All characters are 18 years or older. I hope this piece helps clear up spots from the previous chapter. This was a fun piece to write. Please, as always, vote and comment and tell me what you liked or didn't like about this story.
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Hotel Diabolique:
I love old places. Whether they are stone circles, abandoned American Indian villages or hotels, yes hotels. All of these places have a history and in some cases are history. The Hotel Diabolique is no exception; it had quite the history and drew me like a moth to the flame. It is hidden from the eyes of the public behind dead ends, subtle illusions and powerful psychic wards. How did I even find it? Well that is an interesting story.
I had just returned home after nearly a year abroad. I had traveled to Nepal to train as a gentleman thief. After that I wandered South East Asia living on the road and surviving on the kindness of strangers. I sailed to a remote island and stole a weapon that could slay a god. Yes, you heard that right, a weapon that could destroy an immortal being. I don't know what is stranger, that immortal beings exist or that someone went to all that trouble to create something that could end them. There were so many questions I had after securing said weapon. There were supposed to be three pieces to the Sicarius in three separate locations but I found them assembled at the first place I sought out.
"Why was the Sicarius in the caldera," I asked Miranda or should I say Loki, god of mischief.
"You have your great uncle to thank for that," she replied stretching her body like a great cat on my bed. "Before he died he managed to collect the first two pieces and carry them with him to the caldera. He was captured securing the third and final piece. The high priest was summoned and assembled the weapon and locked it in the metal chest. Your great uncle was put to death."
"Why didn't they tell the other sites about the thefts, or did they?" I asked absently stroking her right breast.
"They kept quiet. I assume they felt that if the others knew they would want their pieces back. Now, for the first time in ten thousand years the Ragnarok was in one piece. The temple was now the only true temple to me and it alone housed the god slayer. Besides, think about it, if someone did manage to sneak into one of the other sites and found it empty what would you think?"
"If it were me, I would think it was all bullshit," I replied pinching her nipple now.
"MMMM... exactly, no relic and all that security it must be a bunch of crazy people."
"I am glad I picked the right one," I said and she laughed. "What?"
"I think I had a little influence in that department." She said as she rolled onto her belly and looked me in the eye. "Come now, we've been an item since Fiji. Slipping into your subconscious was child's play."
"Point taken," I said and stroked her hair. "It is good to be home. I hated being so angry with them."
"They love you," Loki purred as she looked over at the three sleeping figures. "How are you feeling?"
"Strange," I said. "What did you do to me?"
"I just finished what Jeannie began. You were incomplete. Oh and speaking of Jeannie."
"Please don't," Jeannie said joining the conversation.
"Why not little one," Loki asked.
"Wait, you can hear her? How the hell can you possibly hear her?" I asked feeling fear well up inside of me.
"Tell him or I will," Loki demanded of my A.I.
"Show him and that will explain everything." Jeannie said and Loki nodded in agreement.
Loki reached up and removed the wrist device that housed Jeannie's consciousness. It rarely left my wrist these days. I watched as the trickster twisted the face of the device until there was an audible click. She lifted the disk that housed the holographic display. Beneath it was a burnt out crystal as well as some melted circuitry. I stared at the damage and it all became perfectly clear. When the biological had been injected Jeannie had gone into overdrive trying to save my life. She had overtaxed the crystal and burnt it out. So the only way she could have survived was to transfer her essence into me. The neural interface had become her new home.
"How the hell are you managing to access the internet and satellites?" I asked Jeannie.
"I know this is going to sound crazy but I am using your telepathy as a kind of Wi-Fi. You could call it Telemechanic if you want." She said with a lilt in her voice.
"Um... can I do that too?" I asked and Loki nodded. "Sweet, you are going to have to show me how it works. But not now," I said seeing that look in Loki's eyes.
Let's go... I have a special place to show you. It's here in town and I think you will like it. I promise we should be back before they wake up."
"Sure, why not," I said touching my chest where Loki had marked me.
We slipped quietly from the king sized bed and showered in the master bath. I scrubbed her back and stared at my hand. I still wasn't used to it. The brand that Loki had placed on me was a surge of exotic energy. That energy had triggered the last of the changes begun by my A.I. Jeannie. Okay, that's not true; the crazy Nephilim Nikki had injected me with the blood of her elders. It was meant to kill me but because of Jeannie it had only changed me. The fundamental changes were on the outside but it was the subtle alterations on the inside that had profoundly transformed my life.
Loki turned around and grabbed my wrist. She kissed each finger and both thumbs. I wanted to pull away but I knew better. I had to accept this was the new me. Loki rinsed off and then took her turn lathering me up. She giggled like a teenager and used her breasts to luffa my back. While she reached around to take ahold of my semi-erect cock she whispered in my ear. I nodded and performed the illusion so that my hands would look normal. When I first tried it I couldn't maintain it very long. But now after only a few hours I could keep it going with little effort.
"I told you it would get easier," she purred in my ear. "Soon you'll do it without even thinking about it."
"I learned from a grandmaster," I replied as her hands continued to stroke me.
"Time to rinse," she said as she fled the shower laughing.
I growled and let the water wash the last of the body wash and shampoo from my body. I turned off the water, dried off and walked to the mirror. As I trimmed my facial hair Loki gestured summoning various outfits until she settled on a LBD, little black dress and stiletto heels. A few more gestures and she found a hairdo that pleased her. I checked my lines and was pleased they were relatively straight and clean. Loki nodded and with a final gestured clothed me in a dark gray suit, a black silk tie, a crisp white shirt and black leather shoes.
The night shift pulled the limo around and accompanied us downtown. We reached a quiet little neighborhood and we parked. I got out and offered Loki a hand up. She exited like a rock star and told the boys to watch the car. She took my arm and led me to a side street that hit an alley at a ninety degree angle. That alley must have been the cleanest one I had ever laid eyes or nose on. Halfway down the alley we stopped abruptly and Loki opened a chain link gate. The gate opened into a sculpture garden. We meandered through the stone and metal monuments. Some of the statues were works of art and were instantly recognizable while others baffled me with their cryptic imagery. Just beyond the garden was the back of a building. There was a single red door in the middle of that wall and guarding it what could only have been some one cosplaying an ogre.
"Bonecrusher," Loki greeted the doorman.
"Your excellency," he grunted. "...'Ere now, what's all this?"
"Easy killer, this one is with me," she purred and the ogre ceased to bristle.
"If you say so," he said.
Loki stroked his spikey black beard which elicited a sound from the doorman that was a blend of a giggle and battle cry. The door opened of its own accord and we stepped inside. The lobby of the Hotel Diabolique was a stunning blend of white marble, polished brass and open space. The vaulted ceiling belonged more to a cathedral than a hotel. I tried not to gawk but failed miserably. The being behind the front desk was as exotic as the interior of the building. Her skin was the color of a polished sapphire and any skin exposed bore interconnected tattoos that appeared to be some sort of runic language. She wore a tailored black jacket, a crisp white shirt and a blood red tie. The matching black skirt looked more like a kilt that a modern day garment.
"Are you checking in Lady Sutekh?" the desk clerk asked.
"No, I am here to entertain my friend here." Loki purred.
"If you need anything you have but to ask." She said with a naughty smile.
Loki led the way again and warned me about taking a Djinn as a lover. Their sexual stamina was legend and they were as strong as ten men. I asked about the markings and Loki explained they were binding spells imposed upon the entire race by Solomon the Wise. The hallway had three banks of elevators on either side but we ignored those. As we neared the end of the hall I heard and felt something. The pulsing sound began with my toes and hit my ears a few seconds later. But it was the buzzing sound in my head that caused me to slow my pace.
