DD 302 Ch 32

“Would you like to stick around?” Lady Frey asked the question, leaving what else I wanted to do an option hanging in the air.

I frowned. “Do I have an option?”

The looks I was getting ranged from curiosity to deep animosity. The sentiment seemed related to the hierarchies I had just eliminated pieces from in my identification. Though, was it singular or plural? The demon hierarchy was confusing at best.

“You always have an option,” Lady Frey said. “In fact, you can do a great many things. However, I must insist that almost every action has a consequence, whether positive or negative.”

“So you’ll give me enough rope to hang myself,” I stated, and she tilted her head ever so slightly. “Hanging is a way to die in our history,” I said quickly, trying to explain the saying, only for her curiosity to grow even greater by the way she continued to tilt her head.

Des intervened. “Hang by the neck as a punishment for crimes like murder.”

“Oh. Oh. That is a curious way to kill someone, but I can see how that would be a wonderful form of punishment, particularly to send a message to others. Nothing quite says they’ve screwed up like a public display of death. And hey, you even get the fixture for it built right in if you leave them hanging for people to see for days.”

I closed my eyes as she analyzed the social implications. “Well, yes.”

“Then I am precisely giving you enough rope to hang yourself.” She confirmed. “You’ll find most demons do.”

“What she’s leaving out,” Princess Xanthana smirked, “is that there’s no way she’s going to let you hang yourself. You’ve just become far too valuable. If she truly let you hang, she’d be annoying both myself and our Queen.”

Lady Frey narrowed her eyes at her mistress, but she did not comment further.

I was beginning to wonder if the byplay was a strategy, or if the princess was simply that much more straightforward. “So, do we all serve the Succubus Queen or the Imp King?” I asked, slightly confused and needing that to know what to do next.

The Lady and Princess turned to each other, a silent communication for them. “I serve the princess here.” Lady Frey shrugged it off.

The princess waffled her head. “I serve the Imp King on paper, but at the same time, I’ll never take his spot, instead I’m jockeying for the Succubus Queen’s position should she pass or simply walk away from the Hierarchy, that’s happened on a few rare occasions.”

“That barely answers the question.” I scowled.

“I have a priority to work with my race, should I ever step up and rule them. That and the Succubus Queen knows that and uses me as leverage against the Imp King. At my level it’s complicated, I technically serve the Imp King, but if I’m ever to take another step, it’s going to be at the top of the Succubus Hierarchy.”

“Clear as mud.” I scowled. “So, we serve both?”

They looked at each other again. “Both is good.” They said in unison.

Still, that left a question for me. I needed to figure out what I should do next.

“About sticking around,” I said slowly, “my preference would be trying to ensure there were no other worms in my related sections of the hierarchy.” I glanced at Lady Frey.

The princess began clapping her hands excitedly. “Oh, a killing spree! How exciting!” She squealed. “Come, let us go have fun elsewhere. Besides, it’s growing a little stuffy here.” She smirked, grabbed me by the shoulder. We disappeared from the hall faster than I could blink.

“Was that absolutely necessary?” Lady Frey said, standing behind the princess as we reappeared atop a spire in Lady Frey’s city. At least they had brought Des along too. I was going to get dizzy with how fast they moved around.

“Of course! Couldn’t you see those other demons practically panting at the opportunity to borrow Ken?” The princess giggled maniacally. “Oh, we should take him away now and then perhaps let them come groveling to us for the best solution to get rid of their own worms.”

I frowned at the princess. “What are you talking about?”

“You are a hot commodity now, Ken. You can quickly and effortlessly identify all of the Threadspawn in any room. Each and every king, prince, and lord will want you to cleanse their hierarchies and do a few checks on people going forward.” She patted my head, standing on her tiptoes to do so.

“But don’t worry. You won’t have to negotiate with them directly at all. Your princess will take care of the negotiations. All you have to do is come when called, and we’ll get you to snuff out all the Threadspawn within the demon hierarchy.” She squirmed with excitement. “Oh, they’ll pay a king’s price to feel secure in their own house. Half the princes will just want you to check their opposing king. You might even discover a few trying to encourage you to give a few false positives!”

Xanthana winked before becoming dead serious. “However, I would strongly discourage that path. While there might be some short-term monetary gain, ultimately I want those worms gone. And if your reputation tanks, your usefulness long term goes with it.” When she grew serious, there was an undeniable pressure that settled over me, and I nodded.

“Understood.” I told her. “There will still be a fair few people who wish to refute me at every chance they get, though.”

The princess waved a hand. “Let me deal with that. All you’ll need to do is pop in, make your eyes glow, point out who should die, and we’ll move on.” Her method was as brutal as it was efficient.

“Are you concerned at all with trying to recover those who’ve been infected?” I asked, knowing the UG was working on it. They were likely doing something similar.

Princess Xanthana and Lady Frey gave me strange looks.

“Why would we do that?” Lady Frey asked, genuinely confused.

“To preserve them, or their strength?” I added, my speech slowing as it was apparent they hadn’t been thinking about that at all.

The two succubi looked at each other and burst into laughter.

“Oh, there’s no need to preserve someone else’s strength,” Xanthana said. “Perhaps if our Queen has someone of particular interest, we might try to figure out some other option. But regardless, the weak die. And the infected are simply among the weak, at least as far as either of us are concerned. Sometimes the weak branches need pruned if the bush is to be effective at bearing fruit at all.” She paused. “Humans do have bushes, right?”

Lady Frey answered, “I believe they do, according to our research.”

The princess nodded along, satisfied.

Des, who had been mostly quiet throughout this exchange, spoke up. “Speaking of research. I’m hoping to use some of this to prove myself.” She held the vial of Lady Frey’s blood.

The princess tilted her head, one direction and then the other in confusion followed by thought. “More than a few lesser races have tried to become greater. There’s certainly plenty of research out there.” The princess tapped her lips. “I’m unsure if you’ll be a different case because you modified yourself once already. One moment.”

I wasn’t sure if she disappeared or simply flickered with how quickly she moved, but she shifted with a small tomb tucked into her hand now. She held the book out to Des. “Here’s some research. I’m unsure if it’ll be valuable to you or just another exercise in useless education.”

“Thank you, Princess. I will not forget your kindness.” She clutched the book to her chest like it was a liferaft amid rough seas.

“Of course, dear.” Xanthana waved a hand. “I owe Ken more than his due. After all, I’m about to get quite a bit of value from him, simply because everyone will want him looking for worms.”

I frowned at the princess.

“What? Did you think I wasn’t going to get my due?” She giggled. “Negotiating through me will have significant benefits. People won’t trick you, and having me behind each transaction means proper compensation.”

I scowled, understanding the value of her time was many multiples of mine. “Of course, Princess. I am honored to have so much of your help,” I said lightly. Whatever it was going to cost was out of my hands.

“Frey got really lucky with you,” she smirked.

The larger succubus nodded in agreement.

“Is there any chance,” I asked slowly, “for these summons you have in mind that I could get them at least somewhat scheduled in advance?”

Lady Frey tapped her lips, seemingly not used to that type of request. “If you give me some reasonable availability, I can do my best.” She glanced at the princess. “It’ll only make him more valuable if we pretend he's already booked out.” At least she twisted it into an argument that the other succubus could grasp onto for more benefit.

“Oh yes, yes. Wonderful. Manufactured supply constraints are always effective. Especially when coming from a higher position like mine.” Princess Xanthana nodded.

I narrowed my eyes at the two plotting succubi. Their scheming wasn’t really that different than humans. They were just more honest about it. “Weren’t we going to investigate your own area?” I gestured at the city laid out below us.

“Oh! Yes, please do.” The princess gestured forward.

I activated [Eyes of Wisdom] and looked for Threadspawn in the city below.

There were actually a few, though they were concentrated on one side of the city.

“There’s a few over here,” I said, gesturing with a hand, “and then several dozen on the far end.”

Lady Frey clicked her tongue. “Of course the grunts are part of the problem. Come with me and identify the higher ranks first.” She took control of the situation, and the strategy made sense given the hierarchical nature of the demons. The higher up demons would have more impact and needed to be cleansed first.

She lifted me even higher, using her abilities over gravity. Then she drifted us more slowly in the direction I’d indicated there were a few.

As I hovered, I pointed out one that was walking, only for that person to simply blip out of existence. There was a small pinprick of a black hole before the demon was soundlessly swallowed.

It was one thing to kill. It felt entirely more spooky for somebody to die without most people noticing. A few people started as the person disappeared, while far too many, in my opinion, simply shrugged the vanishing act off as another occurrence in the day.

“Next,” Lady Frey asked, breaking me from my stupor at watching existence winked out so easily.

The next several hours were spent being dragged around by the two succubi, pointing out people who were either in crowds, sleeping in their beds, or conspiring in basements. One after the other they were simply swallowed by Lady Frey’s ability or scattered into ashes by the princess’. Both of my new demon bosses went about this with the same attitude I expected from a garbage man simply picking up trash.

When I found myself back in Chicago, lying in a comfortable bed, I felt almost guilty with how many beings had simply been erased from demon society. And it was Des’s comfort that I reveled in to clear the images from my mind.

“That was certainly something,” Des murmured as we lay in bed together.

She had put something lacy on, but neither of us were in the mood for anything too stimulating. That was simply Des’ only clothes, not that I was complaining.

“It was a lot,” I agreed, still grappling with the morality of what we had done, and how clearly it had put my own mortality into full focus. I had known that the demons were, in general, more powerful than humanity. But knowing and watching time after time, as  two of the royals simply deleted living problems with a wave of their hand was a deeply different feeling.

Some of the demons that they’d taken care of were in the sixties and seventies.

What we had just done would have required the best of the best to assemble and likely have a drag-out fight on Earth.

At one point, we had gone into what appeared to be a butcher shop with over a dozen demons, level fifty to sixty, and I had informed them that they were all infected. That statement had caused Princess Xanthana to wave a hand and simply fill the air with a smattering of ashes to resolve the issue summarily.

That shop could have very easily been the best humanity had to offer and it hit hard knowing that the princess could simply wipe them out with a wave of her hand set both me and Des’ minds down a dangerous path.

“It was a lot,” Des agreed. “But at the same time, I think I understand.” She squinted up at the ceiling. “It’s an opportunity for them to jockey, shift their positions, and gain strength in what appears to be a rather stagnated system.”

I nodded in agreement. “The hierarchy appears to be completely frozen. I mean, did you see the Succubus Queen?” I said with a note of disbelief. “She has to be ancient.”

“Don’t let her hear that.” Des smacked me playfully.

“Somehow I don’t think she would care much. Or at least, I hope she wouldn’t be in such denial that she thinks she’s still a spring chicken.” I chuckled.

“No, probably not,” Des admitted. “But I’d really rather not be on that woman’s radar for anything more than being your lovely companion.” Des batted her lashes. “Because she was kind of terrifying.”

I grunted in agreement and held Des tightly to my body.

The longer I lay next to her, the more I felt the need to do something more. I pulled up my CID in front of my face and began tapping.

“What’s that?” Des asked.

“A message to the UG.” I told her. My answer caused further wrinkles to mar her forehead as she frowned.

“And why are we talking to Scaredy Cat?” she asked, using Crimson’s nickname for the president.

“Because he has, unfortunately, what we need.” I sighed at Des. 

“And that is?” she asked.

“A cure. Or at least, I hope they’re still working on a cure. Watching so many beings get simply erased only made me think that we should focus a little more on how to resolve this in a way that keeps more people alive.” I told her.

“Do you think he’ll even respond to you?” Des asked.

“One way to find out.” I shrugged, sending the message before laying my head down. I expected that I might be waiting a while for a response.

But a moment later, my CID chimed. Des was apparently more eager for the answer than I was, because she snatched up my wrist and read it aloud.

“From what I understand, since you have joined the demon hierarchy, you cannot be trusted our secrets to give to the demons for free. Thus, you will not be allowed access to any of that information, and your curiosity will give me cause to ensure that it does not accidentally slip into your hands.” Des finished reading that and turned slowly to me. “Wow. You really pissed him off.”

While Des was amused, I was frowning more deeply. I had expected him to be at least somewhat adversarial after our last interaction, but this was to a far greater degree than I’d expected. I was genuinely surprised.

“Are you gonna do something about it?” Des asked as she paused in her laughter, realizing I was not joining her.

“It’s tempting,” I admitted, “but jumping too hard on him might have the opposite effect from what either of us want. After all, if I really wanted to, I could simply use [Eyes of Wisdom] to find where they’re conducting their research and raid it at night.”

“Seems a bit of an extreme length for you to go to to get something that should be far easier to get,” Des said. “Besides, if the UG finds a way, there’s no way it doesn’t become common knowledge to someone like Crimson or Heather within short order.”

I nibbled on my lip. “You’d think so. But that last bit? I feel like he’s going to purposefully cut me off from my known associates.”

“He’s going to personally cut off the information from your known associates and hamstring himself in the process?” Des said, and then her amusement faded as she realized it. “He would hamstring the UG just to get back at you? Would he?” She sounded unsure as she asked that last question.

“I hope not, Des. I hope not.” I flopped over on the bed deciding sleep was a far better option.