Underworld - The Succubi - Book 7 - Chapter 5

As soon as the Mistress noticed she’d gained my attention, she approached. She was barefooted as ever, but the red dress she wore covered her up far more than most of the succubi dresses I’d seen. Her hair was still as unruly as ever, snaking against her neck and shoulders as if enjoying her warmth.

I stood and put on my best fake smile. “Mistress Nava.”

“Brother,” she replied, giving me a look like she was about to scold me. “You must call me sister. You’re at the same level as a Mistress so its inappropriate to call me by my title unless you wish to join my harem.”

I tried not to let the disgust reach my face. “Then, Sister, thank you for attending our wedding.”

“Yes,” she said, tilting her head to give me a curious look. Then she spun. Her hair flung out as if reaching for me but was quickly drawn to her against gravity’s will. She then scanned the crowd with the same inquisitive posture. Her expressions twitched as she watched. It was almost as if she didn’t know how to react to what she was seeing.

“If you would like to dance, no one will stop you,” I suggested.

“I have no interest in breeding,” she replied dismissively.

I had to remind myself that even if Nava was just a young teenage girl, she was also not human. “Is that the only reason to dance?”

“You are now Brother. It’s forbidden to seduce and drain those under your protection.”

“Is that all that the succubi live for?”

Her head snapped to the side, and she glared at me. “I’m unlike most of my sisters. Why else would I bring humans from the surface. As it is with Lilith, I find feeding tedious. There are much cleaner methods to power.”

This was something I’d gleaned from our past interactions with her but hearing her say it aloud reminded me of the beast-feeder vampires. One thing I was sure of. She was not Jale or Sai.

As I considered her, she beat me to asking the next question. “Will you really make a place for Yeri?”

I had to think for a moment. “The girl who remained with us after my return?”

“Yes, she is a part of my harem. I can’t remove her siphoning chains. It’s the same spell the Head Mistress used on you and your friends. But if you spare her, and find her useful, she can join your harem and—”

“She isn’t joining my harem. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll never have one.”

“Fool,” she said, with an overstated eye roll that any teenage girl would be proud of. “If these people are not a part of your harem, then they have no guarantee of protection under succubi law. Once they belong to you, you can do with them what you like.”

It shouldn’t have been any surprise to me that she viewed people as property. Zorik had been given to me, even if I never treated him as such.

“The word harem has a different meaning where I’m from,” I said.

“No, it doesn’t,” she insisted. “You are entitled as a Master to the reproduce with any or all of those in your care. If you chose not to, that is also your right.”

“Is there not another word used for those that don’t reproduce with those in their harem?”

“Infertile, slothful, in the twilight of their life, under the throes of death.”

“Loyal.”

She gave me a blank stare. Glancing in Aeris’s direction, she thought for a moment before rolling her eyes again.

“I haven’t actually met her yet,” I said, returning to her original question. “Yeri, I mean. If she’s like Napalm, there’s no promises.”

“She’s not.” She turned away but continued her explanation. “I made a mistake. Napalm, as you call him, was the most feared inmate in one of your maximum-security prisons. He also showed great leadership potential, but…

“I didn’t choose Yeri for the same reason. She talented, but her incarceration was as much her master’s fault as her own.”

“Master?”

“Husband. He beat her. One day she had enough.”

I shook my head to myself. I almost didn’t want to ask, but I sensed a semblance of compassion from this power-crazed succubus at my side. “If she killed her past master, why would you choose her?”

She glared at me. “I’m not violent with my harem.”

“Yet you tried to kill us, how many times?”

Turning to face me directly, she crossed her arms and stomped her foot. “You are not and never been mine. And when did I try to kill you?”

I straightened myself, readying for a fight if she dared take it that far. “When you sent your Hell Hound after us. Then there was Lady Contessa, Waldemar, and you expect me to believe you had no intention of killing me when you came yourself? Not even if we didn’t live up to your expectation? There is no way we should’ve survived those first two fights. None.”

She looked away with a pout. “I may have gotten carried away sending my pet, but Lady Contessa wasn’t my fault. She was violent even to other succubi. I thought if I sent her on a mission to test you, since she had permission to fight, she would get it out of her system and prove she could be of useful. How was I supposed to know she was a psychopath that enjoyed torturing creatures. I only found out after that she’d been abandoned by her mother because she was out of control.

“And Waldemar was just a low-level mercenary. You were meant to defeat him. A real minotaur horde would take a hundred young Mistresses to combat.

“As for whether I would’ve killed you myself, I definitely wouldn’t have,” she said with a final stomp of her foot. Then thinking better of it, she added, “Probably.”

“That’s not very convincing,” I said, swallowing back my spite.

“Who are you to talk?” she said, throwing her arms downward and poking her scowl in my direction. “How many vampires did you kill that weren’t a part of your harem?”

I didn’t hesitate to square off with her. “I thought they were little more than monsters at the time. Once I knew better, I changed the way I treated them.”

“Until you reached Persepolis and burned it to ash.”

“I had no intention…”

She lowered herself from her tiptoes when she saw my reaction. “No, you didn’t. That’s my point. If I’d known that the day would come that you’d become Brother, and Aeris, Sister, I would’ve handled things differently. I regret what I did, but I can’t change it.”

I scrutinized her as closely as I knew how without using Mana Sight since I knew she’d notice. It wasn’t exactly an apology, not that I expected one nor would probably accept it, but neither did I think she was being deceptive.

Only after a few long moments of our stare off did I realize the music had stopped. Turning, I found everyone cautiously watching us. I glanced back in time to see Nava’s reaction. She turned away from the prying eyes and blushed.

Was she a young girl, a monster, or both? How exactly was I supposed to deal with a creature like her?

Aeris was present an instant later and at Nava’s side. “Sister,” she said with an inviting grin. “Would you like to find a snack with me? There’s a touch of light magic in the cake, and its chocolate, want to try it?”

As the succubus let my wife lead her away, Aeris gave me a pointed look.

With a sigh, I called out, “Sister Nava.”

She glanced back.

“I haven’t met Yeri, yet, but if she’s as you say, we’ll find a place for her.”

Her lips parted but she seemed at a loss. “Thank you,” she said before Aeris dragged her toward the kitchen.

***

It wasn’t long before Aeris got Nava set up with some cake. I hadn’t even known we had some. It was from the merchants that still resided in the Head Mistress’s dungeon.

Since it wasn’t a traditional wedding cake, we did a quick cake cutting ceremony. I tried to get some icing on Aeris’s nose. She used Wind Magic to blow the entire slice I was holding into my face. Everyone laughed, and then laughed again when I turned my back to my wind sprite and began eating the slice without her.

We danced some more, but soon Aeris was sitting on my shoulders since my skeleton helmet wasn’t cast. She was flexible enough to lean forward and kiss me from where she sat.

There were a lot of toasts. As it grew later in the day, we decided to open gifts. It wasn’t exactly tradition on the surface to open them in front of everyone, but most people didn’t live in a dungeon together either. We quickly decided to ask before just opening everything. The reason was because the first thing we opened was from Debra Whitfield. It was lingerie. She was a very classy woman, and yet didn’t show a hint of embarrassment, but there was a problem. His name was Skyler—and there Russ, Travis, Perry, Trevon, Chris… Basically, all of the guys took it as their personal responsibility to turn it into a joke. All of the newcomer’s children were more mature than the guys proved capable.

Russ obviously felt bad considering he had been one of the first to whistle. So he brough his gift out next. It wasn’t wrapped, but had a giant red bow tied across its face. He carried it with both hands as he held it up for the room to see. It was undoubtedly a shield.

“Making armor for Elorion is like trying to make it for a slug,” he said with a huff. “All the shapeshifting makes finding the right material difficult, if not impossible. But a shield doesn’t have to change with you.”

Aeris was sitting on my shoulders while thoughtlessly twirling my hair in her fingers. I had to admit I like it even though I completely rejected the notion of being a pet. Nava had had too much of a negative impact on me. Coming to my feet, I took in the shield as he approached. It was basically a slab of unpolished steel in the shape of a door—much like a tower shield. Its surface wasn’t rounded, however. It had a darker steel frame around its edges. In black paint, the words…

Knock

Knock

They were artfully painted as if by a talented graffiti artist. There was a bit of an outline from a slightly lighter grey, but it seemed the shield was designed with stealth in mind.

Taking it in with Mana Sight, I saw the glow of neutral energy. My eyes widened at the revelation. Anything with a neutral alignment was rare.

Russ then let it fall to the ground and there was a grand thud that spoke to its weight. “It was also important to find something you wouldn’t break after a single use, so I just found the strongest material I could get my hands on and made it extra thick. It’s nothing fancy, but even a primordial could use it as a play toy for a while before it breaks.”

“Knock, knock,” I said, reading what was written on its front.

“Who’s there?”

I raised my bow.

“It doesn’t matter,” he smirked. There was a loud click before two metal spikes jutted out of the bottom of the shield and punched into the stone ground. They didn’t go deep, but the force was enough to pierce a few inches.

“Okay, I’m sold,” I said with a chuckle.

“It’s made from a level 10,000 Rock Tortoise shell. They literally produce this metal to protect themselves and even the grains of the metal are manipulated to make it the toughest it can be.”

“Great shield,” Master Khaba said, joining us. He gave the shield a rap with his knuckles. “Even amongst higher level monsters, you’ll be hard pressed to find a stronger material.”

“Give it a try,” Russ pressed.

He didn’t have to ask me twice. Grabbing its edge, I tried to tip it to the side to remove its spike from the ground when I felt its weight. It was heavier than sold gold. Maybe twice that.

Giving it some extra umph, I ripped it from the ground and looped my arm into the strap before gripping the metal handle. I immediately found the trigger for the spikes. It was hardly necessary to lower myself, but I did so to get a feel for how it would be to use it. It was immediately apparent how sturdy it was. Besides the jewels I used to set up a formation inside me, how long had it been since I was excited about an actual item?

“It’s great, man. Thank you,” I said sincerely.

“Shouldn’t it be taller?” A voice came from on top of my head.

I glanced up to see Aeris with an obnoxious grin.

Most of the gifts we received were more practical. Chris got us a portable grill that ran on mana. Lydia supplied us with a case of her best health potions and the last two experience potions she had. It seemed the ingredients were not easy to come by. Olivia got me a baseball cap that had Skeletor written across the front which I immediately put on. A lot of clothing was given.

The families that had come with Pastor Whitfield got together to present one large gift to the both of us. Well, it was also for all of Sanctuary. It was a map. And not just any map, but one that greatly expanded on our immediate area, but also great a general overview of the entire Underworld. In wasn’t the type of map drawn on paper but was in a mana tablet. One of much better quality than most of those I’d run across in the vampire realm.

When things were seemingly coming to an end, space cracked open right there in the dining area for all to see. Out stepped Lilith in a full-length evening gown of sky blue. She spun there in the air as if to show off her dress and stopped on Aeris and me.

Most of the crowd stood, unsure if they should bow, back away, or be ready to fight. The adults from the Illuminated Cathedral placed themselves between the Head Mistress and their children. Master Khaba also stepped forward.

Lilith ignored their uncertainty. “I must also offer my congratulations to the succubi’s newest Mistress and Master. I can’t be long, but I too have a gift.” With a spin, she almost sang as she called. “Dungeon spirit. You’ve long been confined to this meager part of the world, but no longer. For the sake of those living in your halls, it’s time to connect you to the Cavern Level.”

Khun appeared below her, looking up in awe. He was trembling but didn’t say a word.

“Now let’s see,” Lilith said while running her finger over her bottom lip. “Normally, connecting the Living Quarters directly might be cause for safety concerns, but with the amount of DP Elorion’s orbs can provide quick construction shouldn’t be a problem. The convenience is worth it in the long run.”

With a kiss to the tip of her index finger, she pointed to the corner of the grand space across from where the halls were the cave swine were pinned up.

“Its out of the way enough that there’s room to build defensive structures without being inconvenient.” After saying those words, she darted across the room until she was in that mostly unused corner of the room. Floating there, she looked at the ceiling. Then, with an inconceivable level of power, she exploded upward, destroying that part of the ceiling with such precision it was like she was a living boring drill. The kind used to drill for oil, or just to make really deep holes.

Not only had Pastor Whitfield placed himself at our side, but so had Mistress Nava. She had the same awe-filled expression Khun had.

“Brother. Sister,” Nava said without turning away from the hole the succubus had disappeared into. “It’s essential you understand what this means. She no longer intends to hide you. New allies will gather. Old ones will revolt. It may take time for word to get out, but your little dungeon will soon have the opportunity to grow at a rapid pace and become known to the world. You will have her protection… But there’s more. Our Head Mistress Lilith intends to go to war.”

Aeris turned into her wisp form and flew over my neck before reforming with her arms around my neck in an embrace. She rested her cheek against my shoulder. There was nothing really to say. When agreeing to join the succubi, Lilith had said it herself.

“He is to be my agent—my general—my champion, and with our Wind Fairy at his side, with a little care on our part, they will accomplish things that we haven’t dare dream in my six centuries as Head Mistress.”

This is why she had agreed to let us join her. It was the only way I could almost guarantee the safety of the others. That is, as long as we didn’t lose.

I felt Lilith’s imminent return. We all did. She was simple too powerful for anyone to ignore.