Lilith blinked, not moving for a moment, then slowly lowered her arm, rubbing the spot where she’d been held as she examined the heroine dubiously, even more confused than she had been before.
Daemonia was even more attractive in person than she had been in the pictures Lilith had seen, she decided. The woman felt almost like… like the source of some boundless, dynamic energy that drew the eye to her, and her outfit didn’t help. It was all shining black, like it was made of vinyl or latex, and it showed an impressive amount of cleavage, as a fishnet section covered the valley between her breasts, and it was cut short to reveal her midriff. The long sleeves and tight-fitting leggings didn’t leave anything to the imagination either, with numerous cutouts replaced by fishnet to show practically all of her body. The heels she wore looked incredibly impractical, but based on what she’d done, Lilith doubted that they slowed Daemonia down any. No, the woman had an exaggerated hourglass figure, and walked like sex on two legs… which sent another shiver down Lilith’s spine.
“What are you talking about?” Lilith asked at last, having caught her breath, but she couldn’t help how it felt like her cheeks were burning. “I don’t even know you.”
“I know you don’t. I know all about you, though,” Daemonia replied with a self-satisfied smirk, looking Lilith over slowly. “As soon as I heard what Shadowmind intended for you originally, I began studying you. It’s amusing, I wonder how many people neglected to consider how much we can learn about her just by studying how she made you? I’ve learned so much about who she is and how she thinks, just by studying your capabilities and appearance. Not that you aren’t fascinating in your own right. However, I believe that a bit of privacy is necessary.”
The heroine flicked her fingers to their left, and a wall of black energy flashed into existence, blocking the hall between them and the various workers watching them. Only Daemonia, Lilith, and Osmar were still on this side of it, and Lilith saw Osmar’s eyes flicker with what she thought was caution or worry.
“Daemonia, I wasn’t aware you’d even be here today. What is the meaning of this?” Osmar demanded, sounding a little calmer than he had before. “I’m very annoyed that you’re harassing anyone in my building, let alone Lilith, who’s been through difficult times lately.”
The heroine laughed, smiling slightly as she shook her head, her tone turning teasing. “Ah, Osmar… you think I came here for Ivanova? Hardly. It was an excuse to get close to Archon and so many other heroes and heroines that I so rarely get to meet. You know my reputation, you should have expected something like this from the moment I got off the plane. No, I’m here because I wished to meet people, one of which was Lilith.
“Though I should say that you’re right about Lilith,” Daemonia continued, her smile fading as she looked at Lilith closely. “I’ll admit that I’d hoped that with Morgan and Warden out of the picture, at least for the moment, I’d have a chance to get close to you. However, I see that isn’t a good idea. Oh, we’d have a wonderful time, I’m certain about that, but then you’d get attached, and you aren’t ready for it. It’s all fun and games until someone ends up in a collar and leash and doesn’t want to take them off.”
“W-what?” Lilith asked in shock, freezing in the middle of leaning down to grab her purse.
“Daemonia!” Osmar protested, blushing.
“What? It isn’t like I said anything lewd,” she replied, giving him a look of annoyance. “No, I took stock of Lilith when I had her pressed against the wall, and she has a lovely body, I must add, but she isn’t ready for any sort of relationship of that sort. In fact… Lilith, did you ever have any discussions on how to handle relationships?”
“I… had a few talks with Gina and Rachel, about what we expected, and that sort of thing,” Lilith replied, standing up and holding her purse against her stomach, though she doubted it’d stop the woman if she decided to strike again.
Daemonia clicked her tongue, lacing her fingers together stretching languidly with them above her head until her joints popped. It was… a distracting sight. Then she spoke. “That isn’t what I was asking. Has anyone who you haven’t been in a relationship with given you advice on how to handle it? Have they given you guidance on sex and things of that sort?”
“Sort of? I mean, Amber wrote up some lesson programs as part of the social interaction lessons Circe ran me through, but nothing that… explicit,” Lilith replied, her cheeks a little brighter red as she looked away, then admitted. “I didn’t focus on it much, since I didn’t expect it to come up soon.”
When Daemonia laughed, Lilith felt her cheeks heat a little further, wondering what it was this time. The woman raised a hand and started to step forward, then visibly paused and lowered her hand.
“No, no… as much fun as it would be to tease you, it isn’t safe,” Daemonia murmured, a grin playing across her lips. “Oh, how I would love to see what Shadowmind thought was a good introduction to romantic or sexual relationships. I can hardly imagine it, which is impressive. As for you… I’m afraid that your assumptions appear to have been quite off-base. You were in a relationship with not just one, but two women within a year.”
“Well… yes,” Lilith admitted, shifting uncomfortably. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“It means that you’ve never had someone walk you through how a healthy relationship should work, and with your nature, that could end disastrously,” Daemonia said, her eyes narrowing slightly. “You haven’t gotten into a new relationship yet, have you?”
“No? I mean, I had a couple of people approach me about it, and I’ve gotten a lot of emails that were… flirty, but I haven’t made a decision yet,” Lilith replied, feeling like she was on slightly more solid ground now.
“Daemonia, what are you even going on about?” Osmar asked, now looking quite confused. “This doesn’t sound like you. Why are you so—”
“Shut up, Osmar. This is important,” Daemonia interrupted, glaring at him for a moment, and Lilith saw Osmar’s mouth snap shut. The woman waited for a few seconds, then continued. “I flirt a lot, yes. I am forward, and it makes people very uncomfortable at times, but I enjoy it. However, I never try to hurt people with my flirting, and that very well might happen with Lilith. She’s in a dangerous position, and I’m not going to sit here and let her blunder into that danger.”
“I…” Lilith began, then paused, frowning for a few seconds. Then she ventured, “I don’t think that I’m in that much danger. Compared to last week, things seem calm to me.”
“And that is the problem. You don’t know what sort of danger you’re in to begin with,” Daemonia replied, turning to face Lilith fully and taking a step forward, her voice becoming challenging. “What would you do if I grabbed you, Lilith? I’m stronger and faster than you, and I’m tough enough to shrug off any attacks you could hit me with. Even if you were in your power armor, I doubt you could bruise me, let alone seriously injure me. The only person in the city who might be able to give a good fight is Archon, and she couldn’t beat me. So, what would you do if I decided to capture you and take you away with me?”
“I’d probably try to fight at first,” Lilith said, frowning for a moment, then shrugged uncomfortably. “Once I realized I couldn’t do anything… I’d probably try to bide my time and escape later?”
“Hm. Not a bad plan, but it relies on a few assumptions. And those assumptions are what I’m concerned about. No, I’m not going to discuss them in front of you, Osmar. They’re private issues,” Daemonia said, her eyes narrowing as she considered, then hissed. “Damn it, this needs to be dealt with soon, but I’m busy for the next couple of days. While I had time for dinner and fun tonight, I don’t have time for what you need.”
While the woman considered, Lilith edged along the wall toward Osmar. Daemonia was beautiful and fascinating, but there was something about the heroine that made her nervous, and Lilith wasn’t sure what to do about it. She had to wonder if this was how people without powers felt
around heroes.
“Fine, I suppose there’s no choice,” Daemonia said, letting out a breath in annoyance, as she focused on Lilith again. “Also, edging away from me like that just makes me surer of things. Lilith, no matter what you do, do not sleep with anyone or let yourself be pulled into a relationship until we’ve had a discussion. If you do, it will likely end poorly. I have time Wednesday night. Here’s my card and room number, meet me there at six PM.”
Daemonia pulled a card out of a tiny compartment on her belt that Lilith hadn’t even realized was there, dropping the cream-colored rectangle in Lilith’s hand before Lilith had a chance to react.
“But…” Lilith began, only to have her voice trail off as the heroine’s red gaze met her own, unable to speak further.
“Whether you come or not is up to you. If you don’t visit, I won’t hunt you down, Lilith.” Daemonia said, her gaze practically pinning Lilith to the wall. “The consequences of your actions will be yours to deal with, no matter how badly they turn out. Now, I’ll leave you alone.”
With that, the heroine snapped her fingers, causing the wall of energy to vanish, and walked down the hall, her tail flicking behind her like a metronome. The way she walked… it was mesmerizing, drawing Lilith’s gaze for several seconds before she was able to tear her eyes away, then looked down at the card, perplexed. The card was for the Paragon City Arms, one of the most exclusive hotels in the city, and it was beautiful, with raised gold lettering, and a room number written on it in an elegant writing.
There were a couple of other workers in the hallway, but they quickly darted back into their offices as Daemonia approached, and Lilith waited until she thought Daemonia was out of earshot, then ventured a question at last.
“Do you have any idea what that was about?” she asked plaintively.
“I’ve got a couple of suspicions, but I’m quite certain that I’m not the person to try to explain them,” Osmar replied, flushing slightly as he shook his head. “I should add, they’re just suspicions. I’m more concerned about her. This is the only time I’ve even heard of her backing off so quickly. I was expecting to have to threaten to cut her off from SuperNet to get her to back away at all, so this is… very odd.”
“I… believe you. I’m mostly confused,” Lilith admitted, looking down at the card as she hesitated, then asked. “Do you think I should meet her?”
“I’m not sure.” Osmar said, shrugging helplessly. “She is a heroine, but she’s one of the more… temperamental ones. But, as you witnessed, she’s also powerful and intelligent. I’d hesitate to meet with her alone, but that’s me, and I’m married. I’m fairly certain that my wife would kill me.”
That sent a flicker of regret through Lilith as she suppressed the urge to flinch, but it wasn’t Osmar’s fault that he was in a relationship. It just made Lilith regret everything even more, as she’d spent some time finding and bookmarking likely rings… time which had been wasted.
She shook it off after a moment, slipping the card into her purse as she spoke. “Well, I have a couple of days to make a decision. Thank you again, Osmar. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you weren’t here.”
“You’re welcome. Have a safe trip home,” he replied, giving her a reassuring look.
And then Lilith was on her way home again. To the large, empty home.
She wasn’t looking forward to it, if she was being honest.
Chapter 18
Monday, August 25th, 2031
Iver, England
Letting someone else into her mind was difficult for Rachel. It’d be one thing if she couldn’t tell that they were there, since obviously that’d happened with Shadowmind, but that wasn’t how Madison worked. No, while the magic wasn’t overbearing and painful, it was still exceedingly obvious as it worked its way through her thoughts.
To Rachel it was like someone had reached into her mind with several feathers and was slowly, inexorably, trailing their tips over her thoughts and memories. It tickled, but in a way that didn’t cause her to want to giggle or squirm… not that squirming would do much good anyway.
The magic lingered in her emotions, much as she’d expected it to, and Rachel did her best to wait patiently, despite this being close to the second hour of sitting still with Madison in her thoughts. If it had been anyone else, Rachel might have thought that they were deliberately delaying, but she knew that wasn’t the case with Madison. The woman was working slowly so that she didn’t miss anything, and it had taken her nearly three hours to finish with Gina.
Fidgeting a little, Rachel tried to wait, forcing herself not to fight the magic as best she could, though every so often she slipped and a hint of resistance pushed at Madison’s magic before she managed to suppress it. Madison never chided her about it, though, as she focused on her work.
It was about twenty minutes later that the magic dissipated and Madison sat back at last.
“You did get yourself into a mess,” Madison said, clicking her tongue, and when Rachel turned, the woman was shaking her head.
“How bad is it?” Rachel asked nervously, slowly sitting up in the recliner.
They were in a small room on the south side of the house, one which Rachel suspected was usually used for sewing, based on the bits of thread she saw scattered about, and the sewing machine in a corner. The windows allowed sunlight into the room, which made it surprisingly relaxing for Rachel, or would have if she weren’t so concerned about what had been done to her.
Madison sat back in her chair, studying Rachel for a moment, then replied. “Why don’t we call Gina in here? I’d rather not repeat myself.”
“Sure,” Rachel said, her worry growing stronger, and she cleared her throat, then called out. “Gina? We’re done!”
“Oh, good! I was starting to go stir-crazy!” Gina replied, her voice muffled through the walls. “One sec, I need to clean off my brush!”
Rachel couldn’t help a laugh, glancing at Madison as she asked, “Did you have to recruit her to paint your army for you?”
“It’s better than using illusions for the colors,” Madison replied instantly. “Besides, if she wants to repay me, who am I to argue? My dwarves need to be painted to be legal for tournament play anyway, and I don’t feel like cheating. Besides which, my painting is rubbish.”
“A definite point. Even if I don’t get why you went with dwarves. They don’t get magic, from what you said,” Rachel said, a hint of amusement banishing most of her anxiety. She hadn’t known that Madison liked wargaming before their visit.
“That’s exactly why. I use magic all the time, so the limits on spells in the game grates. Besides which, there’s something satisfying about using a cannon battery to wreck an enemy monster,” Madison said, tapping the arm of her chair as she smiled fondly. “It isn’t like I get to do that in real life.”
“True, I suppose,” Rachel conceded, thinking about the idea a little. It could be why she liked playing archers or warriors in games, too.
The sound of footsteps interrupted, and a few seconds later Gina poked her head through the door while she wiped her hands off. There were several spots of paint on her fingers, Rachel noticed in amusement, which was typical of her friend. At least she hadn’t gotten any on her face. Gina stepped in, wearing a discolored white shirt which had been victim to a great many paints over the last few months, and a pair of jeans.
“Alright, so… how badly off are we?” Gina asked, gingerly sitting down. “You took a long time on each of us. Longer on me, I noticed.”
“That’s because you had two sets of changes to work through,” Madison said, looking between them speculatively for a few seconds, then continued. “As to how bad? Shadowmind buggered the two of you but good.”
Rachel cringed a little, and Gina visibly flinched. Neither of them spoke, though. So a few seconds later Madison continued.
“I’ll give her this much, most of it was subtle work. Right up until the end, if you weren’t looking for it, you wouldn’t find
it,” Madison said, tapping her fingers together slowly as she frowned. “It was almost like she didn’t care if you found it at the end. Which makes a nasty sort of sense, considering the email from Lilith. She wanted you to find out, so she could hurt all of you as much as she could. Damned cunt.”
“I… well, yes, but can you fix it?” Rachel asked, reaching up to comb her fingers through her hair nervously.
“Of course I can. I can even untangle that gordian knot that was left in Gina’s mind at the same time,” Madison replied, glancing at Gina with narrowed eyes. “That Ebon Dragon did a number on you, too, but he dabbles in mind magic and curses. I can’t do anything about the physical changes, but your mind? That’s another matter. The problem with both of you is that it’ll take time to do safely.”
Gina nodded, sitting forward in her chair as she asked. “How much time are you talking about? I’m not sure what the process would be, since I have no skill with mental magic.”
“No training,” Rachel quickly corrected. “Your talents may lie elsewhere, but you could use it if you tried.”
Gina waved the correction off with a roll of her eyes, instead focusing on Madison, who was sucking on her lower lip as she thought.
“Two months, minimum. Likely three or four,” Madison said at last, and Rachel inhaled sharply, while the woman continued. “Unlike them, I care whether or not there are side effects. I’d have to undo each step in reverse order, and to make certain it doesn’t have poor interactions with other issues. I prefer to give a day or two to let things settle before moving to the next step.”
“I… well, I knew it would take a while,” Rachel said, inhaling slowly, then let it out as she shook her head. “That’s a lot of time, but hopefully it turns out to be a bit easier than you’re thinking it will be.”
Queen's Journey (Lilith's Shadow Book 5) Page 12
