Darkstalkers - Aensland Chronicles

Continued from Chapter 1A...
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Morrigan didn't take too much time in each of the evil mortals' dreams.
Unlike the first man she'd killed, she didn't drag things out just to vent
her rage. She did, however, enjoy meting out a perverse form of justice
against each of them, based upon what she knew they were expecting. The man
who wanted to amputate each of her limbs had the same done to him, and she
held him trapped inside the dream until he died, consuming his soul.

The power she gained with each soul was not the same, and Morrigan quickly
realised that the more evil the man, the more powerful the soul she consumed
would be.

More than a dozen evil men died in their sleep before Morrigan returned from
her latest conquest to find several confused succubae standing around in
what had been Opal's office, all back from their most recent assignments.

Aurcamecame up to her immediately. "Morrigan, do you know what happened to
Mistress Opal? We can't find her anywhere."

Morrigan's satisfied smile gave her pseudo-friend cause to wonder what had
happened to the meek, somber child she knew.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I know exactly what happened to Opal." She said
mildly. "Opal is dead."

Morrigan turned away from the shocked looks of her coworkers, looking over
the remaining dream crystals in her stack for any which could increase her
power even more. She was finding that the more she consumed, the less
significant the rise to her already extremely high power level would be.
She needed a *really* evil one next...

Aurora's hand on her shoulder stopped her. "W-wait a minute! What do you
mean she's dead? How in the nine hells did that happen?"

Morrigan paused to smirk at her former coworkers. "I killed her, obviously."

"YOU killed her?" Aurora blurted. "That's impossible!"

"Why do you say that?" Morrigan asked, quite amused.

Aurora glanced awkwardly at the other succubae. "Well... I mean... you're a
half-human. There's no way you could ever be as strong as any full-blooded
succubus, much less a really powerful one like Opal."

Casually, Morrigan picked up Mu Si's dream crystal from the desk, putting it
into her left hand, and then brought her right fist down in the middle of
the foot-thick obsidian slab that constituted the desk's surface.

It shattered.

Not cracked, not broke, shattered.

The other succubae gaped.

By the very fact that they were assigned to as unglamorous a posting as
dream duty, these succubae with whom Morrigan worked with were naturally on
the low end of the power scale. It was doubtful many of them could have
*lifted* one end of the huge stone desk, much less destroyed it. She
wondered if any of them had ever eaten a human soul. Perhaps it was a
secret the more powerful succubae kept to themselves, to ensure their
continued supremacy.

Morrigan grinned to herself. Well, that suited her fine. If anyone of them
asked how she'd become so strong, she'd just say it was her training.

Aurora was the first to find her voice. "Um... so... since you killed
Opal... does that mean you're in charge now?" She asked meekly.

Morrigan cast her eyes around the dismal office. Did she aspire to Opal's
life? Sitting behind a desk while other succubae did all the actual work?

"No... I don't think so." Morrigan said eventually. "I have somewhat
higher aspirations. Would you like the job, Aurora?"

The low-born succubus blinked. "Me?"

Morrigan shrugged easily. "If you want it. It might turn out that the
higher-ups would rather someone else take the post, but in the meantime, the
position is open."

Aurora looked uncomfortable. She'd never been in a position of such
responsibility. "Well... I guess if there's no one else..."

Morrigan nodded. She then picked up a crystal from the 'especially
sadistic' stack, handing it to Aurora and letting her feel the nature of the
dream it was meant for. "This was just a thought I had, before I killed
Opal." She said evenly, watching as the other succubus's face twisted in
distaste at the dream she held. "Perhaps some mortals don't deserve to have
us provide dreams for them." She winked at the confused Aurora. "Just a
thought."

"But..." Aurora frowned. "Don't we have to anyway?"

Morrigan shrugged. "What would be the point of it? The dreams we give are
meant to slowly corrupt mortals; turn them to evil. This mortal, and ones
like him, are already evil enough. I see no reason why we need to force a
succubus to suffer his sick, painful perversions for no measurable gain."
She patted her semi-friend on the shoulder as she turned to leave. "You're
in charge now; you decide. I've learned all I can here."

In the silence of Morrigan's departure, the other succubae watched Aurora
curiously, wondering what she would do.

Aurora scowled down at the dream crystal in her hand, which belonged to a
monster who raped and murdered children when awake, and liked to dream of
the same. He was already going to hell for his actions in the real world. As
Morrigan had said, there was no need to corrupt him further while he slept.
It would serve no purpose other than to make one of her fellow succubae suffer.

Aurora squeezed the crystal until it shattered.

That was one pervert who would never find sexual fulfillment in his dreams
ever again.

***

As Morrigan flew through hell to her private place, where she liked to train
when not at work, she noticed the dream crystal still in her left fist.
When she landed, she looked it over, a fond smile she would never let a
fellow succubus see crossed her face.

Mu Si, who had helped her earn her freedom...

She concentrated on the crystal and entered it, fading temporarily from Hell
as she joined Mu Si in his dream.

Mr. Mu Si was going to have one great dream tonight!


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


"Ah, so ye showed the lucky sod yer undying gratitude, did ye?" Her lover teased.

The Queen of the night sulked and turned away. "Nothing of the sort, ye
blasted fool. I just... did it on a whim, is all."

"Oh, I believe ye, Love." He said, in a tone that clearly stated he didn't.
"Can I ask what sort of dream Mr. Mu Si got rewarded with?"

Morrigan shrugged. "Nothin' too special. 'e jus got to 'ave his wedding
night with that Xian Pu girl again... and the mornin' after the wedding
night... and a lunch that dinnae involve food - at least not eatin' it... and
the afternoon... and the next evenin'..."

"I get the point, Love." Her lover grinned. "All that in one dream, eh?"

Morrigan grinned. "Oh yes! I imagine the lucky sod woke up feeling a might
more exhausted than before 'e'd gone to bed, an' with a swimming pool in 'is
shorts."

Her lover laughed merrily. "Ach well! More fool him! If 'e'd been a mite
smarter, 'e'd 'ave been fantasising of the Queen o' the Night herself, and
gotten the most outta 'is time with ye."

"Well... there weren't no Queen o' the Night then, me Fool." Morrigan
smirked. "I 'adn't earned the title quite yet."

"More to the story then, is there?"

"Obviously..."


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


When she returned from the *very* long dream she'd given Mu Si, Morrigan was
grinning as wide as the mortal had been for most of it.

Her grin faded into a thoughtful frown as she considered what she should do
next. Eventually, her mother was going to get wind of the fact that Opal
was dead, and that wind might even whisper the name of the one who killed
her. Morrigan supposed she could just wait and see what happened, and try
to deal with it then, but she disliked the idea of just sitting by while
events churned about beyond her control.

That was what victims did, and she wasn't a victim any more. She was a
powerful fighter now, a warrior! She resolved to face her mother on her own
terms, before the old witch came looking for her.

Thusly, she went home, earlier than she normally would have.

Since she was early, she was not especially surprised to find her mother was
'entertaining' a guest. This was not to suggest that the Lady Aensland
scheduled her trists around her daughter's work schedule. Morrigan was
expected to make herself scarce whenever one of her mother's bed partners
were around. It was Morrigan who normally didn't dare come home until the
house was emptied of male visitors.

Today was not a normal day, however. Today was the day Morrigan was going
to take control of her life back from those who had dominated her in the past.

Morrigan strode fearlessly into her mother's chambers, not showing a trace
of surprise or chagrin at finding her mother lying with Lord Argon,
apparently resting between bouts of vigorous fornication.

"Why hello, My Lord." Morrigan said sweetly. "A pleasure to see you again."

Her mother's glare was furious. "You stupid brat! I told you never to
interrupt me when I'm entertaining!"

Morrigan ignored her as Lord Argon sat up. "Hmm... It seems I remember you,
little one. Your name was Morrigan, wasn't it?"

Morrigan bowed. "I'm honored that you would remember me, My Lord. Allow me
to apologise for interrupting your pleasures when last we met. I was but a
child then, and knew no better. As you can see, I'm much more mature now."
She winked at him, striking a pose to show off her generous endowments. At
15, the young succubus now possessed a figure no mortal girl of as many
years could compare to, just one of the many advantages of being succubae.

Lord Argon snorted and grinned. "So you have. What do you want then?"

Morrigan smiled coyly at the large demonlord. "Well now, I was just
wondering if his Lordship wasn't growing tired of my poor, worn-out old
mother after so many years of sharing her bed. After all, she's nowhere
near as young and strong as she once was. Perhaps his lordship might
appreciate the company of someone younger, healthier, and... tighter?" She
said with a wink.

Something that has not yet been mentioned, was that Morrigan had learned
something else from her warrior clients; she had learned to truly enjoy sex.
Unlike the pedophiles, rapists and horny adolescents who had previously
been her only clients, her warrior lovers respected the women they dreamed
of, and that came through in how they made love. They were the only ones
who could bring the young succubus to a true orgasm. Each one she
experienced made her crave more. From this, she found the courage to offer
her body to her mother's lover.

Her mother's eyes blazed with fury, but the Lady Aensland didn't dare
interfere at this point. She could not interrupt or risk speaking against
the desires of Lord Argon.

Perhaps a digression is in order, to explain some of the details of demonic
society. Judeo-Christian texts speak of The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony,
Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed. In doing so, they have unwittingly
described the very manner in which Evil is organised. Hell has nine levels,
and each of them embodies one of these sources of sin. On each of these
levels, mortal souls are punished for their acts in life that reflected that
particular sin. Each of these levels is also the residence of demons and
demonesses involved in each respective sin. Thus, the sixth level,
dedicated to the punishment of lust, is also where the succubae, incubae,
shikima, and other lust demons live, each in their own sections. The mortal
scholars ordering of the Seven Deadly Sins had been a little inaccurate
though. Wrath is actually the seventh level, where the most powerful and
vengeful types of demons reside. Those of you presently counting on your
fingers may have noticed that with a level assigned to each deadly sin,
there are two of the nine levels unaccounted for. The eighth and ninth
levels embody 'Lies' and 'Hatred' respectively, with the ninth level being
most noted as the residence of the First Fallen, and his personal staff.

The point meant to have come across from all of this, is that if a
sixth-level demoness (even a powerful one such as Lady Aensland) wanted to
keep her insides inside, she had best not do anything to piss off the
extremely powerful and dangerous seventh-level demonlord lying beside her in
her bed.

Lord Argon grinned. "Fine then. Let's see what you can do, little one."

Morrigan looked from the nine-foot tall, winged demonlord, to her mother's
silent outrage, and stepped forward with a smile.

In the interests of speeding things along, we shall not go into too much
detail of Morrigan's attempts to impress the demonlord with all the sexual
skills she had learned from playing in mortals' dreams. We shall, however,
mention that Lord Argon was awfully well endowed for a non-lust demon, and
that his member was the largest object Morrigan had ever taken into her body
to date. It was extremely difficult for her to mount him, but she
discovered that with the power of the souls she had consumed, she could now
alter her body in much the same way she could previously only manage within
the flexible environment of mortal dreams.

Which was a very fortunate thing, as she would otherwise have likely bled to
death atop his meaty pole.

When the very pleasant sensations of being within such a tight vessel became
more than Lord Argon could stand, he began taking a more active part,
grabbing her waist in his huge hands and thrusting her violently up and down
on his cock. The claws of his powerful fingers dug into her flesh, but the
huge surplus of soul energy within her body allowed her to regenerate the
small wounds almost as soon as he made them.

Perhaps that was a bit too much detail...

In any case, when the demonlord was finally sated, a very exhausted young
succubus weakly pulled herself off of him, and managed to kneel before him.

"My Lord is pleased with my performance?" She asked respectfully.

The demonlord lay back and lit a cigar. "Much." He grunted.

"And... compared to my mother?" Morrigan asked meaningfully.

Lord Argon snorted in amusement. "So that's what you were after, was it?
Very well. Your mother has a small, but notable edge in experience when it
comes to foreplay, but that tight young pussy of yours is definitely the
better fuck." He rumbled.

Morrigan remained in her respectful bow, but her eyes slid towards her
mother, who trembled in rage. She allowed just the smallest smirk to touch
her lips.

Her mother did not miss it.

"Please feel free to sample my talents again when next you visit us, My
Lord." Morrigan said smoothly, standing up. "I bid you adieu."

The gruff demonlord waved with his cigar and grunted an acknowledgement.

Morrigan left the room for her own. The souls within her were gradually
replenishing her strength, but she still wanted nothing more than to lie down.

As she rested in her room, she grinned in amusement at the sounds coming
from the next room over. Apparently, her mother was attempting to change
Lord Argon's verdict.

Arrogantly, Morrigan doubted the old witch would be successful.

***

Not long after Lord Argon departed, Lady Aensland came storming into her
daughter's room. Morrigan was waiting for her.

"I don't even have words for how much you've fucked up tonight, you little
maggot! Do you have any idea how long and how hard I've worked to curry
Lord Argon's favor? You may have just destroyed a very useful alliance over
a century in the making!"

Morrigan stood slowly and faced her mother with a confident smirk. "I was
aware." She said mildly.

Her daughter's calm only fanned the flames of Lady Aensland's fury.

"WIPE THAT SMUG LOOK OFF YOUR FACE THIS INSTANT!"

Morrigan's smirk widened. "Or what?"

The Lady Aensland's eyes glowed with rage and power. Morrigan assumed a
fighting stance. This was what she had been waiting for; the chance to
prove she was better than her mother in every way; the chance to prove that
she was far more than just some worthless half-breed.


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"So, ye kicked yer mother's tail, I presume?" Her lover grinned.

Morrigan was silent for a long moment.

"No." She whispered eventually. "I didn't."

He blinked. "So you let her off easy then?"

"No." She whispered again. "What happened was that me mother came within a
hair's breath of killin' me."

"But... I thought ye were all pumped up with the strength of all those evil
souls?"

Morrigan nodded as she faced away from him. "Aye, I was. But t'weren't
enough, not by a long shot. Me mother 'ad plenty of deed sed souls in 'er
belly too, as ye might 'ave expected, but even though the ones she 'ad
weren't quite so fresh and powerful as mine, she 'ad an edge over me I'd
ne'er thought of."

The Queen of the Night sighed at the memory. "All that time I was trainin'
to fight, I'd been learnin' to fight like humans fought. Me mother knew how
to fight like a *succubus*. I might 'ave 'ad a mite more power than she,
but she knew exactly how to use what she 'ad." "An"An' what about that trick ye learned from Opal? That Soul Fist thing."

Morrigan snorted. "She knew that too, of course, an' unlike m'self, she
knew the counter too."


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%


Morrigan found herself in a fight for her very life! She'd begun with the
physical attacks she had trained in, thinking that her mother would have no
better idea how to counter them than Opal had. She boggled as her mother's
wings flared out from her body and began shifting into different shapes in
the blink of an eye.

Spiked black tentacles lashed out, knocking aside Morrigan's punches and
kicks as easily as if they'd been thrown by an infant. Like living snakes,
they whipped about and smacked Morrigan around viciously, leaving huge
bruises and shallow cuts with each blow.

Morrigan darted back to get some distance between them, then channeled one
of her captured souls through her fists in a mighty Soul Fist strike.

The Lady Aensland's wings instantly returned to their normal shape, but
stretched wide in front of her body, forming a shield. The Soul Fist
smashed into them, doing some damage, but the older succubus's malleable
wings regenerated the tears almost instantly. There was not a scratch on
the Lady Aensland's actual body.

As Morrigan gawked, the wings again morphed into their barbed tentacle form,
stabbing forward with the speed of striking vipers.

Morrigan screamed in agony as the barbs pierced her thigh, shoulder and
abdomen. Blood splattered onto the floor.

Skewered on the tentacles like a stuck pig, Morrigan was held upright by her
bleeding wounds as Lady Aensland walked slowly toward her, a dark glare on
her features. As she closed the distance, more tentacles circled around
Morrigan's body, wrapping her up in an inescapable grip, as though she could
move at all, stabbed straight through in three places.

One tentacle encircled Morrigan's neck, forcing her head to lift so Lady
Aensland could look her daughter in the eye.

"I've avoided your vitals." She said in a frighteningly calm tone. "You
won't die unless I choose to let you. Think very carefully before you
answer my questions."

Morrigan, tears of agony spilling down her cheeks, nodded helplessly.

"You wanted to fight me, yes? To prove you could beat me? That's why you
made that clumsy play for Lord Argon?"

Morrigan nodded as she sobbed. In fact, her intention had been to kill her
mother, but she didn't think it would be a good idea to mention that just now.

"Well now, it seems you're not my better after all. Are you satisfied?"
Her mother asked snidely.

Morrigan nodded again, miserably.

"Good. Now then, what shall I do with my traitorous daughter, hmm?" Lady
Aensland pondered allowed, though it was clear to Morrigan that her mother
already had an idea in mind, and that death would probably be preferable.

Slowly, her mother pulled the tentacles out through Morrigan's wounds, not
bothering to flatten the barbs before she did so. Morrigan screamed so
loud, her voice could probably be heard in the mortal realm. Even as her
screams collapsed into sobs of agony, the soul energy within her body began
closing the wounds.

"Hmm." Her mother pondered as she watched the healing process. "Judging by
the speed of regeneration, you must have consumed more than 10, but less
than 20 souls, and some rather wicked ones too, if that Soul Fist you used
before is any indication. Is that about right?"

Morrigan nodded weakly. "14... less the one I used for the Soul Fist." She
sniffled.

"So you have 13 left? My my... that's a very unlucky number, or so the
mortals say. I think it would be very dangerous to your health to be
walking around with that amount of power. Since I'm your mother, I'll help
you out a bit."

So saying, Lady Aensland yanked her still healing daughter close to her,
drawing a gasp of pain from Morrigan. She waited until her daughter's
wounds had mostly healed, then raised a hand in front of the captive
Morrigan's face.

The Lady Aensland, an ancient succubus with vast knowledge gathered down
through the centuries (28 of them) began speaking an incantation in a tongue
Morrigan couldn't understand. Suddenly, a feeling of intense nausea gripped the
young succubus's stomach. With a sensation not unlike vomiting, she felt
something being pulled up through her throat, choking her. It moved slowly,
cutting off her air. When it finally passed her lips, leaving her gasping
for breath, she saw that it was the glowing miasma of one of the souls she's
devoured. Her mother's mouth opened impossibly wide, and the soul was
sucked into her body instead. The Soul Morrigan had captured now belonged
to her mother, along with all the strength and power it generated.

The Lady Aensland repeated this tortuous process eleven more times.

Morrigan cried in helpless panic as each soul was torn from her body,
feeling herself become weaker, soul by soul. She concentrated on the single
soul left behind, and came to the miserable realization that it was the
weakest of the lot. She had no idea how her mother had managed to be so
selective. Only now that there was only one left could Morrigan tell one
soul from another within her body. Before, they had all been a single mass
of energy within her belly.

With the ordeal her body had been through, it seemed it was all this
relatively weak soul (at least when compared to its stolen brothers) could
do to keep Morrigan conscious. She felt as weak as a kitten.

Without a word, Lady Aensland dragged her helpless daughter from their home,
and out into the wastelands of the Sixth Hell.

"I've decided, dear Morrigan, that I no longer have a use for such a
rebellious daughter. I would kill you, but that seems wasteful to me.
Surely there is someone somewhere who has need of a warm hole in which to
release their pent up frustrations, which is about all you're good for, or
ever were." Her mother continued her snide speech as she dragged the
whimpering Morrigan to a corner of the Sixth Hell she had never been to
before. "I've decided to leave you that one, weak little soul, to keep you
alive for as long as possible as you enjoy the punishment I've chosen for
you. You're too much trouble to keep around, so I'm sending you to the
Shikima Realm."

"No!" Morrigan whimpered, sobbing even harder.

If Succubae were considered the elite of the Sixth Hell, then the Shikima
were the scum of lust-demon society. Little succubae were threatened with
being sent to the Shikima Realm if they didn't respect their elders. The
horrible stories told of these disgusting beasts kept cocky youngsters in
line. For a succubus to be sent there was the equivalent of a 10-year-old
human girl-child being tossed into a prison cell with a dozen convicted
child-molesters. In short, it was the hell of the Sixth Hell.

Morrigan watched in wide-eyed terror as her mother dragged her to a large
hole in the ground. Her mother dangled her over it for a moment, allowing
to see down into the dark hole. Along the outside edges of the deep shaft
hung hundreds of limp green tentacles.

"Let me show you something, 'daughter'." Her mother sneered.

She picked up a large rock and tossed it into the pit. Immediately, the
tentacles came to life. They wrapped tightly around the rock, trapping it
in an inescapable embrace. Before Morrigan's frightened eyes, the tentacles
pulled the rock down, where other ones would shoot out to grip it tightly,
before passing it down to still others. At no point were there any less
than nine strong tentacles gripping the rock.

"You see?" Lady Aensland smirked. "This tunnel is one-way. The tentacles
are our means of ensuring that those filthy animals stay down there where
they belong. Things go down this hole, but they never come up, not even if
they have wings to fly."

Morrigan, feeling much more like a 15-year-old girl at the moment than any kind of warrior, could do nothing but tremble. "P-please! Please don't put me down
there Mother! I'll be good! I promise!" She begged.

Lady Aensland fixed her daughter with a cold glare. "You should have
thought of that before you humiliated me in front of Lord Argon. Even
before you attacked me, it was far too late for you."

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Morrigan screamed as her mother's wing-tentacles threw her
into the embrace of the pit. "MOTHER PLEASE!"

"Goodbye, Morrigan." Lady Aensland said mildly. "I can't say I'll miss
you, you worthless little tramp. As far as I'm concerned, the accident of
your birth has been corrected."

Morrigan continued to scream and sob as the unforgiving tentacles dragged
her deeper and deeper into the dark depths of the Shikima pit.


TO BE CONTINUED...
________________________________________________________________________________

End of Part One.


Notes:

I'm prepared to admit that my Scottish accents might be a bit off. Sorry.
That's the price one pays for liking Star Trek TNG better than the original.
:P
(Oh hell! Please tell me I didn't just invite a barrage of flames from
touchy Trekkies into my Email Inbox! O_O)

Speaking of accents, is anyone wondering just why Morrigan doesn't have such
an accent during her childhood in Hell? This is because not only has she
never set foot in Scotland yet, but she and everyone else in Hell is
speaking the demonic tongue, not English. When she does eventually journey
to the mortal realm, she settles down in Scotland because that's the land
where her father was born. She then learns to speak English with a Scottish
accent.

And yes, I borrowed the relationship (if you can call it that) between Mu Si
and Xian Pu from Ranma 1/2. I know this puts those characters a couple
hundred years into their past, but they're not *really* the same Mousse and
Shampoo. I just needed a couple of martial artists with a similar sort of
relationship, and they fit, so I used their names. Don't expect to see
Ranma Saotome or Jyusenkyo curses showing up in Morrigan's autobiography.
The roles of Mu Si and Xian Pu are finished. I have no further use for them
in this story.


I said at the beginning that I didn't intend to make this a lemon, but I'm
pretty sure I'm pushing the envelope with this one. How exactly can one
write a story about succubae without sex being involved?
At any rate, I think I barely succeeded in not crossing the line of true
lemondom with this chapter, but I'm not sure if I can manage such a
precarious feat in later parts, assuming you folks want me to continue this.

Feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, demonic mythology, and
instructions for summoning real-life succubae with me at:

hinoron1@hotmail.com


Thanks for reading, and apologies to those who's souls I have permanently
tainted by writing this. ^_-

-Ron Hino