Mob Sorcery 5 - Ch43

“I’m assuming you want to do something with Juliet, given you brought me here,” Vince said.

Daji’s nine long tails danced behind her, and her smile broadened. Rather than respond, she bowed her head and looked down at the still figure she sat on.

Juliet remained utterly still. Her pale body remained in the same skimpy clothes she’d been captured in, including her black cape. Vince didn’t need to rely on Salome’s sketchy measurements to tell she possessed a fairly small chest, although she wasn’t exactly flat as a board. Far smaller than Daji or most of his girlfriends, however. Perhaps a touch larger than Gaby, except the unicorn stood over two feet taller than the vampire and her frame matched her vastly greater height.

When Daji ran her fingers along the swell of Juliet’s breasts, he suspected the fox was thinking the same thing as him.

How could Daji handle being in a body like that?

“Please, I’m no stranger to small women,” Daji said. “And you’re missing a crucial aspect of my escape. I only retain my host’s appearance for as long as strictly necessary. If I possess a princess or someone important, that might be years or decades. Especially if my possession is symbiotic. Otherwise, I’m free to reshape the body to my desires. Or yours, really.”

Daji smirked as she wrapped one arm beneath her breasts, emphasizing her cleavage.

“Both you and Kiyoko have told me absolutely nothing about how spirits possess their hosts, or vessels, or whatever you call them,” Vince said. “I think I need to know that before we go any further.”

“Fair.” Daji nodded and turned away from Juliet. “I already told you we will remain connected. We’ve built a strong bond, and I don’t plan to leave you, master.”

He nodded and did a terrible job of hiding his relief. She smiled. The tips of her tails wiggled  response to his emotions.

“The most fundamental aspect of possession is that it must be willing,” Daji said.

Vince blinked. “Uh, what? How does that work with this?” He pointed at Juliet.

“Let me explain,” she chided. “People are inherently weak-willed and easy to tempt. For noble spirits like tengu and even that mischievous raiju, they find individuals who openly accept the possession on whatever terms the spirit wants. My guess is Kiyoko forms a symbiotic relationship where she merges with her vessel’s mind, which explains her… naïve and oddly girlish behaviors at times.”

“I’m not sure I’d ever call Kiyoko naïve or girlish.”

“She communicates purely through emoji over the phone, has a pink case, and was clearly eager to travel. To say nothing of her crush on you.” Daji gave him a pointed look. “As for the raiju, she definitely dominates the vessel. My guess is that’s the cause of the delay in bringing her back. Kiyoko needs to find someone who wishes to give up their body to a spirit. There’s a reason hospitals have stories about spirits walking the halls. Whether Alessia has found her or not, Zaira’s old vessel was likely a girl on death’s door whose disease miraculously disappeared.”

Vince grimaced. Daji spoke of it so matter-of-factly, but the idea of preying on vulnerable patients bothered him.

He understood why. Spirits needed bodies, and he suspected they needed to be alive.

“They do,” Daji confirmed. “Or at least full of magic. Undead vessels also work, so long as there’s a person inhabiting them. No zombies, but the mousegirl would work. Her phantom is too insubstantial, and I feel the mind inhabiting it has degraded too much as it is.”

“So we can’t have Hamelin manufacture you a body. You need to steal a person’s life,” Vince said.

Daji grimaced. “That is the essence of it, yes. I need essence.” She winked.

He blinked, then realized she’d made a pun and groaned. “Okay, I assume you’re not a noble spirit. What’s the difference?”

“‘Evil’ spirits like huli jing and kumiho trick their vessels.” She pointed at herself. “That’s why everyone panicked when they learned you were speaking with me. If I wanted your body, you’d be easy prey. Just look at last night.”

He looked away. Daji’s fingers ran along his jaw and her tails appeared in his vision.

She stood in front of him, her face full of concern. “Truthfully, you should be showing hallmarks of possession by now. I don’t want your body, and I’m certain the rest of me doesn’t either, but you’re drinking so deeply I should be running through your veins like an addiction. While it’s a lovely idea to think your amazing willpower or gigantic cock is holding me at bay, the truth is likely simpler.”

“My core,” he said.

“Indeed.” She leaned back and pressed her fingers against his chest. “Hamelin’s proved its power runs through you at all times, or else her lanterns wouldn’t detect it. Something about it repels me. Which means somebody put it in you, or else it wouldn’t be territorial. I’m still wary about assuming it’s another spirit, one of the false deities, or anything divine. But it’s strong and resists subsumption.”

As curious as Vince was about her speculation, he had Hamelin to help him learn more. For now, he focused on Daji.

“So you trick someone whose body you want,” he said. “How? And what does that have to do with Juliet?”

“Everything.” Daji bounced back on Juliet’s body. “Those with ambition or who are obsessed with their own weakness are easy to tempt. This vampire wants to destroy you to prove her strength. I’d pretend to offer her the power she needs to crush you, then usurp her mind and body, and then utterly crush her. Then I’d have her body all to myself once I’ve killed her. Her mind will be ash, she’ll be dead, and I’ll be me, but with a lovely new body for you to enjoy.”

She made it sound so simple.

“It is simple. You’d just give her the egg for a week or two,” she said. “You’ll have to remove the sack as it appears to cut off her magic entirely, although I’m unaware if her senses are similarly affected.”

“I, uh, think we’re screwed if she’s aware right now,” he said.

Daji snorted. “Trust me when I say I can handle that. I’ve corrupted priests who spent their lives training to fight spirits like me, and paranoid warlords who saw everyone who approached them as a threat. The mind is far weaker than you think. She’ll break. The real question is whether you want to let me use her.”

He sighed and turned away. Daji’s tails wrapped around him instantly and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“You’re worrying about so much,” she whispered.

“For one, I need to talk to the others before I can answer you,” he said. “I kept you a secret for so long, and they still forgave me. While I trust you, and don’t want to risk losing you to… whatever may lay within your egg, I still need to convince the others.” He frowned. “Weird question, but are you convinced there might be an ‘evil’ Daji still inside the egg? If you’ve left her behind so many times, how could she still be there?”

“Because I’m still me.” Daji hugged him and stared ahead. “That anger and fury that eclipsed your mind last night? That was as much me, as it was the ‘Daji within.’ I keep it contained, but I’m a huli jing. There will always be a darkness inside me. A roiling, hateful fury. I can only imagine it’s festered while I’ve been sealed, despite the attempts to harvest my power and emotions. Wagner might be wrong, of course. But now that I’m aware, I can tell I’ve become more… vengeful. Mei made me lustful, as you tasted the heights of power and glory. Kigenai made me want vengeance.”

Vince rubbed her fingers, even though he knew Daji was merely an illusion. She giggled.

“The other issue is Juliet herself,” he said. “I need to do what Anzu suggested and talk to Ceresviel. Hamelin and Alessia can help there, but if I give you Juliet’s body…”

“The vampire may destroy us,” Daji said.

“Yeah. Also, Salome wants her piece of Juliet.”

“Please. That’s easy. The succubus wants to see Juliet suffer, and you need to explain me to her. Give me the vampire’s body and fuck me and the succubus at the same time. Problem solved. She’ll love you for it.”

Okay, Vince had to admit that was an elegant solution to the problem. Salome would absolutely love the idea of Juliet being dead and her body being used by an enemy that both her and Vince enjoyed.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, and Daji filled his head with an image of Juliet’s and Salome’s naked bodies squirming on his bed. Daji’s jade eyes sparkled inside Juliet’s head.

He cleared his throat. “Is Juliet your only option?”

“Obviously not, but she’s the most… accessible.” Daji pulled away. “Finding vessels I can tempt, won’t be missed, possess enough magic to be immediately useful, and that you won’t get upset that I kill is difficult. I don’t have years to rebuild my magic reserves in some random enforcer’s body. And you’re enough of a sap that you hesitated to kill the Qilin, even when you thought she’d killed Pola.” She poked his nose.

“I pitied her,” Vince said. “Kigenai wasn’t even a threat at that point. I’m not sure I want to become someone callous or heartless enough to murder someone like that without hesitating.”

“And you are loved for it, no doubt.” Daji’s lip tickled his ear. “But it means I can’t simply claim anyone.” She pulled away and fell silent.

He turned to face her, and found her levitating in the air. Her position gave him a good view of her crotch and the red panties she wore beneath the pantyhose.

“Mei is the only other real option,” she eventually admitted. “But it’s immensely dangerous. I’d love to tempt her and use her as a symbiotic host. Or at least keep her body, as she’s hot and I’d love to see through your eyes while you fuck her. But she’s driven and insane. Her goals don’t align with yours and never will. So I’d have to kill her. And that will bring problems. Ones I don’t think you quite understand.”

“I’m already planning to kill her,” he said.

“And I think it will cause political turmoil. Knightsgate is remaining oddly quiet, and I think the tengu realizes they want Mei dealt with quietly for questionable reasons.”

Vince scowled. Politics.

“Exactly. It will only get worse if I take her body, because there won’t be a corpse. But even if I steal her body and turn it into something lovely…” Daji gestured to her current appearance. “Well, it will be difficult. She’s an eight-tail purifier. Her intention was to consume me, rather than the other way around. While I think she was an idiot to attempt it, and would have become my lunch eventually, I might need months to properly crush her mind. Plus, you’d need to leave her alive.”

“Shit.” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “In the back of my mind, I’ve assumed she would be your body since speaking with Wagner. We’d defeat Mei and then you’d just… leap into her as we dealt the finishing blow.”

“I’ve noticed the errant thoughts,” Daji said drily. “But, no. You’d need to defeat her without killing her, restrain her, and then give her my egg. And somehow keep her without her powers causing issues. The Inaba twins can likely handle that, but do you think they’ll let you?”

A lewd thought crossed his mind, sparked by the recent image of Juliet and Salome.

“… Momo wouldn’t,” he admitted. “I don’t know if Anzu wants Mei’s head more than seeing her suffer, but she might be closer to Salome.”

“True,” Daji admitted. “But they’re also wary of me. The idea I might get Mei’s power and betray you and them would be on the forefront of their minds.”

That didn’t leave him with many options.

The fox sighed. “If, somehow, the possibility arises, I can take Mei’s body. Especially if Juliet’s appears out of the question. But you may face a difficult choice.”

A choice between risking his and other’s lives to get Mei’s body, pissing off Ceresviel to kill Juliet, or leaving Daji inside her egg even longer.

“Thank you for finally explaining it to me,” he said. “I guess I see why you didn’t want to earlier.”

“There weren’t any vessels available, and telling you how it worked would make you warier,” she said. “But I felt your care for me last night, despite everything that happened. It helps me push back against the new emotions trying to change me. So you deserve to know and make the decision, master.”

With the matter as handled as it could be, Vince dispelled his ward and left. Once out of the vault, his phone buzzed.

Salome had sent him a message. He was reminded he hadn’t read the messages from Ronin and Anzu either.

He started with Salome, in case it was urgent.

A little fox tells me you nabbed the vampire, Salome said.

Ashley sucked at keeping secrets, apparently. Funny given she had a huge one everyone else needed to keep. Did Salome know about her blood magic?

Juliet’s in Lionetti Tower, he replied. Still deciding what to do with her.

You can just dump her on my lap if you don’t want to cut her head off, Salome suggested.

It’s complicated. We know Juliet has the backing of the vampire Ceresviel, so I want to talk with her if possible.

Salome didn’t reply for several minutes. Vince took the opportunity to check Ronin’s message in the meantime as he rode the elevator back to the condo.

Nothing special from Ronin. Just letting him know all was good with Frost and to avoid police attention for the next day or three.

Anzu’s message turned out to be a bunch of photos. They appeared to be shots of his tornado from afar, which captured it before and after it changed color. He’d never captured its magnitude before. It looked as awesome as he imagined, especially when it turned into a black and red conjuration from hell.

One of the photos had been deleted. A teasing message from Anzu below explained why.

There was a nice congratulations present here, but you didn’t read my messages in time. Anzu attached a crying fox emoji. Better luck next time.

She’d sent it about an hour after the photos, by which point he suspected he’d fallen asleep. Not that he kept close track of time last night.

Fortunately, he’d installed an app to automatically download images sent to his messaging app, and it even dodged read receipts. He’d never miss a lewd fumble from Ashley again, or Anzu’s manipulative teasing.

The photo she’d deleted turned out to be a dual selfie of the Inaba twins in their skintight bodysuits. Their impressive busts drew his eye, and he saw the outline of their bras and panties beneath the suits. Definitely worth keeping, so he saved the photo. Momo’s adorable pout as Anzu pulled her into the photo made it extra perfect.

You look hot in your bodysuits, he replied to Anzu.

Surprisingly, she replied instantly. Oh? Being sneaky, are we? Maybe I should send you something spicy to test you.

Suddenly a new photo appeared and vanished almost immediately. He barely got a glimpse of Momo’s shocked face and plenty of flesh and fluffy golden tails.

Checking the app, he saw Momo laying on a rug in their living room in a tank top and panties with a packet of chips in front of her and a tablet. While he’d seen plenty of her in the special dual photoshoots Anzu dragged her sister to occasionally, Momo avoided underwear shoots like the plague. She had a hell of an ass.

A message from an unknown contact appeared on his phone. He had a bad feeling about it.

If I find out you still have that photo, I am going to chop your dick off and choke Anzu to death with it, the message read.

This was definitely Momo.

At least I have your number, he replied.

She sent him an emoji of a fox ninja making a throat-slashing gesture. Vince had zero plans of getting rid of these photos, but knew he needed to find a way to back them up off his phone before Momo got her hands on it.

Thanks, he messaged Anzu.

She blew him a kiss emoji. Things are getting hot, btw. Expect Old Man Miura to contact you shortly.

Nina had awoken and trundled about the condo. He cuddled up to her while she demolished some pancakes and Kiho meditated.

Finally, Salome got back to him.

Ceresviel. That explains a lot, Salome messaged. She’s used to working with sorcerers and extensive connections back in France and Germany. I have bad blood with her. She still holds a grudge over the French Revolution when I got one of her vampiric children killed. Don’t mention me. It’s risky for me to touch Juliet until you know what Ceresviel wants.

Damn. If Salome was worried, that might mean Daji couldn’t touch Juliet.

Is Ceresviel that dangerous? Vince asked.

Yes and no. Her origin has been known for ages. Turned in Mainz during the peak of the Holy Roman Empire. Her binding method is a genuine silver thaler placed on her tongue, and she’ll die if beheaded by a silver sword while her binding weakness is in effect and you’re reciting a bible verse in Latin. The verse doesn’t matter.

He blinked. How is she still alive if everyone knows how to kill her?

If I told you that Wagner’s weakness was placing a Roman denarius in his mouth, would that help you? Salome asked.

Ah. Nina leaned over his shoulder and snickered.

“Vince, you’re talking about an 800-year-old vampire. The fact she’s lived this long means she’s insanely dangerous,” Nina said.

He sighed and replied to Salome, So she’s powerful enough that we can’t touch her, but because everyone knows her weakness she can’t cause too much trouble. I bet her connections mean we need to tread carefully.

Exactly. Try to find out why she’s protecting Juliet. It’s probably some old promise or debt, Salome said. Vampires only follow rules and laws created by others when it benefits them, but they’re sticklers for fulfilling their own oaths. Rather than break them, they find ways to wheedle out of them without strictly breaching the oath. No clue if Ceresviel will be interested, though.

If push comes to shove, is it worth risking her wrath to get rid of Juliet? I don’t think Juliet will give up on me.

He remembered Juliet’s insane behavior inside the abyss. No way did he want to let her continue working on her spells.

Talk with Ceresviel first. If she’s unreasonable even in the face of Juliet’s stupidity, we’ll go from there, Salome said.

We, huh?

He gulped, then sent another message. When we meet about Juliet, I really need to tell you something important.

I know. Be safe, Vince.

The day continued to trundle on. Nina grabbed a lift from Nicki to return to their house, but promised to return once Pola woke up.

Shortly after Gaby turned up with some fresh Mexican, Alessia popped in to check on Pola. She hid her grimace at first, but Vince cuddled her while she unwound.

“Wish I could help,” Gaby said.

“You already did,” Alessia said. “I can’t thank you enough for saving her last night.”

Gaby grunted and looked away, horn glittering a soft pink. “It’s what I’m supposed to do, right? This herd, or pride, or pack, or whatever.”

“Pride,” Ally said as she carved up a chimichanga. “Nina’s very particular about that.”

“As we’ve all learned,” Alessia said. She sighed. “I hate to say this with Pola in the state she’s in, but this is relaxing. I’ve been fielding calls all morning.”

“Politics?” Vince asked.

“Events,” Gaby corrected. “Shit’s going down.”

Alessia nodded, and he frowned.

“Taking out Kigenai has changed the balance of power in the city,” Alessia said. “I didn’t expect that, but she was more powerful than I thought and you put on a big show. Not only that, but everyone knows the police and part of Houou assisted. I don’t think Ashley’s or Quintus’s involvement is known. I’m uncertain about Kiyoko, however.”

“Whatever the case, Houou has pulled out its enforcers,” Gaby said. “And there are fucktons of them milling about up north. They’re on the verge of open warfare. Therox told me that they’re going to reassign all the elementals again. Frost will be taking over Houou’s turf in a week, and they’re sending Kreesa to the industrial district to stare down Mei.”

“Shit,” Vince said.

“We won’t need to deal with Kreesa if everything goes to plan,” Alessia said.

He said nothing. As tired as they all felt today, he’d hoped to delay the assault against Mei. That appeared impossible. They had to move as scheduled this coming weekend, before the police switched everything up. That gave them only a few days to recover and prepare.

What a fucking awful situation.

“Have the Yakuza reacted?” he asked.

“Powerful wards and barriers sprung up around their central turf,” Alessia said. “They’re likely Mei’s work. Maybe she’ll show herself. Maybe she won’t. But that’s not the most important thing.”

He frowned and waited for more. Gaby took a bite of her burrito.

“Toya Miura contacted me,” Alessia said. “He’s proposing a joint operation with us to take out Mei and wants to meet tonight. I know Pola will awaken shortly, but we can’t ignore this, Vince. We need their help. As much bad blood as I have with the foxes, I detest the idea of losing you or anyone else I love more.”

- - - - -

Commentary: The choice between Mei and Juliet as the body remains open. I feel it's clear that Daji kills her chosen target and steals their body, in case you think there's some sort of actual possession happening.

While there's a cliffhanger and other stuff happens, the Daji body thing is the main thing I'm interested in feedback over.

Also, Book 5 has been approved for pre-order. No link yet, so I'll post it in the morning (US-time). It is scheduled for release on Sep 13th. There will be a launch party event in Discord if you want to join and chat with others about it.