[b][u][center]Perks of Desperation
Part 12
For a-lycotonum
By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]








The wards on the first floor were too widespread and too powerful for anyone but Vitus to pass through, but the wards over the staircase were less powerful, less constricting. With the implication that the public rooms were up there – and that it might lead to a bedroom – the trio of explorers made their way up the flights of stairs and onto the balcony. They followed the one door through to the interior of the manor, their eyes peeled for any danger. 

Vitus was surprised to find that the interior was still in such good condition. Even with the magic thick and powerful in the air around them, he hadn’t felt any of the restoration or stasis spells that normally would have kept a house in good condition. Yes, the desert kept it from rotting, but at the same time, there should have been more dust, disrepair from the years abandoned doing something to the roof to let sand in, or something. Despite that, the manor was in perfect shape without rip or tear, leaving the air still and hot. 

Very hot. 

Very, very, very hot. 

The three of them sweated as they walked down the main hall that connected the rooms of the upper level, dripping to the point of soaking their clothes and, in the case of Vitus and Robin, their fur. He wiped his head over and over again as he breathed in the still air, huffing and barely resisting the urge to pant with his tongue out. 

“This place…is huge,” Robin muttered. 

“I didn’t know that the family had all…this.”

“Well, now you know. And I demand a raise.”

“You’re not getting paid as it is.”

“Right. Then I demand pay.”

“You’re getting paid in – sorry.”

“Dick?”

“I wasn’t going to say it.”

“It’s fine. I wasn’t going to ask for it.”

“Weren’t you?”

“…Okay, maybe. But not yet.”

It was just lighthearted enough to make him smile, and he chuckled as he held onto that good feeling for as long as he could. He doubted that he’d get the chance to laugh like that again for a while. Not with the sort of things that he’d already agreed to do. 

[i]Once we find a bedroom…[/i]

He could already imagine Neena under him. Once they took her away from the constant barrage of pleasure that she’d been receiving in the wagon, he imagined that she’d be much angrier. Humiliated even as she fought her own need, she’d finally fight back against them, and then they’d have the chance to see just what Brundir had put into her. He imagined that it would be a fight. Then a rape. 

A rape that he’d have to carry out. A rape that he’d have to endure. And no matter how much she might like it – 

[i]She will love it.[/i]

The Hellhound was sure of that, and the painful part was, he knew that the demonic creature wasn’t wrong. Everything that had tasted his Hellhound side had succumbed to the corruption to some extent. Even the drow that had served him with Brundir had been partially taken by it, wanting it more and more. And she’d had the protection of another Demon Lord coursing through her veins, keeping her safe from the worst of it. If someone else without protections – and he doubted that the spirit inside her would be sufficient – had to take it, he knew that she’d break to the pack. 

The problem was, would the spirit? And would Brundir know about it?

[i]That’s not your problem…[/i]

The Hellhound knew him too well, and he grumbled under his breath, his smile fading. It was right, too. He didn’t want to rape her, no matter how much she might want it after. The fact that it would have to be rape at the start, that there was no getting away from that…that was what hurt him. That was what made it so much worse. 

But there was no point in thinking about that now. He had dwelt on it enough, and he still didn’t have an answer. He’d just have to find a way to make it work. 

They were two-thirds of the way down the main hall when Vitus paused, turning to his left. A pair of double-doors led off to what was probably a much larger room, and he looked at the side to see a plaque that read ‘Records.’ He cocked his head to the side, gesturing to it with his thumb. 

“I think that’s what we’re looking for.”

“I doubt that they keep a bed in a record room,” Katya said. 

“I don’t mean – just give me a minute.”

He scraped at his palm, reopening the wounds that he’d already carved across it, and touched his palm to the knob. The wards on the room faded, but they were already so weakened that he wondered if they were even needed. He pushed it open, and as he did, all the doors up and down the hall opened, as well. 

The three of them stopped dead in their tracks, and Vitus was half-sure that they’d just activated some sort of warding spell that would send minions of some ancient curse after them. They waited, holding their breaths…

But nothing happened. If anything, the aura of the upper floor seemed to relax, allowing them some safety…some comfort. 

“The house recognizes an owner, it seems,” Katya said. 

“You really think so?”

“It’s the only conclusion that I can draw.”

“Well, here’s hoping it recognizes the two of you as guests, then. Robin? Can you keep looking for the bedroom?”

“Easily.”

“Thanks.”

He stepped through into the record room while Robin continued down the hall. Katya followed him, silent as the grave as he whistled at what he saw. 

The room was essentially a giant library that surrounded a map table. The table itself covered all of Cheliax and the borders around it, and more than that, it was enchanted. Flags of great houses and noble lines moved across the table, and colored lands shifted and changed by the second. He leaned over it, shaking his head in awe. 

“Even the Arcanamirium doesn’t have something like this…”

“It is…well-made,” Katya said, the older woman shaking her head. “And powerfully enchanted; it looks accurate.”

“It is. Look at Absalom.”

The island of magic and power had changed. Once, he imagined, the island would have been a fairly gray color, a mark of neutrality between many different powers. Now, it was mostly covered with the purple-glow of Brundir’s sigil, with a single dot right in the center that marked out the Arcanamirium. Whether it was open or hidden, Brundir’s operation had essentially claimed the island for himself, and this map table knew it. 

It was fascinating to look at something so well-developed, and he shivered as he realized just how much power this would lend someone in a land like Cheliax. The shifts of power would not be so hidden as they were in the eyes of most politicians; the alliances between houses would be as open as a public announcement with an enchanted table like this, and the secret conquests of one’s noble subjects would never be kept hidden. Alliances, treacheries, conspiracies would all be exposed instantly with something like this. 

No wonder the Leontinas had been able to hold onto power for as long as they did. No wonder they were a known name. And no wonder they were gone; any great power in Cheliax would have seen them either bought or banished as soon as possible. 

He traced the line that they’d taken from Westcrown through Bloodrun, all under the same flag and color. The House of Thrune ruled most of Cheliax from the capital of Egorian, but here at the manor, he could see a faint color shift. It wasn’t enough to take it out of Cheliax, not sufficient to call it its own land, but it was not ruled by the House of Thrune. The house maintained its own power and magic. 

And that same color, he realized, was dotted across the world in different locations. 

Vitus was fascinated. He’d never known much about his family, merely that some of them had had magical power, but this? This implied that they had connections and land across the world. There was a small estate not that far from the northern forests – near where the temple of Erastil was, he noted – and others that ranged from a lumber business to a quarry. There were bits and pieces, nothing sufficient on its own to actually build a family empire, but taken together, there might be something of great power there. 

And then…

Then there was a cave, something outside of Cheliax, but not as far as one might have thought. At first, he almost mistook it for a manor on a mountain, but there was no clear marker there. It was something else, something – 

“Vitus!” Robin called from down the hall. “You’re going to want to see this.”

“What?”

“I – you just have to trust me. Come and see this.”

Vitus shook his head. He was more interested in the table, but the tone in Robin’s voice told him that she wasn’t joking around. She must have found something serious. 

“Fine. Be right there.”

Committing what he saw on the table to memory, he turned away. Katya stayed a moment longer before following. 

They found Robin at the end of the hall in a palatial bedroom. The great bed would have held at least six people, and it was bounded on all sides with hanging curtains that did nothing to offer any privacy. The room itself must have been connected to the oasis due to a pool at one corner, enchanted to keep the water clean. The air was gentle and cool, no longer oppressive. 

But it was the tapestry that Robin had found that dominated the room, pointed toward the bed from one wall, and as soon as Vitus saw it, his eyes went wide. 

It was a family tree, he realized, and one that was just as magical as the table in the room they’d just left. He saw himself at the very bottom of the tree as part of the most recent generation, his parents above that, but the further up the tree he glanced, the more non-humans that he saw. There were creatures that had humanoid traits, for certain, but there were many more that were simply not human, bearing scales or wings, or – 

Or snouts. 

He stopped at the top of the tree, eyes wider than they’d ever been. The patriarch of the family had been a human, yes, and quite obviously so. He was dressed in the clothes of a different era with a white-haired mustache and goatee, one that was immaculately groomed and made him look like a roguish mage rather than a full wizard. But it was the matriarch of the clan…

“Zadrynthraxa…”

The name combined with the bestial traits of her face made it clear what she must have been. His legs almost collapsed out from under him as he stared at the tapestry that loomed taller than he was. Her eyes almost seemed to move as he read her name aloud, and he had a sudden fear of them looking at him. 

He stumbled backward and actually did fall, landing right on his ass as he stared at the humanoid dragoness at the top of the tree. Was it true, he wondered? The magic made it feel like it had to be, but what if it was just a conceit? What if the family just [i]thought[/i] that they were connected to a dragon by blood?

Could the magic lie to that extent? Could it be used to just sell that sort of delusion? Or was he…was he really a descendent of a red dragoness?

“Vitus? Vitus, are you okay?” Robin asked. 

“I…this…”

“Here, let me –”

It was less a sound and more a concussive wave of force that rippled through the house. Vitus stiffened with Robin’s arms around him, his eyes going wide as a different feeling rippled through the house’s magical aura. It was thick and heavy, hot and firm, much like the feeling of – 

“Hellknights,” he muttered. 

“It would have to be,” Katya sighed. “I thought this was going too smoothly.”

“They must have followed us from Bloodrun.”

“Or earlier.”

“What’s –”

“I will explain when we are clear. For now, let us focus on getting out before they find us.”

“Right…right. Someone help me with the tapestry, and then we’re gone.”

They yanked it from the wall, the magic inherent in it keeping it from ripping and lightening the load considerably. Vitus tucked it under his arm, half-surprised that he could carry it, but then again, the Hellhound seemed to be actually helpful for a change. Shaking his head, he ran out of the bedroom, holding the door for Robin and Katya. He held his breath as he slammed the door shut, channeling what magic he could into it with a locking spell – 

THUMP!

And just like that, all the other doors slammed shut, too. The warding spells from before surged back to full strength, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. 

[i]At least that works…[/i]

It was a small thing, but he did [i]not[/i] want them finding that map table. If the powers of Cheliax managed to get that, then what meager peace the land had achieved would go up in smoke. And worse, if the devils got their hands on that table, then they might start fucking with the world, too…or get the information about it back to Brundir. That Aasimar would kill for something with that kind of omniscience about the world. 

They ran in a group for the end of the hall. The door to the stairs was still wide open, and as they passed through – 

“DUCK!”

Vitus dropped into a slide, almost knocking the railing out of the way as he slammed into it, but that was better than taking a fireball to the face. The orb of black-red flame soared over his head and slammed against the stone wall behind him, flickering with heat for a moment before fading away. 

Too close. Far too close. 

He poked his head over the edge of the railing and saw the six Hellknights that had invaded the manor. Five were still wearing their helmets, but the sixth had hers off. The tiefling looked up at him, smiling. 

“So, you’re the one that I’ve heard so much about.”

“You’ve got an advantage on me, then. I don’t know who you are or why you want me.”

“Oh, [i]I[/i] don’t want you. But you bring chaos to an ordered shore, and I want to know why someone else is hunting you.”

“…You’re not one of his,” Vitus guessed. 

“My loyalties are to the law and the Order of the Gate. I do not sell myself to someone beyond the borders of Cheliax.”

“Then why –”

“You are a threat to the standing order. And as such, I must take care of that. Men.”

The other Hellknights armed themselves, short stabbing spears in one hand and a fireball in the other. Vitus growled, letting his illusion fade. The Hellhound would be needed for this, or they’d all – 

“I will take care of the underlings.” 

He looked back. Katya was on her feet, and the older woman’s arms were spread out to her sides. Sigils and runes were popping into being all around her, and her meager robes were disappearing, flowing into bangles of floating black flame around her arms. She hissed as her skin almost seemed to catch fire around her neck, a collar of symbols and shapes taking form around her throat. 

“You deal with their commander.”

“…Yeah…yeah, I can do that,” Vitus said. “Robin –”

“I’ll do what I can.” The were-rat nodded. “Just give me an opening.”

“Uh-huh.”

As Katya raised her arms, her swarm of glyphs changed shape. A dozen lunged down the stairs in the form of wolves, snapping and howling in the voices of roaring flames. The Hellknights fell back in shock, but their leader pushed through, the tiefling unbothered by fire and heat. 

As Katya descended one staircase, Vitus took the other, losing his disguise and embracing the Hellhound form. His steps sped up, and by the time he hit the bottom of the stairs he was charging as only a beast of Hell could. The tiefling dropped her fireball, taking a sword for her other hand, and they met in combat. 

His fingers grew claws that were as long as daggers, and he swept them up and caught the sword as it came down. The Hellhound’s instincts pushed him, driving him to kick at her side before she could bring her spear up, but she was faster than she looked. She caught his leg by the calf, meeting him with the wooden butt of the spear before shoving back. He leaped backward, rolling to avoid the follow-up stab. 

They danced at the bottom of the stairs, claw and blade, teeth and spear looking for any opening that they could get. They lunged for each other, blocked or parried and then broke apart again, growling, hissing, and in her case, grinning. 

“You’re good, very good. Perhaps you can become a trained hound. The demons must bow before the devils.”

“You’ll have a hard time with that…the demons can’t tame me.”

“The devils have more practice. And we have more rules.”

He shook his head, and leaped back into the fray. 

She fought with restraint, he was surprised to see. She held back from several deadly strikes that could have ended the fight right then and there, which only made him more sure that she had come here with true intent to capture rather than kill. That had to mean that they were planning interrogation, at the very least, and possibly a full conversion. 

Considering the way that demons forced others to submit, to convert and be corrupted, he could only imagine that devils had other ways of doing it. Ways no less pleasurable, but with far less loopholes. Brundir had been very good at it, and he’d probably had far less practice than the grand empire of Cheliax. 

He pushed for an opening, but everything he tried came up short. She had more training than he did, reading his moves even as he made them, and her armor was too strong for him to break through with the blows that he did manage to land. The few fireballs he tried spitting broke on her breastplate, and he noticed too late that there were sigils chiseled into the joints of her armor to break spells that were loosed at her. 

Officer privilege, he imagined. The other Hellknights were weak enough to Katya’s power.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his mentor was keeping the other five Hellknights at bay. When the fire wolves were dealt with, she summoned water elementals. When they were dealt with, she called forth shackles of earth to pin them down while she peppered them with other spells of force. One of the Hellknights had lost an arm, and another a leg, but the other three were still fighting hard. She was winning, but slowly, too slowly to help him – 

The whistle of the sword coming down was his only warning. He brought his hands up and caught it against his claws, only for the spear to come around. Vitus threw himself backward but still took a slash along his shoulder, cutting into his arm and leaving him bleeding. He rolled backward, putting as much distance between him and this tiefling as he could. 

“Very, very good. If you were properly leashed, you could do much to keep order.”

“Hmmph…I’m not coming quietly.”

“Few do. But you’ll learn. And you’ll help us understand why an Aasimar is so interested in you.”

“I could just tell you that, you know.”

“Perhaps, but we would have to wonder if you were telling the truth. Bound, trained, we would know that you couldn’t lie. Now…let’s finish this.”

The tiefling smiled, spinning her spear. Vitus groaned, struggling to get to his feet, the tapestry weighing him down. He would have abandoned it, but who knew what knowledge of his lineage would allow devils to do to him? It might have given them a way to use a true name or something to bind him, and then – 

A blur left the balcony even as the tiefling lunged for him. The officer was committed to her stabbing strike, too committed to change course as Robin lunged for her. Vitus saw the were-rat fall, all finger-claws extended, and – 

The deafening crash of a Hellknight hitting the floor and the wet squelch of claws in flesh shattered the thunder of the magical duel going on in the background. Robin tackled the Hellknight to the ground, the tiefling groaning, but even as Vitus forced himself to his feet, the tiefling was already turning. Bloody neck or not, she wasn’t down for the count. 

“Run while you can!” Robin shouted. 

“We can –”

“You got what you came for, now get out! The pack has to stay alive!”

The pack has to stay – 

“Get out of here!”

The Hellhound growled, determined to stay, but it was the human that pushed forward. No more fighting here. They would not survive. Even now, the tiefling had turned, moving faster than she had ever done in the fight with Vitus. Her spear knocked the air right out of Robin’s lungs, and the were-rat went down hard. She rolled back and up again, but the fight was turning against her. 

Katya was at his side, hissing in tiredness. He looked at her, then back at the other Hellknights, where a copy of the older woman continued to fight. 

“We must flee. Quickly.”

“Yes…yes, we must.”

And so they did, running out the front door as the illusion of an old woman and an all too real Robin were left behind. 

They had just cleared the wrought-iron fence when the wagon swept around, Piers in the driver’s seat. They piled in, Katya in the back and Vitus in the front. Piers handed over the reins, only to look back at the house. 

“Where’s Robin?”

Vitus couldn’t answer. He whipped the horses, and they fled. The Hellknights on the road tried to gather between them, but Katya had one last trick for them. Their wagon split into ten others, and they could not follow them all. 

#

They eventually stopped ten miles up the road, well away from the manor, and hid themselves beneath a layer of seven different illusion spells. They didn’t risk a campfire, as there was too much chance the smoke or light might escape their spell wards. Instead, they sat in darkness, with only Neena’s moans to break the silence. 

Shereeza returned from staking out the horses, the elf slave taking a knee among the rest of them. There was a conspicuous absence with Robin gone; the were-rat had been the one that was best at starting meetings, getting people talking, and fulfilling the role of the person that occupied the middle ground between the various points of view. Without her, it felt like the first person that talked would be the one that started a fight, and with what had just happened, nobody wanted to be that person. 

Vitus stared at the ground, feeling the Hellhound within still gnawing at him, furious that they had left a pack member behind. He held one hand over his muzzle, shaking his head. 

[i]We didn’t have a choice.

We did. And we made the wrong one.

We would have lost. 

We would have protected our pack. We FAILED our pack. 

We can get her back. 

It doesn’t matter. We are the pack leader, and that means that we fight for them. We fight so that they can be safe. They only fight when we can’t do it alone, not so that we can run away.[/i]

The fact that the Hellhound part of him might actually be right hurt more than he expected. He’d always held himself to a greater moral standard than the demon dog, and that had given him some little bit of comfort as he learned how to live with himself again. Knowing that it would have stood up for Robin, that it would have fought for her, meant that it had morals of its own. If it cared for someone, if someone was pack, then there was nothing that it would not do for the sake of keeping them safe. 

He almost admired that, but it was marred by terror of what those responsibilities would mean. He didn’t know if he could live up to that. 

“I think that we must address something,” Katya said, finally breaking the silence. 

“Don’t,” Piers muttered. 

“No. I made it clear what the conditions were, and you broke them. The Hellknights are responsible for what happened, but the obvious question then becomes, who is responsible for the Hellknights?”

“Stop it. It wasn’t – I didn’t –”

“I warned you, Piers.”

Vitus slowly lifted his head at the exchange, pulling himself out of the guilt fog to look the one-armed Guardsman in the eye. Piers looked away almost immediately, and that brought a growl to his throat. 

“What did you do, Piers?” 

“It’s not my fault. It’s not…they didn’t…It shouldn’t have happened.” 

“What…did…you…do?”

“What did [i]I[/i] do? Only what you pushed me to, you monster.” Piers kicked the ground, shaking his head. “You kidnapped me. You stole my wife. You raped her, changed her, corrupted her. You stole us away to this horrible place, kept us from leaving, and now…now her loyalty to you has her caught, and –”

Vitus was moving before he knew it. Piers went so far as to try and draw a dagger before the Hellhound seized control, grabbing the human by the throat and slamming him to the ground. The sand deformed around the Guardsman as he held him there, pinning him in place as a much deeper, deadlier, fiery growl came from the Hellhound’s chest. 

“What…[b]did…you…[i]do?![/b][/i]”

“I…trusted…them.”

Squeezing Piers’s throat, he kept up the pressure. He half-expected Katya or Shereeza to stop him, but neither did. They were under him, and he…he was the Hunter. He was allowed to take the lead and do what was required. 

Piers almost fainted before he relaxed his grip, grunting questioningly. The Guardsman shook his head, eyes watering. 

“One of them…the tiefling. She found me in the market, and we…talked. She told me how things worked in Cheliax, and I…I admired it. The purity of the law, the protection that it offered everyone; it seemed like such a good thing. I thought…I really thought that she could be trusted. 

“The more we talked, the less I paid attention to what I was saying. I talked about us…our situation. Not much, I thought, but then we met again, and –”

“You did more than talk,” Katya said. 

“…I did.” Piers nodded. “I was…unfaithful to my wife.”

“You fucked the tiefling,” Vitus muttered. 

“She wanted me…and she made it clear how much I mattered to her. How special I was to her.”

“She was lying,” Katya said.

“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t matter. I trusted her, and I made a mistake. But I didn’t know how much of a mistake until…” Piers turned, looking up at the elf. Shereeza didn’t respond. “Until I saw what they were willing to do to someone like her. Someone that couldn’t have done something that was worthy of death. Someone that was still innocent, that just had bad luck. And by the time I knew that…it was too late.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But –”

“Quiet,” Vitus muttered, holding up a finger. “Listen.”

“…I don’t hear anything,” Katya said. 

“That’s the point. The humming’s gone.”

All eyes went to the wagon, and from it, a much-bedraggled Neena Mattas stepped out. She almost fell from the rear of the wagon, but managed to catch herself on the side. She was gasping for air, her body washed over with sweat, shining like something that had crawled from a pool of elemental slime, but very much free of her restraints. 

Instead of running, she stumbled in their direction. She finally fell to her knees a few paces away, but her eyes were filled with a determined glow.

“It sounds…” She breathed in slowly. “It sounds…like you’ve had some problems…with the Hellknights.”

“…We might have,” Vitus said. “How did you get free?”

“Brundir…does not…pick stupid agents…”

“Clearly. So why are you still here?”

“I can’t run…not like this…and you…you need help. Maybe enough…to make a deal.”

She was probably right, but it brought up another problem. Melchiresa needed her sacrifice, her addition to the pack, and if they made a deal instead of just taking care of the threat that Neena posed, it brought the threat of punishment up again. So many variables, so many things that had to be taken care of. Vitus groaned, pulling his hand back from Piers’s throat. The Guardsman wriggled back, gradually getting back to his feet. A glance at Katya gave no guidance. She had nothing for him, probably because she was sick of him putting off a decision. She wanted one now, and was not going to make it easy for him to put it on someone else. 

Vitus wanted to scream, but before he could, the world rippled one more time. The wagon wobbled, and of all people, Pollius and Marco Cinna stepped out of the rear of the wagon. 

“Apologies. My husband felt the wagon doing strange things, and wanted to investigate. We heard some of it; Hellknight trouble?” Marco asked. “Bad things. We shouldn’t get involved.”

“Please, dear, there is such a wealth of opportunities here,” Pollius said. “And the chance to see Egorian again? How could we not?”

“We could just stay home.”

“And miss this? The drama? The chance for yet more bliss, more forbidden pleasures? I think [i]not.[/i]”

More people. 

More problems. 

And yet, more opportunities. With the power that Pollius had, as well as the potential connections both Cinnas might have at the capital…and Katya’s magic…and Piers’s connections with the Hellknight tiefling…and whatever Neena could offer…

Perhaps they would have a chance. [i]If[/i] he could keep Melchiresa off his back for just a bit longer…










[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: They find several things in the manor, but before they can get to the conversion, the Hellknights break in. 

Tags: Fighting, Nudity, Female Nudity, F/solo, Series, Magic, Hellknight, Tiefling, Human, Were-Rat, Hellhound, Heat, Sweat, Revelation,