Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Lilith sat alone at a table in the corner of a crowded cabaret. She could hardly hear herself think over the blaring music coming from the stage. It was karaoke night, and the band were blasting her sensitive ears with indecipherable rock music. She unconciously covered her ears while keeping her eyes on the front door.

"Dad picked the worst possible day to expand the sovereign state, and he had the nerve to drag me along." She nearly jumped out of her skin when someone touched her on the shoulder. She snatched the wrist and twisted it before bothering to see who touched her. It was a young man about her age. He did his best to hide that he was in pain. Lilith gasped when she realized what she was doing and released him. "What do you want?" she asked with a tinge of impatience.

"Sorry," the man said. "I just wanted to ask for a dance."

"Oh." Lilith leaned back in her seat. "I can't. I have to watch the front door."

"Why?"

"I'm expecting company."

Without waiting for an invitation, the man took a seat beside her. "You haven't been stood up, have you?"

Lilith didn't like how he'd asked that. "No. I know whom I'm looking for, and they haven't arrived yet."

"They?"

"There's five of them, and they're not my dates. They're coming for a very important meeting upstairs."

"With whom?"

Lilith looked at him with confusion. "You don't get out much, do you? Are you a native to this province?"

The man appeared insulted. "Of course I am. I was one of the personal thralls of Koromos before he and his father disappeared a few weeks ago."

Lilith slid her seat back. Before she could think of an excuse for it, she saw the front door open. The five men she'd been expecting entered the cabaret one behind the other. "Thank goodness," she mumbled as she stood. "Don't take this the wrong way," she said to her guest, "but duty calls."

She pushed him back into his seat as he tried to follow her. She jumped from the platform her table was on and ran to the five men at the door. She announced herself by sliding across the floor and coming to a complete stop in front of them. "Are you looking for me?" she asked.

"That depends," the nearest man said. He looked her up and down as if trying to visually undress her. She deliberately ignored it.

"I'm assuming you're all looking for your employer," Lilith said before he could continue. "Just follow me." Without waiting for a response, she turned and began walking towards a stairway on the other side of the cabaret. The leader of the five men followed her without question. The other four had to muster the courage to do the same. Lilith led them up the stairway and across a catwalk connected to a large chamber. If she'd bothered to turn around, she would have noticed the lewd looks they were giving her. One of the men leaned over the railing and spat at one of the dancers below. Lilith stopped at a sliding door and waited for all five to catch up to her.

"I'll tell you this only once," she informed them. "The traditional chain of command has been destroyed. Please make this as painless as possible for all of you." She slid the door open and let them enter the empty chamber. When she'd closed the door, she returned to the catwalk and leaned over the railing. She saw Dante standing in the middle of oblivious dancers. She gestured to the door, and he nodded. Lilith sighed to supress a giggle. "They're all about to get a nasty surprise."

Lilith turned back to the staircase and met him halfway down. "How'd it go?" she asked.

Dante flashed a bloodstained dagger under her chin. "He went quietly, though not without a fight. Now that Mundus, Koromos, and the regent Bakara are out of the way, this will be a piece a cake. It's just a matter of getting the five provincal seneschals to bow down."

"Don't underestimate them."

"I didn't." He navigated around her to continue up the stairs. Lilith shrugged and walked down to the dance floor.

(X)

The seneschals sat at a rectangular table with six chairs that had already been prepared for them. By habit, none of them sat at the head of the table. The chairs somehow managed to remain cold, no matter how long they were seated. A woman walked into the room with a tray of drinks and set them in the center of the table. The seneschal next to her grabbed her arm.

"We're tired of waiting. When do we get to see our boss?"

"Whenever he's ready," she answered in a soft voice. "I've been ordered to take care of you in the meantime."

"Then feed us!" another seneschal demanded across the table. The woman was startled by his booming voice. She walked as quickly as she could around the table. One of the men slapped her behind as she passed him. She broke into a run and closed the sliding door.

A seneschal reached for a drink. "I suppose this isn't so bad."

"Don't get comfortable," another said. "This could be a trap. If the regent Bakara is dead, as the girl implied, then we have no reason to believe that we are not next on the list. Power shifts are not a clean business, especially when the entire chain of command has been disrupted."

The doors opened again. Two other women entered with trays of food. Without speaking, they served the seneschals and left just as quickly.

"Now that is weird," a third seneschal said. "I suppose that white haired girl will be next to tell us the meeting's been canceled."

"Don't be such a pessimist," the second said. "If I see her again, I'll want to wring her pretty little neck."

"Yes," the fourth said as he lit a cigarette. "She is beautiful. It makes you want to do more than just wring her neck. I'd like to wring something else on her, too."

"Do you think she's a virgin?" the third asked.

"I hope so," the fourth answered. "It would be fun to find out. The hard way."

"Yeah. That's one field I'd love to plow."

The fifth seneschal glared at the third. "Your metaphors suck. Can't you say that in a more intelligent way?"

"Okay. I'd like to fuck her. So what? Who in here doesn't? It's just a question of which one gets first dibs."

They all laughed. The noise fell silent the instant the door slid open. They all stared at Dante as he allowed their brains to register his presence. He nodded once to them before stepping into the room and closing the door. "So, you did decide to come. A wise choice." He walked to the only empty seat at the head of the table and sat. On his way to the chair, he took the cigarette from the smoking seneschal and put it out against the tabletop.

"What did you do?" a seneschal asked. "What happened to Bakara?"

"You want to start off like that? Fine." Dante leaned forward to remove the knife. "Will this answer your question?" He flung the bloodstained knife across the table. No one dared to touch it.

"Do you think you can terrorize us into submission?" a seneschal demanded.

"I shouldn't have to. You should submit by default. You did so for Bakara and his two superiors when he was your leader. Now I am."

"What do we know of your leadership?"

"I gained it fair and square. He practically threw himself onto my knife."

The eldest seneschal slammed his hand against the table. "Do you imply that our triumverate was inadequate?"

Dante waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all. Its time was simply up."

"Do not speak so casually of Mundus and his government."

"Why shouldn't I? If it was so great, then why is the entire triumverate dead?"

The seneschal jumped to his feet. A ball of sparking energy flashed to life in his palm. Dante stood also with a ball of fire in his hand. He launched the fireball before the seneschal could do the same. The fireball rammed threw the energy ball and smashed into the wall. The energy ball dissipated.

"Sit," Dante ordered, "and live." The seneschal slowly lowered himself into his seat. Dante wiggled his fingers and launched a spray of frost over the burning hole in the wall. His eyes swept over each seneschal. "Any other comments?" Each man turned his eyes away. "I knew you would understand." Dante sat and leaned back. "Is there anyone else who would like to test his testosterone against me?"

The seneschal who had been smoking turned towards him. Dante met him with his own gaze. "What?" The seneschal lowered his eyes as if in shame. "I know what you're thinking," Dante said. "You think I'm just a power hungry maniac? On my side of the world everyone said the same thing about Mundus. Don't worry. I haven't doomed anyone, but I demand unwavering fealty. You each must pledge your allegiance to me right now."

"And if we don't?"

"I'm glad you asked." Everyone turned to the door as it slid open again. Lilith walked into the room with a large bowl of walnuts. Dante quietly noted the lascivious looks the seneschals gave her. She walked to Dante's side and placed the bowl in front of him. "Gentlemen," Dante said, "I'd like to introduce you to someone." He wrapped his arm around her elbow to make her stand still. "This is my daughter, Lilith."

Dante fought back a chuckle as he watched the seneschals' faces drop with shock. One of them choked on the sandwich he'd been served earlier. He let them fret for a while before letting her go. "Go. Play." She waved tauntingly at each one as she passed them. The room was still filled with embarrassment long after she left.

"If anyone puts their hands on anything of mine," Dante said, "I will break him, or her, in half. If anyone touches my daughter, I'll slaughter you like pigs. Now, where was I? Oh, yes. The pledges. Who would like to be first?" No one made a move. "Don't all volunteer at once."

"Look," the one to his immediate right said, "you'll have to forgive us. We do not appreciate being strong-armed nor intimidated into anything."

Dante ran a knuckle over his chin. "How do you like your walnuts?"

They all looked at him with confusion. "Walnuts?"

"Walnuts," Dante repeated. "Your walnuts, gentlemen!" Dante reached into the bowl. He held a walnut between his index and middle fingers and another between his middle and ring fingers. The seneschals quickly understood his meaning.

"No one stands against me. I would hate to have to punish someone." He tossed the walnuts into the air and caught them both in one hand. "Remember this. I am the alpha of this wolf pack." With a slight movement of his hand, the walnuts shattered in his fist. He fought another chuckle as each seneschal crossed his legs. He sprinkled what was left of the walnuts onto the table. "Like I said, who wants to go first?"

(X)

For the first time, Lilith was seeing the cabaret from the stage. The floor was crowded with psyched out dancers. She led the band through a hard rock song. She was beginning to sweat from the heat of the lights. Her fingers were beginning to ache from plucking the guitar strings too hard. When she finished the number, she looked up to the second floor. The five seneschals were descending the stairs as if they were running for their lives. Dante was whistling as he stood on the catwalk.

All eyes turned upwards. "It is done!" He called to everyone below. "You have been annexed! Now bow down to your new emperor and Second God!"

To Lilith's surprise, everyone actually dropped down to their knees. She looked at her father with a sense of hatred. She knew what he was about to do and desperately wished he wouldn't.

"What are you doing?" the bassist asked her from the floor. "Why aren't you kneeling?"

Lilith knew his question was about to be answered. She removed the guitar and dropped it. On cue, Dante pointed at her. "Behold and revere the First Goddess!"

She felt all eyes turn towards her. "I was hoping to have a normal day today," she mouthed to him.

Dante mouthed back, "I'm sorry."

Lilith sighed and shook her head. She jumped down to the dance floor. Her eyes followed the five seneschals as they quickly left the cabaret. She held both of her hands out as people stood one at a time to press the back of her hands against their foreheads as a sign of reverence. When they were all done a half hour later, she glared up at her father on the catwalk. He tilted his head to grant her leave. She stomped off towards the exit.

Dante pretended to ignore her. He jumped from the catwalk to the dance floor below. He held his own hands out to repeat the ritual. When the last was done, he seized the hand of the last person, who happened to be a woman. He checked her fingers to make sure she wasn't wearing a ring. Then he asked, "Would like to take me somewhere to eat?" Keeping her eyes to the floor, the woman nodded nervously. "Lead on."