Liberty and Death, Chapter 45
The Grove was still beautiful in the daytime, but the majesty it displayed in the dark of night tempered the awe somewhat. Still, Cora doubted it felt that way to Trish right now.
Her head flew back, throwing off her ever-present beret. Close cropped brown hair lifted straight up from her scalp, entire head glowing slightly, eyes and mouth steaming with Shimmer.
Then it was done, and she shook herself, eyes doing the tell-tale scanning of someone being newly familiarized with the System.
“Huh, you all weren’t lying. This is wild!” Trish grinned. She took it in stride, maybe just her way, maybe because she’d seen everyone else doing some pretty wild shit. “Seen plenty of insane feats in the war. Was always rumors of something like this with the Legionnaires, but most of us groundpounders just assumed those noble bastards had top-tier cyberware.”
“Thinkin’ it were both,” Iain said, patting Trish fondly on the back. “Me squad took down one o’ them Legionnaires once. Bastard seemed like he was more metal ‘n flesh!”
“Yeah, that tracks… fuck, those sons of bitches always acted like they were better than us. Didn’t know it was so literal,” Trish scoffed.
“Eh, they woulda been that way regardless, I imagine,” Cora grinned. “Bet your base stats put em to shame. Chances are we’ll kill a Legionaire or two before all this is through, you can see how you measure up on equal footing.”
“Might just do that!” Trish matched Cora’s grin. “So, hows this work? Kill shit, get stronger now?”
“Pretty much! Seems like it goes real quick the first few levels, so after we sortie out tonight, you’ll probably already be picking a class and–”
‘Cora?’ Lux’s voice floated into her ear, carrying a tone of polite worry that immediately put Cora on edge. ‘You have a visitor at the gate. I have Jonesy trying to stall them, but they have guards, and I’m afraid the young man won’t have success for long.’
“Guards? Like cops?” Cora asked, Iain and Trish leaning in to listen to the conversation.
‘No, they appear to be personal. They are color-coordinated.’ Lux reported.
Well, that screamed ‘noble’ to Cora. She tried to remember the name of the dickhead Mike had been telling her about yesterday. As she did, her eyes caught up with a change in her HUD.
[Funds: 9470(0)]
Oh shit.
Her mind raced, connections popping off as she tried to think of A. Why this dickhead was here now, and B. Why the fuck her bank account was reading empty.
“Lux,” Cora said, dropping into serious business mode, “tell Mike to meet me at the gate, and all the girls to change back into Maid mode if they’re willing, and hide if they’re not. Warn everyone that we’ve got hostile company. Please. Oh, tell Hawk to look hot and scary and wait for us in the Office, as well. Trish, with me, Iain, help coordinate everyone else.”
Cora set off, striding for the entrance to Luxholme’s grounds. Time for her to do some acting.
With each step, she let herself become more imperious. Standing a little straighter, lifting her chin a little higher. Not doing either in pride, not really, but more in disdain. She kept her ever-present slight, charming smile, but changed its undernote to one of mockery, rather than amusement.
Even for her, it was easier than she’d expected. Like this body had muscle memory for being a fucking cunt.
By the time she’d made it halfway through Luxholme, the scurrying Maids, who had just begun to look at Cora with something other than fury or fear, gazed at their Mistress Returned with nothing but terror.
That hurt, but it was also encouraging. The last thing Cora needed was the upper echelons of Tyrinno realizing Something Was Up with Luxholme before she was ready for them.
She burst out of the front doors, taking in the scene at the gate 10 yards in front of her.
“Listen, imbecile, I don’t know how you dumbassed your way into a guard post at a venerate noble house, but by gods I will have your nuts for a coinpurse if you do not allow me entrance immediately!” A commanding, almost melodic voice chastised someone, likely Jonesy, on the other side of the heavy wooden gate.
“Open up for him Lux,” Cora whispered, crossing her arms and striking a put upon pose as the gate began to creak open.
“O’ course ser,” Jonesy said, pushing the door back. It wasn’t something he normally wouldn’t be able to do by himself, but Lux had some control over the portals in her ‘body’, and the gate would’ve opened regardless. “It jus’ so ‘appens the Lady is ready to see you know, sos I apologize you won’t be gettin’ no new coinpurse today.”
Cora almost stopped the wicked cackle that Jonesy, playing dumb like he was born to it, pulled out of her. Then she remembered that ‘playful cruelty was something of the ideal’, and let it out.
“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure, Jonesy, I’m sure we could find someone here to satisfy dear Lord Eldrige’s thirst for sack,” she mocked, letting her tongue fire that k like a bullet. Stepping forward, she let her smile turn almost warm as the nobleman strode forth to greet her.
She was honestly disappointed. She’d been really expecting a slimy little toad of a man, a cartoon villain made flesh. Instead, Eldridge looked like he fucked princesses just for the love of the game. Well over 6 feet tall, gleaming white teeth and a jawline that could cut glass, it was like he’d walked out off the cover of one of Cora’s mom’s treasured romance novels.
The eyes betrayed him though. Not that they were ugly. They were beautiful, rich and deep brown. But they were empty. As empty as Donovan’s eyes had been.
The Slaver in mind, a stray thought occurred, and Cora focused on Eldridge as the man took her hand, raising it to a pair of lips she would have found extremely kissable on a woman.
[Eldridge Parnassus] [Level 7 Lordling (E)]
Oh FUCK he’s [Integrated]!
Cora’s neck broke into a cold sweat, but she didn’t let it show on her face. The less she gave Eldridge reason to think things at Luxholme weren’t normal, the less reason he’d have to scan her and her people, and thus figure out she had a house quickly filling up with Video Game heroes.
“Lovely as ever, dear sister,” he cooed, and there was the slime. Cora let Linnea’s lips twist up in an amused smirk she thought Eldridge would probably take as flirtation, and worked as a disguise for her disgust.
“Yes, lovely, after a 5 mile run and sparring practice. You always were a dirty dog, Eldridge,” she drolled, surprised at the words as they spilled from her mouth. It seemed to be the right thing to say though, as Eldridge’s grin took on a predatory edge, his fingers gripping more tightly onto hers as his thumb stroked the back of his palm.
“Well, I’ve never been particularly shy about your beauty, Linnea, or my desire to see it so… exposed,” Eldridge responded, and Cora forced back a gag as his empty eyes devoured her, openly ogling the way her tight tank clung to her body.
“No, Eldridge, you haven’t,” Cora said, pulling her hand from his, then patting him twice on the cheek affectionately, followed by a third that could more accurately be called a slap. She spun, beckoning over her shoulder for Eldridge to follow. She could feel those empty eyes on her ass as she walked back into the house. “But you just got lucky that you caught me during my morning calisthenics. Now come on, I inherited some brandy from Linnaeus that must taste better to men, or be a practical joke from beyond the grave. Either way, you’ll help me dispose of it while you tell me why you’re here.”
A minute later, Cora sat behind her desk, Eldridge across from her. His eyes flicked nervously from Cora’s face to her right, and up, up, up, where Hawk had clearly understood the assignment. Or Lux had just chided her until she played nice.
Throughout the manor, Eldridge and his guards had leered at or mean mugged the inhabitants as they found appropriate, and according to Lux hadn’t even spared making comments about the way Trish’s uniform hugged her athletic body. While Cora had appreciated that at least a few ex-maids had trusted her enough to re-don their garments of bondage to keep up appearances, she did not appreciate them having to serve as debased eye candy once again.
Their ‘guests’ demeanor had changed quite a bit upon entering the office, where Hawk had loomed behind the desk like a vengeful guardian, only for Cora to pat her affectionately on the flank and sigh in relaxation as she sank into the seat in front of her.
“Like her?” She asked genially, appreciating whatever Hawk was doing in her chest that made her breath sound like a sleeping bear. “She was the crown jewel of one of the peasant slaver gangs in the area, until the Chains took them out and slapped their namesake on her. A rare find, such an outstanding physical specimen for such a low price. Plenty of behavior issues, of course, but, well, that’s what Lights do best.”
She finished the statement off with a wink while internally screaming.
What the fuck did I just say!? Hawk’s gonna fucking kill me!
Whether or not that was true, Hawk stayed the execution for now. Cora reached behind her head, laying a hand gently on the mesh over Hawk’s abs.
“I personally find that a system of reward, in addition to punishment, works best in taming a beast like this.”
“Ah, yes,” Eldridge gulped, whether from fear, or from lust, Cora couldn’t say. Probably both. “A specimen indeed. Those… Chains, you say? They’ve become quite the issue around Light’s Fall, or so we’ve observed in the Compass. One of the reasons I’m here today, in fact, dear sister.”
“Mmm?” Cora hummed absently, pointedly losing herself in running her fingers over the taut muscle of Hawk’s stomach. Both as a power play, and because, I mean, come on. “Oh, no, Eldridge, I appreciate the concern but they’re no issue at all. A little beefing up of security-”
She bunched Hawk’s top up in her hand.
“-And they’ve left Luxholme well enough alone.”
“Really? I heard of an attack on one of your convoys not two days ago,” Eldridge countered.
You did, huh? How?
“Oh that? Hah!” Cora laughed cruelly. “Cost me a piddly guard and a driver, maybe a few bullets, but you’d be amazed what you can pull off those gangsters. Haven’t resold the wetware yet but I expect that little incident to have turned a tidy profit, and I thank them for it!”
Eldridge was good at guarding his emotions. But not quite as good as Cora was as picking out tells. Those empty eyes filled with heat for just a moment before blanking once more, with just a hint greater tightness at their edges.
“How enterprising,” Eldridge purred, letting his mouth split into an easy grin. “And how far from the gossip in the Compass! The word in the salons is that you yourself perished in the attack. How pleased I am to see that isn’t the case!”
That set off Cora’s ‘Lie!’ alarm in a big way, but also one she wasn’t used to. That had been just as true as it was false judging by Eldridge’s face.
What is your fuckin’ angle, dude?
“Well, that’s no good at all!” Cora pouted, drawing Eldridge’s eyes back to her plump lips. “I do hope you’ll set them straight for me, Eldridge?”
“Oh I’ll try, sister, I’ll try,” he said, grin once more taking on that predatory edge as a scheme visibly began to form in his perfectly coiffed head. “But you, know, I came here to offer my support, in more ways than just financial. Tyrinno can be such a dark place for a single person, Linnea, man or woman. Perhaps, things being as they are, you’d reconsider my invitations to accompany me to the next major shindig? Show some face yourself?”
Cora would like nothing less.
“Eldridge, I was hoping you would ask,” Cora chuckled, “I would like nothing more.”