Riley Son Of The Sorceror Ch 03

Part 3

Costs

It was a weird sensation. I wasn't in any pain, but at the same time I could feel every hit I had taken in my fight with Morgana. I lifted my shirt, expecting to see bruises on my ribs but there wasn't a mark. Trying to look past this odd sensation I got to my feet and looked towards my cottage but Morgana was nowhere to be seen and the window I had flown through was now unbroken. I started hoping against hope that it was just a dream and walked towards my cottage.

I immediately did a quick circuit of the outside and inside, but I was unable to find a single hint of Morgana's presence. No smell of sulphur, or perfume, no mocking laughter, not even any ruffled papers in the living room. As I made my way to the kitchen I started to wonder whether I was losing it or whether Morgana was trying to unbend my mind. That had to be it, she had made mention of breaking me, turning me into her obedient little puppy dog. This had to be part of it. Beat the living shit out of me, heal me, and then fix everything in my cottage so I thought it was all a dream. "Demons," I said aloud "Always trying to get one step ahead of you. Well not this time."

I grabbed a cup from the cupboard and poured myself some tea I had brewed earlier, throwing it in the microwave for 45 seconds to warm it as I tried to come up with a plan. She was the Mistress of Sorrows, the most powerful Succubus in exist but she was still a demon. Demons were strong, but they weren't omnipotent, they had weaknesses. Lilith was the most powerful demon, created by God himself but Lucifer, after having bred a group of demons from her, still killed her. Lucifer was a powerful angel, albeit one who had now mastered all things evil, but back then he fought Lilith using the tools he had learned while in Heaven. It might not be in any known book but Morgana had to have at least one weakness. I just had to find it and exploit it and maybe, just maybe I could get out of this. I grabbed my warm cup of tea and headed to my living room, hope slowly creeping into my head for the first time in what felt like years. I sat down on my comfiest chair and took a sip of my tea, a rare smile on my face before putting my cup down.

Then I felt a sudden flash of cold and before I could event think to react, something wrapped around my body, binding my arms to the sides of the chair, my back to the back of the chair and my legs to the chairs legs. Flexing, did nothing as I looked down to see what looked blue ropes wrapped around me I panicked and tried to summon fire into my hands. Nothing happened. I tried again and was met with nothing but cold, cruel laughter. I stopped moving completely as my mind snapped back to my training like a rubber band. In all I couldn't have been freaking out for more than 10 seconds but that was 9 seconds too long in my books. I should have stayed calm and just waited for Morgana to stride out in front of the chair like I assumed she was about to do.

I assumed incorrectly. One second she was laughing behind me the next she was lounging on my lap, her hands stroking my head as her feet dangled daintily over the side of the chair. This was the second time I had been this close and not been trying to kill her and I couldn't help but notice not just how smooth her skin, was but how warm it felt against my own. I kept looking straight ahead, breathing as slowly as I could while she sat there smiling at me. After a minute or so she put her hands on my cheeks and stroked my face lightly with the sharp, black nail on her left index finger before turning my head to look at her. Her gorgeous brown eyes staring directly into mine as her dark red lips had a predatory smile on them. Her midnight black hair with purple and red streaks in it fell to one side as she cocked her head as if examining some unknown species.

I just kept staring straight ahead, trying not to notice how kissable her lips looked, how gorgeous her eyes were and how good the slight touch of her stroking my cheek felt. I tried to come up with some joke or insult to throw her way but my mind was blank, so we just sat there in awkward silence.

"Admit it Riley," She said with a smile, "You enjoy having me on your lap. You enjoy the feel of my tight ass on your crotch, the smell of my hair, the curve of my bust pressing against you, you love every single thing. The funny thing is that the harder you fight against me the more I want to make you mine."

I couldn't help but laugh. This was the most powerful succubus? The great 'Mistress of Sorrows'? Sure she may be powerful and incredibly sexy but she was still a woman who enjoyed control. While not a weakness, this helped matters. She wouldn't be laying it on this thick if she wanted to seduce me, she'd have gone straight for the pheromones. She wanted something.

"Did I say something funny pet?" The smile was still there but her eyes held a new intensity. I had to decide whether to play it cool and go along with her game or just find out what she wanted. Her eyes sparkled like that of a cat playing with a mouse, if I was going to get off this chair with some dignity I couldn't play her mind games.

"I'm just curious, Morgana." I said oddly confident. "If I was a great demon hunter, I'd look at the mess you cleaned up as a way of you trying to play mind games. I'd look at you startling me, sitting on my lap and talking dirty to me as see a cat just having fun with a mouse before she kills it."

"So you're saying that the great hunter that you are has figured all this out on your own and wants to speed up the proceedings?" She answered with a laugh and stroke of my chin.

"I'm not saying that I'm a great demon hunter who has figured all this out." The stroking of my chin stopped. "I'm saying that I'm a brilliant demon hunter and see through all this bullshit to the real reason you're here. You want something. It's nothing urgent or you would have black mailed me or threatened innocents. But it's something big enough that you feel the need to manipulate me. So please, stop wasting this time and spit it out. Bitch." I added that last part after I realized that I had actually said please, to a demon. Who held my soul. I don't know whether it was my show of backbone or brilliance but Morgana started laughing. Not some mocking laughter, a somewhat sweet, girlish laughter. This was one weird day.

"You really are something." She said, still chuckling. "I am really going to enjoy your company. I hope you're this spunky in the bedroom." Now that sounded more like the Succubus I knew and hated. "I'll have to find out later, unfortunately. You're right, I want something, something big but it is kind of urgent. I just figured you'd rather have some fun first, I know I enjoy a bit of sex before getting down to business." She emphasized the double 's' with a hiss.

"Yeah, that's the demon way of thinking. We humans prefer to keep sex out of the boardroom."

"Ha. You really think you're human? I mean ignoring the whole soulless thing; you're still the son of a great Sorcerer. The magic you wield, while nothing compared with mine," She said with an arrogant smile and yet more caressing of my face, "Still grants you a sort of immortality. Immortality that became permanent once you signed on with my firm."

I admit, I'm freaking out just a bit. I mean not only have I knowingly taken a step towards demon hood by using the rings, but Morgana is saying that just by selling my soul I've taken another step into the fire? The fire was always the end destination but I figured I'd be mostly human by the time I got there. Well I guess it'd never too late to become a hardcore alcoholic, bottoms up.

"Awww sorry to ruin your pathetic self image of yourself my pet." Morgana said, interrupting my thoughts. "You forget that you're currently one of the most powerful non-demonic beings on this planet? Sure you're not human but who wants to be human, especially when no human can withstand the beatings that you take in order to finish a job? You get to be a hero, so what if it costs you you're humanity."

"You forgot my soul, family, love, and mental health." I replied dryly.

"Overrated. Seriously you need to stop acting like an old fool who thinks he's seen everything the world has to offer and start acting like the kid that you are."

"Thanks for the motivational speech. No really, you should go on a book tour and inspire the masses. Now stop buttering me up and tell me what you want."

"Excuse me for trying to give you some perspective from my thousands of years of existence." She replied, feigning being upset.

"Fuck you and your 'existence', stop pretending to be doing something other than manipulating me."

"Ouch, someone's gotten grumpy all of a sudden. Oh and sweetie, I'm not manipulating you, I'm attempting to use you. And if you going to be of some use to me then I need you not just at your best, but better than even you thought you could be. I mean you can use angel fire which in retrospect doesn't do you much good seeing as most angels have gotten old and prefer to let their peons do the fighting, but it's still an accomplishment. You see my pet, you're an investment that I don't intend to just let sit and gain interest. I'm going to help you grow more powerful than even your father."

"Ha, you almost had me for a second. The rings are gone Morgana, no amount of reading or practising is going to allow me to wield their energy. Sure I can get stronger and learn some new spells but without the rings, I can't handle nearly as much energy as my father. What little I can handle, I can't wield for longer than a few minutes without their aid. Someone with 'thousands of years of existence' should know that."

"Oh I do my pissy little pet." She replied with a chuckle, a chuckle that was seriously getting on my nerves. I thought of trying something when I felt her tails running along my legs menacingly, their sharp points barely touching my skin. I just took a deep breath and tried to think of what she wanted out of me. Satisfied that I had calmed down, Morgana continued. "The concept of a sorcerer is simply someone who can control energies that would tear normal humans apart. Thus the distinction of the strength of a sorcerer is how much mystic energies their body can handle. You're young, so you haven't been able to access the full range of mystic energies floating around which has prevented you from taking on more than your body can handle. The rings served as a buffer, allowing your father to handle more energy than his body could handle by itself. The mortal body is weak in that way, even if you are born with the ability to see and control the energy around them; human bodies just aren't built to handle it. That's where I come in; I make you inhuman, immortal, unhuman whatever you want to call it. It will allow you to handle more energy than any sorcerer before you, even more than some demons. Demons are hardwired not to just control mystic energy, but to make it part of them thus the more powerful you become, the more you're body morphs."

"OH well when you put it that way..." I started before she shot me a death glare. Human women had a glare that men considered the death glare but my dad once told me that the origin of the death glare was from demonic women who could actually kill you with a look. Looking at Morgana I believed it. "Ok so you want me to become more powerful and I'm assuming you're intending on having complete control over me so that if I ever become strong enough to challenge you I won't. But why take the chance, why let me become stronger on my own. Can't you just hardwire my abilities to feed off your energy?"

"You're a smart boy, once I tell you what I want you to do, you'll understand. Now in order for you to understand why this task is important, I'm going to give you a history lesson, so sit back and pay attention because asking me to repeat myself is akin to asking for me to break your ribs. Now, long before your little rings were created, there was simply Lucifer, Lilith and a fiery emptiness that you now call Hell. After they populated it a bit, Lucifer killed Lilith and became the only lord of his new kingdom. This was why he had fallen, not because he had a falling out with God, but because he was the most powerful and ambitious angel. God chose him to occupy the space that would come to be filled with all the darkness created by the human soul. In order to better control his empire, Lucifer brought Lilith with him just so he could create warriors of his own. This balance of a Lord of all the darkness and a Lord of all the light with Earth in between is what keeps the ball rolling. Incidentally this is why sorcerers and hunters like you and you're father are kept around because you keep the balance. When a monster gets out of hand on Earth you kill it. You follow me so far?" I nodded; I mean it explained why there had yet to be any war between Heaven and Hell who were supposed to hate each other. "Good, now I assume you know of the Generals of Hell? There are 7 of us..."

"I always wondered something about the 7 of you." I said, "Most people say you are the 7 Generals because you are the first 7 demons spawned. I think there are 7 of you because each of you represents one of the 7 deadly sins, you of course being Lust." Instead of hitting me for interrupting her she patted my head.

"I knew you were smart pet. Yes we are the current representations of the 7 deadly sins. Notice I say current because over the years new demons grew in power and challenged the old Generals, some killing them and taking their role, others simply being awarded by the passing of the title, which is how I became a General. Enough about me though, back to the lesson. The 7 Generals of Hell keep watch over the balance as do the Archangels in Heaven, when something goes awry we gather and decide who is best equipped to take care of it. However it was the General of Pride Deldrion who was approached by the Archangel Dmitri about an inconsistency with the current rulers. There were only two rulers for three empires. It is so often preached about the power of the Holy Trinity; why not create a Trinity of rulers. He offered Deldrion the role of his General if he would join him in controlling the unruled realm of Earth. Together they gather follows, some Demons, some angels and some humans and began a bid to seize control of Earth. They were all eventually stopped and imprisoned, like the Titans of Greek mythology. Over the years others have attempted to rule Earth, some by attempting to free the Council of Terra, as they became to be known, others by building their own forces. The last attempt was around 1500 AD by a vampire known as Dracula who built an army of Vampires. He believed that the natural rulers of humanity would be the perfect evolution of humanity, Vampires. Stronger, faster, and immortal, Vampires were a tough advisory, one which I wish I had been freed to fight. The idea that Vampires are the evolution of humans is one that has persisted over the years and many a Vampire has attempted to hold Dracula's crown as Overlord of the Undead, known have survived their attempt. Recently a descendent of Dracula's, took on the name Alucard and attempted to fulfill Dracula's plans. Your dad, unknowing of Alucard's true plan, killed him 10 years ago. However Alucard told a Human Witch about Dracula, this witch was thought to have died in the fight against your father but she has reappeared with a newfound desire to free Dracula and help him become the Lord of Earth."

"Ok..." I said, trying to process all that Morgana was telling me. "So you're the good guys? You're evil because it fills a role or are do you fill a role because you are evil?" Morgana looked at me for a second, trying to make sense of the question.

"I just am. I do what I want, when I want and if that makes me evil in your mind then I'm evil."

"But you are where you are because of greed. You've gotten to where you are through manipulation, seduction, death and I'm guessing a fair amount of sacrificing innocents. Now you're at the point where when you aren't follow orders you can give in to all your whiles, many of which were formed through the evil shit you did to achieve to be where you are today." Morgana just chuckled at my philosophical argument.

"So I'm evil, what's your point is?"

"My point," I said, sighing. "You just went through a whole bunch of history partly to explain it to me but also, I think, to make me see you as one of the good guys. You're telling me this 'Council of Terra' or whatever are the real evils. All because they have the ambition to do what Lucifer did, just on Earth." It was Morgana's turn to sigh.

"We hold the balance, as do the Angels in Heaven. The Council, and beings like Dracula, want to establish their own kingdom because they feel like it s their right to do so."

"And why isn't it there right?" I asked, earning a smack from Morgana. A rather hard smack that almost had me seeing stars.

"Are you not a Sorcerer? What happens when you try to bend the established order of Magic because you think that you should be able to?" She paused, looking at me expectantly.

"If you're expecting an answer, you'll have to give me a second to recover. Jeez, you really enjoy causing me pain don't you?" I responded, rubbing the back of his head.

"First off, I'm the Mistress of Sorrows and a Demon. Hell, I'm a General to Lucifer and a Succubus. Getting off on causing pain is kind of what we do. Secondly while causing you pain does send a warm feeling to my woman parts, it's your reaction that really gets me off. I thought you'd have figured that out my brilliant little pet?" With that she gave me a wink and rain her nails up my back, putting just enough pressure to rip my shirt but not enough to cut my skin, just leave red scratches up my back that I figured would go away after a day or two. At least I hoped they go away after a day or two, but when I noticed the look Morgana had on her face I really began to worry. She was almost licking her lips which in Demon speak meant she was either going to kill me or fuck me. Either activity, I thought, it would leave far worse marks than the scratches I was just grimacing about.

"So about this witch," I said hoping to distract Morgana from whatever she was currently planning. "What exactly does this have to do with me?"

"I want you to hunt her, and whoever whatever she has following her, down and kill them."

"What, you too lazy to get off your fa....."I began smiling before remembering who, and what, I was talking to. "Fantastic ass and kill them?" Morgana smiled at my compliment, or was it at my near slip up? I was probably never really going to know what she was thinking, I figured.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, I mean you do stare at my breasts most of the time, but I do have a fantastic ass. I would kill these cretins but the witch is very clever has shielded herself from Demons and Angels. And seeing as you will be my servant for eternity, or at least until I bore of you, I figured it'll be useful to have a part human sorcerer to deal with beings that I can't. This is why I want you to become more powerful."

"Umm, part human? What do you mean .." Morgana cut me off with a finger on my lips and a smile.

"Enough business, it'd long past time that we really get to know each other..."