Spell of the Dark Castle
Page 8
Zofia was trembling, and moved only when Stephen moved, and stayed beside him, almost as though they were hooked at the hip.
“My Lord, where are the others?” Stephen asked in a respectful tone.
“Coming,” Beelzebub said, and turned his backside to the flames. He gasped as though the warmth comforted him beyond measure as he closed his eyes to the blissful sensation. Zofia noticed the flames on his hat had died down considerably since he'd arrived. Perhaps it had something to do with his emotions.
Just when Zofia thought she could relax, another sensation of bending atmosphere filled the room. Someone suddenly Evanished near the couch. A pretty woman with long, dark hair, wearing clothes made of a variety of animal skins, barely hiding her nudity, and her head was circled with a wreath of pink, purple and yellow flowers.
“Oh! There you are, Beelzebub. I thought I'd lost you,” she said to the large Seraph.
“You have found me exactly where I went, Diana,” Beelzebub said wearily. “Where I told you I would be.” He blew out a sigh and rolled his eyes.
“My Lady,” Stephen said, and went into his bow again. Zofia followed his lead and went into another bow.
“Rise,” Diana said quickly, as though she wouldn't be bothered by trivial matters.
“Your brother sends his love,” Beelzebub said to Diana.
Diana flicked a dismissive hand in the air. “So he does,” she made a pout. “Tell Lucifer to stuff it.”
“You tell him yourself,” he said bracingly, brows arched high.
“Oh, Stephen, is this her? Our little initiate? How pretty!” the goddess Diana gushed. “Absolutely divine. Beelzebub, don't you agree?”
“Very much,” Beelzebub said, taking Zofia in, then squinted at Stephen. “Where do you find these lovely creatures, Stephen? It's as if you grow them on trees.”
“Not exactly,” Stephen said with a grin.
“Oh, let us have a good look at her. Zofia, isn't it?” Diana asked.
Zofia returned the woman's stare, but broke it and had to look over to Stephen. Diana was a handsome woman, vast wisdom shown in her large, blue eyes. Fine lines about the mouth and eyes put her possibly at age fifty—if Zofia hadn't known any better—her knee-length hair was still dark, but with gray threads flowing throughout the wavy lengths. Diana threw Stephen a quick glance, eyes wide, brilliant blue. “Have you bedded her, yet, Stephen?”
Zofia's mouth dropped.
“Eh—no,” Stephen said, sounding a little taken aback by her blunt question. “She happens to be married.”
Diana threw back her head and laughed out loud, as if amused by this. “That never stopped you!”
“To my best friend,” he added.
“Pity. You two would have beautiful babies together,” Diana said.
“Begging your pardon, my Lady, but I already have beautiful babies—uh—children—” Stephen elbowed Zofia, cutting off her words.
“Yes, my dear, so you do.” She smiled, winking back at Zofia. “I know of them. Blanche and Eltony. Absolutely beautiful children. But Stephen's blood would have given you a child with god-like talents. Pity you didn't choose him instead.”
“Yes. A pity,” Stephen muttered beside her. Zofia felt his gaze upon her. The heat rose in her cheeks. Did the Seraph also know that Stephen had tried to seduce her when she was much younger? Probably.
“I will rectify this, then. I give you permission to mate,” Diana said, thrusting out that dismissive wave of the hand again. She padded toward the couch in a languid grace usually found in large felines, such as panthers and lionesses, and flounced upon the couch with a bored little sigh. She made a quick hand gesture and the branch of red grapes from the bowl on the table was hovering in front of her. Reaching in, she tugged out a smaller branch, leaned her head back and commenced to munch on the snack. Eying her large, mahogany partner, she said, “Join me, Beelzebub?”
“You have asked me that much too frequently, my pet,” he said. “And it is really becoming annoying.” With a great sigh and an equally bored expression, he thrust a hand toward the table. A silver goblet from the table was now in his hands. “I believe I shall quench my thirst, instead.” He tipped back the goblet and drank. Zofia hadn't seen anyone pour wine into the glass, and yet when she looked at the carafe, she noticed that some of it was gone.
A sudden screech, like that of a bird of prey, sounded throughout the chamber. Suddenly, an arched window appeared in the wall that wasn't there before. Through it flew a very large hawk, or possibly a small eagle. It swooped through the room on huge white and brown wings, and landed on the back rest of the couch, next to Diana. It hopped once to turn around to face everyone. It wore a bonnet of long feathers on its head. The legs and talons were black, the beak yellow. It had fierce eyes of gold, as it stared directly at Zofia.
“Aradia, welcome to the party,” Diana said as she stroked the large bird's spotted breast feathers.
Stephen went into the bow, once more, and Zofia followed him.
“Why has your daughter come as an eagle?” Beelzebub asked, sounding perplexed.
“I don't know,” Diana said. “I'll ask—”
The eagle screeched suddenly.
“She said it was the quickest way to get here from her mountain retreat.”
“I would have enjoyed seeing her in human form,” Beelzebub said in a low tone that sounded a bit on the lecherous side to Zofia's ears.
The eagle screeched again, then shook her head of wildly long feathers.
Diana laughed her high, chittering laugh. “She knows that, and says that was her second reason, so that you wouldn't ogle her so much.”
Beelzebub threw back his head and laughed heartily. “And I do not miss her sharp tongue!”
The eagle made a little clucking sound and Diana said, “You may rise, my children.”
Zofia rose a little too quickly and got a head spin. It was good that there was only one more to bow to. If she did this much longer, she'd become too dizzy to continue.
A wind burst through the same window that the eagle had flown through. It was a short-lived breeze, and it smelled of earth and ozone, and daffodils. A human form took shape in front of the window. Her long, blond hair billowed up and around her, revealing a nude body of a very pretty woman. When the breeze subsided, her tresses fell down around her nudity, covering her nakedness like a thin veil. Zofia was taken aback. She knew she was staring, but she couldn't help it. She'd never seen a more beautiful woman in all her life. Twinned in her white-blonde hair were small white daisies. A wreath of the same flowers crowned her head. Zofia suddenly felt absolutely filled with—love. Although this struck her as the oddest thing, it was a very real and strong emotion; she simply loved everyone in the room. Yes, even Beelzebub. It was an odd feeling, but it washed over and through her as she stared at the magnificent creature which stood before them.
Stephen also seemed to bend under her divine powers. Again, she felt his gaze upon her. Then she felt him take her hand in his. It was large and sultry as it engulfed her own. The power and strength in it sent a jolt of desire through her. Fortunately these crazy, almost savage urges—as overwhelming as they were—came and went in a few heartbeats. The hand that held hers now tugged Zofia into another bow.
“I welcome you, my Lady,” Stephen said.
“Freya! Delightful!” Diana spouted as she turned to take her in. “Now we can get started.”
“Freya?” Zofia whispered. If her knowledge of the goddesses was trustworthy, Freya was the daughter of Nerthus, and was the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. No wonder strong emotions of love had come over her and Stephen. She could easily charm Zofia and Stephen with enough romantic desire they would mate for hours on end. Hopefully, the goddess would not be reckless enough to do this.
“Rise,” Freya said in a high, whispery, very feminine voice.
“Now that we are all in place, the questioning process can begin,” Beelzebub said.
“You mu
st read the rules, Stephen, before we can begin,” Diana said, still stretched out on the couch, feeding grapes to Aradia, who remained in eagle form.
Stephen took a step or two away from Zofia, and pulled out from somewhere a scroll of yellowed parchment that looked ancient, the edges cracked and in some places, pieces had fallen away.
He cleared his throat. “Questioning of Initiate, Zofia Trickenbod, will begin,” Stephen read. “You will each be permitted three questions. You may ask the Initiate any question you like, and the Initiate must answer as honestly as he—uh—she possibly can. If any one of you can not come up with a third question, you may forfeit, turning over any of your remaining questions to one of the other.” Stephen drew the parchment back into a scroll and shoved it back up his sleeve. He looked to The Four. “Who will start?”
No one spoke for a moment, but all looked at one another.
“Oh, all right,” Beelzebub relented, leaning one large elbow against the fireplace, hooking one ankle over the other, smooshing the toe of his shoe as he did. The sliver cup of wine he held was smothered by his bear paw of a hand. “I'll start this off.”
Zofia bit on her lower lip, waiting.
“Is it true, Zofia, that you had sex with Erebus?”
Zofia pulled in a giant breath and held a hand against her mouth, eyes popping with fear. It wasn't so much the question—although it was shocking in itself—but he'd spoke Erebus' name.
Beelzebub managed a crooked smile. “You fear him. That is wise, and well understood. But fear not. I Beelzebub, Prince of the Seraphim, may say his name without fear of his materializing in the here and now.”
Zofia relaxed slightly, and looked around the room. Nods from the others, even Aradia, the eagle, her beak holding a grape at the moment, confirmed it.
“Erebus and I go back a few eons,” Beelzebub said, a chuckle rumbling in his vast chest. “I will not hazard to say in what way, however. But let me assure you, each of us have dealt with him in one capacity or another.”
There was a pause.
“Answer the question, Initiate Zofia,” Stephen directed.
“Oh—um—” she floundered a heartbeat or two. “Yes. It's true—but I can explain—”
Stephen held his hand up to stop her words. “You may not add more to your answer, nor may you take away. You may only answer the question, Zofia.”
Zofia wrung her hands, sweat trickled down her chest between her breasts and seeped from her armpits. She knew she was not looking forward to this, and now knew why.
“My turn!” Diana blurted as though she had just thought of a very good question. “Initiate Zofia, is he as large as they say?”
Beelzebub groaned unhappily and shook his head, the flames on his turban jumped slightly. Freya tittered girlishly, a hand covering her pretty mouth. Aradia threw back her head, opened her beak and let out a squawk.
Zofia could only stand there flabbergasted.
“Answer the question, Zofia,” Stephen coached once again.
Zofia gaped at him, then swallowed. What could she say? “Yeah. He's—um—big.”
“I was just curious,” Diana defended quickly, catching Beelzebub's snarl of contempt.
“Freya, your turn,” Beelzebub said. “And please, try to ask something we can use—” he gave Diana a look of irritation. Diana pouted and straightened her garments—what little there was of them.
Freya inclined her blonde head slightly. “Initiate Zofia,” she began. “Why did you go down into The Place of No Return?”
“He had Eltony's soul,” Zofia explained. “I needed to go there and get him back.”
“I will ask Aradia's question for her,” Diana said.
Beelzebub interrupted her with a raised hand and abrupt sound of disapproval.
“It is Aradia's question,” Diana said, sounding defensive, blinking her eyelids slowly, as though she couldn't believe he didn't trust her.
“Make certain that it is,” he said icily.
“Initiate Zofia, how is it that you knew Eltony was there?” Diana asked.
“I followed the Stone of Irdisi through a Portal, which became a cave. There I came across Xilomorah. She told me he was there.” She watched the faces of The Four and found they were passively listening. She stood waiting for a few seconds. “Should I go on?”
Stephen held up his hand. “Only answer the question for now.”
“I guess that's my answer, then,” Zofia said.
“Initiate Zofia,” Beelzebub began, “what did Xilomorah want of you?”
“Want?” Zofia said, trying to understand what he meant. “Oh. She stole the Stone from me.”
“Initiate Zofia, did you get the Stone of Irdisi back?” Freya asked.
“Yes.”
“How?” This question came from Diana—Zofia didn't know if it was her question or Aradia's.
“She tried to hex me—sent a power burst at me—I deflected it with an Umbrella spell, and the whole cave came down on her, killing her. I then retrieved the Stone.”
The Four looked at one another, looking almost alarmed by the news.
“A cave-in would not have killed her,” Beelzebub said.
“Then, when the cave fell in, it was opened up to the sunshine, possibly this killed her?” Zofia said.
“Was that a question?” Stephen asked.
“Eh, no,” Beelzebub said. “But, I am satisfied to know that wicked bitch is dead.”
“I have had dreams depicting the same,” Freya said. “I feel her cursedness no more in this realm.”
Diana made a scathing noise in the back of her throat as though she had a grape seed caught there. “Good riddance,” she sneered. “I have a question, if it's all right, Beelzebub?”
“Is it your second, or your third question?” he asked.
“I've lost count,” she said.
“I have you at two,” Stephen told her. “Unless that last question was from Aradia?”
She looked up at Aradia. “No. Aradia still has two, and I have one left.”
“Make it count, then, Diana,” Beelzebub advised.
“Oh, I will. I will,” she said as she arranged her pelts a little, covering the top of one long thigh and then fussed with a pelt over her left breast, tugging it toward the center of her chest, taking an extraordinary long time to form her last question. “Um…” she was suddenly overcome with a fit of giggles.
“Just asked the question!” Beelzebub said wearily.
“What did you trade for your son's soul?” Diana asked.
“We already know that,” Beelzebub said exasperatedly.
“No. We don't really know. Do we?” Diana argued and looked back at Freya.
Freya nodded, “No. We do not.” Zofia found the nodding with a negative answer contradictory, but then, they were as old as dirt. They could have nodded for no and shook their heads for yes, a long, long time ago, before it had been changed.
“Very well,” Beelzebub said with a heavy sigh. The flames on his hat danced a little higher now.
“That is the question, then?” Stephen asked, wanting to make sure.
“Yes. Initiate Zofia, what did you trade for your son's soul?” Diana asked again.
“He wanted the Stone of Irdisi, first,” Zofia said. “But I couldn't give it to him.”
“Answer the question,” Stephen reminded.
“Uh,” Zofia couldn't look any of them in the eyes. “He wanted sex with me.”
Diana clapped her hands together, bouncing up and down on the couch. The springs beneath her protested. “I knew it! I knew it!” she brayed sharply. “Was he yummy?”
“You have asked all your questions, Diana,” Beelzebub reminded her, looking very relieved. So was Zofia, actually.
Crest fallen, Diana fell back in her chair and scrunched up her lip at him, then leaned her chin in her fist and brooded.
Beelzebub turned his dark gaze to Aradia beside her. “Aradia, would you like to ask a second question of our initiate?”
“Ooo, that's a good one. She wants to ask Initiate Zofia if she succumbed to him,” Diana said.
“I-I couldn't,” Zofia managed to mutter.
“Then,” Beelzebub began slowly, “how was it that you did have sex with him?”
This was terribly difficult for her to hash through, especially with all their eyes upon her, not to mention two men present. “H-he tied me to his bed.”
“He raped you?” This question came from Freya.
“Yes,” Zofia said. “I—yes.” She wanted to add she hadn't even thought of it that way, but it was true. Erebus had taken her against her will. He'd actually raped her.
“Okay, Freya has asked all of her questions. Beelzebub, you have as well,” Stephen announced. “The only one of you who has a question left is Aradia.”
Aradia took a long moment, cocking her head this way and that, the headdress of feathers bobbing with her movements. Suddenly she squawked something. Diana listened and nodded. She then turned to Zofia and said, “Initiate Zofia, would you have given your life for your son?”
“Yes.” She didn't need to think about that. She would have gladly traded her soul for Elton's, had Erebus asked her that in trade, but he hadn't. And now that all this had been stirred up, she had to wonder if from the very beginning, Erebus's purpose was to bed her after all.
The Four exchanged what looked like impressed glances. Beelzebub nodded to Stephen. “We are done questioning the initiate,” he said.
A collective sigh came from each of them, as everyone seemed to relax.
“You did very well, initiate,” Freya said in that languid, high voice of hers. She bestowed Zofia with a beautiful smile. Then, her long strands of silvery hair flowed up, off her exquisite body—almost straight up, as though being sucked up by some giant vacuum—and then she vanished.
Diana was up out of the chair in one liquid move. “I think she's heads above the others, Stephen. She has cunning, and was extremely brave in facing Erebus like that.”