“P… Please! I… I’ll do anything you want, just as long as you don’t hurt my family!” begged a rather pale human sobbing on the floor.

“That depends on what you do from here on Minister Alastair. If you follow my instructions exactly, then no harm will come to any of them. However, if you tell anyone about our little deal, or try to resist in any way, you will most definitely come to regret it. Understand?” questioned a tall, muscular human with a scar running vertically down his face.

“I… I understand,” sobbed Alastair.

“Excellent! I’m glad you understand. Now, here’s what you have to do. It’s simple really, kill the king. Any way you can. Better yet, take out the entire family, but that’s just for bonus points, although I might even let you live if you can manage that. You see this is really important to me, I’m really trusting you here and you really do not want to betray my trust. Okay?” asked the man.

“I… I… The king… I… can’t do it…”mumbled Alastair.

“Oh shit… Did you really just say what I thought you did. You really did not just say that did you? Please tell me you didn’t Minister, tell me. Cause I really don’t want it to come to this. I really thought I could put my trust in you. SO SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME FOR ME!” roared the man.

“I can’t do it…” sobbed Alastair quietly.

“Okay. Don’t say I didn’t warn you Minister. BRING IN THE WIFE!” the man yelled down the empty corridor next to them.

Scraping footsteps and muffled screams echoed throughout the corridor, the Ministers face grew paler and paler by the second. An orc dressed in shining armour from head to toe rounded the corner carrying a very frightened female human over its shoulder.

“Elizabelle!” cried out Alastair desperately.

“Shhh… Minister, compose yourself. This is a very important moment for you and I don’t want you ruining it by crying out too soon. Now. This, all of this, is a direct result from your stupidity, you forced my hand, I don’t enjoy killing people for fun you know? Actually, scratch that, I do, but… I have to be reasonable don’t I, and you wouldn’t do shit if you lost your entire family. Luckily for me you have so many wonderful children, so I don’t have to worry about running out of hostages any time soon. Also, I’m warning you now, if you keep this up, it will only get sooo much worse each time. Now…”

“Please… P… Please, I… I’ll do it, I’ll do anything you want… so… so please don’t hurt her,” begged Alastair.

The man bent down next to Alastair and whispered right into his ear, “It’s too late now Minister. You should have listened to me earlier. So… watch closely and remember this… is what happens when you don’t listen.”

The man got up and walked over to the teary woman, pulling out a knife from his belt. He looked at her in the yes and said, “Now this is nothing personal, it’s just business for me and seeing as it was all your husband’s fault and that I’m feeling extra generous today, I’ll let you off with a quick, hopefully painless death. No need to thank me.”

With the quick slash of the knife the Minister’s wife was no more. The knife tore straight through her throat, embedding itself in her spine. The man looked down grumpily and used both hands slice through the bone, lopping off the woman’s head. Her warm blood rained down on both the man and the Minister. The orc had stepped backwards, avoiding the splash zone; he didn’t want any stains on his shiny armour.

The Minister stared at his wife’s head, horrified, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. He knelt in silence, tears pouring down his face. The man turned back to the Minister and softly said, “Now we have taken care of that, let’s continue. My lovely associate here in the fancy armour is going to stay with you here and let’s say…. advise you. He’ll tell you what to do and you do it. Understand? Cause if not, I’ll be happy to do this all over again, but I won’t be so kind to the next victim. What’s the eldest one’s name again?”

“Lucy,” answered the orc.

“Yes Lucy, that’s the one. If you don’t keep up, Lucy’s heads the next one on the chopping block. Then the second oldest, then the third and so on. Why that order? No reason. With that in mind, we’ll be taking the remainder of your family with me. I trust there’s no problem with that?” teased the man.

As the man walked down the hallways of the Minister’s mansion he admired the beauty of the staff’s corpses, so much prettier than when they were living, no longer thrashing around and igniting chaos. With a smirk, the muscular, seven foot giant vanished from existence and standing there in his place was a six foot female demon. She had smooth, pale skin with a slight tint of blue, long dark violet hair that went down to her sleek, metre long tail that ended with a deadly point. From her thin, well proportioned body to her stunning face, she was beautiful, without fault. She wore short black shorts, with several leg belts, holding a variety of blades, her heavy black jacket was left open, and underneath she wore a simple, dark red singlet. The sound of her stilettos hitting the floor echoed throughout the mansion as she strode out.

“Hmph, stupid human,” muttered Queen, smirking as she left the house and faded away into the shadows.

********

Tied up and gagged on her own bed, Lucy sat in silence, glaring at the goblins who were lustily staring at her and her siblings. Next to her were her five younger brothers and sisters, all tied up and gagged. Lucy’s mother was dragged away by an orc while ago. She was absolutely petrified when it came in, orcs were creatures of myths and legends, and nobody thought they existed anymore, yet there it had been, wearing a set of shining armour. Lucy was getting worried about her Mother, it had been too long since something happened and the goblins were starting to get restless. A quiet sobbing could be heard next to her. Lucy looked down and saw her younger brother Arthur, who was only five years old, tearing up and frantically looking around. Lucy looked him the eyes with a strong piercing look that said clearly, I will make sure to protect you. Arthur sobbed a little more and then nodded back and looked back down at his feet.

Suddenly the goblins went into a frenzy, running around the room, grabbing Lucy and her siblings and put them on their knees. Lucy grew vigilant as familiar scraping footsteps echoed throughout the house. The orc entered the room, pointed at Lucy and her siblings then grunted out in some language. The goblins screeched back in compliance then one went up to Arthur and smacked him on the top of his head, knocking him out.

Lucy cried out in shock, along with the rest of her siblings. The goblin grunted at them and then one by one it knocked them over the top of their heads. Lucy stared into the eyes of the goblin with defiance as its fist cracked down on her head, sending her to the ground unconscious.