When we returned home, I saw Meleri flying around the clearing. She was having fun it seemed. I made a beeline for the landing pad, as I didn’t want her to see Fabius. The less involved she was in this, the better. It would seem she didn’t notice us as we landed, which suited me just fine.

  Once we got back inside, I carried the broken body of Fabius over to the potion room. “I’ll conduct the summoning, for your own sake don’t disturb me until I’m done.” Once inside the potion room, I took a deep breath. I was not a fan of all of this, but this was how the world worked. Back on Earth this would be a violation of human rights at the very least, but that stuff didn’t exist here.

  Well, Fabius brought it upon himself. I looked down at the faun as he squirmed on the floor. “Cease your struggles, or I’ll paralyze you again.” Fabius gave me a hateful glare but stopped squirming as I walked over to the summoning circle. “Ok, let’s see if I still got the hang of this.” I began to channel magic into the circle itself, causing it to cast a baleful green light across the room.

  “From beyond the gate, beyond space and time, I call upon you, whose name is Rathina, heed my call and appear before me.” The circle cracked with energy as space-time was torn asunder within it. A few moments later, Rathina unceremoniously appeared within the circle itself. She seemed mildly disoriented before she saw me, and more importantly, Fabius. At the sight of his broken body a wide smile cracked her beautiful features. A smile that meant vengeance was near.

  She looked at me, and I made a bidding gesture, allowing her to leave the circle. She took a halting step outside, then rushed towards Fabius with murder in her eyes. “Hold it.” Rathina froze mid-movement and turned her gaze towards me. “What is the meaning of this?” I took another deep breath.

  “I will not deny you your vengeance, if that’s what you’re worried about. However, his execution falls upon me as the ruler of this domain. Vent on him all you like, but he is to be alive to receive my judgment. Understood?” Rathina looked from me to Fabius and then back at me. “Fine.” I gave a quick nod, and she stalked over to Fabius, now in much more control of her actions. I didn’t pity him at all as he began to scream.

  It took about an hour before Rathina was satisfied. Fabius was a mess, but the Infernal knew her craft, as he would live. He was in agony, sure, but none of the injuries she inflicted were lethal, even as they grew in number. By now Meleri was done flying and was informed of what was going on. When I opened the door to carry Fabius outside, she seemed quite out of sorts after listening to Fabius screams. Rathina followed behind me as she licked some of Fabius’ blood from one of her talons.

  I gazed back at her. “Why don’t you relax and introduce yourself to the others, as it will take a while for me to figure out how to get you home?” Rathina eyed the others and nodded. “I take it I am to play nice?” I gave her a calm gaze. “If you purposefully harm them outside self-defense because of actual danger, then you will wish you were in as much agony as Fabius is now by the time I’m done with you.” I was honestly surprised at how cold my voice was at that moment. This whole situation must be more stressful than I gave it credit for.

  Rathina looked surprised for a few moments, then began to laugh. “A notion after my own heart. I, too, would visit untold agonies on anyone who tried to harm my family.” She found an open spot on the couch and plopped herself down. “I’ll make introductions and explain things while you’re out.” I nodded as I levitated Fabius towards the door. He was unconscious, so I wasn’t really worried about him trying to escape.

  Once back outside, I hopped back on the carpet and headed towards the mountains at full speed. After about half an hour, Fabius stirred. “If it’s any consolation, old goat, your agony won’t last much longer.” All I got in reply was a weak groan. Not that surprising, really. Once we got to the old caldera, I landed. “Well, here we are. The end of the line.” I pulled Fabius off the carpet. “I promised I would make your end swift, and so I shall.” Fabius, now blind and missing multiple teeth managed a weak whimper. It would seem that he feared death as much as his own victims, in the end.

  Well, it didn’t matter. I spent much of the time flying here deciding on the method of execution, and I was going to be certain there was nothing left of him at all. I began by casting a petrification hex on him. In his current state, Fabius couldn’t even begin to resist it. Not that he would notice it before it was too late anyhow, given his condition.

  I looked at the broken statue. I picked it up and held it over my head, then tried something new. Using wind magic, I began to erode the statue magically, turning it to dust and scattering said dust to the winds. By the time I was done, Fabius was no more, and no one would ever see him or his remains ever again. I felt uncomfortable about all of this. Sure, two centuries of hunting was helping keep me together right now, but actually killing a sentient creature outside justifiable self-defense still hit hard.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  I took my time on the way back to sort out my own thoughts and emotions. When I landed and packed away the carpet, Meleri came outside holding a cup of hot cocoa. She gave it to me without a word and put a hand around my shoulders as we walked back inside. Once inside, I found that Rathina was fitting right in with everyone. She was playing chess against Soot, and it was a close game, by the looks of things.

  Millid was sharing some nuts with Bahruun, while Irenji and Midnight were playing with a leather ball I made for her several years ago so she’d have something to entertain herself with. Winter was napping on her favorite roost while Ivy was watching Soot and Rathina’s game. It was noisy and crowded, but in a good way.

  It took a few days to hear from Mendir. Because my visit was an official one, I needed to report on Fabius’ execution. Meanwhile, Mendir would report on the investigation. It was a form of collaborative courtesy and record keeping to keep things civil between domains. Per my instructions, they entered the lab the following morning. It turned out that what I saw was the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

  What they found were well-hidden records, records dating back well over a century of kidnappings, murders, bribery and worse. Fabius was quite a prolific criminal. There was more, however. Among the various documents were names. The names of his accomplices, his victims, and the names of those he bribed. The entire city was in an uproar as the lord and his guards went into overdrive to investigate and arrest everyone involved.

  Well, that wasn’t any of my business, really. I gave them a simple response outlining the punishment and final fate of Fabius himself. In the end, he was marked not as dead, but lost. It took a bit of reading among my tomes before I could fully grasp what that meant. It would seem that I sentenced Fabius to a fate worse than death by sheer accident. If someone who was petrified shattered, their soul would be shattered and trapped within the individual pieces of stone. The result was that Fabius’ soul was ground to so many microscopic pieces it ceased to exist. No afterlife, only oblivion. A fitting end.

  I pushed the thought aside as I looked up from the letter and resumed reading the book about summoning. I was helping Rathina look for a way to get her home. “Nothing interesting here so far, how about on your end?” Rathina looked up from where she was reading. “Nothing.” She took off her reading glasses and cleaned them. “I am wondering if there is a way to get back home without opening a full-scale portal. And I know you won’t do that; it's too risky.” She wasn’t wrong. Opening a portal to the infernal realm would be a bad idea, period.

  Rathina and I began to get along rather quickly, as we both loved to learn new things and discuss our findings. She was so much fun to research things with and bounce ideas off. It was obvious she thought the same, considering we were spending almost all day in the library these days. If I was being honest, I wasn’t too sad that we weren’t finding a way to get her home, as I would miss her.

  There was one downside to all of this, though. The moment we were obviously getting friendly, Meleri began to tease the both of us incessantly. It was annoying, but hey that’s just how sisters are. Besides, I couldn’t actually refute the fact that I enjoyed spending time with her or that she was good-looking. It was true, after all. I couldn’t really decide if supernatural beauty counted as being attracted if you found them pretty, however. The jury was still out on that one.

  As the days of research began to stretch into weeks, it didn’t take long to realize this would take a while. On the upside, Meleri was now learning magic in earnest and so was so busy with her own studies she didn’t have an opportunity to bother me too much anymore.

  “Hey sis, Rathina, dinner’s ready.” Meleri poked her head through the door. “So, you two lovebirds find anything or another dead end?” I put the book down and looked up at her. “Hilarious, honestly I am half tempted to ask Rathina on a date just to shut you the hell up.” Rathina looked up from her own book. “I actually wouldn’t mind that.” I am not sure who was more surprised at those words, me or Meleri.

  After I snapped out of my initial surprise, I blinked a few times. “I see, well then, if you’re sure…” She nodded, now with a hint of a smile on her lips. Ugh, how did people handle stuff like this? I glanced towards the door and saw that Meleri was gone. No doubt getting out of earshot to laugh at this awkward situation. “Well, I... must admit I was put a bit on the spot here.” I looked over at Rathina, whose expression showed mild but polite amusement at my awkwardness. Where would I even take her? Infernals were not exactly a common sight, let alone just going out on dinner dates.

  “Hmm, well I am not opposed to the idea, but…” Rathina bit her lip and gave me a curious expression. “But…?” I tossed my arms out. “I’m not really sure where to take you on a date. If I take you to Nekkal, it will cause a panic, ruining the mood. Nettledale is in the beginning phases of preparing for winter, so that’s a no-go. I mean I guess I could pack some food and take you on a picnic?”

  Rathina perked up at that. “That sounds perfect, actually. I have never been on a picnic before.” Wait, really? Alright then. “I guess a picnic it is. I even know a place that would be decent for it. How about the day after tomorrow?” Rathina gave an eager nod. “That sounds great.” As we walked towards the kitchen to eat, I was in a bit of a daze. I didn’t exactly expect this of all things. However, it didn’t sound so bad now that I thought about it. In fact, it might actually be pretty nice. It didn’t stop my nerves, however.