by D. R. Rosier
He didn’t like interfering outside his territory. He couldn’t save the whole world, but he liked rapists and murderers even less. Most of the time, it was a nebulous thing out there away from his territory, but in a case where he knew about it, it’d felt different. Instead of letting it go, he’d raised the thirty-two men into zombies and sent them back after their master, and the other seventy or so in the raiding group.
After all, he had all their memories at his fingertips, they knew exactly where the asshole was, what his habits were, so that had meant so did Sean.
His thirty-two zombies had managed to easily take out fifty or so, when they ran into the leader. Sorcery was slightly more problematical, however. His regular zombies with enchanted long daggers might’ve taken him, but the ones he’d sent back had no protections, and the sorcerer was good enough that he’d wiped them out before they could finish the job.
At that point, their raiding group was down to just over twenty including the leader. Sean was prepared to reluctantly let it go, except the sorcerer wasn’t. He must’ve wanted revenge, because his undead border guard birds had informed him over twenty men were riding hard for the border.
So, he’d come up to meet them, with his four mates, as well as Lori and Sy’lia, and ten zombies with enchanted long daggers. Looked like he’d get to kill them after all.
“Two minutes.”
Sy’lia asked, “Are you sure it’s them?”
He suppressed an eyeroll. The annoyingly hot elf was always questioning him about everything. As if he always went around massacring people without being sure they were murderous assholes?
“Yes, I recognize them all, from the memories of the raiders we took down three weeks ago. The sorcerous leader is in the back of the pack. He also likes to cast fire. It’s his favorite spell to create confusion and fear, and to set examples.”
It almost wasn’t fair, since with those memories he had a very good idea of the tactics the enemy would use. He wouldn’t quibble about taking that advantage, however.
Mara prayed, and the seven of them were surrounded by protective shields. They glowed white for a moment, and then it faded to a slight glow that was very hard to see in the bright morning sunlight.
Lori prayed as well, and her legs and feet were suddenly surrounded in eager and ever moving shadows, which disturbingly reminded him of a pack of excited puppies wanting to play. The sexy priestess of shadows was more deadly at night, but for normal humans that lack of edge wouldn’t make a whit of difference.
The planned tactics for this kind of situation was well established between them, and they didn’t even really discuss it.
The twenty-three riders came around the bend and didn’t slow at all when they saw the seventeen of them standing in the middle of the road. The majority of them pulled swords and charged, while a few wielded bows and reached for arrows. The sorcerer must’ve recognized them as his target, and didn’t hold back either, as the bastard launched a ball of fire at them from his palms.
Several things happened at once. Lori’s shadows raced at the crowd, and dove into all the ones wielding bows, making them freeze as she held them under the grip of dominance. His Cassie barked a single word that caused the fireball to explode and disperse between the two groups. The elven priestess of nature must’ve said a prayer as well, because that’s when all the horses bucked powerfully and locked their legs. Half the raiders fell forward over their horses’ necks at the abrupt stop, while the other half got dumped on their asses as the horses reared back a second later.
Lastly, his ten zombies charged at a dead run that would put a racehorse to shame, and they were all ten times stronger than a normal man. The screams started and then ended just as quickly, as they each took down two of the bandits in less than a handful of seconds.
Cassie cast another spell that knocked out the other sorcerer’s shield, just in time for one of his zombies to take the asshole’s head. In all, the fight had lasted about six seconds, and he hadn’t lifted a finger, magical or otherwise. He still reaped the power of all their deaths to his zombies’ long daggers, however. Each of the raiders was worth twenty years of life to any one of his zombies, and the sorcerer’s vast life force had been worth five times that.
Not a bad morning’s work, if he said so himself. Killers and rapists just needed to die. His territory was relatively clear of them by then, but there were still plenty of them out there in other places, even after five years. Though, they were becoming rarer as civilization was rebuilt.
There was nothing Sean enjoyed more than taking out the trash, except perhaps assisting his mate Mara in providing succor and aid to his people to lessen the ghastly death rate among the population without modern medicine and hospitals. The hot elf he put up with instead of strangling would be helping with that as well, as her people started to work with his and educate them on magical herb lore and natural cures the new magical world had available for those with the knowledge to leverage them.
Things that would replace the advanced medicines of the old world, from Tylenol, to antibiotics, and others. He wasn’t even truly sure of all the options, but was sure that it was a lot more than that.
Sean was a life sorcerer, one of the rarest of human magical kind, when magic was very rare for humans in the first place. Despite his over forty years of age, he didn’t look a day over twenty-five. None of his mates had aged at all, really, not since they’d been together. Cassie was stuck at twenty-three, while his young and exotically beautiful priestess was a mere twenty-one. Lin and Min of course, were his life creations, and would forever be eighteen and hot.
Cassie, his oldest mate and love of his life kissed him softly, “Wish all the assholes were this easy to get rid of.”
He laughed, “Agreed. Maybe we could send out invitations to the rest of North America?”
Cassie snickered.
Cassie was gorgeous, and still mesmerized him at times. She’d been his mate now for over five years, and she was almost psychotically loyal to him in all ways, and a kinky nymphomaniac that loved when he needed her, when he used her, and was his whenever he wanted. She’d always been a nympho, but it was only after meeting him that she’d fallen in love with and become devoted to a man. She was precious beyond reason to him.
She was also highly intelligent, fiercely protective, and not afraid to show her opinions or even fight about them. It was only her body and sex that she yielded her rights to him so freely without reservation.
She was five foot five, with long light blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Her face was cute and sexy, heart shaped, and flawless. Her body was the most sinful of those present, with wonderfully bountiful and rounded D cups that stood up rather proudly, and they loved to be mauled during intimate moments. She had a waspishly thin waist, and lovely rounded hips and a juicily bubbled ass he loved to bury his fingers in… and his face for that matter.
She was truly breathtaking, and she had been his constant and unfaltering partner the last five years. They’d tried to expand their allies and bedmates in the past, four separate times which had ended in failure because their additions couldn’t handle the polyamory lifestyle.
It wasn’t until Mara arrived in their lives like a whirlwind almost three months ago now that it had changed. Mara was the high priestess of Vadea, the goddess of protection and healing. By simple virtue of being the first human with the potential of wielding godly magics to choose to worship and serve the goddess. She was also openminded, loving, and Bi, which really helped them form a solid triad of lovers, love and support in all directions.
Mara could be stubborn when it came to her service, but otherwise she was one of the most giving and generous people he’d ever met, which probably made her perfectly matched to her goddess. She wasn’t nearly as dirtily kinky as Cassie in bed, but she was submissive in a much wider way. Not just in the bedroom, but in all areas of her life, except for service to her goddess. Which she would fight for tooth and nail over. That wasn’t an issue, b
ecause he’d never challenge her on that stuff.
He really thought that was the key to their polyamory lifestyle, not only for more support in a personal relationship, he knew Cassie wanted that lifestyle to make them stronger. Family, allies, and lovers, all in one. Regardless, it’d only taken them spending about two weeks constantly together as allies and friends, before she’d joined them as a third mate and given her virginity to him. She’d turned into a wild and willing woman very quickly behind closed doors, but she was all lady outside the bedroom.
Mara was really petite and sexy at just five foot two. She had an exotic soft beauty that only existed in the children of mixed races, and she was Eurasian. Her beauty was somehow both innocent and soft, but with a tinge of exotic eastern beauty to it. Her body was petite and all tight athletic curves. His priestess was perfectly proportional, with proud and supple B cups, a deliciously thin waist, and an extremely petite and mouthwatering bubbled ass. Her body was toned, and extremely limber and graceful, and he loved her completely. She had long dark brown hair, and exotic almond eyes that took his breath away when she looked at him with love and devotion.
He knew she loved him, and it was a done deal as far as he was concerned, even after just two and a half months as lovers. He was ready for the lifetime commitment of family, but she wasn’t quite ready for that last step yet, though he had hopes it was just a matter of time.
She’d also been a godsend, or a goddess-send he supposed. It’d been Mara’s healing and protective personality that had moved her to poke and prod at the both of them. For the longest time Cassie had resisted having a child with him, but at the moment they were trying to get pregnant.
Cassie wasn’t the only one Mara had helped get past a mental block, and the priestess was very much responsible for him being able to get past his own issues in the past. In short, without Mara he wouldn’t have his other two mates either.
Kim and Lin were twins in their late teens, eighteen, nineteen tops, when they’d died. Of course, they’d been with him for years after he raised them back to life, and they’d chosen to become his and Cassie’s personal guards when their original purpose had been mostly satisfied. He’d loved them for a long while, and they him, despite the dubious morality of falling for women who were his creation. It hadn’t started that way, and it was what it was.
Regardless, he’d been too afraid to take them as lovers, didn’t think he could stand losing them, and feelings didn’t always yield to logic. It’d been more than that, fears that taking them into his bed and truly loving them in every way would actually lead to their deaths, like it had for Cynthia. Point being, it’d been partially Mara’s efforts that helped him work through that, and also almost losing Lin had shown him he already loved them deeply and that final step wouldn’t make a difference as far as that part went.
He’d realized that all he’d been doing was punishing himself, and them, by denying their deep connection and need of each other. So, two more mates were added to his bed just three weeks ago.
Lin and Kim were completely submissive in almost every way, out of love and loyalty to him, as far as all aspects of their relationship went. Of course, they were complicated women past that. There were also some few exceptions to that obedience. They’d argue with him and even ignore him on matters of his safety, and they were also very independent when it came to their personal quirks and hobbies and what interested them.
They were incredibly sweet and giving, a little naughty, but could turn fierce and deadly at the drop of a hat if any of theirs were in danger.
As twins, they both had lovely long black hair tinged with blue. Their hair was extremely straight, and it flowed down their bodies like a waterfall of midnight. They had chocolate brown yes, full lips, and cute noses. They were of eastern descent, Asian, and quite exotically beautiful to his eyes. Their bodies were lithe and athletic at five foot five, with willowy gentle curves except for their generous rounded c cups. Their petite and supple rounded asses were absolute works of art.
Being what they were, they loved it rough in bed, since they had the strength of ten men that made a lot of sense to him, with the exception of their breasts which were extremely sensitive. Of course, they didn’t share pleasure with themselves, but they loved to watch each other with him, and of course there were two others sharing the bed which made it a non-issue.
Sean had always been a calm guy, and at his age he had no trouble enjoying the view from a non-direct and in a more peripheral way. He also had always been respectful of women, and his thoughts when meeting a new woman weren’t normally crude in nature. However, ever since he’d had four women in his bed, his libido had been higher than normal, so his eyes had started to wander and perhaps overly enjoy his two other guests in the house. Especially when they were by the pool. He’d even entertained a fantasy or two, which seemed absurd to him given his rich and varied sex life with his four mates.
Well, it could be that, his increased libido. Or, maybe Lori and Sy’lia were just that damned hot, he’d never been a saint either. Or, maybe it was a little bit of both. His recently enriched libido from life magic usage to keep up with four mates in bed, and that they were hot as hell. Regardless, he’d never cheat on his mates, and he wasn’t really looking to add more to their circle.
Besides that, the hot elf was also annoying as fuck, and he wanted to strangle her at least as often as he wanted to take her tight dancer’s body for a ride. Despite that however, he was getting used to the elf’s presence and they were sort of friends, if not really allies. Lori was just plain a goddess of beauty, truly the most flawlessly beautiful among the woman in his house as far as around the face, though he’d cut out his tongue before admitting that out loud. All his mates were truly beautiful, far higher on the scale than he was, but Lori just took it to another whole level.
That was more than problematical, especially given her abusive past. He imagined she had no interest in a man after what she went through, despite her teasing flirting of late.
He was pretty sure she was still recovering, and she was just testing her limits and influences as a woman with that flirting. After all, the poor girl had only been thirteen when she was taken as a slave, and she’d never had the opportunity to try out her feminine wiles in the course of growing up. Even if she was only raped for those last two years it wasn’t something she could just shrug off in his mind. She was just… far too tempting, but he knew better than try anything. He couldn’t and wouldn’t cheat on his mates for one, and the idea of hitting on an abuse victim to add her to his already crowded love circle sounded like a dick move to him.
In short, he was content to be her friend, fantasies notwithstanding.
The two women were very similar in some ways. Both of them were right about five foot seven, and they both had lithe and willowy dancer’s bodies. Both of them moved with a liquid grace that never failed to draw his eyes. They both had lovely pert and creamy B cups, deliciously toned and long legs, and both of them had tight pear-shaped asses to die for. They both had exotically beautiful and thin faces as well, with high and very defined cheekbones.
That’s about where the similarities died. Sy’lia’s skin was light, fairer than Cassie’s and very close to porcelain in appearance, whereas Lori’s was deliciously dusky and dark tanned silky in appearance. Sy’lia’s exotic beauty was about the vividly dark blue eyes, light ash blonde hair, and upswept and pointed elven ears. Alternatively, Lori’s exotic appeal came from her dark brown hair and eyes, and her mixed Hispanic facial features. They would both look very much at home on a catwalk, with those severe and exotically beautiful faces and dancer’s bodies.
They also looked the youngest out of all of them. Sy’lia looked to be about nineteen, and she had that elven ageless beauty about her despite her two hundred years. Lori was literally eighteen years old, and stunningly gorgeous.
He went ahead and had the zombies collect the horses, he’d send them on to the new community those people were build
ing, sure they’d come in useful. They’d certainly earned the bastard’s things after what they’d gone through, and it’d be the last aid they saw from him outside of the normal protection he offered anyone in his west coast territory.
Cassie asked, “Home?”
He nodded. Home sounded good. They could relax, assuming an emergency didn’t come up that day. The next scheduled village was tomorrow. They were hitting a community every three days the last two weeks. He was pretty sure they were heading to Westwood tomorrow, which was situated near a fairly large lake.
Chapter Two
Westwood was a rather interesting community, because they specialized in trading. The town center was about fifty yards from the lake edge, and the mayor of the community had a horse ranch and more wagons and carriages than Sean could conveniently count. There were six other communities all within fifty miles of the place, only two of which he ruled, the other four were independent.
Point being, the mayor of the place, Chad Cummings, had been a salesman in the old world, and hadn’t given into fear and the tendency for communities to be closed up and wary of everyone else for safety. His small community was more of a trading hub, as he had trading agreements with the other six villages nearby and often brokered deals between them or even three-way trades. He also provided the transport and labor, for a cut of the profits in trade, so the other villages wouldn’t have to risk their people in the wild.
Sure, they had enough farms and animals to get by on their own, but also much more. Like other towns, they had their tanner, blacksmith, whorehouse, general store and all that, but they were flourishing even more because of their service contracts and trade.