A Demon for a Mistress

A Demon for a Mistress

A queen risks it all when summoning a demon to be her slave.

Author's Note

Whilst I had intended for this story to be somewhat darker than my normal fare, the section where Olivia is imprisoned definitely went a lot darker than I was expecting, including someverystrong elements of non-consent. If you find such topics unpleasant (and it isintentionally very unpleasant), then I suggest you might want to skip that section and jump ahead to the chapter "Escape and a Quest", where I hope you will find a story worthy of redemption.

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1. The Summoning

Queen Olivia had to force herself to concentrate on the magic she was currently performing. Not only was it complicated, but it was also extremely dangerous, even worse, the potential danger was not just of physical harm.

Magic had been instrumental in winning her the throne and now it was going to help her secure it she thought grimly.

For the last year there had been growing reports of cross-border raids in her northern territories, and at first these reports were of little concern to her... so what if a few peasants were killed occasionally? It wasn't as if the bandits were threatening the country's trade routes.

However, the raids had recently started moving further south and were beginning to get perilously close to the arteries of trade that were the lifeblood of Midtyme.

She may not have been overly concerned even then, except that there had been increasing rumblings in the court that appeared to question her ability to protect the businesses of the rich and wealthy. Of course, nobody had been foolish enough to raise these concerns directly to her, but she was aware of the growing discontent and hushed chatter of the nobles.

The rumblings of unease had only grown louder when rumors began to circulate that not all of the raiders were human.

For years there had been stories of fell creatures causing mayhem in the countries to the north, especially in Midtyme's neighbor Longmarsh. But for the longest time most people considered stories of unnatural creatures as just fairy tales. However, through her studies of magic, Olivia knew that such creatures did indeed existed, she just wasn't concerned about them unless they became a threat to her rule.

But now everyone knew that such creatures existed as reports from Longmarsh told of how hordes of them were ravaging that country. Things had gotten so bad in that country that the nobles there had deposed their previous king and invited a sorcerer to ascend to the throne in the belief that he could save their country. And it appeared that the sorcerer, Torrhan, had been at least partially successful. Reportedly the attacks within his country had lessened, even as he still fought battles to defeat the raiders and their monstrous cohorts.

At first Olivia had taken this as good news. If a magic user could be seen as the savor of Longmarsh, then this would reflect well on all magic users, including herself.

However, the unforeseen side effect of Torrhan's success in Longmarsh was that some of the raiders and fell creatures had started drifting south into Midtyne, which meant that she now needed to act in order to avoid looking weak.

Although magic and fear were Olivia's primary tools of statecraft, she was shrewd enough to know that the primary danger to her rule wasn't a direct attack, but instead it was a slow erosion of the fear that the nobles felt for her.

So Olivia needed a show of strength, one that would help reinforce the fear people had for her.

And her magic would give her that show of strength.

She had been introduced to magic by her nanny at the age of ten. The nanny was a kindly, if foolish woman, who had taught the young Olivia the basics of magic in the belief that she would grow up to use her new gift to help others. But even at a young age, Olivia was ambitious and saw the magic for what it really was -- Power.

Olivia absorbed all the knowledge she could from the nanny like a sponge, and was all too soon disappointed to find that she had learnt everything the nanny could teach her. Apparently, the nanny was little more than a hedge-mage, who's magic was actually quite crude and very limited.

But despite the initial disappointment, Olivia's thirst for magical knowledge had been awakened. When she turned eighteen, and with her parent's money, she spent the next several years seeking out and learning every scrap of magical knowledge she could find. For those people who had not given up their knowledge of magic willingly, then she had taken it by cunning or force, leaving a trail of broken people in her wake as she had forged on towards her rightful destiny.

By her late-twenties she was the most powerful sorceress in the land. And best of all, people had learnt to fear her. And with fear came power over people.

Three years later she had taken the throne by force and had become Midtyne's ruler.

During the first few months of her rule there were a few challengers to her authority, but she had made an example of those foolish people. The examples had been necessarily extreme enough that since then nobody else had dared to even think of standing against her again.

Until now.

Now the problems of other countries were also becoming her problems, so she would need to be decisive if she was going to retain an iron grip on her rule.

Her plan was as simple as it was dangerous -- she was going to summon a warrior demon lord from the Realm Beyond. The summoning would bind the warrior demon to her and she would use it to destroy the raiders who had dared to invade her country. Then she would use the demon to make an example of anyone who had even thought to question her right to rule.

Realizing that she had momentarily lost focus, Olivia shook her head to rid herself of thoughts of retaliation and of days past. Magic this powerful was extremely difficult, not because of the preparations or incantations, but because the magic itself would fight the user, aiming to distract and lull the user into making a mistake. And only if she were very lucky would any mistake be fatal.

At last, finished with the primary incantations, Olivia reached for the final spell book.

This book only contained one incantation, but it was long enough to fill several pages. She took a deep breath and began.

Although she was focused on reading and reciting the incantation, Olivia's peripheral vision was aware that as she worked through the spell, the more the chamber appeared to be filling with an unnatural blue mist. As the incantation continued, the mist became denser and more impenetrable. At one point Olivia nearly lost her place when she became sure that she could hear a harsh rasping whispering coming from the center of the mist.

Olivia tried to put the distractions aside and pushed on.

Just as she spoke the last word from the book, her whole body was rocked by an explosion that emanated from the center of the mist, yet it was unlike any explosion she had ever encountered before. There was a blinding light, she felt the pressure from the blast force her to take a step back, but there was absolutely no noise. She could even hear the sound her shoes made on the stone floor as she stepped back. The silence was now deafening.

She held her breath as she peered into the swirling mist. Had it worked?

She staggered slightly, such powerful magic had drained her and left her exhausted, but she forced herself to stand straighter. She had to know if the magic had worked. Her whole grip on power depended on whether she had been successful or not. She couldn't afford to fail.

Then she saw something.

Olivia felt her chest clench as the mist began to dissipate and she caught her first glimpse of a shadow at its center.

As the mist continued to clear, the shadow began to resolve itself into the shape of a figure.

It had worked!!

But as the mist continued to dispel, a note of doubt began to creep into Olivia's jubilation. The demon appeared to be far smaller than she had hoped for.

More disappointment followed.

Soon she could see that the figure was not just smaller than she had hoped, but it also looked unimpressively human.

Except that wasn't entirely correct.

As the last of the mist dissipated, she could see the figure only appeared human-like.

The figure was obviously female and had the physic of a tall slender woman, but like the clothes she wore, her skin was black, not just dark, but pure jet black. Also, on closer inspection, what Olivia had originally taken to be a headpiece, she could now see was a row of silver horns that grew out from the creature's forehead in the resemblance of a crown. Straight black hair hung long down the creatures back.

The only hint of color on the creature were her eyes, which were a glowing fiery red, and which the creature now turned on Olivia in obvious fury.

"What have you done human? Why have you called me here?"

The questions were laced with menace, but Olivia steeled herself, her own anger fueled by her disappointment at not getting the creature she wanted.

"Silence fell creature! Tell me, are you really a demon?"

"Of course I'm a demon. A demon who is about to rip your heart from your chest for your impertinence."The demon began to walk towards Olivia, fury practically radiating off of her.

Olivia tried to hide the fear that was beginning to rise up inside of her as the demon advanced on her. Each step the demon took seemed to bring about subtle changes. The soft skin of the demon's face was being pulled back so the face was becoming a landscape of sharp edged bone and fangs, although Olivia's main focus was being currently captured by the way the demon's fingers were transforming into long and extremely sharp claws.

Olivia took a deep breath, if she had gotten the preparations or incantation wrong, she wasn't going to have long to regret it... at least she hoped she wouldn't have long to regret it."Stop!"she called out in a clear voice that sounded far more confident than she felt.

The demon immediately stopped, a look of confusion on her face. But then the anger soon returned,"What have you done to me?!"

It was only when Olivia let out a sigh of relief that she realized that she had been holding her breath. It had worked! She had control over a demon. Certainly, it wasn't the type of demon that she had hoped for, but it was still a demon that she now had control over.

As her confidence came flooding back, she choose to ignore the demon's question and instead asked a question of her own."What type of demon are you?"

The demon's face betrayed an internal conflict as Olivia suspected that it attempted to avoid answering her, but in the end, under the rules of summoning, the demon had no choice,"I'm a succubus."

"You don't look very much like a demon,"commented Olivia.

Another internal struggle, but again the demon responded,"My grandmother was human."The demon tried again to have her question answered,"What have you done to me, why am I obeying you?"

Olivia gave the demon a smile that was completely devoid of friendliness,"The incantation I used to summon you not only brought you here, but it also bound you to my will. You are now my slave."

The demon tried to sneer, but there was also a distinct look of unease at Olivia's words."Never, I'll never serve you. Demons don't serve humans!"

"Don't they?"mused Olivia, then"Come here!"she ordered her new slave.

A look of shock crossed the demon's face as, without hesitation, she walked right up to Olivia.

"Kneel."Olivia commanded in a quiet voice.

This close she could see the muscles on the side of the demon's neck bunch up as she fought to resist, but she wasn't able to. As the demon knelt at Olivia's feet, its features once more transformed, soft skin once again replacing hard edged bone.

Olivia extended one of her feet,"Kiss my foot slave."

The demon did as she was instructed.

Olivia was ecstatic,"Good slave. From now on you will refer to me as Mistress. Do you understand?"

There was a moment of hesitation, so Olivia reinforced the question,"I said, do you understand?"

As the demon looked up at her, Olivia could see that some of the fire in her eyes had dimmed slightly,"Yes Mistress."

Olivia left the demon kneeling on the floor and went and sat in a chair across the chamber. Now the adrenaline was wearing off, she realized just how much the magic had taken a toll on her physically, she felt exceedingly tired. But before she could rest, she needed to decide what to do with the demon. She might not have gotten the warrior she had wanted, but there was still a chance the demon might be useful.

"Do you have a name?"

"Sylvia Mistress."Hmm, a decidedly uninspiring demon name.

"You called yourself a succubus. What sort of demon is that?"

"We succubi can intuitively find out what you humans want, then for the illusion of giving you what you think you want, we get to feed on your souls."For the first time since discovering she was trapped, the succubus smiled. no doubt she was imagining feasting on Olivia's soul.

Hmm, Olivia was beginning to get an idea."Tell me slave, can you pass for human?"

"Yes Mistress", even as Sylvia spoke her appearance and clothed changed, she now appeared to be a young woman in her mid-twenties wearing a simple peasant dress.

"Excellent. From now on, that is the appearance you will present to everyone else at court. As far as everyone else is concerned, you are to be my new personal maid. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mistress."

Olivia rose from her seat and went to the chamber door, she dispelled the charms of sealing and silence and opened the door."Guard, fetch me Mrs. Belfon."No sooner had she given the command, than one of the guards was practically running down the corridor. Everyone knew not to keep the Queen waiting.

Within the minute, Mrs. Belfon, the head-maid was standing slightly out of breath in Olivia's chamber.

"Ah, Mrs. Belfon, I have hired a personal maid for myself. This is Sylvia."She indicated the young woman still kneeling on the chamber floor."Please find her a chamber and more suitable clothes."

If Mrs. Belfon had any opinion on the matter, she kept it to herself,"Yes Your Majesty."

Turning to the succubus,"Sylvia, go with Mrs. Belfon, but be back here at dawn tomorrow as we have a lot of work to do."

There was just a hint of a glare from the demon,"Yes Mistress."

Once she was alone in her chamber, Olivia began to consider her plan. She might not have gotten the warrior she had wanted, but perhaps she had gotten something almost as good. The greatest danger to Olivia were plots that fermented among the nobles in the shadows, if Sylvia really could discern people's hopes and desires, then perhaps she could sniff out any plots against her. Olivia smiled at the thought of the demon devouring the souls of those that plotted against her.

Yes, this might work out very well indeed.

********

The following morning started as normal with the royal court, where reports were delivered and subjects, mainly those with enough money to bribe the appointments clerk, could petition the queen for favors.

Olivia looked out across the packed hall, not bothering to hide the look of contempt she felt. To her right-hand side stood Sylvia, waiting to do her mistress's bidding.

Olivia was a little suspicious of the way that the demon had so quickly gone from fury at being enslaved, to quiet acceptance of her new role, but she put it down to demons being ignorant and cowardly creatures who would naturally be subservient to those more powerful than themselves. And Olivia had certainly proved that she was more powerful than this succubus.

A few people glanced questioningly at Sylvia, but on Olivia's instructions, Mrs. Belfon had let it be known to some of the more talkative staff that the queen had taken on a new personal maid. By lunchtime the entire court would know, and Sylvia would just be another court flunky as far as the others were concerned.

But Olivia had plans for the succubus, she beckoned Sylvia to attend her.

"See near the middle of the hall, the tall Lord in the red jacket?"

"Yes Mistress."

"That is Lord Voltaire and next to him, in the green dress is his sister Charlotte, her maid is the one in the plain grey dress. Although he is the head of his family, the story is that brother and sister jointly run their lands. Ostensibly they are here for trade talks, but I don't trust them. I think the real reason they are here is to ferment unrest within my court and look for an opportunity to usurp me."

The demon merely raised an eyebrow at this news.

Turning to face her new demon slave, Olivia lowered her voice further,"I want you to seduce Lord Voltaire and find out why they are really here. You have the rest of the day to get it done and report back to me this evening. Is that understood?"

"Yes Mistress."For the first time since she had been summoned, Olivia saw the spark of excitement in the demon's eyes.

Satisfied, Olivia turned back to the hall and smiled warmly across at Lord Voltaire. If he was plotting treason, she would soon know, and if he was, the only question would be whether she made a public example of him or would she feed his soul to her new pet demon.

********

It was late that evening before Sylvia returned to her mistress, by that time Olivia's frustration at being kept waiting was on the verge of becoming anger.

As soon as Sylvia had entered her chamber and the charm of silence was back in place,"Well, what did you find out?"asked Olivia with angry impatience.

"Well..."began Sylvia,"Lord Voltaire's biggest secret is that he is in love with his sister, or to be more accurate he is in lust with her. Apparently, he has desired her for most of his adult life, but she has always rebuffed him. After much encouragement I suggested that he should seek out his sister later tonight,asI have a feeling his luck is about to change."There was a definite gleam in the demon's eye as she imparted her news.

As fascinating as the news was, it wasn't the news that Olivia wanted to hear."Enough of the sordid tales, are they here to stoke rebellion?"

"No,"replied Sylvia, almost sounding disappointed,"He has no desire for your throne, although he does plan to swindle you during the trade talks,"she finished as though the last bit of news held no interest for her.

"What! How?"Olivia exploded.

"Apparently, Lord Voltaire has purchased most of the grain from all the surrounding lands within your country, with the intention of selling most of it to Longmarsh, but apparently Longmarsh doesn't want it, so the Lord is now heavily in debt and desperate to sell. However, he is now hoping to recoup his losses and even make a profit by claiming there is a countrywide shortage of grain and selling it to you at an inflated cost."

He is, is he? Thought Olivia with a vindictive smile,"Did you find out anything else?"

"Yes, I also seduced Lady Voltaire, and damnation is she a kinky one,"responded Sylvia with a note of approval,"Apparently she knows that her brother covets her, but she has desires somebody else."At a questioning look from her mistress, Sylvia continued,"Yes, the person the Lady really wants lapping at her sex is her maid."

Now Olivia's curiosity was piqued,"And what does the maid think about all this?"