Ravenous

by Sherri L. King

  Cady allowed her senses to flare out, seeking for signs of any threat. “No. I feel only the cold of this place,” she answered.

  “I hear from Tryton that you are not only a Hunter, but an Incinerator as well. He asks that I teach you to control your fire handling skills. Will this be acceptable to you?”

  She looked at him, seeing his glowing eyes burn in the darkness. “I’ll look forward to it. Sid says you’re the best of your Caste. I want to learn everything there is to know about being an Incinerator.”

  “I have no doubt that, given a few years, you’ll surpass even me in skill,” he whispered with a grin. Waves of heat emanated from him, like a blacktopped road in the hot summer sun. Cady realized then how very dangerous an Incinerator like Cinder could be. He was like a slumbering volcano, volatile and deadly when awakened. She wondered if she could ever be as powerful, or if she even wanted to be.

  “Silence! Be alert, all of you,” commanded Obsidian. “We can’t afford to let down our guard, even for a moment.”

  Cinder moved away from Cady to take his former position across the chamber. Time passed, and Cady was once more lulled by the Travelers’ chanting in the darkness. It wasn’t hard to imagine that this was a tomb, quiet as the grave aside from the chanting, and dark as the sleep of true death.

  Cady didn’t remember much from her short stay in the arms of death. Only the great endless void, before Grimm had found her and led her into the light. But what little she remembered of death was reminiscent of waiting in this bleak and foreboding place. She felt swallowed up by the darkness that surrounded her, and soon forgot that there were others around her.

  There were only the black depths of the cavern, and the chanting of the Travelers.

  Then…the lone beat of a drum in the dark.

  Cady was shocked out of her hypnotic state by the sound. She darted a look around to see if the others had heard it, or if it had been a figment of her imagination. Cinder, Edge, and Obsidian each stood at the ready, though they gave no sign that they had heard.

  Another lone beat, echoing just beneath the lyrical chants.

  “Did you hear that?” Cady whispered, with a pounding heart.

  “Hear what?” Obsidian asked.

  “N-nothing. Never mind,” she breathed. Perhaps she had imagined it. She was growing far too nervous, but she was sure she didn’t sense the presence of a Daemon, and that was enough for her to relax. Her peace of mind didn’t last for more than a second.

  Another beat sounded. And another.

  “What the hell is that?” Cady whispered frantically.

  “What do you hear, Cady?” Obsidian moved to her side.

  “Maybe a drum…I’m not sure.” Boom. “There it is again,” she whirled around, eyes delving the dark shadows that surrounded them.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. The beats were coming faster now.

  “I hear nothing, aside from the Travelers,” said Edge.

  Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom.

  A heavy feeling of terror and dread filled Cady, the likes of which she’d never experienced. “Oh, shit. Something’s coming—“ her words were cut off as the whole cavern shuddered beneath them.

  “On your guard!” Obsidian roared as they all tried to keep their footing on the unstable ground.

  Boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom. The sound was deafening.

  “Do you hear it now?” Cady screamed.

  Obsidian stepped in front of her as a great shadow swept out of the gateway before them.

  “What is that?” Edge yelled to be heard over the roaring of the trembling earth.

  A vision from the depths of hell stepped out of the gateway. It stood at least twelve feet tall, and was almost as wide. It looked more horrendous, more terrifying, than any Daemon Cady had ever seen. Its skin was oozing black slime, and its massive teeth were stained husks that curved out from thick, blistered lips. Maggots danced in its eyes, and ropy tentacles spasmed out from its barrel chest and potbelly. Instead of feet, it sported hooves, and its hands were like great spiked clubs that were larger than Cady’s whole body.

  “It’s ugly, that’s what it is,” Cady yelled back. Though her words were flippant, her heart quailed with terror.

  Her words seemed to capture the creature’s attention. It moved forward, ignoring the Travelers as if they weren’t there. It roared, a dreadful and mighty sound, and charged the Shikar warriors.

  Edge and Cinder moved to meet it first. Foils and flames danced around the monster’s body in a stunning display. The monster roared again and lashed out at the two warriors with its spiked fists. Both men danced gracefully out of reach, never ceasing their barrage of attacks on the monster.

  Seeing that their efforts did little damage to the creature, Cady stepped around Obsidian and drew two guns. She fired over and over, in quick succession. Blood and gore flew as her bullets struck home, but to no avail. The monster was far too strong to be felled by mere bullets.

  Obsidian gave a fierce battle cry and launched himself at the terrifying beast. He darted around and scaled up the creature’s back, sinking his foils deep into the grotesque flesh of its shoulder and neck. The monster screamed in pain and fury, and flailed at Obsidian. Obsidian drew back then repeatedly struck out at the creature’s vulnerable flesh with his foils.

  Boom, boom, boom.

  Cady heard the resounding noise again. It was coming from the monster, though what it was she could not say. She moved closer to the fray, drawing another gun. The hellish tentacles that graced the trunk of the creature’s body drew her attention and she fired directly into them.

  The sickening sound of tearing flesh echoed after every shot she fired. With an enraged roar, the monster threw aside Cinder and Edge and made straight for her. A long tentacle darted out and wrapped itself around her ankle. Another and another streaked out and attached themselves to her arms. Her gun went flying through the air as she was pulled in close to the nightmarish creature.

  The smell of death and decay assailed her nostrils. She tried not to scream out in terror as she was drawn close to the tentacle-ridden torso of the beast. Struggling and gasping, she tried and failed to escape the creature’s hold.

  Boom, boom, boom.

  Cady heard the drumming sound again. This time she knew it for what it was. It was the creature’s foul heart, beating strong in its breast.

  Boom. Boom. Boom.

  “Sprig ‘ald Horde, daculian. Eprish ‘ald Horde, primarsandh,” the creature’s voice was like a terrible scream from the deepest pit of hell. The sound froze Cady’s heart with terror.

  Her words belied her fear. “Foul beast from hell! Why don’t you go back into the pit? There is nothing for you here but defeat.”

  The monster’s maggoty eyes widened at her words. As if it actually understood her. Though Cady knew that was impossible. Daemons were a mindless lot at best. She renewed her struggles to escape, but was struck dumb by what she heard next.

  “Human. Pitiful human,” the words were a wet and guttural sound, uttered from the monster’s own throat.

  The Daemon shook her like a rag doll, and roared at the Shikar’s. “Sampriss dai humund? Inquit nof’ lessind Shikar, drakon’winn humund?”

  “Illian nochif lessind humund. Illian septum Shikar!” Obsidian roared in answer and charged the beast.

  Boom, boom, boom. The creature’s heart sounded.

  Cady was tired of being shaken about. She wrenched with her body and shrieked in pain and surprise as her foils breached her skin and tore through the tentacles that bound her. The monster screamed, and Cady launched herself in what she hoped was the vicinity of the monster’s heart.

  Tentacles whipped around her, but she ignored them as best she could. With the aid of her foils she fought them off and sank her arms shoulder-deep into the creature’s chest. The monster fell beneath her, and Obsidian was at her side immediately.

  Together they pulled the huge heart free from the Daemon’s chest. It was as large as a
watermelon, but Obsidian managed to tear it apart in a feat of tremendous strength. The creature was screaming and writhing beneath them, but Edge and Cinder kept them safe from harm as they fought off the flailing arms of the beast.

  “Cinder, burn it,” Obsidian commanded, throwing him the split portions of Daemon heart.

  A giant ball of flame licked out of Cinder’s eyes and consumed the heart in a blaze. Cady and Obsidian were thrown free as the creature bucked and writhed in a frenzy. Cinder dared to move closer and gave a wild cry as his entire body became a torch, which he used to set fire to the monster’s grotesque body.

  Within seconds it was over. The monster was destroyed. Its heart and body lay in ashes on the ground.

  In the ensuing silence, the Travelers’ chanting soothed the weary Shikars. Despite her still exposed foils, Obsidian held Cady close to him after reassuring himself that she was relatively unharmed but for a few scrapes and bruises. Cinder and Edge crouched, still at the ready, should any new threat reveal itself. The Travelers continued, unfazed, to speak the spells that would close the inter-dimensional portal.

  Several moments later, the jagged tear in the stone seemed to close in on itself. The cavern wall seemed to heal itself, until no sign of the tear could be discerned. The Travelers had closed the backdoor. The Daemons’ threat to Earth was over.

  “Are you all right, Cady?” Cinder asked.

  “I’m quite alright Cin, thank you.”

  He laughed. “Cin. I like that. It’s so much more masculine and wicked than Sid.” Cinder winced as Obsidian landed a blow on his shoulder for his teasing.

  “You have shown much courage tonight, Cady. I salute you, warrior-woman of the Shikars,” Edge said with a show of respect.

  “Thank you, Edge. Now…how do I make these things go away?” Cady asked, waving her foiled arms and hands about. The glowing, blue-white blades winked eerily in the shadows.

  “Once you relax they will retract. You’re like a Shikar child who has just discovered the blades. They too have trouble with their foils at first,” Edge answered with a chuckle.

  Grimm appeared at Cady’s side. She jumped in surprise. The thought occurred to her that she might never get used to the Traveler’s uncanny ability to take her unawares. She couldn’t help sending him a withering glare at the idea.

  “Shall we go home? The dawn is already upon us, and our work is finished here.” Grimm held out his hand and everyone stepped forward to take it.

  In the blink of an eye they were home.

  Epilogue

  “Do you think you can be happy here with us, my love?” Obsidian asked quietly.

  Cady rolled over in the bed to face him. Thankfully, her foils had retracted as she’d relaxed after her second orgasm beneath Sid’s demanding body and the Smyl. She was still humming with the afterglow of good sex. “Yeah, I think so. For the first time ever in my life I can be open about who and what I am. I’ll miss some people up on the surface of course, but I’d miss you more if I left.” She smiled. “First thing tonight after sunset, I’m going into town to say goodbye to some few special people. I’m going to tell them that I’m leaving with my new husband and am unlikely to return. I don’t want anyone to worry about me, especially after my house burned down.”

  “I’ll go with you. We’ll wear sunglasses to disguise our eyes and make everyone think we’re eccentric because of it,” he teased.

  “Everyone already thinks I’m eccentric. I’ll bet that wearing sunglasses at night won’t make me seem any more or less weird to them,” she laughed.

  Squaker hopped onto the bed and meowed plaintively to see there was no room for him in their nude sprawl. He crawled over their bodies, turned up his nose in disdain, and left the bedroom in search of whatever cat mischief he could find. Cady giggled at his antics and watched him strut off.

  A few moments later she asked softly, “What did that Daemon say to you earlier, Sid? And what did you say back to it?”

  Obsidian sighed heavily. “It’s difficult to translate, but what it said was essentially this. ‘You have invoked the wrath of the endless army, and you shall die. All shall die before the wrath of the Horde.’ Then you spoke to it in your human tongue and the creature realized you were not like us. It assumed you were human. It said, ‘stupid Shikars, do you think to hide behind a human woman? Do you think a human can destroy me where you could not?’ and so on and so forth.”

  “What did you say to it?”

  “I said, ‘You should cower in the face of justice, foul creature. This is no human, but a Shikar warrior queen who will see you pay for your crimes against the people of Earth’.”

  Cady kissed him soundly for that. “I knew the creatures could talk, or at least communicate with each other. I didn’t know they could stream sentences together like that, though,” she laughed.

  “That was not a normal Daemon. I think it was one of the higher-ranking members of the Horde army. I’ve never seen one so foul, though I have fought against many different Castes of Daemon. I hope never to see one like it again.”

  “I agree. You know, Sid, I think I need a vacation after tonight. According to you I have a baby in the oven, and I want to concentrate on that for a while. Well, that and your marvelous body, of course,” she purred, stroking her hand down his chest.

  “Saying things like that will not get you the rest you said you needed earlier,” he growled, reaching out to stroke her uncovered breast.

  “I’m too wired to rest right now. I think I need something to relax me so I can sleep.” She grinned wickedly and let her hands wander down to caress his already swollen cock. A droplet of pre-come coated her finger, which she daringly showed to Obsidian before licking it cleanly away. “Yummy,” she teased him with a smile.

  “That’s it. I’m through playing fair with you,” he groaned. In a swift move that left her breathless he threw her legs up over his shoulders and swooped down to lick the seam of the slit between her legs.

  “Ooooo, yes. That feels so good, Obsidian.” She moaned and tightened her legs around his neck, mashing his face closer to her wet flesh.

  Beyond words now, Obsidian thrust a long finger into her and slurped her clit into his mouth. While his face was buried between her legs, he pulled and tugged at her sensitive nipples with one hand and finger-fucked her with the other. He suckled on her sweet flesh, using his lips, teeth and tongue to drive her wild. Soon she was screaming and bucking beneath him, wild in her passion.

  “Come on my mouth, baby,” he commanded raggedly. Immediately she obeyed, and through their bond he felt every contraction, every wave of pleasure that swept through her.

  When she quieted, spent from her splendorous release, Obsidian rose up and thrust himself balls deep into her wet heat. They both groaned at the suddenness of his penetration.

  “I’m going to pump my seed into you until you’re full of it. Until you can’t take anymore. Then I will bathe you in the tub…and start all over again.”

  Cady squealed in excitement as he started his deep thrusts. It’s going to be a very long day, she thought, smiling like a loon.

  But sometimes that’s a good thing. Sometimes that’s a very good thing indeed.

  * * * * *

  Later that day, as Obsidian and Cady loved each other in their chambers, Tryton and Grimm spoke quietly of recent events.

  “She has proven without a doubt that some humans can mate with us. Even better than I expected, their bodies actually change and become like a Shikar’s. Soon Cady will learn all the joys of being one of us. She will make a formidable warrior…and mother, may the gods help us.” Tryton chuckled at the thought of the fiery woman raising a brood of Shikar children.

  “You were right to recruit her, for she is an asset to our army. But now there is the matter of the other open backdoors scattered across the surface world. How the Daemons have managed to get past our guards at the Gates, I still haven’t figured out. They are usually too stupid to think for themselves, let
alone plan an invasion of this magnitude,” Grimm murmured.

  Tryton turned thoughtful. “Yes. We must investigate the why before we can end the threat by simply closing their portals. Time, unfortunately, is working against us.”

  “We will find a way to stop the Horde,” Grimm said firmly, determination a palpable thing in his tone and words.

  “We must, my old friend. We must prevent the invasion at all costs. Or the Earth will fall to its knees…taking us along with it.”

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  Sherri L King

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