Jadis had, by her own hand, solidly cockblocked herself.

In the moment, it had been good fun teasing three "samples" out of Sorcha with Kerr's enthusiastic help. It had been even more fun when the goblin witch had, with the aid of her Tingle Wand, brought the therion to a much delayed and highly explosive climax. However, the fact that she had never tended to her own aching need had bit her in the ass. Hard. She had, unfortunately, run out of time. Before her Ida self knew it, knocks were coming from the door as Aelius' servants advised that dinner was ready, and both the master of the house and Noll were waiting for her in the dining room.

While her Ida body was forced to repress her lust and her cock in order to quickly get herself presentable, Jadis wanted to say that she could take comfort in the fact that her Jay body was able to achieve relief.

Except, no, that part of her had also been blue balled, in a manner of speaking. Jay and Aila had managed to complete the accession ritual right before they had landed the Behemoth in the large open area by Vinea's corpse. The ritual requirements had been three orgasms between the two of them, and it didn't care who the source was. So, in order to make things quick, Jay had focused her attentions onto Aila and her pleasure, bringing the redhead off two more times in quick succession. As soon as the ritual was completed, Aila had gotten up from Jay's lap and had prepared to finish her off with her mouth. That effort was interrupted before it could even begin, however, because several soldiers appeared in the vicinity, many of whom were using ladders to scale the Demon Prince's carcass. There were far too many people around who could have a vantage on their lewd activities, so Jay had reluctantly stuffed her package away while Aila got herself back in order.

As personally frustrating as it was to not reach completion with either of the bodies she had been fooling around with, Jadis forced herself to look on the bright side. It wasn't even hard to do. The accession ritual had been completed, after all. That meant Aila's Vitality stat had rocketed from a paltry twelve points all the way up to eight-one. With a health pool of eight hundred and ten, the backline mage had more health than most front-line soldiers would see in their entire lives.

There were many other things for Jadis to focus on rather than her frustrated libido. Loading up the wagon with great speed, she and her lovers had been able to get back to Aelius' estate only minutes after Jadis' Ida self was making her way into the dining hall. Unloading the airship was left for later as all of Jadis' companions, both lovers and otherwise, streamed into the large room. There was a great deal of talk about what had been accomplished that day, with many voices sharing a wealth of information that would have been difficult for anyone other than Jadis to digest. But, with her five selves gathering in one location, she had ten ears and ten eyes to pay careful attention to everything going on around her.

As diverse as the many people and resultant conversations were, there was a noticeable ripple of interest that went through the room when Jadis' Dys self walked through the door. That attention was not for her, though. Most eyes were directed towards the beautiful orange woman walking confidently at her side.

"Maeve, what a fascinating look you've chosen to wear this evening," Aelius greeted the Fetch with a shining smile on his bearded face. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I'm trying something new," Maeve replied in a smooth tone that lacked any of the nerves the shape changer had been displaying mere minutes earlier in the cellar. "Should be less confusion this way."

"Indeed," the Seraphim said before unexpectedly giving the Fetch a surprisingly warm hug and a kiss on either cheek. "You look radiant, all the way through."

As the Fetch took a moment to recover control over her tumultuous emotions, Jadis assessed everyone else's reactions to Maeve's new appearance. There was quite a lot of curiosity, more than a few questioning whispers, and at least one quietly murmured curse.

"Bloody boiled eggs, that's a pretty sight, ain't it," constituted the longest sentence Jadis had ever heard uttered by Humbert.

The taciturn orc's opinion seemed to be shared by the rest of Fortune's Favored B Team. They were all either nodding in agreement or softly murmuring their own compliments. Even Nevan and Orla were talking about how pretty Maeve's new assumed form was, which said a lot, since the two usually only had eyes for each other.

All of Jadis' lovers were equally interested and impressed by the visage Maeve presented. Her looks were eye-catching in a good way, and everyone seemed to have nothing but complimentary things to say. More than a few of them asked Jadis' many selves about just what exactly had gone on down in the cellar, but she kept her answers brief. Ultimately, it was Maeve's decision to talk about her new look and how it had come about, not Jadis' choice. She would leave the explanations up to the Fetch.

Jadis' heart glowed with pride at all the favorable reactions. While the ultimate goal of encouraging Maeve to make her own unique body was to help give the Fetch an anchor of self-reliance that would allow her to weather the storm of her unstable emotions, Jadis still wanted Maeve to also be seen as outwardly beautiful as well. She felt that the woman deserved positive attention directed just at her, and not at someone she was pretending to be. It had to do wonders for her confidence, Jadis was sure.

Besides which, Jadis had dedicated most of a day towards helping the shapeshifter craft her custom look. She thought Maeve was gorgeous, but that opinion had to be heavily influenced by her hours of investment. It was nice to know her bias wasn't unjustified.

Maeve had settled on a look that consisted of a chin length bob cut, strong eyebrows, and a resting expression Jadis could only describe as smoldering. She was of an average height for most human women, at least for the moment, standing at about five foot five. Jadis doubted that her current height was something that would remain fixed, as Maeve was simply too torn in her desire to be both short and tall to ever settle for one or the other. The rest of her look, though, was set in stone. Maeve's form was sleek and athletic, with a moderately sized bust and possibly the most splendid ass Jadis had ever seen on anyone. Truly, if her coloration wasn't so distracting, Jadis was certainly that most of the room would have eyes pointed significantly lower than they currently were.

The Fetch had kept her striking orange color, and her flesh was still about as see-through as gelatine, but she had taken Meli's advice about texture. Or, more accurately, patterns and gradient coloration. Maeve's hair, which was really just more of her flesh, had been altered to a stark black. The change in color included her eyebrows, and for an even more intense look, her eyes as well. Maeve's ocular orbs were completely pitch black, similar to how elf eyes were monotone, though the depth of the Fetch's darkness made them completely unreadable. Jadis recognized that the look was a bit of a defense against how easily she had been able to read Maeve's emotions through her eyes, but she didn't point it out. Having been around her for most of the day, she had grown far more adept at reading her body language anyway. Not that she'd tell the Fetch that little fact. Not yet, anyway.

The theme of black and orange was furthered by the fine spray of black dots that covered Maeve's orange exterior. It was a light misting, just enough to give her appearance depth, without covering the orange color she loved so much. Since black and orange were being used so heavily by the shapeshifter, Jadis couldn't help but draw the connection to modern Earth's idea of a goth. Maeve's style wasn't quite that, but it was close. Close enough that Jadis was tempted to find Maeve some ankh jewelry and a pair of black boots with spikes, but she knew that the Fetch wouldn't get the reference.

Now that she was looking at her from a distance, Jadis realized there was another memory from her previous life that Maeve's new look was causing her to recall. When she was a teenager, Jadis remembered watching an old movie that had starred two strikingly beautiful actresses. She couldn't remember the name of the movie, or the actresses for that matter, but the kiss the two had shared in a pool had been intensely hot and had fueled quite a few nighttime fantasies for a young and hormonal Jadis. Maeve's new look was very similar to one of those actresses, a fact enhanced by her bob cut hairstyle.

Jadis was absolutely certain that she hadn't maneuvered Maeve into looking the way that she did for her own appeal. The Fetch had suggested every change and finalized every choice herself. All except for the haircut, which had been Jadis' idea. She supposed the similarity between Maeve and that actress had been why she had subconsciously thought of the hairstyle.

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She was just glad the superficial appearance was where the similarities between Maeve and the character from the old film ended. Jadis was pretty sure that movie ended with a bunch of double-crosses and murders.

"That supposed to be what Fetch really look like?"

Jay glanced down at the sound of her mentor's gruff voice. He was looking particularly unimpressed as he watched Maeve talk with Thea and Sabina. Suppressing a grin, Jay shook her head.

"Nope. No one knows what Fetch really look like. That's just what Maeve looks like."

Noll's one good eye gave her a sidelong glance, but that was the extent of the old grump's commentary. Instead, he did what Jadis had come to expect from the veteran and got right down to business.

"Got a lead on Twisted Desire."

"Where."

Jadis' whole mood shifted from playful to deadly serious in an instant. She kept the conversations her other selves were having light, but her Jay body was wound tight like a steel cable.

"Aelius' pups spotted the Demon traveling northwest. Could be heading to Kastoria."

Kastoria. That was a coastal city within the nation of Volto. Jadis' understanding was that the city had been overrun by a force of Demons sometime in the previous year, which was why a good portion of Volto had been infested with hostile monstrosities. Much like in the Rubaline Dominion on the southern side of the Siren Sea, the Demons in Kastoria had bunkered down, creating a well-defended bastion from which they sent large numbers of their forces to spread like a disease across the land. Jadis guessed that was where Demon Prince Vinea had come from, since the city would have provided strong defenses for the Demon Lord's vital asset.

"Fleeing to safety?" Jay offered a possible reason for Twisted Desire's retreat.

"Could be," Noll grunted. "Could be bait."

Considering the way the horrible centipede had acted thus far, Jadis couldn't rule out either possibility. A tactical retreat made sense, since the Demon would need to rest and recover. She was also confident that Twisted Desire was fully capable of sneaking away without being seen. If Tacitus and Noct had been able to spot the wily Greater Demon, then Jadis presumed it was for a reason. Revenge made for a tempting target.

"I can't go," Jay said after a few silent seconds. "Not with Aila, Eir, Kerr, Sev and Tegwyn leaving. The rest of us have to stay in the city until they get back."

"I know," the old wolf acknowledged. "This is my mission, not yours."

"Just because the emperor gave the mission to you doesn't mean I don't want a crack at that bitch. I want to be right there with you."

"I know," Noll repeated, his tone the faintest bit softer. "Some priorities come first."

Jadis knew exactly what her mentor meant. Some things mattered more than revenge. In fact, most things in life mattered more. Revenge was a luxury, not a need. Still, Jadis itched to get her hands on Twisted Desire, just one final time.

"There's something you should hear before you go. You and Aelius both, actually," Jay said as her Dys self caught the Seraphim's attention. "Maeve was doing some recon yesterday. She learned a few things."

The room was starting to settle down as the people within took their seats and started in on the excellent fair that Aelius' household had prepared for their dinner. Aelius took a seat at the head of the table, where Jay and Noll joined him. A moment later, both Aila and Maeve sat down at their end as well. Aila had no information to add, but Jadis wanted her intelligent lover to hear what Maeve had told her straight from the Fetch's mouth.

"Would you please repeat what you told me earlier?" Jay asked Maeve.

"Of course," Maeve replied. "It's not much to go on, but it's something you should know."

The shape changer's bearing shifted to a cool yet intense attitude as she recounted the tale she had spun for Dys during their many hours together. Maeve had gone looking for gossip among the city's remaining civilian inhabitants, hoping to find some tidbit of information that might prove useful. All talk was about the attack, of course, but that didn't mean she couldn't glean something from the people in the ruckus. Lips were loosest during a panic, or so Maeve claimed.

"There were some civilians in one of the safehouses I spoke to who claimed to have been forced away from a different safehouse at the start of the battle. A group of soldiers turned them away, with the explanation that a breach in the safehouse walls had been found so the building was compromised. The building in question was on the southwestern side of the city, though. I thought it strange that a safehouse would be breached so far from the main fighting when other safehouses near the walls remained secure. So, I checked it out."

"Which one was it?" Aelius asked before Maeve could continue.

"The building on Silver Street, by the old clay warehouse."

The Seraphim nodded in recognition, then motioned for the Fetch to proceed with her tale.

"There was a breach," Maeve said as she drew shapes in the air with her fingers. "Big enough for mire hounds to get through. Debris on the inside, so someone broke in from the outside. There were dead Demons, signs of a fight, all the little indications that proved that it is what it looks like; a safehouse that was compromised."

"Except you saw something that doesn't make sense," Aila presumed, her attention as sharp as a spear.

"Indeed, I did," Maeve grinned at the redhead in a particularly sultry way. "Don't try to get ahead of me, though, hmm?"

"Don't drag it out," Jay said with a smirk that lightened her exasperated tone. "Tell them about the—"

"I'm getting there!" Maeve hushed Jay before she could spoil the story. "Anyway, like I said, there were signs of Demons breaking in, fighting, all of that. But the timeline didn't make sense to me. The soldiers were turning away civilians who were looking for shelter. That meant the breach would have had to happen early in the battle, before all of the civilians got into safehouses. But why would a pack of mire hounds run straight for this safehouse so far from the breach? There were ample targets closer to the wall. So, I dug a little deeper.

"I couldn't find anyone among the soldiers who were stationed on that side of the city who said they turned civilians away from that safehouse. The commanding officer didn't even know it had been breached. It's possible it was missed in all the chaos, but since there are dead mire hounds all over the back side of the building, that means someone killed them, right? Likely the soldiers who discovered the compromised wall and turned people away. But if they did, why can't I find anyone who claims they were the ones who slew the Demons? Or talked to a fellow soldier who did? Why wasn't the breached safehouse reported to the local commander?"

"It's only been a day," Aila pointed out. "Barely any time has passed, and the battle was chaotic. It could take a while to straighten out all the various reports."

"True," Maeve agreed. "But I didn't find any civilian bodies inside the breached safehouse. Blood, yes. No bodies. No reports on bodies being removed, either. You know how seriously the military takes corpse removal when Demons are involved. Where are the bodies?"

"That everything?" Noll asked in his usual blunt manner.

"That's all I could find out," Maeve leaned back in her seat with an exaggerated shrug. "I'm just one Fetch. There's only so much I can do. But whatever happened at that safehouse isn't what it looks like. I can promise you that. Take it from someone who lies for a living. That place stinks of deception."

Jay met Aila's gaze across the table. She knew her lover was thinking the same thing as her. They had no evidence. Nothing to prove the suspicion. But the timing of the attack and how it coincided with their arrival in Glanum was beyond suspect. It had to be on purpose. And the only group Jadis could think of that would be able to coordinate such an attack were the same people Jadis had a serious bone to grind with.

"I'm going to have to power level Eir as soon as she gets back," Jay let out a breath of frustration.

"Why?" Aelius asked curiously. "You have all grown quite powerful already."

"Yeah, but she just passed up a ritual spell that would have let us see exactly what happened at the safehouse. She needs some more levels so she can take that spell as soon as possible."

"I see," the older Seraphim nodded in understanding. "Well, thank you for this information, Maeve. I certainly see why you are suspicious. Trust that I will be looking into the circumstances of this safehouse breach as well."

As Aila, Aelius, and Noll began to talk among themselves, Jay shot Maeve a look followed up by a subtle thumbs up. To her surprise, Maeve scowled at her, then repeated the gesture in an oddly abrupt way. Not understanding the sudden anger, Jay excused herself from the table and took the Fetch with her. As soon as they were far enough away from the group at large, Jay whispered urgently to the shapeshifter.

"Why are you upset? You did a good job!"

"Then why did you just tell me to fuck myself?" Maeve demanded, the heat in her tone barely contained.

"I didn't—what? I gave you a thumbs up! It means you did well, and I approve!"

"No, you gave me the spike!" Maeve said before repeated the gesture. "It means to go sit on it!"

The two stared at each other for a long moment.

"See, this is where the whole open communication thing shows how important—"

"Yeah, yeah," Maeve waved Jay's words off. "D's balls, doing this shit without a framework is fucking exhausting."

"Welcome to what everyone else has to deal with all day, every day."

"Thanks. I hate it."

"Do you really?"

Maeve paused, then shut her mouth. After a couple of seconds, she shook her head.

"No. I… it's weird. I feel weird. But I feel everything else, too. But I also feel… better than I thought I would."

Jay flashed the other woman a bright grin.

"Feels good to be your own anchor, huh?"

"Yeah, it does," Maeve said, her tone turning far more intense than it had been a moment ago. "Now, we better get back to the table before I try to do something to you that wouldn't be acceptable in polite company."

"Hmm. We'll have to talk about those impulses later."

"A Fetch can only hope…"

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