I'm thrilled to no end that people are actually reading this! And in a paradoxical twist, that adds to the pressure of writing! Lol More plot coming in and a few things I didn't plan on but decided to roll with. Enjoy!
Strapped down to something that you don't understand
Don't know what you were getting yourself into
You should have known
Secretly I think you knew
BANKS, "Beggin For Thread"
It doesn't look like an abandoned asylum.
And our home didn't look like a split-level fixer-upper by the time I finished with it, did it?
Bela had taken Hecate and I back to Crowley's domain within moments of appearing at my house. Hecate was alert and attentive, taking in our new surroundings without leaving my side; I was more and more aware of my connection with Crowley now we were once again in proximity. The heat in my blood left me feeling feverish, I had that tip-of-the-tongue feeling when memories refuse to place themselves or even take shape, and my sense of him was much calmer than earlier, pacified…slaked.
"Where is he?" I asked Bela, trying to form the words with a throat dry with nerves.
"Not here," she replied unhelpfully. "Matters of state, you understand. He'll be along when it suits him."
Hecate briefly touched her hand to my shoulder, asking, "Are you his spokesman, or something?"
"Or something," she answered.
Well. Good to know she's so straightforward.
She works for Crowley, I reasoned. Can't expect anything less.
Bela moved through the room like she was at ease, leaving Hecate and I standing while she draped her jacket over the back of an armchair and seated herself. She sat staring at us for a minute or two, a haughty smile on her face while we stared back, and eventually she said, "Might as well get comfortable. I don't know how long it will be."
Hecate steered me with a touch to the sofa, sitting down and taking me with her. I didn't miss the concerned look she gave me, and I replied, I'm fine.
"So," I said to Bela, "he sent you to fetch me back, and I can't decide if that's classified as grunt work or high priority."
"What do you think?" she asked.
"I think he gave you the job because it's either very important or not important at all. Which makes you either one or the other as well."
Her smirk never wavered. "And by extension, you're either one or the other. Trying to figure out which?"
"Trying to figure out who he's got keeping eyes on me."
"Don't you trust me, your Highness?"
"Does Crowley?"
Hecate sat up a little straighter, and I knew we were on the same page.
Bela shrugged carelessly. "Crowley doesn't trust anybody. He knows them. He knows who will turn on him, who will suck up to gain favor, who will follow orders… You get the idea. He doesn't need to trust if he understands the game pieces, how they move, and how to play them."
"So, are you a pawn, a rook, or what?"
"I'm whatever he needs, whenever he needs it."
A queen, then? I asked Hecate.
That sounds like the implication, she answered. A wild card, at the absolute least.
We'll have to keep an eye on her.
Agreed.
"It sounds like he trusts you, after all," I went on.
"I've proved myself," she replied. "He knows I won't cross him unless there's enough in it for me, and he's made sure it would take a steep price."
She's important enough to buy, Hecate remarked. But is she important enough to share valuable information with?
"So, because you've proved yourself, you get assigned to bring the queen back to the castle."
Just when I thought she couldn't look any more superior, she raised the bar. "I'm not stupid enough to let it get out that a witch-in-training scammed her way out of a deal and onto the throne," she replied smoothly. "I'm not about to destabilize him any further when it's no secret his rule is in jeopardy. Not if I can help it."
"He's made it worth your loyalty to help keep him in power?"
She leaned back into the chair, her eyes hardening. "I understand you're new here, your Highness, and you might not have picked up a brochure at the welcoming center, so I'll try to clue you in. Hell is a mess. Earth missed the apocalypse but we had a coup. Everyone thought Lucifer would win his final showdown, but Crowley was moving against him long before then, and as soon as Lucifer was eliminated, Crowley stepped up. He had a new vision for Hell and he made it happen, putting an end to a lot of the old ways. And most recently, a Knight of Hell stood to challenge him, promising a return to the golden age and then some.
"Do you have any idea how many enemies he has? How many want him dead and out of the picture? What do you think will happen to those loyal to him if he falls? What do you think will happen to you? If Crowley isn't worth my loyalty, he's certainly worth my self-preservation, and if you're as clever as you believe you are, you'll come around to that line of thinking."
Well, Hecate concluded, she's definitely Crowley's.
I didn't respond to either of them, shifting uncomfortably where I sat. I was so hot! I rested my palm against my forehead and my skin was scorching to the touch. Was this the demon blood, or his fire affinity?
"You'll get used to it."
I gave a start at the sound of his voice and beside me, Hecate did the same. Crowley stood just a few feet away, closing the distance to where we sat. Bela moved to stand as he approached, but he motioned for her to keep her seat and regarded me. His expression was neutral, and I couldn't sense anything from him beyond that pacified feeling. He didn't repeat himself, but the quirk of his eyebrow as I continued to fidget with the heat in my flesh was clue enough to guess what he was talking about.
Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised he could guess my disturbance.
"Bela, sweetheart," he said, walking between us and settling into a vacant chair, "I see you've met Endora."
She turned to me with a spark of amusement in her eyes. "Endora?" she repeated, laughter coloring her voice. "Where's Samantha?"
"Having an emotional heart-to-heart with Squirrel, last I checked," Crowley replied. He turned his eyes on Hecate, sitting next to me and taking in every word spoken. "And this must be the familiar."
"Hecate," I said, his dismissive tone already rubbing me the wrong way.
He gave me an ironic look. "Really? A witch's companion named Hecate? You couldn't come up with something original?"
"She didn't name me," Katie corrected him.
"She's not my pet," I added, "and everything you have against me has nothing to do with her, so don't be an ass."
He raised his eyebrows. "Is this your first edict as queen?" he asked.
"I'm serious," I told him. "She's not a second class citizen, and anyone that tries to treat her that way will answer to me."
He stared at me for a long moment and I stared back, refusing to be intimidated. He could punish, torture, do whatever he wanted to me, but if he thought I would let him disrespect Katie, he thought wrong.
I only identified the flash of approval I felt for what it was by the smile he gave me. "Make a note of it, Bela," he said. "Hecate is to be afforded the utmost respect by order of the Queen. Anyone in violation of that command is hers to deal with."
Bela gave a brief nod. "Of course, your Majesty."
They're laughing at you, Hecate said in a small voice.
I don't care, I replied firmly. He can leave you out of his problem with me.
"As for your cover," he went on, "that will take some consideration. One mistake, and we're all screwed."
"You're actually going along with this spy thing?" Bela questioned.
"She bargained for the job, love. Begging on hands and knees, she wanted it so bad."
I glared at him, ignoring Bela's smug look and the traitorous stirring in my body at his words. He looked at me like he knew exactly what he was doing to me and went on, "She drove such a good bargain, and I daresay she enjoyed our negotiations even more than I did. She was certainly satisfied with my terms."
Hecate chose tactful silence and I kept glaring. He didn't look away, that arrogant light in his eyes unwavering. My insides burned with humiliation and hunger; his voice alone would be enough to get me going, but the innuendos calling back everything he did to me the night before were another level of torment. That he talked of it openly was mortifying…and turning me on more than I would have preferred under the circumstances. And he knew, the petty bastard.
A slight smirk, and he continued, "I don't like the idea of you running amok, so Bela here will keep an eye on you as much as possible."
"How is that a good cover?"
"You're going to be her pet." He snapped his fingers and something tightened around my neck. Startled, I lifted my hands and groped at it, feeling supple leather and a steel buckle beneath my fingers.
A collar. The son of a bitch put a collar on me.
"Mistress Bela likes witches," he said. "She enjoyed scamming her fair share back in the day, and now she has one at her beck and call. How does that sound, Bela, darling?"
"You're too generous, your Majesty," she replied, winking at me.
"Generous?" I said, outraged. "Are you insane?" I fumbled at the buckle but the leather fused together where it overlapped, fastened securely.
"That collar doesn't come off until I say so," Crowley said, "and as long as you're wearing it, you'll do exactly as your new mistress says. Understood?"
"I'm not doing this!" I drew on my magic to cut through the leather and felt a ripple of heat at the edges of my power, and before I could make the cut my hand froze in place. His power holding me was hot and my cut palm burned in echo, but when I focused my awareness on the magic, the separate lines were woven together, building off each other even as they clashed.
"Think about it, Broomhilda," he told me. "You won't survive court on your own, much less Hell. This keeps you close enough to my circle to keep you untouchable but far enough away that no one will suspect you. You can cooperate, or I can put some spellwork into that collar to keep you obedient whether you like it or not. Your choice, love."
I stopped fighting his grip despite the anger still simmering in my veins. Hecate rested her hand on my arm, tentative, and said, It…it makes sense, Missy. I know you don't like it, but I think you should go along with it.
You want me to debase and degrade myself? I asked.
I want you to do whatever keeps you safest of your own free will, rather than be a complete puppet.
The collar was by no means tight, but I felt as if it was choking me. I couldn't bring myself to agree to this. The deal for my power was to claim autonomy, not to hand it away down the line.
Crowley honed in on me, leaning toward me in his chair, with his elbows on his knees and his fingers laced together. "We had a deal, Endora," he said, his voice low and firm. "You hold up your end, or I hold up mine. Take it or leave it."
"She seems defiant, your Majesty," Bela remarked. "I'm not sure I appreciate that in my pets."
"Oh, don't worry," he assured her, "she'll come around." He leaned back again and waved his fingers, watching me expectantly.
I had a moment to wonder what he was doing before there was a rush of sensation at my clit, something teasing and stroking with a precision bordering on deliberation. Almost immediately, my spine bowed and my hips bucked into it, and I clutched at the arm of the sofa as a moan burst from me unchecked.
Hecate's eyes widened in alarm and she tightened her grip on my arm. "Are you okay, Missy?"
"Oh, Missy, is it?" Bela asked. She seemed unfazed, watching me squirm without a trace of emotion. "I'll have to remember that one."
I couldn't answer, my eyes locked with Crowley's as the sensation intensified. I had no control, my body writhing and every sound growing harder and harder to hold back. He didn't look away, staring like a cat intent on a mouse while my pleasure rose higher with alarming momentum.
Hecate paused as she slowly understood what was happening, then glanced from me to Crowley and back again, looking awkward. She had never been comfortable with the idea of sex, or sexuality as a whole, finding it personally disturbing. Her bonding with a deviant like me seemed like a cruel trick of fate, and I tried to shield her from it as much as possible. I never allowed my graphic thoughts or memories anywhere near her and spared her details of my exploits, and we each respected each other's needs while seeing to our own.
Crowley had no such reservations.
"Stop," I said, gasping; the sensation escalated almost to its peak and halted, keeping me at the point of near-climax. I reached for Hecate's hand, seeing the revulsion in her eyes and trying to reassure her. Her body tensed and she nearly flinched away from me, hands moving to cover her ears and drown me out. I'm sorry, she said, frightened and upset, I'm sorry, I can't… She turned away and ducked her head, humming to herself so she couldn't hear me.
I was nearly out of my mind with it, unable to sit still, unable to come, hurting for my familiar and cursing Crowley. It was a perfect torture, having seen what a shameless, pleading mess I devolved to the night before, and it wouldn't harm him as well like this morning. But it was seeing Katie so wretched that struck the real blow.
I threw my head back and cried out again, and he shuddered where he sat, something in his gaze shifting. I was wound tight enough to snap, digging my nails into my palms until the skin broke, and he clenched a fist, his jaw tightening and an intense look in his eyes. It was agony, feeling so much yet never allowed release, an agony he mirrored, and neither of the others saw it.
"Crowley," I pleaded, "stop…" I couldn't handle any more, and the closer I got to unraveling, the clearer it was he was close behind. "Crowley, please!" I nearly screamed.
He waved his hand again; everything stopped but the tension in my body didn't abate. He sat rigid and unmoving, on the same edge as I was. "Last chance, pet," he said, a rough tremor in his voice giving him away, "are you going to be a good girl for Mistress Bela?"
He wasn't letting me off the hook, then. He bruised my pride, humiliated me, and distressed my familiar, but he wasn't about to embarrass himself. I wanted to defy him out of spite, but for Hecate's sake I yielded. "Yes," I replied, hoping he could feel the seething ire coiling in my chest.
He narrowed his eyes; yes, he could, and in retaliation he pressed, "Yes, what?"
Hecate hesitated, slowly reaching towards me to clutch my hand in hers. I'm sorry, Mistress…
Taking a deep breath, I unclenched my jaw and said, "I'll be good for Mistress Bela."
Bela smiled and while I felt Crowley's mild triumph, his expression didn't change. "I'll expect you to behave for her, in addition to playing your part and keeping an eye on the court. If she tells me you're being difficult, consider today an idea of your punishment. If she says you're being a good pet…you know how I reward those who make me happy."
Hecate squirmed and I apologized, I didn't know it would be like this, Katie.
It's fine, Missy, she replied.
No, it's not. "Hecate is sensitive to certain factors," I said. "She finds certain acts distasteful, and I expose her to those factors as little as possible to keep from upsetting her. Doing so on purpose is uncalled for and highly disrespectful." I paused a beat for emphasis, then added a snide, "Your Majesty."
If you're going to fuck me, don't you dare do it in front of her. The words went unspoken, but no one missed them. I had no idea if I had enough leverage to keep pushing, but it was clear enough that when it came to my familiar, I was ready to fight. I read a measure of respect in Bela's eyes, but all Crowley said was, "Behave yourself, and we won't have to worry about that, will we?"
I don't like this, Missy, Hecate said. You've made yourself too vulnerable for my sake. He'll use me against you.
You were willing to risk yourself for me, Katie, I replied. I won't do any less for you.
And he knows that now. I'll be his leverage to get what he wants from you.
There was a cold feeling in my stomach as the truth of her words sank in. I didn't regret standing up for her, but Crowley would have no problem threatening her to force my cooperation. She was never afraid for herself, but I knew the thought of what he could make me do to keep her safe would torment her.
He still looked at me like he expected further resistance, if not now then later. And if he tried to harm Hecate, he should expect it. I had gotten the best of him once and doubtless he would try to keep it from happening a second time…but if I could do it once, then I could do it again. I was bound and collared, not broken.
It wouldn't be easy, but that didn't scare me. I had always preferred high stakes.
Leave me some love!