Forbidden Knowledge

Forbidden Knowledge

Decius V

In hindsight, it had been a foolish idea from the very start. Like so many such ideas, it began with a few drinks. They were in the common room of the Ivory Tower, a popular drinking spot near the Collegium, just off Regent's Square. Decius Capricius Sallax and his friend Gnaeus Avidius were up late one night, drinking Vestinian reds with Orosian Sarus, a brash young man from the provinces. The three of them slouched in their seats, several empty bottles on the table before them, and beckoned to the serving wench for another.              

"She's a pretty one," mumbled Gnaeus as she turned toward the kitchen. Decius nodded. She was tall and slender, with long black hair and green eyes. He knew from past nights of drinking at the Ivory Tower that she was good with her hands and tongue as well.

"You've never had her?" Sarus pressed, and Gnaeus shook his head. "When she comes back with our wine, take her upstairs. She's never one to refuse."

"Indeed," Decius said, sighing at his empty glass. The wench was taking too long already. "It has taken the luster off of her."

"Interested in the chase, Capricius?" Sarus teased. "You find serving wenches too easy?"

"I am interested in something new," Decius replied. He set his glass down and waited for the fresh bottle. "There are so many women in and around the Collegium, and I've already had them all."

"All?" said Gnaeus with surprise. "I doubt that."

"All that I can," Decius replied. "Some of the instructors have no interest in me. I would so love to bed an elf."

"Aye," Sarus agreed, "but the elves are a stuck-up lot. They would no sooner bed one of us mortal than you or I would fuck a dog."

"There are those who would," Decius protested. "I've heard many tales of men who lay with elves. It just so happens that by a struck of ill-fortune, none of those elves are here."

"They are at the emperor's palaces," Gnaeus put in. "I hear about it all the time. The emperor has elves in his harem."

"Well then," pronounced Sarus, "we shall just have to get an invitation to one of his orgies and see for ourselves. Decius, you're the highest born prick around here. How about you write your rich father and get us in?"

Decius scowled. The wench returned with the bottle and Gnaeus passed his eyes over her, but their minds had already moved on to greater conquests than easy tavern wenches.

"We are not going to get invitations to anything outside of a dormitory cell until we are long graduated from here," he grumbled. His path to power and luxury was long, but he had been convinced from an early age that he would reach the highest halls of power in his own time. But until then, it was tavern wenches, Collegium students, and the occasional courtesan when his allowance came through.

"I would love to fuck a nymph," Gnaeus murmured, uncorking the new bottle even as the previous ones told on his cheeks and in his slurred speech.

"And where will you find one of those?" demanded Sarus. "I can assure you that the emperor doesn't have any of those in his palace!"

"I didn't think he did," Gnaeus grumbled. "But once we are full sorcerers, we will travel and have adventures. I want to go to Diboria. I hear there are nymphs under ever rock and tree there."

Sarus snorted. "Men in Diboria only fuck their sheep and you'll understand why once you meet their women. If you can choose, get assigned to a province with culture and civilization. Like Patrassia!" He beamed at getting the opportunity to mention his homeland for only the ninth time that night. "Sostrum is most assuredly the second greatest city in Auria's Empire, and her star is still in ascendance. I find it likely that it will pass the Imperial City in time, especially once I return there to open my own Collegium."

Decius sighed and took the bottle from Gnaeus. He poured himself a glass and sipped as Sarus went on about his home city. The wine was rich in flavor, and its headiness threatened to overwhelm his already addled senses. But the night was growing late, and he was headed for his bed soon enough either way, so he drank the whole glass and poured another.

As he did, his thoughts turned to women. The tavern wench had disappeared into the back again, for the taproom was emptying and they were soon to close up for the night. Decius was resigned to having his bed to himself for the night, for neither Sarus nor Gnaeus struck his fancy. But he could not put women from his mind as he drank his wine.

"Tomorrow night," he said with a slight slur to his speech, cutting through Sarus' paean to Sostrum's gardens, "We will find ourselves some women." Sarus sat back in his padded seat and tapped one finger on his glass. "And not tavern sluts," Decius went on. "We will head down to the salons near the Imperial Palace, where the quality women drink. And, by the Gods, we won't come back until we've fucked some fine women!"

"It's fine women you want?" asked Sarus, sipping his wine. Decius could see the young man's cheeks were almost as red as the wine. "Or perhaps something more exotic? For I have an idea..."

"Exotic?" Decius echoed, painfully aware of how dull his drunken words sounded. "You're thinking of the Harbor Quarter? Or the Merchant's Quarter?"

Sarus smiled impishly. "More exotic than that. Tell me, fellow students of sorcery, what do you know about summoning?"

"Summoning?" Gnaeus echoed, now sounding as drunk and dull as Decius. "You mean..." his tongue failed him.

Sarus reached into his tunic and produced a piece of folded, yellowed paper. With one slightly ragged edge, it looked as if it had been torn from a book. With clumsy hands, he smoothed it out on the table between them. Decius leaned in to see better, for the Vestinian wine had left his vision somewhat blurry.

The lower half of the page was a thick text block written in the Amoeritic script, an ancient language from the distant land of Churax, whose progenitors had been skilled in demon lore. And above the text was a charcoal drawing of a woman. A beautiful woman. She had long legs, full breasts, round hips, and an ample ass. The illustrator had given her a sultry smile, one hand teasingly covering her sex as the other beckoned to the viewer.

But what most caught Decius' attention was the unfurled pair of bat wings behind her. In an arc above her head was written in Amoeritic "Azefiya, Lady of Desires." Besides an explanation of her name, there were instructions on how to summon and bind the demon to the summoner's will.

"A succubus?" Gnaeus asked slowly, and Sarus nodded, his eyes bright.

"I took this page from the Codex Erotica," the Patrassian said in a low whisper. "The authors of that tome compiled a list of all the lustiest demons that they summoned to pleasure them."

Decius nodded slowly, drinking in the sight of the woman. Sarus had offered them exotic, and she certainly fit the bill. He imagined the feel of her big tits in his hands, the softness of her skin, the folds of her cunt around his cock. He had never had a woman like that before.

Not a woman, he reminded himself. A demon.

"We are not yet full sorcerers," Decius protested. "We are not prepared to summon a demon of this power."

"Aye," Gnaeus added, "I've attended Augusti Gylaen's lectures on summoning and I've read Vallian's books, but I've never summoned anything, even an imp."

"I have," Sarus declared. "Last month, I attended one of Augusti Gylaen's demonstrations and we summoned a Wyrdman to ask it questions of the future. Besides, I hear he summons succubi to pleasure him all the time. And some of the other instructors join him."

"They are considerably more experienced than we are," Decius pointed out, but Sarus merely scoffed.

"How hard can it be?" he asked, and Decius felt himself flinch.

"Famous last words," Gnaeus muttered. Decius had to agree.

"Enki surely sat up at that and has begun concocting some horrible fate for us."

"Oh, listen to yourselves!" Sarus laughed. "This is nothing the three of us can't handle. We are three of the Collegium's finest sorcerers. A single demon like this will be as easy to control as a mortal wench."

"What will we do with her?" Gnaeus asked. Decius could not help but roll his eyes. The wine had really gotten to Gnaeus. Sarus seemed to think so as well. He turned an incredulous look toward Gnaeus.

"What do you do with any beautiful woman, Avidius? You fuck her!"

"Will we take turns?" Gnaeus asked slowly. Decius sighed in frustration.

"This ritual's instructions are complex," he screwed up his face in confusion. "I'm not fully sure I understand the script, or the sequence. And look at this! It requires one anqy of spice!"

"Is that a lot?" asked Gnaeus with genuine curiosity.

"Not at all," replied Sarus, but Decius was not so easily persuaded.

"I don't know how much it is. Some writings say it is about equivalent to three quarters of an ounce, while others treat it as equivalent to slightly more than two ounces."

"Well, surely it can't be both," replied Gnaeus.

"There must be a way to figure it out," Sarus added. "I think three-quarters of an ounce far too little for a ritual like this, it must be two."

"We can simply do it both ways," suggested Gnaeus, who was always willing to experiment. "First with the smaller conversion of three-quarters of an ounce, then again with two ounces if the first way fails."

Decius was not sure what would happen if the first ritual failed, but decided that would not persuade his friends.

"That is all well and good, but where will we get three ounces of spice? Have you thought of that, Sarus?"

Sarus frowned and sat back in his seat. "I have," he said, more subdued now. "My father provides me with a generous allowance of not only money, but spice."

Decius cocked an eyebrow. "How do you get it past the Arcani?"

Sarus smiled. "My father was born a merchant. He knows every smuggler's trick there is. I do not receive any parcel from home without him hiding at least a pinch of indigo spice in it somewhere. Trust me, Capricius, I am well-supplied."

Decius felt a bit of envy at that. His own parents were far richer than any provincial merchant, but even they would not chance trouble by smuggling their son spice in contravention of the Collegium's strict rules.

"Alright," Decius nodded, feeling already that he was making a mistake. "Where?"

"From his own suppliers," Sarus replied, and Decius groaned.

"No," Decius shot back with exasperation. "Where will we do this?"

"Oh," Sarus mumbled with evident embarrassment. "Well, we will have to do it off-campus somewhere. The instructors might sense the summoning otherwise. Perhaps in an inn room, or a brothel room... or if you know someone who has an apartment we could borrow..."

"What about the Crooked Crane?" suggested Gnaeus. "They have nice rooms for rent for the day, and it has a spice den in the cellar, so the smells won't alert anyone."

"Perfect!" Sarus cried, slapping Gnaeus on the back. In his drunken state, he swung his hand with more force than intended and knocked the other man into the table. However, Gnaeus was drunk too, and hardly seemed to either notice or feel the pain.

"Then it's decided!" Sarus beamed. He slapped a hand onto the table, folded the page, and put it back into his tunic. "One last drink? After that, I am headed back to my cell for the night."

They drained the bottle and stumbled out into the street and back to their cells, dreams of mastering and bedding a demon running through their drunken minds.

---

The sober clarity of the next morning provided the first opportunity to disavow their plan. It had been made late at night and only after several bottles of strong wine. Surely, they would not stick to it now? Stealing spice from Collegium stores to summon demons for a lustful romp was too far beyond the usual degree of mischief and deviance expected from students of the Collegium.

And if they were looking to wet their cocks, courtesans would prove not only the safer option, but the cheaper one as well. A summoning ritual would require no small amount of spice, which traded at three times its weight in gold at the Guild's price and only a little less among the smugglers.

Decius rose to find his valet gone, likely busy with some errand he had assigned the day before. He dressed and washed himself before eating a lonely meal in the dining hall. It was already mid-morning, and everyone else had eaten. Outside, the Collegium was already in the full swing of the day. He hurriedly devoured a plate of cheese and salted pork before rushing to the East Hall where Augusti Gylaen was giving his lecture on demons.

The elf sorcerer stood before a small audience in the East Hall, drawing on a chalkboard. The elf was tall and thin. He wore his long black hair up in an intricate series of braids, and his gray robe was dusted with chalk. Decius could tell from the state of the audience that he had been speaking for quite some time and likely nearing the end of his lecture.

He saw Sarus and Gnaeus seated toward the front of the hall. Obviously they had recovered from their night of drinking more easily than he had.

The elf dusted off his hands as he completed his latest diagram and turned back to those seated. He did not seem to notice Decius' late arrival.

"Now, the most important thing to remember about summoning is this: Demons will always try to find purchase in the mortal realms. While mortals will find the demon's home utterly inhospitable, demons will thrive in the mortal realms if given the opportunity. For this reason, any sorcerer trafficking with demons must be cautious to an extreme. Demons are ever cunning when it comes to persuasion and seduction. They offer promises of power, wealth, desire--whatever they think the summoner finds enticing--in order to secure their place in the mortal realms. Always be on guard against this."

A murmur went through the audience, heads nodded in concurrence. Gylaen looked over them once to ensure that he had been understood, then clapped his hands.

"Very well. That brings us to the end of today's lecture. It is almost midday, and I find myself hungry. I will be in the North Library for another lecture in the mid-afternoon. Until then, Gods keep you."

The augusti gathered up his things and left, paying little attention to those who wanted to ask him further questions. The lecture hall began to empty out and Decius made his way against the flow of the crowd toward his friends, at least until he saw them exit through another door.

He followed them through the crowd to their usual spot on the campus green. In the shadow of the Collegium's Tower, they seated themselves against a low wall. Decius felt his hands quiver. It was time to disavow their plan.

Sarus turned toward him, an eager smile on his face. "The augusti's lecture was most fortuitously timed," he said in a rush. "A pity you missed it, Capricius, for I had hoped to entrust the summoning to you. After all, you are the strongest of us."

Decius was surprised at the compliment. Usually Sarus acknowledged no equal. So taken off guard was he that he lost the use of his tongue and surrendered initiative in the conversation to the others.

"I still think Decius should speak the words," said Gnaeus. He cast a look around them for any eavesdroppers, then spoke again in a lower voice. "And certainly he should draw the symbols, for he has the steadiest hands."

"Indeed he does," Sarus agreed with a nod. "But fear not, we will guide you on the way. Gylaen will not speak on demons for another week, and I am not a patient enough man to wait that long."

"Ah, yes," Decius said, finally regaining the power of speech, "On that matter. Would it perhaps not be wise to wait? We are only three students of sorcery, and these conjurations are a difficult matter for even an augusti like Gylaen."

"Are you getting cold feet already, Capricius?" Sarus teased. "I had thought you patricians made of sterner stuff than this."

"We are relying on you, Decius," Gnaeus protested. "Come on, we will manage." He gave Decius an encouraging smile. Decius was honored by his friends' faith in him, but the whole endeavor still had the air of disaster about it.

"I..." Decius' words failed him. His friends looked at him with expectations of greatness, and he could not disappoint them. He decided to try a different approach. "We still don't have the spice."

"That's an easy matter," Sarus proclaimed with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Come on, let's go see my man."

Without waiting for Decius to reply, Sarus stood up and headed west toward the edge of the campus. Decius followed after a pause, not sure why.

They crossed the campus through crowds of Collegium students and instructors, all going merrily about their day. The students were busily engaged in their chatter about either the study of sorcery or just the everyday concerns of life. Sarus passed easily through them and out the gates at the edge of the Collegium's campus.

The Collegium had long since overgrown the bounds of its walls, and the streets just beyond the official edge were crowded with taverns, bookstores, tailors, and other businesses oriented toward the students. The three of them passed disinterestedly by them, heading for the Green Quarter beyond it.

The Green Quarter was a bustling trade district that had grown up only in the last decade. The artisans and merchants who lived there had little patience for students and their rowdiness, so the sight of the three obvious students drew a few annoyed stares.

"What are we doing here, Sarus?" Decius asked. He slid up beside his friend and tried to shut out the stares. While the stares did not bother him in the least, he did acknowledge that the three students had no reason to be in the Green Quarter.

"We are visiting my man," Sarus replied easily. "I can't keep the stuff on the campus, the Arcani are everywhere."

The mention of the emperor's spies and mage-slayers caused Decius to reflexively look around for any signs that they were being watched or followed. An old innkeeper glowered at the three of them, no doubt imagining that they were up to no good. Two doors behind him, a potter looked up from her wheel to shake her head disapprovingly at him, then returned to her work. They passed in front of a drover, urging his ox forward with a cart laden with hay in tow, and the man in the cart scowled at them blocking his path. There were plenty of unfriendly looks, but none looked like spies.

Even spies do not look like spies, or else they would be poor spies, Decius thought. Decius cared little for the glowering Green Quarter denizens, however, and followed Sarus into an alley between two buildings so new that the masons were still at work in their upper levels.

Sarus passed through a narrow door and into the backroom of a shop. Its shelves were bare, though two crates were stacked in one corner. Beside the door they had entered through, only one simple door led out of the windowless room. Decius felt uneasy, almost as if they were in the jaws of a trap.

"What is this place, Sarus?" Decius asked, but before Sarus could respond, they heard heavy, booted footfalls in the hallway just outside. The door pushed open and in walked a dwarf in a thick robe, something odd in the Imperial City's warm climes. Around his waist was a wide belt of gold braid from which hung an ornate dagger in its sheath. Like most of his kind, he had a long beard that hung from his chin to his waist, but above that he was nearly bald. His face was wrinkled, and his thick hands gnarled with age, but not from work. The dwarf stopped at the sight of them. He thrust his hands into his wide belt and leaned back in consideration.

"Good day, Master Drekker," said Sarus. "These men are my friends."

"Hmm," the dwarf replied. His eyes narrowed under a jutting brow. "Hardly."

"You think them false?" Sarus replied with veiled hostility.

"I think them hardly men," Drekker replied with a cold stare. "I told you not to bring others here."

"They won't talk," Sarus tried to reassure the dwarf. His hostility had vanished, and Decius now perceived that his friend was concerned that the dwarf would not deal with them.

"Who is this dwarf, Sarus?" Decius asked. He raised his hands in greeting to the dwarf, hoping to calm rising tempers. "You have not been hiding friends from us, have you?"

"We are not friends," Drekker replied. The dwarf's eyes did not narrow, and his face showed no sign of hostility, merely cold indifference to the three young men in his shop.

"I suppose not," Sarus muttered. "He is my banker."

"Banker is a fine term to put on it," the dwarf agreed. "It carries a respectable air, and respect is so hard to come by in this city."

Obviously, the dwarf did not live the same life as Decius, who hurried his friends along to their business.

"We have come to make a withdrawal," he prompted, and Sarus nodded.

"Aye, I need some spice, Drekker."

The dwarf kept a silent, suspicious eye on the three of them for a long moment, his fears not fully assuaged. Then he asked, "How much?"

Sarus fumbled in his pocket and pulled out the page from the ritual book. As he held it up to read, Drekker's eyes locked on it in interest, almost as if he could see the sketch of the naked succubus through the back of the paper.

"One... anqy... of spice," Sarus said slowly. He turned to Decius and shrugged.

"What's an anqy?" the dwarf asked with slight impatience, and Sarus shrugged again.

"It's an old unit of measurement. The ritual page is old," he protested, "It wasn't written for us!"

"Well," Drekker said coolly, "whenever you young lads find out what it is, come back and let me know. Until then..." he turned to leave.

"Do not be so hasty, Drekker," Sarus called after he before he could leave the room. "We need three ounces."

The dwarf stopped and the door and looked back over his shoulder. He let a long look linger on Sarus, then nodded.

"Three ounces it is. I will be right back."

"I don't think he likes us very much," muttered Gnaeus after the dwarf had gone.

"Drekker is afraid of the Arcani," replied Sarus. "He sees them in every shadow and around every corner. They and the Spicers' Guild. He fears being taken in for smuggling."

"Perhaps this is not the best occupation for someone so afraid," Decius suggested dryly. "I would have thought a black-market dealer to be made of sterner stuff."

Heavy boots on the bare floors announced Drekker's return. The dwarf carried a heavy ledger and a small wooden vial. He handed the vial to Sarus, then marked the withdrawal in his book. With a firmly set jaw he slammed the book shut.

"All done," he pronounced. "I will send word to you of where to next find my shop. And don't bring these two next time."

"You're closing up shop?" Sarus exclaimed in surprise. "Why?"

"You've led these two to my door!" the dwarf growled. "Who knows who else followed you, or what these two will say when they're next deep in their wine. You're lucky your family and mine are linked, or else I would not tell you where to find me. But if you keep bringing strangers to my shop, I'll cut you off and keep your deposits. Now get out!"

Somewhat sheepishly, the three of them shuffled out of the shop and collected themselves in the alley. Above them, the building's masons hammered and chiseled away in the upper floors.

"He was more than worried," Gnaeus said after a long silence.

"He'll come around," Sarus said with a shrug. Shaking off the dwarf's chastisement, he held up the vial. "We've got the spice we need now. Come on, we'll pick up my scribing kit from my insula and then to the Crooked Crane!"

On the way to the inn, Decius found himself wondering if this was worth it. They could buy themselves a fine courtesan for three ounces of gold and save themselves the danger of getting caught or having something go wrong. He knew where to find the most beautiful of them, down between the Victor's Forum and the Pleasure Palace. The courtesans owned a columned street where they lived and worked in the apartments above, descending to the cobblestones to hunt for clients, drink, gossip, and carry out the errands of life. Nights there, he knew from experience, were always expensive but always worth it.

Yet when he thought about it, the danger of their current project was what appealed to him. What better way to demonstrate their mastery of magic than by summoning and binding a demon to serve their basest whims? He smiled despite himself, thinking of the pleasures to come.

---

The Crooked Crane's common room paid little attention to the three of them, being more used to the comings and goings of students. The Crane stood on Cypress Hill, a short distance from the Collegium's campus, and its taproom was popular with the more adventurous students looking for a reprieve from campus life. While most of its clientele were local tradesmen and traveling merchants, the Crane hosted regular student drinking nights and Decius was well-known to the proprietor.

Decius' small party had rented a corner room on the third floor overlooking the inn's small garden. From there, they could still hear the sounds of the street--the clattering of carts, the barking of hawkers, and the ever-present chatter of people going about their business--which they hoped would cover the sounds of summoning and the fucking that would follow.

Their room was small, and the three of them immediately set about moving the two beds to one side to create space for a summoning circle. Looking around, Decius was less impressed with the Crane's accommodations than he remembered. The plaster was worn away in three places, exposing the brick beneath. The wooden floorboards left slight gaps between them, though thankfully the room beneath them appeared to be unoccupied. Still, the sounds of the common room below it filtered up through the floorboards, making Decius feel uncomfortably exposed.

However, his friends did not feel the same way. Gnaeus sat on the edge of one bed, hands on his knees and eyes wide. Sarus set a full length mirror across from the bed, then turned to Decius

"Alright," he said quickly, rubbing his hands together with excitement, "that's enough preparation. Let's get this started." He pushed the torn page from the ritual book into Decius' hands.

Decius looked at it with a frown. Wisdom still warned against this.

"What's the matter?" asked Gnaeus. Sarus stepped closer, spreading the page out for Decius' benefit.

"Come on, Decius," he urged, "Look at her. Azefiya, Lady of Desires... What more could a man ask for? Those legs, those eyes, those tits... This will be a night that every student at the Collegium will envy!"

"And the instructors, too!" added Gnaeus. "They will all marvel at us for binding a demon to our will like this."

Decius sighed. It all seemed so dangerous. But his eyes were drawn to the sketch again. The succubus' body called to him. Her breasts were so voluptuous, her eyes so alluring--even as just a sketch in charcoal...

He knelt and held out his hand. "The pen, please," he intoned, and his friends beamed with excitement. Sarus handed over the whole scribing kit without delay, and Decius laid the inks, chalks, and styluses before him. He held up the ritual page again, studying its instructions, then took up a piece of chalk.

He began by scribing a circle around himself, then drew a five-pointed star with each point touching the circle at even intervals. Within each of the five sections between the circle and the star he carefully inscribed a verse of warding that would hold the demon.

First was the spell of summoning, second the spell that would hold the demon in their world. Third came the spell that would compel obedience, fourth was a spell commanding her to do no harm to her masters, and lastly was the spell that bound the succubus to return to the Dark Realms when commanded to.

When all the spells were inscribed in chalk and inked over in ink mixed with indigo spice, Decius stood up and stepped back from the circle. Together, the three of them carefully inspected their inscriptions, wary of any slightly misplaced letter or incomplete rune that might unravel the whole binding with disastrous results.

"It's perfect," Sarus breathed with anticipation. "Let us begin the summoning!"

Sarus held out a small clay bowl filled with indigo spice--one anqy, or as near as they could judge the archaic unit of measure. Decius took the bowl and placed it in the center of the star, then planted a stick of incense upright in the spice. Sarus lit a match.

As he reached for the incense, Decius caught his hand. "Wait," he commanded, then knelt and corrected a miswritten rune he had just noticed. "That could have been disastrous," he said as he stood again. Not for the first time, he felt that the enterprise was unnecessarily flirting with calamity.

"All good?" asked Sarus, eager to begin the summoning. Decius looked nervously over the circle one last time and then nodded. Sarus lit the incense with alacrity.

"Now, Decius!" he urged as he stepped back and shook out the match. "Say the words!"

Reading from the torn page, Decius intoned the words of summoning in as clear and authoritative a voice as he could muster. The Amoeritic script was still unfamiliar to his tongue and every word felt stilted and heavy. His voice reverberated in the smoky air of the little room. As he spoke, he felt a growing otherworldly presence. The incense stick burned low until it touched the spice, which flared up and blazed in the clay bowl.

The fire rose higher than the small amount of fuel in the bowl seemed to allow. It seemed to drink the light from the room. A thick smoke, dark in color, billowed up from the bowl. Decius found himself nearly blind, the smoke filled his mouth and nose, and his incantation stuttered. He coughed, aware that any imperfection in the spell might ruin it. Worse, he might cause the summoning to go awry and conjure the demon outside the circle intended to bind it. A demon on the loose would cause no small amount of destruction, as well as great embarrassment to himself and his friends.

His vision was now almost totally obscured by the choking smoke and suddenly the otherworldly presence felt stronger. Somewhere in the smoke, he heard Sarus inhale sharply. At last coming to the end of his incantation, Decius waved a hand at the smoke before him. It was no use. Like trying to clear away water when under the surface of a river, the smoke flowed around his hand and back to where it at come from and he remained blind.

Then he heard a voice. Sweet and sultry, it purred to him from close by, though the source was hidden in the billows.

"What's this?" the voice was unmistakably feminine but still sent a shiver down Decius' spine. "Mortals playing with something they do not understand? Most amusing..."

Deep and melodic, the voice gave Decius the sensation of a serpent coiling around his bare leg. A hot breath passed over him, blowing away the smoke as it did. Through the dissipating fumes, he saw a woman's face.

The lines of her face were just as beautiful as in the charcoal sketch, but her skin--a rosy, pale complexion that put the most beautiful of the emperor's concubines to shame--had not been done justice by the old and yellowed paper. Her eyes burned with infernal lust as they settled on Decius. The smoke thinned, seeming not to billow out through the window or sink through the floor but to just fade away into nothingness, and Decius felt himself swallow at the sight it revealed.

The succubus, for she truly could be nothing else, stood nude before him. Her bust was impossibly wide and her waist impossibly narrow, and unfurling behind her were a pair of great leathery wings like those of a bat. A luscious mane of copper hair fell to that wasp waist, where sprouted a sinuous tail that flicked back and forth behind her with teasing anticipation. She looked from Decius to his friends in turn and her lips curled upward in a lascivious smile, baring two sharp white fangs on her upper jaw.

She stepped forward, cupping one full breast with a soft hand, and reached out the other toward Decius' face. He unconsciously drew back. The smell of spice clung to her like a pleasant perfume, but something else in her scent was utterly alien.

Yet she did not wholly repel him. Instead, he felt a powerful lust in him that quickly overwhelmed his revulsion and he drew closer to her. With a teasing smile, she raised her hand to him again and touched his cheek.

A mighty shudder went through Decius. He felt his hairs and cock stand up on ends as her hand ran down his cheek, then his neck, and plucked at the collar of his tunic.

"For what purpose have you three summoned me?" the demon purred again, sliding around to stand behind Decius. As he stood speechless, she embraced him from behind, her big tits pressing softly into his back. She rested her chin on his shoulder and whispered into his ear. "What purpose might three lusty young lads in an inn room have for the Lady of Desires?"

Decius swallowed again, but Sarus eagerly answered her.

"We desire you, O Lady. I have studied the demon lores and found your name listed among the chiefest fulfillers of desires."

"Your books read true," replied Azefiya, Lady of Desires. "For eons, I have been called to answers the desires of those who traffic in the Dark Realms. But what of me?" She turned a haughty, alien eye upon the three of them now. "What of my desires?"

"You are commanded to obedience," Sarus countered brashly, and Azefiya swished her tail in disappointment. Her wings folded over her and shielded her naked body from their lustful stares.

"I should hope you do not know command mortal women in such a way," she replied coolly. "I answer the summoning, but I am no pet." She stepped closer to Sarus and extended one long, delicate hand from behind her wings. Cupping his chin, she dug in her nails just enough to draw a slight gasp from Sarus. "We immortals have long memories."

"Apologies, Lady of Desires," Decius stammered, finding his tongue at last. "My companion meant no offense. We are merely three young men in the prime of life who have grown bored of mortal pleasures."

Azefiya smiled. "And you come to me expecting immortal pleasures?"

"Just a taste," asked Decius, his eyes wide with hope. Azefiya's mouth quirked in amusement, then she unfurled her wings to let them see her naked body once again.

"Disrobe," she commanded with an imperiously pointing finger. The three men stood speechless, momentarily unable to comprehend that they had at last arrived at their journey's destination. Azefiya took a step toward them and realization set in. All at once, they began to strip. In short order, three hard cocks were swinging stiffly in the smoky, spice-scented air of the inn room.

Azefiya stepped in between the three of them, her wings pushing outward to separate them from each other. Her hands, long-fingered and delicate at the end of slender arms, caressed them around their shoulders, then down their naked flanks until she at last laid hands on their cocks.

Decius shuddered again, his bare toes curling on the floor. Her touch delighted him in ways that no mortal woman ever had and he clenched to keep from coming right then and there.

Sarus did not have such fortitude, and his cock spurted a line of cum onto the succubus' leg almost as soon as she touched him. She smiled, revealing her fangs again, and dabbed a finger at her leg.

"Apologies, my lady," said Sarus with a slight stammer. His cheeks reddened with embarrassment, but he fought it mightily.

"Give me a few moments to recover. I will not leave you wanting."

"Of that I have no doubt," she whispered and leaned in close. A long, forked tongue flicked out from between her white teeth and caressed his cheek. "I shall not leave you wanting either."

She sank to her knees between them, taking Decius and Gnaeus each in her hand. She stroked both of their cocks at once, admiring them up close with her smoldering red eyes. Decius shuddered again as she brought her hot lips close to him and kissed his cock head. Slowly, she slid him into her mouth, and he felt the fork of her tongue cradling his cock as she ran it along the bottom of his shaft.

Gnaeus' cock twitched in her hand and Decius could see that he too was struggling to avoid Sarus' error. But his friend mastered himself and laid a hand on the succubus' head. Slowly, he stroked Azefiya's copper hair.

Azefiya murmured something in an eldritch tongue, her speech stifled by the cock filling her mouth. Decius felt something stir deep within him as he looked down at her. She seemed to sense his gaze, for she turned her face toward him, her red smoldering eyes blazing as she sucked his cock.

Then, with a teasing smile, she pulled his cock out of his mouth and turned her attention to Gnaeus. The other man gasped as she took him in her mouth. He threw his head back to stare at the ceiling as the succubus descended on his cock to the base. Her long, sinuous tongue wrapped around his cock, coiling and sliding along each inch. Decius watched jealously as she sucked his friend, affording him only the pleasure of stroking him with her deft, soft hands.

Any other time, he would have been happy to settle for her lovely touch, but after experiencing the ecstasy of her mouth, he could think of nothing else. Azefiya turned from Gnaeus to Sarus, whose cock was quickly stiffening again. She swallowed him until her nose drove into his belly, then looked up at him and gave him a wink. All three men shuddered as one.

She stroked two men and sucked the other, switching all too quickly between whose cock was fortunate enough to receive her lips and tongue. As she came to Decius again, he felt his cock pulse with pleasure. She was unlike anything he had had before.

"Don't stop," he begged.

"I must," the succubus replied, "Any longer at that and you would lose your seed as well. Trust me, I know the ways of pleasure well. A little time to learn my touch will help you master your cock."

She turned her attention to his friends again. The succubus alternated between the three of them, sucking one cock while she stroked the others and torturing them all on the edge of pleasure for what seemed like an eternity.

At last, Decius could take it no longer.

"I want to fuck you," he gasped. Azefiya raised her head and stared up into his eyes, still stroking a cock in each hand.

"To the bed," she commanded his friends. They eagerly obeyed and seated themselves on the edge of the room's little bed. Cocks standing erect, they stroked themselves in anticipation as she stood before them and bent at the hip to resume sucking their cocks. Her luscious round ass she presented to Decius, her feet set to receive powerful thrusts. He was happy to oblige.

Despite his eagerness, he approached her cautiously, watching her tail flick back and forth behind her. The sight of her sex before him sent a hot shiver through him. Holding his cock in both hands, he pressed it against her lips.

Her skin was warm and silky smooth. He slipped into her sex with ease, as if it had been made just for his cock. Unconsciously his hands gripped her by the hips and he began to thrust himself into her as if he had practiced for it all his life.

She made fucking easy. Her tail embraced him, caressing him along his legs as he pumped his hips into hers. Azefiya moaned around a mouthful of cock, her big breasts swinging freely underneath her frame. Decius rolled his eyes back into his head, unable to believe the sensation he was experiencing.

He fucked her hungrily. His hands clawed at her, squeezing her breasts, pinching her nipples, and spanking her plump ass. His eyes fixed on her, barely even noticing his watching friends. Their eyes were also fixed on her as she sucked them, barely noticing her swaying on her feet with each of Decius' thrusts. Gradually, though, their eyes were drawn from her mouth and tongue to the rippling in each ass and they began to want more.

"I want to feel her," Sarus declared, and pulled Azefiya close to him. She came off Decius' cock, and he felt the throes of pleasure subside. He stood stupid in the middle of the floor and watched Sarus pulled the succubus into his lap and settle her on his cock. They embraced, then kissed, and she began to ride him in his lap.

She bent forward, pressing Sarus down against the bed to lie atop him. In doing so, she presented her asshole to Decius, and he seized the opportunity. He stepped closer and laid one hand on her waist. Gnaeus watched with fascination as Decius slipped his cock into the succubus' tight asshole. A shudder ran through his whole body. He felt as if his heart was about to beat out of his chest.

Azefiya moaned and Decius felt her shudder as well. Slowly, he began to thrust into her, feeling Sarus' cock through the walls of her purse. The two of them pulsed together, straining not to come already. Gnaeus gave her a slap on her ass, and Decius felt the blow with his cock.

The two of them began to pump harder, shaking her between them. Gnaeus stood up on the bed with his cock in his hand, then reached down and grabbed Azefiya by her long hair. He pulled her up to his cock and shoved himself down her throat. Moaning with pleasure, the succubus took him to the base, three cocks thrusting eagerly in and out of her with wild abandon.

Motion to one side reminded Decius that they had arranged a mirror for this purpose. He turned to look at the four of them and felt himself smile. She was gorgeous, and even more erotic in the act of pleasuring three cocks at once. She caught his reflection's eye and winked, her mouth still full of cock, and Decius felt his toes curl as he fought the urge to come.

"Fuck her," Sarus gasped from beneath her, and Decius realized that he had stopped thrusting. "Fuck her harder!"

Decius resumed his thrusting. Gnaeus was feeling the lust as well, and forced the succubus down on his cock, hoping she would gag.

"Suck it, girl," he hissed, but Azefiya was skilled in the arts. She breathed through her nose instead, at least until she realized what he wanted from her. Then she coughed, gagged, and spat out his cock in a spray of spittle.

"Nystra's cunt," Gnaeus gasped. "I want to fuck you now!"

"Switch with me," Sarus demanded. He lifted Azefiya off his cock and crawled out from underneath her. Decius lifted her off the bed, his cock still pumping into her ass. She was heavy in his arms, but he could not bear to let her go. The succubus turned to look him in the eye.

"Such a strong young lad you are," she crooned, her lips brushing against his. "Hold me."

Decius did so, clutching her close to his chest while he bounced her on his cock and his friends traded places. Gnaeus lay on the bed now, his head crooked awkwardly forward to stare down the length of his naked body--and over his hard cock--at Decius and the succubus. Sarus stood on the bed to Gnaeus' right with both hands on his cock.

"Stop being greedy, Decius, and let us fuck her."

Sarus took Azefiya by the arm and together he and Decius lowered her onto Gnaeus. Decius was proud that he stayed inside her the whole way. As the succubus settled onto Gnaeus, the young man's eyes rolled back in his head. He shuddered, then went nearly limp.

"I think you killed him," Sarus said with a chuckle.

"Oh dear," Azefiya mused. "Well, more of me for the two of you!"

"Over my dead body," said Gnaeus, coming back to life. He clapped his hands around her waist and thrust himself up into her with a lusty growl. Azefiya laughed, her tits heaving, but Sarus muffled her humor with a cock in her mouth. His friends satisfied, Decius resumed his fucking.

Azefiya bounced on Gnaeus' cock, her hands clawing at his chest and stroking the cock in her mouth with glee. Decius fixed his attention on her ass, merrily pounding away. His cock was ever on the verge of orgasm, but he had immersed himself in her so much that he no longer felt it. He existed in a state of perpetual near orgasm, and exulted in it.

They fucked for what seemed like hours, until Gnaeus broke the spell again.

"I want her ass," he gasped, nearly smothered by the big breasts in his face. Again, they lifted and turned her, though this time Decius was forced to pull out of her ass for the first time in gods only knew how long. When the three of them had settled her on Gnaeus' cock, Azefiya spread her legs wide to let Decius see the cock slide into her.

Her wet, rosy purse called to him. It was a siren call greater than any woman's call had ever been, yet Decius stood stupid again as he watched her slide up and down on his friend's shaft. Sarus pumped himself into her mouth, the motion of both men making her big breasts shake.

Azefiya raised one long hand and pulled Sarus from her lips. She turned her beautiful face toward Decius and cocked an elegant eyebrow.

"Why do you just stand there? Does a woman's purse frighten you? Perhaps you would prefer a man?"

Decius, shaken from his stupor, stepped forward and roughly thrust himself inside her, eliciting a cry of delight. She rolled her eyes back in her head, curled her toes, and threw her head back. Decius heard a slight cry of surprise as her long hair whipped Gnaeus in the face. He wound a hand through her hair and pulled her head back to look him in the eye.

"How do you like your man?" Decius growled, slamming his hips against hers. The slap of naked skin on skin resounded around their little room. Azefiya's mouth dropped open, she moaned a high-pitched whine, and then crooked an eyebrow at him.

"I love him, all three of him. They fuck me like men. I want--"

Sarus shut up her as he shoved his cock in her mouth again. The succubus whimpered with pleasure, and Decius slapped her on the hips. He and Gnaeus fucked together, alternating in and out as they pumped cock into the hungry demoness.

Azefiya stroked and licked Sarus, her burning eyes locked onto Decius as he panted with exertion. He realized now that his legs ached and his chest burned. How long had they been fucking?

The succubus gave him a wicked look and he felt his cock throb. She tightened around him somehow, and he could no longer control himself.

He came at last, spurting over and over into her welcoming cunt. He sagged on his feet, falling over her and knocking her onto Gnaeus beneath them. He heard his friend groan and realized that he had come as well. Only Sarus standing above them with his hard, wet cock flopping in the air, was still unsatisfied.

And Azefiya did not leave him wanting. She raised a hand and gripped his cock between her fingers. her other hand rose over Decius' prone, naked form and he saw her graze her fingertip along the bottom of his shaft, slowly and sensuously.

Sarus came. He spurted cum onto Decius' back and the bedsheets beside him with a mighty groan, then collapsed atop them on the bed. Decius felt the hot, sticky cum on him but lacked the spirit to complain. More than four bodies, they were all one hot mess.

The three of them lay panting on the bed for a long spell. The room, still smoky and heavily scent with spice and lust, hung still in the midday. Outside, they could hear the muffled noise of the street. Somewhere, a street hawker barked out an offer of an elixir that would give the imbiber the endurance of a champion stallion. Decius, his breath still coming short and his legs aching, thought such an elixir would be a godsend at that moment.

Yet Azefiya, fittingly for an unnatural incarnation of lust, showed none of their exhaustion. She sat between the three of them on the bed, her deft fingers tracing lines on their bare bodies as she teased their sensitive areas and touched her lips to theirs for gentle kisses.

"Exhausted so soon?" she teased. "I had such plans for you three."

"You are too much for me," Decius gasped. "But give me just a short rest and we will be back at it."

"Good," she beamed, leaning forward to put her head on his shoulder. "For there is so much more that I can show you."

"Is there now?" asked an intrigued Sarus.

"Oh yes," the succubus purred. "and so much more than just me. For instance, there is my mistress, my queen, who is known as Ibistryx. She is a mighty presence in the Other Realms, but she knows the arts of pleasure as well as any."

"Ibistryx," Decius repeated with interest. He had never heard of such a demon, though she was surely highly placed among the infernal prelates.

"She will make you scream with pleasure. Her touch is a sensation few mortals have ever experienced." The succubus raised her lips to his ear for a conspiratorial whisper. "Bring her into this realm, and she will satisfy your every desire."

Decius felt himself shiver with excitement at her words, yet it was not them that rang in his head, but those of the augusti Gylaen, "Demons will always try to find purchase in the mortal realms."

Gnaeus sat up.

"Every desire?" he asked, and Decius felt his fatigue vanish with a sense of general alarm. Gnaeus showed no such caution and drew closer to the succubus. "What more can she show us?"

"You have only to ask," Azefiya replied. She raised a hand to caress Gnaeus' hair, then pulled him close to whisper in his ear as well. "The knowledge you seek is contained within the Black Book of Sorcery. There you will find the secrets of summoning my mistress and together we will show you pleasures undreamed of."

"The Black Book of Sorcery..." repeated Gnaeus dully. Decius felt fear grip him. The augusti's words sounded again in his head like alarm bells. The demon worked fast. Her silver tongue had already ensnared his friends, how much longer could he resist her?

"I dismiss you!" Decius heard himself cry, and Azefiya snapped her head around to look him in the with two orbs that burned with betrayal. At once, she began to smoke and dissolve away, leaving only the red-hot coals of her eyes blazing in the smoky air.

"False friends," she hissed. "I only wanted to please you..."

Her eyes dimmed and vanished, leaving Decius alone with his friends.

"Why in Eldrin's name did you do that?!" Sarus demanded. "I was almost hard again!"

"You two sat through Gylaen's whole lecture and learned nothing!" Decius retorted. "Demons always try to find purchase in the mortal realms! She was using us!"

"And I was using her," retorted Sarus. "Her cunny was to die for..."

"And she promises that her queen is even better," Gnaeus added.

"I don't believe this," Decius snapped. "She is playing you two for fools."

He snatched up his clothes and began to dress.

"You're leaving?" Gnaeus asked, wounded. Decius nodded curtly.

"There's nothing more to be gained here. We're done, the succubus is gone."

"And whose fault is that?" Sarus asked bitterly as he sat up and reached for his shirt. Decius turned his eyes toward the summoning circle, then began to erase it by rubbing his foot through the chalk.

"Don't erase it!" cried Sarus. "We could summon her again!"

"Not for at least a day," complained Gnaeus. "I can barely feel my legs."

"I'm going back to my room," Decius replied sourly. "This whole thing was a mistake."

He turned and stalked out, leaving the others to shout at the closing door.

His mind was awhirl. He had never had a woman like Azefiya before, but that only made him more frightened. He had only barely been able to resist her after one fuck, would he be able to resist if they called her back? Would his friends summon her without him? He stopped at the bottom of the Crooked Crane's stairs and looked back the way he had come. Did he dare leave them alone?

The pair of them were exhausted and seemed uncertain of being able to recreate the summoning circle without him. He hoped that would be enough to keep them from making any foolish moves, and they were out of spice anyway.

Surely, they will beg me to join before they try anything, he thought, and headed out of the inn and back to the Collegium.

---

He buried himself in his books for the rest of the day and the day afterwards. It was a study day, and without any lectures to attend he hid himself away in the library with a heavy tome on demonology, specifically on banishing them. At last, hunger got the better of him and he ventured out to visit the dining hall.

It was dusk. He realized he had lost track of time in the bowels of the library. The dining hall was thronged by students going to eat at the usual mealtime, and Decius had to press his way through the crowd to get his meal in the kitchen. Though called the kitchen by the students, it was not in truth where the food was prepared. That took place in the real kitchen, whose ovens and slaves were hidden behind two double doors through which large platters and pots were frequently brought to replenish the dwindling stocks in the main room.

Two brick counters in the middle of the "kitchen" were embedded with jars that held dried fruits, fish stew, salted pork, and lentils. Decius ladled himself some of each along with a cup of wine and headed for the tables of the dining hall.

Now heading against the flow of people, he found the going difficult. Jostled, he nearly spilled his fish stew and offered some sharp words to man who had disturbed him.

"Harsh words from a rarefied mouth," his foe retorted and Decius saw that it was Fabius Cinereus Aeramen, a fellow bright star of the Collegium. Fabius was slender as a beanpole with a height to match and his steely gray eyes bored a contemptuous hole in Decius as they faced off. Behind Aeramen were a gaggle of his friends and co-conspirators that always followed him. The group of them stopped in the crowded hall and stared down Decius.

"And I should expect better poise from one such as you," Decius retorted. "You navigate the streets worse than an apprentice drover with a bottle of wine in him. Elbows in, head up, feet forward. Have you only just learned to walk?"

Fabius made to reply, but one of his snickering friends leaned in and whispered something in his ear. With a slight smile, he turned and they all headed into the kitchen. His face in a scowl, Decius pushed onward into the dining hall.

To his regret, he had arrived at the height of the dining hour. A cacophony of voices rising to the timbered rafters, discussing their studies, the gossip of the day, and plans for the coming night. To Decius' relief, he heard no discussion of anyone cavorting with demons in the upper floors of an inn.

The tables he navigated in search of a seat were as crowded as the kitchen had been, leaving no space for him. The dining hall was always crowded, and he saw others leaving through the double doors of the hall to sit and eat on the terrace outside. With no space available, Decius headed in the same direction.

"Decius!" he heard some call his name. Turning, he saw Sarus and Gnaeus crammed into a corner seat with two others as their table. Gnaeus cheerfully signaled to him and indicated a narrow space beside him. With a sigh, Decius picked his way between the benches to their table.

"Nice to see you," Sarus said as he stood over their table. The man's tone was cool, though Gnaeus was all smiles. "Are you going to take a seat, or are you too good for us now?"

With scowl, Decius jammed himself in between Sarus and Gnaeus on the bench.

"Where have you been all day?" Gnaeus asked cheerfully. His colored cheeks told Decius that the post-coital glow of bedding a succubus had still not worn off the young man. Also at the table were two frequent attendees of their drinking parties, Gnaeus Perspina, known by his second name to avoid confusion with the other Gnaeus, and Perspina's cousin Titus. The pair were both old money from vast estates near to the Imperial City.

From their looks, Perspina and Titus knew that they had been up to something, and Decius groaned internally. He had hoped to keep the secret.

"I hope you haven't been having some fun without us," Gnaeus teased.

"Far from it," Decius grumbled around a mouthful of fish stew. He reached for his wine cup and drank. The wine that the Collegium served was always watered down, and he wished for some stronger stuff. "I have been studying in the library."

"So have we," Sarus replied. He looked thoughtfully at Decius, who wondered how much the two newcomers knew about what had happened. "I looked up that name we were given," Sarus continued, "and I found something."

"Sarus has been telling us all about your afternoon at the Crooked Crane," said Perspina. "Color us intrigued."

"And interested in the second act," added Titus.

"Discretion," Decius chided with exasperation. "The instructors will not appreciate our unlicensed experiments and it would go a long way to keeping them hidden if you don't run your fucking mouth to anyone and everyone, Sarus!"

"Calm down," Sarus chuckled. "These two can keep a secret." He checked over his shoulder for any eavesdroppers at nearby tables. "Besides, we need spice for another summoning, and I can't bear all the costs."

"Can't, or won't?" Decius inquired and Sarus shrugged. "It doesn't matter, because there won't be a second time if I'm involved."

"See?" said Titus, "I knew they were lying. They'll talk all about it, but the moment we might witness it for ourselves, it's not happening."

"Shut up, Titus," Decius shot back. "We took a significant risk and are not about to do it again."

"What risk?" asked Sarus. "We dismissed her with ease. There's nothing to fear, Decius."

"Though we do appreciate your caution," Gnaeus put in. he turned to Titus and Perspina. "Decius checked our summoning circle thrice to ensure the demon would not escape. And when we were done, he banished her right away!"

"That sounds like every other woman I've bedded," Titus laughed. "As soon as you come, tell her to hit the streets and don't come back!" He and his cousin shared a ribald laugh, but Decius ate his lentils in silence.

"She was better than any other woman I've had," Sarus corrected. "The silkiest smooth skin, smoldering eyes, and the softest touch."

"And a forked tongue!" added Gnaeus.

"What about the tail?" asked Perspina, leaning in. "I've always wondered about the tail."

"I told you to buy that monkey on the docks," Titus teased. Perspina brushed him away, wanting to know more.

"It wasn't our thing," Decius replied simply. Perspina was disappointed.

"Perhaps it will be mine. When is the next summoning?"

"I told you, never," Decius countered, but Sarus protested.

"You worry too much, Decius. We handled it all with ease, and next time will be even easier! We know more now. And it is nearly the ascension of the Crown. The star signs are right for this, Decius! At no other time during the year is summoning creatures across the veil between worlds so easy."

"Really, Decius," Gnaeus pleaded, "what are you afraid of? That the demon will overpower us?"

"No," Decius admitted. "I fear ourselves. Demons persuade more than they overpower. Empires fall to hubris more than conquest."

"They fall to both," replied Perspina. "But there will be five of us now. All the better to overpower the demon if she tries anything."

"So, what do you say?" Sarus pressed, and Decius had to sigh. He had a feeling he was going to regret this.

"Alright. One more time."

"Good!" Sarus declared, his former coldness now vanishing and giving way to fear. "For we will be taking a step up."

He produced another yellowed page torn from a tome and slapped it onto the table.

"Ibistryx, Queen of the Dark Realms!" he proclaimed loudly. Decius shot him a stern look and looked around. No one at the nearby tables seemed to have noticed. Sarus crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. "Take a look," he said, pointing a finger at the page. Decius, sighing to himself, did.

Like the last page, this one written in Amoeritic, though instead of a ritual the text merely described the demon's position in the infernal hierarchy of the Dark Realms. The description was accompanied by a drawing of the demon in question and this was what made Decius' breath catch.

The simple sketch radiated power. The demon looked like a woman, with curves, tits, ass, and cunny like a woman, but with two short horns on her forehead and, mostly strikingly, six arms. She held all of them outstretched, shining out from the worn page like a terrible sunburst that both dared and welcomed men to brave her grasp.

But that was not the only thing that took his breath away and set his heart racing.

"That is a drevara," he breathed. "They are among the mightiest of all demons, certainly far above a mere succubus."

"Indeed," said Sarus proudly. "And we will master her and fuck her. Look at those hands! Why, she could stroke six cocks at once and take three more in her holes."

"We need to find five more people," Gnaeus agreed with an eager nod.

"You're mad," Decius gaped. "Summoning a drevara is like negotiating with a dragon. She'll eat us alive!"

"That's why we need more men," Sarus reassured him. "It's nothing to worry about, Decius. We'll find five more men, all skilled in magic, and she will be outmatched. Then we can fuck her madly to our hearts' content. Come on, think of the fun! Nine men, all bonded together by an experience that few in all the centuries have experienced. And we will prove to everyone our mastery of magic!"

"But first, we will need a bigger room," Gnaeus said, and Sarus nodded. "That little inn room was too small for the four of us. For ten, we will need something grand indeed."

"And that's where I come in, am I right?" asked Perspina with some amusement. Decius knew from past drinking parties that Perspina's residence occupied most of the second floor of a palatial insula just off campus. It was more than enough room for what they were proposing, though Decius still had reservations about the plan.

"Indeed," replied Sarus. "I can provide the spice for this, though we need more than last time."

"And an ample reserve in case we must fight her," Decius added, then realized that he was conceding too much and added "that is, if we do this at all. Which I am still opposed to."

"Of course, of course," Sarus reassured him with an unreassuring wave of his hand. "But really, Decius, you worry too much."

"Perhaps take that worrying to the library with you," said Perspina. "We need the ritual page."

"Where did this page come from?" Decius asked, stabbing a finger at the torn leaf on the table. He then turned it over to keep it from the eyes of anyone passing by their table.

"An old history of demons," said Sarus. "But a summoning ritual for a demon like this should be locked up."

"The summoning ritual for the succubus should be locked up as well. Where did you get it, Sarus?"

Sarus shrugged. "The library. Any sort of knowledge can be found there."

"Were you in the Tower again?"

Some time ago, Sarus had learned of a hidden entrance to the Library Tower, where the Collegium's more rare and dangerous lore was recorded. He and Decius had crept in there once to marvel at the store of lore, but when they had tried to return, they found that the entrance had been discovered by the library's custodians and sealed up. But their one brief visit to the Tower had kindled Decius' imagination and ambition. The things he might learn in there...

"Not exactly," Sarus replied evasively. "I have contacts who can find things there."

"Which contacts are these?"

"I'll not reveal them, lest my access be cut off like last time. But it doesn't matter, for they won't help us now. I asked for the ritual book, but my contact fears being caught. We will have to find it on our own."

"I don't suppose you know another way into the Tower, do you?" Decius asked, already knowing the answer.

"I am afraid not," Sarus replied. Perspina shrugged.

"Just take the key and go in the usual door. The augustii do it all the time."

"Oh, is that all?" Decius asked rather peevishly. "I'll just ask at the front desk if I might borrow the key to the most secure vault of knowledge in all the world so I can steal a tome of demon lore and summon a queen of the Dark Realms so that my friends and I can take turns fucking her in someone's apartment. I'm sure they'll say to go right on ahead."

"Surely you could muster up some subterfuge," Perspina grumbled.

"And we're not going to take turns," muttered Titus. "Six hands, three holes. We can all go at once."

"Shut up, Titus." Decius sighed. "I suppose this all falls to me again?"

The others looked down at their table and said nothing.

"I won't do it," Decius should have said. But Gnaeus lifted his eyes from the table to meet Decius' gaze.

"Please, Decius. We need you. Think of the fun we will have. You did it perfectly last time. You can do it again, and we can't risk it without you."

Sarus leaned close and surreptitiously gestured at the Perspina cousins. "We promised these two we would show them a real summoning," he whispered. "Don't leave them disappointed."

Decius was about to grumble something about being volunteered for dangerous duty, but then sighed to himself. Sarus and Gnaeus were right, they had done it perfectly before. Even as Decius lost his nerve, the banishing spell had worked instantly and without error. Was he being too timid to think it would not work again?

He liked the feeling of power he had experienced after summoning a demon of lust from the Dark Realms. He had exulted in her body as he fucked her. Now, looking at the page as he turned it over again, he stared at the sketch. Ibistryx, Queen of the Dark Realms. He could fuck that.

He and his friends could all fuck that. Her six arms called to him, her form so exotic, so alien, and yet so alluring. He wanted her.

"Alright," he said at last. "I'll do it."

"Wonderful!" beamed Sarus, and the other three lit up as well. "This page comes from one of Vallian's books called the Codex Umbra Rex. My contact says it's in the Tower, but cannot tell me where."

"How can I get in?" asked Decius. "There must be a way in other than the door. Perhaps the roof?"

"You want to climb the Tower?" Perspina asked with evident skepticism. "Perhaps we will need someone else to do the ritual after we scrape you off the cobblestones."

"Well, the only way through the catacombs is blocked now."

"The only way we knew of," countered Gnaeus. "The catacombs are more of a warren than the Old City. There must be more passages down there."

"I think the main door is the safest and most direct route," Sarus replied. "They keep the keys at the front desk. Late at night, there should only be one or two attendants at the desk. Distract them, get the keys, then go into the Tower."

"You think it will be that easy?"

"We went in through a secret door before and no alarms were set off," Sarus pointed out.

"You don't know that," Decius countered. "We do not know how they discovered the entrance and sealed it off."

However, Decius had to admit that Sarus was right, at least to himself.

"Well, then they can seal off the main door once we have the book."

"We should return it when we're finished," said Gnaeus. "So that we are not caught with it."

"One thing at a time," replied Decius. "First let us make sure I survive... borrowing the book. Then we can think about returning it."

"Well, to the stealing?" prompted Sarus, and Decius sighed.

"In a while. I still have to finish eating, and the later I go, the fewer attendants will be on duty to guard the keys."

---

Decius set out alone for the library. The cool breeze of mid-spring chilled his frustrations, but he could not help but cool a little as he crossed the main square. He had the distinct feeling of being used by his friends, and as much as the thought of fucking a demon enticed him, he felt he would come to regret it all in the end

He paused to stare up at the Library of the Arcane before him. Its white marble edifice loomed over the whole Collegium, the Library Tower rising above it to the rear. Up the marble steps he went to push open the heavy doors. They were made of elden oak, imported from Diboria, and banded in bronze to ward off spells of opening or flame. Yet they were so expertly hung on their hinges that they required only a light touch before they swung open to admit him to the foyer.

Inside, a mosaic of scribes at worked decorated the floor, lit during the evening hours by a huge crystal chandelier hanging beneath the skylight that illuminated the foyer during the day. Benches of ebony and mahogany ringed the room, empty at this late hour, but Decius paid them no mind and strode confidently toward the double doors to the main library hall.

These too swung open easily and, as with every time he entered, he stopped to admire the grandeur of the library. Bookshelves rose in rows so high that the upper levels were only accessible by ladders that were mounted on rails to slide all along the rows. Many shelves were fronted with glass to keep the innumerable volumes and scrolls in place. Tall columns of black marble laced with red, white, or pink held up the vaulted roof, which admitted the dimming evening light through domed skylights.

Illumination of the library at this hour fell to the many softly glowing orbs enchanted to light the hall without need of an open flame that might have set the ancient books alight. In fact, open flames were strictly prohibited in the library and instead students and staff made use of smaller enchanted orbs as lanterns to light their way.

Directly in front of the main doors lay the librarians' desk under the shadow of a grand statue of Felitharna, Goddess of Secrets and Magic, who was clothed every day in a fresh gown of silk and gold threads, topped with a radiant crown of only the finest materials. Beneath her statue was a wide cabinet that Decius knew contained the library's index, essential to finding anything in the massive sprawl of shelves and rooms that spread beyond the main hall.

Of course, reading the index was no simple task and for that he would need the assistance of the librarians. In front of the index cabinet was the librarians' desk, a wide crescent of ancient oak, varnished and polished to shine in the white light of the hall. Though it could seat eight attendants, at this hour there was only one still on duty, a plump, chestnut-haired girl in a green tunic and skirt. Her name was Lydia, and Decius was already acquainted with her from life in the Collegium.

Lydia did not seem to take notice of him until he reached the edge of the desk, so engrossed was she with something she was reading. When his shadow fell over her, she sat up with a start.

"Oh! Sorry, I didn't see you there," she stammered, her olive skin showing a slight blush. "Oh, hello, Decius. What can I do for you?" Lydia smiled sweetly, almost fawningly, and Decius crooked an eyebrow.

"What are you reading that has you so fascinated?" he asked easily. Lydia blushed a deeper shade and lifted the thin book in her hands. Its cover was plain leather, inscribed with the title Nights of Passion, a book Decius recognized as the latest in a series of romance adventures written by Cornelia Sepulcia, a patrician woman in the emperor's court. They were printed by the thousands in her private presses and distributed throughout the city and beyond to her dedicated readers. Obviously, her writing had ensnared Lydia.

"Ah, I've not read that one yet." Decius had not read any of them, preferring his own nights of passion with flesh and blood women, but found it in him to humor the girl's interests. He needed her to betray the location of the key to the Library Tower, and letting her babble about her reading seemed a good way to loosen her tongue. "Should I?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, most assuredly! They are the very finest stories that come out of the court!" She stopped a moment and considered her words. "Well, the finest ones written. I've heard about the banquets, the orgies..."

"The intrigue," Decius suggested, but Lydia hardly seemed to care.

"The affairs!" she countered, her eyes lighting up again. Decius chuckled.

"I had not taken you for a gossip."

"Oh, there's little more entertaining than gossip. But it's been too long since anything good came out of the emperor's court. Not since the Ambrosius Scandal."

"Everyone has been on their best behavior," Decius agreed and now it was Lydia's turn to chuckle.

"More like they've been better and keeping their affairs secret. Oh, how I long for another Affair of the Perfumes. Have you read Master Salvius' history of it?"

"There's been nothing like that in fifty years and we're unlikely to see anything like it again."

Lydia sighed, and leaned back in her chair. "I suppose so. Sometimes I wish I lived in more interesting times."

"All times are interesting," replied Decius. "And we are lucky that we live in a time when we will not be called off to war at a moment's notice, or have war called to us with even less warning. It was not so long ago that armies marched through the streets of this city, killing anyone who crossed their path."

"That was nearly a century ago," Lydia protested. "And does not every man dream of achieving glory in war? This city is more than half monuments to the great conquerors, it seems."

"Glory in war is all well and good," replied Decius, "but my love is knowledge."

"I suppose you're in the right place, then. What are you looking for?"

Decius did not have an immediate answer, for he now realized that he had to reply with something that would get her to reveal the location of the key to the forbidden archives without arousing her suspicions. He wracked his mind for a book that would meet the task. Lydia seemed to take his silence for something more. She watched him through her deep brown eyes and Decius saw the corners of her mouth curl up.

"Or are you not here for a book at all?" she asked, her voice dropping low. She leaned forward, resting her elbows in her lap. Her pose afforded Decius a look at her buxom chest straining against the confines of her green tunic.

"I am," Decius replied quickly. He immediately regretted his hasty reply, for Lydia backed off almost imperceptibly, appearing somewhat wounded. She brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, then tucked it into her prim and proper bun. "I just fear I am out of bounds in asking for it." He needed a lie that would get him what he needed without arousing suspicion. To thread that needle would be no easy task.

"Oh?" Lydia asked, raising an eyebrow. She leaned back in her seat, hands folded over her plump belly. Decius nodded, playing for time. "And what is that?"

"Are requests secret?" asked Decius, now leaning toward Lydia, who reciprocated his posture. "If I were to ask for some forbidden tome, would you run to your senior librarians to inform on me?"

Lydia smiled. "Why, Decius, what do you have in mind?"

"First, I need your word that this won't get back to the other librarians."

She looked over her shoulder. The library was as still and quiet as Decius had ever seen it.

"It will not. We do not punish for asking. Now, tell me what it is you seek."

"I need the Codex Mortis for a project I am working on with Augusti Pulcher." He was rather proud of the lie. Pulcher was eccentric enough to send a student after such a book while being reclusive enough to not discuss his work with anyone. Decius did not anticipate anyone checking his story.

Lydia frowned slightly and stood up. She went to the index cabinet and reached to her waist. There Decius saw hung a heavy brass ring with countless keys, each impossibly varied in shape, size, and material of make. She lifted the ring from her belt and leafed through the selection until at last she found the right one, then unlocked a corner drawer.

"Codex Mortis is a rare book," she said over her shoulder. Decius craned his neck to see over her, hoping to spot the key to the archives. It was only now that he realized he had not a clue what it looked like, greatly complicating his task. "We likely only have one copy in the whole library. I just hope it isn't in the forbidden archives."

"And what if it is?" Decius asked in feigned ignorance. Lydia smiled to herself.

"Then it is forbidden." She continued leafing through the smaller corner drawer's contents unperturbed.

"And who can allow access to those archives?" he pressed. Lydia shrugged, the heavy key ring at her belt shaking with the gesture.

"You would have to ask."

"Can you give access?" he asked, and she turned her head to look back at him over her shoulder.

"I am not allowed," she replied, but Decius sensed something more.

"That's not a no," he pointed out. "Do you have the key on that ring?"

Lydia brushed off his question and produced a small leaf of paper from the drawer. She held it up and read from it.

"Codex Mortis, Section Ninety-Four, Forbidden Archive." She lifted her gaze to meet his own and shrugged again. "Sorry."

Decius sighed in feigned defeat. "Now what?" he asked.

Lydia returned the paper to its drawer, shut it, and locked it. She turned around, the key ring dangling tantalizingly from her belt.

"Augusti Pulcher will need to get it himself. Tell him to speak with the senior librarians."

"There's nothing you can do for me?" Decius asked, leaning closer. The girl did not in truth strike his fancy, but he figured there was nothing wrong with a little harmless flirting. Perhaps she would open up if he flattered her. "I had hoped you might do me a favor."

Lydia folded her arms under her big breasts--Decius realized now he had never taken notice of them before--and smirked.

"A favor? Why would I do that?"

Decius sighed. "I suppose I might depend on your kindness?"

"My kindness? How do you know I am kind?"

"A lucky guess?" Decius offered with what he hoped was a disarming shrug. Lydia crooked her mouth in faint amusement, her arms still crossed beneath her breasts.

"You had not taken me for a gossip?" she asked in a sudden change of subject, and Decius frowned in confusion.

"What?"

"I wasn't aware you had taken me for anything at all. Was I not beneath your notice?

"No," Decius lied, and immediately saw that Lydia was unconvinced. She was more than just a bookworm. "Well, perhaps. Our paths don't cross much, with you in the library, and me--"

"In every pretty girl on campus," Lydia finished for him. Decius could only wave his arms in an approximation of an apology. Lydia scoffed at him.

"Why have you come here?" she asked, more insistently than before. "It's late, shouldn't you be off drinking and skirt-chasing at the Ivory Tower by now?"

"I'm late," Decius lied, fumbling for an excuse. "I told Augusti Pulcher than I would have the book by tomorrow and I haven't gotten around to it yet."

"You've already asked the other librarians, haven't you?" Lydia guessed. "And now I'm your last hope?"

"It's either that or break in there myself." She was better at inventing his story than he was, something that slightly wounded Decius' pride.

"Good luck with that," Lydia scoffed.

"Indeed. That is why I need your help," Decius pleaded. "I can't break in there, I don't even know what the key looks like!"

Lydia laughed, then reached down to her keyring and held up a thick bronze key, green with age.

"It's this one," she said, and Decius struggled to stifle his expression of disbelief. He could not believe that had worked. "But don't think you can just take it and run, there's more to the archive's protections than that."

"I'm sure of that. But I need that book."

Lydia sighed. She idly toyed with the key in its ring, then let it drop back between her legs.

"Perhaps the knowledge is in another book. What is Augusti Pulcher looking to learn?"

Decius was at a loss, for he had not thought that far ahead. What could he tell her that might not arouse her suspicions?

"He is looking for the discussion on the properties of phylacteries and temporal bindings held between the Regents in the Year of Three Emperors."

It was a discussion that had eluded him for the better part of a year after he had been directed to it by another research project. If he could not get the Codex Umbra Rex, he figured he might as well try to solve another problem.

He realized then that what he said did not matter, as long as he could keep her distracted. He could snatch the key while she pored over the index, then admit defeat and slink away to the archive door. He suppressed a proud smile at his deviousness.

Lydia stood up and opened the index again. Leafing through the pages, she listed a number of authors and works on the subject. Decius hardly listened, for they were all irrelevant to his true goal, but he shifted closer to her to look over her shoulder. He murmured something indistinct, hoping that he sounded deep in thought, and his hand slid round her toward the keyring between her legs.

Hoping he remembered the location of the archive's key, he snaked his arm around Lydia's thick body, careful to avoid touching her, and laid his hand on the keys. Slowly, he began to feel around for the right one, all while leaning over Lydia's shoulder and pretending to read the index.

He closed his fingers around one that seemed familiar and only then realized that he had no idea how to remove it from the keyring without alerting her. He wracked his mind for a spell to make it easier, but before he could remember one, Lydia shifted and bumped his hand.

She started, jostling the index drawer and scattering a handful of paper leaves. She turned on him with a start, her mouth half open. Decius froze, caught with his hand in the proverbial trap. What would she say? Would she think him a thief, a groper, or both?

"Are you... trying to seduce me, Decius?" Decius was at a loss for words. "Or are you going for the key?" she teased with a knowing smile.

"I was trying to seduce you," Decius replied as smoothly as he could manage, but Lydia was not fooled.

"You want what's between my legs," she laughed, holding up the keyring. "I took you for a more deft man."

"Let me show you how deft I am," he offered, hoping to salvage the situation. She was taking his attempted theft better than he had feared. Lydia smiled.

"Not here," she whispered. "I'll show you my favorite place."

"Favorite place?" Decius asked in surprise as she pushed past him. Lydia looked around the empty library for anyone who might see them, then left the front desk and hurried off into the towering shelves with Decius in tow. "Favorite place for what?"

She disappeared into the forest of bookshelves, leaving Decius to chase after her footfalls. The shelves nearest to the main door were laid out in an orderly fashion pleasing to the eye, made of polished hardwoods and faced with glass, but as they moved deeper into the Library's bowels, the aisles narrowed and the shelves became unrulier, as if they were entering a bramble thicket at the heart of the forest.

Decius turned a corner and stopped. He and Lydia had reached a small alcove in the shelves against the outer wall. She turned toward him with a hungry smile.

"Here," she whispered, then reached up to lower her dress and bare her tits. Decius watched in amazement as her big tits fell free, smooth and round and crowned with wide brown nipples that made him wish he could be sucking them.

"Do you bring a lot of men here?" he asked. Lydia laughed softly as she wriggled out of her dress to stand naked between the shelves. Decius thought he could see her blushing slightly.

"This started as my favorite place to read, but I've brought a man here before once or twice. No doubt you thought of me as just a mousey girl at the library desk?"

"No," Decius said. For once he was not lying to her, for he had never thought of her as anything before tonight. Lydia seemed unconvinced.

"Indeed," she replied skeptically. "Well, I thought of you quite a bit."

"Did you now?" Decius asked a with a curious raised eyebrow. For the first time, he looked over her body. She was thick in the thighs, hips, and bust, with pretty brown eyes and hair of nearly the same shade. Her bust was impressive, even for a heavier girl like her. Her breasts hung low on her chest but were smooth and soft. Between her smooth legs was a thicket of unkempt brown hair, wild and alluring in sharp contrast to her buttoned-up appearance while clothed.

Decius unconsciously licked his lips at the sight and Lydia gave a slight blush on her olive cheeks.

"You like what you see?" she whispered and Decius nodded. He wanted to take her at once, but the key was prominent in his mind. He closed in to stand half a head over her, looking down at her scalp as her breath was hot on his shoulder. They pressed together, her breasts soft against his chest and her hair smelling strongly of perfume.

"Lend me the key," he whispered in her ear.

She bit her lower lip in thought. Decius smiled. She was thinking about it. He leaned down to her ear to her and whispered as seductively as he could.

"I'll make it worth your while."

Lydia let out a little moan, and her buxom chest heaved. She shook her head, still biting her lip.

"You'll be caught, and then they'll ask where you got the key."

"I won't get caught," he said with a confidence he could not justify. "And I'll make this worth your while.

He reached a hand between her legs and took her womanhood between two fingers. Lydia moaned softly, her brow furrowing.

"Alright," she whispered, her voice heavy with desire. "But if you're caught, you didn't get it from me."

"I won't get caught," he said with a smirk.

"If you do, you didn't get it from me," she whispered back. She jabbed at the pile of her clothes beneath her feet, the keyring hidden somewhere beneath it. "Now, show me something I've never seen before."

Decius went to his knees in front of her and gently pulled her legs apart. Lydia whimpered slightly, her breathing heavy. Her hairy cunt beckoned to him, already glistening with wetness in the dim lamplight. He buried his face between her legs, his tongue exploring the depths of her purse and caressing the bead of her sex. His hands grasped her thick buttcheeks, kneading them between his fingers as his cock throbbed under his clothes.

He enjoyed pleasuring a woman, but he wanted nothing more than to sink his cock into her to the base and take her with vigor. But the feel of her thighs around his face, her wet sex on his mouth, and her coarse hairs brushing against his cheeks was a fine salve to his burning lust.

Lydia leaned back against the wall and wound her fingers through his hair. She moaned softly, then as he looked up, bit down on her finger to stifle the next moan. The library was probably deserted anyway, but it was wise to be cautious.

His tongue worked inside her and Lydia began to quiver. She swayed on her feet and bent her knees as her breath quickened, and she bit down harder on her finger until Decius feared she might cut it clean off.

But before that could happen, she grabbed him by the hair and pulled him away.

"I want you inside me," she hissed. "Get naked, Decius, for I've waited too long for this!"

He needed no more encouragement and pulled off his clothes. Lydia stood watching, biting her finger again and playing with herself with her other hand. She crossed her legs and swayed on her feet with impatience until Decius lowered his trousers and revealed his hard cock to her.

Lydia bit her lower lip again at the sight of it and he heard her let out a little murmur of desire. He smiled, stood up tall, and took his cock in his hand to stroke.

"You like what you see?" he asked, and she nodded, mesmerized.

"That's a nice cock," she giggled, then went to her knees before him. She opened her mouth wide, tongue extended to receive him, and he laid the head of his cock on her wide, pink tongue. Lydia sucked him and caressed him with her tongue, never descending her head far on his cock. Instead, she worked the head, staring up into his eyes. He watched her, seeing the distant lamps reflected in her brown eyes, and running his hands through her hair.

Her prim bun had begun to unravel, her long brown hair now falling across her naked shoulders and chest in wild locks. She looked like a dancing nymph from one of the mosaics in the Collegium's bath house--primal, and savage, but also nubile and alluring to the civilized man who stumbled upon her revel in the woods.

"Alright, that's enough," she said soon thereafter. "I want your cock inside my purse now. Take me, Decius!"

He smiled, then hooked her by the armpits and lifted her to her feet. Swinging one leg over his shoulder, he spread the lips of her cunt for his cock. He tapped the cock against her sex and Lydia moaned again.

"Don't tease, Decius, just put it in!"

He did, sliding his cock between the pink petals of her womanly flower. She gasped, shuddered, and let out a little squeak. She was tight, and fought him harder as he slid deeper inside. Lydia's eyes closed in pain and he saw a small tear form at the edge.

"Are you alright?" he asked in concern, and Lydia nodded.

"Don't stop," she gasped. "It's just... I've never had a cock like this before!"

Decius smiled as he reached the base and began to stroke slowly inside her. Her big tits bounced on her chest with each thrust, and Lydia steadied herself against the wall. Her raised foot waved in the air of the narrow aisle between the shelves, and Decius heard the clap of his naked flesh against hers echo painfully loudly through the library. He hoped the thick forest of shelves would muffle it before it reached anyone's ears, but with his cock this deep in a woman he was too drunk on passion to worry about being discovered. He slapped his cock into her again and Lydia squealed.

"Not so hard!" she gasped, and Decius nodded. She tries hard to look otherwise, but she is just a mousey girl at the front desk, he thought. But a mousey girl with a crush on me!

That had been a bit of a surprise to him. As much as he was successful with women, he had never expected to find one with a crush on him. Most of the women he bedded were simply adventurous students looking for a thrill, or else common women looking for coin. Lydia was no great beauty, he thought as his fingers dug furrows into her thick thighs, but her desire for him might lead to some interesting nights in the future. He watched the ripples of each thrust travel up through her chubby body until they reached her big, juicy tits. The sight of those set him off in a fucking frenzy, and he bent to latch his mouth onto her big nipples. He sucked and gnawed at them, clutching at her with his hands until she pulled him away and kissed him on the mouth.

From the kiss, it was obvious that she had had her eye on him for a long time. Her lips kissed him not only out of lust, but out of long unfulfilled desire. Decius had forgotten what it was like to be with a woman who desired him for more than a quick lay, and his hips worked harder against hers.

"Wait," she gasped, nearly losing her balance again. She pushed him away, something that must have taken some great will as he slipped out of her. "I am too unsteady. Lay down and I'll ride you like a horse," she suggested. Decius liked the position. It let the woman do most of the work and he liked to hold them by the tits or the waist as he stared into their eyes, but he had another idea.

He bent and swept her up in his arms. Lydia's eyes went wide, and she laughed in surprise, this time more of a hearty chortle than her previous girlish giggles. Decius held her before him, legs to either side of his body, and settled her down on his cock. He held her with his arms under her knees and his hands clasped behind her lower back, leaving her suspended in the air and staring into his eyes.

He lifted her up on his cock and thrust into her with his hips. The resulting clap of skin on skin resounded through the shelves but he was far beyond caring. Instead, he looked into Lydia's wide eyes and down to her bouncing tits and felt his cock throb.

"This is..." she was at a loss for words. She started to say something else, but he thrust into her again and the sound died in her throat, strangled by a guttural purr of delight. He bounced her on his cock hungrily and Lydia lost herself in the throes of passion. Her head lolled back, her hair bun disintegrating entirely to let her hair hang toward the floor in a wild mess.

Decius loved the sight of her bouncing naked in his arms, but soon enough his arms began to ache. He could not hold the slenderest of women in this position long, and Lydia had quite a bit of extra heft to her, though he found himself growing enamored of the shaking of her thick body.

"I have to set you down," he gasped, but Lydia shook her head.

"Wait, stop fucking a moment. I can get a better grip."

He furrowed his brow, but soon saw her plan. Lydia spread her legs, resting her feet on the shelves to either side of them. She braced herself between the shelves and adjusted herself on his cock. Now she could do more of the work and bounce herself on him all while holding him close.

Lydia threw her arms around his shoulders and kissed him passionately, lifting herself up on the balls of her feet to ride his cock. The shelves creaked under the weight, rattling the books and scrolls on them.

Neither of the pair paid them any mind and were instead lost in each other. Lydia raised and lowered herself on his cock, her hands and lips touching Decius all over his upper body. She bent to suck on his nipples, then raised herself so that he could do the same. A book tumbled to the floor at their feet, but Decius did not tear his attention from Lydia to tend to it and soon enough, another joined it.

She rode him until she could no more. She slowed her riding on his cock, still clinging to him, and kissed him one more time.

"Sorry," she gasped, "but my legs are burning. I have to get down." She lowered one foot from the shelves. It came down not on the floor, but on a pile of toppled books and scrolls upended by their fucking.

"Oh dear," she muttered, "someone is going to have a fit about that."

"Not my problem," Decius said. "Turn around."

Without waiting for her to comply, he roughly spun her on her feet, then bent her over and thrust himself into her from behind. Lydia giggled in delight, her big tits swinging under her as he fucked. He grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her arms back, controlling her like he held a horse's reins. Lydia moaned loudly, the clap-clap-clap of their naked bodies coming together surely audible throughout the whole library now, but neither of them could be bothered to care.

He stared at her naked back now, occasionally looking down to see his cock enter her, or raising his eyes to meet her gaze as she looked over her shoulders at him. He was ready to finish now, but even as his cock throbbed he knew he was not about to come.

He released her wrists, reached under her and grabbed her big breasts in both hands. He pulled her up to him, bringing their heads close enough for another kiss. Lydia moaned through their locked lips, but his fucking knocked her off balance again. With a little muffled squeak of surprise, she stumbled forward and caught herself with both hands against the outer wall.

Decius was content to let her brace herself there as he pounded himself into her and kissed her over her shoulder. As he kneaded her big tits in his hands, he felt himself climaxing. His long-awaited release nearly achieved, he fucked harder and harder, moaning against Lydia as they both near orgasm.

She reached it first, opening her mouth so wide that he found himself kissing air. She screamed right in his face, her toes and fingers curling against the stone and her body shaking. The full body reaction brought Decius closer as she writhed and curled in his arms.

"Wait," she gasped through the throes of orgasm. "I want to suck your cum out of you."

She shoved him away and dropped to her knees, both hands and lips closing around his cock. The gentle ministrations of her tongue were the final release he needed and he came in her mouth. Lydia moaned all the way through his release, staring up into his eyes as she greedily drank his cum right from the cock. He moaned, braced himself between the shelves, and stared back at him, unbelieving.

Lydia opened her mouth to show that she had swallowed it all, then lay back against the outer wall with a fulfilled sigh. She looked up at him from the floor, playing with her nipples with both hands. Decius leaned against a shelf, looking back on her proudly.

They panted for breath for a long time, drinking in their passionate encounter, until somewhere from somewhere outside came the chiming of midnight, and Decius began to dress.

"We should go," he said, "You might be missed at the desk, and I need the book before I leave."

Lydia blinked, then nodded. She rose and dressed again as if in a dream, her movements slow. As she settled the keyring around her waist, Decius held out his hand. Lydia looked up at him, blinked, and then smiled. She detached the bronze key from the ring and held it out toward him, but when he moved to take it, she retracted her hand.

"Be careful, Decius," she warned him, her dreamy state fading fast.

"I always am," he replied. "Are you afraid to lose me?"

"You proved deft enough in there that this key may be unnecessary now," she joked with a flushed laugh. "But here, a deal is a deal."             

Decius snatched the key from her grasp with a wide-eyed grin of triumph.

"But you didn't get it from me," she reminded him.

"Of course not, I stole this," he replied with a smile. Lydia shook her head, but then smiled back. With another blush, began to tie up her hair again and turned back toward the front desk. She stopped, then turned back to look at the scrolls and books spilled across the floor.

"Clean that up before you go," she commanded. "Or else the morning shift will be furious with me. I would myself, but I had better not be away from the front desk any longer."

She turned and marched away. Even from behind, Decius could see the hint of a smile on her lips. As she disappeared around the shelves, he bent and picked up the fallen books. Also eager to be on his way, he hurriedly returned them to their shelves, uncaring of whether they were filed correctly. Books were always out of order in the library and no one would notice.

His task done, Decius held the key out before him. It was time to brave the library's defenses.

This late, the library was nearly deserted and he saw not another soul on his way there. His footsteps were muffled by the towering shelves and thick books, leaving him alone in his own mind with his thoughts.

The key secured, he now faced the challenge of how to bypass the innumerable wards around the door. He knew that the augustii carried badges of office that were ensorcelled to permit access to secure areas such as the archives, the Regency Chamber, and their private chambers. Such badges could be imitated by a cunning sorcerer, though Decius had not a clue how to do such a thing.

He applied a pinch of spice to his tongue and let the power course through him. Slowly, his mind's eye opened and he saw the veil of wards laid over the walls of the archive. All around him were wards to protect the library against rot or flame, and some to deaden the noises. But the walls of the tower archive pulsed with energy, a brilliant blue sheet of coursing threads before his eyes.

Decius stood alone in the quiet corridor and marveled at them, his eyes searching for a way in. the warding threads were woven tightly together, allowing for no entrance that he could see. Decius paced before the door, clutching the key in his hand.

He wracked his mind for a solution. He went back some years, to a night at a dockside tavern to the south, when he and his friends had met a former student and reformed thief known for breaking into the homes of the wealthy. This man had made it his business to circumvent their wards, and when caught by the Arcani and dragged to a gibbet, had talked of a ring of other such ward-breaker thieves that reigned unchecked throughout the empire. Instilling such fear in the hearts of the nobility, he had offered to show them his techniques in exchange for a pardon and had since then made a living of thief-catching and ward-proofing.

That night in the tavern, the man had explained a method for imitating badges such as those used by the Collegium, though Decius had not taken the explanation as seriously as his pursuit of the tavern girls. He leaned against the wall opposite the door and tried to remember, but all he could see in his mind was the serving wench he had taken into the alley for a few sestertii.

He sighed. He could not even find the man and ask him, for one of his former compatriots had caught up to the reformed thief not long after his little symposium and left him face down in the gutter with a knife between his shoulders.

Decius could remember snippets of the night--the wine, the serving wench with the big tits, the singer in the common room, the reformed thief's provincial accent, the brand on his right hand--but the details remained elusive. They were so tantalizingly close! In his memories, he could dully hear words, but not enough to make out, see lips moving, but not clearly enough to read them.

Another night came to him, this time a cool summer eve when one of the Collegium's augustii had taught them a charm to shed light on fading memories. He smiled and applied another, larger pinch of spice to his tongue.

With a heady grin, he cast the memory charm. The night at the dockside tavern came flooding back to him and he heard it all, saw it all, smelled it all. He turned his focus from the tavern girls to the thief-catcher, listening intently to his words.

When the memory had passed, Decius applied himself to the task before him. He labored in the empty corridor for what seemed like an eternity until at last he had a facsimile of an instructor's badge that he thought might pass the wards.

Time was wasting. It was surely well into the night, and Lydia might at any moment come to her senses and turn him in. He had to make good time now.

Decius stepped forward, projecting his facsimile of the badge before him as he inserted the key into the lock and turned. The heavy tumblers turned slowly, grinding as they did, and Decius was sure that someone would hear it from far away in the nighttime stillness of the library. Yet the key thudded to a halt and he felt the door shift ever so slightly on its hinges. It was open.

He put his hand on the doorknob and held his breath. For a painfully long moment, he stood in the hall, afraid to move forward. The badge shimmered in his mind's eye, the wards still placid. Had his forged badge fooled the wards? He realized that he did not know at what stage the wards might be set off by a false badge. Had he passed that step already? When would he know?

There was nothing to do but go forward and hope that his forgery would pass muster. He let out his breath and pushed the door open.

To his immense relief, there was no alarm, no rush of magical energy to alert the Arcani or the librarians to his entry. Decius slipped inside and shut the door behind him.

He was now in total darkness. Allowing himself a small smile of triumph, he conjured himself a light and looked around.

On the ground floor, rows of shelves encircled an open space where sat a great cabinet that Decius recognized as an index, along with glass display cases containing strange objects that immediately drew his interest. Two scepters of green metal lay on velvet cushions, draped in powerful wards that shimmered with energy before his eyes. An orb of pale crystal, inside which strange mists swirled slowly, rested on a gilded filigree, while another case contained live insects crawling around the glass.

Decius' light seemed to animate them, and they swarmed to one side of the case, their jewel-like eyes shining with myriad colors. He stepped over to the case and looked in. They were strange, and large, each about the length of his little finger. Winged and six-legged, they had bodies that looked like they were made of quartz or perhaps jade. Through the glass, he could hear them clicking mechanically, and diamond gossamer wings propelled them about the case in an agitated rush.

One slammed itself against the cage with a decidedly metallic sound and Decius back off. The glass showed no sign of breaking, but the sound had him worried. He retreated toward the archive index and put the strange insects from his mind.

To his surprise, the index was not locked, and he opened the drawers with ease. They slid out on well-oiled tracks, disturbing only a thin layer of dust. Decius wondered how often these archives were used. Looking up, he saw a many-storied tower rising above him, each level thick with scrolls and tomes on dusty shelves. He thought to look for Codex Mortis, just in case someone asked about his cover story, but after a few looks through the archive's index gave up on the thought.

The labeling system was arcane and, he soon discovered, inconsistent. In fact, the archive used at least three different systems in various parts of the tower, and some all in the same parts at once. Such chaos made the task of locating the volume difficult and time-consuming. At last, he located Codex Umbra Rex on a shelf on the fifth level. Looking up the tower, he dreaded climbing the stairs, which looked worn and old and threatened a nasty fall at each step.

He sighed, wishing he knew a levitation spell to get him there and back more easily. But there was no way up except the stairs, and he begrudgingly began his cautious climb. The first stair creaked terribly under his weight, leaving him unsure about the whole endeavor, but as he climbed he felt his confidence grow and by the third staircase the creaking was nothing more than music to his ears.

He reached the fifth level without incident and then blundered around the confused and disorganized mess of shelves until at last he found the Codex Umbra Rex resting on its shelf.

The tome was thinner than he expected, bound in leather and banded in brass that still shone with polish after gods only knew how long on a dusty shelf. His long search at an end, Decius breathed a long breath as he lifted it from its shelf and held it up before him. The cover was not emblazoned with a title, merely a single rune that he did not recognize. Was it the right book?

He opened its covers, disturbing a layer of dust that made him cough, and leafed through the pages. He immediately knew that this was the right one, for the book was full of drawings of demons and the rituals to contact them. He was no expert demonbinder, and did not recognize half the scripts used to record these rituals, but he recognized enough to know that this was a powerful tool in the hands of the right sorcerer. He smiled at his success, then tucked the book under his arm and prepared to descend.

Below him, he suddenly heard faint voices at the door. Decius froze and extinguished his light to leave him alone in the deep darkness. There came the sound of a key turning in the lock. He was sure he was caught. The shadows would prove little concealment when the door opened and the library's staff came searching for him. Decius wondered how he would explain himself.

The door opened, casting a lance of dim light across the pitch blackness of the archive. Someone stood silhouetted in the door, an unlit lantern in hand. Decius heard a mumbled word of power and the lantern flared to life, illuminating its bearer in a warm glow.

It was Augusti Gylaen. Decius inhaled sharply, and flattened himself against the shelves behind him. The elf opened the door just wide enough to enter, a glowing orb in his hands casting long lances of soft white light all throughout the cluttered tower. He slipped inside and made to close it behind him, then stopped.

"And you keep looking for that missing key," he said sternly to someone behind him in the hall. In reply, Decius heard Lydia stammer "Yes, Augusti. I'll find it, I promise."

The door closed with a heavy thud and Decius held his breath. The senses of elves were legendarily keen. Any movement, even his breath, might give him away. He did not want to imagine the consequences of being caught in here, but thoughts of expulsion, public flogging, or losing a hand sprang unbidden to his mind's eye.

Gylaen strode into the archive with purpose, holding the lantern out before him as he scanned the labeled shelves. Decius saw the elf's eyes glitter in the darkness and wondered whether elves needed light after all. The augusti ignored the rows of treasures on the lowermost level and instead went straight to the stairs. From five levels above, Decius watched with growing dread as the augusti climbed the stairs, his lantern casting long shadows around him.

Sheltering behind a well-stocked shelf, Decius dared to peer through the volumes and watch the elf's climb. The stairs creaked as he reached the second level and kept going. Decius swallowed hard. There was no sign that the elf knew of his presence, but why else had he come to the archive late at night? And now he was climbing the stairs toward him with purpose.

The lantern light passed over Decius' hiding spot and he froze. The elves' vision in the dark was legendary. Even three floors up, could the augusti spot him? His eyes would no doubt reflect the lantern's light well enough to alert the elf, but to move, even just a few inches, might set the creaking in the floor off and give him away as well. Decius was frozen in indecision as Gylaen reached the third level.

The elf drew painfully near, now only two levels below, and Decius felt terribly exposed. The stairs creaked again as Gylaen made for the fourth level, and Decius at last dared to move. He slid slowly across the worn floorboards to put himself completely out of sight. Now, he could track Gylaen's progress only through the soft sound of his footsteps and the shadows that the lantern cast from below.

Gylaen summitted the stairs of the fourth level and immediately began the climb to the fifth level where Decius was hidden. A shaft of light from his lantern preceded him up the stairs and Decius felt panic grip him. He was hidden from the lower floors, but anyone climbing to the fifth level was sure to see him where he sat against a shelf. There was almost nowhere left to hide. He thought to cast a stealth charm over himself, but Gylaen would surely sense such a spell being cast so close by.

Decius looked around for a fresh hiding spot and spied an alcove nearby, but to cross the open corridor was to risk a creaking floorboard. Yet to stay was surely to be spotted by elven eyes.

He inhaled deeply, then, with Gylaen already in view on the stairs, darted into the alcove.

His dash was quiet enough to shame a cat, he thought as he hid himself once again. The floorboards had held firm, and he said a prayer of thanks to Lady Luck inside his head.

The elf's lantern washed over the floor just outside his alcove now, and Decius pressed himself against the wall as much as he could, holding the book against his chest. He shut his eyes as if merely seeing the elf's light might reveal him, then quickly thought the better of it and opened them again.

The lantern had stopped moving. Outside the alcove, he heard a soft, lyrical humming sound. He heard the soft footsteps as Gylaen paced back and forth, then the lantern lifted and began to move toward him.

Decius wrapped his arms around his stolen book and pushed himself against the alcove wall so hard he thought he might break through the break and fall out the other side. The lantern grew closer and he felt his heart pound in his chest. Gylaen had surely heard him now. Early in the morning, he would be hauled before a disciplinary committee to explain himself, assuming they did not just immediately hand him over to the Arcani.

But instead, he saw the light dim and recede. Pulling himself out of his panic, Decius dared to emerge from his alcove and look into the tower.

Gylaen was descending the stairs with a heavy tome bound in black leather under his arm. His eyes were fixed on the stairs before him, sparing not a thought for anyone who might be hiding in an alcove above. Decius watched with relief as Gylaen strode down to the lowest level and then out the door.

The door thudded shut again and Decius let out a long breath. His intrusion remained undetected, but the key was missing. Lydia had seemingly not sold him out, but was it mere coincidence that Gylaen had arrived while he was engaged in his heist? And why had been it so simple to break in? The poor security benefitted him for the moment, but he felt an injured pride in the Collegium that was so lax. He would have to find some way to reveal the flaws to those responsible, and preferably without getting himself into trouble for his unauthorized borrowings.

And how am I to return this tome once we're finished with it? he wondered. Perhaps he could just leave it in some senior instructor's office and hope they figured it was misfiled.

That was a time for later, he decided. For the moment, he had to get out of the tower without being spotted, and then return the key to Lydia. He wondered if he could find a way out through the lower tunnels that he and his friends had used to sneak in during their earlier escapades. The tunnels had been blocked up, but perhaps they had a weakness from the inside.

He waited in the darkness for a long time until he was sure that Gylaen and Lydia had gone, then slowly conjured another light and began the climb down to where the tunnel entrance had been. He reached the third floor and paused in thought.

What had brought Gylaen here in the middle of the night? He turned and climbed back up to the shelf where the augusti had stopped. There was a conspicuous empty space in the middle of the shelves, and Decius noted down the label, then turned back down the stairs toward the bottom. They creaked beneath his feet, sometimes loudly enough that he feared he was about to go crashing through them to the floor far below, but at last he reached the ground level and headed for the index.

He opened the drawers once again and looked up the book that Gylaen had taken. The title was listed as Anthemius' Treatise on Passing the Veil and Locating Apertures Thereof. Decius frowned. He had never heard of either the author or the volume. Gylaen's doings remained a mystery.

He turned and headed for the tunnel entrance, only to find it was as blocked from this side as from the other. With no other choice, he turned and made his way back to the only door. Standing before the door, he realized he did not know whether the wards guarded exits as well. He wished he had observed Gylaen's departure. The elf had not broken stride to pass through the door, so Decius presumed that the door was only locked for those coming in.

But were there wards to monitor what books were removed from the archive? He stood before the door, chewing his lip in thought. His forgery had gotten him this far. He had been left decidedly unimpressed by the archive's security during the little adventure.

I could just leave and run if any wards are triggered, he thought. Everything had worked out well so far. Why should this be any different?

Steeling himself, he took a deep breath and laid a hand on the door. The knob was cool to the touch and turned easily. The lock unlocked itself for him and he slowly opened the door to the hall. Peeking through, he half expected to see Gylaen and Lydia waiting for him, but the corridor was as empty as it had when he had entered. He hurried across the threshold and turned to observe the wards. Would they trigger an alarm? Was he bound for the Arcani dungeons?

Not for the first time, he wondered what he had gotten himself into. The whole endeavor seemed increasingly stupid and dangerous with each new step he took.

The wards remained quiescent, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He clutched the stolen tome to his chest and felt a smile of triumph creep across his face. He had broken into the forbidden archives and stolen a tome of demon knowledge, with none the wiser.

Now even more unimpressed with the state of the archive's protections, he considered turning thief catcher if he was caught. He hoped such a profession would end better than the other man's had. Decius had no fellow thieves to turn in, so he hoped he might avoid a knife in the back if he had none to give out.

Putting the thoughts from his mind, he stowed the book under his cloak and turned himself toward the front desk. To his relief, Lydia was still alone at the front desk as he approached. She looked up at his approach, her face taut, and her eyes widened.

"Where have you been?!" she hissed, eyes darting fearfully. "Augusti Gylaen was here! He wanted to go into the archive!"

"I know," Decius assuaged her. "I saw him."

"He knows I lost the key! I had to use the spare. The library custodians will hear of this for sure."

"Here it is," Decius whispered and handed the key over. "Just tell them you misplaced the ring."

"No, that won't work," Lydia hissed back. "He knows I did something with it. Oh, if you get me expelled I'll have your head, Decius! My family is too important to bear such a dishonor! They will crucify me for this!"

"You won't be expelled, Lydia," Decius comforted. "You just need to play the part of a careless student. You are up late at night, fatigue sets in, things happen."

"I only have this responsibility," Lydia growled through clenched teeth, "because I am not a careless student, Decius. Your little escapade might have just ruined that. Now get out of here before someone sees. You've done enough for one night."

She turned away in a huff and Decius fled the library with his stolen tome under his cloak. He was relieved that she had not asked to see it, for she would have seen right away that it was not the same tome he said he was asked to retrieve.

Exiting the library, he felt the cool night breeze on his face and his smile returned. He had stolen the book and escaped the library. Now all that remained was to summon a mighty demon and then convince her to fuck nine young men, and how hard could that be?

---

Decius sat on a divan in Perspina's grand apartment the following night. The young man had taken it upon himself to make his residence even more lavish than the last time that Decius had visited. The divan's old pillows had been replaced with velvet pillows with gold tassels, the tapestries had been changed out for larger and finer ones, and three house slaves stood ready with ice water, wine, and sausage slices for refreshment. Tall windows overlooked the street below, now curtained off to keep their bold entertainment endeavor from prying eyes across the way.

Perspina, however, was not as circumspect as Decius had hoped and took great delight eagerly showing off to his guests as they arrived through the front door. Decius and Gnaeus had been waiting nervously for an hour, as after waking late in the morning the pair of them had spent the day at the Collegium's Lesser Baths in preparation before walking over to Perspina's home on Fuller Street. The pair of them sipped on imported Narosian wines as Perspina ostentatiously greeted each new arrival.

The other man wore a silk robe and carried a crystal goblet of wine in haughty hands as he beckoned another eager, aspiring demonologist through the door. Decius did not know this latest arrival by name, though the man's face was familiar from around campus.

Perspina and Sarus had spent the day recruiting others for their escapade, and now gathered in the apartment some of the Collegium's most avid skirt-chasers, all hungry for a new experience. There were eight of them now gathered, and they impatiently awaited the last of their number.

A space had been cleared in the center of the room for the summoning circle. Decius had wanted to draw it already, but Perspina had insisted that he wait for an audience. Decius was unconvinced until Sarus pointed out that the sight of it might scare off some of their guests before they could even get in the door, and decided to wait until they were all present first.

The scribing kit and spice were hidden underneath him, crushed into the divan's velvet cushions out of an overabundance of caution. Perspina approached him, his latest guest greeted and diverted to the slaves and their refreshments.

"It's almost time," he beamed. His face was flushed with excitement and under his robe Decius could see that his cock was already hard. "Are you ready?"

Decius gritted his teeth. It was still not too late to back out.

"Where is your ninth?" he asked. He hoped that the last arrival would never show, allowing him to keep postponing the start until the others lost interest.

"They'll be here," Perspina reassured him. "He's just running late, as usual."

With a frown, Decius tried to change the subject.

"You should send the slaves away. They might talk."

"They are my longtime servants. They know when to keep quiet."

"Do they? Not all secrets are equal. Keeping your father's fondness for hairy men quiet isn't the same as... what we're about to do."

Perspina gave him a frosty look. Clearly, he did not appreciate his father's name being slighted so. But the man relaxed into an easy smile.

"I could plot to overthrow the emperor in front of these men and not fear exposure," he boasted, and Decius winced. The emperor was not the paranoid uncle he had succeeded, but even telling jokes about treason was never a wise move. Gnaeus Perspina reached out and patted his shoulder.

"There's nothing to worry about, Decius. They will keep quiet." Decius shrugged him off, and Perspina turned pensive. "What's the matter? Nervous?"

"Just a little. We stand to get into a lot of trouble for this. I regret ever joining onto this."

"We'll be alright," Perspina replied with a smile. "We've got you, don't we?" He gestured to the others, who nodded their eager agreement. Six smiling faces looked to Decius to usher them into an erotic experience for the ages. Decius now realized that there was no chance of them losing interest. The only way out would be to refuse.

He sighed internally.

There was a knock at the door and Perspina bolted up from the divan. He opened to door to reveal a tall youth with piercing gray eyes and close cut black hair. He wore a thin gray cloak despite the warm spring air and beneath it was an embroidered tunic clasped with a braided belt.

The ambient chatter of the room thinned as he stepped inside, all the assembled men taking notice of the newcomer. There was a murmur of approval. The newcomer shed his cloak and handed it to one of the house slaves before taking a moment to look over the other guests.

Decius cautiously watched the newcomer for a moment before reviewing the other men. There was of course his friends Sarus and Gnaeus Avidius, who had taken the first steps with him in the Crooked Crane. Next were Gnaeus Perspina and his cousin Titus, then Caius Mutio, a protégé of the famed Augusti Sidonius and an inveterate womanizer, then Quintus Calidius, yet another prolific cocksman, and a man Decius had not become acquainted with.

Lastly was the newcomer. The tall man regarded his fellow guests with a haughty eye, his expression somewhere between satisfaction and contempt. As he gaze passed over each of them, he gave himself an almost imperceptible nod. His eyes settled on Decius.

"Decius Capricius Sallax," he said coolly.

"Fabius Cinereus Aeramen," Decius replied. "I find myself surprised to see you here."

"I cannot say the same of you." Fabius smiled a thin smile. "Of course, something like this could only be your idea."

"It was not, as a matter of fact," Decius countered with narrowing eyes. "But I see you are here all the same."

"I am," Fabius admitted. "I could not resist."

Decius opened his mouth to say something cutting, but was interrupted by Gnaeus.

"Well, now that we're all here, let us begin!"

"Aye, time is wasting," agreed Titus Perspina. "Decius?"

Slowly, Decius rose from the divan and picked up the scribing kit. He shooed the others away from the cleared space and knelt in the middle. With a deep breath, he opened the kit and began to select his tools.

"Sorry about Fabius," Gnaeus whispered in his ear. "I know how you don't get along, but few of the students know more about demons than him, and I thought you might want him here in case anything went wrong."

Decius said nothing and focused his mind on the circle, though he appreciated Gnaeus' caution.

"Step back," urged Perspina, though his command had already been obeyed. "Let him work. He is an artist."

Decius furrowed his brow at the compliment, for Perspina had not seen the summoning circle he had drawn in the Crooked Crane. How much had his friends talked him up? He spread his tools around himself and marked the center point of the summoning circle. A murmur went through his audience. They crowded to the edge of his circle to observe and admire, Perspina and Sarus taking it upon themselves to exhort him further. Sarus talked of their previous liaison with the succubus, audibly exciting the interests of the other men. Decius only hoped that the house slaves were as circumspect as Perspina claimed.

He drew the circle methodically, trying not to let the many eyes on him distract him from his crucial task. Ibistryx was a far mightier demon than Azefiya, and the circle had to hold perfectly. He soon found it easy to shut them out and before he knew it, the circle was done.

"That was quick," said Perspina. He stepped into the circle and slapped Decius on the shoulder. "Now it's time to summon our entertainment for the night."

"Hold on," Decius chided. "I must make sure everything is in order."

"You see how attentive he is?" Perspina asked the other guests. "We are in for an incredible time."

Decius stood and looked at the circle from above. Everything was according to the plan, but he still felt some trepidation. Dealing with demons such as this one was dangerous for even the augustii, and the nine of them were mere students. Yet he thought of the succubus and how divine her skin had felt against his. He thought of the sensuous yet alien touch of her tongue and tail.

"Hand me the book," he said with an outstretched hand. Gnaeus eagerly complied. Decius opened the Codex Umbra Rex to the ritual page. He brushed his hands across the page to smooth it out, his eyes admiring the strangely erotic, six-armed woman on its page. Ibistryx, he thought to himself. A sinister name with a sinister smile, but alluring enough all the same. He looked around to the others, who eagerly awaiting the beginning of the summoning, all except Fabius, who leaned coolly against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and one hand cradling a crystal goblet from below.

"Well," said Fabius, "what are you waiting for? Are you afraid?"

"No!" Decius shot back, and to his surprise, Fabius smiled.

"Perhaps you should be. This is no casual thing. Dealing with demons such as this one are perilous in the extreme."

"Then why are you here? To watch me die?"

"Perhaps," mused Fabius with another sip of his wine. "But there is no better teacher than experience, and I tire of summoning imps and other small fry. Please, begin."

Decius took a deep breath. His eyes scanned the page again. He had had little time to familiarize himself with the ritual, this one far longer and more complex than the one to summon the succubus. The spell of binding was likewise both more powerful and necessarily more complex.

"Light the braziers," Perspina urged, and Titus bent and lit five small brass braziers in the circle, each one filled with spice worth three times its weight in gold. Quickly, the thick indigo smoke began to fill the room, its scent heavy and sweet. Decius blinked through watering eyes as he studied the page.

"Come on," called Caius Mutio. "We're wasting good spice here."

"Patience," replied Decius. "This ritual must be according to plan, lest we loose a mighty demon on the city."

"Aye," added Gnaeus in a moment of greatly appreciated support. "If we survive the demon, the Arcani will execute us for sure. I'd rather not be sewn up in a bag of angry snakes and thrown in the harbor, thank you very much."

"This whole room is a bag of writhing snakes," said Mutio with a laugh. "I'm ready to sink mine into some ladyflesh!"

"Control yourself, Mutio," warned a voice from the back, and Decius was surprised to find its owner was Fabius. The tall man sipped coolly from his wine goblet and nodded in his direction. "Summoning demons is worth doing right, or not at all, lest you find your entrails spread across the room. Are you ready, Decius?"

With a nod and a gesture of thanks, Decius began the incantation. The Amoeritic tongue felt lighter on his tongue than it had in the Crooked Crane, but he still feared misspeaking and summoning something else. The spice smoke was growing thicker now, and he felt it burn his eyes and nostrils. Who care about fucking a demon? he asked himself even as he spoke the words to summon one. We should have just smoked this spice with some girls instead.

He could feel the others holding their breaths now and felt the compulsion to do the same. Only the almost mechanical reading of the ritual kept him going, for the smoke now seemed material. It swirled around him like Azefiya's tail, caressing him up the leg and under his clothes. There seemed a faint whisper on the wind that blew softly through the windows and stirred the curtains. Decius almost choked as the spicy smoke burned his throat.

The end of the page was nearing, and Decius felt a growing alien presence in the room. He could not see through the smoke, but he felt a stirring in the breeze, smelled a scent he had never known before, and tasted something on his tongue that burned and sizzled and sent tingles down his spine.

Ibistryx, Queen of the Dark Realms, was in the room.

His words became more hurried as he raced to complete the spell of binding before she tore his throat out, roasted him alive with magic, or simply unfurled wings and flew out the window. He wished he had time to learn more from her entry in the Codex Umbra Rex. Could she even fly? How much of sorcery did she command? Was he right to fear her?

Of course he was right to fear her. He hastily pronounced the last words of the binding spell and stopped speaking. The thick smoke still swirled silently, but he had no doubt that the spell had taken effect.

Decius stood still, almost afraid to speak. He could see nothing but smoke, and hear nothing but the soft breathing of the guests and the muted chatter of the street outside. A hawker called, dozens of carts clattered down the street, and someone was playing the pipes. And Decius was mere feet from a queen of the nether realms.

Slowly, the smoke began to clear and Decius caught sight of Gnaeus Avidius. The other man was drawn up tall and taut like a bowstring, holding in his breath in anticipation of seeing the results of the spell. Decius felt them all holding their breaths, and someone, somewhere let out a little whimper.

Then there came a little gust of wind and, through the clearing smoke, he caught sight of her for the first time. It was only for the briefest of moments, but there could be no mistake of what he saw. When the glimpse was gone, he realized he could see a dark, indistinct shape through the haze. It shifted, seemingly to draw closer, and then the smoke parted to reveal Ibistryx, Queen of the Dark Realms striding confidently toward them.

Sharp-featured, beautiful yet alien, pale-skinned with solid black eyes and raven hair, she was a sight to knock a man speechless. Naked except for jeweled chains of gold that hung about her wrists, ankles, shoulders, and waist, the demon was tall--taller than the tallest man here by an inch or more. Her body was statuesque, toned, and hard--she had none of Lydia's chubby softness--but her alabaster skin gleamed in the smoky room's lamplight like that of a nubile maiden waiting to be ravished. Decius swallowed. His cock stiffened, and he could tell it was not the only one. Even the three house slaves looked hard for her.

Then there was of course her most noticeable feature, her six arms. Each of them moved as one, a truly unsettling sight even as she simply walked. They were longer in proportion to her height than a mortal woman's arms, each of them slender, smooth, and yet muscled with power to strike envy in any swordsman. Every inch of her radiated power, yet Decius could not help but see her womanly side as well--nor could his friends, judging by the sight of their lustful faces. After all, she was stark naked.

Her ample bosom shook tantalizingly as she walked, drawing his hungry eyes. Her rosy nipples stood out against her skin, as did the pink slit between her powerful legs. Decius felt his cock stretching against the clothes that constrained it. Her long copper hair fell over her shoulders in lustrous waves to her thighs, swaying gently in the smoke as she strode to stand before Decius.

She seemed even taller now as she stood over him. The lamplight gleamed off her small ivory horns and she crooked the edges of her mouth up in a mocking smile.

"Who are you, mortal, that dares to summon me?" Her voice was smooth and heavy like a wide river of honey. Honey laced with poison, for Decius detected the sinister undercurrents in her speech that crawled through his mind. He felt himself shudder, not in his body but in his soul, so alien was her presence. His mouth struggled to form words, already tired out from speaking the strange forms of the ritual and now overawed by the demoness standing before him; a drevara, among the mightiest of all demons.

"I am... Decius," he said, recalling too late advice to never deal with a demon under his true name. "I am your summoner," he asserted, drawing himself up to his full height in defiance of her. "Your master, Ibistryx."

Her amusement grew. "Master?" she mused in a mocking tone. Her words of honey soothed him until he reminded himself of what he was dealing with.

"Yes, your master," Decius declared. He spoke the word of binding and saw her twitch slightly. "You obey me."

Ibistryx furrowed her brow slightly in annoyance, then wiped the expression clean with a teasing smile.

"Indeed, I am," she purred. Her voice was soft and soothing, but Decius kept up his guard. Demons were ever tricky. "What does master desire? Why have you brought me here, to this luxurious residence and to so many... friends?"

She purred the last word, turning toward the crowd of enraptured young men, some with cocks visibly standing hard for her under their clothes. Ibistryx extended her six arms in beckoning to them, thirty fingers dancing seductively as she drew them close. Decius stood his ground, but the others, except for Fabius, drew close. Did they not see? He wondered. Are they so blind to what she is? He could not understand their eagerness, and then she reached out and touched his chin.

He felt his knees grow weak at once as her touch coursed all the way through his body. If this is what her finger feels like, what ecstasy awaits me between her legs? He wondered.

The others closed in around Ibistryx, who wore a welcoming smile. Her arms caressed them, her hair twitched, and her sex grew visibly wet.

"My, my," she purred. "What handsome, strapping lads you are, and all smelling of spice. Sorcerers?" Titus Perspina nodded stupidly. Decius thought to mock him for being so besotted with a woman until he realized that he was in no better position. He would have killed for her at that moment, and he had not even thrust himself inside her yet!

"What is your desire?" Decius felt himself sway on his feet at the question. His tongue was tied, but Sarus answered for him.

"We want to fuck, Great Queen!"

"Aye!" echoed the others, and there came a chorus of demands. "I want to feel your mouth on my cock! I want to suck your tits! May I kiss your skin? I wish to come inside you!"

Their hands reached out, so mad with lust that they all forgot to be afraid of her anymore, and nine pairs of hands hungrily caressed her bare skin. Ibistryx stood naked between them, rising above the crowd of men who pressed in around her like an ivory tower, taking in the fawning attention, and laughed. Her laugh, like everything else about her, was at once both pleasantly mirthful and hair-raisingly sinister. It rang about the room like the pealing of brass bells, clear and powerful. She extended all six hands to lovingly stroke their faces in turn, her ample chest still heaving with laughter and her black eyes twinkling. Decius had the distinct feeling he was being mocked, but he wanted to fuck her so badly that he could hardly come to care.

"Nothing would please me more, my pets," she crooned. Decius's mind wanted to retort that he was no one's pet, that she was his plaything, but his hands were already busy undoing his belt and the others were far ahead of him.

Nine cocks fell out in mere instants, most already hard and ready. The demon turned in place, eyes and hands studying each of them as she considered where to begin. Slowly, she went to her knees in front of Decius, her six arms fanning out to her sides and each hand taking a cock between its fingers. She began to stroke them slowly, staring up at Decius from her knees, his cock mere inches from her ruby red lips.

He swallowed hard, his cock crying out for her touch, and threw aside the last of his clothes. All the men were naked now, the house slaves the only ones left clothed as they gaped in awe. One of them was already touching himself, but neither Decius nor Perspina noticed or cared. They had a demoness at their feet.

"What would please you, master?" Ibistryx purred, her breath hot on his cock. Her black orbs glimmered in the lamplight, strange irisless eyes like a dark abyss that threatened to swallow him up in its infinite depths forever.

"Suck my cock," he gasped and before the words even left his mouth, she touched her lips to his cockhead. He shuddered with his whole body as a wave of pleasure washed over him. Greater than even Azefiya's touch, he writhed on his feet in the throes of passion. His cock already wanted to come.

The drevara's tongue now joined in, sinuously winding down his cock from the head to his balls. Decius heard himself exhale, then heard the others follow. They all stood, some watching her pale hands stroke their cocks, others waiting impatiently for their turn, all lost in a haze of log. They jostled against each other, enviously competing for the attention of one of the six hands.

One man, one of the ones Decius did not know, came immediately, spurting his seed into Ibistryx's raven hair where it glistened like pearls in moonlight. Sheepishly, he retreated from the circle and surrendered his place to Mutio, who jerked with shock when the demoness wrapped her fingers around his cock.

"Gods be good," he gasped, "I'll never be satisfied with mortal women after this."

Decius managed a smirk. If he had removed one of his greatest competitors for women's attention, he had already scored a great victory tonight. His triumph soon melted away into indistinct mutterings of pleasure as she worked her lips and tongue on his cock. His eyes locked with her own, then moved to her raven hair glistening with an overeager man's seed, and then to the enthralling sight of six shapely arms extending out from her shoulders to stroke six cocks.

It all seemed so surreal. He could hardly believe what he saw, even after everything they had gone through to prepare. The drevara was so real, and yet still so alien in form. She was something that should not exist, as one small part of his mind tried to work out the musculature of her shoulders even as another part yelled at it that it was impossible, and a far greater part exulted in the touch of her firm yet soft lips.

"I want to fuck," growled Mutio, breaking through Decius' confused thoughts. Mutio began to lay down, but Perspina called out in protest.

"Decius goes first," he said, and Sarus and Titus nodded in agreement.

"He is her master," Gnaeus agreed in a strangled voice as Ibistryx stroked him to edge of climax.

"You wait your turn," Perspina commanded.

"Very well," said Mutio through gritted teeth. In laying down, he had removed his cock from Ibistryx's grasp, and now found his place taken by another man. "But I want to go second."

"Perspina is second," Sarus said. "He is the host. And I will be third, for I paid for this."

"You will be fourth," said Gnaeus, trying to placate Mutio. But Mutio did not see it that way. His face dark, he drew back from the circle and sulked.

"Go on, Decius," said Gnaeus. "You fuck her first."

Ibistryx raised her head from his cock to smile at him. The light gleamed on her horns.

"Does master wish to mount me?" she asked in a voice of poisoned honey. Decius shuddered.

"I do," he breathed. She turned to present her ass to him and he reached out to catch her by one horn. "Wait. I'll lie down, you ride my cock. Then we'll take you in all three holes and you stroke the rest of the cocks while they wait."

It was the arrangement that he and his friends had discussed when they first contrived the plan and the reason they numbered nine. Three holes, six hands. He could hardly believe the plan was coming together.

He lay himself down on the polished wooden floor. Looking up, Ibistryx and the others towered over him like trees in a forest, all naked and sweaty and drunk with lust. Like white vines, her arms stretched out to pleasure the thicket of cocks around her, the men's hands reached back to fondle every inch of her naked white flesh.

Ibistryx smiled down at him, her black eyes pits of darkness. She planted her feet to either side of him and slowly lowered herself onto his cock, the muscles in her thick, sculpted thighs flexing as she sank down toward him. Decius held up cock up toward her, ready to receive her on him. Mesmerized, he heard himself and all the others exhale as one as he split her lips and penetrated deep into her sex until she rested her butt on his thighs.

He was overwhelmed by the sensation. His whole cock throbbed inside her. The walls of her sex embraced him, and he could think of nothing else but her. He slapped his cock into her, his hands clutching her by the waist for dear life. He looked up into her eyes that stared back at him with delight.

Sarus stepped over Decius, feet to either side of him, and held out his cock for Ibistryx. The sight of her sharp, beautiful face was marred by the insistent cock in the way and Decius frowned. But Ibistryx had no complaints. A dark gleam in her dark eyes, she descended on his cock to the base. Decius saw his friend shudder and, staring up into the man's taint, hoped he did not come.

Next, Perspina eagerly mounted her from behind. Ibistryx settled forward onto her knees to show him her asshole and he eagerly thrust himself inside. Decius felt the swell as Perspina's cock pressed the walls of her sex against his own cock, then the reverberations through her body as he began to fuck.

"Come on now," Sarus called. "I see empty hands! This is what we're here for, isn't it?"

They crowded around her, pressing their cocks into her hands once again. Even the limp, spent cock was pressed into service and soon restored to life. Her hands moved impossibly gracefully along the cocks, keeping them all on the edge of pleasure. Decius saw toes curling on the floor beside him. Hands reached out to stroke her hair, to caress her naked flesh, or to grope her big tits that heaved with each bounce on Decius' cock.

"Damn," muttered Sarus. "We could have fit one more cock between her tits."

The demoness moaned around the cock in her mouth as three cocks slapped themselves into her. The sound sounded so human that Decius almost forgot her horns, strange eyes, and six arms. For a moment, she was just like any other girl he had taken into his bed.

Then he looked past her at the six arms again. Each of them moved with more independence and grace than a mortal woman's two arms, deftly pleasuring the men and even switching between the cocks with ease. It was a mesmerizing dance that competed with the sight of her bouncing tits. He was glad that they had not recruited a tenth. The sight of them was too perfect to waste on letting some other man rub his cock between them. And how would they even fit a man there if she was going to suck someone's cock at the same time?

All those concerned vanished into the haze as he thrust himself into her. He was ever on the verge of orgasm, but some part of him held back so that the experience would not end so soon. He pumped his cock into her with primal abandon, only dimly aware of Perspina coming in her ass and being swiftly replaced by a hungry Mutio.

Slowly, he began to be aware of an ache in his muscles and a shortness of breath, but he could not bring himself to stop. Now he was not holding himself back from climax, he was being held back by some other power, and found himself driven ever forward in pursuit of a release he could not achieve.

The others achieved it, coming in her ass, mouth, or hands only after putting in hard work to achieve it. One by one, they came and collapsed on the floor or divans, utterly exhausted.

Not Decius, however, for his lust for the demoness drove his cock up into her over and over again. All other cocks spent, she stared down at him with an admiration for his vigor. Ibistryx glistened with sweat and cum, the two liquids dripping down her naked flesh, off her chin, along the ample curves of her breasts, and from her lustrous raven hair.

Decius wanted to kiss her, despite everything. And so he did, craning himself upward to lock lips with the demoness, her lips salty with the taste of other men's cum. But Decius did not care, so intoxicating was the feel of her skin on his, her lips against his own, her long, deft fingers clutching him to her as they fucked.

The drevara's own stamina seemed inexhaustible. She kept herself poised on his cock, dropping herself onto him in time with his thrusts. Nor had her constant stroking of cocks with mouth and tongue left her appendages any less deft.

Decius felt himself aching horribly but still could not come. He kissed down her naked body to her full breasts and soon found himself sucking her nipples. Ibistryx laughed in delight and threw back her head. Her long raven hair flew over her shoulders to drape down her back and that was at last the final straw for Decius.

He came with a strangled groan, the exhaustion in his body at last overwhelming him as his last energy was spent spurting an enormous load of seed inside her. He spasmed thrice, then slumped limp to the floor. He could barely even lift his head to watch his limp wet cock slide out of the demoness' sex, followed by a long, thick string of cum that clung to cock and sex alike.

The nine men lay panting for breath around the room. Even the house slaves looked exhausted. They stared at Ibistryx in stupefaction, too enraptured to even pleasure themselves, and Decius lay proud. Despite all the danger, they had summoned and fucked a queen of the dark realms.

Now it only remained to banish her.

Yet the words would not come to his tongue. He was too tired to speak them, or was he? The words would not even form in his mind. When he looked upon Ibistryx, all he could think of was fucking her again. He turned over on his side, his chest still heaving.

One look at his fellow summoners told him something was very wrong. Gnaeus wore an utterly satisfied smile on his face, but his eyes were afraid. Sarus' smile was likewise a frozen mask, but his eyes darted wildly to and fro. His hand twitched as if he was trying to move it and failing. Only Fabius seemed to have anything resembling control of himself, but he too could not rise from the divan where he had fallen.

"Is something wrong, my dear master?" crooned Ibistryx and Decius felt cold dread seize his heart. "Are you at last exhausted?"

She stepped over him, her bare foot mere inches from his face and he saw a droplet of cum fall from her sex to splash on the floor in front of him, close enough to smell it. He inhaled as sharply as his condition would allow. Ibistryx reached down with one of her six arms and turned his head to meet her gaze.

"My my, you've tired yourself out, haven't you? You can barely move a muscle. All by design, naturally."

The drevara crossed to the windows and threw open the curtains. The street outside was nearly deserted, and Decius could not see any other lights from where he lay, but he still feared that her boldness would expose them. Or did he hope?

Ibistryx, her six hands holding the curtains open to frame her naked form, looked up toward the night sky. Through the haze of the city and its lights, the star sign of the Crown shone throne.

"A most auspicious time for a summoning," the drevara mused.

She turned back to them and smiled, her angular face taking on a decidedly ghastly appearance. No longer was their beauty in her face, at least no more than the beauty of a gilded sword point diving in for the kill. She swept out her arms again, her long fingers growing claws sharp enough to tear steel. Decius felt his breath catch in his throat. "I am no plaything, foolish mortal. You have wandered far beyond your station, though let it be said that I am not ungrateful. Without your bold cock, I would not be on the mortal plane. I owe my rise to you, dear master. And so you will live to see it, as my plaything. Your companions, however, are in for a different game. Shall we see how loudly they scream when I rip them open?"

Decius was frozen. He could barely move a muscle. He struggled to move his hand and prop himself up. He struggled to form words with his mouth. He tried to call upon what magic he could, but neither words nor images would form in his mind. Ibistryx leaned in close, her six clawed hands gleaming in the light. Her breath was hot on his face, her smile mocking and cruel and horrible like nothing else, her eyes pits of light-drinking nothingness. He shuddered.

"Which one shall I start with?" she teased. Decius clenched his fist, or tried, but his fingers hardly contracted. Ibistryx stood up again and turned to the naked men piled on the divan. Strutting around them, her many hands roamed back and forth. "So many choices," she mused. "Tall, short, thin, a little fat... perhaps this one?" She grabbed Gnaeus by the hair and hauled him upright.

The man hung limp in her grasp, his eyes wild but his muscles asleep. Ibistryx crooked one clawed finger at Gnaeus's throat.

"Shall we begin?" she asked with that same mocking smile.

"Nnn..." Decius managed. It was all he could do. His mind could not master magic, his hands could not grasp, his legs could not lift him. He stared stupidly at Ibistryx holding his friend on a razor's edge and did nothing.

Someone else groaned, and Decius saw Fabius' finger twitch. The man lifted his hand a two inches from the divan and then it fell again. He coughed softly, and Ibistryx threw back her head and laughter. The whole room shook with her gales of laughter and Decius quailed at the sound. He was helpless. Gylaen's warnings sprang unbidden to his mind and he regretted everything.

The succubus, the library, Lydia, the stolen tome, and most of all Ibistryx, he wished he could erase everything that had happened in the last few days, go back to his time drinking in the Ivory Tower with his friends, and beat some sense into them. But now here he was, ready to die as no doubt a cautionary tale to others who would try the same thing.

Ibistryx's laughter faded, and she turned her gaze back on Decius.

"If you do not wish to see your friend's throat opened, master, just say so." She smiled cruelly. "Nothing? As you wish!"

She laid her razor-sharp finger across Gnaeus' throat. Decius struggled again to protest, to say anything, to fight her spell, but nothing came to him. Gnaeus' pleading eyes burned a hole in his mind.

"Srythix!"

The strange word, cried in a clear and commanding voice, cut through the invisible bonds on Decius' mind. He jolted upright, his control of his muscles returning to him.

The others did the same, as at once the demoness's spell unraveled and she took a half step back in confusion. Her six arms retreated, her face twisted in shock and pain.

Fabius sprang to his feet. "Srythix!" he cried again, driving Ibistryx back another step. The drevara snarled in pain, her arms spreading wide like a panther preparing to pounce.

Decius seized the threads of magic floating loose about his mind. He conjured an armor around Fabius, fearing that he was about to see the man torn to shreds before his very eyes. And Fabius now advanced on the demoness again, crying out in a practiced and confident command of an ancient sorcerer's tongue.

"Srythix!" Ibistryx screeched and sprang upon him. Impossibly fast, she closed the distance and smashed against him. Her arms slashed at him, thankfully defeated by the conjured armor, but Fabius cried out in pain as he was battered and thrown to the floor.

The others were recovering now, and they hurled their own spells against the drevara; a torrent of fire, frost, lightning, and rock.

Yet it was no use. The naked demoness endured their assault unbothered, battering and bruising Fabius horribly even through his armor. Decius felt his spell shake and buckle under the assault, threatening to collapse at any moment. He poured his full might into the armor but knew it would not be enough. He was doomed to watch Fabius be torn apart for their arrogance. The magicks sustaining the shield ran out, and he saw it sputter and fail. He saw the killing blows come hurtling in in painfully slow motion.

But then, with a sudden surge of magic, the spell was restored. Ibistryx's blows rang against an invisible barrier, and the smirk of triumph turned to surprise, then to fury. She lifted her head and stared hatefully at Decius, who was as surprised as she was. Realization dawned on them both at once, and they turned to look in the direction of Gnaeus.

Gnaeus rose naked from the floor, his eyes aflame as he channeled power into the conjured armor. He wove another barrier strand and hurled it against the demoness. It struck and wrapped around her waist, pinning one arm against her side.

"Throw everything you've got at her!" cried Gnaeus, and Decius joined in at once. The others followed in short order, all except Fabius, who lay bruised, battered, and bloody--but alive--at her feet.

Ibistryx snarled with fury as another strand struck her, pinning a second arm against her flank. The eight of them turned their magic to restraining her, conjuring whatever spells of binding they could muster.

With a roar of rage, the drevara burst from their bindings. Flames erupted all along her body, incinerating whatever shreds of the strands remained. Burning like a great torch, she flared her arms again and charged.

They ran.

Abandoning poor Fabius and the terrified house slaves, they ran as one for the door of the apartment. Mutio was there first, and smashed headfirst into the door, expecting it to open outward. The others piled up against him in a confused rout, painfully defenseless against the charging demon.

Decius turned and threw up a hasty barrier, hoping to buy time for the others to open the door. Ibistryx crashed into it, then through it, then to the floor. She spilled across the carpet, becoming momentarily tangled in it, before her hands tore it to shreds and she scrambled to her feet again.

But Decius' spell had bought the needed time and the eight of them scrambled madly out the door. They ran, stumbled, and fell down the stairs toward the street with Ibistryx in hot pursuit.

Decius was unfortunate enough to be last on the stairs and threw himself to the floor at the sound of the demon's screech. He was not a moment too late, for she hurtled over him to dig her claws into the wall above. As he scrambled away, she tore her hands back out, leaving twin gouges deep into the brick. He swallowed at the sight of them.

They piled out the front door and into the street, running madly for their lives and unable to think. Gnaeus seemingly had enough thought to slam the door behind him and hold it shut, leaving Decius and Verres trapped on the other side.

"Open the door, you damned fool!" Verres screamed as he pounded on the held portal. The unseen Gnaeus hesitated with the drevara bearing down on them, and at last threw open the door. The pair of them spilled onto the cobblestones just as Ibistryx screamed down upon them. Decius avoided the slashing claws only the grace of the gods, but Verres was not so fortunate. Ibistryx seized him in her hands, closed two of them about his throat, and made to wring his neck.

Verres screamed a strangled cry in the drevara's grasp, and Decius knew the man was dead. Looking back, Decius desperately conjured a fresh suit of armor about him, but he had no answer to the demon's strength.

Ibistryx's hands closed about Verres' throat and she hauled up off the ground by the neck. He kicked and thrashed, but the armor and grip both held, leaving him turning purple and flailing about in the air.

"Drop the spell," she commanded. "He can die quickly, or he can die slowly, but he will die."

Decius stood speechless, unsure of what to do. Verres clutched pathetically at his throat, his eyes bulging.

"Begone!" cried a new voice, and Decius froze. An enormous wave of sorcerous might crashed over him, knocking him to his knees. The winds of magic buffeted him, howling and whipping his mind into a stupor. Ibistryx staggered, and Verres fell gasping from his grip. The man staggered away, stumbled, and collapsed heaving in the street. Decius raised his head to get a look at his rescuer.

It was Augusti Gylaen. The elf stood tall and proud in the street, a sorcerer's staff in one hand and the other holding Anthemius' Treatise under one arm.

"This is not your realm, demon," the elf commanded in a powerful voice. "Begone!"

"Arrogant elf," she hissed. "This is not your battle! Why care you for these foolish mortals?"

"Ask me not questions you do not care to know the answers to. I do what I am bidden by fate, and you must do as bidden by me. I see your end approaching, but what will be the manner of your end? Death, or exile?"

Ibistryx narrowed her black eyes. "The Dark Realms do not forget, elf."

"You need not try to teach me," he replied. "I will cast you out, or else destroy you."

"Very well... but yours is a long life to spend looking over your shoulder."

"More fearsome monsters and men have tried. Go and look for them now."

With a last hiss of rage, Ibistryx shimmered and turned immaterial, fading from the world with nothing more than a whisper.

"We will meet again, master..."

"Thank the gods she's gone," Decius gasped. He fell to his seat in the street, and winced as a sharp pebble jabbed him in his naked ass.

"The gods had nothing to do with it," Gylaen mused. "Come with me."

Leading the stupefied group, he ascended the stairs into the apartment. A few confused and curious faces peered at them as they passed, awoken in the middle of the night and baffled by the destruction and naked young men before them. Gylaen answered none of their unspoken questions, but Decius knew that Perspina would be moving in the morning.

They found Fabius lying on the floor where they had abandoned him, bruised and bloody but thankfully still alive. The house slaves were nowhere to be found.

"My dear Fabius," sighed Gylaen. "I thought I taught you better than this."

"You did, augusti," Decius said. "He saved us all."

The elf bent to check on the man, then nodded. "He'll live. If he is fortunate, he might even learn something."

Decius breathed a sigh of relief. Gylaen cast a spell of healing over his fallen student, then looked around the apartment himself. His eyes settled on the black tome lying on the floor, and he frowned.

"I'll be returning this to its rightful place," he said, picking up the Codex Umbra Rex. He brushed it off and shook his head. "All things considered, you lot got off lightly. Apliss smiles upon you. But I beg of you, the next time your courtship woes get the better of you, just hire a courtesan."