Hi all! Here it is, Chapter 10 of Dead and Horny!
This chapter is the shortest one in the book because it's the calm before the storm, so buckle up. There are only two chapters after this one!
I want to thank everyone for your kind words and feedback over the last several months. This started as an attempt to give you some sparkling fresh content during Covid, but it's also given me some breathing room in regards to writing my main HFHM storyline.
Some final revelations coming up! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thank you for being awesome!
The After-Party
Lily's mind flitted about like a bird in a cage, unable to focus long enough to reform her body. The darkness of her mind transformed into smoky clouds that curled around her like snakes as she plummeted through the Dreamscape toward destinations unknown. Occasionally she would see her own hands, or even her legs, but her non-existent insides felt like they were on fire.
The smoke parted and she slammed into the cold marble tile of the Black Palace hard enough that the floor shattered like glass, sending her through the floor and into the level below. This floor was identical to the one above, but the world became black and white, as if her landing had knocked the color clean out of it.
When she stumbled to her feet, she saw Tristan coming down the stairs toward her in a silken robe, his crocodile grin revealing all of its teeth. She growled and held her hands out in front of her, her fingertips wavering in and out of existence as she tried to concentrate. Had she already reassembled herself? She was disoriented, and everything felt wrong, somehow.
"You tried to have me killed," he said, only the voice wasn't his, but Aladdin's. When Tristan's foot touched the floor, a golden wave of light blossomed outward and gave color to the interior of the Black Palace, which then warped and became a different castle from another lifetime ago. His skin peeled away as her present triggered the past, and he completed his metamorphosis, Aladdin now standing over a younger version of herself. It was another memory, and she growled in frustration when she realized that she was stuck once again in a bad dream.
"I did," said Lily of the past, who was crumpled on the floor. Her wings had been torn up, and she was held to the floor by a golden chain that connected to a collar around her neck.
"Not this one," Lily shrieked, suddenly realizing where they were. It was bad enough that she had to relive all of her worst moments, but Mike's soul was the one that was actually chained to the floor right now, and she suddenly couldn't catch her breath, knowing the pain that was about to be inflicted.
"But why, my beautiful flower?" He knelt down in front of her and lifted her chin so that their eyes met. "Haven't I been nothing but good to you?"
"No, you haven't." Lily spat in his face. "My only regret was that my plan didn't work."
Aladdin let go of her chin and stood, then swung his boot up and into her jaw.
"I gave you immortality," he told her. "I gave you the power to be any man's desire, to hold someone's attention with a look, to seduce with a glance. Each of these gifts, by itself, should be enough for your fealty."
"Fuck off," she spat at him, then tried to stand. He pointed at her with two fingers and then swung his hand down, and the chain shortened into the ground, preventing her from standing the rest of the way.
"Oh, I'm afraid you and I shall never see eye to eye again. But you have my curiosity." He sat on a silver throne so that he could look down on her. "All these years, you have done my bidding without question, so why now? Why whisper my location into the ears of my enemies? Why the sudden desperation to, as you told them, end my pathetic existence?"
Lily knelt down by her former self, knowing that Mike could hear her. "It'll be okay," she told him, then turned her gaze on Aladdin. She knew exactly why her mind had gone to this memory, and it was because of what had happened in the Black Palace. Tristan was just a weak copy of Aladdin from so many years ago, back in a time when he probably could have been stopped.
Lily of the past shivered, struggling to avoid the answer, but then hung her head. "It's because you humiliated me," she muttered, then tilted her eyes toward him. "Back when I fucked up that attempt on the pope. Pious bastard, if Meridiana hadn't succeeded with one of his predecessors, he wouldn't have been expecting it."
"Oh? I do find this interesting." He leaned forward in his seat. "I've humiliated you so many times before, so what makes that time any different?"
"You know why!" She spat at him.
"Indeed. Such a simple thing to get so upset over, but then again, I've never understood the whims of a woman. Perhaps I should indulge myself in it again?"
Lily shook her head. "Please, no, anything but that."
Aladdin laughed. "Why bother begging? You have to obey me." His face became serious, and his fingers curled into the ends of his armrests, gouging out the metal with his elongated fingernails. "So obey."
Weeping, Lily tugged at the fabric of her boots, sliding them away from her body. Thick, tangled fur appeared about halfway down her calf, and the boots came off completely, revealing that her feet were little more than elongated hooves. She stood defiant, her lower lip trembling as Aladdin stared at the one part of her body that couldn't be changed, only hidden.
"Every bit of you is perfection," he told her, then stood. "Except for one."
She looked away, her eyes shimmering. "You made me take them off for an entire day, then whored me out to a village. They all saw my demonic legs, and knew me for the monster I am. That's why I wanted them to kill you."
He clucked his tongue. "Interesting. You don't like the sight of your own feet?"
"I don't like that they remind me of what you did to me. It's the one part I can never change."
"I granted you immortality." His voice was dangerous now, but Lily didn't care. "There's always a price."
