Sex is a Job Description? Ch. 14

Eventually, the throngs and masses of slaves were distant entities and they came across a long, vaulted hallway illuminated by huge crystals emitting light from the ceiling. The stone walls were decorated with colorful tapestries of varying designs and sizes. Along both sides of the hallway ran sets of double doors, several of which were left wide open and their occupants either passed out on large beds or in the middle of lovemaking or sleeping.

Adze turned her head to Tom and leered suggestively.

"I may not be able to see it, but I know you're liking being a peeping Tom on all these bodies in motion." To that, Tom replied with a tight yank on her leash. She didn't waver however, and continued to leer at him.

At one of the doors, the servant produced a key from his pocket and unlocked it, pointing to the symbol that looked like a seven with two dashes through the center and a "U" below it.

"This is the number that marks your room. It is not embossed on the key, so you must remember it." He opened the doors and extended his arm to allow Tom to walk in first. Inside, the room looked like something out of a lavish castle in medieval Europe.

A massive bed dominated the opposite wall nearly thirty feet away, covered in red sheets and pillows resting all across the headboard that looked as if it were made of gold. The nightstands were styled like gnarled trees with flat discs resting on their tangled branches and made out of some kind of laminated material. Around the room were lamps that gave off a sort of dim light that extended across the room despite not being very bright.

The floor was covered by an enormous rug that was covered in multicolored designs of every kind. To the right was a passageway that the agent guessed went to other rooms, though judging by the size of this one he didn't think he'd be spending much time in them. To the left was a staircase that descended sharply downward from its entrance.

"This place is huge," Tom murmured in wonder.

"There is still more for you to see, honored guest. Follow me."

--- Shirakami-Sanchi, Japan ---

Haku sat up on her tatami mat and pulled her kimono up around her shoulders. Something strange had arrived at her small home in the mountains. It had been only a short while since the last human bound for Hell had left her home. Was this a creature of the forest who had come looking for a place to rest?

Standing, she pulled her kimono tightly around her and wound the thick sash around her slender waist. She made for the bamboo mat covering the doorway, but was taken aback when a hand pushed it aside abruptly and its owner stepped through the open space with snow flurries blowing in his wake. In her home now stood a man wearing the same clothes as the humans before, looking around curiously.

Haku grinned slyly. "You must be searching for your friends. Come in from the cold," she cooed, reaching out to the human to stroke his cheek.

He grabbed her hand and twisted her arm away from him sharply, bringing a pained gasp from her mouth. His eyes glimmered with an inhuman essence.

"Where is he, whore?" he growled, twisting Haku's arm even more sharply. The yuki-onna turned until her arm was behind her to avoid having it broken. She was abruptly forced to the ground and her head pushed against the floor. She struggled to summon the ice and snow from outside, but a knee in her back sent the air from her lungs.

She gasped for breath, and the human shook his head at her efforts.

"I asked you a question. Answer me."

"Where is who?" Haku breathed, tears filling her eyes out of pain. What was going on here? This was no human, his strength was evidence enough of that, even if she hadn't already seen his eyes. The human yanked her arm and Haku stifled a cry in pain. Her shoulder felt like it was going to be dislocated at any moment.

"The human who has met the love of my heart, the shining sun of my existence." The human pressed against her harder, causing Haku's ear to ring loudly.

"They went to Enderthris," the yuki-onna nearly shouted. She didn't know who the man on top of her was talking about, but all the humans had gone through to Enderthris. She didn't care if this one wasn't looking for the others that had come this way. She just wanted him out of here!

Seemingly satisfied, the human released her and quickly crossed the small room to the door that led into the mountain's depths. Haku just lay on the floor gasping for breath. The human disappeared through the doorway and left her alone again in her home with every thought in her mind centered around putting an icicle through his chest and pinning him to the roof of her cave.

The yuki-onna moaned in pain and sat up, drawing what little power she could from outside. Two long rivets of ice formed in her hands and she pushed herself to her feet wearily, her arm throbbing with pain. She entered the cave and raised her arms toward the human.

The two blades of ice sailed through the air toward the human.

He turned with his weapon drawn and shattered both of them with two flashes from its muzzle. A third flash made her hair stand on end as whatever power it possessed nicked her ear. She stood as still as the stones around her, unable to even breathe.

The human grunted and turned around. "Do not test me, whore. I will find Ceria and she will see how my heart has bled these long years without her. She will know the love that I possess for her is greater than Fentin's. You least of all will prolong my time away from her and the human who has broken his oath to me."

He continued into the mountain unhindered, and Haku fell to her knees trembling. She hugged her kimono to her body and stared into the fading darkness that grew before her. She resolved to finally make a request from the humans to send her a man like the one who had called her hime. She had never needed to stoop to asking the humans for a night of coupling, but tonight she thought it would be best to sleep after a good experience, not one like she'd just had.

She returned to her home after debating whether she would actually call the Annainin and have him deliver her request to the humans. Upon entering, she found her small abode with five more human similarly dressed as all the ones previous.

Haku smiled, glaring through the façade. "You must be here to follow the other humans as well," she said invitingly. She waved a hand to the door she had just come through. "They're a very long way ahead of you."

One of the men took out a device and put it to his ear. "Sir, yes sir, he's made it through already." A long pause. "She said 'a very long way ahead' sir. Yes sir." The man put away the device after closing it and turned to Haku.

"Yes?" she asked, allowing her kimono to slide just enough to reveal her shoulder.

"We apologize for the intrusion, ma'am. We'll see to it that any requests you send in for recompense will be met quickly and abundantly." He nodded and then bowed very formally. Haku sighed.

"Very well, you may leave."

"They're not going anywhere," said an authoritarian voice from outside, pushing the bamboo mat away from the doorway.

An older man with thinning hair and a stern frown on his face stepped in. He surveyed the scene and then crossed the room to where Haku stood. He looked her over and with gentleness she hadn't expected, slid her kimono from her shoulder and examined her bruised skin. He brushed a bit of dirt out of her hair and then wiped it from her garment.

"I'll have them sent home in the morning, Haku-san," he said as gently as his gruff voice could manage, which wasn't much less powerful than it had been when he was shouting outside. "Use them as you wish."

With no further information to give her, the man turned and left her home without so much as a glance to the five men he had just ordered to stay the night. Haku stood stunned for a few moments until the five men began to remove their weapons and undress slowly.

She raised her brow with intrigue. "Oh? This is interesting."

"You heard the Director," one of them said, assuming a position on the floor on his knees with his hands on his thighs. "We are at your disposal, Haku-san."

Maybe she wouldn't have to call the Annainin after all.