Lament of the Traitor King (Complete)

Chapter 19 - An Invitation (Minor Edits Made)

It was late and Calliope had turned her space heater on with a violent kick. The red-hot coils of the little white machine breathed artificial-smelling heat onto their feet, burring softly as Netta told her story. 

After she had finished, for a moment all that could be heard in the little kitchen was the whir and hiss of the heater as it worked.

"So, childhood friends." Calliope splayed back comfortably back in her seat, her glasses now perched on her nose. "How did I not - how did any of us not realize that you had one with you all along, right under our nose?"

Netta glanced down at the table. "I hid It." You had to know that that Incubus had to mean more to me, for me to want to run away with it.   Unerringly, her mind flew back to the day she had been expelled from the Coven home, when she had been told in no uncertain terms that she had chosen to befriend a Monster whose only motive was her eventual possession.  

They had all been there to witness her disgrace.

"That she did," Ash offered only to Netta. The Monster was sat in one of the other chairs.

"Why?" Calliope asked.

Netta looked over at Ash, who stared back at her with a penetrating gaze that seemed to ask the same question that Calliope had.  With a sigh, Netta let out tension that she had been storing for her entire adult life out with a single term.   "Ash is - he's the Incubi." Looking over at Ash, she saw how It continued to meet her gaze unwaveringly.

Calliope gasped. "That lust demon? But - that's impossible. Why would one be existing freely in the wilds, let alone have been targeting a Witch too young to ever be prey to natural sexual drives?  I understand - It would have targeted you as you neared coming of age, but to come to you, as a child -"

"You would have to ask Ashwood here."

Ash shrugged. "What can I say, I'm an overachiever."

Netta said, "He was willing to wait until our Sacred Ceremony was over and spring that lovely surprise of confinement and possession on me. Luckily, you all - anyways, I've spent around a hundred years with this millstone around my neck." 

Calliope stared at Netta, her mouth opened in shock. "Oh - but then, why - how is he still with you? If you haven't consummated a Sacred Ceremony?"

"He never left after I refused It."

"She never killed me after she refused me," Ash added, a slight bite in Its voice.

Calliope clutched her head between her hands and let out something akin to a cross between a whine and a sigh. "Ooh, none of this makes any sense. Netta, you're lucky that Hera never found out about this, she would have had that one banished in an instant, to think you kept the thing as company after you left..."

"All of you," Ash said suddenly. "was a worse influence on my Lovely here than I ever could hope to be."

When Calliope opened her mouth to say something more, Netta interrupted, saying, "Please try to understand, Callie. Our relationship is a little complex, and while we have some strife between us, I would be lying if I said that I didn't still have feelings... of friendship for - for It. And I like to think that the Monster has some regard for me, even being an Incubi." 

Like how It was the only companion she had from her old life, until she had been allowed to return for visits forty years back.  An act of pitying generosity, seemingly as Hera felt the end of her own life nearing.

She turned to look at Ash and felt dismay when she saw how It refused to look at her. Netta sighed and rested her head on her hand.

Calliope was quiet for what felt like a very long time. During that time, Netta heard the sound of the Felix the cat wall clock and the whir of the space heater.