The Job

It was night time in the city of Teramund, and the streets of The Inner Ring were quiet: it was the district of the city devoted to members of the faith of the one true deity, Marcanath, the God-King, who ruled over the city. His temple in the district was topped with a large obsidian statue of the ruler, large enough to be seen over the district’s walls, even by the people in the lesser rings of the city. At the base of the statue, there was a woman, watching the courtyard across the way.
“I wish they’d hurry up. This guy is killing my back.” The woman said, adjusting her position on the pedestal.
Her hair was black and sleek, and it ran past her shoulders and down her back. She had tucked it down her coat, not wanting it to get in the way of matching black quiver on her back. She had gray eyes, like pepper, and they saw everything, the woman was incredibly perceptive. Her body was sleek, but toned, the build of an agile warrior.
Her clothing suggested an assassin, black leather pants and boots led up to a belt that held a pair of daggers concealed behind her back. She leaned against the statue’s pedestal, her longbow resting next to her. It too was painted black and had a massive pull that would be a struggle for most men to wield. Only an archer of great strength could wield such a weapon, but it had the draw to put an arrow through a man’s skull, if she were so inclined. A long curved sword hung at her side in its sheath, which was black but decorated with red writing of the language of devils. A souvenir from her travels in the northern nation of Tayuchi, the katana was her signature weapon. When she first started getting talked about in the criminal underworld, it was regarded as a bit of joke. Most assassins preferred simpler weapons, like the dagger or the rapier, or variants of such. Sleeker, more elegant weapons, they said. But once she started killing people, taking the most valuable of contracts, and even knocking off the competition if they got in the way, no one questioned her on it again. The flaming katana and the death that followed it came to mean one thing in the underworld: You do not mess with Valentina, the right hand of Asmodeus.
Valentina was one of the most ruthless assassins in the known world. Some of her jobs had spread into legend, though few would question their validity, and none to her face. A legend said that she burned down an entire temple, full of worshippers attending a nightly service, just to kill one man in the confusion. Another said she had spent two months wresting away control of a ship from a pirate captain in Shaxinbei, just to attack a vessel carrying two young brothers who were rising to power in the enemy nation of Tayuchi. Though that time, the brothers had turned out to survive, and Valentina had never gone after them, which suggested they might not have been the target after all. While not every story Valentina heard about her exploits were true, she did little to correct most stories; if it added to her legend and the fear she could inspire in her enemies, so much the better.
While Valentina was respected in the criminal world and in assassin circles, in her master’s realm of Hell, she was hated. One of the few humans to have Asmodeus’s ear, she served him directly, and when not out on assignment, spent her days training new assassins and other agents for his operations on the surface. Not just a weapon her master used to strike those beyond his reach, she was an expert in the arts of persuasion, intimidation, and infiltration. It was said that she could make herself appear to be anyone she chose with her mixture of practical disguise work and magic. She had used this to her advantage several times in dealing with her students, more than once had a potential usurper met their end after catching her blade in their back, while she was disguised as a beggar or prostitute. The one lesson she tried to teach all her students, and yet many still missed, is that anyone at any time could be there to kill you, so have a plan to kill everyone you meet, and never let your guard down.
While she did do freelance work, the vast majority of her jobs came from Asmodeus directly, to further his agenda and influence in the surface world. She served him faithfully, for her master was one of the few who intimidated her, but he was also her savior from the terrible life she had left behind before joining his worship. He granted her magic, and she kept a manor in his realm where she often stayed, serviced by over a dozen slaves. She was one of only three humans he listened to for council, and this angered the traditional devil hierarchy. But Valentina didn’t care. If they stepped out of line, she’d kill them too. It was rare for her master to be displeased with her, only one failed assignment across decades of surface, but she had paid dearly for her failure. Her master did not show mercy to those who failed him, and her back still bore the painful reminder of her punishment at the lash of his flaming whip. The scars could have been healed by magic, but he had ordered her to leave them there as a reminder, a reminder of the cost of failure. She would not fail him again.
She continued to watch the courtyard. Her target tonight was a high priest in the service of the God-King Marcanath. Normally, her master did not have interest in this particular Deity’s followers, as they were ultimately very small in the grand scheme of his infernal designs, but this man was different. In the city of Teramund, the holy agents of the God-King wielded absolute authority, and this one had recently shut down a brothel run by one of their associates, Zelara. Zelara was half human, half devil, and served Valentina’s master as well, though her skills were more magical in nature. Her brothel held a portal to Hell, and was used as point of worship in the city to Asmodeus, many of his surface agents made their way through her doors on their assignments. It didn’t hurt she was an incredibly attractive seductress. Valentina didn’t much go for other females, but whenever she came through Teramund on assignment, she made an exception for Zelara. They played well together and neither was quite popular with the devils in hell, so Valentina had a certain fondness for the madam, even going so far as to do enforcer work for her from time to time, and Zelara repaid the favors with her own magical expertise. Their master needed that portal back open though, for it was his primary entryway into the continent of Algaress.
Bound by an ancient magical agreement, Asmodeus was forbidden from appearing on the surface world, or from opening or having his servants open portals there themselves. But Asmodeus was the master of law and contracts, and he honored his agreements without question, but that did not keep him from finding loopholes and workarounds that did not breach his contracts. The city of Teramund, which this brothel occupied, did not actually exist on the surface world, rather, it existed in it’s own private plane of existence, likely built by the God-King. This meant that it was not bound by the ancient agreement, and such his agents could move there freely, and from there, move on to the surface world. Certainly the writers of the magical agreement did not expect such a move, or they would have written a better contract, but then Asmodeus may not have signed it. The exact details as to why he signed it at all were a mystery even to Valentina. She didn’t like to spend a lot of time thinking about the big picture. That could get you killed. She has stayed in power for over two centuries by knowing her place, she served her master faithfully, and had no desire to try and usurp him, unlike the actual devils that served him.
A pair of guards sprang to attention at the end of the street as a young man, wearing the traditional black robes and insignia of the God-King walked into the courtyard, and settled on the edge of the fountain. The fountain itself was a perfect example of the evil of Marcanath, whose faithful controlled all the water supplies in the city and rationed it out to the poor in small amounts, keeping them reliant upon the faith for survival. A statue in the fountain depicted the God-King, his arms open as if to embrace the viewer, water flowing from his hands into the fountain proper. Many of the poor of the city would have never even seen a fountain, and would have likely dunked themselves right in, drinking away to quench their never ending thirst. Valentina pulled out a spyglass and looked over the young man. He had a staff on his back, which meant he was certainly a priest, but he looked nervous and fearful. Valentina knew her target was a much older cleric, and assumed that this young man was here to meet him, as she knew the elder would be coming this way soon. He was strong and good looking, in another life, the young man could have made her an excellent slave. Though perhaps she could use him yet.
While Valentina pondered what ways she could use the handsome young priest, an older man, wearing the same style robes and staff, made his way from the opposite side of the courtyard. Watching him through the spyglass, the older cleric stood in front of the young priest, raising his hand and slapping him across the face, then pulling him in close and roughly shoving his tongue down the young man’s mouth. Valentina could tell that the young man was not enjoying himself, but he took no move to stop or even resist the older cleric. They were too far away for Valentina to hear their conversation, but she tried her best at reading lips, and from what she could tell, they would be returning to his home for more of the same. This complicated things a bit. Valentina’s plan had been to follow him home from the meeting and kill him in the street, but the introduction of the young lover meant she would have to kill him as well, which she didn’t really care to do, as she wanted to capture him for her own usage. None of this could happen in the streets, as the inner ring was highly patrolled by the most elite of the guards. She would have to follow them and let an opportunity present itself. She pulled out a small magical bag from inside her coat, tucking the quiver and longbow away inside. Valentina always came prepared, in this case, pulling out a tabard identical to the ones the guards of the city wore. A gift from Zelara after she had to deal with a disgruntled customer who felt his position in the guard meant he didn’t have to pay his tab. Pulling off her coat, she slipped it into the bag, then hung the bag on its spot off her belt. Donning the tabard, she looked similar to the elite guards of the city, enough that she was confident no one would look at her too closely as she stalked the streets this night.
When the two holy men turned to leave, Valentina casually stepped off the edge of the temple and began to fall straight down. Angling her feet like she was diving into a pool of water, her boots hit the ground first, tiny runes glowing dark red for a second as she landed. Another gift from Zelara, they made getting down off buildings much quicker when she didn’t want to transform herself, but they didn’t absorb all the pain. Her knees and ankles howled for a moment, but her body soon started to heal itself naturally as she stuck to the shadows, following the men at a reasonable distance.
Valentina was incredibly sneaky, it seemed as though her steps made no noise, and she didn’t even cast a shadow as she stalked her prey down the streets. She could have transformed, followed him in the air with her magic, but she liked being on the streets, in her natural form. It felt safer. Though she could make her invisible if she wished, for longer tracking, she preferred to follow this way, no one would know to look for her, and she could explain away her presence easy enough. After about a half hour of walking, the pair went through a set of double doors to a house, pushing past a pair of guards outside the home. Pulling out her spyglass again, she watched as the elderly cleric yelled at what looked like a servant, another young man dressed only in a blue loincloth. He was well built too, muscled and fit. This priest could be a blessing for her, if he had more attractive slaves like this. The elderly cleric was yelling at his servant, ordering him to make sure that they were not disturbed during “the ritual”. The young priest didn’t look too excited for the ritual, and Valentina suspected that the only thing magical going on there was going to be a very excited old man. The servant closed the doors and Valentina could see no more.
Putting away the spyglass again, Valentina contemplated her next move. She had a problem, she couldn’t just go in the building, not without an invitation of someone who had the authority to invite her in. The guards on the outside likely wouldn’t have that authority. Valentina was a vampire, and while being a vampire came a number of great benefits, in this case, it was a real hinderance. This is why she preferred to take out her targets in the open, or in public places where she didn’t need an invitation. A thought crept into her head, she could just burn the manor down, that didn’t require her going inside, and would likely kill or drive out the priest. Her master hadn’t forbidden her from killing others on this assignment, but she suspected he would be displeased with her for such an action. She did not want to feel the kiss of the fire whip again, and decided instead to get herself an invitation into the home.
She said a quick prayer to Asmodeus and the entire world around her turned silent, she knew with this spell that the area around her was noiseless. The magical silence, combined with her affinity for stealth, made sneaking up to the house rather simple. Drawing the shadows of the house around her, neither guard saw her coming, and they could certainly not hear her as she grabbed the first guard’s head, impaling it on her sword, the flaming blade cauterizing the wound as she pulled it out, looking to the second guard. He tried to scream, but no words came out as she stared into his eyes, mentally commanding him to drop his weapons and fall to his knees. Magically compelled by her innate ability to dominate people, another of the gifts of vampirism, he did as she commanded, dropping his sword and getting onto his knees. It’s where all men she met ended up, Valentina chuckled to herself before dismissing the magical aura of silence and staring at him.
“Rise my slave. I want you to drag your friend around the corner of the house there, and bring back anything he has that’s valuable. Then go into the house, and get that servant to come back out here. This will please me, and you want to please me, don’t you?”
The man nodded his head and rose from the ground, beginning to follow her orders. Obedience was a beautiful thing, Valentina thought to herself. She slid her sword back into its sheath and watched the street, doing her best impression of a guard on the off chance that someone walked by and wondered where the actual ones had gone. A few minutes later, her enslaved guard returned, handing her a pair of gold rings and a small sack of coins, she deposited all of this into her magical bag, before pointing him to the door. She stood on the other side of the door, ready to grab the servant once the guard brought him out. Another few minutes passed and the guard returned, with the loincloth wearing servant held at knifepoint. She led them both around to the side of the house, where she was sure no one would see them from the street, and had the guardsman gag the servant.
“Good boy. Now take that dagger and slice open your own neck. Do not make a sound.” Valentina watched the guard intently, there was a look of fear in his eyes as he released the servant and raised the dagger to his own neck. Her own hand moved behind her back, gripping the silver dagger concealed there. She knew that enchantment magic didn’t always have the best luck when you order your thrall to do something that harmful to itself. The guard lunged at her, but Valentina was faster, dodging his thrust of the dagger. With one fluid motion, she drew the silver dagger, slicing across his neck, while her free hand pushed him against the wall, covering his mouth as the air trying to escape it. She knew he couldn’t scream in this condition, but it might make unnecessary noise. She put her mouth to his neck, drinking the blood as she dropped her own dagger, pinning his weapon hand against the wall, her thirst quenched as he slumped against the wall, dead. Valentina turned to the servant, who was standing there, staring at her horrified. She wiped the blood from his mouth and smiled, licking her teeth and lips for a moment before walking over to him, resting her hands on the gag.
“Now, I’m going to take this out, but if you scream, you’ll end up the same as him, got it?” The servant nodded and she removed the gag, he started to gasp for air and she patted him on the back, whispering to him quietly. “Shh, shh...no need to freak out. You’ve been given a great opportunity. Now I’m going to ask you a few questions, you can just nod or shake your head, okay? I really would like to not have to kill you tonight.” Of course, that wasn’t from any ethical obligation, rather, Valentina’s ideas about how the two of them could have a really fulfilling night with that young priest. Valentina pulled a flask from her belt, handing it to the man. “Water. You can have it. I have plenty.” The man started to drink, and he didn’t stop until it was empty, he even tapped on the bottom, in an effort to get every last drop. Valentina muttered an incantation and pointed at the flask, and it spilled over, refilled with water, and motioned for him to continue. “You’re welcome to as much as you like. Can I ask your name?”
“Ammar. My name is Ammar. Who are you?” His voice was calm and soothing, he seemed more relaxed after the gift of water.
“Ammar, my name is Valentina, and I’m here to kill your master. He doesn’t seem like a very nice master, am I right?”
Ammar nodded his head, before bowing to her and offering her the flask back. Valentina could see the tell tale signs of a whip used on the servant’s back. “He is the worst I have ever had. Many of my fellows say the same.”
“So there are more of you in the house? Can I assume that he treats them all similarly?”
Ammar nodded again. “He beats us, and uses us how he sees fit. A month ago, one of our number, Abu, could not take it anymore, and took his own life when the master was out. His rage was as furious as a sandstorm, and we all suffered for it.”
Valentina nodded again. She didn’t care for unnecessary cruelty, she always thought of herself as a good mistress, harsh but fair. “I know what he brought that young priest here to do, can I guess that he uses you all for the same purpose, and that you’re not a fan?”
Ammar bit his lip for a moment but nodded. “I...do not like it, no. He is rough, even for a male lover, which I do not prefer, but even rougher than my old master who did the same. He uses and abuses, as we say.”
“That’s tragic.” Valentina replied, putting on her best sympathetic voice. “I can offer you a way out. You can help me kill him. Of course, you’ll be marked for death after that, so you’ll need to leave the city, I can help with that too. I can set you up with a new master outside the city, one who rewards obedience instead of the mindless cruelty of the God-King. You’ll serve me directly here, and work for my master as we see fit. I can always use more slaves for my home. How does that sound?”
“That sounds fair, I’m guessing that’s the only option?”
“Well...I could kill you now and gift you the sweet embrace of death. Of course then I’ll have to go the backup plan, that involves me burning the house down with everyone inside, that’ll probably kill your master, but will also kill everyone else inside, including your fellow servants. But hey, that might not matter to you, you’ll already be dead.”
“When you put it like that, I’ll be happy to help. Especially if you can keep it up with that water.”
“Ammar, where you’ll be working, we have all the water you can ever drink. And pants. Sure, occasionally you might have to service the Mistress of the house...” She smirked for a moment and put her lips on his, giving him a deep and long kiss. “...But I doubt that’ll be a problem, will it?”
The servant eagerly shook his head, Valentina suspected he quite enjoyed the idea. “So, how do we do it?”
“Well first, I’d recommend we find a be- oh you mean killing your master! Easy enough. You just invite me into this nice home here, and then lead me up to his room, and then I’ll kill him and his pet. Then you gather up the rest of the servants and I’ll offer them the same deal. Of course, since you came first, I’ll have to leave you in charge of the other servants when I’m out. Simple enough?”
Ammar nodded again. “Should we leave them out here?” He pointed to the two dead guards on the ground, the wall was stained with the blood of the second guard.
“You look strong, can you carry them both? I hate to waste a good meal and they might attract pests.” Ammar picked up the men, slinging one over each arm and walked over to the door.
“Lady Valentina, I do invite you to come in.” That was enough of an invitation and the pair walked through the doors to the manor. It was nicely decorated, artwork on the walls, most depicting men in various states of undress, and there was a golden chandelier hanging in the hall. There were a number of doors in this room, and a pair of staircases flanked the outer walls leading to a second floor balcony. The house was quiet, except for the unmistakable sound of flesh hitting flesh, and the moans of men. She pointed up the stairs and Ammar nodded.
“I’ll go deal with that, you get the other servants and have them all gather up here. Find as many fresh sheets as you can and wrap these two up.” She said another quick prayer to Asmodeus, and the bodies began to glow red for a moment before returning to normal. Ammar looked at her curiously. “A simple spell to keep them from decaying. I hate to waste food. Now go.”
As Ammar turned to make his way through one of the many ground level doors, Valentina transformed into a cloud of misty gas, almost invisible to the naked eye, and proceeded to fly up the stairs. Making her way down the hallway, she passed more paintings and made her way toward the noise of the men. Being a gaseous cloud, she made her way silently through the crack under the door of the bedroom, and inside the two men were indeed in the middle of making love, if one could call it that. The elderly cleric was clearly enjoying himself, he had a small whip, like a riding crop, and was punishing the young priest for something. The young priest had his face buried in the bed, pushing the rest of his body out toward the elderly cleric, as though presenting himself to him. Thankfully, the room was dark, and as she reformed into her material self, the shadows kept her concealed from the elder priests view. Wanting to make quick work of it, she studied his body carefully, knowing that when she drew her sword, he would likely see her, and not wanting to let him get a spell off.
She stepped forward out of the shadows, and the cleric’s facial expression betrayed surprise, but before he could start the magic words, her sword was out and she cleanly sliced through his neck, his head falling to the ground with a plop. Before the young priest could even get up, she was on the bed, a knee in his back, straddling him, her free hand pushing his face into the bed.
“I’m here for him, not for you. Most victims are usually happy to be saved. Now I’m going to let you up off the bed, but if you scream, I’ll have no problem running my sword through you. Got it?”
He nodded his head as best as he could and she slid her sword away, letting go of his head and taking her knee off his back, she let him roll over so he could look her in the face. He looks good up close, Valentina thought, she wouldn’t mind keeping him running about the house in a loincloth. He was muscular and clean shaven, but his auburn hair was a bit messy from the cleric’s actions before.
“What’s your name?”
“Idben”
“Well Idben, there are two ways we can handle this tonight. Option one, I kill you here and you learn whatever afterlife awaits the faithful of the God-King. Option two, you start working for me, but you get to be the big hero among the other priests, and hopefully that’ll stop them from taking you off on nights like these. Unless you enjoy such things, but from the expression on your face earlier, I don’t think you do.”
Idben shook his head furiously.
“I thought as much. Now, can I assume by the look on your face you’re choosing option two? That’s also the one where we wear this bed out tonight.”
“I believe I’ll take option two.” A grin crossed his face for a moment before looking to his old master. “It’s a pity he didn’t get to suffer more. My ass hasn’t been the same for months.”
Valentina climbed off the bed and motioned for him to follow. He followed her off the bed, she stopped for a moment to admire his form before continuing to speak: “Do you know who I am?”
Idben shook his head “Some type of hired assassin, I think.”
“All assassins are hired, that’s the nature of killing people as a service. But you are right, I am Valentina, assassin for the Lord of Hell Asmodeus. If you serve me, you shall serve him as well, is that clear?”
He nodded his head again. “Anything is better than this.”
“Good. I’ll expect you to keep up your duties as a priest of the God-King, but you are mine now.” She reached into her bag, pulling out a scroll and a quill, but no ink. Valentina walked over to a small table, rolling out the scroll and handing Idben the quill. “This is a standard contract we use, essentially to summarize it, you agree to pledge your life and soul over to Asmodeus in return for his favor. In this case, though not specifically documented, his favor means you get to keep living, sleep with at least one beautiful woman, and we’re going to put you in the position to gain even more power and wealth. Now, if you want to sign, just prick the finger and sign in blood. If not, that’s perfectly fine, option one is still on the table.”
He looked at her for a moment, taking the quill and dipping it into one of the bleed wounds on his back, signing the contract. “For the record, I would have done it just for the first two things.”
If Valentina wasn’t a vampire, she would have bluffed, but instead let out an uncharacteristically playful laugh. “Flatterer. Now find yourself some pants, we’re going to get rid of this old guy.” Idben started to search the room, finding his clothes and pulling out a set of pants from a dresser.
“He always made me keep spare clothes here. If they weren’t folded neatly, he’d beat me, then have me beat the servants. Course now he can’t do that, can he!” Idben proceeded to deliver a kick to the dead body, looking satisfied with himself afterwards.
Valentina just shook her head, starting to pull valuables off the man. She found a pair of magical rings, as well as an amulet, and shoved them into her magical bag on her belt. She watched as Idben started to put on a shirt, and stopped him as he tried to fasten the first button.
“Leave it open. I like you better that way.”
“However you like it Valentina.”
“Mmm, we need to start this new relationship at the proper level of respect. That’s Mistress Valentina.”
Idben nodded his head “As you say Mistress.”
“Good, good. Now, grab the old man and follow me.”
Idben obeyed and followed her as she left the room, returning to the main foyer, where Ammar with five similarly dressed men - was waiting for them. Valentina was happy to note they all seemed to be built rather similarly as well. She had Idben drop the dead body of the old cleric in front of them. She addressed all of the servants, going through the same offer she had given Ammar earlier, and they all agreed, and she produced a number of other contracts, getting all the servants to sign. After this was done, she motioned for Amman to stand beside her with Idben.
“Alright slaves, let me make this clear: You are all my property now, and I intend to take very good care of you, if you work hard. You owe your allegiance and your prayers to Asmodeus now, and if you fail me, you may end up meeting him personally. I assure you incurring the wrath of your new Master makes your time spent with this old man-” She gave the dead body a solid kick with her boot “-look like a night in a whorehouse! Now, Amman and Idben here are my eyes and ears, and I expect you to follow their orders as you would mine. We don’t have a lot of time here before someone starts snooping around, so I want you all to start gathering up all the valuables in the house. Treasure, the paintings, magical items, all of it, and bring it here. Go!”
The servants scattered, moving into different rooms and beginning to loot the place. Valentina turned to Amman: “Find yourself something to wear besides that loincloth, and make your way to the outer ring. Locate a woman named Zelara and bring her here. We’ll need her for the next steps. I trust you will not fail me, for this task is the most important tonight.”
“As for you Idben, I need you to find everything in here with the marking of the God-King, all the tapestries and uniforms, anything of holy significance, and pile it up here. I assume this building has a basement or some type of dungeon with an altar. Destroy it and clean the room, we’ll need to stage it later.”
Valentina looked at both the men, placing a hand on the shoulder of each. “You both are on the start of a journey that’s going to change your lives for the better. Whichever one of you gets done first can meet me up in the bedroom, though I assure you both, there’s going to be plenty to go around tonight. Go, both of you.”
The two men rushed off to their assigned duties and Valentina made her way upstairs and back to the master bedroom. She pulled the bloody sheet off of the bed, and wrapped the cleric’s head in the sheet, stuffing it into her bag. Valentina started to undress, ordering one of the nearby servants to replace the sheets on the bed with fresh ones. She set her weapons on the table and made a neat pile of her armor and other things, until she was down to nothing at all. There was nothing much to do at this point, so once the servant returned, she laid in the bed and stared up at the ceiling. For the first time in three days, since she had gotten this assignment, she let her mind wander a bit. Valentina wondered if somewhere out in the world, her sister might be looking up at the ceiling, doing the same.
They hadn’t seen each other in years, not since she escaped their home and joined the legions of good as a priestess. She remembered their early years, born as twins and both rejecting the ideologies of their parents. They both sought a means to escape their home, Quansardam, more commonly known as the City of Darkness. Sealed away in the realm of the Black King, it was entirely populated by vampires and their slaves, mostly humans raised for blood. They all knew the story from their birth, that the wicked humans had sealed them away, and that one day the seals would break and they could return to the surface world and extract their revenge. Those seals stayed fairly strong though, it had been over twelve hundred years since the city was sealed away and they still hadn’t broken out. Contessa, her twin sister, had been obsessed with finding “The Way”, a legendary secret path out of the city, left by the human mages before they sealed the city off, as a means for those of good heart to escape their damned existence. Contessa and Valentina had always been together, their methods had differed certainly, Valentina was willing to kill, even then, to get what she wanted. She remembered the last time they saw each other, Contessa stepping through a white portal, and being whisked away. The portal had disappeared for Valentina though. She remembered pounding her fists on the wall till they were raw, begging and screaming for the gods to hear her, to let her join her sister, but no one came. Consumed with a desire to escape this place, and her one hope of doing so gone, she turned to darker methods. She poured over tomes in the library, and hidden away in the basement, tried to summon different beings to free her, the celestials never answered and the demons never helped. But one devil did. Desperate, she tried to summon Asmodeus. This opened a portal and she wound up in Hell. It all seemed so long ago.
A knock on the door pushed this all from her mind. She called for them to enter, and the door swung open to reveal Idben. She motioned for him to join her on the bed, and before he could speak, she began to kiss him, and he kissed back, and for next hour all she focused on was Idben, making sure he was well rewarded for his service. This brought her some happiness, new toys always do.
After they were both worn out, they stayed in the bed, holding each other, and she spoke to him about Asmodeus, and the prayers he would be expected to learn. He ate it all up eagerly. Valentina always found that men listened to her most intently after lovemaking. She got dressed again, this time leaving her armor off, instead choosing a black and red tunic bearing the symbol of Asmodeus (A large red “ A “ in a circle), and started to take him through the prayers properly. Ordering him to dress again, she left his shirt off, and would strike him occasionally with the small whip the old cleric had used on him, when he made a mistake or she just thought he was slacking.
Eventually, Amman returned. Hours had past, and the first rays of the sun had become to creep over the horizon. The foyer now had piles of gold, silver, and precious gems. All sorts of different types of jewelry, stacks and stacks of fine art, piles of silk clothes & beddings, and various other illicit contraband. Her newest slaves were standing at attention, waiting for her orders. Standing in the middle of it all was Zelara. This was Zelara’s human form, Valentina knew, but she was still incredibly attractive. She wore a low cut dress, made of the same blacks and reds as Valentina’s garb, and her body seemed to be perfect proportioned. Underneath it all, she knew there was the real devil kin, her skin would turn red, wings would sprout from her back, and she’d grow about a foot. The sight of her made Valentina consider dismissing the men briefly and extending their stay in the manor for an extra day of play. She opened her arms and the two women hugged briefly before talking.
“As much as I appreciate all the talent you’ve assembled here Valentina, I’d like to know why you sent for me.” Zelara’s voice was smooth and seductive, but with a hint of impatience. She was not normally someone to be summoned.
“I come bearing gifts. I’ve taken care of the cleric who shut down your establishment, and we should be getting that back within the next day or so.” Valentina motioned to the dead cleric’s body, still on the foyer’s floor. “Beyond that, I’ve also acquired” she waved a hand to Idben “us a new spy in Marcanath’s priesthood. He’s begun his conversion tonight, but I know you’ll find use for him and make sure everything is completed.”
Zelara walked around Idben, looking him over and running a finger down the whip marks on his back, nodding approvingly. “Mmm, very well. Killing the priest though, that’s going to bring a lot of attention down, once they find out he’s gone. I need assurances that this isn’t going to come back to bite me. Our master would be very displeased at such.” Zelara’s hand moved to rub her own back for a moment, Valentina knew that she also knew the price of failure.
“Agreed, that’s why I summoned you here. Besides taking the instruction of young Idben here under your wing-” she laughed for a moment her own joke “-we are going to make him out to be the big hero. I need you to set the dungeons up below and make them look like the high cleric was worshipping the Black King. Idben here thankfully stopped him, though there was a great magical battle and the guards were killed, and the house burned down. That way nobody questions why there’s so much missing-” she motioned a hand to all the treasures gathered “-because they would have burned up. I assume you can move these through your elf friend?”
Zelara nodded, walking between the stacks of artwork and examining some of the finer pieces “That shouldn’t be a problem. She’s got an outstanding tab as it is. Probably get a good rate on it. Though I doubt she’ll much care for these paintings of half naked men.”
Valentina over to the piles of coins and gems, pushing them into her magic bag. “No matter, just sell all of it you can’t find a use for, and give Idben there the proceeds.” She looked at Idben for a moment “I expect you to obey Mistress Zelara’s commands as you do mine. She’s far more strict than am I and won’t hesitate to consume your soul.” Valentina turned back to Zelara and gave her a sly wink. “Zelara, be a dear and walk with me, will you?”
“You know, normally, I’m the one giving the orders. Perhaps you need to be reminded of my true power. I could kill you if I just get a single spell off…” Zelara’s smile turned into a glare, as though her mind was thinking through all the different ways she had to dispose of the confident assassin. Most folks would have been intimidated by the look of murder the demoness gave Valentina.
“If…” Valentina replied, her gaze turning cold and a hand moving to her sword hilt. The two women stared at each other, not blinking, as though waiting for the other to make the first move. Then they both burst into laughter, Zelara walking over and putting her arm around Valentina’s shoulders.
“I almost had you. I saw you grab that sword.” Zelara said
“My friend, if I wanted you dead, you wouldn’t have seen anything” Valentina replied. They both shared another laugh about this, and they took each other’s hand, making their way upstairs. She led Zelara into the master bedroom, and proceeded to lay down on the bed, patting the space beside her. Zelara chose to instead sit on the edge, idly playing with Valentina’s hair.
“You look tired dear. It’s not a good look.”
“Once this is done and your brothel’s back up and running, I plan to sleep for days. I’m so tired, and there’s still so much left to do. I’ve still got to take of care of Amman, and then I have to report back and get the new slaves settled in…”
“When you say take care of Amman, do you mean-” Zelara placed a finger on her neck and pulled it across, the universal sign for killing someone “-or something else?”
“Oh no, I’m not going to kill him, I promised him sex. I can’t be made out to be a liar.”
“Well, forgive me for not feeling too sorry for you if your biggest problem is having to take more attractive, half naked men to bed. I could get you started if you wanted.”
“Aw, you're sweet to offer, but no, I’ll soldier on through it, I guess. Once things are back to normal though, we’ll have to meet up again.”
“Agreed. You know this was suppose to just be a simple assassination right? Asmodeus might not be pleased when he learns of all this.”
“He sends me into these things because he trusts my judgment. At the end of the day, he’s up several followers, he has another priest, one who is deep into Marcanath’s organization, and you’ll get the brothel back, and everyone’s going to blame the Black King, further decreasing his power in the area. That’s a win several times over in my book.”
“But what if he doesn’t see it that way?”
“Then I’ll be dead. He didn’t tell me I couldn’t kill other people.”
“But did he tell you you could?”
“Well, no, but I didn’t think I needed permission for that. But I’ll take the heat, regardless. I can trust you to get this all taken care of on this end?”
“You know you can.”
“Good, good. I guess send Amman up and get everything started. Also, if you can prepare a way to get me home, I’d appreciate it.”
“Consider it done.” Zelara leaned down to place a kiss on Valentina’s forehead, and then walked out of the room.
“And obviously don’t start the fire while I’m still here!” Valentina called after her.
The rest of the day went very much as planned. Amman got his reward, several times over and in a variety of different positions, which was very satisfying for them both. Zelara’s elf friend came to the home and her men started to move all the goods out, she didn’t seem too bothered by the dead priests, which wasn’t surprising. Valentina didn’t think there was any woman in the city who liked the priests. And in another few hours, the manor was set ablaze and Zelara sent her and her new slaves to Valentina’s home in hell.
Valentina’s home was a castle, set high a top of a rocky hill, surrounded by a lake of fire. A prime location for both defense of the castle as well as the view. Valentina actually hated it there, and spent most of her time on the inside, which was decorated in a more traditional fashion. She had a collection of landscapes, depicting different countries and regions, and she kept it stocked with the finest food and wine. She helped her new slaves to integrate into the household and the rest of the staff, and made sure to give each one a personal introduction in her bedchambers. But mostly, she slept, confident in her plan and knowing that when the time was right, her master would send for her.
On the third day after her return, she was summoned. Two large devils came to her home, wielding flaming greatswords and wearing the armor of Asmodesus’s royal guard. Valentina dressed quickly, opting for a simple silk robe that she wore to mostly holy ceremonies, though she still brought her sword and daggers, just in case she had to kill a guard. You never know with these things. They put her into a carriage, pulled by dark flaming horses of evil known as Nightmares, and a few hours later, she was being walked into the throne room.
For the lord of hell, Asmodeus’s throne room looked rather plain. The entire room was made of dark gray and black stone, there were red and black banners depicting his insignia and holy symbol, and a large red carpet leading from the entryway directly to his throne. The throne was big enough for a giant to sit comfortably, and on either side it was flanked by his royal guard. Usually two sufficed, but today, there were ten, eight of them standing parallel to the carpet, so that she had to walk past all of them on her way up to the throne.
Asmodeus himself was always a sight. He stood over twelve feet tall and muscular, he always wore these open tunics that showcased his strength. He had long horns that curled back toward his head and long black shaggy hair that ran down to somewhere behind his back. She knew he could choose to have large flaming wings if he chose to, but normally he kept them away for ease of movement. He had black cloven feet that could stomp a man to death, and he wore loose fitting black pants the same style as his tunic. On his belt, there was a long whip, wreathed in flame, and he carried a large mace that hung there as well.
As she passed by the guards, she noticed some important things: Zelara was there as well, nude, her clothing piled neatly at her side. She was on her knees, her face pointed downward, as if in a permanent bow toward their Master. Her back was bleeding, and it was evident that she had just been whipped, but she made no cry of pain, and there was no evidence to suggest she was crying. As she approached the throne, she stood next to Zelara and gave a low bow to Asmodeus, before lowering herself up to her knees. He rose up from his seat, looking angry, and his hand grasped the whip at his side.
“Explain yourself. Now.” Asmodeus’s voice was booming, but calm, collected. You could tell he thought out every word before he said it.
Not to be deterred, Valentina explained everything that happened, from the initial investigation to all of her decisions that followed. This did not seem to please Asmodeus as she went through all the details, and once she had finished, he calmly drew the flaming whip.
“Go now.” He pointed to the royal guard and they began to file out. Zelara began to rise as well, but in an instant the whip lashed her back with a loud crack, and she fell back to her earlier position. “Not you Zelara, your punishment has not yet finished.” She whimpered slightly, and Asmodeus walked off his throne, his size decreasing as he did so, and stood before them both as tall as a normal man, perhaps six and a half feet tall, but still just as terrifying. “You may rise, Valentina.”
Valentina rose to her feet, resisting the urge to place her hand on her sword hilt, like she would with any other person who was in a position to hurt her. Faith was trusting in what you believed and she knew whatever he choose to do here, would be the right move. She also knew that she wasn’t very likely to get away if she had to escape.
“May I speak, Master?”
Asmodeus nodded his head, motioning for her to go on.
“This was all my idea. I thought it was a good plan, destabilize the Black King, who I know you hate, in the region, get us a foothold in the priests, and I brought you new converts. I gave the order to burn the house, and I accept responsibility for it. It was my decision alone.”
Asmodeus looked down on her, and she could tell he was searching her mind and soul. There was no use in lying in front of him like this, he could always tell, so she strategy was always to just be as brutally honest as possible.
“You think I punished her for that? No, my dear Valentina, she is being punished for losing her brothel. It should have never come to me having to send you to clean up her mess. You saw an opportunity, and you took it, and now we all are better off.” Zelara might not agree, but Valentina nodded. Asmodeus continued on “I ordered you to assassinate the cleric and restore the brothel, I said nothing about taking new slaves or burning the manor home. That draws a lot of attention. What if this impacts our future plans, the long game as it were?”
“Does it?” Valentina replied quickly. This was a very dangerous question to ask, and Asmodeus’s face became very stiff, and his grip on the whip tightened a little bit. Very few could get away with asking such questions, but she had faith that he would see logic.
“How would you be expected to know that? I gave you strict orders.”
“No, you gave me loose orders. You said to kill the cleric, and restore the brothel, and I did both. That was the agreement, that was the request. I had assumed that if there were more specifics required, you would have told them to me. I know how you love the fine print.” Valentina knew she was pushing it a bit, Asmodeus liked her, and she was very valuable to his operations, but he did command absolute authority and respect.
The audacity of what she had said seemed to have stunned her Master, and like a kettle about to boil over, she could tell he was getting angrier, his body erupting in flames. Not be deterred from her path, Valentina undid the front of her robe, letting it fall to the floor and she kneeled down again, vulnerable and nude like Zelara. She drew her sword and offered him up to him with both hands, speaking softly. “You must do as you think is right my Master. I live to serve, and I am yours to do with what you wish. If I must be punished, then punish me.”
Valentina kept her head bent down, waiting for the whip across her back. She waited and waited, but the whip never came, nor did he take her sword. She heard a small popping noise, like something had been summoned, and the unrolling of a scroll. Then, laughter. Asmodeus’s laughter came in two kinds, rich and happy, or terrifying and cruel. Thankfully, it was the first kind.
“Rise Valentina, you may put away your sword.” He said, seemingly back to his calm self. As she rose, he looked happier, or at least, pleased, to see her. He was no longer on fire and the whip has returned to his belt. He pointed at the scroll “You are right, you fulfilled my orders to the letter. Good job. As such, you will be rewarded.”
A small smile crossed Valentina’s lips, as she knew her faith had been well placed. With a wave of his hand, the three of them were transported to his private chambers, and the pair spent the next few hours in bed. After Valentina had had her fill, for this was her ultimate reward, to please her master and to know that he was pleased with her, she brought things back to business.
“What are you going to with Zelara?” she asked. Zelara had not left the room as they made love, rather she had remained in the bedchambers with them, forced to watch and think about her shame, and how she could have been in Valentina’s place.
“Oh, that’s right. Zelara, rise.” Asmodeus spoke, staring at her with contempt. “As much as I would love to continue to punish you for your failings, my time is important. As such, I’m giving you to Valentina for the time being. I expect you to follow her orders as you would mine. If she wants you scrubbing floors, you scrub the damn floors, understood?”
Zelara nodded, rising up from the ground, her head bent low still. “Thank you Master Asmodeus.”
“Don’t thank me. It was Valentina’s idea. Besides, the Wizard is attending to your brothel, getting the portal restored and making sure to get everything back up and running.” Asmodeus looked down to Valentina, who was cuddled up against his chest. “I expect you to instill in her discipline and respect. I mean it. Not that stuff you do for play either.” A wicked grin crossed over Valentina’s face, she always enjoyed this part of ownership.
“As you command Master. May I have a whip? I left mine at home.” Asmodeus waved his hand and a whip appeared in midair, she grabbed it and with a thought, it erupted in flames. Valentina could see at the end of the whip was a tiny silver striker, she knew that devil kind were particularly susceptible to silver, and this would cause Zelara more pain. An exciting prospect to be sure. She climbed out of the bed and walked over to Zelara, pushing her back onto her knees.
“I believe you owe me something.” Valentina said, all the playfulness gone from her voice.
Zelara looked up for a moment, before speaking quietly “Thank you for all you’ve done for me Valentina.”
Valentina raised the whip and cracked it across her back, Zelara fell onto all fours again, crying out in pain.
“That’s Mistress to you, you worthless slave.” She looked back at Asmodeus, who nodded his approval, and waved his hand again, they all appeared in the throne room once more, and then with another wave, he was gone. Valentina let her new slave gather her things, but then took them from her, preferring to keep her as she was for the time being. Valentina even forced her to burn her own clothes, insisting that she wouldn’t be needing them. She then got dressed herself, and in an act of mercy, healed the wounds on Zelara’s back. Placing the whip on to her belt, she ordered her new pet to march, and after they left the throne room, she had her summon a rickshaw, so that she did not have to walk. Zelara protested a bit, insisting that she could just use magic to get them home, but Valentina countered that that wasn’t the point, and then reminded her to obey with the whip. Once they had the rickshaw, she had Zelara take her about the city, showing her off a bit to the rest of the world before returning to her castle. As she watched Zelara run and work, she thought back to the new slaves she had at the castle and how fun the next few days could be.
It took her a few days to break Zelara into being an obedient servant, but eventually she broke, accepting her new role. Though Valentina appreciated her physical assets, she kept the words of her master in mind, and she made sure Zelara would not fail in her duties again. She even used her as a motivator for her other slaves, often using the promise of time with the devil as a reward for a job well done. Amman in particular worked harder with this offer on the table. But such things were not to last, and after two weeks of this, she received another scroll, likely detailing a new assignment. The scroll was delivered by an Erinyes, a type of devil that resembled a celestial being, only with large black feathered wings. She invited the being in and offered her a break, insisting she take one of the slaves to a private room as a reward for her trouble, the being accepted and Valentina took the scroll, retiring to her study to look over it, Zelara in tow behind her.
She sat in her comfiest of chairs, motioning to the ground in front of it and Zelara assumed her position on all fours. Valentina had been using her as her favorite footstool, and she kicked her feet up and sighed, very content. She unraveled the scroll and began to read.
“Valentina
Your next assignment takes you to the nation of Jegoria, far from the city of Teramund. Use Zelara to get yourself there, and then have her return to her brothel, her punishment is over, though you are still free to use her as you like, we just need her to get back things back to normal there. There is a man named Raynor, he heads a network of spies in the country. He needs to die, and we need to make it look like this crime was committed by his second in command, a pitiful spy named Julian Chamberlain, who is instrumental to our later plans. You will set up him up to fail, and then when he is facing execution, free him and put him into our service. You may use any means necessary to complete your task, I don’t have to tell you to exercise the good judgement I know you have. Do this for me, and your rewards will be great. Fail and I may just assign you to work for Zelara for a time, I’m sure she’d love some payback.
Asmodeus”
Jegoria. She hated Jegoria, it was all prim and proper, goodly knights and royalty needing to be saved. But that was the job. This Julian wouldn’t know what hit him.