That night I slept on that indulgently soft bed, beneath those fresh silk sheets. Muted light from the fires out on the desert sands patterned the curtain and sparkled in the stained glass. My body could not have wished for greater comfort, but my mind was restless.
Our need is shared. We are inevitable. The Prince's words swam through my head.
I saw the strange logic. If I was trapped here for all time, then it wouldn't matter how many years or decades or centuries I denied myself the taste of him; there would come a night when I would offer myself to him eventually.
So why resist at all, if it was inescapable?
I drifted, indecisive, between wakefulness and sleep. I rested my eyelids.
I dreamt of Krimeya. Scarlet with anguish as she discovered our home empty but for salt and smoke. Her hypocritical, heartbroken, howl cracking like a whip through the centre of my chest.
I lay awake terrified that she might come looking for me,
Percival sat at the bar, sipping a beer that he bought twenty minutes ago, it wasn't his tipple, what he wanted to drink sat two metres away.A group of women giggled away, chatting about their, hair, nails, and boyfriends. He grew bored very quickly.It was the blonde who caught his interest. He knew her name was Darla because he heard one of her friends ask what she wanted to drink. She appeared to be sitting back, taking in everything around her, which was what he did.Her blue eyes even landed on him a few times, her pupils enlarging liking what she saw.Percival knew he was good looking. When he entered a room, heads would turn to find his dark chocolate brown eyes staring back. He would often flip his raven flowing hair off his shoulders, then lift his chiselled chin giving off an air of authority.In the human world, he was just a man to them. However, in his world, he held a place at his sire's side who ruled the only coven in the city.
The girl looked at Percival and he snarled at Camilla but she said,” You want your manhood, I am certain of that. If you do then you need to let go of the human right now.”“As much as I would have loved to have fucked you I have to let you go,” said Percival and the girl moaned at his voice and said,” You should not have done this if you had a girlfriend.”“What can I say? You are a tempting one, sweetheart,” said Percival as he looked straight in her eyes and then said,” You will recall nothing of me or this encounter or what happened with you. You need to forget that you ever came here and just recall that you had too many to drink and then you threw up and then went back to your friends.”Her eyes glazed over and she said,” Yes…I know nothing…”Then Percival turned to Camilla and she said,” You need to take me now.”“I thought that you were s
Camilla’s POVI had told you the reason that I had interrupted you with that human girl. Despite the fact that I was hot and burning with jealousy after being taken care of in such a way by you and then how easily you could leave me and go into the arms of another human. I knew that you required sustenance.But I could not. The Priestess had finally told me that what was going to break the hold of the demon on my soul. Why was Laruzen being able to bring me back to the hellscape that I so desperately wanted to get away from and the reason was simple. I had nothing to stop me here. I had nothing too pull me back to earth. The only way that I was coming back was by sheer will power and that was also not going to stop me from being demon fodder for a long.“You think that this is going to work?” Percival had asked me and I had nodded and said yes. And then the slow torture had begun.I take a minute to think about it this time, bent over th
I had been feeling feverish and achy for the better part of a week before I decided I was sick. Until then, I had convinced myself that I was merely tired, that I was feeling the accumulated stress of what had been a bad year. Not only was summer the most demanding season of my sales job, but I had also gone through a divorce. I thought I had taken the season and my wife's absence well; my body suggested otherwise and was now sticking me with a bug to prove it.A co-worker suggested that I stop by the local discount pharmacy and pick up a remedy that her sister's husband swore by. I wasn't interested in experiencing the jitters or lethargy over-the-counter remedies usually gave me, without affecting my ailment. Instead, I decided to stop at a health food store I often frequented on the weekends. I remember seeing several natural remedies in their health and beauty aids sections. Words like honey and citrus, garlic and zinc rang from my memory.I parked my BMW a few doo
Myrtle turned over again on her straw mattress. Sleep was not coming to her tonight. The stifling air of midsummer was compressing her little cellar room, a suffocating force from outside. She felt she was sleeping less lately than some of her friends who had husbands, and who wryly complained to her over laundry baskets of their nocturnal duties.Something always had held her back from marriage; not any kind of disdain toward the life of a wife and mother per se, but more something as yet unrealised, palpable, that often bristled within her as she lay in her cot at night. A difference. An affinity with something she could not yet identify. Her suspicion as to what this was both terrified and exhilarated her. Certain others around her seemed to perceive this simmering force. Always women, always unspoken. The owner of the apothecary, Freida, always seemed to hold her gaze a little too firmly each time she went to pick up father's salve. Daisy, who brushed and mucked out the h
Sacrificial Victim’s POVPriestess stood before me in the bedroom doorway, naked except for a clinging shroud of black gauze so thin it looked more shadow than silk. Her statuesque figure was fully visible in the early afternoon light, full, pert breasts tight against the flimsy material. Ordinarily I'd have to keep myself from staring, but strangely enough in that moment it was hard to not make eye contact with her. Those big, pretty eyes, grey-blue like deep pools of ice water . . .A muted noise from down in the street woke me from my reverie and I realised I had no idea how long I had been standing there like a fool. The expression on Priestess's face gave away nothing, her porcelain skin and air of quiet amusement making her look vaguely regal, like some pagan queen rendered in marble. More to cover my embarrassment than anything else I asked "So, why exactly are we-" I shrugged in what I hoped was an expressive fashion."What would you say if I told
Getting out of the car, Herb looked at the house and whistled. "Are you sure this dame's not a real witch?" he said.Herb's wife shushed him. "What kind of a question is that?""A good one. Just look at this place."The old iron gate around the property's dying lawn creaked when he pushed on it, and a winding path of broken stones led up to the tall, dark house with Gothic turrets and staring windows. You'd basically have to be a witch to move in here, he thought. The realtor was probably even running some kind of witch special: "Extra large broom closets, new cauldron included with down payment," that kind of thing.Herb's wife tsked at the overgrown flower beds as they approached the front door. "This looks so unhealthy," she said. "You don't think Willie caught anything while he was here? From fleas or something?"Herb thought it was more likely that fleas would get sick from biting their son than the other way around, but said nothing. When he
Dayen wasn't sure why he had been chosen as the high shaman for the clan on the day of the winter solstice. He was the youngest shaman in the clan, but old Wored had been too tired to perform the rite and had pointed silently to Dayen as his replacement. It was even more worrying that the signs hadn't been good. And now this.He dressed carefully on the morning of the equinox ceremony, putting on the golden shaman's torque with reverence, and wondered again what the chiefs were thinking to demand a virgin sacrifice. It was true that the winter had been hard, colder than normal, and the clan's food stores were low with a bad augury for the coming season, but they'd been in worse places before within Dayen's own memory, and the chiefs hadn't demanded the rite. Wored had said nothing at the meeting, merely staring into the fire with his heaviest brat around his shoulders. Cord had looked Dayen in the eye when he had pronounced the virgin to be given: Mala.Mala was outcla
Her father was not home when Alison arrived, which for once she was grateful for. She was in desperate need of some quiet time to contemplate what just happened. Not even bothering to go inside the house, she took the small stone pathway that twisted around the back of the main house and headed straight for the gardens. She loved her father's garden. Tall green hedges sectioned off different areas that all had their own unique theme. Her favorite section was the lily section and whenever she visited she made sure to stop by and take a nap on the cushioned bench that was found there. It was luxuriously relaxing to simply lay there and breathe in the scent of flowers and fresh air.Today, however, her mind was in a whirl and even meditating on her favorite bench didn't seem to be helping. The men she overheard in that room wanted to keep her around for whatever they were planning, but what was it and how did she fit into that plan? She felt incredibly vulnerable and wished that
Braden had not been able to sleep that night. Thinking about Alison facing the king made him feel like he was just punched in the stomach. He was well aware of the interest that Medeas had in Alison's work, and he knew for a fact that the king had not just recently taken interest in the biomagical field. In fact, it had been about two and a half years since the king first heard about it. Whether Alison knew it or not she was about to be horribly exploited, and unfortunately there was nothing Braden could do to stop it. He had been called to the capital earlier in the week so that he could be told to his face that if he warned her at all he would never see the end of their harassment. This arrangement was the reason he had never pursued Alison before, but eventually he just couldn't take it anymore and he had to be with her.He had been instantly smitten with Alison the very first day they worked together. While she was classically beautiful, she also had a penchant for making
So early Saturday morning had found Braden and Alison standing in an empty field that was surrounded by trees and sectioned off from the rest of the nature reserve that was near Braden's apartment. They had decided to spend the night with each other because Braden's lack of control over Fire made it too risky for him to stay by himself. That, and the intense fear they had felt earlier had them both hesitant to leave the other's side.The morning began with them taking turns walking each other through the basics of their elements. They quickly discovered that they had all the abilities of advanced Air and Fire elementals, most likely because Braden and Alison were each advanced in their own element and the stuff they were exposed to was extracts of their own magics. The problem facing them now was control. Braden could easily produce fire balls, but if he wasn't extremely careful they would grow too large in size and Alison would have to step in to contain it. Likewise, Alison
Alison woke to a weird sensation pooling around her back. It was both cool and hot at the same time and caused her skin to tingle. She slowly opened her eyes and was greeted by the sight of Braden gloriously stretched out next to her. The image of Braden's naked chest immediately made her forget about the annoying sensation.We need to get moving; we can't stay on the floor all day long,she thought to herself with regret.Braden hugged her closer and slowly opened his eyes."mmm, I wish we could stay just like this all day. That would be spectacular." He said as he slowly stroked the skin of the thigh that was thrown over him."Yeah until the janitor comes to empty the trash and finds two naked people on the floor.""Ha, Steve could use a good pick me up. I hear he doesn't get much as home."Gross I never want to think about Steve having sex.."Even an guy like Steve deserves to get some lovin' every so of
"God that was fucking incredible." She said to herself after awhile. But while she wasn't expecting a response, she got one."I'm glad you thought so little one."Her eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice."Braden?""Yeah it's me Ali." His voice was raspy and husky sounding. She bolted out of her lab chair and began to pace back and forth in front of the desk."This is so embarrassing." She said meekly, looking down at the floor and playing with her fingernails. "I can't believe you just saw that." Even though she knew that Braden had been responsible for the air-induced orgasm, she was still embarrassed at being caught in such a position.Braden waited for her to pass by him again and then reach out for her arm, pulling her so that she stood in front of him. He ran his fingers along her temple before tucking a stray hair that had fallen from her pony-tail behind her ear."You have absolutely no reason to be embarrassed. Y
To be a warrior, you must make friends with pain. It is a constant bedfellow who hung around just to say hello every so often. It lived as a reminder of the hazardous nature of the profession. It was a hazard that Aneesa knew about from a young age. The spirited woman was raised a fighter and proud warrior, one who shook off the occasional stabbing or attempt to decapitate her with a smile on her tanned face. In fact, she took pride in them, treating each scar as a new trophy to add to her collections of war stories. So Aneesa was no stranger to pain. Usually, she would grin and bear it, but this time it was different.The poor woman's arms hung over her head, extending slightly behind her as they were chained to a point on the ceiling. It was a slow-burning pain as she had been in that position for what felt like hours. The chain gave her no slack as she fought to keep her body upright, leaning forward would only tire her more. The bind that she got herself in was ingenious
Her eyes followed the red liquid as it flowed through the coiled plastic tubing and entered the glass collection beaker that was sitting on her laboratory table top. She needed 5 more milliliters of the stuff and then she could analyze its magical content and complete her thesis. Alison was a 24 year old master's student at the University of Sunderland and was apart of the first wave of bio-magical researchers that the kingdom of Sunderland had ever had. Wishing to stick to the traditional view that magic was a deep seated ability inseparable from the soul, most of the population refused to believe that there was a biological basis for their special abilities or that magic could be analyzed, quantified and experimentally manipulated.But Alison was about to prove them all wrong. The red liquid that was painstakingly dripping into the glass beaker was what she called Potion de feu, and was actually an extract of her own Fire magic. It had taken her four years to determine the
The Ancient lowered her cup."Of course, there is more to this particular tea ceremony than merely drinking tea," she whispered, her kimono parting to allow Taiju a quick glimpse of her spotted but seemingly firm brown breasts.Taiju suspected as much. That was the reason he had climbed for five brutal days through the unforgiving mountains to reach the witch's aerie. It was told that Ancient had uncovered the secret of life and death. Some said she was 200 years old. Others said 1000. Most people of course said she didn't exist. No one who returned had ever been able to find her.The deep creases surrounding her eyes seemed to twinkle as she pulled the kanzashi from her hair, spilling her silver tresses down her back."If you wish to gain eternal life, then we must drink each other," she whispered and shrugged her shoulders, spilling her silk kimono onto the floor. She stood, shameless before him in her nakedness.His eyes were drawn to the white
"Even if you do, you'll never make it out again. The others will tear you to pieces."Ean smiled grimly."That's my plan. Now let's go."They walked towards the mansion, Ean holding Adele in front of him. There was no one else in the garden, but as soon as they stepped inside the house they were noticed. Surprised shouts and yells of "Tenumago!" soon had them surrounded by vampires. Ean grinned at them."Come any closer and she's dead!"He pushed his claws in even deeper in her throat making blood trickle down her skin. The vampires backed away, knowing that he could tear her head off if he wanted to."Good. Now where's Percival?" he growled."Don't tell him!" Adele croaked."He's no match for Percival, Adele!" one vampire shouted. "In his office. Down that hall, last door on the right.""Much obliged. Now, all of you: get out!"The vampires hesitated, then did as they were told, reluctantly filing through the doo