Home of Consequence

by Archibald Bradford

  With the Valkyrie’s support, Nina charged.

  Evadne measured the odds against her: if she wasn’t wounded then she could take the Valkyrie, given time she could wear her down and get past her inviolable shield. But there was no wearing down a true Gigas, and the little red girl could match Evadne’s strength, even augmented with the powers of entropy as she was.

  She ground her teeth as she was forced to concede that she couldn’t hope to prevail against such overwhelming odds.

  It truly galled her to have to leave empty-handed, especially after all of the injuries she had sustained, but the unexpected presence of such powerful monsters was too much for her in her weakened state.

  Her internal struggle over, she took to the air with a couple of flaps of her dark wings, her wounded tail hanging limp and barely touching the ground beneath her.

  “Another time.” She called out.

  Darkness swirled around her as she prepared to slip into the shadow realm to escape.

  But the mountain would not be denied.

  “No! NOW!”

  Nina halted her charge long enough to draw her hammer behind her with both hands and hurl it with all of her might.

  Before the liquid shadows could completely envelope Evadne and allow her to escape, the massive black meteor slammed into her armoured chest, disrupting her spell and knocking her through the side of the Hornets’ hive.

  Her body shattered the thick internal walls one after another until she lay in a dazed heap deep inside the ruined dome. Glossy rubble fell all around her as the already damaged structure began to collapse in on itself.

  Impossibly, her armour bore the blow and no doubt saved her life, but cracks were now splintered all across its surface and the dark power that sustained it faltered as it began to flake off of her.

  With great effort she rolled the hammer off of her chest, only to clutch at the searing pain in her stomach, the exposed wound from the cow’s spear bleeding profusely yet again.

  She wheezed and coughed, more dark blood spattered out of her mouth and across her front.

  “Yeah, d-definitely another time…”

  Through the massive hole she had left in the side of the dome she could see a golden light blazing towards her.

  And so, before the Valkyrie could reach her and finish what the Minotaur and Gigas had started, the prone Chimera gathered the last dregs of her strength to summon the swirl of smoky shadows again and slip into the cold embrace of darkness.

  A minute later, Volka and Nina both stood beside the bloody hammer in the spot where Evadne had just been lying.

  Nina’s grip on her hammer was tight as the mountain grumbled at the failed opportunity to crush her foe.

  “Chicken-shit.”

  Chapter 24:

  Call it a Win

  Cordelia was drinking Amazon brandy from a teacup in Paul Fletcher’s kitchen, her hands shaking despite the alcohol bolstering her.

  “So that… thing… was the reason the Amazons and your hive came to Kettering with Nameless.”

  It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement.

  Oldeera sat on a stool beside her while the old farmer worked on her broken wing, her arm already splinted.

  “Yes. Forgive me honey, but I could not tell you. It was classified.”

  Cordelia nodded, the one-eyed Aegis guy had said pretty much the same thing.

  The wounded Hornets were scattered around the kitchen and the living room, making the spacious house seem small as their injuries were tended to by the farmer, the old Aegis guy, and the various warriors who were still able.

  Milly meanwhile was standing near the sink holding a pack of ice to her head while Myrina and one of her warriors wrapped a bandage over her broken ribs. Nameless stood as close as the working girls would allow, holding the Minotaur’s outstretched hand close to his face, frequently kissing her knuckles while the Amazons patched her up.

  “So she came here for him? Because he’s an Empath… thingy?” Cordelia asked.

  She had to work hard to keep the accusation out of her voice while she spoke.

  Oldeera sighed as Paul finished applying a sticky resin to her wing.

  “No. I don’t think she even knew he was here. I believe that she was here for me.”

  Working much like the splint for her broken arm, the clear resin cast would eventually flake off on its own, staying in place long enough to allow her wing to heal.

  “That’ll do ya, no flying for you anytime soon though eh?”

  She grimaced but nodded at the old farmer’s words.

  “Oldeera?”

  Cordelia’s voice was level.

  “Honey?”

  “What the fuck is going on?!”

  Her half shout drew the attention of everyone else in the kitchen.

  Nameless looked up from his bond-mate’s hand at the baker’s daughter.

  She was wearing a bathrobe entirely too big for her, and had a nasty purplish bruise all around her neck from Evadne’s tail.

  He drew in a breath and let it out with a gust.

  “Oldeera, classified or not, she deserves to know.”

  The Hornet queen spared a glance to Aegis Booker, who sighed before offering an explanation.

  “That was Evadne, she and her bond-mate have been abducting monster girls. We don’t know why just yet, but it can’t be good.”

  Cordelia opened her mouth but Nameless spoke before she could.

  “They’re recruiting.”

  A hush filled the room at his words.

  “Think about it. They’ve been taking girls from all over right? But so far it has been mostly the more docile breeds, Lambda and Lapines, the occasional warrior, but not nearly as many. Right?”

  He looked to Booker, who nodded.

  “Yeah, sounds about right.”

  Nameless turned back to Cordelia, and the intensity in his gaze suddenly made sense as she considered the seriousness of the situation.

  “Maybe whatever they are planning needs more than just the docile breeds. Maybe they need more warriors, and correct me if I’m wrong but if they snatch a Hornet queen then they have the hive as well?”

  He looked to Oldeera this time who likewise nodded.

  “It would be quite the coup for them.” She admitted.

  “That doesn’t make any sense! How does kidnapping a bunch of girls accomplish anything? It’s not like they can really control them or anything, even if they got their hands on their heartstones the girls wouldn’t do anything… evil!” Cordelia sputtered.

  Nameless shook his head and closed his eyes as the most obvious fact in the world slammed into him.

  “Except they can. They can definitely make them violent, and I think they can control them too.”

  Once more the room looked to him and he opened his eyes to meet their surprised looks.

  “We already know that Jonathan can create Tenebrae, as he created so many in the past. But what good does that do him? None. Unless he’s also figured out a way to manage them, to direct the darkness within them. I think that was the whole point of his experiments.”

  “That can’t be possible.” Myrina protested.

  She had finished bandaging Milly’s side and pulled the injured girl’s overalls back up over the wrapping.

  Volka strode into the room from outside; she had been scouting around from the air to see if there was any trace of the wounded Chimera.

  “I fear that it is… If the darkness has someone, another like them, to give them commands. During the war, Tenebrae on the field would always yield to the strongest amongst them, not that it meant much when their only aim was destruction. Really it was much like pack animals determining who gets to feed first.”

  For the briefest moment, Nameless knew that it was exactly like that as he felt another of Volka’s wartime memories drift to the surface.

  Erica had slipped into the house on the Valkyrie’s heels, she had likewise been sneaking through the woods. With her natu
ral skill and all of her training the Katje was able to move through the darkness with more stealth than even the Amazons.

  “So Jonathan is using one Tenebrae to... control the others?”

  Nameless shook his head.

  “Her eyes. They were black. They were always black.” He mumbled to himself.

  “Son?” Booker inquired.

  “Evadne, it has to be. Who else could it be?”

  “That’s not possible. She lived at the bastion for years, even before Jonathan was in his coma, I met her more than a few times and sure she was always ice cold but-”

  “All of her people are dead, Aegis Booker. Murdered by humans. Can you think of another girl with a better reason to turn?” Nameless insisted.

  Once again Cordelia was at a loss, only following half of what everyone was saying.

  “What the fuck are you people talking about?! Tenebrae now too?”

  Volka nodded her agreement with Nameless.

  “I saw her face again this night. Even beyond the demonic aspect, there is no love in her heart, only hate.”

  Milly winced as she lowered her arm over her injured side and turned to the Valkyrie.

  “But… how would she be in control?”

  “You forget, we all forgot. She is demon-touched. Her soul is no longer her own, at least, not all of it. She is bonded, so Jonathan holds some of it, the forces of entropy hold some more. I think that between them she is able to hold onto her consciousness, to be able to function despite the rage, hate and grief trying to overwhelm her.”

  But Erica shook her head.

  “Volka, that isn’t possible, Jonathan wasn’t alive when the war ended! I mean, was he?”

  “Here is what I think, and at this point it is pure speculation. I believe that after her people were all killed, she made her pact with the demon, or demons. It would not have been difficult, as her people had already been making the preparations to do so. Then she gave in, let herself turn into a Tenebrae. And for their part of the bargain, the demons kept her from going mad long enough to find a bond-mate. An impossibility but for the existence of the Empaths.”

  “Trusting a demon with your sanity sounds a little bat-shit crazy to begin with.” Paul observed.

  “You haven’t met Evadne.” Booker sighed.

  Volka took a moment to move through the kitchen and gently fold her wings around Milly as she embraced her.

  “I am glad you are safe, sister. You fought valiantly, never again doubt your worth. Any of the herds that I went into battle with would be glad to count you amongst their number. Your ancestors are proud of you.”

  Tears welled in Milly’s eyes at the angel’s words as they shared a short kiss.

  Cordelia’s foot was tapping with her impatience.

  “I keep hearing about Tenebrae, which is bad enough, now you fuckers are bringing demons into the mix?! What the hell is a demon of entry-opy anyways?”

  Volka unwrapped herself from her bond-sister, one arm still held delicately around her waist as she stood opposite Nameless.

  “Entropy is the very embodiment of chaos, decay and disorder.”

  With her free hand she set her winged helmet on the counter of the crowded kitchen.

  “I could tell you any one of the many creation myths, but I will spare you, none of them are very original anymore, and the actual truth is all but lost. Suffice to say, the demons of entropy are very real. In some ways they are the exact opposite of the Valkyrie, who are filled with the divine essence of creation. But the demons cannot be in this world, life itself is toxic to them. So they exist beyond the veil. Some might tell you that they claim the souls of the wicked when they cross over to the other side, the demons drawn to their dark hearts. This I do not know. What I can say is that dark and wicked hearts seek them out for their terrible power, as has happened a few times in the past. During the war, some of the Chimera considered using entropy to strike down our enemies, to turn the tide against the Empire. The other magic users persuaded them to turn away from that dark path.”

  The one-eyed Aegis member shifted in his seat.

  “And then the empire wiped them out, which gave her all the reason in the world to make a deal with the demons.”

  Volka nodded at Booker’s words.

  “She gave a piece of her soul away in exchange for her power. We do much the same when we bond with our chosen mates, but it is a natural union for us and we do so in exchange for love. And so where we cannot help but love our bond-mates, Evadne cannot help but hate all life, as the demons do. There is no undoing what she has done, she is lost. I know of no way to save one such as her.”

  “I do, I’m going to hit her again. Really, really hard next time.” Nina spoke for the first time.

  The Gigas was calmer now, but still smoldering.

  Volka flashed a wan smile at her tiny bond-sister.

  “It would be a mercy, I think.”

  “No.”

  Nina shook her head and the deep anger in her voice filled the room, causing dishes and cups to rattle on the counter at the mountain’s ire.

  “No mercy. She killed Kar, she tried to kill my man, now she fucked with my Milly. I will pull out her bones while she yet lives and crush them before her eyes. She will beg for death long before I grant it.”

  Cordelia paled at the terrifying and grim pronouncement, while Milly spoke in a breathless voice into the ensuing silence.

  “Nina, I’m okay, really.”

  At the gentle cow’s words, the Gigas reined in her temper, and hugged the Minotaur around her thighs, her hands gripping her ass and her face nuzzled in her crotch.

  “I know you are, and like Volka, I am so proud of you it’s crazy. You punctured that cunt like no one else has managed to.” Though her voice came out muffled by Milly’s shorts, they could all hear the emotion in it; “You are worthy to call yourself the mountain’s mate. But you should never have been in that position, not alone, I let my guard down again.”

  Milly let out a little moo, simultaneously touched and concerned by her bond-sister’s words.

  Nameless reached down and rested his hand on Nina’s shoulder.

  “You didn’t fuck up, I did.”

  She stepped back from Milly and glared at him.

  “Oh fuck off! You aren’t blaming yourself for this too!”

  “Nina, it was stupid of me to think that we could just live, to come home and hope that everything was going to be okay. We should never have come back here, not while they were out there. Bad enough what happened to Oldeera and Milly, but we put Cordelia in danger too.”

  “I put myself in danger dumbass!” Cordelia snapped; “This Eva-dine chick fucked with my Hornets so I wacked her in the head! How was I supposed to know her skull was so thick?”

  Three of the Hornets snuggled against her with possessive looks on their faces, while Paul chuckled at the fire in her voice as he helped the last of the wounded girls to her feet.

  “Look kids, somebody once told me that the first step to trouble-shooting is finding who to blame. But that’s a load of horseshit. Now, you can spend all night fretting over it… or you can look at it like this: no one died. We got some broken bones and fractured wings sure, but no one is dead. Whereas this Chimera is most certainly going to wake up tender in some places, if she wakes up at all! Cuz from what I hear Moon-Pie done poked a hole clear through her, and then Nina went and delivered her the hardest ranged-spanking in history. Maybe she came here for the hive, maybe not, but for her trouble she left with nothing but a hole in her belly and I imagine some broken bones to call her very own.”

  His eyes scanned the room.

  “In other words, I say we patch up our hurt, bunk down for the night, and call this one a win.”

  Aegis Booker smiled.

  “Well said, Mister Fletcher.”

  Paul crossed his arms as he looked at the Aegis council member.

  “‘The hell doesn’t anyone call me ‘Paul’ no more? I’m only ninety seven!�
��

  Volka spoke with a slight grin.

  “Mister Fletcher is right, Miranda should be here soon, and you and I will then have to see to our task, Husband. Hopefully with it, we may find some of the answers we need.”

  __________

  While Paul saw to his numerous house guests, Brandon Dixon stumbled through the woods in the night; he had been walking for hours and though it was really late and he was tired, he was also angry enough not to care.

  Nameless talked down to him, Cordelia rebuffed him, then that damn Minotaur assaulted him, and now even Dillon was being a dickhead!

  The brash teen was determined to show them all.

  What he wanted to show them, he wasn’t sure, but he knew he wouldn’t find it in Kettering, or safe on the road. No, he needed to go into the trees; everyone knew that monster girls lived in the woods around Wayfelt, not the crazy violent ones either, but nice soft ones like the Blomma.

  Which is why he all but crowed in delight when he spotted a gathering of the flower girls at the crest of a hill beside a large pond.

  Without a greenhouse to protect them, their petals were folded around them against the cold.

  Brandon’s fatigue was chased away by a surge of lust at the sight, Blomma, at least the ones he knew, were always up for it.

  He shifted his bag to one shoulder and approached, loosening his jacket in anticipation of some sweet flower pussy.

  “Hey cuties! Who wants to have some fun with me?”

  No response.

  He sauntered up to the giant flower buds, running his hand over the outside of the petals before choosing a juicy looking pink one.

  His voice was low as he murmured at the sleeping girl and pattered his fingers teasingly over the closed bud.

  “Wakey wakey little flower, I have a present for you.”

  Still no response.

  Brandon licked his lips with nerves, still aroused, but confounded by the unmoving flowers; in his two previous trysts with Skinner’s Blomma, they had practically bloomed when they caught wind of him and his mighty penis.

  He tried to wake several of the others, but none moved, so he returned to the pink one and considered the obstacle before him.