Diabolical

Aaron confronts the demon.

9.

Diabolical

 

Aaron entered the room prepared for a trick or a trap.  The Demon would wear a fair form, speak calmly and rationally and seem harmless.    He would be charming and persuasive.    Or perhaps he would calmly and arrogantly wait for him to enter, assured of his own superiority.    Then he would mock and deride him for daring to confront such a powerful force as himself.

Maybe the fiend would use some strange and awesome magic to impede his progress.    Aaron expected something cunning and diabolical.

But as he entered the room, the only unusual thing was the lack of magical lighting.     This room did not seem to have a square of glowing light above it, though a bit of light from the other room filtered inside.

Evil permeated the place.     As he entered, he glanced around and scanned the far end of the room.     It was only fifty or sixty feet long and perhaps that wide and there was only a single wooden display platform in the very middle of the room.

It seemed an odd way to display such a powerful creature as a demon.     There were (as best as he could tell) no pentagrams or magic circles on the platform to imprison the demon, and hadn’t the telepath told them that undead were imprisoned here too?   Where were their stands?

Another doorway could be seen at the opposite side of the room, with soft light coming from it.   

Where is he?  Aaron asked himself, surprised that the fiend wasn’t waiting for him.    He was a quarter of the way into the room before he turned to glance back at the shadows on either side of the doorway that he had entered through.   Nothing had jumped out at him as soon as he had come into the room, so he had focused his attention further into the chamber.

So he was surprised when a hulking humanoid form leaped out of the dark in ambush, swinging a huge double bladed axe.

Though taken off-guard, he brought his sword upward, deflecting the axe as he got a first glimpse of his assailant.  

He was probably eight feet tall and muscularly broad.    He had the head of a bull with glowing fiery red eyes, yellowish-red horns and jet black hair or fur that covered his strong body.    Glowing pale yellow smoke that smelled of sulfur came from his snout with each exhale of breath.

The demon bore his teeth at the Half-Elf while swinging the huge axe as if it were a broom handle.   The blade swished back and forth relentlessly as the bovine-headed fiend pushed him ever backwards toward the doorway at the other side of the room.

Although he was incredibly strong, the demon did not seem especially fast, nor even very intelligent.     Aaron could not wonder about this, for he was constantly avoiding the axe blades.

Then the young Duke remembered the magic bottle that he carried in his other hand.     He reared back to toss it at the demon, but suddenly the fiend lowered his head and charged at him like an enraged bull.       Aaron instinctively slashed at his head with his sword rather than throwing the bottle.    The sword blade bit into his bull-like horns, but it did not stop him and the impact sent the Half-Elf tumbling backwards across the floor.   The magic bottle was knocked from his hand and bounced out of his range.   Amazingly, it did not break or crack.

Aaron was stunned by the force of the impact, but the demon was charging forward for another attack with his horns.   

He frantically clawed at his belt pouch, desperate to find the other magic bottle.     He found it, uncorked it and tossed it just as the monster was closing in on him.     A mere foot from impact, the bottle struck the demon in the snout.     There was a flash of light and the fiend vanished.    The bottle fell gracefully to the floor in an upright position.   Aaron crawled hurriedly over to it and corked it a moment later, relieved to see the demon in miniature, frozen in the act of a bull-like charge.

*You did it!*  The words came to his head, startling Aaron for a moment before he remembered the telepath.

He shook his head, feeling suddenly a bit dazed and slightly staggering.

*Are you alright?    I could see the battle telepathically and you were brilliant!    Did it hurt you?    I am just through the doorway in the adjoining room.    If you can dispel the demon’s magic before his body is cast back into Hell, I will be free of this imprisonment… finally!*

Aaron’s head spun a bit, causing him to lean against the wall with his eyes closed in an attempt to steady himself, “I need to call to Lysa.”

*Certainly, but you may want to free me first, or your valiant effort will have been mostly in vain.   Yet if you hurry…*

“Hurry… yeah, I’ll hurry in and set you free… but how?”  He nearly fell onto his face as he stooped to pick up the bottle he had lost when the demon had attacked him.    Absent-mindedly, he reset the cork in the mouth of it and put it back into his belt pouch.

*It is simple, you merely need to erase a bit of chalk.*

“Chalk?   I don’t understand.”    His head was throbbing and he felt very sleepy.    Aaron wondered if he had hit his head when the demon rammed him and had simply not noticed or felt it.     He couldn’t seem to think straight, as if fog was hanging across his mind.

*He put me into an imprisoning circle - it is magic he used often.*

“The demon?”    He asked, not following who she meant.

* No, no, Helios imprisoned me.   The demon was placed here to guard me in case anyone tried to free me.   Helios wanted me secured.*

“He did?   Why?   Why did he imprison you?”    He found that he was walking toward the doorway where he sensed the telepathic voice originated.     Oddly, in his cloudy mind, the telepath now ‘spoke’ in his head with Lysa’s voice.  This puzzled him, but didn’t alarm him, at least not consciously.     Somewhere deep within his mind, this reaction worried him, but the mental alarm could not seem to rise to the surface of his dulled senses.  

*Helios wanted to mate with me.* The telepath told him with Lysa’s voice.

 “Mate with you?”   He staggered through the door, his head still dizzy.     The room was softly lit and in the very middle of it was a platform with a large, soft couch resting on top of it.    Standing in front of the couch, pressing against an arcane column of blue light that forced a restraining field around her, was the loveliest creature Aaron had ever seen.

He stopped and gasped in wonder at her beauty.     She was tall and shapely, pale skinned with slight Elven features and long silvery hair.     Light blue eyes sparkled as he entered the room.     She was unclothed, but his attention was pulled away from her naked condition upon seeing her wings.   Large, powerful, swan-like wings sprouted from her back, the feathers white, silver and gold in color.

 

She was an angel; a wonderfully gorgeous, real-life angel!

Aaron blinked away the fog from his eyes in wonderment as she motioned for him to come forward to her.

Zombie-like, he found himself obeying, and she pointed at a circle of red chalk that had been carefully drawn on the viewing platform surface.    The chalk gave off a very faint red glow.   She made the motion with her foot as if sweeping the chalk away, then nodded to him.

For a long time he could only look at her.    His heart began to race and he felt a sudden, overwhelming lust for her come over him.    He shivered in the flow of desire as it crossed him like a flash flood.

She seemed to sense his abrupt physical hunger for her and gave him a hinting half-smile.

That smile drove him mad with desire for her.     Forgetting all else, he just knew he had to have her… immediately.     With a growl of desire, he rushed forward and broke the circle of red chalk.   He had to do it, to get to her.    He had to have her!

 

His ears rang from his heart pounding in his head as he mindlessly scattered the red chalk with the edge of his foot.   At once the blue restraining barrier dissipated.

The lovely woman gave a thrilled squeal of delight, clapping her hands like an excited child.

“Finally!   After years of imprisonment!    You’ve freed me, you, wonderful, wonderful man!”   Her voice was slightly deep for a woman, yet it was clear and almost musical in tone, and it only added to her appeal.  

It was as if his eyesight narrowed until it spotlighted on the alluring form of the female angel.   He could hear nothing but her voice, see nothing but her visage.   His body was at the same time numb and tingling with sexual hunger for her, and his mind was dulled to mush.

She gracefully took flight on her swan’s wings and landed in front of him, intimately close.     She was as tall as he was and her scent was a bouquet of spring flowers.   

“Who… are… you?”  He panted as he gazed into her flawless face.   

She wrapped her arms around his neck and spoke softly, “I can be known by you as Eisheth.   Only my lovers know of this name.”

She began caressing the back of his neck, and though her touch was warm, chills ran up and down his spine.

“What… are… you?”   He asked as her full red lips drew near to his.  

She paused and smiled slightly, “Ah, Aaron, I think you know… surely you know what I am.  But right now you don’t really care, do you?”

He shook his head, hypnotized by her pale blue eyes.

“I didn’t think so.”  She whispered into his ear, nibbling on his lobe, “Let us not waste time on your other questions.   I’ll simply give the answers to the puzzles that hang somewhere in the back of your lust-rattled brain.     I didn’t lie to you about why I’m here - Helios wanted me as a mate.    It was rather arrogant of him to want me of all those he could have summoned, but a mere Succubi was not enough for his vanity.”

“Helios managed to imprison me - I’ll give him credit that is due to him for that- but he was so fearful of my charms that he would not come to me and share the intimacy that so many men have longed for.   It is a pity, for I would have fulfilled and far exceeded his wildest and darkest desire.   It would have just cost him his soul, which meant nothing to him anyway.”

 

Aaron tried desperately to clear his mind, but he could not break it free from her.

“But… the demon… guarded you.”   He managed to stammer.

She laughed, a joyous, musical sound that pleased his ears, “My dear Duke, I assumed you would see through that as well.   It was merely a ruse to get you to rescue me.    No Paladin could resist a damsel in distress.   A mental suggestion was given to you so that you would think that a Minotaur that came into this room when you deactivated the imprisoning fields was actually some sort of bull-headed demon guard.”

She began stroking his hair as she continued, “It was easy to create a sense of urgency and danger, for Paladins are always eager to fight evil, even when the odds are far against them.  I knew you’d gallantly protect your squire by coming in here alone, if you thought she was in grave danger if she went with you.”

“So of course you are wondering why I am doing all of this, aren’t you?    Why, to be free of this damned prison.   I have been trapped here for much too long and I am famished, Duke Aaron.    Famished!    And I intend to feast upon you.   Oh, but don’t worry, it will be extremely pleasant for you as well and perhaps you will even survive.   But first we need to remove your tin suit so we can see what wonderful flesh lies beneath.”

 

Her hands slowly slid down to the straps that held his breastplate together.     He stood motionless, horrified at what he was about to allow her to do, but unable to move to stop her.     His body rebelled against his common sense by thrilling at her touch.

 

She had almost unbuckled one of the four straps connecting his armor’s breastplate to the back piece when a shrill whistle from the other end of the room pulled their attention to the doorway.

“Let go of him, demoness!”   It was Lysa, standing by the doorway with her sword in her hand.   The other hand was concealed behind her back.

Eisheth glanced over her shoulder at Lysa for a brief moment and burst out in laughter, “Oh my, she is trying so hard to look so threatening!     Dear girl, you surely know that normal weapons do not even harm any of my kind.     And you certainly don’t have any enchanted weapons.      You are foolishly brave coming to your master’s aid.    Do not make the mistake of attacking me, for I will certainly destroy you.    But stay and watch, you may find it… stimulating.”

She aloofly turned her back on the girl, smiling sweetly at Aaron, “Now, my dear Duke, let’s get this armor off of you.”

“I SAID GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU MAGGOT!”   Lysa’s voice echoed inside the room.   

Eisheth growled, spinning around quickly.    As she did, her form shifted from a beautiful Angel to its true form.    The swan wings were replaced with glossy black bat wings and tiny red horns poked out of her temples.     Her blue eyes were a burning red and her skin took on a reddish tint.    Even after the transformation, she somehow seemed extremely sensual.    

“I’ve had enough of you!”   The demoness snarled, “Attack me then, you mindless idiot and let’s be done with it.   Or are you afraid?”

The challenge was met by Lysa cautiously walking forward.   Eisheth watched her, and then laughed as Lysa pulled her concealed hand from behind her back.   She held one of the magical bottles that they had found in Helios’ treasure chest.  

“Well, that is a fair idea, Elf, but that one still has its cork in it and I’ll have your throat ripped out before you can pull it free.   It doesn’t work if the top is corked.”   The demoness laughed.

“It works if it already has something trapped inside.”   Lysa replied, throwing the bottle at the feet of the demoness.    The bottle shattered and suddenly the Minotaur stood in front of her, with his head lowered.   He had been imprisoned in the middle of an attempt to ram Aaron with his bull head, and the shattering of his bottle brought him out of suspended animation in a resumption of full forward motion.

Eisheth roared with frustration and pain as the Minotaur rammed into her at full force.      She was thrown backwards, the impact knocking both her and Aaron (who was behind her) skidding across the floor of the room.    The Minotaur rolled once and charged forward, hoping to catch Eisheth before she had recovered from the blow.

But the Demoness leapt to her feet with a growl like a panther.   The bull-headed monster closed in on her quickly, prepared to once again ram her, but Eisheth stood motionless, waiting for him with a sneer on her lips.

An instant before he would have impacted with her, she darted to one side with lightning speed.    As he passed by her, the Demoness slashed out with her long red fingernails.   It seemed like a ridiculous gesture to Aaron, but when the Minotaur collapsed to the floor with his bovine head torn to ribbons, he reconsidered the thought.

“Elven b***h, you are going to pay dearly for that!”   Eisheth snarled at Lysa while the Demoness watched the Minotaur convulse and then die.

She started forward, menacingly, her red nails now dripping with the Minotaur’s blood.   Lysa retreated, wide-eyed and Eisheth laughed cruelly, “You didn’t think that plan out too well, did you?    A fatal mistake.    One that you will never make again!”

She closed in on her, knocking Lysa’s sword away as if she were a child holding a tiny stick.    Eisheth raised her blood-nailed hand to strike the foolish girl dead, but a tap on her shoulder and her name called softly made her pause, turning just enough to see who now dared interrupt her.

It was Aaron, smiling warmly at her like a lovesick schoolboy.    She hesitated, amused at his helplessly charmed state.

“Go back over there and wait for me, my dear.   It will only take me a moment to kill this stupid Hutcaiah b***h, and then we’ll have our fun.”

Aaron laughed, “The fun’s over, Eisbeth.”

She saw the bottle just as he produced it, seemingly out of nowhere, then threw it at point blank range, squarely in her face.

With a popping sound and the nasty smell of sulfur, she disappeared into miniature form inside the bottle.   The glass vessel floated to the stone ground softly and Aaron had the cork into the mouth of it a moment after it touched the floor.

 

With a relieved groan, Aaron sank down next to Lysa.

“Are you alright?”   They both said at the exact same time.

“I’m fine, Lord.”   She replied, touching his face, “Did she… uh… do anything to you?”

“No, thank Yesh!    She couldn’t get me out of my armor.   But she had me controlled, Lysa!    I couldn’t resist her!   A Paladin that succumbed to a demon!    Oh, how shameful!”

“That is what her type does - seduce men.    She wasn’t just a mere succubi, I’d guess, but probably an Arch-Demon.    That is why you were charmed, Lord.”

“There is no excuse, Lysa.”   Aaron looked down with disgust at the bottle, “Did you see how easily she killed that Minotaur?   She could have killed you the same way!   I am such a fool!    I should have listened to you and not let my curiosity pull us deeper and deeper into this horrible place.”

“You’re right; you should have listened to me.”   She gently chided, smiling sympathetically.

Aaron just shook his head in shame, “I’m so sorry, Lysa, I’ve been an idiot.  I’m too cocky and sure of my own skill at arms.    Look at what I’ve put you through.   This is just what I was afraid of… endangering you.   That’s why I suggested that you part ways from me.   My idiocy will get you killed.”

Lysa took his hand in hers, “I figure that is why I need to stay around, to get you to see things differently.   If I leave you to manage your own affairs, you’ll end up getting yourself killed.   With me around, you can at least have a voice of reason.”

He squeezed her hand, comforted by her compassion, “Well, you were not too reasonable when you came here to rescue me with nothing but a Minotaur trapped in a bottle as a weapon.”

Lysa shrugged with a smug smile, “It worked didn’t it?”

“Yeah, but just barely.”

“We’re both alive and that is all that matters.”

“I can’t argue with that.”

“So she was Helios’ mistress?”

“He wanted her to be that, but he was too scared of her to go through with it.”

“Yet he didn’t just get rid of her.”

“She probably charmed him enough so he couldn’t make himself send her back to Hell.   It looks as if she had the Minotaur charmed as well.    They were both frozen in Helios’ magic until I used that staff and they reactivated.    I think she had the Minotaur kill all the humanoids in that room, in preparation for our arrival.     For some reason the Minotaur couldn’t free her, so she needed me for that.    So she set up her hoax.    I wouldn’t be too surprised to learn that she somehow telepathically manipulated Charlie Levont to break into this place.     Maybe even in suspended animation, her mind was active telepathically.   I guess we’ll never know.”

“So what do we do with her?”

“We’re going to take the bottle with us and keep it secure until we can get it to Reverend Mother Zeatt.    She will know what we can do to dispel her.”

“We certainly don’t want her getting free, Lord.”

“No, we don’t.”    Aaron glanced down at the bottle for a moment, shuddered once then carefully picked it up and put it into his belt pouch, “I’m just thankful that her enchantment on me was disrupted when the Minotaur attacked her.   Apparently she didn’t realize it had ended.   She could read my mind, so I’m lucky my ruse worked.”

“I’m glad you had another empty magic bottle.”

“I almost didn’t have this one!” He told her about losing it when the Minotaur charged him, “I just barely remember retrieving it before I went like a sheep into the Demoness’ room.  You do still have your bottles, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Good, keep them uncorked, in case we have to use them quickly.”

She took the corks out of the bottles and gently reseated them in her own belt pouch.

“Now what?”   She asked.

Reviews

[Elina]

"...I’ll give him credit due to him for that..." Perhaps change this to something along the lines of "...I'll give him the credit that is due him for that..." ?