It has been around two weeks since the first conference call we had with Patala. We have had a few more talks since then but nothing fruitful yet. Lysara has been practicing manipulating her dark magic. Right now she is practicing wielding shadow whips. She accidentally caused May to panic when she first cracked the whip. May came running in from the hall worried she was whipping me or something. I mean, I would definitely try getting whipped once if it was Lysara doing it. I laughed so hard when that happened, and May scolded Lysara for not using the anti-eavesdropping barrier. This is the first time in my life that I laughed so sincerely inside these castle walls.
Since then Lysara was steadily getting stronger with her whips. She is progressively gaining the ability to control more whips at the same time. She was even practicing to see if she could suspend herself in the air, but she is having some troubles with that at the moment. The way she has been growing with her magical abilities through practice and sheer determination. Something she never thought she could have suddenly plopped in her lap. So it only makes sense that she has been obsessed with her training. I have to practically pull her to bed to sleep or to take a break especially since she discovered her whips. We have also been mainly staying in this room so we don't have to possibly run into Tristan. It is a very complicated feeling I feel about him. I know I can kill him with ease since he is as weak as an insect to me now. Even so, I still feel knots in my stomach thinking about the kidnapping. It almost feels like an irrational fear now since I am a vampire now. It isn't like I can just turn my feelings off. Lysara knows how I feel since I have told her how stupid it makes me feel. She told me that it was not stupid and a completely normal feeling.
While Lysara is training I take this time to be responsible and try to organize our bags' equipment. I start with mine since I don't have as much in my bag as Lysara has. She has all of the sex things since she knows what they are for and since she is the dom. It doesn't take me long to organize my bag. I then grab Lysara's bag and dump it out to reorganize it. I see the stuffed leopard fall out and a smile comes across my face. Kenji sees the leopard as well, and his interest is piqued, "What is that?" I replied while reminiscing our festival date, "The night before we met you, I won this stuffed toy as a prize for Lysara in an archery game. To be honest, I forgot about it since a lot has happened since then." Kenji asks with adorably huge eyes, "Can I touch it?" I say, "Sure," Unable to say 'no' to those adorable eyes even if there was a reason to. As I place the stuffed leopard on the bed where Kenji is sitting. He pushes his paws into the soft fur of the toy and he is purring loudly. After pushing his paws in the toy a while he starts cuddling with the toy and he almost immediately falls asleep cuddling it. While Kenji is napping I get Lysara's bag reorganized. There are a lot of toys we haven't used yet, and I am really curious how they work.
When I am done, I start watching Lysara as she is training. She currently has several whips out of the ground with the barrier that she is manipulating simultaneously. It has been a few hours since I saw her progress since I was busy with the bags. She is now able to hold herself up with the whips almost like she is floating. Kenji is still cuddling with the toy very adorably. There is a knock at the door interrupting Lysara's training time in the room and it is Ricky calling us to yet another conference.
When we arrive in the comms room for the conference and bring Kenji with us so he isn't as lonely in the room by himself like he was in the past meetings. King Victor really likes Kenji and really wants to make him a Perdita asset. I feel the vibes and I REFUSE. I want Kenji to live how he desires. King Salenar says while clapping his hands on his thighs, "Great, they are here. Let's get started. So the council has taken a vote. They said if you can acquire an immortal lily from Storm Mountain that you will be allowed to marry each other." I excitedly say, perking up at the idea of being able to marry my beloved, "So we just need to get that flower and we will be accepted?" Lysara shakes her head and places her hand on mine while wearing a sad expression, "It isn't that simple. They gave me that task knowing I don't have wings. Storm Mountain is a mountain so steep climbing by foot is impossible. There is a huge storm cloud in the sky surrounding the mountain with very strong winds and lightning that even the strongest succubus wings would struggle to make it through. They gave us this mission to fail." I squeeze her hand and say to Lysara, "There always has to be a way. If they want one of those flowers, I will get it myself. I refuse to give up when we have come so far. I will be your wife or die trying.We will show that hateful demon council that they challenged the wrong couple." I squeeze her hand and she squeezes it back.
Before we can continue our meeting there seems to be a commotion. A knight came storming in about a horse that has gone mad. Stopping to feel my familiars I feel CoCo is near so it must be her, but she was supposed to stay with Leo according to the plan Father and I came up with. Something must be wrong. I hear tapping on a window behind a closed curtain. I open the curtain and find Sky outside. I open the window and Sky yells, "Ari, it's really bad! CoCo says Leo was kidnapped! She said she came as quickly as she could and that things happened too fast to go according to plan and that when she broke out of the temple stall the kidnappers were lost in the crowd already so she came here as soon as she could." Trying not to freak out. Don't storm off immediately without thinking. Breathe in. Breathe out. After steadying my shaky breaths, I tell him, "Sky, go out and tell CoCo that we will be right there and to wait for us. You will be our overwatch as we get him back. I know we are walking into a trap, and I will need your eyes."
Sky leaves understanding his mission. I tell the knight that the horse is mine and once my other familiar talks to her she will calm down. They like the sound of that and leave. Lysara asks with hints of worry in her voice, "What is it?" I replied with tears in my eyes, "It is Leo. He has been kidnapped. We need to go now." Lysara was already grabbing my hand and preparing for our exit, "Father, we have an emergency over here so we will have to cut this call short." I asked King Victor, "Your majesty, my father took my sword, and I will need one today. Is there one lying around that no one will miss?" He says as he is walking somewhere in the room, "This is a castle. We always have swords lying around. We do pride ourselves on our swordsmanship afterall in our Orea bloodline." As he says that he finds a simple and elegant sword and hands it to me, "Here you go, Ari. Please be careful." I nod and we run to CoCo with Kenji in tow.
As we are running I tell Kenji and Lysara, "Let's go to the temple first. Father Xavier probably needs immediate help and he might have important information on the people who took Leo that can help us. If we are walking into a trap, we need to be most prepared." Lysara replies, "That would be smart. Though I kind of just want to run immediately to him right now anyways." I replied, completely understanding, "That was my first impulse as well. I almost ran out of the comms room immediately when Sky told me. With no regard for a sword or Father Xavier or anything else." I finish saying as we approach CoCo who has calmed down a bit. The knights around her are still wary she might start acting out again. CoCo yells, "Get on!" Lysara and I hop on CoCo and we go to the temple as fast as we possibly can.
We arrive at the temple and we let ourselves in. We see Father Xavier on the ground collapsed and Shiki by him also collapsed next to the goddess's wine basin. There are a few concerned priests and commoners who witnessed it that are worried for them. I don't care about you all. JUST MOVE OUT OF THE WAY. I get closer moving through the crowd of onlookers. I see there is a bite mark on father by Shiki so from observing the situation briefly I can assume father was poisoned and Shiki got poisoned when trying to use his healing bite. I run up to them immediately crying after noticing them on the ground, and I heal them.
I HOPE I AM IN TIME.
I HOPE I AM IN TIME.
Their eyes are still closed and they aren't moving. I yell, "COME ON! WAKE UP!" I cast heal on them repeatedly while sobbing. Lysara grabs me intensely, "Ari, stop! They are breathing now. LOOK AT ME." She grabs my face and looks at me directly in my eyes right in front of my face warmly yet very seriously simultaneously, "Breathe in." I take a deep and shaky breath in. Then she says, "Breathe out." I let it out. Lysara says while stroking my tear-stricken face, "They will probably wake up soon. Let's take them to bed to recover." I nod and I pick up Father with ease, and I take him carefully to bed face with my face still wet with tears. After placing Father in bed and covering him with the blanket, I go get him a fresh water pitcher and a glass, and also a small bowl for Shiki in case they wake up and are thirsty.
I get back and am in the process of putting the pitcher down and I hear Father say in a weak voice, "Ari?" The joy and surprise made me drop the pitcher on the table, but it was close enough to where it didn't fall, thank the goddess. It just spilled a little water. I immediately went to Father's side with tears of relief streaming down my face, "What happened, Father?" He coughs when he attempts to speak so I step to the table to pour him a glass of water. He drinks the water pretty quickly then says, "Ahhhh. Nectar from the goddess herself. Can you pour me another one that I can slowly sip?" I don't say anything, I just move, grabbing the glass and refilling it and taking it back to him.
He then says after drinking the second glass of water, "I was doing my afternoon ritual for the goddess. Everything was going fine until I drank from my wine glass. I took a sip, and before I could offer some of my glass to the goddess statue's basin, I collapsed. Men who were completely covered with clothes except for their eyes exposed came in and took Leo off who was initially kicking and screaming. Last thing I remember was them knocking Leo out and leaving." I ask while lightly squeezing his leg in affection, "Do you remember anything else about the men who took Leo? Even something you may think is insignificant could be very helpful." Father Xavier thinks, "Now that I think about it, one of them had a strong flowery scent."
I hope it isn't who I think it is. I ask while hoping and praying that I am wrong, "Was the flowery scent by chance a rose?" His face lit up, "Wow. That is amazing! How did you know?" I sigh wiping my tears away, "Because I know exactly who that person was." I knew there would be a day that I would eventually have to fight Hector. I just didn't think it would be in a situation like this. I clench my fist in frustration. I go up to Father and hug him, "Please rest. We will come check on you later." Father says while warmly smiling that fatherly smile of his, "Please be careful. I don't think I said it yet, but thank you so much for saving mine and Shiki's life. We would not be here if not for your quick action." I cry a bit more from the thought of losing them, "I don't ever want to lose you." He chuckles a bit, "You will eventually when I die. You are immortal now. I hope you live a very long and happy life."
I scoff while crying, "I know that, you dummy. I don't want you taken from me. I want you to live as long of a life as you can." I say as I pull back and wipe some of his long hair out of his face while sitting down beside him briefly, "I love you, Father. Tell Shiki he needs to rest too, and that I love him, too. I got him a little bowl here in case he gets thirsty when he wakes up." Father replied, "I will let him know. I am sure he will hate it missing you like this. I love you so much, Ari. You are my daughter and I love you with all of my heart. Now go kick some ass and save Leo." He says with a wink. I bend down and kiss him on the forehead and we leave.
We head full speed to the Romo estate where Leo is being held. I feel the weight of the sun beating down on my shoulders, as if like an invisible weight, but at least the shades I am currently wearing are protecting my eyes. We get there and it is just like in my quick game plan I told them on the way over. I see Hector waiting on me and Sky says that others are lying in wait for an ambush. Lysara breaks off to rescue Leo as planned while Kenji and I get off CoCo and I pull my sword, "Hector, I hate how it has come to this. You should have left that child alone." Hector replies while brandishing his sword, "I have no regrets. Come at me with all that you got." We engage in combat and the others in hiding try to overwhelm me not knowing my cat friend was a king. Kenji grows large and dispatches the knights ambushing one after the other with ease. Kenji is having fun with it though it almost looks like he is playing with them. This is my first time seeing him in combat with my own eyes. I told him to fight exactly how he desires today, since they were the ones who chose violence today.
Hector says, "This isn't the time to get distracted." He says as he lunges at me in that brief moment I looked at Kenji and disarmed me. He then says while pointing his sword at me, "Surrender, or would you prefer we kept going?" I responded with complete resolve staring him right in his eyes, "I would rather die here than marry that idiot pervert of a prince." He nods his head in response to my resolve and readies his sword to come at me for the kill. I duck and dodge and sweep his legs HARD and he hits his head on the ground very hard and his head is bleeding. I took this chance to grab my sword and ready myself since that probably wasn't going to keep him down long.
He is already getting up, touching the back of his head and examining it before saying while furrowing his brow, "Since when have you swept like a monster? Just what kind of strength do you possess?" I replied with venom in my words, "I am just a monster of my father's creation. He pushed me to be who I am today." We continue fighting while I hold back some. If I were to go all out right now, I would have already killed him countless times. Though, I am grateful for all of his guidance throughout the years. After the sweep he gets serious and starts using his wind blades. I have only ever seen him use his wind magic that one time when I was 5 when we were attacked by many bandits. I dodge his magic with ease with my speed and close the distance. I don't want to kill him here so I am waiting for a chance to knock him out.
He has similar habits as I do since he taught me. He mainly protects his vitals but sometimes leaves a tiny opening in the stomach. Without missing a beat I slam the butt of my sword into his stomach, making him fly backwards and unconscious. I put the sword back in my holster and I see that Kenji is still having fun torturing those poor knights so I run in to find father with a knife to Leo. Using him as a human shield. Lysara can't use her magic in fear of being too slow and killing Leo in this situation. Lysara is there, attempting to talk him down, "Give me the boy, now. The longer you keep him, the more I want to kill you." Duke Romo laughs, "Are you threatening to feed off of me until I die?" Lysara laughs, "HA! HA! HA! FUCK NO! Fucking gross, piece of shit old man. I would never let you have such a pleasant death. Especially after what all you have put Ari through. You were supposed to care for her as a father, yet you were the sole source of all of her misery. Do one thing for your daughter and let him go." She says as she clenches her fists.
Duke Romo sees me come in, "Finally, my daughter has made her entrance and without Hector I see. You have gotten quite strong haven't you?" I tell him while holding back my rage with my bro furrowed, "Let Leo go." Duke Romo then says, "Throw those cuffs on first." He tosses some mana-sealing cuffs to me and I put them on. Playing along to his tune for now until Leo is safe. I go over to him and say, "See I put them on. Now let him go. Lysara can take him to safety and I can stay here." Duke Romo says wearing a victorious smirk, "Very well then." He quickly pushes Leo to Lysara and while grabbing me in that instant and puts the knife to my throat. Lysara takes Leo out of the room to safety while I stay with this piece of shit, and she looks back at me with a look of worry. Duke Romo says while pressing the blade against my neck breaking the skin, "Now, it is time you started acting like a lady."
Once we are alone, he then takes me out of this room using one of his secret passageways and takes me to a prison cell. Before he can lock me in, I take a window of opportunity and grab his knife hand with my bound hands and then I knee him in the stomach. He passes out and I search his body for the key and unlock my cuffs. I put them on him instead and threw him in the cell he had planned for me. I run out following the feeling of where Lysara and Leo are. Kenji tortured the knights and they were all dispatched either severely wounded or dead. Lysara ran up to me and kissed me passionately, "I hated that. I know you had planned that as a worst case hostage scenario, but my chest was so tight seeing you in that situation. I vote that you never have to do something like that again. If only my shadow whips were faster." I kissed her again, "I will try, Lysara." I go to Leo who looks a little beat up and I also see burns on his arms. The burns were probably from my father's fire magic. That fucking bastard. I cast a heal spell on him. Leo perks up and says, "Miss Ari, I saw where he has your stuff!" He gestures to follow him, and we walk through the estate pretty unhindered since all of the ones capable of defending the estate were already dispatched. The staff just let us walk around as we pleased, and tried to stay out of our way. We grab my bag and purse, and we head out.