by D. R. Rosier
That had been the new format for their official visits, which so far had happened every three days, so seven villages out of a hundred in the first twenty-one days. Point being, he’d been very turned on and very pleased to see she had a strong will and stubborn side, but only invoked it when it came to her calling and dedicated life work on her goddess’s behalf. Even then, only when she thought it absolutely necessary.
In his opinion, Vadea was damned lucky to have her.
Besides that, they’d also had five other emergencies, including one more fire, a couple of accidents, a horribly souring and infected gut wound from a would-be murder by stabbing, and one young child overcome by high fevers and expected to die of pneumonia. So far, it was going really well, and not just for the main reasons they’d allied in the first place either.
They were already friends he thought. They spent a lot of time together every single day after all, over the last three weeks.
He’d kept to light flirting the last couple of weeks, after a week getting to know her better, while his wife’s probing into her possible interest in them had been a bit more direct, if not completely blatant. Him and Cassie even showed minimal affection between each other, when she was in the room, and it was obvious such things had turned the sexy young priestess on.
Cassie said teasingly, “Are we distracting you in these swimsuits, dear?”
He shook his head, “You’re always distracting.”
Cassie laughed, “Flatterer.” While Kim and Lin smiled widely and said, “Thank you, Master.”
Mara just gave him a slightly embarrassed yet very pleased smile.
At the same time, he was pretty sure they were all a little perturbed that they hadn’t caught him looking directly yet, but that could’ve been his imagination.
He wouldn’t have played like that five years ago, but between Cassie and other woman in his life he’d figured out women liked confidence and a little complimenting from the man they were attracted too, as long as he stayed on the right side of crude arrogance he’d be fine.
He let go and sunk down, and then started to swim some laps. The pool was fairly big, not Olympic sized, but about half that and wide enough for four lanes. Between Cassie’s magic and a little hard work, it’d taken them two weeks to finish it, and days to fill up even with his zombies on the water pump twenty-four hours a day.
He stopped and pulled himself up and out of the end, then turned his head and smirked at busting them all staring at him. Of course, Mara was the only one to turn away with a blush, the other three just stared more boldly in a sensuously daring way. He walked over without a word and laid down on the fifth towel at the end, next to Cassie. He did feel a little guilty about Kim and Lin, even if all three of them enjoyed the relatively light flirting he still hadn’t changed his mind about it yet.
He even knew it didn’t make sense, and it was kind of stupid. He hoped and would eagerly add Mara as his and Cassie’s lover, creating a triad of love in all directions. Mara could just as easily die as his Kim and Lin in a conflict, Kim and Lin were even shielded against what’d killed Cynthia so easily, but emotionally it wasn’t even close to the same for him. Cassie too for that matter, but he was trying to work through it.
Cassie was still arguing for it, and even Mara had remarked upon how close he was to the stunning twins. They were beyond sexy, but at the same time that was the smallest part of it.
They relaxed under the sun for a bit more, but then they all headed in to shower the sweat off and dress for dinner. Separately of course, except for him and Cassie.
He cleared his throat nervously, as he washed her back.
“So, I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
Cassie spun around, and kissed him softly, then said in a low voice, “I’m not ready yet. This world is still messed up, and I still have so much to learn. I will admit, I’m not as against it as I used to be, you made a safe place for us, as safe as can possibly be in this world, but one day I do want to have a child with your hazel eyes.”
“Or your lovely blue ones.”
She smirked, “We’ll see. Just not today, or anytime soon. I want to focus on building our adult family, our lovers.”
“Lovers?”
She nodded, “I think Mara is ready, she’s sending signals. I’ll invite her tonight, privately, because you know how shy she is. She’d be mortified if we had that conversation in front of the twins, and even a bit uncomfortable if we’re both there. I’ll even give her the polyamory speech. You’ll know if she says yes if we both come into the bedroom tonight.”
He nodded, and reiterated his question, since Mara was only one person, “Lovers?”
She laughed, “Who do you think I meant? I’m not going to rush you on it, but I know you’ll get over it eventually, get past it and see how much time you’ve wasted when we could be loving them, but that’s okay. In truth, I know I’m a bit paranoid about my hang up as well. We’re both making emotional decisions on those two subjects, no amount of logic will make us see it until we’re ready to.”
He sighed, “Right. So, how did you know I was going to ask about that?”
She smirked, “Because you’re never that nervous about anything else. You’re my confident man that takes what he wants from his naughty and devoted love slave. But whenever you ask me about kids you get tentative like a small boy.”
“I am a bit tense, between the swimming and this conversation.”
She laughed, “The swimming, huh?” she looked down, and licked her lips impishly, “You do look rather swollen. Let me take care for that for you.”
He moaned, as she dropped to her knees and took him into her hot mouth in one smooth movement. They didn’t have long, dinner was just in a few minutes, so Cassie devotedly gobbled him down into her throat, pulled out all the stops, and used a combination of her most intense techniques to get him off as quickly as possible.
He could barely even describe half of them, and some he had no clue how she was even doing it and suspected magic. Like the current whirlpool of spit and suction that felt so intense around the tip of his cock. The euphoria felt like a never-ending series of explosive waves going through his body, each one higher and higher as he came closer and closer to drowning in ecstasy. He rushed headlong toward orgasm, and if he made it a whole minute, he’d have been surprised. It was more like thirty seconds, and he was gripping her hair hard and holding her tightly over his cock as he grunted and sprayed the back of her throat with his seed. His stress ran out of him as well, as it was replaced by rapturous bliss and a warm satiation.
Not only of pleasure, but overwhelming love, awe, affection, appreciation, and protectiveness for the woman that just loved him with her mouth.
She smirked as she popped her head off, after she was sure she’d milked every drop and sucked it into her mouth, then kissed him softly.
“Thank you, husband.”
He chuckled, “Anytime you feel the need, my love.”
She smiled, “I love it you know, being able to relax you, but it relaxes me as well. The way you look down at me, and deeply into my eyes with so much emotion and pleasure, it makes me feel safe, loved, and powerful.”
“Plus, you’re my wonderfully kinky and wildly loving sexpot.”
She grinned wickedly, “Yeah, that too. I really do love your cock in my mouth, but the rest of it makes it even better. I told you a long time ago I was kinky and loved sex, and that hasn’t changed a bit, thanks to you. Let’s get cleaned up, we’re going to be late for dinner.”
“Thanks to me?” he asked, as he started to soap her down again and she returned the favor.
She tilted her head, “The age thing. We never talk about it, but don’t think I didn’t notice that I haven’t aged a day since we met, and my body hasn’t changed. My libido is just as strong as it was five years ago too, maybe even stronger.”
He hadn’t even considered that, and he wondered if they’d always be that way. He was guessing unless he stopped a
bsorbing the life force of the wicked and deserving of death, that they would. Their youthful bodies kept their libidos strong and potent, and their deep love kept their attraction and desire for each other strong as well.
She opened the shower door after they rinsed off, and he grabbed her around the waist from behind, and pulled her firmly against him as his other hand quested between her legs.
She gasped in shocked pleasure at his firm yet gentle touch.
He whispered, but with a firm authoritarian voice he knew she’d get off on as he manhandled her body and roughly squeezed and twisted a nipple as his other hand’s fingertips filled her hot core, “I need to watch you cum, love. We can share the rest of them with Mara later tonight.”
He was no stranger to his lover’s sex, and what she loved. Plus, he knew she’d be close to the edge already from sucking him off, she always was. So, it didn’t take him much longer to get her off than it’d taken her for him. He enjoyed her sharp cry of ecstasy, as she came hard for him, just let herself go in his arms with loving trust and complete abandon, and she sprayed her liquid satisfaction all over his fingertips as he cradled her trembling body.
She just rinsed after that, and then they grabbed the towels and dried off before throwing on some casual clothes for dinner.
The kitchen smelled amazing with the scents of dinner. He smelled pork, mushrooms, some kind of mushroom sauce, and it looked to be wrapped up in some kind of filo dough. There were also some vegetables drowning in a butter sauce.
Kim said, “Late, but perfect timing.”
They sat down at the table, him at the head with Cassie and Mara to the right and left, and past them Kim and Lin respectively. Technically, his zombies didn’t have to eat at all, the life energy would keep their bodies running, but eating lessened the cost of that and now that food wasn’t a scarcity it was worth it. Plus, his Kim loved to cook and eat, he’d sooner stop eating himself than put a stop to it.
Most of them still didn’t, however. The truth was the two of them were just part of his family, he supposed. They started to dig in, but after cutting open the pastry shell he started on his vegetables. It needed to cool down a minute.
Cassie asked, “Anyone else feeling lazy?”
Lin giggled, “Maybe a little. Not enough to stop using the pool though, when we have the time.”
Mara said, “We earned it. We’ve done a lot of good the last few weeks. I never realized how overworked I was until this new schedule. Everyone needs to relax at times.”
“Our priestess is wise.”
Mara smirked at him, “That last village, did you know they’d built a theatre and had a music store? Both for musical concerts and plays. It seems obvious in hindsight, with television, radio, and the internet gone that we’d have to go back to the theatre days for entertainment outside of simple games and sports. The people are getting a handle on survival in a pretechnological world, so perhaps we’re about to enter a second renaissance period. Painters and carvers can’t be far behind.”
He hadn’t known that, and shook his head, “That sounds about right though. Did you want to go one night?”
Mara grinned, “Thought you’d never ask.”
Cassie snickered, but said, “That could be fun, as long as we don’t make people too nervous.”
The pork and mushrooms in the light sauce, along with the flaky pastry was excellent. He couldn’t remember eating anything like it.
“This is great.”
Kim smiled, “Thank you, master.”
He asked, “When did you cook it. I seem to remember you by the pool, in red.”
Kim laughed, “Right after lunch, it was sitting in the fridge. I asked the chef to put it in for me an hour ago before they left for the day.”
He frowned, “It is getting better. Mostly my zombies take care of internal policing now, but there’re still some bandits and raiders out there. It seems like every time we take down one, more pop up. Less of course. We’re down to a handful of times a year for all the western coast, five years ago it was ten times that for every community.”
So much for their after-dinner Mara seduction.
Cassie said, “What happened?”
He said, “My zombies just took down ten raiders in Northern California who were caught loading a wagon with food and beer casks. There’re four more back at their base, and they have six women in captivity.”
He’d learned that and much more from their life force’s being absorbed. One other benefit to that, besides not being at every single fight along the coast, was that he didn’t get that perverse rush of power and sick enjoyment when his enchantments absorbed the life force directly into his zombies, though he did still get the life memories of the assholes.
Lin asked, “Send us?”
He shrugged, “I know where they are already. We’ll all go after we finish dinner. The reason they weren’t on the radar before is because they just moved into the area. They fled west from northern Nevada across the mountains, from the authorities there. They don’t have magic, so that’s good news, it’s also why they fled. The person cleaning their area did have magic, it’s why they split so fast.
“They were very excited too, and shocked at the communities they’d checked out. Apparently, law and order are just coming to those places, about like it was here four years ago. They must’ve expected easy pickings with only ten guards and no other lookouts, they hadn’t counted on them being zombies, however. They have swords and bows, so we’ll need to be a little careful on approach. Anyway, we’ll have to find a community to take them in, their homes and families aren’t waiting for them anymore.”
Plus, he didn’t like the idea of escorting them home out of his territory. They’d also be a lot better off here, from what he could figure out from those men there was still a lot of violence to the east. The young women’s families had been killed anyway, and their homes burned. Two of the six had lost children, and all of them had lost their husbands.
People really disgusted him sometimes. It’s almost like modern society had been hiding the evil within some people, because of law enforcement threats, and it’d all come out when the aliens attacked and emergence took place. In his territory, all the good ones had risen to the top thanks to him.
It wasn’t all bad of course. He could name a lot of men who’d have all done the same things if they had his power. It was just… the assholes really stood out, and they did a lot of damage. Most men were good and protected women, his hundred communities were full of them, after all. It was just a learning curve, they’d all had to relearn to protect themselves and each other, and not to depend on a defunct government to do it for them.
Everyone ate a little faster and in silence, since he’d managed to kill the buoyant mood with his little announcement. They’d have to change as well. Lin and Kim weren’t in their leathers, and the rest of them were in casual shorts and t-shirts, not expecting to go out again that night.
It was what he, what they, did though. When there was an emergency, or when there was some trash to take out. Leader of the west coast or not, in the end he was just a trash collector.
Chapter Six
The night was lit up by a three-quarter moon and the bright stars. It was far more temperate that far north even in the summer as the five of them walked from the village to where the men had set up a base. It was about an hour’s brisk walk on a small road through the hills that’d seen better days, which is why they weren’t risking the horses in the dark.
Lin and Kim were on point. He didn’t have to worry about Mara, compassionate giving priestess or not she was gracefully athletic and extremely quiet when moving through the road’s overgrowth. He’d already decided he’d send the women to Diane. She’d take them in and help them recover, then they could decide what they wanted to make of their new life. Throwing them in a village and expecting them to just start pitching in and earning their keep wouldn’t go over well. They were extremely traumatized from what he read from those as
sholes.
Diane was already expecting them, since he’d messaged her through the zombies in her village before they’d left the house. That was one less worry he had.
Cassie held up a hand and crouched down, while Lin and Kim circled back.
“There’re two men on watch in the large tree in front of the house. Both of them have bows. About a hundred yards, that way.”
Her hand pointed mostly in the road’s direction, just a little off to the side.
Kim and Lin nodded firmly, then took off when he shrugged. The rest of them followed. He could actually feel their life force after another few steps, Cassie’s reach was just a little longer than his was. He considered just ripping the life out of them, but Kim and Lin wouldn’t thank him. Plus, he’d prefer to avoid that unless it was absolutely necessary.
Taking the life force of others was incredibly addicting when he did it directly. He’d never taken a life that hadn’t deserved to be taken, but he hated it even when he was just tempted to do so. Magic was dangerous, and sometimes those dangers were more subtle and to a person’s soul. Still, he’d do what he had to if it became necessary.
Kim and Lin left the road, and moved silently between the trees, their senses alert. They closed the rest of the distance from the cover of the brush and trees, and when they reached the edge of the overgrown yet still mostly open yard, they dashed for the tree like an arrow shot from a bow.
The men in the trees cursed and called out a warning. That warning cry was cut short as Kim and Lin bent their legs then jumped up into the tree, with their curved long daggers leading the way. The raiders didn’t even have time to knock an arrow before eighteen inches of steel ran them through and they had their bodies slammed off their perches by the ladies’ momentum. Both ladies ripped the daggers back out as they twisted and flipped.
