Defiler

by Cari Silverwood

  She blinked out at the room, at the soft glow from their light illuminating the bodies and mess near the door. The queen had cut all power and light. This wasn’t the plan, but maybe it was her plan all along. Everyone was alive so far, but in another day, if they couldn’t break out? They’d be done for, meat for this factory queen’s assembly line.

  A niggle that’d been building came to the fore and she stiffened. “Feel that?”

  Brask frowned. “What?”

  “Dassenze. He’s coming.”

  Chapter 23

  The Ascend failed to stay in the tunnel she’d given him. Instead, he fought his way back to the surface and headed for the one into which the witches had gone. It made her twitchy. The special nerve chewers she’d created to take over the Ascend were scarce and she’d have to relocate them.

  If he met up with the witches, she could keep things neat, perhaps. It was an idea. A clever one. She did like clever. She wanted this Ascend. He was a prize greater than the witches and one that no other factory queen had ever captured. Just the thought made her want to squirm.

  By the time he reached the witches, she’d have them strapped down and half converted. Seeing the Ascend weep over his lost people would be stimulating. Before he got there, she needed to skin a few of his men of their armor to make them weaker and easier to kill.

  She switched to watching the fun again. Swords swishing, bullets ricocheting. A few surveillance eyes were gone, but there were enough left. The humans were doing well, considering they were outnumbered. There was no way out, of course. The walls in there were tough, though not impenetrable, like her brain pod. Using a shield on the whole of her ship was impossible and unneeded, except for the day of the troll. As she recalled that event, her data chittered from place to place, scattering then assembling again. He’d dented some walls. Bad boy.

  *****

  Dassenze had a problem. His anger was making his fighting inefficient. He bounced Bak-lal off walls when they were dead; he crushed when they were dead. He used up energy and could tell he’d run himself into a puddle of limp muscle if he kept going as he was.

  The Bak-lal would not be limitless, yet at times, as they fought them through the corridors it seemed so. That there were no bodies ahead or signs of destruction worried him. Somehow they’d been shunted in a different direction from Talia’s group. They were below him and ahead.

  He eyed the floor. He’d fix that. The materials here were flimsy, though the deeper they went the heavier the construction, as if the older levels were the best. She was like an insect on drugs and building crazier as time wore on. If she tried to rise to the surface, she might find her body buckling from the stresses. Same as the Bak-lal weren’t what he’d fought on other worlds. These latest ones, her shambling hordes, if not the magic-made ones, they were mindless drones – few weapons, just teeth and determination.

  At the next room, when they had breathing space, he went to one knee and raised his fist.

  One of the warriors deactivated his helmet and stuck a finger in his ear. “Anyone else have ringing in their ears from all the battle noise?”

  “Nope.” Rimmil hefted his weapon and nodded at Dassenze. “What are you doing, Lord?”

  “We. What are we doing. We’re going where she doesn’t expect us to.” Then he pounded his fist into the floor and started tearing it apart.

  They dropped down two stories that way. He rose to his feet among the rubble of the ceiling and smiled, knowing he was on a level with the other group. That they hadn’t progressed and were in the same location as an hour before – that did concern him.

  “Follow.” He beckoned them forward as they too dropped, thumping into the floor with their armored boots. Still him, Rimmil, Stom, Jadd and the four others. Good.

  Or it was until they found the first killing room.

  He stepped through a door with the middle of the group and explored, hearing the others following. The door slammed shut behind him and a weapon storm erupted, deafening despite the barrier between it and them. The warriors on rearguard were caught in the room from which he’d come. When they wrenched open the door, the two Igrakks were dead, perforated by an energy-boosted rail gun firing from below. Anything alive in the path of the projectiles would be turned to mush.

  From his position at the door, he eyed their sprawled bodies then the large holes in the metal floor and the ceiling above. Entering to remove the men would be foolish.

  “Nothing to be done.” Stom cradled his heavy gun. The armor wasn’t cooling him well – sweat trickled from under his dark hair then down his face. “We should move on. Can you detect such a room if we enter another?”

  “No.” Dassenze shook his head.

  “Should we spread out more?”

  To avoid all of them being caught in such fire? “No. She could’ve turned it on at any time, killed us all. She didn’t because she wanted some of us alive. My logical guess is that she wants me alive. If anything, stick close to me. Let’s go.”

  It took them another sixteen hours to reach the room where Talia was trapped. Brask was there too, if his feebler awareness of the Igrakk was reading true. Firing steadily, they waded through the last of the Bak-lal, some of them turned away and still trying to get through the door. The warriors’ feet were sticky with blood by the time they’d killed the last of the Bak-lal.

  None of them had armor anymore. Time and constant fighting had leeched away power, and their path through the rooms and corridors behind them was littered with discarded armor. They’d loaded up with the ammo and carried on, dressed in their black military garb of thick tights and close-fitted shirt.

  Only a door separated them from whoever had survived.

  The door was wrecked, bent, pocked with dents, and light leaked past the twisted hinges.

  “It is Dassenze,” he boomed out. “Can you hear me? We are coming in.”

  Then he waited for a reply. Being shot by Brask would be the ultimate irony.

  He prayed someone would answer. It was possible they were no longer human. Would his body know? He wasn’t bond mated with her, not yet.

  His anger bloomed, illogical, absolutely illogical, but he was seething. If she was dead or converted, it would make him tear this place apart until his hands were shredded raw.

  “Answer me! Answer me you fools!”

  The men stared at him.

  Chapter 24

  When a voice called out, “Come in!” and it was Brask, his knees weakened for a second.

  Dassenze squeezed around the door, the metal screeching on the floor as it opened enough to let him through. Past a stack of wire grilles and upended tables and boxes, he spied the others. Talia. His brain shut down and he suppressed the urge to rip everything aside like some wild beast. Instead he picked his way through and over, and jumped down, counting faces as he did so. All were alive. How had they managed it?

  The bodies of roaches were strewn over the bloodied floor. Most of them looked squashed and little wheels and wires and gore leaked from their tiny corpses.

  “Wipe your feet on the doormat, please.” That was Talia. He shot her a sharp glare.

  “How did you survive?” He walked forward, restraining himself, not looking at her...much. “All those outside plus these too?” He swept his hand in an arc, indicating the roaches.

  “Willow and Brask got those, some were Talia’s,” Ally piped up from where she sat curled up. “We’re all dead tired but alive, thanks to them and Steve.”

  The man waved from where he sat crouched over a bucket, dishing up water with his hand and drinking. Brittany was beside him, also tired. Jadd ran to her and hugged her, making her squeal. The two of them looked unlikely to be separated by more than an inch for a while. He wondered how much healing she’d done and if the blood on everyone was their own. Was that water safe? The queen could taint supplies, surely?

  Ally’s face was pale, her eyes reddened, and Willow stood near her like an avenging...thing with wings. She hadn’
t gone over the edge yet then. Thank whatever gods there were, if there were any real ones, she was protecting her cousin. Knowing what possessed her, he wanted to kill it. Such creatures were wild cards, even in the depths of space.

  The stories said they could slip into ships, past all defenses, and swallow the crew before anyone woke.

  Brask came to him and waited a yard away, just looking, breathing hard. His shirt was ripped and bloodied over one shoulder. A weary smile broke and he extended his hand. “Lord?”

  “You don’t know how much joy this has given me, finding you alive. Though you’re all on my stupid list.” Behind him, someone was pulling the door shut again, making a shriek that wrecked eardrums. He shook Brask’s hand then raised his voice. “Gather before me, please!”

  The room was not secure. Small sounds, glints, all warned him. He investigated with his senses on high. While he waited for them to assemble, he took a weapon off Stom.

  “We are being observed. The queen has been watching you.”

  With single shots, he destroyed all the surveillance devices he could detect.

  “Fuck it,” Steve muttered. “And I was picking my nose too.”

  He returned the weapon. Stom took it absentmindedly before he too went to his bond mate. His reluctance was sad to see. That Willow graced him with a trace of a smile brought hope into his heart. He wouldn’t give up on this. If they survived, somehow, he’d find a surgeon, a scientist, or some dark matter expert who could separate her from the parasite. Then he’d take great joy in exterminating it.

  “I am glad that all of you have survived. I am also unhappy that you chose to disobey my orders. Who instigated this?”

  “I did.” Ally put up her hand. “Willow showed us a tunnel near the building and I agreed with her that we should go down it. Knew it was her trap.” She shrugged, closed her eyes, swallowed then continued. “I still feel it was right. There is more we can do. I know it.”

  Rimmil had crept up behind her and now he swept her up in his arms and whirled her into the air, to a chorus of giggles, before kissing the girl...and kissing her some more.

  He waited for them to settle down.

  She was a witch. If she felt something, perhaps it was a true feeling. How could he judge?

  “And yet you have been trapped here for a day. Brask?”

  “Yes?” From his set expression, he knew what was coming.

  “You were in charge and so blame lies at your feet. However.” He sucked in a breath and drummed his fingers on his thigh. “I can see why. I hate that it could be so. Have you tried breaking though the walls?” He’d already looked but he had to ask.

  “Metal,” Brask answered. “Good stuff. You noticed the earlier walls were weak? Well these aren’t. Maybe you can break them.”

  Maybe. He went over to look closer, testing one section beside an intact table. No rivets, seamless weld. Atom-level join. As strong as the metal could be. Maybe he could break it where it joined the floor, in a day or so. Dassenze sighed. Then he walked back to the middle and pointed to the floor, where it was cut in a long line. He’d seen it as soon as he’d entered and was sure what it must be. He still had to ask.

  “What is that?”

  Then he looked at her. His Talia. His breath stopped at the sight. All warrior princess in her sweat-and-blood stained top, with her hands propped on her sword hilt where it stuck out above the belt. Her arms shone with healthy female muscle. Her stunning red hair was tied back in a braid and he wondered who had arranged that in the middle of this disorder. A lock of hair swayed over her eyes. He yearned to gently brush it away then yank down those curve-hugging tights and spank her ass purple for even being here.

  She stared at the scar on the floor. “I did that. When they first attacked us there was a swarm of roaches. I just knew what I should do. I struck the floor and this wave of blue killed many of them.

  “It was fucking awesome,” Steve added.

  Grinning, Ally nodded agreement. “It was.”

  “Well done, princess.”

  She quirked her brow at his compliment.

  To put it mildly. Fuck. It had come to this. A pivotal point in time. A decision point. A crux from which nothing could haul him back. He would have to fall over this cliff after all.

  Pity he was going to enjoy it so much.

  Yes. His princess, he decided. She was his. As well as Brask’s.

  “Avert your eyes, all of you. This is between myself and Talia. I need to make her as good as she can be and there is only one way I know of to do this.” He took the first step toward her and the next.

  Her eyes widened and stayed that way. A second later she began to back away.

  “Wait. If this is what... You can’t.” She frowned, looking down at his legs, as if that would stop him. “No.”

  “Yes.” He half-turned his head while still zeroing in on her. “Brask! Stand between us and the others.”

  “What? I see. Of course. I do see.” His tone broadcast his amusement. “What if an attack happens, Lord?”

  “There are enough warriors to take care of it.” By then he had her cornered. Her back had hit the wall. When she went up on tiptoes as if to climb that very wall, he smiled and studied her. “You wanted me? I have a gift for you.”

  Her eyes focused behind him. “They’ll look,” she whispered.

  “They won’t.” Then he planted his palms on the wall to either side and leaned in to kiss her.

  Talia answered his lips for a moment, kissing back, angling her head and sighing, perhaps shocked at the intimacy of skin on skin after hours of violence, but then she wrenched herself away and tried to dodge under his arm. He grabbed her by shoulder and neck.

  “Stay. You know this has to happen. You may be our only way out of here.”

  “Me?” she squeaked. “Oh. No, Dassenze. I can’t. I’d see them watching and –”

  “Then, like this.” He spun her around and pinned her to the wall with a hand on her nape. He found the waist of her tights and wriggled them down below her ass, catching her panties in his fingers too when he came across them and taking all her clothing down to mid-thigh at the same time.

  Dassenze eyed the exposed territory and wanted to swear in every language he knew. Human would do. “Fuck. I so want to bite you but...I’m doing this fast and dirty.” With his foot he pushed tights and panties all the way to her ankles, ignoring her whimper.

  Melting away the scale armor over his two cocks took seconds.

  “Stick your ass out.”

  When she hesitated, he used his knees to separate her thighs

  His words, he made sure they were only for her by growling them next to her ear. “I promise, Talia, I will do this better, more thoroughly, more everything when we’re done with what we have to accomplish here. I promise. For now though,” He wrapped his hand around his main, upper cock and guided it to her asshole. The lubrication he produced at the sight of a receptive female slickened his palm. “For now, I just don’t want you to die in here.”

  “So brave, you are,” she muttered. “Rain check?”

  He smiled and shook his head.

  The first small movement wasn’t a thrust, just a steady pressure as he tested her resistance and allowed her to relax into his penetration of somewhere she’d not had invaded before.

  She gasped and splayed her hands on the wall to either side. “Oh fuck.” Another gasp was followed by a surprised: “Why does that feel so...” She sucked in air. “Oh my. So niiice.”

  He chuckled, found his other cock, slid it along between her swollen lips then wriggled it so it slipped into her pussy. “Uh. That feels good to you?”

  “Mmm.” No other answer came, apart from her panting.

  He pressed some more, feeling his cocks glide an inch into both her holes. The instinctive constriction of her muscles squashed onto the heads of his cocks and he almost choked at the ripple of sensation.

  “My pheromones make some females horny. You’re one of the
some.”

  He bit her neck and surged in further, while keeping his grip on the other side of her neck. Inch by inch he took her, captivated by her small moans and the arching of her lower body.

  It made sense that she’d find this enjoyable.

  He hit bottom, was in to the hilt, and a little cum squirted until he stopped himself. Fast, but not that fast.

  “Oh fuck.” Talia stiffened.

  His cocks were gripped in a rhythmic vice as she suffered, hah, a small orgasm. She sagged down the wall, blindly clawing at it.

  “Ohhh. Oh. I think I just –”

  He laughed quietly. “I know you did. Good pet. Don’t fall.” He kissed her ear and made her straighten up, before his cocks slipped from their cozy position. “My turn.” Then he withdrew to the last half inch, until he was a moment from being out of her and he thrust back in, slamming her into the wall, again and again, five or six times. Liquid ran down his cocks. Hers? His? Who cared?

  Her climbing moans and squeaks told him she’d come again soon, if he kept this up.

  “Shhh. If you don’t want the others to know, you’re doing this wrong.”

  “I can’t... Don’t care. Don’t stop. Please.” She panted each muffled word into the wall.

  As if. All the moisture was making his cocks feel like they were in heaven. Wet, hot, tight, though his cocks conveniently expanded to fit any hole – an Ascend adaptation he’d been pleased with many a time.

  “Stopping?” He spoke each time he powered into her, slapping into her ass. “Not...in...my...current.” With the last thrust, he jammed himself in, flattening her and grinding her lower body into the wall until she crumpled a little at the knees. “Fucking plans.”

  Chapter 25

  There was being fucked and there was being fucked with two cocks by an Ascend ramming her into a wall while he also held her still and whispered dirty things in her ear.

  Nirvana? Too small a word.

  She felt as if she was being gang-banged by a pair of well-endowed man machines. Did he ever tire? Did the others watch? She was having too much fun to care about what anyone did except Dassenze. She was pretty sure she’d drooled on the wall. The insides of her thighs were wet, her breasts were squashed, her nipples were trying to poke holes in the thankfully warm metal, and she’d discovered she didn’t know how to be quiet when she was full of cock.