Demon Queened - Chapter 77 - Rough Draft

Devilla

“What do you mean kidnapped?” I didn’t remember striding towards Chloe. I was just there, in her face, resisting the urge to shake her and demand to know more.

“Woah, there!” Chloe said, taking a step back. “I get why you’re upset, but I’m going to need you to take a deep breath, alright? Alira isn’t planning to hurt her, from what I can tell. She’s just taken it into her head that she can outplay her granddaughter by threatening your girlfriend.”

“Alira?” I demanded. “As in former General Alira? The one who’s worked tirelessly to worsen my image over the years?” Not that she’d needed much help, but… no. This wasn’t the time to get down on myself. 

It was the time to tear Alira apart.

“Where is she?”

“We don’t know,” Chloe informed me. “Most of what we do know comes from Mellany - apparently there’s more leaks in their information network than a sunken sailboat, at least when it comes to their own house. Every faction is spying on all the other factions, and even when you think everyone’s on your side there’s always someone waiting to stab you in the back… That’s probably how Alira caught wind of our plans to move against her, too.”

“And so what? We should assume that she knows that we know?” I demanded. “Where does that leave us? Where is Alira? I’ll drag the answers out of her myself if I must.”

“Relax, sis,” Nivera said - the first words to pass her lips since my arrival. She looked pissed, and yet her voice was cold as ice. “We’ll find her, and we’ll take her down. For this and everything else she’s done. For now, we’ve just got to be content with knowing that Abigail’s safe.”

“Safe for now,” I all but growled. “According to Mellany, at least - assuming I’ve understood where your information is coming from?”

“Yup,” Chloe confirmed. “Though she didn’t want to give it up at first… thought she could solve all this on her own without us even knowing until afterwards. It was actually mostly a coincidence that I found out about things as fast as I did - my friend Beth was complaining about a couple weapons she’d made on commission for her favorite prostitute, so I promised to go talk to Abigail and went to her place - where I found out from her Mom that she never came home. Bailey says she didn’t spend the night here, so of course I went to talk to-”

“Enough!” I interrupted. “We don’t have time for this. I don’t have time for this… I’m supposed to be backing up Lucy right now…” I bit my lip, glancing down at the teleportation pad. I needed to tell Lucy what was going on. She’d understand - even if it messed up her own plans. And it would mess up her plans, if her companion - who the church wished to know all about - disappeared in the night and couldn’t be produced when needed…

…Unless, of course, her companion could be produced…

“Chloe,” I said, looking at the girl. “I need your help.”

“My help? With finding Abigail? Because I’m pretty much doing everything I can already, there - at this point we’re just waiting for more information.”

“Not with that,” I said. “With Lucy. I need you to take my place for the night. Put on an illusion to look like me. That way Lucy’s companion doesn’t suspiciously go missing and I have someone I trust by Lucy’s side.”

Chloe shot a glance towards Nivera, who shrugged. Then she looked back at me. “Alright! So long as Lucy’s okay with it.”

***

Needless to say, Lucy was in full support of my plans. Though she insisted that she wasn’t in danger, and didn’t need anyone to look after her, she couldn’t deny that it would raise eyebrows if I were to suddenly disappear. So Chloe stayed with her, while I paced back and forth across my bedroom with Nivera, anxiously awaiting more information from Abigail’s abductor.

“I hate waiting like this,” I complained. “Abigail could be suffering at this very moment, and yet I’m stuck waiting around for a ransom note, or something. Some clue as to where she is, or what Alira truly wants that she would threaten my girlfriend.”

Nivera gave me an odd look. “You’re actually referring to her as a girlfriend now, huh? Guess things are going well for you two, then.”

“They are, actually,” I confessed, a slight smile tugging at the corner of my lips. “She makes me feel… like I haven’t screwed everything up beyond belief, I suppose. Like there’s a way forward, even for me, so long as I make the effort. Were she the one in my situation, she’d probably already have a plan that didn’t involve waiting for someone else to make a move…”

“I don’t know about that,” Nivera replied, “but I do know something we can do instead of waiting. Chloe shot it down, though.”

“What, and why?” I asked, frowning.

“We could rely on Bailey’s nose,” Nivera replied. “Try to track her down directly.”

“And the reason Chloe rejected the notion?” I asked, admittedly intrigued by the possibility.

“Well… She had a lot, actually,” Nivera confessed, not quite looking me in the eye. “Like the fact that we might miss a communication. Also we don’t really know where she was taken from, or if Bailey would be able to isolate her scent… and there’s the chance of Alira finding out what we’re up to and kicking things up a notch… but it still feels better than just slithering around, doing nothing!”

“It might feel better, but that doesn’t make it the right choice,” I replied. “Much as I hate to admit it.” I wanted to be chasing Abigail down. I wanted to find her, to secure her, to make sure she was safe right this instant. Yet to act without thought would only endanger her.

…At least, that was my thinking, until a new thought popped into my brain.

“There might be a more direct route we can take… Do you know where Doll is?”

“Doll?” Nivera asked. “Last I heard, she was setting up office on the 90th floor… Speaking of which, we should probably talk about what the hell happened there, at some point? I thought you hated Doll!”

“I do. Or did. Or… I don’t even know anymore,” I confessed. “It’s complicated. Suffice it to say that she has access to information I need, skills I find useful, and a backstory I… can’t entirely ignore, for all my mixed feelings. I’ll explain more later, but for now I simply hope that she has what I need…”

A holy spell that would allow me to track down Abigail.

***

Abigail

***

You know, when you think about being kidnapped, you usually think of it as a terrifying thing. Not that I really thought about it at all, outside of maybe when dealing with fictional works where the main character or her love interest got captured by the evil sorceress or whatever, but… Still. I always sort of connected kidnapping with excitement and fear. Not boredom. So why was itt that I was bored out of my fucking skull?

At least my abductor seemed to be having fun. The old lady was masquerading as a cleaner, in the corner, right at the edge of my field of vision. She probably didn’t realize I was watching her, or else she’d have att least pretended to clean instead of just shooting glances at me and then giggling to herself repeatedly, before hurriedly running her cleaning towel - and yes, I do mean a whole ass towel - over the same exact spot, again and again, as if afraid I’d suddenly turn my head around.

So far, I hadn’t given her the satisfaction.

“Oh, enough of this!” she declared, eventually, throwing down her towel and standing up from her previous crouch - and then stumbling forward a step as she rubbed her back, before standing up straight and glaring at me. “I grow tire of pretending to be a mere cleaning lady. Especially since you insist on being the most boring captive in the world - you didn’t even try to strike up a conversation with the lowly maid who’d clearly been left in your proximity for the clear purposes of pumping you for information!”

“And why would I do that?” I asked, wondering if this woman maybe had a screw loose. Or two, or three, or more.

“So that you can pump her for information back, of course!” the old woman replied. “That’s how this whole thing is meant to work. Two people locked in a bottle of wits, trying to make the best use of their time! But you’re such a dullard that you just wasted the opportunity that had been given to you, and didn’t even try to squeeze me for information.”

“...Right… Are you from one of the bloodlines? Because this sounds like exactly the sort of twisted logic bloodliners get into.”

“Bah, you just don’t understand the intricacies of stabbing someone in the back,” the clearly crazy woman said. 

“Why don’t you fill me in, then?” I countered. “Starting by telling me why exactly I’m in this place.”

“To entrap the Queen, of course,” the woman said. “Now that I’ve taken her new favorite toy, I’m sure she’ll do anything to get you back - if only for the sake of some twisted attempt to improve her image among the populace. She can’t be seen abandoning the person she’s pretended to be nice to all this time, after all.”

“Uh-huh…” I replied, rolling my eyes. “So what? You want to use me against her in some sort of political move?”

“I want her to help me put things back the way they should be,” the woman said, instead. “With me in charge of the 90th floor, not that brat Sylvanna or that absolute artifact of an automation, Doll. I want her to put my granddaughter back in her place, clipping my toenails and cleaning my feet as she pretends to care for my affection. And most of all, I want Devilla herself to lay down her crown and allow us Generals to run things as we see fit!”

“...Right,” I drawled. “Because that’s likely to happen. Devilla’s not going to abandon her people just to get me back, no matter how much she cares. And you’re not going to hurt me, no matter how crazy you are, because you don’t want Devilla to kill you or whatever.”

“Please,” the woman scoffed. “As if. The worst she’s ever done to anyone was to me and even that was just some broken bones and cracked legs. She’s a pushover. Just another reason in a long list of them, all detailing why she shouldn’t be the one to rule. Why us, her generals, would be a better pick. Why she should never have removed me. Why I should be in charge, and not that Doll creature!”

“You’re insane,” I summarized.

“And you’re better?” she snarled, anger suddenly overtaking her features. “You, who cozies up to the Demon Queen for who knows what reason? Who accepts the way she treats you, and pretends that all is good just to help with… What? Some vague plan to make her feel loved and wanted in the tower? To improve her image?”

I growled at the woman. Actually growled at her. If my hands weren’t tied to the back of the chair, I probably would have lunged at her as well. As it was, though, even my tail was chained down. I couldn’t move an inch. I could only growl, and hope it got my point across.

Oh, and I could talk.

“You’re Alira, aren’t you?”

“What makes you think that?” the old woman asked, putting a hand on her hips. “I’ve heard that Alira is as genius with disguises as she is beautiful in her true form. There’s no way you could possibly recognize me.”

“...Right. So. Alira. First off, fuck you. Second off, I hope nobody ever fucks you again. And third off? Screw you metaphorically, because there’s no way in hell I’m letting you talk about my girlfriend like that!”

“And what are you going to do about it?” she scoffed, even as I struggled against the ropes, and cursed my own weakness. I wished I could at least use my magic stores, pitiful as they might be, but they’d force fed me dusted Jailer’s Vine - a sort of plant that instantly sucked up any magic you tried to put out, and used it to grow. When dusted, it lost the growing property but still absorbed any magic you put out until utterly saturated… and from the amount they’d fed me, there was no way I’d be able to neutralize all of it.

“I’ll bite my own tongue off before I let you have your way with her,” I told her, trying to keep calm. It was a bluff… mostly. I didn’t think Devilla would really do everything she wanted, anyways, for one thing, and I really didn’t want to die besides… but it seemed to panic Alira.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I would,” I lied through my teeth, narrowing my eyes. “So how about you try acting a little nicer, alright? And then I won’t have to find out what it’s like to choke on my own blood.”

“That’s… you can’t just… You can’t just hostage yourself to your kidnapper!” Alira protested. “That’s not how this works! That’s not how anything works!”

“Like you know anything about actual ‘work,’” I scoffed, mostly just trying to get under her skin. It was the closest thing I had to an effective attack against her. “You push everything onto your daughters. And your granddaughters. And then you probably get surprised when they hate you.”

“Mellany doesn’t hate me!” Alira protested. “She’s just ambitious. It’s normal for a girl her age. She’ll have a taste of power when she’s older, though.”

“You mean when you’re dead and dust?” I challenged, arching an eyebrow. “Because honestly, I don’t see you getting much older and still living.”

“You…” Alira snarled. Maybe rightly. Making fun of her age was sort of a low blow. It was better than sitting in silence and just taking her abuse, though!

At least, that’s what I thought until she started to stalk towards me, her fingernails elongating into claws as sharp toenails poked through the ends of shoes that were rapidly turning into plain old feet. At the same time, the ragged looking clothes she’d been dressed in became finer in make, even as it shifted from a white shirt with a faded black skirt to a purple dress that held her curves. She looked younger, stronger, and most of all pissed.

So it’s probably for the best that it was around that same time that the ceiling caved in.

~~~
Author's Notes

Short chapter is on the short side, I know, but this time it actually feels like an appropriate length to me. Or at least an appropriate stopping point? I hope you enjoyed, regardless. I tried to insert a little humor into it, on the grounds that things are only going to get more intense and more serious from here and we should take our lightheartedness when we get it...

I'll probably work on Naughty Magic next, now that I've gotten at least a two chapter buffer ready for after tomorrow's post. Maybe some Hatching a Heroine? Or that fanfic commission... We'll see what I can manage, and go from there. (I seem to be on a bit of an upswing atm, so let's hope it lasts!)