The Poison Princess (10 page)

“But I only took one bite.”

The horned woman didn’t answer, but instead
looked down at the ground.

“How do I get out of here?” Ruby asked.

“You need to want me.”

“What?”

“We talked about this before, that there
would come a time when you needed me. Now is that time, and for me
to help you I need form in your world. You must give me form. Need
me. Want me. Summon me. And then, I will be yours.”

Scarlett placed her hand to Ruby’s cheek. It
felt good. It felt better than anything she had experienced in the
entire drug haze, because it felt real. Ruby did want the demon
seductress. It was time to wake up. The dream needed to be
over.

The princess looked into the demon’s eyes and
realized this was her only chance to escape her current prison. “I
want you.”

Scarlett ran her fingers through her bright,
orange hair, felt the ribs and tips of her horns, and then looked
down, examining her own body. Her hands explored herself, touch
being an entirely new sensation. She rubbed her fingertips against
her skin and the fabric of her clothes, as though she were feeling
and seeing herself for the first time. The first real time anyway.
She’d always imagined what she would look like in the real world,
but this appearance had been shaped by the princess’ desires more
than her own. She wore the same black dress and shoes she had when
she approached Ruby in the dream world. Her princess had made her
exactly as she needed her to be.

The princess on the other hand was in a far
different condition. Ruby had been eating the toxic blissroot
beneath the Abyss for far longer than Scarlett would have hoped,
and the princess was still not fully restored. The demon had been
given form in Nabiria, but her work was only just beginning.

Since the time Ruby had first bitten into the
fruit, much had changed. The chemise she had worn was so
deteriorated that she had long since abandoned it, and she had been
roaming the caves, wearing nothing at all. Poison had spilled all
over her naked body, forming a kind of inky clothing of its own,
though. The dress she’d worn was still around, but it had been used
as something of a bed mat rather than something she wore.

Unfamiliar with smell, Scarlett didn’t know
what to think of the aroma of that cave. The poison and Ruby’s
state of uncleanliness made for a particular odor. She suspected
that most would find it repugnant, but the horned demon did not
have such thoughts. Scarlett had never before smelled anything, and
she embraced the fragrance, sniffing in heavily and closing her
eyes. She smiled and opened her eyelids once more.

The horned demon looked down at Ruby, who was
still rather incoherent and transitioning out of the dream state
induced by the blissroot. The toxins of the spicy fruit had kept
her alive, but had destroyed her sense of reality. She had also
been alone all that time, aside from the nearly useless purple imp
named Sniggle that rested beside her. Now though, Scarlett was
there, and she was going to restore her princess to her rightful
self.

The seductress had a fairly good
understanding of the magic that had been cast on Ruby, and while
she couldn’t simply change her back to what she had once been, she
knew how to help her princess. She needed poison, and Scarlett was
going to find some for her. Her princess couldn’t be left on her
own though, as she was still very addicted to the toxic fruit. If
Ruby had things her way, she would continue to eat it without
realizing it, like she had been doing for so long now. No, Scarlett
would have to practice a bit of tough love on her princess.

As a demon from the nether realm, she was
able to conjure up certain things at will. Though creating a vial
of poison would probably have worked, the bond between Scarlett and
Ruby wasn’t sufficiently strong enough to create such a complex
item yet. Instead, the demon would have to search that out within
the cave. What she could conjure, however, was a way to keep Ruby
from eating more of the toxic blissroot. With a flitter of her
fingers, Scarlett created a set of hard manacles that wrapped
around Ruby’s wrists. The chain then extended and pierced into the
rock of the wall, preventing her princess from going very far. In
her haze, Ruby didn’t seem to even realize it had happened, but it
was only a matter of time before she started to yearn for the toxic
fruit once again and go out in search of it.

Looking to the imp lying beside Ruby,
Scarlett thought maybe it could be of use. “Hey.” She paused, taken
aback by the deep and raspy nature of her own voice. That she had a
voice at all was a strange new feeling. The word echoed around the
cave a couple times, and she turned her head about, trying to
follow it, as it bounced off the walls. Sound, she realized, was
something she had been deprived of for far too long.

Scarlett looked back to the imp, staring
strangely up at her, and issued it an order, “Watch her.”

It nodded, but quickly snuggled up against
the princess and fell to sleep. Some watchdog it would be, the
demon thought. She had little choice in help, however, as their
currently weak bond left her with little magical power. The
manacles and Sniggle would have to do, Scarlett realized.

What Ruby needed now was poison, and aside
from the toxic fruit, the demon was only aware of two other
possible sources in those dark, damp pits. The first was in the
form of Sythys’ venom. Since the serpent had died much time had
passed, and Scarlett was pessimistic that there would be anything
left that would help Ruby. Regardless, the serpent would be
relatively easy to find for the demon, having traced her princess’
steps.

She had witnessed everything her princess had
seen, and on more than a few occasions, Ruby had spotted frogs in
the cavern. Scarlett knew that some of the frogs in the depths were
mildly poisonous, and she was hopeful that their toxins would be a
sufficient source for the princess.

Before Scarlett set off, however, she noted
that something just felt off. She didn’t feel quite right. Weighed
down maybe. She rolled her shoulders trying to put her finger on
it. The fabric of her dress scratched softly at her skin but enough
to cause her irritation. The demon was aware of the human’s custom
for wearing clothes, but she found herself not caring for it. She
wanted to be naked. Ruby had dreamed her up an incredibly sexy
form, and she wanted everyone possible to see it. She was a bit
dismayed that no one would be around to witness its magnificence.
Slipping the little, black dress over her head, Scarlett tossed the
bit of cloth to the ground beside Sniggle and kicked off her heeled
boots. He seemed not to care for her nakedness, rolling over and
going back to sleep.

Properly prepared now, the horned demon left
Ruby there to overcome her drug-induced fever, as she searched the
cave for the poisons. Her first stop would be the serpent’s body,
where it had laid since the princess killed it with her toxins.
Scarlett walked back along the stream towards where the path
diverged. Crawling through the narrow slit along the bottom of the
pathway, she slipped back in an area that hadn’t been traversed in
quite some time. The poison left behind by Ruby was long since
gone, but luckily, Scarlett remembered the exact set of turns
needed to take her to Sythys’ old sleeping area.

The whole trip took about three hours, and
when the horned woman finally did arrive, she saw what was left of
the long since dead serpent. Despite the enormous nature of the
beast, very little had survived the ravages of time. A skeleton
remained, but Scarlett held little hope that there was any poison
remaining in its fangs. The glands, she was sure, had long since
deteriorated. The demon had come all that way though, so she had to
check.

Approaching the serpent’s head, Scarlett
knelt down and looked into its mouth. Reaching in, she felt the
long fang, feeling for any remains of liquid, despite her
expectation that there would be none. She was therefore not
surprised when she did not recover any. That didn’t mean she was
happy about it. Irritated, Scarlett grabbed the fang with both
hands and wrenched it from the serpent’s skull. The tooth snapped
and broke off, as the demon fell back, landing on the ground.
Looking down inside it, she discovered that it was hollow. There
was no poison inside, but at least she could use it as a cup for
when she found whatever venom she could from the frogs living in
the cave.

Looking up from the fang, Scarlett saw a
deteriorated shoe inside the serpent’s skeleton. Ruby had lost that
very shoe upon escaping from the beast’s corpse. Further away was
the other that the princess had willingly disposed of. Things
hadn’t changed in the depths in such a long time. Scarlett realized
how much had transpired above though. She was not eager to tell
Ruby how long it had truly been.

Scarlett stood up with the serpent’s tooth in
hand and set back toward the stream. She tried to be as quiet as
possible, not wanting to scare off any of the frogs that might be
wandering about in the cave. The demon skulked through the tunnels,
holding the fang like a dagger, watching for any movement, and
listening for the faintest of sounds to bring her closer to her
quarry. She made it back to the stream without incident, but rather
than going with the water, as Ruby had done, she decided to go
against it. The pond that the princess had stayed near during her
time under the illusion of the toxic blissroot had never really
recovered from the poison she’d washed downstream, and there was
very little life there. Perhaps she would have better luck
upstream, she thought.

After following the stream for about a half
hour, Scarlett heard it. A ribbit. She stopped, her eyes wide open
and cocking her head to the side, trying to point her ear toward
the origin of the sound. There was another croak, and the demon
knew the call had come from a side channel, away from the water.
Silencing her steps, Scarlett proceeded in that direction, hoping
to find and capture one.

Slowly peeking around a corner, the horned
woman spotted a bright yellow frog no bigger than the size of her
palm. The frog spit out its tongue, capturing a small insect, and
it proceeded to gobble the bug down its throat. Scarlett wasn’t
certain that this particular specimen was poisonous, but she
suspected that the bright color was a good indicator. As it
swallowed the bug, she crept out from around the corner, trying to
sneak up on the frog. Its mouth stopped, as if it were listening or
observing her in some way, and Scarlett mimicked, pausing her
movements. Her efforts were in vain; as it was proved that the
small creature had taken notice of her.

The frog quickly hopped away from her, and
the demon hurried forward, hoping to catch it before it made its
escape. Either she was too slow or it had been too fast, as the
frog found a sliver of a hole in the rocky wall and disappeared
into it.

“Rats!” the horned woman cursed.

She dropped the fang on the ground and slid
toward the hole, shoving her hand in after the frog. She clawed
around inside it, but her fingers met nothing but slimy rocks.
Pulling her hand back out, her palm was covered in grime, and she
wiped it off on a flat edged stone, disgusted by it. Scarlett stood
back up wiping similar muck off her knees, arms, and
midsection.

“Certainly disgusting,” she told herself.
“But not what I’m looking for.”

Scarlett looked around, trying to find a clue
as to any nearby places the frogs might be congregating. She
couldn’t hear any additional croaking, as the frog that escaped had
gone quiet. Picking up the fang, she skulked back toward the water,
her hunt continuing. She walked along the water, worrying about
Ruby’s condition. Though she now had form in Nabiria and had
escaped the nether realm, Scarlett was still tied inescapably to
her princess. Her fate was the demon’s fate, and so the horned
woman was determined to save her from the effects of the toxic
blissroot. Given what she was, Scarlett certainly approved of Ruby
living a life full of elation and pleasure, but the demon wanted to
be the one to make her happy, not some fruit. Besides, she knew how
much Ruby wanted to help her sister, and as much as the horned
woman thought that to be a dangerous path to walk, she was
determined to assist her princess in that endeavor.

Walking along the stream’s edge, Scarlett saw
something in the slow moving water ahead. Strange ripples slithered
at the very top of the calm stream. Squinting her red eyes into
narrow slits, she focused on the pattern and soon realized that it
was in fact a snake of some sort. The serpent blended in with the
water, so it was hard for her to make out the details, but this
seemed an even better opportunity than a poisonous frog. The snake
was coming toward her, so she sat Sythys’ fang on the ground,
approached the edge of the water, and waited for the smaller
serpent to pass by her. When it was within reach, she snatched it
out from the stream.

Scarlett discovered that she hadn’t grabbed
it in the best spot, as its head coiled around and bit the fleshy
chunk of her hand between her thumb and index finger. The pain of
the bite made her nearly release her grip, but she held steady and
so did the beast. She could feel the poison oozing out from its
fangs and into her skin in small, but powerful amounts. Because of
her connection to Ruby, Scarlett was somewhat immune to the toxic
effect. However, due to their weak bond, she could still feel a
slight burning sensation at its touch. Still, the serpent did not
let go, so the demon pried the fangs out from her skin. Blood and
venom dripped from the wounds, as the snake was removed.

With a better grip on the beast’s head,
Scarlett reached over and grabbed Sythys’ fang. Aiming the snake’s
head over the brim of the hollow tooth, she forced it to open its
mouth and expose its fangs on the inside of her makeshift bottle.
The opal colored venom leaked down the side of the tooth, pooling
in the bottom. It started to seep out the bottom of the fang
though, so Scarlett resituated her hands so that she could plug the
sharp hole with her finger.