The succubus’ plan made sense.

  Forcibly altering a body took a lot of power. The burden was lessened if the target wasn’t actively circulating their mana, but it was still enough that Kierra expected them both to empty their cores completing the work. With the addition of possibly two additional sums of mana to push through, it took their task from hard and exhausting to unfeasible.

  Dead bodies did not have mana to work through. They could also be rougher with their work without worrying about how Rey or the creatures inhabiting her responded.

  Kierra didn’t oppose the idea, but she put her foot down on the succubus’ methods. For their purposes, the more recently a body had perished, the better it would be. Geneva unnecessarily pointed out that the easiest way to get a fresh corpse was to make one; it had the added benefit of allowing them to select their target to match the physique they were working toward, further reducing the strain on their limited mana. The elf refused and not only because Lou would be horrified. She meant what she said to her growing conqueror so long ago. It paid to be merciful when one could, as you never knew when you would need mercy yourself. Intelligent beings didn’t tend to grant kindness to unrepentant villains.

  The elf went searching for their meat canvas herself; she didn’t trust her mischievous pet not to cause complications. It was a testament to the state of the city that her search was difficult. Much had improved since the day of Lou’s reckoning. More still since the rebels were sundered. The city was wounded, but like an animal hit by a stray arrow, it had limped away with its life and was licking its wounds. Soon, it would begin to heal.

  Though that didn’t mean she didn’t have options. Despite the good, there was still plenty of hardship. People had food, but their poor living conditions meant sickness, ordinary illness not a handcrafted plague, claimed the weak and unsuspecting.

  She shifted her nose to that of a scavenger as she crept along the edges of the ruin. Before long, she found a funeral; two men, father and son, laying to rest a woman. Kierra couldn’t make out much underneath the white cloth covering her, but the figure was tall and thin. Too thin. She needed more flesh to and meat was in short supply.

  With some distaste, she went hunting for another corpse. This one she found much quicker, attracted by her material’s death throes. From her position on top of the building, she saw a scoundrel dashing away, something tucked against their chest, fleeing from their victim, a silver-haired man curled up on his side.

  She gracefully leapt from her perch and crouched beside the man. His dark eyes scrunched tight with pain, but one cracked open as she loomed over him. There was helplessness in his gaze. Despair. And, worst of all, yearning. Kierra knew the look. Had seen it hundreds of times in the eyes of prey.

  “Peace, now,” she cooed, as she laid a hand on his cheek, rough and tanned from long days. “Peace.”

  Weak as he was, it took nothing to end him. A part regretted that his family wouldn’t know of his demise, but death was death. Perhaps it would be better if they could cry over an empty vessel. Perhaps their grief would be easier if they could inflict the same wound on the killer. He wasn’t far enough or fast enough that she couldn’t catch him. Perhaps, on another day, she would have considered it. But just as nature nurtured, it could also be cruel.

  She returned to the estate with her two burdens. Inside the room, she found the succubus sipping a drink. The pirate was still unconscious and her back still open. Another table had been set up next to the first, similarly plain and sturdy, though the smallest consideration was shown by the dark cloth that covered it.

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  “If you went through the bother of killing someone, you could have been more exact. Though I suppose there is a mercy in taking the elderly.”

  Kierra ignored her as she put down her burdens; the woman was placed on the table while the elder was sat up against the wall. “Are you prepared?”

  “Of course.” The succubus set down her drink and removed the burial sheet covering her project. “I believe the most efficient way would be for me to design the features and then for you to spread them. Objections?”

  “Go on, pet.” Kierra had her pride, but she wasn’t foolish enough to think she was more skilled than the succubus who had been studying physical forms for centuries. There were some days she wondered if she was even as powerful a fighter, though she had significant advantages in that realm.

  They worked from the inside out, Geneva casually filleting the woman’s corpse. The decaying organs were improved and revitalized. The muscles were restructured; the pink flesh turned a slate gray. At that point, the unfortunate elder was chopped up to fill out the skeleton. They mostly kept the Rey’s shape the same, though Kierra generously added a bit more to her curves, given the poor girl was trying to attract a mate that hadn’t even flinched at Lou’s prodigious form.

  They closed the body and worked on the skin; Kierra hoped the girl would appreciate her new blue tint. Then the hands. The feet. They molded and shaped her like a work of art but filled her with deadly purpose. The process mirrored the creation of Lou’s prime form but was not nearly as involved. There, they labored to create a pinnacle existence. Here, they merely wanted to make a pretty predator. They also had far less to work with, as well as lacking the advantage of Lou’s ridiculous body. Rey wouldn’t be disdainfully swatting aside master casters or savaging cities, but she would be a terror of the seas.

  Geneva stepped back with satisfaction. “The head then. Do you mind?”

  “I would rather not.” Butchering was for things she intended to eat.

  “Would you prefer to hack the limbs?”

  “…why?”

  “Once we remove the girl, the creature will have lost a significant obstacle to taking over the body. Do you want it running around?”

  Kierra briefly imagined the headless body flailing about and stifled a laugh.

  “The head then.”

  The women both picked up large knives. Kierra gently placed her hand on the back of Rey’s head, gently stroking her dark hair. With her other hand, she cleanly brought the blade down on the girl’s neck.

  At the same time, Geneva’s hand came down, severing the girl’s arm. The blue flesh trembled, tendrils reaching up, but it was too slow; by the time a single tendril rose, the succubus had already removed a leg and was making her way to the next. But Kierra couldn’t watch the show.

  Her magic flared with her vague wish to preserve the girl’s life. More magic flared as she attached the bloody stump of Rey’s head to the coagulated stump of her prepared body, willing them to join and support life. The draw on her core would have made her stumble if she weren’t accustomed to mana strain as new and old flesh roiled, reaching for one another and knitting together. The heart pumped, faintly, but quickly gained strength. The chest expanded. Success, though not completion. Now that the danger had passed, they could take their time with the rest.

  The elf glanced over her shoulder to find the succubus stacking the limbs she’d removed on her cart. The blue creature continued to writhe but with only a torso at its disposal, it hardly rated as a threat. It also didn’t appear to be nearly as skillful with transmuting flesh as them. It could be biding its time but that was nothing a metal chest and a sturdy lock couldn’t handle.

  “What do we do with our unwanted guest?” Geneva mused aloud, watching the creature flick back and forth.

  The elf’s stomach rumbled. “Do you think it tastes good?”

  Giggles answered her. “I’m more than willing to find out. It looks chewy. Perhaps frying it with batter?”

  The proposition had been mostly in jest, but Kierra found herself warming up to the idea. The creature’s cooking was a horrid temptation and she found herself wondering what she could do with such an exotic ingredient. “We would have to kill it first.”

  “I doubt it will miss a small piece.”

  “No.”

  “In some worlds, cooking things while they still live is an art,” Geneva teased as her claws struck, shearing away a piece of blue flesh with contemptuous ease. The creature stiffened before retreating, flattening itself as best it could. Kierra cooed; the sight was strangely cute.

  The piece within the succubus’ fingers continued to thrash as she examined it. “It seems I shall have my wish after all.”