Seven Deadly Sins

by A T Russell et al

  "You don't think for a minute that I am not coming with you, do you?" Osane said firmly.

  "I'll come with you, too," Fastarr said with intense sorrow in his voice.

  "Fastarr," Rafe said. "You cannot fight your mother and siblings or the young Black warriors who once served under your command. And, Osane, you must stay here and take care of our daughter."

  "He's right, Fastarr," Osane turned to her brother and said. "You must stay here. You would destroy yourself fighting your own warriors and family. So, it will be your responsibility to stay here and protect my child. I will go with Rafe," she finished as she turned back to her mate.

  Rafe thought only a minute before saying, "We'll talk about who stays or goes tomorrow morning. Right now, I want to play with Genette a while."

  In the morning, just as the sun started to sparkle on the water around them, Rafe said to Fastarr, "Protect my daughter well on this island as I will try to protect your family in the coming battle. I cannot make Osane stay with you, but I never could make her do anything." Then, he tightly held his daughter for just a moment and left the cave.

  Osane embraced both brother and child and followed Rafe out of the cave without saying anything.

  ~*~

  Naomi stood with her mother, the tavern owner Mickal, her Uncle Dommy, and his friend Alden, the man she loved, and looked around the valley at the more than one thousand villagers, nine dragons, and nine other dragon riders who were there to meet with Rafe. She thought they all looked a fierce force for anyone to think about fighting.

  Then she saw Rafe come into view and right behind him the largest, most powerful looking, and most beautiful dragon she could ever have imagined. It must be Rafe's love, Osane, she thought as she heard the gasps and murmurs from the crowd. Looking at Osane she felt her courage and her heart drop. Osane was large enough to take on three of the other dragons here and have no problem winning, and Rafe had told her that Osane was not large for a Black. Now, the gathering in the valley looked very small to her.

  Rafe landed, and he raised both his front, shorter limbs in a gesture to silence the crowd as she hurried to his side and Osane landed on the other side. Then Rafe spoke to the crowd, "The Black that has accompanied me is Osane, my mate, and daughter of the Black Queen. She has come with me to help us in our battle.

  "Now," he continued, "we must prepare for the arrival of the other humans and dragons."

  For the next five days, Naomi helped getting extra shelter built and finding places in villagers' homes for the thousands of humans who arrived during those days. Others gathered extra food and prepared an area away from the village for the nearly three thousand dragons who were arriving. Some villagers were given the task of rapidly building fences for the extra horses arriving with the men and women who were coming to fight. The days had been so busy with everyone going speedily about their tasks, that to her, the whole five days had passed like mere hours.

  She sat down beside her mother at the tavern with Mickal, Uncle Dommy, and Alden, and asked, "Are you all as exhausted as I am?" Her question was answered with four silent nods by heads that never looked up from plates of mutton and potatoes.

  She sighed and looked down at her own food and added, "Rafe says the real work starts in the morning."

  Rafe had been right, she thought two weeks later, while she sat on Rafe's back behind the largest hill before the valley along with all the other dragons who had dragon riders, awaiting the arrival of the Blacks. In the past few days, the dragons and the humans had practiced their battle strategy over and over. Mickal would give the first signal, the only silent one, when the Blacks were past the forest and the dragons carrying riders would rise in the air at the opposite side of the valley to confront the Blacks.

  When the Blacks were halfway across the valley, the first of the horn signals would sound, and the human warriors with horses would ride out from under the cover of the forest behind the Blacks, hauling large trebuchets to catapult boulders at the Blacks furthest from the dragon riders. At the third signal, when the Blacks divided their strength to protect the rear, the Greens would attack from the other two sides, and the last signal would bring the rest of the human warriors and the Blues into the fray as the battle fatigue forced the fighting closer to the ground. Now, Mickal stood alone on the highest knoll in their site, moving wheat sheaves around with a scythe which he would raise over his head and swing around when he saw the Black dragons fly past the forest on the other side of the valley.

  When Mickal finally gave the signal, the dragons with their riders rose in front of them. Naomi rode with a pouch of spears near her left knee. She waited, spear in hand, until Rafe was near enough to the first Black for her to throw.

  A hit! She saw her spear hit the thinner scales over the heart, not a fatal piercing, but enough the large Black noticed and looked at the spear as Rafe flew straight in for an attack on the Black's head and she drew her next spear. She felt the jar as the Black knocked Rafe backwards.

  Rafe yelled at her, "Hold on!" and she felt him go into the practiced dive. As the ground sped toward them, Naomi looked back over her head to see the Black speeding down after them.

  "He's gaining on us," she yelled to Rafe.

  "Stay ready to shift," he called back and spurted faster toward the ground before pulling his tail down and head up, making a sudden upward curve. Naomi watched the huge Black crash to the ground behind them and heard his neck break as his body rammed into it.

  It was less than a minute before they were confronting another Black. Naomi, her heart pounding, fought one dragon after another with Rafe until they were all one long blur in her mind. Then, she spotted Alden running on the ground with a group of ground warriors, a large Black swooping down on them breathing fire.

  She leaned down screaming at him to get out of the way, knowing he couldn't hear her over the battle roar. She watched, while the third signal sounded, her heart twisting enough to take her breath, as the dragon's fire swept over his body leaving only a charred corpse behind.

  She leaned into Rafe's side, tears blinding her to the battle; then, she felt dragon talons rake into her side, felt herself swept from Rafe's back, felt herself falling toward the ground.

  ~*~

  Rafe saw Queen Genette coming from behind less than a second before he felt Naomi fall from his back and the Queen's great talons grab his neck. He brought his back legs up and clawed against her belly.

  Suddenly, she was pulled off him, and Osane yelled, "Save her!"

  He swung without thinking into a downward dive and caught the bleeding Naomi still in the air before he thought, "Oh, Osane, no." He knew she would never be able to deliver a killing blow to her mother.

  He laid Naomi under a protective ledge and quickly blew fire on one of his talons until it was hot enough to stop some of Naomi's bleeding and darted back into the air to help Osane. Just as he saw the frightening fight raging between Osane and her mother, the last signal was sounded, as if it were a personal call to him, yelling, "Fast won't be good enough."

  He feared he was too late but kept moving toward them as fast as he could. Genette was facing the ground, ripping at Osane's chest while she blew fire into her daughter's eyes; Osane was holding her Mother's talons trying to protect her heart, her back toward the ground. Rafe flew higher than Genette then plunged to grab one of Genette's wings in his mouth while he put his talons around her head and started shredding the flesh on her face.

  He heard Osane's scream when Genette ripped through her heart and let her go, then, turned to him. He watched Osane's body fall limp and lifeless to the ground and ripped the wing in his mouth from Genette's shoulder blade. Though flightless, Genette clung to him attacking his body while he took them toward the ground. Just before they hit the ground, she let go for a full out attack; he felt one of her talons puncture his heart. It would, he knew, eventually prove fatal.

  Genette dropped the few feet to the ground. She would live, flightless and with her face dis
figured. He looked around and saw that the battle was ending. What few Blacks were still alive were surrendering; they had no leaders left. He went swiftly as he could with his wound to Naomi and lifted her cradled in his front talons and flew toward his home.

  Rafe, limping, bleeding, and carrying the unconscious Naomi into his cave, felt the total grief of Osane's death when he looked into Fastarr's eyes. Fastarr simply stood, all his questions in his eyes.

  "The battle is over, and we have won at horrendous cost," Rafe said. "Osane and those of your other siblings old enough to fight are all dead. Your mother lives, flightless and disfigured."

  He handed Naomi, still unconscious, to Fastarr and said, "Heal her. Teach her the lore of all the dragon races, especially the Blacks, so that our influence lives on after the last dragon has died." Then, he looked at his sleeping daughter before continuing, "And raise my daughter to be the dragon her mother was."

  Rafe turned and started for the cave entrance. He heard Fastarr say, "Let me treat your wound before you go back to the battlefield, and you raise your daughter."

  "My heart is punctured, Fastarr. I have but hours left before I bleed to death internally. I'm going back to help where I can and then die holding Osane."

  He left without speaking another word to sap his energy.

  When he reached the battlefield, he landed beside Genette where dragons and humans alike clamored for her death. "No," he said. "The punishment must be severe and painful enough to fit the crime. Go and bring the young Blacks left in the Ice Caves to live among yourselves and raise them as your own. Then, take this wingless and hideous creature to live out her days alone in her caves of ice. Maybe, before she dies, she will come to understand the horrors she brought on all the dragons."

  He felt the touch of a small human hand then and looked down into the wet face of Naomi's mother. "She lives and is being healed. You'll see her again."

  Rafe walked away then, slowly limping to where Osane lay. Lovingly, he lay himself down beside her, as close as he could get, and closed his eyes for the last time.

  ~*~

  From her throne in the great cavern of the Ice Caves, she listened, held upright by her rage and fear, to the silence that surrounded her.

  Genette quivered at the emptiness of the caves and felt grief stab through the strength of her rage. She rose and roared her fire toward the distant frozen ceiling; drops of water from the ice fell on the empty cavern floor.

  She rose and walked, her head low, stripped of companions, flight, and beauty, out of the silent cavern toward her chambers.

  # # #

  Love begins with an image; Lust with a sensation.

  —Mason Cooley

  IV. LUST

  Sinful Pleasures

  by

  Dawn Kirby

  Cold Hearted

  Callista eased Dalton's arm from around her waist and quietly rolled out of bed. Sure, they still had time to bask in the afterglow of their stolen time together, but honestly she had him right where she wanted him from the beginning. This fortunate young man was her puppet, whether he knew it or not; whether he liked it or not. Now that she had her "sideline" guy for those rare lonely nights, the search was on for a real man.

  Not that Dalton wasn't a man per say. Actually he really was a guy's guy. Hunting, fishing, sports…you name it, he either liked it or did it. He jumped at her "honey-do" lists with the enthusiasm of a dog chasing his beloved ball. It was somewhat annoying really; redeemed only by his ability in bed. The truth is he never ceased to amaze her. She used to think a man's hands held the so called magic touch. One night with Dalton had changed her mind completely. A man's tongue, it seemed, can do extraordinary things to a woman. Oral delights aside, however; he would never measure up to the kind of man she craved.

  The main problem was that he had one of those eager-to-please personalities she'd never been good at dealing with for long. To her, it was a sign of weakness. No man could truly fulfill a woman if he were weak, no matter how many times he might tickle her fancy.

  The man she wanted was the type who comes in and takes what he wants. Soft and gentle. Hard and violent. Quick, she really didn't care. Not as long as she got what she wanted in return. And what she wanted, all she ever wanted was sex. Mind-blowing, passionate sex. She craved it like a dying man craves water. Gentle, sweet lovers like Dalton were nice now and again, but not as a regular menu item.

  She shut the bathroom door, leaving the sleeping man to his simple dreams of a future they'd never have. With a sigh she stepped into the shower and turned on the hot water. The sooner she got his scent off her the better. It was early yet, and she had some prowling to do.

  As she stepped out of the shower, she stopped to admire her reflection in the mirror. Callista was magnificent and she knew it. Long, luscious auburn hair. Beautiful dark green eyes. Soft ivory skin no man could resist touching. Curves that would stop traffic. Legs that went on for days…she truly defined the term "knockout".

  "My, my look at you," she said proudly. She ran her hands up and down the inside of her thighs and smiled. "Any man would be lucky to claim a prize like us. Let's hope the next one doesn't want to be tamed."

  "Cali?" Dalton called from the bedroom. "Who are you talking to?"

  "Nobody," she hollered back. She wrapped a towel around her body and stepped back into the bedroom. "I had the radio on. You know I can't stand the quiet."

  He patted the bed next to him and smiled. She walked to the closet instead. He sighed, thinking he'd done something wrong. "I'm sorry I fell asleep on ya, babe. I've just been so tired lately. Between the doubles at work and the baby, I don't get much sleep at all."

  She rolled her eyes and shot him an angry look. "I've asked you not to mention the kid while you're with me. You know how I feel about them."

  "Sorry." He got out of bed and pulled on his jeans. "I forget you can be a heartless bitch sometimes. Forgive me."

  "Ahh…Any chance of a quickie before work just went right out the window." Not that there was a chance in the first place.

  "Who said I wanted one?" he asked, a defensive look on his face. She smiled secure in the fact that her secret was safe. If only he knew what she could do. Getting inside his head was a parlor trick compared to the control she could hold, should she so choose.

  "I told you, love. I'm just that good." She zipped her knee-high boots up over her skintight jeans and put on an elegant cashmere sweater. When she turned around to flip the light off she came face to face to with Dalton. "Can I help you?" She tried to push past, but he didn't budge. "Excuse me. You're going to make me late."

  "Tell me how you do it." His arm circled her waist. She let him pull her closer. "Tell me why I can be furious with my wife for a week just for telling me to take out the trash during a football game, but I can't stay mad at you."

  "Because Dalton, I'm the forbidden fruit. You can't help yourself."

  "You know I love you," he whispered. She pushed away as soon as his lips brushed hers.

  "And you know how I feel about that as well." She strode past him and picked her purse up off the night stand. "See you at work, big boy."

  "Not tonight," he hollered. "I'm off."

  "Enjoy the home-life then. I'm sure it will be thrilling."

  When he heard the front door shut, he fell heavily on the foot of her bed. Being with her always started out so good. He forgot everything when he was in her arms. Then she had to leave. That's when the guilty feeling would kick in. And rightly so. He had a beautiful young wife waiting for him at home. She'd given him a strong, healthy boy not a month ago. She'd even given up her teaching career to be the mother he wanted her to be. There was nothing she wouldn't do for him. Yet, here he sat.

  "Sorry, Anne," he said softly. "I just can't say no."

  He took his jeans off again and tossed them in the dirty clothes hamper. He'd learned over the past few months that it was easier to keep a few changes of clothes stowed away for nights like these than try to expla
in why his street clothes smelled like a woman. Work clothes were different though. He could spend all night with her, work a couple of hours and then go home worry-free. The smells in the kitchen easily overpowered Cali's flowery perfume. Thank God for his career choice.

  Dalton grabbed his clean clothes out from under the bed and headed for the shower. Might as well get her intoxicating scent off him now. It was the right thing to do after all.

  "Yeah," he thought, "you're all about doing the right thing, aren't ya?"

  Working Girl

  Callista sat in her usual booth scanning the dining room with the watchful eye of a mother bear. As her eyes swept from one smiling patron to another, pride swelled inside her. Running her restaurant made her happier than any man ever would. Lovers come and go. They had, in fact. But this place. This place had and would always be there for her. To say Wiles was her pride and joy would have been putting it mildly.

  The name alone spoke volumes. She'd used every trick in the book to get the money together to buy the place nearly a hundred years ago. Back then, women were expected to sew, teach, or stay home. Not run a successful eating establishment. She'd found her niche in an upscale brothel by accident one night so many years ago and never looked back. There were rich men out there who would pay out the nose for the very best. Thanks to her knowledge of all things carnal; she'd had that in the bag.

  Satisfied the night's clientele was being well tended to, her mind turned to predator mode. Not for the sake of a bedmate though. This time she was looking for dinner. It had been several nights since she fed last. Both her strength and focus were paying the price for it, too. If she didn't find someone soon, she'd have to resort to seducing the kid at the blood bank again. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing. He might be young, but he knew exactly how to handle a woman.