Editing Shedding the Darkness (section)

==The Needs of the One==

The rest of the journey to Rayna was uneventful. Each time Kraegus caught something moving at the edges of his vision, his heart would leap, only to be disappointed when it wasn’t Alysia. The daemonette had not shown herself since feeding from him, much to his dismay. Still, the peace and quiet had given him time to mull over what she had said, and to come up with a plan moving forward. Eliminating the cult was certainly a priority, but freeing his soul had…other perks. 

Meanwhile, Alysia had spent her time working on the specifics of the ritual that would give her a mortal form to inhabit. Though the generalities came with those memories and experiences given to her at “birth,” it was vital that the ritual be tailored to her needs.  Without doing so, the human body she would corrupt might destabilize once the greater changes to it were affected. In addition, it was important that some link to Kraegus remain. Though it wasn’t necessary, the daemonette felt a perverse need to preserve their connection, if only to keep the mortal around for more “feedings.”

Gaining a private berth in the lower hive was a fairly simple affair. After all, when an Inquisitor demands a discrete landing location, they tend to get what they want.  Once the shuttle had come to rest, Kraegus popped the hatch and stepped out into the musky air. Adorned in street clothes, he looked more like a ganger than one who wielded the power of the Inquisition. Earlier that day, he had awoken to find a simple note on his chest reading, “Find a woman who will not be missed, then return.” By his reasoning, any scum from the cesspit of the lower hive would do. 

Still, the manner in which the abduction occurred needed to be handled delicately in order to avoid lingering questions. Casting a hood over his head, the inquisitor departed from the landing bay and entered the lower hive proper.  The soupy air pooled around him, and it wasn’t long before the hustle and bustle of those poor souls living in the squalor met his ears. He had several choices to scout for prey, ranging from simple pleasure cults to the overcrowded jail cells of the precinct’s Arbitrator building. All it would take was a quick flash of his rosette, or a little sweet talking, and soon he would have a vessel for his “companion.”

Alysia watched with amusement as the man negotiated his way into what the mortals called a “pleasure cult.” Though the concept was highly Slanneshian in nature, they hardly even compared to those within She-Who-Thirst’s realm. Such knowledge was second-hand, but the view from Kraegus’ eyes was still rather unimpressive. A swath of drug addicts, whores of both genders, slavers, and otherwise dubious characters were throughout spotted the dim interior. It was a rather understandable choice of places to search for a female, but the daemonette still found herself wishing her host would have chosen a more “clean” source. She was not a daemon of Nurgle, after all.

It took only a few minutes of bargaining for Kraegus to leave with a prize in tow. The slave in question was already humbled, having been through several “masters” already. Making a mental note to inform the Arbitrators later, the inquisitor trudged back to the shuttle’s birth. Once inside, he led the woman he had bought into his quarters, leaving her there as he prepared the vessel for launch. While he was no expert in the affairs of the daemonic, Kraegus had enough knowledge to know that any ritual would probably be noticed by any psykers in the immediate area. Thus, by returning to orbit, his advancement down the path of damnation would hopefully go unnoticed. For the time being, anyways.

“Course…I won’t be able to hide a bloody daemon-in-the-flesh once this is done, no matter how much Polymorphine I acquire from Callidus,” the Inquisitor grumbled as the shuttle took them into the upper atmosphere. A soft laugh rang in his ears in response, causing Kraegus to jump slightly. 

“Don’t…oh what’s the use…” he mumbled, pulling out the pocket mirror and gazing into it. “Alright, I got you a vessel, now what?”

Another giggle, followed by, “Well… first you’re going to draw a very specific set of symbols on her. Then…you’re going to ‘’fuck’’ her…”