We stood in front of a dead end, a large circle engraved into the stone, barely noticeable, but the woman had told us to look for it. I wondered if there were other things written on the walls of the Labyrinth that I had missed. How many citadels had we passed walking through? I shivered at the thought that we could have been so close to these monsters and never realized.
The moon was still high in the sky, shadowing us as we stood against the wall. Alder was going to enter first, to survey, then return. He gave me one last wink before entering. Minka and I stood outside, weapons in hand, ready if anyone approached or exited.
I counted the seconds until he returned. My power waiting impatiently inside of me, waiting to be released again. My senses were heightened. I listened to each of Minka’s breaths, heard her heart beat steadily in her chest. She was calm. I wondered how she had gone from a fisherman to a trained warrior. I wrote a mental note to remind myself to ask her about that later.
Alder appeared out of the wall in an instant. His face in a wicked grin, his surrounding glow that deep violet.
“Four are keeping watch outside the building. I counted about six inside. Val, you get the four outside. Minka and I will take care of the ones inside,” he said. How he had snuck around them, even into their building, I was not sure. But then again, he had been watching me too without me knowing. He must be able to keep himself shrouded somehow.
His eyes met mine, a devilish excitement across his face. He stepped forward and took me in his arms, bringing my lips to his.
My power surged, his power meeting mine. His kiss deepened as the power within me rose and rose. He was doing this on purpose, drawing my power out of me, priming me for the fight. His hand went to my ass, pulling my thigh up to his hip and pushing me against the wall. The fiery taste of my power spread, and I let it go, let it cover every single inch of my body and savored the heat.
He pulled away from me, his eyes flickering wildly. I took in the deep pink glow that surrounded me.
“Go get ‘em,” he said. Minka smirked. My pink glow deepened as I walked in.
There was a large, wide building in front of me. I walked forward, searching for the men. Alder and Minka came in behind me, but stayed in the shadows.
I saw them sitting near the steps of the entrance. They were all talking and laughing amongst themselves. This was my time to shine. The new and wonderful feeling of bloodlust washed over me in a second, desire for their deaths taking over every other emotion.
They stood and grabbed their swords as soon as they saw me.
I was only a few feet away. I gave them a smile and let my power flow freely out towards them. I watched as my influence took each of them, their eyes simultaneously filling with lust as they looked at me. Their swords dropped to the ground with a clatter.
“Hi boys…” I said, letting my words draw out. I could see the pink glow of my power extending like tendrils as they wrapped around each man. They were so easily entranced, no fear, only lust in their eyes.
I walked forward and drew my hand slowly along the first man’s chest. He gasped in ecstasy. I took my power and pushed it deeper, letting it wrap around his heart. I gave him a devious smile, his own mouth curling up to mirror mine. The pink flames danced in his eyes, his glazed eyes.
In one single thought, I crushed his heart. He crumpled to the ground.
The men watching began to fight against my power, struggling to break free, suddenly aware of their imminent deaths. Their eyes were fearful now, pleas escaping their mouths. Their wrestling against my power made it more difficult to hold them.
I pushed my power further, letting it overcome me. I felt my fingers grow long, the claws returning, and my teeth sharpening, my mouth widening and my eyes darkening. The fear that seeped from each of them filled me with ecstasy.
I struck the closest one, using my long talons to slice through his neck like it was made of jelly. My hold on the other two slipped, and one charged forward.
I pounced, reaching my claws deep into his chest. Blood sputtered from his mouth as I ripped them back out. He collapsed, hot dark red blood spewing and splattering across my shirt.
The other man was running away, trying to reach the portal we had come through. I smirked and grabbed my dagger. In a swift blow, it landed deep in his back. He fell to the ground with a whimper.
I strolled over to him, soaking in the ambience of death as it danced in the air around me.
He whined and sobbed. I ripped the dagger out of him and flipped him over with a kick of my foot. He was still alive, his fear drifting up to my nose. I drank in the sweet scent, feeling almost drunk with it.
“Please, please let me live,” he said, blood oozing out onto the ground under him. It looked warm and delicious, I had the strange thought of how it would feel in my mouth, the real taste of his death.
I smiled and looked down at him. I thought of every man I had ever used, of the things I did just for a few pieces of bread. I wished I had known there were easier ways. A power within that could have brought them to their knees instead of me to mine.
I felt angry at every decision I’ve had to make, angry that this power had been hidden inside me for so long. Angry that I had hid myself for so long, scared of the truth within. The truth that felt oh so incredible now.
And then I thought of the baby. The sweet girl ripped from her mother’s breast. The mother who had to watch her world end.
“No,” I said sweetly. Then I ripped into his chest with my teeth. I felt his heart still pumping between them, the blood oozing down my face and falling back down my throat. It tasted like wine, thick, delectable wine that scorched my tongue. I spat the still squeezing heart out onto the ground.
The rush, delicious taste of his death, ricocheted through me, lighting up my every nerve. I felt an indescribable pleasure shatter within me. I shuddered and soaked in every inch until the feeling faded.
A small part of me in the back of my mind shrieked, begging me to stop. Lurching at the thought of what I was doing and what I was becoming. Disgusted by myself. I had a choice. Return to the fearful and ashamed Val I had been, or allow myself to become what was surfacing in me. To become a true enchantress with no regret, no fear, no shame, no disgust. Only truth. The truest form of me.
Wiping my mouth, I stood and stalked back to the door of the building. I pulled the more dangerous features of me back in. The talons returning to fingers, my teeth dulling and my mouth shrinking, my eyes returning to their normal green.
I pulled the excess power into my chest and then released it into the sky, a glittering beam of bright pink, before walking inside the citadel.
Chapter 24
The inside of the citadel was basically empty. It had a high ceiling with a few tables and chairs. The main feature was an enormous dragon carved into wood. A side wall was covered in whips and rods. I cringed at the thought of whatever rituals those were used for. On the ground were the bodies of the men, blood soaking the stone. Alder and Minka were finishing them as I had walked in.
A man in heavy robes laid near the dragon carving with Alder’s stake through his right chest, nailing him to the foot of the statue. He was still alive.
Alder stood over him, glowing dark violet. I walked closer and looked down at the bleeding man.
“You will never stop him,” the man said as he spat at Alder’s feet. Alder knelt down and snapped his neck. The man looked tortured in death. No peace in his eyes.
Minka walked over to us, assessing the damage and searching for any other men that might be hiding. After a few seconds we determined the citadel was empty.
Alder’s eyes met mine with a hard stare. The air between us seemed to catch fire.
“Minka, you should go. We will meet you back at the boat…” he said, his gaze not leaving mine. His eyes were dark with hunger, his hair sweaty from the fight. His face hard with want, as was other parts I noticed as I looked down to his waist.
His glow was a deep burgundy. His chest
heaved with his breathing, as if holding himself back, reining himself in until Minka left.
I felt the power rise up inside me again, but it was a different kind of heat than before. It was the heat I had felt all those times, the palpable tension between us since the very beginning. The tether between us shivered in anticipation, building and heating my core.
Minka just chuckled and left in a haste.
Alder closed the short distance between us. I gasped at his speed and at the sudden feeling of his hard muscles around me.
One hand wove into my hair at the base of my neck, the other wrapped around my back. He hovered his lips over mine, teasing for a second, before he pulled my head back ever so gently. Then he started kissing my neck, one hungry kiss at a time, beginning at the top and working his way down. My power blossomed in response, the feeling inside matching his touch on the outside.
We stumbled back as his lips stayed on my neck and my ass hit a long table. His hands slid down my waist to my hips, grabbing and picking me up roughly. He set me down on the table. My legs wrapped around his hips as he finally picked his head up and kissed my mouth. I was greedy for his kiss, groaning with the satisfaction of his lips finally against mine.
Our powers met again. Their reunion shooting an intense rush of pleasure through me as they intertwined, his kiss driving deeper, his tongue exploring my mouth.
I ran my hands down his chest, feeling for his shirt and ripping it off in a single tug. I was hungry. Thirsty for more of him on me. I pushed back, taking him in. His chest was even better than I remembered, I took my time running my eyes over every inch of him. The snake on his chest staring back at me only made him even more alluring, it extended over his shoulder and wrapped around to his back. His muscles were thick and hard under his tan, tattooed skin. He looked and felt as if someone had carved him from stone, chiseled ever so perfectly. And it was all mine to explore…
His hands clutched my hips harder as he looked into my eyes, his gaze heavy with arousal. His hands went up the bare skin of my side, under my tunic, as he pulled it up and over my head, tossing it to the floor. My hair flipped up and then landed around my face. I looked at him through my thick eyelashes, watching him as his eyes roamed my body.
His mouth went back to my neck, ravenous against me as he trailed down. He reached my breasts, taking a nipple into his mouth with a sudden urgency. His hand was strong against my rib cage, wrapping around me and holding me to him. I leaned back and moaned, letting my fingers dance through his thick hair, pulling the strands with need for more of him.
Every touch, every kiss, was electric through my body and mirrored by the feeling of his power stroking my power.
He trailed even further down, lifting my hips up against him to pull my pants off. His mouth came back up to my breast as his fingers slid down, finding me slick.
He slid a finger inside as he moved his thumb against my peak of nerves. He moved in slow circles as he nibbled on my nipple. I didn’t know how much more I could handle, the ecstasy from our power rocking through me like internal lightning strikes.
I moaned as his fingers moved, his mouth hot against me. I felt my body arching, responding to his every move, my pleasure crescendoing. His power racked against mine in similar strokes.
Then he moved just slightly harder in me. It pushed me over the edge, my body shaking, my thighs clenching, the power inside me turning to fireworks. I cursed loudly before collapsing back onto the table.
He pulled his fingers out slowly before crawling up the table over top of me.
“You are the most beautiful creature,” he whispered, his voice thick with need. Then he was kissing me again. I was still shuddering from my orgasm as he placed a hand gently around my neck. I felt his length against me, strained against his pants.
A normal woman probably would have laid there, relishing in her pleasure, and let him do the rest of the work. But I was NOT a normal woman, I was a fucking enchantress. And my thirst for him was only growing by the second.
I pushed him off me, and in an instant gracefully switched our position. I straddled him, his jaw clenched, highlighted by his deep crimson glow. I bent over him, keeping my back arched as I traced his jawline with my teeth, drawing a moan from his lips. I ran my hands over his chest, letting them go lower. I could feel him hard beneath me, through those fucking pants. I began rhythmically grinding against him, teasing him as he had done to me as I bit his strong neck.
His hands were rough and hard against me as he gripped my waist. I felt my power push further into him, and he let it in, deepening his own ecstasy. I felt his body shudder under mine. I stopped teasing him and slowly crawled off, leaving my power deep within as it became further tangled with his. I could see the slow dance of our pleasure was driving him insane.
He sat up in an instant, sliding off the table and grabbing me with those rough hands. He pushed me back on the table again, this time holding me straight up with a soft hold on my neck as he kissed me, full of hunger. His hands went to his pants, pulling them off. He came back, his body hard against me, his lips on mine, my legs wrapping around his waist.
I adjusted my body slightly, angling it so he could enter. He was massive, double the size of Leo at least. The biggest I had ever seen. Thick and long, with veins popping as he tensed, relishing in the pleasure of anticipation.
He had said he was going to fuck me. That was an understatement.
The pleasure bounded through my body with every thrust. It wasn’t just his massive cock as it slid against every nerve I had down there, it was his power sliding against every nerve I had everywhere. Every part of my body sung with the taste of the powers mingling and lighting both of us on fire. Every single nerve climaxed at once as I came again, shuddering around him in a wave of heat. I felt my glow turn a deep red, the power in me surfacing and releasing from my body.
But he didn’t stop. He kept going, filling me with fire with every stroke. I felt my nerves heightening again, climbing higher than I thought possible. My back arched, my head thrown back, one of his hands on my hip, the other on my breast. His breath quickened and his moans grew louder, matching mine. I could feel his power inside me, feel it rising together as one with my own. We were seconds from releasing together.
“Fuck, Val,” he breathed. His head fell back as his jaw tensed and his eyes closed. I couldn’t even think to say his name, the ocean of bliss below demanding every ounce of my attention.
Harder and harder he thrust as his grip grew, his hand returning to my neck as he came. The fire inside me exploded, matching the fire in him. Our powers soared above us and then tumbled back down in a tangle.
He collapsed against me, his arms holding me to his chest as our breathing slowed. The fading orgasms ricocheted through us, bouncing back and forth from my power to his. Slowly coming back down.
The glow around me disappeared, his turning to a lighter red as he kissed me again, ever so gently. The release obtained, the tension dispersed. I bathed in the sweet ecstasy of the aftermath as the fire in my nerves extinguished. I closed my eyes and let out a sigh of sweet relief, blowing out all the tension that I had been holding in this past week.
I finally opened my eyes to look at him, his were wide, the gold in them flickering as he looked into mine. He brushed his fingers against my cheek softly.
“Val, you were made for me,” he whispered.
Chapter 25: Leo
News of the attacked citadel reached us in a matter of minutes thanks to the Priest who had sent out a distress signal before he was killed. The signal only had one word with it: “King.”
My brothers were distraught. Anger heightening as everyone had talks of retribution on their lips.
“We should sneak into their city, skewer their King.”
“We should burn the nearby villages.”
“We should sacrifice another innocent.”
The brothers were restless and anxious for revenge.
The Archpriest immediately hailed
the rest of the day as a day of mourning, meaning each of us were to enter fasting and prayer as he debated how we would retaliate.
My blood ran cold. A citadel attacked, a holy sanctuary desecrated by the enemy. The Labyrinth King, Alder Lucerna. The evil warlock who had cursed this once great place, forming it into the dark maze that separated the four cities.
When our Dark Lord fought against him, Alder Lucerna won by trickery alone, capturing our Blessed Lord and locking Him in the depths of the Labyrinth where He could never be free. Could never return to kill Alder and regain peace in this world.
But our Dark Lord was smarter than the Labyrinth King, and though He had lost, He cast the magic walls around the Labyrinth, keeping Alder from expanding his curse to the four cities.
We have prayed to our Blessed Lord for a hundred years, waiting for the counter curse to be formed that would have the power to release Him from His prison. The power to make Him whole again to fight the Labyrinth King while we used the chosen girl to break the curse forever. With the curse broken and the Blessed One released by Val, under my command, we could finally kill the Labyrinth King. Our four cities would be united once again, and the Labyrinth would return to the grand marketplace it had once been. A future to fight for, to kill for.
We give our blood freely to Him, our priests delivering it to Him in His prison, keeping Him alive and strong. It was the least we could do for Him, for all that He would do when He was released.
The Labyrinth King had slaughtered our holy brothers as they worshipped our Dark Lord. He had stolen Valeria from me, lured her into the Labyrinth in the first place and was now taking her to use for his own purposes, to break the barriers of the Labyrinth and expand his curse to the four towns. His thirst for power was unquenchable. He would use and discard her. And I would make sure he paid for it, paid for it all, with his life.
We didn’t know for sure if she had been present for the attack. Our men had been watching their ship and knew where they were headed. She could have helped or she could have waited in the ship. There were no witnesses, no survivors. No way to know if she had her powers yet.
The Labyrinth King (The Labyrinth Series Book 1) Page 14