CHAPTER 6

Seeker’s head was spinning. Everything was spinning. She was nauseous, and confused, and could distantly hear two voices speaking. What in the heavens had happened?

“I–I… I know. B–but you can help her. I… I need you to help her,” came Lanri’s voice. It took Seeker everything she had to focus on it. She processed the words slowly, and the effort was rewarded with awareness of a headache she would much have preferred to not notice. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but talking just wasn’t going to happen yet.

“I suppose I could help her, lost one,” said the other voice, a man. He sounded sympathetic. But Lanri… The poor thing was miserable, like she’d lost everything dear to her all over again. Seeker could feel it radiating from her. “Though I don’t dare get close to her myself. Will you be my instrument to help her? I’ll just cas–”

“YES!” Lanri yelped. It was a shrill, desperate-sounding agreement, and it did nothing to help Seeker’s headache. She could feel Lanri moving away from her. “I–I’ll do it! Just help her, please.”

Help who? Help her? No, Lanri. I don’t need help. I just need a moment.

“As you wish,” the man’s voice said. “Ceannas.” The exclamation was laced with purpose, charged with power. She could sense Lanri’s thoughts, her briefest relief that he was helping, and then sheer dread as it beat her into submission. That spell was an evil thing, Seeker knew. She felt it wrap Lanri’s mind up, harnessing her, ready to tighten any one of an uncountable amount of reins. She groaned as she felt the distress it caused Lanri second hand.

“Sounds like your Seeker is waking up, lost one. You’ll stay silent and where you are,” the man bade. She could feel Lanri’s panic building as she figured out what the spell did to her. “Oh, and you’ll never point that wand at me again, of course,” he added.

She could hear him walking around, quietly tutting at her and Lanri in disapproval. “So. You’re the great Seeker. You don’t look like much down there, crumpled up as you are.”

Shut up.

“I’m fairly confident she’s mostly awake. Help her up,” he told Lanri, and Seeker could hear the young woman scramble towards her. She was shivering when she touched her, gently lifting her from under her shoulders, and putting her up against the pedestal of Ishara’s statue. Fear oozed from the poor thing. I screwed up. I screwed up. I screwed up, repeated over and over again in her thoughts.

When she opened her eyes, she was looking at Lanri’s pretty dark face, tears streaming down it in several glistening streaks. She was shivering slightly, utterly terrified. “You look awful, dear,” she whispered, which had the desired effect of getting her to crack a smile. She reached up behind the back of her head, and when she looked at her hand, a faint hint of red highlighted her fingerprints. “That’s not good,” she mumbled, and looked up at her mortal companion. “Did I hit my head after you pushed me?”

Lanri nodded, then reached into her pocket to produce a bloodied handkerchief, which she pressed against Seeker’s nose. “And a nosebleed, too?” She asked, getting the message. Lanri nodded again. She shuddered slightly, remembering the last time blood had come out of her nose.

She glanced up at the runes in the ceiling and floor. I guess I’m stuck here, she mused, now having been made painfully aware of her inability to cross them.

“Yes, yes,” the man’s voice came. She and Lanri both looked towards the doorway leading into the shrine, and faced the demon that stood there. “Your little mortal pet was really quite concerned about you. Why, I do think she would have offered me her soul if she thought it would help me save your life.”

She could feel Lanri’s fear of this creature spike again, and she scampered around, putting herself behind Seeker.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have taken it. Oh, no. She let the stink of Ishara seep into her very being, and that’s never coming out. You must have really taken your time to find her, once my little trap was set. Oh, and how eagerly you walked into it.”

All the gods, she did not want to listen to a demon’s gloating. She rolled her eyes, and turned away from him, facing Lanri. "We'll be out of here soon, my dear."

"I hardly think so!" The demon scoffed. "You're mine twice over, Heartwarden. Oh, this is just perfect! I had such an elaborate scheme cooked up to keep you cooperative, but you gave me something even better. Handed it to me on a silver platter."

Seeker did her best to ignore him. She knew they were in trouble; She didn't need him to explain how badly.

"Look at me, Seeker," the demon demanded. She focused on Lanri. She took in the woman's thoughts, and fears. Why is he wearing such an ugly suit? Stood out to her as a particularly amusing one, and she flashed the mortal a smile as if to say I don't know. They just do that. She doubted Lanri actually got that from her glance, but she calmed down a little, regardless.

“Seeker,” the demon repeated. “You know very well just how detrimental your disobedience could be to your little mortal. Look. At. Me.” Seeker gritted her teeth. She understood his threat perfectly well. Ceannas was an evil spell; as long as Lanri was under its influence, her life lay in his hands, and he knew it. She took Lanri’s hand to comfort the woman, then turned to face him, finally getting a good look at him.

Bright red skin, white hair, a tail, wings, and perfectly black eyes, the demon stood well over six feet tall, and oozed superiority. “There she is!” He happily proclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Oh, yes. I wager this might just be my finest hour. Don’t you agree, lost one?”

“Absolutely!” Lanri loudly – if resentfully – declared from behind her, the spell drawing the word from her lips. Seeker could feel her revulsion at the word, and she squeezed her hand a little tighter.

“Yes, I think it is,” he said, taking a seat on the floor, just beyond the faint warp that marked the magic cell’s edge. “Oh, I’ll be remembered for this! The day Gorance sold Ishara’s Seeker.” He gestured grandly as he spoke, like this was all some show he was putting on in a theater. “It will be so much fun: so memorable! Maybe The Lord Sorcerer himself will buy you!” He gasped, “oh, yes! That would be perfect! Word would spread; Ishara’s entire church would be forced to acknowledge me. Both for my theft of the dress, and my theft of you.”

Calling you an arrogant creature would be putting things lightly, Seeker mused. Kidnapping an angel for what? Renown? “I think you’re overestimating how many people are willing to offend Ishara to that degree,” she told him. “She will want me back.”

“Yes,” he purred, leaning forward. “I know she will. And she’s more than welcome to buy you back herself. I’ll have gotten mine, either way.”

“The sheer fucking hubris,” Seeker spat. “You honestly think Ishara won’t crush you like a bug for this?”

“I honestly don’t,” Gorance easily replied. His tail gently swayed back and forth behind him, in a lazy, buoyant, sort of way. “Ishara is the goddess of desire and lust, is she not? I doubt she’ll mind. After all, I’m counting on people lusting after and desiring you, just like your little pet does.”

Seeker could feel Lanri shrink a little farther. She was well aware of the woman’s feelings for her, of course, and they were all too natural. But she understood that Lanri was a little on the squeamish side. When in their right minds, few mortals in her position would be eager to explore their feelings for another so soon after any one of the things that had recently happened to her.

“My aura obeys me, as your gaze does you,” she told him. “I won’t abuse it for anyone’s benefit, let alone yours.”

He leaned forward more, placing his hands on the temple’s floor for support as he said, “yes, you will.” There was a cold certainty to the statement that sent a shiver down Seeker’s spine. “Your pet will take out the brooch, and do as Ishara wills,” he said, and with a villainous grin gestured what manner of suffering would befall Lanri should she not cooperate.

Behind her, she could hear Lanri whimper in frustration. Gorance quirked an eyebrow, and flicked his head towards her, bidding Seeker to look. When she did, she saw Lanri with her hand halfway to the back of her head, and a bewildered look on her face. When she tried to access her thoughts, the words must and can’t came up in them again and again. Two amazingly powerful spells were in conflict, giving fundamentally incompatible instructions like a single soldier with a different general shouting at her on either side.

“Oh, my,” Gorance intoned. “You put a spell on her!? How devious of you.” She returned to look at him, and saw his tail had begun to wag excitedly. “A Heartwarden using her powers to suppress desire in a mortal? That’s tantamount to blasphemy! Come here, lost one.”

Lanri scampered towards the demon immediately, letting out a nervous whine as she did. Her thoughts were filled with fear for both of their safety, and a desperate desire to just go home. She came to a stop in front of him, her pose somewhere between kneeling and cowering as with a single flick, he plucked the brooch from her, and pushed her back into the ring of runes.

Seeker caught her with a grunt, and for a few seconds, nothing happened. She was dampening her aura as much as possible, and only the flimsiest of mortal souls would be compelled to action by it. “Go on, Seeker,” the demon commanded, malice in his eyes. “Show me your aura. You wouldn’t want me to think I wasted my time, would you?”

Hesitantly, she obeyed. She understood the threat, knew what he could do to Lanri if she caused too much trouble. As she slowly uncovered more and more of her aura, the slight mortal got up onto her knees, and turned to face her. For a few moments, she simply gawked at her. She didn’t even need to look into her mind, everything was obvious. The same awe and adoration she’d seen on her before filled those wide eyes. Hero, and savior were doubtlessly at the forefront of her mind.

She giggled, and the dull expression on her face was replaced by the one Gorance no doubt wanted to see. Sheer desire. Lust. Hunger, even. “I love you,” she whispered, and began to undo the laces holding her jacket closed. Seeker moved away slightly. She truly was flattered by Lanri’s affections, and she still wasn’t opposed to the idea, but this felt wrong.

“Oh, what’s wrong, Heartwarden?” The demon taunted. “Is your devotee so intimidating? Or do you just not want her?” She turned away from Lanri to glare at him.

“What’s the point of thi–” she was cut off by Lanri’s weight suddenly slamming into her, the small woman clawing at Seeker’s cardigan, desperate to get at her. “Calm down!” she snapped at her, and surprisingly, Lanri just shook her head no as she continued.

“You don’t want to stop, lost one?” Gorance asked. That briefly slowed Lanri down, the mortal turning to repeat the same gesture of no. “I didn’t think you would. Tell Seeker why.”

“That’s… not what Ishara wants,” came Lanri’s breathy response before she pounced onto Seeker again, and straddled her. She clumsily kicked one of her boots off as she straddled her, and drew her wand. She pointed it a meter away from them, and purred, “leudach lasag.” A little bolt of white flame shot out, and came to rest on the floor. It bathed them both in a pleasant warm glow. Lanri smiled at it fondly for a second.

Even now, with Seeker’s aura amplifying her sex drive and almost completely suppressing her inhibitions, Lanri revered that wand and its power. She couldn’t imagine the pretty mortal ever letting anyone else use it, yet she’d barely hesitated when she had asked to. Lanri gently tossed the wand to the side, onto her discarded jacket, and returned her attention to Seeker. “A–are you going to take your clothes off, yet?” She eagerly asked with a grin on her face.

Seeker glared at the demon who reveled in the spectacle. “This isn’t–” she was cut off by Lanri’s finger shushing her, before she leaned in close enough to kiss her. The mortal woman giggled into her mouth, and hummed happily. Looking into her mind, it was filled sheer satisfaction, and fantasies of them together in various fantastical places. Some of the fantasies involved Ishara’s approving gaze, most of them were just about her, and nowhere did it even cross her mind that she might not doing this entirely willingly. At least you’re enjoying it, Seeker thought.

Lanri broke the kiss long enough to pull her undershirt over her head, and kicked her other boot off. She looked down at her, the light from the magic flame shining up at her and the angle combining to give Lanri an oddly intimidating look.

“You’re pretty…” Lanri muttered as she looked down at her. She leaned forward, starting to guide Seeker’s top over her head. “And you smell nice…” She added, examining Seeker’s chest like a conqueror gazing over her newest vassal state. When did you get so assertive? “You should have let me do this before we left home,” she purred as she hooked her thumbs into her pants, and began to pull them down.

“Lanri, dear, you really should–”

“No!” Lanri insisted, smiling. “No, no. No shoulds. No waits.” She leaned forward, pants still around her knees. She propped herself up on one arm, and reached down with the other, gently tracing along Seeker’s belly with the backs of her nails until she reached her pants. With a swift, practiced motion, she undid Seeker’s belt. “This is what Ishara wants. It’s what you want. It’s even what I want.”

It was tempting to let Lanri continue, all the gods was it tempting. Lanri was surprisingly confident, and so obviously wanted to do this. But she shouldn’t, she knew. The poor thing was putting her own willingness in third place, and Seeker knew she wasn’t thinking clearly. As Lanri’s hand gently made its way into her underwear, she whispered, “do you really want to make me happy, Lanri?”

The darker woman froze, nodding desperately. “I–I do!” She stammered. That little question seemed to put so much doubt in her mind. She smiled as she reached into her thoughts, and found the familiar nerves mixed in with her avarice. She was desperate to make Seeker happy, desperate to feel like she’d repaid her for saving her. “I…” She whined, “I… I love you! I want to make you feel good. L–like Ishara wants. And I want to help you.”

Help, huh? That gave her an idea. She propped herself up, gently kissing Lanri to stall as she worked it out. The spell he used relies on commands being received, not just intent. It was a simple thing to think, but it rang true to her. Lanri needed to be able to obey his wishes to carry out his threats. “Do you really want to help me, and make me feel good, Lanri?” She asked.

“Y–yes!” Lanri declared, pulling her hand out of Seeker’s pants, instead putting it on the side of her head to pull her closer for another kiss. It wasn’t quite as aggressive as the first one. It was a slower, more deliberate affair.

“Alors, dormez,” she intoned once Lanri broke the kiss, imbuing the words with every morsel of power Ishara had delegated to her.

“Stay awake!” The demon commanded as soon as she cast the spell. She looked into Lanri’s thoughts; worried he’d be able to intercept her spell, or worse, that they’d come into conflict again. She smiled in satisfaction as she saw her mind turn to static regardless of his efforts.

“Buth…” Lanri stammered as her expression turned into a disinterested, confused approximation of a smile, and after a brief, quivering effort to maintain her balance, she collapsed onto her. “I wanna finizh nexsh thime…” She slurred.

“We will,” Seeker assured her, and sighed in relief as Lanri started to snore into her neck, her mind safe from any more of this demon’s schemes.

“How very clever,” the demon said, rolling his eyes at her as he straightened.

“I thought so.” Seeker replied, carefully pulling Lanri’s pants back up, before rolling her off of her. She gently caressed the snoring woman’s cheek, then set to getting her redressed. As long as they were in Gorance’s company, she would be in mortal danger, of course. But at least now he couldn’t terrorize her.

“You’re still coming with me, of course,” he told her, seeming to check his nails for dirt. “Whether your little pet walks or not is less than irrelevant.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Seeker said as she pulled her blouse back on. “But that doesn’t entitle you to a peep show.”

Halfway through putting Lanri’s boots back on, Gorance said, “Do you honestly think that’s how I get my kicks? Give me some credit, Heartwarden.” He pronounced Heartwarden like it was an insult. “I just needed to make my point.”

“What? That she likes me?” Seeker said. Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. “What a grand reveal.”

“That you like her,” he told her. “You genuinely care for her, which makes my job so much easier. Most of your ilk would just have their fun with her, then throw her away as easily as a devil might. They certainly wouldn’t invent an excuse to take her with them on a job like this.” He paused, raising a finger, which flicked between them several times. “We can’t kill each other, not really. The other would eventually come back. But her?” He asked, pointing at Lanri. “Oh, I can kill her just fine. And that would be an injury you never really recover from, wouldn’t it? Ishara would forbid you to forget something like that, I’m sure. And I would be the one to inflict it. Oh, how delightfully memorable it would be.”

Seeker glared at him, instinctively putting herself between Lanri and himself as he spoke. “What’s your point, demon? I would have thought using my aura was enough to prove that I understand your threats.”

“My point is: You’ll behave. No enchanted restraints and gags would ever make you as vulnerable as she does. It was more convenient to have her awake, but let’s be honest, it won’t matter.”

“It matters to her,” Seeker said with a sigh as she carefully fished Lanri’s wand from her jacket. “She doesn’t need this abuse. Obviously I’ll play along when you have a fucking hostage.”

“Outstanding,” Gorance purred. “Then, allow me to explain what you’ll be doing for me.”