Saithorthepyro

Chapter 68 - Butchery IV

I whistled as I opened the door to the warehouse where I’d hidden my old gear.

A day had passed since my tenuous truce had been established with Tagashin, and so far it was holding. Oh, snide remarks, but nothing like making me hit my injured leg. Nothing like bringing people to see me feasting on cows like an animal.

I dreaded the next time I met Gregory. Confess I had an imp inside my head and that was payment for its help? That opened up an entirely different issue with him, ...

Chapter 67 - Butchery III

An hour after I’d come to my accord with Tagashin, three things happened as noon struck.

First, a message arrived from Lady Karsin asking me to come as soon as possible for the testing of her son.

Second, a dead cow’s head had somehow made its way into my sheets, which I took as the upper bound of Tagashin’s truce stretching.

Third, Doctor Dawes entered the house from a hidden trapdoor in the main floor as I carefully put a pair of gloves on.

“Miss Harrow, you�...

Chapter 66 -Butchery II

Bits of flesh were still in my mouth, caught between my teeth in stringy chunks hanging out and dripping blood all over the ground. I essentially was nothing but blood, the only parts not splattered in ichor covered by blood-soaked clothing instead.

I struggled to think of something, anything to say as an explanation for why I resembled a blood-soaked predator eating out the innards of a cow. I couldn’t say anything.

“I’ll take them to the guestroom,” Tagashin-as-Voltar as...

Chapter 65 - Butchery I

I woke up tired, aching, and in a miserable mood, but alive.

I’d probably have been in an even worse mood, but a warm bath did wonders, even with the effort needed to keep my splint out of there. Taking off the remnants of my poor dress and getting modest had been my last efforts before collapsing into bed and getting some much-needed sleep.

I’d woken up paying for all of last night’s activities. The last pain-blocking effects of the potions had faded, so my entire body was ...

Chapter 64 - Afterparty VI

I limped back to the ballroom where we left, considering the rotted remnants of Hawkins littered about. Gregory and others had eliminated the leftover Infernal energy so it had stopped actively decaying, instead now left scattered about. Chunks of pale white flesh oozed as it continued a more natural process of decomposition.

Dead Infernals still dotted the sea of white flesh, hardened black bits breaking it up. No one had bothered to gather them up for burial yet. Had any even survived...

Chapter 63 - Afterparty V

Returning to where the remnants of the party were gathered, there was nothing but silence between me and the other Montagues.

There’d be a meeting tomorrow, where two of them would come over, and we would begin to discuss how to get one of us into the archives. I hoped so at least, there remained the possibility that they would choose not to and instead to inform their family. All three of them had been distant since that agreement and a lot more somber than I expected.

I couldn...

Chapter 62 - Afterparty IV

The walk back from the hanging bodies was only fifty feet to round the corner of the manor. It felt close to ten times that as I walked, the wind picking up. It carried a chilling bite that bit down to the bone. My hooves nervously clopped along the cobbles of the road at an uneven pace. There were Watch on both sides, several within sight of me, and I still had enough magic to rot any shapeshifter I spotted till I could escape.

It didn’t stop me from trying to hurry up my pace even a...

Chapter 61 - Afterparty III

Reaching the stairs again, Gregory and most of the Watch had vanished, leaving only Malstein and a few Watch officers.

“I wonder if they’re the only ones left,” I said quietly as I struggled down the stairs, ignoring the burst of pain traveling up my leg with each step. “Outside of Lord Montague and Lady Karsin still locked up on the third floor.”

“I considered getting up there when we first entered,” Tagashin whispered. “But the dragon spirit would have detected m...

Chapter 60 - Afterparty II

I stalked off with nothing but anger in my stomach. Anger at many things, changers, Montague, Voltar, Versalicci, a half dozen other things, but mostly myself.

Had I even felt when I’d started calling on Diabolism? All I remembered was slamming Voltar against the wall, the anger at the constant prodding, and it had found a way in.

“How much of that was you, you little rat?” I whispered, only to get no answer from the passenger in my head.

No, blaming the Imp wasn’t g...

Chapter 59 - Afterparty I

“Malvia?”

A voice called to me, breaking through the depths of slumber, and my eyes fluttered open as it spoke again.

“Malvia? Can you wake up?”

Above me, an angel, a halo of gold around his head, smiled gently down at me. That should frighten me, but instead, the sight filled me with warmth.

“Malvia? We need your help, so please wake up?”

I realized, suddenly, that it wasn’t an angel. It was Gregory Montague, with his head backlit by a chandelier, ...

Chapter 58 - A Party To Remember VI

I bit back a curse as the eyes along Hawkins opened, looking all about. I put a hand on the pincer sticking to my side. I pushed on it and immediately stopped as it felt like my abdomen was being ripped in two. Blood poured out as it moved a fraction of an inch.

Fuck.

Watch members were leveling muskets, Malstein yelling for fire to be poured onto Hawkins. Guns started discharging, a loose barrage of gunfire as musket balls flew. Hawkins shrieked, springing into action as musket b...

Chapter 57: A Party To Remember V

The change shrieked, flesh bubbling as the acid ate through the skin into the flesh beneath.

I didn’t wait to watch, reaching for another vial. 

The acid wouldn’t work for long. Oh, it would eat through flesh till there was nothing left, then land on the roof below him, but Hawkins could grow more eyes.

I uncorked another vial, pouring the foul-smelling substance onto where his struggling body met the chimney. Adhesive.

I leaped down, hooves clacking against r...

Chapter 56 - A Party to Remember IV

The lead Infernal collapsed, hands wrapping around the wound as it spurt blood. Not a shape-changer. That was disappointing on a few different levels.

His scream made the entire group halt, heads swiveling towards me as I pulled the hammer back on the revolver. 

Firearms were discharged on both sides as I ducked back into the hallway, grabbing Gregory and pulling him in with me. Bullets passed through the empty doorway, ricocheting off the wall and sending splinters flying. 2024-09-06 16:00:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 55 - A Party to Remember III

We needed to get this place locked down fast. But looking over my shoulder, something needed to be done first.

Gregory was pale. All color drained from him as he stared at the body of Calab. I shut the door, cutting it off from sight, and he shuddered.

“I know it’s horrific, but we need to move,” I said. “And unless we want to start everyone questioning whats going on, I need you to look calmer. Gregory?”

He mutely nodded, which was a start as I moved him out of th...

Chapter 54 - A Party to Remember II

Kill? Kill.

The lord of the manor was currently stomping his way halfway up the stairs, face red, mustaches vibrating as they had during our initial negotiations. 

“It’s bad enough you bring a Hellspawn into our house,” he yelled, and now every eye in the party was locked on the two of us only an inch away from each other. “Now you decide to do unholy acts with her inside my house?!”

With feigned embarrassment, I let go of Gregory, pulling back and trying to l...

Chapter 53 - A Party to Remember I

I’d been forced to revise my judgment of William Montague being an idiot. 

Not because trying to sneak into an already forbidden floor of a house trying to find one of your siblings wasn’t idiotic. But some allowances had to be made. I didn’t know any fourteen-year-olds who weren’t idiots.

“I never thought Father would actually do it, of course,” the fourteen-year-old told me, the scowl on his face deepening. “But Lewins looked like he was considering it!”

Chapter 52 - Some slight change of plans

I was supposed to arrive first at the party, several hours before it even began.

It had been decided that all of us showing up at the same time would be very suspicious. The staff were being kept in the dark to varying extents about Voltar, Dawes, and my involvement in this. The chances of keeping the entire thing under wraps were quite low, especially to our targets, but there was no need to tip the scales so far that they didn’t show.

So I’d been waiting outside the Temple o...

Chapter 51 - When is Paranoia simply Good Sense?

I spent the fifth day partly in negotiations. At least this time, there wasn’t a gun being pointed at my face. If only because the other party didn’t own one.

“My favorite fish shop is now closed for three weeks because the entire area is now diabolically tainted,” Varrow hissed. “It’s going to be closed for an entire month as well. At this point, I wish you’d used that airborne poison instead.”

We were inside his house once again, which he’d reinforced. Since he...

Chapter 50 - Dress and a Layout

Meeting Gregory Montague the next afternoon, my face still itched as I walked to the carriage outside Lord Montague’s manor.

Maybe it was the recent change. Maybe it was spending the entire morning having the fumes of various poisons floating about the attic lab. None of them were deadly when breathed in, but they weren’t pleasant either. I’d need to install an improvised fume hood in there. 

I’d worked on talking till my voice sounded essentially the same as before. ...

Chapter 49 - Preparation isn't Easy

Five days left to prepare was less time than you’d think. Alchemy occupied each of my mornings, working on an ever-growing arsenal to prepare for the party. Having to outfit a minimum of three people only added to the work. Not helping was that I wouldn’t know till I went to this dress shop how much I could hide inside the dress. The latest fashion trends tended towards the voluminous, but trying to move in that much fabric might prove difficult.

Something to worry about for when I ...

Chapter 48 - An Acidic Proposal

I spent the next two days in the house, to deal with making sure I truly had not picked up any diseases from my dip in the Nover and to work on making some potions. Definitely not because I’d been confined to the house.

I’d decided not to test it. I wasn’t some child to be scolded and confined to their room, and one day Voltar would regret treating me as such. Not today, since I had caused some offense. That and I didn’t want to accidentally provoke whatever Imperial Intelligenc...

Chapter 47 - Unwanted Helpers

I was back in a Watch holding cell for the second time this week. At least I still had my fingers, which made this my second-ever visit to the Watch where I’d retained my digits. For now.

They’d even healed my wounds, which was very disconcerting. Sure, they’d need me alive to interrogate. But diseases? They didn’t need to do that.

Had it been the Watch who’d abducted me?  

Pondering that was a welcome distraction from the ranting of the person in the nex...

Chapter 46 - Limitations

Behind me, the various Pure Blood members and the fake Lord Montague came out from the scow, assembling on the pier.

I half-turned to face them, dagger pointed their way, the saber towards Hawkins. Most of the Pure Bloods had clubs or swords, but the guard from before had the muzzle of a rifle pointing out from under his coat, keeping the flash pan dry till he needed to shoot. There’d probably be pistols as well. They halted about thirty feet away, blocking me from the scow.

May...

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Chapter 45 - Meeting on a Scow

I eyed the garbage scow as best I could. 

The pouring rain didn’t help with that, nor did having to stay collapsed onto the dock’s surface, thanks to the drenched Pure Blood standing guard outside it. The man’s weathered and battered top hat provided no protection from the onslaught, but he was keeping a steady gaze on my seemingly prone form.

It was fine. In a few minutes, I’d rise from my “drunken” stupor and stumble back to the safety of solid ground. I just ne...

Chapter 44 - Beginning of the Wet Season

Getting back to the house was a little more complicated than before. Conversation between myself and Voltar had stalled after the second kick, and so I found out moments after we arrived that there was a small tunnel entrance to Voltar and Dawes’ house.

Finding out that the exit was in the room I’d talked to both earlier was disconcerting. Lifting the hatch led right into the middle of it. I hadn’t spotted any signs at all talking to them in here before.

“Well, Voltar is l...

Chapter 43 - The Second Blow

Something pulled on my horns, and in an instant, I snapped awake. Gregory Montage sat back down across from me, sipping from a cup of tea.

“Ah, the sleeping beauty awakens,” Gregory said. “I’ll have you know that as soon as our minor disagreement was over, I fixed the room up, brought Lieutenant Calab in, and explained that because of excitement and lack of sleep, you’d passed out. She just left. We’ve been having a pleasant conversation this entire time.”

Them holdi...

Chapter 42 - Too Little Sleep

Things weren’t as simple as just leaving the room and immediately going to see Lord Montague first. No, that would be too simple.

“As dramatic as that pronouncement is,” Gregory said. “I think I’ll require an explanation first before we boldly go off to inform my father and Voltar of this surely case-solving discovery.”

The temptation to snark back was high, but I wanted him to be reminded as little as possible of our previous conversations. As tempting as getting draw...

Chapter 41 - Motivation

When I left the carriage, it was peering into the Arcane.

I stayed in the Arcane often back with the Black Flame. Seeing the world colored in magic had often been easier than staying only in the material. 

The townhouse remained firmly cemented, statically remaining the same on the astral as it was on the material. Warded then, and almost entirely bereft of spirits. An expensive process to do over a building of this size. Had he inherited it or was Lord Montague much richer t...

Chapter 40 - An Arm of Stone

“Why?” was the first word out of my mouth, followed swiftly by a host of others. “And don’t say I cannot know. If you want me to set foot anywhere near that man, I’m going to need more than your say-so, Voltar.”

“Which man would that be, the father or the son?” he asked with a smirk on his face. 

“The father,” I deadpanned. “The son is one sufficiently voluptuous woman standing in front of him to flirt with to not notice a dagger going through his throat...