Tales of a Seductress

TOAD – Chapter 52

“Where are we going now?” I asked “You mentioned that I was only a pitstop on the way to something else? Is it part of that delaying tactic you were speaking about?”

The demon king was a man of few words, and we had ridden in silence for the last few hours. Behind us was a long column of soldiers, with the demon king riding at the head. Part of me thought that this was hardly the safest position to be within the army. Then again, it showed a great deal of confidence on the demon king’s side, and it explained why he had so many followers. Who knows? Maybe he actually could back it all up. As for talking, I didn’t care much whether we talked or not, but I was a bit curious about the destination.

“Yes…” He responded with a slow and deliberate pause. “Each established demon line has a head, a patriarch that presides over all of the demons from their family. The heads make up a parliament, which is the center of control from the demon realm.”

“So, you don’t have all of the power?” I raised an eyebrow.

He snorted. “The parliament can only meet to make decisions involving the fate of the entire realm. This is a rare occurrence. Sometimes years go in between meetings. This is why they select a noble family to otherwise reside in the kingdom. As long as I have the support of the parliament, then my authority is unchallenged.”

“It seems like there are those who are starting to challenge it.”

“A few houses always try to sway the parliament to selecting a new family to run things. Some go along with them hoping to rise to power. This rarely, if ever, goes anywhere. My strength is too great. Short of a complete civil war, they won’t be able to remove my family from our rightful place at the top.”

“So, I take it the parliament is meeting soon?”

“Yes, the parliament has been called, and thus all of the houses will be meeting.”

“Not in the capital?”

“The capital is my seat of power. The parliament would feel pressured if they had to make decisions directly under the king’s domain. That’s why the house of the parliament is located in another city in the middle of the demon realm. We’re not too far away from that city now.”

“I see…”

It didn’t seem that the demon king was averse to talking, but any question I asked had a very direct response that seemed to offer no room for chitchat. I was glad that he was answering my questions, but I felt a bit like I was grilling him.

“I will be announcing your presence to the realm as well.” He declared. “You will be by my side during the parliament.”

My eyes widened. “Is that a good idea? I thought you said that I had pissed off a lot of people.”

“I also said that I would protect you from those people.” The demon king explained. “I have no desire for my future wife to be hidden in the shadows. We will announce our marriage there.”

I gave another side glance at him. His profile as he road his massive steed was quite powerful. He rode forward with strength and confidence that was hard to place. I could feel my heart beating quicker just looking at him. Even though I was on another horse, but even then, I could only look up. I was always on the tall side for a girl, but between the demon king and his horse, they both towered over me.

“Are you afraid that I will use my abilities to control you?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure why I asked that. I wasn’t doing myself any favors by pointing out that I could do such a thing. Then again, I was pretty sure by this point he already knew most of my capabilities and had come anyway. Was it pridefulness, confidence, or just desperation?

“No.” His answer was short, and this time he didn’t continue to explain.

A small part of me felt tempted to try to use my skills on him and see what happened. However, I had a feeling if I did try, things wouldn’t go the way that I wanted. Besides, I found myself a bit more interested in trying to seduce him the old fashion way. Using skills to instantly brainwash someone was a boring game. That’s what I had decided after taking over the facility. Taking over that vampire noble with a single touch had been extremely easy, and once he was controlled by me, there was no fun to it anymore.

I realized it was far more enjoyable to use my body and just a bit of my charm to slowly sway someone. I wanted to fill them with doubt and question their sanity. I wanted to slowly win their heart, and then when they were completely mine, and only then, I would consume them and take everything from them, which they would willingly give me with adoration. That was the true path that I wanted to follow.

The pair of us continued to ride in silence, and in some other circumstance, it might have been a beautiful thing. A man and a woman rode side by side down a forested path. He was tall, strong, and noble, and she was beautiful and graceful. The legion of soldiers trailing us only ruined the scene just a little.

The ride lasted another two hours, making the total ride about four hours long. I’d like to complain that I was sore and needed a break by that point, but let’s face it, I had taken far longer and rougher poundings between my legs. Whether it was my stamina or my pain resistance, I could have ridden that horse the entire day and still felt fine. I could have had the horse ride me the last four hours and still come out walking. I had first-hand experience with a centaur to prove it.

The city we came riding up to was a large place made predominately of rock. The walls were tall and thick, and the buildings were mostly stone. I didn’t usually care about such things, but it seemed like a very defensible position. In the center of the city was a tall cathedral-looking building, although I had never known this world to honor any particular religion beyond the dragon god. As we approached the front gates, they were thrown open immediately. It seemed like the demon king didn’t need to introduce himself here.

As we approached the doors, the army behind the king began to split apart without him placing a single order. The majority of the men went to set up camp outside of the city. Even a city like this that was far larger than Whitewinter couldn’t support an entire garrison. Just like when I was doing these peace talks, these soldiers would set up camp somewhere outside of the city. A small regiment remained with the king, likely for honorary reasons. A small group of perhaps fifty soldiers trailed in behind us.

I glanced around with interest as we entered the city. Since entering the demon realm, I hadn’t been to many demon cities. They were structured a bit differently than human cities. The buildings were a bit larger, although one look at the demon king showed the need for sometimes larger doorways and ceilings. The streets were often lined with lanterns and well paved. Humans often just settled for dirt roads that were packed down with countless feet. It was like the demons were overcompensating for the accusations that they were wild by spending extra effort on city infrastructure.

The thing that caught my eyes the most wasn’t the architecture though, but the people. The demon people came in every shape, size, and color. They were extremely varied in appearance. I had visited many villages, but most of the demons in them appeared nearly human. Someone might have strange eyes, a tail, or horns, but for the most part, their silhouette would appear human. some of the demons here would be impossible to mistake for a human.

If this was the seat of power for the parliament, then this would also be the place where the purest and highest levels of the family lines were. If we considered a demonic line to be dictated by blood, then the purest bloodlines would be at the top, and the more diluted someone became with humans, the farther down the family they fell. You eventually got to those like Reinhart, who were indistinguishable from humans. The only way he could get any notice was to depend on his insight and intelligence. Even then, a noble threw him away as soon as his usefulness was gone, so that only showed just how important bloodlines were to these people.

I was part of the breeding program looking to bring in more monster blood into their dwindling populations, so I knew firsthand how desperate all of the families were. They likely engaged in incest and various other tricks to preserve it as long as they could, but in a few dozen generations I wondered if there would even be a single demon left. It made the war between demons and humans have a slightly melancholy feel as one considered just how much of a biological dead-end the demons had.

The demons did not line up in the streets or make some grand display with the demon king there. At best, they made sure to not be anywhere in his path or the path of the soldiers, but otherwise, they seemed to go about their day as if this was nothing new. I supposed if most of these people were nobles, then everyone else would be used to seeing such people and wouldn’t react much, even for the demon king.

As a result, we moved through the city rather quickly, approaching the center and that cathedral-like building. That had to be the seat of the parliament, then. The building was extremely tall and ornate. It would have had to be tall to be seen outside of the thick city walls. The building was also covered with various art, depicting monsters and demons through wall carvings and statues.

As I was looking up at it and admiring the spires at the top, a sudden glint caught my eye. An object quickly flew toward me, but just as I started to focus on it, a hand flew in front of me. I went cross-eyed for a moment as I focused on the object that had seemingly been stopped a few inches from my face. It was a crossbow bolt. The hand holding it came from none other than the demon king, who had seemingly caught it in midflight.

Just as I managed to register what had happened, the demon king leaped off of his horse. He jumped onto the wall of the cathedral and then began to scale it faster than I could even run. At this point, the soldiers behind had figured out something was happening. A flurry of horses rode around me as the demon created a protective barrier, although they still kept their distance. By this point, the demon king had already made it to the ledge where I had seen the glint. He charged inside, and a few moments later there was a shout followed by silence.

The silence lingered on for five minutes. The soldiers kept up their protective wall around me seemingly unperturbed. No one followed the king to make sure he was still alight. That’s when the door burst open. I could hear sounds from the inside, people letting out shouts of surprise like a beehive had been disturbed. The king strolled out, and in his hands was a small man firmly in his grasp.

“Speak, or I will break every bone in your body.” He threw the man to the ground at the foot of the parliament doors. “Who hired you?”

“No one!” The man responded, baring his teeth.

The demon king lifted his foot and then stamped down on the man’s leg. There was a crack, and the man let out a resounding scream.

“One last chance… tell me!”

“Fuck off!” he spat.

“Very well…” The demon king reached for his sword, but just as he was pulling it out, and gentle hand touched his, stopping him from drawing it.

He turned to me, his eyebrows raising for a moment.

“Perhaps… you should allow me to question him.” I smiled. “It’s my specialty.”

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