Tales of a Seductress

“The fuck you say?” I asked in a low voice.

“You may have had the illusion of being in control before, but it was only a matter of time before we put you back in your proper place. Now, be a good girl and return to your room. When the proper time comes, we will send in a monster to impregnant you with the proper seed.”

“Proper seed… heh… you mean the seed that your customers pay for?” As I spoke, my voice felt hollow to my ears. “I thought you were trying to restore demon-kind.”

“We are… but establishing knew demon lines is pointless! It’s the current lines that have been declining over the years that matter.” She responded.

“And I thought I was making a difference…”

“You’re merely a means to an end, girl. It’s that ego of yours that was exactly why we needed to purge Reinhart.”

“Purge?” I blinked. “He’s dead then?”

“And don’t think we won’t kill you too if you become too much trouble.”

Even though we were having this conversation, none of it clicked. I felt completely numb. Reinhart’s death ran off me like rainwater. I felt like I was in a dream where nothing was real.

“Trouble…” I echoed her words. “Yes, I’ve been a lot of trouble to a lot of people…”

“It’s good you realize that, girl. Now, march back to your room, and maybe I’ll still send you a meal tonight.”

My eyes finally focused on the woman in front of me whose name I had never gotten. “You really shouldn’t have crossed me.”

“If you’re going to be difficult, I’m prepared to put you down.” She responded, lifting her hands as if she was going the grapple with me.

“You don’t understand what you’ve done.” I shook my head and sighed.

I should be angry. I should be furious. I should be hurt, confused, and frustrated. I recognized the normal emotions a woman like me would experience in this situation. Yet, all I could feel was an infinite coldness inside. Deep down, I wondered what was the point. This world had taken from me over and over again. The world was irredeemable, and the people in it were no better. You raped this world, or it raped you. There was no middle-ground, no piece.

Even when I subjected myself as a tool of others, I still wasn’t allowed peace. I still wasn’t allowed happiness. This was the nature of this world. It was a world designed to drain all hope from a person. At the end of it all, I just felt tired. No matter how strong I became, no matter what I did, I remained this world’s fool.

“Do you think you have a choice?” She asked.

“Do you think you have a chance?” I answered back before closing my eyes. “Lovers, children, servants… come to me. Kill everything in your path. Come to your mother.”

“What are you talking-” She began to say with ridicule, but a moment later sound of countless screeches of monsters could be hurt. “What is that?”

“You left my monsters and demons in this facility?” I quirked an eyebrow. “How interesting.”

A moment later, an alarm started blaring out. I had heard this alarm only once before. Reinhart had told me it was the warning when someone had broken containment. It seemed like my little minions were in a more favorable position than I had expected. The woman looked around, the insolent expression on her face finally starting to twist into one of confusion and fear.

“What are you doing?” She demanded. “Stop it! Stop it right this instant.”

I started to chuckle. Suddenly, I found the entire situation so hilarious. I knew my abilities by now. I knew what I could accomplish. In a mere few months, I had created an army of monsters that had rivaled the demon and human armies and nearly crippled both of them. My laughter changed from a chuckle to laughter. It was all starting to become so clear.

“Stop it!” She snapped. “I said stop!”

Her words only caused me to laugh harder. I should have realized it back then. I had led an army of monsters, spreading blood and destruction across the world. It had been the only time in my life when everything had been clear. Things made sense, and for once I was in control of my destiny. In the end, I desperately tried to find peace once again. I tried to find a family, but why did I need to find a family when I could make my own?

Min had been wrong all along. She had thought I came to this world to be a hero. Despite the destruction I had wrought, I had always seen myself as the good guy. I reacted, but I never gave more than I received. Even when I realized that I couldn’t be a hero, I still hoped I could live a small and insignificant life in my corner of the world. Every attempt at that had been ruined, time after time, over and over again.

What if I had it backward from the beginning? I wasn’t brought to this world to be a hero. I was brought into this world to be the enemy. Yes, I evolved into a demon queen, didn’t I? Ignoring the king to the demons who had such a name, what did a demon lord do in fiction? He destroyed the world as it existed. I had tried to be small, but that was my mistake from the beginning. I wasn’t meant to save this world, I was meant to destroy it.

It wouldn’t even be difficult. I could find another labyrinth, build another army, and then flood across this world. I could enslave the populace, and force them all to be my minions. When everyone was under my control, when this world burned, only then would I have the peace that I wanted. As it all became clear to me, my laughter only increased, slowly sounding manic. I knew I sounded crazy, but I also didn’t care any longer.

The woman watching this had slowly grown more and more uncomfortable. She had finally reached her limit, especially as the roars of monsters grew closer, and the sounds of people screaming occasionally accompanied them.

“Enough of this! You will be silent!”

My throat constricted, and I realized there was some kind of skill that had cut off my ability to make noise. This woman who seemed unremarkable in appearance likely had numerous skills centered around controlling others and protecting herself. It was the only reason I could think of that they had chosen her to be my new caretaker. Perhaps, she had given a good speech about how all I needed was a firm hand and that I would become a docile kitten. In that respect, she deserved everything she was about to receive.

Seeing that I had stopped laughing and that her skill had activated, she relaxed a bit, her hand running through her hair as she pushed it back.

“Good… now, when I allow you to speak again, you will call off these monsters and then return to your room!”

I put on a fearful look, and then reluctantly nodded. Her cocky expression hesitantly started to reform on her face. I could feel the restriction on my voice leave. I touched my neck.

“Now, make the order!” She barked.

“Jenai,” I spoke quietly.

A form began to rise out of my shadow. As this happened, the woman quickly restricted my throat again, her expression finally turning fearful.

“Mistress…” Jenai purred as she appeared. “It has been a long time since you have called upon me.”

I cleared my throat, the constriction on my throat shattering as I convinced myself it was a restraint so Bondless took care of it. “I’m sorry that I have kept you hidden away for so long.” I apologized. “I had been afraid. I had thought you were too dangerous. Now, I realize the person I had been afraid of was myself. I won’t hide you away any longer, my love. We’ll be playing together much more in the future.”

“Y-you’re speaking!” The woman looked at me in shock.

“Mistress… I was all alone in that dark place, it felt like forever.” She pouted.

“Did you ever think that you were in control?” I answered the woman before turning to Jenai and gently stroking her hair. “Since I have wronged you so, I’ve brought you a sacrifice of sort for appeasement.”

Jenai grinned, her black eyes turning to the woman with delight. I wasn’t the only one who was changing. Jenai I had also begun to change. I didn’t know if it was her remaining as a shade enslaved to me without a body, or perhaps her attitude was slowly being influenced by my own, but she had also started to grow increasingly more apathetic and macabre. The once kind and peaceful slave now thought nothing of killing others. She would perform any brutality and even seemed to enjoy it.

Her appearance had also seemingly changed. She had always had dark skin, but her complexion now appeared shadowy. Her hair was midnight black, her eyes solid black, and her nails and teeth had slowly turned into claws and fangs. She barely looked human anymore, but something approaching a vampire or a fey. That appearance clearly frightened the woman. She squeaked as Jenai’s eyes met hers, a look of hunger in her expression.

“You… stay back!” The woman cried out, finally starting to back away as she realized her situation was no longer secure.

 “I’m afraid my Jenai has been quite lonely. She needs a playmate… and a meal. Have fun, my sweet.”

Jenai broke into a smile, her teeth shining in the limited light of the room. The woman’s screams were lost among the other roars and screams occurring everywhere within the facility. A short time later, the door opened and I stepped out. My bare feet slapped on the surface of the cold stone floor. Each step left a footprint of blood. Hanging in my hand was that woman’s head which I was holding by the hair. Drop by drop fell to the floor next to me.

I couldn’t get any farther as a dozen creatures and demons were blocking the hallway in both directions. However, they were waiting for me. When they saw me, they all looked on with adoring eyes. These were my children that had been left alive. Some were only children, but that didn’t stop them from killing their way to me, blood dripping from their hands as well. The monsters were some of the fathers of these children, but that didn’t matter. Demon or monster, they all looked at me with adoration and reverence.

“Come, my loves.” I smiled coldly. “Let’s burn it all to the ground.”