Ch 32 – To be or not to be rescued. Your guess is as good as mine.

Time drifted onward in a bland haze, and I found myself staring up at the blank ceiling of the empty room—my temporary prison. My nerves never fully settled, but boredom set in quickly.

With all the excitement reaching a lull, I found my thirst rolling back to life, much to my annoyance. It seemed that all my running and fighting had worked up an appetite. Unfortunately, I had little opportunity to fix it, meaning that I’d have to do my best to suffer through it for now.

Once again I’d found that I couldn’t rely on the help of others. Lilis was out there somewhere, likely worried and searching for me. Yet, chances were, she was still down in the crypt with no idea I’d left the deep underground layers of the school. The more time that passed, the more certain I became that she’d have little hope of finding me. At least not in the immediate future.

I would have to find a way out of this debacle myself if I wanted to escape Melkar’s clutches anytime soon. Nor did I dare trust the help of his ogre. She only had her own interests in mind. Joining up with her could very well put me in an even more precarious situation than where I found myself now. It was simply too dangerous.

So what did I do to break free from this cage? I had to be careful. Failed attempts would likely only allow Melkar to further tighten his bindings around me. Still, he couldn’t watch me all hours of the day and often kept his demon near to his side. If I was lucky, he’d leave me here entirely alone for his classes, which would mean I’d simply have to smuggle something into the room to aid in my escape. The key would be keeping my eyes open whenever Melkar allowed me out of the room—assuming that he would—and perhaps thinking a bit creatively. It wouldn’t be the most difficult escape I’d made. My father had certainly given me much more challenging and violent trials. Though back then I’d had the aid of my magic. Without it…

I shook my head, dismissing the useless feelings of doubt.

The trickiest aspect would be the ogre. I couldn’t be certain just how observant she was or how difficult it might be to slip things past her. She wanted me here for her own purposes clearly. Yet at the same time, she also represented a liability to Melkar. Under the worst case scenario, she could hopefully be temporarily swayed to my side. I at least already had the beginnings of an idea of what she desired from me. With luck, exploiting it would be a simple matter.

My thoughts drifted to other things, namely what Lilis was likely up to, until finally, I heard the shift of the door’s lock.

I sat up eyeing it as the handle turned and Melkar strutted in with a smirk. Across his nose was a red smear—the beginnings of a bruise. He’d managed to stop the bleeding, but the bruise wasn’t so easily mended. As he realized where I was looking, his smirk curved down into a scowl.

“I’d almost hoped that things would go smoothly between us—that perhaps your nature as a succubus would make you easy to tame.” He paused, as though expecting me to comment. “Though that was never going to happen, was it Ruby? —or should I call you Gellin?”

I raised a brow and gave no indication that I recognized the name, having thankfully expected this. “Who?”

“Don’t play coy, Gellin. I’ve known all along who you are. Though I do find myself curious how much of you is left in that head of yours.” He snapped his fingers and the ogre, Karga, entered behind him. “On your knees, slut. Here at my feet,” he said, glaring down at me.

I couldn’t help the growl that built up in my throat. How dare he. The ogre strode up to my side and dragged me in front of him. With a firm grip on my shoulder, she forced me down to my knees, my resistance failing to impede her. Melkar leaned forward, and I glared up at him.

“This isn’t how I’d originally wanted to do things, you know,” he said. “I’d have preferred to take my time—to prove to you just how much you needed me, even if you didn’t yet know it. But needs must, as they say,” he gestured vaguely.

There was more to those words that he wasn’t letting on. I could sense it.

My eyes narrowed and I scoffed. “I’m sure. It couldn’t be that you’re just an impatient and reprehensible prick.”

He shot forward, hand gripping tightly around my jaw. His thumb pressed up against my lips. “Know that my gentleness is a kindness. One that can be taken as easily as it is given. Be it through whip or courting, you will be mine, Ruby. Your only choice is how much suffering you will cause yourself along the way.”

I took several deep breaths, doing what I could to calm myself before I made the mistake of lashing out at him again. The angrier that I made him, the more challenging it would be to bring my plans to fruition.

At my silence and apparent compliance he smirked and ran his fingers through my hair just between my horns. “Good girl.”

Did he just—

“I’m sure that you can see how necessary all of this is for you. In truth, the only thing that has saved you from the other diabolists in the school has been my own actions. I’ve made it clear to them that you are mine and not to be touched. You should be thanking me.”

“I’m going to kill you,” I hissed. The words came out in a low, dangerous rumble.

His fingers curled into a fist, gripping the hair atop my head and pulling my scalp painfully back. I winced as his eyes stared into my own.

“Truly, I’m shaking in terror.” His sarcasm was potent. Releasing me, he stood back up and turned, waving a hand to follow. “Bring her into the main room.”

Karga pulled me to my feet, and I didn’t bother trying to fight her. Leaving this room was the goal, I had to remind myself. I needed to focus if I wanted to find a way to escape. My anger was going to get me nowhere.

He moved over to his ‘throne’ and sat, once again crossing his legs as the ogre pushed me forward, once more placing me down to my knees before him. “Allow me to make things between us clear, Gellin, or Ruby—whichever you’d prefer.” His brow arched in question, one I met with a small sneer. “No one is coming to save you. The provost cares little for who is watching over you, so long as someone is. Your previous subordinates have long abandoned you. And as for Lilis,” Melkar looked up at the ogre and snapped his fingers, “Let them in, would you?”

“Of course, master,” she replied smoothly.

Releasing me, Karga walked to the door and opened it before stepping to the side. My eyes widened as the three Writt brothers entered. The last one had an unconscious form slung over his shoulder—a very familiar girl with long brown hair. On instinct, I stood, only just managing to not rush over to her.

Lilis.

“What have you done to her?” I hissed. Behind me, my tail flicked back and forth in anger.

Abducting me was one thing. But if they’d hurt my Lilis.

My Lilis? Since when was she mine?

I eyed the three brothers, expecting them to take charge of things now that they’d entered the fray. To my surprise, it was Melkar that responded, brushing my concern aside with a wave of his hand.

“She’s merely unconscious, my little demon.” I bristled further at him already claiming me as his. “And I plan to release her shortly. She’s merely here to make a point.” He walked up to me, and despite my anger, I suddenly felt a lot smaller. “No one is coming to save you,” he repeated. “You belong to me now, in all ways except by official contract. And that will come soon enough.”

I growled down at him. “There’s not a chance in all the three realms that I’d ever willingly sign any sort of contract with you.”

It was the one thing I had in my favor. Demonic contracts were necessarily consensual by their very nature, like an inherent part of their magic, created who knew how many eons ago. Melkar couldn’t coerce me into signing one no matter how much he might want to. The contract would simply void itself.

He smirked, unphased. “Cute. But how long do you think that attitude will last? I’ll admit, I’m quite curious to find out.”

Both his words and lack of worry unsettled me. Was it simple overconfidence and an inflated ego, or did he have some kind of unsavory plan in mind? Something that got around the requirement for true consent.

“I had an interesting conversation yesterday evening,” he continued. “You see, I happened to be heading to my room for something, only to find my good friend and subordinate Dathlin snooping around inside. Searching for a demon heart of all things.” He twirled two fingers in the air.

I held back a groan. That fucking idiot!

“Imagine my surprise when he claimed that you of all people put him up to it. The two of us had a rather long talk afterwards. Though it’s left me rather curious still. Just what do you need with a demon heart?”

“Like I’d ever tell you,” I huffed.

Melkar smiled. “Karga, if you could?”

The ogre strode over to a cabinet. My eyes widened as she pulled out a jar, one I recognized as an enchanted sealing jar. An icy haze fell away from it like smoke, its enchantments keeping it well below freezing temperatures. But it was the large heart floating inside that left me speechless.

There it was. The demon heart I needed to become human again. Right there in front of me.

I broke my gaze away from it, turning back to Melkar, who had quite clearly been closely observing my reaction.

“What could you possibly want with something like this?” he asked.

“None of your business,” I grumbled, as my mind began swirling in an effort to find some excuse for him to give the heart to me.

“I can be quite the generous owner to those who are loyal to me, as I’m sure you’ll find. Depending on why you want it, I could be convinced to part with the heart, rare as it is. Though, if this is some foolish gambit to become human again, I fear that I may have to disappoint you.”

I gnashed my teeth, wondering what lie I could feed him that wouldn’t be easily seen through. Unfortunately, I simply didn’t know enough about the potential uses of a demonic heart to make something up on the spot. Brewing had never been a passion of mine.

I also doubted that I would like what he’d want in exchange.

A loud crack split the air, resounding from the door. At once, every head turned just as it burst open. I blinked, stunned at the sight of a familiar and intimidating figure stomping in. Her long red hair was braided, much as it had been the last time I’d seen her, hanging over her left shoulder and down to her white-blouse-covered bosom. Hazel brown eyes with thin, slitted pupils narrowed as they took in the room. Briefly, they landed on me, before shifting to the three brothers and unconscious Lilis. Between her large muscular arms and her hands—already balled into tight fists—I could tell she was ready for a fight.

It took me a second or two to recall her name, having only stumbled into her the once in the hall. Phaori, wasn’t it? Were it not for my current situation, I was certain my cheeks would have flushed in embarrassment in memory of the awkward meeting we’d had and how the large butch girl had teased and flirted with me.

Behind her, Evara strolled in, clapping her hands. “Quite an excellent performance you’ve put on here Melkar,” she quipped. “Unfortunate that we seem to have missed most of it.” She gave me a coy smile, reminiscent of one she’d given me at the tea party when she’d had her fingers stuffed inside of me. This time, my cheeks did color.

“Just what do you—” Melkar began.

“Sister,” one of the brothers said, staring at Phaori. I’d never bothered to figure out which brother was which, though I suspected it was the more talkative of the three triplets, Pharsian. Their parents had an odd naming sense. “What are you doing here?”

She crossed her arms. “Seeing what trouble the three of you are up to.”

Finally, a third girl walked in, the other one that had been at Lilis’s little tea party. “We’re here because I spotted the three of you dragging my friend through the halls,” she contended. If I remembered correctly, I believed her name was Galia? The normally calm-tempered blonde looked ready for blood as she stared Melkar down.

I stared at the three ladies who now blocked the entrance. Were they insane? Did they really think the three of them were enough to challenge Melkar, the three Writt brothers, and a demon?