Sobbing shamelessly, he bowed his head low, until his temple was touching the earth;
"Please! You will never see me again, I swear it! Only spare my life. I have seven sons, and four daughters to fend for. . ." he whimpered;
"I will take my family and skip town. . .I swear it. . .you will never set eyes on me again. . ."
Nexus remained silent, watching with amusement as the man begged for his dear life.
Nexus actually believed him when he said he would disappear. But he could not do that. It would not be fair to all the others that had died- well, that he had murdered.
He stood over the poor guy who was drenched in tears;
"So, what to do with you now. . ." he muttered slowly, intentionally slurring his words.
The leader wailed aloud; "Ah, I'm just a bug you could can squash at anytime, please don't kill me! I swear I won't come after you! I don't even want the succubus any more! You can have her I swear!"
Nexus' eyes narrowed; "Are you nuts? You think she's some livestock you can just handover???"
The boss hunter detected the rising note of anger in Nexus' voice, and immediately fell flat on the floor- in full prostration;
"I didn't mean any disrespect I swear to heavens! Please forgive me. . ." he wailed; "Don't kill me please! I'm completely at your mercy!"
All of a sudden, Nexus' sensitive ears picked up some light scratching. He angled his ears to the left and listened closely in the dark. It came again- this time, more pronounced than before. It sounded like something heavy was rousing to its feet.
He heard the unmistakable sound of bones cracking in place, neck snapping, and heavy breathing. Crystal was now conscious.
The shameful wailing of the boss hunter continued to parallel the ominous sounds of Crystal's awakening. So, he could not hear anything above his own sniffling and pleading.
In the dark, standing between the rising succubus, and the grovelling leader, he cleared his throat and addressed the man;
"It's alright son. . ." even though he it was clear he was the younger one; "It's all good. We all make mistakes don't we? What's important is the lessons we learn."
The leader, mildly surprised at Nexus' sudden placid tone, nodded so hard, he almost snapped his neck;
"Yes! Yes! You're right. . .!!!"
"And I believe you've learned your mistakes here haven't you?"
He could not believe his ears. Delighted, he jumped to his feet with surprising agility;
"Thank you! You will not regret this I promise. Henceforth, I'm now a changed man. I promise to live honorably till the day I die."
Nexus chuckled briefly under his breath, and continued to lead him on;
"Just don't be an asshole anymore. You come find me if you need anything okay?"
Music to his ears. His smile turned into a broad grin as he nodded hard; "I will!"
Even as he spoke, he had already started to run, hoping Nexus would not change his mind.
Nexus called out after him tauntingly; "Be sure to say hello to your wives for me!"
Maybe, just maybe, if the leader had been in sound mind, he would have picked up on the sarcasm in Nexus' parting statement. But alas, he was too hooked on the joy of getting away.
Boss hunter's feet pattered away on the rocky grounds as he sprinted his way to freedom. In his eyes, a a faint glint of hope twinkled wildly. Even his mouth appeared to have something that vaguely resembled a smile.
He could not believe it! He was on his way out! Arms swinging by his side, he tore through the darkness, heading for the exit with all his might as malicious vengeful thoughts stole through his heart.
'Man that succubus thief is such a sucker,' he thought to himself. Of course there was no way he, as the boss hunter, was going to let this go! No matter how long it was going to take, no matter how many powerful mages he had to recruit, he was going to exert his revenge!
But he was happy he was leaving the cave (which became the tomb of his men). His escape flight was fuelled by his own eagerness and lust for revenge. He felt no survivor's guilt at all over his comrades' death.
Nexus simply held his breath, and waited for the show to come.
Sure enough, just up ahead, after barely covering a few feet, the sound of his dashing footsteps suddenly came to an abrupt end. To anyone listening, it sounded like he had stopped mid-stride. Like he could not move forward again. Like he had encountered a ghost or something.
It was none other than Crystal- a fully satisfied, empowered, and dangerous version of herself. The boss hunter swallowed as his mouth went dry. His senses tingled wildly as he perceived that this was not the helpless succubus he knew from the forest. Shoulders thrown back, legs apart, and hands balled into tight fists, she stood in his way like a dark angel- daring him to come at her.
A creeping dread crawled up on him, paralysing his mind, and shattering his hopes completely. He spun a one eighty, and looked back at Nexus with desperate eyes, pleading for his life;
"You said I could go, you said I was free, please don't do thi---"
Nexus stopped him with a logical answer;
"Hey don't look at me. I did say you could go didn't I?" he pursed his lips, and delivered the punchline with an undeniable satisfaction; "But here's the thing. I never guaranteed that 'she' would let you go. Brace yourself, I think Crystal would want to have a few words with you. . ."
The leader's eyes flicked back to Crystal.
The succubus was bursting with a fresh energy that was so pronounced, it could be felt in the darkness. Hot, quick rasps of air went in and out of her nostrils with an urgency. Even her hoarse breathing sounded dangerous- like she was a manic arsonist about to go ham.
The boss hunter tried to slowly walk around her, like she was a rabid dog that needed to be avoided;
"Okay succubus. . .easy there. . .there's no need for trouble now. . .we're all friends here. . ."
Crystal snarled at him, and he felt his knees weaken beneath him. Glaring at him, staring him eyeball to eyeball, matching his gaze with the insolence of a man. The leader knew it almost instantly- the succbus in her had been awakened.
Nexus, satisfied with the current results, turned his back on them to let Crystal have her action.
He had barely taken three steps forward when he heard the terrifyingly shrill cry of the boss hunter behind him.
Nexus chuckled to himself; the man was definitely not a boss anymore. Crystal was making sure of that. As Nexus strolled to find a place to wait out the storm, the shameless cries of the boss hunter echoed through the open space. Soft thuds kept reverberating through the walls- like someone was being repeatedly slammed into a wall by a monster.
The cries came out powerful, and loud at first. But slowly, it began to get weaker, and weaker, till it was almost nonexistent at all.
All through that time, the reverberations did not grow weaker. In fact, they seemed to get even louder and louder- until Nexus found himself wondering;
"Has Crystal been slamming a corpse into the wall for the past half hour?"
-----------------------------
An uncomfortable stretch of time passed before she finally came around the corner to where Nexus was. She stumbled out, like a drunk person, high on the pain she had caused, and intoxicated by the satisfaction of it.
From her neckline to her stomach, she was covered in blood. The entire length of her arms were draped in the same red sticky liquid. She did not say a word. Nexus regarded her carefully.
"Here," he handed her his water gourd; "Wash yourself of all that---"
Crystal nodded, and took the water gourd. She set it in one of the clefts of the walls, and angled it to pour down- like some kind of water faucet. The water came trickling down, and Nexus did not say a word as Crystal fervently washed off her victim's blood off her.
Her movements, precise, and mechanical, she scrubbed her hands, chest, stomach, and face. Till she was convinced she was okay.