Chapter 7.1

“Yulia, what is this?” Victoria’s eyes briefly met mine, before flicking back to Yulia.

The girl behind me hummed. “What does it look like, dearest little sister?”

I blinked. Sister? I felt the urge to compare the two but was unfortunately unable to turn to see Yulia's face.

“Did she agree to this?” Victoria’s eyes glanced to mine once more, a clear look of concern on her face. She truly did care, I thought. My heart fluttered.

Yulia scoffed, and I felt the sting of the flog as it hit me once more. “Of course not. She’s being punished. What do you care? She’s my demon, not yours.” Her sister’s eyes narrowed.

“She doesn't belong to you, Yulia. Just because she's a demon doesn't mean you can do as you please with her. She’s still a student.”

“And? I have her contract. She’s magically bound to me and thus I own her. If you don’t like what I’m doing, there’s no reason you have to stay and watch.” I imagined Yulia likely shooing her away from behind me as Victoria's glare became vicious daggers.

I could tell Victoria wanted to do something, but I knew there was nothing to be done. Yulia was right. She had my contract. The girl I’d only recently begun to grow so attached to stood silent for a long moment. Meanwhile, the whispers around us had increased as more people showed up.

Just as I thought she would give up and walk away, she spoke once more. “I -- I’ll duel you for her.”

Yulia scoffed. “When have you ever been able to beat me in a duel, little sister? And besides which, why should I bother to take you up on it? What would I get out of the deal?”

Victoria bit her lip, her eyes meeting mine once more. This was it. This was the moment where she gave up on me, the moment she realized it wasn’t worth the effort to have me and that I wasn't worth whatever cost Yulia would demand.

“If I lose, I’ll give up my future share of land to you,” came her surprising response.

Yulia moved around in front of me, a visible smirk plastered on her face. “No, that won’t do.” Victoria blinked in bewilderment at her sister’s words. “Let’s be honest, little sister. We both know most of the titles would be going to me, regardless. Father has always favored me over you, and from there it wouldn’t take me long to obtain whatever measly amount that was left in your possession.”

“What?” she replied, clearly offended. “You really think I’d just give it up to you that easily? That you'd just be able to take it from me?” The brown-haired girl gripped her hands into a tight fist. “You’ve always been so full of yourself Yulia. You’re a fool if you think that’s true.”

My Mistress waved her hand, dismissing the notion. “I care little what you think. Regardless, the succubus is mine, and you have nothing to offer me. So scuttle along so I can continue.”

Victoria’s eyes narrowed. “Fine,” she said, and I slumped in resignation to my fate. For a moment I thought that perhaps she’d be able to free me. Yet it was as I first suspected, there was nothing she could do, nothing anyone could do. “I’ll offer myself.” My eyes widened, and I looked back to stare into her shining green eyes once more, wondering if I'd heard her correctly. She glanced my way before looking back to her sister. “If you win, I’ll serve you, willingly.” She emphasized the last word.

Yulia’s catlike grin sent shivers down my spine. She hummed. “A somewhat more tempting offer.” Silence stretched out for several seconds as she pretended to ponder it. The look on her face made it clear the decision had already been made.

“No, Victoria, don’t!” I shouted out. She didn’t deserve a life bound in Yulia’s clutches, not when she could be free to live out a life of her own will and desire. Not for me.

Without even looking my way, my Mistress spoke, “Be quiet pet, or I’ll force you to be.”

My mouth parted again, a strong desire to protest boiling within me. But I said nothing. It would do no good. My few words wouldn’t be able to convince her.

“I accept,” Yulia said. “If you win, you get the succubus and her contract. If I win, I get you.” The wide smirk spread further across her face. With a flick the flog in her hand became a wand once again. “Let’s duel.”

The students who weren’t already backing up scrambled away as both girls moved further apart into a more open area and held out their wands. With a formal nod, each began to chant. I jolted in concern as a quick bolt of electricity shot out from Yulia’s wand, the searingly bright streak of light crashing directly into her sister. I blinked from the bright flash, relief rushing through me as I realized Victoria was somehow still standing and unharmed.

“This is why you always lose, little Victoria. Always focused too heavily on defense. You need to be more aggressive.” She shot forward like a bolt, moving much faster than what was normally humanly possible. I watched in fear as Victoria’s eyes widened and she took a step back, quickly trying to mutter a spell in response. As Yulia flew forward, her wand extended outward in a flash of radiant light, and the two met. Sparks flew and Yulia shot past her, knocking Victoria hard to the ground. She turned toward her younger sister, and I noticed that magically, her wand had become a long-bladed polearm.

“Come on, Vicky, you can do better than this. Try to give me a challenge for once.” Yulia smirked.

I sighed in relief as Victoria quickly got back to her feet, appearing unharmed, and began to cast more spells on herself instead of responding to the taunts. Once again Yulia ran forward, and with a few words that I couldn’t hear, accelerated to a ridiculous speed. This was different than the way she had fought the abovespawn. In the Above, she’d held back and stayed out of reach, using only her strongest ranged abilities. Now she was charging forth like a knight. Was this how she normally fought, I wondered? It was no wonder she could so easily physically overwhelm me in the past. Trapped as I was in the pillory, I could only hope Victoria stood a chance against her.

They clashed again, Yulia repeatedly jabbing what looked like a halberd toward her sister, who amazingly blocked it entirely with her arms. Some type of spell flashed every time the weapon made contact, keeping her safe. I watched as Victoria’s lips moved, too far away from me now to hear, and a seemingly wooden armor covered most of her body.

Yulia had been right. Victoria was so focused on defending herself from the vicious onslaught that she couldn’t manage to get an attack out of her own. If she couldn’t attack, she couldn’t win. Yulia would whittle her down until her defense failed her and then she would win, possibly grievously wounding her sister in the process, I fretted.

I pulled at the thick wooden bars holding me in place. I needed to get out of this. If I could interrupt the duel, it would become invalid, meaning neither side would win. I couldn’t let Victoria lose. The pillory shook as I pulled and twisted, but the bars stayed annoyingly firm. It was old enough that I hoped if I worked at it hard enough I could make something come loose. Meanwhile, I noticed another spell being gradually cast by Yulia as she continued her attack. A familiar smell met my nose, and I realized Yulia was about to cast her lightning once more. With worried eyes, I glanced to Victoria, hoping she would be okay. Yulia jumped backward into the air, and a massive bolt of electricity much larger than the last shot out of her halberd directly at her younger sister.

I blinked my eyes, as I temporarily lost sight from the bright flash of light. When my vision cleared up, Victoria stood, her arms blocking her face, and seeming to be at least mostly unharmed. Trails of smoke rose up off of her and a darkened area of burnt grass circled her. She took a step forward, and to my surprise, cast her first offensive spell.

Daggers made of ice formed around her and shot forth as Yulia touched the ground. She danced around them, dodging them almost entirely. With several swings of her halberd, she smacked two away from nearly colliding with her as she shot forth again toward Victoria. One last spike of ice stabbed into her side, but Yulia seemed both unharmed and unphased by it as she crashed forth into Victoria once more.

“The two of them are quite the beauties, wouldn’t you say little Gordan?” a voice came from behind. I jumped and tried to turn but was blocked by the clamps of the pillory still around my head. From my right side, Hamilt strolled up beside me, one of his fingers grazing up my back and causing me to shiver. I paled as my brain finally caught up to who was there beside me.

“What do you want, Hamilt?” I said, trying to portray a voice of confidence.

“That’s no way to speak to me, sitting here all bound up in your time of need, now is it?” His fingers found their way to my neck, and I squirmed in annoyance.

“Just go away,” I demanded.

“Now, now, I believe you still owe us a bit of fun.” Us, I thought? From my left, a smirking Dwaine came into sight. Of course.

“You can’t,” I protested in a panic.

“We can’t? Oh, I believe we most definitely can,” Dwaine said with a malicious grin.

“No! I --" My brain scrambled for something to say. "Yulia will be angry. She’ll punish you, both of you.”

Hamilt looked back to the two girls fighting, Yulia still having the clear upper advantage as she began tossing around bursts of fire in between slashing with her weapon.

“I believe she’s quite tied up at the moment. Seems to me she left you bent over and naked out here like an offering to the school. She might as well have slapped on a ‘free use’ sign onto your back.” He circled back around me, his fingers trailing down my back and to my butt. As they moved down between my cheeks, I kicked my leg out behind me, managing to knock his hand away.

“Don’t touch me,” I yelled out.

“Now, now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Though I’ll admit, I do believe I’d much prefer the hard way.” I couldn’t see his face, but I could imagine the cruel smile across it.

I had to do something, to get away. My mind scrambled once more. Magic, I had magic. I just needed to focus, to find that fire within me and bring it out. Perhaps I could just burn away the wood holding me. Dwaine moved in front of my face. I briefly met his eyes before he began to open up his trousers. I pulled hard against my bindings in a panic. No no no, I couldn’t let him do this. I wouldn’t. He grinned at the clearly panicked look on my face and pulled out his hardening cock. Was he really gonna do it here, out here in public with all these people watching?

“I’ll bite it off!” I said.

“If you do, I’ll make sure you regret it,” Dwaine replied darkly and moved forward.

As he moved just a few inches from my face, I finally felt the fire within me stirring. I grabbed onto it like a lifeline and squeezed tightly. Flames flooded out of me in a bright burst of orange light.

Dwaine tripped backward away from me, falling down to his ass. “You bitch!” he yelled out. A warning of some kind flashed briefly through my head, but I ignored it. Instead, I focused. With effort, the flames around me began to move, focusing more heavily on wood around my head and hands. It burned hot, and for a moment I nearly faltered, worried that it would burn up my hair. I pressed on, deciding it didn’t matter. Hair would grow back. I needed to escape. I needed to be free. The flaming heat rose until it felt as though it was cooking me. I was sure I would end up with burns around my hands and face and hoped it would be worth it. When I pulled up and the wood splintered apart around me, I nearly sighed in relief. They fell to the side in dark smoldering pieces of charcoal and ash, and I stood.