“Nothing, of course. If you have a feeling that I’m implying, or even suggesting, something unprofessional and inappropriate, you are gravely mistaken,” Salazar smirked.
“I was afraid for a second,” Katherine whispered and turned away from him.
Salazar used the second of freedom to slide behind a column, away from her. He strolled through the party rooms to lose her, then headed for his prey. He stalked the young guard until he caught her alone.
“Excuse me, but I was looking for a bedroom,” Salazar started.
“I am sorry, sir, but there are no bedrooms prepared for guests,” the woman rejected politely.
“For who are they prepared then, guards?” Salazar smiled, “why don’t you show me around? Name’s Salazar.”
“With a guard, seriously?” Katherine sneered from the door just when Salazar was in the middle of undressing the guardswoman. She jumped up in shock. Salazar blossomed the flower he had prepared and it rendered the guardswoman unconscious. He softly put her down by the wall.
“You sound jealous, Katherine,” he looked at her provocatively. She blushed.
Salazar stepped to her, “wine?” he offered a bottle he held in his hand.
“We really shouldn’t be doing this,” she breathed.
“Doesn’t that make it all the more exciting? Or should I go back to the guardswoman?” Salazar tossed up.
Katherine closed the door behind her. “Tomorrow will be really awkward,” she remarked and leaned in on Salazar. His kiss was long and gentle.
87
James
“JAMES!” a man shouted as he dashed to his headquarters.
“What is it, Ivan?” James asked back as he lifted his eyes from the papers.
“There is something in the air. Something that doesn’t smell right,” Ivan revealed.
“Where?”
“Everywhere, that’s the thing. I think it comes from the water,” Ivan stated.
“Get the other officers, meeting here, asap!” James ordered and Ivan dashed out. A few minutes later, all his senior officers were gathered in his tent. James had a barrel of water on the table.
“Kuroko! Find out what’s in the water!” James gave the order. The woman made a sign and the water floated up into the air.
“Some poison… light… weak… not for us,” she mused.
“Then for who?” Ivan asked.
“The bigger demons,” James estimated.
“Send messengers across the army, any unit with a bigger demon in it is to pour whatever beer or wine they have to into or onto them, however possible. All of you gather all your subordinate officers and dug in deep. We need the chain of command to survive the night! Once you are done, send to the slaver’s armies to do the same,” James ordered. His officers nodded and left. James picked up his axe and left as well.
“What is it?” Edward asked sharply as James swung the door of his office open.
“We are under attack. Take your closest aides and head to the secret laboratory underground. Put a cloth drenched in wine over your mouth and do not touch the water. Have your men do the same!” James ordered.
“Care to provide context?” Edward asked.
“The water is poisoned. Light poison, likely aimed at larger creatures like our demons. That’s a typical preparation for a focused strike so expect assassins to swoop around looking to finish off the monsters and pick off valuable targets like you and your officers. I have had the whole army move on this already so get moving,” James explained.
“I can handle the assassins easily,” Edward contested.
“This isn’t Cinderwell. They won’t come with gloves at this time around and I don’t think I will get paid if you don’t make it until the end,” James argued.
“I am not sure…” Edward doubted.
“What are you paying me for? Sitting around stupidly like the rest of your underlings or leading your army? I thought it was the latter,” James asked.
“Very well then, I will retreat to the laboratory and wish you the best of luck,” Collward conceded. James smiled and took his seat after he left.
The quick sharp sound pierced the air and black flame shattered the wall.
“Edwaaaard… I’ve come to plaaaaay” Miranda said as she leaped through the flames to land in the office.
“Sorry to disappoint you, Edward isn’t home,” James purred as he looked at her from the other side of the table.
“I might still end up being satisfied… who are you?” Miranda asked sweetly as the black flame started to consume the building. The black flame consumed metal and stone alike.
“James, pleasure to make acquaintance,” he answered warmly.
“James... tall, blue eyes, strongly built, total asshole... your daughter is really good at licking coochies,” Miranda sneered.
“Is she?” James asked.
“She’s a bit of a tease, but then moans so sweetly when I fuck her,” Miranda confirmed.
“I see,” James smiled widely, grabbed a bottle from the cabinet, knocked the top off and drank half of it in one swig. Then he sagged down into the chair with a dreamy look.
“You seem awfully happy about this,” Miranda remarked.
“You know what has been my greatest fear in the past seven years? That one day she comes around, has a huge belly and tells me she fell in love with this big polar bear and will have a bunch of bear puppies. Luna finally doing these things with a human is like a dream come true,” James grinned happily and drank the rest of the bottle.
“So… you are okay with it? You know… her and me?” Miranda asked awkwardly.
“No, of course not. There is no way I would let my sweetest daughter do anything with Palai scum. But since I will rip you to shreds in the next few minutes, it’s not really an issue,” James grinned viciously, baring his teeth.
“Phew! This was starting to get really awkward,” Miranda breathed in relief, then slung the metal ball of Scitalis into James’ face.
88
Luna
Time to move! Miranda is in town and I am not going to waste a second now that I know!
Luna evaluated as she heard the piercing screech and saw a large house in eastern district catch on the black flame.
Luna took out Nightweaver and leaped through the window. The guards were better than the last time as the Urushnii were decently trained, but she didn’t have time to see if they can be fun because she had a date tonight and everything else was unimportant. Plus, it took her half a day of icing her crotch to calm it down after the second night with Yen and it was starting to act up again now that she saw Miranda’s flame. She ripped through the men like paper, rammed through the wooden wall and swung around violently until everything in the house was dead.
Mission accomplished, now it’s time to go make sweet love to Miranda!
Wait… what’s going on over there?
Luna went to the window and saw a small army of larger demons sieging a house across the street.
I know these people… fire magic, water magic, earth magic… that’s the Xona team!
Luna quickly went on the roof to get a better view of the situation. Salazar’s team was hopelessly surrounded inside the house. The smallest demon was the size of a cow, the largest size of a small house and there were at least thirty of them.
These are the ugliest demons I have ever seen… like huge mutated insects. Ewww!
She watched the fight for a bit, but the result was obvious. There was no way out and the demons will overrun and eat them. Salazar wasn’t there and didn’t look like he was on the way.
None of my business. We fight them tomorrow and this makes it easier and if Raven wants to save his wanna-be girlfriend, he might as well do it himself. Time to go see Miranda.
Miranda.
FUCK!
I can’t face Miranda like this. ‘What did you do tonight? Ah nothing, I watched innocent people get eaten by demons, but I ignored it because I was horny and I didn’t reall
y give a shit.’
FUCK!
I am the furthest thing from a hero. I kill people; I don’t save them.
FUCK!
There is too many of them for me to do anything like this…
FUCK!
This will end up as a disaster and I know it!
FUCK IT ALL!
Luna went to the back of the roof, made Nightweaver disappear and ran across the roof to leap to the other side. She landed on a demonic beetle, slid on him and landed down on a collapsed roof.
“OI! IF YOU WANNA SURVIVE THIS, THEN THROW AWAY EVERYTHING MADE OF SILVER! EVERYTHING!” she shouted as loudly as she could have.
Alright, wolfie, come on in! We are going to play; we are going to eat and then we are going to have some fun with Miranda!
“What the hell are you doing, Yvonne! We need to fight not take off earrings!” Mark shouted as he saw Yvonne taking off all her jewelry.
“But she said…”
“It doesn’t matter! Hold the formation!” Mark shouted.
“Mark…” Linda whispered between the shots.
“The left flank is failing; someone moves there to help!” Mark commanded.
“MARK!” Linda shouted.
Mark turned and froze. He saw Luna arms punch into the ground, then extend rapidly. Her back went wider, mouth prolonged itself and thick black fur sprouted all over her body. In a second, where Luna stood was a monster. Even the demons stopped and stared. Luna straightened her back and stretched.
“Mark… did I hit my head or is that a fifteen feet tall werewolf?” Ludwig asked in disbelief.
“Did he just smirk?” Yvonne breathed. Then all hell broke loose. Luna caught the closest demon beetle with her left hand the slammed her claws into its face with the right one. Then she spun and threw the corpse, crushing two smaller demons.
“Close formation!” Mark shouted and they drew closer.
“Did it just… throw an uppercut?” Zacharias breathed in terror. They kept fending off the smaller demons while the bigger ones were busy with Luna. Luna was weaving, blocking, punching, clawing and stabbing. Blood and body parts were flying everywhere.
“DODGE!” Linda shouted and they all did. A massive demon fell through the roof straight among them. Luna pounced on it and shattered its skull with her foot.
“Thanks!” Mark shouted as he got back to his feet.
Luna, she ran her claws through him and bit his head off.
“MARK!” Yvonne screamed.
SILVERED SWORDS? NICE FUCKING TRY!
Luna spun and leaped among two more demons, shredding the face of one while crushing the other one with a spinning kick. Luna noticed smoke coming from her side.
Did you just fireball me?
Luna spun and saw red robed man rising his hands above his head.
Too slow.
Luna bolted to him and bit him across the chest. She severed his body into three pieces and sucked the organs in.
Not bad, Luna evaluated the taste as leaped left to tear a demon in half. She saw two soldiers rushing to her. Luna turned and swept them aside with the demon's body, crushing them as they flew through the wall. A spark of light struck her eyes.
SILVER!
Luna leaped forward and severed the man wearing the silver necklace with her claws. The demonic bee flying at her was too loud to miss. She ducked, grabbed it by the leg and slammed it to the ground. With a swift swipe, she tore off the head and sent it flying. Then she realized a crying woman is shooting arrows at her.
Do I look like I can be wounded by arrows?
Luna leaped to her and sent her flying with an uppercut, then caught the body into her mouth and devoured most of it with one bite.
Ice spear? Ball of water?
She leaped to evade a spear of ice, then grabbed one of the last demons and tossed it at the ball of water she saw. The bubble was blown away by the impact and splashed on a wall. Luna went on to finish the last two demons and looked around.
All demons down, let’s see the others. Silver swords guy… lost his head, the mess of red robes was someone… I guess… silver necklace guy asked for it, so did the archer woman. The soldiers… meh, whatever. Yvonne… still breathing. Unconscious but still breathing. Good. I saved Raven’s wanna-be girlfriend, the others… tough luck. Time for a snack!
Luna dashed through the city in the direction of the black flames. What’s with this shitty dryness? I can literally see all water evaporating! I need to eat and drink something. A large unit of Urushnii soldiers was making their way somewhere. Luna smirked and leaped among them, crushing a bunch by the impact alone. Snack time! She skillfully cut the belly of one man, caught him and sucked out the organs. Then, she bit off the head of another man.
Both brain and organs taste decent enough… time to have a little feast!
Dozen minutes later there were no soldiers around anymore. Not that it mattered, because Luna was full already.
I need to wash myself… can’t go to Miranda like this.
She ran a bit around and found a large water tank. It was almost empty, but Luna still leaped through the wall and landed straight into it. She quickly cleaned herself and headed out.
Now, time to see Miranda!
89
Luna
Luna landed on a roof of a tall house by the town square. She saw Miranda just dodged another axe swing while she hit James with the metal ball in the side as she spun away.
“Losing breath?” he smiled.
Miranda dashed in, slid under his swing, cut at the back of his knee, leaped up above the backward kick and screamed flame into his face. James shook the flame off his left hand like nothing happened.
This won’t work on James, dammit, what do I do?
“Not bad, but not nearly good enough” he announced as he leaped forward and forced Miranda to quickly teleport sideways to dodge the assault.
“I wonder how long can you keep this up” he smirked and lunged at her again.
Miranda’s running out of breath, I need to do something, now!
Luna took a deep breath. “ROAAAAAAAARRRR!”
GET YOUR FILTHY CLAWS OFF MIRANDA!
Luna leaped through the house like it was nothing and leaped at James. James blocked the attack with his axe, but the force of the blow sent him flying through the wall of the house behind him.
Well, shit! I should have thought this through beforehand.
Luna leaped forward and ran through the house with her shoulder. James dodged and dug the back barb of his axe into her thigh, making her lose balance and crash into the next house.
“Looks like someone wants to get spanked,” James smirked and charged at Luna.
*BOOM*
Metal ball covered by black flame hit him in the face sending him flying sideways.
No no no no no no no! You were supposed to run, Miranda! Now I either admit I have something for you and attack just James or I pretend I lost control and attack you as well.
SHIT!
James must not find out I have a thing for Miranda! I might as well kill her myself to save her the suffering.
SHIT!
Luna leaped forward and swung her claw at Miranda. Miranda dodged and hit her in the face with the head of Scitalis.
Good! Ouch, but good!
UGGH!
The large blow of James dug into Luna’s side and threw her backward.
FUCK YOU BOTH!
Luna roared and charged, both Miranda and James dodged and subsequently, James hit Luna in the back while Miranda hit James in the knee. Luna used the opening and ran her claws through James sending him crashing into the house behind. Then she spun and hit Miranda with the back of her hand, catapulting her in the air.
There you go!
SHIT!
Luna ducked and a massive hand made of blood flew past her. She dodged left and leaped up after Miranda.
James is using blood magic! Time to get the hell out of here!
“RUNNING ALREADY?!” James
roared as a second hand made of blood erected from the house, grabbed a massive rock and flung it at Luna. Luna swept at Miranda to make her teleport back, then took the hit from the rock, spun and threw it at Miranda. Miranda dodged and Luna leaped at her again. The massive arm made of blood grabbed after them, but Luna pressed forward and Miranda teleported a bit backward, so the arm didn’t reach them.
I hope James isn’t too pissed.
Luna kept chasing Miranda. Miranda was dodging her skillfully. Once they got out of the city, it turned into a chase. Luna marveled how fast Miranda run while using the short teleports. That was the first time someone managed to keep running from her for more than a few seconds. Luna loved it. They got close to mountains and Miranda leaped across a ridge, then into a small crack in the mountain. Midair, Luna forced back her transformation and fell down into the crack in her human form. Miranda was standing in front of a bed made of a large pile of furs. Completely naked.
“Are you always this slow? I almost fell asleep waiting for you,” she smiled at Luna widely.
Luna started throwing off her clothes, then grabbed Miranda as she got to her and kissed her with all the feelings she had for her. They fell back into the bed.
“What’s wrong?” Miranda asked softly.
“Please… just… hold me,” Luna whispered.
“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Luna wailed. Soon she was crying uncontrollably.
Miranda held her tight and softly stroke her hair as Luna’s tears drenched her chest.
90
Salazar
“Don’t say it,” Salazar whispered as they stood above the ruins of their team’s house.
“Let’s search for survivors,” Katherine replied coldly. The untold I told you so hung up in the air like a guillotine.
They went through the carnage. Organs, blood and body pieces were everywhere.
“I am sorry,” Katherine said softly as she stood above the corpses of her men. Crushed, smashed or half eaten by the demon beetles.
Legacy of Dreams: Freedom Page 45
