Re: The Dark Magnate
Rehagamon merely smiled at that. Her tears gave her eyes a beautiful sparkle, and the smell of her sweat stimulated him. It would be terrible waste to not have her around, but if having a powerful man holding her down made her afraid for her life then she wasn't suitable as a lover. He had a better idea anyway.
He leaned down an whispered into her ear, "I don't want to kill you." He let go of her arms and raised up into a squat, still looming over her.
She took the opportunity to scramble to the nearby pillar, and hid behind it. She poked her head out the other side, revealing only one green eye and looked directly into his. "You're... you're not going to eat me?" she asked, her voice still trembling.
He stood up to his full height and chuckled, "Not even a nibble."
"Then, you'll let me go?" she whined, hiding her face behind the pillar again.
"No," he replied flatly, still smiling. "You're lovely, so I'm going to keep you." She whimpered again. "Tell me, are you one of the slaves the imps bought?"
"No. I wasn't."
"Were taken from your home then?"
"No..." she answered again, as he took a few silent steps towards up to the pillar.
"So you were the one they found sleeping in a ditch. That's no place for a princess," he said a little softly.
"I'm not a princess," she replied almost defiantly. She then yelped and jumped to the side as something poked her in the rear. She saw a long appendage coming around the pillar, the demon's tail, wiggling in the air a couple of times before disappearing. She then turned and saw the Demon Lord's face at eye level with hers, smiling mischievously at her around the other side. She reared back a couple of steps, finding the wall behind her.
"What were you doing there? That doesn't sound very comfortable."
She looked down at the ground, tears welling up again. "I didn't have anywhere else to go" she said, almost whispering. "It was dry, and nobody ever goes up the mountain, so I thought I'd be alone."
Rehagamon's smile left his face. He didn't care much for the girl's life experience. But in the context of getting her loyalty, he had to consider her feelings into the equation. He never experienced sadness, being a demon, but the concept wasn't beyond his comprehension.
"So, you have nowhere to go. What's wrong with staying here?" he asked. She turned her head to the side and took a step, following the wall. "I'm more than happy to keep you fed and safe here, though not without some conditions."
She looked back at the demon, wary.
Entering a pact with a demon means losing your soul, the legends said.
And demons are cunning creatures that will make the agreements entirely in their favor without your knowledge. "You can't have my soul."
Rehagamon chuckled again. "I don't want your soul. Promise. I just want you to do some leg work, and to accept a boon from me."
"Leg work?" she asked.
"You're very fast. I want to make use of your mobility."
She looked right into his eyes, still on the verge of tears, but not entirely sad. "You're offering me food and shelter, in exchange for some work. What kind of work?"
"I want you to go places and look around." "Go where?" "I don't know. It's been a long time since I've been alive, and many things have no doubt changed. That's why I want someone to go places and take in the sights."
She looked away for a second, still considering. "Food and shelter, and I just go places and look around? That doesn't sound too bad."
"You're forgetting about the boon I'm giving you," he reminded her. She looked back at him as he went on. "We go back into that room, and I perform a ritual on you. It won't hurt you or take your soul away. It is just something I do for my surveyors."
She bit her lip at that. She didn't believe in magic until imps captured her. They kept going on about how she'll be sacrificed to resurrect Rehagamon, but that turned out to be false, since the ritual to do was finished when the knights came in. She was still upset that they died, but the Demon Lord himself didn't give her the impression that he was evil, aside from his freakish tail and horns, and massive height and... But his offer seemed too mundane to be dangerous. A safe place to live in exchange for work and some ritual. It was the same thing as any feudal lord would offer a servant, only instead of a demon casting magic spells, a priest would bless their agreement.
"All right," she agreed, "I'll work for you. But I want my things back. The imps took everything away when they put me in this outfit."
"Agreed, then. I am Rehagamon, Demon Lord."
"Ema Sheppard."
Rehagamon held out his hand towards the broken doors back to the altar room. "After you, my dear."
She nodded and began walking back down the hallway, the large demon keeping pace. She took a glance back every few steps, and he took the opportunity to admire the sway of her hips when she wasn't looking.
Gaznit, the Elder Imp was kneeling next to the broken down doors of the altar room, waiting for its master. "My lord. The room is prepared for the rituals, and the prisoners are ready." It looked up and noticed the girl stepping over the wooden planks nervously, the Demon Lord right behind her. "Master? This girl?"
"She has agreed to work for me. We will be performing the Ritual of Eyes on her first, then we will work on the others."
"As you wish, master."
Ema turned back and faced the demon lord. "What are you going to do with them?" she asked nervously.
"Don't question your master, human!" snarled Gaznit.
- Drop the subject and carry on. It doesn't concern her.
- Don't exactly reveal what's going to happen to the other prisoners, but try not to lie.
- Tell Ema exactly what's going on. They're going to be transformed into Broodmothers or Dark Magicians, depending on how he feels.
- Gaznit is doing his job. Ema works for us now, and if it doesn't concern her she doesn't need to know until she witnesses it.
- Gaznit is over steping his bounds. Tell him off. We want Ema to be separate from the imp hierarchy.
- Gaznit is being a prick. Slap him. We want Ema to know she's worth more than him.
- Gaznit is the one that's being insolent. But he's very useful. Execute some other random imp as an example.
~---~
Rehagamon has recruited Ema Sheppard as an employee.
Also, everyone who votes on the "Dat Ass" poll in
Experimental Fate that doesn't get the option they voted for, gets a free extra vote coupon they can use at any time down the line in this C.Y.O.A.
First person to tell me how to fix that sentence will get their vote counted twice on the above poll.