Chapter I – From an End to a new Beginning
The small towel was completely ruined. Useless. And that after only four wipes.
Red dotted the floor beneath me, glistening in its wetness. The entire bathroom appeared as if an Artist was let loose and went crazy with splashing the once pristine white marble with red.
It was such a pretty contrast…
Sighing in muted annoyance I threw the towel in the sink and watched it burn into nothingness before removing my ruined suit and stepping into the shower to get the substance off me.
Like Clockwork, my hands moved first to my hair and then categorically further down until I was clean again.
A new suit was already laid out on the countertop.
It was an anthracite wool high waisted suit pants, a fitting silk chemise, west, buttoned jacket and coat combination.
Drying off and changing, I swept out of the bathroom, my Heels softly tapping on the floor as I ignored the carnage around me.
Decapitated, mutilated, cut, shot, gutted and more bodies laid strewn around me. Walls, ceilings, and everything around was soaked in their blood. Between all that, men in black suits were moving around, gathering any valuable items still intact, some carrying the bodies out of the vicinity to deal with later. Each of them gave a small bow at my passing, avoiding eye contact and moving out of my way.
"Vuko, moj dragi. Gde si?", I called out softly and sensed the shift around me as a presence appeared next to me before I had even finished.
Wrapped in shadows, a disembodied, rough voice answered.
"Tu sam Kraljica. What can your wolf do for you?"
"Call a meeting. I have some news to share."
"Who shall attend?"
"All of them"
"…It shall be done. Will 20:00 be acceptable?"
"yes"
With that the form vanished as swiftly as it had appeared, and I left the building.
*This is troubling. I will have to move my plans forward. Alfons will have to be notified as well. Mm.. *
Giving a short glance at my surroundings to check for any unwanted attention, I gave a sharp whistle.
Echoes of the high-pitched noise reverberated all around me but went unnoticed in the cacophony of this city.
Moments later I picked up the sound of paws stalking on pavement and looked at the dark alley on the other side of the street from where I stood and spotted two glowing red spots coming closer.
"Azazel. Why do you insist on trying to surprise me. It. Will. Never. Work."
A low growl was my answer as black tendrils warped from the shadows across from me and creeped along the ground towards me. A huge black paw with claws as big as my entire hand came into view, followed by a black furred tree trunk of a leg, a chest as wide as a car and a humongous feline head.
Az, originally Azazel, was once a Great Guardian from an ancient kingdom, who after being saved by me, became one of my familiars and protectors. He mainly resembled a gargantuan panther, albeit a bit more demonic with his molten lava-colored eyes, shadowy tendrils as fur and six limbs. Ah yes, and his second head and twin, Zel, of course.
The humongous feline stood at around 10 feet tall at the shoulders and with his split tails at least double that in length. Funny thing…They enjoyed being my pack mule and carrier. Even though both heads had their own personality, some traits and ideas were shared. One of them, their overprotectiveness towards me and those I considered mine as well as the idea that the ground was not worthy of my being, whatever that meant. -.-''
And another thing…The both really enjoyed seeing if they could catch me off-guard. At least once a week, I would be engaged in battle. Be it a battle of will, sass, wit, strength, speed or even pranks. Ever since we bonded that time long ago, there has never been a boring moment in my life.
"Mistress, you should know us by now, Az and I will never stop.", Zel spoke in his raspy voice, as they stepped closer to me and sat down in front of me. Their claws created deep grooves in the ground with soon filled with a dark substance. Poison.
Holding the bridge of my nose and shaking my head in exasperation at their antics, I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards in a tiny smile which vanished immediately thereafter.
"I know. Az, Zel. It is time. The target has (un)willingly shared the information we've been looking for and it looks far grimmer than I expected. Protocol 093 starts now. Inform the others and be ready by 9 this evening."
"Your wish is our command Mistress; it shall be done." With that I jumped onto their back, and we bounded down the streets, unseen by any other even in the glowing lights of this technology infested city.
It took us less than ten minutes at the speeds we were travelling at to reach our destination.
The great compound was barely lit, what with most of the members out and about on clean up duty from our last mission, but the main house bathed us in its warm glow as soon as we entered the front yard. The rustic compound with ancient Grecian aesthetic was truly a sight and showed off power and wealth to any who stood in its presence. The entire structure was built on a hill, surrounded by a steep moat and high security wall that could withstand nearly anything thrown at it. The mansion as well as the second compound were built entirely out of marble and obsidian, the second material being in the forefront because of its beautiful dark shine. Columns, depicting wars and bloody battles lined the façade and entrance. The roof has made with Italian volcano tiles which made it more durable as well as kept the heat out in summer and the cold out in winter.
Hidden from sight were thousands of panels with weapons, traps, and other little fun things, should there ever be a breach in security.
Azazel moved us closer, and I saw one of my most trusted already waiting for us and jumped down from my furry companion.
Gabriel was a tall gentleman, appearing in his late twenties and made an imposing figure at 6 foot something. As always, the male had his black hair slicked back to the nape of his neck, smart glasses rested on his straight nose and his silvery eyes were narrowed. He was in a pinstriped suit of his own, a smooth black that shone in the soft light behind him, black leather gloves and a smart black tie over his pristine white shirt. He had a slightly muscled figure, but nothing really that stood out. He appeared put together and dapper, but otherwise unextraordinary in comparison to some of my other companions…
"Lady Auset, welcome back. I take it, the mission was a success. Preparations have started and should finish just in time for the gathering. Vuko has informed me of the happenings. A small snack has been prepared and is waiting for you in your chambers as well as a variation of fits for this evening.", Gabriels's voice was as smooth as oil as his voice dripped with a naturally seductive tone. He gave a sharp bow, with his right hand folded over his chest, the other in the back.
"Thank you, Gabriel. See to it that everything is finished on time. Send Deus up in an hour and gather the others in my room at 9. Protocol 093 has been set into motion. You and the others shall be ready when the meeting with the old geezers is done." I sent him a long look, which he understood and left immediately to do as I told.
This was going to be a long evening. And it was only 5 in the afternoon…
General POV
The Lady of the compound was taking a bath, while her most trusted were following her orders on getting everything ready for this evening and the coming spectacle. Gabriel, the "Head butler", was seen walking from room to room, coordinating his teams to clean and tidy everything up, cook the menu and pack up everything necessary.
Gabriel was known to be a control freak and as such made sure everything was spotless, otherwise there would be dire consequences for the ones who had messed up. His subordinates were rightly scared of the Demon butler, how they liked to call him, not that he cared about his nickname as long as nobody dared to call him that name in his face.
Azazel, after bringing his mistress to the mansion had vanished to inform his companions and fellow familiars of the happenings as well as play his part in protocol 093. He was proud in his Mistress' trust of his abilities and just like Gabriel made sure that everything went accordingly.
Sometimes a shadowy figure could be glimpsed in the rooms of the mansion, followed by objects just vanishing into thin air.
Vuk, another one of the Lady's most trusted, was a shadow-being and her top assassin and informant. When he was not travelling through the shadow dimension and one could see, he seemed rather human-like. Standing at an impressive 2.4 m, he was the second tallest of the "Devil's trio".
He had medium, shaggy hair which was usually hidden by a black top hat, glowing red eyes, pale skin and a slight, nearly malnourished form for his size. Clad in layers of a baroque style three-piece suit, undercoat as well as a topcoat and scarf, he appeared quite strange and out of time. Black leather gloves like Gabriels, didn't really help there nor did his wolf-like fangs when he smiled…
His ability to walk and morph with shadows meant that he was very good with clean up as well though, which was one of his roles in the protocol. From time to time, he and Gabriel would cross paths and tension would break out. These two, as close and devoted they were to the same person, could not stand each other's presence and tension grew around them every time they spotted the other.
In the past, when the tension came to be too great, their Mistress had forced them to face each other in a spar, that to any other person would have been quite deadly, but for them was nothing more than a slightly more intense spar, where it was completely normal when cut off body parts were flying around and the ground was soaked through in blood and black substance. After all, as much as they seemed to hate one another, they made an incredible team and would never dare to injure the other irrevocably.
Another being that could be seen walking around, transporting strange black bags from the cellars up to his Lady's chambers, was a gargantuan male.
He was at least 3.5 meters in height and seemingly just as wide with his tanned muscles.
Deus, Asmodeus in full, was a former Warlord from a glacier tribe and had a history soaked in hardships, blood, and battle. He had a long undercut as well as a scruffy beard that just made for an even more intimidating look. Tattoos of monsters he defeated, and his people's history painted his body. A strangely metallic earring was always on his left ear, something most assumed to be a relic from his tribe and most of the time he was seen wearing tactical gear with a sleeveless ensemble up top for freedom of movement. Next to Deus, he was the main point of defense in aggressive situations as nobody usually dared to attack the giant of a man when they saw his. Less even when they saw him wielding his weapons which was a pair of spiked chain whips as well as a great Warhammer, which gave him the nickname "Thor".
He had fought in countless battles and won numerous wars before his destiny changed and he joined Lady Auset and became her most-trusted, brother and protector.
Ever since then he enjoyed the position of war general and Chief strategist.
Today though he was entrusted with a very important task that no one, even Gabriel and Vuk knew of.
They were rather curious as to what was in those dozens of bags he was carrying around, some even bigger than him, which said quite a lot.
2 hours later - 7 pm
On the other side of the mansion, four floors up, a great double door opened, and white waves of steam rolled out and swept across the marble floors. A tan foot with red painted toes appeared from the thick fog, milky smooth skin and a curvy figure clad in only a white towel followed.
The woman that stepped out was a vision.
Sylvestra Ebony Auset was of royal heritage, one could see that immediately. Luscious, wavy and long black tresses danced around her upper body.
A fine aristocratic face showed her blue blood, high cheekbones formed into a sharp chin, thick curved eyebrows, always narrowed in indifference gave off an air of coldness just like her narrow nose with a tiny upturn at the tip. Rosy Cupid bow lips hid blinding white and sharp teeth with a tongue just as sharp in words.
Although the female had quite gracious curves, they were tightly muscled, and her body held a silent strength she hid behind her suits. Now, with only a towel hiding the bare minimum of her body, some details stood out though.
Her left arm, instead of the mocha color of the rest of her body, was black. Starting at her fingertips and going up to the middle of her upper arm, it was entirely black. So black in fact, that no light seemed to shine on it and one's eyes drifted off just after a couple of moments, not able to process the sight. From the upper arm, that black morphed into the normal skins color, not gradually though, no, in a flame-like design that even more strangely seemed to constantly shift. Just like tongues of fire.
And just like her arm, there was a large spot of the same blackness peeking out from the top edge of her towel, just between her breasts. Just what was this?
But the most striking thing was not her figure, nor the strange black markings.
The most inhumane feature was her eyes. Almond shaped and average in size they didn't immediately took notice when closed, but when open?
A soulless black sclera, black as her markings, surrounded unnaturally glowing red orbs with golden slit pupils. Those were not the eyes of a human.
And as she shifted her dark tresses parted a bit and an ear came into light. A long sharp-tipped ear, adorned with ruby red crystals and other ornaments.
What was this woman?
Well, not human for starters. And soon a lot of people would come to know just how inhuman she truly was…