Where the Heart Is, Part 20

Mockingbird stands there, fidgeting in place, unable to meet your eyes as she's pulled in different directions by her stormy desires and emotions. You hold up your hands. "Look..." you say, your voice calm and reassuring. "We shouldn't rush this. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable about anything."

Then you take a few steps closer and kneel down, switching away from direct seduction, and toward a sense of camaraderie for your common goal. "Besides. If the incubus hasn't already shown up by now, he's probably not going to take the bait. At least not today. What do you say we get out of this place, and follow up on that lead Rifek found instead? Just the two of us. That might stand a better chance of tracking the bastard down than waiting around here."

Mockingbird seizes on the excuse you present with the urgency of a drowning woman scrambling for a lifeline. "Yes!" she blurts out. "Yes, let's do that! Where was that hideout supposed to be anyway?"

"I need to settle some things here first before I can leave," you say. "Why don't you sneak out ahead, and meet me by the entrance to Copper Street? I'll follow once I've finished up everything here."

The words have hardly left your mouth before Mockingbird is bolting for the window. Just as you planned, your suggestion offers her the hope of enough space to work through her turbulent feelings, while still working toward her ultimate goal of keeping Elianna safe. You wait until she's gone, and then turn toward the center of the room, stretching out your hand.

What you're about to do will come at a cost to your long-term plans... but it's a cost you're willing to pay. Your dreamwalking has managed to create a window in which you have a devastating advantage over the mad incubi in the battle of information. And they don't realize it yet. You can't pass up this opportunity without making the most of it. You can't risk your enemies catching on, and changing their plans. You need to strike.

And you need to strike hard.

"Verika," you murmur, reaching out through the connection formed with her by your corruptive boon. There aren't any words, not exactly, but the intent flows through regardless. "Verika, I need you."

A summoning circle forms on the ground in front of you, glowing with the fires of Hell and with a pentagram inscribed within. There is a blast of smoke and brimstone, and then Verika is standing in front of you, looking extremely disoriented. "What the...? Tal? I... I thought I felt you calling me, and... and then..."

You flash her a reassuring grin. "Don't worry," you say. "It's just a trick I picked up recently. The time was finally right to use it."

The ranger looks down at her body, like she's checking that it's all still in one piece. "Is... that what it's like for you?" she asks, bewildered. "Whenever you're summoned?"

Since you don't know exactly what she experienced, all you can do is shrug. After a few more seconds of disorientation, the heroine shakes herself and focuses on the more immediate issues. "Well. If you called me off the phoenix hunt, then I assume there were unexpected complications here."

"You could say that." You mouth twists into a mirthless smile. "The rest of the mad incubi have shown their faces. Friends of the one we killed in Vekmar. I tipped off Alicia about one of them that was watching her, but there are still three more in the city. As well as their leader."

Verika's expression goes grim. She knows what that means. Both for you, and for the innocent inhabitants of the capitol that are suffering the depredations of these monsters. "What do you need me to do?" she asks, without hesitation.

"One of them is following me wherever I go," you explain. "He's taken the form of a bird. You should be able to pick him out, since he keeps directly overhead as I move through the city. Mockingbird and I are going to rescue the women they've abducted... but unless we do something about him, he'll warn their hideout if he sees me approaching it."

"So you want him shot down and killed," says Verika, understanding immediately. "Consider it done."

"Be careful," you warn her. "These demons are incredibly powerful. You'll need to make the most of the element of surprise if you want to have a chance."

At this, Verika flashes you a wry smile. "Don't worry," the drow says, ruefully. "Remember who you're talking to. I was the best assassin in a land where assassination was practically the national pastime. And I've only gotten better since then."

The ranger pulls an arrow from her quiver, then opens a pouch on her belt and takes out a small vial of a tar-like substance, which she very carefully applies to the arrowhead. You frown. "That may not work well. Their regeneration is on a completely different level. And even normal demonic regeneration dulls the effectiveness of most poisons."

Verika finishes the application, then glances up at you. "Most poisons," she says. "This one is... special. A little concoction I came up with myself a while back, specifically to help against monsters with supernatural healing. Even if it only slows his recovery a tiny bit, a fraction of a second could make a huge difference in a fight like this. You just focus on what you need to do, Tal. I've got your back."

You nod. "Thank you. Once it's done, get out of sight as quickly as you can. Sneak over to the Griffon's Feather tavern and meet up with a ratfolk named Rifek. He's the leader of the Thousand Eyes in this city. He can hide you until we regroup for our next move."

With that, you exit the room, descend the stairs, and walk out onto the bustling street. You make your way through the crowd, heading toward Copper Street, still not giving any indication that you know you're being followed. Soon you detect Verika shadowing you as well. But you pay her no heed, working instead to keep the incubus above focused on you. You start to duck and weave, as though you're trying to evade notice, forcing the "bird" to pay closer attention to what you're doing or risk losing you. And as a result he's paying less attention elsewhere, giving him even less chance to notice the true threat that's about to strike.

It doesn't take long. Once Verika has identified which bird is following you, there is the almost-imperceptible sound of an arrow slicing through the air. Now you do glance up, just in time to see the poisoned shaft pierce straight through the bird's small skull, skewering its head. It lets out a strangled cry, tumbling earthward as its wings flap spasmodically. Before it even hits ground, two more arrows tear through it, one through its torso, the other through one of its wings.

But even as it plummets, the insane healing of the monster is still trying to recover, even as he instinctively shifts back into his demonic form to better defend himself. Now Verika abandons stealth in favor of an all-out sprint. She weaves gracefully through the crowd, then leaps up to intercept the falling demon, drawing a curved blade and slashing in a single smooth motion. There's a spray of blood, before the demon crashes to earth.

And then the screaming starts.

All the citizenry start to run, and you follow suit. Behind you, you can hear the sounds of pitched battle. Verika tears into the withered incubus, attacking the sadistic monster with all the ruthless precision of the hardened killer she once was. She's a dervish of death, each vicious slash flowing into the next with eerie grace, hounding him as he tries to scramble away and get some distance. She doesn't allow the fiend so much as a moment to recover, knowing that even a slight opening could give him a chance to turn the tables.

Placing your trust in Verika's skill, you run onward, not giving any potential witnesses the slightest sign that anyone who might later be identified as "Kavia" was in league with a corrupted heroine. Instead you head for the rendezvous with Mockingbird. Soon, the sounds of combat and panic fade into nothing behind you.

You make your way across the city, eventually arriving at Copper Street. It's a sign of how tangled Mockingbird's emotions are that she doesn't try to surprise you from stealth this time. Instead she reveals herself by simply walking out of the shadows of an alley. The halfling looks up at you, trying and failing to fight back a blush that is visible even behind her mask.

"So..." she says, digging into the ground a little with her toe as she shifts uncomfortably. "Where is this hideout, then?"

"Right there," you say, pointing up at the warehouse further down the block. It's an old, decrepit building, like many of the others in this slum area. The perfect sort of place to stay beneath notice. "Rifek said that it was suspicious, and that there had been vague rumors of demonic activity of some kind. But he also said the timelines didn't add up, and some of the rumors were from times when the incubus should have still been in the Great Forest. Still... it might be worth checking out."

Mockingbird gives the building a quick look up and down, the master thief picking apart its vulnerable points in a single glance. "This shouldn't be too hard," she says, cracking her neck back and forth. She's palpably relieved to be back in her element, to have something to focus on that she understands. And—just perhaps—she's also eager to show off for the rival she has such conflicted feelings for. "Try to keep up!"

With that, she darts away toward the warehouse. You run after her, watching from behind as she makes several jaw-dropping jumps, flipping through the air with effortless grace. She uses some crates piled on the outside for some initial height, before leaping across to a second-story window, balancing on the narrow sill.

The windows have a simple set of vertical metal bars instead of the normal wooden slats, installed to deter intruders. But looking up at them, you notice a vulnerability that Mockingbird caught onto right away. Whoever did the job didn't pay for enough bars on the second-story windows to completely rule out any possibility of access. And the bars on this one window, in particular, are more sloppily positioned than the others.

Mockingbird twists herself with a contortionist's grace, slipping her tiny, lithe body through the gap, then leaping up into the rafters and out of sight. Compared to the kind of security she's used to dealing with, a simple, rundown warehouse like this must barely even register as an obstacle to her.

You, on the other hand...

For a moment, you debate trying to find another way in. But you want to stay as close to Mockingbird as possible... and so you put your trust in your natural, basic demonic agility. With a running start, you try your best to follow the rogue's acrobatic path. You barely manage to make it to the window... but you do make it. Though unlike Mockingbird's impossible balance, you have to cling to the bars just to keep yourself from falling back down, and you dangle precariously for a few seconds.

Now comes the "fun" part. You scrunch yourself as much as you can, and try to press yourself between the bars. Fortunately, while Kavia is no halfling, you at least made her on the slender side in most areas. Though you do find yourself wishing that you'd made her a bit less buxom.

It's a slow, painful push. And for a moment you're tempted to subtly shapeshift to make it easier. But you hang onto the last reserves of your Lust, instead gritting your teeth and squeezing through on sheer willpower. When you finally push through to the other side with a gasp, you see Mockingbird looking down from her perch in the rafters with amusement.

"You could have just picked the lock on one of the doors down there," you grumble up at her in a whisper.

"Maybe," replies Mockingbird, with a teasing grin. "But this was the easiest way to get the high ground on whoever's in there, you know?" As well as a chance to watch you struggle while she showed off for you, of course. Though that part goes without saying.

She reaches down, bracing herself as she offers you her small hand. You take it, and she pulls to help you up to join her. "Where should we search first?" you whisper. "I think—"

But you break off, interrupted by the sound of a vicious blow, followed by a faint, muffled sob of agony. Your stomach turns as you realize what is happening right at this very moment. And while Mockingbird doesn't know what you know, she can still tell that something is terribly wrong here.

The two of you creep across the rafters, slinking over in the direction of the noise. The now-familiar sight that greets your eyes makes Mockingbird gasp in horror, as she sees a withered incubus straddling the bloody, bound and gagged form of a naked young woman. It's Karathiel, the very incubus you dreamwalked. He now stands before you in the flesh, leering down at his helpless victim.

"Uptight... over-cautious bastard..." he's snarling to himself under his breath, as he works out his frustrations on the girl trapped beneath him. "Denying me the new flesh, just to make his precious plan a little more sure! When I'm the one who found the bitch in the first place! But... but she'll be mine soon. And then... oh, then we'll make up for all the lost time!"

Mockingbird's eyes are wide beneath her mask. In a flicker of speed, she's suddenly holding a knife in each hand, as though they appeared there by magic. "Mockingbird, wait!" you hiss urgently. "We need to plan our—"

But she's already gone.

Like a wrathful shadow, she moves silently across the rafters, until she's above her target. Then she throws herself into a dive, plummeting down like a hawk. Karathiel never even notices her until she uses the entire force of her descent to bury one of her blades into his throat from behind, the impact making him reel.

But if the rogue expected that to decide the fight, she is gravely mistaken. Karathiel lurches to his feet, twisting violently back and forth as he stumbles forward. Mockingbird struggles to hang onto the knife she's using for purchase, while also stabbing her other weapon into his back again and again. The two of them careen between the rows of crates, the hulking brute and his diminutive rider.

He spins around, now hurling himself backward in an attempt to smash her into one of the walls. But she flips off his back at the last moment, cartwheeling above him and spinning to slash a knife across his eyes in midair, before landing in a crouch. Blinking blood out of his vision as his eyes regenerate, the demon raises both hands over his head, linking them before swinging them down in a single devastating blow.

Mockingbird leaps back, just barely avoiding the attack, the force of the demon's strike shattering the floor in a crater and sending splinters flying through the air. You see the rogue's eyes go wide, as she realizes just how inhumanly fast this foe actually is, along with his terrifying power.

He charges after her, an arm outstretched toward her neck. Still, she doesn't back down, lunging forward to meet him. At the last instant she twists into a slide, his grab missing her by less than an inch as she slides between his legs, slashing at both his ankle tendons as she goes by.

She then immediately twists to run diagonally up the wall and flip herself off it, slipping just above the demon's spinning backhand and slitting his wrist tendons before landing in a roll that carries her a good distance away. From there, with a flip of her wrists, she shifts her knives to a reverse-grip before diving in again.

You, meanwhile, are jumping down from the rafters to a closer position. Fortunately the demon's attention is quite occupied, allowing you to avoid notice. It's obvious that you're not going to be of much help joining the fight as an equal combatant. The two of them are moving so fast that landing even a single blow of your own would be hard to imagine, under most circumstances. Your only hope is to stay out of Karathiel's line of sight... and wait for the right opening.

And it had better come soon... because Mockingbird is losing.

It's just as you feared when you were first considering this matchup. Even if—intellectually—the young thief fully intends to kill the monster in front of her... this is still likely her first time fighting another thinking being with full lethal intent. It's obvious from watching her fighting style just how much of it is intended to merely cripple or incapacitate instead of murder. Even when defending herself, up until now she's preferred to merely hamper an attacker, enough for her to escape.

But those instincts are betraying her now. What might have worked against a mortal assailant is a losing strategy against a foe who can regenerate from such surgical damage almost instantly. She needs to go for far more brutal wounds if she's to have any chance of taking this monster down. But her window is closing. Karathiel has already recovered from the damage of her initial assault. And with each passing moment, he ramps up his attacks even more.

Soon Mockingbird is entirely on the defensive, her eyes wide with desperation as she dodges around lunge after lunge, each grab coming closer than the last. Karathiel is plowing through crate after crate, ripping apart their surroundings as he chases her down. Your fists clench in frustration. But you don't let yourself act rashly.

Because even as bad as things look... you still have a plan.

It's just like the incubus you faced in Vekmar. For all his power, it's obvious that Karathiel is still an utter slave to the same mad, sadistic impulses that came with that polluted power. You can see it in his attacks, how many of them are simply him trying to grab the heroine. He doesn't intend to let this end easily for Mockingbird. There's no way a monster like him could. Not for a girl who had the temerity to actually hurt him.

When the tipping point comes, it's sudden and savage. Mockingbird dives away from one attack, and the demon drives his hand into the crate she had been standing in front of. But this time Karathiel grabs hold of the crate, using his immense strength to fling the entire thing after the fleeing rogue. The crate shatters as it crashes into her, knocking her off-balance into a tumble as she loses her grip on her knives.

She tries frantically to reach out for the nearest one... but Karathiel is on her too quickly. His hand drives her arm down into the floor, just shy of the weapon. His other hand clamps down around her neck, pinning her there, as his grip slowly tightens. She kicks up at him, punching at his chest with her free arm... but without her blades, her tiny frame just doesn't have the strength to hurt a monster like him. He tightens his grip even more, reveling in her helplessness, watching her realize that her life is in his hands. That she's going to die here. And that there's nothing she can do about it.

His eyes are alight with a twisted parody of Lust, as he looms hungrily over her. He's focused entirely on the tortures he intends to inflict on this new victim. And in a state like that... he doesn't notice as you slip behind him, into his blind spot. Your hand reaches into your pocket, slipping out one of your two stolen bottles of Elianna's holy water. Then you pop the cork as you break into an all-out run. You're only going to get one chance at this. It needs to be timed perfectly.

As you run, you consider the most impactful thing for Mockingbird to hear Kavia shout, before finally settling on a frantic scream of "Let go of her, you bastard!" right as you hurl the vial's contents. Karathiel glances back over his shoulder in confusion... at exactly the right moment to catch the splash of holy water head-on.

The results are more terrifying than even you expected. Even knowing that it was Elianna herself who consecrated the water.

The awful, animal scream that tears itself from Karathiel's throat is unrecognizable as the sound of a thinking being. Gouts of white smoke billow angrily upward from the sizzling impact point, as the holy water eats away his entire face, inflicting damage that his regeneration cannot simply wipe away. He claws at the burning wound, but only succeeds in damaging his fingers as well.

Nor does Mockingbird pass up this one last opportunity. She lunges for her fallen knife once more, then spins around and buries it deep into Karathiel's jugular. Then she rips it out, blood spraying down onto her, before stabbing again and again and again in a desperate frenzy.

Karathiel tries to punch down and crush her head. But it's a blind strike, and she twists out of the way. In reply, Mockingbird drives her knife around through the side of his temple, then with a scream and a raw burst of adrenaline, she uses that leverage to flip him off of her, in a direction that allows her to roll with him and snatch up her other fallen knife at the same time. It ends with her straddling him, the knife in his brain still impairing his reactions.

She rips it out, only to start raining down stabs on him at a ferocious speed, both her hands blurring to near-invisibility as she strikes. She's screaming, giving vent to the fear of her brush with death, as well as striking back against the monster who had visited such cruelty on the helpless.

"Mockingbird..." you finally say, once it's clear that she's long since burned through all her enemy's remaining Lust. Karathiel's body is completely unmoving, except for the jerking impacts from her own strikes. "Mockingbird! It's okay. It's okay. You won. He's dead."

The rogue jerks her blood-splattered head around to look at you, her pupils shrunken and jittery, her small chest heaving. She looks at you like she barely even recognizes you. You suck in a quick breath, realization belatedly dawning.

"His blood..." you whisper. "Shit. Mockingbird, we need to get you clean right now!"

Incubus blood, like all your fluids, is naturally an extreme aphrodisiac. Normally, dousing a heroine in this much of your blood would be a boon beyond compare to your efforts. But the polluted blood of these perversions of incubi? What effects would so much of their blood have?

Mockingbird is shuddering, her eyes unfocused. You do feel a wild Lust from her as you pull her off the dead incubus... but there's something warped about the sensation. Something wrong. "We need to get you out of those clothes," you tell her.

There's an initial violent reaction as you start to undo her dark thief's garb. But after some soothing words she does allow you to do it. She's caught in a twisted push-and-pull, between frantic need and the murderous fight-or-flight with which she so savagely tore into Karathiel. Still, she fights down the latter for long enough that you manage to strip her of the blood-sodden garments. The only exception is her mask, which she wordlessly insists on keeping, clinging to it even when she's otherwise completely exposed. Desperate to not be revealed.

Even with the clothes gone, there's still a lot of the foul blood on her. You glance up, noticing the battered prostitute that Mockingbird saved, watching the two of you with wordless astonishment. And she gives you an idea. "Hang on for a moment," you tell the young heroine, before darting off deeper into the warehouse. From your dreamwalking, you know the side room where they're keeping Mother Yvette.

You burst in, rushing over to where she's tied up, and set to work releasing her. She's terrified at first, but you soon calm her. "I'm here to rescue you, holy mother," you say. "I'm here with one of the heroines! But we need your help now."

Once she understands the situation, you lead her back out and over to where Mockingbird sits huddled against one wall. "We need to get her clean as quickly as possible," you explain. "Could you provide us some water, please?"

It won't be holy water, of course. That would require the longer and more involved ritual that you saw Elianna performing in the cathedral itself. But if it's just to clean off Mockingbird, even a low-ranking priestess should be able to perform basic rites. And creating a supply of pure water for the supplicants is usually one of the most basic.

Yvette nods, and closes her eyes. "Holy Selal..." she says, her voice cracking from fear and from disuse. "P-please hear the petition of... of your loving servants. Wayward though we might be. Please deliver this brave heroine from the evil that besets her. And provide your springs of compassion to wash away the filth she contends against, as you create water for your faithful in her hour of need."

The priestess cups her hands above Mockingbird's head. A golden glow forms between her palms, and then clear water begins to pour between her fingers, washing down over the shuddering rogue. Your hands return to Mockingbird's naked body as well, wiping her down as you murmur reassurances. You can feel the tone of her lithe musculature as you run your hands up and down, and soon she's letting out little moans at regular intervals.

Yvette keeps up her invocation until the last of the blood has been washed away, before slumping back down, breathing heavily. You suspect she's not very used to channeling even that much of the divine. Mockingbird, for her part, looks plaintively up at you. "Kavia..." she says, trembling. "I... it's still... it's inside me. I... I want... I need..."

You place a finger across her lips. "Don't worry," you whisper sensually, right into her ear. "You're going to be alright. Just trust me. I'll take care of everything."

Then you turn to Yvette, indicating the prostitute who is watching you from behind one of the crates. "Please. Take her and try to find the other captives, so we can free them too."

Yvette nods and complies, leaving you free to focus on Mockingbird. If you hadn't already riled her up so much with your own aphrodisiac before this, she might have been able to better cling to some semblance of control. But in the state she's in right now, that isn't an option. Instead, she's left completely open and vulnerable to you.

You slide around behind her, then wrap her much-smaller body in your own, creating a comforting warmth that envelops her. Your hands feel up her naked body again. But this time it is unquestionably sexual. The halfling lets out a frightened moan, writhing weakly in your grasp, as you give her sensations that she has never felt before, not with anything near this intensity.

Before, you had been subtle with your allure. Not so now. You flood her with your gift, trying to purge the polluted aphrodisiac from her system, overwhelming it with your pure, untainted version. Your expert touch causes the young virgin to thrash in ecstasy. And you haven't even begun to get serious yet. She pushes herself back against you, her body straining against yours as she tries to get closer. Your hands slide upward to feel her small breasts, and she lets out an outright scream of need and delight.

Panting for breath, she looks up into your eyes, from her position wrapped in your lap. And in that moment... she realizes. She understands who you are. She understands what you are. She understands how you are able to do this to her.

And she understands that you've caught her. Just like her other friends.

"K-Kavia?" she says in a small voice. Even though she knows the truth. But you just lean down, giving her a gentle kiss on the forehead.

"Yes, it's me," you say. "Please, just... let me help you. I know you're suffering. And I want to help you."

For a long moment, Mockingbird hesitates. The inner conflict tears at her, pulling her in so many different directions. But in the end, she looks up into your worried eyes... and slides one of her hands into your own. She links her fingers with yours, holding tight in a gesture of simple, hopeful trust. You respond with as much reassurance as you can, giving her your best warm, kind smile.

And then your other hand slips between her legs, seeking out her cleft.

The scream this time is little more than a gasping squeak, caught with barely any air in her lungs. But despite the lack of air, she nevertheless gives that scream her entire soul. The halfling's eyes go comically wide, her body arcing as she shudders violently. You keep the pleasure coming, relentlessly driving her wild, over and over again.

When she can bear no more... you teach her that she can bear even more than she thinks she can. When she can truly bear no more, you relax into more playful cuddling... only to drive her wild again when the time is perfectly right. This isn't even sex yet, just masturbation, and the Lust you can feed from it is correspondingly small. You'll need to wait until tonight to truly claim her.

But nevertheless, she is yours. You can see it in her eyes, as she breathlessly responds to all the wonders you have to teach her.

You keep on showing the young thief what she's been missing all this time, until finally you hear the rescued prostitutes approaching, with Yvette in the lead. Giving Mockingbird one last orgasm, you allow her to slump shuddering against you, before wrapping her in your cloak. Then you rise and turn to face the other captives.

They're all in bad shape. But it does look like you got here in time to stop any more of them from being tortured to death. One of them in particular—an older woman—is comforting the younger girls, who seem to look to her for guidance. She's holding one of them close to her, despite her own awful injuries. And when she glances over at the dead body of Karathiel, you see a look of absolute venom flash through her eyes, as she holds the crying girl tighter.

One way or another, you can't stay here for long. There's no telling when one of the two remaining incubi might come back, and you really don't want to risk a confrontation with Zethuriel under these circumstances. The question is how you want to handle this.

You could send them to Alicia for treatment, which would let her know of what you and Mockingbird did here, for better or worse. Alternatively, if you healed them yourself with a corruptive boon, you could hide what happened here, as well as perhaps start a fledgling pleasure cult here in Nelin, just as you've done in Vekmar, the Great Forest and the Underworld. Or you could combine the two, healing the captives yourself before sending them to Alicia for protection anyway.

That last option would, of course, conclusively explode your "Kavia" identity. Though it would also result in the remaining heroines seeing your compassion in a way that would be directly attributable to you as the incubus. Would that be a worthwhile trade?

Complicating the question even further is the even more fundamental question of what your next priority will be. With Mockingbird secure, you've at least avoided the absolute worst-case scenario. You'll have an accomplishment to play up to Melca, rather than two back-to-back returns with no heroine.

You could, in theory, not push any further, instead heading back to Kovora at the earliest opportunity. But even if you do decide to stay a little longer, you'll also need to balance your effort between either trying to seduce Elianna as well... or trying to inflict further damage to Zethuriel and his incubi. Which is the more important? In what proportion will you focus on each, with what opportunities remain in this excursion?

There's no need to make a final decision until later, when you've checked back in with Rifek and learned how all your other operations went. Still, it's something you'll need to keep in mind as you consider your next move.

And of course, there's also the incubus threatening Lily. Will you send a warning to her now? And if so, what will you suggest she do?