A travelling merchant had passed me hours ago. Another human who had told me, after some coaxing, that he had passed the Pyre Army camped beneath their tents just as the sun was coming up.
When they were heading in.
He had told me they were on a trajectory toward the Endless Woods.
Still after me. I groaned.
Now nightfall was coming.
The Endless Woods were getting darker. The leaves bigger, which told me I was broaching the East Side of the Eternus Realm. I stepped over another log. Slipping on a pile of leaves I gasped and caught my skirt. Lifting it from my way so I could catch my balance.
My eyes flared orange and I was able to see in the dark. I took off my shoes and let talons extend from my toes to help me grip the muddy earth as I traipsed toward the orange glow of light in the distance.
Topping the hill, I saw where the trees parted to reveal the worn wooden tavern. It towered up with two floors.
The Immortals Den.
"Ugh." I groaned. Wanting to go anywhere but in there. But I'd been hunted most of the day.
By the Pyre army.
They were driven and didn't need sleep. The one benefit to me, was that they couldn't travel by day.
Thank the Savior.
Their highly tuned senses made the sun excruciatingly hot on their skin and blinding to their keen eyes.
Thus, why I'd fled through most of the day to escape them, and more importantly, their Commander. The monster, dead set on getting me in his grasp.
Gray. I hated the man with a fiery passion.
He seemed to enjoy my company just as much.
However, King Eternus was hell bent on having me under his thumb. To unlock all his beasts, no doubt.
My gift meant I could reveal what anyone was. A single touch could bring out whatever inner thing they hid. Be it shapeshifter or the bloodthirsty.
That made me a prized trophy for any leader.
What enemy could hide from me?
Anyone who didn't know of their power, could be revealed by my magic. The possibilities were limitless for those that understood my capabilities.
For anyone who might control it. Controlling me in the process.
King Eternus thought so too.
Damn him.
The king was the reason I'd ended up in Elijah Frost's grip to begin with. The Lord had caught me with the expectation that he was to turn me over to the neighboring king.
Even thinking such things had me in a fine rage.
Of course, he'd still been considering if that's what he was going to do.
It was a fact that I inspired the most primal level of greed in the monsters.
And the humans.
Thus, every creature wanted to be around me. And once they had me were addicted as if I were some fine opiate they couldn't get enough of.
When all I want, is left alone.
The sign notifying this was the Immortals Den swung in the whispering wind. White paint depicted a long tooth, which nearly luminesced in the moonlight. Creaking eerily as I followed the yellow candlelight to the tavern. Just outside the window I could already feel the heat seeping out. Warming me in all the places I was bone-deep cold.
Peering inside I saw only cloaked figures. None bearing the gold plaited chain mail that would indicate they were Pyre Army, King Eternus' Knights. Only cloaked men drinking tankards of ale. I knew the Immortals Den had originally been built for the Eternus breed. However, when the Endless Woods became so overgrown over the centuries to separate the tavern from the Eternus Kingdom, it became a sanctuary for all manner of odd beasts. Some residing there, for years.
"Where are you?" A masculine voice asked from near me.
I glanced sideways and groaned aloud at the sight of a dark puddle on the ground next to me. My shoulders slumped at the sight of the man with long black hair and silvery eyes. "Ugh."
"Speak to me Spark." He pleaded. Watching as I circled the puddle.
"Like I'm ever going to tell you."
"A man can keep hoping."
"Go away, Orin!" I stomped in the puddle to disperse his image floating atop it, surrounded by the silvery glow of the moon. Hoping to drive him off.
He drew the ripples back to the center and made them cease completely. Making the surface smooth again, until it once more looked like a dark stone. Hardening his image.
I lifted my foot to stomp in it again. Determined to scatter him.
And make him stop bloody watching me.
It had long ago gotten old.
"Stop watching me!" I lifted my cloak with every intention of stomping repeatedly, but his hand catching my bared ankle slowed me.
"Come to me, My Spark..." Orin crooned in a sing song voice.
"How about you go find, Serene and leave me alone!"I could see him past my foot as I yanked my heel in a circle, trying to break his grip. He was now frowning."Serene and I were long ago over!""I don't believe she knows that." I accused panting. Trying to get away. "She keeps trying to kill me.""Who could hurt you?" He whined. Even as his grip on my leg became so vicious that his fingers bit into my skin, raking thin scratches over the side of my knee.His other hand stretching from the puddle, dripping a few isolated drops as he gripped my heel so his other hand could wind up my calf in a long caress. Reaching for my thigh and stretching to reach higher."Get off of me!" I kicked at him, struggling to get free I fell.His hands were still trailing my leg reverently. "Mmm. So beautiful..."He was using the physical contract to draw himself through the water like a portal to get to my location.I knew Orin was always watching through water, waiting to spot me. Obsessed beyond reaso
My curiosity got the better of me. Scanning the occupants furtively I saw dark skin to light skin beings. Some with pointed ears, some with twisted snouts or thing lips exposing fanged teeth.Monsters of every breed here. I noticed.But turning my head a bit further beneath the hood of my cloak, allowed me to glimpse the figure sitting in the west windowsill. His booted feet resting on a chair beneath him. Men surrounding him. Ones that had been happily regaling the group with tales of their feats until I walked in. His hair was pale blonde and mimicked the shade of the moonlight peering in on the wide, indented sill next to him. Blue eyes were fierce as they stared at me unblinkingly.Oh, no.He must've nodded because the barkeep told me where to go.I climbed the side stairs, far against a back wall. Turning twice, before they reached the second level. The railing dusted in gilt. And the steps trimmed in it. I suspected there'd once been a shining gold or red rug which had long sinc
"You're not my slave. But you are one of my subjects.""Don't you mean one of King Eternus'?" I sneered. Feeling a moment of true joy at sending that jab home."It is he they serve, but I that protects them." Gray said flatly. Impossible to rattle.I knew that. But it's still worth a try.In truth, I found him incredibly intimidating when he was cold and calculatedly calm like this. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, or what he was up to. He seemed to operate very different then every other monster I knew.And I found that threatening."Thus, you think they're yours?""Yes. Mine to protect.""I am not yours. Nor do I need your protection." I sneered the word.He stiffened and rotated to stare at the same wall I was locked on. "Just because you don't want it, doesn't mean you don't need it.""Oh, you have me." I looked at him now. Less threatened when his dark blue eyes weren't picking me apart. "I need you, Gray...""So badly." I feigned a yearnful whine.He grunted. "Careful. One
The girl visibly deflated at the sight of him pressed against me."Sorry, Sir." She murmured. Bobbing her head. "Brought the buckets, Sir.""No need to be sorry." Gray said in that dark voice. "Do as you need. You're no bother to me."It was humiliating that she could see us in such a compromising position.I probably looked no better than a common harlot with him molded against me as he was. His fingertips a breath away from fondling me."Is your intent to embarrass me?""No."I eyed him quizzically."It's to keep you right here, right where I want you, whilst she goes in and out."He wasn't jesting.Even when the brawny lad drug in the large metal tub and began pouring the buckets that the barmaid had brought up, he didn't budge.Not until they said they were done. Placing a platter atop our cloaks on the chair.Gray barely grunted in response as they closed the door."They're gone." I reminded. "You can let me go now.""Oh?" He queried. "Should I leap at your command as the Skins d
Baths in general were something I could rarely enjoy, for fear Orin would find me. To fully bathe I typically had to hide my face or cover the majority of the water with a cloak.To keep him from seeing me.I feared that one day, I’d be careless, and he’d get ahold of me.Gray positioned my arms on the outside of the tub as he set me in. Letting them slide down the metal, behind me.Forcing me to sit entirely upright in the water, my back pinned to the metal. Making me feel even more vulnerable than when Frost had me chained to the wall this morning.Because it’s Gray that has me. A tiny voice admitted.My jaw ticked and I was ramrod stiff. Watching as he walked to the chair to remove the platter to the side table before flipping the buckles at the shoulders of his tunic. Letting the glittering gold chain mail fall from his chest and to the floor.He leisurely collected it and set it atop his cloak. He sat on the edge of the bed and took off his boots before standing to unbuckle his b
“No to which, Baby Girl?” He growled against my cheek but I for the life of me I couldn’t remember what we were talking about.“Stop calling me that.” I muttered weakly.“No.” He shook his head. “Never.”“Why do you always do this?” I said desperately. Awash with emotion.Something I hated.“What?”“Make-make me feel…Why can’t you-” My desperate voice cracked, and I gave up.“Make you feel vulnerable?” He queried knowingly. His flat voice devoid of any hint of emotion. Though I knew he basked in mine.“Why can’t you just get it over with like the rest?”“Because I’m nothing like them.” He said darkly. His face written with disdain as he put an arm along the edge of the bin to lean into me as his other hand found my entrance. Slipping one long, slim finger deep into my channel.I gasped and my eyelids fluttered at the pure pleasure of the gentle touch. The coaxing fingers working in and out of me to create slow building.I hated it.And I loved it.Which made me hate him even more.“An
Following his motions, I worked him more vigorously. Determined to not let him do it.Not this time.He tipped his head, waiting.I shook my head in answer. But in that same moment a lightning streak burned through my spine sending my back curving forward until it almost bent in half. My knees shoving down into the bottom of the washbin. My wrists straining at the ropes as my body jerked in tiny tremors. Emerging from where the inside of my body gripped him and stroked along his length. Before bursting through me in white-hot heat.My head fell back, and I was racked with the violence of my climax. Something I hadn’t had in months.He held me down against him, piercing deep as I reached my peak and then subsided from the dizzying heights.Only then did I realize he’d entirely stopped moving.“Damn you.” I said angrily. Knowing he’d caught himself before sating his pleasure. Leaving me feeling strangely unfinished.And even more like he won.He proved, yet again, that he was strong.Wh
“Spark…” Craven’s voice made me tense in my sleep.I could feel his presence closing in. Winding through time and darkness to reach me.The incubus could always find me when I slept.I felt him drawing nearer and I couldn’t fight my way out of the peace of slumber. Another of Craven’s talents.I was suddenly flipped onto my back. I opened panicked eyes. Straining to get out of the dream state and confront him. Feeling the usual terror because I knew I wouldn’t be able to see him or touch him.Or fight him off.I was exhausted and could think of no way to fight him off right now. Just as I felt his weight climbing over me I opened my mouth to scream but couldn’t get any words out. Only the merest croaking emerging. But the moment that weight drew up to my torso and prepared to settle into my crevice, Gray’s arm snatched out and caught at air. Dragging something down to his face.“I’ve told you, Craven.”“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Gray. I forgets!”“Best not.” Gray sat up enough to do an ex