Leroi looked around the battered ship’s deck. The sails were still rolled and tied, but without the manpower and some means of knowing which direction they needed to go, sails would do them no good at all. He wanted to yell at the female for pulling such ignorant stunts such as allowing the ship to leave the safety of the cove it was moored in, but he could not bring himself to berate her. Without her interference, he might now be at the bottom of the ocean screaming in eternal pain.
“I saved Flitch and the captain of this vessel, and I have no idea who the third man is who I locked inside the room with them. They are waiting for rescue I would imagine. The other two I deemed harmless, in the galley, a nice young boy, and a fat cook.” She smiled when the demon threw back his head and began laughing deep sounds of merriment.
“Tell me, little cat, tell me you are not jesting me.” He made his way to the captain’s quarters and saw the plank of wood lodged there keeping the door closed. He laughed again, this time yelling at the door. “Flitch, you old bastard, you and old Pudding Pants thought you had me, did you not? Come out and say hello, bring your companions with you.” He pulled the plank away and clamped down on the latch, letting the door swing open, and got a knife tossed into his chest for his kindness.
He looked at the dagger sticking from his chest and stopped laughing. He pulled it free and looked at the man who had thrown the thing at him. “Did Flitch not tell you that you cannot kill me? I will forgive this one trespass, I believe you are too frightened to know better. Flitch is an old friend and knows I like a game as well as the next demon, attacks on my person is not one of them. Come to me, Flitch, it is past time we settled this between us, male to demon. Hiding behind a captain that will sell his own daughter to a slaver will get you nothing but sold to another slaver.”
He turned to the captain who was trying to muster an outraged expression, but only showed misery. “Tell him, Captain, tell him how you planned to sell him as soon as you reached the slave markets. You must not be shy about your plans, as a way of disposing of Flitch, I would say it is very fitting. The man would sell his own seed if some misguided female was hard up enough to offer him a spirited drink just to fuck her. Her sight or attributes would not matter. After all, if he can stick his organ into old Pudding Bottoms asshole, he cannot possibly be selective.”
Chapter Nine
As soon as they had the prisoners on the beach sorted out and the stories from the creatures about their captures, each cited Borland as the one who had ordered his arrest. The beings were sent back to their homes. They must wait for the cover of darkness so as not to raise suspicion before Tremble forces arrived at first light. All were eager to comply.
Koler absorbed the blackened souls at the beach. He would need to share energy with his mate again before the coming skirmish with Borland’s soldiers. The idea that she was his mate gave him a thrill, it was a shame that she hadn’t yet figured it out. Tonight, before the rest of the camp woke, he would lead her to the caves of Demons End where Leroi resided. They would explain to her why she would become the mate of two Demon Princes. She would probably not appreciate the idea at first, but he had little doubt that she could be convinced of the arrangement, if given the right incentive and a bit of time. He wondered what Leroi would think of her.
When they got back to camp, Koler searched for Wensel. Not finding her or the little siren, he sought out the Lady Rane. She was the only other person that he had ever seen her being friendly with. The lady was giggling with Aria making silly patterns in the dirt with a stick when he finally found them. The Lords Tremble were sitting nearby lounging back, allowing the sun to bake the weariness from their muscles.
“Pardon, Lady, I have been searching for Wensel, she seems to have gone missing, and I wondered if you could send me in her direction. I have things that I need to speak to her about before we reach Demons End tomorrow.”
Rane looked up from her play with the little one, “I am sorry, Koler, when you and my mates left, she brought Aria to me and left. I thought she was joining you in the skirmish. I have not seen her since. Tell me please, why do you continue to call Morlien Hall by the name Demons End? It is confusing, but I would be interested to hear the tale.”
Koler wanted to be gone from here to look for Wensel, but he also wanted to be polite to the woman who had been nothing but decent to him. “Long ago, before humans came to this island, depositing their failed experiments and creatures that have evolved more slowly or differently than they wished, this place was known as Demons End. You see, there were beings of humanoid characteristics already here before that legendary ship of settlers dropped anchor into the bay. They lived in the caves that are honeycombed throughout the mountain ranges. To my knowledge, there are more that still reside as they did a thousand years past, in the Northern mountains of the island.
“That ship was also not the first to drop anchor here. Nor did every man and woman leave on the ships when they sailed away. The word might have been put out that they were killed by wild animals or unknown beings, but many of the descendants of those first humans and the humanoid shifters are still here today. Somehow, Demons came into being. We are a cleanup type of being, we are a deterrent, and we take out the trash so to speak. Once the humans and advanced educated shifters decided to establish the Halls of Care, long known places and names were stricken from the records and the newly named Halls assumed the glory of the place. Such happened to Demons End. A Demon is not a bad being, regardless of what you have heard throughout your lifetime. We are, like your Lion and Nord, rulers of our own special area of expertise. We became cave dwellers because we were feared and ostracized, rather than given respect, we became a curse. Our home was given to humans that abused and debased our charges and created more creatures like them: evil, cruel, and greedy.” He bowed his head to the woman, “I did not want to see your tears, Lady Rane, I only tried to answer your questions honestly. Now I must backtrack to the beach and attempt to find out where Wensel has disappeared to.”
Koler searched the entire side of the beach for traces of her; however, she was nowhere to be found. The tide was coming in, and he could see a thunderstorm rolling over the distant waters. It was a good thing the storm was over the open sea and not over the island creating a mess for the Tremble assemblage to be forced to deal with. He made the decision to drop in on Leroi, and was angered to see the state of the mess he found at his old home. There were black orbs everywhere. They lounged about as if they had nothing better to do than lie around like the rotten lumps that they were. He sent twenty of the nasty things into the rock wall, flattening them with satisfying splat noises before ordering all of them back into the pit. “I have a mind to smash a few of you under my boot heel so you can again experience being fucked in the ass, even in death. Get out of my sight, and if I ever see you in this area again I will chop you into tiny pieces and layer you in the feces of my nightwings.”
One slowly moving orb got snagged between his fingers, “Where is Prince Leroi?” The fat blob was thrown against the fire pit when he answered truthfully that Leroi was taken by Flitch to drown in the sea. The answer so enraged Koler that he went through the demons’ pit and grabbed several of the nightwings that were sleeping.
“You will go into the Hall and wreak havoc, rip hair and eyes, skin and cloth, no male will go unmolested that follows the order of Borland. Befoul any food or drink they attempt to nourish themselves with. Do not touch Borland, he is promised to another.” He shook one of the nightwings hard enough to make it scream. “Do you understand what I want you to do? If you disappoint me in this, I will reward you by pulling your wings from your fat bodies and burning them in the bubbling fire. Go now, I will see your work by morning light.”
Within minutes, he heard screams and curses echoing in the night air. It was not enough to appease his wrath. It did nothing to soothe his soul. Not only had his mate disappeared, his only true friend was now lost to him. His rage knew no solace.
*****
>
Leroi stalked into the room and grabbed Flitch by the throat. “You have made your last mistake. Be comforted to know that your schemes for my demise would not have worked even had they gone as planned. Seawater burns my skin. It would cause pain, but I am a demon, I like pain. The worst that might have happened to me would be to have been in the ocean for several hours until my body shriveled, the chains fell off, and I would either wash up on shore, or snag a ride on a passing ship.”
The captain’s eyes widened when he saw Wensel walk into the room. The only females allowed on board his ship were slaves bound for the markets, or round heeled whores that enjoyed pleasuring his crew for a nugget or two of gold. This one looked too arrogant by half. “Who are you, woman? What are you doing making yourself at home on my ship?” His first mate, Mica, stepped closer, but was waved away. He could deal with a mere woman. He reached his hand to her arm, and pulled her to his body. He was frightened of the demon, but since he was busy with Flitch, the captain felt assured enough to exercise his dominance over the lone female.
Wensel allowed him to pull her near. She lifted her arm to curl around the fool’s shoulder to pull him even closer to her human form. The moment he realized that all was not as it seemed with the female, was his last sane thought. Her black fathomless eyes kept his captive as her lips pulled back in the most grotesque fashion he had ever seen displayed on a living being. When the slender snakelike tongue slid from between her teeth to lick his mouth, he lost his urine, and his mind, as his mouth opened with a scream, while she inhaled his essence, laughing at his horror.
She released him from her embrace without taking his life. He was little more than a shell that would follow the orders she gave, even should she have him jump into the ocean and attempt to swim around the planet. It gave her no pleasure to create such beings, because in the end she would have to end their existence. Only one time before had she done such a thing. He had been the male shifter that thought to mate with her. She was enamored with his good looks and determination. She learned the hard way to never trust herself letting go and enjoying sex sharing with another. She took the life from his eyes and happiness from his heart without meaning to. Her vow of never harming another being like that again without it being a life or death situation was now being tested.
This time, they would need someone to sail the ship back to Tremble Island. What happened to him once they got there would be someone else’s decision. She would be tempted to allow him to live as a village helper. To somehow redeem his blackened soul in service to those in need.
His fate, and that of the tarnished soul of the first mate’s who was now cowering in the corner behind a trunk, was not hers to choose. She wanted to go home. She turned to look for the demon and his nemesis, but they must have left the room while she was busy stripping the freewill from her victim.
She found the demon busy wrapping his new toy from shoulders to knees in a thick rope. He kept asking the man if the bindings were too tight, and when Flitch gasped for breath, Leroi would laugh. He left a huge curl of the rope in a long coil next to the railing, and as the evil bastard tried to bribe him, Leroi slapped him hard, secured the rope, and tossed him overboard. They heard a thunk and a curse as they bent over the rail to see the body hit the water headfirst. Every few minutes, Leroi would pull Flitch up from the water and allow the man to breathe before dropping him back down.
Twice Leroi revived the man, not wishing to allow him such an easy death, and Wensel became disgusted with his actions. “You have had your fun, either kill him or allow him to die. You are no better than he is if this is your idea of punishment for his wrongs. You will have his black soul. Who will be gifted with yours?”
Her words infuriated him. How dare she question his ethics in dealing with this evil bastard that had caused such pain to innocents. She had no idea of the numbers of beings that were sent to his door after this creature finished plying his cruelties upon them. They deserved vengeance, they deserved to have his skin removed from his living carcass, and the only way for them to get any type of revenge was for him to… curses, the creature is correct. The black soul would be tortured in the pit for as long as he wished, he would absorb the energy from the black orb he would become, or toss it into the bubbling firepit at Demons End. He hated that she was right. He opened his hand and willed the claws to appear, before slicing Flitch’s throat, and tossing him into the sea without a safety rope to haul his body back aboard the ship. What bothered him the most was the knowledge that he was turning into the monster that he was on Echo to protect others from becoming.
A young boy sat on a step talking to Wensel. They were laughing together and he found that he wanted to be a part of their merriment. She looked beautiful in the early morning light. He wanted to embrace her and have her tell him that everything would be all right. That his soul would not become black and greasy like the others. He wanted something he never considered to have before. Could she be the female that could withstand mating with a demon? Actually two demons? She had met Koler, in fact, her voice seemed to soften when she said his name. Perhaps there was hope for him after all.
*****
Nord was tired of trying to appease the small tyrant. Aria refused to settle down to sleep no matter how many miles he walked with her or how many times he took her to the water to swim. She wanted Wensel and nothing would make her happy as a substitute. Rane had fallen asleep and he and Lion took turns watching the little one. She was a handful and amusing at first. Now he was rethinking his wish to become a father. Where all the energy packed in her tiny body was, he could not say, but he wished she would share it with him. She was running ahead of him when they came upon Trundle, who was ready to rest for the night. The mammoth being curled his trunk around the little female and swung her back and forth while she laughed.
He deposited her onto his back and she climbed the huge beast by pulling herself up with small hands tangled in the long black hair, then ran to and fro across the expanse of his large body. After sliding down his side for the fifth time, she began to tire and climbed under the fall of hair behind his front legs. Within minutes the little girl was asleep, and Trundle gave Nord a gentle nudge to leave them, he would guard the child until morning light.
He left the pair and hurried to where his mate and brother were bedded down. He could see that Rane had woken and most likely pounced on Lion’s body, considering she had been deprived of her routine of being sexually gratified every few hours at the castle. She was straddling Lion’s head and sucking his cock. He sat beside the duo and ran his hand from her neck to her flanks. “I planned to sleep when I came back from babysitting duties, and find a sight so arousing that thoughts of sleep have fled my brain. You are about to be breached in this pretty hole, my love. Will you like that?” His finger played with the tiny puckered entrance and kept sliding down into the wetness that coated the lips of her heated pink flesh, where his brother had just abandoned for her clit. He pulled the wetness up, painting the place his prick would soon be buried.
Rane had other ideas and sat up, causing Lion to make an odd noise as she cut his air supply off with her soaked slit, before she reversed her position over his prone body and slid her grasping channel over his standing prick. She shouted as her body sank over his and the thickness of his cock widened her, causing a short orgasm for her pleasure. Nord spat into his hand and coated his fingers before sending first one and another deep into her tight dark hole. His fingers moved around, pumping in and out of her heated tunnel and he felt the contractions of her muscles enjoying the pleasure she enjoyed so very much. Using more of his own saliva to coat his prick, he slid the thick head into the tight ring guarding the little used entrance. He rested for a moment allowing her to adjust to his invasion until she moved backwards on him with small strokes. He let her set that pace for this play. There were times that she demanded his entire prick, and times she wanted only half or so. Either way, he was rewarded by her enthusiasm, and the way her tunnel clamped
down on his prick, taking him to that mindless place where there was just feeling, nothing else, only pure blinding white feeling. He bent at the waist and reached for her breasts. One was already being used by Lion so he let his hand run up and down her back, while pulling at the other nipple and giving it the occasional twist. He let it go and straightened his back. His thumbs slid between her cheeks and he pulled them open wide, so he could see his prick sliding back and forth into her ass.
He could feel the ripples beginning inside of her and increased his own speed rather than letting her set the pace. She tended to become erratic in her movements when she was in the throes of her passion, and he loved to see her during that time, but nothing felt better than having her body squeeze the seed from his balls and prick. Nothing. He willingly gave himself to her needs and bit down on her neck as soon as his seed filled her rear hole. His spikes gently pulled a small amount of her blood into his body and he stopped siphoning after mere seconds. The flavor of her pussy tasted different, and now the essence of her blood had an unusual flavor too. He was too tired to think about it tonight. Rane fell asleep on top of Lion’s weary body yet again and the brothers shared a smile as he rolled over to his side and they settled her between them for the night’s rest.
They knew she would argue with them about rushing into the fray with the rest of the Trembles forces, but the brothers had already made up their minds. She was staying in camp. She would be ready to heal those that were brought back to camp that needed her medical attention, but if there was the slightest chance she might be carrying a child, she would stay behind the lines of the fight. One of the Amazon warriors and one of Tremble’s finest would watch over her and Aria.
It was Nord who woke Rane in the early morning hours with his head between her thighs, and his tongue doing magical things to her woman’s flesh. She screamed her pleasure into Lion’s mouth as his lips covered hers just before she came. She smiled contentedly and rolled over, going back to sleep. The brothers quickly dressed and directed the Amazon they had selected to guard Rane and Aria. According to Hawk, the female was skilled and loyal. Wolf stayed with them much to his disappointment, since he sported three broken ribs from being crushed during a fight with a large boulder. He hung his head and agreed to stay. The little one was brought and laid next to Rane still asleep.
Demons End (Tremble Island) Page 8