Demon's Punish Ch. 02

Then another.

After the third, Gideon took a huge breath and sat up. He flexed his hands into fists and opened them again. "You know, I'm surprised you tried to poison me." He frowned and shook his head. "But did you really need to kill the two girls?"

He rolled off the bed and knelt besides Piolin. His hand went to her brow and darkness exploded out from his back, surrounding him like a black sun. A corona of writhing, cold darkness seethed on the edges. "Damn it all. Lavinia is going to be devastated." His lips compressed into a white line. He stood.

Bijou blinked and retook her feet. She rounded on him, or at least she would have if Gideon didn't drop the psychic equivalent of the earth on her. Bijou might have had the strength of a charging rhinoceros, but she could not lift that much weight.

"Lavinia is alive, right?"

Gideon waved his hand, easing the weight around her head and shoulders.

Bijou raised her head and worked her mouth. "Yes, Lord Gideon. I have a great-"

Gideon slammed the full weight of the world back down on her. "I guess our kind die without fanfare or mourning, but the human? Was that, you know, never mind. You're obviously fucked in the head." Gideon retrieved his box and put it back into his pants pocket.

He whipped around, his black sun anima still flaring around him. He raised his hands up palms out towards the door. "By my name, I seal this room. By my name, none shall pass." The door turned so black that the light in the room dimmed. A moment later the entire house shook as something like a battering ram struck the door. The darkness spread to the walls, streaking in all directions until the entire room was blackness. The bed and bodies looked like they were floating in the void of space between galaxies. Gideon found he had no problem seeing in the utter lack of light. His vision was black and white with soft hints of purple and red. The red highlighted the bottle of the Anejo and Bijou's hands. Purple trickled from the mouths of Piolin and Nuala.

Bijou was plastered to the black plane that now constituted the floor. Even with his vision, he couldn't be sure if he was seeing six intersecting infinite planes or if it was still just a room painted black with his essence. Like most things that didn't matter, Gideon's greater self ignored it. His lesser self couldn't let it go, but that had more to do it with its inability to process the deaths of two people he'd just spent the past two hours fucking.

As nothing could enter, the silence was absolute. It was like they dwelt in the space between breaths or the lost time between waking and dreaming. Gideon didn't linger on the thought, he had work to do.

He eased the weight smothering Bijou so that it only felt like a large elephant was pinning her down. With her strength, she staggered to her hands and knees. While the emotional pressure still prevented speech, she glared at him with her dark eyes.

Gideon bent and laid his right hand upon her forehead. "By my name, I thrice curse you. Once for the death of Piolin, who was innocence of heart, walking by the light of love and naught else. Twice as kin slayer and oath breaker. By my name, I call the Eld to bear witness. Let none absolve her save he who has cursed her. Let her enjoy the climb of orgasm, ever approaching its summit only to stumble and fall to its start. Let her smell food's delicious perfume and enjoy the body's hungers, but find always the taste of ash and never satisfaction. Let her find every action governed by luck to be void of it. By my name, I make it so. By my name, I mark thee Cursed, Kin Slayer, Oath Breaker."

As he spoke the last sentence, his palm split open, and his heart's truest blood wept upon her brow. The rivulets of blood ran in all directions around her head and down her throat. They leached into her. Nine lines in total, each bearing the words of her curse for any to see that wished. At the epicenter upon her forehead remained his sigil, a gothic 'G' within a triangle. The triangle was a stylized snake eating its tail at the apex.

She looked at him, black tears tinged with red running from her eyes. They ran down her cheeks and pooled at her chin. "Kill me. Please I beg."

"That would be stupid." Gideon stepped back and admired his work. "You will remind everyone in this city what happens to those that trespass against me." He watched the black tears flow from Bijou's eyes and congeal into a fingernail sized jewel just like the coup he'd gotten from Craven.

He noticed his dick flapping like a flag in the wind. He'd done all that naked. He shook his head and put his clothes on before collecting the coup. This he put into his pants pocket with the other one. Putting either in the box with the feather seemed perverse.

He'd expended all the essence he'd accumulated from both the card game and this punishment in meting out one of the true curses. He was glad. He wanted emptiness right now. It felt like proper tribute for those who had been killed for no fault save being with him. Besides, no one else knew he was bone dry. He could bluff with the best of them.

He poured a full glass of the Anejo into a tumbler. The drinking cabinet was still there, whether or not it was against a "wall" was up for debate. Bijou watched him, but even though she could speak she didn't. Gideon eased the psychic weight off of her until only a few hundred pounds remained. Just enough so she couldn't forget why this had all happened.

He filled his whole mouth with the dark liquid, enjoyed the fullness of burning liquor in his mouth for a long time. He gulped it all down. The poison didn't bother him at all this time. He nodded to himself, raising the glass to Bijou, and said, "Well no reason to drag this out." After his next sip, he called out, "By my name, I abjure the binding upon this place."

Just as it had come, the never ending void retreated like water poured on a dirty wall. In seconds the blackness had receded back to the door. Gideon could hear swearing and shouting outside. When the blackness was gone, the door splintered open and a stunned looking goth girl flew past with such speed her momentum carried her through the outside wall. He heard her startled scream as she sailed two stories to the paved stone below.

"She'll be okay." He took another sip. His glass was emptying, and that was a bad thing. He topped it back up. He realized they'd opened this $2,000 dollar bottle of rum for him. They must have assumed he'd enjoy it because of how expensive and rare it was. He smiled.

The eight other goth girls poured into the room. Behind them came a goth woman at least seven feet tall. Her skin was motley, and her humped back gave her a trollish look. Enormous tusks protruded from her lower jaw. Her nails were black daggers. Her skin was bleached white marble. She was terrible to behold. Her anima was also flaring. Unlike his, it was a maelstrom of snow blowing around a bouquet of man-sized fangs.

"YOU DARE DEFILE..."

Gideon started laughing. He looked down at his glass, shook his head, and drained it. Then he snapped his head and locked his dark eyes with Isabella Du Graf's coal-like orbs.

"...MY DAUGHTER! IN MY OWN HOUSE?" Her voice was like thunder, shouting from every angle around him.

"You aren't seriously going to play the victim here, are you?" Gideon smashed the tumbler on the floor. "You aren't." He walked towards her. His face an icy mask. Behind Isabella and the eight goth girls, Gideon could see the hallways were packed with kindred. He played chicken with Isabella. Either she would move, or they would be hugging in five more steps. At the last step, Isabella bellowed and stood aside.

He heard Isabella speaking to Bijou. "Daughter, oh my sweet girl, what has befallen you?" Then another animal howl. "My sweet girl, no, no, no."

Gideon stopped at the splintered door, panning his gaze over the crowd. "I have cast the corpse of Piolin into a gentle repose. She is not to be molested. She is proof against the dark arts. Her lesser self is not to be bound. It lies to-"

Lavinia burst through the crowd and leapt into his arms. He staggered back, caught himself, and hugged her. She cried into his neck, and he comforted her as best he could. "I'm so sorry," she said over and over again in a tiny, sad voice.

He shushed Lavinia and staggered through the crowd holding her. The crowd parted for them, clamoring to get out of their way. There were a few more loose ends for him to tie up while he had wind in his sails. Downstairs human, black suited guards corralled everyone still around. Near one of the poker tables Lucy clung to her father.

Although, he doubted the non-kindred could see his anima, they must have felt it. Even downstairs he had a bubble of cleared space wherever he went. He disengaged himself from Lavinia and set her down in one of the chairs at Lucy's table.

"Gideon, what the hell?" Lucy asked, her baby blues piercing Gideon's heart despite all the shit he'd just gone through.

Despite himself, she made a smile creep across his face, even if it departed as soon as it came. He came over to her and gave her a hug, resting his head on her shoulder for a second. When he lifted his head, he placed a single kiss on her forehead. "Later." She opened her mouth to say something more, but Gideon put a finger on her mouth. "You can suck it if you want? No, I didn't think so."

He took the matte black box out from his pocket and held it up. Thinking better of it, Gideon got up on the poker table. Everyone including Isabella was looking at him. That was, except for Bijou, who wasn't around.

"By my name, I'll strike down anyone that tries to take this from its rightful owner without permission from that owner. Are you all fucking clear on that point?" He looked around the room, lingering for several breaths on Isabella. Most nodded when his dark eyes settled on them. It took quite awhile.

"Yes, there's an angel's feather in here and a necklace of noblest metal." It opened at his command. "I add to this my love for this woman." He pointed down at Lucy. "A childish love of my lesser self, but a love none the less." He felt something heavy disgorge itself from his soul. He snapped the box closed. "I hereby cede my three greatest treasures to Lucy Gabriel Anandale." He dropped down from the table and handed the box to Lucy. "Do with this what you will; I don't give a fuck anymore."

"I am resigning from the tournament." He turned to Lucy's father. "Harold, you have the love of your daughter. Enjoy tonight. You will win the tournament, I have no doubt." He cast around at the crowd.

"You would break the rules you agreed to?" Isabella called from upstairs.

He pointed up at her, "You'll address me as your majesty. I think it's pretty clear I'm your better."

Isabella glared at him and chose to remain silent on the matter.

"I do not actively influence the outcome of the tournament, but after tonight Harold will never gamble again. None here can alter either fact."

Gideon laid a heavy hand upon Harold's shoulder. Lucy watched with a weird expression on her face. "Harold, if you gamble again after tonight, I will smite you. Take tonight's winnings and do something good with your fucking life."

He gathered up Lavinia. Together they stumbled back through the room to the grand foyer and went outside. He yawned. Lavinia's tears had dried up to just a few occasional sniffles and hiccups. He found her car without needing to try. He just walked up to a car, and it was hers. It was a Tesla, and because neither of them felt like driving, he had the car do it.

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Post Script.

Not everyone dies, but not everyone lives. I am glad you choose to stay with me. You are why I write.

What keeps me motivated writing long into the night when I should be sleeping, is your comments. High ratings make me happy, but your feedback makes me even happier.

To this end, if I get 20 comments on this chapter, I'll release a teaser for the next chapter in the comments. I got 90 votes last time. So if less than a third of you who vote include a comment, then viola!

Yours,

KK

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