by Logan Jacobs
“I assume this is the case,” she murmured. “We tracked him all over the city, and he didn’t seem to be headed any place in particular.”
“Why don’t you have a proper home?” I asked the man.
He worked for the dark elf, and I had a decent idea of the amount of money he had given the priest, so I couldn’t work out why he wouldn’t at least have a home to his name.
“I try and, um, s-stay in hiding,” he awkwardly replied. “It wouldn’t be good if I had a solid place to live where I could be found.”
“The fairies found you,” I reminded him.
“Yes, exactly!” he scoffed. “I try and move around to stop that from happening.”
“Why hide?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. I just wanted to be sure he was speaking truthfully with me.
“My boss is…” The man paused for a second to wet his parched lips. “I’m caught up in some seedy shit, alright? I have to protect myself as much as possible.”
“Your boss doesn’t protect you?” I queried.
“My boss doesn’t protect anyone but himself,” the human sneered.
That didn’t surprise me too much. I could understand why the dark elves would be more interested in the business they ran than their subordinates. It was much like the Hellscape, and I imagined that as long as the elves got what they were after, they didn’t care about anything else.
“Tell me,” I said as I crossed my arms. “Do you like working for this boss?”
“Oh, God, no!” the man cried. “I cannot stand any of them, especially the deal I’ve been locked into.”
“Then, why did you try to threaten me with those assholes?” I frowned.
“B-Because that’s what I’m used to,” he explained. “I have to act like the boss whenever I take part in the elves’ commands, so I followed the rules I’d been set.”
I guessed that made sense. The dark elves made sure he did all of their dirty work, even the organization with the priest, so it was probably second nature to act like the leader in any situation. I was also a new creature to him, so he would have made sure to try and be the predator and not the prey.
“How many bosses do you have?” I frowned, but this was another test to make sure he still stuck to his original promise.
“There are nine of them in total, but only one of them is the leader,” he replied.
“And they’re all dark elves, am I right?” I grinned.
A look of shock crossed the man’s already terrified face. “H-How did you know that?”
“Because I brought you here for a reason,” I snorted. “Of course, I knew you worked for the dark elves, and I know about the fucking orbs they mine, too.”
“Well, then you caught me at a good time,” he shot back. “I’ll probably be found in a ditch any day now, so go on! What the fuck do you want to know?”
“In a ditch?” I asked with genuine curiosity. “Why would you end up there?”
“Because that’s how this bastard is with everyone,” the man spat. “Whenever he gets sick of someone, or when we’ve done the job for long enough, he kills us off and finds someone else. He’s a real respectable boss, he is.”
“So, you’re essentially just waiting for that day to come?” I cocked an eyebrow.
“Of course.” The man offered a hopeless shrug. “Granted, death’s the only thing that’ll get me out from being their slave of a middleman, so frankly, I’ll happily accept it when it comes along.”
“Hmm,” I muttered, and I took a turn around the room to think about this.
He smelled tainted enough, but not particularly cruel. It seemed like he had been dragged into the business without another option, but maybe he had originally accepted the dark elf’s plan to save himself from poverty or some other mortal concern.
“Well,” I sighed as I came to a stop in front of him. “You’re a hopeless bastard.”
“I am,” he snorted with a weak smile.
“I’d wager you’d like to live a better life if you could?” I continued.
“No better life available,” the man assured me grimly. “Not with those fucking elves owning me.”
“I see.” I nodded. “Well, in that case, you might be interested in the offer I have for you. I plan to take the entire mining operation for my own. Care to help with that?”
The human looked too scared to give me an answer, but the twin fairies giggled from my bed, and I turned my head to see excitement gleaming in their gray eyes.
“You will keep this to yourselves,” I growled, and as smoke billowed from my mouth, both fairies immediately stopped giggling.
“Yes, sir,” they answered in unison.
Then I turned back to the human.
“I can offer you exclusive protection from this dark elf,” I continued. “But only if you keep your mouth shut and do as you're told.”
“But who will protect me from everyone else?” he asked with a nervous frown. “Do you have any idea how many beings I’ve pissed off working for that asshole?”
“Oh, you will be protected from all of them working for me,” I said with a sinister grin. “More than that, you will have a solid roof over your head. One where you don’t have to live in fear, provided you serve me well. If you do not, I can assure you death will not be a kindness. It will be unbearably slow, drawn out over days and even weeks, if I can manage it. And every excruciating moment will be punctuated by a particularly hellish strain of acidic venom being slowly deposited in any limb you have that is not already lacerated or boiling.”
The human man was a sickly gray as he gawked up at me, but I still let the smoke continue to seep from behind my fangs as I grinned down at him.
“Do we have a deal?” I growled.
“Y-Yes!” he answered eagerly. “Lovely! I’ll work for you, sir!”
“Good, then tell me everything,” I ordered. “I need to know where the mining takes place, when the elves will be there next, and who all will be present.”
“Um…” he muttered breathlessly, and he wet his lips again. “Well, th-there’s a headquarters on the other side of the Grimmway, you won’t be able to miss it. Real old place, and quite large, too. They always work at night, so all nine of the elves will be there when the sun sets,”
“Yes, the manor house with the many chimneys, we’ve seen it,” I replied. “Where does the mining operation itself take place? At the same manor?”
“W-Well…” he stuttered. “I haven’t seen the mining operation for myself. Only the manor house, but I know the elves head deeper into the grove along the great wall whenever they’re dealing with the larger shipments of the orbs.”
“Which direction do they head from the manor house?” I clarified. “If I were approaching from the Grimmway…”
“You’d head off to the right, I think,” the man said with a more confident nod. “But I’m sure the main headquarters is where you’ll find them all at sunset. They usually meet there first thing in the evening, but you’ll need to be prepared.”
I grinned through my fangs. “I’m prepared.”
“They’re fast and strong,” the man added. “Quite skilled, too, so it’d be best to catch them off guard.”
“Are you new to this job?” I snorted. “Did you really think we were going to announce our arrival?”
The man bowed his head slightly at my jesting, and I shook my head. I tried not to be too annoyed with the simple mortal, but my constant worry for Ashe was grating in my chest, and I was finding it difficult to control my anger.
Fortunately, before I became insane, I heard the telltale sound of someone running up the stairs to the flat, and I could smell Ashe’s delicious scent before she even barged through the door.
“Fucking hell,” she groaned as she tore off her cape. “What a night that was.”
A rush of stress left my body as soon as I saw that she was okay, but it was immediately replaced with burning desire as I acknowledged she looked much better than just “okay.”<
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Ashe looked purely sinful in her outfit, and the way the deep red satin contrasted with her silver skin was enough for me to want to kick every asshole from the room. I knew she didn’t have any undergarments on, either, because she never wore them, and it would have been so easy to tear those fishnet stockings off, bend her over, and take her over and over right then and there.
Unfortunately, we weren’t alone, and the gray-haired man in the seat beside me turned to get a look at who entered. All it took was one glance at my demon goddess, and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fainted. His body slumped onto the table next to him, and Ashe smiled with pride.
“Oh, oops,” she chuckled. “It looks like you’ve been busy.”
“I’ll tell you everything later,” I murmured, and I dragged her into my arms and delved my tongue into her mouth.
This was definitely the last time I’d allow her to go on a mission alone, especially for as long as that. The moment her arms wrapped around my back, and her tongue tangled with mine, I felt like all my sanity had returned, and even when I released her lips, I kept her tucked against me while she nuzzled into my shoulder.
“Well, well,” I heard a black fairy giggle. “I can understand why the poor bastard fainted from the sight of you. Had we known this, we wouldn’t have had to use our drugs to fucking bring him here!”
“That’s true, but… mmm,” the second twin moaned. “This whole view is making me light-headed as well. They are both so gorgeous.”
“Huh?” Ashe muttered as she stepped back from me, and she chuckled when she saw the fairies waving from the bed. “I guess it’s quite a revealing dress.”
“‘Quite’ isn’t the word I’d use,” I snickered.
Ashe grabbed the neckline of her dress and sorted it out slightly. The simple movement caused her breasts to become more exposed, and I couldn’t keep my hands off the seductive woman. I reached out almost without thinking and stroked her sides with the tips of my fingers, but then I noticed the fairies had both stood from their place on the bed.
“We can help you with that, if you’d like,” one offered suggestively.
“Yeah, we don’t mind sticking around until the human wakes up,” the other added.
“Oh, really?” I teased as I pulled my little fiend a little closer. “You think I need a hand taking care of this?”
“Oh, absolutely,” a twin purred. “My sister and I are always happy to help.”
Then the second twin reached out to tug at the ribbon that held Ashe’s scant dress in place, but I tucked my snickering, demon lover under my arm before either of the fairies had a chance to play with her. They both continued consuming her with their eyes, but then they started eyeing me as well, and the scent of their combined lust almost bowled me over.
“I would love for you to help us sometime,” I said in a low and smoky tone.
“Really?” one sister gasped with wide, gray eyes.
“Sure.” I winked. “But not tonight.”
“Oh.” The excitement quickly vanished from both of their faces.
“We have work to do,” I explained. “Play comes after.”
“You’re not fun,” one twin sulked.
“Don’t pout,” her sister sighed. “You have to be patient to get the best in this city. You know that.”
“Listen to your sister,” I chided the other twin. “She knows what she’s talking about.”
“We’ll leave you two to it, then,” the sulking twin grumbled. “What shall we do with the ward we brought in?”
“Can you take him to your manor?” I asked with a finger pointed toward the man. “I’ll pay for him to stay there for now. I’ll need him in the immediate future, and I’d rather save you all the trouble of hunting him down again.”
Funnily enough, as soon as money was involved, the fairies seemed to forget all about the orgy they were hoping for earlier. I let go of Ashe and went over to our supply of pieces and counted out forty from the chest, and the twins shared a look between themselves and then grabbed the pieces I handed over.
“We’ll need more than that to house him at the manor,” one sister announced.
“No, that’s plenty for now,” I retorted with a smirk. “Especially if you want to be allowed to come visit me and my little demon again.”
“Fine,” she giggled, and her gray eyes danced just like her twin’s did.
The two black fairies lifted the human up from the seat with one hand under each arm. Then they fluttered to the door with his boot-clad feet dragging across the wooden boards. The fairies looked over at me once more with alluring grins as they batted their lashes, and then they left the flat and flew into the night.
I was quick to close and lock the door behind them, and I had Ashe back in my arms within seconds. She ran her hands up my back and then dragged her fingers down my spine, and I groaned as I reached up under her short dress to palm her fishnet-clad ass.
“So, it looks like you had fun without me,” she murmured coyly.
“Those twins wish I had,” I snickered. “But I did get some information about the weapons, and the human bastard is taken care of. He told me a bit of what we need to know before he fainted, too.”
“Really?” Ashe asked and nibbled my neck. “What did he say?”
I moved us over to the bed and then laid down on the soft mattress with Ashe beneath me, and I didn’t answer her question until I’d kissed and licked all over her slender neck and pillowy cleavage. Then I let her curl up at my side, and she drew circles on my chest with one nail, while she draped her stockinged leg over my hip.
“He told me what I already knew,” I finally answered. “That the dark elf is an asshole to work with, but he did confirm the location of their headquarters in the Grimmway, when they’d all be there, how many to expect. He’s also given me a starting point in terms of where I can locate the main area of the mining operation, but then he offered some advice about defeating them that was useless, because I already knew as much.”
“And he’ll work for you?” she checked.
“Yes, I put the unholy fear into him,” I chuckled. “I’ll sort the rest out later, but I’d say he won’t be any concern to us once we’ve taken over.”
“And what about the weapons?” Ashe asked next.
“Oh, you’re going to lose your shit about this part,” I laughed. “The sickle can absorb your own powers, so it could inject your venom into the elves if you use it, or give them an Infernal dose of the tempest if I use it.”
“That sounds wonderful,” she sighed dreamily. “But what of the sword? I like the sword quite a lot.”
“Well, apparently dark elves have a weakness to yellow sapphires, as the half-elf told us,” I explained. “So, it turns out the blade will cause their blood to boil and thicken if the sword pierces their skin.”
“Fuck,” she moaned and clutched my shirt. “Okay, I’ll take that one.”
I laughed at her desire to use the weapon, but I was glad she’d offered to take it, because I could just picture how sexy she’d look with that sword raised and ready to go. In my mind, I saw her slice an elf across the stomach, but then finish him off with her venomous talons, and he’d no doubt end up screeching like a skinned banshee while both means of blistering death consumed him at once.
That image alone was almost too much for me to bear. I could already smell the intense, evil scent of their blood filling the air, and I could see the vibrant red as it poured from their boiling wounds and painted everything in its sight.
I wanted to leave the flat right this second and get the attack underway, but we had things to do before that could happen. Not only did we have to suss out a fail-proof plan, but I also needed to know why Ashe was made to leave in a red dress this evening.
Madame Nyra obviously had a plan for her, but I needed to know what it was, and why it took so long to complete it. She had returned home unscathed and hyped-up about something, so it had to have been important, and hopefu
lly informative with regards to the priest.
“So, what have you been doing all this time?” I asked as I rolled Ashe onto me, and once her fishnet-clad thighs were straddling me, I settled my palms on her ass beneath her dress.
“I was in Pixie Lane.” She shrugged.
“Yes, I know,” I chuckled. “But I was beginning to worry. You were gone for hours.”
“Atticus, you know I can hold my own in a fight,” the little fiend snickered as she rolled her pussy against my groin to tease me.
“I do, but I also know how fucking vicious the Church can be,” I added. “They’re wanting our heads, and they could’ve gotten yours.”
“But they didn’t.” Ashe smiled softly. “Instead, I found out something interesting which you might love to hear.”
“Oh, yeah?” I grinned and helped her hips move while I envisioned tearing her stockings off any second.
“Yep. Going to Pixie Lane turned out to be informative.”
“And what have you found out for me?” I half-growled.
“Well…” Ashe leaned forward so her breasts swelled against my chest. “Our favorite priest doesn’t conduct all of his business alone. He has control over that pretty little witch. And it turns out that she manages dozens of his deals right here in the Shadow Quarters.”
Chapter 16
I immediately shifted my lover off my lap so I could focus without wanting to fuck her, and I furrowed my brow as I considered the eager gleam in her pink eyes.
“Have we seen this witch before?” I asked.
“No.” Ashe shook her head lightly. “In all honesty, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing when I first arrived.”
“So, what happened?” I pressed. I couldn’t bear another break in the tale, not when so much was finally being revealed, but I tried to appear patient while Ashe just smirked.
Then she took a moment to toy with me by brushing her silver-blue hair over her shoulder, and she let out a careless sigh before continuing.
“Well, for a while, I was hiding in the back alleys, waiting on something to go down,” Ashe explained. “I was there for a long time, focusing on the smells and sounds around me, but even then, with everyone who walked past the alley, I still had no idea why I was there, I only had the little information that Madame Nyra gave us. Then I noticed the Red Witch as she traveled from house to house. She played out the same routine at every house she stopped at, and that was when I decided to start following her. She smelled so fucking delicious that I honestly couldn’t resist, and I was annoyed with hiding in the alley.”