Metal Mage 12

by Eric Vall

  Finally, the elf just wrapped her arms around both of us, and I happily fondled the Baroness’ perfect ass while Deya nuzzled her cheek against the woman’s shoulder.

  “We missed you, too,” Deya giggled.

  “Yes, especially Mason,” Cayla added. “He says you make him feel special because you haven’t tried to kill him yet.”

  I chuckled against the Baroness’ lips, and when I pulled away, she had an amused smirk on her face.

  “As you should,” Nulena purred. “I’ve never met a man I didn’t want to kill before.”

  “Aww,” Shoshanne whimpered.

  “Oh!” Deya gasped. “Speaking of killing Mason, maybe you can help us figure out who’s been trying to do that lately.”

  “What?” Nulena asked as she went rigid in my arms, and her two-toned eyes snapped to mine. “What is she talking about?”

  “Seriously?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Three attempts so far,” Aurora told the Baroness. “One in Limont, one in Yerich, and then last night in Rainard, an assassin dressed in all black jumped him. At first, we thought this might have to do with Deya getting pregnant, but now we’re pretty sure it’s only Mason they’re after, whoever they are.”

  “How do you not know about this?” I snorted.

  Nulena immediately slid her legs back to the ground, and she conjured up a swarm of shadows in the middle of the car as she stalked off.

  “I have no idea, but I will bury this assassin before the day is done,” the Baroness growled.

  “We actually murdered him already,” Cayla informed her.

  Nulena blinked. “You did?”

  “Yes, and we’d love your feedback, because I think we could have executed it better,” Shoshanne added.

  “I’m already impressed and would like to hear all about this,” the Baroness assured them, “just as soon as I find out who is foolish enough to orchestrate Mason’s assassination without informing me.”

  The Baroness vanished into her shadows before any of us could respond, and we were exchanging silent glances when she abruptly reappeared.

  “By the way, there seems to have been some sudden and unavoidable issue with the tracks north of here,” Nulena announced. “Your train will be detained for three and a half hours, but fortunately, I have a banquet prepared for your Defenders. I will need all of you to join me privately during that time.”

  I grinned as the Baroness vanished again, and Deya squealed with excitement.

  “Wait … did Nulena wreck the tracks?” Cayla asked.

  “Yes,” I chuckled. “Yes, she did.”

  “She’s so thoughtful,” Shoshanne said. “How many women would ruin a railway just to spend time with the people they love?”

  “Only one that I’m aware of,” I muttered.

  Aurora shook her head. “Bagneera’s gonna be pissed.”

  “Not at me, though,” I said with a broad grin. “So, let’s get the Defenders settled in as quickly as we can, and hopefully it won’t take Nulena too long to get back to us.”

  When we got onto the platform, Bagneera was flushed in the face while she berated the local station master who’d delivered the bad news, and I headed over while I tried to appear concerned.

  “Ice on the damned tracks,” Bagneera cursed as she slammed her hand on the railing. “There goes my streak. The tracks never ice over this far from Garioch, but this could set us back a whole day if we don’t get someone out there fast.”

  “Damn,” I muttered as I shook my head. “I’m sure the locals have already started addressing the issue, though. With any luck, things will be cleared up in a few hours or so.”

  “I’m sorry about this, Mason,” the old Ignis Mage sighed. “I had this trip sorted right down to the minute, too.”

  “Hey, sometimes it doesn’t matter how well you plan,” I mused as I patted her on the back. “You can’t predict chaos.”

  “That’s true,” Bagneera chuckled. “Could’ve picked a worse place to be delayed. The castellan for the local Baroness said they’ve got quite a feast prepared to make up for the trouble.”

  “Really?” I asked. “That was thoughtful.”

  My women tried to rein in their grins as I announced the slight change of plan to the rest of the Defenders, and while all the mages filed out of the train, Aurora and I met up with Urn. Deya was too excited to do much more than pace back and forth, and she clutched at her belly for support while Shoshanne and Cayla admired the nearby shops.

  It turned out Nulena had already arranged everything for the Defenders who would be stationed here, so it only took us five minutes to get things squared away, and when we finished, her castellan was waiting at the edge of the platform in a long black robe.

  The pale man’s white hair fell limp around his face while he spoke without any inflection in his tone, and he introduced himself as Lexius before he beckoned for everyone to follow after him.

  Then my women and I led the rest of the mages to the obsidian walls at the top of the hill, and once we passed through the gates, two servants in identical black robes were waiting at the top of the entrance steps.

  The servants bowed without a word before they parted the white doors of the castle, and I immediately furrowed my brow when I saw Nulena waiting at the center of the black and white checked marble hall.

  “Welcome to Rajeen Castle,” the Baroness said, and she wore the same unreadable expression she always did when she wasn’t alone with us.

  The Defenders straightened their hair and offered nervous bows as they filled the entryway, and while half of them eyed the Tenebrae Mage with curiosity, the other half were busy staring straight up. I craned my neck to see what they were looking at, and that’s when I realized the white marble walls seemed to fade into nothing. A strange blackness drifted in the heights of the hall where the ceiling should have been, and the longer I studied it, the more disoriented I became while I tried to decide if I was looking at a blanket of shadows or an endless abyss.

  “I’m sorry to hear you have been inconveniently detained,” Nulena continued. “I have mages working to correct the issue as we speak, but for now, there is a feast awaiting you in the banquet hall to your right. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable, and Lexius will attend to any and all of your needs.”

  The Defenders began murmuring excitedly to each other as Lexius led them to a pair of polished black doors, but my women and I lingered behind until everyone else had filed into the banquet hall.

  Then Nulena spoke to three silent servants who only bowed in response, and once there was no one around except us, she ditched the mask and sent me a smile I hadn’t seen before. The Baroness looked almost excited as she wove her fingers in mine, and when she tugged me toward a hallway on the left, her cheeks began to shimmer.

  “I have been planning ever since I heard you would be leaving Falmount early,” Nulena said as she motioned for the women to follow.

  “Do we get to have a grand tour of your castle?” Deya gasped.

  “No, I have something special prepared for you all,” Nulena replied. “It’s just down this hall.”

  The Baroness turned to lead us down a deserted passageway, and since everything from the plush carpet to the ceiling was black, it took me a moment to discern that there wasn’t a door in sight. Only iron sconces with flames flickering in the center lined the black, windowless walls, but it was still so dim, I couldn’t even tell how far the passageway went on for.

  “Do you ever get lost in here?” Aurora snorted.

  Nulena rolled her eyes. “Of course not. I think it’s comfortable like this. The black helps to keep me calm.”

  “It’s a little spooky,” Shoshanne pointed out as she looked over her shoulder, and when I did the same, I couldn’t see where we’d entered from anymore.

  There was only darkness, and my pulse quickened as I realized the torches were extinguishing themselves behind us

  “Yeah, spooky is accurate,” I muttered.
/>   “I’m glad you like it,” Nulena purred as she squeezed my hand.

  “We love it,” Deya assured her. “It suits you well.”

  Personally, I wouldn’t have used the word ‘love’ in reference to the endless passageway the Tenebrae Mage was leading us down, but I tried to stay open minded. Nulena was the strangest out of all my women, and the place did seem to suit her well. It also put me on edge, though, and when I glanced at my other women, they sent me uneasy looks.

  So, I tried to find something to talk about, mostly to keep myself from wondering if I’d let my guard down too soon with the Baroness.

  “Since you got back so soon,” I tried, “I take it you didn’t have much luck finding out who wants me dead?”

  “No, I know who they are,” Nulena said in a low voice, and she flipped around. “My surprise comes first.”

  I swallowed hard as I noticed the pair of black doors at her back, and when she turned the slate black knobs to open them, she motioned for us to continue into more blackness.

  After a final reminder to myself to remain open minded, I led the way with my women in a nervous cluster behind me, but even after Aurora conjured a ball of flames, it was still difficult to tell where we were now that billowing black shadows encroached all around us.

  Then the Baroness shut the doors, and I heard the sturdy lock click.

  “Um … ” Cayla muttered as we slowly turned around. “Nulena, if this is how you finally kill us, I have to point out Mason’s army will most likely--”

  “What?” Nulena asked with a frown.

  “What?” Cayla parroted.

  “Why would I … you really think I would kill you?” the Baroness asked.

  “No,” I immediately lied. “No, Cayla was just kidding. Right?”

  Cayla pursed her lips rather than respond, and when my other women just eyed the strange shadows pressing in, Nulena let out an irritated sigh.

  “I can’t believe you think I would kill you,” the Baroness huffed. “After everything we’ve been through and done to each other’s bodies?”

  “She didn’t mean to insult you, Nulena,” Shoshanne tried. “It’s just … you did lead us down an unnervingly dark and deserted hall to a room full of shadows.”

  “And locked us in,” Aurora added.

  Deya giggled nervously as she inched closer to my side.

  “Yes, so no one would interrupt us,” Nulena scoffed, and with a wave of her hand, the shadows disappeared.

  Then my women gasped as we all turned full circle, and it looked like we were in an ancient gothic cathedral that had been abandoned for years. The lofty stone ceiling was overgrown with dead vines that hung from the vaulting, and lancet arched windows lined the walls around the vast room. The muddled glass didn’t let in the daylight, though.

  Instead, flames undulated on the other side of the glass to illuminate the dilapidated space, and the floor swirled with a fine gray mist that spilled into a smoky pond at the center. Crumbled stone steps rose up from the mist and led to four velvet chaises encircling the pond, and I grinned the second I saw one of them had a dense black hide thrown over it like the king’s bed. Others had lush pillows or red ribbons piled on them, and around the time I noticed the many chains hanging from the far wall, I realized Nulena had her own sex jungle.

  Or rather, a sex cathedral, which seemed even more risqué.

  Then I turned to see the Baroness with her arms tightly crossed, and she looked disappointed as she kept her two-toned gaze directed at the corner.

  “I think we owe Nulena an apology,” I muttered to Cayla, and the princess was so enthralled with the place she hadn’t noticed the Baroness sulking by the doors.

  “I’m sorry I thought you were going to kill us,” the princess said as she headed over.

  “You’re a difficult person to read,” I chuckled.

  “But this is amazing,” Shoshanne assured her. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Thank you,” Nulena mumbled. “I tried.”

  “Wait, you haven’t always had this?” I asked.

  “The room was here,” the Baroness sighed. “I never used it for anything, but I altered it when I found out you would be coming back to Rajeen. I thought you might like it.”

  “Nulena,” Deya whimpered as she trotted over, and the elf forced the ebony woman to uncross her arms so she could hold her hands. “This is the most wonderful thing you’ve ever done for us. It’s dark and mysterious, but sexy, just like you, and I love it with my whole heart.”

  A smile twitched at the corners of Nulena’s lips, and she looked at me with an adorably hopeful glint in her two-toned eyes.

  “I love it, too,” I assured her. “It’s almost as beautiful as you are.”

  “Almost,” Aurora agreed.

  Nulena’s whole face began to glisten with an iridescent sheen, and she bit her lip to try and contain her smile, but it didn’t work.

  My heart skipped a beat at the sight of how lovely the ebony woman looked when she was this happy, and she immediately came over to me so I could wrap her in my arms.

  “You really like it?” the Baroness asked.

  “Well, I have to break it in before I can make an informed decision,” I mused. “I do have one question, though. What’s lurking in the questionable smoky pond?”

  Nulena chuckled as her smile became a little more sinful, and while she moved to stroll past me, her ebony fingers began sliding the strap of her gown from her shoulder.

  “You’ll have to join me to find out,” the Baroness purred.

  I turned around just as Nulena’s gown fell into the gray mist at her feet, and all my blood headed straight south as I raked my eyes over her slender body.

  Then my women giggled as their hands slid across my chest to unbutton my shirt, and they slowly removed my clothes while the Baroness stepped into the swirling abyss in the middle of the four chaises. When she got to the center and turned around, the shadows only reached below her knees, and she beckoned me over with a curl of her finger.

  I kicked my boots and pants off so fast, mist billowed up around me, and my eyes were locked on Nulena’s taut, charcoal nipples while I beelined for the pond. I hesitated at the edge, though, as I sensed the static energy of her magic resonating from the rolling blackness.

  It was a different presence than her usual shadows, so I didn’t know what to expect, but one look at the sleek mound crowning the Baroness’ thighs threw my caution to the wind, and I stepped in.

  Right away, a heady rush shot through me from my feet up, and my body tensed when the sensation reached my dick. Then my breath began to slow as my limbs grew heavy, and the sensation was a lot like the after-effects of that blow job Cayla had given me on my way here. Instead of making me keel over, though, it made my erection throb hungrily as all other thoughts drifted from my mind.

  My runes were silent by the time I made it over to Nulena, and every movement I made seemed to increase the pleasurable sensation sifting through my body right then. Then the Baroness brought herself flush against me, and it was all I could do not to latch my teeth anywhere I could on her.

  “Do I get to be first, my lord?” Nulena asked as my other senses began to blur.

  “Yes,” Aurora chuckled for me.

  I managed to drag my eyes off Nulena long enough to see my lovers laying themselves out on the velvet chaises, and they were naked as they reveled in the feeling of the plush velvet and fur against their supple skin.

  “This, I have to see,” Cayla purred as she toyed with a long red ribbon.

  “Take your time,” Deya murmured.

  Before I could form any words, Nulena sat down in the swirling mist, and I watched the mesmerizing way the blackness rolled against her thighs as she spread her legs open to me.

  That’s when I let her powers override my mind, and with Nulena’s breasts already heaving in anticipation, I brought myself between her thighs like a man possessed. The Baroness didn’t hesitate to delve her t
ongue into my mouth, and when my cock slid against her slick pussy lips, she swiftly rolled to straddle me.

  Then I cried out from acute pleasure as she forced me deep into her heated tunnel, and I was already consumed by the feel of her velvety skin against mine. The Baroness shook in my hold while every thrust heightened the intoxicating effects of her powers, and as the strange mist rolled in waves around us, a tantric sort of haze spread through my veins.

  I couldn’t resist devouring every inch of her flawless body, and whenever I drew a charcoal nipple into my mouth, Nulena got so overwhelmed, she clawed at my back as her thrusts quickened. Every fiber of my being still burned for more of her, though, while her passionate moans egged me on.

  We were so engrossed with each other’s bodies that I had no sense of time while we began ravaging one another, and I felt like there was nothing else in this world except the ecstasy building between us.

  It wasn’t long before my arousal erupted with a vengeance, and the sound of Nulena’s shriek made me almost delirious as my climax caused every muscle in my body to throb with pleasure. Still, I couldn’t stop forcing the Baroness’ ebony hips against me even harder as my heated seed gushed deep into her, and in the back of my mind, I registered the moans of my other women enjoying the show.

  Then Nulena’s powers seemed to keep her locked in an endless orgasm while she let me do anything I wanted with her, and as she panted in my hold, the two of us tumbled through the swirling mist like a pair of ravenous dogs. I understood now that there was no end to the rousing effects of the Baroness’ enchantments, and I didn’t temper my appetite for the ebony woman until I’d satisfied every carnal desire I had coursing through me.

  It was only after I finally released her and stopped moving that my arousal ebbed by a few degrees, and I watched Nulena crawl from the pond to collapse onto a chaise and catch her breath at last.

  Then my eyes locked onto Cayla.

  “You’re next,” I panted, and a long, red ribbon trailed behind the princess as she grinned and sauntered over.