would the sa thing happen in this tiline? Would I have to make the sa choices?
If so, where did I stop? How far could I go before I lost myself? At what point did I beco a monster that was little better than the demons we fought? Where did that threshold lie?
I could ask Anna, I supposed. However, I wasn't going to. I wasn't the smartest person in the world, but I wasn't dumb enough to ask my fiancée "How many sins did you commit before you considered yourself a monster?"
No. I needed to figure out the answer to this question myself, hopefully before I crossed the line.
Leroy and I remained silent as we waited for Anna to finish her work. At so point Nico stopped screaming. Sohow the silence felt more ominous, or maybe that was my mind playing tricks on .
After what felt like an eternity, the door to the torture chamber opened and she stepped out. I stared at her in horror. Black blood spatter covered most of her body. So much coated her hands that it looked like she was wearing black gloves. A foul sll filled the basent, one so strong that my stomach roiled in protest.
However, what horrified the most were Anna's eyes. They were empty and dead, lacking their usual vital spark. It was as if the Anna I knew had disappeared and a stranger took her place.
Self-loathing filled . I shouldn't have left her alone. That was my mistake. Never again.
Without saying a word, I walked up to Anna. She took a step back to try and avoid .
"Don't," she said, her voice as empty and lifeless as her eyes. "I don't want to get any blood on you."
I ignored her and grabbed her hands. Anna tried to avoid , but I was too fast. Touching Nico's blood filled with a visceral revulsion. There was just sothing about it that repulsed . However, I ignored my disgust and held fast.
As I held onto Anna's hands, I glanced over her shoulder. She had opened the door in such a way that made it difficult to look into the torture chamber. However, I still caught a glimpse of Nico's twisted and mangled flesh.
Bile rose in my throat, which I forced back down. I pulled my eyes away from the sight and focused on Anna.
"The succubus?" I asked.
Anna shook her head.
"Dead," she said. "After I learned everything I could, I didn't see the point in keeping them alive."
I nodded.
"I see," I said. "In that case, let's get you cleaned up. We can talk about what you learned after."
A small spark returned to Anna's eyes. It wasn't much, but it was better than the emptiness.
"Very well," she said, acting more docile than usual.
I looked over at Leroy to tell him to clean the torture chamber. However, after seeing the disturbed expression on his face, I changed my mind.
"Find a magical construct to clean everything up," I said. "Afterwards, go find Kiki and see if things have changed outside."
Leroy, perhaps realizing my intentions, gave a grateful look.
"Yes, my lord," he said, before walking away.
I took Anna by the hand and led her to our room in the mansion. It ca with its own bathroom, which I was thankful for in this mont. The bathtub wasn't anything fancy, but it was large enough for the both of us.
I turned on the water. While I waited for the bathtub to fill, I took off Anna's bloodied clothes and set them aside to be burned later. She moved to help , but otherwise remained still. Afterwards, I took off my own clothes.
After we were both naked, I took Anna's hand and led her to the bathtub. It wasn't full yet, but I didn't care. The water felt divine, just shy of scalding. Once the two of us were inside, I grabbed a nearby brush and so floral-scented soap, before scrubbing Anna's skin.
It took a while to clean Anna off. Mostly because the black blood kept dirtying the water, forcing to empty the bathtub and refill it multiple tis. Her hands, in particular, took a lot of effort to clean. The entire ti, Anna remained quiet and passive. This bothered .
"I'm not letting you do this again," I said after I finished scrubbing Anna's hands.
That got a reaction out of her.
"We didn't have a choice tonight," Anna said, her voice still empty and lifeless. "I told you, regular interrogation doesn't work on demons. Torture was the only option. And we will face similar situations in the future. Soone will need to get their hands dirty, and that soone might as well be . My hands are already covered in so much blood that a little more won't make a difference."
I shook my head.
"No," I said. "I'm not letting you do this again."
"We can't always walk the high road, Gabriel," Anna snarled. "Why can't you understand that? I've tried, and it never worked. So, I will do whatever I need to in order to defeat the demons. Don't get in my way because you're feeling squeamish."
I looked Anna in the eyes and glared at her.
"I will not stand by while you do this to yourself," I said. "From now on, I'll be the one to dirty my hands."
Anna grabbed my hands.
"No!" she said. "I can't let you do that!"
I snorted.
"Why not?" I asked. "Why is it alright for you to dirty your hands, but not ?" I scoffed. "Is it because I'm pure and untainted in your eyes?"
Anna didn't respond, but the look in her eyes was all the answer I needed.
"I'm not as inexperienced as you seem to think, Anna," I said. "I've witnessed plenty of ugliness and endured my fair share of pain. It's not as much as what you went through, but I'm not so innocent soul. I've seen friends and comrades being ripped apart by monsters. I've seen innocents die at the hands of those ant to protect them." I paused. "I've killed poor wretches who were kidnapped and experinted upon by madn. They committed no sin, but by that point, death was a rcy for them."
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
"That's not the sa," Anna said. "I've done all that and more. So much more. Regardless of whatever sins you think you've committed, they're nothing in comparison to mine."
I shook my head.
"So, we're at an impasse," I said. "It pains to see you like this, and you don't want to dirty my hands." I shrugged. "Then the solution is simple, we find another way. Whenever we're faced with a choice like this, we'll find another way."
Anna narrowed her eyes at .
"This was your goal all along, wasn't it?" she accused.
I grinned at her.
"Yes," I said. "We either find a solution that doesn't tear at our souls, or I handle the dirty work. Regardless, I'm not letting you go through this again. I don't care if your hands are already covered in blood."
To emphasize my point, I lifted Anna's hands and kissed them.
"Understood?" I asked.
Anna glared at .
"This is blackmail," she said.
"It's coercion," I said, correcting her.
"I don't care what it's called. It isn't fair."
I chuckled.
"I don't care about being fair," I said. "Not when it cos to this."
Anna clenched her jaw.
"You're stubborn about the strangest things," she said. "Why can't you just listen to and let have my way? You do with everything else."
"You're the woman I love," I said. "And I will protect you with everything I have."
Anna's expression faltered, her anger fading away.
"You can't say things like that to get your way!" she protested. "That's not fair!"
I smirked.
"I already told you that I don't care about being fair," I said.
Anna sighed.
"Fine," she said. "We'll do things your way." She narrowed her eyes at . "For now."
"Good," I said. "Now, let's finish cleaning you up."
Anna pouted.
"I'm not a child you know," she said. "I can clean myself."
I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Oh, so you don't enjoy touching your body?" I asked.
Anna rolled her eyes, but gestured for to continue. However, just as I resud scrubbing, soone knocked on the door.
"My lord," Leroy said. "You'll want to hurry up in there. We have a situation outside."
Anna and I looked at each other, before nodding.
"We'll be right there," I called out.
With that, Anna and I hurried to finish up in the bathroom before we headed outside.
Anna and I were still a little damp by the ti we joined the others outside. We found Leroy and Kiki standing atop the mansion's outer wall, looking outward. Anna and I climbed up to join them. I grimaced when we reached the top and saw what awaited us.
A small army of people stood in front of the mansion's gate. All of them were locals. A few looked like thugs: rough and burly, no strangers to violence. However, the rest looked like regular people.
The regular people all wielded everyday items that could be turned into makeshift weapons. Club, staves, kitchen knives, etc. The thugs wielded proper weapons, such as knives and spears. None of them wore any kind of armor.
The small army stood completely still. None of them fidgeted, blinked, or made any of the small movents people made. They stared straight ahead, as if they were statues instead of living people. I had seen this behavior once before in Eastwatch, when I snuck through Sandstrike Castle and tried to break into Lady Isabel's spire.
Thralls.
I suspected that the succubi had enthralled people here in Eastwatch. However, I never expected them to enthrall so many. Worst of all, most of them weren't warriors or fighters of any kind. They were just normal people, victims of the succubi's cruelty.
None of them were Awakened, including the thugs.
"As you can see," Kiki said in a grim tone. "We're facing a rather tricky situation."
Despite their numbers, it would be easy for us to defeat this small army. Hell, I could do it by myself if I felt like it. However, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that these were innocent people who had been enthralled by the succubi.
I had no problem with killing people. A part of found this odd considering my aversion to torture, but that's how it was. That said, the people I killed were enemies who could fight back. House and Clan retainers, criminals, demon worshipers, etc. Killing innocents was a different matter altogether.
In Earth terms, these people were civilians rather than combatants.
In addition to the moral quandary of killing a bunch of innocent people, there was also a practical reason. If we killed a bunch of innocent people, we'd get into serious trouble. House scions enjoyed a lot of leeway in Lumina, but that didn't an they could get away with wanton slaughter. Even if we proved that they were enthralled by succubi, that wouldn't help us much.
We'd also co into conflict with House Sandstrike. After all, Eastwatch was their city and these were their people. They'd have a justified reason to co after us. I wanted to avoid this if at all possible. Our enemy was Lady Isabel, not House Sandstrike as a whole.
Perhaps we could escape the consequences by relying on our connections. However, this incident would beco a permanent stain on our personal reputations as well as our Houses' reputations.
So, while we could kill all these people with ease, we'd face serious consequences as a result.
I glanced at the others. From the looks on their faces, they realized the seriousness of the situation.
"Fuck," Anna said, her expression dark. "This is worse than I thought."
I nodded.
"We'll have to subdue them without killing them," I said. "While I'd like to avoid hurting them, I don't think that's possible."
Anna shook her head.
"They're not here to attack us," she said. "The mansion's defenses are too strong, and the succubi know this." She nodded to the small army. "Those people are hostages. It's a strategy I've dealt with before."
It took a mont to understand her aning. My eyes widened in horror.
"They'll attack each other instead of us," I said.
Anna nodded, a grim look in her eyes.
"The succubi wouldn't go that far, would they?" Leroy asked. "This would put them at odds with House Sandstrike."
"Only if we can prove that the succubi were behind the deaths," I said. "Even if we did, that wouldn't change much. Lady Isabel controls House Sandstrike and she's already in conflict with the succubi. This would just push the conflict out into the open."
Ironically, that was what we wanted. However, not at the cost of innocent lives. If Cally were here, perhaps she could use her ice magic to immobilize everyone. Unfortunately, she was unconscious. Even if she were awake, she would be too affected by the curse skewer to help.
"Do you have anything to deal with this situation?" I asked Kiki.
The spirit shook her head.
"No," she said. "Unless commissioned to create sothing specific, Master Dominic creates whatever he feels like." She paused. "And my own powers are useless in this situation."
Damn. There went the easy solution.
"How did you deal with situations like this in your… previous life?" Kiki asked Anna without turning to face her.
"Holding people hostage only works if the other party cares if the hostages live or die," Anna said in a quiet voice.
Silence fell over our group.
"I figured as much," Kiki said. "This is a troubling situation."
The sound of beating wings interrupted our conversation. We looked up to see a single succubus flying towards us in their true form. I sucked in a breath when I saw them. This succubus was one of the most beautiful beings I had ever laid eyes on. It was as if everything about them was created to attract and entice humans.
They were also more powerful than the other succubi we've seen thus far. While they were still a Tier Four demon, they were at the upper end of Tier Four.
The succubus landed in front of the small army, before their form shifted and rippled. A few monts later, they took on the appearance of a beautiful and mature woman wearing a purple and gold dress. Their skin turned dusky, their hair beca long and curly, and their eyes grew darker.
While I had never seen this woman before, there was sothing familiar about her face. It took a mont to figure out why. Her features reminded sowhat of Lord César and Lord Sandstrike.
I think I knew who this was. Rather, I think I knew who this succubus was impersonating.
The succubus walked up until they were about two dozen feet away from us. I resisted the urge to pull out my elental bolter and shoot at them.
"Well now," the succubus said with a seductive smile on their lips. "This is surprising. I knew there was a new player in town, but I never expected it to be House Ironward." They studied each of us in turn. Their gaze stayed on for a mont longer than the others. "Or perhaps not. I haven't encountered a Sturm in a long ti." She chuckled. "Well now, things just beca more interesting."
This was what I got for running around without my disguise ring on. Then again, my Lightning techniques earlier revealed my heritage, so it didn't really matter at this point.
"Does Lady Isabel know you're imitating her appearance?" I called out. "I never t her myself, so I don't know how accurate your attempt is."
The succubus gave an amused look.
"Oh, it's perfect," they said. "Down to the smallest detail. I know Isabel quite… intimately, you might say."
Despite their words, sothing told that this succubus and Lady Isabel hadn't been lovers.
"Oh?" I said in a nonchalant tone. "Did Lady Isabel try to consu you?"
Before I finished speaking, the succubus' face twisted with anger.
"So, you know about that too." They took a deep breath to regain their composure, before putting a seductive smile again. "Good. That makes things simpler. Yes, Isabel attempted to consu . She half-succeeded, stealing so of my power in the process. Ever since then, I've hated thieves." She gestured to us. "Which brings to our current situation. You took one of my people. I want them returned. If you don't… Well, it's easier to just show you."
The succubus snapped their fingers. A mont later, one of the thugs took his spear and stabbed the thug next to him in the throat. The latter fell to the ground, blood gushing from his neck. Despite this, the bleeding thug never reacted or made a sound. He died in silence, staring off into nothingness.
A grim silence fell over us as we watched this happen. While Anna told us about the succubus' plan, seeing it happen before our eyes was a different experience altogether.
"Do you understand now?" the succubus asked. "You either let go of Nico, or I'll make all these poor, innocent people kill each other." They shrugged, before smiling. "Well? What's your choice?"
Fuck. How the hell were we going to get out of this?
Reviews
All reviews (0)