Chronicles of Eden - Act VIII (19 page)

“I want him as a husband,” Charlotte declared, with the twins gasping in shock. “A husband. My husband! I want that man as my own husband! Haha, I can’t believe I’m saying such words, it’s amazing! I actually want to be married to someone, to have one and only one mate forever! I want to be… to be…”

“No, don’t say it,” the twins begged.

“His wife,” Charlotte finished, causing both sisters to turn pale in horror. “If Daniel could love a
letchyask
such as Alyssa, then surely Daemon could love a respectable alpha witch such as myself. That swordsman who wields a legendary blade and has the fortitude to resist my magic, that
sexy
hunk who shows no fear to anything at all, I want him to choose
me
as his wife! Hee hee, I’m feeling so excited just thinking about it, that proves its true! I want Daemon to love me, because I love him!”

“No!” Apoch and Astreal cried as they started breaking down into tears.

“What’s wrong?” Charlotte asked as she finally took notice of the heartbroken expressions on the sisters.

“But… you… he… we… can’t… but…” Apoch stuttered while trying to catch her breath.

“B-B-But, Ms. Charlotte,” Astreal shakily said holding up a finger. “He doesn’t love you, he showed you no affection or kindness when he was here last. And also we’re collecting the fragments so that you-”

“Can give them to him, free of charge,” Charlotte declared proudly.

“What?” Apoch squeaked out.

“That wasn’t the plan at all,” Astreal said shaking her head slowly.

“It’s like Daniel said,” Charlotte reasoned with clarity. “He would choose any girl, monster or human, to love as long as they were kindhearted. That worked for Alyssa. She’s been nice to him, she hasn’t tried to take advantage of him in any way, and she actually refused to have sex with him unless all her friends were allowed to join her as well so as not to hurt their feelings. If being a good girl worked for her, then it’ll work for me too.”

“You’re going to just…
give
Mr. Daemon those fragments now?” Apoch asked in disbelief.

“Of course. If I tried to take advantage of my dear Daemon then he wouldn’t love me at all. But if I give him all the fragments he desires as tokens of my affection, then maybe he’ll love me too.”

“You don’t know that,” Astreal desperately argued. “He may not care for you even after that, he may just end up using you to get the pieces for himself.”

“Not my knight,” Charlotte purred as she leaned forward onto her desk and gently caressed the orb. “He’s too noble and genuine to do something such as that. No, I know my man will be faithful to me, so I must show him that I am going to be faithful to him.”

“Ms. Charlotte, please reconsider what you’re saying,” Apoch whimpered.

“He can’t… he’s not… but you’re…” Astreal stammered erratically.

“I’m in love with that man,” Charlotte sighed happily. “Well, now I certainly do hope that Daniel succeeds with his quest. If man and witch are joined in peace then nothing at all could stand between Daemon and myself living together as husband and wife. Oh, I got goosebumps just saying that, hee hee!”

“Ms. Charlotte…” the sisters quietly voiced in sorrow.

“I’ve never felt so warm inside,” Charlotte softly said in content. “This feeling, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The mere idea of him
choosing
to be with me, loving me for who I am, it’s so strange yet so… perfect. I never knew I could feel this way. Tell me, do you girls have any idea in the slightest what I’m talking about, to want to be loved by someone like this?”

“Yes,” the twins replied with saddened frowns. They eyed Charlotte over from head to toe, faint blushes forming on their cheeks as they beheld their alpha bent over on her desk with quiet gulps, before forcing smiles as she glanced back to them.

“Are you two alright? You look ill.”

“We’re fine,” Apoch assured before turning away.

“It’s just…” Astreal hesitated with a worried smile. “Are you
sure
he’ll be faithful to you? Remember, he has all of those girls traveling with him. Surely they’ve caught his eye by now, what if he’s engaging in lecherous activity with them as we speak?”

“He’s not,” Charlotte quipped with a smug grin. “He can’t, not if he wants to use that sword of his. We know for a fact he’s a virgin, and he needs to remain as such in order to use that powerful weapon. For now he’s keeping his quest at the forefront, he won’t let anyone take that from him.”

“Yes, there is that,” Astreal admitted in defeat.

“But you raise a good point,” Charlotte mused curiously. “Those monsters surely have noticed his perfection as I have. I’m certain it’s only a matter of time before they want to have him as their own, if they don’t already.”

The twins watched as Charlotte hummed in thought for a while before she turned to them and leaned back against the desk.

“As I recall, the neko you hired to help them has told them she was hired by me, correct?” The twins nodded as the alpha grunted in annoyance. “That means I can’t have her kill those others girls now, I’ll be held responsible for her actions. Well that is an inconvenience, I have an assassin right next to them but can’t order her to spill their blood.”

“So… what should we do then?” the sisters asked together.

“Have that neko help them, just like she said she was going to. Whatever fragments they find will remain in Daemon’s possession, make sure nobody gets in his way with collecting them. We’ll look for ones to collect ourselves, and then I’ll give all that we find to Daemon as a gift of my affection to him.”

“You want the neko to keep the fragments they find with him?” Astreal questioned.

“Yes, exactly. Don’t have her steal them away, not now. Since it’ll be my name behind the deed I can’t have her being a thief with their findings. Make sure she helps them, and gives all the fragments she finds to Daemon as a gift from me.”

“You… you really love him, Ms. Charlotte?” Apoch worriedly asked.

“I do,” Charlotte giggled before looking back to the crystal ball. “I find myself yearning for him more and more the longer he’s away, and I honestly can’t find any interest in other men now. He’s the only one I want, girls. The only one I will ever want.”

“The only one,” Astreal quietly repeated. The sisters looked to each other in sorrow before watching their alpha obsessing over Daemon’s image in her crystal ball as she had been doing for days on end. The twin sisters cringed slightly as they saw Charlotte gently caressing the orb while nuzzling her nose against it, the sight of her falling in love with the swordsman striking at the two girls’ hearts.

After a while Astreal took a slow breath before nodding and showing Charlotte a small smile which was obviously hollow.

“Very well. We’ll go relay your new orders to our neko friend at once.”

“We’ll make sure she takes good care of Mr. Daemon for you,” Apoch softly agreed before the sisters started walking towards the door. Upon reaching it they stopped and glanced back to see Charlotte bent over her desk swooning at the image of Daemon still, the alpha’s attention focused only on the swordsman and nothing else.

“You’re going to love me, Daemon,” Charlotte cooed. “And best of all I won’t have to charm you, you’re going to pick me as your mate when we meet again, yes you are. You naughty boy, you stole this old witch’s heart, so now you need to take responsibility. Yes you do, hee hee!”

The sisters glanced to each other then left, closing the doors quietly behind them and making their way down the hall with dull glares.

“She loves
him
,” Apoch hissed.

“He doesn’t deserve her,” Astreal growled.

“We cannot allow our alpha to become that bastard’s mate. Nobody is allowed to have her but us.”

“We won’t,” Astreal said with her hand clutching her staff tightly. “Just using him to give birth to promising daughters would have been acceptable, however the mere thought of Ms. Charlotte having feelings for him is more than I can bear. I will not let
anyone
take our dear Ms. Charlotte away from us. She’s ours, her heart will be
ours
.”

“Did you see the way she was bent over on her desk? It was like she was teasing us,” Apoch whined. “I wanted her so badly, her ass was right there in front of me! But all she wanted was… was…”

“
Him
,” Astreal snarled with anger. “Well he’s not coming back to her, no way in hell. After our mercenary gathers all the fragments Mr. Daemon should find we’ll have her dispose of him. He will give us the pieces of our master’s key, and then he shall be removed from this world once and for all. Ms. Charlotte belongs to us, she will
always
belong to us.”

*****

The sun was beginning to set in the horizon, the vast fields of old grass along the flat plains being painted with an orange hue as the light stretched across the land in its final hours. The wilderness which held only a few trees here and there was far off from any trail or settlement, however several long shadows were cast across the ground as a group of travelers were making their way through the desolate land without pause. Their presence seemed to usher in an uneasy silence, with the wind quieting down and nearby critters hiding in the ground and old trees from them drawing near. The figures marched through the area, a stalwart aura emanating from them, as they remained as quiet as they were determined with their quest which was of the highest importance.

“Look!” Scay cheered out as she quickly slithered over to a burrow. “A bunny! I saw a bunny!”

“No thanks,” Forrus said shaking her head. “I’m not hungry.”

“Scay, we just ate a few hours ago,” Tabitha tiredly called over to the naga. “C’mon, we have to keep moving.”

“BUNNY!” Scay yelled as she struck her dagger wildly around into the burrow. “I want to
pet
you! Stab! Stab!”

“Why must she stab everything she sees?” Sasha questioned with a glance over to the naga.

“Surprised she hasn’t tried to do that to us yet,” Rulo mentioned with a raised eyebrow.

At the front of the line Daemon stopped and looked back over to Scay with a blank expression, the other girls halting behind as they saw him stop suddenly. He watched as the naga relentlessly jammed her dagger around inside the burrow’s opening then glanced over to Tabitha as the neko smiled weakly at him.

“This is the fifth time in an hour she’s gotten sidetracked,” he mentioned, with the girls quickly turning to Tabitha with harsh glares. “If you and your friend insist on traveling with us then you need to remain focused and keep pace.”

“We are!” Tabitha pleaded. “We haven’t slowed you down by coming along.”

“Do you notice that we’re walking now?” Sasha questioned sharply. “That’s because you could barely keep running earlier. We’re slowing down for
you
right now.”

“Why don’t we get horses or something then?” Tabitha shot back. “Seriously, why
walk
everywhere?”

“We would be
running
if it wasn’t for you,” Forrus hissed with a shove against the neko. “Even your crazy friend can move faster than you, you’re the one that’s slowing us down.”

“You can’t keep running all the time,” Tabitha argued. “Honestly, why don’t we just get a horse and carriage? It would be so much more convenient than having to travel on foot everywhere.”

“We managed just fine before you tagged along,” Rulo grunted with an oink.

“We should have covered much more ground than this in the past few days,” Sasha hissed at the neko. “All you’ve done is slow our progress down to a crawl. What kind of assassin are you anyway, can’t handle a little running in your life?”

“A
little
?” Tabitha exclaimed in disbelief. “You freaks run nonstop for hours, hardly rest for any food or water, and I’m not even sure any of you sleep at night! How can all of you keep going like this? I mean, I get it, he’s not human, I’ll give him that much. But all of
you
? How come you’re not keeling over?”

“Because we’re not weak,” Sasha snapped.

“You’re not normal!”

Tabitha saw nothing but harsh stares from the girls and a dull expression on Daemon’s face, none of them saying a word as the neko felt a lump forming in her throat from the uncomfortable silence. With a tired groan she rubbed her face then noticed Scay now watching her from nearby, the naga more interested in what was causing the neko to be upset rather than the frightened bunny she had cornered in its burrow.

“Look,” Tabitha sighed. “If I could provide us all a ride through The Outerlands would any of you object? If anything it would only make your lives easier, wouldn’t you agree?”

“We don’t travel on marked or cleared paths,” Sasha argued. “We head straight for our target, no matter what is in our way. Very few wagons could do the same, and horses aren’t exactly in large supply out here.”

“I can’t ride a horse,” Rulo said shaking her head. “My hammer alone would break its back, not to mention most horses whine and complain about carrying an orc before we break their backs.”

“We have to go on foot,” Forrus ordered Tabitha. “There is no other way for us. And just to be clear, the only thing that would make our lives easier is if you and your special friend would get lost!”

“We’re lost? Oh no!” Scay whined as she quickly slithered over to them. “What do we do? Where will we go? What will we eat? Who will I stab?”

“Scay, not now,” Tabitha groaned in frustration at her friend. She growled while tugging her hair before looking back to Daemon with urgency. “Please, I can’t let this job slink through my fingers, I need-”

“You need to find another job,” Daemon said shaking his head. “This is obviously not the right one for you. Take no offence to that, it was Charlotte who poorly assigned you with this task without realizing what would be asked of you.”

“But… but…” Tabitha stuttered out weakly.

“You heard him, beat it,” Rulo snorted.

“We’re done taking it slow for your accord,” Sasha asserted firmly.

“Be gone, or else I’ll put you down right here and now,” Forrus threatened with bared teeth.

“No!” Tabitha cried out. “Dammit, I need this job. We need this job. You can’t just leave us behind like this, we’re trying to help you!”