A Thief In The Night

A Thief In The Night
~Written by Liriel and an anonymous partner

~Notes: There is graphic sexual situations in this story, and it should definitely be considered R rated. Some bondage… Please read and respond with feedback. This is my first ‘story’ and I’d love to hear what other people think about it.
Liriel

Ariel froze... was that a sound? A footstep? she slid the book into the pouch on her back, it was small and easily concealed there. Another sound, closer this time. She cursed silently melting into the shadows, concealed by them for the moment as the mage entered the library. He wasn\'t supposed to be here!! He was supposed to be at the palace tonight celebrating with his royal cousin on his upcoming nuptials... She was to far from the window, and her grappling iron was there if he looked... To high up to jump out the window... she growled softly to herself... best to simply wait here in the shadows until he left and hope he didn\'t notice her means of escape... Thankfully, her body was concealed by matte black silk... well clothed by it anyway... she tucked her bare hands behind her back as she sank further into the shadowed nook she was in... her gloves were tucked into her belt and she couldn\'t risk putting them on and making a sound to attract his attention.

Demar cursed as he tossed his wet riding cloak into a chair as he stormed into the study...cursing his relatives and their ill witted company for dragging him out on such a night. He went to his desk and poured himself a brandy...wondering why it was so cold in the room. Demar stood six foot tall and was slight of build.... from years of study. However he was very adapt at magical arts and no slouch if it came to fisticuffs. He was dressed in a regal looking pair of black breeches and silk poet shirt

she sighed inwardly... If the Mage\'s Council hadn\'t decided that her father had been guilty of heinous crimes, of which he\'d been framed and cast out, she would have known him on a social level... He was certainly handsome enough... And she knew he was a Adept... Like her father had been... until he\'d made to many enemies with his views on allowing the peasants to learn magic, and actively taught a few of them... When he\'d been killed and her House destroyed, the Council had used that as evidence saying that he\'d been dealing with demons to gain his power... She\'d been a newly made Journeyman... and forbidden from ever practicing magic again... It was likely to be a death sentence if he found her here... not that she wanted the book for herself... She grinned behind her mask... She was going to get a hefty sum of money for the damned thing if she got out of here alive... She was a good thief, she admitted to herself... always careful. Until now... But she needed the money for more modifications to her body... and to spread in finding the people responsible for destroying her life and setting her adrift on the streets... If it hadn\'t been for that old Master Thief she\'d tried to steal from... who knows where she\'d be... but that was 15 years ago, and she was a Master in her own right now...

Demar sighed...turning around to head for bed when he saw it...his copy of Nefernicus Demonica.....laying out on a table \'How did you get there?\' he said picking up the book and looking about.

Damn! That cursed apprentice had left the book out earlier now with her luck tonight he was probably going to put it away and decide to stay around in the library for a while...

He sighed and put the book back...checking to see all were in place...a cold wind blows in from somewhere \'IS their a window open!\' he said in shock

She ground her teeth, it was not her night... \'screw it\' she thought, and made a running dash and leap out towards the window and the rope beyond it.

Demar saw a black shadow moving behind him...he spun around and called his power \'Shr\'zirl!\' casting a spell to freeze the intruder in place.

\'Kth\'tal,nir\" she gasped warding the spell, if he cast a higher level she was done for... but there was the window... she was almost there... her ankle length braid of raven black hair streamed behind her... the outfit concealed her features and fine pale skin, but not her ample breasts slim waist and curvaceous hips... and of course, her hands... and their iron claws were visible as she prepared to tumble out the window.

Demar threw up his hands...calling the stone of the walls to close about the window \'Mil\'th\'zan!\'

She slid to a halt, and turned to face him... He\'d been neither friend nor foe to her father... but she\'d have to kill him now to get out of the tower... Her eyes now that she looked at him were silver... with a black cat slit pupil... slowly her claws extended from her fingertips and glinted in the light... iron claws, cat eyes... oh yes, she\'d paid quite a hefty sum to have those modifications made... she slowly drew a couple weapons... shed paid for those as well... weapons meant to ward the bearer from magical attacks... they simply absorbed the magical energy for her to use at a later date... \"Stale Mate, Adept Demar.\" she said softly, her voice lyrical from her half elven lineage... and having learned the tongue and spoken it for so long as a child before coming to her father.

He could sense the wards on her weapons...this was an adept thief indeed...but those eyes! He backed up as e formulated a plan \'Who are you...and why have you broken into my home thief!\'

\"you should have stayed at the palace with your cousin a little while longer... But, since I\'m going to have to kill you, I\'ll grant your request... My name is Ariel no Sherizai... Heir to the lost House of Sherizai... But then,\" she smiled behind her mask, \"I\'m dead and no longer exist. No one will ever know who it was killed you. Then I\'ll take my pick of your books instead of just the one small one that I needed. And then I\'ll find the ones that destroyed my father and kill them as well...\"

\' Sherizai...what...he...your..\' he looked at Ariel as a the shock set in. Was this the same beautiful women he had seen years ago at the apprentice hall...the same girl he had heard so much about...how his teachers scolded him he should be more like \'Wait...why kill me...what did I do?\'

\"You did nothing. You stood by, and did nothing, just like your father and all the others that let it happen... And all of the secrets of how my father created new beings died with him and the house... you did nothing when the Triad, the ruling members of the Mage\'s Council cast me out to die on the streets, forbidding me to ever learn magic or practice it even as the journeyman I rightly am... on penalty of death... when they made it clear to one and all that my father had been summoning demons and monsters from the Abyssal plain and his death and ruin was only \'Justice\'... And because you know I\'m still alive, who should be dead and rotted.\" she said softly, approaching him a step or two closer.

Demar has used the time of her speech wisely...moving about to the far wall his hand behind him...she never saw the rapier slip from the hiddeeatheath by the window and float to his hand \'Why not just leave...what proof have I that you live still?\'

\"What?\" she asked mockingly... \"And leave you alive knowing I\'m still walking around... Thieving... And you\'ll just let me walk out with what I came for, I think not...\"

He grips the sword behind him \'with what proof...raving? Who would believe me if I told the Ariel lives and stalks the night seeking vengeance...and how dare you accuse me...I was not even a mage then...I was an apprentice like you!\'

\"Then remove the spell and let me leave... if you want me to so much... Adept.\" she all but spat the last word... she sheathed one dagger, and reached up to pull the hood from her face... revealing the flawless beauty that he remembered. \"But either way, I\'ll be gone from your tower... I would rather have killed your father then you, if it makes any difference...\"

\' Leave my father....\'\' he started to say but was stunned by her beauty

In one fluid move, she drew and threw a normal steel throwing spike, hitting him in the shoulder and causing him to loose his control of the spell on the walls... when the window opened, she sheathed the blade and dove through it... she\'d been foolish... but she didn\'t want to kill him... however, he\'d be able to find her once he was on his feet again from the damned weapon... he wasn\'t stupid... he\'d ward it so that she couldn\'t \'call\' it home to her... but it had been kill him or that... there was no middle ground for her any more... she tumbled out the window, catching the rope, with her mask covered hands and sliding the three floors down to the ground

Demar gasped in pain and dropped his rapier...pulling the blade from his wounded arm and cursing. He ran to the window and watched her go \'Wait!\'

She looked up at him from the rope as it slid through her hands... a sadness briefly touching her eyes. She hit the ground, and tugged the pattern on the rope that collapsed the iron. She discarded the rope, folded the iron hook and touched her fingers briefly to her lips then upwards towards him... With a grin and a bow, she was gone into the night...

Demar growled...watching as she escaped in the ran...he went to his bed chamber and grabbed up a discarded towel…seeing it to staunch the blood flow as he searched for a healing draught...he had to find Ariel

She ran through the rain and night, reaching her haven and entering it by the back way... she sighed... She missed her old Master. He\'d died the previous year, an old man while she was still young and beautiful even at the age of 30... when most women were beginning to show signs of age... she still looked young, thanks to her mother\'s blood running through her veins... Half-elven she could still take her place among them, but this was an old well-worn argument with herself and she gave it over for a later time... Now she had to be the Courtesan, not the thief... she would have to be downstairs in an hour... She would be Jade, not Ariel then... it was a good cover, and pleasant enough. This was one of the best Courtesan Houses in the rotted city she called home...and it served her purposes