Blistering headaches; that's all I seem to be rewarded with for all my hard work. And now I had another task that would surely make my head hurt worse. A god damn cigarette would do wonders for my piss poor mood. I hope to God cigarettes even existed in this god forsaken world.
A plate with tea and treats were balanced on the tips of my fingers. I can barely walk holding the plate like this, but the Boss Maid, Sakuya, insisted that it was the proper way for me to transport it. I was following her to the lower parts of the mansion. I was to deliver the tea and snacks to someone named Patchouli. I can tell you right now; I was in no way interested in meeting this person. My last meet with someone did not go well and I didn't see this coming meeting being any better.
Walking behind Sakuya only made the trip worse. My first feeding was still fresh in my mind. I was still flustered over the inexplicable encounter we had. She had let me feed off her, but the way she did it had my mind racing from the moment I fed off her to this very moment. I could not look at her without getting stirred up. What blew my mind was that she didn't seem fazed by what happened whatsoever. Here I am, getting hot and bothered by her mere presence and she talks to me as if that encounter never even happened. She was damn good at her job. Damn good.
All I want to do is to continue where we left off…
After a tiresome stroll, we arrived at our destination – a needlessly giant set of doors.
I just stared at the oversized doors with a dumbfound look. "Why the hell are they so big? It's completely unnecessary for them to be that size," I said, troubled.
"Behind these doors is the Great Library of Voile," Sakuya responded. "You will find Lady Patchouli. Find her and deliver her snacks to her."
"Do I have to?" I whined. "Isn't there something else I can do?"
"You need to get acquainted with the rest of the mansion as well with those who live here," Sakuya said. "This is the orders of Lady Remilia."
"She didn't seem to care if I ever met that blonde," I argued.
"She would have had you meet her sister when she was ready," Sakuya insisted. "Now…" She walked up to the large doors and pushed them open. The doors opened with the tremble of the floor. "Just go straight down this middle aisle. You will find where Lady Patchouli studies eventually."
Eventually… Are you kidding me, my dear?
I looked down the aisle, seeing no end to it. Looking upward, I could see that the bookcases were impractically tall. What disturbed me most was just how high the ceiling went. It was impossible for it to be that high. The next floor wasn't that far up.
I shook my head frantically. "No. No god damn way I'm going in there. I'd get lost in an instant," I said.
"Like I said, just go straight. You will find the center easily."
I let out a disgruntled sigh, knowing that there was just no arguing with Sakuya. "Whatever. I'll go. Can I at least get a kiss just in case I get my ass lost in there forever?" The Boss Maid smacked me hard across the left cheek in response. "Ow! Jesus, I was just kidding!"
"Deliver the tea and treats," she ordered plainly.
I let out a long, drawn out sigh. "Yes, Boss…"
I began my journey to the heart of the massive library. There were no signs of those fairy maids which got me wondering if this Patchouli person took care of the library herself. I say it was implausible for just one person to care for this huge place, but I was prepared for the impossible. I've been hit with dreadfully wondrous things one after another ever since I got to this strange place.
Several minutes had passed. No, dozens of minutes. I had yet to be given a watch so I didn't know for sure, but I had a good internal clock I thought. My feet and the fingers that balanced the tray were killing me. There just wasn't anyway this library could be so big, but it was slowly proving to me that it was. How was such a place even able to exist in this mansion? Thinking about it was making my head spin.
The aisle I was in came to an end. It emptied out into another aisle that ran east and west instead of north and south. Sakuya had told me to just continue journeying down this one aisle, but what now? Which way do I go? Do I just pick a direction and hope for the best? To hell with that! I said I would get lost and that's exactly what just happened. Damn it all!
"Fucking hell! The hell am I supposed to do now?" I angrily said.
"Oh, is somebody there?" someone said.
From right around the corner of one of the bookcases popped out someone – or something – and what a sight it was. It was a girl, a girl with red, flowing hair. She wore a short, black skirt and a black vest over a white shirt. The skirt was absolutely tight on this chick and barely reached her knees. Her face was an exciting sight to behold. This girl had one hell of a high degree of sex appeal. I admit it when I say she got me a little excited with just her looks. But what ruined it was the set of devilish eyes and appendages she sported. Behind her butt was a long, waving tail of a demon. Behind her lower back was a set of black bat-like wings. There was a smaller set of wings protruding right out of the sides of her head. Needless to say, I was freaking the fuck out.
"Jesus Christ," I muttered as I took a few steps backwards from the demon girl.
"Oh, my goodness!" the girl exclaimed in delight. She ran up to me, sending a chill up my body. She gleamed into my eyes. "You must be the new help!" she said.
Freaky looking and hot at the same time…
"You could say that…" I said worriedly as I continued to take steps away from the demon.
"It is so nice to finally meet you. I'm Koakuma," she greeted. She grabbed my free hand and shook it with both of her hands. I gotta admit, her hands were surprisingly soft for a demonic creature. "What's your name, good sir?"
I hesitated to answer at first, but I eventually grew the sack to answer her. "Isaac…"
"Hello, Isaac!" she greeted eagerly yet again. "It's nice to see that Lady Remilia has some good taste," she said as she gave me a teasing wink.
I was happy to hear the kind remark, but I couldn't help but sigh in response. "Yeah, she sure knows how to pick 'em…" I said sadly.
The demon, Koakuma, tilted her head, looking a little confused. "You don't sound so sure, Isaac."
"I'll be frank…" I began before giving the girl the most serious look possible. "I am not all that happy to be here. She turning me into this thing was a mistake. If I had the choice, I would leave this place in a heartbeat."
"A mistake?" she asked for clarification.
"Yes," I answered.
The demon girl put both her hands over her blushing face. She was now wearing a wide grin. "Oh, my… So that's how it happened."
I raised an eyebrow. "What?" I said before realizing what she was thinking. "No! No that's not what happened at all!"
The girl let out a rather seductive chuckle. "Oh, Isaac. You don't have to be bashful about it. I would LOVE to hear the details," she said, still chuckling to herself.
"There's no details to give," I said irritably. "You know what? I'm just going to go. Bye." I began my journey anew, trying my best to forget my encounter with the demon.
"Wait!" the girl shouted then placed herself in front of me once more. "Aren't those for Lady Patchouli?"
"They are. Which is why I need to get going. I'm hoping to find her within the next century."
"I can lead you to her," she claimed.
"That's okay. You just go back to whatever you were doing," I said. I didn't want to spend another second with this creature. Though her beautiful face did leave me conflicted.
"But I insist!" she said then grabbed my free had and started leading me to somewhere. I didn't really trust where exactly she was going to take me, but it didn't seem like I had a choice. But it wasn't all horrible. I got to stare at that heart-shaped pillow of an ass she was rocking. I kid you not; she was totally wearing a thong.
It was another dozen minutes, but we finally reached our destination. We came upon quite a few large, square shaped tables. All of them had a number of books sitting on top of them. Only one of these tables actually had someone sitting at it. It was yet another girl. She had hair and eyes that were purple. She wore a purple dress that looked like a pair of pajamas and on her head was a purple cap with a golden crescent ornament attached to it. The girl sure liked her purple. I assumed this girl was the Patchouli that I was looking for. She didn't seem to even notice me or the demon, so, with no real interest in meeting her, I placed the tray of tea and treats on the table (my fingers finally had some relief!) and turned to the demon girl.
"Could you lead me out of here?" I asked.
With a shining smile, she hooked an arm around one of mine. "Oh, no you don't. You MUST meet Lady Patchouli," she strongly insisted and led me to the purple-haired girl. All I did was groan.
We walked up to Patchouli and waited for her to take notice. Her face was buried in a rather large book. Is this all this girl does is read? I guess it was sort of normal so I wasn't going to give her shit for it. The girl actually looked rather normal, but she can't be normal if she's able to command this demon clinging to me. What could she be? Did I even want to know? Either way, her quietness had a certain charm to it that I liked.
The girl was just so engrossed in the book that she wouldn't take notice of us so the demon chick decided to speak up.
"Hello, Lady Patchouli! Look who I found roaming the library," the demon girl said.
The girl, Patchouli, finally made a glance at me only to look back at her book. "So he finally decided to show his face. It's about time," she said.
And already I didn't like her attitude, but I blamed myself for being in a bad mood more than I did her. I decided to get the greetings out of the way so I can finally leave. "Sup? Name's Isaac. It's nice to meet you," I said then turned to… Koakuma, was it? These names are just too complicated for me to remember. "Could you lead me out of here now?"
"Oh, I can't do that. You just got here," she said with a smile. "Please stay a little longer."
"Yes, please do," the bookworm said plainly. "I am Patchouli Knowledge. I'm Remilia's best friend. It is nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," I responded with a forced smile. What I wanted to know is how she can be friends with that monster, but I kept my mouth shut on that subject.
The demon girl pulled out a chair for me. Reluctantly, I took the offer and sat myself down. Needed a break from all the walking anyways. They had asked me to stay, but none of them spoke another word to me. Koakuma was simply standing on standby with a smile while Miss Knowledge continued to read her book. We literally just sat there in silence for a good five minutes. The silence was killing me so I decided to try and get a conversation going.
"So…" I began. "Are you human or something else?" I asked
"A youkai magician," Miss Knowledge answered, her eyes never leaving the book in her hands.
I rolled my eyes. "Of course you are…" I made a glance at the demon chick. "And how about you? What could you be?"
The demon girl's smile glowed. "I am a succubus!" she declared happily and I could do nothing but burst out laughing in response to the absurd answer.
My laughing echoed throughout the library. "A succubus?! Are you serious right now?!" I said before laughing some more in disbelief.
The so-called succubus's smile faded away. "Is it really that surprising?" she asked.
This chick was good looking for sure, but she wasn't worth getting my soul sucked out through my dick. I needed to stay away from her in fear of her pulling some sort of mind trick on me. I already have someone capable of tearing at my mind. One is enough. But… She was tempting, that's for sure.
Why must the hot ones be the dangerous, non-human type?
I ceased my laughter as my head began to hurt again. "Arhg… This is all too much for me…" I said as I rested my forehead on the face of the table.
"So, it's true then," the magician girl started. "You are from the Outside World. And it looks like you are having trouble adapting."
"Loads of trouble," I confessed.
"Not only that, but you don't seem very happy to be here."
"That's because I'm not," I answered truthfully.
"Then why did you agree to the embrace with Remilia?"
I lifted my head off the table, my eyes burning with disdain for that vampire. "I didn't agree. That damn girl tricked me into letting her change me."
"Hmmm…" The so-called magician seemed unsure.
"It was the consequence of them being in the act," the succubus spoke up, her face flushed.
"Ah, that makes sense," the magician said with a nod.
"No, that's not it! Why on Earth does everyone assume that?" I said, distraught.
"Then why did she turn you? What did she offer you?" Patchouli strongly questioned. She was giving me one hell of a gaze now. She was demanding the answers from me. She could quite intimidating when she wants to be.
"She didn't offer me anything and I don't have a clue as to why she decided to turn me. I was dying at the time," I said.
"Hmmm… I find that hard to believe," she said.
"Believe it or not, I don't care."
The girl, shockingly, closed her book. She pointed at me and, suddenly, a little flame appeared at her finger tip. The flame then floated towards me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing so I just watched the flame as it closed the distance between me and it. Once it reached my left arm, the unspeakable happened. The flame, the second it touched my arm, went off in a fiery explosion, blasting me off the chair and sending me to the floor. I hit the floor with a grunt.
Dizzy, I slowly got back up to my feet. When I did, I immediately sneered at the purple-haired woman. "The fuck did you just…"
I went silent when I realized the splattering of blood all over my shirt. Then I realized I was missing something, something very important. I slowly turned my sight to my left arm. What I saw put me in shock in an instant. I fell to my ass and started screaming my head off.
"What the fuuuck! What did you do to my arm?!" I screamed.
My left arm was gone. All that was left was a smoldering, bloody stump. It gushed blood, spilling all over my side and the floor. I put my right hand over the horrible wound in a desperate bid to get the bleeding to stop and continued to scream. I was nearly about to pass out when the purple monster spoke.
"What are you yelling for? Your arm is fine," the monster said.
Anger consumed me. In a frantic desire for revenge, I grabbed a hold of a chair and raised it above my head, ready to smash it over the arm-destroying monster. I would have done it to if I hadn't noticed something eerily different about me. I looked up at the chair I was holding above me. There wasn't one hand holding it, there was two, a right and a left. I looked to my left to see my left arm. It was there as if it never went anywhere. I was absolutely stunned.
Setting the chair back down, I glared hatefully at the purple witch when I realized what had happened. "How dare you. How dare you trick me into thinking I lost my arm. What kind of fucked up voodoo did you use?" I growled.
"No, no," the witch started. "You did lose your arm. It simply reformed. You are, after all, a vampi-"
"Nope, don't say it!" I shouted as I slapped my hands over my ears. An eerie sense of dread came over me. "No, that's… That's not possible. Something like that is absolutely, totally impossible…" The extent of what I was had further deepened into my soul. I knew it was possible. I couldn't deny that.
The succubus pulled down my hands away from my ears. "It looks like he was telling the truth, Lady Patchouli," she said as she playfully squeezed me lips together.
"I just can't believe it," the witch said with a sigh. "What was going through that girl's mind?"
I lightly pushed the succubus away. I really couldn't risk her touching me. Even in my disordered state, her touch was intoxicating. I was actually getting excited, I kid you not. Although, somehow her touch helped me get my mind set straight. She wasn't kidding when she said she was a succubus.
"I told you I was telling the truth," I said resentfully.
"I needed to see for myself," the girl stated. "You see, I've been friends with Remilia for a very long time. If she had any desire to perform the embrace, she would have come to me and told me. I know this for sure."
I shrugged my shoulders, not really sure what else I could tell this woman to get her to believe me. "She apparently didn't even tell her sister, a sister she didn't seem to want to tell me about. She tells me nothing. I'm being honest here," I said sincerely.
"I think he's telling the truth," the succubus said. I'll be honest; it was nice of her to speak for me. "But why would Lady Remilia not tell anyone?"
"It seems that I will need to do a lot of questioning on her next visit," Patchouli said.
"If you find out anything then please, PLEASE tell me. I, more than anyone around here, wants to know what exactly is going through that vampire's mind," I said. Sakuya then popped into my mind. "It was nice meeting you, but I should really be going. Sakuya probably is wondering why I haven't come back yet."
"I understand," Patchouli said with a nod. "It was nice meeting you as well. My only advice for you when living here in Gensokyo is to keep an open mind so things don't come as such a shock to you. It would be good for your mental health."
"Yeah, I actually remember someone telling me something similar before," I mentioned. "I'll honestly try to."
The succubus hugged one of my arms, smiling. "I'll lead you out, but please do come and visit us when you can. We'll give you a warm welcome," she said with a wink. I was a little startled (and, again, excited, I admit) by what she meant, but I didn't let it get to my head. "Just follow me."
And follow her I did, my eyes glued to her behind. Her tail would swing side to side in some sort of attempt to distract me from that fine looking butt, but it was failing. I needed something nice to look at to help me mend my broken mind.
This may seem surprising, but I felt that this meeting could have gone a lot worse. The so-called magician, Patchouli Knowledge, didn't seem all that bad (minus the blowing up of arms thing). Other than her way of finding out if someone is lying or not, she did have the potential of being likable. I didn't really know what it meant to be a youkai magician, but I didn't think about it too much. It was the succubus that scared me. She had one hell of a body from head to toe, but her being some sort of soul-eating demon really turned me off. I tried to push that fact to the back of my mind and just stare at her butt. Maybe I can grow to be friends with them (Lord knows I could use more friends), but I needed to be careful when around them. Let's hope God will still look out for me, despite what I've become.