Chapter Six: The Demon Queen Reveals Her Sinister Plan And Her True Power!

Malefice. The very name was enough to cause even the stoutest heart in Aeternia to quail in fear.

Through sinister magics, she had woven her control into every corner of Aeternian life. Her demonic armies stood ready to crush any opposition to her rule. Once proud kingdoms paid her tribute rather than risk her wrath. She tolerated the worship of no gods but herself, and her power was such than any would-be heroes who tried to stand against her she crushed like bugs, relishing their futile struggles as proof of her own supremacy.

And so it was that that Aeternia became a land bereft of love. A land cloying under the oppressive weight of a narcissistic tyrant. A land calling out for a hero.

Luckily, one bright day, a hero was summoned.

A hero named--

"Sweetie! There's someone at the door!"

Chad reflexively locked the computer screen and spun his chair around at the sound of Euridice's voice. Strange, he thought. Jeff was the only person who really dropped by unanounced and he was back in LA.

He walked through the lounge to the front door, where Euridice - thankfully wearing an illusion - was leaning against the doorframe talking to a sharply dressed middle-aged white woman whose graying auburn hair was pulled back into a tight bun.

"Hi there," the stranger said, extending a hand. "Your wife was saying that you were the owner of this house?"

"Girlfriend," Chad clarified, shaking her hand. "And yes, that's right. What's this about?"

"Oh I'm sorry," she said. "I rather assumed. My name is Karen Carpenter-"

"Like the singer?" Chad asked before he could stop himself. Karen stiffened.

"No relation," she said tersely. "As I was saying, I represent a group of--"

"Chaaaa~~aaad-sama..." NekoNeko called out from the living room. "Your kitty wants to plaaa~aaay--"

Euridice and Chad exchanged a panicked glance and the angel quickly moved to intercept her.

"Nyatalie!" Euridice said, using the alias they'd agreed on for use around people who weren't in on the secret. "Chad's just talking to a nice woman who popped over unnanounced--"

"What?!" the catgirl snapped, leaping into the hallway. Fortunately she was dressed - in a loose singlet top and booty shorts, granted, but she was covered up enough for polite company. Unfortunately, Euridice didn't have time to cast an illusion, so Kate was confronted with the vision of NekoNeko's cat ears and bristling tail.

"Go away you witch!" she hissed. "Chad-sama doesn't need any more hussies! He has enough hussies all ready! And also Nek- Nyatalie! Who really should be enough but if Chad-sama insists on keeping inferior women around out of a sense of charity, it is not Nyatalie's place to object too strenuously!"

Euridice shot a resigned look at Chad and pushed the smaller girl by the shoulders back into the lounge, kicking the door closed behind her.

"...I can explain," Chad said to Karen, who wore an exceptionally disapproving look on her face.

"No need," she said. "I'm quite sure it is some abhorrent Tic Tac viral trend that I do not need to know about. But what you need to know, Mister Whittaker, is that your neighbours have called a meeting to discuss forming a new Homeowner's Association."

Karen handed him a large envelope stamped with a logo for something called "Oculus Property Management Services."

"You've been invited to a meeting tomorrow night to discuss the services and benefits forming an HOA can have for you and for your community," Karen continued as if she hadn't just handed Chad a live bomb. "As I'm sure you're aware, Detroit is a city on the rise, and we all want to do our part to make sure that everyone can participate in the recovery."

Chad bit his tongue, keeping his powder dry.

"Look, I like to keep to myself," Chad said. "East Taylor's a good, quiet neighborhood. I don't think this is really necessary..."

"Just come to the meeting," the woman assured him. "I'm sure you'll find it very interesting, and who doesn't want to protect or increase their property value?"

Chad thanked her for her time and sent her on her way, closing the door behind her with a sigh. He could barely afford to live in this place as it was, how the hell was he going to cope with a hike in property taxes if the values went up?

"Aha!" NekoNeko said triumphantly, bursting into the hallway. "I knew that shrew was not good enough for Chad-sama!"

"Yeah but she might still fuck us all yet," he muttered. "And not in no nice way."

*****

In the end, all five of them turned out to hear the HOA management company's pitch, illusions in place and dressed to impress.

Which meant different things for each of them, of course. Euridice wore a nice fluffy sweater and tasteful pearl earings. Dahlia had poured herself into a little black dress and severe black pumps. Yuri, not wanting to draw attention to herself, was just wearing jeans and a T shirt but she'd taken the trouble to make sure the shirt was crisp and pressed. NekoNeko had even been persuaded to wear something with more coverage than a bathing suit, borrowing a blouse and slacks, although she couldn't stop herself tugging at the collar.

About eighty people had turned up to the meeting. Most of them were older than Chad. West Taylor had been the kind of neighborhood people could buy into back when Detroit still had good factory jobs and was fairly racially diverse. It was considered a "near middle-class" suburb according to the hasty research Chad had done last night into the murky world of property values and covenants and liens and other arcane legal implements of control.

He did not believe in going into battle unprepared.

The people in this room... he couldn't blame them. Most of them he'd known all his life, if not by name then as familiar faces when he and his friends had played in the streets. When his dad had died and he'd come back to bury him and take over the house, many of them had offered their condolences and dropped off casseroles, the kind of small gestures that neighbors did for each other, the little social graces that kept a community together. It had been one of the things that had convinced him that moving back had been the right thing to do. As much fun and as fast paced as LA could be... this was where his roots were.

No. He couldn't blame them. Owning a house in this day and age, hell that was probably the only financial security they had, so if some slick-talking suit came around talking about double-digit growth and opportunities and other weasel words, well, he could see how that'd tempt anyone.

Chad and his lovers took their places in the third row in the community hall. A raised stage with a trestle table and a microphone rose above them, and he could see Karen Carpenter fussing about with papers and water jugs. Euridice squeezed his thigh.

"It's OK," she said, reassuring warmth in every syllable. "We've been through a lot worse than this."

"I'd rather be punching demons and dodging fireballs to be honest," Chad replied with a smile. "You know where you are with fireballs."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Euridice gave him a knowing smile and turned to face the stage as Karen tapped on the microphone.

"Attention! Attention everyone, thank you- thank you for coming, if you could take your seats please," Karen said officiously, a hollow smile on her face. The crowd's hubbub faded as everyone took their seats.

"Thanks again," she said. "I really appreciate you coming out tonight and taking time out of your busy schedules. We here at Occulus Property Management value your time, and I promise you will be interested in what we have to say. Now, I'd just like to introduce our partners-"

Two men and a woman, each wearing sharp, expensive suits, walked onto the stage, and Chad's heart dropped.

It was her.

What-- he thought, his mind racing. How--

"-- and this is our CEO and Michigan Retailer of the Year three years running," Karen said, gesturing at the woman. "Ms Mal Finch."

'Mal Finch' gave a polite bow at the small scatter of applause.

"Chad," Euridice hissed in his ear. "That's--"

"Malefice," he muttered. "Her pseudonym is a little on the nose, don't you think?"

"She never had much imagination," Dahlia chimed in, wanting to contribute.

"Thank you, thank you," Malefice said, taking the microphone as her associates sat at the table. "As Karen was saying, we're so glad so many of you came out tonight to hear about what we can do for you. I look out, and I don't see you as clients. No. I see a community."

Malefice looked Chad right in the face as she said this, her full red lips pursed in a predatory smile.

"A community with promise," she said, clicking a remote. A PowerPoint slide flickered into place, projected onto the wall, showing a CGI rendering of a West Taylor street - but transformed, with trees lining the road, the houses all brightly painted, a Tesla in each driveway and preppy-looking couples jogging together.

"A community that can work together to make this suburb great again," she continued. "Occulus Property Management looks after communities all throughout Michigan -" another slide, showing a series of bar graphs climbing by believable steps "-showing that when a properly managed Homeowners Association pools their resources to beautify the neighborhood, property values skyrocket, and residents report greater happiness and contentment in our customer feedback surveys."

"Essentially, the dues you would pay into the HOA would be used to improve and beautify the neighborhood," she continued, clicking through a series of slides showing a sketch of an idyllic upmarket swimming pool, a tennis court, and even a country clubhouse. "In turn, these amenities imrpove your property values and are open for your use. In time, we can make East Taylor the kind of place you would be proud to raise your children."

"But West Taylor is already a place where I'd be proud to raise my children," Chad said, getting to his feet. "A community isn't swimming pools and country clubs. A community is people."

"Ah. Yes. Our resident bigamist," Malefice sneered. "That's one of the things we're going to need to talk about. Nothing hurts property values more than scandal--"

"I don't know what a bigamist is but Chad-sama is definitely the biggest!" NekoNeko said indignantly, getting to her feet. "You don't fool me, mean lady! You're trying to trick these people! I don't know how but you're a sneaky bad lady and I won't stand for it!"

"What my exuberant friend is trying to say," Dahlia said, tugging on NekoNeko's sleeve to indicate that she should sit down. NekoNeko, of course, ignored her. "Is that as much as amenities and flashy buildings look nice on a powerpoint, communities also rely on a healthy respect for boundaries. My understanding is that HOA's also involve a lot of interference in each other's lives."

"That's godless socialist propaganda," Malefice said. "A Homeowner's Association is as American as apple pie. Just as strong fences make good neighbors, so too do strong contracts. If you've got nothing to hide, why be afraid?"

"It's not a question of having anything to hide," Euridice said, getting to her feet and giving Chad's hand a squeeze. "It's a question of boundaries. Everyone had heard stories of HOAs running out of control--"

"And everyone has also heard of how Homeowner's Associations have allowed neighbours to resolve disputes in a legal negotiation, without tempers flaring," Malefice countered. "Look. I appreciate some of you have firm opinions about this topic and we appreciate the feedback. Under your chairs you'll find a prospectus and a voting packet. I suggest you take the material home and look it over at your leisure. Think about it, and I'm sure you'll make the right choice."

"I'll make a choice all over your face!" NekoNeko shouted as Yuri dragged her out the door. "I'll give you a bigamist! Whatever that is!"

*****

"You're too late, Chuck," Malefice said. "The Void Orb is mine, and with it, Aeternia will be mine!"

"I'm not sure she wants to know where that's been," Yuri said under her breath.

"You'll never get away with this, Malefice," Chuck declared.

"Oh my dear Chuck..." the demon queen chuckled, her husky voice sending shivers down his spine. "I already have."

"Oh wow," Dahlia said. "You've really captured her voice there. I'm going to call the Hugo Awards right now, tell them to cancel the whole thing and give you every rocket they have."

"Goddammit Dahlia," Chad snapped. "What do you want?"

"Oh calm down," the tall succubus said, kneading her shoulders. "You're so tense. Ever since that stupid meeting--"

"I just don't know what her game is," Chad said with a sigh as Dahlia's fingers worked their magic. "I mean, I get that she's trying to fuck with us, but this just seems so... petty."

"I worked for her for a long time," Dahlia said, working out the knots in his shoulders. "I would never underestimate the awesome power of a fully weaponized sense of spite and petty jealousy."

"I guess," Chad said, moaning as his lover hit a particularly sore spot.

"And if you wouldn't slouch so much you wouldn't get so worked up in knots," she said, pressing against his shoulder which clicked back into place with a pop.

"Oh, speaking of," Dahlia continued, "she's waiting at the door for you."

"What?!" Chad got out of his seat and turned to face her. "You- talk about burying the lead!"

"Calm down, I knew you'd react like this and it's just what she wants," Dahlia said. "Besides, she hates waiting. She's not the only petty catty bitch around here."

"Aww, but you're my petty catty bitch." Chad gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Just, next time our mortal enemy is on the doorstep, maybe tell me sooner?"

"Yes, dear," the succubus said, following him to the door. Chad opened it and leaned against the doorframe.

'Mal Finch' was dressed in the same severe black suit she wore at the public meeting, and her hair was clipped back away from her face. She was every inch the cold ice queen that had terrorized Aeternia for centuries, until Chad had foiled her schemes. No man had been able to resist her.

No man, until Chad.

"Malefice," he said, keeping his tone level. "So nice of you to drop by. Saves me the trouble of having to leave the house to kick your ass."

"Now now, Chad," she smirked. "What would the neighbors think to see you brawling in the street? They're already suspicious that you're running a brothel, or something worse. You wouldn't want to give them more cause for gossip."

"So that's your game?" Chad retorted. "Ruin my reputation? What do I give a fuck what anyone thinks?"

"See, that's the thing, Chad," Malefice countered. "Some part of you does care. You care about other people. That was your strength, on Aeternia. But here? Here it's your weakness."

She waved one hand to encompass the neighborhood. Old man Winston was mowing his front lawn, while the Townsend kids were playing two-on-two basketball in their drive. It was peaceful. Quiet. Nice.

"I think I'm going to like it here," Malefice continued. "On Aeternia, I had to shout and scream and murder entire villages to get people to do what I wanted. Here? I just have to give them fifteen dollars an hour, and I own them. I thought I was the most wicked creature in the multiverse, but then I learned about the Apple supply chain. Can you imagine? People paying thousands of dollars for a piece of electronics they'll toss out a year later for a marginally improved product, assembled by slaves, using material mined in conflict regions at gunpoint - and it's not only legal, everyone pretends it isn't happening or says it's a good thing!"

"We have our problems, sure," Chad said. "But you're my problem. And I'm pretty damn good at problem solving."

"Keep telling yourself that," Malefice smirked, and slapped him in the chest with an envelope. He snatched it out of her hand.

"I just wanted to let you know personally that the mail-in vote passed, and the East Taylor Homeowner's Association will be holding its first annual general meeting in a month's time." Her smirk grew even wider. "Better bring your chequebook, because the dues are going to be... a killer."

"So your grand plan is to, what, annoy me to death?" Chad said. "A little low rent for a Demon Queen, don't you think?"

"It's a low rent kind of world, Chad. But don't worry. First I turn East Taylor into my personal playground. Then I make your life a living hell. That's not really necessary, you understand, but a girl has to have her hobbies." She licked her lips. "You have a saying here, 'the death of a thousand cuts.' Every special assessment, every ordanance, every petition drive-- I'm going to grind you to dust, hero, and it's all going to be legal and lawful and these peasants will pay me for it and thank me afterwards."

Chad scrunched the paper in his fist.

"So it's a good thing I've already been voted in as chairwoman," Dahlia said, draping herself on Chad's side.

"You... what?" Malefice said, glaring at her former underling.

"I've been making some calls," Dahlia said. "Turns out, being something of a social butterfly, I've made a few friends here-- and you know how men can't say no to a pretty face. Or, well, no, I guess you wouldn't know what that's like."

Dahlia paused to let the Queen seethe.

"So we've already decided who is going to sit on the board, and have been working on drawing up a constitution. Daphne's girlfriend is a lawyer who specialises in this field, and--"

Malefice was grinding her teeth and her face was turning red with rage.

"You haven't stopped me, harlot," Malefice spat, turning on her heel. "You haven't heard the last of this, Chad Whittaker!"

"Ta-ta, Mal!" Dahlia cried. Chad just shook his head and grinned. "See you at the AGM!"

Chad wrapped one hand around her waist and led her back into the house, where he slammed her against the back of the front door and kissed her passionately. The succubus moaned into his mouth and raised her left leg to rub her thigh against his.

"That," Chad said, beaming at her, "was beautiful."

"It's like you said, dear," the succubus replied. "I'm a petty catty bitch, but I'm your petty catty bitch."