12ALDRIC
Now this wasmy sort of place. It was only fitting that I felt at home, as I was the reason the Demon Isle had become what it was.
As I led my maiden on her chain through the city, I cast a look her way and laughed at the outright fear etched on her face. “What? More than you expected?” She averted her gaze, staring down at the cobblestones beneath her feet. They were bare, as was the rest of her. “That was a direct question. I expect you to answer those.”
“I didn't know what to expect,” she confessed. “But I wouldn't have imagined this.”
“No, I bet you wouldn't have.” Though we walked openly down the narrow street, I had no fear of being overheard while we conversed.
There was far too much activity going on for anyone to pay much attention, even to a king such as myself leading his property around on a chain.
After all, she was one of so many others.
I drew a deep breath, pulling in the aromas of sex, blood, and lust. “Everything you see around you is thanks to me,” I explained with no small amount of pride. “You should have seen this place when I first visited. So many demons, so much power, and all of it wasted.”
We passed an open-air spectacle featuring a screaming Omega being fucked mercilessly in the ass by something I could only describe as a horned wolf, who stood on two legs and held her hips in place by digging razor sharp claws into them. Blood dripped down her thighs, quickly lapped up by a winged creature even I couldn't identify.
We sidestepped a public auction, one featuring a cloaked figure with eyes that burned bright red from beneath its hood. In each claw, he held a thick chain attached to a nubile maiden whose body already bore bites and scratches from countless encounters.
“They've been tested and proven more than worth the price,” the demon growled in a voice that made Dawn shiver as we walked past.
A group of men of all shapes and sizes shouted their bids.
“Before I came here,” I explained, “they had no idea of the power they possessed. How easy it would be to dominate a weak Omega.” I strode through a puddle of what could only be blood, chuckling when Dawn attempted to jump over it and failed. Blood splashed her bare legs.
“You've stepped in worse than that,” I reminded her. She folded her arms over herself, trembling, refusing to look at me. “No false modesty at this stage. You were so determined to help me, weren't you?”
“Is that a direct question?” she countered. I admired her spirit, even if it was beginning to grate on my patience.
On and on we walked, my pleasure growing as I examined what had come to pass since my last visit. Now, instead of the entire island existing in a sort of medieval hell with raw sewage running down the streets and its inhabitants murdering each other for a scrap of food, there was a distinct demarcation between the haves and the have-nots. They have-nots still dwelled and did business where Dawn and I now explored. On the hill, well within our line of vision, sat the city, which had sprung up seemingly overnight. Glass-walled towers, technology beyond even what was available in Sypani could be enjoyed by those who possessed the resources.
Resources gained by selling flesh. Dealing in public sex shows. Auctions. Orgies. Brothels. Those living on the hill had no need to dirty their hands. They needed only to collect the money earned here in the slums…in the crumbling buildings, huts, even tents. We passed a row of such tents, all of them fixed with signs promising pleasure—or pain. There was truly something to indulge every taste. In front of a few of the tents stood chained Omegas, their heads hanging low and their bodies on display. Ripe, juicy. They were clearly cared for, kept fed and bathed to earn more for the masters, who sat on high in their glass palaces.
And it thrilled me like little else could. I had done this.
And now, they would repay me.
“Where are we going?” Dawn asked. I ignored her question and the fact that she dared ask it at all, pulling her along with me into a notorious brothel.
Perhaps some of the filthiest, most degrading acts on the entire Demon Isle took place beneath this roof. Rather than inform her of this, I decided to keep her in suspense.
“How much for her?” someone shouted from across the smoke-filled room within moments of our crossing the threshold.
“Whatever he bids, I'll pay double!”
“How many can she take at once?” a third asked. “We might split the price.”
For the first time since entering, I raised my head and took a slow look around. “Since when do I behave as a common pimp?” I asked in a smooth voice which carried throughout the first-floor saloon.
The horned, winged demon behind the bar laughed, the sound as harsh as grinding gears. “So it is you, Aldric. I didn't imagine you would ever return.”
The effect was magic. Instantly, the majority of those enjoying a drink around the bar bowed their heads. There was frantic murmuring from some of them, most likely those who'd offered to purchase time with my maiden.
It wasn't these bowers and scrapers who held my attention, however. It was those who bolted from the establishment upon recognizing me. It wasn't fear that drove them out—at least, I doubted it.
And the barkeep took note as well. “Not everyone around here views you with friendly eyes. You did kill their goddess, after all.”
“Yes, yes.” I waved a hand, indifferent. That was what I wanted him to believe, what I wanted them all to believe.