Stewart shook his head as he pulled the urn tight to his chest, crying as if his very soul had been torn away from him. Grimgar did his best to comfort his friend, not knowing what to do or say.
Minutes went by as Stewart cried over his lost love. A soldier finally approached hesitantly. “Sirs, we will be opening a portal back to the Keep in a moment. Will you be coming with us?”
Stewart never looked up, so Grimgar shook his head once. “I thinkin' nay, but tell our friends we will meet them in Stormguard as soon as we can, please.”
The soldier saluted, “Condolences on the loss of your friend. Including her, we lost eleven people in total, including the commander. If you would send me a message with her name please, we will need to include it for our report.”
Grimgar shook his head, “Our leader, Alistern, is at the fort. He will give ye what ye need.”
“As you say, sir. I hope he can overcome his grief. I've seen others fail to deal with the final death before.” The soldier turned and marched off toward the others, barking orders.
An hour later, the pair of men were alone, sitting on the sands. Stewart's tears had finally halted. “I'm sorry, Grim. I can't... I just can't stop the feeling of loss in my chest.”
“Aye lad, would nay expect ye to righ' now. We should go, though. Alistern and Almira will also want to mourn her loss. Are ye ready to go back to Stormguard?”
Stewart stood up, clutching the urn in one hand as he pulled out his Homestone with the other. “I will see you there,” he said as he vanished.
Grimgar stood up slowly, worried for his friend. He noticed a glint of metal on the sands near him. Grimgar picked up the item, the Crown of the Demon Lord, and put it into his pouch. He figured Stewart might want it one day.
Lilith’s History
Rubbing at her eyes, Lilith watched as another of her sisters had been chosen to become the minion of a Summoner. She trudged toward her quarters in the Dark Lord’s halls. She was a Lesser Succubus, but she had yet to be chosen as a Summoner’s minion.
Back in her room, she shut the door softly behind her. She leaned back against the dark wood and let out a soft hiccupping cry. “When? When will it be my turn?”
“None of us knows, daughter,” Mother said, sipping at the tea she was holding.
Eyes opening surprisedly, Lilith saw her mother in the lone chair in the room. “I didn’t expect you here, Mother.”
“Why would you not expect me to be here to comfort you?”
“Five times. I’ve been passed over five times. Why, Mother? Why am I never chosen?”
“They don’t understand, child,” Mother sighed as she finished her tea and set the cup aside. “They all seek power, but many of them do not look beyond the raw strength of each candidate. You are not the weakest, but neither are you the strongest.”
“I survived my time in the Cursed Woods,” Lilith rebutted her mother’s words.
Mother smiled gently as she got to her feet, “Be that as it may, Lilith, you must be patient. Your time will come, though even then it might not last. A number of those who practice Summoning choose the path of Light.”
Frowning, Lilith snorted, “They are fools.”
“Not all of them, child. Some of them just feel a greater affinity for the other side, is all. I will pray to your Father that you never experience that.”
Taking a moment to breathe deeply, Lilith bowed her head, “Thank you, Mother.”
“Now, enough of this. It is time for you to do your rounds in the great hall.” Mother held out the whip, “The Dwarf you favor has been looking for you all morning.”
Lilith flushed slightly, “I don’t favor any of them, Mother. He just seems to react better when it’s me.”
“Of course, child. My mistake.”
~*~*~
As the flash of light and puff of smoke cleared, Lilith appeared before her first master. She bowed her head, elated at having finally been chosen, but tried to maintain a proper demeanor, “Thank you for picking me as your Succubus, master.”
The Lunari walked around her with a blank face. “Yes, you will do. Now to name you. Do you have a preference?”
“Lilith,” she said, keeping her eyes downcast.
“Very well, Lilith,” the Lunari replied as he tipped her head up and met her eyes. “I’m Lindle Pridetooth, your master. I welcome you into my collection of minions. Derm, Grob, say hello to your new companion.”
The Destroyer nodded to her, his voice harsh, “Welcome to the party, Lilith. I’m Derm.”
Bouncing in place, the Imp grinned at her, “Grob is my name. Master brings us forth once a week to help him cleanse the lands.”
Lilith carefully kept her disappointment off her face. Summoned only once a week? “I shall do my best to serve.”
“Good,” Lindle rumbled. “Today, we fight in the Sand of Arach. Your Ability to Daze is not useful here, but you have blades. Use them on the creatures Derm holds.”
“As master wishes,” Lilith replied, eager to prove herself.
The day went by more quickly than Lilith wanted. Lindle didn’t give her any praise or even glance at her more than needed. She held inside her disappointment, remembering the stories she had been told by her sisters, about how their masters would keep them at their sides and use them in the bedroom.
“We are done,” Lindle told them when they had returned to the gate of the small fort. “Next week, we shall be fighting in another place. Until then, your time is your own.” Derm and Grob both vanished immediately, but Lilith lingered for a moment.
“Master, are you sure you wish me to leave?”
Lindle eyed her for a second, then snorted contemptuously. “You lack the fur I find appealing. Go home and rest. Next week, I shall need your Abilities.”
Lilith vanished at that point, her face stinging in embarrassment. She stalked back to her room through the halls of the Dark Lord’s palace, her hooves clacking harshly against the stone. “Fur? Why would I be furred? I’m a daughter of the Dark Lord, you damned Lunari. You should have been honored by the attention.”
She flung her door open, freezing in place as the door crashed into the wall. Many of her sisters, along with Mother and the Dark Lord, were inside waiting for her. The few congratulatory cries were quickly stifled when they caught sight of her face.
Stepping forward before anyone else could, the Dark Lord sighed softly, “Not what you were hoping, Lilith?”
Her face crumpled at his words, his love for her obvious. “He chose me, but then turned me down when I offered myself.” A single tear marked her cheek as she got the words out.
Stepping forward, he embraced his daughter. “Not all will be like that, child. If he turned you down, it is likely that he will turn from the Dark. If he does, you will have another chance.”
As his arms and wings enfolded her, Lilith began to cry. “It hurt. My sisters tell me how wonderful it is for them, and then I am spurned by my own master for lacking fur.”
Her sisters gathered around them, offering comfort at Lilith’s rejection. As the Dark Lord rocked her gently in place, he brushed at her hair. “Many of your sisters have experienced much the same, child. One in very few find their true master on the first try.”
His wings opened and closed as Mother came up behind Lilith and joined the embrace. “Very few indeed. We came to celebrate your arrival as a claimed Succubus. We can instead be here to help you over the first rough patch in your life.”
“We are with you, sister,” the others chorused from around her.
Sniffling, she looked around at her sisters. Many of them wore expressions that spoke of having experienced much the same themselves. “Thank you,” she finally said as the Dark Lord folded his wings back and turned her over to the rest of the family.
~*~*~
Lilith looked at the pop-up that had appeared before her and breathed a sigh of relief. She let it sit there for a moment as she recalled the numerous times she had been dismissed with scor
n. “Maybe next time,” she whispered.
Summoner Lindle Pridetooth has died the final death, your bond is broken.
You are now a free Succubus ready for a new master.
Tossing the pop-up away, Lilith sat back in her chair. She could still recall her excitement at being chosen, but it was overshadowed by the way Lindle had dismissed all her offers.
~*~*~
It was a few decades before anyone picked her again. When she appeared in front of her new master, she again bowed her head, thanking them for choosing her. “Thank you for picking me as your Succubus, master.”
The female Dwarf walked around her with an aloof expression. “Hmm, well as long as ye behave yeself, we will nay have any issues. I’m Brenda Ironshod, ye mistress. Ye will do as I tell ye with nay hesitation.”
“As you wish it, mistress,” Lilith replied, keeping her gaze downcast.
“And keep ye hands off me Greva.” Brenda turned to her Destroyer, “Greva, ye are nay to touch her, be that understood?”
“Yes, mistress,” Greva said in a respectful tone.
“What about me?” Bouncing from foot to foot, the Imp eyed Lilith like she was candy.
“If you start to behave yeself, mayhap I be lettin’ ye sample her at times. If ye continue to be an issue, Jak, then I be givin’ ye back to Greva for the night again.”
The Imp shuddered, “As you wish it, mistress.”
“What be ye name, Infernal?” Brenda asked as she spun back to Lilith.
“Lilith is my name, mistress,” she replied quickly.
“Why is it that Succubi have normal names, but the others do nay?” Brenda asked with a piercing gaze.
“It is the will of the Dark Lord, mistress,” Lilith replied without hesitation.
“Hmm. Well, ye will be working hard under me heel, ye wee tramp. Now we be startin’ with the Icekin today, so do nay dawdle or hold me back.”
“As you wish, mistress,” Lilith replied.
~*~*~
The next three years were torture for Lilith. She was ordered to please Brenda’s Imp at times when they were camping out, while Brenda used Greva to sate her own desires. Hatred for the stern and aloof Dwarf burned in Lilith’s heart.
It was a few weeks into the third year when Lilith was finally freed. During a hunt in the Ice Halls, Greva was pulled down. He was killed only rarely. Brenda ordered Jak and Lilith to hold the Ice Wyrms back so she could escape.
Lilith felt a spark of rebellion while she watched Jak casting his Fire Burst. She targeted the furthest monster and Dazed it before she stepped forward, right into the path of the monsters. She cried out when they crushed her under their scaled feet. She had done as little as she could to slow them.
When she reappeared in her room at the Dark Lord’s palace, she began to pray to her father that Brenda wouldn’t survive like she had time and again during the last three years. Brenda had died a dozen times, but had come back each time.
As she knelt on her floor praying, a pop-up appeared in front of her. She looked at it with wide eyes and a cry of joy came from her throat. “Finally,” she hissed.
Summoner Brenda Ironshod has died the final death, your bond is broken.
You are now a free Succubus ready for a new master.
Sobbing, she collapsed onto the floor and let her relief wash through her. The only good thing she could say about Brenda was that at least she hadn’t ordered Lilith to become pregnant with Jak’s spawn.
She became aware that Mother had entered her room during her crying. Sniffling as she tried to wipe away the tears of joy, she looked over at Mother. “She is dead.”
“I figured that was why you were crying, child.” Mother knelt next to Lilith. “Are you going to undertake the ritual to reduce your power?”
Biting her lip, Lilith wondered if she should. “If I don’t, then I have to pass through each zone for the free Infernals.”
“Yes, and that is fraught with the peril of you dying your own final death.”
Taking a moment to consider, Lilith finally nodded, “I will undergo the ritual, Mother.”
“I’m glad, child,” Mother said as she helped Lilith to her feet. “Your love is out there still. You will find them in time, so please do not give up hope.”
“If you say it, then I know it is true, Mother,” Lilith said as Mother guided her to the throne room.
The Dark Lord sat upon his throne as they entered. Lilith walked to the foot of his throne and bowed, “Please, Father, take this power from me so I might once again try to find my true Master.”
“If this is your wish, my child,” the Dark Lord raised his hand. A flash of utter darkness flowed from him to Lilith. She cried out in anguish as a rainbow hued stream followed the blackness back to the Dark Lord. After a few moments, the stream vanished and she collapsed, shuddering. “Take her back to her room,” he ordered. A Destroyer Lord came forward and gently picked Lilith up, carrying her off.
Mother came to his side. “How much longer must she wait?”
He sighed softly, “I pray it isn’t too much more, or we might lose her to despair.”
Mother looked after the departing form of Lilith being carried by the Destroyer. “May that not be the case.”
~*~*~
Lilith felt her ambivalence grow as the decades passed by. Another three masters with decades between each, and still none who truly claimed her soul. Thrice more she gave up her power, even after having become a Greater Succubus once.
None of the three had been as bad as Lindle or Brenda, but none of them captivated her heart. Hendrix Softhand had been the best, but the Dead Lands claimed him in the end. Even Hendrix, though, lacked the spark that made her want to do as he wished without question.
She had now visited most zones in her time as a minion, some of them extensively. She’d set hoof in the Icy Tombs, the Primal Forest, the Troll Lands, and even delved deeply into the Dead Lands in service to her various masters and mistresses.
Having once again given up her power to the Dark Lord and having been reverted back to a Lesser Succubus, Lilith sat in her room and wondered if she shouldn’t have kept her power this time. She would have been free to wander the Dead Lands at will if she had.
As she sat there, a knock came to her door. “Come in.”
Mother glided into the room, “Child, are you reconsidering your choice to try again?”
Nodding, Lilith sighed, “I am, Mother. Maybe I will never find my one. Maybe I’m not like my sisters. Each of them has found what you said we all would.”
Shaking her head, Mother sat down next to Lilith. “Do not give up yet, dear. Have faith and you will be rewarded. At times, the road is hardest before the sweetest reward.”
Snorting, Lilith shook her head, “I don’t know if I can believe that anymore.”
Mother gave her a small knowing smile, “The next time will be the final time.”
Laughing softly, Lilith met her Mother’s eyes. “If Mother says it, then it must be true.” She said the phrase they had been taught as children. When she said it this time, though, she recalled how often Mother had been right. “Do you mean it?” she asked, her voice full of hope.
“Yes, my dearest child,” Mother replied as she got to her feet. “It will be a few years yet, but the next time will be the final time.”
The years flew by as Lilith eagerly waited for what mother had promised her. A decade went past and Lilith’s hope began to dim slightly. Another decade came and went as she waited, her hope stretching thinner.
She was about to give up hope when she was notified that she was under consideration. Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for either the acceptance or the rejection.
Her heart leapt into her throat as the light flared around her. When the smoke cleared around her, she could see she was in a subterranean room. Beside her was another Succubus, Tabitha, who was one of her sister’s daughters and who also had sulfurous smoke drifting around her. In front of the two Succubi
stood two men, one Human and one half Infernal.
“Thank you for picking me as your Succubus, master.” Lilith and Tabitha said in unison.
Lilith kept her gaze down as she had been taught as the half Infernal stepped forward and took Tabitha’s hand. “I’m Stewart Demonblood. What is your name, lovely?”
“Tabitha is my name, master, if it pleases you.” Tabitha replied, her voice soft and breathy.
Lilith blinked as the other man stepped forward and tilted her head back to meet her eyes. “I be Alistern Crowley. What be ya name, beautiful temptress?”
Tales from the Dead Man Inn Page 8