“You’re actually not married to Brynn, anymore, anyway,” Mockery mused, as she twisted and wrapped herself in the blanket so that the Necromancer was lying lengthwise on the bed.
I wrinkled my brow.
“Yes, I am,” I said, beginning to argue.
“Until--death--do you part,” Mockery said, turning on her back. Then, a wicked laugh slithered out of her lips as I paled.
She was right.
Brynn had died. Candace had killed her, then she had brought Brynn back to life. Technically, Brynn wasn’t my wife anymore. Nowhere in the vows did it say how long she had to remain dead.
“That’s not how it works,” I muttered.
“Look out the window,” Tian prompted, sticking her arm out of the blanket, and flashing me again.
Scowling, I walked over to it and looked down on the street.
Black banners hung from every light post, up and down the thoroughfare.
“What do those mean?” I asked as I kept an eye on James as well. He was still growling at me.
“Your ex-wife dies tomorrow,” she mused. “The city is planning a Death Day party.”
Then, she sat up and dropped the blanket, leaving her perfect, breasts visible. My mind stuttered, and I could barely think. My thoughts swayed back and forth between, “God, She’s beautiful,” and “Brynn’s going to die tomorrow.”
“Twenty-seven,” Tian murmured.
I looked at her and frowned, not understanding…
Then, I understood. Tian was telling me her age.
“Or, eighteen, you pick.”
Dammit.
- 3 -
My left knee began to quiver. I looked down at it in shock. The stress was starting to get to me.
“Come here,” she ordered.
And… I felt my brain shiver again.
Her command had substance. I could feel my mind wanting to do what she commanded. My left foot actually moved a step forward without my conscious effort.
Gritting my teeth, I fought the compulsion. I was not starting this relationship off as her bitch.
Mockery shifted, so she was kneeling on the bed on all fours. Her full breasts hung down, making my mind ache to touch them. Nothing was sexier than a woman on her knees.
“Bazal,” she purred. “Come. Here.”
My mind burned.
Gasping, I took a step forward and then stopped. Her bitch of a mother--or Mockery herself--had bewitched me. The rib was either cursed to Tame me, or Mockery had cast a spell or both.
Tian arched her back and stretched forward, lowering her front… but keeping her ass in the air. I let out a huff of excitement. Even if she wasn’t trying to control me… that position was magic.
I took another step.
“No,” I groaned.
Then, I shut my eyes and grabbed hold of the connection between us. It was thicker than any of my other bonds.
What the hell?
My sigils should have shown a connection to Mary, Hana, and Taesa.
But they were empty.
“What?” I shouted.
Mockery laughed.
Then, I felt a cold dagger of pain stab me in the chest, right through my sternum. Dropping to my knees, I opened my eyes, expecting to see blood dripping down my chest. But nothing was wrong. No wound. No blood.
But, pain.
And… a wiggle.
I grabbed my chest… and under my skin, I could feel something about the size of my thumb squirm and twitch.
The blood drained from my face. There was something alive under my skin.
“Shit,” I groaned. “What did you do to me?”
The witch laughed and slithered down off of the bed, crawling on her stomach like a snake. “If you won’t come to the Mountain. Then, the Mountain will make him come, anyway.”
She moved toward me like a tiger on four legs. Her body stalked towards mine, making her ass and breasts shimmy back and forth.
“Twenty-one,” she growled.
“Tian,” I groaned. “What is in my chest?”
“Fuck me, and I will tell you,” she promised with sin in her eyes.
Jesus.
Her skin was soft and perfect when she brushed up against my side like a cat. That touch made me shiver, and her rib throbbed under my skin, driving all reasonable thoughts from my mind. I had no idea how old she was, and the bitch wasn’t going to tell me.
Mockery rubbed against me, circling my body, but never losing connection with it. Stopping behind me, Mockery pressed her breasts directly against my back.
“Twenty-six,” she whispered into my ear.
I was growing harder by the second. Her arms wrapped around my chest as she pulled herself up my back, climbing me like a stripper’s pole.
The spider on the bed moved, snapping me out of her spell. I skittered away from Tian. In the light, she had that look that Asian women have. The ageless perfection of pale ivory skin with a tinge of amber. Her dark brown eyes twinkled with pleasure as she stared back at me. Mockery was enjoying taunting me.
Grabbing hold of our mystical connection, I squeezed hard.
Mockery gasped and twisted, falling to the floor and shuddering.
Fuck.
“I’m sorry,” I gasped, moving closer to her. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, just…”
Mockery began to laugh. The chuckle came from deep in her chest.
“Fuck, that felt good,” she laughed. “Do it again. Or, better yet… tie me up and spank me. Maybe… just maybe… I’ll answer your questions then.”
Fuck.
Tian looked up at me with dark, bedroom eyes, and I lost myself in them.
“Nineteen,” she whispered, biting her bottom lip.
James dropped a spool of rope onto the floor, shattering my concentration, and scaring the fuck out of me.
“Dammit,” I cursed, glancing from him, back to her. I had forgotten that he was even in the room.
“Bind me,” she murmured. “Tie me up, spank me hard, and fuck me… Bazal. Stop being such a wimp.”
That word… wimp... snapped in my mind.
Bullies had been tormenting me for years in the caves. They had always baited me with words like wimp, or pitiful human.
Not goblin enough… was one of their favorite taunts.
I was tired of being tormented.
So, I grabbed the rope and lunged at her.
Mockery slithered out of my grasp and made a run for it, laughing insanely. She was as slippery and elusive as an eel.
I threw myself at her, but she twisted away, jumping onto the bed and bouncing over it.
“Too human,” Mockery laughed, making me chase her.
Furious, I rolled across the bed, trailing the rope behind me. Yelping and laughing, Mockery twisted and turned, making me fall. I crashed to the ground, hitting face first.
Mockery landed on my back.
Lifting my face up, she slammed it into the ground.
I saw stars and felt blood gushing out of my mouth and nose.
My remaining control shattered. The human side of my soul gave way to the goblin portion. I twisted and rolled, attempting to entangle her.
Like a cat, Mockery bounded away with the rope in her hands.
Roaring, I jumped up, only to trip and fall again as my left foot snagged and was caught in something.
I banged my chin on the ground and bit my tongue. Screaming in frustration, my head was slammed back into the ground as her ass landed on top of it.
Darkness. All I could see for several seconds was pure, ebony nothingness.
While my mind tried to stop spinning, I felt the rope that was already wrapped around my ankle, tethering me to the bed get tied around my other ankle. Twisting, I tried to get her off of me, but I only made things worse. My legs were good and stuck.
Mockery had somehow stayed on top of me. Her wet pussy was now jammed into my face.
Laughing, Mockery smeared my face with her juices.
My senses lit
on fire. I couldn’t think. Tian’s scent was making something primal in me want to fuck her no matter what.
Grabbing for her, she slipped out of my fingers.
Then, a pillow smacked me in the nose.
And… a huge spider landed on my chest.
Shrieking, I rolled again, further tangling most of my legs in that fucking rope.
The spider went flying, and Tian landed on my back again.
Click.
A God Damn handcuff snapped on my wrist.
“Stop!” I shouted as I tried to grab her with my free hand.
She let me snag her arm.
Then... the second manacle clanked shut on my wrist and pulled tight. Laughing, Tian grabbed the back of my head and slammed my face into the floor again.
- 4 -
“Wimp. Baby. Child,” Tian taunted as she straddled my back. “You’re too weak to capture a kingdom, or fuck me.”
Then, she leaned down and bit my ear hard.
I thrashed underneath her, seeing red.
“Whiny, little foreskin of a man,” she snapped.
That was it.
I lost it.
“Dagaḍa Tvacā!” I growled.
My new dark rock armor snapped out of my skin. Sinews, muscles, and bones grew bigger, snapping the manacles on my wrists. My shoulders doubled in size, as I grew heavy and large. Shrieking in a rage, I ripped the ropes off of my legs and stood up, almost hitting my head on the ceiling.
With a yelp, Tian fell off of me, landing on her ass.
My silver tattoos were glowing in the room's twilight.
And… on my head, I could feel two horns.
Fury burned in my heart. I couldn’t think or process.
“Pussy,” she whispered, as a taunt, not a promise of sex.
Roaring, I turned around and took a step toward her.
James jumped over Mockery and slammed two silver daggers into my chest.
They should have skidded off, showering Tian below us with sparks.
Instead, they sank into my chest to the hilt.
“No!” Mockery shouted as I stumbled backward with both blades sticking out of me.
I fell to my knees and stared… at the purple blood.
Fuck.
I was infected.
My mind swam as the amethyst liquid poured down my skin.
Unclean.
Falling to my hands and knees. I felt my second heart.
What?
Inside my chest, I felt something throb with power.
Mockery and her mother had done a lot more than what they were supposed to when they installed my new ribs. I could feel a beast quivering on my sternum, scratching like a cat at a closed door.
And… a second heart was pounding nearly out of control in my chest.
Agony tore through me as it began to…
Screaming, I felt the heart rip and tear against the fabric of the universe. Then… pure, black mana flooded my system, driving the remaining thoughts from my mind.
Reaching up, I grabbed the first dagger and yanked it out. Purple blood splattered the floor. The silver blade had black hex marks carved all over it, and the metal burned in my palms.
Shrieking, I threw it at the window, shattering the glass.
Then, I yanked out the second blade.
My hearts were pounding in my chest as blood spurted out of both of my wounds.
I needed…healing.
“Upacāra hā viṣa,” I ground out.
Blister’s runes on my back flared, lighting up the room with their strobing power. We were on the second or third floor of the building. So, my hex marks couldn’t touch the ground to yank strength from it.
But, for the first time… I didn’t need too.
My second heart began pounding harder, pouring raw mana into my Master’s spell, giving it all the power that it needed.
The wounds on my chest closed and then began to scab over. I felt better than I had ever had before. Stretching, I felt intense pressure in my back. Then, a ripping noise tore through my skin. Moaning, but in satisfaction, I felt my goblin tail slide out of my flesh.
Male Gray’s had a tail. Since I was a half-blood, I thought I would never be an adult in my tribe’s eyes.
“Morikawa...” Tian whispered.
Demon.
I could feel the word vibrating in her mind.
Growling, I took a step forward as she backpedaled.
James yanked a shortsword out of a sheath and charged me again. Enraged, I blocked his attack with my forearm as I grabbed him by the throat. The zombie twisted and thrashed as I yanked him up off of the floor.
“Twenty-eight,” Mockery declared, stepping up to me. She had to reach up on her tippy-toes to touch my elbow.
I ignored her. Growling, I decided that I would kill this bastard once and for all.
“I am twenty-eight,” she repeated.
Turning, I scowled at her. Tian hadn’t repeated a number, ever.
Seeing my attention, she said, “Please. James is my only servant. Release him.”
“No,” I growled, turning away from her.
“We need him to save Brynn,” Tian prompted. All sense of the old Mockery was gone. It felt like a new woman was standing next to me.
Scowling, I looked down at her as I tightened my grip on Jame’s arm and neck. All it would take was one little crunch, and his head would pop off.
“Bazal,” she said, letting go of my arm and kneeling. “I. Am. Twenty-Eight.”
“Why should I believe you?” I asked. “You are a pathological liar who excels at her craft.”
Lowering her head to the ground, Tian genuflected, touching her forehead to the ground in complete submission.
“I apologize,” she whispered. “My Husband.”
- 5 -
“I am not your husband!” I roared.
Then, I threw James at the window.
“No!” Mockery screamed as he crashed into the glass and tumbled down into the street below. The curtains ripped away, bathing the room in sunlight.
Sunlight that burned.
Shrieking, I stumbled away from Tian, nearly blinded by the intense glare.
When I couldn’t get far enough, I smashed through the bedroom door into another room that had also been shuttered in darkness. My skin was on fire… literally. Flames whooshed up, tearing at my hair and skin.
Panicking, I screamed, “Upacāra hā viṣa,” trying to activate my healing runes.
But nothing happened. Flames tore at my mind. Stumbling, I fell to the ground, as my rock, horns, and strength disappeared.
Mockery rushed into the room with a blanket, which she used to smother the flames.
“We need to go,” she yelled. “Dead bodies that fall into the street attract unwanted guests!”
I couldn’t move.
Everything hurt. I felt crispy, dried up skin on my arms, back, and face. Just moving made me want to scream in torment.
Hell, even Mockery’s blanket felt like fire ants feasting on my skin. Everything was still bubbling and smoking, like a fire that had been barely snuffed.
“Why did it burn?” I mumbled through lips that were cracked and broken.
“You’re Unclean,” she whispered, trying to drag me to my feet.
I threw myself away from her.
“Don’t touch me!” I shrieked.
I felt like a leper. Infecting anyone else was unthinkable. The Malignancy were the demons of legend. They ruled the darkness through fear, murder, and bloodshed.
And now, I was one of them.
“I am already infected,” Mockery shrieked.
I looked at her, stunned.
“Mother knew,” Mockery screamed. “She knew that someone infected you, and the bitch gave me the taint anyways when she put your rib into my chest!”
Tortured Silence Page 2
