Carrying the lamia to their camp with her long tail dragging along was a lot harder than Riley had expected, but with help from Haruki as well as the others, she was able to bring the lamia out of the forest and rest her beside the campfire. With everyone gathered around to look at the scaly beauty, they all wanted answers as to why Riley decided to bring her to their camp.
"Why are we even doing this?" The first to speak up was Fay, and she didn't seem particularly fond of Haruki helping Riley to bring the Lamia to their camp either. "We're supposed to be laying low, and bringing a giant Lamia to us isn't going to help!"
Although he'd taken part in bringing her here, Haruki was in complete agreement with Fay. So stepping away from the Lamia, he urged everyone to take a seat around chairs made from darkness around the fire.
"Sit down everyone, and Riley, I only helped you because I trust your instincts so you better have a good reason for doing this," getting everyone gathered around the flame with the Lamia laying beside them on a piece of blanket, Haruki bound the Lamia in holy chains while also healing her wounds with rejuvenation.
"I think this is stupid, we already have too many people to worry about," holding Stella tight in her arms, Fay kept her eyes fixed on the unconscious lamia.
Athena and Alice nodded furiously to her statement as being demi-cats they felt an intrinsic need to get rid of the snake-like lamia.
"I can use a potion to control her if you want," stretching her arms while yawning, Moriyana settled down beside Haruki. "I might need a fresh pump of seed to prepare the potion though."
Smiling deviously, she peered up at Haruki's face with her head resting over his shoulder. Ignoring her comment, he shifted his attention back to Riley who was still standing right where the Lamia was resting.
"I-I…" Noticing the gazes, Riley took a deep breath before replying. "I wanted to help her just because of that damned voice in my head! It keeps telling me to kill stuff and taste the blood off of my blades!"
Her fists squeezed tight, she hung her head low in frustration, all the while the voice in her head continued to whisper murder into her ears. Even now, despite having brought the Lamia here, the devil in her head wanted her to skin the scaly bitch alive. Barely holding back, she tried to focus on the carved wound on her hand to distract herself from it.
"This again?" Still drowsy, Moriyana lifted her head up from Haruki's shoulder and looked right at Riley. "Just give in, why don't you? I did back when I was first created."
Being a true succubus from birth, the concept of mental corruption was absolutely foreign to Moriyana. Instead, whenever the topic was brought on, she felt perplexed as to what was so wrong about giving into their instincts and living their lives in whatever ways they wanted.
"Moriyana, I think it's best you don't compare yourself to normal people," Riley shot back, visibly bothered by the comment.
"Whatever, just don't blame me when that bitch bites your throat off," closing her eyes again, Moriyana rested her head back on Haruki's shoulder.
As it all happened, the Lamia , now feeling better after recovering from the wounds, slowly opened her eyes to the side of a river in front of her. Behind her, she could hear the group quarreling, but having no clue who they were, she kept pretending to be unconscious until she found a window of time to escape away from them.
"I just want to do something good for once, okay? It can't hurt to be nice ever so often can it?" Really fighting her instincts, Riley herself couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth.
"Riley, you already know what happens every time we show someone mercy," bringing her attention to him, Haruki tried to remind her of their failings from the past. "They'll exploit you until you're sucked dry of empathy and then they cut off your head with a heavy axe."
Listening to their conversation, the Lamia quickly figured out that they were talking about what to do with her. Feeling threatened, she stiffened up her muscles and pushed her tongue out through her lips. Trying to detect how many people were behind her, she began tasting them through their hints in the air.
'I can taste them, but who are they? They don't taste like humans!' Her eyes widened in shock, she began to wonder whether to attack them and continue on with her plan to buy time.
"Okay, I know it hasn't worked yet, but didn't you help me too? At the very beginning? It worked didn't it?" Desperate to do something contrary to what the voice in her head wanted, Riley kept pushing the matter hoping that Haruki would agree with her.
"I think she's right," sympathizing with her, Asuka backed Riley as well. "The voice has been getting more and more intrusive for me too, and to be honest, I feel like if we give in completely then what is left of us wouldn't be who we are."
"What voice are you guys even talking about?" New to being a demon, Athena hadn't experienced the same mental corruption, and thus she had no clue as to why this matter was even being discussed for so long. "Do we really have to help every random stranger? And she's a Lamia for devil's sake."
Confused further by the interaction, the Lamia was struck with a strange dilemma. If she were to continue pretending to be unconscious, she might escape later on, but with the heated conversation going on behind her was that even possible, and was waiting really the best option she had? As those questions plagued her mind, she finally decided to take action instead of laying at the mercy of these strangers.
However, the moment she tried to move, the chain around her body tightened up and the sound made from them alerted everyone around her.
'Shit! What was that?!' Being a lamia, she had no sight for magic and thus not realizing that she was bound by holy chains, she kept on struggling which in turn made even more noise.
"Let me go!" She yelled, her eyes growing bloody.
Watching her flailing around, everyone except Haruki had gotten off their chairs with a troubled look on their faces. They knew the lamia was going to be trouble, but none of them had expected her to wake up so soon.
"It's decided then, we're killing her," no longer playing around, Haruki declared the final verdict.
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on fre ew𝒆bnovel.com