by A. J. Markam
She screamed in agony and crumpled to the ground.
It had been a critical strike – nearly all her hit points were gone.
I immediately rushed over and started casting Self-Sacrifice, pumping my health points into her to save her life. I cradled her in my arms, supporting her head in the crook of my arm –
But then I felt the scalding pain of Malfurik’s next attack hit me.
My Health dropped to 50%.
Another hit like that – two at most – and I was a goner.
But if I went back to Soul Suck, he would just attack Alaria again.
He had me in a bind. He was making me choose: me or her.
I looked down at my ivory staff that had fallen on the floor next to her, and wished for there to be some way I could magically use it to get us out of this mess. It had freed me from Malfurik’s bindings – could it somehow hurt him?
But how?
And then I remembered the one item about the staff that had mystified me when I first came into possession of it, and which I had never really given thought to since: the one-time use of the scepter to call upon the aid of the goddess. The very property that Jastoth had used to summon the goddess to fight us.
It hadn’t worked out for him the way he’d wanted – mostly because he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. She’d even disavowed him before turning him over to me and Alaria.
But would the scepter’s summoning ability work for a Warlock?
Would it work for someone who wasn’t one of her followers?
I had to try.
I picked up the staff, held it high in the air, and yelled, “I call upon the goddess Chalastia to come to our aid!”
Then I slammed the staff into the glowing red stone of the throne room floor.
There was a thunderclap above us, and a shaft of light broke through the darkness. A 50-foot-tall ghostly woman appeared, the upper half of her face hidden as she stared down at me, Alaria, Stig, and the thousands of demons.
All fighting in the hall stopped. Even Malfurik was stunned into silence.
“You have called upon me, mortal – what do you wish? To save your life?”
I glanced at my followers, the people fighting for their freedom – and then down at the woman in my arms.
I made my decision and looked up at the Goddess.
“I don’t care about me. Save her,” I said, lifting Alaria up the slightest – then flung my hand out at my army. “And please save them, if you can.”
I could’ve sworn that the woman’s mouth – which I had never seen in anything other than a dour expression – smiled the tiniest bit.
“So shall it be done,” she said, and held out her hand.
Malfurik screamed in fury. “No – this is not your realm, nor your right – ”
But he was silenced by a blast of incandescence that burst from her hand and enveloped him in light.
My demon friends scampered backwards as they watched Malfurik scream. His hit points dropped precipitously, but he was able to stagger and put the throne between the goddess and himself. I could see that his hit points were incredibly low – mortally low for him, in the four digits – but he was shielded from her attack now. He staggered backwards, his skin bubbling, smoke boiling off him like steam from a kettle.
Then he stepped into the massive mirror behind the throne.
He was getting away.
But he stopped, his body halfway in and halfway out of the mirror, and looked back at me defiantly. He reached into a pouch on his belt, then pulled something out and thrust it defiantly into the air.
It was Alaria’s choker.
“She still belongs to me, little warlock,” the demon lord roared with laughter.
In my anger and impotent fury, knowing that there was no way I could take 5000 hit points off him with one attack, I did the only thing I could think of: I threw the staff through the air.
Not at him – but at the mirror.
It was the Hail Mary of all Hail Marys, hoping against hope.
But just like before, the staff delivered. It pinwheeled through the air and crashed into the mirror, which immediately shattered into a million shards.
Malfurik’s mouth dropped open in shock and agony.
Then the half of his body still in this dimension peeled away from the mirror frame and fell to the floor, red smoke and fire boiling out of his severed torso.
The other half of his body that had been in the mirror dimension was just… gone.
The hit point counter over his head dropped to zero.
He was dead.
The entire hall interrupted in a roar of triumph.
Every single prisoner thrust their arms into the air, howls of joy escaping their throats.
XP numbers appeared and golden light enveloped me, signaling that I had leveled up – but I didn’t pay attention in any of it. There was something far more important at hand.
I looked down at Alaria and laughed with sheer joy.
She placed her hand tenderly against my cheek, smiled – and kissed me.
It might have been the single happiest moment of my life.
But it was abruptly cut short by an unearthly voice clearing its throat.
We both looked up to see the goddess peering down at us.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully.
“You are welcome,” she said. “Be forewarned, the scepter only works once – if you call again, I shall not hear you.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
She nodded her head in assent.
“Why did you show up at all?” I asked. “I’m a Warlock, not a Priest. I’m not even one of your followers.”
“Do you remember what I said at the church, when you killed the false priest?”
I thought back. “You told everyone to stop following assholes, and to be good to each other.”
Her dour mouth smiled again. “I would say you fulfilled the second, and inspired others to follow the first. Both my commandments were fulfilled, which is why I answered.” The goddess looked down at Alaria. “And when you asked not to save yourself, but her – and your followers – I knew I had made the right choice.”
Swear to God, I misted up at her reply.
“Go in peace, children, and be good to one another,” the goddess intoned, then slowly faded from view.
Alaria and I looked at each other – laughed in amazement – and I pulled her up to her feet and kissed her, long and deep.
“Awkward,” Stig mumbled at our feet.
There was a holler and cry all around us, and we broke off our kiss long enough to look at the demons surrounding us.
Grok came forward and knelt on one knee, his head bent.
One by one, the other demons followed suit, until 6000 of them had bent the knee before me.
“What the hell?” I asked, shocked beyond belief.
“I think they want you to be their king,” Alaria whispered.
“What?! No!” I yelled. “We didn’t free you just so you could enslave yourself to another ruler!”
Grok looked up in confusion. “But who will lead us, then?”
“You’ll lead yourselves. You’ll figure out how to govern yourselves and the city. Everything here is yours, not mine. You worked for it in the mines, you fought for it here tonight – you earned it. You deserve it.”
“But – how will we govern ourselves? How will we – ”
“Tomorrow,” I interrupted, my voice tired. “It’s been a long night, and I want to go to bed.”
“Tomorrow, then,” Grok agreed. “Tomorrow our future begins.”
“Tonight,” I shouted, “you celebrate!”
Every demon in the throne room erupted in a cheer.
I turned to Alaria. “Now, please – can we find an actual bed and get some sleep?”
She laughed, her voice like silver bells, and took me by the hand.
“So awkward,” Stig mumbled.
“Stay put,” I told him, “and drink as much w
ine as you can find.”
“Thanks, boss!” he cheered, and disappeared into the celebratory throng as Alaria and I did our own disappearing act out of the throne room.
38
We walked into the royal bedroom, which was astounding: 20-foot-high ceilings, lavish decorations, and a balcony that looked out over the entire kingdom of Abaddon. From our height of 500 feet, you could see the glow of every stone building – and beyond them, the spiral patterns of mines and canyons where I had been imprisoned just hours before.
The bed, though, was what was calling my name. It was gigantic. Imagine a California king bed built for a 15-foot-tall demon lord, and you’ll get the idea of its size.
I crashed down on the mattress and groaned in relief. So soft… so comfortable…
Alaria sat down on the bed next to me, acting far more demure than usual.
I opened my eyes and looked up at her. “What?”
She held out her hand. Dangling from her fingers was her velvet choker with the skull on it.
“I’m ready for you to put this back on me,” she said quietly.
I frowned and sat up. “What are you talking about?”
“When Malfurik took this off and bound me with his own chains, he became my new master. But now that he’s dead, I revert back to you.”
I stared into her eyes. There was a defeat and resignation there I had never seen before – coupled with a gentleness that I hadn’t seen, either.
I took the choker, put it in the palm of her hand, and wrapped her fingers around it.
“I give it to you. It’s yours.”
Her eyes widened. “But – that means – ”
I smiled. “You’re free.”
Her eyes welled up with tears. “But – how can you – ”
“I’ve seen too much over the last couple of days. Saw it, but didn’t understand it. Then I finally learned what it was like to wear a collar of my own. I don’t want you to ever have to do that again.”
She hung her head shamefacedly. “But… I did things just to get you to help me kill my ex-masters. You still want to give me my freedom, knowing that?”
“I went along with it because I wanted to sleep with you.”
She gave me a look like, Well, of COURSE.
I laughed and shook my head. “But that means I did it for my own selfish reasons. I didn’t love you – not really – because otherwise I would’ve done what was best for you.” I put my hand on hers, the one wrapped tightly around the choker. “This is me doing the right thing, because I actually do love you now. You’re free… and that’s what I want for the woman I love.”
Tears coursed down her cheeks as she sobbed again, overcome with emotion. “So I can do anything I want?”
“Anything you want. And I’ll still gladly help you kill your ex-masters.”
“That wasn’t what I was talking about,” she whispered, then leaned forward and kissed me.
I pulled back, my eyes wide with surprise. “Are you sure?”
She smiled. “I’ve never been more sure about anything in my entire life.”
I leaned in and kissed her again. That’s all we did for the next few minutes – just kiss, slowly, sensually.
I luxuriated in the softness of her lips, the cinnamon sweetness of her tongue.
As we kissed, I brushed my hand against her cheek, then slowly traced my fingertips down her neck, to her shoulders – and then lower.
My heart pounded as I felt the delicious contours of her breasts, and began to caress their curves.
The entire time, all I could think was, I can’t believe I'm doing this! I can't believe I'm doing this!
As we continued to kiss, I cupped her left breast in my palm, felt the incredible weight of her in my hand, the firmness of her beneath my touch. Then I brought both of my hands to the clasp in the middle of her bra and undid it. It took a bit of fumbling, but I finally felt the bra separate and come undone.
I had to stop kissing her and look. There was no way I could stop myself.
She just grinned as I stared down at her breasts, then leaned in and whispered in my ear, “Touch them.”
I ran my fingers over her soft skin, cupping her breasts in my hands, feeling the firm points of her nipples. She murmured as I brushed my thumbs over them, caressing them, making them even harder.
I did that for several minutes, just luxuriating in touching her, amazed that I was finally doing something I’d dreamt about for so long.
Then I bent my head down, put my mouth on her nipple, and began to lick her.
She arched her head back with a guttural noise of desire. Our hands moved feverishly over each other’s bodies, mine running up and down her chest, hers clutching my hair and gripping my back. Finally I came up for air and we kissed again. Thirty seconds later she was hastily trying to pull off my clothes.
We fell backwards on the bed, and she shucked off her boots and shrugged her way out of her thong. I yanked my own boots off, but I didn’t get much further than that, because I couldn’t stop watching her. I just kept thinking, This is really going to happen! This is REALLY GOING TO HAPPEN!
Once she was naked, I moved my head down between her thighs, but she put her hand against my shoulder and stopped me. When I looked up, she grinned and shook her head ‘no.’
“This time,” she purred, “I get to do it.”
She pushed me gently onto my back, hastily unbuckled my belt, and pulled my pants completely off. Needless to say, I was already rock-hard. She settled her body down between my legs, and I could feel the full weight of her breasts on my thighs as she brought her lips close to my throbbing shaft.
She kissed it, tickled it with her breath, brushed her face against it adoringly. She circled it with her hands, pulled it up straight from my body at a ninety degree angle, and then began to lick it up and down like an ice cream cone.
I groaned in pleasure.
After a minute of that she scooted her body around so that she could continue at a more natural angle. She pressed her body against mine, her breasts against my stomach, her hips right next to my head, and took me completely in her mouth.
I groaned and grasped her ass, just kneading her soft, firm cheeks with one hand as she began to suck.
At first she just lolled her tongue around the head, but gradually she began to move up and down on me, taking me inch by inch between her deliciously soft, wet lips, until I was all the way inside her mouth.
I lay there on the bed groaning, lost in ecstasy.
As good as she’d been with her hands a couple of days before, she was even better with her mouth. But she never let me get too close to coming. It was like she had a sixth sense about how close I was. She would go fast and furious for a while, building right up to the peak of orgasm – and then slowly ease off and gradually stop altogether. She might give me a kiss or a lick every few seconds, but she would let me cool off before taking me all the way to the brink again.
I was just lying there lost in a haze of bliss when something brushed my face.
I opened my eyes, alarmed – and then realized it was her wings.
They were still folded together tightly on her back. I had never been with a woman with wings on her back before – obviously – so naturally I reached out in curiosity.
When I touched them, they were soft like silk, but warm. I begin to stroke them up and down, just for my own pleasure –
“Goddess,” she groaned from down in my lap, the word obscured because of what she had in her mouth.
“You like that?” I asked, amazed.
She nodded, and I felt her lips leave my shaft so she could speak clearly. “No one’s ever done that before.”
I began to think of all the other things that no one had ever done for her before – all the things they had ignored because they were only interested in their own pleasure.
As she went down on me again, I continued to stroke her wings, and she unfolded them out to their full span. I caressed the thin skin,
felt the strong muscles where the wings connected to her back, and gradually worked my way down her spine to her tail. I begin to stroke it with my fingertips, circle it with my hand, and slowly follow it from the base all the way down to the tip of her tail.
Every time I touched her someplace new, she moaned the way most women would if you went down on them.
Which gave me an idea.
I grabbed her legs and forcibly shifted her body over on top of me.
“What are you – ” she started to say, but when her lap was in my face and I began to lick between her legs, she figured it out.
“Goddess!” she cried out, then quickly put me back in her mouth again.
We continued that way for several minutes, me in absolute heaven, getting sucked while my tongue alternated between being inside her and licking her clit. At the same time, I let my hands rove over her smooth back, her dainty waist, her absolutely magnificent ass, even stroking her tail or caressing her wings.
I could tell she was getting close to coming – her thighs began to tremble, and she was beginning to make sharper, more high-pitched noises – when suddenly she broke off and rolled away from me.
“Why did you do that?!” I asked in bewilderment.
“Because I’m getting close to coming,” she gasped.
I groaned in frustration. “Please don’t tell me you’re stopping in the middle again.”
“No,” she laughed as she spread out her wings and lay down on her back. Then she grabbed my arm and pulled me insistently towards her. “When I come, I want you inside me.”
Holy SHIT.
No woman had ever said anything that hot to me in my entire life.
I moved on top of her body and positioned myself between her legs, feeling the warmth of her belly against mine.
I have to admit, I was a little nervous. She’d had me on the edge of ecstasy for a very long time.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to last,” I whispered. “I mean, I’ll try to – ”
“Shhh,” she whispered, pressing a finger against my lips. “I don’t care – I just need you inside me.”
I almost came just from hearing her say that.
I breathed heavily and stared into her eyes as I moved between her legs. As my tip pressed between her lips, her face took on a look of blissed-out surprise. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she began to moan.
