by Logan Jacobs
Then a loud clapping sound interrupted the amusing scene.
“Clear away, darlings,” Madame Nyra called out. “Mind the door.”
The fairies all gave us one last look before they scarpered and returned to the shadows of the manor house. Madame Nyra sauntered over and greeted us both with a warm smile.
“Aah, my darling Atticus and Ashe,” she rasped. “What a pleasure it is to see you again so soon. Did you enjoy the banquet?”
“It didn’t disappoint,” I assured her, but I hoped she wouldn’t ask for the glamorous clothes back, because she would need one hell of a seamstress to put them back together again.
“Wonderful,” Madam Nyra sighed. “And what can I do for you today?”
“We were hoping your fairies could assist us in another challenge,” I explained and then raised the entire sack of coins. “A good portion of this is for them if they get us the intel we need very promptly.”
Madame Nyra stared at the bag with hungry eyes, and then she offered me an adoring smile and stepped aside.
“Right this way,” she purred with a wave of her hand.
Ashe and I followed her through the manor and past the flock of pretty black fairies who peered at us from their lounging spots. We were taken to the same room as yesterday, with the deep-green curtain that separated the room into two parts. Madame Nyra took her seat, and I smacked the bag of pieces down onto the wooden desk.
The sound of so much money echoing around the room only caused her to smile even wider.
“Tell me what you need from my fairies, Atticus,” she began.
I chose my words carefully.
Although the black fairies had pulled through for us with the whereabouts of the Blessed, there was still the scent of cunning and deviousness that lingered in the manor, and Madame Nyra certainly had no issues when it came to looking us in the eye. Until I knew her better, I didn’t want to give her the chance to double-cross us.
“We’re looking for a human,” I explained.
“A human?” she snorted. “Whatever for? Their kind are so dull and short lived.”
“Yes, but this one is important to us,” I vaguely replied. “He was last seen vanishing into thin air by using a blue orb, so he’ll be difficult for us to track alone.”
“I see…” she mused with more interest. “And what does this man look like?”
“He is short with a round belly and has curly, gray hair. His eyes were both green and blue, and he wore clothing that looked pretty worn out,” I listed off. “I would wager he doesn’t change his attire often, and when we saw him two days ago, he had on a dark blue jacket, white shirt, and old black pants.”
“Is that all you know of the man?” she asked. “No name or occupation?”
“Yes,” I lied easily. “I know nothing else about him.”
“And where did you see him?” Madame Nyra queried.
“In a tavern on the outskirts of the Shadow Quarters,” I answered. “The one on the northwest street.”
I figured this was all informative enough to be useful, but vague enough to avoid having the aged fairy guess our business.
“And… what do you need this man for?” Madame Nyra asked with a smirk.
“I just need your fairies to bring him to me.” I shrugged.
“I see,” she muttered “You said the man had an orb. Do you know how he obtained that orb?”
“We have no idea,” I lied again. “He pulled it from his pocket and then vanished. I just need to talk to him.”
Madame Nyra was quiet for a minute as she thought over my request. I had offered her more than enough money, and it should have been something that her ladies were able to do for me, but her pondering made me think perhaps she wasn’t sure whether to accept my offer or not.
Maybe she knew exactly who I was talking about, and who the man worked for, and perhaps that was something she didn’t want her “darlings” to get involved with.
After some time, Madame Nyra finally spoke again.
“I’ll see what we can do,” she said with a gentle nod.
“Thank you,” I replied.
“Where will we find you if my fairies are successful?” she asked.
I gave her the directions to the flat we stayed at, and Madame Nyra assured me she knew of the house I spoke about. It looked as though she had prepared to divvy out the pieces from the sack between us, but I wasn’t quite done with the meeting yet, and I held up a hand as she stood up from her seat.
“We have one more thing we’d like to discuss,” I said, and she relaxed back in the chair.
“Go ahead.” Madame Nyra smiled pleasantly.
I gestured to the sack of coins on the table.
“I offered half this amount for your fairies to accomplish this task,” I reminded her. “The other half is for you, but only if you can tell us something rather important.”
The pleasant smile turned into one of intrigue, and she gladly leaned forward with her hands clasped on the tabletop.
“Well?” Madame Nyra purred.
“I need you to tell me everything you know about a certain priest,” I replied. “He has brown hair, brown eyes, and looks like the sort of man who should have absolutely no place within the walls of the Church.”
The confidence had gone from the aged fairy’s expression all at once, and it was replaced with a look that was much more serious.
“You know who I speak of,” I guessed.
“My dear, what do you know about this priest?” she asked in a tight voice.
“I know he has a side business running for himself outside of the Church, but I need to know more,” I answered. “Anything you have on him, any information at all, would be worth the rest of the coins in this bag.”
The fairy pursed her lips together like she didn’t want to speak another word. She stared off into the corner of the room for several silent minutes, but her gray eyes would occasionally glance at the bag of money between us. I could actually see her trying to work out what was most important to her in this case, and whether she wanted the money more than wanting to keep away from the dangerous situations.
Then she considered my face, and her brow wrinkled a little.
“I can tell you one thing,” Madame Nyra finally replied. “This man is clearly bad enough to do what others on this side of town won’t, and because of this, I don’t want any part in whatever your interests are with him.”
“Nothing at all?” I asked. “What if I were to double the price?”
“My dear, I have to think about my fairies,” she firmly answered. “I have far too many of them to risk getting involved with this priest.”
“You helped us with the Blessed, though,” Ashe spoke up. “And you agreed to help track down the human for us.”
“Yes, but do you realize how at large this priest is?” Madame Nyra retorted. “Not only is he a powerful man, but he also has a load of undesirables in his clutches, and that just increases the power he holds. I refuse to endanger myself or my darlings over him.”
I held back the sigh that tried to break through. It looked as though Madame Nyra was adamant on her decision to stay quiet, but it only made me more curious about this man. His gang of worshippers couldn’t have meant much to him if he constantly delved into these illegal dealings with the dark elves, but more than that, the aged fairy had just informed me he had similar arrangements with others in this area.
This was interesting.
“Does he… blackmail the undesirables?” I asked curiously. Her wording about being in his clutches made me feel this must be the case.
Madame Nyra didn’t speak her answer this time, but the subtle nod she gave me told me everything I needed to know.
“So, that mask he put on at the banquet last night was just that,” I concluded. “A mask. He’s no holier than I am. In any way.”
I knew she wasn’t going to say anything else, but she didn’t argue with the statement. She just kept her lips pursed, since she ha
dn’t supplied nearly enough to be worth the price I offered, I moved to divvy out the coins from the sack in front of me.
“Thank you for allowing us to see you,” I said as I slowly untied the bag. “We appreciate your help with finding the human.”
“I’m sorry you couldn’t help us with this other task,” Ashe added lightly.
I began pulling handfuls of coins from the bag, but the fairy looked at the sack with an expression on her face that made it seem as though she was thinking over my offer once again. I left the coins on the table instead of in my pockets while I worked, and when I was about to reclose the bag with only the payment for her fairies inside, she suddenly spoke up.
“Wait,” she hissed.
I paused in my work and glanced up. “Yes?”
“I have something that may help you,” she sighed.
“Excellent.” I grinned, and Ashe and I sat back down.
“I cannot tell you much, but I assure you it is worth the price, and it may help the situation you are in,” Madame Nyra whispered. “If any of this comes back to me, though, I will make sure you’re held accountable.”
“We understand.” I nodded.
Madame Nyra thought it through for a second, and then she turned her head to look directly at Ashe.
“You should take a walk around Pixie Lane at five in the evening,” Madame Nyra suggested hastily. “You’ll want to leave Handsome behind so as not to draw too much attention, and you’ll certainly want to wear red.”
With that, Madame Nyra shoveled her share of the coins into the sack and disappeared through the thick green curtain behind her.
“Why?” I demanded before she could escape. “What is this all about?”
The black fairy let out a deep sigh and then turned back around to face us again.
“Like I said, I cannot tell you much,” she whispered. “But I can tell you…”
There was a slight pause in her sentence, like Madame Nyra was trying to work out how to continue without revealing too many secrets at the same time.
“You’ll see a Red Witch in that area,” the fairy looked at Ashe directly. “Wear red to help you blend in, but you need to go alone. I cannot stress that enough.”
“Okay,” Ashe mumbled. “But… why?”
“Because you’re already pushing it,” Madame Nyra scoffed. “Due to the Red Witch being there, Pixie Lane is constantly being watched. It’s far safer for one of you to hide in the shadows than it would be for two of you. Especially if the one on the street is a woman. They’ll just think she’s another witch. Now, go. I will tell you nothing else.”
The black fairy turned on her heels and vanished behind her curtain with a slightly anxious huff, and I glanced sidelong at my demon lover as the sound of the Madame’s high heels faded somewhere deep in the strange manor.
Chapter 15
Before we left the black fairies’ manor, I asked one of the sultry women if Madame Nyra might have a red dress laying around for Ashe to wear when she went to Pixie Lane. I had no idea why it was so important, but if Madame Nyra told her to wear a certain guise, I was willing to bet we didn’t want to do otherwise.
One of the winged women managed to find a dress somewhere on the upper level we could use. She made us promise to bring it back, and I assured her we would, but I silently hoped it wouldn’t matter if it happened to be in a few more scrappy pieces by then.
I could already tell from the fabric that I was going to fucking love this outfit on Ashe, and knowing what the black fairies wore on a regular basis, I figured it probably didn’t matter whether this one got a little scrappier.
After we left the manor of the black fairies, we ate another meal to keep our human forms running at peak performance, and I bought Ashe another two dragons’ breaths since I wanted to be a benevolent master to her. The beautiful demon was so happy, she insisted on sitting on my lap in the tavern while she finished her drinks, and I tried a new surface world beverage for myself while I had the time.
This brew was a deathly purple and bubbled nonstop, but it didn’t smoke, and the half-orc at the bar called it a thunderclap. I smirked at the irony as I took a first sip, and I was very pleased to find the tangy liquid left charged zaps of energy dancing across my tongue and down my throat. When I belched, sparks of white energy shot from my lips and hopped all over the tabletop, and Ashe loved the show so much that she begged me to get her a thunderclap before we left.
I got her two, along with another for myself.
Then we headed from the tavern to the marketplace to check the time on the large clock tower, and we saw only one raid taking place along the way. A group of goblins were trying to set fire to the king’s guards who fought to imprison them, but I didn’t lend a hand this time. The goblins had four tinsel fairies gagged, bound, and available for purchase in jars on the shelves of their stall, so I only stuck around until the guards were carting the chained goblins to their carriage.
Then I casually walked over, freed the tinsel fairies before the guards could confiscate them, and headed on my way.
Once we reached the clock in the marketplace, we saw it was just past the third hour, which gave us nearly two hours before Ashe had to leave.
“Do you know where Pixie Lane is?” Ashe asked as we continued to head back to the flat.
“I remember seeing it near Medusa’s Palace, so it’s somewhere around there,” I replied.
“Great, a night with more gorgons,” she snickered. “Just what I need.”
“Hey, if it’s going to get us the answers, then it might be the only option,” I added. “Maybe you’ll get to slash out a few throats while you’re out there.”
A wicked gleam crossed Ashe’s vibrant pink eyes. “In that case, I can’t wait to go.”
“I thought you’d say that,” I laughed, and a few birds scattered from the tree above our heads.
When we arrived back at the half-elf’s flat, I collected a few bucketfuls of water from the well, filled the tub, and then sat back and enjoyed the view while Ashe washed herself.
First, she ran the water down her face and then scrubbed her chest with both hands until she was covered in suds. Her perky breasts reacted to the cold water in the most delicious way, and I couldn’t take my eyes off from her painfully taut and glittering nipples. Watching her spread her legs over the edges of the tub to very slowly wash the rest of herself was like torture, though.
It would have been inconvenient for me to devour her luscious body and leave her covered in cum, especially after she’d just washed herself, but it was incredibly difficult to keep my hands to myself.
So, I didn’t.
I ravaged my vicious woman for the next hour until she was shrieking in ecstasy, but I made sure to pump every drop of my seed deep inside her hungry pussy to avoid leaving her in an absolute mess.
Then I helped her get dressed for her evening on Pixie Lane.
The dress the black fairy had given her looked somewhat like the one she’d been wearing when she first hunted me down. It was tiny, tight, and only barely concealed the apex of Ashe’s thighs. It had cupped sleeves that slid off her shoulders no matter what she did, and a red satin ribbon crisscrossed down the middle. Ashe made light work of the ribbon and tied it into a delicate bow at the bottom, and with the red ribbon pulled tight, her breasts were plumped together until I thought her cleavage might burst right through the fabric.
Yeah, I was definitely going to break that promise to the black fairy. There was no chance this dress was going to be returned in one piece. I was going to tear every part of it off her in ribbons so I could bite, lick, and suck on every inch of her body.
Ashe put on the red satin cape that came with her outfit, and she hid her onyx blade underneath. Then, as a final and fantastic touch, she slipped on a pair of black fishnet stockings.
“Fuckkkk…” I growled as I admired the full ensemble. “Do you really have to go so soon?”
“Your cum is already seeping out of me, my mast
er,” Ashe purred. “Are you not satisfied?”
“Not remotely,” I assured her.
“Well… then I will hurry back to you like a very good fiend,” she chuckled.
“Yes, you will,” I agreed, and I flashed her a wicked grin.
Ashe threw a few pieces into her black velvet money bag, and then she slipped her delicate, stockinged feet into her leather boots. She looked beyond amazing as she tossed her loose, silver-blue locks over her shoulder and headed for the door, and I was almost jealous I wasn’t going to join her on this mysterious mission to Pixie Lane.
But as soon as the door closed behind her, that jealousy was swapped for a completely different feeling.
It hadn’t hit me until Ashe had left the flat, but now I realized how normal it was to have her in my presence. I wasn’t used to being this close to someone. Demons were thrown into the various voids in the Hellscape, and we were made to live out our days with others at our sides, but that was completely different than this.
I missed her…
It was an unusual feeling for a demon to have, but it felt like the only feeling that fully fit the situation.
And it was because of how much I missed her in this short space of time, and how much I cared for her, that the different possibilities began to enter my mind.
I paced the desolate flat while I imagined the Lord Captains sending a relentless army of tamers and Hellhounds after Ashe, and I knew too well what could happen if they cornered her in a dark alley without me near. I knew Ashe had the power to defeat scores of demons, but she hadn’t defeated me, so this didn’t help the pain and worry simmering in my gut.
Maybe it was because she’d given herself to my care, or maybe it was because she genuinely drove me wild with everything she did, but I could physically feel the separation from her now. It ached and infuriated me all at once, and I didn’t know how long I spent pacing and brooding over the possibilities.
Thankfully, I was eventually distracted when a knock came at the door.