Double Trouble - Chapter 16 (Rough Draft) (Patreon)

Charlotte

Mikaela was currently ahead of me but she’d stopped at the sound of the scream, turning towards me, and I wasted no time in catching up.

“Let me guess,” she began, “you want me to-”

“No time,” I interrupted, thrusting Singh towards her. “Just grab her with your magic or something, alright? I’ve got to get going.”

Mikaela stared at me for a long moment - too long a moment, in my book - before letting out a sigh and shaking her head. “Fine. But we’re going to need to have a talk when this is over.”

I nodded, letting go of Singh as soon as I felt my sister’s magic overlapping with my  hands. Singh looked like she wanted to grumble about how she was being handled, but thankfully didn’t say a word as I pushed my bag - with Bonnie in it - into her hands, and hurriedly unsummoned my wings, plunging towards the forest below.

Not that I was falling for long, mind you - just long enough to turn my eyes black and summon my succubus wings. They caught me long before I hit the treescape below me, and carried me towards the sound of the scream at speeds that mortals really weren’t meant to handle. Sure, I was dampening it a little by focusing a spell to cut through the air resistance, but the sheer acceleration would probably do something terrible to the average human’s body.

As for finding the scream’s exact point of origin, that didn’t turn out to be too hard - not when she screamed out again, a few seconds later.

“Get away from me, you rat!”

I turned towards the sound, ready to beat my wings and blast off towards the source, but paused when another voice reached my ears.

“Hey! Don’t call me names! That’s hurtful!”

“Yeah, well, don’t threaten a girl with a bad time then!”

Wait… I knew that voice!

“And what are you going to do without me, huh? Find your own way to civilization? Without a guide, you’ll die out here… and it’s not like I’m asking for much, am I? I mean, the way I heard it, all you demon bitches are eager to jump in the sack with anyone aren’t you?”

I blasted off towards the source of the conversations. Moved, faster than I’d ever moved before, skimming over the tree tops and then diving through the branches. I heard them, felt them break against me, and I didn’t care. I went straight through them, moving at a slight angle with my fist stretched out in front of me. Then, at the last moment, my wings flared out - not to speed me, but to slow me down, enough that when my fist slammed into the face of the dark haired jackass who’d been speaking that way it only snapped his head to the side a bit and didn’t knock it clean off his shoulders. Unfortunately, I’d overcorrected a bit - didn’t even manage to break a tooth. It did send him stumbling back a few steps, though.

“Wha…?”

“Shut up, or taste my foot instead of your own for a change,” I told him, my tail whipping out behind me. “Nobody talks to my little sister like that.”

“I’m only ‘little’ by like, three days!” the owner of the original voice said. I could practically hear the pout in her voice, even without turning around - not that it stopped me from doing so. “And I’m not your sister.”

“No, but ‘second cousin’ sounds so distant!” I replied, a grin on my lips as my eyes alighted upon the kitsune who’d been speaking to me. Standing at five foot nothing, she was a bit on the small side - a trait she’d inherited from her mom, who also happened to be Mama’s cousin, from the mortal side of her family. She’d also inherited her mom’s violet eyes, which was a good thing since that was pretty much the only visual feature we had in common. Other than the red hair, at least - but mine was dyed, so that didn’t really count.

Ruby - the kitsune in question - whipped her three tails behind herself, pouting at me with her hands on her hips. “You do realize this is why I left the tower two years ago, right? To get away from your incessant babying?”

“Uh-huh,” I confirmed. “And yet here you are in need of rescuing, just like old times.”

“I do not need rescuing!” she protested, stomping her way over to me. “I totally had this in the bag!”

“Right. Let me guess. You were going to beat the dude into giving you proper directions?”

“I mean… I guess?” she replied, clearly hesitant. “I mean, it’s not like he didn’t deserve it…”

“Uh, ladies?” the scumbag in question spoke up, running a hand through his black hair. “I don’t really get what’s going on, but if you’re looking to get in on the fun with me and Ruby than-”

“Go die in a fire,” I replied, before promptly ignoring him again in favor of wrapping Ruby up in a hug. “Little sis! I can’t believe it’s been two years since I got to see you!”

“Gah, clingy!” she complained, trying to push herself off of me. I let her, of course - after getting my hugs in.

“Look, girls,” the jackass tried again, “I don’t think you understand the position you’re in. This is dangerous territory! Monsters all over the place - you could be torn to shreds without a guide to get you through it.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll be fine. Why don’t you go guide yourself back where you came from?” I suggested, gesturing for him to get a move on. “I wanna spend some time with my little sis.”

“Not that little!” Ruby protested, again, with that adorable pout on her lips. “Just because you and your sister are literally demi-”

“Ixnay on the oddessday stuff!” I interrupted. “We can talk about that later. After your guide gets the message and skadaddles.”

“Look,” he tried yet again, clearly not getting the message one bit. “I know you demon girls can’t resist a good lay - why don’t you just give into your baser instincts, and-”

And this time it was Mikaela whose fist came flying out of the air. She didn’t hold back as much as me, either, driving him right into the ground with her punch and making me wince. Thankfully he didn’t look too hurt, even laying there in the dirt - a bit of blood, but no loose teeth or anything! It made me wonder if he was actually some sort of bigshot adventurer, or something. I mean, he seemed pretty tough - by human standards, at least.

Not that I could be bothered to spare him much of a thought. “Hey, Sis! Look! It’s Little Sis!”

“I gathered as much,” she replied, rolling her eyes. Or at least I’m pretty sure that’s what she was doing - like me, she’d taken on her succubus form. “It’s why I hurried over as fast as I did.”

“Without our companions?” I asked, arching an eyebrow. “We are in the rat king’s territory, you know.”

“They’re fine,” she promised me, before glancing up into the sky. “I have them hovering on a stone platform up above us. Best we keep them out of this asshole’s sight if we don’t want to be recognized later, don’t you think?”

“Probably,” I agreed, glancing at the dude in question. He was currently rubbing at his cheek, and glaring at all of us.

“You know what? Screw all of you!” he declared. “I thought you demon girls were supposed to be easy, but you’re more trouble than you’re worth. I hope the monsters take all of you.”

“They won’t!” I replied back cheerfully, mentally making a note of the guy’s voice in case he started to scream. Not that I was in a rush to rescue the dude, but he’d probably make decent bait for the rat king wandering all by himself. 

Which… was actually a pretty disturbing thought? Probably not very hero like… but at the same time, he had been trying to coerce my little sister into sleeping with him, so… Yeah, no, he could deal with being bait for a little.

“So, what brings you out here anyway?” I asked Ruby. “You wanted to be a traveling bard last I checked, right? A big creepy forest isn’t exactly the place for you to work your craft.”

“Thom was supposed to be guiding me on a safe route to Derrin,” she told me, scowling. “Where I was supposed to meet the two of you.”

“Us?” Mikaela asked, arching an eyebrow. “Does that mean you have a message from home, or some such?”

“Yeah. It’s ‘use your damn sendstones to call home, so that Ruby doesn’t have to be your damn messenger’ all the time!”

I flinched. As did Mikaela. It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought of calling home… I’d just… sorta figured Mikaela would handle it? I mean, everything had been kinda non-stop for a bit, and I was just starting my adventure! But…

“Mama is being a worrywart, isn’t she?” Mikaela asked, sighing. “Even though she knows full well we can’t be hurt…”

“Not only that,” Ruby informed us. “Apparently she’s been going on a cooking spree - you know, just to have something homemade ready in case you decided on visiting home for a family meal?”

I winced. Mom only cooked on special occasions, or when stressed… It wasn’t like she didn’t know how, but the profession chefs could generally do a better job than her, and honestly the head chef found her a bit too distracting when she took over the kitchens.

“I suppose a trip home wouldn’t hurt,” Mikaela murmured, grimacing. “There’s some stuff I left behind that I’ve been meaning to pick up, anyway.”

“Me too,” I admitted. Mostly the disguise artifacts I’d used when sneaking around the lower floors of the tower. 

“Good,” Ruby said. “Message delivered. Have fun, alright? I’m going back to barding.”

“You mean singing and dancing for room and coin?” Mikaela asked, arching an eyebrow. “Honestly, I don’t see what you get out of it… But as long as you’re having fun, I suppose?”

“Can’t you stay a little longer?” I asked. “Just until we get back to town?”

“Well…” Ruby hesitated. If I had to guess, she didn’t actually know her way back to begin with, so the fact that she was hesitating despite that kinda hurt… but I did get it. Sis and I did have a tendency to baby her, what with her not being invulnerable like we were. Still, in the end, she nodded her head with a sigh. “I guess I could head back to Derrin with you… It’s been a while since I visited, anyhow.”

“Great!” I grinned. “Lets go introduce you to our companions! I can’t wait to see the look on Singh’s face when she finds out there’s more of us!”

“Just so long as you know I’m not joining you,” Ruby said, firmly. “I have my own adventures to get on!”

“And how many brushes with death have you had with those adventures, over the last two years?” Mikaela asked.

“Only, like, twenty or so!” Ruby replied, puffing out her chest. “I’m getting way better at handling them, too.”

“And she wonders why we always end up trying to baby her,” Mikaela muttered, shaking her head. “Very well, then. Get on my back, and I’ll fly you up to meet the others.”

“I’m a bit old for a piggy back ride, Mikaela,” Ruby protested, with another pout.

“Would you rather a bridal carry?” she asked, arching an eyebrow. “Or perhaps you’d prefer to be thrown over my shoulder?”

“Well…” Ruby hesitated, clearly debating which of the options was the least bad, before eventually deciding on a piggyback. I tried not to laugh - really I did - but I don’t think anyone can blame me for the little bit that got through. Or the smirk that followed, for that matter.

Ruby glared at me, but she still got on Mikaela's back, ready to be taken up into the air to meet our companions. I readied my wings, too, crouching down to get ready to leap into the air - only to pause, when a new, even higher pitched scream tore through the air from the direction where that jackass had wandered off in.

Which meant either he’d managed to somehow find another woman to trouble, or…

“Looks like it’s time for you to deal with the Rat King,” Mikaela remarked, as my smirk turned into a grin.

It was time to let loose… and if, in the process, I happened to scare that jerk into never going near me or anyone I cared about ever again… Well, that was just a nice bonus.

~~~

Author's Notes

Not entirely sure how I feel about this chapter... It took forever to write, and I'm not entirely sure I like it? But it's done...

I'd like to say the next chapter will come quickly, but honestly I have no idea. I think I might need a small break? Not from writing in general, but from this series in particular...\

I'll try to get something done within the next week, regardless. Whether that be Naughty Magic, Hatching a Heroine, or even more Double Trouble... I don't know.

Hope to see you with another update soon, either way!