“Give me a second,” I said, trying not to snap.
Irritated, she clink-clinked her fingernails on the side while she waited for me to get in. When I didn’t move fast enough, she began undressing.
“What are you…”
I never got the last part of my sentence out.
A naked woman slipped past me and splashed into the tub, sinking all the way under.
I stared down at her in surprise as she stood up and shook slightly.
Her back was covered in dark black hair that complemented the brown hair on her head. A rat’s tail surfaced like a periscope.
Turning, she lifted her eyebrow as I gawked at her in shock.
Her front had hair here and there, like her back, but her breasts were human with dark black nipples. A black tattoo that looked like a crescent moon eating the sun sat between her breasts.
Blinking my eyes, I didn’t know what to do. I had never seen a half-human half-rat woman before.
Sighing, Tavi rolled her eyes.
Then, she yanked me into the hot water.
“Fuck,” I hissed, forgetting all about being in the water with her.
“Sit,” she insisted.
There was a ledge in the middle of the tub, as well.
I sat down, still overwhelmed with the heat.
Tavi began to scrub my skin again with a brush. The scratching rasp of it was a welcome that I didn’t expect. She rub me long enough that I actually drifted off a bit, in a restful fugue.
Finally, she set that implement down and began to wash my hair.
I hadn’t had someone else wash my hair since I was young. It was such a personal act that I shivered. Tavi was running her fingers through it, cleaning off any remaining gray skin.
I held my hands up and investigated them. I looked a lot like I had when I had worked in the light now. My gray was gone.
For good.
That thought made me feel strange. I had always been a halfbreed. Now, I was something new, and I didn’t know what that was.
Visions of the evil version of me drifted through my thoughts. He had been powerful but without a soul. Demon-me took women and forced them to become mindless slaves that served him whether they wanted too or not.
Smiling, I was glad that I hadn’t chosen the quick path to power.
But, what was my path now?
I needed to find someone who could awaken the magic within me again.
Tavi began to massage oil into my shoulders. Instead of beading up on the outside of my skin, I could feel it sinking in, relaxing my joints and muscles. And, it felt warm, like drinking brandy.
“How much would you pay…” she asked. “To have your magic back?”
I stiffened and turned around and scowled at her.
Tavi stepped back, fear chiseled across her face. “I did not read your mind. You were mumbling to yourself.”
I blinked and then said, “Sorry. I didn’t realize that my mind had wandered so far. Please forgive me.”
Tavi relaxed again and then rubbed the ointment into my shoulders and chest.
“You didn’t answer my question,” she pointed out.
I thought about her question, as she took one of my hands and clipped the nails. Using another brush, Tavi cleaned the dirt out from under the remainder.
“I don’t have much,” I told her. “But, what I have, I would happily spend to have my magic back.”
“How did you lose it?” she asked.
I stared at her, trying to figure out how much I should tell the woman.
Finally, I shrugged and said, “I chose to be reborn--to live in the light--instead of the Darkness. It forced a change in me that I wasn’t prepared for. Isha said that sacrifices had to be made. I just didn’t understand how much I would have to give up. And, neither did she.”
Tavi nodded.
Then, she sat down in my lap.
The feel of her legs settling around me shocked me out of my daydreaming mood.
Her kiss surprised me even more than that.
Tavi tasted like peppermint, which I hadn’t expected. Legs that were covered in soft hair squeezed me tight, surprising me again. The tiny woman leaned into me, burying her face in the crook of my neck. Her breasts felt soft as she pressed them into me.
“I owe Isha,” she whispered. “Now, I will pay her back.”
Her little hand wrapped around my manhood.
I gasped.
Suddenly, her tongue was in my mouth again.
Then, she lifted herself up in the air and slid down on top of me.
Gasping, I was shocked at how tight and wet she was. I had never had sex with a woman with animal hair on her skin.
It was so soft that I nearly climaxed within her.
Holding on, I felt her lean forward as she began to rock and quake on top of me. The farther she leaned, the harder it was to hold onto her. My back was almost bent back far enough that I was in danger of getting dunked when the little bitch pushed me under the water. Her tail wrapped around my neck and held me tight.
All I could see above me was a murky view of Tavi, as she pressed down on my chest. No matter how I fought, I couldn’t break her tail’s hold. Plus, she had all the leverage that she needed to drown me.
And, the bitch continued to ride me.
I tried to hold my breath, but the tip of her tail pushed its way into the space behind my jaws and forced its way into my mouth.
I gagged underwater.
A warmth began to sink into my mind, as my lungs filled.
Then, something ripped her off of me, throwing Tavi to the side.
A hand yanked me out of the water and tossed me to the floor. The sudden impact drove the water out of my lungs. The dreamlike haze of death slipped away from my mind, as someone sat on Tavi’s back and pushed her into the ground.
The little murderess’s tail snapped back and forth, but the figure pressed harder, twisting her neck.
I heard a sickening pop, then, Tavi shuddered and stopped moving.
And, Gavin looked up at me.
“You have terrible luck with women.”
- 32 -
Brynn’s father climbed off of the rat-woman.
“What were you thinking, fucking her?” he asked.
Sitting up, I rubbed my throat.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” I snapped back at him.
Then, I remembered my manners.
“Thank you.”
Gavin nodded. Then, he said, “This little bitch is one of the killers that hunt in this neighborhood. She likes cleaning her kills before she fucks them to death.”
Lovely.
“I’ve been searching all over for you,” he snapped. “You’re lucky that I know Norot, or you’d be fish food right now. Do you really think women just jump into a tub with a man that they just met? With no ulterior motive?”
Sighing, I knew that he was right. Women didn’t just jump into a tub with any man, but with me, it seemed to happen quite often.
“Why are you even here?” Gavin asked. “Brynn needs you.”
I had thought a lot about Brynn as I relaxed in the tub.
“She doesn’t need or want me anymore,” I told him. “Hell, she never wanted me. She only used me to get what she wants. Yesterday, she even asked for a new champion, right in front of me.”
“My daughter is playing a dangerous game,” Gavin insisted. “She needs to get fools like Jeremy to fall on their own sword so that she can assume the throne.”
“I don’t give a fuck about her stupid title or throne,” I snapped. “I want a woman that loves me. Not one that can’t think about anything other than herself.”
Gavin sighed. “Brynn can be narcissistic and self-obsessed, I will give you that. But she needs you.”
“Gavin, all my magic is gone.”
He blinked, and then he looked really hard at me with his Mage Sight.
“Shit,” he said. Then, he sat down hard. “What happened?”
&n
bsp; So, I sat down as well and brought him up to speed.
“That was foolish,” he finally told me. “You were a goblin and… shit, you fool… you would have been king.”
“A king that enslaved the minds of all the women around him.”
Gavin shrugged. “If it makes them better in bed, so what?”
“It’s no different than masturbation,” I complained. “I don’t want to have meat puppets that I use to have sex. I want women with minds of their own.”
“Your free-thinking women just nuked a noble house,” he said with a snort of derision. “Maybe if you controlled them more, war wouldn’t be brewing.”
“There’s no war brewing,” I spat out. “Addisyn and the others didn’t even blink at supper the next night. No one cared that Sun and the others killed hundreds of men, women, and children.”
I stopped talking.
Shit.
I had never considered that they had killed children in their attack.
Oh, Fuck.
That… shit… that was just as terrible as what Mockery had done.
“Addisyn doesn’t care that it happened… because it brought her closer to the throne,” he insisted. “But, that doesn’t mean that she won’t crush your women later when she is in charge. Her nobles will remember the attack and demand blood.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I finally said. “I am no longer capable of helping Brynn or stopping a future war.”
And, I realized that I didn’t want to either.
It was time for me to find something that I wanted. Not something Brynn or Oba Shufen wanted, or even Hana. To be happy, I needed to work towards my own goals. And, they couldn’t be, do everything necessary to make my women happy.
Standing up, I walked away from Gavin.
Searching Tavi’s apartment didn’t take long. It wasn’t huge, but it was filled with loot. The little bitch had been luring men to her apartment and murdering them for a long time. And, she seemed to horde everything.
My clothing was filthy, so I found some new ones to wear.
Then, I ransacked her place further.
In the end, I found thirty-three gold coins, several dozen gems, several chewed on boots, and… best of all… a real grimoire.
Apparently, I wasn’t the first mage that she had attempted to drown.
The spellbook had a red cover that felt like tiny scales. Carved into its cover were several runes.
“It says…” Gavin began.
“I know what it says,” I snapped. Blister had been good at teaching me my runes, and I hadn’t lost that knowledge at least.
Scarlet Nightmares
The Handbook of Twisted Visions
Created by Penance.
“I’ve heard of Penance,” Gavin said, ignoring my interruption. “She was powerful.”
Now, I just needed to reignite my magic.
Creating a vault always meant fucking someone. Climaxing… that moment of supreme connection... could be used to spark a transformation, making me a Mage again.
But, that meant I needed to find a female mage. I was not going to have sex with a male one. I had hoped that Tavi would be the one who could help me, but that had been stupid. Even with the gold that I had, and what I had found, I barely had two hundred Golden Petals. Most mages charged thousands to spark a mana vault, and/or demanded years of indentured servitude.
I was done.
Fuck them all.
I needed to do what was best for me for once, and it wasn’t chasing after Brynn anymore.
“I’m the Fell Serpent,” Gavin announced.
- 33 -
I turned around and stared at Gavin in shock.
“What?”
“I am the Fell Serpent,” he repeated.
“You have got to be kidding,” I shouted. “You’re nothing but a burned-out mage; a has-been.”
“That’s true also,” he replied. “But, it doesn’t make my statement any less true.”
Standing up, the silver-haired man stared at me with his one good eye.
“Bazal, I am the Fell Serpent, and I need your help.”
“No,” I instantly snapped out. “Fuck you. I’m done dancing to the Tawret family’s tune.”
“Become the enforcer of my family,” Gavin said, ignoring my arguments. “Champion my daughter and save my clan.”
“Which part of… Fuck you… Don’t you understand?”
“You need someone to spark your soul so that a new mana crypt opens,” Gavin stated. “And, one of my female friends will be happy to do me that favor.”
I scowled at him, wanting to tell him to fuck off again.
“I will make you rich and powerful,” he stated. “I just need your help.”
“Why don’t you just do it yourself?” I snapped.
“I burned out my mana crypt,” he admitted, “just like you thought. My soul is scarred and torn. I can’t create a new one.”
“You could just use enchanted items,” I prompted, seeing how much thought Gavin had put into this idea.
“Enchantments can be crushed or dissolved,” he said. “Just like your Taming spell. That’s why I need a real mage, not just a Paper Soldier.”
“It will take years for me to build up enough sigils again,” I pointed out. “Do you really want a Fang who is useless for that long?”
“Yes,” Gavin said.
Then, he smiled, “But, you don’t have to wait. I can give you all the time in the world.”
Reaching up, he pulled up his eye patch.
A flash of pink exploded in my mind…
--M--
“Wake up, boy,” my father snapped. “We have business to conclude.”
I opened my eyes.
Looking around, I was suddenly confused.
Why was everything upside down?
And, why was the floor covered with blood and bodies?
Mog knelt down and poked my face.
“One of your wives took something of mine, and I want it back.”
I blinked at my father.
“Why am I upside down?”
Mog slapped me. My head snapped to the side. The momentum made my body twist and turn. Suddenly, I realized that I was hanging upside down, about three feet off the floor.
Groaning, blood dribbled out of my mouth and ran up my face before it fell to the floor.
“Where is she?” he snapped again.
“I haven’t seen any of my wives since last night,” I answered. “I don’t know what you are talking about!”
Lying to my father never worked. He always seemed to know the truth. And, in the past, he had always been able to track down what he wanted without my help.
How interesting. Dad needed my help.
“Fester took my new toy…” he growled. “And I want her back!”
“Who the fuck is Fester?”
Good old Dad slapped me again. As I rotated madly, I heard him say, “Manners.”
Father had always been the strangest goblin. He was the most potent shaman that I had ever met. Mog had raised me in the savage, uncivilized caves of Bonesack, but my father had never seemed to fit in. He was brutal and powerful, but his mind was educated.
Grabbing my face, he stood up, forcing my back to bend.
“I want that Asian bitch to give my leverage back,” he insisted.
He was either talking about Mockery or Oba Shufen.
Then, Dad leaned closer. His clawed fingers touched the blood leaking out of my nose.
“What… have you done?” he hissed, staring at the red fluid leaking out of my nose.
Before I could answer, he began pummeling my chest, stomach, and nuts with a flurry of blows. The first hit to my nuts made me almost throw up.
He hit me three more times for good measure.
So, I vomited all over his pretty shoes.
Screeching, Mog stepped back as I continued to vomit until only dry heaves remained.
Tortured Silence Page 13
