All in all, Brant was not a terrible person. He knew that the [[Knight of Cups|Knight]] *was* a bad person, but what noble wasn’t? And the pay was good for not a whole lot of work. Sure, the Knight had…. Things in the basement, but that’s not so different from fox hunting or bear bating, right? Today, since the spider had gone with the Knight, Brant had to feed the Things. He didn’t really mind, they could be fun to look at. *** [[11.13 Belaryl Horzza|Belaryl]] looked up when she heard footsteps in the hall. Nobody had been in to torture her for at least fifteen hours and that spider had given her the shiv. Okay it had been a piece of scrap metal but fifteen hours of filing it on the stone floor meant it was a shiv *now*. She ran her fingers over her abdomen and smiled. She liked having [[11.11 Tam|Tam'Mara]]’s name on her and she had already figured out how she would add the apostrophe and second “m”, and she was excited to show how good she was getting with Overcommon runes…letters. But that was for later. For now she had waited more than twelve hours and that meant she was more or less within the guidelines Tam’Mara had set and that meant she could kill anyone that tried to stop her. So she worked her way out of what was left of her tunic and leaned back against the wall, trying to show off as best she could. *** Brant had finished feeding Claws and the Mound. He had made sure the doctor’s live well was stocked with fish. And now there was the new Thing. He hadn’t seen it yet but it ate human food, and that usually meant they were more fun to tease and humiliate. He unlocked the door and there she was. A mostly naked elf-woman with blood all over her. But for all of that she had a sultry look in her eye. Brant walked over to her and she wriggled her back on the wall, showing off her physique. “Please free me. Please. I’ll do anythi—“ That was the last thing Brant remembered. *** Bel looked the male over one more time as she finished chaining him to the wall. He was breathing. She had been very careful not to break anything because he hadn’t *technically* tried to hurt her before *she* started hurting *him*. Then she huffed and pulled his clothes on. They were too big and smelled like unwashed _male_ but she was getting cold. Also she was planning on going outside soon and [[12.10 Iggy Stonebreak|Iggy]] and Tam’Mara had told her to wear clothes when she was outside. She looked at the shiv that had been so useful in threatening the *male*. wanted to thank the Spider who had helped her, but that spider hadn’t been around for a while. Also she needed to find Tam and be a hero. Time to *investigate*. Two chambers later she was bored. But the third door she tried was a room with desks. The desks had a scent of Tam’Mara and blood and anger. Then she found two cages with twisted beasts, but she was able to get a point across to them: leave her alone and she’d let them out. They agreed. The cell between them smelled of Tam’Mara and brutality. That did not help her mood. She stalked down the long hall, peeked in on the *male* she had chained up. He was still unconscious. Weakling. *Finally* she found a room with someone who could say something useful. “And what are you? The Master did not tell me that there were *two* of you as offerings. Are you also to be modified and sent to the King? Perhaps the first offering failed. Oh that would be sad. The Master promised her to me as a mate.” “Who did you modify?” Bel asked, inspecting the tentacles that were moving around her. Instinctively she slipped into Drow shadow. “The pale one. She screamed so prettily. Her grey eyes poured with tears as I embedded my gift in her. But where did you go? Will you be my promised ma—“ Ten minutes later, when the inhuman screams and tearing sounds had stopped, Bel came back out of the room. She paused, licked some squid off the back of her hand, and considered. Then she giggled, low and throaty, and went back into the room where she had had so much fun. She kicked through the mess until she found a tentacle that had “gifts” on the end of it and picked it up. *** Brant awoke from a dream in which the lavender-eyed succubus was torturing him. The lavender-eyed succubus holding part of the doctor against his throat and his throat *hurt* where the tentacle was touching. “I need to get out of here. Do you want to be alive when I do? The squid monster answered wrong.” She slapped his… she slapped him with the tentacle and it made him sting in ways he didn’t know were possible. “I do! I do! I will help! Please!!! Pleaseeeee!!!” She looked disappointed but nodded. “Fine. What do I need? A key or something?” “Yes it’s in my… the pants you are wearing! The one with a spider on it. The keyhole is hidden! It’s in the middle of the bottom of the sliding platform!!!” Bel took the key out of the pocket of her new pants and mulled all of that over in her mind. No. There really wasn’t any way she could claim that he threatened her. She huffed in disappointment. Then she grinned, a little wicked grin. “Thanks. Oh, tell you what: Why don’t you hold onto this for me?” She pressed the tentacle against his inner thigh and the sticky suckers adhered to his skin. He screamed again. Slowly, her eyes shining, she leaned against him and kissed his neck. He gasped in surprise and was aware that for all of his fear and pain—or partially because of his fear and pain—part of his body was *very* interested. The tentacle seemed less important now as she licked up the side of his neck and back down to his shoulder. Then Brant screamed as she bit his shoulder and kept panting when she let go and leaned back, observing her handiwork. There was a disappointed look on her face. His arousal had suddenly and totally disappeared. “That was supposed to be a *fun* bite,” the dark elf pouted as she wiped the blood from her chin. Then she spent a few minutes dutifully cleaning the wound. She explained to him that she was bandaging it so Tam’Mara wouldn’t say she had been mean. Brant spent that time pleading and begging, telling her that he could probably handle another “fun” bite. But the elf shook her head and said the moment had passed. She finished bandaging him, put the medical supplies in her pocket and turned away from him. “Thanks for the key,” she said as she walked out the door.