Empath Rising

by Archibald Bradford

  “Twice… in one night… you’ve blown my mind Milly.” He kissed her deeply, faintly tasting his own seed, but unbothered by it.

  “Master, I lost count of how many times you blew mine tonight.” She whispered as he pulled his lips away from hers; “Remember what you said? About the kissing, how I could kiss you whenever?”

  He nodded, unsure where she was going, until she pulled his ear to her lips and whispered.

  “Whenever you want me, however you want me, you take me, okay?”

  She licked at his ear amorously, getting him back for his similar ministrations earlier.

  “Gyah! That tickles!” She didn’t relent until he all but begged her to, laughing so hard his ribs hurt.

  Both of the young lovers finally sated, they settled in to sleep, whispering endearing words and trading gentle kisses until their eyelids drooped from the fatigue of a long day and a longer night.

  Chapter 12:

  Rude Awakening

  Miranda was completely caught off guard by the Tenebrae’s ambush, and she felt something go horribly wrong with her shoulder as the creature flung her through the air with a hollow roar.

  A bush broke the worst of her fall but her shoulder hurt.

  …Dislocated… collar bone maybe… maybe. shit… Jan!

  Having picked up the girl’s scent at the last moment Jan had been less surprised and was rolling across the ground in the thick of an intense melee with the Tenebrae, both girls snarling and biting viciously.

  Jan growled and ended the initial furious exchange by throwing the girl off of her with both powerful legs. The girl flew towards a tree, but righted herself impossibly fast. She hit it feet first, then she returned Jan’s growl many times over and thrust her legs out, casting herself back at the surprised Jan.

  The Wolfen hit the ground with a pained yelp and their desperate struggle continued.

  Their intel had said that they were tracking a Lambda, a normally docile sheep girl, they had a mean head-butt to be sure but were no match for Jan even with the enhanced abilities of a Tenebrae.

  But this girl was fast, too fast; Jan was right, their intel was wrong.

  Through a painful haze, Miranda recognized her breed: Katje, a cat girl.

  Shit!

  They were known for their speed and stealth. No wonder Miranda was caught off guard. And while normally not as strong as Jan, the darkened state had enhanced her natural abilities to the point that she was clearly both faster and stronger than her Wolfen partner.

  The only advantages Jan held were training and experience, while the other girl was clearly no fighter and was relying instead on instinct and rage.

  Instinct and rage were winning.

  If Miranda didn’t act now, they were both dead.

  She stumbled out of the bush, teeth gritted in pain her right arm hung useless at her side. One handed she popped the top off of one of the canisters from her belt.

  “Sorry kitty, you’re not gunna like this. Jan! Strobe coming in hot! We’re falling back!”

  She shook the canister, mixing the ancient alchemical compound together until she felt the can heat up, and then gave it an awkward toss with her wrong hand at the cat girl’s feet.

  Momentarily distracted by the sound, the Tenebrae-Katje looked down. The canister rapidly throbbed with blinding light, pulsing intensely until the heat melted the container and the light flickered out.

  The cat girl howled in rage and agony, temporarily blinded and disoriented by the tricky bit of lost technology.

  Forewarned, Jan had shut her eyes, and the break in the melee was all she needed to disengage, she was at Miranda’s side in seconds.

  Throwing their arms together to support each other, she and Miranda fled into the cover of the trees. Within minutes they were both stumbling through the bushes, trying to put as much distance as they could between themselves and the ferocious girl.

  They were both injured.

  Jan had vicious claw marks all over and her leg hurt from where she fell wrong after the Katje had rebounded off of that tree. She limped, but ignored the pain, desperate to get her bond-mate to safety.

  Miranda’s shoulder was definitely fucked.

  The pair leaned on each other and fled as quickly through the undergrowth as their injuries allowed, both thinking the same thing but neither voicing their fears.

  That girl decides to chase us down, we’re dead.

  __________

  Nameless woke with a start; sweat pouring from his body, he frantically tossed the covers off in an effort to nurse his wounds.

  Except he wasn’t injured.

  I felt its claws tearing into me! Its teeth!

  His abrupt removal of the covers had woken Milly. She sensed his distress and moved her naked body over to comfort him.

  He couldn’t even hear her; he was in the woods, hunted. His mate was hurt and so was he; they had to get to safety. He could hear the Tenebrae moving through the trees behind them.

  “Master! What’s wrong? You’re scaring me!” Milly’s distress brought him out of his nightmare.

  Except this time, he knew that this was no dream. He didn’t know how he knew but he did.

  “We have to help them!” He leapt out of bed, throwing on his clothes, heart pounding.

  “Who do we have to help?”

  “Jan! And Miranda, they’re both hurt, we need to go!”

  He tossed Milly’s clothes at her and, inspired by the urgency in his voice she got dressed. Once they were both clothed he flew out the door and she scrambled after him.

  “Wait Master, where are they?” She looked around expecting them to be outside the cottage.

  He stopped dead in his tracks, desperation clouding his expression.

  “I-I don’t know, shit! There were trees, it was dark. It attacked us-them!-from the branches above, Miranda hurt her shoulder…” His eyes were squeezed shut as he tried to remember every detail.

  He could feel Jan’s heart beating rapidly in his chest, she had to get her mistress to help, help was too far though…

  “Wayfelt! They’re trying to get to Wayfelt, in the woods… they’re in the woods a few miles south of Wayfelt, and the Tenebrae is right on their ass!”

  Milly looked utterly perplexed but never doubted for a moment that her master knew what he was saying. She also never doubted that he intended to help, that was the sort of person he was, that was why she had bonded with him.

  “Okay, well Wayfelt is almost ten miles from here, so if we’re going to help then we need to move, right?” She asked, giving her legs a stretch.

  He nodded, glad that she understood the urgency of the situation, but then he stopped.

  “Ten miles! We won’t make it in time!”

  “Why not?”

  “I’ve never run that far in my life!”

  “So…”

  “So I’ll drop from exhaustion before we ever make it!”

  “Oh, that’s right, humans get tired from running.”

  “You don’t?”

  “Um, not after only ten miles no.”

  Nameless jaw dropped, he really should have paid more attention in school.

  “Okay, so you can get to them! AH! But you don’t know where they are!”

  Milly had found a solution however, she moved over to their little cart. Fortunately Joe had used up all of the thatch so it was empty; she picked up the handle and brought it over to him.

  “Simple. We bring the cart and when you get too tired you hop in and I pull you!”

  Nameless kissed her and she mooed at his obvious pleasure.

  “Milly you’re a genius!”

  The plan in place they began to make their way to the embattled couple in the woods.

  Having drunk so much of Milly’s milk recently Nameless found his stamina greatly improved, and with the desperation born of fear he was able to push himself even farther. However after five or six minutes of flat out sprinting he began to flag.

  “Pace you
rself Master! Please, you have to slow down or you’ll collapse!”

  “You’re right…” He huffed out, slowing their pace to a steady lope.

  They continued like that for several more minutes, he could still sense Jan’s fear. He glanced over towards Milly and almost tripped.

  Her breasts were bouncing up and down fantastically as she ran, but more shocking she wasn’t even breathing heavily!

  He stopped, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Milly? Aren’t you tired at all?”

  “No, I mean we woke up so suddenly, so I kinda wanna go back to bed but-”

  “I mean from the running!”

  “Oh! Um, no not really.” She smiled sweetly at the look on his face.

  By this point they were maybe a third of the way to Wayfelt, and Nameless was running out of steam. He threw his arms up in exasperation.

  “Okay. You run. I’ll be in the cart.”

  __________

  “Strobe out!” Miranda popped her last canister.

  The Katje had stalked them through the woods, and it had been her stealth versus Jan’s nose so they had been engaged in what amounted to a running series of ambushes through the woods. Miranda had several non-lethal lost tech devices to bring to bear, and it was the only reason they were still alive, but this Tenebrae was cunning and had begun to catch on to her tricks.

  Having tried to catch them off guard yet again, the girl was clawing at a rapidly flagging Jan. In a last ditch effort to escape, Miranda released the can.

  But the Katje had been expecting it and positioned herself so her back was to the light, while simultaneously twirling Jan around to face it.

  Jan yelped, blinded by her mate’s weapon.

  Her opponent didn’t waste the advantage, throwing her to the ground and bringing one foot down on Jan’s already weakened leg. Miranda heard the snap. Jan’s yelp turned into a dreadful screaming whine.

  “Jan! No!” Miranda stumbled forward, good arm outstretched, desperate to get to her love and knowing it wouldn’t matter.

  Jan whined piteously as she tried to drag herself across the ground to her mistress.

  The Tenebrae wailed its victory to the moon.

  Milly bellowed an aggressive low.

  Wait… Milly?!

  To the shock of all present Milly burst through the trees, Nameless riding on her back like a child with his mother at harvest time: his legs flying behind her with both arms gripping her neck tightly.

  The Katje had time only to look up before Milly slammed into her, throwing her farther than Jan ever could. This time her reflexes didn’t save her and she tumbled into the bushes.

  There was a stunned silence as Nameless slid off of Milly’s back to the ground.

  “Milly, let’s never do that again.”

  It was dark, so Miranda couldn’t tell if his face was green or not but she clearly heard him dry heaving for a moment.

  “I don’t know Master. I liked having you clutching me so tight.” Milly didn’t turn away from the bushes that the dark one had disappeared into.

  Meanwhile Miranda stumbled to Jan’s side, brushing the bloody hair out of her face and stroking her flattened ears.

  Experienced operative she may be, but never in a million years would she have predicted this unlikely rescue.

  “What the ever-loving fuck are you two doing here?” She worked quickly, together with Jan she tied a rough splint to the Wolfen’s leg, both women grimacing at the pain.

  “Um… saving you?” The kid answered hesitantly.

  “Are you asking me or telling me?”

  “…both?”

  Miranda was about to tear his smart ass a new one when they heard the roar of the Tenebrae. She landed in front of Milly, having armed herself with a moss covered rock held in both hands, she stared at the Minotaur.

  Milly was ready. Or she thought she was, as the moonlight filtered through the clouds she got a good look at the girl.

  She was slightly taller than Nameless, maybe five foot two, her long dark-purple hair was disheveled, her high cheek bones and soft features were marred by blood from the night’s activities and the snarling grimace on her face.

  Her naked skin held such a rich tan that it was visible even in the moonlight while dirty, tattered rags were all she had for clothing.

  Her heartstone was stuck to her breast above her heart, held in place by a glob of tree sap, liquid shadows swirling across its surface obscuring the faint hints of green underneath.

  Her furred ears were black on the outside with downy white fur on the inside and were held flat to her head, while her equally black tail was likewise puffed up aggressively.

  But it was her eyes that most held Milly’s gaze, they held an inky blackness, darker than the night around them.

  As she looked into those eyes, Milly’s world ended.

  The Minotaur whimpered a single word.

  “Erica…”

  The creature’s only response was to leap forward with terrifying speed and bring her rock down onto Milly’s head.

  She fell in a heap.

  Nameless cried out in worry.

  The lost Katje lunged past Milly’s limp form, making a beeline for the owner of those annoying canisters. Miranda was defenceless; Jan was on the ground, struggling to rise on her broken leg.

  The Aegis operative recognized the face of death that descended upon her and closed her eyes to meet it…

  A grunt, a yowl and a man’s shout.

  “Stop! Please stop this!”

  Miranda opened her eyes to see why she yet lived.

  The crazy little fucker had tackled the cat girl from the side!

  His strength was no match for any of the women in the woods that night and yet his shout gave the girl pause. She could have broken him in half with ease, but instead she just pawed at him half heartedly as if unsure it was the right thing to do. Her claws were sharp however, and Nameless bled from the cuts she inflicted.

  Nameless didn’t question why he was still alive, he didn’t even think he simply acted: he grabbed her heartstone off of her chest, her hand snapped to his in response, preventing him from pulling it away.

  They struggled together briefly, again the confused feline held back. She allowed the weaker man to spin her around in an effort to dislodge the stone, he lost his footing and the pair tumbled to the ground.

  He could feel her turmoil, her pain, through the shadowy emerald that he had removed from her breast. He wanted to help her, he needed to help her. As they lay on the ground she no longer struggled, she simply stared into his eyes, and he stared straight into the gaping blackness of hers.

  He could feel something from her, but he sensed he would have to reach out to it somehow.

  No longer questioning his strange ability to sense emotions he sought to reach out to her tumultuous mind, willing his own thoughts towards hers.

  He didn’t know what was going to happen but he certainly didn’t expect her darkness to reach out and swallow him whole.

  Chapter 13:

  Bad Dreams

  Nameless was lost in a swirling maelstrom of pain. While some of it was his, most belonged to the poor creature he now clutched to his chest.

  The agony within her threatened to consume him and her darkness held up a mirror to his own, swirling together in a maelstrom of despair.

  He remembered Sophia and her friends stealing his clothes, he remembered the sting on his cheeks as they slapped him over and over. He could taste the blood in his mouth.

  He shook it aside.

  His pain was nothing compared to hers. He tried to cast it away and focus on her, but his memories merely took a back seat for now.

  He remembered being fucked.

  He remembered when the heat took him and all that a man had to do was grab him and say ‘let’s do it’ and he would. He remembered his owner, his pimp, fingering the coins he earned from the countless johns that got off on his breasts, his pussy, his ass, an
d in his mouth.

  He remembered the taste of their semen, and remembered liking it even as they degraded him with their words. He remembered the feeling of shame when the heat passed, sobbing in the bath while trying to scrub the stink off of himself and never quite managing it.

  Always it lingered.

  He remembered Milly, but she looked weaker, and had several bruises on her face. He remembered her smiling at him through a split lip, as she drew him into one of her busty hugs when he couldn’t stand the sight of himself after the heat had passed.

  He remembered singing to her, cuddling with her, purring deep in his throat while he kneaded her breasts contentedly with his claws. He remembered licking at her sensitive nipples to get at what little milk that she could produce for him. She only did it for him, just a little, a precious few drops. Just for him.

  He remembered showing her all the different ways he could braid his hair. He taught her braids so intricate and strong that they could never be undone.

  He remembered all of this with an aching sorrow, knowing that Milly was gone forever. Her smell, the warmth of her smile, all of those things that brought such joy turned against him with her absence, the memories bringing nothing but pain now.

  Nameless sobbed as he held the cat’s face close to his own, tears of agony streaking from her blackened eyes as her voice rang out in his mind.

  NO!! Don’t make me remember! Don’t show me her face!

  She began to struggle in his embrace, further scratching his chest, his arms. Frantically trying to get away from this man who forced her to remember how horribly she had failed.

  Please no!! Anything but that!! Don’t show me that!

  The more turbulent her emotions became, the easier it was for Nameless to slip past his own baggage, dropping deeper inside of her. He shook his head slightly to clear the cobwebs of his memories, casting them aside altogether, and as he did he began to forget who he was.

  Dangerous.

  Somehow, he knew that this was incredibly dangerous…and he didn’t care; this pitiful creature in his arms needed him. Her pain was beyond anything he felt, because her pain was wrapped up in a singular emotion that Nameless had never known in his life.