Aarav’s tail continued to shake and convulse, slapping the floor hard, as I turned and looked at Faith in shock.
“Where did you get the gun?” I asked, as she led me to the door.
“In the truck,” she replied.
A cacophony of noise assaulted my ears, as she pulled the door open.
Drums roared and thousands of voices chanted in unison.
Looking both ways, I expected to see creatures rushing towards us. At the very least, I expected to see the guards who had been stationed at the door.
But, the corridor was empty.
Stepping back into the room, I realized that it had been soundproofed, so that the rich patrons who owned this box wouldn’t be bothered by the excess noise of the game.
“Dark Lady feed us,” the chanting continued in the hallway, as the monsters moaned in unison.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I cursed.
“This way,” Faith said, trying to drag me out of the room, into the corridor.
When I didn’t cooperate, she said, “We need to get to the Sorceror. Maybe he can help!”
I nodded and let her lead the way.
We hurried through the halls, hiding as more and more mantis snakes streamed past us in ceremonial garb. They were covered in paint, bones, and all sorts of other flamboyant colors. The monsters beat on drums, tambourines, and played instruments as they screamed about the ordination and the uprising of their species.
Somehow, we made it to the room where Zebulon was healing.
Like Tori had when I met her, I slipped into the pool and sank down to his body.
The rusty metal was gone from his chest, only a pink puckered scar remained.
Zebulon’s eyes were shut, and he looked like he was resting peacefully.
I shook the spider, willing him to wake up.
His eyes shot open, then, he moved his face near mine.
I felt Zebulon’s mind reaching out towards mine.
I could feel my spell blocking his attempt, but I was more scared of the mantis-snakes than Zebulon.
So, I let the spider into my mind.
“Where are we?” his thoughts whispered to mine.
So, I showed him my memories of everything that happened after he went into the fluid. I felt him rewind my memories to the crash and then play them forward again.
Zebulon shook in fright. I could feel his thoughts panicking when he saw the mantis-snakes.
“Fuck!” he cursed, as he sprang into action.
Before I could react, he grabbed my arm and swam to the surface. We breached the water like a nuclear sub attacking the arctic ice.
Suddenly, I was standing on the cavern floor, dripping fluids next to Zebulon.
The Sorceror looked around worriedly, as the chanting and the drums crescendoed and then stopped.
Then, the screams began.
Men and women shrieked for deliverance, as the monsters began to devour them in anticipation of the main event. They were only the appetizers.
My flesh was the main event.
“We must flee,” Zebulon whispered. “The Ithikal will devour us.”
Without listening, he grabbed both Faith and me and fled down the halls. Racing faster and faster, so that the world blurred around us. I felt him drawing heavily on one of his tattoos. The flavor of the magic that he was using tasted very similar to the Hound.
He finally rested on the roof of a building, across from the ruins of the Riverwalk Mall. Zebulon was breathing hard. He set both Faith and me down and collapsed to the ground.
“Wow,” she whispered. “That was amazing.”
Zebulon shifted to his back, trying to catch his breath.
“We are very fortunate,” he began.
Then, horns began blowing behind us.
The Ithikal wanted their meal.
Zebulon shifted to his feet. “Son of a bitch,” he complained. I could see how tired he was. Healing and then using his magic had drained the Sorceror deeply.
“They aren’t going to stop,” Faith murmured, as she stood up and looked into the distance. “They are tracking us.”
Then, she smiled.
“I need power,” she explained putting both of her hands out face up.
I took one of them and then looked pointedly at Zebulon.
Complaining, he scurried over to her slowly and took her other hand.
“Feed me,” she whispered.
- 35 -
I opened my magic to Faith, feeding her from both of my symbiotes.
I felt Zebulon doing the same, except his flow of power was much smaller than mine. He struggled to give her what power he had left. His magic tasted like electricity; that ozone taste that coated the air after a thunderstorm. It filled Faith and made little snaps of static electricity snap and pop on her skin.
“Oh…” Faith whispered, as the magic entered her body. Her hair rose up and floated in the wind, as she directed our power into her largest tattoo… The Horned Skull.
Instead of powering up the spell, she instead unleashed it.
Lock after mystical lock burst, as she freed the captive spirit.
Trembling, she held still, as the monster crawled out of her flesh.
It looked like a lion, but hideous. Its flesh was pulled tight to its skull. Glowing red eyes peered about, looking for prey. Taloned bat wings sprouted from its back, along with a scorpion’s tail.
“Smell her,” Faith crooned. “Remember her scent.”
It turned and leaned toward me, breathing in my fragrance.
I was so scared that I almost peed.
A snake’s tongue slithered out of its mouth and licked my forehead, while beads of sweat erupted on my skin.
Turning, it repeated the ritual on Zebulon, and finally Faith.
“Hide us,” Faith ordered. I could feel her arms shaking, as she fought to control the beast.
Like a cat, the monster bunched its muscles and launched itself up into the air.
Faith moaned and whispered gibberish, as she directed the spirit. A slight glow permeated the air, originating from between Faith’s naked breasts and following the monster like a plane’s contrail.
The monster flew around our heads three times, as glowing dust fell from its glowing body, sparkling in the air. Like a pixie, the monster coated us in glitter, hiding our scents. Then, it flew towards the Ithikal, covering Zebulon’s trail with its own scent.
Landing, it grew fuzzy and hard to focus on.
Then, suddenly, it became clearer. It looked exactly like the three of us.
Rush away, it ran across the sands, loping away from us, back towards the center of San Antonio’s ruins.
Anyone who saw it would swear that it was us.
Faith began to shiver in the night’s cold air. Goosebumps erupted from her skin, as sweat dribbled down her naked back.
I kept pouring power into her, while Zebulon slowly ran out of juice and slithered to the ground. With only my power to fill her, the lust that permeated my magic began to overwhelm the witch.
Shaking, she continued to focus, despite the fact that I could now smell lust dripping off of her skin, like a fine perfume. I could feel her trembling, as her nipples grew hard and firm.
She leaned into me and kept her spell going. Her fingers slipped under my cloak, moving it as she clung to my body.
I leaned in and kissed her neck. The lust that was rising off of her would stone a thousand whores. I could taste it in the air.
My magic returned to me a thousand times stronger, pouring out of Faith’s skin.
Faith whimpered, pulling me tight to her, as she arched her back. She was holding onto her climax by only a finger’s breadth.
A voice snarled in the sky like thunder.
Looking up, I saw the creature racing back toward her.
More words of gibberish fell from her tongue, as her eyes rolled up into her head, exposing only the whites. Turning her body, she exposed her chest to the sky, none too soon.
The beast slammed into her breasts, ripping her out of my arms and slamming her into the ground.
Turning, I saw that the monster was gone, and the tattoo had returned.
“What was that?” I whispered.
“Captive spirit,” Zebulon answered, as he pulled himself over to Faith. He was so tired that he didn’t even want to stand up.
Following his example, I moved over to the Witch.
She was whimpering and moaning. Her body was coated in sexual energy, and she had no way to relieve the intense pressure.
“Climax her,” Zebulon prodded.
“She’s not coherent,” I said. “It would be wrong.”
“Faith is overloaded,” he replied, pointing at her shuddering limbs. “She will die if you don’t relieve the pressure.”
Scowling, I decided to listen to the spider who had practiced magic longer than me.
I knelt between her legs and unbuttoned her pants.
She groaned and squirmed in pain, moaning unhappily.
I pulled her sweaty jeans off and was almost attacked by the pheromones that were pouring off her feminine parts. She smelled so strongly, that I almost gagged.
“Use your tongue,” Zebulon prompted. “And, maybe your fingers.”
“Hush,” I said, as I knelt and positioned her legs.
She was so wet, but I could feel the magic burning away at her mind. We had fed her too much.
I had never gone down on a woman before.
“Suck here, here, and there,” Zebulon prompted, pointing at her body parts.
“Shut up, Zebulon,” as I screwed up my courage and tried not to gag. She was so wet that it was nearly pouring out of her.
“Hurry,” he said. “She is painfully close to a seizure.”
Sighing, I lowered myself to the ground and licked her wet lips.
Faith moaned and squirmed, unable to help herself.
Jesus, I thought to myself. That tastes so strange. I wasn’t sure if I liked it, or hated it. It was a strong, pungent taste that for some reason reminded me of coffee.
Faith had saved my life, by helping me with the Devil’s Kiss. I couldn’t let her die.
Marching forward, I tried to imagine what I would like.
I licked around her opening, and then up to her clitoris in bold strokes.
Faith groaned and shook, moaning in pain ridden pleasure.
Wrapping my arms around her legs, I decided to go right to the clitoris. I began lapping at it, creating a rhythm.
“Yes,” Zebulon said, leaning closer. “Exactly like that.”
I wanted to kill him.
“Put your fingers in also,” he chimed in, motioning with his claws.
Sliding my fingers into another woman felt foreign to me still. She felt warm and wet, almost like…
“Build up a rhythm,” Zebulon insisted. “And… slide your little finger into her ass.”
I looked at him and scowled.
“Don’t stop licking!” he shrieked, “Or you’ll have to start over.”
I was going to crucify him, I decided, as I lowered my head.
But, I followed his instructions.
And… When I did, Faith came hard.
The air began to crackle and snap, as she expelled the overabundance of energy. It made my hair stand on end and goosebumps erupted on my arms. My tongue began to twitch, as the electricity made it go numb.
I started to sit up quickly, unwilling to lose my sense of speech.
“Oh, Goddess,” Faith finally breathed, shuddering in release.
Her hands stopped me from moving away from her, instead, they redirected my tongue to more… sensitive areas.
I brought her three more times before she was satisfied.
When we were finished, I looked up at her, and she smiled at me.
Sitting up, Faith pulled me into her lap and held me tight.
“Thank you,” she said, then she kissed my neck softly.
“You’re welcome,” I whispered, glad that I hadn’t lost feeling in my tongue.
My face was wet and cold in the chilly air, but I felt good.
Faith wrapped her legs around me, pulling me tight, until Zebulon said, “That should be sufficient. We need to go now.”
Faith laughed and looked up at him.
“Why did you save me?” she asked Zebulon, like he had anything to do with it.
“I never throw away a potential tool,” he replied.
Faith got up and helped me to my feet.
“What now?” she asked.
“Where did you send the mantis-snakes?” I asked.
Faith smiled.
“I sent them to the Buckhorn Tavern,” she replied with an evil chuckle.
- 36 -
We camped in the ruins of a bakery, right across the street from this world’s Alamo. It was too dark to walk back to Burning Tree in the darkness. The building was one of Zebulon’s secret safe houses that existed throughout the ruins.
It wasn’t the Ritz though. There were cots for Faith and me, and a strange hammock bed for Zebulon that looked like it was made out of spider silk.
But, at least there was fresh water and food. The walls were fortified, and the door looked strong and secure. I finally felt a little bit safe.
Zebulon was playing with a radio that was the size of a desktop computer from my world. He twisted and turned knobs and kept grumbling incoherently to himself.
I could hear Faith in the shower. She was singing happily to herself.
“Does she have to be so noisy?” Zebulon complained, as he set a large microphone down. It was the size of my Grande Coffee from Starbucks. An old cord about the size of my middle finger ran into the radio. I could hear transistors humming inside of the contraption. Maybe cell phones and computer chips hadn’t been invented in this world before it had collapsed.
“She’s happy,” I said. “Let her be.”
He scowled at me. “Talking back to me isn’t the norm, for an apprentice.”
I nodded, but didn’t take my words back.
“Take off your cloak,” he instructed. “I need to check something.”
If he had been a human man, I would have been nervous. Shrugging, I removed the cloak and stood naked in front of him. I was starting to feel comfortable not being clothed, which surprised me.
“Turn around,” he insisted, as he scuttled closer.
Before I turned around, I saw him pick up his magnification glasses, the ones with the multiple lenses of all different colors.
Turning on a bright lamp, he began to inspect the tattoos on my back.
“Just as I thought,” he murmured, as his cold fingers traced the spell pattern on my back.
His fingers made me shiver. They were cold and alien, and far from sexual.
“Your tattoo pattern that repels monsters is damaged,” he said. “That is why the Ithikal were able to approach us.”
“How did that happen?” I asked.
“It has been tampered with,” he replied. “And, you have been encouraged to forget about it.”
“Fuck,” I cursed.
There were only a few people who had the opportunity to do that.
Daniel or Tori.
Faith didn’t have the opportunity, as far as I could figure out. Maybe when I was unconscious after the truck was attacked. But, that was a stretch.
“I can repair it and remove the compulsion,” he murmured, “but, it will hurt.”
“Of course it will,” I complained. “Are you sure that you’re just not hungry?”
“Having the prayer operational will make the trip home safer,” he said, ignoring my question. “The choice is yours.”
Faith continued singing in the shower.
“Do it,” I said, just wanting it to get over with. I hated that someone that I cared about had tried to get me killed. The spell pattern that repelled monsters was my most powerful protection.
Murdering Her Light Page 20
