Meeting the princess and an excited Sarah that sits down next to you, you begin to confirm the reports you gave through telepathy, describing how you beat back the human main army and then used their corpses to create a gigantic undead to crush the other humans with.
With that come a number of other reports the two of them gathered from all throughout the realm; you already know about the entrenched human force camping near the capital and have taken counter-measures, but apparently, the hero they told you about has gone off any paths or streets they know of, so trying to find him would be time-consuming and annoying.
Meanwhile, it seems tension is rising within the capital itself, what with the death of the demon king and the humans coming ever closer; though the defeat of their main army should hopefully alleviate concerns, people are still worried. You don't expect riots in the streets anytime soon, but this is still a worrying situation, especially with demons being so much stronger than humans, you don't expect open fights in the streets to be a simple issue if they do pop up.
On another note, word of trouble along the mining settlements in the mountains to the east has reached the palace. Monster attacks the nonexistent garrison can't fight off by itself, strange findings down in the tunnels, mysterious rumors abound. They're still getting the rest of the realm some ore, but still, this bears looking into before everything breaks down.
"Okay, most of those seem important to deal with, but for now, I'd say I go after that hero. Having one of the people that killed off the last demon king run around unopposed strikes me as... suboptimal."
"I see the logic, certainly. With any luck, you should be able to find and deal with him in a short enough time none of the other issues we have to deal with flame up."
"Especially as one of my captured souls has the ability to point me towards any single thing I wish to search out. Now, which hero was this guy again, so I know what I'm dealing with?"
"Hamasaki Shintaro, the 'party-buffer' among the heroes."
"Did they really call him that?"
"Cross my heart, they did."
"At least taking him out now will prevent him from strengthening any of the others when I come for him. Okay, so what do we know about his ability, That 'party' he has gathered, all that shit?"
"He works by, well, strengthening others. Anyone he acknowledges as an ally within his range becomes better at what they do, especially alonng their strengths. Strong people become stronger, fast people become faster, you get the idea.
According to what we pulled out of Phillip, he himself is fairly unimpressive- still good enough to be an elite soldier if he put his mind to it, but weak compared to the other heroes. His strength lies in making his party members stronger- when he acted as part of the heroes, he turned them from fairly powerful to being able to take on the demon king as a group. The stronger his allies are, the further they get strengthened."
"Well, that does make me rather glad we have a chance to take him out without any of the other heroes intervening, but, uh, why the hell is he traipsing through the woods without any of them?"
"According to what we managed to find out, he screamed, and I quote, 'I don't need any of you traitorous classmates, I will become great enough to crush you all' before storming off with his party members. The other heroes didn't bother stopping him, as they'd already defeated the demon king and didn't need him anymore."
"..."
"..."
"Okay, backtrack. What about his party?"
"A fighter of some description using a sword, an archer and a mage, all female."
Grumbling a bit, you hold your head in your hand.
"This will either be amazing or a giant waste of time, and I don't know which."
"Anyways, I will need to spend the day inside the castle, but once the sun goes down, I'll be going out to deal with that and hopefully back in short order."
Annoyed by your earlier failure to activate the mechanism in your soul, you close your eyes and push...
and push...
and push...
...until you suddenly stagger, trying to catch yourself, but you fall unconscious before you reach the ground.
It is only several hours later that you wake up, noticing your sister sitting next to you. Looks like she actually went and laid a blanket on you while you were out.
"Hey Gabe. You awake again?"
"Yeah. Sorry I conked out out of nowhere like that, one of my internal mechanisms was stuck, and me trying to get it to work must've triggered a failsafe."
"You know, I have no idea whether to take what you're saying literally or as a metaphor, and I think I like it that way. At least my power isn't going into overdrive trying to analyze you, for one, so no headaches for me."
"Is that an issue for you here? Thinker headaches?"
"They're always a problem for me, and me using my power to help with keeping this demon kingdom running doesn't help. I still like being useful, though."
"Huh. Good enough. Actually, how would you feel about going vampire yourself?"
"You're shittin' me."
"Okay, first off, language, young lady. Secondly, nope, I can turn others into vampires. They don't get the deluxe package I do, but there's enough cool shit I figure it's worth the inconveniences. Figure that should also include getting rid of your headaches."
"Alright, let's do this right now."
"Hey there, take it slow. I'm still working on a way to let you become a vampire without losing your power, just thought I'd mention it now so you can think about it."
Biting her lip, Sarah pouts up at you.
"The very first thing you manage to do this, you tell me and I'm getting rid of the endless migraines."
"Deal."
Eventually, after Sarah begged off to brood over her future choices in silence (and darkness, to reduce her headache), you finally manage to make your soul refinery work for once, summoning Coil and putting him through indescribable pain, though he doesn't exhibit any new powers afterwards.
A quick interrogation reveals he didn't gain anything, indeed. Looks like you'll have to repeat the process a few more times to get a result, then.
Anyways, night is about to fall. You'll be going after the hero soon, but you have to think about whether or not to leave Coil here, helping you with Sarah from afar while you're at it or to desummon him to free up space for one of your other souls.
Thinking about it, his power pretty much allows you to cheat on command, so using him as you did until now is probably for the best. Ordering him to go and obay Sarah, you consult the last reports you got about the hero's location one last time before transformaing...
...then transforming back, finding a room with a window, opening it and transforming again.
Hey, you were busy thinking about something else, it happens.
Setting down near the street you know the hero to have taken last after a few hours of uninterrupted flight, you pause for a moment to think over your options.
On the one hand, you could just use your compass soul, find the hero, kill the hero, and return... but if any step along that plan takes longer than expected, you could be caught outside when the sun rises.
Taking your time to fly over the immediate area, you take note of any potential lairs to spend the day in.
First, uh, there's a hollowed out cavity in the earth amidst the roots of a tree. It's not great, but you figure you could take some brushes and wood from all around to secure it against the sun, as long as you ball yourself up inside... or transform into something smaller, anyway.
Uncomfortable and no room to do much of anything, but it would work.
Aside from that, you also found an old, abandoned hut you suppose you could use after a few modifications to secure it against the sun, what with it being worn and damaged all around, as well as a cave much like the one you used while bullying that army into retreat.
Honestly, it isn't even much of a contest, the cave wins hands down. It's your reliable mainstay, after all, though you're starting to get worried you may become a cave man at this rate.
If only there was another kind of place out in the wilderness that's as reliable in terms of lairs for you...
Anyways, you got your lair and about half the night to work with. Should you try to find your target immediately or should you prepare somehow, and if so, how?
Breathing out your compass soul, you order him to point you at 'Hamasaki Shintaro, the party-strengthening hero', and you feel a little dirty for even saying that much out loud with a straight face.
Nevertheless, you got the direction he is in, so you turn into your owl form after dismissing your glorified fingerpointer and off you go.
It takes you a bit of time, but eventually you come upon the clear traces of a group of people moving through the forest. A few broken twigs, the occasional footprints, the works. Looks like your targets are moving throughout the night for some reason.
Following the clear path you can make out from above, you eventually find what you're looking for. Four people, a clear warrior, archer and mage, along with the only male party member armed with a sword, though he doesn't seem half as aware of his surroundings as the other three.
Bingo.
Taking a quick look around, you fly off to transform from a secure distance, coming back around as your own shadow and creeping a little closer, though you make sure to keep your distance from the light of their torches.
Seems you caught the hero mid-rant about something, actually.
"...t night because only at night do cool things happen! So long as we keep on looking, sooner or later we will find my destined awakening, but it can only happen at night! So stop complaining and keep walking!"
Huh. So you don't think they're actually going anywhere specific; this idiot is just making the group keep on walking around. The others, at least, seem to be appropriately annoyed at him for it, or they're complaining about it at any rate.
Honestly, who marches through forested area of their own free will if they're not at least somewhat adapted to it? This is retarded.
Still, actually getting here and everything you did afterwards took quite a bit of time. If you want to kill him now, you'd better wrap everything up somewhat soon.
Okay, you think to yourself as a convoluted, but hilarious plan comes together in your head, you need Phillip, a little time, maybe one of your transformations... yes, this will be great.
Mentally contacting Phillip and giving him the requisite orders, you reach a decent spot the hero's party should arrive at in about half an hour unless they decide to change directions, where you detransform and start to transform only your head into that of a wolf after breathing out Phillip.
"Do you really think this will work, monster?"
Have you heard the guy talk? He's pretty damn delusional. Give him what he wants and he'll eat right out of our hands... or rather, wander right into my mouth. Now, let me repeat what I want you to mention one more time...
It isn't too long a wait until the party arrives, though your anticipation makes it seem longer.
Once they arrive, Phillip immediately takes a step forwards while you stay in the background for now, a tall, imposing figure, just silently staring with a wolf's head.
"Hamasaki-kun, there you are."
"Phillip-san?! Why are you here? I thought you'd be with the army! I'm not going back yet, I have to awaken my true powers first!"
"Do not worry, Hamasaki-kun. I heard about what you told the other heroes before leaving, and after referencing several ancient texts, I found out that there is such a thing as the True Hero among the summoned ones."
"What?! Tell me more! How do I become the true hero!"
"To ascend to being the true Hero, you must undergo a secret druidic ritual to awaken your inner beast. The issue is that druids are just that rare nowadays, and most of their workings have been forgotten by modern society. However, I have managed to find one that is willing to help you undergo the trials to become the True Hero."
"Yes! YES! This is it! My destined awakening is about to happen!"
"You will have to come with us, alone. The ritual is secret for a reason, and my druidic friend here insisted they stay that way."
It is at this point that one of the party members, the archer, speaks up.
"Uhm, Hamasaki-sama, I believe this is really sketchy..."
"Silence, you dumb cow! Didn't I tell you that we just needed to keep on searching until destiny reveals itself? This is what is happening right now!"
Turning towards you, he approaches you and Phillip, the latter once more spewing the bullshit you'd coached him in.
"Very well. You will need to accompany us to the ritual site, whence the ritual will awaken your true inner powers."
You just growl a little, not being able to speak right now anyways, gesturing towards the forest with your transformed head.
"Okay, you three stay here, and I'll come back once my real powers have manifested! I can't fucking wait to rub it in everyone's noses!"
Oh my goddess, this is really happening, Phillip thinks towards you.
Tell me about it, I didn't actually expect this to work.
Once you are some distance from the clearing you left the others at, at the edge of a small marsh, to be exact, Phillip continues to relay the 'instructions' you told him about even as you halfheartedly begin to dance in a circle, vaguely grunting through your canine maw.
"The ritual will awaken your inner beast, so you'll have to disrobe for this next bit. Don't worry, you can dress again after a short ceremony, this is just the preparation."
"What? How lame. But fuck it, I'm finally getting my true powers."
Looking over, you can practically feel the pained face Phillip is making right now- not that the little asswipe is noticing. Gesturing for the now naked hero to come stand before you, you trace 'arcane symbols' in the air, before grabbing onto him and thrusting your enlarged maw right into his neck, nearly chomping his head right off.
He gurgles a little, but before long, you have successfully eaten him. Phillip just sighs.
"There is a reason I objected to sending children out to win us the war, even, or rather especially, ones with incredible powers."
You just ignore him, though. Not like you give a fuck about the exact politics behind using the heroes.
Hamasaki Shintaro, summoned hero of the Kingdom of Hannovens. A nice enough kid, though he often annoyed others with his nerdy babbling about this light novel or that manga.
When him and the entire class got summoned, he was immensely disappointed when it turned out his heroic power was to strengthen his allies rather than do anything himself, though maybe that was a wise allocation, considering he was incredibly unathletic before the summoning and certainly not the smartest, either.
Though he tried applying himself and learning to fight for himself, he quite sucked at it. Or rather, while he was immensely talented by the standards of any normal person, as per the powers of the summoning, he couldn't hold a candle to any of the other heroes, so he gave up soon after, with everyone telling him he'd best just concentrate on powering up the others.
He, however, struggled with this decision. While yes, doing it was the most efficient use of his power, it grated him he could never become one of the protagonists out of the stories he'd so loved and now saw himself living in. So in short order, he began to delude himself he would have to awaken his 'true power' to save all of his classmates, and when that didn't happen, he became increasingly paranoid one or more of them would betray him, again, following the most common plots he was familiar with.
When none of that ever happened, right up to the class defeating the demon king, he finally snapped and decided he had to find his true powers elsewhere, leading to him parading his 'party'/watchers through demon territory and eventually into a random forest, all in the desperate search for his hidden powers, to make all of what happened worth it.
Well, he did ultimately find his final fate in those woods..
Idly licking your wolfy teeth clean, you consider what to do next. On the one hand, the hero's party is nearby, you could eat them... but the likelihood of them trying to escape is pretty great, now that they aren't empowered by him anymore, and the sun is going to rise soon.
On the other hand, you could just leave them. It's not like you revealed any really important abilities to them, and technically, you did everything you came here for- the hero is securely tucked away in your belly, the mission's target fulfilled.
Lastly, you may take a trophy from the hero, in addition to all his stuff that you are totally going to steal. Decisions, decisions...
Well, no reason to leave a whole hero body just lying around, now is there? You're sure you can find a good use for it later.
Throwing the corpse over your shoulder, you have Phillip gather up his belongings in his clothes and hand them to you before you breathe him in again.
Carefully going shadow, you silently make your way back to your cave lair, where you throw your loot into a corner and think on what to do next.
Well, okay, first off, you transform into your owl form with the corpse and loot in tow, silently thanking your magical powers they categorize them as objects you are carrying.
Flying off back the way you came, you mentally contact Sarah, needing to tell someone about what just happened, because seriously, that was...
That was.
Haaahahahahahahahahahahahaha! And he ate it all! Oh god, this is hilarious!
And then, and then I was all like 'gruff' and 'wuff' as I did the imaginary ritual-
Oh gawd, that must've looked hilarious!
And next thing he knew, my wolfhead was biting into his throat and drinking him out!
Words fail to describe just how hard I am laughing right now. The princess is actually looking at me like I'm crazy or something, and I just started choking out of laughter.
Whoops, I can see the capital now. Talk to you again in a sec, take a little time to calm down?
Sure, sure.
Landing in the courtyard you have started to view as your personal takeoff/setdown location, you transform back into your vampire form and enter the palace, handing the corpse and loot off to the first group of servants you see with instructions to safely store them while you go off to hide from the sun.
Well, you got that done much faster than you thought you would, so may as well go tell Sarah the good news! Except, when you enter her room, you find your sister staring off into the distance, obviously something on her mind.
"Hey sis, good news! I figured out how to turn you without losing you your power."
Looking over at you, you can see Sarah blink in surprise. Whatever she was pondering, it must've really weighed on her mind.
"Hey Gabe, that's great news! Okay, so what's the catch?"
"The catch, as you put it, is that I could also keep on working on it to give you specific powers you want to have to start with, rather than having them be automatically chosen."
"Okay, first off, asking me what I want on this is really unfair just on account of the chance to get rid of the headaches, do you know just how much I want them gone?"
"I have an idea. Your power doesn't really have an 'off' switch, does it? So it's always building up towards that headache."
"Yeah, and it's always giving me more information I just don't want to deal with sometimes. Except when I'm with you... actually, wait a sec."
Getting up off her chair, she waves you towards her bed. Curious, you sit down, with her sitting next to you.
"You know, normally, just being this close to someone would have me freaked out with what my power gives me about them. Like, you wouldn't believe just what kind of disgusting shit my power tells me about people just when I look at them. Fetishes, preferences, all the ugly shit people keep to themselves.
That princess, for example? She really did hope to get railed by you the moment we appeared. She couldn't tear her eyes off you. Fucking her up the ass is the least of the things she wanted you to do."
"Heh. Don't think I didn't notice someone else staring at me, either."
"Well, not my fault I realized for the first time in a year I can look at someone without getting TMI'd. Doesn't help it's my own damn brother I saw naked."
"Hey, no shame in that. I get where you're coming from. Can't have been easy, either way, after the thing with Reggie happened."
"Yeah, running away and living on the streets with my power on constant blast wasn't conductive to developing a healthy outlook on this stuff."
Shifting a little, Sarah turns to look at you.
"Actually... could you take off that shirt thingy? I want to try using my power and see if I get squicked."
Raising your eyebrow, you can't help but chuckle a little at that.
"Hey, what's with that look, mister? You said it yourself, no shame in that."
Conceding the point, you smirk at her as you pull your top off. Trailing a hand over your chest, she looks up at your face.
"I'm getting nothing. No squicky details about your hygiene, no details nobody wants to know, nothing. This is amazing."
Leaning back a little, you just let her enjoy touching someone for the first time in far too long without having to freak out about it.
"I'm not even bothered about the other things I do know about you, you know? Like, I know you regularly fuck Kate, and her and you raped Sherrel before she officially joined, but it just doesn't bother me as much as it probably should. It's weird."
"Maybe it's a part of your power? Like, it gives you information in such an immediate, visceral way it impacts you harder than it normally would."
"I guess that could be it. I mean, I had a hunch I wasn't actually asexual ever since I first saw you again and wasn't immediately repulsed, but this is hard to talk about, you know?"
"I get it, I get it. You can touch me as long as you want, sis."
You give her an encouraging smile. She just bites her lip again.
"However long I want? And wherever I want?"
"I am not sure I'm quite comfortable with where this conversation is going, but go on."
Sarah just hugs you instead of fondling your sixpack more.
"I want to see how far I can go before my power freaks me out. Can you undress? For me?"
Sighing, you get up to do as she asks. She did the one thing you could never say no to. As soon as Sarah asks something of you, you can't help but do it (unless you have immense reason to the contrary, of course).
Sitting down again, you lean towards Sarah to make it easier for her to touch you all over. Staring at your face, she returns to touching you all over, studying your reactions, waiting for that inevitable information overload.
It never comes.
Getting a little bolder, her hand wanders down your abs, stopping short when you raise an eyebrow... but resuming its descent when you fail to say anything.
Stroking along your thighs, she eventually steels her resolve and grabs for your dick.
You can't help but chuckle again.
"You know, this looks more and more like you're just doing this to molest me."
"Shush, you. I'm trying to see if my power starts squicking me out, that's all."
Smiling wryly, you let her do as she wills, though you are so giving her shit about this later. She starts to handle your cock for a bit, still looking at your face and frowning a little when she doesn't get any results, on either level.
"Why isn't it getting hard? Is it because I'm your sister?"
"Nah, I can just control that kind of thing. If you wanted me to get hard, all you needed to do was ask."
Her eyes widen a little as your dick slowly engorges in her hand, but she still keeps on looking at your face.
"Still nothing... This is amazing. Normally I'd already be running screaming with just a fraction of this."
"What can I say; it's a talent," you drawl.
She just keeps slowly jerking your dick at this point, short on breath, but never looking away. Looks like this is starting to affect her more than she'd like to let on. It's kinda cute, really.
Eventually, she drops any pretense of 'just' touching you, gripping your cock hard and jerking it off while her other hand is holding onto your shoulder for stability. She's still looking at your face with the most serious expression, though.
She keeps going for a considerable amount of time, starting to thumb over the head of your cock when she notices you actually let subtle signs of pleasure through at the appropriate times. She still seems to be able to keep on without her power interfering, though, so you just let her go on until you feel the urge to cum rise.
Enjoying the sensation a bit longer than strictly necessary, you do decide to blow it after you're sure you'll leave satisfied, grunting out "I'm coming," to warn Sarah. She just jerks harder in response, even taking her other hand to help and holding it in front of your head.
Breathing out long and slow, you come right into her hand, pulsing along her grip and filling her palm. Leaning over towards her, you press a kiss onto her forehead as her pumping slows down.
Finally taking her eyes off your face, she looks over at her hands, now rather slimy and filled with your spunk.
"My loads don't get smaller, by the way. No idea whether that's because of the minor regeneration or if I just shoot a fixed amount no matter what."
"My power's silent on the matter... also, ew. You go get out already, I gotta clean up."
"What about the turning thing?"
"Just keep on working on it for now, get back to me when you've made progress. Now out!"
Chuckling, you leave her room, letting her deal with your cum and the realization of what just happened in peace.
Calling another meeting between yourself, the princess and Sarah, the three of you take a little time to joke about the ignominious death of the hero whose corpse you just dragged with you. Still, while you managed to kill this one quite easily, you can't assume the rest will be as easy- they'll all need to be dealt with sooner or later, and by sheer dint of odds, at least a few of them have to be minimally competent.
So, while you'd like to say the situation changed drastically since the last time you conferred this way, you took literally a day to take care of the hero issue, two if you count travel times. The loyal messengers and spies the princess employs are surprisingly good at what they do, but they can't work miracles, either.
In summary, you still have to deal with the discontent in the capital, the scouting force is still getting a big helping of giant undead to the face and the mining towns in the mountains are still in need of help. And here you thought you left Preston in his home dimension, heh.
Though, a few disparate rumours have apparently come up about unusual happenings across the human territory along the former border- in all honesty, the border is still in human control, after all. Might be worth investigating if you decide you have nothing better to do.
"Okay, first, let's have the corpse of that dumbass paraded through town. Do have people make sure nobody throws stones at it, I want to use him as part of an undead later, but for now his greatest use will be quelling unrest, no matter how little.
Meanwhile, I will be flying towards the mountains and figure out what the hell is wrong over there. That seems the most urgent issue for us to deal with in the current situation- while we can rally the remnants of the army to counter any further large-scale human offensives, losing the kingdom's central ore extraction areas does not seem like a winning strategy in the long run."
"Agreed. The two of us will stay here and see what we can do about the issues here in the capital, leaving only your mission, the scouting force that should be taken care of in short order and, eventually, rebuilding the other areas of the kingdom affected by the war before we strike back at the humans."
"Just make sure to stay vigilant in case they decide to send the heroes in again. We do not want to face off against them unprepared."
"Love you sis, stay safe."
Giving Sarah a quick kiss on the forehead, you wander off to find an open window, whence you transform and fly towards where you know the mountain ranges the demons have been excavating for ore for generations lie.
On the way, you note how the terrain you fly over changes, going from grassy plains and forested areas to rocky outcroppings and bushy plantlife dominating the horizon.
Still, it doesn't take long for you to come upon a small settlement, currently getting everything set up for nightly activity, as demons can see in dim light just as well as during the day... or at least that would be hapening if there weren't giant flying lizards circling above the place, swooping in occasionally only to be driven off by several spearmen.
Looks like you have the first example of weird shit and random monster attacks happening in the area, then.
Well, these things look rather preoccupied with swiping at the demons, so you climb a little higher to get a decent altitude before you dive onto the back of the one flying highest at the moment.
Transforming back, the creature immediately notices you and tries to buck you off, but your ability to adhere to surfaces finds some great use in letting you stay cinging to the back. Unfortunately, you can't exactly jam your teeth into this thing- you tried, but the scales are too hard.
Prying off a few of the neck scales, which seem a little thinner than the rest of them, the thing you're riding on lets out a roar as it tries to skewer you with its sharp tail!
Throwing your weight around as the tail strikes your previous location, you discover it managed to crck its own scales with the attack. Not one to waste an opportunity, you climb around a bit to get a good angle before tearing the damaged scales off and biting into the newly freed up flesh, much to the dismay of your ride.
It struggles a bit, but after you drink a dencent amount down, you manage to kill it. Of course, now you're nosediving towards the earth...
One chanting of the spell to raise a corpse and a quick "UP, you fuck!" later, you're riding your flying lizard around, taking stock of the other ones. Well, one down, another five to go, you suppose. May as well finish the job.
Reasoning they might be cold-blooded, what with being lizards and all, you cast your Chill spell, leading to the first of them to let off a warbling cry and fly right off. Huh, seems they immediately retreat when cold.
Using this revelation for what it is, you repeat the same spell on the others, two of them actually just dropping dead before they make it out of sight. Yeah, the cold really fucked these things up. Makes them an easy win for you.
Still, now that you've taken care of the immediate problem, you have to decide how to proceed. You could have your undead set down so you can talk to the locals, or you could use it to fly onwards (not like it's slower than your transformed self).
Steering your mindless minion downwards, you jump off and approach the village. You are greeted by about a dozen locals thanking you, along with asking you to ask the village elder if you need anything.
Following their way description, you wind up in front of a nice little house, not quite large, but big enough to not be called a hut. You're greeted by an elderly demon, which means he has to be positively ancient, what with how long they live, inviting you inside and offering some tea and sweets.
Accepting his inviation, he ushers you into a sitting room likely built for entertaining guests and/or travelling merchants, especially so with what he tells you about the village and how it works. Basically, this used to be a small waystation for ore deliveries back in the day, but a few demons looking to migrate out of the cities decided to settle down here, starting with a simple inn for merchants and officials to take a rest in.
The rest of the village pretty much evolved from there, eventually ending up with what you see today. It's nowhere near as big as the mining towns it draws its prosperity from, but it doesn't have to be usually.
This all gives you some context for this next part, as apparently wyvern attacks like the one you just saw are extremely uncommon here. They do sometimes attack the towns deeper in the mountains, but they have archers, mages and even little ballistae sometimes to keep them at a distance. They're within the normal range wyverns fly in search of food, after all.
At the same time, there hasn't been any communication from several of the towns this village usually trades with, starting from just after news reached it about strange happenings from a few of them.
All of this paints a suspicious picture. Whatever it is you are here to deal with, it has cut communications and is apparently driving the wyverns out of their usual habitats, whether as a part of a plan or just a side-effect of happening.
Thanking the village elder for the tea and crumpets, you come out to reanimate one of the fallen wyverns, leaving the last one to the villagers to do with as they please. So, time to figure out just what the hell is going on.
Silently thanking the elder for describing to you exactly where to go, you urge on your mount to fly further north-east, hopefully reaching your destination sooner rather than later. All of this flying around eats up a lot of time, and you don't want to be caught outside when day breaks.
Still, after an hour or two, you arrive where you want to, an obvious mining town, with smelters and smithies directly using the ore for a variety of things, and be it to transform it into bars.
Except it is silent.
You have seen enough horror movies to be wary of this kind of silence, so you take a few minutes to fly around the place a few times before eventually landing. Not a single person or animal moving around that you could see.
Worrying.
At least you had enough time to find the entrance to the nearest mine from above, as well as a pretty complete mental map of the place. So, how do you do this?
Well, first place to go is the biggest and most important looking house around. Using your shadow form to get inside, you spend a little time just searching through the rooms, going through a living room, a few guest rooms, a few bedrooms and, on the second floor, a private study by the looks of it. There you go.
Taking a look through the shelf filled with books, most of them seem to be instructional or historical in nature, though one part seems to be dedicated to lists and notes on the town's business deals.
That looks like a good first step to you, and so you open a drawer on the central desk, finding just what you were looking for- the latest book full of notes on ore trade, prices of various commodities and anything the author thought relevant to mining activities themselves.
Going by this book, the continued instability and rising metal prices were initially a good thing for this place, leading to increased profit margins all around. No wonder, metal to weapons, war means more demand for weapons and an equally rising demand for ore.
However, after about a year of constant war, the prices actually stabilized for a while, likely coinciding with the royal decree declaring the price for war commodities to be frozen until the inevitable conclusion of said war. The miners grumbled for a bit, but anyone could see where that was coming from, and it wasn't like they stopped making a great profit as it was.
The issue was that prices for food and other civilain supplies kept on rising, though at a far slower rate compared to what they could sell their products for before. War markets, no big wonder on that account. While this town was far from about to be destitute, a load of the notes for this time are pretty much just grumbling about profits coming back down.
About half a year before now, though, the notes on the margins become really interesting. Apparently, the miners found several ore veins deeper in the mines, nothing too unusual over the time they were working at this, but they kept on finding more over the course of the next few months. Eventually, something the presumed foreman describes as 'Lork's big find' changed the tone of things, subtly at first, but quite obvious as you are reading through them.
First the miners started spending more time in the mines to do... something to do with the big find, then people kept on going down there that usually wouldn't have any business in the mines.
Eventually, the whole town seemed to have regularly gone down there, though, frustratingly, you can't find any solid reference to what the hell they were doing down there. The trades, meanwhile, kept on reducing, both in volume of ore sold and supplies bought, even as monster attacks seemed to have experienced a slight uptick, the notes and ramblings taking up more and more than just the margins, eventually displacing the previously neat records on the town's trade.
This tells you a lot, but it also says far too little for your tastes.
Okay, so the clues you have are leading you to believe the demons congregated inside someplace in the mines for some reason, and your best bet to find out more without going down yourself is this 'Lork' person.
Luckily enough, you know exactly how to find a place you have no idea on how to find. Making your way outside of the residence, you summon your compass soul, ordering him to point you towards the residence of the person named Lork.
It takes you a bit of a walk, but soon enough, you stand before a small building, one of many of its kind around town.
Unsummoning your soul and getting inside the same way you did in the first place, you look around for anything that could help you find out more. It's a small residence with a few partitioned-off areas, but soon enough, you find a small book next to the bed upstairs.
Slightly hopeful, it turns out most of it is just the diary of an average miner, though it's an interesting read in that it gives you another perspective on what you found out from the foreman's books already. The time period you noted as relevant earlier, though, becomes more and more unusual as you read on.
The find of more ore veins was apparently celebrated a little, the whole community in a festive mood. But once Lork made his 'big find', and he calls it that verbatim, things change. He describes it as an 'underground monument to greatness' and claims it has miraculous properties of some kind, leading to the whole town going down there at one point or another to 'bask in greatness'.
When news of the demon king's death reached the village, Lork seems to have been determined to use the hidden treasure to 'uplift demonkind' so it could fight back the humans, a claim that was backed by the foreman, and soon enough the town council composed a plan to introduce other mining towns and villages to their secret.
The greatest news you find, though, is the entry just after he found whatever it is in the first place. Lork seemed to have been afraid he'd forget how to find the object of his obsession, so he drew up a map detailing how to reach it. It's a whole load of tunnels it details on how to navigate, so this thing may be invaluable for what you're planning to do.
Well then, time to go deal with this. First, though...
Even as you transform into your shadow, you connect to Sarah and tell her about all you've found out so far.
...I hope I don't need to tell you just how sketchy this sounds, bro.
I know, I'm experiencing it firsthand over here.
Just make sure to get out of there if shit goes tits up.
Language, young lady!
Still, all joking with your sister aside, time to see the cause of this firsthand. Slithering into the mine's entrance, you keep the map you found in mind and proceed to make your way in deeper under the earth.
At least there's little chance of getting discovered by anything down here, in pretty much complete darkness. You'll also have an extremely easy time seeing any lights before they can manage to expose you.
Still, though, this is quite a walk.
It takes you a while, but soon enough, you find signs of life in these lightless tunnels. Discarded mining euipment, burnt-out torches, a small puddle of what you immediately identify as blood.
In fact, at some point, you'd estimate you're about halfway to your target if the map wasn't too badly drawn, you see light in the distance. Burning torches.
Now, you could either go ahead and see what awaits you, or backtrack a bit and try to find an alternative route. Both have possible risks, though, as you have no idea what you might find down here, least of all that you have no idea if another route even exists.
Decisions, decisions...
Detransforming in secure distance from the lights, you breathe out one of the souls you recently ate- one of the soldiers you used mustard gas on, to be specific.
"Be quiet and go scout out the area further into the tunnel with lights."
Having to do as he's told, your minion creeps forwards, while you use the opportunity to scan the surroundings with your other senses, but if anyone died nearby recently, it was either too long ago for any fragments to have stuck around or the souls were cleaned up in some way, not unlike when you eat someone.
You wait a few minutes, but when your scout doesn't return, you try mentally contacting him, getting a connection established in short order. Seems like the way leads into a crossing of tunnels, with nothing interesting aside from the burning torches in sight.
Huh.
Alright then, first, you desummon your scout soul. While you'd much prefer he walks into a trap than you do, there's no reason to leave him out now that you've had him walk into the light.
On second thought, it's entirely possible the demons just left those torches here as waymarkers; if they all went down only recently, the torches would still be burning despite none of them being changed out in some time. Anyways, you just move on, keeping to the way the map detailed.
You estimate you should be reaching the target location somewhat soon when the next sign of people crystallizes itself. You see light again, and while you are capable of recognizing patterns, you can also hear voices ahead. The tunnels are warping and changing the sounds too far to make out what they're saying, but you're pretty clear there are people down here this time.
Slowly creeping along the ceiling, you come closer to the patch of light amidst the darkness of the tunnels.
"I am telling you, he would never lie to us like that."
"Yes, but how can we believe his words?"
"We will just have to show faith and wait for the liberator he foretold."
Okay, what. Either whatever these guys are apparently worshipping is telling them random shit or it foretold your coming. Or maybe someone else's, but you kinda doubt anyone else would have reason to come anywhere near here for a good long while.
Honestly, how could you ignore such a perfect opening? Rematerializing, you drop from the ceiling, right in front of the two demons you were listening in to.
"Hello everyone, I have come to liberate you!"
They just stare.
"I don't take it you're going to take me to your leader sometime soon?"
It takes them a bit to snap out of their funk, but soon enough, they're on their knees worshipping you for a bit, followed by you getting annoyed and kicking them until they get up so they can lead you the rest of the way.
On the way, they tell you a little about how their little town pretty much moved underground after they got word of the demons losing the war, hoping to use 'his' help to weather the storm or even turn back the tide.
You'd try to get some more out of them regarding what the everloving fuck 'he' is, but you have a feeling you likely won't get a straight answer from them anyways, so you steer them towards filling in a few other blanks for you, instead.
For example, 'he' apparently foretold his demon followers that the liberator would appear to save them from their enemies by leading them to salvation in his kingdom. That... does match up with your overall plans for this world. Fuck.
Regardless, it doesn't take much longer until you arrive at the place the town you came in from and several other places seem to have taken refuge in.
It is a surprisingly bustling settlement you move through, with rough housing mined into stone walls and long tunnels leading towards a central point; a central chamber you are being led to.
Inside, you find... well, it's pretty hard to describe. It's a series of two-dimensional geometric shapes, spinning and shifting through the chamber while pretending to be halfway three-dimensional. It's confusing as fuck.
A bunch of demons are standing in the chamber, their own array of evershifting shapes circling each one of them, their actual bodies entirely still until the moment you step inside.
As you come in, they all turn towards you in unison, their patterns shifting to focus on you, even as they move all over the place.
This shit's confusing, you said as much already.
"GrEetiNgs, LiBerATor. We/I haVe beeN WaitInG fOr YoU."
Well, there's only one way to respond to that kinda greeting, now is there?
"'Sup."
""We/I nOte we Are fEeliNg gOOd and reTuRn tHe sEnTImenT. How aRe you dOing?""
Letting out a low hum as you think about how to answer that, you point your gaze at as many of the bodies conversing with you as you can.
"Mostly wondering what is going on here. It seems you have a nice cult going. Really like what you've done with the place. So, I'm guessing those floating shapes are a thralling mechanism? It's refreshingly flashy compared to what I do."
""Not aT aLl, my cUriOus frIenD. ThiS sImplY iS the EasIest wAy fOr uS/Me to CoMmUnicAte. ALl ouR bElievErs Are rEgulArlY chAnged ouT to aVoid ovErsTreSSing tHem.""
"So, why did you have them all move down here?"
""THe TalEs oF wAr ouR FollOwerS toLd haD Us/mE wOrRieD fOr tHeIr weLlbeiNg, sO we oFferEd tHem refUgE iN Our dOmaIN. NOw THat yoU havE aRriVEd, wE CAn leT Them rETurN tO tHeiR PreVioUs liFEs, jUst UsinG thiS pLace aS a SafE reTReAt.""
"See while I would very much like for the mine to resume production so we can go crush the humans, I have to ask. What are you and what do you gain from all of this?"
""We/I juSt wANt ouR fRieNdS tO be sAfE. Oh, oH, wE nEArlY fORgOt, yoU nEed tO vISit thE lONely onE froM eLSewhEre so shE Won'T bE LonElY ANymoRe.""
As whatever they are speaks, images and lines of thought you recognize as entirely alien to you flash through your mind. You know you have to be at a specific place at a specific time, as well as several opportunities to be at such specific places at specific times to make something happen.
""WE/I cAnnoT eXisT wItHiN rEAliTy, buT ReAlIty inCludES tiMe, sO wHIle wE/I canNOt InflUenCe It, we/I Can ExpERieNce iT frOm a DetAChed ViEW.""
Huh. That was... surprisingly helpful, all things told. Or at least informative.
""ThINk nOthiNG oF it, FeLloW eLdritCh IntElLecT. We/I hAve tO StICK toGetHer, afTer alL. NoW tHat ouR othEr FriEndS arE retuRNinG, They caN tRadE foR fOOd lIke BeFore, So dO noT wORry abouT ANimal irRegUlaritiEs aNymoRE.""
"That's all I needed to know. Thanks a lot for keeping them safe, saved me a lot of trouble. I'll keep an eye out for the lonely one."
""DoN'T WoRrY, iT WaS No tRoUbLe. If yOu nEeD AnY HeLp, JuSt rEmEmBeR YoU'Re nOt aLoNe. Oh, AnD We cAn hElP YoU LeAvE, tOo! HeRe!""
With a blinding flash, you find yourself at the entrance of the tunnels you entered earlier. Alright, looks like that went way smoother than expected, then. And you even made a new friend... you think.
So, time to return to the palace at top speed, is what you'd say if you had more time. But you don't have enough of it, you could go halfway at best as it is. So you are faced with the choice of either going partway and probably slumming it in someone's cellar in that waystation village you visited on the way or taking a cellar right where you are, not like the demons will suddenly all come up in one day, and going all the way tomorrow night, giving you a little more time here to train something instead.
Well, if you're doing something, may as well do it right. So you decide against trying to time your flight and just shadow your way into the cellar you briefly glimpsed in the foreman's house when you were searching through it ealier.
Taking a moment to contact Sarah, you tell her about what you found.
So, I found out about what's been causing disturbances, and I may or may not have made a new friend...
Gabe..., she thinks in a warning tone. This is going to be fun to tell her about, you can already feel it.
Once you're done, well, Sarah's literal unlife depends on it, so you'd best bet you're going to train the fuck out of shit.
Feeling over your thrall connection to Sarah, you smile contently. You're making some really good progress on this project. Still, while you did get a lot done, you have a lot yet to do, and pacing yourself will be important.
Eating your fruit in the usual morning ritual, you ask the maid body stationed nearby after the most mechnically inclined soul around for the purpose you need them for, leading to her porting over the soul they think best for it.
Nodding and exiting your soul palace, you summon said soul and have them go upstairs, describing what you want them to do. Secure in the knowledge the demons are going to have blueprints for some decent mining equipment later, you turn back to actually training your bullshit to become more bullshit.
Can't ever have enough bullshit, after all.
Well, this place has served you well, but it's about time you got going, so you shadow your way out of the residence you'd taken over for a bit and go grab the two wyvern zombies you left in the village square.
Jumping on, you point them at the direction of the capital they fly off with you on board of one. Now all you need is to wait... and maybe chat with Sarah a bit, you suppose.
Hey Sarah, got a moment? I made some progress I thought you'd like to hear about.
Eh, alright, gimme a moment. Just need to finish something up.
Waiting for a moment and not a second longer (hah), you proceed to share the good news.
So, I should now be able to freely choose the powers I can give you, I'm currently working on ensuring the powers I give you are kept as your powers once I turn you.
Okay, that's good. So, let's talk powers, and which ones would be nice to have.
So you do, and while Sarah begs off after a good long while, asking to take some time to think about it, you managed to convey everything important you could think of, giving her a good idea of her possibilities.
While it does take a significant amount of time afterwards for you to reach the royal capital, you eventually land and dismount from the undead you rode in on, giving them orders to follow the servants' words for the time being so they can have them walk into storage, even as they lead you to the hero corpse you happen to have lying around, a little worse for wear than when you last saw it, but nothing a quick Twist Corpse can't fix.
Now, what shall you do next? You could call a meeting with the usual suspects to figure out what to do next, or you could wait a day so you don't overtax the princess' sleep patterns. Alternatively, you could go talk to Sarah right now, and ask her about which two powers she'd like to start out with, though, again, that's not a thing you have to rush.
Finally, you still have half the night left, maybe it would be for the best if you simply went to your rooms and spent some time training. Sarah and the princess can come to you when they feel the need to, after all.
Taking a moment to call upon the servants standing by outside (and honestly, the servants of this place are great at their jobs), you have your attendant call upon both Sarah and the princess, seeking to plan out your next step in this little war.
When they congregate inside your room, it takes a few minutes to convey the sheer alien mindfuckery that is now going to be a constant part of the kingdom's northeastern mountain ranges, and a bit longer yet to calm the princess down as you insist it is largely harmless, but soon enough, she is convinced it's alright to just leave that whole situation alone as long as ore exports resume soon.
Meanwhile, official contact has been established with your renegade demon force, according to which they should be currently fighting the scout forces that were originally expecting reinforcements from their backs rather than renewed enemies. You do quite hope the undead you left with them will make short work of the humans, but without being there yourself, you'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Meanwhile, it seems Sarah took a look over the reports about happenings inside the capital, and after overusing her power for a bit she determined someone is deliberately stoking discontent for some reason. Though you having a 'hero's' corpse paraded through the streets has thrown that mysterious malefactor back in their efforts, you have no idea what they might do next to achieve whatever their plan is.
Though you suppose you could just leave it up to Sarah for now, too. Not like there's anything speaking against just having her track down more clues as to who is asking to die instead of acting yourself.
Aside from all that, there's still the reports about unusual happenings in human lands, as well as humanity's response to the way you have been savaging their armies. Your little think tank suggests they may start to send heroes after you once reports from the few surviving commanders trickle back to their seat of power, so maybe a diversionary tactic of some kind to force them to split their forces would be appropriate.
Wouldn't do to make like the late demon king and fight all of them at once, after all.
"Okay, so, first of all," you begin as you casually snatch up the princess, sit her on your lap and begin to grope her as you sum up the results of your meeting, "we'd best have Sarah keep on looking into this mysterious agitator with the use of her power and these two."
As you speak, you breathe out Coil and your compass soul, your sister already knowing how to use them and her power hopefully filling in any blanks in the information she receives.
"Joy. At least these two should make it easier not to overtax my power."
"Meanwhile, I shall have to see about distracting and dispersing the heroes in case they decide to actually strike down whoever is massacring entire human armies over here. To that end, what are your ideas on achieving this?"
"Well, you could always burn down a few villages some way into their borders. Apparently they would feel obligated to send someone to find the culprit, meaning less likelihood of their focused might coming for you," the princess says while trying to ignore how you just slipped your hands into her clothes.
"Alternatively, you could just fly into a larger human town, openly claim to be the new demon king and raise some hell, massacr a bunch of humans, that kinda thing. You'd just fly back in secret before any of them can arrive and you should be good."
"Lastly, you could try to subvert a feudal lord and any of his retainers into declaring open rebellion. With their actual army in shambles, they'd have to send the heroes to reinstate their reign the hard way, hopefully keeping them out of our hair for a good while."
"I think I'll go for the villages, after all. Less chance of any organized opposition, and I so like targeting the enemy's food to take them out."
"Got it. Just remember to tell us if you go. So, anything more we got to talk about? I know you don't care about the minutiae of running what's left of the kingdom."
"Just keep in mind you'll be hungry when I turn you, so make sure to keep a few human prisoners around for when the time comes."
Sliding your hand out of the princess' pussy, you make her lick it clean before getting up and depositing her exhausted body on your seat, bidding Sarah farewell for now while you go off to train for the day.
You spend the rest of the day quitely concentrating on Sarah's thrall-bond, trying to unclog that last bit of it you know to allow you to do what you need. While it's been a long time since you relied on your vampiric instinct for stuff like this, it's nice to know it is still intact and ready to point you in the right direction where necessary.
You kept on going until you nearly felt a change there, but before you can break through the last bottleneck, you feel the sun has gone down, distracting you from what you were doing.
Completing your little project (making you a little proud how soon you got it all done, actually) and with a smile on your face, you go off to find Sarah. Time to talk about what to get her now.
Finding her inside her rooms with the help of an attendant pointing you the way, you enter after asking permission telepathically, your sister awaiting you eagerly.
"So, you here to talk about powers?"
"Yup, I got everything working on my end, so all we need to do is to figure out what you want, let you mess around with what you can to make sure it's what you want and then I can turn you at an opportune moment."
"Okay, so the powers I got are cool, no question, but I want your advice for any that would work better for me. For starters, how good are your enhanced senses to the point they're a literal distinct power you can give me?"
What follows is about half an hour of you explaining details about powers that caught her eye to her. Most of your physical powers and cool special attacks aren't that interesting to her, apparently, though she certainly wouldn't object to having them.
In the end, her choices come down to Domination as a clear winner, judging from the way her eyes sparkle when you describe the limitations it has and which ones it doesn't have.
"How could you 'never really use' something this useful?!"
"I'm just spoiled for choice, honestly. I used it to force a bunch of horses to buck off their riders in the big battle you know about thanks to combining it with my animal speech power, but the occasion to use it just never came up, so I never got around to training it further."
Aside from that one, though, Sarah finds herself conflicted. Improved senses work great with her power, letting her gather more and more precise information to work off of, while your soul palace or mind eating power are a great way to become a little more powerful with every meal, being bulletproof a far last place in her listing.
"If I'm at risk of getting shot, something's gone wrong in the first place, and we have to prioritize on stuff here. I'd take it, of course, but it's not as valuable as some of the other stuff."
Oh, and of course you could also always go with sun resistance, though it's somewhat useless without yourself improving upon it further and passing that down to her.
Lastly, while your power to thrall others would be useful, she seems to be of the opinion it'd be a waste to have both of you have it when she can just have you thrall anyone important or powerful enough to be worth the bother, an opinion which you can't quite dispute. She has a point.
So, she's agonizing over her options here, somewhat spoiled for choice. Maybe you could suggest one of her favorites or give further input?
"Honestly, I'd say you get the soul palace now. The other stuff is great, but the palace allows you to use the souls that would otherwise just pass on and be wasted."
Sarah can't help but smile at your words.
"'And wasting food is not okay,' right? I still remember what you always told us. Okay, so how does this work?"
Not saying anything, you trigger the mechanism that lets you 'slot in' new powers in your thralls, the soul palace notably being slow and hard to use for this, though you manage.
"Huh. This feels weird... Also, it's strange to have lost the electricity after getting used to it for the last while."
"Take your time to get used to your new powers, or power, rather, the palace will stay inactive until I turn you. Still, have fun playing with what you can do now."
"Will do. Actually, could you tell the maid in attendance to come in when you go? I have to try this out now."
Smiling indulgently, you do as she asked, returning to your own rooms thereafter.
Spending the day training various things at your whim, you eventually end your regime when night falls.
A servant knocks on the door before you can decide on your next plan, however, bringing news you can only smile at.
The human scouting force has been decisively defeated, and the remnants of the demon army have arrived in the city, parading through the streets victoriously. Everyone knows the mysterious new demon king was the one that really defeated the human army and gave them their 'living siege engines', but that doesn't curb the festivities one bit.
Interlude: The Will Of The People
They were all gathering near the gates, having heard the news the day prior. It was still hard to believe the war would turn on a dime like they were told, but this would be sure proof of the truth, one way or the other.
When the first of the riders came in on their strange, deer-headed mounts, they all went quiet, hushed whispers spreading through the crowd. When the next wave of demons came through, pulling along rows of tied-up humans, the whispers increased in intensity.
When the enormous shape became discernible beyond the gate, dead silence fell over the square. Once it became visible, a giant monster with antlers of itself, the corpses of more humans hanging from ropes tied to its arms and antlers, the crowd exploded into roars of victory.
They hadn't been defeated yet.
This was only the start of the procession, but it was certainly the most imposing. Through all the streets of the capital the victorious army marched, letting everyone, from smallest child to oldest tottering grandparent, see the proof that the war was still being fought, even with their old king defeated.
The prisoners, plentily goaded throughout the impromptu parade, were being hit by rotten food and stones thrown from the jubilant masses, an improvised street festival being thrown together at the fact that demonkind still had fight in it.
""THE OLD KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING! LONG LIVE THE KING!""
Looking over the mass of kneeling captives with some satisfaction, you let your gaze wander over the actually important people in the room (as opposed to ingredients).
First of all, your sister is standing right next to you in the courtyard, looking a little nervous, but also giddy. A little further you have the demon commander, who came to report to you or whoever was in the palace, as well as the princess receiving his reposrt right there and glancing your way every now and then. Must've caught wind of what you're going to be doing now. Amongst the prisoners, but specially taken to the side are your two catches in the battle of the hearts, as some have come to call the raid in which you pushed the human army out of the heartlands, though you're sure someone will come up with another name for it in short order.
"Alright, Sarah, you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. So, how do we do this?"
"First I feed you a decent amount of blood to start up the ritual, then I technically kill you for a bit, then you come back to life. That part will be all on me, once you return, just trust your instincts for what to do next."
Looking right at you, she smiles.
"Alright. I trust you, Gabe."
Smiling back at her, you take her hand, silently affirming your determination. Using your claws to open a decently sized cut, you let Sarah take your hand into both of hers and guide it to her mouth, lapping the blood welling from your palm even as you measure the progress on the ritual you are conducting instinctively.
After a minute or two, you guess she should have had enough, though you give her a little more just to be on the safe side, before you gently draw your hand through her hair, revealing her slender neck for the next part.
Without further indications for what is about to happen, you strike, carefully biting into Sarah's neck and drawing out her blood, until all that is left are a few drops... and the blood you are feeding her.
She hasn't stopped licking your palm.
All of a sudden, her eyes gleam a little, and her teeth begin to grow, being immediately jammed into your hand to extract just a little more blood.
"Hey Sarah..." You say, receiving no response. "There's a lot of food right there, just for you."
As you gesture with your free hand, her eyes follow the motion and once she sees the tied up and kneeling humans/prey, she can't hold herself back. Tearing her teeth out of your hand, she bounds over to the first row of horrified looking men, throwing the first one to the ground and biting into his neck, draining as much blood as quickly as she can.
The others try to move away, but the demons overseeing them quickly beat them back into place, when they aren't busy staring at what is happening in horrified fascination. Sarah isn't stopping at one.
It is six prisoners later that her initial hunger for blood seems to abate, the slightly panting Sarah idly licking blood off her face. Honestly, she's just way too cute like this.
"Why didn't you tell me how I'd feel? Now I've gotten blood all over my clothes!" She says, the beginnings of a pout forming.
"I mean, it would still have happened one way or the other. This way you just didn't stress out over it beforehand."
"Hmpf! I'll go change, then we can see how this stuff worked."
