Lily Coloured Sunset, Sorrel and the Succubus 9/3
Mar 23, 2022 17:45:14 GMT
Delilah Daybreaker, Velania Kalugina, and 1 more like this
Post by stephena on Mar 23, 2022 17:45:14 GMT
“Let’s just review your last few months, Sorrel,” Lucan said over a light supper. “Possessed by a Hunger Spirit. Trying to prevent the whole of space and time fusing into a new killer god. Battling demons in the Abyss. Fighting devils as they tear priests apart. How can I put this? Dude. Chill out.”
Sorrel munched her casserole thoughtfully. “I think you’re exaggerating a little, Lucan, if you don’t mind me saying,” she said eventually, turning to reach for the bread.
As soon as her head was turned, Lucan dropped his knife. It clattered across the stone floor and by the time it came to rest Sorrel was sporting a rapier and a hand crossbow and sliding across the table screaming “GET DOWN!” as she sought to cover Lucan.
He pointed at the butter knife in silence.
She gazed at it, looked back to him and gave a small smile.
“You may have a point,” she admitted.
--
Glint’s invite seemed harmless enough at first glance. A walk with his beloved Root to watch the sunset.
“Try not to kill anything,” Lucan cried as he waved her off. “See what it feels like.”
But Sorrel knew what sunsets meant. The most dangerous hour for an ambush. Tired shoulders, low rays of sunlight shinning in the eyes, skittish horses. You could take out a small platoon of cavalry with a handful of well-placed archers.
So, as they moved out she kept her eyes peeled.
She soon spotted unfamiliar figures moving seemingly randomly alongside them, and she tried to identify their patterns to spot a weakness or threat.
“Sure you don’t want anything from the market before we leave?” Glint asked.
Of course. They were all shopping. She eased the tension in her bow string and shook her head. But she moved cautiously. Next time, it might not be shoppers.
And when they came it wasn’t shoppers. Nothing so predictable. Out of nowhere a wave of halflings hurtled towards them, howling war cries, all in some sort of paramilitary garb. Perhaps revolutionaries or a militia unit.
“School letting out a little early…” Root observed.
Right. Schoolchildren. Obviously. She eased the tension in her bow string. But she moved cautiously.
In the end, they reached the glade where the crystal flowers flourished. Sorrel noticed their astonishing beauty – like diamonds formed from angel’s tears nodding in the evening breeze – but also noted they were in an exposed tactical position with extremely poor cover.
As Glint and Root began to canoodle, Glint caught Sorrel’s eye and sighed.
“Sorrel, you seem tense,” he began politely. “Might I introduce you to someone who can help with your problems?”
Sorrel’s mind span. Did Glint know about the raid on the farm? Or was it her worries about falling out with Lord Jaezred? Or could it be the torment of Silvia? Or…
But as her mind raced, so did Glint’s arcane rune weaving and as Sorrel gave up guessing she noticed something swirling in mid-air.
“Meet my…. Nanna,” Glint said as what Sorrel recognised instantly as a succubus from the lower planes of the Nine Hells, an erotic tempter from the court of Asmodeus, took shape in front of her.
And what a shape.
She had met fiends before, and either fought them or fled them. They did sometimes look hot - but that was the roasting in the fires of damnation kind of hot.
Nanna was the eye popping, howling at the moon hot. Of course, this was clearly professional schtick, because a minging succubus had slim career prospects but Sorrel respected a skilled professional. And Nanna was skilled with a capital OhMyFuckingGod. Sorrel bowed her head.
“Sorrel Darkfire, at your service and your family’s,” she looked up and met Nanna’s eye. “Which of course includes the beautifully earnest pacifist Glint. So, you’re his Nanna on his mothers or fathers’ side? And does he have any sisters who take after you?”
The scantily clad girl in front of her smiled in false modesty. "Please, dear, just call me Lessie. I'm actually Glint's great-great-grandmother. They just all call me nan. I do like it, it's endearing, don't you think?"
She gave Sorrel a quick provocative glance. "And although Sitri is an absolute sweetheart, I'm not related to her. Efreeti and succubae don't get along. Except for when they do!" She chuckled suggestively. "Sunshine is a pretty girl, very expressive, I'm sure you'd get along, although I must say, Glint took after my side more than his siblings." Alessiss concluded with some pride in her voice.
She picked up a couple of strawberries from the picnic basket and started eating them. "But you yourself seem to be of a very mixed ancestry. Tell me, where do dangerous pretties like you come from? I know one place, but you sure aren't from the Abyss!"
“I’ve been there a few times, but never met anyone I cared to have supper with before,” Sorrel gave a crooked grin. “And I’ve been often enough to know you probably already have my story worked out. Kind of a knack you guys have. So, you’ll know my family sold me, my masters trained me, my lovers left me, and my enemies haven’t survived me. It’s enough to give a girl bad habits. I figure one day I’ll get a hobby but for now there’s just the work. I have ambitions.”
“This place…” she swept her hand to indicate the Dawnlands generally. “…is lacking the kind of organisation that forged me. And it’s very porous for some reason. I’ve been to more planes in my year here than…” she counted in her head. “Well, in a long time. So, for now I’m taking the opportunity to travel. Perhaps I’ll get the chance to visit you one day. But comrade Glint, I think, knows I’m troubled by my past and my future and maybe that’s why he introduced us. What’s your past like? And what’s your view of the future?”
Alessiss scrunched her pretty nose. "Organisation... I'm sorry, darling, I do dislike the notion. I spend too much time around beings who are painfully organized and thus, painfully dull. It makes them predictable and weak. You don't seem the type," she mimicked Sorrel's grin perfectly.
"And it is very sweet of you to inquire after me. I appeared out of chaos, raw and pure like the Abyss itself," she looked over Sorrel quickly. "I can see you know its appeal. That is my past... The rest counts almost a thousand years, so you need to be more specific, darling. And as for the future... Let me tell you, the longer you live, the more past, present and future stop being separate. They are just parts of the same circle, repeating each other quite frequently."
Sorrel raised an eyebrow, a gentle smile playing across her lips. “You are very very good,” she gave a little laugh. “I can see how dangerous…” she broke off. “Forgive me. That was gauche. Conversation of this calibre is rare, and I am clumsier than I remember. The combination of pinpoint accuracy, ferocious intelligence and what can only be described as fiendish charm is intoxicating. Obviously. I can see how tempting it is to spend an eternity wrapped in your velvet. What else do you see, Lessie? And do you know why Glint invited you to meet me?”
"Oh, flatterer!" Alessiss waved her off in a gesture that seems out of place in such a young girl. "I'm sure Glint invited me to have a look at you. And I do see you, Sorrel Darkfire," her piercing brown eyes met Sorrel's momentarily, and a hint of golden fire glittered deep within them. "You seem... burdened. By your past and your future. Perhaps I can persuade you that neither has to be a burden. Tell me, what troubles you? The people you lost? The people you might yet lose?"
“Both, of course, but those are factored in,” Sorrel paused. “I don’t mean to sound callous but when the gods called on Achilles they said he could live a long full life as a farmer and be forgotten or die young at the walls of Troy and be remembered forever even in planes of existence dramatically removed from his own. He chose Troy. I chose this life. The bill has to be paid and we will see how I am judged.”
Sorrel leaned forward and took a handful of strawberries, holding them by the firm stem as she closed her teeth on their soft flesh. “What troubles me Lessie is the absence of choice. The moment a spirit entered my body without me understanding what happened. The magic that kept me from my lover’s side but ensured I watched her die. Or the prophecy that connects my simple life of professional killer with heart of gold and a war that began at the dawn of time and no doubt will continue until it’s end. I don’t know what to do, and that’s my burden. When things happen to me or those I love - or worship - and I have no power, no agency, no choice I feel it keenly.”
She picked up a kiwi fruit and slit it open with her dagger, letting her tongue push into its softness so she could taste the sweet juices as the tender young fruit gave up its resistance. “If you opened the Abyss this second and Glint was the target of a swarm of fiends, dying to save him would not be my ideal day out but I could choose to run. So, as they overcame my defences I would be at peace, such as it is. The war I fear I am part of offers me no choice - and nothing to do but wait. That’s when the questions arise, and the dreams sneak in, and the doubts keep churning. As you saw in me, I live for chaos - but only when I can act. And interestingly I believe you understand that completely. If we had forever I would ask why you chose the questions you throw at me. But sunset is finite, like mortal beauty. Only fiends and angels have forever.”
Alessiss shrugged noncommittally, a glass of wine moving to her hand as if on its own volition. "I hope you visit the Abyss sometime, so that I could show you the magnitude of what you are, rather foolishly and very charmingly, trying to control. I was created from chaos, but I never claimed to rule over it, only gods can do that. It is true, things happen that we are incapable to change. Such is the nature of chaos. But chaos loves choices! Every choice we make invites chaos, and every bit of chaos invites new choices, even if it is a choice to do nothing.
She toasted a glass of wine that had somehow found its way to Sorrel's hand – “We, the chaos lovers," Sorrel toasted back, and sipped on the rich full body of this luscious red.
"We still get a choice,” Alessiss continued. “A mortal man taught me that," another nostalgic glimpse flared her eyes and stretched her lips in a smile. "Meeting him wasn't my choice. But it was my choice to stay with him. Eventually, I watched him die, for all my powers I could do nothing to save him. I saw generations of my family live and perish. One day I will see Glint die," she nods towards her great-grandson. "After all, he's part of the chaos that I've invited."
She smiled proudly and sipped her drink. "So, if you truly live for chaos - try to embrace all of it." Her velvety wings wrapped themselves tightly around her shoulders. "For it is both inevitable and malleable. I think you understand it already, deep down. After all, if you truly had as little choice as you claim, I would be talking to that spirit you mentioned, not to you, Sorrel Darkfire," she says with another toast. "Besides, you seem to be forgetting the greatest source of chaos and choice out there..." she says with another light-hearted chuckle.
“The heart?” Sorrel turned to look at Glint and Root.
"The people!" Alessiss sniggered, actually starting to resemble the 18-year-old that she looks like. "They never fail to surprise! That's one of the reason I still like this place. Trust me - the Abyss - raw chaos, yes. But the fiends - a bit single-minded. The Material plane? That's where it gets interesting." She moved her eyebrows suggestively. "People always find ways to help you out and screw you over. Endlessly fascinating... But look at you! I see you stopped acting like I'm about to pounce you. Even looking away from me? Could it be that my ramblings on the nature of chaos had an effect?"
“I figure if you were going to drag me to the Abyss you’d just use that devastating voice,” Sorrel shrugged. “It’s your most dangerous weapon. Pouncing seems… too tasteless for you. There’s no art to the pounce.” She hesitated. “That’s not true, I’m quite the pouncer, but I don’t think that’s the kind of challenge you relish.” She turned back and gave her most devastating smile. “I do hope I haven’t misjudged you. That would be disappointing.”
As Sorrel turned, she slipped a copy of Tayz’s drawing of the fiendish symbol that is slowly contaminating the Dawnlands from her belt and spread it out on her knee so that Alessiss couldn’t help but see it. And she waited.
The succubus sighed. "See, that is exactly what I mean. You're waiting. Just let things happen, sweetheart!" She rubbed Sorrel's hand, again seeming much older than her looks. "Here we were, flirting, having a pleasant afternoon... and yet you threaten me with disappointment. Worse yet, you bring up work, as if the wisdom of centuries is nothing compared to this little drawing? I try to stay as far away from the big goings on of the realms I travel to, for bigger things tend to be quite dull, so I am glad to say I've got no idea what this drawing means... But what am I to think now?"
She sighed and shook her pretty head in an overly dramatic way. "Well, if you insist on being professional... Well, then, who am I to defy a pretty young thing like you?" She grinned suggestively, and sat back, inspecting perfectly manicured long nails. "Tell me, your greeting... being at my service and my family's... do you mean that or are those just fancy words to say, 'how do you do'?"
“I mean it,” Sorrel nodded. “It is usually a contract laid on the table should anyone choose to sign. Just as the drawing was laid on my knee to illustrate the specifics of my burden. It is a shame it means nothing, but I would like to stress - as I hate to be considered rude - that I am not disappointed. And when it comes to hope, I never hope for anything but a racing certainty. I knew I had not misjudged you. But the word hope suited my smile a little better.”
For a moment the sparkle left her eyes although the smile remained. “I offer my service to those who need it but in your case there is no contract. I have experience of contracts with fiends, and I find they have a life of their own.”
Alessiss nodded, and with a smooth motion, tore off one of the black crystals from her necklace. "To me, hope and fear are only sides of the same coin," she said, watching as the light of the setting sun was trapped in the glassy bead.
"But we are women of action, so why don't you put my old heart at ease and do a small job for me? Here," she put the crystal on Sorrel's knee, atop the drawing. "This isn't much, worth maybe... a day of your time. I would like to hire you, Sorrel, to do a little job for me. It won't be easy for you, in fact I'm sure it will challenge your abilities significantly. But the job itself is harmless. As I said, my only goal is to be at ease. Should you accept the job, I would like you to follow a certain person for one day. Nobody can see you observing them. You are not to interfere with their day in any way, but also to stop anyone from interfering. They are to go wherever they please unimpeded, meet whoever they please. If they only intend, or want to do something, I need you to make a note of that intention. If anyone, and I mean anyone, from the lords of the realms to the divine powers, are trying to stop that person from doing what they intend on that day, you are not to allow it. Can you do that for me?"
Sorrel considered the sensual 18-year-old girl perched so prettily before her, with the power to lay worlds to waste. “I can,” she said carefully. “If Zariel herself tries to interfere…” she pursed her lips thoughtfully. “That should be manageable. The gods themselves may prove trickier. We shall see. It’s all about preparation after all. So, to help ensure I am prepared can you tell me who, where and the worst-case scenario? Do I need a team equipped to fend off celestials or is this a one-person job?”
“Strictly one person, darling. The worst-case scenario is well, you fail. I shall not be at peace with myself, but I assure you the stars will still shine in the sky,” she chuckles dramatically, and professes her relaxed hand to shake Sorrel’s. “I will tell you the details if you’re up for the job?”
"You already know the answer," Sorrel looked at the professed hand. "Tell me what I will say."
Alessiss tilted her head back in youthful laughter. The sunset hour is coming to an end as she gets up in a graceful motion. “As you wish. The day and place are as per your own convenience, dear.”
She gaves a secretive grin.
“The person in question is one Sorrel Darkfire. I would like you to grant her that day, she does deserve it, but the choice is yours,” she winked playfully, and headed off to say one last goodbye to Glint and Root before the magic that summoned her dissipates.
Sorrel watched her walk, aware of the desire stirring within but uncertain if she can trust the feeling or if it was cast upon her. She was, she admitted, a little wrong footed by Alessiss choice of targets. She knew there was a punchline, but she hadn't spotted that curveball. It was, she almost laughed, an impressive play.
She picked up the crystal and decided to trust a demon - always a sensible move - and thread it on to the silver chain she borrowed from her mother when the House came to collect her.
"I may be damned for it," she thinks, "but I'm probably damned anyway, and I'm sure there are worse tormentors."
Written with the expert help of succubus glyouki
Sorrel munched her casserole thoughtfully. “I think you’re exaggerating a little, Lucan, if you don’t mind me saying,” she said eventually, turning to reach for the bread.
As soon as her head was turned, Lucan dropped his knife. It clattered across the stone floor and by the time it came to rest Sorrel was sporting a rapier and a hand crossbow and sliding across the table screaming “GET DOWN!” as she sought to cover Lucan.
He pointed at the butter knife in silence.
She gazed at it, looked back to him and gave a small smile.
“You may have a point,” she admitted.
--
Glint’s invite seemed harmless enough at first glance. A walk with his beloved Root to watch the sunset.
“Try not to kill anything,” Lucan cried as he waved her off. “See what it feels like.”
But Sorrel knew what sunsets meant. The most dangerous hour for an ambush. Tired shoulders, low rays of sunlight shinning in the eyes, skittish horses. You could take out a small platoon of cavalry with a handful of well-placed archers.
So, as they moved out she kept her eyes peeled.
She soon spotted unfamiliar figures moving seemingly randomly alongside them, and she tried to identify their patterns to spot a weakness or threat.
“Sure you don’t want anything from the market before we leave?” Glint asked.
Of course. They were all shopping. She eased the tension in her bow string and shook her head. But she moved cautiously. Next time, it might not be shoppers.
And when they came it wasn’t shoppers. Nothing so predictable. Out of nowhere a wave of halflings hurtled towards them, howling war cries, all in some sort of paramilitary garb. Perhaps revolutionaries or a militia unit.
“School letting out a little early…” Root observed.
Right. Schoolchildren. Obviously. She eased the tension in her bow string. But she moved cautiously.
In the end, they reached the glade where the crystal flowers flourished. Sorrel noticed their astonishing beauty – like diamonds formed from angel’s tears nodding in the evening breeze – but also noted they were in an exposed tactical position with extremely poor cover.
As Glint and Root began to canoodle, Glint caught Sorrel’s eye and sighed.
“Sorrel, you seem tense,” he began politely. “Might I introduce you to someone who can help with your problems?”
Sorrel’s mind span. Did Glint know about the raid on the farm? Or was it her worries about falling out with Lord Jaezred? Or could it be the torment of Silvia? Or…
But as her mind raced, so did Glint’s arcane rune weaving and as Sorrel gave up guessing she noticed something swirling in mid-air.
“Meet my…. Nanna,” Glint said as what Sorrel recognised instantly as a succubus from the lower planes of the Nine Hells, an erotic tempter from the court of Asmodeus, took shape in front of her.
And what a shape.
She had met fiends before, and either fought them or fled them. They did sometimes look hot - but that was the roasting in the fires of damnation kind of hot.
Nanna was the eye popping, howling at the moon hot. Of course, this was clearly professional schtick, because a minging succubus had slim career prospects but Sorrel respected a skilled professional. And Nanna was skilled with a capital OhMyFuckingGod. Sorrel bowed her head.
“Sorrel Darkfire, at your service and your family’s,” she looked up and met Nanna’s eye. “Which of course includes the beautifully earnest pacifist Glint. So, you’re his Nanna on his mothers or fathers’ side? And does he have any sisters who take after you?”
The scantily clad girl in front of her smiled in false modesty. "Please, dear, just call me Lessie. I'm actually Glint's great-great-grandmother. They just all call me nan. I do like it, it's endearing, don't you think?"
She gave Sorrel a quick provocative glance. "And although Sitri is an absolute sweetheart, I'm not related to her. Efreeti and succubae don't get along. Except for when they do!" She chuckled suggestively. "Sunshine is a pretty girl, very expressive, I'm sure you'd get along, although I must say, Glint took after my side more than his siblings." Alessiss concluded with some pride in her voice.
She picked up a couple of strawberries from the picnic basket and started eating them. "But you yourself seem to be of a very mixed ancestry. Tell me, where do dangerous pretties like you come from? I know one place, but you sure aren't from the Abyss!"
“I’ve been there a few times, but never met anyone I cared to have supper with before,” Sorrel gave a crooked grin. “And I’ve been often enough to know you probably already have my story worked out. Kind of a knack you guys have. So, you’ll know my family sold me, my masters trained me, my lovers left me, and my enemies haven’t survived me. It’s enough to give a girl bad habits. I figure one day I’ll get a hobby but for now there’s just the work. I have ambitions.”
“This place…” she swept her hand to indicate the Dawnlands generally. “…is lacking the kind of organisation that forged me. And it’s very porous for some reason. I’ve been to more planes in my year here than…” she counted in her head. “Well, in a long time. So, for now I’m taking the opportunity to travel. Perhaps I’ll get the chance to visit you one day. But comrade Glint, I think, knows I’m troubled by my past and my future and maybe that’s why he introduced us. What’s your past like? And what’s your view of the future?”
Alessiss scrunched her pretty nose. "Organisation... I'm sorry, darling, I do dislike the notion. I spend too much time around beings who are painfully organized and thus, painfully dull. It makes them predictable and weak. You don't seem the type," she mimicked Sorrel's grin perfectly.
"And it is very sweet of you to inquire after me. I appeared out of chaos, raw and pure like the Abyss itself," she looked over Sorrel quickly. "I can see you know its appeal. That is my past... The rest counts almost a thousand years, so you need to be more specific, darling. And as for the future... Let me tell you, the longer you live, the more past, present and future stop being separate. They are just parts of the same circle, repeating each other quite frequently."
Sorrel raised an eyebrow, a gentle smile playing across her lips. “You are very very good,” she gave a little laugh. “I can see how dangerous…” she broke off. “Forgive me. That was gauche. Conversation of this calibre is rare, and I am clumsier than I remember. The combination of pinpoint accuracy, ferocious intelligence and what can only be described as fiendish charm is intoxicating. Obviously. I can see how tempting it is to spend an eternity wrapped in your velvet. What else do you see, Lessie? And do you know why Glint invited you to meet me?”
"Oh, flatterer!" Alessiss waved her off in a gesture that seems out of place in such a young girl. "I'm sure Glint invited me to have a look at you. And I do see you, Sorrel Darkfire," her piercing brown eyes met Sorrel's momentarily, and a hint of golden fire glittered deep within them. "You seem... burdened. By your past and your future. Perhaps I can persuade you that neither has to be a burden. Tell me, what troubles you? The people you lost? The people you might yet lose?"
“Both, of course, but those are factored in,” Sorrel paused. “I don’t mean to sound callous but when the gods called on Achilles they said he could live a long full life as a farmer and be forgotten or die young at the walls of Troy and be remembered forever even in planes of existence dramatically removed from his own. He chose Troy. I chose this life. The bill has to be paid and we will see how I am judged.”
Sorrel leaned forward and took a handful of strawberries, holding them by the firm stem as she closed her teeth on their soft flesh. “What troubles me Lessie is the absence of choice. The moment a spirit entered my body without me understanding what happened. The magic that kept me from my lover’s side but ensured I watched her die. Or the prophecy that connects my simple life of professional killer with heart of gold and a war that began at the dawn of time and no doubt will continue until it’s end. I don’t know what to do, and that’s my burden. When things happen to me or those I love - or worship - and I have no power, no agency, no choice I feel it keenly.”
She picked up a kiwi fruit and slit it open with her dagger, letting her tongue push into its softness so she could taste the sweet juices as the tender young fruit gave up its resistance. “If you opened the Abyss this second and Glint was the target of a swarm of fiends, dying to save him would not be my ideal day out but I could choose to run. So, as they overcame my defences I would be at peace, such as it is. The war I fear I am part of offers me no choice - and nothing to do but wait. That’s when the questions arise, and the dreams sneak in, and the doubts keep churning. As you saw in me, I live for chaos - but only when I can act. And interestingly I believe you understand that completely. If we had forever I would ask why you chose the questions you throw at me. But sunset is finite, like mortal beauty. Only fiends and angels have forever.”
Alessiss shrugged noncommittally, a glass of wine moving to her hand as if on its own volition. "I hope you visit the Abyss sometime, so that I could show you the magnitude of what you are, rather foolishly and very charmingly, trying to control. I was created from chaos, but I never claimed to rule over it, only gods can do that. It is true, things happen that we are incapable to change. Such is the nature of chaos. But chaos loves choices! Every choice we make invites chaos, and every bit of chaos invites new choices, even if it is a choice to do nothing.
She toasted a glass of wine that had somehow found its way to Sorrel's hand – “We, the chaos lovers," Sorrel toasted back, and sipped on the rich full body of this luscious red.
"We still get a choice,” Alessiss continued. “A mortal man taught me that," another nostalgic glimpse flared her eyes and stretched her lips in a smile. "Meeting him wasn't my choice. But it was my choice to stay with him. Eventually, I watched him die, for all my powers I could do nothing to save him. I saw generations of my family live and perish. One day I will see Glint die," she nods towards her great-grandson. "After all, he's part of the chaos that I've invited."
She smiled proudly and sipped her drink. "So, if you truly live for chaos - try to embrace all of it." Her velvety wings wrapped themselves tightly around her shoulders. "For it is both inevitable and malleable. I think you understand it already, deep down. After all, if you truly had as little choice as you claim, I would be talking to that spirit you mentioned, not to you, Sorrel Darkfire," she says with another toast. "Besides, you seem to be forgetting the greatest source of chaos and choice out there..." she says with another light-hearted chuckle.
“The heart?” Sorrel turned to look at Glint and Root.
"The people!" Alessiss sniggered, actually starting to resemble the 18-year-old that she looks like. "They never fail to surprise! That's one of the reason I still like this place. Trust me - the Abyss - raw chaos, yes. But the fiends - a bit single-minded. The Material plane? That's where it gets interesting." She moved her eyebrows suggestively. "People always find ways to help you out and screw you over. Endlessly fascinating... But look at you! I see you stopped acting like I'm about to pounce you. Even looking away from me? Could it be that my ramblings on the nature of chaos had an effect?"
“I figure if you were going to drag me to the Abyss you’d just use that devastating voice,” Sorrel shrugged. “It’s your most dangerous weapon. Pouncing seems… too tasteless for you. There’s no art to the pounce.” She hesitated. “That’s not true, I’m quite the pouncer, but I don’t think that’s the kind of challenge you relish.” She turned back and gave her most devastating smile. “I do hope I haven’t misjudged you. That would be disappointing.”
As Sorrel turned, she slipped a copy of Tayz’s drawing of the fiendish symbol that is slowly contaminating the Dawnlands from her belt and spread it out on her knee so that Alessiss couldn’t help but see it. And she waited.
The succubus sighed. "See, that is exactly what I mean. You're waiting. Just let things happen, sweetheart!" She rubbed Sorrel's hand, again seeming much older than her looks. "Here we were, flirting, having a pleasant afternoon... and yet you threaten me with disappointment. Worse yet, you bring up work, as if the wisdom of centuries is nothing compared to this little drawing? I try to stay as far away from the big goings on of the realms I travel to, for bigger things tend to be quite dull, so I am glad to say I've got no idea what this drawing means... But what am I to think now?"
She sighed and shook her pretty head in an overly dramatic way. "Well, if you insist on being professional... Well, then, who am I to defy a pretty young thing like you?" She grinned suggestively, and sat back, inspecting perfectly manicured long nails. "Tell me, your greeting... being at my service and my family's... do you mean that or are those just fancy words to say, 'how do you do'?"
“I mean it,” Sorrel nodded. “It is usually a contract laid on the table should anyone choose to sign. Just as the drawing was laid on my knee to illustrate the specifics of my burden. It is a shame it means nothing, but I would like to stress - as I hate to be considered rude - that I am not disappointed. And when it comes to hope, I never hope for anything but a racing certainty. I knew I had not misjudged you. But the word hope suited my smile a little better.”
For a moment the sparkle left her eyes although the smile remained. “I offer my service to those who need it but in your case there is no contract. I have experience of contracts with fiends, and I find they have a life of their own.”
Alessiss nodded, and with a smooth motion, tore off one of the black crystals from her necklace. "To me, hope and fear are only sides of the same coin," she said, watching as the light of the setting sun was trapped in the glassy bead.
"But we are women of action, so why don't you put my old heart at ease and do a small job for me? Here," she put the crystal on Sorrel's knee, atop the drawing. "This isn't much, worth maybe... a day of your time. I would like to hire you, Sorrel, to do a little job for me. It won't be easy for you, in fact I'm sure it will challenge your abilities significantly. But the job itself is harmless. As I said, my only goal is to be at ease. Should you accept the job, I would like you to follow a certain person for one day. Nobody can see you observing them. You are not to interfere with their day in any way, but also to stop anyone from interfering. They are to go wherever they please unimpeded, meet whoever they please. If they only intend, or want to do something, I need you to make a note of that intention. If anyone, and I mean anyone, from the lords of the realms to the divine powers, are trying to stop that person from doing what they intend on that day, you are not to allow it. Can you do that for me?"
Sorrel considered the sensual 18-year-old girl perched so prettily before her, with the power to lay worlds to waste. “I can,” she said carefully. “If Zariel herself tries to interfere…” she pursed her lips thoughtfully. “That should be manageable. The gods themselves may prove trickier. We shall see. It’s all about preparation after all. So, to help ensure I am prepared can you tell me who, where and the worst-case scenario? Do I need a team equipped to fend off celestials or is this a one-person job?”
“Strictly one person, darling. The worst-case scenario is well, you fail. I shall not be at peace with myself, but I assure you the stars will still shine in the sky,” she chuckles dramatically, and professes her relaxed hand to shake Sorrel’s. “I will tell you the details if you’re up for the job?”
"You already know the answer," Sorrel looked at the professed hand. "Tell me what I will say."
Alessiss tilted her head back in youthful laughter. The sunset hour is coming to an end as she gets up in a graceful motion. “As you wish. The day and place are as per your own convenience, dear.”
She gaves a secretive grin.
“The person in question is one Sorrel Darkfire. I would like you to grant her that day, she does deserve it, but the choice is yours,” she winked playfully, and headed off to say one last goodbye to Glint and Root before the magic that summoned her dissipates.
Sorrel watched her walk, aware of the desire stirring within but uncertain if she can trust the feeling or if it was cast upon her. She was, she admitted, a little wrong footed by Alessiss choice of targets. She knew there was a punchline, but she hadn't spotted that curveball. It was, she almost laughed, an impressive play.
She picked up the crystal and decided to trust a demon - always a sensible move - and thread it on to the silver chain she borrowed from her mother when the House came to collect her.
"I may be damned for it," she thinks, "but I'm probably damned anyway, and I'm sure there are worse tormentors."
Written with the expert help of succubus glyouki
