Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2023 04:24:37 -0500 From: Fang Saito Subject: Welcome to Avernus - Chapter 9 This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any real people or places is purely coincidental. This story is the property of the author and is protected under copyright laws. The author retains all rights. No reproduction is allowed without the author's consent. Conversations and feedback are appreciated to Greyson B. via email at hokkaidohotel86it@gmail.com. I love hearing from readers. And thank you to Johnny Kape for the excellent editing assistance he has been providing me. He is a wonderful cheerleader. Thank you. If you enjoy this story, please support the Nifty archives today with a thoughtful donation by visiting https://donate.nifty.org/. Welcome to Avernus Chapter 9 I sat on the couch feeling a bit numb. It was too much, coming at me too fast. It was all too stupid to be real. I mean, I'm all for horror stories, but the only ones that are real are where the humans are the monsters. The cool monsters don't exist in real life. Nevertheless, even if I'm really sitting in a padded cell somewhere drooling into my drugs, it costs me nothing extra to pretend this is all real for the moment. I thought I would start with the least important questions and move up. "Alright," I said to Wren. "Let's say all this is real, and not some drug induced side effect. Why are you the one telling me all this, and not Mr. Tsui? Especially if I'm supposed to be his ass-licker, or whatever you said." Wren laughed. Not an amused, condescending laugh. And not his fake, Influencer laugh. No, this was surprise and amusement over what I had said. I couldn't tell if I should be proud I had taken him off guard, or pissed that he found me humorous. "Assecla," he said, still amused. "It is Latin, and means `minion', or `bonded follower'." "Now I'm a gibbering yellow jelly bean?" I asked with a laugh. "So how am I his," I paused, and he walked me through the word again, "Assecla... if we've never done anything but talk? Shouldn't he have to do something, if I have some kind of power?" Then I got hit with an idea, considering how many times I had met him and then woke up the next morning having passed out. "Wait a minute. Has Mr. Tsui drank my blood or something? Do Vampyre or whatever actually drink blood?" "Well, there are many type of Vampyre," Wren explained. "Dom is actually a Vampire, so yes, he does feed on the blood of humans. But no, he has not fed on yours. It would be..." He seemed to be searching for the right words. "It would be, taboo, I suppose? Almost like incest, I guess is the best way to compare it." "Ugh, alright," I said. "You are really good at dodging questions." Wren grinned at me, gesturing for me to continue. "Why are you telling me all this, and not him?" "Because you, my dear Assecla, have too much of his power within you. It is uncontrolled, and so whenever he is near you, it feeds back on Dom, rendering him in a state that is close to intoxication." He looked to see if I was following what he was saying, then added, "And he has been foolish about the way he has been proceeding. Thus your failed dinner, his failed meeting with you this evening, and all the times you have blacked out whenever you have gotten near him. He has acted inappropriately, and had to wipe your mind of the botched attempts to speak with you." "So you're saying he can't seem to stay in a room with me without getting magically trashed?" "Something like that. And so I, having already made friendly contact with you, was tasked with explaining things to you." "So I'm a task to you?" I wasn't sure how I felt about that. "A pleasant one. I could have easily declined," Wren said with a smile. "But I feel like we are becoming friendly, if not yet friends. I thought it might be easier if someone you knew tried to explain your place here." "Wow," I said with the perfect level of sarcasm. "I'm so glad we're friendly." Wren seemed surprised. "I'm not using anything with your mind, so I can't tell for sure. But I thought you wanted us to be friends? Am I wrong?" He seemed to ponder something for a moment. "Perhaps you are merely attracted, and nothing more?" "Wait, what?" Now I was really confused. "Yeah, I wanted us to be friends. I was just joking, because you seemed to be joking about being friendly instead of being friends. Is there a difference?" "There is," said Wren plainly. "And what is this about attraction? You think I've got the hots for you, or something?" Wren smiled, and this time, it was absolutely condescending, the arrogant ass. "Oh, I know you are attracted to me. I haven't told you what form of Vampyre I am yet." Now I was curious, and not just confused. "You mean you're not a Vampire?" "Jason, I told you that there are many forms of Vampyre, from all corners of the globe. Vampyre is an umbrella term, a `catch-all', if you will. But no, I do not drink blood. I am a Succubus, and feed upon attraction and sexual energy." "Wait, a Succubus? So you are a girl, like your sister?" "No, my sister and I are both Succubi. The term refers not to the sex of the Vampyre, but that of the victim. I and my sister feed from men. An Incubus, of either gender, feeds from women." "How does that work with trans guys and girls?" Now I was just being curious and nosy. "It has to do with the energy they project. Almost all trans men will feed me, regardless of the genitals they were born with, or the surgeries they have had." "Cool," I said. "And how much effort does it take for you to tell?" "It's not something I have to work on. I can sense attraction and sexual energy as easily as you see color." He grinned and leaned in, as if sharing a secret. "And while you give off very male energy, I can also tell that you are attracted to both me and my sister. And Jason?" He smiled with a very teasing grin, "So can she." God, talk about embarrassing! I needed to get Wren off this topic before I just melted into the couch in order to hide. After all, all I could picture right then was having Wren sit on one side of me, with Erin on the other. "Okay, back to the other question you didn't answer. How am I Mr. Tsui's Assecla," he nodded when I said it right, "if he hasn't actually done anything to me?" "For that we have to go back a few years," he said. "Some time in the 1640s." "Isn't that like the middle ages or something?" I asked, a bit confused and awed. "Not quite," said Wren with a grin. "The Americas had been discovered, but the American colonies were not yet looking for freedom from Europe. Dominic Tsui was touring the Americas, helping others establish new feeding territories for Vampires from China, alongside those from Europe. At that time, he was still learning to play politics amongst his European brethren, and was not quite as skilled. He was forced to leave the Americas and retreat back to China. Worse still, he was separated from his Assecla, who was left behind in the area that in only a few years would become the Charleston Colony." "Wait, so he already had an Assecla?" I asked. "Maybe something more about what exactly you mean. What does that mean, to be an Assecla?" Wren sighed in frustration. I couldn't tell if he was annoyed at my ignorance, or if I was asking questions he didn't want to answer yet. "Fine. But this is dangerous information. Don't go spreading this around." "Fine." I mimed running a zipper across my lips. "An Assecla is more than just a human follower or companion or anything. It is a gamble, in living form. Vampires are one of the few Vampyre types who can make one. But basically, through a ritual I am not entirely familiar with, they pour a portion of their power into a trusted human. That human gains many abilities from this, including greater health and expanded life. And while the Vampyre is weakened, having given away a portion of their power, when they are near their Assecla, that power is returned to them exponentially." "And what does this have to do with me?" "Dom was locked away in China due to a treaty barring the Chinese Jainshi and their compatriots from leaving the Old Kingdom. That treaty ended in 1997, when Hong Kong was surrendered by Britain back to China. He immediately came back here to the Americas, which is now the United States. He had already done what research he could from there. But he has spent the last 25 years here, looking for the descendant bloodline of his original Assecla. "His last information put their descendants in the area of north central Tennessee. So he began several shell companies, and started flooding money into the region. I think if you will remember back to sixth grade, you took part in a genealogy study? You took one of those genetic testing kits for the school?" I thought back, and did remember that. At the time I thought it was kind of cool because it gave all these percentages of what areas of the world your ancestors were from. And while most of my DNA was from various places around Europe, I did remember my mom finding it funny that I was 13% from China. Weird, huh? "Well, that test was part of the vast money that Dom was throwing around. And here you are, three years later, and your test proved true. You are the descendant of Dom's original Assecla." "Wow, huh," I said. It was kind of scary, but really cool. "And it sounds like right now, if I understand what you are saying, right now the power is there, but it's somehow uncontrolled? That's why it's messing him up?" "Exactly," said Wren. "So what's his plan now? Why did he bring me up here? What, he wants his power back?" "That is exactly what he has been planning. He has been hoping to take his power back." Then he repeated himself, this time stressing, "He was planning to take his power back. But now you have scared him a bit, and woken up something of a power lust in him. He was debating between two rituals. One that would renew you as a new, controllable Assecla, like he once had. The other would simply strip his power from you, renewing what power he once had." "He can have it!" I exclaimed. "Take it, wipe me, and let me go be a regular person." Wren looked at me with the most serious expression. "Jason, you would not survive the experience. That power is part of what you are." "Then he can stay drunk! Fuck that!" I said with a nervous laugh. "By the way, what's your deal with Mr. Tsui? Sometimes you act like you hate him, other times like he's your boss. Or is he a boss that you hate?" "Well first off, you've changed his mind about killing you to take back his power." The way Wren mentioned me being killed, just so casually like that, made me go cold. It was obvious that he meant all this. He wasn't teasing, and he wasn't being metaphorical. My death had been discussed and planned. Every treat since I'd gotten here, every person who had been nice to me, it had all been with the possibility that I was going to be some sacrificial lamb. Did that include Wren and his sister? At this point, I was all in, and might as well ask the hard questions. "What about you?" I asked Wren. "Are you part of the `Committee to Bleed Jason Dry'?" He laughed. "No, I find you too interesting. Besides, I'm not too thrilled with the idea of killing people. Especially when there are other, less fatal, options." "Good thing I'm not boring," I muttered. "So, you? Mr. Tsui? What's your thing?" Wren looked at me cockeyed. "I'll answer, but first I want to know. What's with the Mr. Tsui business? Why not Dom, or at the very least, Dominic?" "It's just how I was raised," I shrugged. "Where I grew up, adults are mister and missus, or you get smacked." "Smacked? You mean your father?" Wren seemed surprised. "Well no," I started, "Well, yes, with my dad. But I meant more figuratively. Even adults talking to another adult, unless you know `em, it's Mr. Whatever. You don't use their first name unless they've offered it." "Fine, I suppose," said Wren. "To answer your other question, we are both members of Si-Jing-Fu." He looked at my puzzled eyes and quickly added, "Si-Jing-Fu is the governing council for the Vampyre here in Avernus." "Si-Jing-Fu? Is that like kung fu?" I asked with a smirk. "Not in the slightest," laughed Wren. "However, since we are both council members, I don't answer to him exactly, but we are coworkers of a sort. And as different species of Vampyre, we tend to have opposing viewpoints on several issues." "Like me?" I grinned. "Yes and no. We are both interested in you," he said with his own grin. "But I'm not scared of you." Wren ended up walking me home. We chatted a bit more, but he kept it lighter. I think he could tell I was "info'ed out". It was pretty cold, but I was able to deal with it. He had also been able to locate my stuff before we left, so I had my wallet and board. When I checked my phone, I was disappointed to see that my mom hadn't even bothered to message me. I'm pretty sure Wren saw that I was a bit upset, but he graciously didn't say anything. Finally we got to my house. As we approached the door, halfway up the front walk, Wren put his hand on my shoulder and turned me to face him. "There is something I need to do, and I hope you don't object," he said. Then Wren leaned in and kissed me. His lips were barely warmer than the icy air around us, and yet it wasn't unpleasant. It was more like the cold of a good spearmint, and as we kissed, his mouth warmed against mine. I was surprised for just a moment, and tensed up, but within seconds I relaxed into it, closing my eyes. I felt his hand on my back, not exploring, not being lewd, just holding me. His other hand reached up and cupped the back of my head, and it was warm. As his lips warmed against mine, his tongue pushed gently against my lips, and I was powerless to deny him. Nothing about his actions or movements were necessarily erotic, outside of the kiss. And yet, my mind was swimming blissfully, and I couldn't remember ever being this turned on. The other night in my dream was close, but this was even more. I melted. I lost all sense of time. And I was so aroused that I hurt. Finally he leaned back, releasing the kiss. I probably would have lost my balance if he hadn't been still holding me. It took a minute, but my head cleared and I opened my eyes. Wren was smiling at me, his brown eyes warm and friendly. He seemed flushed, and less pale than normal. "You're safe," he said. "And you're not going to have to go anywhere. If you don't trust Dom, trust me. But I mean it when I say that Dominic has overstepped, and he owes you." Wren kept both hands on my shoulders, supporting me both physically and emotionally. "Take care of your mother. Take care of yourself. Deal with," he squeezed my shoulders, "your father's funeral. Si-Jing-Fu will take care of everything else." I nodded, not knowing if I could speak at the moment. Between the new information, the kiss, and the reminder about my dad, I was quickly shutting down. Wren guided me up to the front door and asked if I was going to be okay. I assured him I was fine, that I just needed some alone time and some sleep. Saying good night and leaving him on the porch, I let myself into the house. I looked back before closing the door, and saw Wren wave as he walked off into the night. The first thing I did after closing and locking the door was to go across the room to the master bedroom. I guess Mom's room, now. I knocked, and received a response, so I opened the door and peeked in. She was still dressed, sitting up in bed against the headboard and reading one of those trashy romance novels she loved so much. "Hey, baby," she said, patting the bed beside her. As I went over and sat down, she asked, "Did you get in some thinkin' time?" "A bit," I sighed. "What about you?" She nodded, but didn't say anything, so I asked, "Are you and me gonna be alright? You're not gonna shut me out, right?" She pulled me into a hug. "No, baby. We're gonna be right here for each other." Then she pulled away, reaching over to the other nightstand and saying, "Oh, I got somethin' for you." She reached into the drawer and grabbed a white envelope, then rolled back over and handed it to me. I took it and looked inside and saw a bunch of money, mostly $20s, but also the ones from where I had spent some of it at the store. I looked up at her with kind of a sad grin. "This feels cursed," I said, thinking of the fight this money caused, and the subsequent fallout. "Well, if it is too cursed, I'll take it back," Mom said with a laugh, grasping for the envelope. I laughed as well, holding the envelope out of her reach. She took advantage of the opportunity, and started tickling my exposed side. It didn't last long though, and we ended up in a hug, before I finally said good night and left her to her book and whatever thoughts she was having. It sucked, but I had to go back to school the next day. As I expected, this was definitely a small town with small town habits. It seemed like everyone was whispering about me, since it seemed that everyone had heard that the new kid's dad was killed on his first day at school. All that was no surprise. No, the real surprise was at lunch. Liam joined us, same as Monday, but this time he was all excited and friendly. He was acting a lot more like he had that first day we all met, not the asshole who was pissed that I'd met Wren, Erin, and the others. I didn't dare bring it up, so I wouldn't break the spell. And yeah, I was really thinking it might be a spell. Or a mesmir, or whatever Wren had called it. That afternoon after school, Mom told me I would be skipping school Friday, and we would be going back to Alabama for Daddy's funeral on Saturday. When I asked her how we were going to get down there in only one day this time, she told me we were flying! Flying? I've never been even near a plane in my life! I didn't even know enough to know if I was going to be more scared or excited. I told Mom that I needed some time to work stuff out in my head, and so after scarfing down a quick early dinner, I grabbed my stuff and headed over to the square. I was beginning to think I was going to like being a 15 minute walk from everywhere. Unless it rained, of course. But anyway, I went up to the store, and saw there were plenty of people around. Since it was after dark, there were a few of Wren's friends around as well, although none that I had talked to, just seen them with. I grabbed the back table and pulled out all my stuff, then started working on my models. I jumped when a big, blue case was slammed down on the table right next to me. "Hey, Asshat!" exclaimed Liam with a laugh. "Whatcha doing up here?" I barely pulled myself together enough to register what was going on, before he reached out and took the model out of my hand. "Not bad, not bad," he said. "Is this your first time painting?" "Yeah," I said, reaching for my model. He leaned away to keep out of my reach. "Not too shabby for a first timer. Collective, huh? Do you have enough for an army yet?" "Nope," I said, reaching into my bag for the other box. "I've just got him," pointing at the model Liam was holding, "and these. I'm supposed to have some basic troops on order, so who knows." "Are you sure there's nothing over there you can use?" asked Liam excitedly. "Let's go see!" Even in his enthusiasm, Liam was delicate in how he set my miniature back on the table. Then he gestured for me to follow, and he rushed over to the display wall with all the boxes of models. Of course there was nothing new, since the cashier had said the next new stuff didn't come in for two more days. It took a while, but I finally got Liam's excited self calmed down and back over to my table. I let him ramble on about game lore and rules while I tried to paint my character. Eventually someone asked him to play a game, and he said his goodbyes. He wasn't even gone ten minutes before Erin, Wren, and Garrett sat down across from me. I set my brush down and gave a dramatic sigh. "Don't you guys ever do anything else?" I asked. "Or do you all pretty much live here, playing games?" "Wouldn't you?" replied Garrett, "If you had nothing but free time?" Erin brushed him aside. "We have plenty of other things that we do, including real work," she said. "But this is a side hobby that several of us enjoy." She gestured to my half painted character. "Now, let's see what you have so far." Before I left that night, I had the first model painted and the five man squad assembled. By Wednesday night, they were painted as well. However, I needed to have another real talk with one of them, and it ended up being Erin. Wren seemed to have pulled back a bit after that kiss Monday night. I was starting to worry that it was just a fluke. He had fed in a moment of weakness and moved on. "Hey, Erin. Can I ask you something?" I made sure we were far enough away from others that we wouldn't be overheard. "I was going to talk to Liam Anderson about his sister and whatever happened, but before I could, he flipped and is now acting crazy nice." "Alright," she said cautiously. "What's the question?" "Is it ever going to be safe to talk to him about what happened to his sister? I'm guessing one of you guys wiped his mind Monday or something?" She sighed, but just nodded. "So how do I talk to him about that? If I bring up his sister, is he just gonna go off again?" "It's probably best that you don't." "This can't be good for anybody," I said. "Is this what you do? Somebody makes you uncomfortable, so you either mess with their mind or kill `em?" "Whether we like it or not, it's worked so far." She said it like it was so practical, but I could tell she was uncomfortable with the conversation. "Sounds like somethin' I'm not gonna get an answer about," I said in frustration. "Why does this matter to you?" she asked. "Because his sister died, but everybody acts like nothin' happened. Now even him, apparently," I said. "Is that what's gonna happen to me, about my dad? Or is my mom gonna start actin' weird about him bein' gone?" I looked Erin in the eye. "We're goin' back home for my dad's funeral Friday. What's gonna stop my mom from deciding to cut our losses and stay there with my aunt? I know Mr. Tsui isn't gonna allow that, so what's the plan?" "Ask your mother," Erin said with a sly smile. And before I could give an objection, she piped up, "Let's see how your guys are coming along." Thursday after school, I took Erin's advice, and I asked mom, "If we're goin' back home tomorrow, can't we just stay there?" "What do you mean, honey?" she asked. "Home is here now." "But if we don't like it here, why can't we just stay there? Maybe stay with Aunt Susan or something until we find something down there?" She looked at me like I'd grown a second head. "Why on earth would we do that, when we've got a perfectly good job here? With a new house, and all?" She swatted a towel at me playfully. "Goofball!" she teased. "Job?" I asked, confused. "What job do you mean, Momma?" "What?" She looked at me confusedly. "The whole reason for moving up here? My new bookkeeping job for Mr. Tsui?" She turned back to the dishes she was washing, shaking her head. "I swear, boy. You get sillier every day. Now git out of here! Go play with your friends or something. You aren't going to school tomorrow, since we need to leave about 10 to get to the airport. But don't think you can stay out all night!" So fine, I dragged my ass back up to the Little Green Men, and sure enough, my models had come in. I felt weird being able to shell out $70 for my three boxes of troopers. It was weird paying so much money for some plastic models. It was even weirder having the money. The twins weren't around that night, and neither was Liam. I kind of took that as a sign and headed back home early. When I got back home, it wasn't even 8pm. I had a weird feeling about the trip the next day, so I ended up walking around the rest of the house, kind of just taking it all in. The basement still felt as odd and creepy as it had that first day. But this was the first time that I had started realizing that I wasn't going to be banished from the space. Before, it had really felt like it was going to become my dad's "man cave". But now it was just now occurring to me that I could make it something of mine, if I really wanted to. We had our couch from our old house down here already, plus Dad's old recliner. Get a nice TV down here, maybe a video game system? This could be a great hangout for Liam, Taki, and the guys. Then I started imagining being able to have Wren hang out. Although really, he seemed too cool, too... sophisticated, for the basement. He would probably be more comfortable upstairs, in the lounge area. I walked back up to the ground floor. The house was huge, considering so much of it was open. Mom was already in her bedroom, so the lights down here were off. I could still see most of it with the lights coming in from the curtained windows. I could just make out all the new furniture. The living room set, the new dining room table, all of it. It all felt fake, plastic, in the dim light. I went upstairs, to the area I was becoming more accustomed to. The lounge was still an empty, open area. It was just me up here, so we hadn't found a use for the space yet. I looked to the right and opened the door to the spare room. Not even a spare bedroom yet. There were some boxes and extra junk stacked up in here against the far wall, but it was mostly still empty. It looked like it was mostly old kitchen stuff that had been replaced downstairs, but not tossed yet. I shut the door and went over to the actual guest bedroom. Opening the door next to my room, I looked over all my parents' old bedroom furniture. I had no clue who might be trying to stay with us, but whenever it happened, this place was ready for them. Thinking of guests, it reminded me that I needed to send out some messages. I went into my room, setting my new models on my desk and flopping down on the bed on my back. I had to shoot off texts to Alen and Lisa back in Alabama, letting them know I was going to be in town tomorrow, and why. Both were pretty shocked at the news that my dad was dead, and promised to look me up Saturday after the funeral. Alen especially chatted with me for quite a while. He said he wanted to try and get me to sneak out of my aunt's house Friday night. He was pretty bummed when I told him I wouldn't have my board with me, because I was flying. Then I texted Taki and Wheeler, telling them I wouldn't be in school tomorrow, or be in town for the weekend. I asked them to pass on the message to the other guys for me, and that I would see everybody on Monday. Finally, I texted Wren, letting him know I was going to be out of town for the weekend, and that I had missed seeing him up at the store tonight. He texted me back pretty quickly, apologizing and saying he was in meetings most of the evening, and that he was going to miss me being gone for so long. He asked if we could meet up Sunday when I got home. I joked that maybe I wouldn't bother coming back. He replied with a big LOL and wished me a safe trip, saying he would see me Sunday.