by Eric Vall
“These are my quarters.” Delphine gestured with both hands. “Here, come this way. It looks like all of the servants have cleared out already, so there’s no need for you to be worried that we’ll be overhead. Though, my guards are still downstairs at the door and gate. If you try to escape me and your contract, you know what that means, you’ll be executed, without question.”
“I understand, Mistress,” I stated, opened her bedroom door for her with a flourish, and then dropped into a low bow. “But I’ve weighed all of my options, and this is the best one for me.”
“I’m glad you see it that way, Charles,” Delphine snickered, brushed past me, and stepped into the room beyond. “Come, I’ll show you where you’ll do most of your work with me and then… the playroom.”
Delphine’s bedroom was massive, larger than any quarters I’d ever seen. The walls were covered in thick, pink wallpaper, and the scent of rosewater hung in the air along with another smell I couldn’t quite place yet, but it stuck to the tip of my tongue like copper. The bed was raised on a pedestal with three steps leading up to it, and the mattress looked big enough to sleep four or five people. Starched white curtains hung from the four-poster’s columns and brushed against the white, speckled marble.
The room was filled with plush cushions, high-backed chairs, and a long couch pressed up against the wall, and my stomach turned as I realized all of them were turned toward the enormous bed like the seating of a grand opera. I didn’t want to know what went on in this room, and I certainly didn’t want to see what was inside of this ‘playroom’ she spoke of.
My eyes settled on two, shiny objects attached to the columns of the four-poster, and it took me a minute to realize what they were… shackles. My gaze shifted toward the embroidered pastel pink and white comforter resting on the bed and realized that the dark flecks of reddish-brown weren’t in the original design but were droplets of old, dried blood. I gulped loudly and felt my stomach turn, twist, and knot itself.
“Give me a minute, Chaaaarles,” Delphine purred as she slipped behind a changing screen. “I won’t be long… and then I can try out the product you offered.”
“O-Of course, Mistress,” I uttered, searched around the room for any type of weapon, and then reached into my bag for the tranquilizer. “Is there any place you’d prefer me?”
“On the bed,” the gray-haired woman demanded. “That’s where I start off all of these encounters. I’ll be soft with you, Charles, but this is the only time. I am not a gentle woman, and I won’t force myself to be any other way, but since you’re brand new to this, I’ll have to train you just as I have with my other consorts.”
I crossed the room, climbed the three stairs, held the canister of clear liquid in my hand, and then slowly slipped off the protective tip-cap. I slid it into my pocket, wriggled onto the tall bed, sat in the middle of it, and slipped the syringe underneath one of the many pillows.
Then I took a deep breath.
“You know, Charles,” Delphine sang. “There’s one thing I’ve been wondering since you arrived.”
“What is that?” I answered.
“Why did you come to me for a contract?” the stout woman giggled. “I’m sure you could’ve gone to Edony first, though, as I said before, she doesn’t accept consorts. Why did you choose me out of all of the aristocrats in the city? You’re handsome for a brute, but I’m sure you know that there are plenty of younger women in this city that would die to lay underneath you and feel your member pumping inside of them.”
“You were the only choice,” I uttered, reached up and tucked the syringe deeper under the pillows. “You’re the second most powerful woman in the city, your cryokinesis is second only to Edony’s electrokinesis.”
“Ugggh, I hate when people put it that way,” the older woman sighed. “I’ve been ‘second to’ Edony, no matter what my wealth and power can do… at least until now. I have you, Charles, and no matter what the Duchess does, she can’t have you. She can’t offer you a better deal, and I know that the strongest woman in the city wouldn’t stoop as low to pay out a consort’s contract. I win this time, Edony doesn’t. I have something that she wants, and no matter what happens, I won’t give it back. You’re mine, Charles, body and soul.”
Delphine came around the changing screen, leaned against it, smirked, and I immediately wanted to vomit. The gray-haired woman had let down her long hair, and it hung around her shoulders in loose, frizzy waves. The older woman wore a sheer nightgown, and I was given a full view of her large, palm-sized nipples and the salt and pepper tuft of pubic hair between her thick, misshapen thighs. Her deformed, wrinkly body reminded me of wild elephants I’d seen in geographic books during my childhood.
My face went cold as all of the color drained from it, and I gulped loudly as I fought to keep my breakfast down. I tried to hide my disgust, but Delphine’s eyes hardened on my face instantly.
“What is it, Charles?” the stout woman asked, switched poses, and leaned her head back. “Are you unaccustomed to seeing the divine perfection of the female form?”
“Y-Yes,” I gurgled. “I haven’t looked upon such a… beautiful body in such a long time. I’m sorry, I was overcome with awe.”
“As you should be,” Delphine breathed, softened her eyes, and sauntered forward. “Now, lay back, and prepare yourself for sheer ecstasy.”
“Uhhhm… alright,” I grunted, rolled my eyes toward the ceiling, and leaned back into the pillows.
A strange, sour scent overcame me as Delphine neared, and I realized it was emanating off of her bare skin. I hastily parted my lips, breathed in through them, and stared at the pristine white ceiling.
“Mmmmmm, Charles,” the gray-haired woman purred as she stood beside the bed. “I’ve dreamt of this moment since the first time we met. I knew from the second I laid eyes on you, that I needed to have you as my loyal pet.”
“I… feel… the same.” I forced out as my eyes slammed down from the ceiling and connected with hers.
Delphine’s tiny, chubby hand caressed my ankle, drifted up to my knee, and then moved toward the crotch of my trousers. My eyes widened, my lips pressed together into a firm line, and my left hand snaked up toward the hidden syringe.
The stout, gray-haired woman moaned and grunted as she moved her hands up and down my body and then finally rested them on my soft member. Her hands worked at it feverishly, and I groaned in the back of my throat.
“What’s the matter with you?” Delphine snapped, retracted her hands, and glared down at me. “More of this asinine performance anxiety? You’ll learn that I don’t like to be kept waiting, Charles.”
“I-I’m sorry,” I stammered, shifted out of her reach, and looked directly into her eyes. “I’ve just never looked upon a creature so stunning in my life, I’m anxious and nervous. I don’t know what’s come over me.”
“Hmph, if you can’t get it up yourself, I might have something for you.” Delphine rolled her eyes, turned toward her bedside table, and rummaged through the drawer. “I often give it to my consorts when they don’t want to perform for me, it does the trick even when they are unwilling. Here it is, you’ll take this tiny pill, and, in a few minutes, we’ll be sailing away to bliss.”
“No,” I growled, reached underneath the pillow for the syringe, and turned toward the vile woman. “You won’t be sailing away to anywhere… except your death.”
Chapter Thirteen
Delphine’s eyes widened in horror, and she stumbled backward, but I was too fast. My syringe plunged down and connected with the thick flesh of her neck. The needle shone in the lamplight for a moment before it entered into her skin, and I slammed my thumb down on the plunger, injecting her with all of the tranquilizer.
“You bastard!” the gray-haired woman shrieked. “You beast! You’re in cahoots with the Duchess, aren’t you? Edony sent you to take down her only competition? Is that what it is?”
“I’m not working with Edony on this,” I growled as I pulled back th
e empty syringe and tossed it into my open bag. “The Duchess knows nothing about what I’m doing.”
“Then, you’re nothing more than a rogue!” Delphine cried even louder, held up her open palms, and pointed them at me. “Then I’ll have to take you down myself, a tamed dog that bites its owner isn’t even fit to live!”
Blue orbs formed in the palms of her hands as her power awakened, and the temperature inside the room dropped. The spheres solidified into hard balls of ice with spiky protrusions on each curve, and Delphine drew back her hand as she prepared to hurl them at me.
“What did you inject me with, Alchemist?” the naked, stout woman screamed. “Poison? Venom of some sort? Come on and tell me, but I’ll have you know, it’s going to take more than a tiny pinprick to kill me!”
I bent my knees, jumped onto the lush surface of the bed, and then dove behind it as the ice balls hurled right where I’d been standing. I peeked over the bedcover and watched as Delphine moved her hand in front of her body as if she were drawing a sword. The air glittered for a moment, and suddenly, a sharp, ice-weapon appeared in her frosted hands.
“You’re not going to tell me?” Delphine shrieked, came around the bed and slashed out at one of the columns. “Maybe if you do, I’ll have mercy on you!”
I ducked down even farther, darted away from her toward the bedside table, and searched for an object I could use to knock her out. The tranquilizer had worked on the bear almost immediately, so why wasn’t it working on Delphine? She certainly wasn’t as big as the bear, so could it possibly be the presence of her powers within her body?
“Chaaaarles,” the gray-haired woman sang in her thick accent. “Where are you?”
My eyes landed on a heavy, silver bowl resting underneath the frame of her bed. The inside of it was dark with a dried substance, and I grimaced as I wondered what it could be. I grabbed it, tugged it closer, and finally realized where the coppery scent hanging around the room came from. The inside of the silver bowl was coated with dried blood, and at the very bottom, a small amount sloshed around.
I grunted it, held the bowl in both hands, strained against its heavy weight, and finally stood with it lifted over my head. Delphine stood directly in front of me as she came around the side of the bed, and then her eyes widened and fell on the massive silver bowl. Her mouth opened and closed for a moment like a trout out of water, but I didn’t have time to hesitate. In one swift movement, I slammed the container down on the crown of her head.
“Charl—wha--” Delphine barely managed out before her eyes rolled back in their sockets, and her legs crumbled underneath her.
I dropped the massive bowl with a clatter, leaned against one of the columns, and panted for air. Then I turned my head, gazed down at the bowl as it rested on its side and rolled in a lazy circle. I hastily righted it before blood from the bottom could dribble out onto the floor, and it fell into place on the marble floor with a loud bang.
I scrutinized Delphine’s limp body for a moment and held my breath as her body didn’t move at all. If I’d killed her, then she was of no use to the experiment at all, but not only that, what would I do with her body? I certainly couldn’t leave it here for her servants or guards to find.
“Thank the gods,” I sighed as her thick, bare chest rose and fell with tiny spasms.
I shook my head, rolled my shoulders, cracked my back, and then stood a little straighter as I tiptoed around the bed. I found the closest window, ripped open the gauzy, white curtains, wrenched the pane open, and then stared out at the manor below. In the distance, I could make out the shape of my wagon still parked in the drive, but the only difference this time was no servants were milling about.
I turned, grabbed my bag from the floor, rested it on the bed, and then rifled through it. I held the metal pulley in my hand and flipped the folded tarp over my shoulder as I held the length of coiled rope in the palm of my hand. I came back over to the window, leaned out of it, and sighed out in relief. Above my head, affixed to the outside wall of the manor, was a long, black metal bar with a small curve at the end. I assumed it was used for hanging baskets of flowers in the summer and spring, but it would fit my purpose perfectly.
I reached out, gripped the metal bar in my hand, lifted my feet from the floor, and tested it with my full weight. It held well, but I wasn’t sure how it would do against Delphine’s enormous, flabby body. I had no other choice than to try. Worst-case scenario, Delphine fell three stories to the bushes below and had a few broken bones. I wasn’t entirely sure if she was injured if it would affect the experiment, but I was willing to try. There was no other way for me to get the woman out of the manor without being noticed by her vigilant guards.
I spread out the tarp on the floor, glanced toward Delphine’s motionless body, shook my head, and then turned back toward the open window. I worked the rope through the pulley’s mechanics, reached out, held tightly to the windowsill, and attached the metal contraption onto the hook. With the length of cable dangling out, I grabbed it, brought it back inside, and tied it off to one of the columns.
“Here we go,” I breathed, shook my arms, and then rolled my neck. “The hardest part.”
I crossed the room toward Delphine’s body, grimaced at her bare skin-folds, and then turned to gaze around the room. My eyes fell on a heavy, royal blue cloak resting on the back of one of the chairs, and I grabbed it with feverish hands. I threw the article over Delphine’s body, grabbed both of her flabby wrists, and then pulled her toward the tarp. I grunted with strain, gritted my teeth, and breathed heavily as I hauled the enormous, unconscious woman across the floor.
She slid pretty quickly into the silky robe, but her massive weight was the problem. No matter how far I pulled her, I had to stop and take a rest every few minutes from the tension in my lower back.
“Maybe I’ll just toss her down the stairs when we get home,” I grunted. “I couldn’t do that with the bear, but maybe…”
I moved Delphine’s body over beside the tarp, worked her chubby arms through the armholes backward, and then stepped back with a satisfied nod. I bent my knees, hobbled closer, and then rolled the round woman onto the surface of the tarp. It took a few hefty pushes, but finally, the gray-haired woman rested directly in the middle of the fabric.
“Do it for science,” I groaned, turned, and grabbed the length of cord. “Do it for Valerie, the other monster-girls… but always do it for science!”
I yanked the rope through each of the copper eyelets of the tarp, pulled back with all of my weight, and tightly cinched each side together. Delphine was effectively swaddled within the fabric, and her face was no longer visible, nothing more than a lump of crème colored tarp.
I pulled the rope taut, jerked again, and lifted Delphine’s cocooned body into the air. It swung at first, and then hung there silently as I maneuvered it closer to the open window. Then, I held the rope in my hands, leaned out the window, gazed toward the wagon, and let out a shrill whistle. The blanket in the bed of the cart exploded up, and Valerie pounced into view. The feline-woman turned, waved excitedly with a massive grin, leaped into the driver’s seat, and cracked the reins.
The cat-girl guided the horses expertly toward the window and then pulled back the reins seconds before she was right under it. The horses halted, snorted, and then whinnied, but there was no one outside of the manor to notice the disturbance.
“Ready?” I called down to her.
“Ready!” The ash-blonde giggled.
I hoisted Delphine’s body even higher, climbed up onto the small window seat, rested my free hand on the side of the tarp, and pushed it out the window. The large sack swung wildly in a breeze for a moment, and I rushed to steady it with a hand.
I bent my knees, braced myself against the window sill, and slowly lowered Delphine’s body toward the wagon. If Valerie positioned the cart perfectly below, then the snug cocoon would rest perfectly in the bed without the need for adjusting. I moved hand over hand, made sure to keep a tight gr
ip on the rope, and lowered the gray-haired woman toward the cart. I gritted my teeth with strain but managed to keep a good hold on the cable the entire time.
I didn’t know how long I worked, but suddenly, the weight attached to the rope was alleviated, and I leaned out the window to look. The crème colored bundle rested snugly in the bed of the wagon, and finally, I breathed a sigh of relief. I leaned back on my haunches, gulped loudly, reached out for the pulley, unhooked it, and let it drop down toward the wagon. The rope whispered out of my hands, and I let it go slowly so it wouldn’t hit Valerie on the way down.
“Good to go?” I asked, leaned out the window, and checked on the feline-woman.
“Yep!” Valerie nodded, tucked the pulley and rope in beside the bundle, and then sat back on the driver’s seat. “Hurry back, we gotta go!”
“I’ll be out in a minute!” I called out, turned, and searched the room for any sign I’d been there.
I hastily snatched up my pack, carried it as I came around the bed, and spied the silver pot from earlier. Thankfully, none of the blood from inside had spilled out, and I used the side of my foot to slide it back underneath the mattress. Delphine’s ice weapon was shattered on the floor and melted into small pools on the marble, and I kicked the larger pieces underneath the bed, too.
Nothing else seemed out of order, except for a few stray puddles of crystal clear water, but they’d be dry once Delphine’s servants realized she was gone. I crossed once more to the bed, grabbed the bedspread and sheets by the corner, and mussed them. Then, I shifted the mountains of pillows to make it look as if we’d lain in them for a long time. With a satisfied nod, I stepped toward the door, stopped, glanced in the mirror, and paused for a moment.
I ran a hand through my hair, tufted up the back, pinched my cheeks to make them appear more pink than usual, untucked my pristine white shirt, and then loosened a few of the buttons, I even untied one of my shoes to make it more believable. I gripped the door-handle, swung it open, and staggered out for good measure. My footfalls were purposeful and loud as I trundled down the stairs, and finally, Delphine’s guards came into view in front of the massive door.
