Four Days Before the Third Moon of Summer, in the 113th Year Before

A demon could wait a long time.

Fiends were creatures of foresight. Where the fey danced within the now, and the dead dwelled in the past, fiends made their homes comfortably within what was to come. The eldest fiends were terrors unspeakable, beings of pure temptation and ruin with minds like burning suns. These were the demons of the true names, the First Words. The shorter and plainer the word, the more terrible the demon.

Sometimes these demons barely moved at all. Am and Do had lain still for eons, living mountains, as much a part of the geography as the Rivers themselves. So far ahead were their plans that they had become entangled in their own webs like old fat spiders, trapped in the prisons of their own labyrinthine minds.

At least, so their enemies hoped. The alternative explanation was that their plans were so subtle and vast that the merest twitch of a tail or sparkle of an eye was enough to set into motion plans of utter devastation. Some said that the Horny War, and the subsequent corruption and destruction of the entire Royal Family, had been set into motion by one of the First Words causing a single ripe peach to fall and crush an ant mound. Most, however, viewed these as absurd conspiracy theories that glimpsed the talons of demons in every small misfortune.

Those who remained active were a far more pressing danger. Their plans wound long and serpentine, but when they sprang into action, they were as swift as vipers.

Seven forked tongues slipped out and tasted the air. She could scent it, feel it, taste that bitterness of dying runes. The ward cellar’s magic was crumbling.

Her feet were immersed in a brick of solid cement mortared into the stone floor. Sigils carved into the block glowed with sweet silver light. They shifted when a mortal looked at them, crawled down the block and crept up the walls, wound in elegant concentric circles around her. To a mortal’s eye, they would be pure white. But she could see the beautiful hues of magic turning paler and paler by the second.

Tesseract smiled at her current warden. The Cloistermage nun was young and clearly inexperienced, but her expression was resolute. Pale gray robes sadly concealed most of that pretty little form, but Tesseract was more interested at the moment in the face, anyways.

She was particularly interested in the bags under the nun’s eyes.

For a week, the two Cloistermagi had been taking turns watching her while they repaired the wards. Tonight, the girl looked especially exhausted. Tomorrow night, she would be even worse.

The demon shifted in place. The chains binding her hands to the ceiling would have clinked had the ward cellar not been blanketed in its spells of dense magical silence. Sound came out like whimpers into a pillow, with an almost tactile sense of smothering. Still, the nun noticed her movement and tensed. Her eyes flicked down and checked the outer ring of runes, the core chalk binding she and the monk had been working on repairing. It was still intact.

She looked back up at Tesseract and bit her lip. Those eyes were resolute, imbued with the powerful willpower training of the Cloistered Monasteries. But they were also tired eyes, filled with the exhaustion of a week with little good rest.

Tesseract pulled on the chains and gave a slow, distinct sway of her hips.

She saw the nun’s eyelids flutter, and the hot glow of glee glittered behind the succubus’s sharp teeth.

~ ~ ~ ~

Two Days Before Summer’s Third

Cordial let out a low sigh, resting her chin against the wooden counter. Her eyes lingered on the window outside. The house across the road always served as her guide for when to close the bakery: When their lamps were lit, she closed up shop and went to bed.

But, for some… gods-lost reason, the whole street was dark tonight. Cordial glanced up at her own lantern and wrinkled her nose. Honestly, she knew she ought to just lock up and go to bed, but bending one rule always led to bending more. She could wait.

She let out a sleepy giggle, fingers tapping against the glass of the pastry display case. Besides, you never know. I could still get a customer. Maybe someone has a sunset craving for a beignet.

She was so caught up in her half-dreaming thoughts, she didn’t register that one of the silhouettes passing in front of the door had stopped until the doorbell chimed.

She sat bolt-upright. The woman who entered was absolutely gorgeous, the kind of gorgeous that severely tested any kind of professionalism. She had a pleasant elliptic face with a softly curved jawline, plump lips painted with a brilliant ruby glow only slightly less vivid than the red-orange hair that rose up from her head to lick the air like a candle flame. The hair sparkled as if filled with glitter. As the eye descended down her body, her slender figure swelled into luscious spoon-shaped hips currently contained by a pleated black miniskirt. Her heels clicked against the wooden floor of the bakery.

Everything about her, from the painted lips to the done-up hair to the red ribbons that wove through it to the heavy red eyeshadow over those pretty silvery-blue eyes to the decadent sweetheart neckline of that tight black crop top, seemed designed to draw the gaze and set the mind ablaze with unwanted thoughts.

Cordial watched the woman’s elegant red nails trace daintily over the outline of the pink cupcake oil painting.

“Good evening, Miss!” Cordial called. ‘Miss’ was a more formal way to address customers than she usually used, but formality felt safer with a woman like this.

The woman looked up her. It was as though she hadn’t even noticed Cordial until now. Her eyes widened and face split with a smile of vapid delight. “Oh my gosh, like, hi!”

In a flash, she was right in front of Cordial, the balls of her hands pressed against the counter, leaning so far over her chest was almost touching the counter. She bounced on her tiptoes with excitement.

Cordial reflexively stepped back. “Hi?”

“What’s your name, cutie?” the woman asked, and her voice was so sweet, her smile so beguilingly free of cunning, Cordial felt her guard lower a little. “My name’s Vivi,” the woman added, her voice lowering to a confidential whisper.

The woman’s voice was high-pitched, almost squeaky. Cordial didn’t like to judge by appearance, but the woman had a very… particular affectation.

“Cordial,” Cordial said, feeling her cheeks heating slightly. She wasn’t used to girls like this noticing her, let along talking to her. “C-Can I, um—” She blushed hotter at the stammer in her voice. “—help you, Miss?”

“Aw. That’s, like, so sweet!” Vivi tipped her head down toward the display case, but kept her eyes on Cordial’s, the smile playing across her lips distinctly playful. She reached up to her lips, her painted nails glittering in the soft lamplight. “Thanks, babe. I think I know what I want.”

Her lips smacked as she blew Cordial a little kiss. Cordial’s own lips parted in a soft gasp, though she wasn’t sure why. Something about that blown kiss… she could almost feel it.

She sniffed the air. There was a funny smell around them both. Was it coming from Vivi’s hair? That glitter looked… fancy. Pink.

That was how Vivi smelled, too.

Pink.

“I bet you can help me,” Vivi cooed, leaning further over the counter, continuing to bounce. Her neckline left nothing to long for, generous, indulgent, and as she lowered back down, her tits squished against the counter and nearly popped right out. “I bet you can help me, like, so much. You seem super smart!” Her lashes gave a low, coquettish flutter.

Cordial didn’t like the word ‘bimbo’. She thought it was a rude, mean thing to call people, and possibly a little sexist.

But this woman seemed like a complete bimbo.

It was probably a little pathetic that Cordial felt no less flustered.

She smiled weakly. “Right, um, thank you.”

“No problem.” Vivi pouted those plump, kissable lips, gazing up at Cordial with big, innocent eyes. “Ooh, you’re so smart, I bet you know what this building used to be!”

Cordial blinked. “What? Um, yes.” She giggled shyly, ducking her head. Was Vivi flirting with her? She really needed to close up the shop for the night, but… “The shop used to be connected to the, um, old church next door.”

“Oh, wow!” Vivi blew her another soft, sticky-sounding kiss. Cordial could actually see the lipstick imprint on her fingertips. “That’s so interesting! What happened when the church shut down?”

“W-Well, the…” Cordial squirmed a little. The second blown kiss ‘felt’ even more intense than the first. “Th-They, um, they bricked this part off. The rest of the church is some sort of warehouse, now, I think.”

“Ooh.” Vivi leaned over the counter, very, very close, and Cordial’s whole body froze as Vivi’s chin grazed Cordial’s shoulder. Was Vivi about to— “So the old church is right behind that wall, huh? Gosh, um, what do you think’s in there?”

“I-I don’t know,” Cordial managed. Vivi’s hair smelled so nice, and her chin was grazing Cordial’s cheek, so soft and smooth, and she could tell from the breathiness of Vivi’s voice how close those lips were to— “N-Nobody’s allowed in there nowadays. It’s c-condemned.”

“Ooh.” Vivi’s voice was a soft coo in Cordial’s ear. “That’s so interesting!”

“Uh-huh,” Cordial squeaked.

She felt wet softness press against her earlobe, and her whole brain completely broke for a moment as Vivi’s lips gave a long, indulgent, sticky, “Mwah~!”

The bimbo pulled back, licking her lips and giggling. “Ooh, you wanna know something cool I bet you don’t know?

“Y-Yuh—” Cordial’s brain suddenly felt so gooey, so sticky. She couldn’t quite manage words.

Well, not wordy-words. Was ‘yuh’ a word?

She giggled. Of course it wasn’t. That would be silly.

But it did sound like ‘yeah’, and that was a word, wasn’t it?

Yeah.

Totally.

“Yuh,” she repeated.

Midway through another giggle, she realized how she was probably coming across. Her cheeks burned. How tired was she?

The bimbo was giggling, too, she realized. That was a relief. Now they were both being silly. Although she didn’t want to be as silly as a bimbo, obviously. Duh!

Cordial also realized that Vivi had started talking again. She wasn’t saying anything that seemed important, though. Just some stuff about the main church door always being, like, totally guarded. About it being super-duper hard to get in. Silly stuff like that.

She kept staring at Vivi’s tits. Stop it, she scolded herself. What had gotten into her? Was she this much of a disaster whenever a pretty girl seemed to be flirting with her? Why would anyone even flirt with a shy mess like Cordial? Especially someone with tits that kept squishing together, bouncing, nearly escaping the confines of that tight, form-fitting shirt…

Stop. Staring. Why couldn’t she look away? Vivi wasn’t even that big.

Cordial was probably way bigger, wasn’t she?

Vivi was still talking. She’d just blown Cordial another kiss, and Cordial’s head echoed with the sweetness of the sound. Cordial wasn’t really paying attention to whatever Vivi was saying. She was trying to mentally compare. Who was bigger? Surely Cordial, right?

Her hands rose up and carefully cupped her own breasts, contained in one of those frumpy sweaters she always wore this time of year. She really should find something cuter. Her boobs were nice and big and heavy, they needed to be… shown…

She blinked.

No. Stop. What was wrong with her? She tore her hands and eyes away and forced her gaze carefully upward, studying Vivi’s fingers as they twirled one lock of that pretty, sparkling red hair, pulling loose one of those trailing red ribbons. Get it together.

She was acting like such a… such a… like that word she didn’t like.

“Yeah, so, like,” Vivi was saying, “your shop is actually the only one where the wall was just bricked in. The other entrances were sealed off later with bricks and magic and stuff, right? But the people sealing it didn’t remember you!” She booped Cordial’s nose with a little smirk.

Cordial couldn’t help but giggle. “Me?” she squeaked.

“Uh-huh!” Vivi’s smirk widened. Her gaze seemed almost… smarter, somehow. Like she was inspecting Cordial, surveying her for something.

She didn’t seem quite satisfied, whatever it was. Cordial wondered if she wanted Cordial’s breasts to be bigger, a thought that made Cordial pout. Her breasts were—

Vivi blew her another kiss. She was still talking, prattling on. Such a silly bimbo. Now she was talking about something else, something even sillier. Her fingers played around that sparkling lock of hair, around and around and around.

As the lamp burned lower, that sparkling hair was becoming the only light source. It was almost hypnotic. Vivi kept going on and on about, like, lipstick, and glitter, and silly stuff like that… classic bimbo stuff, really…

What had she been thinking about again? Cordial bit her lip, trying to remember. Then she heard Vivi say something about tits, and she blinked down at Vivi’s. That was right! She remembered! It was so unfair if Vivi didn’t like Cordial’s tits. Her tits were—

Another kiss. So wet, so sweet, such a cute sound…

She blinked rapidly. Wait, what had she been thinking about?

She watched Vivi’s boobies bounce, and clarity hit her like an arrow. Oh, yeah! Yuh! It was sooo unfair if, like, Vivi didn’t like her boobies! Cordial’s boobies were plenty big!

It was all the dumb sweater’s fault. She needed to dress sexier. She giggled. Way, way sexier.

Vivi was circling around to step behind the counter. Briefly, Cordial felt like that was maybe bad, but Vivi’s ass was swinging so cutely, and those blown kisses sure felt, like, nice… ooh, and she was coming closer...

Vivi took her by the arm and kept walking, still smiling.

Cordial found herself being pushed back into the brick wall. The impact jarred her out of her thoughts, just a little, and her heart gave a little flutter that might have been fear.

“H-Hey.” Cordial blushed. “Um, like, what are you… I mean, like…”

Vivi giggled. But her smile didn’t seem quite so naive and empty-headed anymore. Her eyes gleamed with interest as she pressed in close, her lips grazing Cordial’s neck, sweetly kissing the breath from Cordial’s throat. “Oh my gosh,” she said, but the affectation was gone. “Look what you’re letting me do~!”

“Ooh. Yeah.” Cordial giggled, wriggling as she felt Vivi taking both of her hands, bringing them behind her back. “B-But I don’t, um, like, know what you’re… doing…”

“Oh, really? Wow~!” Vivi’s lips pressed against the top of her throat, so soft, so wet. Cordial felt Vivi’s tongue flick against her skin before Vivi pulled away with a sweet, sticky parting sound. “You don’t even know that? What a silly bimbo slut~!”

Cordial giggled again. “Um, like, well—”

“Totally stupid,” Vivi cooed. Cordial felt something wrapping around her wrists, and she noticed vaguely that the red ribbons were no longer laced through Vivi’s beautiful, sweet-scented hair. “Totally brainless.”

“Totally.” Cordial couldn’t stop giggling. But as the fact that these were insults clicked in her brain, her smile dropped into a pout. “Wait, like, but I’m, um—I’m not—”

“Not very smart,” Vivi agreed, her hands sliding under Cordial’s pants, and Cordial let out a whimper at the touch. “Silly bubbly bimbo slut!”

“Oh,” Cordial gasped, wriggling, finding her hands wouldn’t come back from behind her for some reason, wouldn’t obey her, and her pants were sliding down as Vivi’s hands groped her ass, her thighs— “Oh, gosh, um, but, like—” Since when was her voice so high-pitched and squeaky?

Vivi rose up, and her eyes met Cordial’s. Her lips were close. Close enough to taste. Close enough that Cordial could feel that softness if she only leaned closer, closer…

“But what?” Vivi asked sweetly. She started to lower down, and Vivi wasn’t sure why, but she felt a tugging on her wrists telling her to go down, too, and she sank down, down, down to the floor. “But you’re super pretty! And that’s all that matters. Bimbos don’t need brains.”

“Bimbos… don’t…” Cordial couldn’t think with Vivi’s lips so close. She was on the floor, and she could feel Vivi wrapping something around her ankles. Something thick and silky. “Um, well, um…”

“Sooo pretty,” Vivi repeated, and she seemed to finish what she was doing with her hands, because they went over to pull at Cordial’s big, thick, silly frumpy sweater. She couldn’t pull it off, since Cordial was tied up. Instead, she stretched the neckline down, looping it right under Cordial’s rack, and pulled both boobs out so the sweater would hold them up. “And look at this big, dumb bimbo tits!”

“Oh.” Cordial squirmed, giggling, heart racing. Her pants were down to her ankles, and her tits were sticking out, so nicely supported. Vivi was touching them. That felt nice. But wasn’t this, um… “Um, like, um, really?”

“Totally,” Vivi purred.

“Totally,” Cordial echoed. She couldn’t stop giggling, and her voice sounded funny to her, squeaky. But it seemed to please Vivi, and she liked pleasing Vivi.

“And look at this!” Vivi reached down under her own tight shirt and pulled something out that had been concealed in her cleavage. A pretty glittery silver object dangling from a slender red cord around her neck. “Do you know what this is?”

Cordial licked her lips and tasted Vivi’s. Cherry syrup. Her head swam. “A, um…” She giggled. “A key?”

“Uh-huh!” Vivi laughed. “I’ve got this key that’s gonna get me into the old church. Doesn’t that sound like soooo much fun?”

“Um…” Cordial blinked stupidly. But how was that key gonna get Vivi through a brick wall?

Cordial supposed she must really be a stupid bimbo, if these questions were confusing her so much! She giggled and bobbed her head like an drooling kiss-addicted idiot.

“And you’re gonna help me do it.” Vivi leaned in, and her voice dropped to a smoky whisper. “Because you’re such a good, silly, stupid, hot bimbo slut, aren’t you?”

Finally, a question Cordial found she totally understood.

“Like, totally!” she cooed.

Vivi laughed at her, and then Vivi kissed her with lips as soft as rose petals, and Cordial’s mind went hot and pink and gooey with pleasure.

Vivi’s lips were sweeter and softer than she’d ever imagined. They tingled against Cordial’s skin, made everything in Cordial’s body hum to the music of Vivi’s touch. She thrust her chest out against Vivi’s greedy, possessive groping, rubbed her thighs together, moaned, whimpered, submitted.

Somehow, still being partially clothed made it all the more humiliating. Cordial knew she must look like such a hot, pathetic little mess.

But Vivi said she was, like, super hot and pretty, so maybe it was okay that she was pathetic!

Vivi pulled away, and Cordial leaned after, trying to keep Vivi’s lips on hers and Vivi’s tongue inside her as long as possible. Vivi smirked at her as their lips finally broke, leaving Cordial drooling. “Gosh, you really are stupid, huh? Letting yourself get so pent-up until now when a hot, sexy little thing like you should be sucking and humping and fucking every cutie that comes by!”

Ooh. Cordial nodded eagerly. That was so stupid of her! She would have to do better.

“Now, I’ll be using this little bakery as a base while I plan my next move, okay, sweetie?” Vivi put a finger to Cordial’s lips. “I can’t have you getting in my way, so you’ll be staying here like the good little object I wanna turn you into.”

“Ooh!” Cordial giggled. “Okay~!”

Vivi’s eyes glinted like a predator’s at night. “Of course…”

Her hand crept between Cordial’s legs, tugging Cordial’s panties down. Cordial gasped as cool night air brushed over what lay beneath.

“We’re gonna be spending lots and lots of time together until then~”