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[b][u][center]The Bonds of Need

Chapter 2

For a-lycotonum

By Draconicon[/center][/u][/b]

“You’re sure that everything’s clear?” Vitus asked as Katya lowered her hands. “Nothing left from…back then?”

“As sure as anyone can be,” the older woman said, shaking her head. “Though I’m surprised that one slipped through the first time.”

“Ugh…”

“It’s out of you, however,” she said, holding the shimmering remnant of a spell-trigger in the palm of her hand. It glowed purple wrapped around crimson. “And now it can’t be used against you.”

“That’s…something…”

Vitus rubbed his forehead, trying not to let his rampant worries get the better of him. The more that he thought about what was coming, the more that he wanted to go back on the decision. Just thinking about it now, of seeing Gralon Brundir once more and knowing that the aasimar could see him, was almost enough to make him vomit in fear.

“You can handle this,” Katya said, though she did not make eye contact. “And as a matter of fact, you will have to.”

“I…ugh…”

“It is not something that you want to do, but if you want help, you have very limited options. You need [i]something[/i] of power on your side, and if you’re declining the other, obvious option…”

He nodded, knowing where this was going and still not liking it. With Melchiresa on the back burner, at best, he needed someone else on his side, someone that had power, knowledge, and resources that they could tap. The less of them that he had to use, the better – that was the case with anyone that had more power than he did – but he needed something.

He just wished that it didn’t have to be the asshole that had turned him back to this.

They waited behind the wagon, him with his hands on his knees, Katya with her hands folded in her sleeves. He tried not to look at her exposed hooves and the bottoms of her legs, tried not to think about what might happen to him if he wavered.

“…He won’t be able to affect me.”

“Not magically,” Katya corrected. “I’ve removed all of the little tricks that he tried to hide, but he still has his power over your mind.”

“Charm?”

“From charisma, yes, but also the fear that he has left behind.”

“…”

“You’re afraid of him, and that fear gives him power. I can’t take that from you, no matter what spells I might try.”

“So, I have to deal with being afraid of him. And…”

“And you have to take care of that yourself. One way or another, you’re going to have to face him. He knows you’re here, and Neena already has the spell to summon his image ready. If you don’t talk to him now, he’ll be summoned later, when you’re not ready, when you’re going to be caught off-guard, where he can demand more. And that man is powerful enough that I wouldn’t put it past him to cast spells through his image to try and get you that way.”

“Great…fucking…great.”

Vitus leaned forward, breathing slowly through his clenched teeth. He kept telling himself that it wasn’t as bad as it looked, that he still had some opportunities here. That the image wouldn’t be able to cast as much powerful magic as the real thing, for one, and that he had the power to end that spell at any point. More than that, Katya would be there for the conversation, and she would be able to tell if Brundir was casting anything that he needed to be worried about. All those things were good, and they were comforting.

But it was still Brundir. The man that had reached out and taken him in, who had lifted him from the streets only to start warping him day by day. The aasimar that had betrayed the city of Absalom and sent them running. The man that had warped him so far that he had been ready to give in and just serve beneath the aasimar’s hooves, and would have done if it hadn’t been for the drow slave that Brundir had given him as a temptation, as a means of taking him further.

He still remembered her, just as he remembered every other part of his ‘training’ beneath the former adventurer. She had been horrible, someone ruthless and terrible, but she had reminded him of what it meant to be responsible for someone else besides himself. That…that had been part of his saving, as Robin had been.

[i]Robin…[/i]

She was waiting for him to come for her. She was waiting for someone to come and get her back and bring her back to the pack. That woman believed in him, which meant that he had to do something to be worth believing in.

“Are you ready?” Katya asked.

“…No, but that doesn’t mean much at the moment, does it?”

“Not really.”

“Let’s get Neena and get started.”

#

In the end, Pollius had a tent in the back of the wagon that they borrowed. Vitus gave strict orders to everyone else to stay out, to not listen, to stay as far from the tent as they could while still remaining in the same campsite. What the aasimar didn’t already know was probably so minor that it wouldn’t matter, but Vitus wasn’t giving him anything else for free. He wanted to make that asshole work for all the rest of his information.

Neena had yet to get dressed, mostly because nobody had bothered to give her any clothes, and it was admittedly rather hard not to look at her. She was…sensual, in a way, with spreading scales on several parts of her body. Some of them swelled around her sex, making it thrust forward in a way that was almost bestial compared to a human’s more tucked away vagina. He tried not to look at it, clearing his throat as she stood with her hands in front of her, eyes half-closed in the shadows of the tent.

“How will this go?” he asked.

“Once I summon him, I’ll have to put all my focus on maintaining the spell. Particularly if that one decides to cut it off,” Neena said with a glare for Katya. “But I should be able to keep it going without too much difficulty. The main thing is I won’t be able to talk. More’s the pity; I would love to chat with my master.”

“I’m sure,” he muttered under his breath.

“But he will be here, and he will be paying attention to you. There’s no real time limit to the spell; once cast, it continues as long as I focus on it. So, talk about whatever you want. I’m sure that the master will love catching up with you.”

He didn’t miss the annoyance and jealousy in her voice. Vitus remembered the adoration that Brundir had in Absalom, though he imagined that some of it had been called into question during the whole chase through the city. Whatever else was going on back there, he doubted that the aasimar had lost much in the debacle that was Vitus’s escape. Hell, he imagined that the other man hadn’t even lost anything now that he’d had the time to recover. Brundir was probably sitting pretty at the top of the city once more, waiting for the next stage in his plan to come to fruition.

[i]If we’re lucky, he’s still trying to take the whole place over. If not…[/i]

It didn’t bear thinking about. The more that he convinced himself that the mage was so supreme, the harder it was thinking that they had a chance against him. The only thing that he could do was keep moving forward and hope that he could get what he needed without losing too much of himself.

“Alright…Alright. We’re ready.”

Neena nodded, holding her hands together. She slowly brought them apart, a deep magical sphere of light taking shape. It shimmered from white to purple, and then to something else, something with a deep red shadow coming from the depths. The young woman moaned and whispered, panted and gasped as if she were in the fits of some sexual act while she cast her spell. Her hands twitched, almost clenching shut, only for her to force them open once more to keep the shell of her hands around the spell that she was casting.

Just when it seemed like it might overwhelm her, Neena threw her arms out wide. The sphere widened, growing taller and broader for a moment, and then shrank in once more, leaving the vaguely bovine shape of Lord Gralon Brundir behind. He stepped forward, pulling the edge of his robe up and over his shoulder, and he smiled. The charming, familiar smile of the magus sent a shiver down Vitus’s spine as he remembered the many times that he had seen that.

“Vitus. It has been far too long, my –”

“Neena said that you were willing to make a deal with me. What’s it going to cost me to get your help getting someone back?” he asked.

“…No pleasantries, then?”

“I think that you burned anything pleasant right out of our relationship with…this.”

His Hellhound body. His fucked up soul. Everything about him had been wrecked and warped, and even his mind was still recovering. How much of his anger was something that was due to the damage that Brundir had left behind? How much of it stemmed from the rescue that Melchiresa had arranged? He couldn’t believe that any significant amount of it came from him, not anymore.

Shaking his head, he crossed his arms.

“How much will it cost me?”

“How much will you want, I suppose, is the better question?”

“You’re willing?”

“Vitus, as much as you mistrust me, there is still the question of business here, and the fact that I have always, [i]always[/i] wanted you,” the aasimar said, a slight smile crossing his face. “That has not changed. For as much as you have damaged my cause, for as much trouble as you have caused me, there is still the fact that I would give much to have you back on my estate once more.”

“To punish me, I’m sure.”

“Perish the thought, Vitus. I would have you here to celebrate you, and enjoy you, and see what you could be once more.”

And likely push him through who knew how many perversions. Vitus could only imagine the things that the aasimar would want now that things had changed again. He was a [i]dog[/i] in the other man’s eyes, a dog that could be commanded, pulled along, leashed to a task or a cock as the magus saw fit. He suppressed a growl that wanted to come up and out of his throat, shaking his head as he forced himself to focus.

Anger over fear, but focus over anger. If he couldn’t have focus, better to let the anger be there, but if he could focus, better to do that.

“What I want is power, information, resources. I’m going after someone that was taken from me. Someone that’s being taken to the capitol, Egorian.”

“Going after someone rather than leaving them behind? Admirable, Vitus, admirable. Foolish, too, but something tells me that you won’t allow me to just teleport you away from here.”

“If you could, you would have already.”

“…You have learned more than I expected. And have become far less trusting. In some ways, I’m sorry for that. In other ways…Heh. You will be a far better man not believing everything that you see and hear.”

He didn’t want to feel good hearing that, but some part of him did swell with appreciation. There’d been little enough in the way of affirmations lately, and this…this affected him more than he expected, and even his Hellhound side was perked up for a moment before it managed to shake the feeling off.

[i]He’s a liar. Always has been.

I know,[/i] Vitus thought. [i]But that doesn’t mean that doesn’t feel good.

Good dogs need reminders. And we are a good dog.

You are a good dog. I’m a good person.

We are the Hunter. We are the Hound.[/i]

Vitus pushed those thoughts down again. It was so tempting to let the Hellhound forward, to let it deal with this rather than him, but he didn’t trust it. It was too stupid for something this delicate, and it might agree to something that it shouldn’t…or discard something that they needed out of pride.

It had to be him. It had to be.

So far, Katya hadn’t said anything. In some ways, he was surprised, and in other ways, he was anything but. Brundir had always been up-front about the things that he wanted, even if he hadn’t mentioned all of them, and he had always gotten Vitus to agree to one thing that made it easier to agree to the next. Keeping a slave, using a slave, all leading up to being a slave for the purple-skinned lord. It was a process of corruption, of gifting someone the things that they ‘wanted’ and making them curious about the next step.

Brundir was a master of that. He needed no magic to make someone else curious.

“What will that cost?”

“Again, Vitus, I won’t be able to tell you without specifics,” Brundir said, shaking his head. “You know better than to ask for a price on vague things.”

“You asked often enough.”

“But I knew what I needed, and I could work with that vagueness. You? So far away? And more to the point, desperate?” The aasimar smiled. “Vitus…would I be me if I didn’t try and take advantage of this? Of what I could get out of you?”

“…No.”

“Then why are you surprised?”

“…You’re more honest than you used to be,” Vitus said, looking down at the ground. “Why didn’t you talk like this when I was there? Why did you…why did you lie all the time?”

“Because you wouldn’t have listened then. You would have assumed that I was evil, that I had no redeeming qualities. That no plan I came up with would have been worth looking at or listening to, because you would have assumed that I only ever had evil desires and evil intentions.”

“Don’t you?”

“Not towards you.”

That hit harder and deeper than he expected, and he lowered his head. He didn’t want to believe that. He couldn’t believe that.

“What has happened between us…was not always my choice,” Brundir said, the aasimar sighing. “And the few things that were, sadly, ended up being shaped by necessity. There are things that I would do differently, and there are things that I would have wished happened in a different way. But I never had any evil intentions towards you.”

“And the city?”

“There, one might debate. But the city of Absalom is not your concern, is it? Not anymore.”

“No, it is not.” He shook his head. “What I need is information. Whatever Neena knows, and whatever you can put into her brain about Egorian, Cheliax in general, and the state of affairs in the ruling class.”

“Doable. Very doable, with the opening in her mind.”

“I need spells. Stealth spells that can keep me invisible to the Hellknights.”

“Complicated…but perhaps just within your ability to cast them. If only just. Anything else?”

There were so many things that he wanted. The power to raise them from the ground and fly across Cheliax. The names of the devils that empowered the Hellknights so that he could challenge them and deal with them one by one. Artifacts to kill them and artifacts to awaken the potential dragon blood in him to meet the challenge before them.

But those would be expensive. Brundir would charge him dearly for each and every one of those requests, and he doubted that he would be able to pay that. He thought, focusing on what he really needed.

“Summons,” he said. “Five summons that can handle a devil for a minute or so. They don’t have to win, just hold its attention and keep it from being able to focus on me for a while.”

“…Clever,” Brundir said. “And an interesting collection of requests. Two easy ones, and one that is a little more expensive. Hmmm…”

“What will it cost me?”

“I believe that is a bit of a dear price, Vitus…and one that I will call you on. If you want all of this, then I want you sworn to an oath-spell.”

“I’m not coming back to Absalom.”

“I’m not asking you to. I’m telling you that, once you rescue your friend, that you make all due haste to the coast. Six weeks after you rescue her, no more, I want you on a boat to an island that I will name when the time comes. I want you on that island two weeks after setting sail from Cheliax.”

“Then –”

“My price for my help will be to see you again. Then and there. No later.”

And it would be sealed with an oath-spell. His breath caught in his throat as he imagined what that would mean. Anything else, he might have lied or wiggled his way out of, but an oath-spell, once cast, was very hard to get free of. A [i]geas[/i] was one thing, but that was a compulsion laid on someone else, a command that someone else gave. An oath-spell was bound up in one’s own soul, or what was left of one, and that meant that it was a lot more handily enforced, because the person so afflicted had agreed to it.

If he had more time to think, perhaps he might have haggled, but every hour that they spent talking was another hour that the Hellknights had to keep moving. More than that, they would be getting closer and closer to Egorian, and to their torture devices there. Whatever Piers said about Robin being able to take it, it was one thing to be able to, and it was another thing entirely to have to.

“Agreed,” he said.

“Splendid. Neena knows the details of the spell; she’ll bind you with it once this one is done. And the spells that you asked for will be passed through her.”

“You’re a bastard, you know that?”

“I do what I must, Vitus. As do you.”

#

The oath-spell felt like a collar around his heart, though the immediate constriction was slowly fading as he walked out of the tent. He waved at the rest of the group, getting their attention one and all. He barely even blinked at the sight of the half-gelatinous Pollius and his husband Marcus around the fire, shaking his head as he got their attention.

“Alright. Pack up. We’re on the move [i]now.[/i] I want everything stowed and the wagon moving yesterday.”

“You got what you need?” Piers asked.

“Yep.”

“Everything?”

“Everything that I could get without promising my soul,” Vitus said, shaking his head. “Brundir is a monster in his own way, but he follows through on what he gets paid for.”

Piers slowly nodded, getting to his feet. He made his way wordlessly to the horses, and Vitus bit his lips. He doubted that was going to go over well for the other man, but they did what they had to do. All of them. If they were going to get Robin back, then they needed whatever they could get from the rest of the world. He was hoping – praying, even – that the Cinna husbands could get him more of what he needed. The more idle trade goods and connections were one thing that he really hoped he wouldn’t have to rely on Brundir for.

Before he could bring it up, however, Marcus got up and leaned in.

“We need to talk,” the more mundane of the two Cinnas said.

“Now?”

“Now.”

“Okay. But quickly.”

Marcus nodded, leading him along. Shereeza pulled Neena into helping pack the wagon, but as they were gathering everything up, Marcus led him through the slight portal in the wagon to the attached part that he and Pollius kept to. The air was thick with the smell of cleaning fluid, and he imagined that Marcus had started clearing it up after some debauchery or other. It seemed like their home either smelled so clean that it burned one’s nostrils or so heavy with sex that one could fall into a trance from it.

“What’s the – oh.”

He didn’t even have to ask as Marcus thrust his arm out. The back of it was covered with a dusting of red-black fur, thick enough that it hid the skin in places. While he was hiding it well, he could smell the slight panic coming off the other human, as well, and he shook his head as he realized what was happening.

“Is this…is this recent?”

“From the last time that we did it with you.”

“…Oh.”

“What is this, Vitus? What did you give us?”

“…I…Well, it’s corruption from the Hellhound side of things,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. “And I thought that it would be more limited. More…inconsequential.”

“Clearly, it is not.”

“No, no, clearly it’s not,” he admitted. “I didn’t think about that. I suppose I thought that Pollius would have a handle on it, but – yes, yes, I know, that was a stupid thing to think, I’m sorry,” he said, shaking his head as Marcus opened his mouth. “I should have known better, but in my defense, he is not my husband. He’s yours, and you were the one that seemed to think that things would be okay.”

“[i]I[/i] thought things would be okay? You – oh, you aren’t even close to reality with that one, Mr. Leontina,” Marcus said, resting his face against his hand. “Oh, gods. It’s bad enough that my husband believes that he can do whatever he wants consequence-free, but now it’s spreading. Spreading from him to me. I am [i]content[/i] being human. I understand that Pollius wants to enjoy all the shapes that the world has to offer, but I did [i]not[/i] sign up for this. I am a human, and I will stay a human.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Be helpful.” Marcus pointed at his arm again. “Is there a way to fix this?”

“…Not without clerical help,” he admitted. “The last time that I managed to purge it, it needed godly help.” [i]And more of it than we’re going to get in this country, by a long chalk.[/i] “But once we’re done with getting Robin back –”

“No sex.”

“…Huh?”

“No. Sex. I am laying that condition down right now. If this spreads through intimate contact, if this is spreading to me from you, then I want you to tell me that sex is done.”

“I –”

“Oh, now, now, now, don’t I get a say in this?”

Pollius stepped through the portal behind them, the taller, slightly rounder man emerging into the strange room. His gel-like body rippled for a moment, then became firm…but not entirely human.

[i]Oh hell, it’s hitting him, too.[/i]

Pollius had always been strange, multi-featured, but this time, the sheer breadth of different features that he had warping among his anatomy seemed far more canine-focused. Not completely, of course, but there was certainly more of a canine influence along his arms and legs, and where he showed non-human characteristics, they leaned more into the mammalian rather than the monstrous or reptilian. Something had certainly happened, and he was all but sure that there was some red among the other colorations that the once-human showed.

“I do believe that I’m having some improvements here,” Pollius said, looking at his arms as if they were new to him. “What with all the magic that I have sampled, it seems that the most corruptive and change-inducing of it actually brings some stabilization with it. I actually [i]struggle[/i] to change, these days.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure, but what about –”

“Not to mention that the corruption of demonic power is truly an aphrodisiac like [i]no[/i] other. Why, it takes so much more to be properly satisfied, and I must say, it is quite refreshing to only need one long orgasm rather than the dozens or so every night.”

“Pollius, please –”

“Tut, tut.” The larger man held his finger over Marcus’s lips. “Now, you can tell our guest that he won’t be fucking you anymore, and that is perfectly reasonable. But I do not recall that our arrangement between me and others has changed, has it?”

“…”

“That I may take my pleasures from as many as I like, provided that I take care of you in return?”

“…What if you pass on the corruption to me?” Marcus muttered.

“I won’t. Simple as that.”

Vitus had a feeling that it wouldn’t be nearly so simple as that. The way that Melchiresa worked, there was always something in the power of the Hellhound that made its way into someone, and once it had embedded itself, it was nearly impossible to get out again. He still remembered how easily it had come back once he’d gone to Brundir and once he started embracing that power again. Demon Lords were different to devils or demons of a standard nature; once they touched you, their power lingered, and might never fade.

He tried not to think about that part of it. He tried very, very hard not to think about that part of it.

They were starting to argue, and he knew better than to stick around with that. The Cinnas weren’t particularly dangerous with their spats, but they were vocal, and he wanted to leave that between them. If they settled on a rule that meant that he [i]didn’t[/i] have to fuck Pollius, he would be very happy with that. If it meant that he didn’t have to fuck Marcus, he would happily live with that.

As he walked back out of the portal and into the wagon, he could feel that they were underway. Shereeza, still as bare as Neena, had taken to working on the different pieces of equipment that were stored inside the wagon. She maintained the weapons, sharpened the blades, ensured that the iron was kept try, and even kept a running inventory of their food and drink. The elf was in the process of slapping Neena’s hand away from the water barrel when he emerged, and he chuckled.

“Thirsty?” Vitus asked.

“Where – oh, there’s a portal in the wagon?” Neena blinked. “How did I miss that?”

“You [i]were[/i] being subjected to all kinds of vibrations and other pleasure and pains during your time in the wagon,” he admitted, shaking his head. “And I doubt that you were noticing most of the things that happened.”

“I noticed enough.”

“Like?”

“Like your fear of the master. You talked about him. A lot.”

Vitus narrowed his eyes, but Neena didn’t look away. Everyone else did, save for Katya; the older woman kept her eyes on him and Neena as the aasimar’s agent advanced on him, her eyes locked with his.

“I remember hearing how much you hated him, despite the gifts that he’s given you. All that time, all that attention, all that [i]power[/i] that he taught you how to use. All he asked in return was your loyalty, and you spat in his face.”

“You think it was that simple?” Vitus asked.

“I’ve given him everything, and he’s never given me any less than I needed in return,” she said. “I gave him my service, and he’s given me power, affection, everything that I could ever want from someone else. He’s given me status, given me knowledge, and taught me to be more powerful than I could ever be on my own.”

“Hmm.”

“What?” Neena snarled, all but lashing out at Katya’s little hum. “What do you have to say this time?”

“Just wondering how it must feel, to think that any and all of your successes come from a man that couldn’t be bothered to save you.”

“He was busy!” Neena shouted, and Vitus could feel her anger swerve as if a magical force had whipped from him to Katya. “He could have taken me from this at any time, if he wasn’t busy. The minute that I had what he wanted –”

“Ah, yes, the good little puppet operating while the puppeteer pines over the one that cut its strings.”

Neena sputtered as Katya gestured to Shereeza. The branded elf wordlessly brought her a mug of water, and the older woman sipped on it.

“So, you believe that someone should be proud to be like you, Ms. Mattas. Someone that has surrendered their free will to another. Someone that can only thank someone else for the power that she has, believing that none of it could have been learned or gained by anything that she did. Someone that can only attribute her successes to her master, and her failures to herself. Someone that is so heartbroken that her master – no, let’s call him what he is – her [i]owner[/i] does not give her the time of day that she’ll fall to lick his boots the moment that he has even a simple task for her to do, and if he should assign her one that would kill her, all the better, because maybe she would finally get something from him besides a glance and a shrug.

“Now, correct me if I am wrong, Ms. Mattas, but that sounds very much like a life a dog would scorn. Why should we believe that this is something worth having?”

Vitus winced on the other woman’s behalf as the old professor shredded her self-image from head to toe. There were pieces of that that he had considered himself, but he had never put it to such a painful picture. Clearly, from the way that she was shaking, neither had Neena. She sputtered, her face as red as could be, and she looked as if she might be on the verge of crying.

“I see. You would like us to believe it so that you can think that you made the right choice with your life. Well, forgive me, Ms. Mattas, but I am not the sort to indulge someone else’s delusions without them making some effort to make them sound worth indulging. Try again with someone else.”

Neena turned away, retreating to the far edge of the rolling wagon. She looked as if she wanted to leap off the side and run away, but something stopped her. Probably Brundir, or at the very least, her loyalty to him.

He sat down beside his old professor, shaking his head as he muttered in a quiet voice.

“You didn’t have to rip her apart that hard.”

“Frankly, I’m not happy about looking in a mirror.”

“A – what?”

“She is not the only one to sell herself for too cheap a price,” Katya said, shaking her head. “And she is not the only one that tried to tell herself that it was worth it for far too long.”

“…Are you talking about…yourself?”

“I could be. But perhaps I am, and perhaps I’m not.”

“Professor Orlov –”

“This is more than we should be discussing in public,” she said, shaking her head. “Just because Melchiresa isn’t talking to you right now doesn’t mean that she isn’t talking to me. And there are things I should not say, as much as I would wish otherwise.”

[b][u][center]The End[/center][/u][/b]

Summary: Vitus makes his bargain with Brundir, and then has to deal with some of the consequences of his actions.

Tags: No Sex, Nudity, Female Nudity, Bargaining, Abuser, Human, Aasimar, Corruption, Elf, Hellhound, Series, Magic, Fantasy, Spells,