Virgin Tribute: A Dark Sci-Fi Romance

by Delta James

  “He will know,” Millicent whispered. “And he will not be pleased. Tribute is not to know the touch of any man before him.”

  “A pity. I’d rather enjoy watching her writhe with pleasure under the hand of a human male or,” he reached down and grasped his own crotch, “cock. Better yet, seeing her plowed by one or more of the warriors when he is in full rut would prove entertaining.”

  The elders left and Raegan was left alone with Millicent.

  “What does he do to you?” Raegan whispered.

  “It is forbidden for me to say. Obey him and your time with him will not be too harsh. Disobey him and he will punish you. The two swats I delivered to your bottom will be nothing compared to what he will do.”

  “They say his cock is large and malformed.”

  “It is large but formed like any other penis. The difference is the barbs that cover the lower third of it right behind the head.”

  “Oh, my God, and I’m expected to let him fuck me with it?”

  Millicent laughed wryly. “There is no letting him. He will breed you when and where it suits him. If you cooperate, he will try to be as gentle as he can be... I cannot say more. I have already said too much.” She took a deep breath. “Come now and you can take a shower if you like before they dress you and take you to the offering site.”

  “Millicent,” pleaded Raegan. “Help me.”

  Millicent raised her head to meet Raegan’s eyes. “I cannot,” she said, her voice breaking. Then in a tone that spoke of indoctrination and repetition she continued, “You are the Chosen One, given to the Protector as tribute and concubine.”

  Raegan lay still as she was released from the restraints. Once she was free, she made a mad dash for the door. She flung it open to find the two warriors waiting.

  “Take her to her room and allow her to shower. See that she wears only what the Protector has sent for her,” instructed Millicent.

  Once again, Raegan was seized by two strong men and forcibly moved down the corridor to her own quarters. They stood just inside the door while she showered and came out with nothing but a towel. She looked at the clothing on the bed.

  “Interesting choice for a virgin sacrifice,” she mused aloud.

  What lay before her was nothing white, nothing voluminous to hide her figure or to enhance it. Instead it was practical—trousers, a long tunic with a sash for belting, and soft, furred boots. A smile played around her lips; the clothes he had picked out would be well-suited to her coloring and were probably the nicest things she would ever wear. She noted that the boots looked as though she could run in them.

  A calm seemed to have come over her. She had managed to pull part of her hair back off of her face and secured it at the back of her head. Contained within the barrette she had used to do so was an old-fashioned paperclip. Raegan knew from her extensive reading that she could straighten out the paperclip and use it to pick the lock and remove her shackles.

  She had studied the old maps she found amongst the reading material at the Sanctuary and had a pretty good idea where she was geographically. Over the years she had developed a keen sense of direction as if this had always been in her mind. She had often daydreamed and planned to one day escape the Sanctuary to find freedom. After being cooped up underground all of her life, and then in seclusion with the others to be considered for tribute, Raegan longed for the time she could be on her own doing what she wanted, when she wanted, and not having to share anything with anyone.

  When Raegan was finished dressing, two of the warriors stood to either side and she exited her room. Elder Stanley proceeded before her, the two warriors beside her and the other two elders flanking her. She had to stifle a giggle. What a bunch of hypocrites. If this was such an honor, why were they ensuring she couldn’t get away from them?

  The others who had gone before her lined the stairs leading to the above ground and tried to speak to her but she would not hear them.

  “We’ll be here for you when you return,” called Millicent.

  Raegan stopped. She could sense the wariness of the warriors on either side of her. She took a deep, calming breath and said distinctly, “Fuck you all.” Then she pushed past Elder Stanley and strode toward holy ground. The faster they got her staked out, the faster they would be gone and the more time she would have to free herself and make her escape before the Protector showed up to claim his annual offering.

  When they entered the space that was considered by all the inhabitants to be sacred, and therefore neutral ground, where no fighting would be tolerated, she was relieved to see that she would be shackled by a single chain to a single side of one of the arches. They had once been magnificent, gothic-inspired arches set in a group outside of a building that contained science exhibitions.

  She offered the guard no resistance and put out her wrists for binding in the cuffs and attaching to the chain.

  “Those of us in the Sanctuary...” started Elder Stanley.

  His words were cut off when Raegan’s foot made hard contact with what little he kept between his legs, dropping him to the ground.

  “Aren’t worth the effort of spitting on,” she finished for him. “You’d better hope he never returns me to you. I will not go quietly into seclusion. I will tell everyone about whatever it is I am made to endure and I will see you expelled for your part in this wicked thing you do.”

  The others backed away and helped Elder Stanley to regain his footing. They started back to their Sanctuary.

  Raegan waited until they were well away from the place in which they’d left her. She reached up and unclipped the barrette, releasing her hair and removed the paperclip. Using her teeth and hands, she straightened it out and began working on one of the devices used to secure her shackles. Raegan thought she’d never heard as sweet a sound as the lock clicking open. Quickly, she performed the same operation on the other shackle. She was rewarded with a repeat of that quiet sound. Free! she thought, I’m free!

  Grateful now for the comfortable, practical clothes, Raegan sprinted to the boundary of holy ground. She stepped into the dense overgrowth and began to make her way as quietly and quickly as she possibly could. Her goal was the water she knew lay directly south of her. She thought if she could make her way along the shoreline of Elliott Bay, she could find a place to hide among the craggy cliffs and abandoned buildings. She wouldn’t need a large space, just a place that was easily defensible. In the days ahead she knew she’d need to find a way to fashion weapons as well as hunting and fishing materials. But for now, she was free and could inhale the fresh air with just a hint of a salty tang.

  She stopped at the edge of the overgrowth and peeked her head out. There was still enough light to see. The beach seemed deserted. To her left was nothing but open ground and rocky beach. It would be difficult, if not impossible, for her to defend herself without weapons. To her right, but a bit further away, appeared to be old warehouses and great ferries run aground just offshore.

  Raegan wanted to minimize her time out in the open. She believed her best bet was to hug the overgrowth until she came to the decayed and rotting docks. Then she could make her way down the underside of the dock, reducing her time out in the open and in the water. She was fairly certain she could swim, but didn’t think it would be necessary. Raegan struck out, moving with a speed and stealth she hadn’t known she possessed.

  She crossed the small open space of sand and rock to the underside of the dock. The chill of the water was not something she had anticipated. She started to rethink her plan when she saw a light go on in one of the buildings further down the shoreline. No help for her there. She steeled herself against the cold and made her way into the water. Raegan tried to minimize her movements to keep the water as still as possible. She didn’t believe that any of the mutants had become amphibians, fish, or invertebrates, but at this point felt it was better to be safe than sorry. The fish the Protector delivered to them seemed normal to her. Certainly, they didn’t look as though anything had altere
d their DNA.

  Either the water was getting colder by the minute or the chill from its temperature was spreading throughout her body. She was only waist-deep when she reached the ferry, which appeared to be uninhabited.

  Raegan heard a resounding crash in the water behind her as it washed over her. She didn’t turn around to see what had caused the noise as she moved with haste and clambered aboard. When she turned to face whatever it was that was after her, it was all she could do not to scream.

  The thing was some kind of mutant elephant seal. It was huge with a bulbous trunk common to that species. It shifted into some kind of elephant seal/human hybrid as its flippers became arms with grotesquely distorted hands and feet. Slowly, she watched as it began to climb the ladder to board the ferry.

  Raegan looked around for something with which to defend herself. She spied an odd hook-like thing on the end of a long stout piece of wood. The blade was curved with a serrated edge. She quickly concluded, if plunged into something’s soft innards, twisted and pulled out, it would most likely disembowel her attacker. She would warn him off, but she would kill him if she needed to.

  It cleared the edge of the deck and smiled—if what passed for its mouth could actually accomplish that feat. The thing’s face was mostly human except for the large trunk-like proboscis, which actually hung down over its mouth. Raegan knew from her reading that this distorted, malformed, and grossly enlarged version of a human nose was considered on the elephant seal to be a secondary sexual characteristic. The moment the creature recognized her as female, a wrinkled, penile-like appendage came through a slit that opened in its lower abdomen. It was bright red and began to grow and stiffen as it walked toward her. The protrusion continued to swell until there were no more wrinkles and it stood straight out from its body.

  “Get back,” she shouted, brandishing the hook. “I don’t want any trouble, but I’ll gut you if I have to and feed your entrails to the fish.”

  The thing reached down to rub itself as it continued to advance on her. It began making a loud, huffing noise through its snout. Raegan would always wonder if she simply hadn’t heard the beating wings overhead because of the sound coming from the seal creature or because the Protector was able to move with great stealth.

  He landed on all fours, wings outspread, allowing him to glide gracefully onto the deck. The Protector—she recognized him from whispered descriptions—was enormous, more than five feet at the shoulder and probably close to eight hundred pounds. He was covered in tawny-colored fur with massive dark brown wings with white tips on the end of the feathers. The gigantic beast roared, diminishing the huffing sound of the mutant seal/human to nothing. The Protector gnashed his teeth and swiped a paw at the other creature, revealing enormous, razor-like claws.

  Realizing it was badly outmatched, the misshapen seal creature retreated over the side of the ferry. Before she could react or even process what had happened, Raegan felt the tail of the great beast beside her wrap around her to prevent her from going anywhere. Once assured the challenger was truly in retreat, the Protector turned back to stare at her with eyes of glowing amber. He lifted off just as silently as he had landed; the only sound was the flapping of his enormous wings. As his tail released her waist, she was seized in his giant back claws.

  Raegan screamed as he flew off of the ferry and back toward land. Perhaps he would send her back to the Sanctuary for trying to escape him or maybe he planned to ascend to a height that would result in certain death if he dropped her. All Raegan knew at that moment was that her life was literally being suspended in the air by the monster she had sought to escape.

  The Protector quickly covered the distance between the ferry and holy ground but looped around it and began to gain altitude. The higher he climbed, the more fearful Raegan became. It wasn’t that she was afraid of heights, but being held within the grasp of the claws of some beast she had defied was disconcerting in and of itself. Being held so suspended more than five hundred feet above ground was terrifying. She could feel the air currents flowing around them and the creature gliding upon them. They approached the towering spiral once known as the Space Needle, the iconic landmark of the Seattle skyline.

  The Protector hovered close as a panel in the glass wall raised and he was able to glide carefully onto what had once been the observation deck at the very top of the structure. He was only about two feet above the decking when he released her and let her drop onto the deck. He banked back around and landed, all the while watching her.

  Raegan watched as he shifted from beast to man, wondering how all the parts fit together. Where did the wings go? The oversized canines? The sharp, deadly claws? He seemed to make the transformation easily and without pain, but it was fascinating to watch.

  He was far taller and more heavily muscled than anyone at the Sanctuary, even the largest warrior. She estimated he had to be close to seven feet tall. His face was a study in angles. He wasn’t pretty by any accepted standards, but he was not ugly by any means. His eyebrows were substantial but distinct and provided the outline for his large, light brown eyes, which as the creature had given off an otherworldly glow. It appeared to her that he hadn’t shaved for a few days and his mouth was generous but at the moment spoke of his annoyance.

  His entire body rippled with corded muscles that bore testimony to his true strength and the time he spent hunting and fighting. His hair was the same tawny color as his coat had been and he had several what appeared to be tribal markings or tattoos on his upper arms, shoulders, and chest area. His chest was also covered in soft-looking tawny hair clustered mainly on his pecs but forming a V down the rest of his torso.

  As her gaze travelled down it was hard to miss the large, completely erect penis jutting away from his body. As Millicent had said it was exceptionally big and formed mostly like a human penis, but the third closest to its head was covered in tiny barb-like projections that pointed back toward his body. Raegan quickly surmised they would probably enter a woman’s body without a lot of additional discomfort, but when he began to thrust or withdraw, they would catch and claw the interior walls of a woman’s vagina. No wonder they said women were ruined for other men.

  “You were not chained to the arch. How did that happen?” he demanded angrily in a deep, resonating voice.

  It took Raegan a moment to find her words. “I didn’t choose to be your Chosen One so when those bastards left me, I escaped.”

  He laughed, a harsh sound that was grating to her ears. “Escape to what? The rutting of a beach master? Do you people know nothing about what goes on up here? The beach masters are all in rut. Those without a harem of their own kind will fuck anything female using any hole and will do so until they’ve killed her and her body has grown cold. Only their own kind can bear their weight.”

  Raegan found it hard to focus on anything other than his cock. The longer she stared at it, the more intriguing it became. The thought flitted through her mind that surely she could not have any desire to touch it or feel it touch her. And yet...

  Shaking off the mesmerizing quality of his staff, she retorted, “As opposed to what? Waiting for you to come and fuck me and then return me to those in the Sanctuary who gave me up for you to rut? Explain how that’s supposed to be different for me.”

  He took a step toward her, clearly angry. She did not retreat but stood her ground.

  “For one thing, I always return those who fail me to the Sanctuary alive and in good health to be cared for by your people.”

  “Cared for? Is that what you call it? They are not my people. I’ll grant you those you return want for nothing materially. They do not have to work or participate in the tedious tasks of everyday life. But they are ostracized. Their families tell them it is a great honor, but never speak to them again. They are never touched by anyone again and live their lives quietly and in seclusion while they prepare others for their fate. I’m not sure death isn’t preferable.”

  “We’ll see how you feel after the first time
I rut with you and you’ve been made to feel pleasure at my hands. Perhaps those who fail me no longer wish to feel a mere human cock in their cunts. I see you looking at mine; can you imagine the exquisite pleasure and pain you will feel?”

  Raegan had slowly circled with him so that her back now faced the opening in the clear panels that he had utilized to access the deck.

  “I’ll never know because you’ll never fuck me with that monstrosity.”

  Chapter Three

  Raegan climbed up on the ledge of the opening and reached down to grab the railing, swinging her legs down to dangle and search below her for some kind of purchase. The bar from which she hung was more slippery than she had anticipated; she could feel her grip loosening and then releasing entirely, causing her to hurtle toward the ground and certain death. Apparently, the Protector was capable of greater speed than she had imagined. She could see him bearing down on her once more as the creature and felt him jerk her from oblivion moments before her body made impact with the ground.

  This time instead of feeling him glide with the air currents and only barely flapping his wings, the great beast beat them against the air and gravity to pull them both back up into the sky where he soared around the Needle before dumping her unceremoniously onto the deck. Again, he landed and shifted back to his nearly human form. He pressed a button close to the panels and watched as the opening was closed. Once more his eyes glowed amber shards of fire as he advanced on her. Raegan refused to give ground.

  The Protector didn’t say another word. He took hold of both of Raegan’s arms and stretched them over her head. He secured them in one of his own and lifted her off the ground. Her feet did not touch the ground, but if she stretched her toes down, they could just barely touch the deck to take some of her body weight, alleviating the uncomfortable strain on her arms and shoulders. She struggled to break free of his grasp but accomplished nothing.