Scoundrel, chapter 7. (Patreon)

Here we are. Last one of the month; please enjoy.

Ah, this was the life.

I opened my mouth, and a grape was promptly popped into it. Grapes were still grapes, which was nice. This particular breed were a little more sour than I liked, but still nice.

"Faster."

The man beside me moved the fan faster, his faint look of annoyance obvious to me for all he tried to hide it.

I had to turn the pages of this giant book myself, but somehow I managed. I opened my mouth again, and another grape was popped inside.

The old geezer walked up, his face a darkened storm cloud. Well, one of the geezers. This place had a lot of geezers running around it. My amulet warmed.

Relax Princess, I wasn't going to kill him or anything... yet. Just an objective observation on the number of geezers in this kingdom.

"This is what you wish to do, with the time you've been generously granted, demon?"

What sort of answer did he expect? "Yes. Can't read and catch up all the time. It's important to take breaks, you know."

The grapes stopped coming. I stared down the servant, and he blushed. Blushed and lowered his eyes. Maybe he was embarrassed by being shirtless? I mean I didn't care, so why should he? It was all a matter of appearances. I mean, if you had two strapping servants, one with grapes, one with a fan, on a nice sunny day, they had to be in those short shift things like the Greeks wore way back when.

Was it the Greeks, or the Egyptians? I guess it didn't really matter; I was living out the dream regardless.

It was nice and warm out, and while I couldn't go outside for some reason or another, the windows were open wide enough that it didn't matter; the outside was coming in.

"You waste the life of one who is your better," the old geezer said.

"I take my contracted time to use as I see fit. As is my right. You need your eyes checked if you think this mere morsel I am inhabiting is my superior. No one of this lineage is even my equal, let alone my superior."

Hell, no one here yet had been my equal, for I had none.

"Your allotted time is almost spent."

"I am well aware." Fool. Reminding me of the time was a good way to get me not to care. I'd keep my word, as well as anyone else in my position.

I was almost done absorbing the sun, the energy, the life around me. The longer I stayed out, as it were, the faster I would recover and the stronger I would get.

It was rather pointless to tell these fools that, however. it was all 'princess' this and 'contract' that, as if the both of us were not aware of our agreement. The woman didn't even make most of the decisions of the government; she delegated, as all naive rulers did.

The gem housing my victim's soul warmed, a sign of either embarrassment or anger. I smirked, and the old man before me grew even more concerned.

"What is your plot?" he asked, clearly just not getting it.

I told him the truth: "To enjoy my time in the sun."

He gave me the squinty eyes, and I took full advantage of this body's instincts to smile, right into the face of it. As expected, it made the man even more apoplectic... yet then he calmed himself with a sigh. "Was it vital to make knights follow along with this madness?"

"Of course. If you're going to have them watching me, they might as well do something constructive. Like feed their empress, and see to her comfort."

On cue, another grape was popped into my mouth. I bit in with relish, admiring the slightly sour taste. This body was not my equal, yet being able to taste again brought along its own joys, and from my admittedly limited experience, these taste buds were top-notch.

When I was able to take over a body completely, it might be worth it to keep this one for awhile just for that alone. You know, that and both the temporal and physical power.

Then again, it was the lineage of my mortal enemy. There would be other bodies. Eventually. For now, I was only able to do this much. Later? The sky was the limit.

I suppose I should pay attention to this fool; he was not going away. "Have you just come here to ruin my time?"

He grinned, showing his teeth, which were in surprisingly good shape. Dental hygiene in this era, who would have thought? "Yes."

Honest bastard. The gem warmed again. Relax, Princess. I shall not kill the man for his effrontery just yet. That would come later.

A good word, effrontery. I liked it. I should use it more often. I should get into the positions needed to use it more often.

"You may leave then. I have some few hours left. Come back when the Princess you love so much is in command of herself once again."

He did not leave, but asked a question instead. "How far along are your preparations?"

Of course, he would ask about work. Boring old man. "Progressing, of course."

I had been told to fortify as much as I was able, so that the city would be able to resist another siege like the one I had already broken. A foolish endeavor when one had me, but the council of fools had been adamant, and I should be seen to be doing something.

Something they considered useful, at any rate. So I was spending precious power in a pointless exercise in futility.

When it came to magic, there was no such thing as strong enough or a defender's advantage. Given time, magic such as we knew could overcome all.

Then again, all this was political theater; maybe the old farts wanted to be seen to be doing something as well, and that is what drove them to try and hinder me. Still a very stupid thing to do, but more understandable in that light.

Not that I cared. I was a demon, after all. If they annoyed me enough, I'd bury them under a foundation somewhere.

Another grape entered my mouth, and I chewed. Then I sat up with a sigh. The old man would not leave, and I could not kill him yet. Perhaps a demonstration would help secure my peace.

I stood up and went to the window; I would at least have something interesting to see while I did as asked: "Watch carefully."

I let the power flow from me, from head to feet and beyond, sinking lower from this highest of points, seeping into the stone and mortar itself. A simple shift made the power visible, a dark blue shot with purple and black, a truly beautiful spectrum of colors that one could lose themselves in, if they were not strong willed, of course.

I was very strong, so the sight of my own power only captivated me for a moment. A quick look behind me showed the knights were still captured... but of course, the old man looked up to meet my eyes at my shift.

"Do you understand now?" It was obvious, but it had been obvious that I was doing what I was contracted to do this entire time. If this man had merely bothered to look, the fool.

The man looked down with renewed interest, casting eyes about the stones beneath his feet as if he'd never seen them before - finally.

I shifted the power again, removing the color and slowing the drift. No sense in using more than I gained during my time out, after all.

He still didn't leave. "How... how can you do such a thing? How does this process you are using work?"

"Do you only use spells?" His ignorance had me curious.

"...Yes." That admission sounded like it hurt him.

"I see. Magic has fallen very far, then. Now your situation makes all too much sense."

It made sense before, but it was always nice to have confirmation. If this fool, who looked every hour as old as I was, could not do something so simple, then all of the arts had fallen into a true pit. Martial arts did not seem to hold a supremacy here, after all - so the practitioners had to have a similar level.

I mean I hadn't seen anyone close to my level. Of course. Good old Darnell and I had been the last when we threw down. Some were close to us; some could make themselves feel better by suggesting they were close, but none were above us.

Between us, we'd killed all of those.

Even so, now a man had spent his entire life in the pursuit of power and couldn't do the simplest of things. It begged the question of what did he know? How had he gotten to this position of power and influence? The man had students himself! What did he teach them?

It boggled the mind when I started taking things seriously.

The man seriously intended to watch me. If I were doing it, this would bore me to tears. Hell, I was doing it, and it bored me to tears. I should have a bottle in one hand and a peach shaped bottom in the other. Maybe a smoke. Instead, I couldn't have either, and I was left plying tired old memes that no one else knew anymore for some small semblance of amusement.

The gem heated; what was her problem this time? Probably the image of her hand cupping a hot body. I doubled down on the image because it amused me. Maybe that spy would have been a good target....

The old geezer interrupted. "How are your studies?"

"On pace. The subject matter is easy enough, if dry. The history of the world after I went down is almost as boring as today has been."

Some wars, some genocides, some other normal standard human behavior. It was sad how little humans learned; history wasn't a circle, but a spiral certainly fit. Same old same old.

The holy kingdom, as it had been called for most of its' existence, was a bit of an anomaly... but their destruction wasn't. A classic case of over extension, and drawing other world powers in after them. This was also something that had happened for centuries without end; from the bronze age collapse on.

The original bronze age collapse? There was more than one, now, according to the books.

I could wish that the books were a little more honest, a little less one-sided, but that too was a spiral in history. One of many.

Now my mood was ruined. As it always was when the old geezers that lived here graced my presence.

I grabbed the book beside me, an ancient history tome meant to catch me up on slightly less than current events. Some that occurred only a few hundred years ago, which was practically yesterday.

It was a dry read, but it filled the time and allowed me to ignore the old fool. Even the other old fool, who for some reason joined the first old fool silently. Slightly amazing, since the other old fool tended to jabber more than the first, and for even less reason than the first.

I felt the pull, the gem drawing me in, and I felt it allowing the other out.

My connection was now strong enough that I felt things for a time. The body's motions and some ghost of sight and sound. In time, this would increase until my connection matched that of the princess, and I experienced it all.

That would mean the time was near. My time was near.

For now, the book in my hand waited for my perusal; my ability having brought a copy of the original from their world to mine.

The phantom sensations covered a suggestion of speech and a hint of movement. Walking and hastily raised voices. The tones were deferential, yet the overwhelming impression from the princess was mortification.

Delicious.

Then came the serious tones, the rushed discussions with many varied people - most of which were people I had no chance to recognize. People in charge being kept from me and my evil corrupting ways, no doubt.

I kept a careful note. The book in my hand was secondary to the information I was gaining, even though it was only a word snatched from the noise here and there, or an impression of a person or even a face. It all would fall into place eventually.

More raised voices, and a sense of fluttering calm; I could see it; we were in the throne room now, and the Princess was looking down at all those before her. Her subjects, I suppose. She was holding court, it seemed. Where was her little sister? The little one who was also being kept from me, for fear that I might somehow corrupt her. This despite my contract.

Well, it was understandable; I really had no intention of keeping my word. Not how these fools thought, at the least. I would do as requested, yet the final outcome would be one not to their liking.

Another book formed in my hands; this one would be a journal of sorts. A record of what was said to the princess here, and what she said in return. Even if I couldn't hear all of it, the body knew and remembered, and I shared it.

Normally, I wouldn't care, but clearly these people were talking about things I needed to know and that they did not want me to know, so all was fair here.

Soon. It was already too late now. The connection was already too strong now; soon I would be able to act, even from here.

Interesting. As always, they were talking of ways to ensure my obedience to their whims, and the good Princess was arguing with them. I couldn't quite hear the passion, but the words chosen seemed to indicate it existed.

She even went so far as to say that she would not treat me falsely unless I betrayed them first. As if I could betray people I hadn't sworn for and had no connection to. It was fine; I liked that naive, hopeful side of her - more people should have it. It would have made my job much easier before.

Even so, I would do as I swore - as all good demons should. It was interesting that there was one minister who argued the point even more than the silly holy man, even to the point of urging the Princess to remove my trinket from her neck and throw it in the ocean. I hadn't caught his name or even cared before, but I cared now; if my contractor did something like that now, I wouldn't recover, and both her and her people would be doomed.

At just the hint of something like that, or any conflict, I would surge from here and kill everyone in range.

"It is alright, Samael. I would never betray you in such a way." The words came through clearly; she must be holding my phylactery, wishing for the connection. Interesting, Did I have a tell as well? Had I made the gem heat in my rage?

It was possible. Likely even.

I calmed down, and I could feel her nod between us.

The connection did indeed work both ways. Very interesting indeed.