by Nick Freo
She returned soon enough, fully clothed. Pride strapped on her armor and her dagger belt, then nodded at me with an energetic glint in her eye.
“Are you sure you are well enough?” I asked.
“Lead the way,” she replied.
I pulled the keys that unlocked the truck’s power from his pocket. Then, I wrapped the old man’s body and belongings in a heavy rug and carried them effortlessly down to his truck, placing them in its roomy hold. I entered the seat behind the handwheel, as I had seen the old man do. Pride sat down beside me, looking at the numbers and instruments before us skeptically.
“Do you know how to command this chariot?” she asked.
“It is a truck. A type of car. I have observed it several times,” I replied. I pushed the key into its receptacle and twisted until the vehicle sputtered to life. We collided with several immobile chariots before I mastered the motions of the truck. Between my excellent memory and natural sense of direction, I succeeded in navigating the dark streets back to the healer’s dwelling. I stopped the truck behind the healer’s home where it had been before and left the keys in place. I pulled the rug-wrapped corpse out of the truck and carried it inside while Pride held the door open.
I placed the old man as gently as I could down on the floor of his largest central room and unspooled the rug so he could gaze sightlessly at his home one last time. Pride stood next to him and tidied his hair while I broke furniture down into kindling and gathered anything flammable. I packed it all around his feet, then summoned a small flame in the palm of my hand.
“You have my gratitude, healer,” Pride whispered to the old man at last.
“Ready?” I asked.
She nodded and moved to stand by the back door. I touched the smaller, splintered bits of varnished wood I had piled together with my burning hand until they too burst into flames. The flames grew slowly but surely. By the time the door closed behind us, a merry blaze was crackling at the old man’s feet.
We stood across the street for the next several hours and watched the house burn, cloaked beneath one of Pride’s illusions to appear as gawking bystanders. The home soon burst into a large roaring furnace, with plenty of hardwood fuel to serve the fire’s wrath. The authorities of this realm arrived in long red trucks and smaller black and white cars. We gave them a wide berth.
“Perhaps we could have turned him to our cause,” Pride said.
I shook my head. “At least he saved you, and we have gained something as precious as his aid. Knowledge. We know for certain the Enemy has connections in this world.”
“Strong ones,” Pride added, fingers probing her side. “The wound is almost completely gone.”
“Well, we are not entirely alone either,” I said with a smile. A familiar figure was slinking down the crumbling sidewalk towards us.
Chapter 11
Alia’s pretty, youthful face shone in the glow of an overhead lamp as she drew nearer. She wore a petulant scowl, as though she had made up her mind to do something she knew she might find unpleasant. My smile grew wider.
“Trouble seems to follow you two around,” she said, red eyes wandering between us and the dying blaze. “Should I be worried for my safety?”
“Only if you keep wagging your tongue without considering who might be listening,” I said warningly.
“Were you the one who brought my lord here?” Pride asked, a challenge in her voice.
“Yes,” Alia replied, equally as challenging.
“Well, thank you.” Pride blushed, her tone suddenly soft and welcoming. “Without your help, I may have perished. We would value your assistance in learning more of the ways of this world.”
The vampire blinked, taken aback by the kindness. “Well, you’re welcome, I guess. Just don’t make a habit of getting...” she lowered her voice and looked around, “shot by a bullet priest. What are you two still doing here, anyway? Come on, I parked a few blocks away.”
We followed her down the sidewalk. “We are cloaked,” Pride said in confusion. “How did you know it was us?”
“I guess you could say I know what to look for at this point?” Alia shrugged. “I dunno, it seemed obvious. You didn’t look like you, but neither did anyone else. And I could smell you. That always helps.” We arrived at Alia’s car, which was not the same red one as before. This one was black and even smaller than the first; it had a seat in the rear but only two doors. The vampire had to bend the car chair forward so that my Viceguard could slide into the back.
“You switched vehicles,” I noted approvingly as Alia and I settled into the front seats. I found the little bar behind my legs and pushed my seat back. Pride slid over to sit behind Alia instead. “That was clever.”
“I’m a clever woman,” Alia grinned as she touched the colored wires together and brought the car to life.
As we drove towards the cathedral for the second time that night, I came to appreciate the landscape surrounding it even more. It was not merely an elegant old building but had been constructed in a defensible location. Its back was faced by a sheer hill, too steep for an enemy force to creep or charge along. Its front entrance was preceded by the long, tall flights of stone steps and the large square where I had battled the bullet priests. A small force could hold an army there. The building’s only true weakness was the ground floor entrances, such as the one we had used on our first visit. The vampire king had been careless to leave those open. They would need to be boarded up and barricaded as soon as possible.
“You’re quiet, my lord,” Pride said from the back of the car. “What are you thinking on?”
“Hm. Merely considering our place in this world. I believe we have started well. The cathedral holds a position of strength in this river valley.”
Alia slowed the vehicle to a stop and silenced it, then twisted sideways and nodded. “That’s pretty much why the king chose it. He wasn’t a complete moron, after all. It’s pretty defensible if you’re prepared. But those bullet priests could come back any time, you know.”
“Of course I know,” I replied with a tight smile. “And they will not be so lucky as to catch me off guard this time.”
“You have yet to see my lord’s true strength,” Pride piped from the back seat.
“And we have yet to see this world’s true strength. I misjudged the inhabitants of this realm,” I said. “We still have much to learn.” I cast a glance at Alia.
“Fair point,” Pride replied and banged on the back of my seat. “Now let me out of this damned contraption!”
“I am growing fond of these cars,” I told her as I climbed out and shifted the seat forward. I helped Pride over the obstacle and we followed Alia towards the cathedral. She had left the car a short distance away, likely a wise move, since leaving another’s car in front of the property could only bring attention. Pride groaned and leaned on me halfway up the steps, seemingly exhausted from her ordeal despite being healed. I supported her while I enjoyed the taut framing of Alia’s body within her skirt as she climbed the stairs in front of us.
“Are you certain we should remain here?” Pride asked as we entered the cathedral. Several vampires lingered in the shadowy corners of the antechamber without a purpose or a place to go. They called faintly to Alia, using filthy words even I had never heard before.
“You’re all nothing but scum left on the bottom of a dead king’s boot,” she retorted, stopping sharply.
I looked around. There were less than a half dozen of the bloodsucking creatures. “Would you like me to kill these pests for you?” I asked Alia. “It seems I owe you a favor, and my new home might smell better without them.”
The vampire laughed. “No need for that,” she said, but her brethren had heard the threat. They slunk deeper into the shadows and fled, their footsteps mere whispers on the cathedral’s solid floors. “They’re about as harmful as puppies,” she said, “but they’ll keep nosy neighbors away as surely as an angry dog. No real reason to get rid of them. Come.” She led the way up
the stairs into the auditorium and back behind the stage to my newly claimed chambers.
“I cleaned up and changed the sheets on the bed for you, my lord,” Alia said subserviently. I raised an eyebrow at her and nodded, but said nothing. She retreated to the corner of the room rather than leaving, which was acceptable to me.
“You should rest, Pride,” I said, bustling to the bed and pulling back the clean covers. Now that the danger had passed, a trickle of guilt stirred in me. Pride had injured herself trying to protect me. I had grown too complacent, too accustomed to relying on the presence of a full Viceguard and my full dark powers. The elf woman sat on the bed but did not lie down.
“I will,” she said, “but my injury was not in vain. We discovered new enemies.” She looked to Alia in the corner. “And allies.”
“Indeed,” I assured her, taking her hand in both of mine and massaging her palm. “This world seemed so weak at first glance, but its strengths lurk in the shadows. I know now it is a worthy adversary, and I will treat it as such. With you at my side, we will most certainly triumph. I am glad you are well once again, my Pride.” I paused, but she shook her head and lifted her free hand to my lips.
“I do not need sweet words, my lord. No, I need something else.”
A primal growl rose up in my throat, and I bit the finger she laid along my lips. Pride gasped through a sudden, girlish smile as she looked up at me in wide-eyed anticipation. I would never grow tired of seeing that expression on her face, and it had been too long since I had last seen it. Not since before the fall of my kingdom, before the Enemy’s portal, and before this world. I wanted her again. Now. I wanted to forget all the changes and simply remember something right. And I could do that with Pride.
“Take off your armor,” I commanded, stepping backward and unbuckling my own dragon scale mail. We smiled at each other, my dark eyes drinking in her blue ones, as our weapons, vambraces, chest plates, and pauldrons formed a pile on the floor. I pulled my shirt up and over my head, revealing my chiseled abdomen. Pride made a sound not unlike a mewl and reached out to run a few chilly fingers over my stomach.
“Did I grant you permission to touch me?” I asked meditatively, and her hand snapped back as if burned. She looked up at me, those icy blue eyes asking for more. “Turn around,” I said roughly, and she spun obediently.
My arms encircled her from behind, hands kneading her breasts through the borrowed blouse she wore, my engorged cock rubbing against her slender bottom. She groaned and ground back against me, one hand reaching overhead to caress my hair while the other grasped my belt and pulled me forward harder. Neither of us paid any mind to Alia. She had entered my servitude, which meant she could wait on us in case we required anything.
I gathered the hem of Pride’s shirt and began to pull it over her head, but then changed my mind and tore the garment in half. The elf gasped, shivering at the sudden chill of fresh air, her nipples hardening as I grasped her bare teats and pinched them forcefully enough to remind her how completely she belonged to me.
The sensation of my bare chest on her satiny back fanned my ravenous hunger. I wanted more. My hands slid sensuously down her abdomen until they entered the top of the strange otherworldly pants she wore. It took me a moment to figure out how to unfasten them, but then my fingertips brushed the delicate golden hair coating her sex. Pride mewled again, grinding against me even harder and moaning.
“Oh, my lord, please... I need you inside of me. Please, my lord... please...”
“You want me inside you?” I hissed in her ear, and she nodded fervently. “Well, there is more than one way to accomplish that,” I reminded her with a laugh. “Turn around and get on your knees.”
She moaned in frustration, realizing the folly of her request but complied with my command immediately. I loved the way she looked on her knees in front of me, half naked and longing for any touch I saw fit to give her.
“Go ahead,” I said with a smile, running my hands through her loose blonde hair. “You may have what you wanted.”
Her hands tore greedily at the strings of my trousers, tugging them down along with my smallclothes all in one motion. Her wet, warm mouth engulfed my cock the moment it sprang free. She swallowed the head, massaging the shaft with her tongue and bobbing her throat up and down in a way that sent a shiver through me. I growled and gathered a handful of her hair, pulling her back so I could look her in the eyes while she pleasured me.
“Yes,” I said, “let me look upon you, my beautiful Pride. My obedient Viceguard.” She grinned up at me, panting slightly, then ducked her head to pleasure me once again.
“I love to please you, my lord,” she whispered when her mouth found a free moment. “I will always please you however you require.”
“Good.” I gathered her hair again and pressed her mouth back to its heavenly work. She could swallow nearly half of my length, and I used her mouth as soundly as I would any other of her orifices. I lost myself in sweet bliss for a few moments and nearly came to my fall, but she sensed me approaching and pulled back, looking up at me with a hurt expression.
“I still need you, my lord. The healer closed my wounds, but my spirit is still weak. Grant me this gift. Make me well again, my lord, as only you can. Please, Cain, my lord. Please!”
As she begged me, her hands worked my shaft, keeping me hard. I laughed and looked down at her, tilting my head from side to side as if considering.
“Take off your pants,” I said at last. “Slowly.”
She scrambled to her feet and turned around. She knew what I liked to see. She bent forward over the bed and tugged the pants up taut before beginning to draw them down. Leisurely. This world’s garments clung to her womanly curves, making me regret that women from our own world had not dressed so.
I grasped the firm flesh of Pride’s buttocks as her pants landed around her ankles. She stepped out of them and bent further forward, arching her back, inviting me.
I peeled her cheeks open, and her dripping lips quivered with anticipation. I pushed her down on the bed and climbed on top of her, pressing her flat with my hips and grinding my rigid cock down her crevice and over her pulsating cunt. She moaned and shifted, pushing back against me as much as she could. I seized a handful of her hair and pulled her head sideways, exposing and biting the soft flesh of her neck. I breathed in the scent of her musk.
I retracted my head, and my dark eyes met with Alia’s red ones across the room.
“Do you want me?” I asked confidently, my words meant for a double audience.
“Yes,” Pride moaned into the mattress.
“Say it again.”
“Yes, my lord,” she gasped, pushing herself up slightly and reaching back to grasp my cock. “Please...” She guided it towards her glistening slit.
“For you, my Pride,” I said approvingly and thrust my hips forward.
The sound that came out of her was halfway between a moan and a yowl. She arched up onto all fours despite carrying my weight, toes curled, fingers gripping the bedspread tightly.
“Oh, my lord,” she gasped. “You feel so good... I want more. Please... oh please, my lord—“
She cut off as I wrapped a hand around her mouth and rammed my hips into hers over and over again, taking her vigorously. I knew what she wanted, what she needed. I held her down and pounded my pelvis against her luscious body, savoring every stroke of penetration. She climaxed violently beneath me, shaking and shuddering, calling my name only to correct herself and use my title.
I wrapped my arms around her torso and planted my hip in the mattress, rolling so that she ended up on top of me, still with myself deep inside her. She groaned and sat up, grinding down on me, her insides massaging the head of my member. I enjoyed the view of her gyrating on top of me and gave her rear end a light smack.
“Turn around,” I commanded. She grunted in reply and twisted, throwing a leg over me and rotating so we were face-to-face. I tangled my hands in her hair again and pulled her down fo
r a kiss, embracing her as she rode me in desperation. Slowly, I worked my hips in time with hers. She rose up and down like a piece of driftwood bobbing with the tide, rolling her head around and flicking her hair so it teased my chest. I grasped her cheeks and moved her hips to my satisfaction, then rolled her over again, winding up on top between her legs.
I lost myself in her hair, in her lips, in her scent, in her touch. Pride was mine and mine alone, as was my Pridehold, a steadfast presence always with me. My warrior queen.
I broke a long kiss and licked the sweat from the nape of her neck. We were both coated in salty froth by now. I wrapped my arms beneath her and pressed her firmly against me, driving my cock to the very hilt. She gasped the way she always did when I used my full length... part surprise, part gratification.
“My lord...” she gasped as the thrusting of our hips found a rough rhythm. “Please... I need to...” I raked a hand down her chest and massaged the swollen apex of her mound, thrusting with even greater vigor.
“What is it, first of my Viceguard?” I asked tauntingly. I could see the panic in her eyes. She was losing control.
“Please my lord, let me... please!” Tears spurted from her eyes as she leaned forward and kissed my neck, hips gyrating, losing the ability to speak as pleasure consumed her.
“Go ahead, then, Pride,” I whispered. “Come for me.”
The climax that wracked her body came in waves. I held her firmly in my arms and continued my motion tirelessly, focusing on my own pleasure and allowing it to build inside the tightness of her cunt. Finally, I could take it no more. Pride, too, was skimming the edge of consciousness.
“Do you want it?” I growled to her.
“Yes, my lord... give me your gift,” she gasped.
With a final deep thrust I came inside her, my hips convulsing and my muscles hardening for a moment before going soft with sweet, absolute relaxation. I melted forward and kissed Pride hard on the lips, enjoying her taste and the satisfying sensation of our lingering coupling. We stayed there awhile, enjoying the pleasant warmth of each other’s company. After some time, she stood up and gathered her clothing and armor.
