Blood Ties, Part 17

You run your fingers through Annabeth's curly blonde hair, guiding her as she tries her best to suck your dick. At this point, it's more for her entrenching her own submission than the pleasure her earnest yet fumbling efforts are giving... but practice makes perfect. And the more she can develop her skills, the better they will serve her in her own endeavors.

After a while, you speak to her. "Good girl..." you murmur, taking a firmer hold of her head and pulling her temporarily off your cock. "Now, since you've been so obedient... I have a gift for you. Something that will help you to entice those around you, and have the same kind of fun with them that you're having with me. But in return, you have to give me a promise. Promise me that you'll stay safe. Spread what you've learned to one or two trusted friends... but not so far that you put yourself in danger of discovery by the kind of people who wouldn't understand."

The girl's eyes widen a bit at the display of concern, and she nods vigorously. "I promise, sir," she says in a small, worshipful voice. "I'll stay safe, I swear it."

As she speaks the words, your palm glows, and the binding contract is formed, the demonic influence suffusing her soul. You give her all the usual seductive powers that your boon can provide, including the control over her own fertility; no sense in letting an unplanned pregnancy spoil your burgeoning little group of loyal pleasure-seekers by attracting attention. The young woman's eyes light up and she sucks in a rapturous breath, as she realizes the full weight of what you've bestowed upon her.

"It's... amazing..." she whispers, half to herself, as she feels the effects. "Ceriss... she was so... mistaken about the incubi. You're nothing like she warned me!"

"Oh?" you say, seizing the opportunity to inquire further after your true quarry. "Your teacher told you about us?"

Annabeth nods, while rubbing her cheek against your cock. "One of the first lessons she taught me was to never dabble with the forces of Hell. That no matter what else I learned as a mage... and no matter what offer I was tempted with... summoning anything from the infernal planes would be a terrible danger for myself and everyone around me."

"I'm surprised," you say. "I'd have thought she'd be at least a bit more sympathetic to the denizens of my Circle, at least, given her own attitudes toward sexuality."

The girl hesitates. "It... sounded like she had a particular animosity toward incubi, actually. Ceriss said that if I ever met one, he would most likely use me and abandon me, without any qualm. She said that the incubi only care about the pleasure of the moment... and that they always leave the innocent behind, to bear the burdens of their indulgence."

Then Annabeth looks down, not meeting your eyes. "She... she sounded especially sad and angry when she talked about the burdens they leave people to bear," the girl says quietly, her voice becoming sad. "I think... I think she might have been thinking about her mother."

You suppress a wince. Is that how Ceriss saw her own birth? With the rampant prejudice against tieflings you can see how she might have come to feel that way, that she'd been a burden to her just by existing.

Certainly, you can't deny that—creatures of pleasure and ecstasy though they may be—there are no shortage of your fellow incubi and succubi who do not care nearly enough about the long-term pleasure of the mortals they feed from. You know Ceriss' mother worked as a prostitute. And shapeshifting is a common power in the Second Circle, one that many of your kind develop as they grow in age and power. So it's not hard at all to imagine a different incognito incubi could have used her to feed on in passing.

That said... you also know how trivially easy it is for an incubus to make their seed inert. And given just how easy it is, to knock up a random prostitute in passing—for no discernible reason, after she shared her pleasure with you—would indeed be the grossest of negligence.

Not that such negligence (or outright lack of concern) could never happen, of course. Still... part of you can't help wondering if that's really the whole story. Can't help wondering if even Ceriss herself truly knows the whole story.

It's a long shot. But you could try asking someone familiar with the family's early years. The Madame already indicated that she had no intention of gossiping about the past. But you also know from your brief chat with Ceriss that Kolfinn the dwarf was deeply involved with her and her mother as well. Perhaps if you talked with him, you could dig up more information out of him on the subject?

Either way, Ceriss' animosity toward demons is no longer much of a mystery. Her very first knowledge of incubi was as liars who take advantage of unsuspecting women, then abandon them to their fate without a care. Taking those kind of trust issues into account will probably prove crucial for how you proceed. In the meantime, you hazard a guess based on that. "Is this why she developed that spell against aphrodisiacs? To make sure she couldn't be taken advantage of in that way?"

Annabeth nods. "I think so. It works against more than just incubus aphrodisiac—all kinds of other tricks that she told me men sometimes use—but... I'm pretty sure it was the demons who she was thinking of, more than anyone else."

Wonderful. Your current prey is a tiefling who—while promiscuous herself—despises her own ancestry... and who has loaded up her body with anti-incubus protective enchantments. And while you were able to figure out how to dispel the imperfect version cast by her student, you don't imagine for a moment that you're intelligent enough to dispel a casting performed by one of the greatest spellcasters alive.

The girl, meanwhile, continues. "Ceriss told me to keep the spell up regularly. But... she also told me that it does dampen the overall pleasure of sex, just a tiny bit. So she said I could take it down sometimes. But only if I'm with someone I really, really trust."

Interesting... So if you wanted to catch her with your aphrodisiac, you could try to convince her that "Niko" is unthreatening enough to lower her guard. Or alternatively... you could always work to win her heart and devotion without resorting to any aphrodisiac at all. Seducing her the mortal way, with nothing but your impossible charm and raw sexual skill.

With a great deal to ponder, you finish up with Annabeth. You give her a few more basic pointers on how to use the power you've given her, and how best to explore for herself the new vistas you've opened up for her. But before much longer, you realize it's time you left. Giving her one last searing kiss that leaves her toes curling, you open her bedroom window and slip out into the night.

Once you've escaped the manor grounds, you return to your Niko form and dart back through the city as swiftly as you can. Upon returning to your current residence, you sneak back in, then slip into bed with the still-sleeping Janessa.

You even make good enough time that you can grab a few uninterrupted hours of slumber, a welcome change after your previous late-night escapades. While not nearly to the mortal extent, even you need some degree of sleep. And you've been pushing those limits over the past few days.

It's Janessa who eventually wakes you, gently shaking you back from the realm of dreams. With a mumble you roll over and look blearily up at her, to which she responds with a fond smile. "Come on," she says. "Let's go see if the extra help General Raxien sent was enough to help Ceriss catch that murdering bastard."

The two of you quickly clean and dress yourselves, then set out for Ceriss' manor to learn how the hunt went last night. You are allowed in straightaway, and find that the general is already there, along with one of his soldiers, a younger man. Not one of the ordinary rank-and-file, but someone with the trappings of a scout.

Ceriss has a worried expression on her face, like she's pondering an unwelcome development. General Raxien looks troubled as well, his face a brooding thundercloud as he drums his table they're sitting at. They look up as you enter, Ceriss looking glad to see you, while Raxien betrays no new emotion. You frown. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"There may be a... complication," says the general. "With ramifications that we did not expect. Sergeant, repeat what you told us you observed."

"Yes sir!" the scout says. "I was out on the town as the general requested. At first I didn't see anyone suspicious... but eventually I caught sight of someone who matched the description the general gave us. A tall man, with a long coat and a wide hat so you couldn't see his face. He was lurking in the shadows, just on the edge of the light from one of the spell-lamps."

"He was watching a pair of prostitutes from a distance... but there were a few other soldiers talking with the girls. And eventually he left. My guess? Probably didn't want to make a move with so many witnesses swarming the streets. But I didn't have enough to be sure it was him, so I followed as best I could."

"He stopped to watch a few other girls from the shadows as well. But there were just too many of us out in force. He could never find a clear opening, where one of the girls was alone. And... he also kept looking at the sky. Like he was wary of it."

Wary of Ceriss, no doubt, after his close call the night before. He'd barely escaped when it had just been her alone. And now, thanks to Janessa, he has to contend with a net of other eyes on top of that, all out to hunt him down. Does he feel like the walls are closing in on him, the more dangerous it gets to try and fulfill his twisted, torment-soaked desires?

The Sergeant continues. "Eventually, he seemed to just gave up altogether. I followed him away from the red light district, keeping myself hidden all the while. And the place he went was..." The man swallows. "...to the noble quarter. To the manor of Lord Hastrik."

Janessa sucks in a quick breath, and you let your eyebrows go up. The scout just continues. "It was only after he was within the gates that he took off the disguise before going inside. I've seen Lord Hastrik once or twice before, when he came to our camp to inspect our war materiel. And I'm sure it was him."

Ceriss' fists clench. "But this isn't proof," she says. "We can't just accuse a man of murder on the basis that he wore a coat and a hat, and looked suspiciously at some people!"

"Even if we had a stronger case, Hastrik is particularly well-connected in the aristocratic circles," rumbles General Raxien, his frown darkening even more. "That's why he's been able to hold onto such an important and prestigious role in the war effort, despite his staggering ineptitude at that kind of administration. If we want to make anything stick... it will have to be something so damning that not even all his friends and backers can save him. The nobility do not turn on their own lightly. Even if we could prove it, a few dead whores... may not be enough."

"That depends on how well we sell our case," says Janessa, her expression angry and intent. "And at least we have a lead now that we didn't before. It's progress. Even if we still have obstacles to overcome."

Ceriss interrogates the Sergeant for a while longer, going over every detail of his story. And though he seems eager to help, you glean little else from what he saw. Eventually, that topic exhausted, the two military men excuse themselves, citing other duties. Which leaves only you, Ceriss and Janessa.

"So... what's our next move?" Janessa asks.

"Shouldn't we gather all the information we can, before we decide?" you say. "Ceriss, have you talked with the... contact... we met yesterday?"

The tiefling shakes her head. "Not yet," she says. "Janessa, could you wait here for a bit? This source is... skittish. She probably won't show if there's someone she doesn't recognize."

The older woman nods in understanding, and you and Ceriss leave the manor. It isn't far to the alley rendezvous you gave to Meska, and she's already waiting nearby—albeit down in the sewers. She emerges after you arrive, silently and gracefully, then bows low to you both.

"Greetings, most noble of big ones," she says. "I have done as you asked. My clan has been having their eyes on the streets for the evil one you hunt, to prove our good faith. We were indeed seeing one that was matching the description very well. And saw where he went, to his place of living!"

She walks hesitantly toward the powerful sorceress, and hands her a rough map drawn on a scrap of paper. Ceriss glances at the location indicated there, and her lip curls. "Hastrik..." she says, the map confirming what the Sergeant already told you.

Meska hesitates.

It's so very brief. An almost imperceptible fluctuation in the facade she's putting up, trying to pass herself off as an innocent ratfolk helping her country, instead of a spy for Kovora. Her skills are top-notch, just as you would expect of such an accomplished spy. But your perception is even more impossibly acute.

And from your read of her... you suspect that she's not telling you the entire story. Your instinct tells you that there's something else. Something more. Something that she's actually conflicted about whether or not to reveal. Though she hides that indecision almost perfectly.

You don't think she's actually lying in what she has told you. Particularly since the Sergeant confirmed it independently. So if she was willing to reveal that much... why not this? The only thing you can think of is that it might be connected to their spy work. Some detail that might create fresh suspicion on her entire clan, if Ceriss were to learn it from them.

Meska has told you the truth. But not the whole truth. She knows something more about what she learned last night. Something that is important enough that she wants to mention... but doesn't feel that she can.

Ceriss, not noticing any of this, simply thanks her. Meska bows once again, fading back into the sewers. Your mind, meanwhile, is already racing, trying to determine your next move. Trying to determine what you will do with the fleeting hours of this morning.

If you ventured out on your own, you could locate Meska and her clan. Not as "Niko", Kovora's enemy, but as the incubus agent of the Witch Queen. You could learn exactly what they didn't tell Ceriss, as well as bring their efforts more directly under your control.

You could also take your investigation directly to Hastrik himself, following up on that lead directly. You could watch him from a distance, seeing what you can learn through surveillance. Or you could try and talk your way into his confidence, trying to glean subtle clues as best you can. Or you could confront him in a more direct manner, trying to force a slip out of him... at the cost of revealing that you suspect him.

Alternatively, if you wanted to devote the day to your other objective, you could try to hang around Ceriss as much as possible, helping her with the normal courtly responsibilities that have doubtless been piling up, considering all the effort she's been devoting to this manhunt.

Not to mention the many other loose ends that still may prove crucial. Kolfinn the dwarf may still have useful information, both about the killer and about Ceriss. There's also the witness who caught a glimpse of the killer. And the strange old man who was watching your investigation at the site of Ceriss' battle, along with the two men from the crowd who attacked you when you pursued him.

How does all of it fit together?

There's also the question of Janessa. She's free today, unlike yesterday when she spent the day requesting help from General Raxien to fulfill her promise to Ceriss. If you wanted, you could ask her to accompany you on most of the available tasks, with the obvious exception of approaching the ratfolk in your true form. You're sure she would cherish the chance to spend more of your fleeting time here with you.

If you bring her along, her presence could affect the course of events in any number of unknown ways, small or large. You'd also be able to chat as you pursue the various objectives, giving you a chance to affect your relationship a bit. Maybe move her more in the direction of a threesome, or even talk up the possibility that helping Kovora in their quest for peace might be the right thing after all.

You're pretty sure you'd have to start subtly, however, and probably couldn't get her all the way there in just what little conversation you can squeeze in between your other objective. It would probably take multiple such conversations to pull off something like that. Especially not convincing her to throw in with Kovora, which would probably require even more effort than just the threesome alone.

That said, you could spend the day on a full-fledged date, focused only on her. That would, at the very least, push that progress along significantly more than just an offhanded chat in between other objectives.

Alternatively, you could ask her to look into some of the other tasks that you have outstanding. She probably wouldn't be able to learn quite as much as you would in most cases... but it would allow you to multi-task, which might make up for that.

In addition, as if all that wasn't time sensitive enough, tomorrow is the day you'll have to spend in further negotiations with Lord Kovar about your false offer of aid. Cutting down on your available time even more. Though you might be able to ask Janessa to investigate something that day too, even while you're occupied.

And of course, you still don't know what the killer's next move will be. He's been foiled twice now, with more and more people joining the hunt against him, in addition to the legendary heroine. How will he react? And when will his next move happen?