Chapter 109 – Making choices
While Noah danced with Brianna he noticed something strange going on. A group of women came over to the Dryads table enthusiastically chattering with Priscilla and the Dryad sisters for a few moments, before leading them out of the room to the parlor, where guests would sometimes go in search of a silent atmosphere to take a breather from the festivity.
Brianna also noticed this and a slight frown came to her face.
"You know them?" Asked Noah while they swirled in a dance.
"Some of our aunt's friends. The gossip mongers." Said Brianna.
"The usual bunch on such occasions. You think Cil is going to be alright with them?"
"Well, no harm would come of them at least today. But the reputation harm these bitches can do is no small matter." Said Brianna with a smirk.
"Want to join them?" Asked Noah.
"I am not leaving you alone." Said Brianna.
At that moment Noah felt an ache deep inside his mind. He whirled around to look in the direction of a parlor where Archduke and Tessa went to a few moments ago.
"What is it?" Asked Brianna seeing Noah's worried face.
"Your mother. I lost connection with her." He said, stopping their dance.
Brianna's eyes opened wide while she took a deep breath, when she noticed her mothers absence.
"She was just here. She could not be killed without a fight. Sealing magic?"
"She might be in trouble. We have to find her. She went to that door not long ago." Said Noah, turning to walk in the direction that Archduke and Tessa went to.
"You think someone would dare attack her here?" Asked Brianna while they walked. But Noah suddenly stopped as if frozen.
"The better question is who could plan attacking her here. I just lost connection with Priscilla as well. This is not an accident. This was planned." He said looking around.
"Oh my God! Aunt Cassandra? But why?" Asked Brianna, surprised.
"I don't know, but the door your mother and Archduke went through is blocked by those knights. They must be on it together." Said Noah, gazing at the dots on the minimap. "The door that Priscilla went through is blocked by your aunt's people. As well as all the exits from the ballroom."
"Through that parlor." Said Brianna hurriedly, pointing them in another direction. "I know that room. There is an exit to the servants corridors. We can pass through there to get to Cil." Said Brianna quickly.
"This one is not guarded. Let's go." He said and they quickly moved between the guests and entered the parlor that was empty at the moment. Quickly crossing it, they rushing to the small door on the other side.
Once outside the parlor they rushed through the corridor going deeper into the mansion. At that time Noah noticed the dot that he marked as Cassandra on his minimap, quickly moving toward the ballroom from the parlor where Tessa and Archduke went to.
"Damn it, she is coming. Let's go!" He urged Brianna but Cassandra moved so quickly there was no way to escape. Noah's thoughts quickly swirled thinking on a plan. Change appearance? Vampires could find him through smell. Escape through the dream realm? He was not ready to leave without Tessa and Priscilla. Make a scene to let the guest know what is going on? He was new to that guest protection code and did not know how much of a help it was to rely on it. Sit out in his mind realm? It was only a matter of time when the distortion of space that he leaves behind would be found. What else? Cassandra was on their tail. He was sure she hunted them through smell as she was moving straight in their direction.
While they ran Noah noticed one door and quickly stopped startling Brianna.
"Hold on. We can't escape her. I have an idea, maybe it would give us a chance." He said and pulled Brianna to the door that he just saw.
"Wait but that…" Said Brianna with a stutter while her cheeks went red.
"No time. Go in!" Said Noah pushing her inside and entering behind her slamming the toilet door shut.
A few moments later he opened the door exiting the room while correcting his suit and all but slamming into Cassandra standing outside the door.
"Your highness. My deepest apology. I did not look where I was going." He said with an apologetic face.
"What are you doing here?" Asked Cassandra with an inquisitive face, raising her eyebrow.
"I was using a toilet."
"This is a servant's hall. Guests are not supposed to walk here." Said Cassandra gazing into his eyes.
"I am truly sorry. Girls went to chatter in the side parlor and I so I had no one I could ask. And it was quite a hurried matter, if you understand."
Cassandra stood carefully reading his expression and then gazed into the room behind him finding no one inside.
"You are done? I will lead you back. Follow me." She said starting to walk.
"I believe this is the wrong direction, Your Highness." He said not to move from the spot.
"I know my mansion." She said without any further explanation.
"Still this would not be the same direction that I came from." He said without following.
She whirled around disappearing from the spot and appearing in front of him the next moment slamming her hand on the wall near him and coming close to his face with her vampire fangs bared at him, hissing with the terrifying sound.
"Do I need to remind you that you gave your word of protection when I entered this house?" Said Noah, dropping all pretense staring into her eyes.
"Protection? It is void the moment you try to harm another guest. Tessa, Priscilla and Brianna were offered protection too. In this case I will do everything to protect these three girls from you."
"From me? How would I…"
"You are using a mind skill to enslave them and by default harm them within the walls of my house. You are not a guest anymore. You are an enemy."
"Bullshit. I did no such…" Noah wanted to say something but felt strong discomfort in his mind and the whole world started to swirl. Strong sense of dizziness and nausea assaulted him, while he stared into her eyes that started to change color and began to shine with red light.
"You will speak when I ask you and answer only what I ask you." She said with her voice echoing with strong waves in his ears while she moved to grab his neck.
Noah lifted his hand to grab her but missed her hand as his vision started to double and triple.
"Sorry Lady, I am with somebody, so find yourself someone else." Squeezed out of himself Noah, slurring in his words as if drunk.
His hand fell on her shoulder and he used the degeneration touch, however his skill did not activate.
Oh shit. She is suppressing my skills.
"Mind barrier?" Frown Cassandra. Her skill should have easily hypnotized such a weak prey, but unexpectedly he resisted her mind magic quite well. On the other hand as she assumed this made sense. He may not have been as strong as her in mind magic, but at the level to resist her mind magic, he would have just enough strength to succeed in influencing Tessa's mind enough to enslave her if he could catch her unprepared. Considering the time he was with her and possibly weakened mental state from constant worry about her daughter's problem, he may have had such an opportunity. After this conclusion her assurance in him being a tamer strong enough to control her friend deepened.
"Well it will not save you anyway." She heard some doors slam shut somewhere in the corridor and not wanting to be disturbed pushed Noah inside the closest room without putting too much thought to it. Only when she entered did she remember that it was a toilet. She frowned but did not wish to lose time anymore. Once inside, she waved her free hand and the door to the toilet room shut close behind them. With another wave of hand walls, floor and ceiling shone with small blood red magic circles, creating a small closed off space that blocked all sound and prevented anyone from opening the door. Once she took all precautions from being disturbed she slammed him against the wall with one hand, pressing him into the wall with such force he felt that the tiles behind him cracked.
"Don't bother, bastard. I can feel when you want to use a skill. I can suppress them before they activate." She said coming close to his face. Then she grabbed his face by the chin, forcefully turning his face toward her. "Look into my eyes." She ordered while the shine in her pupils intensified, making him feel as if drunk and his thoughts sluggish. Noah felt that it became harder and harder to resist her orders.
"Now you will choose. Release the hold on Theresa, Priscilla and Brianna on your own or I will break you apart until you beg to die."
"Release what?" Slurred Noah.
Cassandra scowled at him and pulled him from the wall before slamming him back against it. This time Noah was sure that not only tiles behind him cracked but something inside him as well.
"I don't understand what you are…"
"Don't fuck with me bastard." She snapped at him. "Undo your skill. Release them from your control."
"Control? What are you talking about. There must be some kind of mistake. Let's sit down and discuss this I am sure that…." Another slam against the wall ended his sentence with a wave of pain and ringing in his head.
"I see. You still have hopes that they will come to your rescue any moment now. No one will come for you. I have prepared for this in advance." Said Cassandra with an evil smirk
"What did you do?" Groaned Noah.
"Sealed them so that they would not interfere while we have a chat here." She answered.
"So they are safe?" Asked Noah and earned himself a slap in the face that snapped his head to the side so hard his neck almost broke.
"Don't play a worried husband here! The only one that will suffer today is you. No matter what skill you may possess, you will not be able to summon them while they are inside the seal I prepared. Tessa is powerful, yes, but here, we are on my territory. In my domain. Here I can suppress her as long as I need to make you suffer through hell. I am giving you a chance. Release them and I will spare you the suffering."
"Nothing to release. I am not a tamer." Croaked Noah with her hand squeezing his throat.
In answer Cassandra slammed him against the wall again. This time making him cough out blood.
"Don't test my patience you little fuck! I know what you are, what you did to her!"
"I did nothing…" Started to say Noah
This time his words were stopped by a powerful punch into the gut, making him want to throw out with his innards.
"Don't bullshit me on how great a fuck you were to make her bite you! You son of a bitch! There is no way she could have done something like that…something so…You know exactly what you made her do!" She screamed, slamming him against the wall a few more times as if it could prove her point somehow. Noah felt nauseous, painful all over his body and was suffocating from her choke hold, yet something in her words still made him think hard.
She wasn't just psychotic and incoherent in her thoughts that she barely finished her sentences. This felt more like she was desperate. The question was - why?
"It was her choice…"
"She would never have done that without some kind of mind influence. I can understand Priscilla doing it after a torture she has been through these years. I understand Brianna doing it from fear of what awaits her after seeing her sisters suffering. But Tessa? Don't you fucking dare to tell me she would do this to herself willingly! I have known her for a thousand years. We were fighting each other as soldiers on the battlefield, almost killing each other countless times. We were fighting each other as generals, destroying each other's armies. We've been friends longer than this Kingdom has existed. She and I are blood sisters! I know her like no one else. To give herself away so much without a reason? She would never do such a thing!" Said Cassandra angrily, slamming him against every wall in the room.
"I don't understand what you are saying." Struggled to say Noah.
Cassandra lifted him by the neck staring into his eyes with hatred.
"You know exactly what I am saying. Why else would you make them gift you with mate bite mark?" She said through her gritted teeth.
Even through his sluggish mind these words hit him hard enough to make his thoughts spin hard. He had a strong feeling he was missing some very crucial piece of information. Something finally dawned on him. There was something Tessa did not tell him about the mate bite mark, something she wanted to tell him after the ball.
"Bite mark? She told me it is just a mate marking." He barely could utter the words.
"Mate marking?!" Screamed Cassandra squeezing her hand, choking him even harder.
"A mate bite mark is a two way action! Why do you think we do it with a kin? We mark our mate while mate marks us in return. We give away part of ourselves and receive an equal part of him in return. You know what it means to give a mate bite mark to someone who can't do the same in return? Give part of yourself and not receive equal part in return?!" Roared Cassandra.
"Oh I bet you know, you bastard! You enjoyed possessing her? Owning her power and her soul as your own? What did you threaten her with? What tortures you were going to submit her to?" Said Cassandra her voice full of fury.
"I would never…" Started to say Noah. But was made to shut up with a back hand slap.
"If you are not a tamer, then why is it you have done exactly what any bastard tamer would have? Enslaving not only her mind but her soul. Making her your own puppet, your own pet! Turning her into your thing, to do with her whatever you wish! That's exactly what tamers do, you son of a bitch! By influencing monsters with mental magic, they get into their mind, then force them to perform our sacred ritual and enslave them after robbing their souls. The very thing we hold most dear, tamers use against us to enslave us! Just like you did to Tessa and my baby girls! You think I am a fool? I understood it all when she said you can stay as long as you wish and leave when you want! She would let you leave after giving part of herself to you? Let you leave and suffer until the end of days? Let you keep part of her soul in your hands to do whatever you wish with it? DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" She roared slamming him against the wall, beating out of him the last air he held in his lungs.
"Living with part of your soul missing is the worst torture that you can press on someone. It is not being slaves of tamers we fear, but how they lock and seal that part of soul they robed from monsters depriving them even death. Locking them in objects and places. Turning them into eternal guardians or whatever the fuck they want. Making them suffer for eternity. Unable to get free and unable to even die. Depriving peace even in death. That is what true torture is! Being a slave for eternity, even after that fucking tamer is long since dead and went to his afterlife! You are saying she allowed to do that to herself, just like that? For a great fuck?"
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU FUCKING WITH! RELEASE HER, TAMER! THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE, BEFORE I RIP YOU FUCKING BALLS OFF!" She roared with madness in her voice while lifting him with one hand and grabbing at his nether region with the second, that suddenly changed from delicate ladies hand to claws of a vicious monster
Oh shit thought Noah. By this time he tried to use all his skills but none have worked. She utterly suppressed his abilities.
He could still slip into the mind realm and escape together with Brianna that was hiding there already. His idea was to let her into his mind's realm in case he was captured and release her when the captors let their guard down. But it looked like this was not about capturing them as he thought. Their target was to kill him to release the girls from under his control. He needed a plan, needed some way to save the captured girls. But he could not think of anything useful in this situation.
Besides, he was quickly losing consciousness from suffocation and could see that the psycho woman in front of him did not even realize that he was going to die from being choked before she killed him in the brutal way she promised. But why didn't she still try to kill him?
"Why not kill me if you are so sure I used taming. That would release them right?" Groaned Noah.
"Oh no." She said taking notice of how hard she choked him and weakened her hold to make him breath a bit, while taking a deep breath herself.
"Killing you is the last option. I don't know what exactly is the magic you used on her. Tessa spoke truth when she said you are not a tamer, however, that may have been what you made her think. Still I have strong doubts that any normal tamer is capable of taming her. But that's the thing. You are not exactly normal. I never heard of the thing you did to that wolf monster that you sealed into the puppet either. Neither I heard anyone creating slimes that you did. Your abilities are a mystery. I don't know what you are capable of, I don't know what you may have done to her. You may have done something that would make her suffer after your death. I can't risk it." She explained.
"However, killing you is not the worst I could do to you. What I will do to you will be far, far worse than death. When I am done with you, you will beg me to let you die." She said, starting to squeeze at his crotch.
/System! Get me some ideas here!/
/Oh now you ask for my help?/ Answered Ugy's lazy voice while time started to slow down until it almost stopped. /I thought I was an untrustworthy, backstabbing bastard. Are you sure you want to ask me for help?/
/You will die with me if she kill me./
/Then leave. Just abandon them all. Break Brianna's heart, disappoint Tessa and Priscilla and simply leave./
/Fuck you, then we die here!/
/You wish to protect them so much? Why?/
/Do I need to tell? I love them. They are my family./
/I see. So you are happy with my scheme's result that gave you this family?/
/It is not why I am angry at you. You manipulated me. I trusted you and you broke that trust./
/Broke Trust? Maybe it is your trust that was too weak? No matter what you say at the end of the day, both you and Tessa are happy thanks to me. Priscilla is saved. Brianna too is out of the similar danger. Did I make you lose anything beside a bit of your fucking honor and pride? With all my schemes did you suffer a loss? Did I hurt you or gave you something you now hold most dear to your heart and feel FUCKING HAPPYNESS?/
/Alright, maybe I was too harsh. I am sorry. But I want you to be open with me. Discus it with me. I am not a kid. I am your partner not your pawn./
/You are not a pawn. You are a King I am in service of. I do many things so that you would not be bothered with them./
/A King is deciding for himself. You robed me of the choices./
/Sigh. Alright maybe I Was a bit overly manipulative./ Said Ugy. /But this was done to protect you. I only tried to protect your conscience from the consequences of those choices./
/I am old enough to bear responsibility for the choices I have to make./ Said Noah.
/As you wish. In this case I give you two other choices to get out of this situation besides the one where you abandon the girls and escape./
/First choice - we kill her here and now. Making Tessa lose the friend she had far far longer than you. Friend so close she calls a sister. While girls lose their precious Aunt that pampered them their whole life. Aunt that would dare earn Theressa's ire to protect them./
/Second choice - We make everyone happy. Give this woman what she desires the most in her life. Keep a loving aunt for Priscilla and Brianna. Let Tessa make up with her dearest friend and sister. Make them all a happy family again. Make you a happy man as well. /
Noah frowned after hearing the second choice. But did not interrupt.
/In return, we will step on all your moral codes and ethics. Trample your beliefs and principles. Commit something that you might never forgive yourself for. Do what only a true bastard would./
/And what do we have to do?/
/Make her our bitch./ Said Ugy.
/What? How are we supposed to do that in this situation?/
/You want a long version or a short summary? Because I see her hand will soon turn your balls into paste./
/Fuck/ Said Noah while system told him its plan