Chapter 10: A Lilim Lady and a Lord of Time.

"Is not everything to your liking, just say what the problem is and I shall have it rectified immediately." She states this as if it was a perfectly normal remark, which I find odd.

"Well, the other lady who was just in here she seemed terrified; I'd hate to think I scared her that much" I muss quietly.

"I believe that Lyda was worried about how I might react if she conversed with you." Vellantha replies with a sweet smile as her ruby red eyes glimmer with mischief.

"I would hope you wouldn't punish her simply because I talked with her." I say while I regard her keenly. Vellantha then steps forward and enter twines her arm with my own and guides me onto the balcony,

"Not at all my dear Doctor."

As we step out into the cool night air I gain my first look at this new world. The sky is dark as one could expect but the moon was red like blood. Strange yet beautiful trees of grey twisted bark with blue and green leaves cover the landscape, a multitude of unique and new fruits hang down from each branch. The ground was a deep black colour yet it looked healthy and vibrant. All in all it was a pretty environment to look at, in a Tim Burton sort of way. The foliage and color combinations remind me of the dark forests of Xanth in a way. "This is a very beautiful realm." I murmur.

"Thank you, it's called Rathengalia and I worked hard in commanding the Demon Lord's forces to free this place from The Order's control" Vellantha tells me happily. Rathengalia's boundary is comprised of about one third of this continent." Vellantha states with pride.

"Very nice and where are we now?" I ask with barely restrained curiosity.

"We are in the castle at the heart of this realm." She replies.

"I take it you are the ruler of this realm then?" I mutter thoughtfully.

"Yes, in a way I was gifted Rathengalia for my work in battle against The Order, while I do answer to the Demon Lord; Rathengalia is relatively autonomous in the daily goings on." Vellantha answers me smiling.

"That's actually a great segue, who and what are you exactly?' I ask casually.

"I'm a Mamono, specifically a Lilim which is a unique type of Succubus. You see when the current Demon Lord took over thousands of years ago she changed all monsters into women types who love men and care for them as husbands. She did this because she cares about Humans and wants peace between them and monster kind." She paused for a moment I think so the words could sink in.

"So now there are no true monsters just these 'Mamono' as you said who need husbands to love and care for, sounds too good to be true, why do you need the men?" I ask skeptically.

"While many Mamono can eat what humans eat, we also get sustenance from a man's spirit energy which is found in large quantities in semen" she replies rather bashfully.

All the while Vellantha is telling me this I am using my second sight to discern whether she is lying to me or not, so far she has been completely truthful in her statements. "Ok then, here are two questions I want you to answer truthfully, but be warned I will know if you are lying to me; and believe me that's not something you want to do."

"Okay, I'll answer any question I can" she says sheepishly.

"Good, number one are the men harmed in any way when you partake of their spirit energy, what I mean by that is are Mamono draining the men of their life force and killing them?' I glare at her with my full age coming to bear.

"NO not at all, in fact we share energies, they give us spirit energy and we give our men demonic energy so they will have the same lifespan as we do. The men become Immortal just as all Mamono are!" Vellantha says while looking truly horrified at my suggestion.

"Alright" I say quickly. "I didn't mean to upset you, second question the men you take as husbands they do get to live a life outside of sex. You don't just chain them in the basement and have sex with them nonstop right?"

Vellantha covers her mouth with her hand and lets out a quick giggle at this. "Yes Doctor, while we do have sex a lot, and may I say it's because we do enjoy it, not just for feeding purposes, our husbands do have lives, friends, jobs, besides us, like any relationship we do things together." She pauses and clears her throat "Of course I wouldn't know what that's like. The only friend I had disappeared and I never got to tell him…" but her voice trails off.

"Oh my word. I do apologize if I made you uncomfortable Milady. " I quickly begin apologizing as I made her reveal something personal about herself in front of a complete stranger.

"It's alright Doctor, in fact it's quite nice to talk with someone about all this." We stood in silence just observing the starry sky for some time, it was peaceful and a welcome change to my usual haggard lifestyle.

This is nice I thought to myself and Vellantha hasn't tried to attack me yet. It must be my aura and the fact Vellantha saw my abilities which have kept her at bay. I wasn't sure how long we had been standing on the balcony but the gentleness of the night was shattered when Lyda came running into the room in a panic.

"Your Ladyship the Demon Lord is here!"