(Apologies for the long wait. Many valid excuses happened from natural disaster to medical. But I finally got this out. Sorry there is little Ivan).
The Palace of Pleasure and Pain
"Just wonderful," Alfred said, fidgeting with his tunic. He was in a black one with a gold sash and black pants again. However, this time the clothing felt tighter on him, especially around his chest and buttocks. "These are too small."
He hated that his clothes once again had to be "cleaned".
"You must be getting fat," Toris said in a dry tone without looking over his shoulder. They had been climbing a winding staircase of a tower for what felt like hours.
Alfred glared at Toris' sinewy back, eyes narrowing. "I'm not fat," he said. "It's muscle."
Toris did not reply, but Alfred was sure the were-beast was smirking.
Although Alfred would never admit he was tired, his legs were starting to feel like lead. He was also nervous about this "surprise" Ivan supposedly had waiting for him at the top.
"You will beg for me and when I've finished, you will beg for more."
Alfred colored as he remembered Ivan's words. He shook his head and muttered under his breath, "Never".
"Pardon?" Toris asked, glancing briefly behind him. His green sphere of light kept the granite walls dimly lit.
"Uh..." Alfred found a topic. "Wh...what did you do with Antonio?"
Alfred could only remember hazy fragments of Ivan's 'message' and all were grisly. He could not believe Antonio survived that.
Toris chuckled darkly. "The goblin is not dead. Lord Ivan is not that merciful. Most of the goblin will be sent back to Lord Arthur. The remaining pieces will arrive eventually. Little Spain will be the last."
Alfred shuddered. He knew he shouldn't ask, but he was curious. "I thought demons and stuff could regrow their limbs. Why send it like that?"
"The limbs regrow only if the original piece died. By preserving it and storing it, the limb never dies and thus does not regrow. A weakness of beings like ourselves."
Alfred almost lost a step. Then that meant... Antonio would not be complete until Ivan decided he could be.
"Remind not to get on Ivan - Lord Ivan's - bad side," Alfred said.
"Lord Ivan could've done much worse. He could have sent Antonio to Lady Elizabeta," Toris said.
Alfred was afraid to ask, but once again his curiosity won the day. "Who?"
Alfred could hear the smile on Toris' lips as he spoke of the subject. "She is the world's oldest and most powerful and most perverted succubus."
Succubus. Alfred knew stories of such creatures. "A sex demon?"
"They feed on orgasmic pleasure," Toris said. "They say she's so ancient she longer needs physical intercourse for nourishment. Being in the mere presence of it will feed her unrelenting appetite. Rumors say she likes to watch."
"Is this sex some kind of torture?"
"Perhaps I should tell you the name, as said in your tongue, of her mountain stronghold in Hungary. It's called 'The House of Pleasure and Pain'."
One of the steps slightly crumbled under Alfred's boots and his arms pinwheeled until he caught himself against the wall. Toris waited a moment until Alfred was following him again.
"She feeds off pain?" Alfred asked
"The pleasure some derive from others' sexual pain can also feed a succubus. I didn't say both partners have to enjoy things. Her clients are said to pay enormous sums to act out their most twisted fetishes."
"She has customers. You means its a brothel?"
"Of sorts. She's extremely wealthy, perhaps more so than Lord Arthur. Elizabeta is said to watch many of these shows from behind veiled curtains and feed off the pleasure. It said she loves mating the 'cute boys', so the goblin would've been very prized by her."
"What if the men don't want to mate?" Alfred asked with rising disgust.
"They will. There are things more potent than love dust and more subtle," Toris said with a hint of sadness. "Many are sent to her House for various reasons - sold for debts that can't be paid, enslaved, as punishment - few ever leave alive or with their minds intact."
"They're prisoners?"
"The ones sold or given to her, yes. But if you met them, they would not think of themselves as prisoners. They are too drugged and lost in the 'pleasure' and utterly addicted to what she serves. They often lost track of time and, if they don't die or become too mad to be used anymore or too old, they are tossed back out into the barren rocks around."
"That's horrible. To keep people in such a place for decades..." Alfred was revolted.
"Decades?" Toris paused. "Not decades. Especially not for the humans taken there. Days. With each orgasm a human or demon has, she devours a little of their youth. Their time is stolen. A human might age thirty years there in less than a month. She might allow some to become servants who clean up the filth and bathe the others and serve food and drink."
"And Lord Ivan lets this place exist?" Alfred was revolted. Bet he's used it himself, Alfred thought with increasing contempt. How could he have considered the demon to have any decency?
"It disgusts him, but neither he nor Lord Arthur have the power to stop it. Her stronghold is shielded by an impenetrable and rather mysterious barrier. She never leaves and if they entered her domain she would be more powerful than both of them."
"No one can stop her?"
"Once, a powerful demon, Lord Roderich, had great influence over her. They were married, but they split ways. Her desires became... too much for him. Her kind has a power very unique to demons. There was said to have existed an incubus from Prussia, equal in power, but he disappeared a long time ago. He's probably long dead. The only records left are what he wrote himself. He mostly describes himself as an 'awesome fighter'."
"Hmph," Alfred said, lips curving in a smile. That reminded him of Gilbert. How funny was it that Gilbert had anything in common with a legendary incubus?
If I ever see him again, I'll tease him about it, Alfred thought.
Toris stopped at a trapdoor in the ceiling with a ladder up the stone wall.
"We're here. Master Ivan waits at the top of the tower. He wishes to show you something very special."
Alfred swallowed, mouth going dry and feeling nervous in his stomach. What was Ivan planning?
Toris opened the trapdoor and late afternoon light spilled in. Alfred covered his eyes with his arms, as they adjusted to the light.
When he lowered him, Ivan stood in the square opening, holding out a hand for Alfred to take. He had a small smile.
"Sunflower, you're here," he said.
And, after a little hesitation, Alfred took that cool hand and was lifted up.
(Mostly setting the groundwork for the eventual villain. And no, it's not who you think.)