44
“It’s time!”
Stanley’s mind rebelled at the voice but it was insistent and drew him up from the depths. As his eyes fluttered open he saw he was in a room with a thick wooden door and grey cinderblock walls. The floor was grey cement and he was sitting in the middle of it with his arms tightly taped together behind his back around a steel pole.
With consciousness came terrible nausea. Waves of it. He immediately leaned to the side and threw up as the waves washed over him. He heaved until he felt turned inside out.
Even in his wretched state he realized he was naked. Another bad sign.
“Yes, the drug has a nasty after effect. It will pass,” a soft voice said from the doorway.
Stanley groggily looked up and saw a small impeccably dressed grey haired man standing a few feet inside the door. He was maybe 5′ tall and very slim but his suit was exquisitely tailored and looked very expensive right down to his handcrafted leather shoes. He had several gold rings on the slim fingers of both hands and he was holding a lace handkerchief up to his nose.
Everything about the man was… dainty.
“Who… who are you? Why are you doing this?” Stanley gasped out. He felt his head beginning to clear as the nausea gradually diminished.
The man smiled at Stanley. “You have the good fortune to be addressing Inspector Leaharin, Master Inquisitor for the Fae Council.”
Stanley’s head dropped forward as his strength sagged with a residual wave of sick. His muscles clenched once more and he spat to the side.
“Clean him up!” the inspector called out in revulsion as he left the room. Stanley hoped they’d get him some clothes too as the room was on the chilly side and he felt so exposed.
When the blast of cold water hit him, Stanley cried out in shock. He struggled to breathe in the hard stream of water. The water hit him and the floor around him and flowed down towards a drain in the far corner of the otherwise empty room. Once the torrent was finally shut off he was shivering badly. He looked towards the doorway and his body went rigid in shock. Standing just inside the room were two… creatures holding a firehose. They were grinning back at him in malice.
Topping out at 4′, their hairless, wrinkled skin was the color of ashes. They had small dark eyes and wide mouths of sharp teeth now clearly visible. Their ears were long and pointed upwards but it was their legs which shocked him the most. They were like Stanley’s when he was in his Satyr form only without the fur. Wide cloven hooves clacked against the cement as they turned and left with the hose.
One returned with a push broom and swept the remaining water towards the drain in the corner. It managed to jab Stanley a few times with the broom and grinned at his cries of pain.
“Out!”
The creature scowled towards the Inspector who’d returned to the room but it obeyed the command, after poking Stanley painfully one more time with the broom.
When the door closed Leaharin looked towards Stanley once more. “I’ve found Goblins are useful for collecting suspects and grunt work but little else.”
“Goblins?” Stanley croaked out between his chattering teeth.
The dapper little man examined Stanley curiously. “You play the role of an oblivious Human better than most but you cannot deny you are more.”
Stanley blinked at him in surprise. “I was told not to talk about that.”
“Here,” the man gestured around them, “here there can be no secrets from me. This is my work studio.”
“What do you do?” Stanley asked uneasily.
“I extract truth.”
The grin on his face wasn’t the least bit comforting.
“I’d like to go home now,” Stanley said. “My friends will be worried and will be looking for me.”
“Alas, they aren’t going to find you anywhere,” Leaharin smiled. “My studio is very well hidden. It’s like you fell off the face of the world.” He chuckled to himself then rubbed his hands together.
“Why are you doing this? What have I done to deserve this?” Stanley asked as he shivered.
The small man crouched down to look into Stanley’s eyes. “You really don’t know?” When Stanley shook his head Leaharin sighed. “You can thank the young Succubus Marisa Villamor for your treatment today. She drew our attention when she somehow lost her glamor. This doesn’t happen. It’s quite impossible. When our Investigator met her death under suspicious circumstances a second Inspector was dispatched to speak with the young Succubus. Her answers failed to satisfy the questions. Then she managed to block his mental probe. This is something else that doesn’t happen. Do you know how she was able to do this? Hmmm?”
Stanley shivered and trembled but shook his head in bewilderment. “Please, I’m so cold!”
Leaharin just sighed once more and looked at Stanley in disappointment.
“Succubi are magic infused beings but are not wielders of magic. They are connected to the realm of magical energy which gives them some of their attributes but they cannot manipulate this energy to bend it to their will. The Fae are gifted with the ability to directly access the energy and create spells from it. We graciously bind glamor spells to the races who don’t have this ability so they may disguise their true aspect. The spells can be simply switched on and off. Are you following me?”
Stanley nodded as he shook.
“So how does a Succubus learn how to block a Fae mental probe? How does she maintain an energy level far exceeding anything we’ve ever seen?” The Investigator’s eyes bore into Stanley’s but he continued to just look back in confusion. A sudden frown appeared on the being’s face. “You’re not going to like the methods you are forcing me to use. You should just answer the questions.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
“I- I- I d-don’t know,” Stanley said through chattering teeth.
“Stanley, Stanley, Stanley, I believe you do know. She visited you in your new condominium and when she left she was glowing with energy like the sun above. There is no one in the building that could have done that. You, you are the new element in this story. What are you?”
He kept his mouth shut as… he’d been told not to talk about it. Mr. Duncan was the first one to let him know it was the pinnacle of poor behavior to question someone about their species. No matter how well dressed this man was he was an ill-mannered brute in Stanley’s opinion. He wasn’t worthy to speak to so Stanley just turned his eyes away in disgust. He missed the look of surprise and rage that flitted across the Fae’s face.
“Have it your way. I will have my answers. The truth cannot hide from me,” Leaharin growled.
He stood before Stanley and began to make bold gestures with his hands as he muttered to himself.
Stanley had never seen anyone performing magic before. Real magic, not shitty sleight of hand card tricks. While he was fearful of what the Fae was going to use the magic for, seeing the energy being bent into strange luminescent shapes which floated in the air around them was fascinating. The shapes seemed to know where to go and soon Stanley saw they were forming a circular net around them both.
“It’s time.”
Stanley felt the tug of the ring telling him he needed to switch. He begged for more time. He didn’t want to show the Fae what he was. He somehow knew that would be… very, very bad. He wasn’t in the state he’d been in back in Japan so he knew he could hold it off… for a short time.
Leaharin finished and held Stanley’s eyes with his which were glowing slightly with the build-up of magical energy he was channelling through his body. “Last chance Stanley. Will you tell me what I want to know?”
“No.”
“So be it.”
With a gesture one of the symbols, a frosty blue squiggle floated down towards Stanley’s head. He leaned his head away from the light but it followed him and slapped up against his forehead.
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” Stanley screamed and thrashed against the steel pillar he was tied to as the intense cold burrowed into his head.
He missed Leaharin’s next gesture but at the last second, he saw the white circles descend to slap up against his temples.
His muscles locked in rigor as every cell in his body took a shot of voltage. The circles and the cold band pulled away and he sagged to the ground with no muscle tone.
“Now the truly repugnant part begins. For the Queen,” Leaharin muttered to himself and Stanley froze at the cold cruelty in his voice.
Stanley lifted his eyes painfully to see the Fae move closer to reach down and hover his hands just next to his temples.
The sudden sensation of having his mind peeled open for the Fae to look inside horrified Stanley. Being physically violated instead would have been a mercy. Leaharin was exposing the very essence of who Stanley was.
The Fae’s presence grew then just seemed to come to a stop.
“What’s this?” Leaharin whispered with interest followed by a quick and painful tearing sensation.
Stanley was wide open.
His defilement was… complete. It was too much. He wanted Leaharin OUT! NOW!
His muscles were still locked in the aftermath of the white rings which waited close by for another chance at him should he regain some motor control.
But Stanley realized he could still move his fingers. His arms were taped together behind his back and his hands were together.
He didn’t pause to think about it. There was nothing more important than getting the hideous and foul creature out of his head.
He spun the ring.
Leaharin was leaning over Stanley, almost touching him, close enough for Stanley to feel the heat radiating from the Fae’s skin.
Far too close when reality snapped, folded and twisted around Stanley’s body.
The Fae screamed as the bones in his hands and arms shattered into powder. Stanley was abruptly alone in his mind once more and he sagged in relief. The scream came to an abrupt squealing stop when the Fae’s lower jaw folded down and merged with his throat. Leaharin’s spine bent backwards with a wet pop then he was viciously flung across the room, crashing in a limp pile against the door jamb.
The cloud of magic torture tools Leaharin had activated for his work began reacting violently to their master’s condition and the warped space they’d been in.
The white circles slapped together and exploded in a huge thunderclap which tumbled Stanley head over hooves into the back corner of the room as his bindings had ripped free.
The steel pillar was now the focal point as one after another of the spells were drawn to the heavy post. Blasts of radiant heat then intense cold then ultrasound vibration, electric shock, acid, liquid flame, then ice shards all struck the metal, rushing up and down the surface to splash against the ceiling and floor.
A large ball of pulsing grey energy seemed to be holding back until it suddenly rushed in and clung to the post, oozing up and down and spreading outwards in all directions as it thinned out. Stanley struggled to squeeze himself tighter against the wall to avoid the encroaching… mist? Liquid? He couldn’t tell. It slowly stopped moving and seemed to sink into the concrete. He watched in shock as the hard surface aged before his eyes, cracking and flaking. A fine powder began falling from the ceiling.