“Not in her!” Dahlia cried. “Share it!”
“Yeah, spread it around, baby!” Memento moaned greedily.
“What?!” Carmilla yelled, appalled by the suggestion that I not be allowed to fill her up with my seed, but before she could react in her weakened state, the other two girls had tackled her, pulling her off of my cock, and the three of them were suddenly lying in a row, side-by-side.
“Now!” Dahlia shouted.
The insane melodrama of the situation aside, at this point, I wasn’t waiting for anyone’s permission. I brought myself up to a kneeling position, straddling Carmilla, who lay at the center of my beautiful buffet. I pumped my cock, already full to burst, and ejaculated wave after wave of cum onto the stomachs, faces, and breasts of the three beauties as they moaned erotically and rubbed my seed all over their bodies. Carmilla, in particular, seemed eager not to let a single drop go unaccounted for, devotedly guiding each glob of my love juice into her mouth.
I was fucking spent. “Move over,” I said, exhausted. I collapsed between Dahlia and Carmilla. The four of us quickly melded into a big naked cuddle puddle. Blood, jizz, and pussy juice were everywhere, but I was far too tired to care about something as trivial as that after what I’d accomplished.
“Someone give this boy a trophy,” Dahlia cooed into my ear as she stroked my chest lovingly.
I could barely manage a smile, but that wasn’t to say I wasn’t pleased with myself. I was. The old me couldn’t have managed something like this, and wouldn’t have three gorgeous women constantly craving his attention. I’d grown.
In the afterglow, I felt something else peculiar occur, something which I hadn’t expected so soon. As Memento changed positions to get closer to me, lying perpendicular to me so that her face was rubbing up against the top of my head, I felt a strange sensation when she kissed my forehead. A certain familiar electricity. She felt it too.
“What was that?” she asked, alarmed.
“Did she feel it?!” Dahlia asked excitedly, sitting up suddenly, her boobs jiggling delightfully as she quickly shifted positions. “Her aura’s changing!”
Carmilla reached a hand back, stroking the pink hair of the goth girl with surprising affection. “Welcome to the harem, sweety.”
◆◆◆
A bit later, while the girls were asleep, I suddenly remembered the still locked cellar door. “Shit,” I said, suddenly sitting up and putting on my pants. I couldn’t leave any stone unturned, but I knew my companions were spent. I’d have to have a look on my own.
I summoned my courage, and my familiar. He ripped the chain off the cellar door easily, and I pulled it open. “Good fox,” I said, patting him on the head.
Don’t be condescending, he replied.
I descended down the cellar stairs into a murky room, surprisingly small, that reeked of mold and dirt. The floors were flooded and wet. I held up my wand, which glowed red, lighting the room and, notably, the wall ahead of me where I saw a most unnerving mural crudely painted on the wooden surface.
It was me. It was me and Uther, and I was wearing the crown. The one I found. And there were words, written in English—in my own handwriting.
“All Hail King Skeletox,” I read aloud. “Lord of Bone on the Skeletal Throne.” I turned my head to Uther. Why the fuck was this down here? This was too creepy. I couldn’t let the girls know, not yet. We needed a clean win and to be able to walk away from this without any doubts. “I’ve seen enough. Let’s never speak of this again.”
Whatever you say, King Skeletox, the fox teased.
◆◆◆
Upon returning to Esoterica, we were hit by a wave of cold reality as we had to figure out what to do about the Headmistress. After finding Brian and Evelyn, we plotted and planned, bringing Memento on board as well. She was, of course, very eager to help and be part of the team now that we’d all grown so close.
Evelyn pulled out the book I gave her one morning as we sat down to breakfast. “This is a book of powerful void magic that Liam gave me.” I almost squirmed at the irony that I had done so at the instruction of the same person we were plotting to kill. “There is a binding spell in here that is powerful—the most potent I’ve seen, and I have the Affinity for void magic to use it—” she looked at us, “But only with your help.”
“You know I’m down,” Brian said. “Brian Adder, always down to clown.” He slammed a mug of banana milk on the table like it made him look tough.
Evelyn looked at Brian with platonic adoration. But then she shifted her focus back to the pressing matter at hand. “And then what?”
“Then we attack. Everyone has their skills, their assets. We can plan out the details later, but we just do what we each do best. With her weakened,” I hoped, “we can take her down.”
Everyone nodded, solemn and serious. There wasn’t a single person at the table who didn’t know what they were signing up for—the risk to self that this mission entailed.
“I can’t ask you guys to—”
“Shut up,” Memento said, punching me in the shoulder, interrupting my heartfelt sentiment.
I sighed. “Then I guess we have the makings of a plan.”
Though I felt guilty, I selfishly admitted to myself how good it felt to have the support of friends again. I remembered how quickly my friends had abandoned me back in my old life, after I lost… everything. What a difference it might have made if I had friends that were willing to stick around and help out and try to understand and be a part of what I was going through. Instead, they all left when it got just a bit too inconvenient.
Things were different now. I had true friends. Lovers. With their support, it all felt possible.
“That’s it, then,” Carmilla said. “Sunset tomorrow. Everyone cool?” Again, the group nodded in unison, finishing the rest of our breakfast in pensive silence as we all reflected on our role in the plan and the part we’d play in the battle to come.
Yeah. This would work. I was certain of it. Well, not certain. At least I was… moderately optimistic.
Chapter 31
The Epic Throwdown
I can admit that I might have been a bit cocky, but I thought—No, I knew—we could do this. We could win. We could beat the Headmistress, putting an end to her plot to steal my body and my powers. With everything that had happened, with the power of my growing harem, with my own innately potent abilities, I knew we would succeed. We didn’t absorb any mana on our last mission, but both Evelyn and Brian did recently, and my harem ladies and I were already a force to be reckoned with. We could win.
At least, I figured, we had a fighting chance.
Evelyn, Brian, Carmilla, Memento, and Dahlia stood at one of each of the five points of the pentagram which I was positioned at the center of. When I summoned the Headmistress, she would likely appear directly in front of me. We would bind her here, in this circle, and she would be vulnerable to our attacks, and her magic would be limited to a fraction of its usual power.
The plan was sound. It was as close to a sure thing as we could manage, at least. So why did I feel the haunting sense of dread as my friends began the ritual? My thoughts twisted unpleasantly, tightening in my head into a migraine-like pain. I was having second thoughts.
But no. There was no turning back. I couldn’t back down. Not when all my friends were here to support me. And yet, if I failed, perhaps all their lives would be forfeit. I couldn’t pretend I was doing this for them. This was for me. It was my own conquest.
Before I could make the decision to reverse course, the chanting had begun. Things were in motion now and could not be ceased. I would have to lie in this precarious bed I’d made for myself one way or another. I gulped, swallowing hard, as though there was a stone in my throat that I was trying desperately to drive down my gullet, but I couldn’t. The stone stayed in place, and my dread continued to grow.
In a flash of purple light, the spell was complete. I focused on the amulet as I gripped it in my hand, willing the Headmi
stress to me, asking her to come. I waited. And waited.
I waited long enough—entire minutes—that I had begun to suspect that she wouldn’t come. That the spell was wasted and wouldn’t be needed, at least not today. As I turned around, though, it happened. There she was. Her sneering face stood before me menacingly as she instantly recognized the trap she had landed into.
“I’d say this requires an explanation,” Headmistress Waite bellowed in rage, “But I already knew of your treachery.” As if to punctuate her point, a storm suddenly brewed in the clouds above us. The sky swirled as dark thunderous clouds formed immediately overhead, causing me to wonder if the binding spell had any effect at all.
I almost stuttered my response, but I gathered my resolve, trying my best to be strong in front of my friends and lovers. “You aren’t Eliza,” I accused brazenly. “You are a body thief who has been stealing the bodies of the headmasters of this academy for years, and you plan to steal my body one day!”
A half-smile curled one side of her previously frowning face. “Oh?” she chuckled. “And?”
“And we’re going to stop you!” Carmilla shouted.
“Like hell you are,,” she laughed a throaty guffaw. “This really is a cute spell, impressive for a bunch of beginners, honestly.” She waved a hand, and the pentagram withered and faded beneath our feet. The stormy skies overhead teemed all the harder.
I almost cried out. So quickly, so easily she had disassembled our best laid plans. There was no recourse now but to go all out. I furiously flung multiple Exploding Skull spells at her, and then thought of my ability to power up Carmilla. How could I forget? I scolded myself. I traced the fanged smiley in the air, triggering the transformation. Bat wings surged out of her back, her eyes went black and red, and her hands became long dark claws as her fangs extended even more savagely from her mouth and her ears became pointed and elf-like. She charged, and my heart almost broke to see her rush into the fray like that—to her death, I worried, full of instant regret.
Meanwhile, everyone else was flinging projectiles wildly. None of them made contact, all apparently hitting some invisible shield meters from the face of the Headmistress. She was grinning now. But Carmilla looked poised to wipe that grin from her face, slashing and thrashing, the Headmistress actually bothered to dodge, which I figured to be a good sign. She was quick, though, quicker than Carmilla by the looks of it. We needed yet another advantage.
“Now! Dahlia!” I shouted. Black tentacles erupted from the ground beneath Dahlia, coursing forward and whipping, grasping at the Headmistress, but she continued to dodge, making it look effortless. Carmilla and the tentacles looked slow by comparison.
“Mimi!”
“Yes, Daddy?” She gasped.
“The homunculus, now!”
From behind the Headmistress, the homunculus that Memento and I, erm, ‘liberated’ from the stadium came charging through the balcony door, successfully wrapping itself around the Headmistress like a koala to eucalyptus tree. If the goal was to piss off the Headmistress, then that did the trick.
“Enough!” she shouted, and Carmilla, Dahlia’s Void tentacles, and the homunculus, all flew backwards with a burst of heat and wind, even from a distance. The Headmistress raised a single hand in the air and at once I felt my bones crack and stiffen. I was paralyzed. My eyes looked around me for the movements of my companions and allies, but by all appearances they were under the same effect.
“Fine,” she said, annoyed. “You want to talk about this now? Let’s talk about this now. You have no chance, boy. You are being groomed and cultivated, and one day, when Eliza’s body—my body—is weak and you are at your prime, I will transfer my consciousness and my combined powers into you. We will merge and become a single being.”
I looked at her in horror, believing every word.
“But there is no cause for fear, Liam,” she said, softening her tone. “It will not be painful, and you will still be you—to an extent. And your power will be great, even greater than you can even imagine. Even greater than I can imagine. The union of our souls will be a singularity, the genesis of being with near infinite power over matter, time, space, life, and death. And that day is not today, Liam Elloway. That day will not be here for many, many years. So enjoy your life. Enjoy your harem. And look forward to the day when you become God, the ultimate form of life in the universe.”
I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t move, but I could speak. “So that’s it?” I asked. “You’ll just walk away and we… pretend this didn’t happen?”
“It might as well not have happened,” she replied with a mocking laugh. “It changes nothing. It was an adorable attempt on my life, but misguided and entirely unthreatening. Let’s put it aside for now.”
I couldn’t say anything. I mean, physically I could have, but I felt the burning sensation of shame and embarrassment as I realized I lost—and I would never win. She was a being with the fused souls of the most powerful sorcerers of multiple generations. I was just a stupid beginner necromancer.
“You’re wondering why I can forgive you? Because it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but the endgame. The meal you made of your grandmother, Carmilla? It doesn’t matter. Mr. Adder, the time you lied to me to hide your involvement in this scheme a few days ago? It doesn’t matter. Ms. White,” she said, looking straight at Dahlia, “Your murdering Rebecca Nurse on your mission together? It doesn’t matter to me at all.”
Everyone looked over at the white-haired sorceress in shock as the Headmistress continued.
“Mr. Elloway, I’m about to tell you something you don’t want to hear. The loss of your family didn’t matter. They were nobodies who died an anonymous death. In a year they’ll be bones, forgotten by their own world. In a million years they’ll be less than dust, but you may survive.” Her gaze was fixed on me so intensely that I felt my guts squirm beneath it. “None of this matters. Nothing but the endgame. So I forgive you, Mr. Elloway. I forgive all of you.”
My head reeled at what she’d said. Brian lied to hide our plans? Of course, I already knew about Carmilla, but Dahlia murdered Rebecca? It was too much! I looked at Dahlia. Her face burned red in shame as she avoided my gaze. Carmilla’s eyes welled up with bloody tears at the reminder of her greatest sin.
“While I’m here, Mr. Elloway,” her tone was all business now, “Let’s set a date for our next class. Two days’ time, after you finish breakfast, please head to my office,” she said. “It is clear that I still have much to teach you, and we’d best not tarry.”
With that, she was gone, vanished into thin air the way she sometimes did, leaving behind a puff of green smoke. I felt my nerves relax, and I could move again, breathe again easily.
I looked around at all my friends, ashamed at my failure, but also horrified at everything that had happened.
“Well, that went better than I thought,” Brian said. “Nice job, team!” I shot him a stunned look, and he only shrugged and smiled back. “We’re still alive, right?”
Carmilla looked at him as though he were a madman, but said nothing. Dahlia, though, seemed to nod in agreement. “At least we know her game. We understand the scope of her powers and what she is trying to do—”
“—And why,” Evelyn added. “Apparently Liam’s powers will somehow make her a god.”
“She may have been speaking hyperbolically,” Memento suggested. “So what’s our next move?”
“Are you insane?” I asked her. “I live my life. And I wait for the day she takes my body. What else can we do?”
Dahlia walked up to me with a surprisingly aggressive gait. When she raised her hand, I knew what was coming next. The hard slap against my cheek caused Evelyn to gasp.
“Fine,” she said coldly. “You can give up. Live your life. But I won’t. I will do everything I can to stop her. It doesn’t matter what it takes.”
Memento shook her head. “Me too. I’m not giving up.”
“Damn straight,” Carmilla said. “Fuck you and you
r despair.” She sniffled through red tears but managed to smile weakly at me.
Evelyn could be heard audibly sighing in the distance. “Wow, you chicks really drank the kool-aid, huh.”
My knees buckled, and I hit the ground, landing roughly in a seated position, my arms back. “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I refuse your help. I can’t lose any of you.”
“But we can lose you?” Memento asked. “Fuck right off.”
“If she takes your body, you lose us. You lose everything. And Memento’s right,” Carmilla said. “We lose you. That has to count for something, or you’re just being selfish.”
I sighed, defeated again. Twice in five minutes. “Fine,” I said. “But can you at least lie low with me for a little while?”
“Oh,” Carmilla winked shittily, “We’ll by laying with you alright.”
“Jesus H. Christ,” Evelyn said. “The last thing that poor boy needs now is a boner, Car-Car.”
“Sorry,” she said, pouting.
I stood back up, helped to my feet by Brian and Dahlia. Maybe they were right. What’s the worst that could happen? The Headmistress wouldn’t kill me, that much I knew for sure. But would she kill the others? That was my greatest fear.
But I wasn’t going to make any progress wallowing in fear. I was already on the path to amassing as much power as I could. Now, however, I have a more focused motivation. That’s the only thing that’s changed. The Headmistress was right—business as usual. Don’t rock the boat. Grow in strength, learn what I can, plot, and when the time is right…
I saw no reason not to hope. Especially with them by my side, each invested in helping me, I knew I had a chance. And I had time on my side, too. Lots of time. Many, many years, she said.
Just then, the balcony doors, which had already been shattered by the homunculus, opened, and I was surprised to see Randolph Carter III standing there with a guilty look on his face. That look, combined with what just happened… I knew instantly the meaning of the expression he wore.
Esoterica 1: Liam's Awakening: A Lovecraftian Fantasy Harem Adventure (Esoterica Chronicles) Page 25