Chapter 17

Lilith turned around at the sound of Wendel’s odd question. She had never heard him speak that way. He was always so cool and collected even when he was out of his depth. His face seemed desperate like it was searching for something it had lost and was trying to find it in anger.

Wendel looked at the Succubus and then at Lilith’s eyes. Lilith could be the one to help him exact his revenge. Revenge for what he had lost for what could have been. Wendel felt something wet on his cheek he reached for it with his hand to look but he new what it was so he wiped the tear away instead and spoke again in Lilith’s direction. “We could blind her and make her bleed from her eyes for months. Or you could cut off another limb or two.”

“Stop it!” Lilith said. Celeste was backing away from both of them.

“We could break her wing but leave it hanging from her back.

“Stop it Wendel!”

“We could break her horns and cover her in boils”

“No!” Lilith exclaimed while stamping her foot.

“Why would you deny me this demon?” he spat at her.

Lilith gave him an intense look and stepped closer to Wendel. She grabbed both of his shoulders and held him at arms length looking at his face where she saw two slick paths under his eyes.

Wendel tried to struggle grabbing her arms to push them aside but it was like pushing on two stone walls. “Why not? We can make her pay!”

“Because it won’t bring back what she took from you.” Lilith said while shaking her head slowly.

“What she took?” Wendel cried out as he slammed the base of his fist into Lilith’s chest plate with a muffled thud.

Celeste held her hand to her mouth bud did not speak. She already knew the answer.

“Her name was Cori and she was beautiful! Her hair was brown like a field of summer wheat.” Wendel began to cry and Lilith drew him in for a hug. “She was a page in the castle and she was smart and kind and we would eat meals together and she would always give me some food off of her plate.” He began to sob more as Lilith gave him a soft squeeze.

Celeste dropped her hand from her mouth and bit her lip she didn’t know what to do. Cori had been her friend too and she missed her dearly. She considered that maybe that was the reason she was so eager to joke and play with Lilith these past two days. It was something she had missed.

“She was a beautiful person and that thing treated her like a meal!” Wendel cried out pointing his hand at the succubus while Lilith hugged his upper arms squeezing him a bit more. Then Wendel made a funny noise “Uhhh” as the breath left his lungs.

Lilith could feel his damp breath against her as if someone had silently let all the air out of a balloon. She immediately pushed him back to arms length saying, “Sorry”. Then she dismissed her chest plate revealing her red arming jacket with the deep V cut. She hugged him again, much softer this time, holding the embrace for some time as he regained his breath.

Wendel relaxed in her arms the hatred leaving him as he let out several anxious breaths. As he stood there the wizard remembered the one time that Cori had hugged him on a spring day after he saved her from a viper in the grass. Because he was with her Wendel hadn’t killed it but instead turned it into a bunny rabbit for her to pet. He then laughed out loud at his memory of the odd sight. She had easily picked it up as the snake had no idea how to use its new legs. Cori made him a better person. And he was happy that Lilith hadn’t allowed him to do something cruel in her name.

A loud laugh was then heard from the magic circle a laugh that had no joy in its tone or tember.

“I seemed to have missed something. Ha hahaha. Are you two lovers now?” The sultry voice cut through the room and Lilith and Wendel pushed each other away. The wizard stood there stunned, still recovering from the emotional swings he had been feeling.

Lilith turned her head to Pencheska and pierced her with her eyes quickly going through her options, deciding her fate. “Wendel, what do you think about silence and darkness?” She asked with a sly grin on her face.

Wendel looked up at Lilith and then at the magic circle as he processed her question. With only a little hesitation his hands raised to the sides of his head. He snapped back to his senses brushing his hair back with both his hands in a practiced motion saying “That sounds smashing.”

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Celeste looked at her friends and quickly realized more magic was about to happen. She clapped her hands together rapidly and did a small hop with glee. She loved it when Wendel cast spells. Lilith spotted her enthusiasm and chanted out several familiar rune words in rapid succession then spoke. “The contract is open mortal”

“Wait you can do that?” A surprised question came from the spell circle.

“Please fill this magic circle with silence and darkness for the next 70 days I will give you the remainder of my spell energy for today.” Wendel stated as he pointed at the magic circle.

“That's impossible!” the succubus screamed.

“I will contribute 30% of my spell energy to make it so.”

“Agreed.” Wendel nodded.

“You insects will regret this. I will….” Her last sentence was cut short.

“The contract has been made.” As Lilith pointed her finger, Pencheska disappeared. In her place was a perfect cylinder of ebony darkness and complete silence. For a second the three of them looked at the magic circle and then each other, stunned at the sudden silence.

In a fit of movement, Celeste skipped over to her two friends and grabbing each of their hands shaking them to convey her excitement. “That was brilliant!” She exclaimed. She then looked at the magic circle and marveled at the quiet perfection as she perceived no movement and no sound coming from inside. “I can actually get some work done in here now!”

“Ya I bet that was a bit of a hostile work environment for you.” Lilith said jokingly.

Wendel wiped his eyes again and straightened his robes. He stood up straight and true looking at the demon he had summoned only a couple days prior. “Lilith, thank you for the hug it was… comforting. At least the second one was.”

“Any time Wendel.” Lilith said as she smiled back at him. She then noticed his eyes moving between hers and her chest. So she stood up on her toes and fell back on her heals causing her chest to bounce. Wendel’s eyes went wide at the sight and he tried to look away in shame but Lilith just pointed at him and laughed. And for the life of him Wendel could not tell what she found so funny but that didn’t stop him from laughing along too.

They talked for a while. The subject quickly switching to spells as they discussed what words to use for what types of contracts. Wendel also had a few words for Celeste regarding when to agree to something and when not to. He then continued to talk about the dangers of open ended statements and imprecise descriptions. Lilith used her spell codex to run some more simulations thinking of the words to herself. It gave out the effects of a pact given the amount of spell power from both the devil and the mortal. To her surprise the inclusion of a soul did drastically change the effect duration, often making things permanent. Wendel nearly lost it again when Lilith informed him that the inclusion of a human toe had no effect what so ever.

As he gaze continued to shift, Lilith became a bit more aware of how revealing her arming jacket was and how hungry she had become as the growling of her stomach made itself known to the whole room.

With a snap Lilith put her chest plate back on and asked “Yall are pretty tired aren’t you?”

“I could still do some work in the library” Celeste said.

Lilith thought ‘That girl sure loves her books.’

“I am exhausted actually. I think I am going to retire to my room for the night. Celeste please lock up when you are done.” Wendel then looked at Lilith to see what she was going to do.

“Well I am hungry again so I am going to raid the pantry.” she said with a grin that would make the Cheshire cat jealous.

“Good luck but if the chef finds out he will come after you in your sleep.” Wendel warned.

“Good night” she said with a chuckle.

“Good night” they both called back

Lilith then left the tower patting the guards on the shoulders to commend them for their faithful watch. She then proceeded across the grass back to the castle where she was allowed in by the other guards who all greeted her with either a nod or a short “Ma’am”.

She was rather glad she was being treated as a real guest. It was almost like she lived there. Suddenly feeling a bit more comfortable Lilith returned to her room before taking off all of her armor except her armored skirt and her arming jacket. Slowly she walked around the room for a bit only to find that the metal plated skirt still made too much noise. So she dismissed the last piece causing her cuirass to appeared at her feet. Deciding to change clothes she took off her arming jacket and went to the closet to put on her commoners clothes. As she walked to the closet though, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and marveled at her visage for just a moment smling at the fit female form looking back at her. She then pressed forward opening the door and began to get dressed. She was still way more hungry than she was horny for the time being at least.

Once dressed, she cracked her door open finding that the halls were mostly dark. Listening intently she heard a single set of footsteps in the distance giving her the all clear to enter the hallway. Slowly she went down the corridor checking the clock as she went by. The hands read 10:40 as she heard the rhythmic clicking from behind the clock face and not much else. Lilith then went across the banquet hall and into the kitchen where she began to look for the pantry.

Seeing as she was in a room with multiple points of entry and no way to tell when someone might be approaching, Lilith chanted the runes for greater invisibility and held the spell ready in her hand in case someone else felt like a midnight snack. She could see clearly in the dark almost as if it was dusk even though there were no candles lit. Surprisingly it was easy to find the pantry, she just followed her nose and opened the door that smelled the best. There she found the dry stores which contained potatoes, onions, bell peppers and various fruits. But she wasn’t hungry for vegetables and the fruit would make a mess, so she looked at the opposite shelf. There she spotted a cheese wheel much to her delight. ‘I had better take that outside and cut it up’ she thought before she grabbed the cheese. But before she could turn away here eyes were caught by a series of bright white oval shaped orbs. Chicken eggs. Setting down the cheese, her appetite drew her closer. Slowly she picked up an egg and opened her mouth to its full width. Her lips took the orb as muscles in her throat crushed the egg with a slight crunching sound as the pieces moved further down her throat and into her stomach. She continued eating the eggs the same motions repeated several times as she lifted an egg dropped it onto her tongue and swallowed it whole.

When Lilith noticed the basket was half empty, she stopped and pushed the basket back to where she had found it. She then grabbed the cheese wheel and went back to her first plan. She soon found a knife back in the kitchen and cut it into a shape with a square end and began making slices out of it. Deciding she wanted something with a bit more structure she followed her nose to the bread bin and took out a loaf slicing it up as well. Needing two hands she released the spell and much to her surprise the spell energy returned to her body. Well there was one thing the Players Hand Book had wrong. With both hands she quickly made 8 sandwiches out of the cheese and bread. Rather than try to conceal the leftover pieces of wax and cheese Lilith ate the evidence and prepared to head back to her room returning the knife to where she found it after casting prestidigitation to clean the blade. She once again cast and held [Greater Invisibility] as she tried to re-entered the banquet hall just pushing the door slightly to peak out.

There was a guard patrolling with a hooded lantern so Lilith pointed a finger at herself and released the spell. The world went gray as she was now in the near ethereal plane. From here she could still see and interact with objects but she couldn’t be seen. Slowly she pushed the kitchen door fully open and tip toed across the banquet hall to the guest hallway. The door gave off a slight squeak as it swung closed causing the guard to turn in her direction but he saw nothing as his lantern illuminated the space. In less than a minute Lilith found her way back to guest room number three. She slid the door open and then shut locking it behind her with only the slightest of creeks. Now with her hunger satiated and a long day of spells, town news, spy craft and sorrow well behind her, she let out a sigh of relief before she canceled the invisibility spell. Now alone in her room Lilith began to pace around the room a single finger tapping on her chin as she thought about what to do next.