Secret Novel Chapter 26: To the Victor go the Spoils (Patreon)

Madeline stood outside on the stone in the cold, now winter night. Above her the moon was full and shown bright enough that she didn’t truly need the light from the gently bobbing orbs she had created. Yes, creating her own source of light that wasn’t from a flower was a fun little spell she learned. Well she had to use one of the light flowers to make the orb, but still. It also explained why there weren’t any lanterns in Eda’s home. She had thoroughly swept and cleaned the stone earlier that day, and now she used a spell to make the surface warm to the touch. Not that she really needed to with her thick boots and cloak, but it couldn’t hurt to do so. On the stone she had drawn intricate symbols and lines with ash from the phantom flower in her Garden. The phantom flower was the one that looked like a ghost that drew Madeline’s attention the first time she entered the Garden. Inside of the symbols and lines laid a multitude of different items all set down with precision and care. Rabbit entrails, strange mixtures of potion that were poured out on the stone, feathers from a bird that had been extremely hard to get and fur from a few different animals which was also very hard to get.

She could feel her heart pounding in her chest and the roar of blood filled her new sensitive ears. She was really about to do this. The time had finally come. She hoped that it would work and not go horribly wrong. Mixing two different rituals to feed off of one another wasn’t an exact science and Madeline had to figure most of this out herself, which was so very time consuming. It was only marginally more time consuming than preparing her own body. She had taken time to fully shave herself which was a lot easier than before she started taking the potions nearly a month ago. It still took a good while. It also helped that she could make potions to make sure she got as fine a shave as possible so that her body was now nice and soft. She did her best not to think about why she had to prepare her body, but it was a hard thing to get out of her mind. There was one slightly positive side to it though. She would be losing her virginity in this body that was wrong. Then after all that she would eventually have a body that was right that she still hadn’t had sex in. Madeline still couldn’t see this being a pleasant experience.

Pulling back her now modified hood that could now accommodate her fox ears, the cold air hit her face like a brick. However, Madeline had taken one of the warming potions and barely felt the cold. Even so, she still felt a shiver run through her at what was about to happen. Taking a deep breath, Madeline recited the chant once again in her head, making sure she truly had it memorized. Though Eda had suggested summoning a beyonder from a better house, or keeping a certain kind of them in mind to summon, Madeline’s mashed up ritual wouldn’t be able to do that. She couldn’t tell what kind of beyonder would be summoned and that did worry her. Hopefully the beyonder wouldn’t be a hideous beast. She really didn’t want to experience sleeping with that. Admittedly she did have quite a few hours to do this ritual, so she could potentially do it multiple times till she got one that was at least not offensive to go to bed with…

Shaking her head to clear it of the thoughts, Madeline went back to focusing on the ritual before her. She went through one last and extremely meticulous check even though she had already checked it a number of times. She realized she was just stalling from fear at this point and stopped. Everything was fine. She had done the best she could and it was going to work. Taking a few steps back, and feeling her ears fold back in nervousness, Madeline took a deep breath before starting her chant. Unlike the ear ritual she kept her eyes open for this one. As she pushed out her magic and let the words guide it, she could see the ash start to glow white. She could feel her magic pulling and pushing with every word as the solstice took the brunt of the draining power. Even so she felt it draining her being. She could feel herself pushing almost too far to make sure it all worked, but she didn’t stop.

Now the ash lines and items started to smolder, sending embers up into the sky where she hoped they wouldn’t land and set her Garden on fire. Slowly the burning became faster as a small dot of inky blackness formed floating above the stone in the middle of the circle. Soon the ash was fully on fire, and Madeline felt sweat bead on her forehead from the heat. Maybe she should have also taken a chilling potion, too. The inky blob grew larger exponentially and started to form into a humanoid-like shape. As the last words left her mouth, the blob appeared to solidify into a hole in the world and something started to step through.

The beyonder was tall. Quite tall, in fact, at around eight feet tall, a bit over a foot and a half taller than her. The first things she noticed, besides the fact that they were very masculine, were the parts that were clearly not human. They had small horns that sprouted from the forehead that added another three inches to the height. The skin was a slate blue color which only looked darker in the night as it appeared to suck in all the light from around them. A long, thick, and leathery tail swished behind the beyonder, like a cat’s only with no fur and tapered. They (or was it a he?) then stretched all four of his arms which all seemed to have little claws on the ends of the fingers. One of the hands lazily ran through his short choppy white hair. She almost missed the legs that were digitigrade instead of flat like hers, and they, too, contained wicked looking claws. Then he cracked his neck before opening his eyes, to reveal their almost glowing red, slitted shape.

Madeline found herself slightly gawking at the beyonder now that she looked at his face. His features were angular but soft in the way that Madeline had to admit she found attractive. He was also shirtless and the muscles of his body were clearly defined, which also didn’t help Madeline’s gawking. All together, if he wasn’t a beyonder with obviously non-human features, she could very easily see herself being attracted to him. Maybe she had lucked out on the first go by summoning one that she found decent looking. There might have also been some shock running through her at the fact that her mashed up ritual worked.

At first he looked around her Garden with curious red eyes. She wondered how her home might look to him with his eyes. Then his eyes fell on her, causing the young woman to suck in a sharp breath. A devilish, hungry, and excited smile crossed his face, revealing razor sharp teeth meant to rip and tear flesh apart. Madeline felt her heart nearly stop as fear ran rampant through her.

“Oh,” he laughed in a deep rumbling voice. “You have made such a wonderfully foolish error, mage.” He spat out the word ‘mage’ like it tasted foul on his tongue. The terrifying smile turned into a sneer as an animalistic growl grew from inside him. The sharp features of his face appeared to grew scarily sharper and the horns longer. With one step, his foot crossed the line she had made to keep him trapped inside. It sparked and erupted in flame before fizzling out as if the line had never been there. He didn’t even seem phased by breaking the line, it was like a hot knife through butter for him.

The latent fear inside Madeline from just being in the presence of a beyonder suddenly turned into raging terror. She quickly tried to back away but found herself tripping over her own feet. It took less than a thudding heartbeat of landing on the ground for the beyonder to be looming over her. He moved so fast that all Madeline saw was a blur before he was on top of her, now on all fours. Well, two arms and two feet. The laugh he gave rumbled in her chest as she put an arm in front of her face as if it would do anything to help. One of his four hands clamped onto her protective arm and just as she felt his claws start to dig in and pull her arm away she managed to scream.

“I’m not a mage!” Though her eyes were closed in fear she could feel the beyonder pause in his movements for a second before still pulling her arm away to look at her in the face. Somehow Madeline managed to open her eyes to look back at him, but found them clouded with tears she didn’t know she was shedding.

“What did you just say?” The hunger had left his face and Madeline thought she might have seen confusion in his eyes. If she could read beyonder eyes.

“I-I’m no-not a mage!” She didn’t mean to scream it in his face again, but with the adrenaline running through her blood it just happened. She was also surprised she managed to say it without sobs of fear, even though she did stammer harder than she ever had in her life. She saw his eyes search her face for something and he didn’t change his position or the hold of her arm that he had. Then once done with her face, his eyes moved up to her head. With his one free hand he reached out and pinched the point of her right ear. Of course it tried to flick away, but his pinch was hard enough that it almost hurt. Slowly, as if in wonder, he pulled her ear out of its pulled pack position and studied it. Though Madeline had never owned a cat, Sophie had a few so she had occasionally seen just how large their slitted eyes could become, and she found it really strange to see a deadly creature’s eyes do the same.

“You really aren’t a mage.” The eyes were back to her face now, and Madeline shook her head. His features looked as if they grew softer, back to the handsome and less terrifying face he had first appeared with. “A witch in the Maze. I can’t remember the last time there was a witch in the Maze.” He let go of her ear and it instantly pulled back to match the position of its twin. “What are you doing in the Maze, little witch?”

Madeline didn’t know the term he kept calling her, but she decided it was best to not question someone still looming over you, ready to kill with those wicked claws. There also was a tiny part of her that really liked being called little by someone who was actually taller than her. It hit a sweet spot in her heart, but this was no time for focusing on that. “Thi-This is where I live,” she answered honestly.

“No, I meant what are you doing in the Ma- Wait, you live here? In the Maze?” His face was even more shocked now as Madeline nodded again. “Where is your teacher?” As he asked, he finally pulled away from her to be in his non-human legged way of sitting on his heels. His eyes once again searched her Garden.

Madeline was so incredibly thankful that he pulled away so she could wipe the tears away from her eyes and sit up on her elbows. “I don’t have one.”

“What?” Now he looked at her with true confusion in his red eyes.

“I don’t have a teacher.” Why was that shocking?

“What do you mean you don’t have a teacher?”

“I’m self taught,” she answered honestly again, and the look he gave her was almost priceless. Who would have thought that she could dumbfound a beyonder so much that he looked at her with almost comically wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth.

“You,” he said pointing at her almost in disbelief, “a weak little witch with no teacher summoned me all on your own. Me? How?”

“I have books,” Madeline offered, deciding it was best to just answer the deadly creature instead of being insulted by him calling her weak. She pointed to the tome that sat at the edge of the stone, thankfully untouched by all the embers and fire. Though she had to imagine Eda would have made it fireproof in some way since it was her personal notes. “I’m not powerful e-enough to do a normal s-summons.” She didn’t know why she was saying this but it was all coming out. Maybe it would just be best to answer everything fully so as to not potentially anger him again. “So I mixed the summoning ritual with a solstice ritual.”

His eyes looked at her tome, then back around to the ritual sight that was mostly burned away at this point. “You aren’t lying to me,” he said more to himself than Madeline. She still shook her head anyway. Slowly the Beyonder stood up, still looking at the ritual as if trying to figure out how she did it. Not really sure what to do in the moment, Madeline took the opportunity to stand up herself, and take another comforting step back away from him. “So you, with no teacher and only books, mashed two rituals together, and were able to summon me?” He turned back to her to see her nod. “Well I have to say I am impressed, little witch.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” The question came out faster than she could think to stop herself. It probably wasn’t wise to question a being who could kill you in a second if displeased.

He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow at her. “Because that is what you are, is it not? One who can touch the essence of things around himself?”

Madeline flinched at the masculine pronouns. She had been on the potions for about a month now, and while they definitely helped her look far more androgynous, she still leaned decently masculine. “Herself,” she said just quiet enough for only herself to hear, not thinking it would be best to correct this beyonder who was for all intents and purposes free to do whatever he wanted.

“Oh, I am sorry, little witch,” he said with a very deep apologetic bow, apparently having heard her barely audible whisper. “Herself,” he corrected himself before looking up at her, still bowed.

It was strange that the apology sounded completely genuine coming from a creature like him. She didn’t know why she expected the beyonder to think of her as a man, but she did. She also realized that since leaving Lexford this was the first time someone other than herself had used the right pronouns. Was it bad that hearing him say that made her feel so good? Her ears even became more relaxed.

“It's okay.” He looked comforted by her words and finally stood back up. She did her best not to blush for some reason. Maybe it was the fact that he called her the right thing. Maybe it was the fact that he was still shirtless. And now that she wasn’t as terrified she noticed that he also wore a lot of jewelry. His arms all had bands of gold with dangling chains, and there were even small chains that ran across his chest. The bands on his lower arms were connected to sheer silk sheets that wrapped around his back, and his pants were more of a collection of loosely wrapped silks than any kind of pants Madeline had seen before. It was also strange that she hadn’t noticed all this before. Were they always there, or did they now just appear that he wasn’t about to presumably kill her? “And your pronouns are?” If he was kind enough to acknowledge hers, she should make sure she had the right ones for him. It would be bad of her to have been thinking of him as a him all this time if he wasn’t.

“I am male, so in your language he/him is what I use, little witch.” There it was again. Witch… Also she was glad she had been using the right pronouns.

“I’ve never heard the term witch before.”

The beyonder nodded thoughtfully. “No, I don’t suppose you would have. The mages have done their best to rid the world of your kind. Yet, here you stand, a witch in the middle of the Maze.” He paused before adding, “Admittedly, I’m a little surprised your books didn’t tell you that though.” He shrugged his upper arms before a more genuine and curious smile crossed his face. “Tell me, how did you find yourself here, little witch?”

Madeline came to realize that this was the longest conversation she had since Fernaldo, even if she couldn’t speak at the time. She had to admit it both felt odd and good to be talking to someone again. Though that person was a beyonder with the power to kill her whenever he wished, he appeared to be calm and curious now, not angry and hungry like before. Maybe he was even a little excited given how his tail seemed to be moving about.

“I was an offering… But I escaped after I— ” She cut herself short. She hadn’t thought about that in a while. Since gaining magic she really hadn’t thought much about him, or what she did.

“After you what?”

Madeline could feel the rabbit hole of emotions sucking her down and almost forcing her to say, “After I killed the mage chasing me…” She had never said those words out loud before… The words hurt coming out and a flood of memories came up. How wet, hot, and sticky her hands were with Marcus’ blood. The light in his eyes going out. How scared he looked…

“Ohhoooo! You killed a mage?” Now he sounded excited, but Madeline didn’t process that. Her thoughts were still on the feeling of blood on her hands. “With no magic? My my, you just keep getting more interesting. How did you kill them?”

As the memory replayed through her mind she blurted it out, even if she hadn’t wanted to. “I stabbed him in the throat. Cut through his spine…” Her insides twisted with regret as her hands started to shake.

“Oh that’s quite good, little witch.” The joy in his voice was clear. Clear enough that it cut through her memories and pulled her back to the present. Her hands still shook, and she swore she could still feel the blood on her hands.

“I don’t want to talk about it…” She wasn’t looking at him anymore. She just closed her eyes and tried to keep thoughts away. Tried to not let the rabbit hole pull her in once again.

“Oh but there's no need…” His voice faded out, and even with her eyes closed she could feel him looking at her. “He was just a mage trying to kill you. You survived and he did not. That is how the worlds work.” His voice was serious and cold. No emotion in them, but still she didn’t respond. He sighed before saying, “Well, even if you don’t find what you did as pleasing as I do, you are still quite interesting. What’s your name, little witch?” Madeline was now able to open her eyes again given something else to focus on. She knew the stories about names having power with demons, and if those stories were actually about beyonders maybe it wasn’t the best idea to give him her name. He sighed again. “Oh come now, your name shan’t hold any power over you, like mine would me. You went through all that trouble to call me here, and you won’t give me as much as a name to call you by?”

Biting the inside of her lip Madeline tried to remember what the books had said about beyonders. Well if names did have power wouldn’t the mages have used that against her? They knew both her given name and her true one so maybe it was okay to give him her name. Eventually she said, “Madeline.”

He gave her what could only be described as a devilishly handsome smile. Then with a slight bow he said, “Victor.” Madeline looked at him a little wide eyed. Had he really told her his name? “It is a name that you can call me by. Not my actual name,” he clarified. He paused to stand back up straight at his towering height. “Little witch of the Maze, Madeline. You have gone through quite a bit of trouble to summon the likes of me, and you have entertained me quite well. However, entertaining me is not what you desire. Why did you call upon me?”

Straightening a little herself now that things were both a little more formal, as well as getting down to business, Madeline spoke. “I want an eye. A beyonder’s eye for my own, so that I can see the Maze in its true form.”

The smile on his face only grew. “You really are a witch. Though you have been entertaining, that is not quite enough to warrant an eye. What is it that you offer me in return?”

Madeline felt her heart start to pound again. This was it… At least he was better looking than she had thought she would find. “I… I offer m-my virginity.” She felt shaky again but with nerves now. Even her ears pulled back with anxiety. She wasn’t able to meet his eyes.

“Why would I want that?”

The question almost made Madeline topple over. Her ears were instantly back up and focused on him, just like her eyes. “I-I thought beyonders coveted such a thing. I’ve read that yo—”

He cut her off with a wave of a hand. “That may be true for many of my kin. And even myself, if I am being so honest. However, some of my less understanding kin might have fallen for your little trick, but I will not.” He kept on smiling. “The virginity you offer me would not be the true one for you would it? It would be the virginity of a body that is not who you truly are.” Madeline felt herself blush as he looked down at her. “Besides, I don’t believe you would enjoy it very much in this body,” he said gesturing to her still male body, and he wasn’t wrong. “So simply put, that is not something that I would be interested in.”

Madeline sagged. She had readied herself both physically and mentally as much as she could for this. She was willing to do it, and he just ripped the rug right out from under her. What should she do now? Should she apologize? After all, he made it sound like he considered it being her trying to trick him. “I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I tried to trick you.”

“Oh, don’t be,” he said almost enthusiastically. “It is a very intelligent work around. Offer the virginity of a body that is wrong, only to then fix the body afterwards and thus have the virginity of the body that is right. Like I said, my less understanding or knowledgable kin would have fallen right for it. Still, as I said, I’m not interested in that, so what else do you have that you can offer me?”

Still a little flabbergasted that Victor was somehow happy about her little “trick” as he called it, Madeline tried to think of what else she could offer him. “I…” She just kept coming up blank as she looked around as if that would help. “I don’t have anything,” She said honestly. Her virginity was the only thing substantial enough that she could and would offer. “I have little power, and nothing of great importance or interest.” She felt defeated. “All I have is the virginity of this wrong body…” She could see him frown now, which just made her feel worse. Even though he was a beyonder he had been quite nice to her and she felt bad that she had nothing to give. “I’m sorry for summing you with nothing good to offer you.”

His frown stayed for a minute before a mischievous smile grew on his angular face. “Well, there is one thing that I will happily take.” She looked at him hopefully. “Your soul.”

“No,” she instantly replied with an almost completely deadpan expression.

“You sure?”

Madeline took another step back. “I am not giving you my soul.”

Victor sighed. “Fine, it was worth a shot though.” He shrugged again. “Well then, little witch Madeline, I am afraid if you have nothing to offer me, I shall be taking my leave.” Turning, he started back to the inky black hole Madeline had honestly forgotten about. “Though I will say, you were very entertaining, and I’ll have some fun gossip to spread around back home. Please, if you ever plan on summoning one of us again, do call upon me.” He gave her a smile as one leg stepped into the black portal. “It would be rather amusing to see where…” Victor stopped for a second before pulling his leg out and turning back to her with a smile on his face. “You know, I just thought of something you could offer me.”

“Not my soul,” she said again.

He rolled his eyes. “No. Your time,” he said as a matter of fact.

“Like my life span?!” There was no way she was doing that!

“No,” he sighed out. “Simply let me spend time with you. You are, as I said, very entertaining, and being the first witch in the Maze in who knows how many centuries you are bound to become more interesting. You see, gossip and information are very important in my society, and being the only one of my kin with a direct connection to the sole witch in the Maze will give me so much to talk about.”

Madeline was still a little cautious of what he truly wanted. “So… What would that entail exactly?”

“You let me visit you here in your home and Garden at my leisure, and in return you gain your eye and the pleasure of my company.” He once again gave that devilish smile that might have made her feel things if he was human.

Madeline took her time and thought about his offer for a minute. Would it really be that bad? He didn’t seem like a monster that the stories of beyonders often portrayed them to be. She would also have someone to talk to, which would be so incredibly nice, even if it was a beyonder. “And you would bring no harm to me, or my Garden and home?”

“Oh, of course.” His answer came right away. “Well, any harm you don’t want or ask for,” he said with his smile changing to a smirk. Madeline didn’t understand what he meant and got cautious again, but he quickly said, “Right, virgin… Still, what I said stands.”

What did being a virgin have to do with understanding what he meant? She did think about it, and admittedly if she ever asked him to pick a flower that could be considered harming her Garden. Even walking on the grass could be considered harm. Maybe he was right. There wouldn’t be any harm she didn’t want. “So for an eye, all I have to do is let you visit me? It's really that simple?”

“Like I said, you're the first witch in the Maze in a long time, and a free pass to your mortal realm is never a bad thing. Breaks the monotony of the Beyond. Gets me away from house drama and annoyances when I wish. It will probably be fun to watch the little witch grow. I might also be given opportunities to hurt the Mages. So yes, little witch Madeline, it really is that simple.”

The witch pondered this for a little bit. She didn’t like that he was excited at the chance to hurt mages. She never planned to let mages get anywhere near her Garden. Then again, Eda did write that beyonders made for powerful allies. So this might not be the worst thing.

“Alright, I accept.”

“Very good, little witch. Now all we need to do is seal the pact,” he said expectantly.

Madeline paused. She didn’t know how to do that. Out of all her research was this really the one thing she hadn’t looked up. “Um… How do we do that? Do we need to restate the terms or…?” She felt embarrassed having to ask.

“Why would we do that? We’ve already stated the terms. We just need to seal it.”

“How?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Really?” He chuckled a deep rumble. “A kiss of course.”

Madeline felt her face heat up as her eyes went wide. Really it was a kiss? She hadn’t kissed anyone before… She was planning to lose her virginity, but there was a big part of her that didn’t think kissing would be part of the beyonder taking her.

His glowing eyes lit up a little brighter as he leaned in close. “A virgin I knew, but not even a simple kiss?” he asked teasingly. “Such a pure gem hidden away in the Maze. Who knew I would be so luc—”

Before he could finish, Madeline grabbed the sides of his face and pulled him into her. That was it. Her first kiss, and it wasn’t even with another human. She tried to push away the embarrassment as she held the kiss for a second, making sure it would count. Then she pulled away, her face an even brighter red as her ears flattened down in her simple embarrassment. At least her ears no longer went bright red with her face. She couldn’t meet his eyes directly, but she did see a shocked look on his face.

“I will admit, I didn’t expect that,” Victor chuckled out, gaining back his smile. Straightening back up he continued to smile down at her. “Our pact is made, little witch Madeline. The eye shall be your mark. Kneel.”

She looked up at him. “What?”

He simply said, “Kneel,” again. “Kneel so that I may give you your eye.” Growing nervous again, Madeline got down to her knees before him. Gentler than she expected him to be, he cupped her chin and lifted her head to be looking directly up at him. “Which is your dominant eye?”

“Uh…” Madeline had no idea. She blinked a few times trying to figure it out before she said anything, still a little uncertain, “My right.”

“Very well.”

With another one of his four hands, he pulled open her eye so that she couldn’t blink. Still he surprised her with how gentle he was even when holding her so firmly. She watched as his last two hands raised above her face. With one of the claws he sliced open one of his fingers. Almost instantly a drop of dark red blood dripped down right into her eye and it burned. It burned hotter than when the mages heated all the metal on her. It burned more than the few times she forgot a pot was hot. It burned hotter than that one time as a child she placed her hand on a hot coal.

Madeline screamed. She screamed louder than she ever had before. Her hands grabbed at the hands holding her face, trying to rip them off so she could close her eye, but he held firm as more burning blood fell into her eye. Then he suddenly let go. She grabbed at her face, trying to wipe away the blood as the burning only got worse. Then she could feel it. She could feel her eye start to drip and melt down her cheek. She screamed one last horrendous time as her vision went black and consciousness left her.

[This was the chapter I was most excited to share with you guys and I just couldn't wait any longer with the shitty day I had. Though I am a little afraid of what you think about Victor being a man. I don't say this much but I am actually asexual, not a lesbian, even if I am known for writing graphic sapphic smut. In my personal love interests I have been nearly entirely sapphic (my enby spouse being the sole non-feminine identifying person I have been with), and I really wanted to try something different with this story. I'm not saying these two will have a romance, nor am I saying any romance in the future of this series won't be queer as hell, but I am happy to be trying to write something different. Victor is also the first male main character I have written and I've had a good time with it.

I also want to add that the name of this chapter is the sole reason I named chapters in this novel. I came up with the idea and loved it so much that I will now have to name every single chapter in this entire series. I don't think I will ever have a better chapter name than this one, ever. I will also embarrass my spouse by openly saying that they are obsessed with Victor and thought him saying 'kneel' was hot.]