Bab 26: A Familiar Story
"I was going to say 'pretty young,' Kir said, grimacing from the knowledge he didn't need to know.
"I'll have you know I'm just under ninety-nine!" Stella argued. "I trained with all the best succubi for my first job! Raelva the Whipmistress, Luturia the Submissive, even Janice! You know how hard it is to get lessons with Janice?"
"I don't-" Kir tried to say.
"Well, it's fucking hard! No one stays a virgin around Janice! But I somehow did!" Stella started weeping. "I'm going to be stuck in this shop foreverrrr..."
Kir felt a little guilty, though he wasn't about to have pity sex with a girl he didn't know. "Look, um... can't I just... free you or something?"
"You have the contract with you?" She instantly went from crying to hopeful.
"No... I don't..." Kir replied.
"Ugh... then it's pointless. No one can get the Duke of Heresy to reveal a contract unless it's being made or fulfilled. Or someone offers him better." She hovered down to the table and sat on the empty box that had held the mana crystals.
Kir chose not to share with her that his mother had apparently managed to escape hers.
Stella slumped again. "I just wanted a nice contract and a good, daily fucking... instead I get twenty years of sweeping and dealing with customers." As Stella complained, the part about dealing with customers made him shudder from some whisper of his past life. "Everyone's probably laughing at me back home..." She mimicked an annoying voice, "Oh, look at Stella. She can't get laid." She pouted even more. "Now I'm anchored to some kid."
"If it's any consolation, I don't plan on keeping the shop or anything like that," Kir said. "I'm going to be a student at the Academy..."
Stella once again appeared inches away from Kir's face, hovering and grabbing his shoulders before shaking them as she demanded "Take me with you!"
"W-what? I can't do that," Kir replied.
"Please! You have to! I-I... I can be your familiar! A bird, a bat, a tiny dragon... The thought of all those young bodies trapped in academic perdition... eager for release... it's just..." Stella practically drooled as she thought of things that Kir had to choose not to have an imagination for.
"First off, if I'm taking you anywhere I won't allow you to cause trouble. That would mean no seducing people..." Kir said.
"H-how about if you give permission?" Stella poked her fingers together. "Really, the best flavors come when everyone agrees to do it... or so I'm told..."
Kir blanked his mind to not think about 'flavors'. The way she talked was just... either rude or lewd. "I'm not giving you permission to sleep with people! I'm already a demonkin. I don't want to get kicked out because of something you did." He sighed.
"Alright! I promise I can eat a little by just watching! I mean... it wouldn't be as nice as participating... But I need SOMETHING! I don't want to keep shrinking and wither away..." Stella begged Kir with tears in her eyes. "It doesn't even have to be sex! Just some place with stronger emotions than a back-alley magic store... Please? I can teach you whatever you want to know about hell or whatever."
Knowing she needed it to survive did melt Kir's heart a little in her favor. And now that he thought about it, having an actual demon around to tell him about Heaven and Hell would be pretty handy...
"Okay," Kir said. "Maybe after I graduate you can do whatever... But at the Academy I'll need you to be inconspicuous." He watched as she nodded enthusiastically. "Is there some sort of different form you prefer?"
"Hm? Oh, I would have to say a bat, I guess. Got to look at one real close, so I could transform into it. Hanging upside down on the ceiling lets me sleep more when Corwin doesn't... uh... didn't notice." Stella said. "Plus, I don't know if you know this, but bats can see with their mouths and ears!"
"Echolocation you mean," Kir responded.
"Oh well look at you with your big words... your big hands... big-"
"Alright, that's enough of that. I need to get ready to leave this place," Kir interrupted.
Stella put her hands on her hips, "If you want me to be able to leave with you, we're going to have to seal the deal..."
"Seal the deal?" Kir asked.
"You know... Form the familiar pact. You give me some of your mana, I give you some of mine..."
"How do I do that?" Kir asked. "And if the answer is I have to sleep with you, I'm leaving you in the shop."
"What made you hate fun?" Stella sighed, "Fine, the boring version then. You concentrate some mana in your mouth, and I'll do the same," Stella said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Done," Kir said after a few seconds, finding his words seemed a bit louder than he'd intended. He hadn't given the mana any particular intent, so it seemed to have naturally found some form of expressive outlet.
"Good. Now close your eyes and repeat after me..." Stella instructed.
Kir obeyed. He was about to ask what Stella wanted him to say when he felt her lips on his. He felt it as his mana was drained into her, only to be replaced by considerably less mana from the starving succubus.
Almost unconsciously, he started making out with her until after a few seconds he realized what he was doing and pulled her off of himself.
"That was... wow..." Stella said, her eyes hazy. "Your mana is so... rich... but not very flavorful."
"Stella, never do that again without my permission," Kir said.
"Aww, you seemed like you were having fun..." Stella teased. "I'm now completely at your mercy if you feel like doing more..."
"No," Kir replied. "And if you try anything else like that without telling me, we will see if Duke Maledict finds your conduct acceptable when I don't. Is that clear?"
Kir hated dropping his father's name, but Stella swallowed, her eyes filling with fear. "Yes, Master."
"Don't call me that. Just call me Kir," he replied. "I won't treat you like a slave or anything. You'll be free to do what you want as long as you don't get in trouble. Now let's get this place cleared..."
"Want me to show you the good stuff?" Stella asked, floating higher and pulling a seemingly random blanket from amidst the rafters.
"Yes, I would appreciate your help. I was just thinking I'd take the magic stuff and whatever I can carry." Kir replied.
"You'll need a bag," she said, tossing down the cloth, which turned out to have a strange pattern that drew the eye like an optical illusion. "Portable storage. Some fancy space-bending magic. Now..." She put on what Kir instinctively would describe as a 'Customer Service Smile.' "Welcome to the shop! Let me show you around!"
It was close to nightfall when Kir finally showed up at the Madame Dragon.
Kir arrived thanks his newly acquired map of the city, which showed him exactly where he was within its walls at all times. It had something to do with magic's Law of Resonance and some navigation stones set into the walls, and according to Stella anyone with a map showed up on another map somewhere in the city. Kir just thought of it as a local-only version of GPS with spyware.
He wasn't certain about keeping it, because instinct told him not to let himself be so easily traceable, but he did use it to find the Madame Dragon, after paying a few coppers to a merchant to point out the location for him.
He half expected the mark to be intentionally wrong, but the man hadn't been dishonest, and he'd even refrained from any overt racism.
The innkeeper at the Madame Dragon also doubled as a barkeep, and she was genuinely nice. She told him his moms went out to look for him but would hopefully be back soon.
Not feeling tired, and still thinking he might need some physical nutrition, Kir ordered a bowl of stew and some juice and settled in to wait.
"You don't even drink alcohol? What are you, ten?" Stella squeaked in his ear as he sipped his first spoonful of the thick broth. She was hanging upside down inside his hair, which took some getting used to, but apparently was rather warm for her. He could feel her tiny claw on him as she peeked around his neck.
"Says the woman who has never tried eating 'dead matter'," Kir shot back.
"I never had the chance! You know how cheap Corwin was? He didn't even give me a room or a bed or nothin!" Stella complained. "What's a succubus without a bed to lay upon?"
"Um... a productive member of society?" Kir risked.
"You can do that in bed too," Stella countered.
"How so?" Kir asked before he could think he shouldn't.
"You know... productive members... heheheh..." Stella scratched his neck with her tiny claw repeatedly, sending shivers down Kir's spine.
"Please don't do that..." Kir said, hoping the half-dozen or so other people in the dining/reception area didn't notice him talking to "himself."
"Spoilsport."
Kir sighed. "Why don't you try it? Eating food, that is." He pulled his cup of juice closer.
He felt as Stella detached from his hair to crawl over his shoulder. "Ugh... fine... Does this mean we're on a date?"
"No," Kir said instantly as she hopped down and climbed up the rim of the cup, practically dipping her face in as she tentatively sipped.
"Hey, this isn't bad..." She started slurping, and Kir wondered if he could get another cup as she dipped her whole face in it.
He was about to wave down the waiter when the door burst open and his moms walked in looking pissed.
But that wasn't what made him grimace as his whole body flinched.
Darlae had Kordia under her arm, and she was crying.
Hadiah
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