by Ember Hollis
“Unlike you, Knox, I don’t play well with others,” Bane replies. He moves to pull me away, but Knox’s arm around my waist stops him.
“Well, all the more reason to let me play with the poppet,” Knox says, his green eyes glittering. “I believe,” he says, turning to me, “That we already made a deal together, haven’t we?”
“You didn’t dance with her,” Bane says, surprising me. Had he been watching me during the Masquerade?
“Well, I wouldn’t call what we did dancing,” Knox says, with a hungry glance at my bare legs, “But it’s just as fun, if not more so. Isn’t that right, poppet?”
I jump when I feel his hand slide lower to cup my ass under the jacket. His hands are warm and smooth, and the feel of them against my bare skin sends my heart racing. I don’t resist as Knox pulls us closer together, then dips his head to give me a long, deep kiss. Knox slides his hand lower down my ass to send a finger between my legs, making me gasp in sudden pleasure. He swirls it around with teasing strokes, and I moan low in my throat.
When we part, I find I’ve twined both arms around his neck, and don’t really have any intention of letting go, despite the fact that I can feel Bane eyeing us balefully.
“Shall we?” Knox whispers hungrily. I nod, feeling a tremendous need to have him inside me.
“Yes,” I reply breathlessly.
“Wait, just a min—” Bale reaches for me at the exact same time as Knox and I wink out of darkened forest clearing.
I hear a rushing in my ears and feel darkness compressing me on all sides. Knox is pushed against my front from head to toe, but so is Bale, who’s wedged so tightly against my back that I can feel… an interesting bulge pressing hard against the soft flesh of my buttocks.
A moment later, the rushing sound ends and the pressure forcing us together gives way. I look around in surprise and see that Knox, Bane and I are on a plateau at the very top of the mountain on which Pandorax is perched.
Moonlight streams down from the starry sky onto a crystal clear, emerald colored pool that’s wedged within a stone circle. Wisteria blossoms float upon it from a massive tree nearby, and soft grass peppered with Parnassus flowers lie at my feet. This little enclave is like a scene out of fairy tale, and I can’t help but gasp as I turn round and round, gazing in wonder at the beauty surrounding me. Far below us the forests, swamps and meadows echo with the sounds of fighting, but here, there’s nothing but peace and quiet, and… the two Horsemen staring at each other over me.
“Don’t you have someplace better to be?” Knox asks Bane.
“You’re the one who brought us with you,” the other Horseman replies. “We were on our way to Malek’s lodge.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you,” Knox replies, reaching for me. Without any hesitation, he unbuttons Bane’s jacket and lifts it off my shoulders to give to Bane.
The taller Horseman steps forward and speaks quietly, “She was coming with me.”
“Not any more.”
I watch worriedly as Bane lowers his voice even further. “You sure you want to get involved with an angel, Knox?”
“Unlike the rest of you,” the black-haired Horseman replies with a chuckle, “I don’t have a grudge against angels. Just a keen interest in this one making good on a little debt she owes me.”
“One that’s been gathering quite a bit of interest.” He cups my face with one hand and presses hard on my cheeks. Despite the ache from his fingers, something twinges deep in my belly, and an answering throb starts between my legs. I allow him to tilt my chin up for a kiss, but Bane stops us by grabbing Knox’s wrist.
I sigh impatiently as he tries to pull Knox away. What on earth is Bane doing? If Knox and I want this, who is he to interfere? Hadn’t he also danced with me the other night? Why was it okay for him to be my suitor but not Knox?
“Wait Knox, there’s something you shou—”
With a daring I didn’t know I possessed, I pull my shirt off to stand in front of them, fully naked and exposed.
Both Bane and Knox turn from each other to stare at me, Knox surveying me with an unrestrained look of desire and an approving smirk, while Bane’s eyes widen momentarily before his expression shutters entirely.
“Bane,” I say. “I want this, so please don’t get in our way. Knox and I can make our own decisions.”
Then, without waiting for his response, I reach for Knox. If Bane is going to get cold feet, that’s entirely on him. But I’ve been waiting for this forever, and I’m not going to let anyone, or anything get in my way now.
I pull Knox into a kiss, luxuriating in how he responds by wrapping me in his arms and hungrily plundering my lips. He takes charge quickly, grabbing me under my thighs and pulling me up to wrap my legs around his waist. I gasp in excitement as he whirls around in a speedy version of the ritual dance, moving as fast as a vampire and kicking up golden sparks with his feet, then speeds across the plateau to deposits me on the grass within the mossy stones of the stone circle.
My chest heaves as I watch him undress, flinging aside his black jacket, shirt, and trousers with ease. Knox is built like an athlete, with a cat-like grace that coupled with his intent, hungry green eyes, reminds me of nothing more than a predator stalking his prey. I trace my eyes down his body, stopping on his member nestled within a mass of jet black curls. The sight of it makes my throat dry up as I recall what it felt to have its long, velvety length between my lips.
“Poppet,” he says, coming up close. “Show me how much you want me.”
Again, he grabs my face with one hand, indenting his thumb deep into the softness of my cheek to guide my lips to his shaft. Obediently, I let him do it, wanting to feel the weight of his flesh in my mouth once more.
Knox pushes in slowly, gazing intently down at me with eyes slit with green as the head of his member bobs against my lips, teeth, and the roof of my mouth, before brushing against the back of my throat. I moan in delight at the velvety feel of it, rubbing my tongue against its length. Knox’s hands tighten in my hair almost painfully as he sighs in pleasure. When he’s all the way in, he pauses, shaft twitching, and I gaze up at him from under heavy-lidded eyes, suckling his member hard.
With slow deliberation, Knox pulls himself almost all the way out, then pushes in again, maintaining a slow, heady pace that allows me to feel every inch of him.
I’m so consumed by the feel of him moving in and out of my mouth, and the wet, slick sounds it makes, that I can’t help but jump when another pair of hands touches me.
I look up and sideways and spot Bane, still dressed, but with eyes that blaze like purple stars as he stares at me.
Knox raises a brow at him but keeps moving, thrusting himself in and out of my mouth while Bane strokes my hair, my hollowed out cheeks, my swollen lips, before moving down to my heaving breasts and belly.
The feel of his hands touching my nipples makes me moan again with need, and I give him a hungry look. Bane’s eyes seem to glitter as they meet mine, and he looks at me for what seems like forever, indecision warring with desire and need.
Then, with slow deliberation, he lifts a hand to his narrow tie… and loosens it.
Chapter 27: Heaven
If Knox looks like an athlete, with wiry muscles, Bane looks like an man who’s been blessed with androgynous beauty. His body is as delicately wrought as an artist’s sculpture, with graceful, long lines, and perfect proportions.
He kneels beside me and starts kissing down my back, until he reaches the spot right where my wings normally emerge from. I shiver as his tongue touches my heated skin, soothing and stimulating all at the same time. My back is a lot more sensitive nowadays, and that area is like an erogenous zone, with every little caress and touch vibrating through all the nerves in my body.
When I shudder, I feel Bane smile against my back. I reach out to caress his thigh even as he curls his arms around me to cradle my breasts. His hands are gentle, gentler than I’d expected, and the feel of him cupping and squeezing
my breasts makes me long to feel them elsewhere too.
I push my hips back against him, until Bane drops a hand down between my legs and finally touches me down there. He rubs his fingers against my folds, feeling their shape and sliding against the dampness. I moan again at the sensation of him caressing me, hungry for more, and Knox lowers himself, so that all of us are on the ground, skillfully maneuvering me so my lips never leave his flesh.
The new position seems to spur Bane on. Now that I’m on my knees, he nudges my legs further apart, exposing all of me to his view. I can’t see what his expression looks like, but a moment later, I feel the touch of his lips pressing against my opening, and feel his tongue pushing deep within me as his hands loop around my thighs to hold me in place.
His touch down there drives me even crazier with desire, and I pant around Knox’s member, dying for him to do more. With a chuckle, Knox lifts himself onto his elbows and looks past me at Bane.
“Fuck her already,” he drawls, in a low voice. “She’s more than ready.” He pulls out of my mouth, allowing me to catch my breath, then flips me over onto my back.
I gasp when I finally see Bane’s face. He’s looking at me with lust painted across his features, his desire for me in plain view for the first time that I’ve ever seen. With a growl, he catches my hips and pulls me closer to him.
I spread my legs, and Bane settles between them, while Knox grabs my ankles to pull them even further apart. When I look up, I see the green-eyed Horseman drinking in our desire, his eyes on both Bane and I with an almost manic light illuminating them.
“Do it,” I tell Bane as he stares at me. He’s gazing at me as if I’m a vision he never expected to receive, but when he hears my words, he snaps out of his reverie and nods firmly.
I gulp as I feel his member brush against my entrance. Bane pauses for a moment to lean forward and kiss me, then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he thrusts forward, sinking in between my folds, inch by delicious inch. I release a soft cry as he pushes himself all the way in to the hilt, then pulls out, leaving just the tip in.
“Are you okay?” he asks. I nod frantically, needing more. Bane doesn’t need to be told twice. He plunges in again, taking me hard and fast. Grabbing hold of my legs from Knox, he curls them over his shoulders while he fucks me relentlessly.
Not to be beaten, Knox reaches forward to fondle my breasts, pinching the nipples cruelly until I cry out in pain mixed with pleasure.
I can see that he’s enjoying this, even though he’s not the one inside me. He leans in to kiss me while he squeezes my breasts, enjoying how they bounce in time to Bane’s motions. Having both Horseman touching me feels like heaven, and I let myself loose, ignoring everything but the feel of their touch and how its driving me closer and closer to the edge. Distantly, I’m aware that my moans and cries are echoing across the plateau and beyond, but it doesn’t bother me.
The only thing I want, is to have more.
After a while, Bane’s thrusts become even harder and more erratic. His arms around my legs tighten like iron and he releases a low groan as he slams into me, once, twice, and a third time, his flesh slapping hard against mine when he stops. I feel him shuddering above me, then a wash of warmth as he spills his seed deep inside my core. I gaze at his face in fascination, watching him come while he stares at me, eyes half-lidded and intense, though no longer piercing. It’s the first time I’ve seen this expression on him, and I find that I love the sight of it.
Bane pulls out a moment later, and I gasp at the sudden feeling of emptiness. But no sooner is he gone, then Knox takes his place.
Knox’s member is wider, though shorter, and he fucks me with urgent, hard strokes that bring me even closer to the edge. After a few thrusts, he draws back and flips me over onto my belly, then lifts me to my knees and spreads my legs even wider. I lean forward on the ground with my elbows, crying out as he hits a spot deep inside that I haven’t yet felt. It sends lightning fingers of pleasure spreading through my core and I buck wildly back, desperate for more.
Bane watches as I scream louder and more hoarsely, until I’m shuddering under Knox, coming in wave upon wave of ecstasy. The green-eyed Horseman doesn’t slow a fraction of a second, even when I’m done, holding me up expertly until he too finds release and spills himself inside me.
We lie there, still connected, for long, slow, minutes as the world spins back onto its axis. My body has never felt so satisfied and fulfilled, and I can’t understand why it’s taken me so long to do this.
Once I catch my breath I look up to see Bane, wondering what he thinks about what’s just happened. As my eyes skim over his body, I find my answer quickly in the sight of his member, which is stiff and eager once again.
“Looks like you’re not quite done, yet, poppet,” Knox whispers in my ear, as he starts fingering me once more, pushing three fingers deep into my wet depths, with a thumb rubbing against my sensitive nub. My breath hitches as desire starts to burgeon within me again, and I reach a hand behind to find that he’s almost ready too. “We’re going to work you all night long.”
“No problem,” I laugh, with another glance at Bane’s crotch. “Show me what else you’ve got.”
Chapter 28: Heaven
We have sex at least three more times, against the stones, in the water, and on the grass again. By the time I’ve come for the fifth time, I feel exhausted and yet so energized, I feel like my soul is singing.
The moon is at its peak when we lie satiated on the grass. Bane and I gaze up at it while Knox snores on the other side of me.
“Tell me something, Bane,” I say, familiar enough with him now that I don’t feel so nervous talking to him. “You wanted to do that from the first moment you saw me, didn’t you?”
His purple eyes slide to me, though his lips remain sealed. In the moonlight, his hair looks like a downy cloud of silk, floating with the slightest of breezes.
Just when I believe he won’t reply, he says, “It doesn’t change anything though.”
“What?” I sit up on my elbow. “Why wouldn’t it?” It had changed everything for me. Now that I’ve felt how gentle his hands can be, I find it hard to see him the way I had, cold, unfeeling, and unbelievably and unreasonably condescending. Everything seems like a farce he’d put up for some reason.
“Because you’re still going to die before the end of the year,” he says, finally turning to look at me. “You really should leave, Heaven.”
I gape at him, at a complete loss for words.
“Is that a threat?” I say finally.
Bane blinks slowly at me. If I knew him better, I’d be tempted to say that he looks sad, though his expression hasn’t changed a whit. “It’s a prophecy.”
I shake my head, unable to comprehend what he’s saying. Whose prophecy? About me? How was that even possible?
I want to ask him more questions, but a series of wrenching screams breaks the air.
“That’s Sybil!” I gasp, jumping to my feet. A shooting pain burrows at my lower back and I stumble, crying out.
“Are you okay?” Bane asks, getting up too.
“I’m okay,” I stagger away. The pain is sharp, but it feels like it’s coming from the inside rather than from outside. “I think I might have strained my back at some point. But please, we need to help Sybil!”
“I agree. I feel death,” he says, kicking Knox with a foot. “Lots of it.”
“Hurry!” I call, dashing to the side of the plateau. There’s frantic screaming in the forest down there, spreading through the trees like a wave, louder and more consistently than before. I can see frantic figures darting about, like little ants between them.
Knox grumbled but climbs to his feet to stand with Bane and I.
“Can you teleport us down there?” Bane asks him.
“Yes,” he replies. “But it would be better if I can see what we would be getting into. Otherwise we could end up in front of an arrow. Let’s get lower, then I’ll try.”
“I can’t wait,” I cry out. Sybil’s shrieks are getting fainter, but not because she’s further away, I suspect. With a confidence I normally wouldn’t have, I throw myself over the cliff into a dive towards the direction of her screams.
My wings burst out of my back in a flurry of white. All the charred feathers are gone now, healed or shed at some point or other. I’m relieved at the absence of pain, but there’s no time to question it. I swoop down like a bird of prey, leaving the two Horsemen to race after me as they leap down the cliff’s edge.
As I near the tops of the trees, I finally see what’s happening.
Figures are running through the woods, but unlike all the other figures I’ve seen tonight, there’s nothing remotely humanoid about them. I glimpse reptilian faces framed by rams horns and fish fins, leathery wings, and lizard bodies tipped by black, liquid claws. The creatures’ eyes have flames in them, and their voices are harsh and inhuman, uttering a guttural language I can’t recognize.
“Sybil!” I call out. “Where are you?”
“Heaven! Here!” I hear a call to my left. Quickly, I speed low over the trees until I catch flashes of green in the darkness, close to the cliffs.
There she is!
Sybil is in a clearing by the forest’s edge, surrounded not only by dozens of girls’ bodies in yellow cocoons, but also several of the gray creatures, who wield spears and curved scimitars. As I watch, she blasts two of them into stone, then slaps her tail against them, breaking them apart. She’s moving a lot slower than normal, and I spot dozens of small cuts on her body, along with patches on her tail that have been burned raw by fire. She’s also only able to use one eye to shoot petrifying lasers, as the other is swollen shut in a black bruise.
“What happened?” I yell at her, sending my own attack of razor sharp feathers to keep the creatures away. “Were did these come from? What happened to the girls?”
