|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 05, 2014 3:18 pm
 |
|
|
 |
In the center of the forest, a huge tree rises from the ground, in the fashion that many trees do. However, it is not merely a gigantic tree. There is a narrow set of step winding around the trunk, which leads to a small, somewhat rickety landing. Nestled between the massive, spreading branches, a small hut-like structure is sheltered by said branches and leaves.
The hut itself is fairly sized, about ten feet wide, and fifteen feet long, although the shape is slightly irregular.
The occasional object from former inhabitants lay scattered on the floor, or in a slightly battered chest that sits at the foot of a bed with a metal frame, and a straw-filled mattress.
The view from the "window" (aka, the hole in one of the walls) provides a fantastic vantage point of the forest floor.
Update: The exterior of the treehouse remains the same, but the furnishings have been greatly updated to simple, but comfortable, wooden furnishings, including a small table with a few chairs around it, and a couch. A warm woolen rug now sits in front of a stone fireplace, and the floor itself has been of the splinters that once plagued it.
This location is currently occupied, by the Blades of the Goddess. |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 06, 2014 12:12 pm
|
|
|
|
Malphas landed hard on the little rickety landing to a curious structure. He had passed this particular tree several times before, but hadn't give it a second thought until he saw the stairs winding around it just now.
Interesting... It appeared to be a home, and uninhabited home judging by the empty smell of a place that had not seen a visitor in some time.
He poked around the little hut for a bit. No major structural damage (as far as he could tell). The building was reasonably hidden from eyes on the forest floor, though the stairs were a bit of a dead give-away. He couldn't smell any lingering smells, although he did follow his nose to a single, gag-inducing sprig of Rosemary
He promptly tossed it out of the window.
Malphas hated the stuff.
He took a short stock of what was in the cabin, a few scattered herbs that were useless due to their age, some candles (somewhat handy, but when you could summon fire it was kinda pointless), a dented kettle, an some blankets that smelled of... Cat.
Weird, he couldn't quite see someone lugging a cat up here.
He sat at the little table, to think up what his next moves would be. His mind soon wandered to the other slaves he had seen, specifically the helpful one...
This would be a great deal easier if Malphas had some inside information.
If he could keep himself from retching while he cozied up to the slave, soon she'd be easy enough to manipulate into doing what he needed. After all, she seemed to already be rather submissive, push the right buttons, and he'd have a pair of eyes and ears on Dancer and whoever his Master was.
Malphas lowered his goggles to his face, a slight drizzle was starting to fall where he was, and he didn't want to make the wrong move and end up skewered on a tree somewhere. In another beat, he was rocketing through the trees again.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 12:05 pm
|
|
|
|
Malphas landed with a soft "thump" directly outside of the door to his current base of operations. He easily kicked the door open, walked over to the lone bed, then with surprising amount of gentleness, laid out the woman in his arms onto the bed.
He stood by the bed, hands on his hips as he thought of how to go about rebooting her... He wasn't one who normally used magic, unless you counted his use of his black flames.
He decided the best way was to force his energy, his desire for another servant, his emotions into her, somehow. That should get her up and running. Now there was the question of how... An odd idea occurred to him, but it was worth a shot.
Malphas tenderly brushed a bit of hair away from the woman's forehead, under her wounds he could tell that she was a looker, much more ethereal than Helene, but of course not as stunning as Deluge. Then he leaned over her and pressed his lips to hers. Kissing was normally an action of emotion the perfect vehicle for what he had in mind. He poured out his longing for vengeance into the kiss, his desire for this woman to serve him. His passion, his fury, and a surprising amount of energy for one mostly untrained in the arcane arts. Even if she was cold, her lips were soft, although was his imagination acting up, or was he beginning to feel a bit of reciprocation?
Not separating his lips from hers yet, Malphas placed a hand over where her heart should be, feeling a soft shudder, like a bird waking up from a long sleep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 12:24 pm
|
|
|
|
Ilea's heart hesitated at first, a flutter of a beat, a pause, then a repeat of that flutter. Then her heart began to beat at a furious pace as she took in a breath with a sharp gasp, her lips instinctively returning the kiss she was being given. Her body jerked a bit under him as the connection was formed between them, making her give a soft moan into the kiss as her lips opened to deepen it.
She'd been revived like this several times by Goh in the past, so it took her a moment to register that it wasn't her creator kissing her. When she felt the difference in energy that he was channeling into her, her crimson eyes snapped open as he pulled up from the kiss.
She didn't see Baren as she looked around then gave a small hiss of pain when she tried to move, that movement reminding her that she hadn't been healed. She remembered Baren stitching up the worst of her wounds, then nothing until now.
But she had to assume that Goh was dead from the fact that she apparently had a new master.
Baren hadn't had much medical knowledge when he'd stitched her up or he would have seen to her internal organs first.
As it was, it was fairly obvious that she'd made Goh very angry with her before his death. Most of her internal organs were cut up, torn into, or badly bruised from being squeezed tightly. She had numerous cuts and slices to her body that were all meant to cause the worst pain. The worst of those cuts was where the skin over her belly had been cut open to gain access to her internal organs.
In place of any clothing, she wore only her own blood.
She finally looked at Malphas again with a considering gaze without moving away from him at all and said the only thing she could, "What would you have of me, Master?" she asked softly, her voice still hoarse from her screaming during her torture. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 1:15 pm
|
|
|
|
She answered him without hesitation, "Ilea," she stated simply then waited as she considered what he wanted from her. She didn't bother to try to hide herself from him as his eyes moved over her, knowing that she now belonged to him in every way.
As he imagined what her skin would look like fully mended, it happened right before his eyes. Her skin healed fully, each cut sealing with only small silvery scars.
"Vengeance and retribution I can easily help with, Master. Simply give me your target and I will bring you their heart and head. I am yours to command, yours to do with as you please, just as I was to Goh before his death," she added, hoping he understood what that meant for him.
She literally belonged to him now in every way imaginable. Goh had used her to seduce another only twice in the entire thousand years she'd been alive. Other than that, she'd been his to love or torture as his whim had dictated. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 2:45 pm
|
|
|
|
Malphas was shocked to see her wounds suddenly close. Well, that was handy.
At her mentioning of bring heads and hearts he chuckled and shook his head "I'm afraid that won't satisfy my blood lust at all..."
He began pacing around the small wooden shack, trying to think of the best way to utilize her. After a few moments of pacing he said. "For starters, don't address me as Master. That'll draw far to much suspicion for what I've got in mind. Just call me Malphas." There was more to it than that, it almost felt... Sacrilegious to take on the title he had addressed Deluge by for so many years. He stopped pacing and turned to look at her again. "Why don't you tell me your skills, all of them, I can't strategize without knowing what you can do can I?" "
Night was falling quickly, but there was so much to do... Well, tonight he could use as a get-to-know-you session with Ilea. He wasn't one of Deluge's top bodyguards for nothing, the post required both the physical steel to beat back any threats, and the brains to organize the other, lesser, guards into cohesive units to keep threats from reaching Deluge in the first place.
It was a position quite similar to a General honestly, and Malphas had thrived in it.
Malphas shifted through his pack and found a loose pale blue cotton tunic, he tossed it at Ilea. "Here, you can wear that if you want, I'll try to get you some better clothing later." Malphas truly only held malice towards Dancer because the uppity little slut had held such an important place to Deluge. (Even if it didn't necessarily seem that way to Dancer) Malphas had been in his own strange way, jealous. Deluge had never looked at him the same way, and had only touched Malphas when there was truly no one else. It had been frustrating.
Deluge probably had taken great delight being in such control of Malphas.
But Malphas took good care of his possessions, and his subordinates (with again, the notable exception of Dancer). He would probably prove to be a slightly kinder master than Goh, slightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 3:19 pm
|
|
|
|
Ilea got herself up and headed for the makeshift shower first, though she moved a bit slowly thanks to the damage she still had to her internal organs that Malphas hadn't healed yet. As she started the water to wash the blood off of her, she told him of her abilities. Again, not bothering to hide herself from him in any way. The water was cold but did the job.
"I can use the shadows for any number of things; transportation, forming various items, forming illusions of people or places. I'm deadly with a set of daggers. And Goh taught me basic necromancy as well," she explained to him before getting out of the shower.
She used her shadows to dry herself off and formed a set of her favorite crimson leathers over herself; leather shorts, bodice, gloves, and heeled boots that buckled at mid-thigh. The bodice held enough support for her internal organs that she could move easier, but would only be able to move freely when he figured out how to fully heal her.
Now that she was clean and dressed, he'd be able to see that she was as beautiful as he'd thought with her skin pale and her dark hair falling behind her to touch the tops of her boots. She'd been created to be beautiful and deadly, a fit servant for any task.
"I was also trained to seduce others as needed but not to gain pleasure from the act except from my master, which would be you now, Malphas. Goh only used me for that task twice, though, and punished me for the second one, despite the fact that he'd ordered me to do it," she explained as she sat back down on the bed and reclined back on one elbow despite the pain it caused her, crossing her legs in the process.
It was a casual movement and rather enticing, but in a fairly demure way that only enhanced her beauty and potential usefulness. She'd thought he would use her body and was fairly disappointed when he hadn't done so. But she could deal with it. After all, Goh had gone years without showing her any attention at all in his pursuits for power.
"I'm also skilled in various forms of torture, mind games, and enticements. Goh wanted me educated in various skills to help him in his pursuits for power and to help him get Esabel back, one of his former creations. He became quite obsessed with it, in fact," she finished that one on a softer note, lowering her eyes to hide the flash of pain that last bit still gave her.
She'd only been a means to getting Esabel back, nothing more. So her love and affection for Goh had been painfully rebuffed to the point that her internal agony and heartbreak made Malphas' over Deluge look like a drop in a pond in comparison. She'd had to endure a thousand years of knowing she would never be enough for the one she'd served so faithfully, the one she'd given her heart to only to have it crushed quite literally. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:07 pm
|
|
|
|
Malphas's eyes followed Ilea as she went to wash herself, even though he had just lain with a slave earlier today, she certainly looked delicious. He unconsciously licked his lips when she formed the leathers on her skin. Damn she was hot. Here was this... beautiful creature that was now bound to him. He had a thing for long hair on women, of course her body didn't hurt at all.
Maybe he'd have a bit of fun before he finished off Dancer.
He took inventory of what she said, filing it away for future use. He nodded, his eyes not leaving her body. "Good. Very good. Helene is far more useful than I anticipated... A few of your skills will certainly come in handy, torture, in particular. I'm a little rusty." Without a doubt, his other pawn had just proven herself to him. Things had just gotten a whole lot easier.
Malphas took a seat in a chair and leaned back in it, putting his feet up on the table, balancing his weight on the back two legs. He wasn't half bad in the looks department himself, every bit of him was white, minus his horns and wings. His features on the softer side for a demon.
"Out of curiosity, if I died, would you slip back into that sleep? Because I'm not going to be around to much longer babe, I've got a Master of my own to meet up with." His dark eyes bored into hers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2014 6:32 pm
|
|
|
|
Ilea, of course, had no problem watching him as he moved. She wasn't much for white, but he carried it very well. And she found herself wondering what would happen if she ran her fingers over his horns...
She brought her attention back to the conversation, though, with an inward sigh of regret, knowing that while he liked looking at her, he wasn't likely to actually want her. Her time with Goh had hammered that point home for her. Especially since he'd repeatedly told her that no one else would want her. She'd thought briefly that Baren would. But she'd woken up to Malphas' face instead of Baren's.
She wasn't feeling sorry for herself. She didn't know how to feel sorry for herself, after all. She was only facing reality as she knew it, as she'd been told her reality was.
"Yes. I would 'die' again, if you died. Unless you managed to free me from serving you before your death. I'm a created being, created to serve whoever I'm connected to for as long as they are alive. That is my purpose, how I was made. Everything about me was designed for that purpose alone: to serve. Without anyone to serve, I no longer have a purpose. So I die," she explained to him with a shrug of one pale-skinned shoulder as if it didn't really matter what her fate was to be.
She finally stood and walked over to one of the windows that looked out over the forest, her movements just as seductively enticing as she'd been created to be, "I was betrayed by Goh, so I have no desire to join him in the afterlife. I was never enough for him. Just a means to get to Esabel. That was why I was created to begin with. But I loved him while he only ever thought of another. Always talked about her, over and over. I know what it means to want someone's attention so badly that you would do anything to get it, and the heartbreak of never being enough to get it, of being set aside for another," she said with her back to him, not wanting him to see that pain on her face, not realizing that she was speaking of his pain as well.
"I can't hate her for it, though. There's just something too child-like about her to hate her. So all I can do is wish her well in her freedom," she added and shook her head slightly, shivering when her hair moved along the back of her thighs.
When she could control her expression, she turned and leaned back against the windowsill with her arms crossed and one leather-clad leg resting over the other, "No matter what happens to me in the end, I'll help you get to your master. Even if it means my dying and winding up as Goh's punching bag in the afterlife. Maybe whoever runs it will allow me to take my hurt out on him for a change... Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it," she told him, showing him no pity, just plain honesty.
Her words spoke of a ruthlessness that he'd only dreamed of possessing. She was an unstoppable force when she was set to a task, pursuing it without fail until that task was accomplished no matter what happened to her. Goh had been a fool for not appreciating her or her affection for him.
She couldn't help but move her crimson eyes over him again as she licked her lips to wet them and tilted her head slightly, sending her long dark hair falling partly around her body, "I'd heard a few rumors... About a demon's horns... What would happen if I touched them?" she asked him, unable to resist the question.
It was off the subject, admittedly, but he was the first demon she'd had the chance to ask about it.
But she shook her head and lowered it before turning to look back out the window, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't ask such things..." she added in a softer tone as she leaned one shoulder against the side of the window, falling back into centuries of habit. Goh had taught her long ago the pain of asking questions. She was meant to serve, not ask questions, not express her own desires. She was meant to serve her master's needs and desires, not her own. For a moment, she'd forgotten that. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 2:17 am
|
|
|
|
Malphas smiled slightly when Ilea said that she would indeed "die" unless he freed her beforehand. He pulled out a kertek a took a drag, the slightly spicy-sweet scent of cloves unfurling from his mouth. Her situation involving her creation upset him more than he anticipated, he had tied himself so closely to Deluge because he had chosen too, to have a bond like that built-in... It had to suck.
He knew what it was like to be forced into servitude, the first memory he had was waking up at the feet of a human mage, the symbol for their Faustian contract branded into his back. He had been completely miserable attending to that mage's every need. Hence at why the first chance he had gotten, once their contract was up, Malphas tore him to pieces body and soul.
"Well congratulation sweetheart, you'll probably be free yourself in a few weeks." He blew a smoke-ring in her direction, it drifted over her, probably making her smell like cloves.
He listened to her story while he smoked through the rest of the clove cigarette, he always felt better after a bit of nicotine was in his system. He found himself sympathizing, wanting to comfort the lovely creature leaning on the window sill. So he did. He stood up, walked to lean on the wall next to her, and reached out a pale hand to rub her back.
It was a fairly simple gesture, but one that showed that he cared. "Maybe the Gods will let you hunt him, never know what the tricky bastards'll do." He ground his now spent kertek into the floor under a sturdy black boot. Softly he stated "Like I said Ilea, you'll be looking at freedom once I'm done here." He paused for a moment thinking about his wording before saying "Actually, let's make that official. The moment my heart beats for the last time, or my soul is taken from my body, you are released from the bonds of servitude currently in place, and free to do whatever you desire." He smiled at her.
At her question about his horns, and her apology he grinned and said "Don't be. Care to find out for yourself? I'm a fan of learning by doing." A demon's horns were quite sensitive, or they were for him anyway. Assuming that she was gentle she'd probably be rewarded with a kiss at least, possibly more considering there was a bed only a few feet away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 9:02 am
|
|
|
|
Ilea felt a shiver move through her when he touched her, such a simple gesture but not one she was used to. His words about her freedom, though, that made a very visible shudder move through her, proving that he meant those words and wanted her to have her freedom when he died. Now she knew she wouldn't need to have any kind of connection to another after he died, she would be as free as Esabel was. A novel idea and not something she was used to thinking about or planning for.
"I've never planned for the future, or even a few days in advance. I never knew what would happen, so planning wasn't a good idea. Now that I know I'll have a future, I don't know what to do with it," she said softly, a small frown on her face as she looked out over the forest.
With him so close, she had to admit that she didn't mind the scent of cloves. He made them an enticing scent, for once. It didn't help her libido that he was larger than she was, making her feel petite standing next to him. She stood only a little over five feet and had an athletically muscular build, giving her the ability to move quickly in a fight and seductively every other time she moved. But he was pure fighting muscle next to her, built for it, bred for it, and obviously trained for it. It was making it hard for her to get her mind where it needed to be.
Then he caught her attention by suggesting she find out what she'd wanted to know about his horns and made her raise her crimson eyes to his face to see if he was serious.
When she saw that he was actually serious, she moved closer to him, less than a step away but not close enough for their bodies to touch, noting that she was short enough, even in the heels, that her head would tuck under his chin perfectly. Why that observation was important to her, she had no idea, and was something she wasn't used to thinking.
She pulled the glove from one hand, laying it over the windowsill before she raised that hand, pausing beside his head to look into his eyes and make sure that it was alright. That hesitation spoke volumes of her time with Goh, showing that she'd never been certain of anything with her former master.
Once she was certain that he wouldn't strike her, she finished reaching up and gently ran her fingertips along the length of one of his horns, from base to tip then back down. She was close enough to watch his face while she did it, her teeth catching her bottom lip in a gesture that showed her nervousness. But that was the only sign that she was unsure at all, the rest of her was watching his face to see what his reaction would be to her fingers gently moving over the smooth bone of his horn.
When she saw a shiver run through him from that simple touch, she impulsively pulled the glove from her other hand and put it with the other one then took that final step into him so she could raise her hands to both horns, gently running her fingers over them. When he shivered again, she gave a small surprised smile and lowered her hands, "So the rumors were true. They are sensitive," she said in a soft whisper before lowering her face and stepping back from him to reach for her gloves, "Thank you. For letting me touch them," she added, her voice carrying a slightly husky quality from the intimacy of the moment. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2014 12:20 pm
|
|
|
|
Ilea seemed so small next to him, so delicate, but with hidden strength. Goh must have really done a number on her to make her so gun-shy. It was like she kept on expecting him to strike her, Malphas was many things. Sadistic, cruel, and a bit obbsessive, but he wasn't one to normally hurt without reason.
Normally
A small sigh escaped his lips when the pads of her fingers touched one of his horns. Malphas closed his eyes and savored the feeling, a small shiver running through him. His throat nearly sounded a soft humming noise, much like a cat purring when it's being stroked. Nearly, he had a bit more self control than that. It had been so long since someone had touched him this way, even Helene and every other whore he had bedded seemed to avoid them for a good reason. Touching a demon's horns without their permission was quite rude, and someone like him was unlikely to let someone get away with it without a few good wounds. Letting Ilea touch them was quite the sign of trust, if she chipped his horn (or even worse, cut it off) it would be excruciating.
When her other hand stroked the other, the fight to not moan suddenly became very, very hard. * But then her hands were gone, and she had stepped away from him. He opened his dark eyes to meet her crimson ones, this was a moment he wasn't about to ruin.
His voice low, and practically dripping with desire Malphas murmured. "They are indeed...And thank you for that." He stepped forward and loosely wrapped Ilea in an embrace, not wanting to make her feel trapped. Into her dark hair he whispered "I want you, so much right now. Are you feeling up for a night of passion my Ilea?" Such a dark beauty she carried, and feeling her touch had only inspired a whole stream of ideas in his head. For once, none of them involved causing pain for Dancer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
