Page 237

The lounge that the eight of us walked through had a small stage in the center with four tables and two couches per table situated around it. The entire room smelled faintly of a sweet perfume, the scent was fruity and wasn't overpowering. On the far end of the room was a nondescript metal door that was painted to blend into the shadows of the room.

"What is this place?" Bella asked as she looked around.

Torien's face wrinkled in disgust. "It's a showroom. A place where people can make their slaves dance or perform for people, hold private auctions, or other... 'entertainment,' as the trainers liked to say."

The dark metal door opened smoothly before leading into some kind of kitchen and service room. There were counters for preparing meals and side doors that opened into private rooms with nothing but a bed inside. I could guess what those were used for. There were stoves and prep counters likely for cooking food for their VIPs while they were entertained. In one corner of the room, there was a small table with chairs around it, making this place look a bit like a breakroom as well. Next to that, there was a bar full of different alcohols on shelves that went all the way to the ceiling.

"Can you take most of these bottles here?" I asked Mimi.

She looked over and nodded. "They shouldn't take too much space." She waved her hand and most of the liquor and wines vanished into motes of light before trailing into her.

Morrigan looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "Is it wise to use her space on alcohol?"

"Yes," Silva replied for me with a grin.

Lorriene laughed and shook her head. "Come on, let's not waste time."

On the other end of this room was another metal door, but this one was locked when I tried it.

"I got it," Torien said before flipping through her keys and trying a few before the mechanism clicked open.

I gripped the handle of my sword as Torien swung the door open. Inside the dark room was a kneeling beastfolk woman lit only by the single lantern next to her. It wasn't difficult to see in the dark for me so I could clearly make out the additional cells that lined the edges of the room where the other prisoners I had sensed were being held.

"How may this one serve you, masters," the older bovine woman asked. My eyes flickered over her bowing form and I read her karma, 4246. That was higher than most people I'd seen for a while. She had to be around the thirty to forty level range based on how strong she felt to me. It was hard for me to tell how old she was since I didn't really know how elderly beastfolk were supposed to look, but her face looked weathered, and much of her fur had turned grey. I could see rough deep-set scars that ran across her face that left her with a milky white left eye when she raised her head to look up at us. She was wearing a servant's uniform, it looked similar to the maid uniforms fashioned for the twins, but it was a bit more frilly which only served to show how dirty it was.

She looked surprised. "I'm sorry mistresses, I fear I do not know you. I humbly apologize."

I let go of my sword and took a step toward her and held my hand out to help her up. "We're here to free you and help everyone escape."

"I... you're here to take all of us away from here?" she asked with a guarded tone.

"I am. Here, let me see your collar." I activated the bracelet and touched her collar, making the band around her neck fall off.

"Truly?" Her eyebrows rose and her eyes began to grow misty as I helped her to her feet. One of her legs looked twisted and improperly healed, which probably made it difficult for her to walk. She awkwardly stood slanted to one side so she could bear most of her weight on her good leg.

Her karma was high enough... I decided that I would offer her the transformation right here on the spot. "Miss... I can help restore your leg and your eye... and your youth... but it comes at a bit of a price. Would you be willing to hear me out?"

"Restore my leg...? Wait! No, you should offer this to Kal'daeryn!" The woman suddenly began to hobble over to one of the doors and pointed at it. "You have the keys, right? Can you open this one? If you can restore limbs, you should restore Kal'daeryn's instead!"

I glanced at the others who looked at me with mixed expressions.

"You want to do this here? Now?" Lorriene asked.

I gestured at the woman. "She has high Karma and I think it would help her. She doesn't know what we're offering yet but I think it's worth offering."

Torien stepped up to the door and started working on unlocking the cell.

"What is all of this about?" Quinn asked. "One of you is a strong enough healer to restore limbs?"

I glanced at him and shrugged. "It's a bit more complicated than that. I'll explain it once we're through the door."

"Oh..." Torien stepped away and pulled the cracked door open the rest of the way to reveal an orange and black striped tiger woman lying on a table at about waist height. All four of her limbs had been removed leaving her as nothing but a torso and a head. There were signs of recent... use on her body as well. The bovine woman rushed forward as fast as she could on her bad leg and pulled out a rag before starting to clean her up.

"Nelly, what's happening?" the tigerkin asked with a raspy voice. Her head turned and looked at me with intense yellow eyes. "More abusers?" she spat accusingly.

"No Kal, they said they're here to help! They removed my collar! They said they can restore limbs!" the cow woman enthusiastically told her.

"Don't call me that in front of others... Use my full name," she rumbled out. Her eyes searched me and she took a breath through her nose. "They don't smell right. They aren't dogkin... some of them are pantharians." Her eyes traveled between all of us before settling on me. "You smell the strangest. You say you can restore limbs? At what cost?"

This woman, Kal'daeryn, felt strong. A little stronger than me, but probably in the same level ballpark. Despite the missing limbs she still seemed defiant even though she was left vulnerable. Her karma was relatively low for her level, but it was still positive 1248. Not too bad. Under the circumstances of what I would be offering, it wasn't low enough to give me any pause and it would be difficult to help her escape otherwise.

I glanced at the bovine woman, Nelly, before looking back at Kal'daeryn. "One moment." I collected mana and cast [Zone of Truth] around us. The spell still took a significant amount of mana but I felt this would be important for what I was offering. I panted at the sensation of using so much mana at once. "This is a zone of truth. I cast this to show you that what I'm about to offer you is not a lie or a fabrication."

A pulse of energy from the center of the spell washed through the room and I could see the acknowledgment in their eyes as the 'wave of truth' splashed and rippled around them. Quinn raised an eyebrow at the spell but didn't say anything.

"I'm offering both of you the opportunity to join my family and become succubi. Becoming a succubus means receiving a full body transformation based on the image of your own ideal form." I paused to let the [Zone of Truth] ripple through them before I continued. I would have to wait for the ripples to settle before I could say each statement.

"This transformation can restore limbs and eyes, reverse your age, and make your self-image better represented in your transformation. It also gives you the chance to reallocate your stats. The only limitation I've found so far is that it can only transform you into a woman."

"The cost!" Kal'daeryn growled out.

"Relax, I'm getting to that. The first thing is that you must take an oath not to knowingly work against me. This is not the same thing as slavery, you still will have your own will. I cannot give you direct orders like a slave master could, but if you knew I was trying to hurt someone or protect someone, you wouldn't be able to knowingly interfere. As far as I'm aware you also won't be able to lie about or withhold information that also could interfere with any of my plans if you're aware of them."

As the ripples settled, the tigerkin studied the face of Nelly who looked a little uneasy. When Kal'daeryn found what she was looking for she turned back to me and furrowed her brows. "Fine, acceptable. What else?"

I hesitated at this part. It was... obvious that she had been violated not long ago. "You will have to have sex for sustenance. Succubi feed on the lust-aspected mana that is created during sex. You would have to regularly have sex with someone to feed yourself. You don't need to have more than one partner, but having more unique partners makes it so you can wait longer between needing to have sex again."

"I... don't know if I could stand letting another man touch me after..." the tigerkin's pained words faded through her reply.

"It would not need to be a man. You could have female partners and other succubi as well," I reassured her.

Kal'daeryn stared at the ceiling silently for a long moment.

"I would be willing to help... if I would do..." Nelly offered.

The tigerkin looked at the cow woman before hesitantly nodding. "F-fine... what do I need to do?"

Normally I would be against the transformation of someone who clearly wasn't that comfortable with having to have sex to live but... being left like this and used like this... it was disturbing. I dropped the [Zone of Truth] since I no longer needed to prove anything and so I could focus again. Maintaining that spell can be a little challenging.

"First I need to remove your collar and whatever... this harness is." I took a few steps closer to her and trailed my fingers along the black harness that had been fashioned around her, giving her body handles to manipulate and carry her limbless torso. I touched her collar and flared mana through the bracelet before pulling the collar away and tossing it on the floor.

"Picture your ideal self, what you want to look like after the transformation. Your height, eye color, fur color, the size of your breasts, what you have between your legs. You can have a male's member down there instead of a vulva if you would like. Succubi can transform themselves to some degree with their inherent magic, but whichever you choose to have in your base form will be the one that is... functional for procreation. Also consider your tail, your species, you do not even need to look like a beastfolk if you don't want to. You could look like a demi, or a human, or whatever is the most ideal for you. When you're ready, I'll tell you the oath that you'll need to take." She went silent as I removed the harness from her body.

"I'm ready," her voice rasped once I was finished and had tossed the straps to the floor.

"Repeat after me, I swear not to knowingly work against Lilith. I wish to become a succubus and join her family," I told her.

Kal'daeryn repeated the oath word for word and when she finished there was a single moment of silence before it began. A surprised moan trilled through her throat as she wiggled under the intense feeling of the transformation. White light spread out from the stumps of her detached limbs and grew out into the correct shape as her body shifted. Her bright orange fur faded until she was pure white and her eyes turned to a deep cerulean blue. She let out another moan as her proportions changed, her muscle mass increased but her body changed from a somewhat squarish torso to becoming curvier with wider hips and more attractive teardrop-shaped breasts.

She sat up and gripped the edge of the table with her newly formed hands as the pleasure of her transformation continued. Her long tail flared behind her as it grew in size and began to look more akin to the tail of a snow leopard than a tiger. She shivered and moaned as it progressed before freezing when she reached a final climax from the transformation. When the transformation was complete, she was left shivering and panting. Tears streamed down her face as she held her hands up in front of her, opening and closing them in disbelief. She smoothly slid off the table and fell to her knees before pulling Nelly into a hug and sobbing into her chest.

"Shhh, it's okay. Things are getting better, just like I told you they would," Nelly whispered to the tigerkin.

"I thought you were lying..." the tigerkin's voice answered between sobs.

Nelly kissed the top of Kal'daeryn's head before rubbing her back and looking down at her with a sad smile. "I thought I was too."