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Chapter Twenty-Three: The Orchestra of Souls
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Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Four: Departure
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURDepartureIt happened muchas Alkin said it would. From opening night onwards, the Orchestra of Souls was a grand success that managed to fill every seat in the theatre. The public would have been impressed enough by a single automaton with no abilities other than walking across the room, but an entire orchestra of musical automatons was an immeasurable achievement. Alkin’s original compositions were also heavily lauded by the papers, with many a critic noting that they would have been worth hearing even from a human orchestra.Some feared the musical automatons were the first steps of a Mekran invasion, but others argued that not all mechanical inventions were inherently linked to the Iron City. There was even talk of using Alkin’s designs as a template for service automatons, and more than one periodical posited the question of whether such automatons could replace mortals one day. This was, in all cases, immediately followed up by another article squashin
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Five: The Iron City
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVEThe Iron CityI managed tosleep for most of the journey. The fear was exhausting, but Alkin’s warm embrace was comforting.When I awoke, I was alone in the bed, but I heard voices just beyond the door. I wrapped the blankets around me like a cloak and got closer to the door to listen.“Sven, I know you’re concerned, but we need to work together.” Alkin sounded very close. Was he pushed up against the door?“So that we can dietogether?” Sven’s voice hissed back. “This is a suicide mission and you know it, but you’re going along with it anyway.”“We have no other options. I had to get her out of there, Sven.”“You just can’t say no to her, even when it’s against her own best interests. I really don’t understand what she sees in you. Why are youworthy of her love? You, out of anyone else in this whole damn world?”“Is that what this is about?”I considered opening the door, but I wanted to hear this out; the moment I showed myself, their conv
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Six: The Sun Fields
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXThe Sun FieldsThe Mekrans blindfolded us, and forced us to march. Through the city we went, then up a ramp, into a place where the ever-present hammering sounds were muffled. When we finally stopped, they bound our wrists to walls and removed our blindfolds.Sven, Loretta and I were in separate cells. A guard cut a lock of my hair and stuffed it in his pocket. I soon felt motion beneath us, confirming my suspicions that we were imprisoned on an airship.The guards moved to the door, leaving us. Loretta couldn’t stop staring at Sven’s face.“It never stops hurting, does it?” she whispered.Sven barely looked at her. “No.”“Is there anything I can do? To make the pain easier to bear?”Sven didn’t answer.I told myself that we would not die in vain. Perhaps the Mekrans were right, and the sun would indeed kill Salem. Perhaps my death would be a necessary sacrifice.Loretta let out an abrupt, phlegm-drenched cough. “Sorry,” she said. “Didn’t think I could stil
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Seven: Distorted Armies
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENDistorted ArmiesSalem floated abovethe ocean, long hair billowing behind him. He was shirtless, and his huge muscles were on full display. He didn’t seem to see me—I was too far away, and there were too many Mekrans between us—but it was impossible not to see him, levitating there like a god. He didn’t even need to flap his wings.“Open fire!” roared Ezekiel’s voice from somewhere up ahead, and the beach erupted into chaos. The troops that had been coming for us shot at Salem instead. The airships blasted at him too, striking him from every direction with great streams of shrapnel.“Now’s our chance,” I said. It was dangerous to run out into the open, but we had to get out of the sunlight while the Mekrans were distracted. I flew from the ditch, and my companions climbed out after me. We didn’t head all the way back to the beach; merely far enough away to escape the sunlight. Once we had passed the threshold, Sven dropped to the ground and rolled, puttin
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Eight: Rupture
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTRuptureI awoke tothe sound of someone rapping on the bedroom door. The first thing I felt was the ring Salem had given me last night, cold and heavy around my finger.The second was Salem sitting up beside me, his wings pulling away the covers. He stared at the door, seething at this interruption of his long-delayed rest.“Do you want to be bound to the wall with the others?” he shouted. “Do you want to become a bloody music box?”“You have a visitor, Lord Sotirios.” The girl’s voice was hollow with fear.“Does it sound like I care? Tell them to come back tomorrow.”“It is the queen, Lord Sotirios.”Queen Isabelle had come here? No wonder the girl was terrified. If the queen demanded to see Salem, a maid who refused her would be killed. But so too would a maid who annoyed Salem.“It’s not her fault,” I whispered, clutching Salem’s hand. “Go see the queen.”Salem let out an angry sigh, and put on a pair of trousers. He shot the maid a nasty glare on
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Twenty-Nine: Morphosis
PART IVDecscentFebruary, 1878CHAPTER TWENTY-NINEMorphosisAs soon asI saw Salem, I knew that I had failed.His expression was not one of wild rage, but rather smoldering hatred. He lifted the side of his upper lip, showing a hint of his teeth. His wings were rigid, like the hackles on a dog’s back.How could he be here? I’d worn my pentacle. Unless ...“Alkin ... ” I whispered. “Are you wearing a pentacle?”Alkin’s eyes glistened with fear. Slowly, he shook his head.Salem hadn’t been contacting me. He’d been trying to find Alkin.“I ... see how things are now.” Salem’s voice was very calm, stepping closer. “I see what you are. A minx. Yes, that’s it. A minx. Like every other succubus. Yet only a succubus would do ... ”I got up off of Alkin. “Salem,” I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as his. “I don’t know what you thought you heard, but let’s discuss this.”“And I knew it ... ” Salem whispered. “I
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Thirty: In the House of Mr. Cillian
CHAPTER THIRTYIn the House of Mr. Cillian“This will beeverso much fun,” Mr. Cillian trilled.He had taken me to a room with walls of fine wood paneling. This was no ordinary bone cell; it appeared to be a meeting room.Mr. Cillian sat across from me in a fancy chair, sipping blood from a teacup. Not a drop stained his lips, but he dabbed them with his handkerchief anyway. “Salem wants to torture you himself, of course, but I’ll still get some satisfaction from delivering you to your doom.”He hadn’t chained me to my chair; he acted as though this was an informal meeting between close friends.I tried not to show my anger; I didn’t wish to indulge him. I had to approach this from a place of strength and certainty, no matter the crippling pain still coursing through my body.“He’s coming to infect us all, Warren,” I said. “Everyone. Even you.”“He told me he’d spare me if I got you ready for him,” Mr. Cillian replied. “He’ll even let me kill the Dark Watcher. And oh, how
Lilitu: The Memoirs of a Succubus Chapter Thirty-One: Sweet Sorrow
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONESweet SorrowThe Reapers walkedme out through the front doors of the Necropolis, and to the edge of Westminster Bridge. There were crowds of Reapers at either end of it, their dark cloaks billowing in the wind. Some rode on bone stallions.The cold rain felt like needles against my battered body. Below us, the bloody Thames swirled and screeched, hammering its barriers. The storm had made it higher. Further down the river, a large shape was growing closer—Salem’s island of flesh. We could hear its weeping even from here.At the other end of the bridge, the crowd of Reapers shuffled, and two faces emerged from the sea of skulls: Alkin and Sven. A stone dropped inside of me. The Reapers must have taken them both at the docks when Alkin had arrived. Mr. Cillian was going to deliver all three of us to Salem, forcing me to watch as the people I loved were tortured.Mr. Cillian’s eyes lit up at the sight of Sven. He walked past me to the center of the bridge, th
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