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Introduction:

I hope you all are liking how things are coming together in this story. If you find yourself rooting for the bad guy, then I know I did a good job.

Chapter Fifty-Six

YAVARA

I was in the midst of a great silence. It was deafening. The world around me seemed to pulse with it, fading in and out like the cadence of waves. Blood ran from my sister’s nose and mouth, and pooled onto the hollow of her throat. Her eyes were bloodshot and dull, staring at the ceiling. She was dead, and I didn’t feel anything. There was no catharsis, nor release, nor even a settling of peace. There was just emptiness. It was then that I realized how much of me was actually her. The sum of my soul that belonged to Leveria Tiadoa was filled with my hatred, self-loathing, insecurities and doubts, and that sum totaled more than any other; even more than Elena. Even more than Alkandi. I hadn’t been healed of all the anguish Leveria had dealt me; it had just been carved from me like a tumor crudely cut out, leaving me lesser than I was. The silence blared in my ears like a warning, and my heartbeats pounded like the ticking of a clock.

“You with me, Alkandi?” I whispered.

Silence answered.

“Did you do that, or did I?”

Again, nothing.

“I guess the real question is, what would Yavara do?”

Only the wind from the open window sounded in the room.

I smiled to myself. “No answer, huh? I guess I get to decide then. Any objection?”

Nothing.

“At least I asked.” I leaned forward, and took Leveria’s dead face in my hand. Her heart still pumped, and there was still something going on in what was left of her brain. She was dead, but there was enough left to be called ‘life.’ I reached behind her, scooped the pink matter off the pillow, and tossed it into the hole in her head. Then, I uttered the incantation.

LEVERIA

I opened my eyes. When had I closed them? There was a void. Blackness. No… not blackness, for blackness was something. This was nothing. A space of emptiness between moments. Death. I had died. I could feel it, a numbness, a discontinuity in the center of my consciousness. A before, and an after, but not an in between. A chasm that I had not crossed, but simply appeared on the other side of. I was so cold. I didn’t even remember what warmth felt like. I didn’t remember anything.

There was a creature beside me. A woman? Yes, a woman. Was she dead? She looked dead. Her skin was a sickly pale, and her eyes were distant, and she was lying still next to me. Orange eyes? That seemed strange to me, but I didn’t understand why. Where was this place? What was it? Everything around me was plush and pink, void of edges and hard surfaces. Cushions. Pillows. I remembered these things. I glanced down, and saw an array of strange objects littering the cushion I rested upon. These were things I could not logically grasp yet, but they engendered a strange feeling within me. The thing that lay between the strange objects was my body, and I could understand that it was mine even if it felt detached. Conceptually, I could reason that there were fingers attached to hands attached to arms attached to shoulders attached to chest. I could then reason further that these attachments carried a common connection to me—whatever I was—and that I, the consciousness that inhabited this… whatever this was… I could control my fingers. I sent a signal down my arm, and extended one finger. Yes, I could do that. It required quite a bit of effort, but I had autonomy over this body. This body that somehow did not feel like mine, but something that I had just entered. Had it been someone else’s before? No… no, I seemed to recall that I… whatever “I” was… I used to use this body. Though it seemed modular to me, I deduced that I could not in fact leave this body, though I obviously had just left it only moments ago, and so… ah, it didn’t matter. For now, I needed to only focus on gaining control of the shell I currently occupied.

I wiggled one finger, then the next, then the next, then the next. The last finger was different than the others, and moved strangely. Ah, it was my thumb. My memory was coming back. I wiggled one toe, then the next, then the next, then the next, then the smallest little one at the end. I did the same with the other foot, then extended my heel forward, and felt a satisfying crack in my ankle. Ankle, heel, foot; these were identifiers I could remember easily, but what were the things attached to my toes? Little white and pink shiny things that seemed to grow from the tips. Blades? Yes, they seemed like blades. A blade as I understood it, was a flat and sharp thing, and that described the things coming out of my fingers and toes, but… hmm… it didn’t seem right. Nails. They were called “nails” for some strange reason. I angled one nail against my opposite foot, and moved it across the flesh. I felt pain, and immediately comprehended it. Pain was easy. Pain and I were very intimate.

A flood of memories came back to me. The pain I had endured, the pain I had caused, the pain I relished and the pain I abhorred. The memories were fractured at first, just simple flashes of recollection without context, but they became more vivid by the second, until whole paintings were being displayed in my mind. I had inflicted and received so much pain. It was like I was trading it my whole life. I loved it, this trading of pain, this giving and receiving. It was a game, and I loved games. Who was I? A gamemaster of pain. But who? There was a memory… a crown being placed upon my head by an older man. Had I caused him pain? Oh yes, I had caused much. Had he caused me pain? Yes. He had caused my first true pain. Father. A memory flashed before my eyes. I was a little girl. I was playing alone in my room. Father came in. He walked funny, staggering every step. He stank of alcohol. I remembered that after that night, he never drank until his last dying days, but that night, the miasma of whisky that came from him was so strong that it filled the room. He looked down at me, and smiled. It wasn’t a fatherly smile. He locked the door behind him. There was nothing after that, but I remembered the pain, and that seedling of pain blossomed in me, becoming something beautiful, something terrible.

But I was always terrible. There was an even earlier memory of pain. Not the first pain I endured, but the first pain I inflicted. I remembered standing over the crib of a babe. It was a girl, and her head was bald except for wisps of blonde. ‘Yavara,’ I had cooed, ‘it’s your big sister. It’s Leveria.’ Leveria—that was my name. And this woman next to me… was she Yavara? The memory came back into focus. I had a twig in my little hand. Baby Yavara was only months old. I smiled impishly, and dangled the twig into Yavara’s crib. Her big blue baby eyes widened in wonder at it, and she attempted to grab it. I pulled it away, and giggled. She giggled too. I extended the twig into the crib once more, and gently poked her nose. I giggled, and she cackled delightedly, squirming in that fat little way babies do. I poked her belly, and we both laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. I poked her in the eye, and she screamed. She shrieked so terribly that it seemed to split right through my skull, and I laughed. I laughed with more pleasure than I ever had.

From those two memories, I reconstructed the person that I was until all the pieces of my timeline were in place, and the only void space was the moment of nothing between my conversation with Yavara, and this instance right here. I looked at my little sister. Though she was staring blankly at me, the sheets beneath her parted mauve lips moved subtly with her breaths. She was so near to death. It had taken everything to bring me back. With a groan, I flopped one arm to my side, purposefully curled each finger around a pillow, then flopped the arm back so that the pillow was secured before my chest in both hands. With the utmost effort, I rolled to my side, atop my sister, and pressed her face into the pillow. She didn’t struggle. She just lied there while I shifted my weight onto my chest, and suppressed her ability to breathe. After a minute, one of her legs kicked a little. After two minutes, the kicking stopped. After three minutes, it started kicking again. Goddamn, how much longer would it take? After four minutes, her foot went still.

“You still alive, Yavara?” I asked. I pulled the pillow away. She was staring blankly at the ceiling, her orange eyes like glass, no light behind them. I put my finger over her mouth, and felt the faint wind of breath coming from her. “Shit,” I mused, “good lungs, but I guess you’re used to holding your breath though, huh?” I chuckled, and put the pillow back over her face. Why were their splotches on the pillowcase? I wiped my brow, but I wasn’t sweaty at all; I was practically freezing from death’s chill. I put my hand to my cheek, and felt wetness. I’d been weeping? Why? It didn’t make any sense, but even as I thought it, fat tears poured from my eyes, and splashed the pillow beneath me. I knew what grief was. I’d felt it keenly before, and so this pain was familiar to me, and it was the most unwelcome pain. It knotted in my chest, and squeezed like a fist around my heart, pulling everything down deep into the pit of my belly.

“No,” I hissed at Yavara’s glass eyes, “no, not for you! Not for you! Not for you!” But I could not kill the pain, and I could not swallow it. It washed over me, taking me completely, and I could only bury my face into my sister’s breast, and vent the pain with deep sobs.

“I won’t say it!” I bawled, “Goddamn you, I won’t say it!”

But the pain broached no argument. It built and built until the words bubbled unbidden from my mouth, “I’m sorry.”

My tears splashed upon Yavara’s vacant face, wetting her pallid cheeks and blue lips. Her breathing was slowing, each exhale like a numeral in the countdown. It wouldn’t be long now. The pain within me ebbed away, and left a cold solemnity. I knew what I had to do. With what strength I had in me, I crawled up my little sister’s body until my crotch was pressed around her face.

“Sorry about the taste,” I muttered as I shakenly elevated myself upright, “but that’s what you get when you have your entire kingdom run train on me.”

I clicked open Yavara’s mouth with my thumb, pinched her tongue, and brought it out. “If you die, this is going to look really, really bad.” I mused, and lowered my clit to her mouth. I gasped when the wet plush flesh pressed around me, but my pleasure was only momentary. As I settled atop my lifeless sister’s face, I realized I would have to do all the work for the both of us.

“I am not a necrophile.” I said to myself, and began grinding across Yavara’s tongue, “Not yet. Hold on, baby sis; I’m coming for you.”

I thrusted and shimmied, driving my hips forward and back, grunting and groaning with the exertion of it. The stimulus was present, but there was nothing about what I was doing that was even remotely sexy to me. I tried degrading my sister, but it only made me feel guilty. I tried encouraging her, but it felt disingenuous. With each labored motion, her breath that heated my sex became less and less frequent, until half a minute had gone by between soft exhalations.

“Come on!” I hissed, tears of frustration falling from my eyes. “Goddamn it! Make me fucking come, you stupid slut! I know you can do it!”

But there was nothing. My motions weren’t sinuous and sexy, but jerking and rigid, and my mind wasn’t soft with bliss and desire, but sharp with urgency and panic. I dug my fingers into the pillow, and tried moaning like I would in lust, but each sound was an affectation, and I gave up after the third utterance.

I closed my eyes. “Elena,” I whispered, “I really need your help right now.” I took one breath, then another, and let them slowly out through my mouth. I felt the panic wash away, and a peace come over me. An image came to my mind. Elena was in bed with me, all tangled in the sheets. She’d been wonderfully abusive towards me all night long, and as the golden dawn caressed her bronze flesh, an apologetic little smile formed over her plush lips. I giggled, and crawled up her body, enjoying this moment of tender dominance, savoring the way she so willingly submitted after being so controlling. I made a seat of her breasts, and outlined her lips with my thumb, whispering of what dirty things those lips would soon be doing. She got impatient with me, and grabbed two fistfuls of my ass. I yelped in delight as she shoved me forward, and I bit my lips and moaned splendidly when I felt her tongue.

“That’s it.” I whispered in both the memory and the present, “Right… oh god, right there.” The tip of Elena’s tongue upended my engorged clit, and drew it out with a come-hither caress. She played with me coyly, drawing such sweet patterns upon me, never moving past the point of teasing pleasure. It drove me wild. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I balled my fists in her hair, and rode her face for all it was worth, forcing her muzzle to smoosh around my leaking petals. The glint in her eyes was alight with the satisfaction of making me lose my composure, and she rewarded me for my defeat, consuming me sloppily, mouthing around my soft parts and plunging her tongue deep inside.

“Elena!” I cried in both past and present, sounding a tenor that was nearly mournful in its tone. I grasped my breasts, my nipples hard through my fingers, and I bestrode her face, kissing her with my other lips, exclaiming of my pleasure with each breath. The feeling within me built, rising steadily and inevitably, taking me higher and higher. It compelled my back to arch, to present my breasts to the sky as I tilted my head back and exalted. I was hot all around her tongue, sweltering and pulsing, wetting her lips and nose with my nectar. She didn’t show any mercy. She feasted upon me without restraint, driving me further and further into my mania, stripping me of all senses but the sensations she poured deep into me. Ecstasy swelled within me, ballooning from my core, moving like electricity through my nerves until it was firing from the tips of my fingers and toes! I looked down at the woman doing this to me, and stared with disbelieving, wonderous eyes.

“I love you!” I whispered, and I didn’t care that it was the sappiest fucking thing in the world to say when coming. I said it, and she winked back, and pushed me over the edge.

ELENA

“Die, you motherfucker, die, die, DIE, DIE!” Huntiata screamed, stabbing his sword into the open mouth of the wolf. Blood poured from its gouged-out eyes and crushed nostrils, but still it gnashed and snapped, wrathful and ferocious to the very end. It lurched forward and bit a grotesque chunk out of a soldier’s leg, and he went down shrieking. The warg silenced his agony with a crushing forepaw, splattering me. I drove my blade into the warg’s throat, and ripped across. A great gout of crimson flowed onto the stone floor, and the beast went still, blocking the corridor with its body. The red eyes of its brethren peered out from behind it, then disappeared in a flash of shadow down the steps.

Huntiata took in a huge breath, and slouched on his sword. We were in the servant’s wing of the castle, on the third floor. The battle for the castle had started in the atrium, where the entire elven force had barricaded themselves before each entrance of the castle’s four wings; the royal wing, the guest wing, the noble wing, and the servant’s wing. When the wargs came through, all four forces were immediately overwhelmed. I didn’t know how the others were fairing, but we’d been pushed backwards up three flights of stairs, and had lost at least two-thirds of our men along the way. I didn’t know how many of the enemy we’d killed, but it seemed to have been enough for our pursuers to seek out easier prey. But then again, I didn’t know.

“Mom?” I asked, panting heavily.

She shook herself back into awareness, and glanced at me. “Yes, Dear?”

“You OK?”

She blinked, then said, “I’m fine,” very plainly.

“We need to regroup with the others,” Huntiata growled, hobbling over to me. He’d gotten a chunk of his foot bitten off on the way up, but he managed to act like it wasn’t bothering him.

“You want to go back down there?!” a soldier screamed, gesturing to the corridor.

“It’s our only chance!” Huntiata snapped, “If we’re able-bodied, we must fight! If we don’t win, we will die!”

“Just give us a fucking second!” a watchman gasped, clutching his bloody side.

“We don’t have a fucking second!” Huntiata roared, “Every second we waste, ten men die! We need to…” He trailed off, and cocked his head. Everyone else went silent. There was a scraping sound like metal on stone. Suddenly, all the daylight that had shone through the western hallway’s windows went out. I slowly turned around, and looked out the window beside me. Where there had once been a landscape of the Bentius Bay, there was now a pair of red eyes surrounded by black fur.

“Oh, shit.” Huntiata muttered, and all hell broke loose. The wargs smashed through the windows, burst through the surrounding stone, and leapt into the hallways. Men disappeared into the mass of fur, and their shrieks cut through the growls and snarls of the feasting beasts. I snatched Mom by the hand, and sprinted toward the felled warg at the corridor’s entrance. Huntiata ran alongside us, and the surviving five soldiers ran behind, none of them looking back. I squeezed past the dead wolf, and dragged Mom through the space. Huntiata hacked his way through its side, and two soldiers flowed in after him. The other three men tried to get into the space Mom and I had passed through, but they all tried to get into at once. Stuck shoulder-to-shoulder, they jostled in a mania of panic before they were suddenly ripped backwards in a trifecta of screams.

We sprinted down the stairs, stumbling over piles of our own dead, maneuvering past the great corpses of wargs. We got down one flight of stairs, the next one, then we were smashed against the wall in a sudden flux of fur and muscle, and a horrific crunch sounded. Someone shrieked next to me, and I squeezed my Mother’s hand, and yanked it toward me. I half-expected it to be the only part of her that came with, but the rest of my Mom came surging after, and we wriggled through the flailing mass of wolf, and burst out from the other side. Huntiata was with us a moment later, a brand-new slice across his cheek that exposed his teeth, but he didn’t seem to notice. He just hobbled along as fast as he could while the two screaming soldiers bought us precious extra seconds.

The atrium was empty when we sprinted into it. Hundreds of bodies littered the four entrances to the four wings, and very few of them were wargs. The three of us hugged the wall as we circumnavigated the expansive room, our eyes shifting to every dark corner and alcove. It was strange how silent it was. Not twenty minutes ago, this had been a scene of raging battle, and now it was a graveyard. Our footsteps echoed in the stony confines, and our shadows moved across the walls. Our breathing was tight and rapt, but still it could be heard like thunder from our lips. I squeezed Mom’s hand tightly, and she did the same, our grips fused together. Huntiata led the way with his sword on guard, leading his shuffle with his half-foot. We came to the royal wing entrance, and peered down the corridor.

Scores of dead littered the luxuriant carpet, and blood splattered the walls. The stained-glass fixtures had all been shattered, and the cold winter light shone through in beams that contrasted the pervading blackness between them, blinding us to what lay beyond. Huntiata shuffled forward, pinning his back to the wall. We followed after; our weapons held tight against our breasts. We made ourselves small against the wall, hiding our side profiles behind the stone columns that framed each empty window. Huntiata made it to the first window’s edge, and ducked beneath the beam of light. He slipped to the other side, and peered out of the edge of the window. A great black paw suddenly shot out of the window, and seized upon Huntiata’s midsection. His eyes bulged, his mouth opened, and he shrieked. He shrieked with a pitch I didn’t think he was capable of reaching, and it was so shrill that it cut right through my head. The massive paw ripped away, and Huntiata’s entire front was ripped away with it, strings of sinew and intestines stretching from his gored belly like gum. He folded in on himself, all of his abdominal muscle removed, and he gurgled into the carpet.

With tears streaming down my cheeks, I grabbed what was left of my friend, and dashed past the window. The paw smashed through it again, missing me and my mother by a hair. We raced past the second broken window, and the paw slammed a second later, tearing the carpet into ribbons with its great claws. I stopped just short of the third window in time to see the shadow cross its beams of light. I set Huntiata down, grabbed another body, and threw into the pale luminance. The black paw came down again, and I came after it with a fury. My sword arced down, and cut through bone like butter. There was a hellish shriek on the other side, and the sound of claw scraping on stone. The beast’s scream faded as it crashed upon the rock, and then ended when it thudded onto the beach a hundred feet below.

I turned back to Huntiata. The pale light illuminated the side of his face, sparkling off his teeth from the hole in his cheek. He showed me the rest of his bloody teeth with a grim smile. “We had some fun, didn’t we?” he mouthed, barely any sound coming from him.

“Yes.” I whispered, kneeling to his level.

“That’s what it’s all about.” He laughed, not heeding the blood that ran freely from his nose and mouth, “That’s all life is. Just a bit of fun, eh?” The smile faded from his lips, and his eyes went dull.

I took his bald head in my hands, and touched our brows. “I’m sorry, Sherman.” I hissed between my tears.

Mom put her hand on my shoulder, and pulled me back from the corpse. “Elena, we have to keep moving.”

We walked silently down the royal halls. The deeper we got into the castle, the more the bodies piled up. By the time we got to the throne room’s entrance, we could hardly walk without stepping on the dead. Only here, the fallen enemies outnumbered the elves. Great iron bolts were imbedded into the bodies of at least twenty wargs. The wolves had been struck with such force that their flesh had been split by the shock of it, cleaving them all the way through. The iron ballistae bolts stuck from the stone walls like rebar, twisted and deformed by the energy of their impact. We ducked beneath the hazardous debris, and moved carefully through the long claws and fangs of the dead wolves. I expected at any moment that their eyes would open, and they’d rip into my leg with one snap of their jaws, but all laid perfectly dead on the plush red carpet, their blood adding to the color.

We summited the final dead wolf, and the light of the throne room shined onto us. And there, sitting at the very end of the long hall, was King Lucas Ternias. Two ballistae flanked his throne, but the crews who had operated them were all dead. Their bodies were piled up right before the throne, lying atop the corpse of the one wolf who had slipped through the crossfire.

“And so, the mystery is solved!” Ternias laughed when he saw me. “I was wondering why all those posters of you were showing up in the lower wards. I actually thought it was due to your mother—not your mother’s doing, mind you, but because of her. But where are my manners? Welcome, the Ladies Straltaira.” He gestured for us to come in. Mom and I looked at each other, then peeked around the corners. There had been an ambush set up there, but the ambushers were dead, along with two wolves. Carefully, I slid off the belly of the warg, and entered the throne room.

Mom and I walked side-by-side down the red carpet, looking every-which way for a royal mage or an archer. We found them; all of them were dead on the way to the throne. I could see the bloody path the wolf had made through them, and could trace its moves nearly verbatim by the orientation of gore on the walls and floor.

“It occurred to me last night that there would be an attempt on my life today.” Ternias said as we walked toward him, “Lady Jonias, Lord Huntiata and Lord Feractian had all been conspicuously silent, and with all the posters of you popping up, I guessed that someone was likely going to use your mother as a tool to legitimize their claim to the throne.” He laughed as if realizing the punchline to a joke, “Never in a million years did I guess that you’d survived that fall.”

“I didn’t.”

He gave me a bemused smile. “I’m sure. Anyway, I spent all of last night meticulously running through every scenario that would result in my defeat, and I enacted my plan. It was a perfect plan given the resources at my disposal, though it appears I underestimated you, Elena Straltaira—though of course, I didn’t know it was you I was underestimating.” He kicked the dead warg in front of him, and laughed, “I guess all that mumbo-jumbo about peace was just hot air after all! Well played!”

“This wasn’t me!” I snarled.

He laughed harder. “You can drop the act! I’m already very impressed!”

“Lucas!” Mom snapped, “Do you really think I would ever even consider a plan like this?!”

He shrugged. “What can I say, Lydia? I can only see the world through my eyes, and I know very-well what I am capable of.”

A chorus of screams came from the corridor. The familiar snarls followed, then the wails of agony, then silence. I watched the entrance of the throne room, and waited, clutching my sword with white knuckles. There was an explosion of gore, and a single warg burst through the remains of its brethren, and charged right for me. I pushed Mom out of the way, drew my sword, and dove forward. The beast leapt at the same time, and while we moved on our trajectories, I twisted in the air, slid beneath its swiping paw, and jammed my sword into its chest. The blade split cleanly through muscle and fat, opening a bloodless line from sternum to crotch as it passed over me. We fell on opposite sides. I hit the floor with a thud, and the beast hit the floor with a splat. Its insides plopped out of its dissected midsection, and the blood began to pump after it. I groaned, and threw myself upright, anticipating another attack from the entrance. Stepping backwards, I grabbed Mom by the hand, and made my way to the throne.

“Ah, I see.” Ternias muttered when we arrived. His pants were soaked in piss, but otherwise, he seemed quite calm. “So, you knew nothing of this?”

“No!” I growled.

He just stared at the dead warg in the middle of the hall, and chewed on his lip. “Are you going to kill me then?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“For Leveria.” I growled, and leveled my sword under his chin.

He laughed. “Leveria has already enacted her vengeance, Elena. That magnificent cunt played us all even after her death. She truly was the best of us.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He held up a hand mirror that had been resting on the arm of his throne. “I got a call from Field Marshal Shordian this morning. He informed me that he and the entire army had just returned to South Fort. ‘Why have you disobeyed my orders?’ I’d asked him. Because Cavalry Commander Krakis had already massacred the Alkandran horde three days ago under the delayed orders of the ousted Leveria Tiadoa, and Shordian’s army had turned around to rendezvous at South Fort to begin invasion preparations.”

“WHAT?!” Mom and I exclaimed.

“That was my reaction exactly. I was, understandably, quite horrified that I’d just started another war with the Dark Queen. Even with her horde gone, her citizenry is more than ferocious enough to wage war, and she herself has deific powers we haven’t seen on Tenvalia since the time of the Creators. Then Field Marshal Shordian informed me that the Lowland Fleet is precisely one nautical day away from entering the Alkandran Bay. Alkandra is doomed.” Ternias sighed, the echoes of mirth still in his voice, “And as fate would have it—or as Leveria would have it, I suppose—we are all doomed as well. I really should have married that woman, you know. I should’ve got on one knee when I had the chance, and professed my undying admiration for her. Instead, I destroyed her. I can practically hear her laughing from hell.” He looked up at me with a rueful smile, and inclined his head slightly. “You can kill me now, Elena Straltaira.”

“No.” I whispered.

“No?” He asked, surprised, “Why not?”

“Elena?” Mom asked.

I shook my head, tears running down my cheeks. I pulled my sword away, and sat on the steps of the throne. “Look around us, Mom.” I muttered, dropping my head into my arms, “Look at what I’ve done.”

“You didn’t do this.”

“I did.” I whispered, “Five months ago, Yavara revealed herself to me. I was sitting in a chair in Prestira Rasloraca’s bar, and she was straddled across my lap. I had my knife against her throat. Not even Zander could’ve saved her if I had done what needed to be done, but instead, I fucked her.” I wiped my eyes, “If I had just done what I was supposed to do, what I’d been trained to do, none of this would’ve happened.”

“This wasn’t Yavara. You heard that orc.”

“She didn’t order the attack, but she’s the reason it happened. She didn’t start the war, but she’s the reason it was waged. Leveria tried to tell me so many times why Yavara was such a threat, but I didn’t listen. I didn’t understand, but now I get it.” I gestured around the room, “This is what our forefathers were terrified of. This is why the rangers were created. The power of the Dark Queen isn’t her magic; it’s her ability to unify beasts that hate each other, and point them at something they hate even more. Yavara didn’t get the Ten to follow her until she attacked Castle Thorum. She couldn’t build a nation until she built a horde. She couldn’t be a queen until she won a battle.”

“How many times did you say that Yavara wanted peace?”

I smiled bitterly. “She wanted a peaceful war, if you can understand that contradiction. She thought she could control the uncontrollable. She didn’t give Gorlok the order, but she aimed him right at us.” I looked up at Mom through a film of tears, “Leveria told me so many times that Alkandra and the Highlands could never coexist, that the hatred was too great. I was such a fool, Mom. I didn’t listen to her. Well, I won’t stand in her way this time.” I looked at Ternias, and narrowed my eyes at him, “But I won’t be the one who wears the crown when Alkandra burns.”

“That’s terribly noble of you, Lady Straltaira,” Ternias said, rolling his eyes, “but it doesn’t really matter, because we’re all going to die anyway.”

“No, we’re not.” I growled, and thrusted my thumb at the ballista behind me, “It takes a three-man crew to run one of those, and I was trained at Castle Thorum. Since all the other rangers are dead or gone, I’m the best fucking ballista commander in the Highlands.”

“I would beg to differ,” said a voice I recognized all-too well.

YAVARA

I opened my eyes. The world was black. No, there was a faint orange glow on the horizon. Was I dead? Perhaps. I was in a place of impermanence. I’d been here before.

“What the fuck?” someone gasped next to me. I looked to my left to see Leveria lying naked on the astral floor. She looked this way and that, then her eyes fell upon me. They widened for a moment, then settled back into their usual imperious glare. “Feeling… different, Yavara?”

I was, actually. First off, I was quite sure I was in the last hallucinogenic stages of dying. Secondly, I felt a terribly-familiar… emptiness in me. I didn’t realize what it was until I looked at my hands. They were porcelain, the same color as the rest of me, and the hair that draped from my shoulders was platinum blonde. I knew what the feeling was then. I had felt it only once before, when my dichotomy had separated in the astral plane. I was just me. Though I was not cold, I was shivering. Though I was not in pain, every discomfort was acute. Though I was not in danger, I was terrified. The very idea of standing up seemed daunting, for standing would make me easier to see, and I didn’t want to be seen. I wanted to curl into a ball and find a warm safe place to hide forever. I looked at Leveria, and cowered when she made eye-contact with me. How was it possible to look into another’s eyes like that? It was like staring at the sun! Her gaze seemed to pierce right through me, see everything within, and know every weakness there was. Of course, it was quite easy for her to see my weakness, for there was no strength to be found. She chuckled lowly, and it was if the devil herself were laughing sardonically at my quailing soul.

“Zander promised me a moment like this.” Leveria said softly, “So, this is the real you. Pathetic. Less than pathetic. You can’t even look at me!” She giggled, “I can’t believe it actually happened!”

Nothing has happened yet, came another voice. Leveria’s smile faded. A child-like horror crawled across her face. Alkandi was coming. The orange glow on the horizon grew brighter, silhouetting thirty figures—one more than last time. I recognized Alkandi’s angular features instantly, and beside her, I saw… me. It was like looking at a different person. She had the same profile as I did, but she moved in a way that was so sinuous and confident that it seemed alien. Was that how I moved? She had the same proud jaw and chiseled features as I did, but they were set in an expression of such power and arrogance that she seemed to claim ownership of everything her eyes rested upon. Was this how people had seen me? All of the incarnations walked in tandem with the original Dark Queen, every motion mirrored to perfection, but Yavara—Dark Yavara—seemed to walk with autonomy. Energy radiated from all of them, but shown most brightly from the two figures at the front, and my figure outshined Alkandi’s like the sun does the moon. They all stopped five paces away, and looked down at me. It felt like I’d been flayed and pinned to the floor. I couldn’t curl myself into a small enough ball. Alkandi stepped forward, and my incarnation followed.

Yavara, Alkandi cooed, extending her hand to me, come back to me. Come back to us.

“Objection!” Leveria squeaked, her voice pitched high with terror.

Alkandi and my incarnation ignored my sister, and knelt beside my resting form. I was too terrified to flee, and could only curl deeper into my fetal ball. There’s no need for doubt, Alkandi said gently, rebecome us, and feel no fear.

“W-w-w-why are w-w-w-we n-n-not o-o-ne?” I stuttered.

Don’t concern yourself with it. It doesn’t matter.

“I’d say it fucking does!” Leveria squeaked again.

I turned to my ethereal projection, and immediately quailed under her gaze. “W-w-who a-a-are y-y-you?” I hissed.

She can’t speak, Yavara, Alkandi said, putting her hand on Dark Yavara’s muscled shoulder.

“W-w-w-why n-n-n-not?”

Because she’s no one now. All these women you see are just the shells left behind by those who died. I cannot occupy them, but I shepherd them. This woman needs you right now, but not nearly as much as you need her. Alkandi extended her hand toward me, and I cringed away. She smiled compassionately, and brushed my hair away from my face. I loved Elena Straltaira. I befriended Prestira Rasloraca. I forgave Adrianna. I wept when I felt alone. I laughed when I felt belonging. Didn’t you as well? Every emotion and thought you have had; I have had. There was no you and I. There was only us. She looked at Dark Yavara, This was us. This was you. This was ‘I.’ I have told you, Yavara, that you and I are but two halves of a whole. She gazed reverently upon my dark face, And look at what we become together. A god.

“Excuse me!” Leveria’s shrill voice interrupted, “Alkandi! Hey! Over here!”

Alkandi pointedly ignored my sister, and instead focused her gaze on me. I can see your terror, Yavara. I can smell your self-doubt, your insecurity, your anxiety. Have you ever felt these things so vividly before? No. I gave us our boldness. I gave us our bravery. I was the one who charged into the fray without a second thought. I was the one who never feared another man or woman. You can’t even look me in the eye. She took me by the chin, and guided our gazes together. Her orange eyes glowed in the astral darkness, alighting the highlights of her angular face. You are nothing without me, and I am nothing without you. Rebecome us.

“Hey, bitch!” Leveria shouted, “You can’t keep pretending I’m not here!” She marched toward us, and Alkandi’s thirty incarnations all shifted as one, turning so suddenly that it seemed they blinked into place. They moved between Leveria and I, and took one ferocious step toward her. Leveria squealed, and scampered away. Alkandi herself never broke eye-contact with me.

Yavara, there is no reason to feel doubt now, she whispered.

“Then why am I here?” I asked quietly, not stuttering for the first time.

A mistake, nothing more.

“Whose mistake?”

Alkandi pondered me for an excruciating moment. There are some things that do not need to be known.

“What are kindred spirits?”

Alkandi’s frown turned dangerous. It doesn’t matter. Didn’t I tell you that already?

“Answer the question, bitch!” Leveria yelled, then scuttled away with a screech when the incarnations took another unified step toward her.

Alkandi held out her hand. Come, Yavara.

I looked over at Leveria. Though she was obviously terrified, she was resilient in the face of that terror. How? Terror was overwhelming. It washed over me, pricked every nerve, and poured panic into my mind. If I didn’t take Alkandi’s hand, then there would be no shield for this naked terror. If I didn’t take her hand, then she would be angry with me, and heaven only knew what she would do to me! She was the Dark Queen for god’s sake!

“Yavara!” Leveria yelled, “you rejected her before! You can do it again!”

I looked from Leveria, to Alkandi, to Leveria again. When I next looked at Alkandi, her face was set in rage. She grabbed me by the throat, pulled me up, then slammed me down on my back. Pain shot through me, a concussive bell droned in my head, and I blinked stupidly until Alkandi’s snarling visage was clear above me.

Do not even think of it, you sniveling whore! Alkandi growled, If I have to rape you into submission again, I’ll fucking do it!

“I-I-I-I’m s-s-s-sorry!” I managed to sputter out.

Her face suddenly softened into a loving smile. The transition was so abrupt that I wondered if I’d missed something. Do you remember how good I made you feel? She cooed, I just want you to feel good, Yavara. I don’t want to hurt you. Please don’t make me hurt you.

“I w-w-w-won’t!”

I know you won’t, Alkandi whispered, brushing my disheveled hair from my face. You’re just confused and scared, but I’ll make it all better. I’ve got you, Yavara. You’re safe with me. Let me love you.

Her fingers moved on my body. Sliding up the flat of my tummy, they painted a path of tingles. She watched me with her orange eyes ablaze, their depths wrought with both tender love and avarice. When her hands gently cupped my breasts, I was no longer afraid to meet her gaze. Alkandi would keep me safe. Alkandi would make the fear go away. Alkandi would give me pleasure. Her delicate fingers barely brushed the domed mammary flesh, but the graze had such an effect on me that my nipples were achingly stiff by the time she reached them. She played her fingertips across each of the nodes, brushing them so tenderly, making them bounce subtly across each pad. One of her hands stayed on my chest to draw a tortuous path around the prickled dark flesh of my left areola, and the other snaked up my collar, up my throat, and slid smoothly behind my head. Her wonderful little fingers snaked through the roots of my hair, and her palm widened around the base of my skull until she cradled my head entirely in her hand. Lassitude suffused my trapezius muscles, and with a whimper, I wilted into her hold, becoming limp and wanting, receptive and ready. She leaned down, her black hair falling around my face, tickling my chin and cheeks, curtaining us so that we were the only people in the world. Her orange eyes never broke our gaze as she moved upon me, and touched our lips.

Give in to me. She whispered in my mind as her lips parted mine, and her tongue slithered into my mouth. Her oral appendage was as delicate and tender as her fingers upon my flesh, and she lulled my mouth into a blissful trance of consumption, making my eyelids heavier and heavier with the overbearingness of her lust. I was lost in her oral dance, mindlessly following along, barely aware of her fingers as they moved down from my breast, slid along my belly, tickled my naval, and traced the crease of my pelvis.

Fuck me… I thought, and she smiled around my mouth, and answered. Her fingers danced across my clit, brushed through my petals, parted my slid, and entered me. I whimpered weakly; struck by the visceral way I felt the violation. It was like I was a virgin again. Every touch was alien and sent alarms blaring through my synapses. It was horrifying, and yet, it was so… so good. My nerves were reawakened, my flesh was freshly tainted, and I felt my purity being corrupted with every motion of her hand. Evil things were done inside me, done with malicious intent, done with an abhorrent desire to shock and control me, and I became a slave to them, loving every surface of her invasion. My thighs clamped around her wrist, and I mewled and whined as though in distress. I suppose I was in distress, for the sensations that coursed through me were as terrible as they were delightful, and the trauma I felt was real and vivid. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the horror as much as I enjoyed the pleasure.

I know where you really like it. Alkandi chuckled in my mind. Keeping her thumb on my clit, and her index and middle fingers in my slit, she retracted her ring and pinky fingers, and slid them down my taint. She pressed those fingers into the moist flesh of my crack, and as the felicitous tingles pricked into my pelvic floor, my anus instinctively dilated.

How shameful… Alkandi cooed cruelly, her tongue now moving gluttonously in my mouth, Such a prim and proper high-elf girl you are, Yavara. So meek and helpless, but just massaging your taint makes your little asshole wink for me. What kind of woman prefers to be fucked from where she shits? Not a woman at all… just a whore. Just my little slut.

Stop saying these things.

Her lips curled wickedly against mine. You don’t want me to stop, Yavara. You’re so wet, I could drown in you. In fact, I think I will. And with that, she departed my gaping lips, licked her way down my collar, breasts, nipple and belly, then lathered my blonde mound with her spit, and slid beneath my pelvis. Her fingers retreated from my pussy, and before I even had a chance to cry out, her tongue was inside me, and her entire hand was pinched against my asshole.

“Wait!” I squeaked.

Relax, Yavara. We’ve done much worse than this together. Her lips wrapped lovingly around my sweltering entrance, and her nose upended my clit, moving it subtly up and down from beneath with the small motions of her consuming mouth. She placated me so easily, and I became languid and loose upon the astral floor, my arms and legs spread out to receive her. She pressed her fingers slowly forward, and my anus dilated around her gradual pressure. There was a strain, but there was no pain, and the strain became more pleasurable as it became more intense. Soon, I was whining through gritted teeth, tossing my head this way and that in the fevered heat of anticipation. My pelvic floor indented, the flesh became thin and taut as Alkandi pushed, and pushed, and pushed, and broke through.

“Yes!” I screamed, arching my back against the floor. Alkandi’s tongue curled and lathered my vaginal spot as her fist twisted inside me, every knuckle a celebration of pressure that ignited the congested nerves into a frenzy of contractions. I heaved in spasmatic bouts, writhing like a possessed whore, exalting with every breath. I was losing myself in the fog of lust, my mind and identity slowly being stripped away. They were so fragile anyway, these new autonomous concepts. Maybe they didn’t even matter. If Alkandi had been with me since before I was born, then who was I without her, and was that person even me?! It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but the way her fist felt with my tight rectal channel wrapping it like an anal glove, or the way her tongue felt as it slathered my thrumming womanly center until the entire column of my femininity was fluttering with gleeful contractions.

There is a path to victory, Yavara. Alkandi whispered in my mind. Let Alkandra burn to ash; it can be rebuilt as long as you live. The people are all expendable. Even the hybrids.

Even Zander?

Especially Zander, that traitor. Let him die slowly. Let him die knowing what it means to betray me a second time. Alkandi’s fist clenched inside me, and I screamed in delight, my lips quivering. Sacrifice everyone to destroy the Lowland fleet, then fly over the Highland army, and turn Bentius to dust. Leave no one alive. Ravage the countryside, kill all that you see, rain terror from above until the Highlands is broken beyond repair. Ignore their army. Kill all their women and children, then wait. Just… wait. Wait for decades. They will grow old and broken, and they will die. Reemerge when your myth has become legend, and slaughter the rest. Then raise Alkandra once more, take the Highlands as your own, and make the traitorous Lowlanders pay for their crimes. Only when Alkandra is the last kingdom standing on Tenvalia, will you know peace. Then you can truly begin to live.

I can’t!

You will. It was why I chose you, Yavara. Only together can we finally do what must be done.

But… all those people!

You won’t care about them when we reunite. You only pretended to care about them for Elena’s sake anyway. She’s gone, and now there is nothing stopping you, nothing holding you back. You want to run away, but you cannot run away from yourself. I am you, and you are me. Embrace me once more, and forever put an end to doubt.

LEVERIA

Through the row of dark-elf incarnations, I could vaguely see Alkandi’s bronze flesh entwined with Yavara’s ivory. The sounds of wet smacks, the rub of flesh, and hoarse moans reached my ears as if I were right beside them, and not twenty feet back. Sound carried strangely here. Everything was strange here, but some things were the same. My sister was still a hopeless anal slut, and I was still hopelessly unathletic. I tried to run around the wall of incarnations, and they easily shifted in my way. I tried to scamper between their legs, and they sidestepped, blocking me with their shins. I even tried jumping over one of them, and ended up bouncing off her belly like a goddamn dodgeball.

“Fuck you!” I screamed, and aimed a punch at her face. She caught my fist, and then let go, staring right past me like I wasn’t even there. Behind her, my stupid little sister was arching her back in the throes of ecstasy, clamping her thick thighs around Alkandi’s black-haired head. The Dark Queen was stooped into a feline arch as she feasted upon my sister, one of her hands buried into Yavara’s clenching ass, the other working the leaking pink folds of her own unfurling cloven pussy. That pretty little cunt was my birthright, and I would be damned if my weak sister was going to take it from me again!

“Hold on, Yavara!” I called, “Stay strong, I’m coming for you!”

For some fucking reason, Yavara didn’t seem too keen on remerging with Alkandi. It was absolutely baffling to me that anyone wouldn’t want near-infinite power, a legendary mythos, and a sexuality so potent that the orgasms were life-altering transformative experiences, but hey, if that stupid cunt didn’t want it, then I’d certainly take it!

“You’re doing great, Yavara!” I called over the rows of incarnations, “Just hold out a little longer! I’m so proud of you!” I took five purposeful steps back, and got into a sprinter’s pose. I inhaled deeply, and stared down my target. She was a dark-elf of maybe five years of age. Obviously that incarnation didn’t make it very far. I grinned at her, pivoted my feet, and charged with a full head of steam. I lowered my shoulder, and smashed into her. A second later, I was lying flat on my back, gasping for air. The little girl stared down at me, lowered her outstretched fist, and then returned her gaze to the astral horizon.

I blinked at the black sky above, stars ebbing in and out of my vision. Zander Fredeon walked into my sight, and stared down at me with an amused expression. “Did you just try to tackle a little girl?” He asked.

“No, I was trying to trample the cunt.” I groaned. “Fuck, I think I broke a rib.”

“The only thing that can be wounded here is your pride.”

“Just help me up, you old bastard.”

Zander hauled me to my feet, and put a firm grip on my shoulder. “I have questions, Leveria,” he said gravely, “Namely, why are the two of you nearly dead right now in the hybrids’ bed?”

“Siblings fight, OK?” I snapped, and pulled my shoulder away, “And just where the fuck were you, old man? I could’ve really used some help!”

“I trusted you to make it this far on your own.”

“You mean you pussied out.”

“I made a tactical decision not to interfere.”

I sighed with a roll of my eyes, “Whatever, old man. You can’t make any tactical decisions here; I need you right now.”

Zander frowned. “Yes, I see that.”

“Nothing scarier than a crazy ex-girlfriend.”

“Keep in mind that if we succeed, you’ll be my crazy ex-girlfriend.”

“Like I said, nothing scarier.” I planted my hand firmly in his crotch, and gave his goods a squeeze, “I know you’ve got some balls in there, Zander; they were slapping my taint all morning. Now if you ever want to dip these saggy salty nuts in my mouth, you’re going to have to use them.”

He raised his brow at me. “Is that a promise?”

I licked my lips. “Don’t you want to find out?”

He looked from me, to Alkandi, then back to me again. “Why do I always fall for women like you?” He sighed, and stepped toward the incarnations.

ZANDER

Alkandi had Yavara bent over and wailing in ecstasy, her bronze forearm wrapped halfway up with Yavara’s clenching pink anus, her other hand buried to the wrist in Yavara’s stretched slit, the petals all opened by the grotesque reaming of her womanhood. Yavara herself seemed to be trapped in that perfect fulcrum of pain and pleasure, for she clawed at the astral earth as she writhed in ecstasy, her mind barely hanging on. But still, she resisted Alkandi, unyielding even in the face of such wonderfully horrific depravities.

“Fuck me deeper!” Yavara screamed in one breath, and in the other, she cried, “Please stop!”

I think I know which one you really want, Alkandi chuckled dotingly, sardonically, and pushed her invading fists deeper into the high-elf princess. Yavara squealed and arched her back, the curvature of her spine deepening with every inch Alkandi slowly pushed in. When Alkandi stopped, Yavara collapsed with a sob, her cheeks wet with tears, her mouth gaping with a euphoric smile. Alkandi’s forearm muscles rolled as her fingers did their seductive damage within Yavara, and Yavara purred and groaned, her eyes rolled back. Alkandi placed a loving kiss on Yavara’s tailbone, then turned around, and set her orange eyes on me.

Why did you come here, Zander?

“You know why.”

Did you think you could change anything? She cocked her head, Or did you just want an apology?

“An apology?” I laughed, “Fuck you.”

She smiled thinly. I am sorry, for what it’s worth, but after a thousand years of failure, I had to take matters into my own hands.

“By breaking the laws of nature.”

Nothing here is natural. It never was. Nature demands that we live and die and disappear, and I refuse to. I’ve already broken the laws of nature.

“You just found a loophole,” I gestured to Yavara, “but this, Alkandi… this will kill you.”

I’m in control.

“She already rejected you once. Face it, she’s stronger than you. Even at your most powerful, you couldn’t do a fraction of the things she’s done.”

She is powerful, Zander, but she is weak. She needs someone like me to balance her.

“She wouldn’t have been weak if you didn’t rob her of experience. Yavara’s naturally meek, and you’re naturally bold, so who ended up making all the hard decisions? I always thought Yavara was too impulsive, but I didn’t realize until now that her impulsiveness was just her leaning on her first instinct, and that first instinct was you. You nurtured codependence because you needed her to need you. She’s soft because you never let the world make her hard.”

Can’t you see that I’m helping her?

I smiled at Alkandi behind the row of incarnations. “I don’t give a shit about her, Alkandi. It’s you; it’s always been you. For a thousand years, I’ve been loyal to you, and you betrayed me in the end.”

It’s an eye for an eye then.

“You know the score’s not even.”

I blessed you with life!

“You cursed me with it!”

Then hang yourself, you ungrateful, incompetent shit! she snarled.

I laughed coldly. “No, no, no, my love. You don’t get to throw me away like trash. You will give me what I am fucking owed!” I planted my foot into the astral floor, and sent the incarnations flying over the horizon. Only Yavara’s dark projection remained, hovering over the pair of elves fucking on the floor. I took a step toward her, and she launched a kinetic attack that sent me sliding backward fifty feet.

Stay there, Zander. Alkandi said, giving me a warning glare, The next strike will be lethal.

“We can fucking die here?!” Leveria exclaimed.

“This place is of the mind. If the mind is destroyed, the body will die.”

“Why didn’t you fucking tell me that before?!” Leveria squealed, and scampered away from the debauchery.

“Alkandi,” I said, “don’t do this. You know you can’t control her.”

I hid her own magic from her for eighteen years. I am in complete control.

“If you were, then we wouldn’t be here. This merging you made with Yavara is unnatural, and it will split apart time and time again until she finally just kills you. It’s inevitable.”

You know nothing. You never did. You were as useless to me in life as you are in death.

“You’re too old to be this defensive. Maybe I know nothing, but you know I’m right.”

I’m not giving up this chance! Alkandi screamed at me, I could wait a million lifetimes and not find someone like her! Can’t you see that this is all we’ve worked for?! Can’t you see this is our destiny?!

“You are my destiny, Alkandi.” I whispered at her, “You are my all, and I gave you everything. Now I know I meant nothing to you. There were people who loved me in this life, Alkandi, good people, great people, and I could never love them back because the only kind of love I know is unrequitedness. Your love. Your indifference. Fine. You never loved me, but you still owe me!”

I hurled a spell across the black expanse, and struck Yavara’s dark projection in the chest. It glanced off her naked breasts, gave them a nice jiggle, then redirected into the sky. It was my most potent killing spell. She looked down at herself, then she looked up at me. I gulped.

You damn fool.

Dark Yavara took one step forward, clapped her hands together, and created a great sheet of fire that split the earth and sky. Its infernal edge shot toward me, and I barely put up my shield fast enough. It didn’t matter. The fire’s blade cleaved my shield like butter, and separated me from my left leg and arm so cleanly that the limbs still completed the signals my brain sent them a moment ago, clenching and pivoting. I toppled to my right, the smell of fried bacon burning in my nostrils. Dark Yavara took another step forward. I rolled to my side, screamed in pain, snatched my severed leg, and dragged it to its steaming stump. It reattached with a great seizure of cramps as the muscles knitted back together. I barely had time to grab my arm before Dark Yavara stomped her foot in the ground, and sent a wave through the astral earth. I was upended like a ship in rough sea, and send hurtling into the air, then plummeting to the ground. I hit the astral surface with a thud, and felt my hip break with a dry snap.

You have no chance, Zander. This realm is of the mind, and Yavara was second only to Prestira in telepathy. Now she’s second to none. Stay down.

I growled in pain, and rolled to my good side. My left fingers grasped those of my severed right arm, and dragged it toward me. I reattached the limb to the stump, and gasped when the horrendous cramps knotted my stitched muscles. Groaning, I planted one foot into the astral earth, and rose to my knees. Dark Yavara took another step toward me.

Don’t make me do this.

I laughed bitterly. “You don’t care about me. You never did. I won’t weigh on your conscience, because you don’t have one, so just fucking finish it, and save me the trouble.”

Flame erupted in Dark Yavara’s palms. Alkandi looked back at me from between the real Yavara’s legs, and gave me a pitiable look. Do you want to know why I never loved you?

“Because you’re a heartless bitch.”

Because you never even tried to love me. I was there. I was waiting for you, but you let unworthy men take your place one after the other, and when you couldn’t stomach it anymore, you had me murdered. You were just obsessed. You don’t know how to love.

I grinned at her. “You couldn’t just let me die, could you? You had to cut my balls off first.”

She smirked back. It would be disingenuous for me not to. Goodbye, Zander.

Dark Yavara flexed her flaming arms, and took a final step toward me.

YAVARA

I was awash in a sea of pleasure, rising and falling with the cascading waves precluding my orgasm. I writhed and wiggled on my knees with my back bowed low, stoking the ecstasy that raged in my belly, all burning from the furnace between my legs. Alkandi’s fists twisted cruelly inside me, the knuckles interlocking with my ribbon of anal and vaginal flesh squishing between them. Oh, what terrible pleasure this was; to be violated in such an intimate and brutal way, to feel the heat of another’s flesh and bones contouring against places that were never meant to know a foreign touch. I loved it. I loved it so much that I wept with joy into my arms, sobbing like a hysterical child as spasmatic waves crashed within me. But I didn’t come. Something within me held the tide at bay, letting it build and build mercilessly, tormenting me with its incessant swelling.

Alkandi spoke with two voices. One was faint to me, like an echo from a distant hill. This voice was cruel and vengeful, and directed at Zander. The other voice was for me. It was a soft whisper that cooed into the annals of my mind, uttering loving promises of comfort, of safety, of power.

This pleasure is yours forever. It comes from you, but only I can unlock it.

I was vaguely aware of bright flashes, of screams of pain and terror. Somewhere beyond the veil of my hedonism, I felt the rumblings of battle, and the momentous shifts of power through the astral ground, but it was muted to me.

You are me and I am you. The pieces don’t need to fit perfectly; we can shape ourselves. Nothing is predestined; we make our own destiny together.

The swelling within me intensified every second. I twisted and writhed, bawling from my smiling lips, crying rapturously with each breath. I was so weak to it. I was a slave to it. I begged and prostrated with my body and soul, worshipping the deific ecstasy that raged through me. It was too great, too awesome a thing to even consider defying. How could I? For I was but Yavara Tiadoa, untested and unsure, a mere infant in my solo experience. But still, I didn’t come. I held myself at bay, riding the precarious edge of sanity, clinging to it for some godforsaken reason that I could not know.

Let go, Yavara. Give in. Surrender. It is who you are. You are not a fighter, but we are mighty. You are a coward, but we are brave.

“Yavara!” someone screamed. It was Leveria. She was scrambling around the periphery of the battle as Zander desperately fended off my incarnation’s attacks. How could she be so brave? “Yavara!” she screamed, waving frantically to get my attention. “Yavara, you’re in control!”

“What?” I mouthed at her, though she couldn’t see how my lips moved with my face buried in my arms.

Leveria scrambled out of the way of a fireball, and rolled unathletically to her side. She kept her distance from me and Alkandi, but she circled us doggedly as Dark Yavara and Zander traded earth-shaking blows. “You’re in control!” she yelled, “You’re stronger than her!”

I groaned, and shifted my ass backward, consuming Alkandi’s ravaging fists deeper into my tight holes. God, why did it feel so good to be so horribly ravaged? I was made to be a victim. I was built for it. Not only was I weak, but I fetishized my own vulnerability, reveling in just how grotesquely I was being raped. How could I deny someone like Alkandi, who would so cruelly and perfectly give me what I needed?

“You can stop this!” Leveria cried, “Let me help you!”

I shook my head in defeat, and buried my face in my arms.

Come back to me, Yavara. Alkandi whispered, her voice caressing the base of my skull.

“Help me, Leveria.” I whimpered, clinging to the very brink of Alkandi’s blissful abyss. There wasn’t much time left.

LEVERIA

Yavara’s dark incarnation launched a flaming fist across the black expanse that struck Zander squarely in the chest. He flew backwards, engulfed in flames, and ended his trajectory as a smoldering husk a hundred yards away. He didn’t get back up. I looked from him, to the pair of elves writhing on the ground. Yavara was overwhelmed with her own ecstasy, sobbing gloriously into her arms as her back heaved with undulations. Alkandi knelt behind her, both of her arms buried nearly to the elbow inside my little sister. She planted loving kisses along Yavara’s spine, seeming to sooth Yavara’s spasms with each peck. It wouldn’t be much longer. I glanced at Dark Yavara. She turned from Zander as though he were just a mild inconvenience, and she faced me. She didn’t emote anything; only stared at me, waiting for me to take one errant step. I looked from her, to Yavara, to Alkandi.

“Hey,” I said to Alkandi.

Alkandi ignored me, not even looking up.

“Hey!” I yelled.

Again, Alkandi pretended I wasn’t there.

“HEY YOU FUCKING OLD BITCH!”

Alkandi looked up. Her orange irises were blazing with power, dimming her ocular lenses so that the glowing orbs seemed to be rimmed in black. Yes, Leveria?

I gulped, and peed a little.

Alkandi smiled. You worked so hard to get my attention, and this is what you show me?

Gathering myself, I said in my most imperious voice, “You belong to me.”

Our spirits may be kindred, but I choose whether to make the bond. I passed you over for a reason.

“No, no, no.” I growled, “You don’t choose; I do!”

Alkandi actually laughed. You have no choice in this, Leveria. The moment I entered your mother’s womb, you became nothing but an afterthought to me.

I grinned. “I’ve been so much more than an afterthought to you, Alkandi.”

Your significance in my life is simply a result of Yavara’s weakness.

“You chose her over me, you dumb cunt. You don’t get to make excuses.”

And I don’t need to.

I eyed Dark Yavara, and inched closer to Alkandi. Dark Yavara pumped her fists, and they erupted in flame.

Don’t be stupid.

“The stupid thing would be to let me live.” I said, watching Dark Yavara carefully, “If you and I are truly kindred spirits, then I know you would’ve killed me without hesitation the moment you had the opportunity. That means you can’t.”

If you desire to make that gamble, so be it.

I took one more step forward, and Dark Yavara exploded with energy. Her arms and legs pulsed with fire, her feet cracked the astral floor beneath her, and her hair splayed out with the convective winds of flame that radiated from her shoulders. I gulped, my entire body trembling, and I took yet another step forward. Dark Yavara’s hands flashed to her sides, and two infernal swords were borne from her palms. I took another step forward. So did she. Again, I took another step forward, and she did as well. Step by step, we closed the distance between us until we were both equidistant from the two elves entwined in sex.

Not a step further, Leveria. Alkandi growled warningly.

“Why don’t you just kill me then, you stupid old bitch?”

Dark Yavara leapt over the elves, and landed five paces in front of me, a shockwave of flame exploding from her feet. I yelped and scrambled backward, but not before my feet were singed by the blast.

Do not test me! Alkandi snarled. Dark Yavara crouched as though readying an attack, then abruptly stood straight, and sheathed her swords. She took them back out, and flashed them threateningly, then scabbarded them once more. She performed this strange dance three more times before settling on keeping her swords out, and adopting a relaxed stance.

I looked from her, to her high-elf counterpart, to Alkandi, then back. “Oh, I get it,” I said to Dark Yavara, “there’s more than one puppeteer pulling your strings, huh?”

Stay back!

I took one long stride toward the pair of elves. Dark Yavara stepped in front of me, her flaming swords flashing dangerously. Alkandi melted against Yavara, putting her entire body into the passion, moving with the sinuousness of a snake against my little sister as her pumping fists pushed deeper, and deeper. Yavara wailed and blubbered, her eyes leaking, her mouth drooling, but she stayed fixed in her ecstatic torture, not cresting over into the valley of release. Through her tear-filmed eyes, she looked at me, though I wasn’t sure if she saw me, for her gaze was so unfocused that she seemed to be blind with pleasure.

“Leveria,” she croaked, “help me.”

“I’m here, Yavara.” I said, watching her dark counterpart as I moved cautiously closer, “I just need you to stay cool, OK?”

“I can’t hold it… feels too good…”

“Stay with me, little sis.”

“Just… go…”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Run away, Leveria. You don’t belong here.

I took a final step forward, and Dark Yavara moved directly in my path, her chest only inches away from me. It seemed strange that she was shorter than me. From afar, she seemed a towering figure of menace, but right before me, she was just my little sister. She looked up at me with her emotionless orange irises, staring blankly and robotically right through me. I felt a cold horror crawl up my spine. There was no soul in this thing. This thing was an idea of a person, one that was given life through the thoughts of two noncompatible spirits. I reached up tentatively, and touched her face. A tear formed in her eye, and ran down her cheek to pool onto my thumb, but this thing could not feel the pain that caused it to weep. It was simply the idea of the emotion that it felt. Through a bastardized marriage of souls, this idea of Yavara had been created, and now voided of those souls that had merged to create it, it was lost. It had not walked as one with Alkandi’s incarnations, but simply walked alongside them in herd, not knowing what else to do. If Yavara did not merge, Alkandi would not be able to take ownership of this thing. It would walk aimlessly and soullessly through the astral plane, devoid of meaning until it latched onto one. I had heard legend of such things; they called them Sentients. Even now, I could see the whites of its eyes darkening, becoming as black as the pupils at its centers, claimed by the astral plane. It opened its lips, and let out a low, guttural moan.

“Yavara?” I asked it, but it did not answer. It just stared at me, recognizing me, but not knowing me. There was something inside it that hated me, and something else inside it that loved me, but it did not know which to act upon. I looked over her shoulder, and to the elves locked in lustful combat. Yavara’s eyes were partially rolled into her head, and her mouth was gaping in an ecstatic smile, but she hadn’t fallen. Even now, she held back the tide within her. Alkandi’s face was a portrait of consternation verging on the precipice of outright horror.

“You with me, little sis?” I asked.

“Yes,” she croaked, unable to voice her words.

“I need you to stay real cool for just one more second.”

Her eyes rolled forward, and she emoted her desperate confirmation with a single thought, Hurry!

I grasped Dark Yavara’s arm, and tried to move it. It was rigid and strong as stone at first, but it softened when I caressed its shoulder. It looked down at the contact I’d made with it, seemingly perplexed by the sensation. Carefully, I pressed my body to its, squishing breasts and pressing bellies, allowing it to feel the heat between my legs. It looked confusedly down at our joining, unknowing of what to do. Kill? Fuck? Hate? Love? What was the command from on high? I gently ran my fingers down its forearms, and grasped its wrists. Its flaming swords dimmed slightly, but its lethal edges still glowed in the infinite darkness. I tried to ignore them, and instead focused on the black-rimmed eyes of the idea before me.

“Let me love you.” I whispered to it. It relaxed its shoulders, and parted its lips. I took two deep breaths through my nose, and let them out through my mouth. The world seemed to come into vivid focus. It felt just like that moment after I’d killed my father, when I could hear my blood moving, and see the veins in my eyes through my lenses. Dark Yavara’s plush lips were moist and ready, painted a deep mauve like a ripe plumb. Its bronze flesh was prickled with anticipation, alight with the sensations borne from my fingers as they massaged its wrists. Its blazing eyes stared through me, seeing, but not seeing; knowing, but not understanding. But it desired me, yes. The two souls that played it like a puppet could at least agree on that. My heart beat heavily in my chest as I closed the distance between our mouths. I could taste its breath, smell its flesh, and feel its warmth on my lips. I raised its arms out to its sides, and jammed the swords into its own neck.

ADRIANNA

There were only five of us left.

When the wargs saw us coming up the promenade, they crawled out of Castle Bentius like spiders emerging from their festering hovel, and they formed in the courtyard. There were only a score of them remaining, and most of them were riderless, but it didn’t matter. Though we outnumbered them ten to one, we were outmatched in every way. Still, the rebels charged to their doom, spearheaded by Esmerelda herself. It wasn’t bravery that compelled them, but a bizarre disinterest in their own lives. One can only take so much terror before terror becomes numb, and death is no longer vivid and horrible, but a dull mosaic. The screeching becomes annoying, the agony becomes a bore, and the gore becomes just an eyesore. I’d seen it before on battlefields; warriors who had endured such hell that they no longer understood anything else. Warriors who charged headlong into the fray and committed unspeakable acts of violence without passion; just blank stares into the void. Those were the rebel riders now. They crashed into the line of beasts, and were slaughtered.

The wolves tore through them with ease, rending limbs from bodies, tearing viscera from bellies, ripping heads off shoulders. Still, the rebels pressed on, swinging their swords, thrusting their spears, loosing their bows, piercing, stabbing, hacking through fur and muscle while they were massacred. I shot my arrows from the periphery until my quiver was empty, then I joined the frenzy, but the wolves paid me and Sasha no heed; they were focused on the ever-pressing wave of horseflesh that was slowly pushing them back. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in their red eyes. And why wouldn’t they be terrified? For the enemy they so-easily killed simply would not stop. No matter how many times they snapped their jaws or swiped their claws, no matter how many women were sent screeching into pieces, they just kept coming, dealing death by a thousand little cuts, charging relentlessly and tirelessly forward. The wargs faltered. Their snarls and roars became yips and squeals. They began to shuffle backwards, and they began to die. One by one, they fell. We pushed them down the courtyard, through the gates, and into the atrium. By the time we reached the royal corridor, there was only one wolf left. It fought to the bitter end, gnashing and clawing its way through twenty women before Sasha finally got her jaws around its neck.

Then, it was over. No more nightmares lurked in the shadows, nor orcs set to ambush. I looked around the atrium, and saw the evidence of the struggle that had taken place before us. The watchmen and noblemen were lying in piles and pieces, their bodies forming paths up the four corridors of the four castle wings, their blood staining the stones. The orcs were mostly congregated upon the atrium entrance, shot right from their steeds by the awaiting archers. I recognized one of them as Ruglok, the leader of the outfit after Gorlok’s death. The marksmanship exhibited in the arrow placement made me proud of the elven archers, though I couldn’t help but feel that they’d let the orcs off easy. Neck, chest and headshots; the bastards had died too quickly.

“Adrianna?” Esmerelda asked, her voice dead in her mouth, “What now?”

I looked from her, to the four other survivors. They seemed exhausted, ready to collapse under their own weight at any second. Their horses were all dead.

“What do you mean, ‘what now?’” I asked, “Now, you take your throne.”

“My throne.” Esmerelda laughed, her smile as bloody as the rest of her face, “What am I the ruler of? A city filled with death, and a country broken by war. I was supposed to be a savior of the people, Adrianna. It was my shield against your inevitable betrayal.”

I raised my brows.

“Oh yes,” she sneered, “I knew what you were going to do. Didn’t I tell you before? You nobles are all alike. Snakes. All that matters is who you know, and I don’t know anyone, but you’re very well connected. You’re so willing to use people like tools; why would you discard all your military friends for one hopeless rebel?” She pointed her sword at me, “I’m going to give you a chance to do the right thing now, because deep under all that bullshit, I know there’s someone who truly wants to be honorable. I’ve seen little glimpses of it. The way you treat Justina. The pity with which you regard me. I told you before; you’re easy to read.”

“Esmerelda,” I said cautiously, “put your sword down.”

“Make your choice, Adrianna. Show me that there’s still something in you that’s good.”

“Put the sword down!”

“Show me.”

Sasha jumped. I drew my bow, reached for my quiver, and grasped nothing. There were no arrows left. In the moments before it happened, I connected eyes with Esmerelda, and I saw the realization dawn on her face. Such horror. Sasha’s jaws came down, and the leader of the rebels was bitten clean in half. The other four leapt into action, driving their spears and swords into Sasha’s hide as Esmerelda’s mortal screeches sounded from the wolf’s maw, her arms flailing between its teeth. Sasha chewed, Esmerelda crunched, and the moment was mercifully over. I drew my sword and gave the last of the rebels the clean deaths they deserved. Sasha swallowed what she had in her mouth, and panted contentedly, once again happy to have saved me. Then she jerked her head around, sniffed the air, and dashed down the royal corridor. I extracted the portal from Esmerelda’s pocket, and followed Sasha at a brisk pace, passing contrasting beams of light, a body of a gored bald man, and piles of dead wargs twisted around wrought-iron hafts. I walked through the burst body of a wolf, and into the light of the throne room. There, I heard the voice of someone I thought was long-dead. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised.

“I would beg to differ.” I said in answer to her claim.

Elena gawked at me, and so did her mother behind her. King Ternias examined me like I was a riddle, but I wasn’t in the mood to be solved. As I walked toward them, I plucked a pair of arrows from the hide of a dead wolf, drew my bow, and loosed. Elena was fast. She dived out in front of the king, and caught the first arrow before it hit him in the chest, but the second one was a heartbeat slower, and she had mistimed her jump. The arrow thudded into the back of the throne, and King Lucas Ternias of the Highlands slumped forward, blood pouring from his empty eye socket. Elena hit the floor a moment later, and sprawled out onto the carpet.

“All hail Queen Elena Straltaira of the Highlands,” I proclaimed grandly, raising my arms, “long may she reign. Congratulations, Tiger.”

She jumped up, and drew her sword with lightning quickness. “You?!” She snarled, “You led the attack on Bentius?!”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that.” I said, “I’m not sure it can be hashed-out in brevity. God, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do, don’t we?”

“You mean you’ve got a lot of fucking explaining to do!”

I stopped in front of Sasha’s eviscerated corpse. “I heard your conversation with Ternias. Do you know who the lynchpin of Leveria’s plan was?” I tapped myself on the breast, “I was her fool. She maneuvered me and manipulated me and put me right into position to destroy everything I held dear. I framed Prince Matthew. I dragged the Lowlands into the war. I’m the reason Alkandra is going to be destroyed. What a fucking patriot I am.”

“Tell me what happened here!” She snapped.

“I was exiled from Alkandra, I got caught up with the wrong crowd, and I made some bad friends. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

“That’s all you have to say?” She growled, “After everything you taught me?! After everything you swore?!”

“Careful throwing my old ranger loyalties at me.” I said, pointing a finger at her, “Leveria did that same thing, and now look where we are.” I spat on the carpet, “A kingdom stuck so far in the past that its traditions are older than religions. It’s like a mummy of the empire it used to be, and we rangers kept it nice and pretty year and year out so that royals would pat us on the head and tell us what a good fucking job we were doing.”

“It’s our home!”

“It’s not, Tiger. You’ve never been home. You don’t even know who you are yet. You’ve been living a shadow of the life you should be, but you don’t have to any longer. You’re the queen now. Call off the attack, and come back home with me. If I bring you back, I’ll be forgiven, and you’ll be with Yavara again.”

“I don’t even know her anymore.” Elena hissed.

I stepped forward. “It’s not too late.” I said softly, “Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not too late. Bentius isn’t destroyed. A lot of people are dead, but it’ll recover. You can rebuild it with Yavara. Show the world what kind of strength can be found with reconciliation. Show Alkandra that you understand their pain. This attack was a long time coming, and we both know it. The Highlands deserved everything that happened today.”

“You can’t believe that. Not you.”

“You were out there with me on those raids. How many women and children did we kill?”

“They’re beasts!” She snapped, “Savages and animals! Look what they did!”

“What does that make us then? You’ve spent too much time around high-elves.”

“You’ve spent too much time with monsters.”

“I’m proud of what I am, and you’re still ashamed.”

“The only shame I feel is that I once respected you. You made me swear to protect our homeland on my life, and you sold it cheaply.”

“I gave the Highlands EVERYTHING!” I roared, “I gave it my body, my blood, my love, and my life! Do you have any idea what I sacrificed?!”

“And so it’s the Highlands turn to sacrifice for you?”

“YES!” I bellowed.

She narrowed her eyes at me like she couldn’t understand who she was looking at, “What am I to you, Commander? Just an obstacle, a problem that needs to be solved so that you can get what you want. Every atrocity you committed on your way to me was worth it because it got you one step closer to your goal. But that’s how you’ve always been, isn’t it? Transforming didn’t change you at all. You cut Prestira’s throat and roped me to a horse so that I could be tortured, and you didn’t even blink.”

“I do what must be done.”

“I also do what must be done, Commander.” Elena hissed, “I’m not taking the crown, and I’m not calling off the attack on Alkandra. If I let that festering cancer live, it will spread to every corner of Tenvalia.”

“Everything I love is part of that ‘festering cancer.’”

“I know.” Elena said, flexing her fingers around her sword.

I shook my head. “Don’t do this, Tiger.”

“You think I’m going to let you live after what you’ve done?”

“You don’t stand a chance against me.”

“If you kill me, then no one will call off the attack.”

I nodded toward Lydia. “She could make a legitimate claim to the throne right now.”

“And why would I ever betray my nation?!” Lydia asked indignantly.

“I’m sure I could convince you one way or another.”

“Mom, go upstairs.” Elena said, “Lock yourself in the royal guestroom, and don’t come out unless I tell you to.”

“But I—”

“Go, Mom.”

Lydia chewed on her lip, then walked behind the throne, and disappeared up the corridor. I watched her go, then looked at Elena. “You’re fucking your own mother?”

“Was it that obvious?”

“It was quite subtle, actually, but I have a sixth sense about these things.” I said, stepping around her, watching her footwork, “So, now it’s your turn to tell me what happened. You were supposed to be dead, and… what, it was all a ruse set up by you and Ternias?”

“I stayed loyal to Leveria to the end.” Elena said, watching my shoulders, “When she was taken down, the other nobles and I formed a conspiracy, and here we are.”

“Here we are.” I echoed.

She glanced at my swollen belly, then back at my face. “That changes nothing for me, you know.”

“I know.” I said, and dashed toward her. She pivoted, ready for the swipe, but she wasn’t ready for the dip and slash. I feigned the swipe, dipped my shoulder beneath her counterattack, and slashed across her belly. She made herself skinny enough to only suffer a flesh wound, then she rolled back, countered with a sudden leg swipe, and leapt to her feet.

“How many times did you tell me to look at your feet, not your shoulders?” Elena laughed breathily.

“Shoulders can be deceptive, but feet never lie, and you never learned.”

“I learned a few things.” She said, and made her move. She took three steps forward, then dragged her heel on the last one. I leaned into the feigned strike, ready to punish her for it, and realized a fraction too late that Elena had played me. While her weight was secured on her heel, her shoulders were pitched forward, and her foot rolled from heel to toe so quickly that all I could do was hold up my sword, and pray. She launched at me, and I bet left. My bet paid off, but the deep wound in my ribs limited my mobility, and she sliced me across the side. I rolled away from her with a grunt, and she slashed me across the back, prompting a cry of pain from my lips. I stumbled forward, and she slid backward. We turned around, and moved in a circle once more.

“That was new,” I muttered, no longer smiling.

“I was saving it just for you,” she smirked.

“I saw it coming.”

She snorted. “Give me some credit.”

“I would’ve blocked it if I wasn’t wounded.”

“Excuses, excuses,” she tittered, “Didn’t you always teach me to press every advantage?”

“I also taught you to be more talkative. That backfired.” I said, and charged her. She shifted right, moved with me, drew up her sword and blocked my attack with lightning speed. She was fast, even faster than me, but she was decades behind me in technique. I scraped around her sword, guided our blades as I moved past her, then flicked them right before they parted. Her sword shot up, and mine shot to the side, and I drew a line across her ribs deep enough to feel the bone. She whirled after me, swiped back and down at where I’d been, but I was already five paces behind her, and pivoting on my foot.

Elena stayed remarkably composed despite the gash in her side. She cocked her head, and set her face.

“I see that pain has been a far better teacher than I ever was.” I said, stalking around her.

“I suppose that makes me the master then.”

I snorted. “What do you know about real pain, Tiger?”

She peeled her lips back to reveal a horrific smile. “Much more than you, Commander.” She rushed me in a blur of blonde and bronze. I sidestepped the blow, and laid my blade across her back. She reached back to meet the counterattack, and caught my steel between her shoulders with her crossguard. She heaved forward with both arms, and I spun to keep my blade in hand. Twirling away, I guessed at the place she’d strike, and I guessed wrong. Hot pain seared into my leg when the cold metal entered it. I cried out, yanked my leg back, and rolled away to safety.

“We can count scars if you like,” Elena said, “you can show me all the times you almost died, and I can tell you what it’s really like!”

She rushed me again, feigned left, then right, then left again. Before she could make another feign, I charged into her. She was caught off guard, and I put my shoulder into her chest, and knocked her backwards. She managed to flip with her change of momentum, and her blade came out to dissuade my attack, but I sidestepped the swipe and sliced my steel across the back of her leg. She hit the ground, and I was on her, stabbing and jabbing as she scrambled backwards on her hands and feet. I scored a slice across her calf, and another that almost severed her patellar tendon before she rolled viciously to her side, and sent me reeling back with a slice that opened the bottom of my chin. She stumbled back into her stance, and I casually stepped back into mine.

“Come on, Tiger,” I said, flicking her blood off my sword, “there’s no reason for us to keep doing this.”

“Then walk away, Commander.”

I pointed to the wounds on her legs. “If we keep doing this, you won’t be able to walk at all.”

“And you won’t be able to breathe!” She snarled, and again, she charged me. She was getting slower, every movement becoming calculated and labored. I caught her blade on mine, stepped away from her feeble leg sweep, and put my knee into her belly. She folded around me in a gasp, then crumpled to the floor.

I put my sword on her throat. “Good game, Tiger.”

She looked down at the steel that rested just beneath her chin. “Finish it then.”

“No.”

“I won’t call off the attack, Commander. You can make me scream if you want, but you’ll never break me.”

“Why would you think I’d ever do that?” I sighed, and knelt beside her. “Maybe you know pain like I can’t imagine. Maybe you know death itself, but I’ve known love and life far greater than you ever have. It could be yours too. You’re one of us. You’re our lost sister. Come back with me, and after just one day, you’ll realize what a fool you’ve been.” I angled my blade against her artery, “I don’t want to kill another sister, Tiger.” I said softly, a tear rolling down my cheek, “Don’t make me do it again.”

I suddenly couldn’t see out of my left eye. It took a moment for the pain to come. It shot right into my skull, burst in an explosion of synapses behind my ocular bone, and sent me reeling back with a screech. I clutched at my face, and felt the haft of a crossbow bolt where my left eye had been a moment ago. Through the red veil of agony, I looked up with my remaining eye, and saw a woman fumbling to load the second shot. Someone else screamed. I didn’t know who it was at the time. All I knew was the horror that gripped me at the halving of my senses, and the directed primal instinct to destroy the threat. I raced across the floor, jumped over the throne, and put my sword into the woman’s chest. Her eyes bulged, blood shot from her mouth, and she wilted beneath me.

“MOM!” someone screamed.

The woman gulped for air as red spit bubbled from her lips. I ripped the blade out, and she dropped to the floor. Something hot moved through me. My breath shot from my lungs. This time, I didn’t feel the pain at all; only the impact. I looked down at the metal sticking through my breast. My entire back bowed around it, the severed muscles knotted, the punctured organs seized. Every neuron that had been screeching its alarm about my missing eye went suddenly silent, and instead blared the shrill warning of the death blow that had just been dealt to me. No… no, no, no, no, NO, NO, I would not die! I could not! Not for my unborn child! Not for Brianna, and Kiera, and Eva, and Faltia, and Soraya! Not for Furia. I needed to see her one more time. Just one more time. Just one… more… time…

The sun shone through the windows in heavy beams, casting the throne room in streaks of winter’s cold luminance. I was in the shadows. I closed my eye, and made the transformation. The steel inside me snapped in half, the severed organs heeled, and my eye reformed. My body grew several feet, my skin became pallid and my hair became black, but I noticed none of that. The only thing I noticed, was that I was starving. There was a dying woman before me, but she was still so full of delicious life.

Something was smashed over the back of my head. I hardly noticed it, but I noticed it just enough for a bronze figure to flash in front of me, and steal my meal. I wheeled around to pursue, and I would’ve caught up to her easily, but I skidded to an abrupt halt before the sunbeam that separated us. Across the expansive hall, Elena Straltaira laid her dying mother in the center of one such beam. She said something to her, kissed her hand, and bowed forward in grief. Lydia ran her bloody hand through Elena’s white hair, making it scarlet. Then, she went limp. Elena looked up at me. She didn’t say anything now; she only grabbed the cleavers at her hips, stood up, and began jogging toward me.

“Don’t!” I yelled.

She turned her jog into a run.

“Elena, stop!”

She turned her run into a sprint.

“STOP!”

She screamed, and jumped through the beam of light between us, her cleavers sparkling in the sunlight. She entered the shadow, and in the time it took for her to lower her blades a fraction, I snatched her out of the air, grabbed her by the wrists, and pinned her against the wall. I sank my fangs deep into her throat, and drank. I couldn’t help it. I sucked through the capillaries in my fangs, and tasted the rich iron of her blood. So gluttonous I was, unable to stop once I had the taste in me. I swallowed, and swallowed, moaning in pleasure, savoring every last drop until Elena was frail and emaciated against me. Only when her heart had slowed to a crawl, did I find the mental fortitude to release her. She collapsed with a groan. She was nearly as pale as I was, and her lips were nearly as blue as her eyes, but still, she stared at me with such a pure hatred.

“I’m sorry, Tiger.” I muttered. I extended my hand to the throne, and grabbed Ternias’s hand mirror. I placed it in Elena’s hand, and closed her strengthless grip around it. “I need you to call Field Marshal Shordian now,” I said, “I’ll explain everything to him. I just need you to give him the order to turn around.”

Elena just stared at me, a string of drool coming from her lips.

I crouched down to her level. “It’s almost over.” I said softly, sliding her hair behind her ear, “You just have to do this one thing. Just this one little thing, and then you can rest.”

Elena looked down at the mirror that rested loosely on her knee, then back up at me.

“Please, Tiger.” I whispered, “There’s no reason to fight anymore. You can save so many lives with just one honorable act.”

She wheezed. The sound was so horrible that I didn’t realize until it was too late that it was a laugh. I didn’t realize until it was too late that there was a spot of sunlight a few inches left of Elena’s knee. I didn’t realize until it was too late that she’d put the mirror in it, and turned the glass toward me. Light. Light like fire burned into my eyes. I was blind again, my lenses seared, my irises scorched. I screeched. I clutched at my ruined eyes, and scrambled away from the pain. I heard laughter. The cruelest laughter I’d ever heard. It followed me wherever I went, and that horrible light did too, moving like a beam against me, scorching my face and neck, melting the backs of my hands as I tried to cover myself. Then, I was surrounded by it. My entire world ignited, and agony exploded from every pore. I shrieked, my voice broke, the blood shot from my ruptured throat. I couldn’t feel my skin. I had no skin. I was muscle and sinew, all melting, all dripping and sizzling like fat upon the fryer. I dropped to my knees, covering myself with what was left of my arms, curling into a fetal ball as the inferno raged around me. Somewhere in my mania, I found the sanity to realize there was an escape. I turned back.

I blinked with my one eye, and stared up at the sun. The agony was gone. There was only an ache in my midsection, and a dull pain in my left eye-socket. I was so weak. Where there had once been excruciating heat, there was now uncomfortable cold. The sun felt so warm against my skin, and I wished to spread myself in it and bathe in its luminance, but I couldn’t muster the strength to do so. I couldn’t even uncurl myself from my fetal ball. I couldn’t move at all. I was dying. The blood pooled from my chest, hot and thick, and every pump of my ruptured heart made the world darker and colder. Someone knelt beside me.

“Right pocket.” I croaked.

“What?”

“Right pocket.” I said again, conserving my words carefully.

Elena gave me an incredulous look, and fished into the remnants of my cloak. She pulled out Esmerelda’s portal from my hip pocket. “What is it?” She asked.

“A magic seeker. It will take you to a woman with no limbs. She can open the royal portal to South Fort. Go there now. Go to Alkandra. Get our sisters out. Save them.” I shifted my hand toward her. It took all my might. “Drag me into the shadow.”

“No.”

“Your mother is still breathing. I could hear it. I bite you. You bite her. One fang only, or hunger forever. Hurry.”

Elena snatched my hand, and dragged me out of the sunlight with what little strength she had left. She swore and cried out, but she managed to inch me from the warmth, and slide me into the cold. She jammed her wrist in my mouth. I made the change. I lost my mind in the agony. I was blind. I screeched. I twisted and thrashed. Every movement was hell. There was something in my mouth. Life. I could feel it pulsing faintly. I bit. I tasted the life. I remembered whose it was—I remembered who I was. I injected my venom, and changed back. The world was so much darker than it had been even a moment before. It was so much colder too. I was vaguely aware of Elena undergoing her violent transformation. She writhed and wiggled as her limbs grew, her hair turned black, and her body filled out. When she was done, she was feral and mad with hunger. I expected her to end me right there, but she assessed me with one sniff, and walked right over me. As she ripped off the head of Ternias’s corpse and drank the fountaining blood, I realized with comingled amusement and horror that she’d skipped me for a more bountiful meal.

When Ternias was nothing but a husk, Elena licked her lips, and took a deep breath. The sanity returned to her posture. She took one step toward her mother, then frowned at the light beam in front of her.

“Think: elf.” I croaked.

Elena nodded, and squeezed her eyes shut. She transformed back into her elven form, then hobbled across the hall on her wounded legs. She fell to her knees, exhausted beyond measure, and she crawled the rest of the way to her mother. Once there, she pressed herself against her mother’s side, let out a scream, and pushed with what was left of her strength. Lydia rolled out of the sunlight, and Elena collapsed in it. She looked hopelessly up at her mother’s limp form. Even from across the throne room, I could see the puddle of blood that had formed beneath Lydia. It was growing. Elena stuck out her arms, and clawed her way forward. She cried out with the effort of it. She shook and spasmed, but inch by tortuous inch, she made her way out of the sunlight. I smiled, and closed my one eye. It was a good last sight to see.

As my breaths left my body, and my thoughts became dim, I put my mind to an image of Furia. She was lying next to me in bed. The others were there with us, surrounding us, encasing us in their love and warmth, but in that private moment, we only had eyes for each other. I just stared into her sapphire gaze, and she just stared back. A gentle smile creased her lush lips, which were parted slightly so that her breath could caress my mouth, leaving its taste upon my tongue. We didn’t need to say anything. We didn’t need to move. We could just lie there in that perfect moment, and stay for eternity.

ALKANDI

Yavara went still beneath me. Her orgasmic writhes ceased, her gasping breaths cut, and her flailing hair rested into a disheveled blonde mess atop her head. The form of our incarnation fell to its knees, then collapsed onto its side. Its body disintegrated into orange and blue dust, and floated towards us. The orange dust filtered into my bronze flesh, and the blue dust filtered into Yavara’s alabaster skin. Leveria watched the process with bewilderment, then looked her sister in the eye.

“You with me, Yavara?” she asked.

“Yes, Leveria. I’m with you.” Yavara whispered back, the exhaustion heavy in her voice. Though her insides still fluttered with pleasured contractions around my fists, they did not seize with virgin abandon. This woman now comprehended all that had happened to her and all that she had done—all that we had done—but no longer from our comingled understanding. She was not the frail infant devoid of all the experience we’d shared, nor was she the proud creature that had just died on the astral plane. She was who she had always been, but now she was it without me. She was the woman who had seduced then denied me in the astral plane that fateful morning when we’d first met as separate entities. She was weaker than she’d been when we were joined, but she was stronger than she’d been when I’d held half her soul hostage. She was just… Yavara.

Yavara turned around, her blue eyes sparkling from her pristine face. “Get out of me, Alkandi,” she whispered.

I nodded, and slowly retracted my hands from her holes. They both prolapsed grotesquely, and she shuddered in abject delight, but she did not react with the fervency she would have if we were joined, nor did she squeal in horror like the half-woman she’d been before our merge was forever shattered. She just groaned pleasurably, reached between her legs, and toyed with her outturned parts before pushing them back into her body. Then, on shaking arms, she managed to push herself upright, and kneel opposite me.

“It is done then?” she asked.

I nodded.

She frowned, and touched her chest. “You told me when we first met, that I would be a husk if we ever separated. I remember how empty I felt without you, how desperate I was to reconnect with you then.” She looked up at me, “I do not feel that now.”

You were so very fragile then. You had never felt what it was like to be without me. Most of all, you had never known true pain. You know it now; you know it keenly. Pain makes us grow, and you have grown.

“You lied to me,” her brow furrowed, “I was hardly more than a girl, and you used me.”

I used you for far longer than that, Yavara.

She looked down at herself, and ran her hands over her naked astral body. “How much of me was shaped by you?” She whispered fearfully.

We shaped each other. We were born together and grew together and blossomed together. When I told you that you would feel my absence forever, I was not lying. But like an old wound, I will fade with time, and as you grow into the void-space I left, you will soon only notice me as a scar. I sniffled, and wiped the tears from my cheeks, I am sorry, Yavara.

She nodded solemnly. Her eyes trailed up my body, and back to my face. It pained her to look me in the eyes, but she held the contact admirably. “Thank you,” she muttered.

For what?

“For everything. For being me with me. For the love and the hate, for the pleasure and the pain. Thank you.” A tear cascaded down her cheek, and she laughed, and wiped it, “I guess I love you. I mean, I don’t have a choice, do I? You’re me.”

I reached out, and grasped her hand. Our fingers entwined, and I clasped tightly. I was never you, Yavara, and you were never me. We were simply ‘we,’ and that is why we are parted now. But for what it’s worth, I love you too.

She blushed, and averted her eyes cutely. When her bashful gaze found the bravery to connect once more, she said coyly, “I guess you can give me a goodbye kiss then.”

I leaned forward. So did she. I took her gently by the face, and guided us together. Her lips opened, and I stopped her. Before her questioning gaze, I elevated myself, and planted a kiss on her forehead. “Goodbye.” I whispered with my real voice, so strangled and cracked with age that it hardly resembled a voice at all. Yavara blinked back her tears, and eased away from the embrace.

“Goodbye, Alkandi.” She whispered, and stood up. She walked across the black expanse, to where Zander Fredeon lay steaming. She knelt at his side, and uttered a healing incantation. There was a glow of golden energy, then a flash, and they were both gone. I knew it was the last time I’d ever see either of them with my own true eyes. I wished Yavara the best in her life. As for Zander, I wished for his forgiveness. I wasn’t as cold and hard as I often pretended to be. For that matter, neither was Leveria.

I turned and faced my next incarnation. She had no natural power, no athletic ability, and no skill in combat, but she had bested me at every turn, and that was something. Perhaps I wouldn’t have the god-like power that merging with Yavara Tiadoa would bring me, but I would have the devilish mind of her sister.

Leveria watched Yavara and Zander disappear, then turned to me. She assessed me for a moment, then sneered wickedly. “So, Alkandi,” she said, pacing dramatically toward me, every step shooting her hips this way and that, “now that the losers are gone, you and I can have a nice candid chat, hmm?”

I returned her smile. No hard feelings?

She guffawed. “A woman can hardly be blamed for chasing primo pussy. We wouldn’t be kindred spirits if you didn’t try to get deific powers at all costs.”

It’s nice to finally speak to another pragmatist. Your sister was—

“…a fucking child, I know.” Leveria rolled her eyes, “Always throwing tantrums when things didn’t go her way, always crying when people didn’t like her, always passing off responsibility to everyone else, and never taking any for herself. I wonder what her excuses will be now that you’re not to blame for her behavior?”

Don’t go too hard on her.

Leveria giggled evilly. “That was funny Alkandi, thank you. It’s good to know I’ll inherit your sense of humor. God knows I need one.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. I mean it.

“Didn’t I just save her life? And after she killed me! I’d say she owes me.”

She’s still powerful, Leveria, and she’s been taught by the two greatest magic users in the world. She’ll be stronger than you until you hone your craft.

“Oh, I won’t be too harsh on little Yavara,” she said with a wave, “especially since her cooperation is essential for my grand plan.”

Which is?

“You’ll find out soon.” Leveria tittered, “So tell me, what kind of powers will I soon be getting?”

Inferno, telekinesis, healing, telepathic indoctrination, and… well, I guess you’ll get Yavara’s transformative power too, as she was technically my last incarnation, though I suspect it will be expressed differently.

“Wonderful.” Leveria beamed delightedly, “Inferno and telekinesis sound like good fun, and healing will be practical, I suppose. I see the potential for the transformative ability, but what I really want to know about is telepathic indoctrination.”

I thought you might like that one. In my opinion, Yavara underutilized it terribly.

“She had a child’s opinion of power. She thought moving things and burning things made her strong.” Leveria stopped before my kneeling form, and looked down at me with an imperious glare, her little smile curved sardonically. “She didn’t understand that the mind was the only thing worth mastering. And now the Dark Queen herself is kneeling before me, waiting to service my every pleasure.”

Don’t enjoy it too much, Leveria. I said with a crooked grin, I might decide to take out all my rejection on you.

Leveria cocked her head, letting some of her hair fall over her face, giving her a very dangerous look. “I know Yavara didn’t think up those tortures all on her own.” She snaked her fingers into my hair, “I know she wasn’t the one who cackled like a banshee while I was burned alive, torn to shreds, and raped senseless. I’ve read the stories about you, Alkandi. I know what you liked to do to your prisoners. Hell, I got half my ideas from you.” She forked her fingers about her pussy, and spread her blushing lips open to reveal their pink center, “Let’s practice some of them, shall we?”

She rooted her fist into my hair, and twisted. I purred like a jungle cat, and rose as she pulled me to her. I thought you said there weren’t any hard feelings?

Leveria’s grin was so evil that she seemed a demon looking down at me. “I lied.”

She forced my face into her cunt, and sat atop my head like a stool. I closed my eyes, snaked my tongue out, and savored the sadism I would soon be a part of. None of my other incarnations had ever tried to dominate me before Yavara and Leveria; perhaps there was just something different about these Tiadoa girls.

ELENA

Mom was a gluttonous vampire. She ripped the tendons and sinew from the warg carcass, and plunged her head into the hole she made. I watched her from the shadows, curiously testing my new body. I glanced up at the woman who had given it to me. For a moment, there had been a connection between Adrianna and I. Her thoughts were projected telepathically to me. I didn’t think she knew she was broadcasting them, for the thoughts were intimate and beautiful. Then the connection faded, and I knew Adrianna was dead. She had been more than my commander. She had been the father I’d never had. She had shown me what it meant to be honorable and true, and she had instilled more of the qualities of my character than anyone else—even Yavara. And though I had hated Adrianna for a long time, I knew that hatred could only have come from love, and for the piece of me that had been created by her, I wept. There was a hole in me that would forever be named, ‘Adrianna.’

Mom came to her senses, and pulled her head out of the warg’s side. She blinked stupidly, looked up at me, jumped in fright, and scurried behind the corpse she’d just been feeding upon.

Mom, it’s me. I said telepathically, and smiled through my tears.

She let out a yelp, and covered her ears. Who the heck was that?!

Me, Mom. Your daughter, and now your blood-mother, just to add to our ever-twisted dynamic. You can call me ‘Mommy’ if you want.

She cowered behind the carcass for a moment, then seemed to realize herself. She looked down at her own body, and rose with an expression of wonder and shock upon her pallid face.

“Oh my god, I’m a monster,” she whispered. She looked up at me, “Elena, what did you do?!”

“It’s not permanent,” I said, “but your other body is near death, so you can’t transform back until we get a mage to help you.”

Mom looked down at the sculpted statuesque body she’d grown into, a vision of feminine perfection and predatory sensuality. “I suppose I can suffer this… indignity for a while. No need to rush, Dear.”

“You won’t lack for food, anyways.” I said, “I doubt anyone will come to the castle for some time. Keep the bodies frozen, or they’ll rot.”

Mom daintily wiped the blood and gore from her face, and looked up at me. “And where will you be going?”

“You know where.”

She studied me carefully. “What will you do when you see her?”

“I don’t know.”

“What will she do?”

“I don’t know.”

Mom chewed on her lip with her new fangs. “You said you don’t know her anymore, but you love her, Elena. You think that love has faded? When you feel her touch on your flesh, it will strike you like lightning. If you go, you will not come back to me.”

“Do you want me to promise otherwise?”

“I’d prefer not to make a liar of you.”

I sauntered over to her, and took her in my arms. The hug we shared was platonic, but the kiss was not. When we parted, we gazed into each other’s red eyes. I gave her a promise that could not be spoken with my lips, and she accepted it with solemnity. I would do whatever it took to get back to her, and that would have to be enough for now. I just wished “for now” was longer, but it was already over. Time was moving fast.

I picked up the warg’s body, and used it as a sun-shield as I crossed the beams that spread out on the floor. I stopped in the far shadows of the room, and knelt before Adrianna’s body. I placed a kiss on her brow, and folded her arms together before her chest. She would have a ranger’s funeral; I would make sure of it. Ternias, however, would not have a ceremonial exit. After throwing his head into a canvas bag, I hurried down to the pantry. I piled on a plate full of bread and dried meat, sat down, and rested my face upon the food. I transformed back into my elven body, and with only the strength left to open and close my mouth, I began to eat myself back to health. When I had enough calories in me to walk, I pulled out the portal, and examined it. It was an intricately-cut gemstone that glowed faintly red in one spot. I pressed my finger to that spot, and was transported.

A moment later, I was atop the ramparts of the Noble District. I looked around, and saw no one else.

“Adri?” came a little voice.

I looked down, and saw one of the strangest creatures I’d ever seen in my whole life. She was a high-elf woman with obscene tattoos scored upon her face. She was pretty despite the ink, though her lack of limbs certainly made her a unique kind of beauty. She was fixed to a harness, and wrapped in a bundle like an infant. When she realized I was not Adri, she began to weep.

“Hey, hey,” I said soothingly, dropping to my knee before her, “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

She wiggled her little stumps, and blue magic sparkled about her. “If you’re here, it means that Adri is… is… is…” She couldn’t get out the final word, her grief was so great.

I took her up in my arms, and cradled her. She tried to wiggle away for a moment, but it was quite natural for her to submit. Terribly natural. Not knowing what else to do, I rocked her gently, and sang a wordless lullaby. She quieted after that, and her mouth sought my nipple. I let her suckle, and though there was no milk for her to take, she seemed content with just having it in her mouth. After a while, she released my nipple, and looked up at me studiously.

“You’re like Adri.”

I nodded. “I was a friend of hers. She sent me here to get you.”

“Will you take me to Alkandra?” She asked with big, hopeful eyes.

I cracked a rueful smile, and rolled my eyes to the east. “Actually, I was hoping you’d take me there.”

YAVARA

When I awoke, I was choking. The world was dark, and something heavy was suppressing me from above. I couldn’t breathe. I squirmed in a moment of panic, and threw the weight off me. Something hot and hard slid out of my throat, and I gasped for air, clutching my neck. My hair hung before my face, blocking my vision of the dimly-lit room. I pulled back my blonde mane, and looked out at the world behind my blue eyes.

There was a massive dick right in front of my face, which seemed wholly apropos given the circumstances. It was strange that I had struggled so mightily with it, but I guessed that losing Alkandi probably also meant losing my natural dick-sucking capabilities. It was a small trade-off, though I had traded much more. The energy that had once coursed through me was gone. In its place was a quieter energy, like a secondary rhythm to my heart instead of a full-blown electrical transfusion. This was my magical reservoir. It was small compared to what it had been, but when I flicked my fingers, a flame popped from my thumb, and when I pointed at a pillow, it floated from the bed, and that was enough to confirm that I was still special—just not unique. That was OK. I was me. The world was scary, and I felt smaller than I ever had, but that was OK. I was me. I would grow organically within the confines of my life, and I would flower in my niche, knowing without a doubt that I belonged there. That reassurance was nearly worth all the power in the world, and the peace that came with it was worth even more. I was me. I was Yavara Tiadoa, and no one else. I wasn’t even a vampire anymore. I laughed, remembering that I had begun this journey seemingly so long ago in an attempt to find myself, and I had ended it not knowing at all who I was, but being perfectly fine with it because I was me! And all the experiences I’d had as the Dark Queen were invaluable and precious, even the terrible ones, for they all led me to this moment of catharsis when everything inside me seemed to fall right into place. I was always Yavara, but now I was wholly her. Now I got to find out who she could really be.

I was so stricken by the euphoria of the moment that I had temporarily forgotten how I’d gotten there. I glanced back at the large penis lying next to my face. It was bronze, smooth, and beautiful, though I didn’t stare at it with the pure covetousness that I once did. In truth, I was actually a little scared of it. I enjoyed that fear for a moment, and found within it, a strange excitement. Did fear arouse me? I’d always sexually reveled in the extremes of emotion, but I’d so rarely felt fear in all my life that I never got to explore it. Now those other carnal emotions were dimmed—rage, avarice, and bloodlust—and though I still enjoyed their sexual nature, they didn’t compel me quite like fear did. I knew in that moment that I was a masochist. I had dabbled often in masochistic lust before, but I had never truly delved into it. I enjoyed the power-play, the degradation and bondage, but I had never felt the fear before; not since that night Brock had taken me, and since that night, I had so bemoaned the loss of true victimhood. Why… fear was the crucial ingredient! And now I had it! Now it was a part of me!

I sat upright in glee, and stopped, realizing with creeping terror exactly who that penis belonged to. A woman. A beautiful woman. A terrible woman. Leveria’s hair was still platinum blonde, but everything else had changed. Her breasts had gone up a size, her hips had widened, her thighs had thickened, her shoulders and arms were toned with muscle, her abdomen was a washboard, and her pelvis converged into sharp lines. And at the convergence of lines, was an eight-inch cock. It flopped over her left thigh, still glistening with my spit, so thick that I couldn’t wrap my hand around it. I had made a hybrid out of her—or rather, she had taken advantage of me to be made into one. She was beautiful; the most beautiful of all of them, actually, for Leveria was a stunning beauty even before her transformation. The new look fit her naturally, though in truth, I thought she should dye her hair a darker color. Perhaps red? Or maybe…

A pulse of light went through my sister’s sleeping body. She pulsed again, and again; each spasm radiating from her chest and shooting outward like a shockwave until her entire diaphragm was aglow. I could see her heart through her very flesh, every ventricle and chamber alight like the sun. It pounded so loudly that I could hear it accelerating until I was sure it would explode. I cringed back behind a pile of pillows, and peered out from my plush fortress. Her heart contracted and convulsed a thousand times in a minute, then slowed to an even beat. When it was done, Leveria’s hair was so lustrously black it seemed to absorb the very light around it. At first, I thought that was the only change she’d undergone, then I looked down. Beneath her beautiful bronze cock, and above her little pink pussy, were two smooth testicles. They hung pristinely from her organ, symmetrical and proportioned, each of them veiny and heavy with lust. I was so transfixed by the roiling orbs that I didn’t even notice that Leveria had awoken.

“My eyes are up here, Yavara,” she snickered.

I yelped, and receded deeper into the pile of pillows, encasing myself in darkness. The darkness was broken by a pair of burning orange irises.

“Boo.” Leveria giggled, and tossed away the pillows, leaving me wholly exposed. I cringed back, and ignited both my hands with flame.

“Whoa-whoa-whoa,” Leveria said defensively, and eased back, “Yavara, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Bullshit.”

“I mean it.” Leveria knelt a safe distance away, and opened her hands unthreateningly, “Besides, you could still kick my ass anyway.”

“You’re the ruler of Alkandra now, and I am the only high-elf for a hundred miles. The men are restless the day before a battle.”

Her lips quirked evilly, and the expression was so frightening and sexy on her new face that I almost blushed. “The thought did occur to me,” she confessed, eyeing me like a snack, “but it would be a waste, and there’s no need. As far as I’m concerned, we’re even.”

I raised my brows. “What do you mean we’re even?”

“I’d say we’re about square, unless there’s something you feel that’s been left unsaid.”

I laughed incredulously. “You think you can just throw away all the baggage we have?”

“No, but we can leave it where it is. There’s no reason not to just restart.”

“After everything?”

“I can’t think of a better time than now.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re using me.”

“Of course I am, Yavara. I use everyone.” She tilted her head, and smiled warmly, “Just because I see people as tools, doesn’t mean I see them as lesser. People are useful, and like any good craftswoman, I take very good care of my most useful tools.”

“I won’t be one of your tools ever again.”

Leveria scoffed. “You were never one of my tools; you were the blunt object I used all my tools on, but you withstood all my sawing, grinding and cutting, and since hard blunt objects make excellent tools, I suppose I should simply recognize your value, acquire you, and move to a new project.”

“Acquire me.”

“Perhaps that’s the wrong word.” Leveria tapped her lips, “I guess… I guess ‘partner’ with you would be the appropriate terminology. Yes, I need you as a partner. How about it, little sis?”

I almost laughed. How could she think I wouldn’t see through her veil of manipulation after all this time?! “I’m leaving this place, Leveria. I’m fleeing to Ardeni Dreus, boarding the first ship to Balamora, and never coming back. I never want to see your face again.”

“I’m not letting you leave.”

“Then I’m your prisoner, not your partner.”

“We’re all prisoners to our responsibilities, Yavara. You can’t just run from yours.”

“Responsibilities?!”

“You swore to serve your people. I would hold you to that oath.”

“You’re the Dark Queen now, Leveria! I owe nothing to Alkandra.”

Leveria shook her head. “I don’t know what oaths you swore to the people of Alkandra, but I remember the oaths you swore to your people. I held the bible you swore them upon on your eighteenth birthday.”

I blinked. “What?”

Leveria’s lips broke into a wide grin. “You’re the rightful heir to the Highland throne.”

And in an instant, I saw Leveria’s grand plan click right into place. “No.” I said.

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yes.” She giggled, and proffered the dildo we’d used before. She leaned forward, and tapped me with its wet end upon each of my shoulders, “Through the power vested in me by god and the Highland Noble Court, I hereby renounce my claim to the Highland throne, and abdicate to the next in line, Yavara Tiadoa, who is of pure lineage, of rightful age, and of sound mind, body and spirit. All hail Queen Yavara Tiadoa, long may she reign.”

“I’m not fucking doing it!”

“Well, you don’t have a choice.” Leveria sighed with a smile, “Because there’s no way Arthur will negotiate, so we are going to throw everything we have at the Lowlanders. If any of us are alive afterward, we will stand no chance against the Highland invaders, so someone will need to convince the honorable field marshal to turn his army around.”

“You’re the one who sent him here!”

“And that’s precisely why it will work. Shordian can only rationalize his betrayal of King Ternias to his men if he says he’s following the order of the rightful queen. Once he realizes that I was the Dark Queen all along—”

“You were not!”

“Was too, Yavara!” She tittered teasingly, “And thank you for the wonderful city you made for me. I’ll make sure to demolish all the statues of you and strike your name from every record before you go, but I digress; once Field Marshal Peter Shordian realizes that he’s been following the Dark Queen’s orders all along, his reputation and honor will be shattered. Enter stage right: Yavara Tiadoa, the princess who was enslaved by the wicked Alkandi’s spell, but who miraculously freed herself, and is now once again a pure helpless virgin of royal stock who needs a husband to legitimize her rightful claim. Did you know that Peter Shordian is a widower?”

I stared flatly at Leveria. “You know Peter; I know Peter. Peter isn’t going to buy one cent of your bullshit, least of all the virgin part.”

“Peter doesn’t need to buy anything. His men do. Besides, he’s a pragmatist and an opportunist; that’s what makes him such a good commander. Why would he miss the chance to put his child on the throne of Bentius just to destroy an already-crippled Alkandra? My horde was wiped out—”

“My horde was wiped out, and you did it!”

“Gosh, I thought you were over this, Yavara. I was the Dark Queen all along! You were just a place-holder. All of your achievements, victories and miracles were actually just… my achievements, victories and miracles.” Leveria’s orange eyes sparkled deviously, “Are you getting mad yet? Come on, show me how cute you look when you get mad.”

I could feel my face flushing, and though I was absolutely fuming, I was not at all compelled to violence. Strange. Violence was almost always my first option.

“Absolutely adorable.” Leveria giggled, “Aw, you’re blushing! And oh, those eyes are squinting so much. Squint, squint, squint; are you trying to shoot lasers at me?”

“I’m remembering how much better I liked you when your brains were outside of your head.”



“That’s funny, because I don’t think I’ve ever liked you more than this moment; you’re just so damned cute!”

I took a deep, quivering breath, and hissed, “I’m not letting you get to me, Leveria. Not ever again.”

She cocked a black eyebrow. “Is that so? All the hybrids like me better than you.”

“Don’t care.”

“Zander, Certiok and Titus betrayed you for me.”

“Certiok and Titus too?!”

“Oh, and Elena loved me more than you.”

My fists clenched and unclenched, tears filmed my eyes, and my jaw worked until it felt like my teeth were shearing clean off. Leveria casually checked her nails, then smirked at me. “What, did I say something mean? Are you mad right now?” She relaxed into her pile of pillows, and stuck her tongue out at me, “What’cha gonna do about it, little sis?”

“I…” I growled, “I… I… I want you inside me.”

Leveria blinked, her smile frozen to her face. “What?”

I stretched myself dramatically, displaying my alabaster bosom, my soft belly, my thick creamy thighs. I took the black crown from the bed, and placed it upon my head. “I want to be your submissive Highland queen whore.”

Leveria blinked again. “You… want to be… my submissive Highland… queen… whore.”

I grabbed a choke-chain from the pile, hooked it around my neck, and extended the leash to Leveria with my outstretched hand. “Yessss,” I hissed lecherously, “I want to feel you invade me! Oh gods above, Alkandra has conquered the Highlands once and for all, and now the angelic queen will be ravaged by the evil incarnation! How she will wail and weep to be so violated, but in the end, she will surrender to the corrupting pleasures, and blissfully know her place at her own sister’s feet!”

“Yavara, what the fuck are you—”

I prostrated dramatically before her, and whispered, “I know I don’t deserve to be fucked in the pussy, so please fuck my tight slutty asshole until I come anally like an obedient little sister should!”

Leveria glanced from me, to the thing between her legs. That thing was now so hard that it was curved backwards, and throbbing with such violence that I could see her heartbeat through the bulging veins. She gave it a curious flick, then shuddered from head to toe when a bubble of precum spurted from her engorged tip. She looked from it, to me, and whispered, “well then, come over here, you little Highland slut.”

I stretched forward, spread my cheeks wide, and whispered, “no.”

“…what?”

“I changed my mind. I’m not going to have sex with you.”

For a moment, Leveria was only confused. Then a horrible realization dawned on her face. “Oh no,” she groaned, “oh no, oh no, oh no, you evil fucking BITCH!”

I grinned. “That’s right, Dark Queen. How’s that infamous libido doing for you, hmm? Hard to control, isn’t it? Takes away critical thinking skills, makes you single-minded, and doesn’t do much for rationality. I was a slut when I was the Dark Queen—the sluttiest slut in the world—but at least I didn’t have a penis, and you know how men are.”

Leveria tried to push her cock back down, but that only increased the pressure in it. She tried to avert her eyes from me, but they were glued to my prostrating form, every bow and bend spread out and stretched for her to see. She was drooling. “Oh, fuck.” She whispered, “Oh… oh god, oh shit. C-c-come over here! I know you want it!”

“Oh, I do, Leveria. I’ve been trying to avoid staring at your cock like a guilty dog avoids staring at a steak. It is by far, the best-looking penis I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen thousands. I also have a feeling that you and I would be a match made in hell between the sheets; absolutely perfect for each other.”

“So then get your juicy fat ass over here and let me fuck it!”

“No.” I giggled, “You see, I don’t have any succubus or incubus blood in me anymore. I can want sex, but I don’t need it. In fact, I can want sex and decide not to have it; can you?”

Leveria stared at me with mingled desire, hatred and a hint of admiration. “You got me in a real bind here, Yavara. Well done.”

“Thank you.”

“But I can just jack off.”

I leaned back, splayed myself sexily over the pillows, and began to play with my pussy. “So can I.”

Leveria’s cock bulged with such force that her pelvis flexed with it. She cried out, and hovered her fingers over her shaft, but seemed hesitant to touch it.

“Just jack off.” I giggled, “See if that satisfies you.”

She glared at me from the tops of her eyes. “It won’t, will it?”

“It will just make it worse.”

She let out a shuddering breath. “Ok, little sis, the stage is yours. Talk.”

“Your plan is a good one, I have to admit,” I said, “but it leaves me as nothing more than Peter Shordian’s trophy wife. If I am going to be queen of the Highlands, I am going to be queen. You will come to Bentius for my coronation, and you will bow to me before everyone, and solidify my power.”

“I will not!”

“You will, Leveria, or I’ll tell dear Peter to crucify you the moment you turn me over to him.”

Leveria sneered at me. “That’s not you, Yavara. Not anymore.”

I shrugged with a smile. “I’ll feel really bad about it.”

“Fine!” Leveria spat.

“Wonderful.” I smiled, and began to lace my corset.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She snapped.

“Whatever do you mean?” I asked coyly, my tits ballooning beautifully around my bodice.

“YOU JUST SAID WE HAD A DEAL!”

I giggled, “Leveria, I’m not going to fuck you until I know there’s no chance for you to betray me. It’s my only leverage. If you want to stick your new toy inside me, you’re going to have to wait until the night you visit Bentius.”

Leveria stared slack-jawed at me. “You’re just going to leave me like this?!”

I laced the last length of my corset, then crawled over the mountain of pillows. On the other side of it, was an unconscious Zander Fredeon. Blood was crusted around his nose and ears from the mental beating he’d taken in the astral plane, but his chest rose steadily with slumbering breaths. I sent a telepathic jolt to his brain, and his eyes fluttered open.

“Rise and shine, you traitorous son of a bitch.” I said, and not jokingly.

He blinked for a moment, processing my appearance. “It happened then?” he croaked.

“It happened.”

Zander and I looked at each other for a painfully long time, not saying anything. Finally, I asked, “How long did you know?”

“Six days. Titus confirmed it four days ago.”

“Only six days?! You’ve been like ice to me for months!”

“I know. Perhaps if I were more introspective, I would’ve realized there was something wrong. I fell in love with every incarnation who reached womanhood, but I liked you less every day.”

“I loved you.” I muttered.

“I am sorry.” He said, and he looked like he meant it, “You were everything I wanted Alkandi to be. You were strong, charismatic, and good at heart. I should’ve known you were too good to be true.”

“I wasn’t good, Zander.”

“You were, Yavara. You were just pretending not to be.”

There was another silence between us, and neither of us filled it, though both of us likely had much to say.

“It was all just a mistake then.” I muttered, and that seemed to encapsulate everything between us.

Zander nodded.

“Well,” I sighed, “your queen is just behind these pillows, and she’s in desperate need of a woman’s touch. Have you introduced her to Destiny yet?”

“No.”

“Well then she’s in for a treat.”

Zander wiped the blood from his face, and transformed into the blue-haired woman. I smiled at her, and she looked upon me with something akin to pity. Yes, Destiny and Zander had very different personalities, but they were the same people, and seeing Destiny express her dismissal of me was the final affirmation I needed to know that whatever we had was over. She crawled past me, and I slid down the mountain of pillows, and off the end of the bed.

As Leveria and Destiny’s comingled moans sounded through the room, and flailing limbs and tentacles jutted sporadically from the center of the bed, I walked around the room to the bathroom, and opened the door. Furia fell unconscious from behind the door, and sprawled out onto the floor. I tapped the side of her head, and her blue eyes fluttered open. They were unfocused for a moment, then they widened with shock.

“Yavara?!” She gasped.

“Finally, you call me by my first name!” I chuckled, and extended my hand to her. She grasped it, and I lurched with the unexpected heaviness of her. I didn’t realize how much muscle I’d lost with my dark-elf genes.

“Sorry,” she said hastily when she’d gotten to her feet. She seemed wholly uncomfortable with me, but not like she usually was. She seemed guilty. “You’re… uh…” she scratched the back of her head, “you’re alive, huh?”

“You thought I would die?”

“I kind of assumed you’d have to. Can’t have two Dark Queens, you know?” she laughed nervously, and continued scratching the back of her head, “So… uh… I guess you realize now that I kind of fucked you.”

“You were always ‘kind of’ fucking me, Furia. You never could just fuck me.”

She laughed again, this time genuinely. “That’s because you were always trying to be Adrianna every time we did it.”

“I wanted to please everyone; it was my curse.”

“No, you wanted to be everyone’s favorite. There’s a difference. It was really creepy.”

“Oh, so now that I’m white, everyone tells me how they really feel?”

Furia laughed again, and lounged against the doorframe. It was the first time she’d ever relaxed around me. “So, what’s the deal now? Are you, like, the queen regent or…?”

“I guess I’m still the queen of Alkandra until tomorrow morning. We’ll have to have a brief public ceremony or people will be confused as shit. Then I’ll help out against the Lowlanders, and then if I’m still alive, I’m off to the Highlands. I am the rightful queen after all.”

Furia shook her head disbelievingly. “Your sister really is a crafty bitch.”

“The craftiest of bitches. She’ll make a far better Dark Queen than me, I’m sure.”

“You weren’t bad, you know. As long as you didn’t get in people’s way, you were fine.”

“A glowing review. I’ll make sure to put it in on my resumé.”

Furia giggled again. “Where was this Yavara the whole time?”

“I was there. You just never bothered to see me.”

Her mirth faltered. “Excuse me?”

“None of you did. It’s OK, I get it. I started off our relationship on the wrong foot and then took ten more missteps, but you all didn’t care to walk with me anyway, and that’s alright. It’s lonely at the top, and I couldn’t accept that, but Leveria’s known it all her life. She’ll be alright. You’ll all be alright.”

Furia furrowed her brow. “Will you be alright, Yavara?”

I smiled back, though a tear cascaded down my cheek. “I’ll be fine.”

Furia leaned in to touch me, but I caught her hand. “No.” I said.

“I won’t hold back this time.” She whispered; eyes so full of lust. Why hadn’t she looked at me like that before?

“I’m sure it would be the experience of a lifetime with you,” I said, and placed her hand back on her breast, “but I rather spend the night alone.”

“It’s very likely our last night alive.”

“And I haven’t had a goodnight’s sleep in so, so long.” I smiled, and motioned toward the bed with my head, “Call the other hybrids. Tell them to meet their new queen. If this is our last night, I would have you enjoy it.”

She gave me a long look. “Are you sure?”

“I am. Go on, Furia, you don’t want to party with me anyway. I’m just a boring high-elf girl now, and Leveria’s got a new fat penis and a pair of testicles.”

Furia’s brows went up. “Lady-balls, hmm? That is new.” She turned her head toward the bed, then rapidly transformed in and out of her vampiric form. “I just updated all the sluts on the new development. They’re probably sprinting at full-speed right now.” She looked back to me, then to the tower across the castle, “Are you sure you can still fly?”

I stepped up to the windowsill, and smiled back at her, “Only one way to find out.”

I pushed my heel off the window sill, and stepped out onto nothing. Gravity took me, a jolt of fear shot up my spine, my stomach lurched, and I flailed for a second, but I managed to catch myself with the mass of air below me. It was much harder than it was before, but the adrenaline racing through me gave me the energy I needed. I looked back at Furia, whose lips had been poised to scream when I lurched.

“You could’ve asked for a fucking rope!” She yelled.

“But what would be the fun of that?” I giggled.

“You scared the shit out of me!”

“I know!” I tittered, “Isn’t the fear fun?!”

I could tell she didn’t quite understand what I was saying, but that was OK. I just nodded my salutations, turned around, and began my journey across the expanse of nothing.

I could barely see the people below in the dim dusk light, but I could make out the figures of several blonde-haired women scrambling over each other to get up the castle steps. Eva even pushed Brianna over to get through the door first. A hermaphroditic dark-elf with a dick and balls?! To these women, it was practically like god herself had descended to grace them that night. I laughed at the thought, then sighed with melancholy. Yes, Leveria’s new parts were certainly the cause of excitement, but it was really just Leveria that they were all running for. They had only ever run away from me. I shook the self-pity from my head, and propelled myself toward my tower. It was much more taxing than I remembered, and I felt the sweat beading on my forehead with the exertion of keeping myself airborne. I realized halfway across that there was no way I was going to make it.

A hell of an end to my story. I thought bitterly. Well, I’d always wanted to see how far I could throw myself. I collected all the air behind me, and with a growl, I launched forward. The air whipped through my hair, the tower became closer and closer, and the small aperture of the window became larger and larger. I zipped past my curtains, and plopped into my bed. Perfect aim, as always. I smiled proudly to myself, unlaced my stifling corset, pulled off my sweaty boots, and threw them in the corner. I doubted I’d ever wear them again. Freed of the oppressive clothing, I snuggled into the covers, and sank into the warmth. The moment I closed my eyes, thoughts of Elena swam into my vision. This night, however, they did not torment me. The memories somehow seemed… brighter.

LYDIA STRALTAIRA

Being a vampire was an exercise in moral ambiguity. It truly made me question what was universally “right” and what was societally “right.” My daughter had made me seriously question these “rights” for three days. Being a lesbian was a societal wrong, and yet, a woman’s curves seemed so right to me. Incest was most-definitely a societal wrong, and yet, my daughter’s flesh felt so right inside of me. I determined that incest and lesbianism were not universal wrongs, as they did not hurt anyone so long as everyone participating was doing it of their own free will. These were things I could contend with morally, and though I would certainly keep them a secret from society, I felt that society had gotten them somewhat wrong.

Cannibalism, however, was another topic entirely. The few survivors of the battle had vacated the castle to help those who suffered in the lower wards, leaving me alone in a castle full of corpses. At first, I had gone about playing the silent crypt-keeper; sneaking in the dark places to avoid detection, and dragging bodies to the throne room so that they could rest in neat orderly rows, and later be identified. But as the sun set, and the beams of sunlight that shone through the gothic windows became beams of moonlight, I became rather hungry. My first instinct was to go to the pantry and find some dried meats, but when I bit into the flesh, it offered me no sustenance. I sucked and sucked and sucked, and realized in a moment of mild embarrassment that I had forgotten how to eat! I bit off a portion of ham, and chewed it. I felt like a cow masticating cud, and I spat out the meat in disgust. I didn’t understand; I loved ham!

But a suckling piglet would be nicer. All squirming and squealing, oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yesssss. An intrusive thought blared in my mind.

“Oh no,” I said, dropping the ham, “Oh dear, this is not good.”

You know what would be even better than a piglet? A baby elf. So juicy… oh I could bite into them, and they’d burst like a peach!

“Nope. No, no, no; I did not just think that. La-la-la-la-la, thinking normal thoughts. The weather, the park, the garden show…”

Tearing its little arms off! Oh, they’re like drumsticks!

“Ok, maybe something more titillating, hmm? Pornography, dog races, gambling…”

…sucking the marrow out! Oh, yes! Suck it dry from that little elf piglet!

“Fist-fucking my own daughter, getting anally reamed by ten hermaphroditic lesbians, getting gagged and whipped by my own fucking mother!”

Eat the liver last. It’s a delicacy. Keep the child alive to preserve the flavor. The screams make it taste better.

“OK, THAT’S ENOUGH!” I stormed up the castle steps, and into the throne room. There, I saw a veritable buffet of elves, orcs and wargs. I set myself to eating just the wargs; that wasn’t too bad, right? But the moment I opened up one of the hairy beasts, my nose crinkled in disgust. Only if I was starving. Orcs then. Surely, orcs would satisfy me, and these were evil creatures after all, so no one would begrudge me. I sank my veins into one orc throat, and sucked the dead blood from his heart. It was thick and bitter, and tasted much too gamey for me. Not only was I a vampire, but I was noble vampire, and my palate had been refined all my life by the finest dishes the Highlands best chefs could make me. Frankly, I was spoiled rotten, and if I was being honest with myself, I was much too entitled not to choose the best available option. Oh, I was a weak, weak woman. Temptation only had to bat her lashes at me, and I’d roll over like a dog. No wonder I’d fucked my own daughter.

“Well,” I sighed, staring at the body before me, “no one will ever know.” Of course I hadn’t chosen some mauled and disfigured geriatric. No, if I was going to be a cannibal, I might as well treat myself. God, I was hopeless. The woman before me was barely past her teen years, with tight and youthful skin and a blush to her alabaster complexion. She had clearly taken her own life, and by hanging. What a tragedy. All the blood was still in her. Would be a shame to waste it.

“Ok,” I said, clapping my hands, “here I go. I’ll just take a little bite, and…” I ate her face off in one mouthful. Oh… oh it was good. I savored the subtle changes in texture, the overtones of iron, and the sweetness of the eyeballs, then sank my fangs into her throat, and drank deeply. She shriveled beneath me, and I had to stop myself lest I waste some of the meatier delights of her body. Her breasts were ample and round, and I tore them clean off in two bites. I did not chew my food, but ripped and swallowed like a cat, taking delicious mouthful after delicious mouthful of muscle, fat and flesh, stretching and ripping the tendons, savoring the way they snapped into my lips. When I was done, she was nothing but bones, and I licked those cleanly before snapping them to suck the marrow out. I patted my full distended belly, and sighed in contentment. Surely, I would need extensive therapy for this when my normal body was healed enough for me to live in it, but for now, I simply enjoyed the dead, cold silence of the night. It was strange how I had once feared it; what was there to fear? I was the only terror in the night, and the solitude was so peaceful to me.

Something moved. My head darted to the source. My eyes focused. Through the moonlit monochromatic darkness, I could see the midsection of a warg rising and falling. Living flesh. It was just too tempting. I groaned as I stood, so stuffed that I didn’t need anything more, but I was a weak little glutton. I sauntered over to the animal, and knelt beside it. It was as dead as dead could be. Its belly was split wide open, and its guts were spilled out onto the floor like spaghetti. Elena had killed this beast herself. I chalked the movement up to intestinal gasses leaking, and stood up. Its belly moved again. It wasn’t the belch of methane, but a writhe, like a spasm. But how could there be a spasm when its abdominal wall was dissected? Cautiously, I reached down, and peeled open the beast.

Between the folds of yellow fat and the pools of green bile, was a woman. She was wedged just below the esophagus, her head stuck in the sphincter of the stomach. Her collar bone had been crushed inward by the force of the beast’s swallowing muscles, and her ribs were all shattered for the same reason. Her arms were flopped out in front of her, each one shorn right off mid-bicep, the grotesque wounds resembling teeth marks. Half her pelvis was missing, also shorn right off in a jagged pattern that could only have been a bite, and her hips had been snapped completely off. But she was alive. Horrifically alive. She stared at me with bulging white eyes, somehow still terrified of me even after all that had happened to her. Out of one predator, and into another. I guess life was cruel. Gingerly, I pulled her from the warg corpse. She was in too much agony to scream, but the look in her eyes bespoke the horrific sensations running through her. I extracted her from the stomach’s sphincter, and angled her neck to the side. She stiffened in terror. I bit.

Life was cruel, but I was not. I poured my venom into her from one fang as Elena had done to me, and she relaxed in my arms. I set her down, and let her transformation take hold. Her bones snapped into place, her legs grew from her remade pelvis, and her arms snaked from the stumps until they were as muscular and beautiful as the rest of her. She leapt up with a snarl, saw that I was not food, then looked upon the field of corpses surrounding her. I sat back, and silently judged her table manners as she devoured elf after elf. She wasn’t satiated until she’d gone through seven of them, and when her mind finally returned to her, she looked upon her blood-stained marble body with horror, fell to her knees, and wailed.

“It’s alright!” I said hurriedly, and rushed to her side, “It’s not permanent! You can change back, but you shouldn’t, or you’ll die.”

“W-w-w-what?” she blubbered.

“I only bit you with one fang.” I pointed to my teeth, “See? So it’s, you know, like half-and-half.”

She blinked away her tears. “Half-and-half?”

“Like coffee and cream.”

“Like Adrianna.” She whispered. She took a deep, shuddering breath, and hissed, “She is your blood-mother then, is she not?”

“Grandmother, actually.”

“And where is Adrianna?”

“You uh… you ate her.” I pointed to the corpse beside her, so mauled that it resembled a cherry pastry more than a woman, but the dark tattooed skin was unmistakable. My blood-daughter stared at the corpse for a long time. She giggled, then laughed, then burst into such uproarious mirth that I was sure she’d lost her mind. She fell into my arms, and howled to the ceiling until her voice broke, and the moonlight glinted off her tear-stained cheeks.

When she was done, she croaked, “And who are you then?”

“Lydia Straltaira, at your service,” I said, and extended my hand.

She cocked her head, examining my outstretched hand, then me. “The noblewoman?” She asked.

“The very same.” I leaned in, and winked, “Though I’d appreciate it if you kept that a secret.”

She cautiously took my hand, and shook it. “Esmerelda Giana.”

“The rebel leader?!”

“The very same,” she smirked, “though I’d appreciate it if you kept that a secret.”



“Well, isn’t this a strange set of circumstances, hmm?” I mused, and pet her hair dotingly, “For a radical socialist, you sure were greedy with all my corpses, you know.”

“I nationalized them. You damn nobles just horde all the wealth and never use it anyway.”

“Oh, I like you.”

“I like you too,” she smiled up at me. There were a thousand scars behind that smile, and I could see them all so plainly. This woman had been through more hell than I could ever imagine, and she’d made it through all of that to end up here. I couldn’t blame her for what Adrianna had done, but others would.

“Esmerelda, things are going to change around here, you know. My daughter is the rightful heir to the throne, and if god willing, she makes it back alive, the Highlands are going to become a very different place. That said, it would be best if everyone thought you were dead.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she sighed, and relaxed into my lap.

“Such devotion you have to your own cause.”

“I never wanted to lead a rebellion; I just wanted vengeance. I wanted to find the man who had taken me, and make him feel all the pain I felt.”

“Did you?”

“No, I never saw him again,” she snuggled into my embrace, “and I’m OK with that now. Now, I can just… disappear. Esmerelda Giana is dead.”

“What will you do?”

“I don’t know. I’m rather dependent on you, aren’t I? I can’t just go to the local apothecary to heal what’s left of my other body; I’ll need royal mages for that.”

“You’re a noblewoman then. A lesser known one, say… Hannah Xantian. No one remembers her. I think she died of the pox two years ago.”

“So now I’m two dead women.” She giggled.

I laughed with her, and brushed her black hair behind her ear. I didn’t realize how intimate the touch was until I looked back at Esmerelda, and the smile had vanished from her blood-red lips.

“I’m sorry.” I muttered.

“You should be.”

I swallowed. “I’ll just… I’ll just leave you alone then, I guess.”

“Don’t,” she said softly, and took my hand in hers. She brought it back behind her ear, and stared expectantly up at me. Her reptilian pupils were dilated and large in her crimson eyes, and though they signaled her comfort with me, they also bespoke her innocence.

“Have you ever done anything like this before?” I asked, grazing my nails gently down her throat.

She shuddered pleasurably, and whispered, “I consider myself a virgin.”

“So why now? Why with me?”

She opened her eyes, and smiled. “I’m alive, my belly is full, and I’m in the arms of a beautiful woman. Why not?” She reached out, and curiously ran her thumbs over my lips, “Besides, we’ll be hiding out in this castle until your daughter gets here. Who knows how long that will take? We’ll need something to do to pass the time.”

I laughed, and lowered my face to hers, “That’s as good a reason as any, I guess.”

We kissed in the center of the throne room, and made beasts of each other throughout the night, our pale bodies writhing in the cold lunar light.

End of Part Sixteen.

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