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To Dream of Darkness

A story by DoggyStyle57 Chapter 57, Written September 2013

===

Chapter 57 - The Official Story

On the afternoon of the day after the incident with Sir Jeremy and the demon, M'Lady Portia came to Sarina's workshop.

"Sir Jeremy and his victims are sequestered at a hospital near here, under guard," she said. "We've taken Sir Jeremy's full confession, as well as sworn statements from his Mistress and family. He claims that he had been beguiled by the wolf, tricked into cooperating, and that the demon controlled him and forced him to do what he did to his youngest daughter. But he admitted that he knew the wolf had intended to use the demon in some way to overthrow the government, and that he voluntarily gave his mistress and family to the demon as sexual playthings. He faces charges of unlicensed summoning of a demon, and treason, as well as incest, rape and kidnapping. As soon as he is convicted, the Queen herself has stated that she will ensure his wife gets a divorce, by means of a private Act of Parliament."

"I am glad to hear that she will be free of him," Sarina said. "So, I presume the demon's control spells have finally ceased affecting them? Once he departed back to Hell, they were all rather mindless, without him to direct them."

"Yes. The spells the demon cast on them wore off after about twelve hours," Portia said. "We had to cast sleep spells on all of his victims, to keep them from harming themselves, once they came to their senses and remembered what happened to them last night. It would be appreciated if you could accompany me there, and perform the mercy that you offered of removing the traumatic memories from the victims. But before we go, I would like you to answer a few questions."

"Very well," Sarina said, as she closed up her shop. "But there is very little that I can add to the public record of the night's events that I didn't give you last night, as my own official statement."

"There will be no public record of what happened," Portia stated. "It would cause too much of a scandal if Sir Jeremy had a public trial, since he is a distant cousin of the Queen. He will be tried by a secret tribunal and you can be assured that he will pay for his crimes, most likely with a sentence of hard labor in a distant penal colony. But the public will be told that he decided to sell off their holdings and move his family to one of the Colonies."

"He deserves at least that, for what he did to his family and mistress, let alone what he was trying to do with his co-conspirator," Sarina said.

"Can you tell me how you came to be involved in this?" Portia asked.

Sarina replied confidently, as she had already contrived a web of half-truths that should plausibly explain her actions, without revealing the involvement of the Shepherds.

"Are you familiar with psychometry?" she asked. She held out Sir Jeremy's ring, which she had removed the Shepherd's spell from the night before. "I was offered this ring by a man who came to my shop, in partial payment for some magical work. It turned out to have recently been stolen from Sir Jeremy. When I touched the ring, I knew it was stolen, and that its former owner was planning some sort of crime involving a demon. I was able to determine the name and location of a whore who was involved, but little else. I accepted the ring and did the requested magic, but then I sought out that whore. And I found her. I watched her, and when her lover came to see her, I read his mind to determine what he was up to. He was going to give his whore and his family to a demon as sexual playthings, in return for a potent mind control spell that an associate planned to use to control the government."

"But you didn't take that information to the police?" Portia asked. "Why not?"

"The man was Sir Jeremy, who as you know is a very influential politician, and his mind was well protected by an amulet of terror, which he always wore. The amulet couldn't affect me, but if almost anyone else had tried to read his mind to verify what I had learned, the amulet would have driven them insane. So I had no proof. And Sir Jeremy didn't know the whole plot. His associate - that wolf he was with - was not telling Sir Jeremy anything until it was necessary. Sir Jeremy didn't even know the wolf's name, and I didn't learn it either."

"He didn't have an amulet of that sort when we captured him," Portia said. "He only had on an amulet that shielded his mind against intrusion. A flawed one, at that, since it ceased working when the demon sought to control him."

"I believe that his associate somehow stole the real amulet before last night, and replaced it with a less-effective fake," Sarina said. "The wolf betrayed Sir Jeremy, and gave him to the demon as well. And I think perhaps Sir Jeremy might have been entranced to some extent by the wolf. How else could he have been foolish enough to believe that the correct position for his protective circle was within the summoning circle with the victims, and not outside it, where the wolf's circle was?"

"I suppose that makes sense. So you took it upon yourself to stop him?" Portia asked. "I know you well enough to know that you rarely do anything unless there is some benefit for yourself to be gained. What profit was there for you in that? Why did you not tell me, or some other Paladin, and let us handle it?"

"I'm comfortable with my situation here. An unstable government wouldn't suit me, nor would a greater demon rampaging in the city," Sarina said. "And I did contact you, as soon as I had the information about when and where they were going to try to do it, so you could catch them red handed. But I found out the full details of when and where it was to take place only at the last minute, so I left messages for you and impulsively took the place of one of the intended victims, thinking I might be more effective if I allowed them to place me inside the summoning circle with the demon and its victims. I might have been able to banish the demon from there, while the summoning circle still prevented it from escaping. You would have had to first destroy the circle containing it, would you not?"

"Yes, but we still would have been able to banish it," Portia said. "We formed a banishment circle around the entire barn."

"What would have happened to the sacrificial victims, if they were inside your banishment circle with the demon? Wouldn't they have been sent to Hell with him, assuming they survived that long, once the spell containing him was released?" Sarina stated. "From inside the original summoning circle, I had a chance to cast a banishment that would be targeted only on the demon. But I miscalculated. They held each victim in an individual binding spell, releasing us one at a time, as the demon chose. I was released last, and so I was unable to prevent the rape of the others. While I allowed him to rape me and take the virginity of the child-body that I had shapeshifted to, I managed to get into the demon's mind and get his true name."

"What? You simply allowed him to rape you?" Portia asked, aghast at the thought.

"I knew I could use my magic to heal myself from any physical damage that the demon might inflict on me. And I can control my mind enough to at least temporarily ignore the pain and what he was doing to me. And you see, I knew that what he had demanded and been promised were unwilling victims. By not resisting, I spoiled his game, and voided his contract with the wolf. Once I had his name, I convinced the demon that the wolf had intentionally cheated him, since he had been promised souls that were not damned for his playthings, and mine still is damned. So when I attacked the wolf with an unusual type of magic from the realm I came from, which he was unfamiliar with and unprepared for, and made him drop the spells, the demon took the wolf's soul and killed him, and then reluctantly went back to Hell at my command. Still, I was very glad to have all of you there to contain him, and to witness what happened. If I had failed against him, only you could have prevented him from rampaging through the city."

"Well, I guess that answers my questions sufficiently," Portia said. "Let us see if you can aid the victims."

===

Portia took Sarina to see Sir Jeremy's mistress first. Meghan was sleeping, but quite restless. "She fears that she is pregnant with the demon's child, but as far as our spells can detect, she is not pregnant at all," the Paladin said. "When the spell ceased its hold on her, we almost had to resort to opium to sedate her. The sleep spell very nearly failed to calm her."

"I am glad to hear that she is not pregnant. The demon certainly told her she would bear his child, but I understand that demons can control their own fertility, so it could well be that he had no intention of leaving any offspring of his own behind, and was merely telling that to her to terrify her," Sarina said. "Do not awaken her. I can work with each of them better if they are asleep." She eased into the girl's nightmare of being raped, and made her forget everything that the demon had done to her. Mehgan would remember only that she was given to the demon, and then nothing until her treatment in the hospital, and a calm assurance that the demon had failed to impregnate her. As for what the girl had witnessed happening to the others, she would only remember that the demon forced them to commit several sexual atrocities, but she would recall no details of who did what, or with whom. While she was in the girl's mind, Sarina also saw that the girl had learned from her mother, who was also an experienced whore, how to use several types of herbs to abort a pregnancy. Her hysteria over bearing a demon's child had made her forget that she had that option, and Sarina made the memory of how to abort an unwanted child come to the surface of the young whore's mind, along with a suggestion that Meghan might be able to secretly use that knowledge to aid Sir Jeremy's wife and daughter.

"There. She will not recall what the demon did to her now, and will believe you when you tell her she is not pregnant," was all that Sarina said.

"Sir Jeremy's wife should be next," Portia said, leading Sarina to the next room. "Unfortunately, it seems this poor woman is pregnant, and she swears it was her eight year old son who raped her while they were both controlled by the demon," Portia said. "Very sad, since it is not legal for her to get an abortion."

"That is true. Perhaps she cannot get an abortion here, but when she is well enough to travel abroad, she may find a place where it can be dealt with humanely," Sarina said, as she got to work. As with the whore, Sarina eliminated the woman's memories, in her case she erased everything from the point of being taken from her home, to when she was brought to the hospital. She left a memory that she might be pregnant, so that condition could be dealt with, but left a vague impression that it was her husband who had impregnated her. The woman still would be unlikely to want the child, given how her husband had treated her family. But at least if the child was born, it would be easier for her to accept than bearing her own son's child would have been. While in her mind, Sarina also left an impression that the wife should have pity on the young whore, who had been used just as badly or worse by her husband, and that perhaps the two women should talk, and try to become friends. "She should be more at ease now, and I have made her believe that her husband impregnated her, and not her son. See to it that no one tells her otherwise. She will recall nothing that happened in the barn."

They went to the eight year old son next, and as with his mother, Sarina erased his entire memory of the evening, from when he went to bed to when he was at the hospital. "I can do nothing about how the demon altered his body," Sarina said, referring to the way the demon had forced the boy's genitals to full mature growth. "But the boy would normally have been entering puberty soon, wouldn't he? So perhaps the rest of his body will catch up with that part of him soon."

"The younger daughter will be more of a problem, since the demon forced her father to impregnate her," Portia said, as she brought Sarina to the ten year old girl.

"I can make her forget who raped her, and the experience of the rape itself, and all that happened that night, as I did with her little brother," Sarina said. "But as with her mother, it may be best if she is taken abroad, to someplace where they would be willing to give her an abortion."

"I agree," Portia stated. "Poor child, to lose her innocence so early in life."

"I lost mine even earlier," Sarina said as she worked with the girl's mind, causing Portia to glance at her in astonishment. "This child has a sound mind, and a strong will. She should be able to recover, even if she must bear the child. She will know that she has been raped and made pregnant, but not who her rapist was, or anything of the experience itself. I left a hint in her mind that it was the carriage driver or some other henchman, but she will recall none of what happened, from going to bed that night to arriving at the hospital. As with her mother, do not tell her who impregnated her."

"The other daughter, the one that you saved from harm, is staying with an aunt, and has not been told what happened, other than that her family was kidnapped, and later rescued, and that she was unconscious the whole time," Portia said. She led Sarina to a closed door with two armed guards, and they went inside to see Sir Jeremy.

In the room, another armed guard watched over them as Sarina sat beside Sir Jeremy's sleeping form.

"It would be tempting to refuse to treat him," Sarina said. "But I need to be certain not only that he does not tell his victims what happened, but also that he retains no trace of the knowledge of how to summon that demon, or of the spell that was offered, or what price he paid. I suppose that I can leave him knowing that he willingly participated in staging a kidnapping and rape of his family and his mistress, and that the kidnappers abused him as much as they did his real victims."

"Yes, he needs to remember that he handed over his family for ill treatment, and that demonic sorcery was involved. But he need not recall how to repeat his offenses," Portia said.

Sarina was particularly careful with what she did to Sir Jeremy's mind. She erased the particulars of the summoning spell and the control spell, along with most of the events of the evening. But she left him the memory that he bespelled his own wife and children, and his mistress, and that he callously used them in some demonic ritual. As for what the demon did to all of them, she left him only the memory that the demon painfully raped him. While he might not remember the acts, the memory of that pain would never fade from his mind. She also left a clear impression in his mind that he was now a marked man, and that the Shepherds very much wanted him dead. It would be necessary for him to keep a low profile and never cross paths with that organization again, or he might suffer far more than he did at the demon's mishandling. Finally, she left a compulsion in his mind that he should sell his lands and possessions, and give all of the funds to his wife, as recompense for his mistreatment of his family, to care for them after their divorce.

"I think I have done all that I can here," Sarina said. "May I go now?"

"What about yourself, Sarina?" Portia asked after they left Sir Jeremy's room.

"My body is already healed, I am infertile, and my mind was fully occupied with ferreting out the demon's name while he abused my body," Sarina said coldly. "No doctor or priest can give me any further comfort, beyond knowing that poor excuse for a man will pay for his crimes. I need nothing else, thank you."

"Yet your soul is still damned," the Paladin said sadly. "Is there no hope for your redemption?"

"I honestly don't know," Sarina said. "I doubt that there is anything that a priest or even a Paladin like you could do to free my soul from damnation, short of leading an expedition into Hell itself. And I'm not ready to go on that perilous a quest, just yet, nor will I send anyone else on such a fool's errand in my place. Regardless of what I did last night, I'm not a hero like you, my friend. I've made my choices in life, and I have to live, and die, with the consequences of those choices. But you still have my word that I have no intention of causing trouble here. I like it here, and I don't want to be forced to leave. Nor do I intend to let Hell take me, for a very long time."

===

For the next six months or so, Sarina stayed mostly to herself, studying the memories she had stolen from the demon, comparing what he knew to what was in her collection of magical books and scrolls, and quietly building her skills in the arcane arts. At night, she stayed at the mansion with Lord Pennington, unless her activities required her to leave Asha in her place. By day, she saw customers in her workshop, and studied.

Several hopeful young men paid court to her, and she went through the motions of allowing them their hopes to make her their bride, or of politely refusing their advances. Of course, with her own inability to feel love, none of them made any progress in gaining her affections. But some were becoming friends.

Sir Michael Hillary was a red fox in his mid thirties, and like Sarina's supposed father and Lord Pennington, he was an investor in the British East India Company. He appreciated the fact that Sarina had a decent mind and knew the Orient. But deep down, Sarina knew that he wanted her money more than he wanted her. She allowed him to take her to social functions, but never to go too far. Sarina and Sir Michael tended to use each other for social and political gain. She tolerated his advances, so long as he remained useful to her.

Lieutenant Branson Barnes was a brown fox. He was 32 years old, and an officer in the Royal Navy. He had served under the ill-fated Sir Reginald Wilson, deceased husband of Sarina's cousin, Lady Amara Pennington. Branson was very much aware that it was Lady Sarina who laid the souls of Sir Reginald and Lady Amara to rest after they became vampires. But he had forgiven Sarina for doing what had to be done, and was actually rather chagrinned that he once suspected Sarina of being the one who was a vampire, when Amara accused her. Branson was a close family friend of the Penningtons, and had courted both Amara and Sarina. He was currently trying to make amends for his doubting Sarina in the past. Sarina had no great objections to his courting her, and they had attended several social functions together over the past few months. Lord Pennington quite approved of the young man, and repeatedly told Sarina she should take his advances more seriously. Sarina rather liked him, but she doubted he would continue courting her if he knew everything about her past.

Lord John Stephens was a rough collie, and was almost as young as Sarina, at 24. He was the second son of Baron William Stephens. He first met Sarina at her 16th birthday party, and again saw her when Amara and Sarina were presented to the Queen at Court. He tried again to get her attention when a ball was held for Sarina's 20th birthday. Despite his lack of progress in gaining Sarina's affections, the boy would not give up, and kept returning to her like a lovesick puppy. Sarina knew that he was quite honest in his intentions, but that like most men of his era, he believed a wife's place was to be fully subordinate to her husband. Sarina was polite to him, but never dated him.

And finally there was Lord Timothy Carmichael the Fourth - Son of the Baron of Tipton, and heir to the title after his father. He was 26, and was a beagle. Sarina knew him to be a scholar and a dilettante mage. He was actually more interested in Sarina as a mage than as a woman, and he often came by her shop to ask esoteric questions about the magical arts.

And so her days passed, and she enjoyed the relative calm.

She knew it would not last...