A Stab in the Dark

Chapter 1

Ashley drummed the mithral buckler on her arm as she watched the sun set on the port city of Calimsha. The black metal airship she was riding slowly descended into the city's dwarven enclave for repairs, which would give her enough time to cash in several days worth of shore leave. While she had not been in Calimsha before, her roommate had grown up in a port city, and Ashley figured that Antonia would probably know her way around this one as well. How different could they be?

However, the wonders that Calimsha had to offer would have to wait for tomorrow. Ashley was feeling tired and needed a good meal and some sleep. She walked into a stairwell and descended past the cargo hold to a long corridor at the bottom of the ship, which ran its entire length. Fourteen glowing blue portals led to extradimensional rooms, which allowed the ship to carry much more than its physical size would have permitted, such as a small library, a medical ward, twenty five mercenaries, an impressive armory and a well stocked kitchen.

The first person Ashley saw when she entered the corridor was a red haired, green eyed tiefling with curled ram's horns leading an Alsatian into Ashley's room. The dog wagged her tail upon seeing Ashley, oblivious to the tension building between the two.

"Kathryn!" Ashley thundered. "You've been sneaking the dog into my room? Do you know how annoying it is to get woken up each morning by a slobbering bitch?"

The tiefling had a very good idea of what being woken up by a slobbering bitch felt like, but decided it was in her best interests not to say so to Ashley.

"Hey, I thought it was funny," Kathryn said defensively.

"Hilarious," Ashley snarled. She quickly grappled Kathryn with magic and bound her limbs, rendering the woman helpless. "I think we should have a little chat."

"Fucking bitch!" Kathryn struggled to free herself in vain from the hex. "Let me go!"

"Oh, I will... eventually." An invisible force pulled Kathryn behind Ashley as the sorceress walked into her room and sealed the portal behind her. Kathryn found herself helplessly suspended in the air as articles of clothing were slowly peeled off her body by Ashely's magic.

"Let me go, I won't ask again!" The tiefling snarled menacingly. Ashley did not even bother to respond as she directed the magic to undo Kathryn's chest bindings. A full set of breasts popped free of the restrictive bandages, and Kathryn found, much to her embarrassment, that her nipples were already hard. Ashley smiled smugly and made a gesture with her hand, causing Kathryn's belt to unbuckle and everything below the waist to slide off, leaving her in her boots.

"I'm an assassin, I could kill you in your sleep!" Kathryn threatened, lashing out at Ashley with her tail in the vain hope of striking the sorceress with it. "Let me go and I might spare you."

"Assassin?" Ashley sounded amused. "Funny; right now you look more like some kind of love slave."

A pair of ropes slithered out from under Ashley's bunk bed like snakes and tied themselves around Kathryn's wrists and tethered themselves to the top of the bunk, forcing Kathryn to stand upright. Kathryn heard Ashley rummage through her dresser for something, and turned her head to see the sorceress retrieving a whip. It was not so much a weapon as a sex toy, enchanted by drow courtesans so that it would inflict pain with a minimum amount of damage, for those who did not have the time or ability to learn how to truly master the whip. It suited Ashley, for she was the type to attack the psyche rather than the body.

"Come on!" Kathryn yelled in an attempt to catch Ashley's attention. "All I did was play a joke on you!"

"That dog has been sneaking into my room and making itself a nuisance for the past two years. Pity we don't have two years to deliver your punishment." Ashley circled around Kathryn, slowly unfurling the whip. Kathryn had just opened her mouth to protest when Ashley decided to strike with the whip. The blow caught Kathryn across the breasts, right on the nipples, and set her skin on fire.

The ropes went taut as Kathryn strained her arms. Her body danced from the pain, jiggling her breasts comically. The next lash caught her in the left calf, and she jerked her let upwards in response. The sole of her foot was exposed and Ashley struck it, causing Kathryn's toes to curl. The assassin was forced to balance precariously on her right foot until Ashley had the idea to lash it, forcing Kathryn to alternate between her legs. Kathryn hopped back and forth until they hurt too much to support her weight and gave in so that she hung from the bunk by her arms.

"Is that all you got?" The assassin snarled defiantly. "You can't break me like this."

"I don't need to break you," Ashley stated. "You're already broken; I just have to make you realize it."

Once, long ago, a pirate captain had caught Kathryn stowing away on her ship and taken the assassin as her pet, breaking her so thoroughly that even after Kathryn escaped from the captain's clutches, she could not shake the conditioning. After a year as a free woman, her freedom came to an end when the captain had shown up in her room one day and demanded that Kathryn submit herself again. As much as Kathryn hated the woman, she could not bring herself to fight her captain and served at the captain's personal whore until the pirate's death two years later.

Ashley knew the story and was determined to use it against Kathryn. The whip cracked and left a mark across Kathyn's stomach, eliciting another cry of pain from the tiefling. Ashley thrashed Kathryn up and down the length of her body, often focusing on the woman's back and bottom for minutes at a time. When the whipping stopped, Kathryn could barely stand on either leg and had to hold onto the ropes to support herself.

"Wow, you're enjoying this, aren't you?" Ashley teased, running the handle between Kathryn's legs. "Admit it, you like it."

The tiefling moaned under Ashley's ministrations, but refused to give in. There was no way that Kathryn would let the sadistic witch have her victory.

"I'll kill you!" Kathryn yelled in desperation. "I swear I'm going to get you for this! The moment I get out I'll wring your neck and kill you!"

"Oh, no doubt," the sorceress purred. "You'll be killing me many times before we're finished... but I think I'm going to make you die first."

The whip handle circled around Kathryn's opening before slowly sliding in. The air was filled with the sound of labored panting as Ashley thrust in and out of her. The assassin clenched her pussy, though whether it was to try and keep the whip out or enhance the feeling of it fucking her Kathryn did not know.

"What's this, hm?" The whip handle was pulled out and hovered in front of Kathryn, wet and smelling of desire. Kathryn squeezed her legs together to prevent any of her juices from leaking out and embarrassing her further.

"It's nothing," the tiefling denied. "I'm... I'm not excited! I'm not a slave anymore! I'm my own master now!"

"Maybe you're right," Ashley said. "Maybe you aren't a slave, in which case you'll take the whipping and spend the night on the ground. Of course, if you decide that you are, I might let you get off after we're done and spend the night with me in bed, where a slave would belong. Your choice. You have ten lashes to decide."

Kathryn bit her lip as Ashley's whip played on her back. One lash, two lashes, three lashes... she eventually lost count as the pain overwhelmed her. The tiefling was only brought out of her stupor by the feeling of cold liquid splashing over her back. It stung as it washed over her wounds; judging from the smell, it contained a bit of alcohol.

"That was nine lashes," Ashley informed her. "You'll have to make your choice after the next one."

"I'm not a slave," Kathryn panted, defiant despite the pain.

"Really?" Ashley asked. "Then why are you here?"

"You caught me," Kathryn snarled feebly. "You tied me here."

"Bullshit," the sorceress snorted. "You're a trained escape artist. You could wiggle out of those knots in less than six seconds if you really wanted to. You're here because you like it."

Kathryn roared in anger and struggled against the ropes holding her in place like never before, dying to get at Ashley and teach her a lesson. A warm wetness made its way down her right thigh, and Kathryn realized to her horror that this liquid came from her.

No! This wasn't possible! She couldn't have lost control of her own body like this! Could Ashley see the trickle of Kathryn's excitement? Could she smell it? It was down to her ankle by now; surely Ashley had to noticed.

"I've seen you get out of straight jackets, manacles, and giant spider webs," the girl continued maliciously. "No, you're not here because of anything I've done. You're keeping yourself here. No matter how hard you try to cover it up with that hellspawn persona of yours, deep down you're just a slave. Probably why you're making a mess of yourself, in fact."

Fuck, she had seen it. There was no point in Kathryn denying it anymore; her shame was evident now. The sorceress raised the whip one more time, but Kathryn gave in before she could bring it down.

"You're right," Kathryn sobbed. "Stop, Ashley, you've made your point."

"What was I right about?" Ashley asked. "Say it."

"I'm... I'm..." Kathryn struggled to find the words Ashley wanted to hear. "I'm just a love-slave, a fuck toy, a sex doll, nothing more. Please make me your bitch, mistress."

Each word was like a knife to the heart, but it was the only way for Kathryn to end her torment.

"Take me," Kathryn pleaded. "Use me. Put the whip back in my flower. Make me climax, make me storm, make me die."

"There's a good pet." Ashley stroked Kathryn's hair from behind and worked the whip's handle back into the woman's slit. Kathryn spread her legs like a slut to welcome the whip, gasping as she felt it fill her cunt again. Her tail instinctively wrapped itself around Ashley's thigh and squeezed it, which prompted the sorceress to run her hand along its length. Kathryn's eyes rolled back into her head as she felt Ashley's warm hand on her tail.

"Please... my bud," Kathryn mewed desperately.

"Hold it in." Ashley shoved the whip into Kathryn as far as it would go and left it there so that she would have a hand free to work on the woman's clit. "If it falls, I'll leave you hanging."

Kathryn clenched her muscles around the handle and brought her legs together as the girl reached between her legs. The assassin hung her head down and rolled her hips to meet Ashley's fingers as they dance on her bud. The pleasure was so great that Kathryn forgot about the whip and let it slip out an inch. Her walls spasmed with the stimulation and Kathryn was forced to squeeze the whip even tighter to prevent it from escaping.

Soon it would all be over, Kathryn thought. Soon I'll be able to climax, and sleep in a nice, warm bed. Just a little longer. Kathryn closed her eyes and lost herself in the euphora that Ashley had awoken in her. She was so close to an orgasm that she could feel it building up like a lightening storm. Thunder and lightening, she was going to burst right then and there!

Ashley gave the panting assassin a firm push on her nub before drawing her hand away from the woman's cunt and letting go of her tail.

"You promised," Kathryn whined, her voice strained with need. How could Ashley leave her like that, on the brink of achieving relief.

"I think I could use some more incentive," Ashley whispered as she nibbled on Kathryn's ear. A string of kisses was planted on the back of Kathryn's neck and ran across her shoulders. Kathryn's hardened nipples had been aching for attention thought the entire session, and they now found relief as Ashley began to pinch and pull them. More honey dripped out of Kathryn's slit as Ashley took a breast in each hand and began to massage them. The girl's hands and tongue explored Kathryn's body leisurely, giving her just enough pleasure to keep her hot and bothered. It seemed Ashley would touch every part of her except where she needed it most.

"I'm begging you, isn't that enough?" Kathryn cried in shame. "Ashley, you've made me a slave again. It was wrong of me to have lied and pretended otherwise. You've taught me better now; you've humiliated and humbled me. Please, just let me have my reward, mistress. Don't be so cruel, don't keep it from me like this."

"Shall I do it with the whip?" Ashley asked, pumping the handle in and out of her. "Or would you rather I use my fingers? Maybe you would like my mouth?"

"Your mouth!" Kathryn whimpered helplessly. "I want your tongue to spread apart my petals and lick my bud! I want you to make the nectar flow and drink from my flower!"

The sorceress plucked the whip from Kathryn's pussy, eliciting a cry of pleasure as she did so, and climbed between Kathryn's legs to reach the bed. Ashley stuck her tongue out and kept it just out of Kathryn's reach, forcing the assassin to stretch herself so that her pussy would meet Ashley's tongue. The instant they touched, Kathryn felt an electric shock flow through her and became weak at the knees again.

Ashley gave the assassin a shallow lick along her cunt, which was enough to send the frustrated woman to indescribable heights of ecstasy. Kathryn's hips moved of their own accord as she sought to bring her lover deeper within her. The sound of a woman lost to lust caterwauling shamelessly floated through the room, and Kathryn realized that Ashley's mouth was too busy to have made it. It was as if Kathryn had been reduced to nothing more than a puppet for Ashley to manipulate. Oh, how she danced as Ashley pulled her strings...

Eventually, Kathryn came down from the dizzying euphoria her tormentor had brought her to and noticed that Ashley was making her kneel on the lower bunk, which stuck out a foot more than the top. It seemed that Ashley had decided to leave Kathryn unsatisfied once again, prompting a needy whimper from the tiefling.

"You know, I've always wondered why you have a foot fetish. Acquired taste from your last mistress?" Ashley taunted. " Or are you just wired that way?"

The truth lay somewhere in between. Although Kathryn had been conditioned to enjoy footplay when she was a slave, the assassin had spent the majority of her youth running around barefoot and rather enjoyed the feeling of different surfaces. The memories distracted by her so that she did not notice Ashley's hands moving towards her feet until it was too late.

Smooth nails raked the bottoms of Kathryn's feet and the assassin curled her toes in response. Laughter bubbled from her lips as Ashley tickled her mercilessly. Once Ashley was sure that Kathryn had run out of breath, she switched to a firm massage, with her thumbs pressing into Kathryn's soles.

As much as Kathryn wanted to kick Ashley away, she could not bring herself to. While Kathryn did fear the sorceress' retribution, part of her was actually enjoying the foot massage. Blood rushed to her flower, which pulsed from unmet need as Ashley worked on Kathryn's feet. Kathryn's ears burned and nipples ached as the throbbing in her groin intensified. The muscles in her legs spasmed with a sudden need to to straighten themselves, but Ashley managed to keep them in place and continued her kneading until Kathryn's world exploded.

Kathryn's cheeks flushed with shame as she realizes that Ashley had made her peak from a foot massage. The humiliation nearly triggered another orgasm, but the lack of any further stimulation after her climax prevented her from experiencing anything more than unsatisfied arousal. Squeezing her thighs together only served to worsen the feeling, for Kathryn just could not reach the right spots.

"Please... again..." Kathryn whispered to Ashley. "Do it again..."

Chapter 2

Iago stood in the Church of the Drowned Martyr listening to a priest describe his problems. Though he would have been hard pressed to describe himself as a religious man, Iago was not picky about where his job offers came from. Besides, churches - at least the more decent ones - tended to have an drive for honoring the contract that shadier customers lacked, so everything worked out well in the end.

Currently, Father Ivan Renard was pacing circles around in the chapel, worried over a series of assassinations that had taken place over the past few years. A total of fifteen men had died; politicians, spellcasters, warriors, and even a gangsters. They had all died of a critical loss of vital energy, and it was suspected that a succubus was behind the killings. Iago supposed it was reasonable; succubi were some of the most frequently summoned demons - for obvious reasons - and their talents made them outstanding assassins.

That being said, life-drain could have also been inflicted by certain curses, so perhaps the priest was worrying over nothing. If Iago accepted, that meant that he and his men would spend their time in this city chasing smoke.

"Certainly we will be happy to hunt demons with you," Iago smiled. In his book, a job with no risk and guaranteed payment was a godsend. It was about time things started going their way. "I have a team in mind as we speak."

The mercenary pointed to several members of his company who were standing at attention right outside the chapel. An automaton with two large tanks fixed to his back walked out of the line, followed by a cheerful girl with an elvish cast about her face, a brunette with burning red eyes, and a tiefling with prominent horns and tail.

"Brent, Antonia, Aiva, and Kathryn." Iago introduced them each in the order of their appearance. "I believe that they will be able to assist your investigations admirably."

"Good, good," Renard beamed. "With any luck, we'll have that demon exorcised in no time."

The priest snapped his fingers and a young paladin sprung out so fast that Iago could have sworn that Renard had conjured him out of thin air. He had muscles to rival an ox, but bore the handsome features of a court noble. Iago surmised that he was probably the third son of some powerful family; often the first son would be groomed for politics, the second for war, and the third for religion, despite the fact that a good priest wielded much more power than either a baron or general combined. However, that power helped little when it came to court politics as it was dedicated to his god first and foremost.

"Sir?" The paladin inquired politely.

"Eugene, be a good lad and take care of our friends," Renard instructed.

"Right away, sir." Eugene bowed and motioned for the mercenary team to follow him into the church's inner chambers. They walked wordlessly until they reached a small room in the back. It was a spartan room with six small beds.

"Allow me to present you with your quarters," Eugene bowed with a flourish of his hands. To everyone's great surprise, Ashley curtsied in response before walking in. It was an oddly polite gesture from the abrasive spellcaster. Kathryn supposed it might have had something to do with the fact that Ashley was, despite all appearances, a noble-born.

"Thanks," Antonia said to the paladin right after Ashley had entered. "When do we start?"

"I've no doubt that we shall hunt on the morrow," he replied. "Whatever fiend stalks our streets shall soon see its days numbered, Miss...?"

"Hall, but you can call me Tonia. All my friends do."

"Charmed." Eugene clasped Antonia's hand in his own and kissed it softly.

"Good sir, I fear your efforts are in vain," Ashley cut in upon seeing Eugene's flirting. "The lady you behold is already spoken for."

There was much awkwardness in the room as Eugene tried to recover from his blunder, without much success. Eventually, Brent was forced to place a heavy hand on the young man's shoulder and lead him out so that the women could have some privacy. Ashley burst into a fit of giggles the moment Eugene had left the hall and collapsed onto one of the beds, while Kathryn busied herself with moving another bed next to Ashley's.