??? POV

  Gasping from the amount of energy dispced through the air, I stop my pnning in the pilothouse and order my nearest familiar about.

  "Zauberfee, report! What was that wave of energy? There shouldn't be anything here but us."

  Zauberfee's small body stills as her gem-like blue eyes light up with mana as the diminuitive Kitsune checks the instaltion.

  "Mistress, there seems to have been a dispcement of mana from deep within the instaltion. Perhaps something from your collection?"

  I suppose it's possible. But anything from the armory malfunctioning should've been much more noticeable. And explosive.

  "Doubtful. Arms would've gone off or we would've felt it physically."

  Reaching out, I send a message to the only person capable of taking charge for a prolonged time in case I need to be absent.

  "Sonne. To the pilothouse. You have command for the forseeable future. I need to make sure we're not all about to blow up."

  "At your call, Dearest" comes the sultry reply of Sonne, one of my oldest familiars.

  Walking over to the lift ptform, I recite the activation phrase as I'm engulfed in darkness, speeding through a tunnel to the lowest levels of the Ziggurat.

  Arriving, I stride with purpose towards and into the armory and find nothing amiss. Mana levels feel normal; nothing's exploded, nothing is missing. That only leaves the library constructs or one of the rooms that have been cordoned off.

  "Fuck!"

  Continuing apace towards the library, I notice my bedroom door is open. As well as a new scent in the air. The scent of roses and sweetened almonds with a hint of burning pine. There shouldn't be any new scents.

  "Zauberfee! Check all surveilnce swarms and night wisps. Something may have escaped from one of the prohibited zones. Report back as soon as you have anything."

  Following the scent inside, I notice it's strongest in my bed and around the vanity table. Looking up the rafters, I snap my fingers, and the wisp wakes up and hangs itself from my arm.

  "Show me the newest entry since my st visit."

  The wisp blinks a few times, and a round projection of it's view is projected as I take in what happened.

  "Is that a nince-damned succubus in MY BED!? What in the name of the Divines is she doing?"

  The recording shows the succubus moving hesitantly as she stirred in my bed. It's almost like she's unfamiliar with her body. After looking around the room, she notices the night wisp and preposterously goes to grab my Nana's quilt from the bed before trying to dance around the wisp. She eventually pats the wisp after trying to defend herself from it with... a quilt... and moves to the mirror and admires herself. Fucking succubi. Of course the first thing she does is admire herself in the mirror. Huh. She passed out. A few minutes pass, and she gets back up and goes back to admiring herself.

  "Tch, typical vain, idiotic creatures."

  She seems to spend an inordinate amount of time admiring herself before...

  "Did that bitch just steal my lipstick?"

  Deep breaths, Drusil. Deep breaths. I can feel my fangs itching to tear out her throat.

  The projection fades, and I give the wisp a bnk look.

  "Did you just... go to sleep after a succubi broke into my bedroom?"

  The thing wiggles its wings in what I think is a shrug before fpping back to the rafters out of my immediate reach. Did this thing just sass me?

  "Zauberfee. There's a succubus on board the Ziggurat. Warn the others. I'm going to hunt her down."

  "A succubus?" comes the reply with what I swear is excitement.

  "Yes. A succubus. If she doesn't piss me off even more, I might let you have her."

  "Thank you, mistress!"

  I follow the scent and notice it went towards the wardrobe but apparently never entered the room. Odd choice. It seems to have left the room and headed towards the library. Eventually passing by my private painting room, I notice the door isn't closed, and I feel my eye twitch. I look in and notice none of the paintings are damaged. Wait am I missing a paintbrush as well now? Since when are succubi kleptomanic?

  The scent eventually leads to the library as expected, but there's no immediately visible threat.

  Snapping my fingers, the library's snow wisps fsh into existence and buzz excitedly around me.

  "Where is she?"

  The snow wisps flock around the door to the break room meant for a librarian and fly back to the desk, where they start moving books back into position.

  Walking as silently as I can towards the door, I open it and see the offending creature. Munching on biscuits with it's tail swaying back and forth behind it. Ripping a sconce off the wall, I stalk towards it, eyes narrowing in displeasure, fangs on full dispy, "Inferari!"