DD 302 Ch 21

“You came to bed so late,” Des whined as she dragged me up in the morning. Apparently, she’d tried to wake me up in a more satisfying manner earlier, only to fail.

“Yeah, well, it was complicated,” I muttered, waving a hand to say I could get up myself. “I’ll tell you all more at breakfast.”

Given the size of our group, rather than return to our hotel, we had portaled back to Star City. Especially after witnessing the horrors of the Threadspawn, I didn’t blame them for not wanting to stay in New York.

“Did you at least get rid of our guests?” I asked, padding out of the room in nothing more than my boxers. As I stepped into the main area, I found Misha sitting and chatting with a very drowsy Felin.

The Whaleryn’s ears shot straight up, and her face turned bright red.

I did a quick about-face, stepping back into my room to put on some more clothes.

“Aww, I wanted a show,” Felin whined through the door. “And your old clothes! Where are your old clothes?”

Apparently, the prospect of more of my scent-laden garments was enough to rouse Felin from her groggy state.

Des, of course, had just what Felin needed for her fix, tossing a few items her way.

Felin sniffed them, rubbed them against herself, then frowned. “Something’s a little off.” She sniffed again. “There’s perfume.”

“Yeah, well, Ken was about to tell us what took him all night,” Des said, bobbing her eyebrows suggestively. “I can only assume his search for Crimson was delayed.” She turned toward Ambrosia, who shook her head.

“I do not know what Ken was up to,” the angel said evenly. “He simply came and asked for my last confirmation of Crimson’s location, then left.”

Des pouted. “You could play along, Ambrosia.”

The angel only folded her hands neatly in her lap. “I don’t know how that would be productive. It would simply add confusion to the conversation.”

Des sighed and slumped into a chair next to me at the large breakfast table. “Well, now that we’ve confirmed there’s perfume, why don’t you tell us whose perfume it was?”

“Well,” I said, “it was actually our new, local, and friendly demon lord—or, I should say, lady—that I found.”

I glanced at Misha for help.

“‘Lord’ or ‘lady’ is fairly interchangeable,” Misha offered. “Oftentimes, ‘lord’ is used more generally for the rank, but if she is particular, she would demand ‘lady’ when spoken to directly. Lord is more domineering and many demons prefer it.”

I gestured at Misha. “What she said.”

“Anyway,” I continued, “Lady Frey is apparently aware of us here in Star City, and the fact that we had been avoiding her came with a subtle undertone of threat.”

I gestured to Des. “So, I went and visited the demon lady. And of course she was able to realize I was not a demon almost immediately. I mean, I thought I was putting on a pretty good show. But the situation started to spiral a bit from there.”

“She found out?!” Des’ attention snapped to me fully.

The long and short of it is…” I set the vial on the table like a peace offering. “Blood from a powerful succubus, for you, Des.”

Then I tugged down the collar of my shirt, showing the glowing sigil branded into my skin. “I’ve now joined the demon hierarchy, under contract. The terms include being able to summon Lady Frey should we need her to deal with a certain Threadspawn.”

Des’s eyebrows kept climbing with every new sentence. “That’s a pretty big deal. I think.” she said at last.

“I agree,” I sighed, “but I wasn’t in the best negotiating position. What it really comes down to is joining the demon hierarchy and some other nonsense about the Incubus King position currently being vacant. Apparently, he was a naughty little boy, tried to take over hell and got himself killed by the rest of the Demon Kings.”

“Holy crap,” Misha said, her teacup halfway to her lips. “A Demon King hasn’t been killed in a really long time. That’s not something that happens more than once or twice in a lifetime.”

I blinked. “Really?”

“Yes,” Misha said seriously. “It’s an incredibly rare event. It also means that every other Demon King or Queen,” she added quickly under Des’s pointed glare, “is going to be fighting to get their candidate onto that throne. Even if you’re somewhat interested, there have to be a few princes already jockeying for the position.”

I shook my head. “According to what I was told, every Incubus of even moderate status is dead. The Incubus King pulled on all his resources, trying to make himself the King of Hell and above the others entirely.”

Misha’s jaw nearly hit the table. “You’re kidding me. He tried to make himself the King of Hell? That’s ridiculous. It never works.”

“They’ve tried before?” I asked.

“Every few thousand years,” Misha said, leaning back in her chair. “There’s always someone who tries, and each time they get ripped to shreds by the remaining kings. I mean, each of the Demon Kings are roughly the same strength. Even if one prepared an army of princes and princesses, it’d still be impossible to go against the grain of the entire hierarchy. So yeah,” she finished dryly, “it’s like telling me the most powerful demon alive committed political suicide as a creative way to get rid of his boredom. It’s ridiculous on a grand scale, but if that’s what happened, then it’s no wonder she spent so long hammering out your contract.”

She tilted her head. “Most demons, as I understand, get a contract foisted into their hands unless they’re way overqualified. What did she give you? Some sort of commander role?”

“She made me a general,” I said. “Directly in service to Lady Frey.”

This was the third time that morning Misha’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “She made you a general?” she stuttered. “You’re way too weak to be a demon general. Sorry.” She apologies immediately as I winced.

“But that’s what the contract said. I guess she expects me to grow into it. She did put a very fine point on me focusing on leveling.” I shrugged.

“Yeah,” Misha said, shaking her head, “or some demon’s just gonna slit your throat and try to take your spot.”

“Thanks,” I said dryly.

She gave me a small smile. “Congratulations, and good luck. You’re gonna need it.”

“Thanks,” I said again, “I think. But this gives us an opportunity to make a change. I don’t want to leave Lady Frey waiting too long, but if we could figure out where that Threadspawn is tonight, and if there were any others of that level still on Earth, then maybe I could summon her once to deal with the full situation and limit my personal cost.”

Des raised an eyebrow at those words, which inevitably led to a long, drawn-out discussion about demonic contracts. My scant experience apparently made me the expert in the room. Half of what I told them, I prefaced with the very real possibility that I had no idea what I was talking about.

Still, throughout breakfast, Des kept the vial of blood suspiciously close. I knew the demonic mage was already thinking of ways to use the blood.

While we were still talking, a portal ripped open in the kitchen and Bellaire stepped through, glancing around before locking eyes on me. “I do hope you haven’t forgotten you have an interview this afternoon.” She stated, crossing her arms.

“Nope, haven’t forgotten,” I said, raising a hand. “It’s just a little lower on the priority list than some other things, if I’m honest, but it’s still there.”

She smirked. “Well raise it up on your priority list, because we need to do some serious preparation. Between last night’s antics and the UG hounding me about you this morning, we’ve lost too much time as it is.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “Is the UG upset?” The last thing I needed was more problems.

Bellaire pursed her lips. “No. However, given that the expected numbers didn’t quite match the actual ones, the president who understand yours and Crimson’s [Eyes of Wisdom] is asking a lot of questions. I told them one of the threadspawn was more difficult than expected, and that has moderately calmed their concerns because they assumed you had to kill one. However, when the UG president is asking me who’s death they need to bury in the media, I don’t have an answer. And that’s only making him more suspicious.”

Bellaire signed and closed her eyes. “He asked this morning, ‘just to make sure’, that you haven’t added a threadspawn to your harem.”

“Right,” I said, unsure how to even answer that. “Well, hopefully we can solve that one tonight.”

“After we prepare for the interview, of course,” Bellaire said pointedly, not giving grounds on her priority at all.

“After we prepare,” I repeated, flashing her a grin.

She gave me a look that said she wasn’t convinced, then sat down at the table, glancing over at Ambrosia. “Do you have any other fruits I might not have tried? Last time was a treat.”

“I will whip something up for you, Madame,” Ambrosia said smoothly. “There’s a red fruit Crimson seems particularly attracted to, and given your company, perhaps you may like it as well.” The angel performed a slight bow before retreating into the kitchen.

“So, preparations,” I said, turning back to Bellaire.

“After breakfast, you and Des will follow me,” she said briskly.

“We don’t want to exclude Helen and Candice from this session… or do we?” I asked.

Bellaire’s lips curved ever so slightly, the hint of a smirk tugging at them.

“We should include them,” I said quickly, coughing into my hand. “And do our best to stay focused.”

Several people around the table snickered.

“Quiet,” Des snapped, glaring at Felin. “If you make him too self-conscious, we’ll get less of your favorite cream, kitty.”

Felin gasped and clutched her tail to her chest. “No! He likes my tail too much to give me less!”

Bellaire raised an eyebrow in my direction.

“Don’t ask,” I warned her. “Unless you really want to know.”

“I admit, I’m curious,” she said with a smirk. “But I’m sure I’ll find out eventually. I doubt you’ll be able to hide anything from me for long.”

Her words sounded almost like a promise, an ominous one at that.

*****

“This was a wonderful interview, thank you, thank you,” I said, shaking a few hands and smiling for the cameras, none of them having the slightest clue that I was planning to murder what might be humanity’s greatest threat in the same night.

At least, that was the plan.

The dungeon had taught me that plans rarely survived contact with the enemy. But we were also good on our feet.

As I dipped my head, the rest of the group was all smiles as they simultaneously cleared our way out of the studio’s bright hallway.

“You know, it’s pretty clear that you’re planning something,” Helen said, glaring at me.

“Me? Planning? Nothing.” I hooked a thumb toward Des. “Now her? She’d definitely be plotting something.”

“Me?” Des gasped, pressing a hand to her chest. “I would never and if I were, I’d keep it secret from. That’s why it’s called a secret plot.”

“Which,” I said with a grin, “is exactly how you know she would.”

That answer got a decent laugh from the eavesdroppers following us out.

“This isn’t funny, Ken,” Helen said, her voice sharp. “If you’re gonna do something stupid, you should at least tell me. I know I’m not your favorite person in the world, but I can, in fact, do a lot to help.”

“Well, I appreciate the offer,” I said lightly, “but I think I’ll do my best to handle this on my own.”

Helen threw her hands up. “Fine. Do it yourself. Just don’t let me see your name on the news tomorrow. I’d feel terrible.”

I chuckled. “Of course you would.”

“Well, I would,” she insisted. “It’s not like you haven’t been incredible to me. I owe you for saving my mother and myself, so yeah… I owe you a pretty solid debt.”

I smirked. “At least you’re honest about some things. Who knows? Maybe I’ll just call your mom.”

Helen groaned. “Please don’t ever say it like that again.”

“What?” I said innocently. “Besides, Crimson would kill me if she even thought I was implying what you’re suggesting.”

My clarification got a reluctant smirk out of Helen, but the look Des shot me told me it was time to stop flirting and get moving.

I ripped open a portal back to our hotel, and Bellaire and Des followed me through. We did a quick about-face and opened another portal straight to Star City.

There was more we needed to figure out, quickly. Especially given the strength of the Threadspawn woman. 

One quick check with [Soul Gaze] against the map on my CID confirmed she’d stayed in New York and there wasn’t another one of her level on Earth, which left us with several options.

“What do you think?” I asked, holding up the onyx stone Lady Frey had given me.

“I think you using that might as well be putting a collar around your neck,” Des said dryly. “Did she at least give you a pretty bow to go with it?”

“I know what you’re thinking, and you are right. It’s risky,” I admitted, turning the stone in my palm. “But what are my other options? I don’t want her to have time to put those worms in a bunch of humans.”

The rest of my party had gathered around the table. Misha had been waiting for us when we got back.

“Well, you could wait for Crimson,” Penny suggested. “That might get you something.”

Crimson had been hard to reach lately. Helen’s offer to ask her mother for help was tempting enough, but I knew Lady Frey could solve this situation. If she couldn’t then Earth was well and truly screwed, because that meant our only option would be to bring in the Orkai and their mass clearing that they’d been doing was too great a risk.

“I think you have to ask Lady Frey,” Misha said, “or at least bring her along. Even if you’re already planning to bring Crimson.”

“Really?” I turned to look at her.

“Please. Even if by some miracle you do get Crimson to deal with the issue,” Misha said seriously, “there’s still a chance this threadspawn is strong enough that Crimson can’t take her on. And you pretty much asked Lady Frey to be available for this clean up. If I were her, and you didn’t come to me in the next couple weeks, I’d start to worry about the contract. This was the whole reason you signed the deal. And, you know, to ensure you don’t die.”

“So if I sit on my hands, it’s gonna raise questions,” I said.

“Exactly,” Misha nodded. “It doesn’t have to be bad or good, but it’ll raise red flags. The trick with demons is to make deals and follow through. They hate the unexpected.”

I frowned, thinking it through. Then took a deep breath.

“We don’t even know if Crimson could defeat this Threadspawn,” I said carefully. “Nothing against her, but I’m fairly sure Frey is stronger.”

Des let out a low whistle. “Do not let Crimson ever hear you say that,” she chuckled. “Pretty sure she’d kill you.”

“Pretty sure she would too,” I admitted. “So… let’s let her finish whatever she’s working on right now. Then we’ll deal with what comes next with her.”

“Your funeral,” Des said cheerfully.

I looked around the room, gauging everyone else’s thoughts.

Charlotte shrugged. “I don’t think they’re wrong. Crimson’s gonna be furious if you do this without her. But…” She hesitated. “I don’t think she’s in the best place to go Threadspawn hunting right now. Honestly, I like the idea of bringing the Harem Queen more.”

I chuckled at her admission, but I couldn’t help agreeing. Crimson had been MIA and from what I understood she was rushing throughout the dungeon cleaning up threadspawn infected humans. If I pulled her off that I’d almost assuredly bring the UG into the picture too.

“All right. Then that’s what we’ll do. And hope that Crimson doesn’t lose it too much when she finally realizes what we’ve done.” Des nodded.

“I mean, she’ll be mad,” I said. “But she can’t be that mad, can she?”

“Oh, she can be plenty mad,” Des chuckled. “I don’t think she even needs a reason to be mad at you. She just gets to be whenever she wants.”

I scowled at her. “Well, I still prefer to keep Crimson as happy as I can.” I looked around the group to see if there was another opinion, but it was clear they were all in agreement to ask for Lady Frey’s help.

Decision made, I picked up the stone, ran my thumb over the runes carved into it, and held it tight, trying to see exactly how it worked.

Very quickly, the room around me faded to gray, then the center of my vision washed back into color as I saw a blurry Lady Frey lounging back, squinting open her eyes as my view settled on her.

“Oh? Do you want me to come deal with the Threadspawn already?” she smirked her form shifting and becoming clear when she picked up a matching stone.

“If you could,” I said after a moment.

Lady Frey slipped out of her bed, a giant smile spreading across her face.

“Of course, of course. For you, Ken, my dear, why wouldn’t I deal with a few troublesome Threadspawn? In fact, the whole dungeon seems to want to do something about them. It’s only right that I join that cause.”

Lady Frey had a massive smile on her face almost made me regret this, but I ripped open a portal in space for her to join me.