How to Romance a Succubus V

When Kavros returned, his pot was missing from the cold fireplace. It was possible someone had stolen it; such things had happened in the past. Even if true, that possibility carried far darker implications this day. He rushed into the old barn that was his home, eyes wild, and found the demoness approximately where he left her, save that she was unburied and flashing him a wicked smile. The pot was sitting next to her, overturned and strangely clean.

“Ah, Kavros, I see you didn’t flee for the hills.” She said, “I would have enjoyed the chase, but I suppose this is acceptable as well.”

“What have you done?” He demanded, standing over her still form. “I commanded you to wait for and do nothing.”

“Technically no you didn’t.” She chirped. “You just bound me and left me here. Not that mere hollow words could stop me if you had communicated any such thing.”

He picked up the pot, seeing that the grease was gone. He would need to clean it; who knew what foul taint she might have imparted upon it with hours of solitude. One of the most important laws for managing succubi was to ensure they were never bored. He’d been forced to leave her, but whatever mischief she might have concocted was his just due.

Upon a closer examination, he saw two sets of drag marks in the dirt. He had succeeded in restricting her movements, quite substantially in fact, but it seemed that she had some form of locomotion she could use with only her head.

She must be a talented spellcaster indeed; magic required a power source, but most such sources required the mage to use their limbs in some way. Even magic from her own body should have been nearly impossible; he’d only left her most vital internal organs and head active, and those only to avoid killing her. If she’d been killed, the energy needed to repair or rebuild her body would be drawn from Kavros, and he had no magic stored after the last night. The strain on his body may well have killed him.

This was, like her history, likely a good thing despite the extra danger it implied. He had no intention of simply standing back and allowing his demon to run rampant without supervision, nor did he wish to gain his vengeance entirely secondhand. He needed to become more dangerous if he was to accompany her upon the dark tasks he had in mind, and if she could teach him her magic? All the better.

He shook his head in disgust. There was no real point to demanding an explanation. He could not force her to speak the truth, only to echo words of his own design. Even if he inflicted pain upon her, that would only serve to inure her against future hardship. Should he desire good faith, he could only earn it through honest exchange, and to a succubus he truly had only one coin. Such tender needed to be spent carefully.

“I shall release you, wench.” He said, “You shall teach me the ways of the arcane. For each spell that I learn and deem to be of use, I shall take you to my bed. This I swear upon our pact.”

She only had his word of honor. There was little she could do to punish him for any reticence beyond the demonic mischief that he expected in any event. Luckily for the both of them, he was a man of honor and in all likelihood as enthusiastic at the prospect of her reward as she was. That he was capable of discipline did not change that, merely spur his desire to learn to even greater heights.

“I suppose I can drive a few spells into your head, if it is not already overburdened.” She said, smirking, “Perhaps you’ll get to touch me by the next moon.”

He glared at her, waiting for an answer with a bit more contrition. The demoness was incapable of motion and she still overflowed with impudence. She looked up at him with narrow eyes, then a pout, and finally relented.

“Very well. I will do what I can to instruct you, though I suspect these lessons to be unsatisfactory indeed.”

Kavros released the Binding of Petrification, allowing the succubus to stand. He still needed to prepare the deer, but managing the succubus took precedence for now. He decided to combine the two.

“If you are a sorceress of any talent, surely you know a method by which to create cold.” He said, “It is one of the very simplest spells, is it not? Freeze this deer, without doing anything that might spoil it for human consumption.”

“Of course.” She said, rising to her feet and massaging her body. “I know just the spell. Watch carefully, and I’ll call out the runes as I inscribe them so you can follow along. This should be easy for one of your talents.”

A tail flicked out from behind her. It was long, black, and tipped with an arrowhead made of the same hard, shiny material as her talons. She used it to carve a series of runes into the ground around the deer. It was all made far worse because she started chanting in the language of the old empire as she rapidly drew runes.

“Calor Messi, Lux Messi, Vita Messi, Conversum Crystallum.”

As she spoke, the runes began to glow a dull red, then seemed to drink in the light around them as they became black as onyx. Frost spread from the ebon letters, and even looking at them made Kavros feel vaguely ill. He could hardly follow her words, and every rune she’d inscribed was new to him. Not that that was unusual; he had burnt the words of binding into his very soul through repetition, but they were alone and known merely by rote.

His father had never had a tutor teach him the finer points of arcana, considering them an art for women and priests. It was one of his many flaws, alongside faith in the crown’s justice and a belief that honor held sway over the hearts of the wicked. Kavros would have likely been allowed to summon a carefully selected demon when he grew older, but only once his father found a grimoire for a properly vetted demon.

The broken barn, Kavros’s primary shelter, became a place of shadow and frost. He staggered away, back towards his fireplace, escaping the vortex that seemed poised to drink in all the life and happiness of the world.

Of course, the effect only extended out several feet. It was, in practice, not unlike an inverted campfire. Likely deadly to touch and alarming to see unexpectedly, but not the cataclysm he’d first worried about. The deer’s extremities gained a patina of frost, but nothing more.

“Obviously, I used a variant with an output so that you could see.” Xorova said, walking away from the vortex with a casual stride. “So, are you ready to try it for yourself?”

She noted his unamused expression, and feigned surprise.

“Oh? Did you want something more advanced?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. “I know it’s a bit rudimentary, but it’s what the legions used when they didn’t have enough salt available.”

Kavros has no intention of showing weakness before this hellspawn. Whether she truly thought this was a simple spell or wished only to mock him mattered little. He had mastered the spells of binding through rote memorization and months of rehearsal, but that had been when he was without a teacher. He intended to become a proper master of magic, not merely add to his catalogue.

He seized upon the first excuse that came to mind, justifying his ignorance as best he could. Kavros knew just enough about how spells were constructed to guess at what he needed to know. His cantrip of binding, which constricted Xorova’s collar, was simply one of the runes from her greater binding taken in isolation. There must be some manner of system to the runes, like grammar or mathematics.

“I do not speak that tongue and am unfamiliar with this formulation.” He said austerely, drawing himself up, “You will teach me each rune individually, I think.”

“Oh? Eager, aren’t you?” She said, “That may take more time than you might think. A shame we’ve already frozen your deer. You’re likely to be hungry.”

She glanced over towards the ashes of his firepit, where he saw the corpse of a pigeon on a large flat rock he often used as a seat. Kavros glanced at it. It might be some kind of trap, but he genuinely had no idea why it was there and that worried him. He’d just have Xorova eat it later… after cooking it. He wasn’t entirely sure how to feel after the squirrel.

“If you are expecting me to eat carrion, I am afraid that you are likely to be disappointed.” He said, looking at Xorova. “Why do you say it may take more time? Is there something unusual about the formulation of these spells?”

“No, I just learned them as full blocks.” She said, frowning, “I know a few variations, but I’m no Arcanist. I was just taught the specific spells they thought I needed to know. I picked up a few things over the years, but nothing too substantial.”

Kavros narrowed his eyes. He had memorized every single component of the summoning ritual before he’d even considered using it. It seemed terribly reckless to invoke any magic without full understanding. Of course, perhaps she had been trained by mortals. Kavros himself might not have been so careful if his tutor in the arcane was a priest instead of a demoness.

“Well then.” He said. “I suppose we should start at the beginning. Show me the first rune alone. I believe you called it Calor?”

“Very well, mortal.” Xorova said with a sniff. “I shall instruct you in primal runes if that is what you desire. Should you have more difficulty, I will need to grow more… strident.”

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Just about caught up with the buffer. Should be able to start posting chapters with Emrys again next week.