Transphobia, Self Harm, Adult language
Nyssa barely lifted her head as a thin man tapped on the bars of her cell. Usually, his hair was a dark purple tinged with crimson streaks, shoulder length; she knew exactly who he was.
She would have been a fool not to know her sister’s husband and one of the prince’s of the hells. Still, she could not find the strength to meet his eyes.
Not unless he freed Bea. If anything happened to her…Nyssa felt pain erupt behind her eyes, and shrank back from the bars, only now noticing that she had lunged at him. He shook his head. Why had Lila taken her into custody. She should have never opened up that invitation.
Overhead she heard the sound of scraping chairs and was that the hiss of shifting sands. “We mean to get you out as soon as possible,” the prince lied.
“Just let Beatrice go,” she mumbled. “I don’t care what you want with me, but Bea is innocent.”
“The human?” He said it with such disdain she had forgotten what it was like to be amongst the pioused demons. She hated it. It reminded her when she was small, and had collected trinkets from the human world and her father had caught her and had made it so she could never touch another human book without being seared, the mark still burned into her wrists. It was one of the reason why she always had her lovers read to her.
“My lover,” she said, and wanted him to be repulsed, and she was not disappointed as he wrinkled up his nose. “or one of them of many,” she grinned.
“You changed the human’s shape,” Vastiyia coughed. “Even though that power is reserved for demons.”
She rolled her eyes, and snorted; she would never tell him it had been Selene. She had improved at the whole shape-changing business. “Oh come off of it, prince,” she waved her arms. “We’re succubi, and incubi,” she added. “we’re meant to break boundaries or have you forgotten that being at the leash of the higher powers here.”
She was of course talking about those who had arrested her. The blasted committee. She could not help her tail swerving back and forth.
“The humans are not much different than us, wouldn’t you say,” she finished and unbelievably he smiled, but it never reached his eyes. There was no mirth there. “Bea is no different from my sister, or from you.”
“How dare you?” He wanted to rise; she could tell as color flamed in his cheeks.
“I guess you have to ask yourself why being compared to lowly humans makes you so shaken, Vastiyia, and why might I ask of the poor prince is it such an insult.”
“They’ve lost their way.”
“And so have we, or we are beginning to, surely you see that. If you condemn me for sleeping with those I love.”
“You could never love a human.”
“Humans. I adore them. I have their stink on me. Would you like to come closer?” Her tail flickered back and forth.
He sighed and surprisingly rolled his eyes. That was not the response she had expected.
She repeated. “We have lost our way, Vastiyia. My sister, Simone left because she could see that. Disowned. My other sister changed her shape and was mocked, is mocked for it. Which fucking hurts, because she thinks I left because she thinks I was as bigoted as my parents,” tears shone in her eyes. “And think of Lila who never gets to see us again. Doesn’t that hurt that you never get to see your sisters in law Vastiyia? Don’t you think there’s something deeply wrong about that.”
“I know it is,” he growled. “I know.”
“But you blame the humans,” Nyssa snorted. “Typical incubus.”
He colored at that, and his hands gripped the bars as if they were his anchor to decency.
“No body of power should ever tell us who we can love, who we can be. We are demons for fucks sakes, and I know plenty of other humans who would express the same sentiment, no matter what tyrannical governing body might think of us. They still stand.”
“Inspiring,” Vastiyia said dryly. He looked a bit grim. Line marks on his face. He hadn’t been sleeping well. So he was feeling it too. Good.
“Free Beatrice. Get her home. Or don’t mention my freedom again.”
When he had no answer. She waved him off. Seems negotiations had failed. Nyssa knew that she had gotten under his skin. Good, he was just as bad as the committee. She wasn’t sure what he wanted, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
Nyssa knew that she had gotten under his skin. Good, he was just as bad as the committee. She wasn’t sure what he wanted, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
It would be better this way, seeing Beatrice off. It’s not as if she wanted to be with her anyways. She always looked so uncomfortable at the manor. She wanted to snap at Vastiyia again; at least when he was here she could express anything she needed to.
No, she needed Bea. She needed to apologize for taking her away, assuming she….could not finish that thought.
I don’t want her to go away. She thought. I wish she was in the same cell as me. The selfish thought made her clutch at her wrists, wanting to tear skin, to dig in. Blood sunk under her fingernails.
What would anyone of them say if they could see her like this now? They probably didn’t know she was gone. Nyssa curled the ratty blanket around her, and pressed herself into the bed. It rank, but this was what she deserved wasn’t it?
A rapping at her door made her nearly roll over until her stomach curdled at a familiar voice. “Nyssa.” Firm, demanding, whispy. And then it was gone. As she turned over. Just a guard.
Not her father. She tried to steady herself, but the room spun as she stood, uncaring if the blanket uncovered her nakedness. I’m a succubus. I’m like my sisters. The guard coughed and slightly turned. A male gorgon, how interesting.
“No need to be wary,” she said, as she pressed herself against the bars, repeating the mantra over and over again. If she could exude herself to make him uncomfortable. This was the right move.
He coughed again, trying not to check her out, was it? How curious. “There are protestors,” he said. “Seems you have a growing fan club.”
“No one in the hells seems to care.”
“It’s your brother.”
“Sister,” she said quickly, clicking her tongue. “I have only sisters. Simone was it?” The guard winced. “She’s leading a protest?” how very like her.
“We might have to take action.”
Maybe our reunion will turn out differently than we all expected, she mused.
“You, take action against Simone?”
“The committee is upset.”
“Oh I’m sure they are,” she grinned, making her sclera shrink, striking a tremor through the guard as he struggled to swallow along with his fellow snakes which were all hissing. No. Rattling.
“His crimes are—”
She slammed against the bars and the guard leaped back. “My sister has no crimes except staying in this wretched place, and she certainly does not fear you or your like.
Tell the committee, my sister will raise the hells to the ground if her demands aren’t met.” A united front was it? But she didn’t deserve this. Nyssa had left Simone behind. “You have no case against her.”
“Only insurrection.”
“Protests,” Simone snorted. “No, rioting IS what makes us demons,or have you forgotten what it is like to be a monster. OR are you too civilized,” she said imitating Lila. “Too human.”
The guard slammed his halberd through the bars, but Nyssa was ready for the lunge. She planted her feet and caught the shaft, twisting it down, and setting a blaze through it; the malice she held for herself burgeoned through and the guard yelped. “Not even a tenth. Disappointing. And you think you can silence Simone.” She laughed.
“There is always the male that came with you.”
“If you touch Beatrice, I will rend your flesh from your skin, and then I will set you aflame,” she said, “… but not before I snip off each and every one of those snakes from that bad haircut of yours.”
He put his hand to his hair and recoiled. “My terms remain the same. Let Beatrice go, and do with me what you will. I will talk to Simone if I have to,” she said sullen.
The guard muttered something under his breath.
Could she really be her parents prisoner again? No, she would never revert to how it was before. They would never have power over her again, no matter the illusion of it.
It might have been several days and she didn’t know if Bea was dead or alive, or if her manor had been burned to the ground, or if Simone’s protests had been stopped. Goddess Simone, please be okay. Not for me. Never for me.
Nyssa felt the brush of the wind and felt the clattering of the door. She barely turned as she heard her youngest sister say, “I think I have been a coward.”
“No shit.”
Lila was alone. If you forgot about the miasma trailing her, Lila was everything her parents wanted her to be. Utterly boring. Pioused. Some might even call her a doormat. Nyssa knew otherwise; Lila was not protected by her husband.
It was the other way around. Lila was the only one who knew how to handle their parents. And it drove a wedge between them. Not just jealousy, but the way she carried herself. As if she was not afraid of how people saw her.
Nyssa had once been like that until she had those she loved to protect. It did not make it easier if they were human. For a while it was passable. They thought she was creating a factory for herself, to sustain herself so she’d never grow hungry again. But then they must have seen the affection she held for them. It drew up feelings from disgust and Nyssa had to wonder when she became a pariah if it were Lila’s fault.
She was the only one who had stayed behind, the only one who had not been completely and utterly disowned. All for that damned husband of hers.
And now she stood before her, in a purple body-con dress, raised chin as the word coward was on her lips.
“Nice heels,” Nyssa said and Lila scowled after looking at her feet.
“They didn’t even give you shoes.”
“Deviants don’t get to live in palaces.”
“Nyssa, I’ve paid your bail over a thousand-fold, but they’re claiming jurisdiction in the courts of our benefactors.”
“Your benefactors,” and Lila rolled her eyes.
“Is Beatrice okay?”
“The human,” and Nyssa didn’t miss the way she said that, not exactly like Vastiyia with disdain, but with caution as if mentioning it might shatter the eggshells. “She is your guest to my gala is she not? No harm can come to her.”
Nyssa did not loosen a breath. “There is no gala. It was a trap, and even if it was, you’d what parade me about with a human, let me out on good behavior until the song and dance is over and then you lock me up again, was that your plan?”
“Temporarily.”
Nysssa tried not to look at the miasma eating through her skin, especially around the edges of her wrists. Some might have thought it was just her accidentally cutting herself when she shaved, but if you looked closer, you could see the deep pink and red spots swelling here and there as if threatening to burst open her skin.
“You are attending my gala. You and your human guest. Beatrice, was it? You will both be there. Our benefactors have agreed. Your whore house will be confiscated and under the jurisdiction of the committee and Beatrice will be allowed to go home.”
“That was never part of the deal,” Nyssa snarled. “You cannot harm them.”
“They will not be harmed. Their minds will be wiped, and any shapes altered will be returned.”
“You cannot,” Nyssa shook with fury.
“It was the only way to buy your safety,” Lila shouted.
“Hypocrite,” Nyssa snarled. “You might as well change his shape as well!”
“It was never meant for humans,” Lila said.
“You don’t believe that. Just because your husband does, doesn’t mean you have to. Why do you hate them as much as you do? Is it because of him, or because of some sordid reason you believe that they took me away from you!”
Lila scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve seen the ruin that humans are capable of.”
“Oh, how contrived. Now you sound exactly like mother and father,” and Lila paled. “No worse, you’ve become them.”
Lila stood still very still and for a second Nyssa thought she would wrench the bars back so she could strangle her. “What would Simone say,” Nyssa pressed. “What is she saying right now?”
“You will be my guest at the gala, and then everything will be as it once was,” Lila said meeting her gaze as she turned one one heel and strode down the corridor away from the torches, until she was scarcely a shadow.
Nyssa had to get out of here. If the committee was to attack her people, reclaim the demonic magic than she had to get out, she had to warn them. Oh, Bea, I hope you are doing better than me. And she offered a silent prayer to her lovers that they would get away. No, she needed to get out! Frantically her mind began to surge with possibilities.
She could slit the guards throat, bait him into visiting and then slip out. Or force herself into starvation until she was unfit to dance, or to be paraded around. No, she had to remain strong.
Had to stay strong for the others. A howl nearly tore its way through her throat, and then she barely turned as there was someone in the prison with her. Not Bea, but a very familiar fleeting feeling. It reminded her twenty years ago before everything was torn asunder. A figure. She was afraid to reach out.
And then a note was pressed into her hands by the mysterious figure cloaked in silence.
I will be at the gala. No one will harm your harem. She snorted at that. I will stay by your side.
Nyssa barely could feel the note leave her hand as she nodded and then set it aflame. The visitor watched patiently until it curled and folded over like a discarded lily.
And before it could fall to the ground, the visitor watched as Nyssa stomped out the remaining bits, trying not to think if that was the fate that would befall her lovers. Her harem. She rolled her eyes at that.
The visitor was already gone, undetected by the miasma, as if the night had swung her away into the waltz before she could protest.