Serpent's Tooth

[Belinda35]

Phyliss kept crying.
"I am confuzed... I don't know what to do. I mean, you can move between the mortal humans, without anyone noticing. I can't. Even at place where they wont burn or stone me, I am regarded as an exotic freak at best, no one trusting me. All the places where I was allowed to stay, the man wanted me to show off or as exotic, weird fucktoy. And I thought...a creature like Ma'ant, who is even more stranger then me, even more looking like a monster to the humans... maybe he could really love me. What can I do?" she stopped, being surprised herself at the long speech that has flowed out of her.

 

[Cherubian]

Verialyn placed her arm back around Phyliss' shoulder as they resumed their march back to the Kornalis estate. By now they had already reached the outskirts of the noble district it was located in.

"Short term you may be right, but let me tell you it wreaks havoc on any long term relationship when you have to opt out of every single meal. At least it raises enough suspicion that you have no option but come clean."

The vampiress paused a bit, lost in thought, before she finally continued. "What you can do? I see three options. The first is just to keep going as you have, and maybe you will be lucky one day. The second option is to just say 'screw it' and live your life without viewing yourself as a future attachment to some male. Fuck them whenever you feel like, but stay independent. And the third option is to turn the tables. We are rather wealthy now, so why should not you take a lover for yourself instead of the other way round as it has always been?"

 

[Belinda35]

"What is the difference between option two and three...?" the gorgon looked puzzled for a moment. "Ohh...wealthy...you mean... no, I would never pay to have a lover. Do I look that disgusting?" Phyliss found that the sudden anger about the lat proposal helped her to come back to her senses faster. She managed to stop weeeping, although some tears still trickled down. She wiped her face, wondering how much of her make-up was left.
"I always found lovers if I was at the right places. But most of them just wanted to do me, although some of them really liked me personally. But I never had the chance to be socially accepted. I always stayed the exotic, weird and illegtim mistress, hated by the other women, and lusted after by some other men. Maybe that is what made me fall for Ma'ant, the promise that I would be his first lady of the house." she wiped her eyes. "You know what people say about gorgons, and they are right for many, maybe the most of them, especially the hideous ones. I never heard of mind-flayers before - maybe they are not all the same, as I am different from other gorgons?"

 

[Cherubian]

"The difference between two and three? Mostly a matter of attitude..." Verialyn replied. "In variant three you assume a more active role. No, not paying men for sex, but actively seeking out suitable mates and seducing them, while in variant two you just take things as they come." She had to grin at the double meaning this implied.

"And judging that Ma'ant fellow, he was not directly attemting to suck our brains out, which is a plus, but he was also quite bent on getting you under his control for all I could tell. And that does not make him quite so dear to my heart."

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss kept coming back to her mind, and she had the impression it wasn't the right time to discuss about Ma'ant, maybe there wasn't even any use in discussing that matter any further. She still wasn't convinced that he was all evil, but obviously Verialyn thought so and could not be persuaded. Back in her mind the gorgon still longed for that big, beutiful house full of clothes and luxury and the very alien, but comforting embrace of the tentacles, and the sensations of the intercourse. Maybe she would go back later alone? At last they reached the house.
"I must get a bath. And my make-up must be a mess."

 

[Cherubian]

That got her a laugh from her friend.

"I can see that Ma'ant could not completely bend your personality. And I am glad that you are coming back to your former self. I have to admit I like that better. And I am sure you'll get both once we are inside."

With those words Verialyn pushed open the door and stepped into the entrance hall which was completely vacated. Not something that unusual at this time of the day.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss walked in, happy not to see their host this moment - she would have felt embarrassed with the obvious tearmarks in her face.
"I'll get up and repair myself." she said, moving to the stairs.

 

[Cherubian]

"Let me join you then." verialyn replied and followed her friend. Back in the palace she wondered how Quomor had fared so far, and then wondered why her thoughts went to him. Back in the mind flayer's home - their home, currently occupied by the mind flayer she corrected herself - she had all but forgotten about her new and well endowed slave.

As they were about halfway to the stairs suddenly an approaching voice that sounded strangely familiar could be heard from behind the dining room doors "A pity they are not here, now we will have to search the whole city ..." With that the doors burst open, and the all too familiar massive figure of Verkul came into few, dominating the frame of the wide double doors but still leaving enough room for a glance at the four armed thugs in his tow.

At the sight of the two girls he momentarily froze, clearly surprised, but that lasted only a second before he raised his arm in their direction and shrieked with his shrill voice "There, that's them. Kill the bitches!"

At that command the four mercenaries, unpleasant looking strongly built men clad in leather armor each wielding a sword - two of the blades disconcertingly covered in fresh blood - poured past the fat slavemaster and with a wicked grin and their weapons raised rapidly approached what they thought was easy prey as Verkul shouted another warning.

"And don't look the gorgon in the eyes."

 

[Belinda35]

The gorgon was halfway up the stairs and didn't even stop walking.
Of course it was a shock to see the fat swine in here, and his thugs that might have murdered their nice host - but Phyliss realized that there was no reason to worry as the four men dashed forward. Her shield against physical attacks would protect her easily long enough to finish of the attackers one after one, even if they all attacked her on the same time. Even after Verkuls warning, her stunning spell would distract the men long enough to petrify them, or even find an unprotected part of their skin for a snake bite. A moment later she got aware that she had turned her shield off, she did not know when or why, propably as she was still stunned by the anal shocktreatment and the thoughts back to Ma'ant. She lost another moment to decide if she should first reactivate the shield or attack the enemys, and so it was to late to decide. The first man was so close that she had to act. She sent out the stunning spell only parts of a second before he had reached her, and then she petrified him as he was still in move. He turned grey and stiffened, but kept moving forward by his own thrust, although he was turned into a lifeless statue by now. But he simply dropped on her and crashed down the stairs, Phyliss buried under him. Everybody else would have been killed, but she managed to stay alive even without her shield. Lying under the heavy, petrified man, she released her healing spell. It worked and removed the injuries she had suffered, but the time lost with that kept her again from releasing her physical shield.

 

[Cherubian]

Verkul had been prepared for the gorgon and what she could do to him and his thugs, which had been the reason of his warning shout. What he had not been prepared for was Verialyn.

The thugs divided up evenly, two going after the gorgon already up the stairs while the other two picked the seemingly easier target, that black haired woman in her scant red dress. She waited for just the right moment to make her move, and as they were almost upon her she acted. With astonishing speed that even if it had not caught her two assailants by surprise would have been more than enough to overpower them she dove under the raised sword arm of the right one and in a practiced grip closed her fingers around his wrist, using his own moentum to twist his arm on his back and with her free hand pry his weapon from his grip, his fingers already weakened by the sudden pain.

The other tug had only managed to turn about half way to face the woman who suddenly was behind him before the tip of his comrades sword was driven into his chest, ending his criminal career on the spot, only a moment later to be followed by the mercenary still in the vampiress' hold who became the second victim of the skillfully, almost artistically whirling blade.

Verialyn wasted no time, and before the two corpses had even touched the ground she was after the other two who had given chase to her friend. She caught up to the first one at the bottom of the stairs, the sword leaving a lethal deep gash on his back, but for the last one she was too late and all she could do was to nimbly step aside not to be buried by the tumbling mass that consisted of the gorgon and the petrified hired hand.

As quickly as the two came to a halt she was next to them, and with a strength not expected from her slender frame she hoisted the statue of a man off Phyliss, causing it to roll off her to one side. A brief glance confirmed her friend was well, and so she immediately turned to face again the last of her adversaries, the fat slave master.

Although he was not much of an adversary. He had remained at the door and watched the unfolding events with increasing horror as his companions fell one after another. That was definitely not how he had planned this, and unable to move his surprise turned to outright fear when that black haired woman that had seemed such a willing sex toy a mere two days ago approached him, her hips swaying slightly, almost sensually, even in a moment like this. But what concerned him far more was that blood coated sword casually held in her hand and the inscrutable expression on her face. In some ways it reminded her of a cat he had once seen toying with a helpless mouse.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss took another moment to reactivate her shield - that should not happen to her again. She could not lift the heavy petrified man and tried to wiggle out to the side, as her friend hurled the gorgons victim to the side. Phyliss rose quickly and rushed towards her friend and the fat slavetrader, her dress ripped from the fall, allowing her to move without restrictions.
"Wait, I want to hear fist what the fat boy has to tell us." She hissed at him. He wasn't as attractive like his master - she still wondered how she would react if confronted with Antides again - something in hear wanted to drop at the evil merchants feet, crawling and begging for punishment, while she told herself to be reasonable and control herself and the situation as she used to do for so many years.

 

[Cherubian]

"Oh don't worry, I would not want to harm our mutual friend here after the good time we had together, just because he gave the order to kill us." As she spoke it the memories of the heavy slave master pinning her to the table with his massive gut as his hands mauled her breast and his dick was fucking her vigorously came back, and to her surprise, then and now, she found those memories to be of the pleasant sort. She was not so different from her friend in those matters. "Maybe that was just his way to express his love?"

With an evil grin Verialyn stepped closer, lightly poking the center of his protruding belly with the tip of the sword she was holding not hard enough to pierce the skin, but definitely sufficient to cause the already profusely sweating and clearly frightened Verkul additional discomfort.

"Please ladies ..." he stammered, his hands lifted halfways in what he hoped was a calming gesture. "Please, that was not as it sounded. I did not really mean to harm you, you must believe me..."

"Oh I believe you" came the immediate reply from Verialyn. "You'd rather do something else with us than kill us, am I not correct?" and adding directed at Phyliss while still keeping her gaze pinned on him "So, what would my like to know from him my dear."

 

[Belinda35]

"Hmm, let me think."
Phyliss got closer and watched him her snakes curling as she surrounded him. Her snakes touched his fleshy head as she got closed.
"Well, first, why do you look here for us, who sent you, and what did you do with our poor old host, that was so generous to us?" her snakes vibrated as she thought of the nice old merchant that had opened his hous to her and Verialyn.
"Second, what happened to Antides, and where is he now?"
She felt her nipples harden as she spoke that name, and put her hand over it, just to take care that nobody would notice.
"Oh, and I nearly forgot, what happened to that ugly little companion of yours, I forgot his name, the one who made me wipe that table?"

 

[Cherubian]

Verkul reflexively shrunk back as the serpent's dry but scaly skin came in contact with it. Taking another step backwards until his shoulders were pressed into the wall. His face was white with fear now.

"Antides? It was him who sent me! He knows he'll be going down, so he went into hiding. I have no clue where he is at now. But first he wanted revenge on those that got him into this mess. So he sent me along, since I was one of the few who had seen both of you..." his voice trailed off, and he looked visibly deflated, his shoulders sagging, and his legs starting to give away, causing him to slide down the wall until he sat on the floor. Looking up at them he pleaded "Look girls, I really did not want to do this. I am no murderer, and I hate to see you two beauties come to harm, such a waste. But I have seen what happens to those who defy an order from the boss..."

Pausing for a momnt, he added "Palix? That moron hit the Lord's grandmother! Last I've seen of him he was dragged off flailing and screaming to the dungeons. And the old guy who owns this house, well ..."

Right at this moment an agonized wail could be heard from somewhere behind the doors to the dining hall. It belonged undoubtedly Flavius Kornalis, and he was in severe pain. Verialyn wasted no time, growling a commanding "You stay exactly here!" at Verkul she kicked the doors upen and rushed inside, her grip on the sword tightening.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss twinched as she heard the sound; so he wasn't dead, but maybe severly wounded. She waited a moment and renembered that Verialyn did not have any healing spells or any medical knowledge, as far as she knew, so she would go better to see her old friend. Her healing magic for others was much weaker then her selfhealing abilities, and her medical knowledge more superficial, but at least she had learned a few things about that. She turned around and just stopped and renembered Verkul as she wanted to run off.
"You come with us!!" she hissed and grabbed his wrist, pullying him behind her. She wouldn't been able to drag him, but she expected that he would follow him, or he would be a mass of stone soon.

 

[Cherubian]

For a moment Verkul was quite confused by the contradicting orders he had been given. "Stay here!", "Come with us!". But the gorgon was the closer and therefore more immediate threat, and so under great groaning he hoisted his massive frame upwards again and followed Phyliss' tug on her wrist.

Verialyn meanwhile had quickly surveyed the dining hall, empty except for the bloodied corpses of one maid and a butler, and immediately charged on towards the opposite door leading to the kitchen. Once she pushed it open she knew she had reached her destination.

To the right of the entrance lay the cook, his head caved in by something heavy, and the remains of his two aides were on the ground close to him. In the middle on the large table lay their host on his back, the venerable merchant Flavius Kornalis. His arms and legs were stretched away from him, tied to long ropes that had their other end wrapped around the legs of said table. And he was completely naked.

His body was already bleeding from several cuts, but none of them life threatening. Their purpose obviously had been to inflict the maximum amount of pain whil inflicting the minimum amount of actual damage. He was being tortured. The torturer stod with the back to the entrance, the sharp knife with the blooded blade already hovering over his victim again as he murmured "And that one is for thinking you could outsmart house Mercurious and ..."

Right then he became aware of the commotion behind him and turned, at first surprised at the sight of Verialyn with that sword in her grip, but his hand went to the hilt of the sword at his hilt immediately. "Ahh, we have a visitor."

At this remark the other two men in the room, thuggish mountains of muscle that had amusedly watched the merchant's predicament from their observation point in the far corners of the kitchen, got to their feet as well, one of them brandishing a large axe while the other undid a siceable mace from his belt and hefted it probingly in his hand. They eyed Verialyn with sadistic glee, and it was not evident whether they intended to kill or rape her first.

 

[Belinda35]

"Oh..you swine...!" the gorgon saw what was going on, and ripped the skirt up to her tigh to be more agile. She wanted to run, but of course Verkul couldn't have followed her even if he wanted. She didn't want him to run away and get help, nor did she want him dead - yet. After her leg was free, she just kicked backwards up, punching the heel of her boot into his genitals. She didn't even turn around to see her success, the sound he made before crashing loudly to the ground was enough to ensure her that he would not move for some time. She rushed forward towards the kitchen. She was not as fast as her friend, but still quite amazing for her ladylike appearance. She didn't even think as she sent a stun-spell, quickly followed by the petrification-spell against one of the tugs in the background, petrifying him at the spot. There was no time to yell at Verialyn that she should let the torturer alive, so she hoped she would not kill him immedeately. She had different plans with him.

 

[Cherubian]

The torturers arrogant smile vanished the moment he saw one of his thugs turn into a statue. That was definitely not what he had expected when he had been ordered to bring the merchant to a death as gruesome as possible. He was quick of wit though, and before Verialyn recognized what he was up to and could fully bridg the distance to him his razor sharp knife was at Flavius throat.

"One step closer and your friend dies!" he spat at the two girls, careful to avoid eye contact with the gorgon.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss stopped at the door, and her eyes narrowed.

"I don't have to move to turn you to stone." she said in a very icy voice, full of despise. "And don't be to sure you will be fast enough before your arm gets cold and grey."
She stood up, piercing him with her eyes, shifting into a very selfconfident pose, using all her theatralic skills she had perfected over the years.
"If you don't want to spend the rest of your existance as ridicoulous statue in the latrines, you will give up right now. And believe me, if he gets even the tiniest scratch, you would wish to end up in stone."

 

[Cherubian]

The torturer hesitated for a bit, the uncertainty visible on his face as his eyes darted from the gorgon at the door to the black haired woman with the sword standing right in front of him and back to the gorgon.

Now that she had more time to study the man Phyliss had to admit that for a man of his profession he was surprisingly pretty. He could not have been older than thirty, and sported a masculine face with angular jaws, framed by curly black hair. His skin was of a light brown teint, which matched nicely with his brown eyes. Those eyes, and the cruel glint in them, although not prominent at the moment, were the only thing that disturbed the image of a nice guy.

The one remaining thug meanwhile had stepped up close to him and insecurely fiddled with his mace, unsure how to proceed and awaiting orders.

Finally the torturer had come to a conclusion. Maybe the gorgon was right, and they could overwhelm him easily. But then, why had they not done so already. Keeping up his threat seemed the better idea. Since he expected nothing else from them than what he would do to them were their roles reversed, and so giving up just ws no option.

"If you could do that, you already would have." he finally spat back, confidence returning with every word "But you know that is not a sure thing. If you don't get me on your first try your friend will be dead. So be a nice girl, turn around and face the wall. And you" his attention now was directed towards Verialyn "drop that sword before someone gets hurt."

Verialyn briefly looked back over her shoulder at her friend, waiting for her to decide how to proceed.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss thought quickly. She believed that she would be fast enough, hitting him first with the stun spell before petrifying him. She was may 90 percent sure, maybe a lttle more, but not 100. But if she backed up and would pull back now, what would he do? Simply walk out and take the risk of being attacked or pursued? If they gave up, he would sureley kill his friend and try to kill them both next. No, she could not turn back now.
"I swear you, if you harm him the term pain will have to be reinvented for you. And you know you will not walk out here if you really harm him. You will beg to end as your thugfriends."
She hit the second tug with the combination of her spells without hardly moving, turning him to stone as well.
"I will count to ten."

 

[Cherubian]

For the briefest of moments the torturer was surprised by his helper turning to stone, and his eyes flickered from the now statuesque shape to the gorgon. For those fractions of a second he did not eye Verialyn, and it was his undoing.

In a blurring precise arc too fast to follow with the eye the sword came up and from below cut through the arm holding the dagger like a heated knife would part a chunk of butter. Blood immediately gushed out of the remaining stump of his arm, spraying all over the merchant's tortured form, and the torturer was given enough time to look back wide eyed at Verialyn before the sword came down a second time, dispatching him, his lifeless husk crumbling to the floor.

Looking down at him Verialyn let out a "Whew, that was close" before starting to check up on Flavius who had raised his head and was looking with an unbelieving expression at the two girls who had saved him.

 

[Belinda35]

"Uhh...to bad. He didn't deserve such a quick end." but Phyliss lost no time to work a healing spell on poor Flavius. It didn't completely recover him, but at least it eased the pain and stopped the bleeding, so he was saved at last. She quickly picked up the sword and freed him from the rope, then she kissed and cuddled him for some moments. "I am so sorry, my poor darling... I wished that would not have happened to you."
Her face hardened. "That reminds me that we still have the fat swine left. Maybe one of the statues might recover, but that will take some hours." Phyliss turned to Verialynn.
"I will get up the stairs and get some clothes for poor Flavius before I will have a talk with Verkul. Please give me 15 minutes, I'll hurry back." the gorgon rushed off, but turned in the door. "And oh, place plave Verkul on the table while i'm gone."
She went out of the kitchen, finding Verkul sitting on the floor, moaning in pain; without any word she kicked him into his balls again to make sure he would not walk away.

She run up the stairs, not eeven thinking to look if Quomor or anybody else of the servants was alive. She just dropped off her ripped dress and put on a long, black, very elegant but strict dress made of glossy satin and chiffon, and completed it with a transparent black stole. In an unbelievable speed she washed her face and restored her makeup, using more black to give a more sinister look. She put on black leatherboots, then she picked up long black velvet gloves and put them on while she went down the stairs, completing her outfit with a ring with a large red stone and a matching necklace with an somehow eerie looking pendant. Just the right outfit for an severe interrogation. Setting on an arrogant and cold expression, she walked slow and gracefully through the door, quiet proud on the short time she had needed to perfect a new outfit and appearance which other women couldn't do in their whole life, even with help of an army of servants. She was although curious if Verialyn had already dragged that fat bastard into the kitchen.
She had forgotten about Flavius robe, but after healing him, he probably got dressed already by himself.

 

[Cherubian]

15 Minutes?

It took Verialyn a few moments to fully comprehend what her friend had just said, and by that time she was out of the door. Did she really intend to take a fifteen minute break to get dressed and what not ... before even frigging checking the whole situation? Who knows how many additional thugs were in the house? They needed to talk about this later.

"Thank you for saving my life" The voce of Flavius was still weakened by his ordeal, but Phyliss spells had stabilized him and he already looked a lot better as he sat upright on the table.

"What exactly happened?" she askked, trying to to sound too harsh, but nevertheless needing an account of the events, and quick.

"I ... don't know.... They suddenly were in the house, about half a dozen of them. They killed everyon in their way, dragged me out of my bed and down her. To make me suffer, for what I had done to that Antides basterd, they said. They wanted to know where the two of you were, as well, but luckily I did not know..."

They killed everone in their way Quomor! Darn, she had all but forgotten about him. If the merchant's estimate was right, they had gotten all the intruders, but she had to be sure. "You stay here, lock the door behind me and let noone in but myself" she barked at Flavius before she rushed out of the door, barely registering the wincing Verkul on the ground and rushing up the stairs directly into her bedroom. The room was completely empty. No Quomor, but also no corpse. And an open window. She spent at least two minutes looking around thoroughly, under the bed, bed the cupboards,and out of the window into the garden beneath. Noone there, except for two dead gardeners that definitely were not her slave.

Calmed down a bit, although not fully relieved she slowly returned to the ground floor as she did not want to leave her host without her protection for too long. The slave master had recovered somewhat by now, and so she told him calmly "Get up and come on in" gesturing to the door.

After an "Flavius, its me, open up" the three of them were in the kitchen gain, Verkul standing about irresolute as Verialyn took a seat next to Flavius and gave him a brief smile before she began guarding the fat man and the two statues.

 

[Belinda35]

Phyliss found that Verkul was gone; good, he would not have been able to walk away. In fact, he wouldn't be for quite a while, maybe he would not be able to be anymore after today. She opened the door and walked in, taking great care in her performance. verkuld should abandon all hopes of mercy and fear the worst.