The Covet Corner Hotel: Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Section 1
A day in the life of an Event Planner

The sun can be seen peeking over the horizon, twilight turning over to dawn as the nocturnal beasts return to their homes. The werebat security team flocked towards the entrance of the Covet Corner Hotel as their shifts had finally ended, some simply glided into their open windows before shutting them to prevent the sunlight from entering.

It was just another day, like every other day, at the Covet Corner Hotel.

BOOM!

Just like every other day.

Entering the lobby, descending four floors down, passing the succubi down three hallways, we find ourselves outside of the door labeled 624 on the floor dubbed The Demon Realm (with Room Service). Within the bedroom of this apartment, we can see someone rising up from their bed, being awakened by the thundering noise but not frightened by it.

She yawned, stretching her arms out from under her blanket, revealing her pale skin. Her wings reached out to the sides as hands went for the ceiling. Letting out one last yawn, she rubbed out the little eye crust she formed during her sleep before opening her vivid scarlet eyes. She got up from her bed, showing that all she had on were her panties; the lilim leaned her head back and ran her fingers through the sides of her long silky hair to pull them back behind her pointed ears.

She walked out of the bedroom without putting anything on, her tail swaying side to side as it left through the doorway into the living room. She walked through the living room, past the sofa and chairs towards a wooden door across the room.

BOOM!

‘It looks like he’s at it again’ she smiled, opening the door and entering into her husband’s workshop.

The workshop was larger than the previous two rooms combined; the walls were lined with tables and shelves that were filled with all form of oddities. The potions began to glow their unusual colors as she passed by them, reacting to the demonic energy she gave off naturally.

At the end of the room was what seemed to be a silver-haired man seated at one of the several tables in the room. In front of him was a small cauldron with its contents boiling inside as it was situated above the open flame of a small lamp. He reached into a clear jar on the far corner of the table, grabbing a pinch of some form of sparkling sand, which was quickly tossed into the cauldron. The concoction ceased to boil almost immediately after adding this ingredient, even switching from green to indigo.

Without warning, the mixture began to boil violently, changing its color to a fiery red. Froth had begun to form in proportion to the amount of light it was giving off. Anyone else would have left the room running believing the mixture would explode with untold effects onto anyone within the blast, but neither did. Instead they simply watched as the cauldron became the brightest source of light within the room.

BOOM!

In a final flash of light, the mixture disappeared under the cloud of red smoke that rose from within the cauldron.

“So,” the demon spoke as she leaned in and kissed the man’s cheek, “is that for this week’s orders?”

“Yep… oh! Good morning sweetie.” He said as he turned in his chair to face his mostly nude wife.

She smiled and proceeded to sit sideways on his lap. Her husband was in his usual workshop getup which consisted of a lab coat, dark opaque circular goggles, and whatever he decided to put on this morning.

“Sorry if I woke you. I wanted to make sure I could finish this early so that I could take it easy for the next few days.”

“Take it easy?” she chuckled, “Archie, you silly. You say it as if we didn’t just get back from vacation.”

“I know,” he smiled as he slid his goggles up to his forehead to reveal his cherry-colored eyed, “but what’s wrong with spending more time with my Valerie?”

She simply smiled back and lightly kissed him above his goggles.

“Now then,” he said, turning his chair with Valerie still on him so that they both faced the table, “this final one should do it for the week.”

Archimedes grabbed a pair of tongs that were near the side of the table to reach into the steaming cauldron. From within the seemingly empty cauldron he pulls out a single blood shaded crystal just a bit larger than his pinky. You could see the heat rising up from the hexagonal structure as it was placed into an empty beaker aside five other beakers with a single similar crystal within each of them.

Valerie reached out and grabbed the beaker with the largest of the crystals, placing the palm of her other hand under it as she brought it up to her.

“I think this one has cooled down.” She said

“Let’s see,” Archie stated as he set down the tongs and grabbed the crystal with his fingers, “yep. Want to test it out?”

“Of course.” She smiled, placing the beaker on table and taking hold of the crystal between two fingers.

She raised the crystal up to her face, inspecting it for a moment before winking. A large heart projected out of the crystal and into the air in front of it, glowing hot pink in color before fading away.

“Perfect.” Archie smiled.

***

The Demon Realm.

A floor named as such due to its peculiar properties in comparison to the other floors of the hotel. It was named as such due to its high concentration of demonic energy that filled the air and all of its surroundings. This would naturally make any demon feel right at home upon entering its halls. There were even plants that would usually only grow in a demon realm in certain areas on this floor, or at least is was rumored to be true.

As such, it was highly recommended that single human guests, be they male or female, to refrain from visiting this floor. If they had to (or if they were assigned to live there), some counter-measures had to be put in place in order to prevent demonic transformation or ‘roomy robs’. Usually it was just an enchanted amulet or ring that would prevent the user from absorbing too much of the surrounding demonic energy and keep them from being charmed by the local residents before making it to their rooms. Just to be sure, a trusted local resident would serve as a guide for newcomers, showing them to their rooms, introducing them to the neighbors, directing them to the floor’s brothel, church, stores, and the like. Once the new resident has settled in (and it was determined that they weren’t sharing their room with anyone), then it was fair game for everyone to try to have their way with them.

But right now, we aren’t concerned with what would happen to someone when they enter this floor. Right now we are looking for a room well known amongst the residents of this floor. When asked about this room, some will answer with delight, some with indifference, and some with disgust. It really depends on who you ask and how young they look.

The room we seek is the room that is used as a church to hold sermons in, particularly for the short and flat-chested mamono.

“And to that we say!”

“Let all know the depravity and charm of little girls so that they may give in to pleasure like monsters!”

“Amen!”

“Amen!”

The baphomet leading the sermon closed her book on the pedestal before returning her gaze to the crowd. It consisted of several witches filling up the rows next to a few men along with a few other child-like mamono.

“Now, to get down to business.” Said the baphomet, “As you all know, our annual black mass will be taking place in two weeks!”

A small cheer is heard from the crowd.

“Yes, we are all excited about this, but there has been a small change in plans.”

The crowd was quickly silenced by the news, some beginning to worriedly murmur amongst themselves.

“Calm yourselves sisters, the black mass will not be cancelled, there have only been a few small changes to the plans.” The baphomet announced as the crowd gave out a sigh of relief. “It has come to my attention that a few of our sister branches have been having a great deal of difficulty holding their events without causing trouble to those who do not share our views. As such, they have asked us to extend our hands and allow them the privilege of joining us in our black mass.”

“Let them join us!” a man in the back announced.

“The more the merrier!” a witch in the row exclaimed.

One by one, each member of the crowd spoke out encouraging the idea of having their fellow members join them.

“Settle down everyone, settle down!” the baphomet said with a smile on her face, “I knew we would all be more than happy to let our sisters and their big brothers join us in such a great event, but there is one small problem with this.”

The crowd hushed once again.

“Last year, we held the event here in the hotel’s largest room. We had over 300 members and 500 new members join us. This year we have a total of nearly 2000 partaking in this year’s event, and that’s from our branch alone!”

A small applause is given by the crowd, proud of how quickly they’ve grown. A few of the familiars smirked as they remembered their successes in the recruiting events they led.

“BUT!” The baphomet exclaimed, “With our sister branches joining us, we now have a grand total of 4122 registered for this year’s Black Mass!”

Several members cheered at the news, obviously excited by the number of members joining them in their event. But the cheering swiftly shifted to murmuring.

“The bad news in all this being that since we had the largest room last year, which comfortably housed us all in the most interesting of positions, we will not be able to hold it in the hotel if the number is accurate.”

“But I thought you said we weren’t cancelling!” a large mouse yelled.

“And we are not!” the baphomet responded, lightly hitting the cover the book on the pedestal. “We will continue with the event at its scheduled time, and our entrance will be in our room from last year! But this time, we will be holding our event in a much larger space! The hotel has been gracious enough to assist us in our time of need, and it is thanks to them that we will be holding our mass in the pocket dimension of a few mimics. With that, we will officially be holding the largest mass ever in our region!”

The crowd cheered at the news whilst many of the members stood up and applauded.

“Yes, now settle down. With that we just have one final reminder. Two days before the mass, a few of the dark elves along with some of our members will be holding a safety seminar up on fourth basement floor. It’s called “Bondage: Am I doing it right?” It will be held in room 909 and I highly encourage that we all go. We don’t want another mishap to happen like last year.” She announced, eyeing a few witches in the front row who quickly blushed in embarrassment.

“With the final bit of news done, we are finished with this week’s meeting. Everyone rise.”

The crowd of stood up from their chairs.

“Let our charm convince to all that we are monsters!” voiced the baphomet.

“And let our depravity prove it!” replied the crowd.

“You are all dismissed!”

The crowd stood up and began to leave their church room, some staying behind to speak to their baphomet pastor whilst others greeted each other and exchanged pleasantries as they exited. By the exit we can see Valerie looking over her clipboard as if though trying to remind herself what she had to discuss with the baphomet of this church.

Being the hotel’s event planner, Valerie had to make sure everything was going smoothly and constantly adjust to the inevitable unexpected changes. Most of her assignments were large scale events that would sometimes take place on multiple floors, which meant a lot more work and problems to take care of. But in the end, it was always worth it. Seeing species that were always fighting, neighbors from different floors, and newcomers all getting along was always something she looked forward to. Not only that, but the bigger the event, the higher the potential to draw in future residents.

“Valerie!”

She looked up from her paper to see that the baphomet had finished speaking with her followers.

“Kenzy! How are you?” Valerie said as bent down to hug the baphomet.

“I’m doing well. I swear Valerie, I almost didn’t recognize you in that black dress of yours. Is it new?”

“Y-yes, it is. Archie got it for me, but I feel like it’s a bit much for work. Maybe more of a dinner dress, but he insisted it was a work dress.”

It was a one piece sleeveless black dress that ended right above her knees. Some would say it was covering too much, especially for a succubus, since the bateau neckline prevented others from seeing her cleavage. Of course, it was fitted for her, so it accentuated all the curves and left little to the imagination, giving her an edge of elegance to go with her ample beauty.

“The Arachnids probably told him that it was a work dress, but I see what you mean, it does look like a dinner dress. Either way, I think it looks great on you.”

“Thank you, Kenzy.” Valerie smiled.

“So, did you come down here to listen to the sermon, maybe thinking about bringing Archie here too?”

“Very funny Kenzy, but it actually about the Black Mass event.”

“Hmm?”

A hint of worry was evident in her eyes when she heard this, but she managed to remain in her mostly relaxed pose.

“Anything big?”

“No no, nothing big. Just some paperwork and agreements. You know how the hotel is, have to make sure everything is in check before launching an event this big.” Valerie said, waving her hand to dismiss any distress.

“Oh good.” Kenzy sighed as she patted her chest. She didn’t want to have to tell everyone that the event was cancelled right after assuring them that it wasn’t.

“But,” Valerie stated while tapping on her clipboard, “there was an increase in the number of attendees since the last time we spoke.”

“Ah yes, we got those numbers in this morning. Some of our newest chapters said they would be joining us in order to better understand how to properly follow through the traditions. I believe the total was 200 members from the new branches, and that they’d be bringing in another 100 potential members.”

“Hmm… alright. It shouldn’t be a problems for the Mimics… but I’ll make sure to have a few extra on standby just in case.”

“That’s our girl,” Kenzy smiled, “always looking out for us.”

“Of course.” Valerie smiled back, “Now, I’m going need you to sign these papers.”

***

“So going by last year’s numbers… and assuming there’s going to need a bit more… this should cover everything we need.”

Up twelve floors into what is known as the Bazaar of the Scorching Desert, we are welcomed with the view of an anubis being handed a clipboard by a tanned lamia.

“Hmm… yep. Alright, so you want it all delivered after tomorrow? The morning of the festival and not the day before?” Asked Inpu after glancing over the order on the clipboard.

“That’s right,” said the lamia, brushing her long dark hair behind her ear, “most of those ingredients don’t need any prepping, and we just need to make sure we have enough of them to last throughout the festival.”

The lamia making the order was Isis, a local jeweler of the Bazaar that was known for selling and buying all sorts of gems and accessories to fit any need. Oddly enough, for someone who owned a large number of priceless gems, she only wore a few golden bracelets to compliment her satin top and skirt.

“So I take it that your sisters will be working the food carts on the day of the festival?” Inpu questioned whilst flipping the page on the clipboard.

“Of course. You know the drill Inpu. They go around selling their foods, snacks, and whatnot while I sell my wares. When they run out, they come to me, restock, and head back out.”

Isis made an agreement with her sisters long ago when they first got involved with the festival. They would always help each other out so that they could make the most profit. What they would do is house all the basic materials with Isis in order to ensure that they would not run out. In return, Isis would have them wear her products and advertise her shop throughout the festival. Her sisters were very beautiful, and along with a few minor touches from Isis, they had been nicknamed the Desert Jewels more than a handful of times. All the added attention they would get was good for them, since the men would swear they were hungry and buy something to keep their girls calm. If the girls noticed the well-crafted jewelry, they would certainly ask where they got it, and the men are more than likely buy it after scarcely avoiding a jealousy fit. It was practically a guaranteed certainty to happen if a medusa or another lamia was involved. Not only that, but their food was delicious.

“Speaking of the festival… I was wondering Isis, if you had any new earrings up for sale.”

“New? Sort of. Why, what’s the occasion?”

“Sort of?” Inpu asked, raising an eyebrow at the odd description.

“Well… how do I put this? Some of them are new, some of them are just old ones that are being fixed up, so they look new, but they’re not quite ready yet.”

“Huh?”

Just as Isis was about to try a different approach to explaining her situation, the two of them were interrupted by a pale-haired woman.

“Inpu! Isis! Just the girls I needed to see.”

Both turned to see the scarlet-eyed demon who had called their names.

“Hmm? Oh, hello Valerie.” Inpu stated, nodding to her.

“Ah Valerie, you’re looking well.” said the lamia as she clasped her hands together, “I take it that you have my order?”

“Yes, it’s right here.”

Valerie lifted the clipboard she had on hand and flipped past all of the pages. On the board itself was an outline of a box. Nothing interesting, just a square box. Valerie tapped the center of the box twice and within a second the entire box had filled in with a black substance. She reached her hand into the black square and began to rummage through the space.

“That’s new.” Inpu whistled as she watched.

Pocket spaces were usually a product used by high-ranking adventurers and wealthy travelling merchants. Although not many people bothered getting them when they could just carry whatever they needed in a bag, they were still an incredibly convenient resource to have since they were secure and kept others from knowing what it is that you were carrying. The only true downside other than the sheer cost was that the openings could not be made particularly large, significantly limiting what one could store in these spaces.

“Yeah, Archie got it for me since the handle on my briefcase broke.”

After sifting around for a few more seconds, Valerie managed to find what she was looking for and pulled her hand out of the dark space. With her hand out, the black infill receded back to the edges of the box outline, showing the clipboard once again.

In her hand she held a small vial, no longer than her index finger but thrice as thick, containing a single blood red crystal that took up most of the space inside. She handed the corked vial over to the lamia who eyed it with expectation.

“Ah, perfect!” she said with a toothy fanged grin, “I need to start working on this as soon as I can.”

Inpu raised an eyebrow as she glanced over the rocks in the lamia’s possession. This stone was a similar color to a ruby, but it definitely was not the same as the ones she had seen Isis usually receive from other vendors.

“Interested?” Isis asked, shaking the vial towards Inpu.

Inpu’s attention shifted back towards the smiling lamia.

“Should I be?”

“Oh, you don’t know about these yet? Well then, how about this. I’ll show you the earrings I have tomorrow when you stop by to make the delivery, and you’ll see why this rock is so popular.”

She winked at Inpu and said her goodbyes to Valerie before leaving the two in order to work on her products.

“So Val, what can I do for you?”

“Ah, right!”

Valerie turned a few pages over on her clipboard until she found what she was looking for.

“I just had to verify a few things since you are the one who’s in charge of bringing in all the food for the festival. So if you could please take a look over this list here.” Valerie explained as she handed over her clipboard.

“Of course. A little odd though. Why do you need to know all this?”

“It’s not me, it’s the new head of security.” Valerie sighed. “She wants to know everything going in and out, and she’s been extra fidgety these last few days.”

“Hmm… sounds like an odd one.” Inpu responded, making note to avoid this new person if possible.

Inpu looked over the list and scratched out a few names and numbers, occasionally looking at her clipboard in order to update the list accordingly.

“So, I hear you’re going to the festival with that cute boy from the bakery.”

Inpu’s ears shot straight up and looked up at the smiling Valerie with flushed cheeks.

“How did you find out?”

“Oh,” she said coyly, “his sister told me.”

“That damn Jenny can’t keep her mouth shut for anything.” Inpu muttered as she gritted her teeth.

Valerie giggled at Inpu’s reaction, she was usually so collected and organized until you mention something she wasn’t expecting, especially when it related to her love life. She mumbled a few things about Jenny’s mouth being looser than a ghoul’s while continuing to work on the list for a moment.

“Anyways…” Inpu stated, once she regained her composure, “why were you there? Having lunch?”

“Oh no, it’s a little early for that. It’s actually related the black mass event that’s happening soon.”

For a moment, Inpu made a sour face when she heard that the black mass was involved.

“What… exactly… do those little girls need?”

“Well, it’s a long event with quite a few people from all around coming in. So I had to get a find a few places who would be willing to cater the event.”

“And… they agreed to do that?” Inpu questioned.

“Yes they did.”

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong Inpu?” Valerie smiled, “Are you worried your date will be charmed by a cute little witch before you can claim him?”

“I WON’T LET THEM!” Inpu responded with her ears pinned back against her head before drooping down. “Sorry…”

“Haha. It’s alright, I should be saying sorry since I was pushing your buttons. Anyways, I’m he’ll be yours by the end of the Nile Festival.”

Inpu’s ears perked up and her tail had begun to wag.

“You really think so?”

“I know so.” she responded with a giggle.

Chapter 9 Section 2
A day in the life of an Inventor

In the darkness known as the Night-Time Suites, we can see a silver-haired man walking briskly through the tombstone filled corridors while being followed by his much shorter redheaded assistant.

“Slow down! Why are you walking so fast! My legs are too short and I’m not going to jog to keep up with you!”

“Oh! Sorry Berta, I’m just in such a good mood today!”

The man slowed down, a smile running across his face and his cherry eyes filled with delight. His goblin assistant on the other hand, wasn’t as enthusiastic as her superior. He was always a bit annoying whenever he was in an overly bright mood, and today seemed to be one of those days. If she had known they were going to be making rounds today instead of staying at the workshop, she would’ve dressed more appropriately rather than walking around in her dull orange work overalls, her thick dwarven made gloves, and her goggles hanging around her neck. They weren’t exactly what she would consider presentable to clients, and would make it a little more difficult for potential clients to take them seriously if they couldn’t even dress the part.

She would’ve at least left the tools she carried around in her various pockets behind, they always made too much noise if she walked in any hurried fashion. They were also fairly heavy, not that she noticed, but they made her outfit sag.

Archimedes was dressed the same way he was dressed this morning. A purple shirt, some brown pants, a labcoat, and his goggles still resting on his forehead. It seemed that he had enough sense to take off his gloves and put them in his back pocket, but that as far as it went for today.

’I swear, how in the Demon Realm he ended up with a lilim will never make sense to me. I’m surprised his crazy antics didn’t attract a leanan sidhe instead…’

Berta was an uncharacteristically serious goblin when it came to her work, while Archimedes was a little more… free spirited.

They walked past the zombies who didn’t even notice them, occasionally greeting a skeleton or a werewolf who did notice them. But Archimedes was gradually picking up speed again, and Berta was starting to fall behind.

’I’m going to regret this… but I need him to distract him to slow him down…’

“So Arch…” she sighed, “why are you in such a good mood?” she asked, while attempting to smile, knowing full well what the answer would relate to.

“Hmm?” slowing down to Berta’s pace before continuing, “Oh you know, just thinking about Val and if I should get her something.”

’There it is’

“I swear you spoil that girl too much.”

“Jealous?” he responded with a smirk.

Berta pouted her lips a bit and raised an eyebrow. Archimedes laughed a bit at his assistant’s expression and went on.

“I know, I know… It’s just… I can finally afford to get her stuff she deserves.”

Berta let out another sigh.

“I swear boss… Treating her is fine, but I think going overboard here. I mean, first you got her that weird looking ‘case’ thing, and that wasn’t cheap. Worst part is, that garbage broke in less than two months.”

“Hey, I got my money back on it.”

“AND THEN, you got her that clipboard, which would’ve been okay, but you decided to install a pocket dimension into it. That’s more than what we would normally make in six months!”

“Hey! She needed something to hold her stuff in.”

“That’s not the point.” She rubbed her temple before continuing, “My point is, you’re getting her stuff without even knowing if she wants it. I know business has been booming, but you need to slow down and think about it before you start spending it.”

Archimedes was about to respond, but instead he stayed quiet.

“You’re right Berta. I never thought of it like that.”

’Oh thank the Demon Lord.’

“I’ll ask her friends if there’s anything she wants and then surprise her.”

’WHY DO I EVEN TRY?!’

At this point, Berta had failed to notice that the number of zombies had begun to dwindle to the point that there weren’t any to be seen. They were gradually replaced with liches, phantoms, and even vampires.

“Where exactly are we? I don’t think I’ve ever been to this part of the hotel.” Berta asked while looking at the doors that were being spaced farther and farther away from each other.

“Oh, is that so?” Archimedes commented while smiling and nodding at a vampire who nodded back but ignored Berta.

“Well,” Archimedes continued, “I’m not entirely surprised. This section isn’t exactly the friendliest to people who aren’t undead or high rank.”

Being a goblin, Berta was neither.

“Then why are we here?”

“Business of course!” he smiled.

He wasn’t going to tell her, and this made Berta uncomfortable. That, and the phantom they had passed was giving her an unnerving grin, probably thinking about a fantasy that involved goblins.

“And how long until we reach our destination then?” Berta asked, trying her best to distract herself from her discomfort.

“Not long… we’re here.”

At the very end of the main hall was a single door with two guards, a dullahan and a set of living armor stood at the sides. The scenery had changed considerably from the graveyard design near the entrance of the floor, and had been replaced with the ruins of a former castle. Berta was surprised that she hadn’t noticed this change, but she didn’t exactly want to stay here any longer than she needed to just to enjoy the sights.

“Ladies.” Archimedes greeted.

The disembodied helmet of the living armor nodded at Archimedes while the dullahan eyed Berta’s sagging pockets suspiciously, but said nothing of it.

Archimedes used the skull shaped knocker on the wooden door and took a step back. The barred sidelights with the iron bolts and hinges of the door along with the guards made it look like they were about to enter the castle’s former dungeon. After a few moments, Archimedes was about to grab the knocker again when the door creaked open. A skeleton wearing a maid’s uniform stood there quietly staring at the two.

“Ah, hello. I’m Archimedes and this is my assistant Berta.”

Berta bowed her head slightly at the sound of her name.

“We have an appointment with the lady of the house, may we come in?”

The skeleton stood silently for a moment before nodding and allowing the two to enter.

She closed the door and quietly led them through the halls and into the parlor room. The carpeted room had an odd design to it, mixing a dull purple with white design in everything it could. From the three chairs and the table they were standing beside, to the two sofas and coffee table across the room. Whoever they were meeting had a thing for the color purple. The skeleton maid gestured them to wait here before disappearing back into the hallway.

“So… this a bit fancy…”

“Isn’t it?” Archimedes smiled before taking a seat by the rather small table.

Berta walked around the room, looking ‘outside’ the window to see the full moon hang behind a dying tree. Most of the time whenever they were going to meet with a customer at their house, the customer or their spouse(s) were usually the ones to answer the door and show them in. There were very few occasions where there was hired help involved, and none that had such an extravagant living arrangement.

“Pardon me.” a new voice announced.

Both Archimedes and Berta turned towards the entrance of the parlor to see a werewolf in a maid uniform similar to the skeleton’s standing under the archway.

“My apologies, but it seems that Madame Ethelburg is finishing up with another matter at this current point of time and would like to request your patience before appearing.”

Berta flinched after hearing her say that.

“Of course, that is no issue.” Archimedes responded.

“Hmm.” Berta nodded when the maid turned to look at her as well.

“Thank you. In the meantime, please enjoy some refreshments while you wait.”

In that instance, two other maids walked into the room. A green-feathered harpy carried a small three-tiered pastry stand and placed it at center of the small table. It consisted of a few miniature sandwiches in the bottom tray, with scones on the center plate, and some sort of purple decorated pastries on the top tier of the stand. The harpy then joined the other maid, a kikimora, as she set down a tea tray near Berta and began to pour some tea for the two guests. Once she finished filling one, the harpy picked it up along with its saucer and handed it to Archimedes before returning to the tray and offering a cup to Berta.

“T-thank you.” Berta managed to say.

The maids smiled before filing out of the room, leaving the head werewolf maid at the entrance of the parlor.

“Once again, our deepest apologies. She will be arriving shortly.”

The moment the werewolf was finally out of sight, Berta looked at Archimedes with a wide eyed expression.

“Madame Ethelburg? The Madame Jolenta de Ethelburg?”

“Yep.” Archimedes said while inspecting one of the sandwiches from the bottom tray. “That’s the one.”

“The wight?!”

“There’s no need to yell Berta.” he stated while taking a bite of the sandwich, “But yeah. Is there another?”

“Another… she’s t-the… She is THE Madame Ethelburg. The one who basically runs a third of the diamond and precious stone trade on this side of the world! And she lives here?!”

Berta’s hands were shaking, causing the teacup and saucer to clink continuously against each other. If the maid had filled it up any higher, she would have certainly spilled some.

Being a goblin didn’t have many perks in life, and Berta was well aware of this fact. Ever since the new Demon Lord came into power, things have gotten significantly better for her species, but they were still considered one of the lowest ranks amongst many. But for her to be meeting with a wight? That alone would raise questions. Not to mention one as wealthy as her. It was odd enough that she was friends with Archimedes and his wife, but now this?!

“Berta, take a sip of the tea. It’ll help.”

“Tea? How the heck is that supp-ppose to help?!”

“Trust me.” He stated, taking a sip from his cup.

Berta took a deep breath and gulped down some of her tea.

She stopped shaking instantly.

Her mind was clear, and she felt much calmer than she was a few moments ago.

“Hmm. Interesting taste. What is it?” Berta asked before approaching one of the seats at the table.

“Flow Kelp Tea. It has an extremely calming effect, and it’s used to help with anxiety or general nervousness. It’s especially useful for when you’re meeting someone important. Of course, that’s if you sip it.” He stated as he peered into Berta’s teacup. “It’s also used for people who have trouble sleeping, and most people would’ve already passed out if they drank as much as you did in such a short amount of time.”

“I should consider myself lucky then.”

Archimedes chuckled, causing Berta to raise her eyebrow.

“Sorry, it’s just that I’ve never, in all the time you’ve worked with me, seen you this calm.”

“Well, I suppose that’s true.” She responded, taking one of the scones from the middle tier plate.

“But, returning to your previous question. Yes, she occasionally lives here.”

“Occasionally?” Berta asked, before taking a bite of the scone.

“Yes. This is one of her many homes. Whenever she has to make any business arrangements or the like around here, she stays here. Otherwise she’s in her actual castle or some other part of the world.”

Normally under these circumstances, Berta would be yelling at Archimedes for taking all this so lightly. Not only that, but dragging her to see a high ranking undead noble without even telling her. He could have at the very least told her to dress nicer than her work attire. But it seems that the effects of the tea were fairly potent, so instead she simply let out a sigh.

“Hmm.” Archimedes straightened his back and turned his head towards the hallway.

“Hmm?” Following her boss’s eyes, Berta also looked towards the hallway.

Nothing had changed in the hallway, but a far off sound could be heard in the silence.

*Tap, tap, tap, tap*

It certainly weren’t the maids, they walked as quietly as a girtablilu, assuming there wasn’t already one amongst their ranks. These footsteps gradually grew louder and louder until a figure finally appeared out of the hallway.

A wight wearing a dark purple gown entered the room, her violet stockings could be seen through the opening of her skirt, and her chest was practically popping out of the bodice of the gown. Most men would be drooling after seeing this woman, but Archimedes simply smiled.

When the crimson eyes of the wight met with Archimedes’, she raised both of her fingerless gloved hands in the air.

“Archie! It’s so good to see you again.”

Archimedes chuckled, standing up and hugging the delighted wight before they greeted each other with kiss on each cheek.

What was left of Berta’s scone dropped from her hand and into the tea. Even the effects of the Flow Kelp tea had its limits.

Once they had finished their greeting, Archimedes turned around, gesturing his arm towards Berta.

“Ah, Jolenta, you two haven’t met yet. This here is my esteemed assistant, Berta.”

With her introduction Berta quickly rose from her seat, almost causing it to fall down, before bowing to the wight.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She stated while clenching her fists.

“Oh dear. Hahaha, it’s a pleasure to meet you too, but there’s no need to be so formal with me dear. Hahaha.” Jolenta responded, waving her hand towards Berta as the other covered her mouth as she laughed.

“So, Jolenta, how is the afterlife treating you?” Archimedes asked with smile.

“Oh you and your undead jokes,” Jolenta giggled as she approached the table and sat down, “surely you didn’t ask to meet me to bore me to death with your humor.”

The two shared a laugh as Arch and Berta returned to their seats.

“So Archie,” Jolenta began, brushing her flowing straight hair away from her face and behind her ear, “I assume you want to talk to me about that little pet project of yours I’ve been hearing so much about.”

“Oh, so you’ve heard about it?” he smiled.

“Well Archie, when one your best locations has a sudden drop in sales, you tend to try to find out why.”

The cheery attitude she had earlier was disappearing and being replaced with a much more serious one.

Archimedes on the other hand hadn’t stopped smiling. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a small red stone, no bigger than the tip of his pinky, and placed it onto the table.

“Heh, well Jolenta. What I want is for you to sell this stone for me.”

“Hmm?”

Jolenta eyed the stone on the table for a moment before a ghostly-like claw sprouted out from her forearm, picking up the gem and bringing up to her face.

“Hmm… you wouldn’t by happen to have a loupe on you, now would you dear?” She asked.

Arch looked at Berta, who quickly opened the pocket on her chest and pulled out the magnification tool the wight asked for.

“Ah, thank you.” She said, as she took the loupe from Berta and began to inspect the stone.

She closed her left eye as her right eye began to glow while inspecting the new stone, looking for any detail she could about it while occasionally turning it in the ghostly claw.

“Well Archie, this is definitely an interesting one you brought. It’s definitely not a fake gem, it would’ve broken under pressure right away after I picked it up.”

Her ghostly claw set the gem back onto the table before receding back into her left forearm.

“But, it’s definitely not a naturally occurring gem. Although I did see some qualities similar to a ruby in there, that rock is definitely not one. In fact, it’s not like any gem I’ve ever worked with. Ahem.” Jolenta stated before clearing her throat.

At that moment, a girtablilu maid had suddenly appeared from behind the seated wight, startling both the goblin and the incubi.

“Yes, my lady. Is there anything you or your guests require?”

“If you could be a dear and get me a drink. The usual if possible.”

“Right away.” the maid responded, bowing slightly before silently leaving the room just as quietly as she entered.

“Now, where was I? Ah yes, this stone. There is something about this stone that I find interesting,” Jolenta began, “the gem seems to be very well cut. You must tell me who the dwarf that cut this was afterwards. Many of my dwarves can’t manage to facet a stone like this, and they’re supposed to be the best around. Selling an imitation ruby cut like that would still fair a high price purely on its aesthetic value, all things considered.”

Berta blinked in a dumbfounded fashion as Arch gave her a quick smirk.

“My lady, your beverage.”

Once again, the maid had somehow appeared in the room without anyone noticing. This time she carried a tray in one of her claws. She placed the teacup and saucer from the tray onto the table beside the wight.

“Ah, yes. Thank you Ati.” She responded, unfazed by the sudden appearance of her maid as she grabbed the handle of her teacup and sipped her drink.

The girtablilu bowed slightly just as before, stepped back and left without so much as making a sound.

“She seems new.” Arch mentioned after seeing that the maid left.

“Ati? Yes, I’ve been getting quite a few people added to the staff ever since the new butler got married.”

“Hmm?”

“But back to the subject at hand,” she took another sip of her drink, “I have no idea what this stone is. So Archie, what is this?”

“This,” Arch began “is my latest creation. I call it the Valstone.”

Berta stared at her boss with a deadpan face after realizing who it was named after while Jolenta interlocked her fingers and listened intently.

“It does use rubies as a base material to grow out from, so you could say it is within the same family as one. With just a single grain, I was able to make a rough cut about ten times the size of this stone.”

Jolenta raised one of her brows.

“That’s all well and good Archie, but that can’t be the only reason they’re so popular. I mean, it certainly cuts down on the costs and pricing, but people like their authentic stones. And trust me, an echidna will know right away if it’s natural or artificial. So, what’s so special about this ‘Valstone’?”

Arch, who was still smiling after all this, simply grabbed the stone and held it towards his assistant.

“Care to demonstrate?”

Berta blinked a few times before realizing what he meant. After taking the red gemstone from him and holding it up to her ear, she winked at the wight. A small pink heart seem to have flown out of her eye and stood in the air for a few seconds before fading away.

The wight stared at the goblin wide-eyed for a moment before looking at Arch and then back at the goblin before once again returning to Arch.

“You MADE a new type of channelling stone?”

Arch chuckled for a moment at her reaction until finally responding.

“Pretty much.”

A channeling stone is a natural phenomenon that generally occurs around environments with higher concentrations of energy flowing through it. These stones are capable of storing ambient demonic or spiritual energy within themselves usually causing them to glow, as well as grow and expand in size. Once fully formed, these stones are able to use most forms of demonic/spiritual energy and utilize it to produce or amplify specific functions depending on the traits they have absorbed. For example, a stone that resides near an ignus will begin to radiate heat instead of light, while particularly powerful stones are able to project flames. Thus if one were to find this stone and use it, they will find it significantly easier to produce a flame-related spell.

Channeling stones can be refined, thereby furthering its enhancements for a narrower range of abilities within its spectrum. But refining a stone will halt any future growth for that stone as well as prevent any further refinement. This is why many refined stones have a broad set of functions in order to maintain flexibility, unless they are specialized for one certain function. Specialized stones can either greatly enhance a certain ability or greatly reduce the cost to produce said ability.

Of course, this is the case for natural channeling stones.

Artificial channeling stones followed the same concept as their natural counterparts, but lacked the variety of options that are available with naturally forming stones. Although they had a lower rate of success, they were much easier and quicker to form, and have found their uses in the modern world. Many, after being refined, are used as safe light sources, and others are able to transfer energy stored within each other over short distances when paired.

And then we have the Valstone.

Archimedes was able to discover a new branch within artificial channelling stone creation. By using precious stones as a seed rather than shards of a channeling stone, one could create channeling stones significantly easier than traditional means, and at a higher rate of success. Somehow this man was able do all this, something no one else had managed to do in the world of channelling stone research, all in order to fulfill one purpose.

To flirt.

With his Valerie.

“Hm. Hmph. Heh ha ha haha!” Jolenta had begun to laugh as she realized this.

Only Archimedes would do something so grand that could leave his mark on the world for all eternity for such an inconsequential reason.

“Haha ha. Only you would be able to pull something like that off Archie. Only you.” she continued to laugh. “A decorative and specialized channeling stone. Hahaha. It’s practically unheard of. Haha. This changes everything.” It seemed like her cheery attitude was returning.

Although channeling stones were not rare, finding someone who could reliably refine them was, especially when it came down to specializing stones. Just having a specialized stone was considered a luxury to many, even if they couldn’t use it properly.

“There was so little energy that I was able to flow through it that I thought this was a regular gemstone. Hahaha. A stone like that would make it possible for just about anyone to be able to use it. I’m surprised it didn’t activate when I was looking at it.”

“Oh that. I made it so that you have to want to do it in order to activate it when you wink. It would be a little odd if a heart appeared every time a cyclops blinked.”

“Haha, I suppose that’s true. But a channeling stone? And one that makes something as cute as that, no wonder everyone is buying it.”

“Heh, yup. It’s been doing particularly well with the succubi on my floor.”

“I can imagine.” she giggled.

“So then Archie, you want me to sell that? Done. That thing can sell itself in a heartbeat.” Jolenta cackled before taking another sip from her teacup and calming down bit. “Now… how are we going to cut it?”

“I was thinking 60:40. Since you’ll be doing most of the work, I think it’s only fair you get the bigger slice of the pie.”

“Hmph. How about you get 20. Like you said, I’ll be the one responsible for doing most of the work, and I already have everything ready to start when I say so.”

It was true. Jolenta already had everything set up to start sales immediately if she wanted to. She had people everywhere, from nobles to peddlers who would buy anything and everything from her if they could afford it.

“65:35, but I’ll give you two little gifts as incentive.” Arch countered.

“Hmm?”

She leaned back in her chair, her arms crossed on her lap, waiting to see what it is he could offer. Twenty percent was a generous offer, and she only gave it to him because he was a dear friend. Normally she would offer ten to fifteen percent, or buy the rights for a set price, since it would be more than enough money for the seller to live off of happily for the rest of their days. Whatever it was he was going to offer her, it was going to be interesting.

“My first gift to you will be,” he grinned while turning towards Berta, “my lovely assistant here. She will now be working for you as head of production.”

’WHAT?!’

It seems that the effects of the tea were wearing out fairly quickly on Berta, although she made no physical indication of it whatsoever, her mind was back to its usual self.

The wight formed a sly smile on her face before responding.

“Is that so? Now dearie, even if she’s your assistant, I have to ask. What are her qualifications?”

’Crap, crap, crap’

Berta would be dripping in cold sweat and fidgeting in her seat right now… she would be, if it were not for the tea. Instead, she was tapping her finger against her knee under the table as she turned to see what her deranged superior would say.

Why in the world would her boss put her in such a position? Was he insane? Maybe. Was he stupid? Probably. But even he had some sound logic in his ideas. Did he think she was good enough? Would she be good enough for the wight? Did he even have a plan?

“Well, other than being the only other person who knows how to make a Valstone of equal, if not better, quality than myself, she is also the one who cut the Valstone you inspected earlier.”

The smile Jolenta bore disappeared in an instant, and her face switched to astonishment as she turned to Berta.

“You? Her? A goblin?” Jolenta blinked several times. “Dear… I am impressed, to say the least.” she said, holding her hand up to her chest.

“T-thank you.” Berta spat out.

“No. Truly, this is something to boast about. To think, that a goblin of all creatures would outdo a dwarf in its own field. Ha!”

Berta took a sip of her tea with a soaked scone in it to help calm herself before she started to shake again.

“Very well, Archie. What’s the second?”

She would now be willing to go up to twenty five… maybe thirty if this goblin was indeed as good as he said she was. Whatever this second gift was, it had her attention.

“The second,” he stated, reaching into his pocket, “is this.”

From his left pocket, he pulled out a rough violet gemstone the size of his fist and placed it on the table.

Both Berta and Jolenta looked at the stone with wide-eyed expressions on their faces for a moment, allowing the silence of the room to take over. She looked up to Archimedes who simply nodded his head towards the stone. Finally, Jolenta reached out and placed a finger onto the massive gemstone. She winked, causing a large violet heart to be projected out of the crystal and into the air, the brightness flashed in intensity as if though it were beating until finally fading away seconds later.

“Purple… my favorite…”

“Say hello to the first and only Violet Valstone, and it is yours to do as you see fit. I am the only person that knows how to make it, so if you want to start a line to sell, I can start production as soon as you tell me, but if you want to be the only woman on this planet with a custom made Valstone… well…” he raised his hands as if though it wasn’t in his control to change that option before smiling at the wight. “That’s up to you.”

Jolenta was silent, pondering over the choice she was offered, her hand was still touching the stone that bore her favorite color. There was a stillness that filled the room in an instant, it made one’s own breathing seem loud. Seconds that seemed like hours passed, until finally she took the Valstone and moved it towards her.

“Fine,” she smiled, “you win. 65:35 it is.”

Berta sat there, watching the two as they started talking about the details of how this arrangement would work out. She took a sip of her tea that still had her soaked scone inside.

‘These two are insane’

Chapter 9 Section 3
Ending the day

“What in the world is this thing?”

“Hmm? Oh, this is called an elevator.”

Near the front desk of the lobby located in the Covet Corner Hotel was a bewildered man staring at the open door of the elevator. He had travelled to cities big and small, but he had never seen a contraption like this done so elegantly at such a large scale.

“An elevator?” he said, stepping in and joining Valerie, “Surely this elevator uses at type of crane to function. But how is it powered? Oxen? Horses? Mules?”

“In all honesty, I’m not sure…” Valerie pondered for a second, “My husband said that ogres and minotaurs were the ones in charge of doing that back then. But I’m not sure if they still do.”

“Ogres and minotaurs? Amazing…”

The elevator doors shut and began its downward descent towards the fourth basement level known as the Demon Realm.

As curious as he was about the elevator, in reality he was doing so in order to distract himself from the horned white-haired beauty he was standing next to.

Marcus Poloskey was a merchant by trade, and a good one at that. He had travelled throughout this region from coast to coast, seeing all kinds of spectacles and marvels along the way. As any good salesman knew, if he limited the towns and cities he visited then he was ignoring the number of potential customers who would buy his wares at these locations. It was also much safer to make as many frequent stops as possible, since bandits and wild mamono would make an easy target of him if were to tire out mid-travel. He was one of the handful of merchants who was willing to travel to and between Order controlled territories and the Demon Realm domain. Even so, seeing all types of wonders and beauties the world could offer didn’t prepare him for the sudden onslaught he had faced upon entering this establishment.

Just a few minutes ago he was surrounded by the bodies of voluptuously enticing demons who were pressing themselves against him when a card he was handed turned purple, seemingly able to ignore the effects of the Repellent Ring he wore. A particular red-headed woman from behind him was twirling his hair with her finger as she pressed her breasts against his back. If it weren’t for the Amulet of Restraint that he wore for his travels, he would have surely been at their mercy in an instant, begging them to do whatever they wanted to him after they enveloped him in their auras.

Once a number formed on his card, they all seemed to have lost interest. The redhead behind him mumbled something along the lines of ‘Why do I even bother’, before leaving the man where he stood.

But just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the old man who had given him this strange card told him that this goddess of a woman would show him to his room. It might have been slightly peculiar to see a succubus wear such a modestly tasteful dress, but it seemed that her visage was able to outshine that minor handicap the other demons had over her. In order to keep himself from staring at her, he began to fiddle around with the charm the old man gave him just before following this elegant delicacy.

“You should probably put that somewhere safe on you.”

“Hmm? What this? As a matter of fact, I have one as it is.” he stated, pulling out the one he bore under his shirt.

“Oh… hmmm…” Valerie began to eye the amulet he bore.

The Amulet of Restraint. It was an old rusted charm he wore that he was able obtain through a friend who worked within one of the armories under the Order. He was told that as long as it was on his person, he would be able to resist the urges of just about any mamono he encountered, but after his earlier encounter, he was beginning to have his doubts.

The browned amulet consisted of a disk about the length of his finger, with five mostly evenly spaced symbols carved near the edges. Between each symbol was the image of a chain that connected to ring at the center of the amulet.

The other amulet in his hand was of similar design, but there were some noticeable differences. It was half the size compared to the one he wore around his neck, and it was still silver in color unlike his. The final variation were the symbols, there were only three. Not only that, but two of them were different than the ones that could be found on the other.

“Well, that’s rare. Not many people come in already carrying one around. But even so, I would still recommend you keep this one safe.”

“Why is that, if I may ask?”

“Well, the one you have,” Valerie began whilst pointing to the rusted relic, “although powerful, isn’t as effective as this tiny cute one.”

“Huh?”

“You see these symbols? This one means Demon, and this one means Plant.” Valerie’s finger that was pointing at the top symbol of the charm began to shift to other symbols as she stated what they meant.

“Beastman, Birdman, and finally Elemental.”

“That’s what they mean?” Marcus had been carrying this around for years, and no one had ever been able to tell him what the symbols meant. He eventually stopped asking.

“Mhmm. Meanwhile, this little one says Demon, Succubi, and Imp.”

“Ohh… I think I understand now. The one I’ve had is more generalized in its protection from mamono, but this one specializes in those of the demonic variety.”

“That’s right.” Valerie smiled.

She had a beautiful smile, and Marcus had to look away to keep himself from staring too much.

“But why would that old man give me this? Did he feel sorry for me after all those succubi surrounded me?”

Surely the old man meant no disrespect in gifting him an item like this to him. But these things weren’t exactly something just anyone could afford, so simply giving one away was odd to say the least.

Valerie giggled at his statement before shaking her head to signify that wasn’t the reason.

*DING*

The doors slid open, allowing a heavy swirl of aromas to invade the elevator. A cocktail of exotic tastes filled the air, some sweet, some rich, some creamy, and others… well, they smelled like sweat and semen.

Oddly enough, even with this mixture of mismatching scents, Marcus couldn’t help but feel a pleasantly alluring quality in it. Something about it felt almost familiar to him.

“Is that… alraune nectar?”

Valerie, who was walking out of the elevator, turned around and sniffed the air.

“Most likely. The girls down here do love using the perfume that it’s in. They say their husbands can’t get enough of it.”

Marcus had almost been seduced into a trap by that scent early on in his travels. If he hadn’t tripped and been lucky (or unlucky) enough to have his face land in some freshly made excrement, he would have surely been another victim of that plant. After that moment, he made it a priority to obtain an Amulet of Restraint, and for good measure he also decided to wear the Repellant Ring so that if he ever ran into one they would find him unappealing or disgusting and hopefully let him go.

“I’ve heard of alraune nectar being used being used in sweets, but I’ve never heard of someone using it as a perfume.” he commented as he finally left the elevator.

“We have that here too. But it’s more of a seasonal treat, much like extra thick eggnog.”

Marcus wasn’t exactly sure what that was, but it sounded like a popular product he could sell later on in his travels.

“I forgot to ask,” Valerie said, “which room are you staying in? I wouldn’t be a very good escort if I didn’t know where I was taking you.”

“Oh,” Marcus took a quick glance at the card he was handed earlier, “it says 3-2-5.”

“Three Twenty-five…hmm.” Valerie pondered while placing a finger on her lip. “That shouldn’t be too far, I think it’s right next to Gloria’s Hole in the Wall.”

“Hole in the wall? Is it an actual hole?”

“Well,” Valerie snickered, “yes and no.”

It seems like Marcus wasn’t going to understand a lot about this place unless he experienced it firsthand. He promised himself that he would try this ‘Hole in the Wall’ and learn everything he could about this place before returning to road.

Valerie began to walk him down the halls of this establishment, what began as a simple escort eventually sidetracked into a tour. It seemed like this woman had a charm that would captivate everyone, be it man, woman, or monster. Every time they attempted to turn a corner, finished a conversation with someone, or even take three steps, someone would appear in order to talk with her.

Most of residents who wished to converse with Valerie tended to be a fellow species within the demonic variety. Some would take notice of Marcus, asking if he was cold at night or if he liked to watch. Others would simply wink at him, with a handful of them producing a small heart that would float in the air for a moment. But occasionally there were a few who would break the mold, such as the sweet young demon girl child named Lily who was visiting her big brother who lived on this floor. Another was a man carrying an odd looking plant Marcus once had to smuggle into a city. A few would even ask if he had seen a certain area of the floor before dragging both of them there to see it, such as the brothel or the shop that sold the alraune nectar sweets. But the most prominent monster of all was the newlywed Unicorn with a split horn.

To his understanding, she had married the butler of a particularly wealthy undead monster who believed himself to be a virgin. As fate would have it, one of his coworkers was a monster called a nightmare that decided to have her way with him in his sleep the night before the wedding. She had felt something odd in the air before the wedding, but she thought it was her nerves. As soon as the ceremony was over, little time was wasted to release her pent up desires. That night was everything she could hope for, sleepless and filled with passion. Or at least it was until the next morning. The day after the wedding, she woke up with her horn split, her fur black, and her mouth, as she said, ‘hungry for his cock.’

Oddly enough though, it seems that this was for the best.

After her transformation, her husband was quickly promoted to Head Butler, with his primary duty being ensuring the satisfaction of the maids within the household, including the nightmare that caused it all. Not only that, but due to the tiring new work duties assigned to her husband, a new position had been opened up and offered to her. She was offered a position alongside her husband as Assistant to the Head Butler, or the ‘Anal Maid’ as she likes to call it since Head Maid was taken, with her primary duty being to assist the Head Butler in his duties. So in the end, even though she had never dreamed of becoming a bicorn, she firmly believed that it was the best accident to have ever occurred.

“Well Julie, if you’re happy, then I’m happy.” Valerie responded after hearing her story.

“Oh Val. If I had known I would end up like this, I would have let you plan my wedding like a proper bicorn wedding.”

“Oh? So you, your husband, and thirty girls?”

“Hahaha. You know the new me so well Valerie!”

Unicorns, from what Marcus had heard others say, were incredibly pure and well-natured beings. Being the first time he had ever seen or heard of a bicorn, he was a bit surprised to see what people described as the symbol of purity being quite the opposite. Although she did seem to be well-natured like many people have described, the way she talked so openly about what she had done to her husband along with the others and what they would do would make a few succubi seem prude.

“Oh, I’ve been rambling on and on this entire time. I didn’t even check to see if you were busy with something.”

“Ah, there’s no need to worry about that Julie. I was just showing Marcus where he was staying.”

“Oh, you’re new to this floor too?” Julie leaned her towering figure forward towards Marcus. “I myself just moved to this floor just the other day. I used to live up on the fourth floor, but a few of my neighbors who also happened to be unicorns didn’t take my change very well. So me and the hubby decided to move down here. Has Valerie here shown you Voyeurs View?”

“Voyeurs View?”

“She hasn’t? You simply must go there sometime. It’s a great place to get new ideas to try out. And if you’re feeling frisky, you could be one of the shows. Me and a few of the girls are gonna give it a whirl tomorrow, in case you’re interested.” She winked.

Marcus reddened a bit after hearing what the former unicorn told him. He wasn’t entirely sure how this place worked, but he definitely had an idea of what they did considering the name it was given.

“Haha. Julie, I didn’t know you became an exhibitionist too. Haha.”

“Oh Valerie, I’m just trying everything out, now that I can. Oh yes, you should keep showing him around before I start rambling again. I need to go see how my man is doing with the girls today. Bye-bye for now you two.”

Both Marcus and Valerie said their goodbyes to the bicorn as she clopped down the hall and headed towards the elevator.

“That Julie. She’s changed so much, almost a completely new woman.” Valerie stated with a smile before facing Marcus. “But she is right, we need to show you around and get you to your room.”

With that, she began to walk the opposite way Julie had gone with Marcus following just a step behind.

***

“What in Pandemonium were you thinking?!”

Down a few halls away was Berta, yelling at her superior for his earlier actions. This madman had somehow spoken to one of the wealthiest women in the region, got her to agree to sell his product, and landed his assistant a high ranking position in her workforce in one sitting. Berta was now the new head of production for Madame Jolenta de Ethelburg, not a position one would ever expect from a goblin.

“What do you mean? Everything went more or less according to plan.”

“Plan?! You had a plan the entire time?! Why didn’t you tell me what we were doing before you dragged me up there?!”

“Well, not exactly. It was more of a general concept than a plan. I had a few things that were solid, but the rest was figured out along the way.”

“Uuugggghhhhh! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!”

Both Berta and Archimedes were returning to his workshop after finishing up the arrangement with Jolenta. It was agreed that Berta would start her new position in a little over a week, but that she would only be working a few days out of the week. Archimedes wasn’t going to just give up his assistant, so it was settled that Jolenta would have Berta under her for three days while Archimedes would have her for the other three days. The final day was a rest day that Berta would get to choose when she wanted to take it.

“You could’ve at least asked me if I wanted to do this.”

“What?” Archimedes said, looking back at his assistant while walking, “You don’t want to be head of production?”

“No. I mean yes I do, but- Ugghhh. That’s not the point.”

Berta had drank the entire teapot of Flow Kelp tea in order to keep herself from bursting in front of Madame Jolenta de Ethelburg, but the effects had worn out quite some time ago.

“Look Berta. I know it was a bit sudden, but trust me, it was better this way.”

“How was this the best way to do that?!”

“Hmm. Well…” Arch looked up at the ceiling for a moment as he recalled a few old memories, “Val and I have known Jolenta for a long time now. I think we met her when she was still a fresh wight… well as fresh as a dead woman can be.” he chuckled.

Berta didn’t quite find that funny, but she continued to listen.

“I’m sure you have noticed, but Jolenta has quite the personality. Having noble blood and all, she was usually prim and proper when dealing with others while she was alive. But she never really enjoyed having to play the part of the empty-headed pretty face who would have to run the household. So, after her revival, she decided to take a much more active role than in her previous life.”

“Alright. That explains why she’s acts like that, but that doesn’t really explain much else.”

“I’m getting to that.” he responded while turning the corner into his hall.

“There’s two things Jolenta likes to see before hiring someone. The first one is the quality of their work. That I did for you when I handed her the Valstone sample earlier, and to say the least I’m pretty sure she would’ve hired you with that alone.”

“And the second?”

“She likes to see how they work.”

“But she didn’t even see me work, so how’s that a valid answer?”

“Well, it is true that she didn’t see you at work, but she did get an idea.”

“How?”

Both of them had stopped walking since they had arrived at the door to the workshop. Berta didn’t enjoy walking through her Arch’s house to get to the workshop, mainly because Valerie enjoyed walking around mostly in the nude when she was at home. So, they used the back door that led directly into the shop rather than going through the living room.

“Easy,” Arch said, taking out his room card to unlock the door, “I showed her how you were always ready for anything.”

Berta wore a confused expression on her face as she wondered how she had done so.

“With the loupe.”

“That’s how?”

*Click*

“Yep”, he opened the door to the workshop, “that’s how.”

He tilted his head towards the door to tell Berta to come in and followed after she did.

“I honestly wasn’t sure if she was going to ask for anything at all, but having you in your usual work attire is the same as bringing all the tools on my workbench. And tell me Berta, can a worker who is prepared for anything really be considered a bad worker?”

Berta opened her mouth, ready to respond, but she stayed silent.

He was right.

Archimedes smirked before reaching his hand out towards her and placing it atop of her head.

“You didn’t think I’d actually make sense, did you shortstuff.”

Berta’s eyebrows furrowed as she pouted and looked to the side, not wanting to admit he was right.

Archimedes smiled, ruffling his assistant’s hair lightly before walking over to her workbench.

“So, I guess we’re gonna have to pack most of this stuff and send it over to Jolenta.”

Although Jolenta would certainly have the majority of the resources needed to work with, many of the tools that Berta used were usually modified by her to better suit her. Although she could ‘fix’ the tools Jolenta had to suit her, it was simply quicker and easier to take ones she already had.

“We’re probably gonna have to get you another set of everything. We can get it custom made that way you don’t have make all those changes like you did with this set.”

“Boss, that’s expensive. Just get another set and I’ll make the changes.”

“Nah. I’ll get them custom made. We can afford it now.”

Berta was about to respond, but once again she froze right before doing so.

“…. Yeah… I guess we can now.”

Chapter 9 Section 4
Home Sweet Home

A light tapping could be heard down the halls of the Demon Realm floor.

Valerie was finally returning home after leaving the newcomer, Marcus, at his room. He was a curious man, oddly knowledgeable of monsters and various items, but a kind man nonetheless. She was certain he would get along with his roommate.

She had arrived to her room. Room 624.

It was oddly quiet.

Usually whenever she arrived home she would be able to hear something caused or related to her husband’s work. Either an explosion, a hammer, or occasionally Berta yelling at him for one of his decisions. But today it was quiet, to the great relief of the neighbors.

’Oh that’s right. He finished this week’s order this morning.’

She pulled the papers on her clipboard back, tapped the center of the square twice, and reached in to grab her keycard. Although the dress she wore was nice, it didn’t have pockets.

With her keycard in hand, Valerie unlocked her door and walked into her home.

“I’m home.”

“Val!”

Archimedes was standing in the kitchen located next to the door. He was wearing an apron that said ‘STAND BACK! I’M GOING TO TRY MAGIC!’ rather than his usual lab coat. He set down the wooden spoon he had in hand and jumped to his Valerie. As every other time she came home, he pulled her into him by her waist, leaned in, and planted a deep kiss onto her. It didn’t matter if this was the first time or the millionth, her right knee would bend and her wings would flutter just for a moment every time he kissed her like this. Moments passed as they shared their kiss, making up for the few hours they had been apart. If Berta was here, she would feel a bit awkward and return to the back.

Finally, they broke their kiss. Archimedes made sure she was standing up straight before finally letting go of her, and then his eyes grew wide when he looked down.

“Oh no.”

Right on Valerie’s stomach was a large fresh red stain to match the one on Arch’s apron. Val already knew what had happened after seeing her husband’s reaction, this wasn’t the first time he had stained her clothes in this manner.

“Again?”

“Again… tomato sauce this time.”

Valerie sighed with a smile on her face, snapping her fingers, causing her dress to disappear. She set down her clipboard onto the table before heading to the sink where her dress had appeared in order to turn on the hot water. She let the water rise about an inch before shutting it off, pouring in a pale blue substance from one of the nearby bottles.

The label on the bottle bore an image of a bubble slime with several items in the background ranging from food-caked plates, sex-stained underwear, and bloodied weapons all claiming to be easily cleaned by this product, just add water.

Archimedes was about to hug his wife from behind, but stepped back and removed his apron first before doing so.

“Sorry…” he whispered as he let his head rest on her shoulder.

“Oh Archie.” she leaned her head towards his, lifting her arm and gently ruffled his hair.

“It was the new dress too. I hope it comes off.”

“It probably will. This stuff has yet to fail us on everything else we’ve used it on.” she said, pointing at the bubble slime soap.

Archimedes grumbled before letting go of his beloved and returning to his cooking.

“So… what are you making this time Mr. Chef?”

“Hmm? Oh nothing too special. Was just in the mood for some pasta and thought I’d make some for us. I should’ve just ordered some instead.”

Val stepped towards the pot on the stove and peered into it, seeing the steaming sauce her husband was stirring. Small brown balls with varying spices could be seen scattered around within the sauce, it seems her husband had decided to cook the meatballs in the sauce this time. In another pot was a large portion of already strained spaghetti, much more than both of them would be able to eat. Neither of them necessarily had to eat, but her Archie liked to cook and she liked trying his food.

“And if you did, I would’ve spilled some right after my first bite.” she giggled.

Archimedes smiled before looking at his wife.

“Heh, knowing my luck, yeah.”

Valerie leaned towards her husband and kissed his cheek before heading to the bedroom with her clipboard.

“How was your day? Did Berta even stop by since you finished all the orders this week?”

“My day was good. And yes, Berta did stop by. I still needed her for something. We went and saw Jolenta today.”

“You saw Jolenta! How is she? Is she staying long? I have to go visit her before she leaves again.” Valerie yelled from the room, taking off her bra and throwing it into the laundry basket.

“She seemed lively today. Heh. She says she’ll be here for about a week until she takes care of business, you know how she is. She said she’ll have a few days free after she takes care of whatever she needs to do, that way she can see whatever they added to the hotel since the last time she was here. She wants to see you too, so I told her to stop by sometime.”

“Oh that’s wonderful!” Valerie walked out of the bedroom in nothing but her white panties, “I haven’t seen her since the ball when she finally established her undead kingdom.”

“That was a pretty good ball. I was surprised they let us in considering our hearts were still beating.”

“That was because she personally invited us. And even if she didn’t, I’m sure they would’ve let us in.”

Being a lilim had its advantages, and being a married one had even more.

“Very true. How about you? Did you do anything particularly interesting? Oh! And did you give Isis her order?”

“Yes, I gave Isis her order. She seemed pretty excited about getting it. I also finally met that girl from the bakery on the same floor.”

“Which one? The one I was talking about the other day?”

“Yes, that one. The human one, the one who runs it with her brother.”

“So you finally saw her,” he lifted up the wooden spoon from the pot in order to taste the sauce, “And?”

“Well… you were right. She would make a great Gyoubu Danuki.”

“Told you.” Archimedes’ chuckled.

A while back, he had gone up to that bakery due to all the gossip that had been spreading between his neighbors about a new treat that was a must-try for couples. Unfortunately, he forgot to ask what it was called and got confused with all the advertised ‘NEW’ treats available. Seeing that it was his first time there, Jenny the human woman, had somehow convinced him to buy two of every new treat they had on their menu. She even gave him a discount for buying so much. Berta had yelled at him when he kicked on the door for her to open it and saw him carrying a month’s worth of baked goods in his hands. In his defense, this Jenny lady did not lie to him, they were all being described as must-tries for couples by the customers, and it was indeed a very fun month for him and Val.

“Do you think she would let me turn her into one if I asked her?”

Arch laughed, if Val did that then he’d end up buying half the store next time he went there.

“I’m sure if you tell her she’d sell three times as much, she’d consider it.”

Val placed a finger on her chin as she pensively looked up the ceiling, considering how she would go about completing this arrangement.

Gramps had made her promise that she wouldn’t transform anyone unknowingly or unwillingly once she was able to. Most other girls wouldn’t be able to if they held a keycard, and only a very select few could ignore this rule with great ease. So, Gramps had her promise that she wouldn’t while she stayed here, and even if they wanted to, they had to see him first to make sure they weren’t under some sort of mind control.

Val formed a devilish smile across her face, one that befitted her origins and contrasted the mostly innocent image she wore in front of others.

“I’m certain we could work something out.” she declared, licking her lips after stating it.

“Val… you’re making that face again…”

Valerie blinked a few times and returned to her usual persona, before looking towards her husband.

“Sorry, you know how I get when I start thinking about that… especially when I’m sure it can happen…”

Valerie placed her hand on her cheek, once again that smile was slowly creeping up on her face as her eyes shined with excitement at the thought of having someone change into a monster.

“So… Val… anything else interesting happen today?”

Whenever Val let her thoughts go wild, it usually meant that the moments that followed would also become equally as wild. As much fun as it was having Val like that, if he let her continue with those thought, then this would make it the fourth time this month he’s burned dinner or left it half cooked because of a certain distraction.

“Huh?” Once again, Val returned to reality.

“Wasn’t there something else that happened today? You did arrive a little later than usual.”

“Oh yes!”

It seems like Archimedes would be able to finish cooking today.

“We have a new neighbor on this floor. And Gramps asked me to show him around.”

“Oh? It’s a he? Does he seem nice?”

“Yes, he seemed nice enough. A little shy though.” She responded, walking around Archimedes to find some bowls. “But it looked like he was adjusting pretty well. I think he actually came through the front doors and not any of the other doors.”

Arch raised an eyebrow and looked at Val to make sure he didn’t mishear that.

“That’s… odd.”

“He was a little odd. Even so, I think he’ll like it here.” She set the bowls on the table and returned to her husband’s side to get the silverware, “We should visit him tomorrow though, just to be sure. I doubt his roommate will remember to tell him about orientation or anything.”

“Hmm, okay. I don’t have to do anything tomorrow, so we can both go.” He said whilst turning off the stove, “Who’s the roomy?”

“I don’t think you know her yet, but her name is Demi. She’s a sweet girl.” Val giggled.

Once again, Arch raised his eyebrow. He decided not to give it much thought, he would find out tomorrow anyways.

Val walked over to the still hot pot of sauce and meatballs, although its looks had not change, the smell seemed to have gotten stronger. She decided to test it, just to see how much of it she’d want on her dish. With the wooden spoon Archie had been using, she scooped up a small amount and placed it in her mouth.

She had forgotten how hot it was, causing her to flinch, only slightly though. But, that small movement was enough to cause a drop of sauce to fall on the base of her left breast. Having seen this, Arch let out a small laugh.

“Ha ha, I guess you were right. If I didn’t dirty that dress, you would have, ha ha. It’s a good thing you already took it off.”

Valerie giggled as well after looking down seeing the spot.

“I guess so. Oh, could you pass me a napkin.”

“I have something better.”

Archimedes stepped towards his wife before she processed what he said, and leaned his head into her chest. In a second, he had licked the sauce off of the tiny scar she had above her breast.

“Ah!” Valerie yelped before grabbing his head and pressing him into her chest.

She held him there for a few seconds until her grip loosened.

She lightly led her husband’s head out from between her chest up to her face and planted a wet kiss onto his lips. Her tongue reached towards his, tapping against it until it reciprocated so that both could then wrap around each other. This went on for a few more moments than it should have, until she finally broke the kiss she initiated.

Archimedes took a good look at his wife, her heavy-lidded eyes staring into his, with that smile that could only belong to a demon… he knew what she was thinking before she said it.

“We can eat later…”

***

*Four hours later*

He was tired.

Archimedes occasionally wished he had been an athlete before becoming an incubus, maybe then he wouldn’t tire out so quickly after so little time. But even if he was tired, Val was not.

They were laying on their king sized bed, the covers had been tossed to the floor halfway through, and Valerie was pumping his cock with her tail while kissing neck. She didn’t even give time for foreplay this time, she mercilessly went straight for him and hadn’t given him a moment’s rest, not even to cuddle.

“What’s wrong sweetie? This usually works on you…” Valerie lifted his head with her hand so that he could look down at her scarlet eyes longing for more.

“It’s nothing…” he said, smiling at her, “I just need a minute.”

She pouted, the grip on her tail tightened as it began to pump harder in hopes of reviving his shaft.

“But I don’t want to wait a minute!”

Archimedes made a slight face at the sudden squeeze, but it didn’t seem like it would do much else.

A slight hint of disappointment could be seen in her eyes as her tail gradually loosened its grip on her husband, it seemed like it would be a short night.

Her eyes widened by a sudden realization. She crawled over her husband and reached towards her nightstand where her empty clipboard waited. Tapping the center of the blank box twice, she opened the pocket space and plunged her hand inside, only to pull it out almost as soon as she put it in. In her hand was a thin vial, as thick and long as her pinky, filled with a purple liquid.

Arch’s raised both eyebrows as he realized what it was.

“Dark slime jelly!”

Valerie shook the bottle, letting it glisten in the light before looking at him and winking with her tongue sticking out slightly. She popped the cork in one hand, using only her thumb, before bringing it up to her nose to take in its overpowering aroma. She let out a sigh of pleasure before taking it away and bringing it towards him.

“Now say aahhh…” she told him, holding his head up slightly with her free hand.

Dark slime jelly was powerful stuff, if he wasn’t careful then he was going to end up in this bed for a week in a never ending bliss with her, and then a month in bed recovering. But there was no way he was going to be able to keep up with her without something, so with little thought he opened his mouth.

Valerie seemed to know the risks of doing this, so she only poured a small enough amount that could barely be considered a sip. It was a thick sweet flavor, almost like a syrup more than a jelly, it almost seemed to melt on the tongue. He swallowed the little that he took in, waiting for its effects before something had dawned on him.

“So… Demi really is a sweet girl.”

Valerie turned her face towards him and only smiled.

She dipped the tip of her tail into the vial, corked it, and placed it onto the nightstand before leaning down on top of him to plant another kiss like the one that started it all. Her body pressed against his as she held his face against hers, their tongues exchanging saliva whilst the tip of her tail rubbed against his member.

Without fail, within a minute, a warm melting sensation could be felt within Arch’s stomach as his rod grew harder than before. It couldn’t have gotten any harder even if a medusa was involved.

The lilith had noticed, but she was too preoccupied letting her tongue dance with her husband’s to go straight for it. Her smooth tail instead wrapped around it once, pumping it slowly to feel the slime lubed skin rub against its soft exterior.

She eventually, and regretfully, released her husband lips from her own, forming a small strand of saliva that broke from its own weight a second later. She sat up beside him, staring into his eyes that were longing for more.

Her tail released its grasp on him, appearing between the two lovers towards its owner’s face. Valerie took a hold of her tail, bringing it closer to her face so as to lick the dark slime jelly in long gradual motion off of her tail for her husband to watch. She could see the lust in his eyes, he wanted to feel her, he wanted to hold her, he wanted to be inside, and he wanted her. She couldn’t help but smile while seeing him like this.

She turned away from her husband’s eyes, causing her tail to spin and land on him, in order to look upon what she had been craving. Standing proudly for all to see, her husband’s dick was there waiting for her, almost twitching in anticipation. It had swollen even larger than it had been earlier, it seems that the dark slime jelly had other effects as well.

She laid beside him so that she was only a few inches away from it, seeing that it had already formed precum once again. She reached out towards it, wrapping her fingers at the base of his slime lubed member, and allowing her hand to go through the motions it knew so well. She effortlessly slid her hand up, allowing her fingers to rub against the head of his cock and soaking them in his precum before sliding them down to start again.

The smell it was giving off was much stronger than usual, it was as if though he were in rut.

She raised herself slightly until her head was above his cock and opened her mouth. Her tongue rolled out of her mouth and flicked at the head of his penis. A salty but sweet flavor could be tasted as she began to slide her tongue around his head, her hand restricting its motions only to the shaft. Archimedes raised his hips slightly, as if though trying to push his cock closer to her mouth so that her tongue could massage it even more. With that, Valerie lowered herself, so that she could suckle the precum he had not stopped making. A small moan was let out by her Archie when she did that, while her hand tightened its grip as she milked out his precum.

It wouldn’t be long until he let go, he was never very good at holding himself back when she did this to him. But he wasn’t the only one with a weakness.

Valerie felt a small jolt up her spine, stopping her motions for just a moment to see what had happened. Archie had a hold of her tail, and was licking it like she had just minutes ago. He would kiss it, then lick it in one continuous motion up to the tip, where he would occasionally choose to lightly nibble before repeating. Valerie’s cheeks had flushed, her tail was incredibly sensitive, especially after having been in contact with the slime jelly. Of course, she would not be bested by her man.

Her hand tightened once again, moving faster as the seconds passed. Every few pumps she would stop to take in the length of his member into her mouth before returning to his head and continuing to pump. The more she did so, the more she would bob her head back and forth while her hand did less each time. With one final push, she felt him release his seed in to mouth. He had climaxed once again tonight, her mouth filling with his milk. Any normal woman would have coughed and spilled from the sudden massive intake that was to be expected from an incubus, but she was a succubus, a lilim no less. She took in his load with such ease that it was as if though she were drinking a thin milkshake with an extra-thick straw.

His cock slipped out from the hold of her lips with a popping sound as it saw the light of the room once again.

It wasn’t going down without a fight, and it seemed that her husband had finally recovered from their previous ordeal for he began to sit up against the headboard. But Valerie was still on the initiative, not letting him get up further than he already had, she straddled on top of him.

The base of his penis was rubbing up against the lips of her vagina, her clitoris being pushed against his shaft, while the tip of his penis occasionally touched on the small patch of white hair she had above it. She began grind against him, holding onto his shoulders as her wings would twitch to a half-extended position before returning to a closed position.

Arch reached forward and latched his hands around her smooth yet firm behind. Pulling her hips forward and back as she rubbed herself against his cock. Whenever she pulled herself to him, he would lick one of her nipples just before it went too far for him to reach.

She was reaching her limit, she couldn’t take it much longer, she had to have him, her pussy was drenching his dick in her liquids as it ached to have him inside her again. Valerie raised herself above Archie, grabbing onto his engorged member so that she could push herself onto it. In a single motion, and only a single moan, she took his entire length until the lips of her folds met the base of rod. With little thought, she continued her motions as before, grinding her hips against his from the base to its tip.
Archie was breathing heavier, he was ramming her harder into him with each jerk. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him to her, moving only her hips against his as her wings became more erratic in their motions with every pull. He kissed her neck every few thrusts, then she would loosen her arms around his neck to kiss him only to return to the position a few seconds later.

She was nearing her climax, it wouldn’t take long. She loosened her arms once more to plant another kiss onto her husband, when he suddenly leaned into her chest. His face now between her breasts, he licked and suckled the spot that got him here in the first place, her scar. She gasped as her body trembled, her muscles became stiff, her mind became blank and her wings fully extended. With one forceful pull towards him, Archie rammed her one final time and came inside her.

The waves of pleasure hit her all at once when she felt his warm load fill her inside. She leaned back, her arms still holding on to her husband as her wings shakily retracted back while she let the sensations flow through her. She could hear her husband panting, still grabbing her ass albeit not as tightly as it was a few seconds ago.

To think he would use her sensitive scar to make her climax along with him.

“So…” Archie chuckled, “I take it that you liked that.”

She looked down to see her husband’s still panting but smiling face, and she too formed a grin of her own before leaning in close once again. Pressing her chest against his, she lightly kissed him.

“You sneaky little devil Archie.” She whispered to him after breaking her kiss and leaned her forehead against his. “Using that to make me cum.”

“Well,” he said, sliding his hand up her hip until it met with the base of her wing before returning down and up again, “I couldn’t let you get too far ahead of me. Two to zero just isn’t even fair.”

“Oh Archie.” Valerie giggled, kissing him again.

“But…” sliding his other hand up as well, pulling his demonic wife who had a wide eyed expression away from him, laying her down on the bed between his legs. “Let’s see if we can tie the score.”

His dick was still holding up, as if though it hadn’t been involved in any sort of action.

Valerie’s wings adjusted slightly to her sides as she waited for him with her back against the bed. Arch kneeled down between his wife’s legs and adjusted himself. His penis was resting atop of her pussy, waiting for reentry. He pushed his cock down with his thumb until the head of his penis slipped inside the familiar space, before slowly pushing himself deeper into her. He got to the base of his member before leaning down on top of his wife, pressing his body against hers, his elbows on the bed by her arms and their faces only a few inches apart.

He kissed her again, never tiring of the sensation the two shared every time they did, before grinding his hips against hers. It wasn’t forceful or rough, like how they were moments ago, but small and precise. He was rubbing his hips in a circular motion between her legs, letting the base of his rod constantly rub against her clit. The movements were minute, but the sensations it sent were intense against her.

It seemed like the haze from the dark slime jelly had left his mind, but would take much longer to leave his body. He wasn’t simply fucking her now, he was using her weaknesses against her in bed to even the score.

Archie’s hand ran across her silky hair, going along the edges of her horns when his fingers met with them. He would rotate the opposite direction every so often, kissing his lover between the gasps and whines she would let out. His other hand was reaching further down though, never stopping the motions of his hips while it searched the bed for something.

“Uungh!”

He found it.

In his other hand, he had Val’s tail once again. His fingers were firmly wrapped around her tail to keep it from flailing as his thumb pressed against the tip of her tail and rubbed against it.

Now this was cheating.

To use her scar to bring her over the edge was playing dirty, but to use her tail too was now unfair.

Valerie’s face flushed a deep red, moaning loudly as she was nearing her climax much more quickly than she expected. She reached up and held her husband against her as he did his subtle movements, her wings writhing against the sheets whilst her tail was squirming in her husband’s grip. Archie pinched her tail and she peaked once more, letting out one last moan to fill the room, her wings pushing against the bed as she did so.

Her body relaxed, her wings no longer pushed against the bed, and her arms were hanging loosely over her husband. He had let go of her tail, letting it fall limply out of his hand and onto the sheets before raising himself slightly above her. Again, their faces were only a few centimeters away, her scarlet eyes staring into his cherry ones. They kissed as she panted.

“Cheater.” Val told him.

Archie only chuckled, already knowing what she was referring to.

“Maybe… but at least now we’re tied.”

“Mmm. For now… Maybe you’ll win this time.” she told him, patting the back of his head softly.

“Ouch.” Archie feigned pain from her remark.

Valerie giggled, kissing him again.

The night was still young, and he was still hard.

We would see who would score the highest tonight…

***

Nothing could be seen.

The air was clouded with dust.

A massive hole had formed in the wall, letting the light from the outside in. Something in front of it had begun to move.

From the pile of debris, a man stood up.

The dust was beginning to settle.

She walked towards the man.

“Sir, are you alright?”

He turned to her, but she could not see his face.

“Yes, I am. But what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be- GET BACK RIGHT NOW!”

His stance had changed. He was about to run.

“What’s wrong?”

She continued to walk towards him, his bulky frame slowly revealing itself to her.

“Maybe we can help.”

She could see those around him. Another man and a monster were on the ground beside him.

“I said get back!”

He ran at her.

His armor glistened in the light.

She saw his face, a human man, with eyes full of fear.

His hand flashed, and her chest began to burn.

She was on the ground now, everyone was running, people were screaming.

Her vision was fading, her hearing was failing, and her blood was pouring out on the floor.

She could see the shine from the man’s boot in front of her… it was walking away.

“IT’S THE ORDER!” someone had yelled, but she could barely hear it as the darkness pulled her in…

***

“AHHH!”

Valerie sat up in cold sweat, her hand clenched against her chest, feeling her fast beating heart.

Her scar was burning, just as it had been when she first received it.

She took in a deep breath, reminding herself that it was just a dream, calming herself as she pressed her hand against her scar.

Her scar was sensitive, it had been ever since she got it. Usually it was just ticklish, or sometimes sensual when Archie touched it, but whenever she had that dream, it would painfully burn with intensity.

Feeling something was wrong, Archimedes leaned up from his stomach lying position and looked around in his dazed state.

“The hotdog isn’t a sandwich.”

Although his body had woken up, his mind was lagging behind.

“It isn’t hunny. Go back to sleep.”

He blinked a few times before lying back down.

“Okay. Love… you…” He yawned, placing his hand onto Valerie’s lap before returning to his dreamland discussion.

She smiled as she watched her lover fall back asleep, rubbing her scar lightly as the burning sensation slowly flickered away. Many years ago, a dagger with a holy enchantment pierced into her chest, and almost into her heart. She was lucky to have survived.

If something like that were to happen now, she could easily heal from it, with no evidence of it ever happening to her. But she was young, and far weaker than she was now. The dagger had left its mark on her body, and would never leave.

She never let anyone see it after it had healed. It was the only blemish she had on her body, and only a select few knew that it even existed. But Archie never thought of it as ugly though, he said it was something that made her unique. A lilim with a scar, it’s unheard of, unbelievable, ludicrous even, but that’s what made her special. She made something that seemed impossible, a reality.

She smiled.

With her other hand, she took Archie’s hand, bringing it up to her face and kissed it softly. Her scar had finally cooled and relaxed.

After that day, she promised herself that she would never let something like that happen to someone else. When she married Archie, she added something else to that promise. She would make sure every monster would find someone like Archie, someone that would make them their world and complete them.

She would make this hotel known to the world, so that all could visit it and find their monster. And when everyone finds their other half, no one will ever have to worry about the Order again.

She lied back down onto the bed, facing her beloved Archie while still holding his hand.

“I love you too.” She said before closing her eyes.

She slept knowing that she would one day make this impossibility into a reality, just like her.

END OF CHAPTER

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3 
Chapter 4 
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7 
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12

 

 

Chapter Bonus:
Somewhere on the top floor of the Covet Corner Hotel…

Julie is assisting her husband with his duties.

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