Petrichor

3280 Words for you my dear little readers.
Have fun . . .

Part 9 – Roses have such a sweet fragrance . . .

‘Hm, who would have thought that I would like manipulating people so much?’ I was used to threatening other people, terrorizing and terrifying them as they begged for their life. At the time I had not spared a single one of my targets, all had found their end at some point. Some had died quicker, others not so quick; some I had been merciful with and executed but sometimes the client had wanted to set an example. Those that I had killed in more creative ways had brought me no particular joy. I had liked it when they feared me but the act of torture itself I had found no relief in. Only now I realized that I probably had found it cruel and unnecessary. I would like to say that pain is a good teacher and a way to reach some goals faster than without, but that was it. The killing and dismembering of innocents wasn’t something I had strived for then and my feelings now told me that it was wrong and despicable.

I knew Acathia felt similar, what she had done had not been out of malice but out of fear and panic, they had cornered her like a beast and she had lashed out. But this, the manipulating of a person to do your bidding, this was something ingrained deeply in the core of our species. Most Succubae strived for power, and most attained it trough draining other magical sources. But Succubae were easily distracted people, generally all they cared about was power and sex. They had no mind for planning and scheming, which was why they often tended to drained their targets dry, leaving them on the brink of death. They didn’t do it because they were evil; it was simply how they were. They had next to no control over their needs and always only took with little regards for others.

In comparison to that Thorn might just seem like another species of demon entirely. What Teril had told my summoner about us being Succubae that had been “changed through the fires of war” was only one part of the truth. While Thorn looked and acted a lot like Succubae, not one of us had ever been a Succubus. As much as a Succubus couldn’t become a Thorn, a Thorn couldn’t become a Succubus. The two might have shared a common ancestor at some point, but that was long ago. But what was true, was that Thorn were beings of war. They were created as specialised warriors, focussed on infiltration, sabotage and commanding troops. Thorn had interest in sex, but as I had come to know myself we were rather rough and dominating about it, turning it more into a power play than lust play.

Another thing was that Thorn were viciously clever; a single Thorn might not be a genius and they definitely were not all-round talents, but they all were disturbingly good in something and they knew how to use that something to their utmost advantage. But there were two things all Thorn were very similar in; one they had an incredibly high mana pool and two their access to mind and soul manipulation magic. Taking those two together it wasn’t much of a surprise that Acathia’s mother had been an Empress, her control unwavering for decades. And just like her mother, my little Sister was particularly skilled in mind manipulation a skill she very happily shared with me.

Just right now I was looking at a normally strict and composed teacher completely breaking down. The woman was almost close to tears while she told me what seemed like her entire fucking life story. Why this was though I wasn't exactly sure myself. I was rather certain that I hadn't actively tried to influence her mind. My guess at the moment was that the subconscious soul of Acathia had started with her mind corrupting magic the moment I had stepped out of that damned summoning circle. If that was indeed the case, it would explain the people's rather mellow reactions towards me. I mean I was a currently more or less unbound demon that could torture her summoner without much stopping me; not that she didn't deserve it mind you. I only had to wonder about the headmaster and Teril. I was certain the old man had easily resisted my sister's intrusion and even knew about it.

Teril, on the other hand, was now akin to an open book for me. She was really unlucky or if you twist it right lucky to have met me. First of all was the fact that the woman was a secret lesbian “virgin”! She was almost thirty-five and had not been together with a single human. Now to be honest I myself was a virgin in that regard but that had always only been so because of my missing interest rather than my inaptitude towards romance. And exactly there was the catch with Teril; while she had never had sex with a Human, she seemed to have ample amounts of coitus with a Succubus! Apparently there was a rather restrained Succubus working as a whore in the city. Those two rabbits had been going at it so often, that the poor Teril had become marked by the sucky whore’s charm ability. And without either me or Teril knowing, Acathia’s mind magic stuff had used this mark as a way to worm through the mages defences!

It was kind of creepy how much control I already had over her, I had ordered her to sit and she had simply sat down. But to be honest, it was great too! It felt amazing to have this much power over another being. And I didn't even have touch or hurt her to assert my dominance. The entire thing was invigorating; I finally understood why Acathia had found such pleasure in manipulating people this way. ‘Ah, I shouldn't let myself be consumed by this I still have plenty of questions to ask.’ I looked over to the teacher, who was now very heavily blushing while recounting the tale of how she had first met the whore. I didn’t expect her to be so open about everything, it almost felt as if she wanted to go to the Succubus right now, at least if interpreted her heavy breathing right. The poor woman needed a real girlfriend; this right now was just pathetic. And her talking was beginning to get on my nerves. I raised a hand to indicate for the swine to stop.

“Stop talking, Teril! You bore me.” She blinked a few times confused but finally shut her dumb mouth. “Tell me about Soulmagic instead. I’m looking for an awakening spell.”

“Why would you want to know about that? You’re talking to me right now aren’t you, so your soul mus...” I interrupted the little Worm before she could continue.

“SILENCE! Tell me what I asked about, worm!” ‘Ahrg, something didn’t feel right, why did I enjoy her groveling so? This is no fear . . . this is not me!’ All of a sudden my thoughts became clearer again. I think in that short moment I just had been like my little Sis! I really did not like the feeling of fading away like that! ‘Fuck! I need to awaken her and quickly!’ I turned once more to Teril, for some reason she was still sitting on the ground. Damn it, I could have sworn that I told her to sit on the bed, this made the whole situation rather awkward. ‘I guess I should be a little nicer to Teril for now.’

“Teril, don’t mind what just happened! But I really need to know if you are able to perform a soul awakening ritual or something like that. Why don’t you tell me about it?” I took one of the furs and wrapped myself in them, maybe this way the creepy mind control spell would wane of?

The teacher shook her head as if getting rid of nasty thoughts and it looked like the glaze over her eyes lessened, though I had a feeling that if Acathia wanted to, she could easily re-establish control over her like a devious puppet master. At this point I was glad, that she and I had understood each other, instead of warring in our mind; I really wasn’t so sure of my chances against her. It seemed like Ms. Aldeno had recovered most of her faculties as she suddenly sprang up from the ground and looked around the room before finally settling her gaze on me with a cocked eyebrow.

“Fleur, what . . . what just happened? I . . . I remember everything! The- yo-your na-nakedness, and your voice it was different? Seriously, what did you do? Why did I tell you about my, my visits to the . . . you know what I mean!”

She honestly seemed to be panicking, so I did the only thing that felt was right, I told her the truth. Now I know what most people would think; why would I tell a “teacher” about my little problem. For me it was pretty logical at this moment; she could most likely help me, she knew I could tell her own secret all over campus and of course, if everything went downhill little Acathia would probably fry her brain. And instead of panicking myself, I only smiled wryly.

“Yeah, that is exactly the point why I need you to tell me about soul magic. Without your help I, as you have come to know me in the few hours of my existence, will cease to exist. My personality and soul will be wiped and instead, only the one you just saw will be left.” I shrugged to signal her my helplessness, maybe it would work in my favour.

“If that is so we need to inform the headmaster! He is the strongest sorcerer in existence at least as far as I know. I’m sure he will able to help us bind whoever that was!” Her eyes opened wide, either in realisation or in shock.

“NO!” ‘Doing this hurt.’ “Ugh, we cannot involve him, he is strong, yes, but you know his office; and you know his personality, probably even better than me. The man is a collector and if we tell him about her he will do everything in his power to keep me to himself forever.” This time my glare was icy. The man was a serious problem and I really didn’t want to play his game; the less he knew the better.

“Than what do you want to do? We definitely have to resolve this quickly, I . . . I do not wish to be under the control of the other you. It frankly terrifies me to think someone could hold that amount of power over me. Please, tell me how did you or she, whatever it is, how was the control established!?” ‘There is no way in the hells that I could tell her about this, now could I? If she knew that I could use it myself, she would freak out. No, I have to let her in the dark, at least for now.’

“Sadly, that is something I myself do not understand. The other one, she is as clever as she is elusive.” ‘You hear that little Sis? You hear how I praise you!? Eh, probably not, otherwise she wouldn’t try to eat my soul.’ “While she is in control I fall into a stupor that is hard to wake from. What I do know, is that she subconsciously devours my soul, she doesn’t do it out of malice or because she wants to, but she cannot stop it either.” ‘I will try and make Teril see the solution herself, I’ll stroke her ego and benevolent tendencies in the process. She does love to help others as far as I have understood.’

“So that is why you seek to awaken her soul! You want to communicate with her and persuade her to seek another host!? That is surprisingly clever; an awakened Soul’s ability to “devour” as you called it another soul is greatly diminished. Even if it doesn’t work to convince her, it will still buy us time to forcefully evict her! Yes, this could actually work! Brilliant!” She paced around the room, sunken deep in her thoughts. ‘Huh, scientists are so easy to turn to your side; wave a problem before them and they won’t stop until it is solved. Like a piggy bound to a carrot, it simply runs by itself!’

“So I take it, you will help me? If so what do we need for our project?” ‘It was rather easy, use inclusive words like “we” and “our” and it subconsciously forms a bond between us. It reminds me of how I never begged for things or used words like “please”; if you simply state that something will happen people are far more likely to do as they are told. Humans are such basic creatures; they seek to be in a group as much as they seek someone to lead them. It’s . . . fun to control them.’

“Hm? Oh yes, good I will take care of the preparations and all you have to do is lay low for the time and don’t stand out to much. Fear not Fleur I am with you!” ‘Woman, I am a manipulative piece of shit who is literally unable to feel fear, but you do you, as long as it brings results. Well time to suck up a little to her, right?’

“Thank you Teril, you are a fantastic help, I wouldn’t know what to do without you. Say why did you come here in the first place anyway?”

“Oh, sorry, I wanted to take you to your first class; after all you still need to learn how to write our language isn’t that correct? But seeing as you are still naked . . .” She frowned but her eyes were fixed on my covered form apparently thinking about something else entirely.

“Don’t worry; the little Missy is bringing me pants so that I can go out whilst being decent. Why don’t you already go towards the classroom? I’m sure the Missy won’t mind bringing me to you, okay?” ‘Ugh! It sucked to have to talk like that but right now I couldn’t have her suspect anything, better she thinks I’m an unfortunate victim of sad circumstance. Well in a way I was, only I didn’t think it was that unfortunate; I mean it wasn’t every day that you met your soul bound sister!’ I tried my best to throw her a heartwarming smile, not sure how well I did as her eyes kinda joined the frown. I had to do better next time.

“Yes. That is okay, but I really think you shouldn’t spend that much time around Miss Mureay. She is the heiress to a family that is more notorious than illustrious, and she herself is . . . troubling to say the least. I think I have heard of her bulling a sweet commoner girl that was recently accepted into the university because of her holy affinity.” She stopped as if regaining her senses but then continued.

“Coupled with her being your summoner it would be wise to limit contact to her. But for now, it should be fine. Tell her to bring you to my private study. I’ll be going and set everything up beforehand. I’ll see you later Fleur.” She left with a thin smile on her face.

I was seriously perturbed; what the hells was with her eyes glazing over like that when she spoke of the commoner? And then there was the fact of a supposedly evil heiress bullying a holy commoner. Was I in a fucking Japanese light novel or some other crap? I had read some in my youth and they all had creepy unrealistic plots with a main character that was loved by all. That was so not going to fucking happen; no way in the hells was I going to be a side character in another story. I could already see it before me: In a last attempt to shame or go against the pretty and righteous holy maiden, the main villainess summoned an evil demoness to seduce the main character's male harem. But then through the power of friendship, they defeat both the demoness and the evil heiress, banishing one back to the hells and the other from the country. Yeah, like I would let that fucking happen! Well, let’s just say you got fucked holy maiden, I’m no dumb Succubus; I am a fucking war demon! Honestly, I might have to assassinate that commoner at some point, probably even sooner rather than later. Thankfully I was shaken from my thoughts by an angry “Miss Mureay” standing in the doorway.

“Why the fuck are you looking so sour all of a sudden? Someone tried to be friendly to your highness or what?” Despite her failings in the impulse control department, Aliyana’s moods were simply the best. ‘Oh, I would have fun breaking this one.’

“No. I heard what you talked to Miss Aldeno about!” She threw a pair of still damp pants at me, well can’t fault or for doing what I asked.

“So you did, what’s it to you?” I deftly caught the piece of clothing and glared at her. If she wanted to make a fuss I would gladly provide her with my attention.

“She told you to stay away from me didn’t she!? Well you know what, you can’t! You’re my summon and mine alone!” I saw tears gathering in her eyes, maybe there was more to this girl than I had previously assumed. Why not test that out?

“Well, what if I told you that I have no intention of doing so? What if I told you staying with you is just what I desire right now, what then?” I smiled at her, a cruel and nasty smile but outwards benevolent. Maybe I wouldn’t have to destroy her after all? There was something inside of her, something wicked, something lonely and beautiful; I simply had to find out what it was and how to bring it out, then I could shape her into a proper tool.

“You mean it? You actually mean it, even after what I have tried to force you to do?” Her tears flowed freely down her cheeks; oh she had been so very lonely, hadn’t she?

“Well, I actually have no clue what you tried to force me to do, but let me tell you one thing. If you ever try shit like today again I will not hesitate to break both your wrists and your jaw, understood?” I let the fur fall to the ground and stood up in all of my naked glory. Raised my arms and beckoned her closer, allowed her to touch my glorious body.

“Yes Fleur, I will never betray you!” She threw her arms around me and pressed her face into my warm bosom. I reached down and pet her hair. ‘Oh, but you will child and when you do, I will break you. And then I will remake you in my image.’

This time my smile was earnest, I would have so. Much. Fun!

Petrichor

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