The next several days passed in a frenzy of activity. I rescheduled whatever appointments I had on my calendar as we researched, planned, and prepared.

Zarina finally managed to contact her grandfather after a few attempts, but while he was willing to assist, he wasn’t available to do so for weeks. If we still had even an inkling of an idea that Josina Janssens was still in the area by then, we’d have a heavy hitter to bring to bear. Wizard Malle had been clashing with Janssens since the Dutch colonized South Africa. He had yet to corner her successfully, and this offered an opportunity to engage her without her normal support network. Unfortunately, whatever mess he was apparently dealing with in southern Egypt was sticky enough that he couldn’t leave it alone for the time it would take to deal with the witch. A mummy was involved, but we didn’t get details beyond that.

Most of the household spent at least some time reading through the books Zarina had on hand, and Sara being a current college student actually provided a very handy resource in the form of free access to academic journals. While most of them weren’t written by people who were aware of the supernatural, even being able to search through ancient tales of Jinn and ghosts helped us identify some potential strengths and weaknesses of the foes we knew we were going up against.

Rose and I were the two who left the building most frequently. Rose could assume the form of someone else and be basically undetectable to the various supernatural creatures outside, while I had the advantage of my Gift, which provided a decent indicator of when it was safe to leave. Discussion of my Gift as it related to our assailants did cause me to realize a potential weakness in using it as my sole method for detecting them. While vampires, Jinns and impundulu were as bound to their nature as demons and Fae, ghouls were a potential exception. Ghouls were, at least in part, mortal. Since they were created by feeding a vampire’s blood to a still living human, that human’s ability to choose would remain at least partly intact. I hadn’t gone face to face with any of Cherto’s ghouls when we were doing our initial set of scouting, so I wasn’t exactly sure how much. My Gift would still warn me if I got into a situation with potentially lethal outcomes, but I wouldn’t have the absolute certainty that facing off against the gang of vampire thugs had brought.

Our research did bear at least some fruit, though. Ghosts were a surprisingly difficult topic to research, because unlike some other supernatural creatures, their presence spanned the globe. Nearly every culture had tales of incorporeal creatures lingering after the death of a human, and most of what they had to say about them didn’t match up. One thing we were able to successfully glean was that, for the most part, it was extremely easy to ward off actual possession. Nearly any supernatural ward was sufficient to prevent a ghost from taking over the body, even something as simple as burning rosemary or sprinkling salt around doorways and windows.

Information on Jinn, on the other hand, was pretty easy to come by. Not all of it agreed, after centuries of being handed down by word of mouth, but Jinn had apparently once been endemic to northern Africa, and their legends reflected that. They were less common now, but the tales of how to defeat them were still widespread enough that we were able to find the common threads.

Jinn were creatures of Air and Fire, and once upon a time their command over the two “higher” elements meant they stood a decent chance of conquering the globe. The resistance of mortal Wizards, supported by angels—or sometimes demons—allowed humanity to resist, but it was only when metallurgy became widespread that we were able to actually fight back. Forged and quenched metals carried the elemental essence of Earth and Water, and weapons so crafted could injure a Jinn, locking them into either their natural or their human forms. What we had seen from Tzila was apparently a guise, while her true Jinn form would be recognizably non-human. The sources we found didn’t have a consensus on what Jinn true forms looked like, and it was possible that varied from tribe to tribe, but the common theme was that they were recognizably other.

After three days of being all but quarantined in my apartment, we finally received a response from Janssens. Tzila delivered it, though she didn’t linger long. She simply informed us that her mistress was willing to give me one week to deal with whatever outstanding issues were preventing negotiations, at which point she expected to come to a bargaining table and walk away with the book.

I didn’t, strictly speaking, need to wrap up the ongoing issue of the vampires before addressing Josina, but the chance of something going wrong if we tried to juggle both sets of foes was too high.

Zarina, Rose, Aubrette and I all piled into Zarina’s SUV to do one final sweep of the security at the branch of Cherto’s bank that we’d settled on, while Sara and Cindy stayed behind. I’d reluctantly agreed to have Sara go back to working out of her own apartment, if only to avoid drawing additional attention to her, while Cindy was there to ensure we didn’t have an ambush waiting for us when we got home.

We set out in the late afternoon and found parking a few blocks away from our actual target. Zarina placed a few simple wards on Rose. The spells weren’t intended to actually defend her, but would react to the presence of other magic, allowing us to detect active supernatural defenses. There hadn’t been any that Rose had triggered in her previous probes, but it wasn’t impossible that Cherto had upped his defenses when he escalated by sending a sniper to assassinate me and mine.

The bank we chose was open until six, and I was painfully aware of the setting sun as I waited for Rose to return. Her job was simple, just to stand in line and ask for paperwork about the bank’s CD options then return. She needed to remain long enough that any magical defenses would have time to react to her presence, but not so long that she raised suspicions. We had left it to her judgment for the best way to accomplish that, but that meant I didn’t know exactly when to expect her to return.

The sun had fully set, and the bank was supposed to have been closed for twenty minutes when Rose opened the passenger-side door. She was in the form of an older woman, severe and skeletally thin, and the only reason I knew it was her was the distinct golden eyes she kept from one guise to another. Her lips were tightly pressed together in a grimace, but she waited until the door was closed and Zarina had started the engine before speaking. “Let’s get moving. Sorry that took so long, the lines weren’t too bad so I thought I’d just go through the front counter for information. Not only did I have to wait while two different people took the time to yell at the bank tellers, when I finally got to the front, they insisted on pulling me into one of the bank managers’ offices to talk through account options. It took me forever to find an excuse to leave.”

Zarina began to pull out onto the street, then abruptly froze, the car sitting at a stop sign as she announced, “Something just tripped one of the incorporeal wards at home. We need to get to the apartment.”

The drive home only took about fifteen minutes, and my heart was hammering in my chest the entire time. I didn’t particularly care about most of the stuff I had at home, and I wasn’t concerned for Cindy’s wellbeing, but both Sara and the book were there. If anyone else got their hands on the latter it was a disaster, and I’d never forgive myself if Sara got hurt because of me.

Zarina’s response was more controlled and level-headed than mine, as she navigated home smoothly and largely without speeding, but everything about her body language told me she was nearly as concerned as I was. Aubrette simply reached out and offered me her hand, and I clutched it like a lifeline for the entire drive, grateful for the gesture.

Pulling into Zarina’s parking space, I was grateful to see that nothing appeared to be amiss. There were no unmarked black SUVs like there had been when the vampire thugs attacked us. No one was running around screaming, there was no smoke, no police, no ambulances. I took the time to carefully check my Gift, and there was no immediate flash of red to indicate imminent danger, so we poured out of the car and headed towards the front door of my apartment.

I was not prepared for what greeted me.

In the center of my apartment, in the middle of the largest open space between the couch and the kitchen table, stood Cindy.

The Sin Demon was wearing some of the clothes Mycah had originally purchased for her before he began the summoning ritual, a black crop-top and a pleated plaid skirt that barely reached her slender thighs. It was not what she’d been wearing when we left, which meant she’d taken the time to put on a new outfit in the intervening couple of hours.

Of more immediate concern than the petite demon’s fashion choices were the two women kneeling on the carpet in front of her. I didn’t recognize either of them. Cindy stood behind them, with one of her hands wrapped around the back of each woman’s neck, and a bright smile on her delicate features.

Both of the women looked to be in their mid twenties, with dark wavy hair and skin as pale as milk. As I stared, Cindy whispered to them quietly, “Now, just like we practiced…”

Both women immediately opened mouths painted bright red, and called out in unison, “Welcome home, Master!”

I cautiously walked into the apartment and made room for Zarina, Rose and Aubrette to file in and close the door behind us, while I examined the two women under Cindy’s control.

The one on the left was the shorter of the two, though it was difficult to tell by how much from her kneeling position. She all but spilled out of the ill-fitting French maid costume she wore. The cheap lace of the apron bulged out obscenely as it struggled to contain a large pair of full breasts. Her thighs were barely covered by the ruffled skirts of the costume, and she was squeezed into a pair of fishnet stockings which strained to the point of bursting trying to contain her thick thighs.

The one on the right was tall and willowy. She also wore a French maid costume, but hers hung loosely off a more slender frame. It was only when I started studying her that I realized I recognized both outfits. The one on the left was wearing a costume I’d purchased for Sara a couple months back, while the one on the right was wearing one of Rose’s. The Puca was much bustier than the woman wearing it now, though, so what was a cleavage window on Rose instead hung flat, exposing most of this woman’s comparatively modest bust.

As I started slowly walking in a circle around the spectacle, I noticed that Cindy’s hands were gripping both women’s necks firmly. The Sin Demon wasn’t just gently guiding the two women, her fingers were sunk into their skin in such a way as to make it impossible for them to escape, or even relax their posture. I narrowed my eyes at that, then turned my gaze towards my bound demon’s face.

Cindy beamed a smile at me. Then she looked down towards the two women, instructing, “And, next?” Immediately both women reacted, lifting and replanting one knee then the other to spread their legs, all without rising from their kneeling position. Both raised their hands, interlacing their fingers behind their heads with their elbows out to either side, then thrust out their chests. The more slender of the two women spoke first, her voice smooth and with a noticeable Italian accent. “Master Jack, I am Aria Rizzo, and I belong to you.” Nearly the moment her bright red lips closed, the woman who was now threatening to burst free of the ill-fitting costume spoke, “Master Jack, I am Valentina Cherto, and I belong to you.” Her accent wasn’t quite as strong as the other woman’s, and her voice was breathy. The two spoke in the closest approximation of unison they could manage as they finished, with, “Please use us however you see fit.”

I finally managed to find my voice. After I looked Cindy hard in the eye, I asked the Sin Demon as calmly as I could manage, “What the actual fuck is going on?”

Cindy’s smile never even faltered. “Hi Master! I caught these two for you. They were skulking around the outside of the apartment. At first, I was just going to kill them, but once I got a good glimpse of the pair, I thought they’d make a good present instead!” She sounded immensely Proud of herself, and she followed her words by squeezing firmly back on both of the necks she held, then hissed, “Teeth.”

Obediently, both captive women tilted their heads back and parted their lips to reveal pearly white teeth, featuring extended canines that stretched an extra half inch or so out from the rest, glistening and deadly sharp. I stared in fascination, then caught myself when I realized I’d taken half a step towards Aria and was leaning in to examine her fangs.

I looked towards Cindy once more. “No, I figured out they were vampires. Even if the whole pale skin thing didn’t give it away, that one…” I pointed towards the woman testing the tensile strength of lace with her chest, “Gave her name as Cherto. That’s not exactly common. I meant why are they dressed… like that?”

My Sin Demon pouted a moment, before a sly smile touched her deep purple lips. “Oh, would you prefer them naked?” She squeezed once more, then released both of the vampires necks. I tensed, waiting for the two captive women to bolt or to attack. Instead, they remained on their knees, fingers laced behind heads, mouths still held wide open. Only when Cindy commanded, “Strip,” did they move. Valentina had to struggle a little to avoid just ripping the too-tight apron off, but Aria pulled the costume sized for Rose off herself in a single fluid motion, deposited it on the floor and resumed her kneeling stance. Before I could gather myself to object, both women were wearing nothing but thigh high stockings—one fishnet, and one sheer with black lace around her thighs.

The two women’s body language differed almost as much as their bodies.

While they were similar in coloration, Aria was tall, and skinny enough that I could count her ribs. Her breasts were small and perky, riding high on her slender chest, with pale pink nipples and slightly puffy areola.

Valentina was a study in feminine curves, with pronounced hips, a gently rounded belly, and large breasts that jutted forward away from her body. Her nipples were large, surrounded by wide pale areola nearly the same color as the rest of her skin. With their thighs spread wide as they knelt, I was offered an unobstructed view of two neatly groomed bushes of pubic hair, each the same dark color as the hair above on their heads.

I gaped. Then I shook myself, inhaling deeply. I had to admit that as recently as a year before, I might have given into temptation, but despite the Lust running through my body and demanding that I take and claim these two vampires for myself, I knew that was just fantasy. The reality of the situation was far different.

I shook my head again, this time with more deliberation, focusing my gaze on Cindy instead of the now nude vampires. “Cindy, I don’t need you to recruit women for me. I certainly don’t want you to coerce women into joining my harem.”

The Sin Demon pouted again by melodramatically sticking out her lower lip for a moment. Without even looking at the vampires, she protested, “They were given a choice! Girls, you two both agreed to this, right?”

Valentina’s head nodded rapidly up and down, while Aria did so once, decisively. Neither of them met my eyes when I looked at them.

I stared flatly at Cindy for a moment, then raised my eyebrow. “And what were the other options you gave them?”

Cindy sighed. Quick as a flash, her hands shot out to again grip the back of the vampire’s necks, holding them immobile. Valentina went limp, to the point that I was pretty sure Cindy was supporting the vampire’s weight by her neck, while Aria’s body stiffened to immobility. “They came here to kill you. All of us, if they could, but their instructions were specifically to kill you, Master. Right, girls?”

Aria managed a ‘Yes’, while Valentina’s lips moved soundlessly, before Cindy continued. “But they’re hot enough to be worthy of you, Master, so I gave them a choice. Either dying, which is what I would have done to basically anyone who came to kill you, or they behave as good, obedient girls, same rules as me—they do exactly what you say, when you say, no questions asked. Any time you want either or both of them, you just take them. Oh, and they’ll submit to one of the control rituals, I’m pretty sure the Sidhe enchantments work on vampires.”

Aubrette murmured from behind me, just loud enough for me to hear, “Our magic is supposed to be effective against vampires. It’s the reason our war against them was not one-sided against us. Any vampires we captured could be turned against their fellows.” I glanced over my shoulder. The High Sidhe was staring at the two nude vampires in fascination, and I wondered what it must be like for her to be face to face with two creatures who were highly motivated to consume her blood.

I turned back towards Cindy. Studying her elfin features, I knew I wasn’t going to convince the Sin Demon that what she did was wrong—her sense of morality was too alien compared to mine. The whole reason I still had her enslaved was that her obedience to my commands was the only reason she wasn’t a walking force of destruction on the world.

Instead, I slowly and carefully lowered myself to one knee, a few feet back from the vampires. I looked to Aria first, since she had her chin held high, and stared into deep brown eyes. There was a spark of defiance there, but it was as hidden and controlled as she could make it. “Aria, if I were to give you a third choice, to leave and never return, would you take it?”

Aria was already stiff, her neck firmly in Cindy’s grasp and the rest of her body rigid, but she froze into utter immobility at the question. Not a hair on her head swayed as the seconds ticked by, even her eyes staring fixedly into mine. Finally, nearly half a minute later, her brightly painted lips parted to speak. “You would have no way to enforce it. Even fairy magic does not last forever.”

I shrugged. “You’ve seen first-hand what happens if you try to attack me. The first vampire we ran into died. The next set Cherto sent to attack me all died. The ghoul sent to shoot us died. You’re here now in the hands of someone who could snap your neck like a twig. Why would you return to attack me if this is how it went?” Aria stared at me again, and this time her eyes flitted across my face, searching for something in my expression.

Eventually, she slumped down. She didn’t go as limp as Valentina, but her shoulders sagged and her eyes dropped to the floor. “I am defeated, Master Jack. I will submit to your will. If you wish to keep me, you may keep me. If you set me free, I will swear never to attack you or yours.” I waited for long enough to be certain she wasn’t going to say anything else, then nodded and turned towards Valentina.

The curvier vampire was still hanging mostly limp. Her lips were parted, and the tips of her fangs were just barely visible, leading me to briefly wonder if they retracted, or if it was just a trick of the angle Cindy was holding her neck. Since Valentina wasn’t looking at me, I reached out a hand to gently touch her cheek. She responded instantly, her eyes opening wide as they locked onto my face. Her arms remained limp, but she fidgeted a little on her knees as she waited for me to speak. “Valentina, if I were to give you the chance to swear the same oath, rather than forcing you to stay or allowing Cindy to kill you, would you?”

Vampires do not require air, but apparently some reflexes die harder than others. The busty vampire inhaled deeply, holding the breath for long enough that I realized I was mirroring her. I forced myself to exhale, keeping my own breathing as normal and even as I could as I waited for her answer. Eventually, a whisper escaped her crimson lips. “Yes, Master.”

I slowly rose to my feet and took a couple steps back. Zarina moved up to my right side, while Aubrette took my left, and I commanded quietly, “Rise.”

As Cindy released the vampires’ necks again, Aria rose directly to her feet. Valentina collapsed to the carpeting, caught herself with her hands and took a moment to gather herself, then pushed herself to stand. The extent of the height difference between the two women became fully apparent for the first time. Aria stood nearly six feet tall, while Valentina was full head shorter, only just taller than Cindy herself. Neither woman made any move to attack, move, or do anything other than obediently wait on my next command.

I again turned to Aria first. “Swear. Swear to leave and never attack me or mine.”

The slender vampire nodded her head immediately. Her voice was clear and strong as she proclaimed, “I swear I will leave this place. I swear I will never knowingly attack Jack Puttman, or anyone he claims under his protection or ownership. Upon my life, Jack, I will never oppose you if I can help it.” The absolute vehemence in her voice nearly made me step back, and my eyes immediately flicked to Cindy’s face as I wondered exactly what the Sin Demon had done in the short time she had been alone with the two vampires.

I didn’t let myself linger on the thought, though, and instead turned to Valentina. She held herself upright, but the shorter vampire’s shoulders were slumped, and her eyes remained downcast. I tried hard not to let the obvious defeat in her posture influence me, as these two had come here to kill me. “Your turn. Swear to leave and never attack me or mine.”

I was once more struck by how breathy Valentina’s voice was as she immediately gushed, “I swear, Master. I swear to go, and I swear that never will I attack you, or anyone of yours.” She finished, paused, then opened her mouth as though to speak again. Her eyes flitted up to my face, then to the side towards Cindy. Her mouth closed again without speaking and she silently dropped her gaze to the carpet once more.

For several moments, I studied the two women. Both were still clad in nothing but the lacy stockings that came with the costumes, but despite the lovely figures each presented, it was their faces that I held my attention. Valentina’s expression was one of obvious defeat, eyes downcast. Aria looked afraid—stiff, and unwilling to give into the emotion, but the vampire was clearly rattled.

It would have to do.

I stepped aside and pointed towards the front door. “Go. Remember your oaths. Do not give me cause to regret this.” Neither woman protested, or even mentioned their nudity. I knew neither would be harmed by the cold, and only realized after I gave the command that I was sending two naked women out of my apartment into the open, where anyone might see not just them, but also where they were coming from.

I briefly considered calling them back and telling them to get dressed, but the notion of displaying that much indecisiveness in front of potential enemies seemed like a poor long term call. I’d deal with any awkwardness with my neighbors later.

Aria bolted for the door, taking advantage of the path I’d opened as soon as it was available. I watched a faint golden glow settle around Zarina as the wizard took steps to protect herself, but neither Rose nor Aubrette so much as flinched.

Valentina followed soon after on stockinged feet that padded quietly across the carpet. She stepped through the door and closed it quietly behind her without another word.

My knees buckled as adrenaline fled and I nearly collapsed.

I reached out a hand to brace myself against Aubrette’s shoulder for a moment as I tried to fully gather my wits. I looked towards Cindy and noted a slight frown on the Sin Demon delicate features.

I pulled myself upright again and stepped up before her. Cupping her cheek gently with one hand, I leaned down and claimed her lips in a deep kiss. She returned it with enthusiasm despite her earlier frown.

When I pulled back, I told her quietly, “I’m not mad at you. Really, I’m proud. You did exactly what you should have done in defending the apartment, and I’m glad you took them captive instead of just killing them. Not as much because of your reasons for doing it, but because if I can, I’d rather de-escalate situations wherever possible. I’m not going to command you to take captives instead of killing, or anything like that, because that seems like a recipe for disaster, but…” There was a spark of something devious in Cindy’s eyes as the tiny demon gave me a hopeful grin.

“Reward me instead then, Master!”

She reached a hand out and placed it on the front of my jeans, then slid it down until she found something to her liking. “I’m sure I can think of some ways to reward me that you’d like…”

I let out a quiet laugh and patted her cheek gently.

Before I could respond, though, Zarina stepped forward and interjected. “Master, I hate to say it, but we have something more important to do.”

I blinked and turned from Cindy to the wizard. Her expression was serious enough that it worked to bring me back to the moment, and I motioned for her to continue. “Those two vampires weren’t what set off the ward. We need to check the other rooms in the apartments, it was the incorporeal ward that was triggered.”

There was a moment of silence after her pronouncement.

“Fuck.”

It took no more than a minute of searching the apartment before we located the source of the alarm.

As soon as we’d become aware of the possibility of ghostly spies and invaders, Zarina had placed a series of wards around the apartments—magical constructs designed to inform her if something intangible attempted to slip into our home.

When she’d gotten a little more time, she had gone back and reinforced them into a more robust line of Arcane traps. The second layer of defenses was set up to actually capture and confine anything that triggered them.

The spare bedroom of the second apartment I rented was pretty sparsely furnished. It presently contained only a spare bed and a pair of mostly full dressers. Living with five women meant a lot of clothes, and the main thing this room was used for was storing those, or acting as a space for someone to crash when the king sized bed in my bedroom felt too crowded. I could only guess that whatever entity was trapped within the ward Zarina had constructed had hoped that being unused meant it was also unprotected and therefore a safe route into my apartment.

Zarina was far too thorough for that.

The ghost—or specter, or whatever else it might be—was just barely visible with the lights off. Zarina, Cindy and I had taken up spaces a few feet back from the circle Zarina indicated as an area of influence invisible to those of us who didn’t regularly channel the Arcane.

If we turned the lights in the room on, the figure in the circle became entirely undetectable to normal eyes, but in the dark there were faint will-o-the-wisp motes of phosphorescent illumination that occasionally caught my eye. The light didn’t so much spell out the outline of a woman as they vaguely hinted at a female form.

At the moment we had the door open to provide enough illumination to not stumble around in the dark, without entirely hiding the third captive intruder of the night.

As I examined the room, I checked my Gift, to fascinating results—the spectrum of possibilities was heavily weighted towards an overall positive teal-green, with only a sliver of orange on the other end. My supposition was that Zarina’s wards were sufficient to hold the entity without risk here, but the possibility of a net good outcome for me and mine was strong. Further, the results were a wide enough spread that it was obvious whatever was captured possessed free will. I wasn’t sure what that meant about its nature, but it was another piece of data to share with the others later.

Cindy had been the one who checked this room first, and she’d quickly called the rest of us in. Unfortunately, we’d then run into a stumbling block: While we could hear faint whispers as the spirit trapped tried to talk, none of us spoke whatever language it was using. We were able to tell that it switched through at least two different languages, but no one in our group could readily identify them.

Fortunately, I had a solution for that. I left Zarina behind to keep an eye on the intangible intruder, then took twenty minutes to grab my notebook and ritual supplies and perform one of the most personally satisfying rituals I’d yet deciphered.

Not long after Aubrette had joined me, I’d managed to decode and perform a ritual that allowed me to understand and be understood, irrespective of language. It hadn’t actually solved any real problems in my day to day life since then, since basically everyone I talked to spoke English, and that meant I was actually pretty excited for the opportunity to put it to good use. When I returned to the spare bedroom after enacting the rite, I was brimming with excitement at the opportunity.

The ghost was in mid-sentence as I arrived, and I pumped my fist in triumph when I realized I could actually understand her. “...do not know what you have done, but please, let me out. The Mistress will be so furious with me.”

I approached slowly and stopped when Zarina indicated I was near the edge of the containment spell. The ghost seemed to sense that something was different about me, because she paused as I stepped up, and asked tentatively, “Hello? Can you understand me?”

I smiled. I still wasn’t able to see her clearly, but a flash of faint illumination looked like it was probably about where her head was, so I focused on that. “I can! Before-” I paused a moment, to consider my wording, then continued, “Before we get too far into things, I should ask a couple questions: First, do you work for Josina Janssens? Second, do you do so willingly?”

Based on Zarina’s reports on the witch, I had a suspicion that most of the creatures in her service weren’t there because they enjoyed the woman’s company. She’d gathered servants rather than making friends, and while I recognized that I might need to fight the creatures she’d enslaved, my hope was to avoid that wherever it seemed practical.

In the dim light of the room, I saw a sudden flash of blue, the faint impression of two hands pressing against Zarina’s ward. Most of the ghost remained invisible, but as she pressed against the magical barrier closest to me, I could make out fingers and the base of her palms. “Yes, Mistress Janssens is my Mistress. I… I entered into her service willingly, but…” The hands vanished to invisibility once more as the ghost whispered, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It wasn’t supposed to be forever.”

My heart ached at the despair in the ghost’s tone. I nearly stepped forward, but a strong hand snagged the back of my shirt and arrested my motion. I turned my head to see Cindy holding me, and flashed her a grateful smile for her assistance.

I turned back towards the invisible circle and asked softly, “Can you tell me your name?”

There was enough of a pause that I wondered if the spirit would answer. Then, in a rush, a torrent of whispered words poured out. “Yes! Oh, yes! I am ordered never to reveal myself while I am inhabiting a body, but I am not! I am Ayoka! I am Ayoka, and it has been so very, very long since I have been allowed to tell anyone that. I am Ayoka!”

A whirlpool of blue light filled the circle for a moment, alarming Zarina enough that the wizard raised her hands and began to chant a spell. I held up a hand to ward her off, then quickly explained, “She’s…excited, I think. I don’t think she’s trying to escape right now. She told me her name, and that she can’t usually say it.”

For all the ghost’s antics as she spun in the entrapping circle, the air of the room barely stirred. When Ayoka eventually calmed down enough, she addressed me again. “Sir, I am sorry for what I tried to make Anastasia do. I cannot disobey my Mistress. Even talking to you now pains me, for I am commanded to search your abode to find the book my Mistress desires. I am trapped, though, so the compulsion is… bearable.”

I nodded along, fascinated.

It sounded as though whatever means Josina had used to bind the spirit to herself was more absolute than what Zarina or Sara experienced, closer to the bindings the summoning ritual placed on Cindy, but perhaps not quite as thorough. The two human women were rewarded for making me happy, and obeying my orders, respectively, but they weren’t technically forced to do so. They just wanted to very much. Cindy—and, it seemed, Ayoka—literally could not disobey an order if it was within their power. If I ordered Cindy to do the impossible, even if she knew it was outside of her grasp, she still had to try.

I glanced around for a moment in search of a seat, but the only places to sit nearby were the floor and the bed. I turned to Cindy, ordered her to get me a chair, then returned my attention to the captive spirit. “Ayoka, I understand. Can you tell me what your orders were? And what they are now? So I can help you if I can?”

The spirit was quiet for only a moment before answering. “Yes! We did not know who you were, only that the book had been found and taken from Mistress Janssen’s agents. The Mistress placed a spell on me that allowed me to sense when you performed magic from the book. My orders were to find you, and to learn your identity. If I could, I was to take the body of someone and use them to take the book from you. I could not take your Fae woman, so I possessed Anastasia to seduce you.”

I waited with a half smile on my face. Despite the less than ideal circumstances, the undercurrent of joy in Ayoka’s words as she was able to talk to someone on her own initiative was actually pretty delightful. She continued a moment later. “My standing orders are to never reveal my name or identity when I am controlling a person, to flee if I am discovered, to report to Mistress Janssens every three days if my orders do not otherwise instruct me, and to only ever address her as Mistress Janssens, and with respect.” Ayoka’s tone dropped, the joy leaving it again as she added, “Because I cannot reveal my name, I cannot ever fulfill the terms of my service.”

That caused me to change my line of questioning entirely. “Wait- what are the terms of your service? How did Josina enslave you?” A wail tore from Ayoka’s lips and the sound sent a chill up my spine. It also reminded me that while this was clearly a thinking being, she was just as clearly not a natural creature of the earth. Something about the sound filled my mind with images of open graves and the skeletal branches of dead trees.

For a moment, the ghost was silent, before again rushing into a whirlwind of activity which caused the barrier to flash with motes and streaks of light where her spectral essence touched it. I glanced towards Zarina, who had her hands up once more, but this time was waiting on my cue. I nodded at her, and she began chanting a spell, reinforcing the binding circle even as the ghost struggled against it. A minute or so later, the ghost settled back down.

Cindy returned, bearing two of the kitchen chairs, and both Zarina and I claimed one.

Ayoka began speaking, barely audible now, as though she had expended a substantial amount of her effort in her escape attempt. “I am sorry. I must try to escape, even if I am to fail. My binding—my service… it was my husband.” A broad swath of light appeared a few feet off the ground, and I realized the ghost had slumped to the floor and was leaning back against the circle.

“He was dying. The wasting disease—consumption. He was handsome and strong, but the disease, it reduced him to a skeleton of a man. He could not sleep, could not eat…” The whispers trailed off for a moment, only to resume seconds later. “I had heard of a woman in the wilds who could treat any disease. I had tried every doctor, every alchemist, every sage, and none had the answer, so I went to the Witch of the Wilds, Mistress Janssens.

“The price she asked seemed so simple. I had given all I had already to those who could not cure him, it seemed such a small thing. I was to serve her, for at least a week, or until my chosen gave me his seed thrice. There was even an agreement that Mistress Janssens would allow me to spend my nights with him, once he was cured.” A whispered sigh sent a chill up my spine as the visible light from the ghost flared, then mostly disappeared.

When Ayoka continued speaking a moment later, I could barely hear her. I had to lean forward just to pick up the faint hints of her despair filled voice. “It did not work. My husband lived, but no matter how often we lay together, my service to Mistress Janssens did not end. My husband died. I died. Still I must serve.”

The trapped spirit went silent, and I pulled myself upright in my chair. I glanced over to see Zarina and Cindy both looking at me expectantly, so I took a few moments to quickly sum up what Ayoka had revealed so far.

Zarina grimaced as I wrapped up and murmured, “Tuberculosis—what they called consumption—can cause sterility. Even if her husband was cured, the damage it did could linger, and they might never have even known. Ask her what the exact condition for release was, if she can tell you.”

I did, and the reply from Ayoka was immediate and cold—as though the spirit were reciting from a table of automobile accident fatality statistics, rather than the terms of her immortal spirit’s imprisonment. “I will serve Mistress Josina Janssens to the fullest extent of my capabilities for no less than a week, or until the one I choose, who chooses me, has thrice given me his seed.”

I waited until she finished, then repeated the details for the benefit of the two who couldn’t understand the words directly. One of the quirks of the ritual I’d used was that even though I wasn’t speaking for her benefit, Ayoka could still understand me perfectly well, and the ghost let out another sigh as I recited the terms of her imprisonment back at her.

Zarina winced again as I finished. “The bitch probably already knew her husband couldn’t ever deliver, and the allowance to sleep with her husband meant even if they caught on, Josina could have just forbidden her from sleeping with other men. And now that she’s a ghost, since she’s forbidden from ever revealing herself to someone, she can’t ‘be chosen’ even if she chooses someone.”

A vague idea crossed my mind at the wizard’s words, and I reached my hand up to tap my chin in thought. I took Zarina’s hand and squeezed it lightly with my own as I looked back towards the circle where the spirit was imprisoned. “It’s a shame you caught me on the day that you did. I was already feeling suspicious because of a recent attack, and being out in the open had me nervous. If Stacy had come onto me like she did then while I was at home, I would have taken her up on the offer. Hell, I still would, as long as I was safe. I’ve been wanting to sleep with her for months.”

The reply from Ayoka was quiet enough that I had to lean forward again to hear it. “I wish you much luck, Sir. She is curious about why you have so many women at your beck and call, though not yet enough to throw herself on your prick.”

At that announcement I asked curiously, “How do you know that? And how were you speaking English then if you can’t now?” My questions sparked another whirlwind of activity, and Zarina pulled her hand free to again reinforce the barrier as the ghost struggled.

Once she settled down, she spoke once more. “When I inhabit a body, I know the things the body knows, if I think of them. If I managed to take you, or one of yours, I could know immediately where the book was simply by trying to remember. If I took a random person on the street, I would not know of the affair they were carrying on, unless I took the time to consider the topic. The mind knows, but it does not offer the information, only delivers what it is asked.”

I took that in with a slow nod. “When do you need to leave to report to Janssens next?”

Traces of light appeared in the circle, which I eventually recognized as Ayoka stroking her fingertips down the inside of the barrier. She did so in silence for several long seconds before eventually responding. “Tonight. I must leave in an hour or so.”

The words emerged in a hushed whisper which carried such a sense of dread that I felt the hairs on my arms raise. I swallowed the lump that suddenly appeared in my throat and turned towards Zarina to ask, “Can you keep her trapped here for an hour and then release her so she can return?”

One of Zarina’s eyebrows arched high at that question, but she nodded her assent. “I can, Master, if you think that’s the best approach.” I squeezed her hand again and gave her a reassuring smile.

“I do. And if you’ll excuse me, I have a phone call I need to make that’s going to be really awkward, so I’m going to get it done before I chicken out.”

I rose, released Zarina’s hand and turned back towards the trapped spirit. “Ayoka, I am very sorry for what has been done to you. I hope you know that I can’t just… let you scout through here, or anything, so I’m going to ask Zarina to add more wards to keep you out, but… Well, I forgive you. I know it’s not your fault.”

The only response as I turned to depart was a quiet sob from the spirit.

The plight of the enslaved spirit left a bitter taste in my mouth.

A part of me wanted to be sad, to focus on the terrible fate that Josina Janssens had inflicted on her was.

A much larger part of me, though, was just angry. Maybe it was the continued influence of the Sin I felt through my connection to Cindy, but when I thought of the witch, my mind didn’t focus on the damage she had already done. Instead, a white hot Wrath flared up within me as I considered what she would surely do to any of the women around me if given the chance.

Ayoka hadn’t even been a part of the supernatural community prior to her bargain with the witch, she was just an innocent human desperately searching for a way to save her husband, and the treacherous bitch had turned that into a way to enslave her. I had zero doubt in my mind that Josina was already searching for ways to ensnare everyone close to me, since Cindy, Aubrette, Rose and Zarina all represented powerful supernatural forces in their own right, and she had demonstrated just how ruthless she could be.

Before I could let myself stew too much though, I had both a phone call to make and a Sin Demon to reward. Part of me wanted to make the phone call first, just to get it out of the way, but half a moment’s introspection revealed that I was in no mental state for it.

Instead, I focused on Cindy’s reward.

One of the quirks of how Cindy functioned was that the Sin Demon fed on the Sins of mortals, but not necessarily her own. She was highly motivated to keep the atmosphere sexually charged, because it amped up the Lust that Zarina, Sara and I—the only mortals in the apartment—generated, which Cindy could then absorb. Not to say that she wasn’t extremely enthusiastic about participating when called to, but the demon got as much or more out of helping me fuck the others as she did when she was the target of my desire.

One of the quirks of the ancient Puca compact that bound Rose to me was that the extremely busty Fae somehow knew when I needed or wanted to ride her—sometimes before I realized it myself.

As a result of the combination of those two factors, when I walked into the living room, there was no one around, but when I walked into my bedroom I was greeted by the sight of Rose and Sara kneeling side by side on the floor near my bed, facing me. Both women were topless, with Sara sporting a pleated skirt and Rose a skimpy pair of lacy black panties.

Cindy was naked, on her knees behind Rose so she could wrap her arms around the Puca’s torso and rub up and down the Puca’s massive pale tits. The goth bombshell’s enormous rack bounced heavily as the demon smeared coconut oil from a jar beside her all over it, repeatedly lifting the heavy breasts until the oil caused them to slip free of her grasp.

I raised my eyebrows at the scene and looked over the three women, then decided to take Cindy up on her previous advice and simply enjoy the women who had made it clear how available they were to me.

I shed my clothes as I walked across the room and stepped up in front of Sara. My hand reached down and I caressed her face gently, then commanded, “Open your mouth. I’m going to use it.”

After a moment’s consideration about the specifics of enchantment she was under, I added, “Enjoy having your mouth fucked. And play with yourself while I do it.”

Sara’s hands all but flew beneath her skirt and her jaw dropped open. Her eyes rolled back in her head as the magic pumped her mind full of pleasure in response to her obedience. As her fingers found her swollen clit, I took a half step forward and placed the head of my cock against her plump lips, then slid it forward into her hot waiting mouth. My hand slipped over the back of her head, and I held her in place as I began to slowly fuck her face.

I turned to look down at Rose and Cindy, the latter of whom was still playing with the former’s huge glistening tits. The sight of the slip of a demon wrapping herself around the curvaceous Puca’s pale body was erotic enough to begin with, but when she noticed me looking, the little blonde responded by leaning her head into Rose’s neck and starting to kiss and nuzzle at her skin. Her fingers dropped down over the Puca’s nipples, and gripped them just firmly enough that they didn’t slip from her fingers, then pulled and stretched them until the dark haired Fae moaned out loud. Sara’s voice joined hers as her fingertips began to dance over her dripping slit, and her moans sent pleasant vibrations running up my shaft.

I watched Cindy nuzzle her way into Rose’s neck and tug at her increasingly stiff nipples for a while, then announced, “Rose, you’re going to go lie down on the bed while Cindy works on your pussy. I’m going to fuck Sara’s face until I’m ready to switch, then then I’m going to fuck that big rack of yours and Sara is going to sit on your face. You’re going to do your best to make her cum a few times, then I’m going to use her pussy until I fill it with my cum.”

I looked around at the three women. Sara’s eyes were wide as she stared up at me, but with her lips stretched wide around my erection she couldn’t speak to respond. Cindy gave me several emphatic nods. Rose had craned her neck to make it more available to the demon behind her, but the look on her face was more sensual and languid than anything else.

The Puca’s bond with me differed from any of the others—she was compelled to be available for me to ride whenever I desired and rewarded for her service—but she wasn’t particularly submissive by nature. Instead, the curvy goth approached sex much the way she approached everything else in life, as a fun game she could play with others. I didn’t always know how she scored the game—sometimes she seemed to win by getting off as much as possible, sometimes by getting others off, or sometimes just by arranging things in a particular way that happened to please her at the time. No matter which of those struck her mood, though, she approached them all with a playful and hedonistic attitude that I always found refreshing.

A hum of pleasure from Sara caught my attention and I glanced down to see both of her hands working frantically beneath her skirt. When Rose held out a hand for me, without removing my thick cock from its current home, I reached down and pulled the curvaceous woman to her feet.

Once standing, Rose stepped in close and tilted her head back, closed her eyes and pursed her black lips. I leaned in and spent a few moments kissing them, then enjoyed a minute of tasting the refreshing herbal flavor of one woman’s mouth while another’s was stretched wide around the head of my cock.

When I broke the kiss, the Puca turned to head towards the bed as I’d ordered. She stopped halfway there, bent at the waist, and slowly worked her sopping wet panties down her legs, then stepped out of them to crawl up onto the bed.

Cindy was already there, waiting on hands and knees, and Rose took immediate advantage. She slid herself onto her back, spread her legs wide, and when the Sin Demon swiftly lowered her face between Rose’s thighs she responded by grabbing handfuls of multicolored hair and pulling the slender woman’s face into her cunt.

I watched for a few moments, then looked down. The pretty Latina woman on her knees in front of me was looking up with wide eyes, and it occurred to me that while the magic on her might have made her enjoy having her mouth wrapped around my thick cock, it didn’t necessarily do anything to relieve the strain on the muscles of her face.

I pulled my hips back until I slipped free, then waited as she worked her jaw back and forth for a few moments. Once it looked like she was starting to recover, I pointed towards the bed. “Go sit on Rose’s face like a good sex slave, and let her eat your pussy while I fuck her big tits. I’ll use your cunt when I’m ready to finish.” Another shiver ran through her body as my orders rolled over her, and she actually climbed her way up my body in her haste to obey.

She paused long enough to kiss my chest and wrap her hand around my with a firm squeeze, and whispered, “Yes, Master, thank you, Master!” Then she was off, scrambling across the bed to straddle Rose’s face, her fantastic ass pointed at me. She kept her pleated skirt on and the garment draped over the Puca’s head, concealing exactly what was happening, but from the, “Oh, FUCK yes!” that emerged from Sara’s lips a few moments later, I could make a pretty good educated guess.

I took my time sauntering across the bedroom so I could watch the three women on my bed. I couldn’t help but reflect on the knowledge that without the book—without Mycah’s ill-advised summoning attempt—I would never have been in this situation. Even with the drama, even with actual attempts having been made on my life, I said a silent word of thanks for the forces that brought me here.

Then I climbed up onto the bed, swung one leg over Rose’s torso to straddle her, and dropped my wet shaft between her incredible breasts.

Part of the Oath that Aubrette had sworn to me caused Sidhe magic, Glamour, to flow between us as she drew on me to sustain herself in the mortal world. As a side effect of channeling the magic of Fae, my body had been altered, becoming slightly more exaggerated, much as the Sidhe themselves. I’d become taller, my muscles slightly better defined—even if that didn’t itself come with any enhanced functionality. My dick had gotten bigger. It wasn’t about to go in any book of records, but I had an inch or so to work with that I hadn’t possessed before.

Despite that extra size, as I positioned my erection between Rose’s tits, my full length vanished from sight. The Puca’s face was buried between Sara’s thighs so she couldn’t actually see what was happening, but she showed no hesitation in lifting her hands to press her massive orbs together to apply slippery gentle pressure around my shaft. The air smelled of coconut oil and wet pussy, and as I started to fuck Rose’s titanic cleavage I idly wondered if I was going to get hard the next time I ordered a Piña Colada.

The next several minutes were a chorus of mostly Sara and Rose groaning out their pleasure. Cindy obediently tongue-fucked Rose’s slick cunt, while the Puca passed that favor on to my landlady, and I took advantage of the largest pair of breasts I’d ever seen in real life. I occasionally reached down to tweak and tug Rose’s nipples, drawing out a spasm of movement from the woman each time and gradually turning my hands slick from the oil coating her.

That, in turn, gave me an idea. Without pausing the movement of my hips, I reached forward and flipped up the back of Sara’s pleated skirt, revealing her toned muscular ass. Sara wasn’t enthusiastic about anal sex in the same way Zarina was, but she’d never been particularly resistant to the idea. I began to tease her asshole with one finger, which drew a louder groan and caused her to lean forward to make herself more readily accessible to my touch.

I took that as my cue to go further, and firmly pressed my index finger against her asshole. The tight ring of muscles resisted, then slowly relaxed until the digit slipped in. I slowly worked it back and forth until I was able to do so smoothly, then started pumping that one finger in and out in time with the rhythm of my hips, fingerfucking her ass while Rose tongued her pussy.

It took less than a minute of that stimulation before Sara’s lips parted to shout, “Fuck! Fuck yes, Master! Fucking finger your fucktoy’s asshole while I ride your big titty goth bitch’s face! Oh fuck! Oh fuck! Oh FUUUCK, yes! Cumming! Fuck, Cumming Master! Fuuuuuuuuuuuucckkkkkkyes!!”

Sara collapsed forward. Her face hit the blankets near the top of the bed, but her thighs remained clamped around Rose’s head, hips working slowly as the Puca and I continued to tease out the last of her orgasm. Then I heard a muffled series of curses from between Sara’s thighs as Cindy managed to bring Rose to an orgasm of her own, though the words that emerged were all but incomprehensible.

That was all the sign I needed. I shifted my legs—having to move a little awkwardly to straddle Rose’s shoulders—and positioned the head of my cock against Sara’s cunt. I didn’t wait for permission, didn’t give any warning, I simply claimed her pussy for myself by sliding the full length of my cock home.

She shivered at the sensation, still sensitive from her recent orgasms, but when I whispered, “Fuck me back,” the order hit her brain and she slammed her ass back against me, impaling herself along my full length. “Oh, Fuck, Master, yes please. Fuck your toy. Use your fucktoy and fill my pussy. Please?”

Her pleas were music to my ears, and as enjoyable as they were unnecessary. The walls of Sara’s hot cunt squeezed down firmly around me as I fucked her. I was already well stimulated thanks to Rose’s tits, so I knew I wasn’t going to last long, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I wrapped slightly oily hands around Sara’s hips, grabbed them for leverage and fucked her hard. Every now and then I’d feel Rose’s tongue dart out to play with my balls as she alternated between tonguing my testicles and Sara’s clit and brought both of us ever closer to orgasm. Sara tried her best to keep up her verbal encouragement, but as sensation overwhelmed her she rapidly devolved into a chant of “Fuck yes! Fuck me Master! Fuck yes!”

I came. The orgasm had been building for a while, but all at once I felt it well up within me, felt my balls tighten and as waves of pleasure rush up from my abdomen and overtake my body.

I made no effort to slow it down. I needed this, needed to just give in and indulge myself for a while. Needed to just revel in the feel of Sara’s tight cunt as it spasmed around my cock, the feel of pulse after pulse of my seed firing down my shaft to fill her with my cum exactly as she had begged.

Rose’s tongue shifted and began to lap at the edge of my dick where I was still buried in Sara before my orgasm had even begun to fade. The Puca wasn’t actually all that enthusiastic about oral sex—though she was game for it if asked—but had something of a fixation on my cum. When I pulled my hips back and my wet cock slipped free, the Fae immediately dove back into my landlady’s cunt in search of the load I had just deposited.

I flopped over to the side and sprawled out on my back with a happy sigh. There was still anger present in the back of my head, still Wrath at everything Josina represented, but it was hard to remain actively angry right after having my balls drained.

Sara continued to moan for a few minutes as Rose worked out every drop of cum she could retrieve, but eventually the Puca wriggled her way free. She leaned in for a quick sloppy kiss with Cindy as the Sin Demon rose to her knees, then slid off the bed and held out a hand to me. I raised an eyebrow, but took it and let myself get pulled off the bed and towards the shower.

Thirty minutes later, I was back in bed, but far cleaner, with Rose snuggled up to one side and Sara on the other. None of us were in much of a mood for speech, but the feel of them pressed to my side went a long way towards helping me feel safe and happy. I knew it was probably irrational, but I felt much happier being able to hold them physically to my side, as though that would somehow ward off the threats looming in the distance.

I still had a phone call to make, but that would have to wait until morning.