Fostering Faust 2, page 31
part #2 of Fostering Faust Series
It’s not Beth. Where’s Beth?
Nannie had already taken the strength out of him, and he looked to be hovering in and out of consciousness. Most of his weight was being supported by Nannie entirely.
The man clearly wasn’t Beth, but it didn’t change Alex’s plan in the least.
“Alright, Three, your turn. Coffin, get ready to bolt,” Alex said, moving to the door. There was no time to lose, and he wasn’t about to let this opportunity go to waste.
If it was someone other than Beth, someone unexpected, it might look even better.
Valeria and Coffin were there by the time he turned his head to look. They seemed ready.
Opening the door, Alex stepped to one side.
“Excuse me?” Valeria asked, stepping out of the room. “I’m having a problem. Can you look at this for me?”
Alex didn’t need to see what was going on to know she was probably pulling the guard’s eyes in toward her cleavage. Valeria knew how to use what she had.
There was a soft snick, followed by the thump of someone hitting a wall gently.
“Get his wrists, ’Fin,” Valeria muttered.
“Got it. I hate how the blood goes everywhere,” Coffin said. “Being his knife is messy, messy.”
“It can be. I’ll need to go wash off my hands after this. Oh, there we go,” Valeria said. “That’s a good angle. It’ll make it look like a struggle, too.”
Peeking around the corner, Alex saw what was going on.
Valeria was pressed up against the guard. In her hand, a blade was up to the hilt in his throat on one side. She’d turned the man partially away from herself, the gaping wound emptying out down over his neck and bathing him in his own blood.
There was also a bit of a bloody spray around the hilt of the blade. It squirted into the center of the hallway in a strange stream, ebbing and strengthening.
Coffin was holding the man’s lower body against the wall, her hands locked around his wrists. Keeping them in at his sides.
“Ah, there he goes—he’s out. Alright, let’s put him down that way,” Valeria said, indicating further down the hall.
Together, the two assassins toppled the guard and let him fall naturally with a thud.
Valeria sighed, then looked to her hands and the blade she held. “Alright. Bring over the other one. Coffin, you get going. Get the families of these guards somewhere safe for now as well. Use whatever coin you need to find out where they are and get them out of harm’s way.”
Not saying anything, the black-haired, black-eyed insane woman skipped away down the hall.
She really is crazy.
Nannie dragged over the guard. He was still mostly limp, his eyes rolled up in his head.
“Mm, turn him a bit more to the left,” Valeria said, bending down over the dead guard and pulling his sword from the sheath.
Doing so, Nannie held on to the man as if he’d try to escape any second.
“This doesn’t feel right,” Eleanor said from inside the room.
“I’ll make sure I take care of both their families, just as you heard Three say,” Alex said. “I’ll offer them all positions in Brit, or more than enough money to live well here. I’ll make sure they have possibilities that weren’t available to them before.”
He didn’t want Eleanor to feel guilty about this if she figured it out, and he was willing to pay to assuage her guilt.
In fact…
“And… while we’re at it… Leah, any chance you can make sure these two get a fair chance on the other side?”
Alex lifted his face toward the ceiling, wondering if the goddess would respond.
“Fine,” Leah said aloud from nowhere. She sounded grumpy, but not unhappy.
You’re bored again, aren’t you? Shouldn’t you be doing awful things to get your husband’s attention?
Alex got the impression that Leah chuckled at that, then mentally promised to visit later on.
Everyone around him was staring at Alex as if he’d grown several heads and was shouting at them.
Eleanor had a strange look on her face, but she didn’t seem angry or upset anymore.
Valeria gave herself a shake and then looked to Nannie.
Taking the sword tip in her left hand, Valeria pressed it to the guard’s chest. Just inside the shoulder pit, where there was no armor.
“Alright, Five,” she said.
Nannie nodded, then flexed her arm powerfully. The guard’s face went dark red instantly.
Seconds passed like this.
The man’s arms twitched, and his stomach made a strange heaving motion. It was an odd scene to behold, for sure.
Valeria pushed forward with the sword, the blade neatly sliding into the man. Reaching halfway up the steel, Valeria frowned.
“There we go,” she said after tilting the blade a bit to the side. “Ok, keep him up a little bit longer. He’ll be done in maybe ten more breaths.”
And… that’s done.
“After we put him down, let’s lock the door from the inside and act like we had no idea any of this happened,” Alex said.
He regretted the men’s death, but he felt it was needed. Alex would make sure to take care of their relatives.
Chapter 28
An hour after the deed was done, Alex and his people could hear when the bodies were discovered. It started with a muffled scream.
To Alex, it sounded like one of the maids had discovered the bodies. Quite possibly even Beth, who’d narrowly dodged her own death.
Shortly after that, Alex heard the rush of booted feet seemingly coming in from multiple hallways.
The door handle was yanked, as if they were expecting it to be unlocked.
“Hello?” called a voice from the other side of the door.
“Yes?” Alex called back. “Is everything alright out there? We heard a scuffle, and no one responded to us calling out.”
Silence was the answer they got back from the other side. After what seemed like the time it took for two people to have a conversation, someone cleared their throat.
“Is everyone alright in here?” they asked.
“Yes. Why? Is there something the matter?” Alex asked again, trying to make it sound like he was getting equal parts annoyed and concerned.
“Ah… nothing’s wrong, my lord. I apologize for the delay in the evening meal. There was an issue with the cook. It’s all been sorted out, though we’ll have to have a meal brought here tonight,” said the man.
“Alright… then what was the scuffle? Why didn’t the guard respond?” Alex asked, making the question pointed. It wouldn’t do if he didn’t express enough curiosity about the situation as a whole.
Again, there was no response to his question. Clearly, no one wanted to discuss what they’d found just outside the well-known Count Inferno’s door.
Alex had no doubt the story was already spreading that someone wanted him dead. That there had even been an attempt on his life, but it appeared to have been foiled.
Even now, people would be wondering who had tried to have him killed.
And the best part was why. If someone was trying to kill Alex, wouldn’t that then make it appear as if someone didn’t want him around?
Nothing beats fear as a weapon.
Leaning back in a chair at the table in the study, Alex waited leisurely. He knew someone would be in to talk to him. Question him.
Try and figure out why someone was trying to have him killed.
It was what he’d do, after all.
The question was, would it be the duchess or Clark junior?
“You seem rather confident in your plan,” Rebekah said softly. She was seated on his left, her right hand under the desk lightly toying with his knee and inner thigh.
All the other Numbered were currently practicing knife, short sword, and unarmed combat in the adjoining room.
Rebekah had of course declined, stating that if it came down to her defending herself or her Master, all was already lost.
“Honestly, if neither of them come to talk with me, they’re not paranoid by half as much as they should be,” Alex said, shifting his seat. Rebekah had a power over him that he disliked very much. She was like a drug at this point—he wanted more all the time, but hated how much he wanted it. “They could surprise me, I suppose, and be complete fools.”
Rebekah laughed softly at that, then laid her cheek on his shoulder. Her right hand slid over the top of his thigh to the inner part of it.
“Is that what happened to me, I wonder?” she asked. “You planned, and planned, and planned. Till I had no choice but to do all that you asked?”
He glanced down at the thief who was watching him from his shoulder, then checked over that shoulder.
The door was shut, and no one would hear their conversation.
“Yes,” Alex said finally, looking back to the entry door. “I did everything I could to make you mine permanently.
“I played on your fears, I cornered you mentally, and I ran you down till you gave up and collapsed in my bed. Are you disappointed or angry?”
Rebekah snorted at that, her right hand cupping him through his pants.
“No. I’m flattered, if anything, that you wanted me that badly. You definitely hit all the check boxes to get me all… prepped, I suppose is the word.
“I look forward to going home to Brit and indulging in my luxuries. You’ve been worth the deal. And it’s honestly been rather fun. You let me explore what I want in the bedroom, and you’ve even started to explore some of your own fantasies with me. You genuinely care for my well-being and are quite tender with me.”
Rebekah sighed and rubbed her cheek on his shoulder. Not for the first time, Alex was left to wonder how much of her current personality was a mask, and how much of it wasn’t.
“Any chance I could offer you my soul for even more rewards? I’m sure I’m already fated for a bad end. I’ve killed my own fair share of people, you realize. Innocents, no less,” she said.
“I’ll think on it,” Alex said, not really sure how to respond to that. “And would you really want to follow me into the afterlife? Giving me your soul is… not exactly a normal thing. To be my eternal plaything?”
“But you play with me so nicely,” Rebekah said, not moving away from him. “You don’t harm your toy at all. You treasure it.”
Let’s just ask her.
“I do treasure you. But… how much of the sex-kitten act is real?” he asked.
Locking up, Rebekah didn’t say anything. He could feel the tension in her rapidly mounting.
“I don’t know anymore,” she said after she took several breaths. “I’ve always just… worn a mask. I don’t know anymore what is me.”
“Are you happy?” he asked.
“Yes. You treat me very well and give me all I ask for. You let me get away with a lot,” she said. “You don’t make me do anything, and you don’t try and force me to be something. You even get me little presents and gifts. You’re wonderful.”
“Then let’s keep it like that for now. Till you can figure out who you are. Then we can—”
There was a sudden clack as a key was put into the lock of the door.
Giving him a firm squeeze through his pants, Rebekah sat up straight, putting her hands on the table and then turning her chair partially toward him. As if they’d been in conversation.
The door opened, and the eldest son of Gaelis stood there.
“Alex,” he said, looking around the room. Alex took the moment the man was distracted to look at the stones on the ground, which had a freshly scrubbed look to them. There was no evidence of what had happened.
“Clark,” Alex said calmly. “Something seems to have happened outside my door.”
The man looked to the back room with the door closed, then to Alex.
“If you must know, they’re more than likely gossiping about the keep,” Alex said. “Feel free to check on them if you like. I won’t be offended.”
Clark wrestled with that for a second before he shook his head. Moving to the table, he sat down. Several guards had entered the room behind him and spread out.
“It looks like someone tried to have you killed,” Clark said, going straight to the point of the conversation. “One of the newer guards looks like he surprised the guard at your door and killed him, planning to enter your room.
“Somehow the guard managed to fight back and take his life in the same scuffle.”
Alex frowned, his eyebrows coming down sharply. He also slowly nodded, as if it made sense to him.
“I see,” he said noncommittally, giving Clark nothing to work with.
“That’s it? ‘I see’ and a nod of your head?” Clark asked.
“It’s not the first time my life has been in peril in one way or another,” Alex said. “Though I’m surprised someone was willing to use a guard like that. It seems… unconventional, and… well… foolish. If that’s the extent of their ability to plot and plan, I think I’m rather safe.”
Clark looked even more confused now that he had when he walked through the door. Alex imagined the man had been hoping to get far more information from him.
He might even be wondering if I turned down one of the other two factions and they acted against me.
Which makes him wonder—did I side with him against someone else’s opinion?
Opening his mouth, Clark looked like he wanted to say something. Then he closed it, seeming to think better of it.
“Your… evening meal will be brought in shortly. I’m doubling the number of guards on your door so there isn’t any concern in the future of a repeat attempt,” Clark said.
“Ah, that’s greatly appreciated. It would seem my opinions have gotten me in some trouble,” Alex said, putting just a bit of bait on that hook. “Which is surprising, since I’ve only met with two people since coming here.”
Managing to keep his reaction to a slow blink, Clark gave Alex a tight smile.
He’d given him enough information to infer what he wanted, and little more.
Though, it needs just… a touch more.
“Oaths are a tricky thing,” Alex said expansively.
Something clicked in Clark’s mind, and his eyes flashed with some understanding that he’d come to.
“Yes. Yes, they are. Thank you for your time, Alex. I’ll be sure to call upon you again later. Enjoy your meal tonight,” Clark said. “I’m sure we’ll return to our normal schedule by tomorrow.”
Getting up from the table, Clark silently walked to the door and out. His guards followed behind him, closing the door and immediately locking it.
The soft tick of the expensive grandfather clock was the only sound in the room.
After perhaps half a minute, Rebekah let out a breath and turned to face Alex again.
“You’re a frightening man, my Master,” she said with a smile. “At least I can spare myself any regrets. It seems unlikely I would have escaped from your clutches.
“Even if they are comfortable clutches.”
Sinking into his chair, Alex felt a bit spent. He’d been wound up rather tightly waiting for that little meeting.
As far as he could tell, he’d been successful in setting Clark on a paranoid path. Next would be the duchess.
If and when she deigns to show up. Though that might be a few days before she can do it without Clark noticing.
***
Looking at the crystal in his hand, Alex felt a bit worried. He knew it was a full representation of the pillar back home, and that even if it looked low, it could still be an entire month of power.
But it still looked incredibly… empty. It made him terribly nervous.
For all he knew, something had happened back home and Anna wasn’t able to do anything to help him out.
We should collect on Eleanor. That’d give me some power. I imagine she was rather reluctant to give up that bit of herself.
Right?
Tucking the crystal back into a pocket, Alex sighed and looked into the bathroom mirror.
It was a polished bronze mirror, not a true mirror like the kind back home in the old world.
That’s another invention I could probably try my hand at reinventing, I suppose. Glass and silvering of a mirror.
No idea how to do that, though.
Smirking at himself, Alex stood up and left the small chamber.
Nannie and Valeria had left after the evening meal. They weren’t allowed to remain in his bedroom at night, as they weren’t technically prisoners.
Rebekah and Eleanor were sitting side by side on a couch, talking quietly. They were probably comparing notes on what they thought of the other two Numbered they’d met.
“Six,” Alex said, and waited. Her head swung around toward him, her eyes curious. “We should finalize your contract. Would you join me in the bedroom?”
Eleanor blinked, and Rebekah had an odd look on her face. If Alex had to guess, it seemed to be confusion for Eleanor and what Alex thought was fear for Rebekah. Which felt somewhat backward to what he’d been expecting.
“Oh, of course, Master,” Eleanor said, getting to her feet. There was no hesitation in her demeanor.
Nodding, Alex turned and went into his bedroom. Undressing as he went, he didn’t even wait for Eleanor to join him or close the door.
Rebekah wouldn’t be able to see anything from where she was sitting, and Eleanor already knew what the expectation was.
With a click, the door shut, presumably after Eleanor had entered.
“Master, I have no experience at all. I did ask Seven for some advice, but that’s all I have to bring to this,” Eleanor said, sounding very concerned and nervous.
“That’s perfectly fine, Six. You’re exactly what I want and need, and that includes your lack of experience,” Alex said, getting into his bed completely naked.
“Ah… I understand. What… what should I do?” she asked, her tone sounding much more similar to when he first met her. “I don’t know what to do. I’m sorry, I knew I should have asked Three about this. I’m so stupid.”
Alex smiled and gestured to the side of the bed.
“Come over here and undress for me. You’ve got such an athletic figure. I’ve always wanted to know what was underneath,” Alex said, keeping his tone calm.
