Lust and legends 2: Free Spirits - Chapter 1 - Part 1

Chapter 1 - Part 1

The soft strains of music, emerging from the ornate golden box sat on the bath's rim, weren't quite loud enough to echo from the marbled walls. They were, however, more than enough to drown out any sound of the steaming bathwater itself lapping against the side of the oversized tub as Lethiel shifted a little bit under the surface. Free of its usual multitude of braids, her snowy hair floated around her like a halo, and the coal-black skin of what little of her face poked out above the surface glistened wetly. Her mind had been drifting for quite some time now, just the same as her body had... but it never seemed able to get very far from either of the two things it kept sliding back toward.

Neither of them were trivial, which helped excuse the inability to get them out of her head somewhat, but that didn't make her any more eager to dwell on them. Hells, if she had any choice at all she'd have been more than happy to have no notion at all of what was going to have to be done - and who was going to have to do it. It was going to be a stone-cold bitch of a job, and she was all too aware that there was a good chance that even she might not be able to survive what could well be laying in wait along the road. It had to be done, though, and she was going to need help to do it. Luckily, she had a lead on that. Less luckily...

Ah, for fuck's sake.

With a weary mental sigh, Lethiel dragged her thoughts away from what had happened that morning. She reminded herself – again - that it had been nothing but business, a favour done to buy a bigger chance of getting what she wanted later on. The problem with that explanation was that it felt like a load of utter crap, and a whole other bunch of reasons for it were more than happy to present themselves.

Making herself concentrate on the music filtering through the water to the elven ears her body carried in this form, she cleared her head by the simple expedient of force of will.

Now all she had to do was see how long it lasted this time.

"You're going to look like a raisin if you stay in there much longer."

There was no apparent source for the curiously androgynous voice that addressed her, totally clear even through the water that surrounded her head, and even less warning that it might have been about to speak. Neither of those little details bothered her, however, as it was a voice she'd had a very long time indeed to get used to. Lips curving into an ever so slight smile, Lethiel didn't give any other sort of response at all, and a minute or so of relative silence stretched out before the voice sounded again.

"Do you want to talk about it at all?"

She'd heard that before, more times than she felt like trying to count, and the note of genuine concern behind the words nearly had her admitting what was on her mind without any real conscious thought. She caught herself before it happened, though, and raised her head slightly out of the water instead, amber eyes opening to gaze up at the ceiling above. "Not especially."

"Fair enough," came the reply, "but I'd suggest you find something happier to think about than whatever has been furrowing that brow of yours."

"Mind your own damned business, House."

"And since when have I ever done that?"

She let out a soft huff of laughter, then closed her eyes again and tried to take the advice. What seeped into her mind's eye wasn't quite what she'd been after, though. Instead of something nice and tranquil, the pleasant recollection of some of the truly majestic caverns that she'd found in her wanderings of the Underlands, what she got instead was a work of pure fiction. Oh, it had memory fuelling it, but only in terms of what the two feminine figures involved. Whatever scenery may have been forming the backdrop, Lethiel's focus was entirely on the way Kira's ruby-red hands were tight around the hips of the equally naked woman laid atop her, head buried between the fiendling's legs as Kira's tongue licked and probed at the wet sex so tantalisingly placed right in front of her face.

Lethiel didn't really notice the way her hand slipped down between her own legs, graceful fingers wrapping around the hardening shaft of her dick and settling easily into a slow, steady stroking rhythm. In her mind, she stepped into place between the pale-skinned legs either side of Kira's head, one hand reaching out to stroke the auburn hair that tumbled across the bare back of the top-most of the women before her. Within moments, her imagination provided the feeling of lips wrapping themselves around the head of her cock, as well as the delicious wetness and warmth that speared down her length as she pushed her hips forward, driving it deeply into the fiendling's eager mouth.

Her real-world hips shifted in an echo of the way her imaginary self drew back out of Kira's mouth, it the whole scene was crystal clear in her mind as she lined the blunt head of her sex up with where she wanted it next - the slick folds of the same snatch Kira had been so happily tonguing before she'd provided a cheerful bit of sucking instead. Lethiel's fantasy hands took a good hold of the waist of the fair-skinned woman, and her hips surged forward, driving her cock deep into the heat of the waiting slit. The force of the thrust was enough to drag a hoarse cry of pleasure from the woman's throat, and Julius' head snapped upwards away from Kira's cunt as his feminine form was so thoroughly invaded.

And it was the imaginary noise that shattered the whole fucking fantasy, driving Lethiel to sit sharply upright in the bath with a sharp curse and a look of pure irritation on her face.

"Godsdammit!"

"Hmm," the sourceless voice observed thoughtfully. "That didn't look all that relaxing."

"No, it wasn't, so can we just fucking drop it?"

The sharp, snappy tone of Lethiel's retort was followed almost immediately by a frustrated sigh as she shook her head and noticed the water that had slashed over the bath's rim and onto the tiled floor as she'd surged upright.

"Crap," she muttered, then glanced vaguely upwards. "Sorry about the mess."

"Forget it, girl. You've made bigger messes on my floors than that. I care more about the-"

"House," she interrupted, sounding more tired than anything else. "Please. It's not something you can help out with, and if I want to apologise for taking it out on you, I'll damned well do it. Not like I ever did it much when I was a hatchling, did I?"

The last bit was said with a bit of a smile, and a dry chuckle sounded in the air.

"No, but you were better about it than your sister. Or, for that matter, your mother."

Lethiel's smile turned into a grimace of distaste at the mention of her parent, but only for a moment. As much to distract herself as anything else, she rose to her feet, stepping carefully out of the bath and onto the mat that waited for her. "Where is Melli, anyway?"

"Searching out a nice cave, I believe. I gave her the locations of the one your mother used, and she seemed to take careful note."

"Probably so she never goes anywhere near it," Lethiel said absently, lifting her arms out to either side. Of more interest to her at that point was that her sister was hunting out somewhere like that - which in turn meant that she was, apparently, due to become an aunt at some point. "Huh. Never thought she'd actually let herself get pregnant. I'll have to get her something nice if any of the little gits survive."

The air around her began to move, circling her body with ever-increasing as it warmed sharply. Standing in the centre of the thoroughly local whirlwind - which touched nothing but her - Lethiel pondered what the chances were that any of the impending brood would live long enough to not only hatch but reach an age where some sort of civilisation could be hammered into their reptilian little skulls. Reasonable, she decided. After all, of her mother's last clutch, two of the six eggs had produced hatchlings which had made it that far.

"There you go," the voice murmured as the spinning air settled back into stillness. "Want me to do your hair?"

"Please," Lethiel replied, stepping over to the full-length mirror built into one of the bathroom's walls. As she let her gaze wander over the elven form she wore, the ends of her hair began to lift seemingly by themselves, twisting and weaving into the multiple braids she habitually wore it in. Deliberately, she focused on the feel of what was being done, letting it bring back memories of the way she and the house had experimented with different styles when she'd been younger, and it came as something of a surprise to her when she voice spoke up again before her hair was finished.

"Your guests have arrived."

"Oh?" she asked, trying hard not to show how relieved she was to hear it. There'd been some serious doubt as to whether they would show, but if they had...? Things had just gotten a whole lot easier. Also harder, but that was just something she was going to have to deal with.

"Indeed. And quite the polite pair they are too."

"Wait, pair?"

"Yes. Why, were you expecting more? The priestess just mentioned something about another person, but only her and the gentleman are currently here."

So, Lethiel thought to herself, Kira's not come. Hopefully, that's just because she's off doing something else - hopefully not getting into trouble - and she's willing to let Julius do the talking.

In some ways, she kind of wished the fiendling had come as well, but if she hadn't, she hadn't. And at least that meant she wasn't going to have to warn the house to keep a sharp eye on its collected knick-knacks.

A satisfied little sound reached her ears, and her attention shifted back to the mirror as the freshly braided hair fell into place. With a quiet word of thanks, she grabbed the silky red robe that hung beside the mirror and shrugged her way into it.

"Where are you putting them?" she asked.

"The lounge overlooking the garden. It's a pleasant day, and they may appreciate the view."

Tying the robe's belt carelessly around her waist, Lethiel nodded and headed straight for the door - only to pause with one hand on the handle. "You don't mind, do you?"

"Girl, I'm a house. I get tetchy when there isn't anyone here. You want to invite guests, feel free. Hells, you want to organise a full-blown orgy, all I ask is that you let me know in advance so I can arrange a good supply of nibbles."

"An orgy? Really? That's what you expect me to do to pass the time?"

"You? No. You're the least likely of the family to do that, I suppose..."

The voice sounded perhaps a bit disappointed, though experience told her that was nothing but a playful bit of fakery and gave a teasing little smirk in reply. "You just want someone to polish your knobs for you," she observed.

"No comment," was the answer she got to that, but there were two sets of laughter, not one, filling the air as she headed out into the hallway.

---

Despite how irritated he was with the rather imperious summons that had brought him here, Julius had to admit that the place he and Bambi had ended up inside was... impressive. To put it mildly. The fact that Lethiel had plenty of money was not news, given how she'd paid for the escort that had gotten them all to Agatha in the first place, but as he looked around the ornate - yet remarkably tastefully - decorated room he stood in, it appeared he'd underestimated just how much by rather a large amount.

Just one more thing to leave him feeling twitchy. Not the biggest, of course. That honour went to the way there'd been nobody at all in sight anywhere in the whole mansion, yet they'd been greeted, guided, and offered refreshments whilst they waited for their host by nothing but a voice out of thin air.

"You seem on edge."

Bambi's voice was soft and quiet, barely loud enough to reach his ears, but it still seemed startlingly loud. With a shrug, Julius shook off some of his mood and gave the blond priestess a bit of a smile. "Not the most normal of days."

Bambi chuckled and nodded, stepping over to the window to gaze out at the manicured garden outside. "At least you're back to normal again, which is a good start, isn't it?"

Yeah, he was back to man-shape again, but he could have done without that restoration being needed. Still, Bambi had taken it all pretty much in her stride, and actually seemed to be doing the same with pretty much everything of late. He almost envied her that, had admitted to himself as he lifted a hand to brush away a bit of stray auburn hair from his face.

"And I've always wanted to meet a place like this," the priestess continued cheerfully.

"You... wait, what?"

""I've heard of houses like this. They are apparently utterly luxurious to live in, thanks to the fact that they do everything for themselves. No cleaning, no cooking..."

"No bloody peace and quiet if they feel like nagging you."

The dry addition came from the doorway, and both Julius and Bambi turned quickly that way. They'd recognised the voice, of course, but it was still a bit of a shock to see Lethiel ambling casually into the room clad in not that much of a silken robe. It was to Julius, at least, as the deep open V of the robe's collar gave him a rather tantalising glimpse of what lay beneath.

As if he didn't have what lay underneath that that fabric burned into his memory anyway.

"Thank you for inviting us," Bambi greeted her with a slight bow of her head. "It is certainly an impressive home."

"I'm sure it's feeling very smug about your opinion," Lethiel replied with a wry glance upwards at the ceiling.

"No more than usual."

That ghostly voice was back again, apparently, and Julius' brow furrowed in an irritated frown at the way everybody around him seemed perfectly happy to just chatter away without any concern for just what the fuck was going on around here.

Lethiel must have noticed the look on his face, because as she ambled over toward one of the couches she gestured toward the rest of the seating and gave him an understanding little smile. "The house has an arcane being bound into it, effectively giving it a life and consciousness of its own."

He had the feeling she was skipping over a whole lot with that little explanation, not to mention dumbing down what she had said, but it made enough sense for him to accept that she'd made the effort. Now she just needed to do something similar with the way she'd been behaving.

"Please," Lethiel said softly, "Sit."

Bambi was more than happy to do just that, it seemed, and parked herself on the other of the two couches, facing their coal-skinned host amiably as she settled her robe tidily about her legs. Julius was a bit slower to sit himself down, but he did it, and Lethiel smiled faintly again as she gazed across the low table that sat between her and the pair she'd 'invited'.

"Kira chose not to join us?" she asked, and Julius let out an annoyed little huff.

"She's staying put, and off the damned streets. Which you would have known if you'd stuck around long enough to listen to anyone."

There was a definite bite of reprimand in his tone, one that had Bambi giving him a sidelong look that wasn't entirely approving. Lethiel, however, simply shrugged.

"Very well," she answered him calmly. "In that case, I shall simply lay my proposal out to the two of you, and let her make her decision when she is told of it. Acceptable?"

After a few moments, both of the others nodded, and she did the same.

"I'm heading out again, leaving Agatha, and I'm going to be hunting something. I would... appreciate... your company, under the same terms as before. And before you ask," she said with a ghost of a grin, looking directly at Julius as she paused for a heartbeat or two, "it's the twin of the book I brought here."

Something lay behind that easy smile, Julius could tell, but something held him back from prying to see what it was. Whatever she was keeping behind her genial mask, he was oddly sure it wasn't because she was simply messing with his head. And it wasn't for any other trivial reason, either...

"Works for me," Bambi piped up, and Julius gave a tiny start as he realised that he and Lethiel had been simply looking at each other in silence for... however long it had taken for the priestess to speak. Glancing over at her, he rubbed a hand over his face and made himself think properly about the deal being offered.

It wasn't just the coin that tempted him to say yes, though there was certainly enough of it on offer to catch the eye. No, a way to get Kira out of the city and a long way away from it was the biggest draw. Since stepping through the portal that had brought them here, he'd felt... something, a hint in the air that there was something to be wary of. On his own, he didn't give much of a damn, but if he wasn't imagining things, if there was something...

Continued in Part 2

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