"Rogues in the House"
LVIII.
I gripped the solid wood of the handle of my hammer nervously as we descended to the lobby.
I had taken a new attaché of five Ghuls with me to investigate.
Something had happened. And for sure it was not something good.
With the problem with Sophia, we had already suspected a major Houri force was at work. Houri could dominate and control mortals and their own, but to have enough power to possess a Ghul, however weak, and still do what she did was nothing short of incredible.
The elevator opened. I held my hammer tightly as we all fanned out. Men were dead all throughout the lobby. I checked their pulses already knowing that they were dead.
"What about Dana?" I asked looking for her. She was a tough cookie. She would not go down without a fight.
I suddenly heard a crash at the elevator.
We raced to see what had happened.
Hanging through the trap door at the top was the crumpled and broken body of my fellow Huntress. Her dull glazed eyes were open and she stared peacefully into space.
She was dead.
And whatever killed her was inside and on the top floor.
"What do we do?" one of the Ghuls asked me.
"We take the stairs," I replied.
"And then we hope we're late, because this is not going to end well," I added under my breath.
LIX.
I was spread out on Vanessa's bed. Bound and gagged. Helpless.
She'd make me wait. Maybe hours.
Nothing new with Vanessa though and I would not complain. On the contrary. I would have it no other way. I'd taken a leak earlier anyway and I'd be good a few hours.
The door opened but it was not Vanessa.
It was a woman with sunglasses.
"How convenient!" she declared with a malicious smile. "A Ghul spread out and restrained all for me."
Uh-oh, I thought.
I did not have much time to ponder my predicament.
She put her nails on my soles and I screamed and shouted into the gag in protest. I have big feet and very ticklish feet. It's not difficult to reduce me to a silly mass of giggles.
"Where is Hadrian Constantinius?" she asked. But I did not hear her words spoken. They were in my head.
"I dunno," I replied in thought. I really didn't know.
She didn't like to hear that. I could tell.
"Where is the Ghul Grand Mistress?" she asked.
That was the kind of questions that would get me in trouble. So I tried to hide the information by not thinking about it.
She sat on the bed next to me and caressed my torso. Her touch was kind of sensual and I got hard in a moment. I’m not the shy type to I didn’t even blush as she took my cock and pulled it gently up. I thought maybe I was about to become the luckiest guy alive.
But instead, she reached down with her other hand beneath my balls and tickled me there. Hands down that is my most ticklish spot. Maybe I gave it away with my thoughts.
It was torture. I screamed and begged and whimpered. Tears streamed down my cheeks. She tickled me with her nail just the right way. Vanessa seemed to pale in comparison.
Maybe I was the luckiest guy in the world. I loved being tickle tortured and at a hot woman's mercy.
Anyhow, I could probably keep my mouth shut (it was gagged) but not my mind.
I spilled the beans. I coughed it all up.
She then stopped.
"Thank you for your cooperation," she said. "I don’t need to kill you," she said. "But I take some pleasure in it and I can’t have Ghuls going around saying I spared their lives, now can I?”
I muffled indignant protests into the gag.
"You look like you could go out laughing," she said straddling me. She placed her left hand over my gagged mouth. Her grip was powerful and I protested, but I was still getting so hot being dominated so by this woman.
She placed her right hand on my sides and my eyes went wide as I laughed with all my being into the gag. She held me tight and I could not move my head.
She leaned down on my body and I felt something change. I felt her bite my side hard and I started feeling numb there.
"You are a lucky one," she said. "You get to go out laughing with a woman perched over you."
I left numbness all over my body. The tickling didn't tickle anymore or she stopped tickling.
Didn't matter.
Started to get sleepy.
I was the luckiest guy alive, I thought.
And then I was dead.
LX.
I went from office to office searching for Hadrian.
Killing Ghuls was not the idea here. Finding Hadrian was everything.
But how could I resist? And Emma's body was so ripe and so perfect for bonding. I was almost full strength through her.
That this would result in permanent damage to her soul and body was secondary. Secondary, but hardly cheap. There was a shortage of Seers, Ghul or Houri, and they are not wasted without a reason.
But Hadrian Constantinius was reason enough.
I heard whimpering in an office and I stepped into the room.
There were three Ghul. One tied up (how convenient!) and two interrogators. One a Seer, one a mid-level Ghul. And then Jeanie. Restrained and abused, but none worse the wear. She was not Aldo, but she'd be just what I needed to wrap this up.
The three Ghuls would die. That I had decided.
"Houri," the older woman Ghul said sneering.
"Ghul," I returned smiling.
We exchanged blows. She was quite powerful and Emma did have her limitations. But it was never a fair fight.
I morphed completely.
I was the Spider. I was huge and hulking. Strong and intimidating. I spread my web all over the room.
The Seer and the powerful Ghul became trapped. It was solid and binding and as they struggled more, the more they became trapped.
I returned to Emma's form and I saw on the ground a discarded vial.
"Tears of Damascus!" I exclaimed. "I have not seen a vial in more than two hundred years. Inhaled it heightens sensitivity. It was used as a healing balm, but they found that while the healing effects were incredible, the sensitivity was quite permanent. Inhalation of the vapors was found to be quite effective and temporary and a better yield of the Tears."
"Vanessa!" the Seer screamed as I approached the Ghul woman.
"Hush," I said and the web tightened over his mouth keeping him silent.
"What are you going to do?" Vanessa asked nervously.
I pulled off her slipper and saw her bare sole. She struggled but she could not move it.
I draw my fingers playfully over the fleshy arch and she laughed and shrieked much to my delight.
I simply could not resist. I took the vial and dropped a few drops directly on the sole. The surface of the sole glowed and her toes twitched momentarily. I waited for the moisture to dissipate. There was not sense touching the Tears of Damascus myself.
And I touched playfully again and this time the reaction was ultimate torture. The toes twisted in virtual pain as Vanessa screamed and shrieked and begged for mercy.
"Stop it! I give up! I yield!" she shouted.
I drew my finger up and down the sole ever so gently and she laughed and screamed in a frenzy that left her promising gibberish.
"Where is Hadrian Constantinius?" I asked teasing her toes ever so gently yet torturing her as if I were pulling her toe nails out.
And she cooperated, she told me all I needed to know.
"Now," I said pleased with this. "I must be running. I'll be taking the Djinn and the rest of you can die."
Before I could act on my statement the room exploded.
LXI.
I crashed into the office building like a missile.
I sensed there was something happening where I entered.
I saw a Houri. The one who had accompanied Ray to visit me. But she was not that person any more. Not exactly anyway.
My anger grew as it dawned upon me who she was. I tried to curb my anger. But I could not.
I attacked and I burned her. I burned her to ashes. She might have countered my actions but she was a host and not the Houri herself and she'd been taken off guard.
Cobwebs of the kind I had never seen before were everywhere, but they burned away with ease.
One Ghul escaped. She was fast and she was desperate to get away. I did not pursue. She was not who I was looking for.
Another Ghul lingered behind still in shock after the explosion.
"The Grand Mistress?" I asked him.
He pointed down the hall.
"Who are these two?" I said gesturing to a Djinn and a Ghul tied down and helpless.
"A Houri Djinn bent to my Mistress's will," he muttered. "The other is the Ghul Claudia. A newly initiated Ghul."
My heart stopped and missed a beat.
"Get out," I said.
I need not have said it twice.
I stood over Claudia. She was unconscious from the blast. Weak and vulnerable.
"I promised I'd find you and so I have..." I whispered to myself.
I needed just to torch the office. I'd torch it and she'd die. And then nothing could stand between myself and Raymond.
Tempting. So tempting.
I patted her on the face. Not as gently as I would have liked.
She stirred.
“I was sent by Raymond to make sure you are safe," I explained as I released her from her bondage cutting away at her bondage with my index finger that glowed red hot. "Run. I am giving you a chance. Next few minutes no one will be safe in this building.”
"Who are you?" she asked rubbing her wrists.
"I am Raymond's friend," I said harshly. "Not yours."
"If you are Ray's friend you are mine as well," Claudia said steadily. "Thank you for releasing me. I am in your debt."
"I need nothing from you," I said angered somewhat by her poise and her demeanor. I had somehow hoped she'd be ugly and stupid and fearful.
But she was not. She was beautiful and smart and courageous.
"Heed my advice," I said before leaving her behind.
"Run."
LXII.
We emerged from the bottle.
I tied Hanna's arms behind her and kept her before me. Before I could get my bearings, I was pleasantly surprised.
J'sella stormed into the room.
She looked at me and Hanna and the Djinns behind me. She was angry and clearly on the war path.
But when she saw Hanna controlled and me in control, her face softened.
"Ray!" she said smiling.
"J'sella," I answered with relief. "You are a sight for sore eyes."
She was, but just for a moment.
The room exploded and J'sella was suddenly suspended in the air by a strong current of air. Her anger and power flared and a Djinn entered the room. He was tall strong and had a no nonsense air to him. He tackled her and they crashed through the walls fighting as they descended to the street below with a loud crash.
"T'ish, Amela, help J'sella," I managed to say and to my relief the two Djinns obeyed without hesitation.
A woman entered the room.
It was an unseemly woman. Small and thin. Not unlike Hanna actually.
She carried my Gladius in her hand and she smiled at me.
"Hadrian Constantinius," she said as screams and shouts issued from J'sella and the Djinn far below. "Finally we meet."
"Who are you?" I asked cautiously.
"Grand Mistress of the Houri," she said. "I see you have done our cause well by capturing the Grand Mistress of the Ghuls. It is fitting that you are the one to have brought her down," she complimented.
"J'sella has aided me, is that your minion attacking her?" I asked.
She waved it off.
"Djinns, Ifreets, they need to let off some steam now and then. They will be fine."
She tightened her grip on the Gladius and approached Hanna.
"What are you going to do?" I asked suspiciously.
"What needs to be done to preserve the Houri, Constantinius," she said raising the sword. I did not have any reason to want to spare the Ghul. I only wanted to get out. Still, something was not right.
I put myself between her and Hanna.
"This just isn't right," I said unable to allow her to kill the Ghul in cold blood.
She smiled and I thought I saw her eyes twinkle behind her dark glasses.
"It's more right than you may believe," she said.
She moved in a blur and she plunged the sword up to the hilt into my torso.
"J'sella isn't the only one out to kill you, Hadrian," she said yanking the sword free.
I collapsed to the ground and warm blood rushed out over my hands that tried desperately to keep it all in.
She bent over and released Hanna.
"It's not about winning the war," she explained. "It is about restoring balance. You, Hadrian, upset the balance. And now we've reset it and all can go back to normal."
I felt cold as the blood rushed out of my body.
"It's not like it is the first time," she said freeing Hanna. "J'sella has done her share of the labor over the centuries and I expected her to do the same this time. But, it's like they say: 'If you want a job done right, you've got to do it yourself.'"
She stepped over me and she smiled.
"Better luck next lifetime, Hadrian."
To be concluded.
Next: "End Game"
LVIII.
I gripped the solid wood of the handle of my hammer nervously as we descended to the lobby.
I had taken a new attaché of five Ghuls with me to investigate.
Something had happened. And for sure it was not something good.
With the problem with Sophia, we had already suspected a major Houri force was at work. Houri could dominate and control mortals and their own, but to have enough power to possess a Ghul, however weak, and still do what she did was nothing short of incredible.
The elevator opened. I held my hammer tightly as we all fanned out. Men were dead all throughout the lobby. I checked their pulses already knowing that they were dead.
"What about Dana?" I asked looking for her. She was a tough cookie. She would not go down without a fight.
I suddenly heard a crash at the elevator.
We raced to see what had happened.
Hanging through the trap door at the top was the crumpled and broken body of my fellow Huntress. Her dull glazed eyes were open and she stared peacefully into space.
She was dead.
And whatever killed her was inside and on the top floor.
"What do we do?" one of the Ghuls asked me.
"We take the stairs," I replied.
"And then we hope we're late, because this is not going to end well," I added under my breath.
LIX.
I was spread out on Vanessa's bed. Bound and gagged. Helpless.
She'd make me wait. Maybe hours.
Nothing new with Vanessa though and I would not complain. On the contrary. I would have it no other way. I'd taken a leak earlier anyway and I'd be good a few hours.
The door opened but it was not Vanessa.
It was a woman with sunglasses.
"How convenient!" she declared with a malicious smile. "A Ghul spread out and restrained all for me."
Uh-oh, I thought.
I did not have much time to ponder my predicament.
She put her nails on my soles and I screamed and shouted into the gag in protest. I have big feet and very ticklish feet. It's not difficult to reduce me to a silly mass of giggles.
"Where is Hadrian Constantinius?" she asked. But I did not hear her words spoken. They were in my head.
"I dunno," I replied in thought. I really didn't know.
She didn't like to hear that. I could tell.
"Where is the Ghul Grand Mistress?" she asked.
That was the kind of questions that would get me in trouble. So I tried to hide the information by not thinking about it.
She sat on the bed next to me and caressed my torso. Her touch was kind of sensual and I got hard in a moment. I’m not the shy type to I didn’t even blush as she took my cock and pulled it gently up. I thought maybe I was about to become the luckiest guy alive.
But instead, she reached down with her other hand beneath my balls and tickled me there. Hands down that is my most ticklish spot. Maybe I gave it away with my thoughts.
It was torture. I screamed and begged and whimpered. Tears streamed down my cheeks. She tickled me with her nail just the right way. Vanessa seemed to pale in comparison.
Maybe I was the luckiest guy in the world. I loved being tickle tortured and at a hot woman's mercy.
Anyhow, I could probably keep my mouth shut (it was gagged) but not my mind.
I spilled the beans. I coughed it all up.
She then stopped.
"Thank you for your cooperation," she said. "I don’t need to kill you," she said. "But I take some pleasure in it and I can’t have Ghuls going around saying I spared their lives, now can I?”
I muffled indignant protests into the gag.
"You look like you could go out laughing," she said straddling me. She placed her left hand over my gagged mouth. Her grip was powerful and I protested, but I was still getting so hot being dominated so by this woman.
She placed her right hand on my sides and my eyes went wide as I laughed with all my being into the gag. She held me tight and I could not move my head.
She leaned down on my body and I felt something change. I felt her bite my side hard and I started feeling numb there.
"You are a lucky one," she said. "You get to go out laughing with a woman perched over you."
I left numbness all over my body. The tickling didn't tickle anymore or she stopped tickling.
Didn't matter.
Started to get sleepy.
I was the luckiest guy alive, I thought.
And then I was dead.
LX.
I went from office to office searching for Hadrian.
Killing Ghuls was not the idea here. Finding Hadrian was everything.
But how could I resist? And Emma's body was so ripe and so perfect for bonding. I was almost full strength through her.
That this would result in permanent damage to her soul and body was secondary. Secondary, but hardly cheap. There was a shortage of Seers, Ghul or Houri, and they are not wasted without a reason.
But Hadrian Constantinius was reason enough.
I heard whimpering in an office and I stepped into the room.
There were three Ghul. One tied up (how convenient!) and two interrogators. One a Seer, one a mid-level Ghul. And then Jeanie. Restrained and abused, but none worse the wear. She was not Aldo, but she'd be just what I needed to wrap this up.
The three Ghuls would die. That I had decided.
"Houri," the older woman Ghul said sneering.
"Ghul," I returned smiling.
We exchanged blows. She was quite powerful and Emma did have her limitations. But it was never a fair fight.
I morphed completely.
I was the Spider. I was huge and hulking. Strong and intimidating. I spread my web all over the room.
The Seer and the powerful Ghul became trapped. It was solid and binding and as they struggled more, the more they became trapped.
I returned to Emma's form and I saw on the ground a discarded vial.
"Tears of Damascus!" I exclaimed. "I have not seen a vial in more than two hundred years. Inhaled it heightens sensitivity. It was used as a healing balm, but they found that while the healing effects were incredible, the sensitivity was quite permanent. Inhalation of the vapors was found to be quite effective and temporary and a better yield of the Tears."
"Vanessa!" the Seer screamed as I approached the Ghul woman.
"Hush," I said and the web tightened over his mouth keeping him silent.
"What are you going to do?" Vanessa asked nervously.
I pulled off her slipper and saw her bare sole. She struggled but she could not move it.
I draw my fingers playfully over the fleshy arch and she laughed and shrieked much to my delight.
I simply could not resist. I took the vial and dropped a few drops directly on the sole. The surface of the sole glowed and her toes twitched momentarily. I waited for the moisture to dissipate. There was not sense touching the Tears of Damascus myself.
And I touched playfully again and this time the reaction was ultimate torture. The toes twisted in virtual pain as Vanessa screamed and shrieked and begged for mercy.
"Stop it! I give up! I yield!" she shouted.
I drew my finger up and down the sole ever so gently and she laughed and screamed in a frenzy that left her promising gibberish.
"Where is Hadrian Constantinius?" I asked teasing her toes ever so gently yet torturing her as if I were pulling her toe nails out.
And she cooperated, she told me all I needed to know.
"Now," I said pleased with this. "I must be running. I'll be taking the Djinn and the rest of you can die."
Before I could act on my statement the room exploded.
LXI.
I crashed into the office building like a missile.
I sensed there was something happening where I entered.
I saw a Houri. The one who had accompanied Ray to visit me. But she was not that person any more. Not exactly anyway.
My anger grew as it dawned upon me who she was. I tried to curb my anger. But I could not.
I attacked and I burned her. I burned her to ashes. She might have countered my actions but she was a host and not the Houri herself and she'd been taken off guard.
Cobwebs of the kind I had never seen before were everywhere, but they burned away with ease.
One Ghul escaped. She was fast and she was desperate to get away. I did not pursue. She was not who I was looking for.
Another Ghul lingered behind still in shock after the explosion.
"The Grand Mistress?" I asked him.
He pointed down the hall.
"Who are these two?" I said gesturing to a Djinn and a Ghul tied down and helpless.
"A Houri Djinn bent to my Mistress's will," he muttered. "The other is the Ghul Claudia. A newly initiated Ghul."
My heart stopped and missed a beat.
"Get out," I said.
I need not have said it twice.
I stood over Claudia. She was unconscious from the blast. Weak and vulnerable.
"I promised I'd find you and so I have..." I whispered to myself.
I needed just to torch the office. I'd torch it and she'd die. And then nothing could stand between myself and Raymond.
Tempting. So tempting.
I patted her on the face. Not as gently as I would have liked.
She stirred.
“I was sent by Raymond to make sure you are safe," I explained as I released her from her bondage cutting away at her bondage with my index finger that glowed red hot. "Run. I am giving you a chance. Next few minutes no one will be safe in this building.”
"Who are you?" she asked rubbing her wrists.
"I am Raymond's friend," I said harshly. "Not yours."
"If you are Ray's friend you are mine as well," Claudia said steadily. "Thank you for releasing me. I am in your debt."
"I need nothing from you," I said angered somewhat by her poise and her demeanor. I had somehow hoped she'd be ugly and stupid and fearful.
But she was not. She was beautiful and smart and courageous.
"Heed my advice," I said before leaving her behind.
"Run."
LXII.
We emerged from the bottle.
I tied Hanna's arms behind her and kept her before me. Before I could get my bearings, I was pleasantly surprised.
J'sella stormed into the room.
She looked at me and Hanna and the Djinns behind me. She was angry and clearly on the war path.
But when she saw Hanna controlled and me in control, her face softened.
"Ray!" she said smiling.
"J'sella," I answered with relief. "You are a sight for sore eyes."
She was, but just for a moment.
The room exploded and J'sella was suddenly suspended in the air by a strong current of air. Her anger and power flared and a Djinn entered the room. He was tall strong and had a no nonsense air to him. He tackled her and they crashed through the walls fighting as they descended to the street below with a loud crash.
"T'ish, Amela, help J'sella," I managed to say and to my relief the two Djinns obeyed without hesitation.
A woman entered the room.
It was an unseemly woman. Small and thin. Not unlike Hanna actually.
She carried my Gladius in her hand and she smiled at me.
"Hadrian Constantinius," she said as screams and shouts issued from J'sella and the Djinn far below. "Finally we meet."
"Who are you?" I asked cautiously.
"Grand Mistress of the Houri," she said. "I see you have done our cause well by capturing the Grand Mistress of the Ghuls. It is fitting that you are the one to have brought her down," she complimented.
"J'sella has aided me, is that your minion attacking her?" I asked.
She waved it off.
"Djinns, Ifreets, they need to let off some steam now and then. They will be fine."
She tightened her grip on the Gladius and approached Hanna.
"What are you going to do?" I asked suspiciously.
"What needs to be done to preserve the Houri, Constantinius," she said raising the sword. I did not have any reason to want to spare the Ghul. I only wanted to get out. Still, something was not right.
I put myself between her and Hanna.
"This just isn't right," I said unable to allow her to kill the Ghul in cold blood.
She smiled and I thought I saw her eyes twinkle behind her dark glasses.
"It's more right than you may believe," she said.
She moved in a blur and she plunged the sword up to the hilt into my torso.
"J'sella isn't the only one out to kill you, Hadrian," she said yanking the sword free.
I collapsed to the ground and warm blood rushed out over my hands that tried desperately to keep it all in.
She bent over and released Hanna.
"It's not about winning the war," she explained. "It is about restoring balance. You, Hadrian, upset the balance. And now we've reset it and all can go back to normal."
I felt cold as the blood rushed out of my body.
"It's not like it is the first time," she said freeing Hanna. "J'sella has done her share of the labor over the centuries and I expected her to do the same this time. But, it's like they say: 'If you want a job done right, you've got to do it yourself.'"
She stepped over me and she smiled.
"Better luck next lifetime, Hadrian."
To be concluded.
Next: "End Game"
