by Lisa Daniels
“To think that this was hiding underneath all those clothes...” He held one hand out to her, beckoning her close, and she closed the distance, now fully naked, to sit on his lap and spread her legs out over him. He grinned, his handsome, oval face sinking into her heart, and he cupped her rear as she began peeling off his fur pants, revealing his throbbing erection beneath.
Delighted to see that he desired her, she rubbed herself against him, before going for the kiss, seeing how his lips tasted against hers. His breath melted against her lips, and the scent of him drew her to him like a magnet, taking deep inhales as she moved away from his lips and sniffed at his neck. He brought her face back up to his again for lip to lip contact, reveling in the feel of their breaths intermingling, their bodies pressing together.
He tasted good, honestly, and this was exactly what Raine needed – a distraction, with someone containing a good heart. The warmth of someone who already knew one of the most terrible secrets she possessed, and who looked at her with that soft, smoldering gaze, sometimes tinged by a predatory, primal instinct.
The primal instinct took over now as they continued to kiss, and with a grunt, he spun them around so that Raine flopped out on the bed beneath him with a gasp, body trembling in desire.
She groaned as he pushed his erection into her, feeling her toes curl into the sheets, and arched so that the back of her head writhed against the pillows. He sucked at her breasts as they lifted to his face, before insisting on his hard, pounding motion into her body. She was already slippery, already prepared for him, and she suppressed a series of moans as he dug deep into her, stirring the familiar tension inside.
It didn't take long for her to come at all, and she felt the warm heat of his orgasm flow through her as well. Honestly, she wouldn't mind more of that. A lot more. Everything about him served to delight her in that moment, even before her climax.
At least he was prepared to attempt a round two, shortly after they had rested side by side, grinning like idiots.
Chapter Four
Their journey after the small house continued with renewed vigor. Raine buried her face into Linther's fur as he took off on all fours, smiling at the memories from earlier on in the night. He also seemed to lope with an extra bounce to his step, and she made excuses to hug him tighter around his mane or even kiss his fur. She enjoyed the opportunity for affection, and just really to hug something. It made a change from her lonely nights at the inn.
The inn that no longer existed.
Soon enough, though, Linther tired, and Raine needed to invoke her protections around their makeshift campsite once more. After completing the barriers, she tried to sleep with a dull headache poking at her skull. Vaguely, she watched Linther stride off, perhaps to hunt something for them to consume later. She missed having his warmth to curl up into, and huddled into a ball instead by the fire.
She finally drifted off, thinking upon her fate, and her position with Linther. She wondered if they would be allowed to stay together.
A terrible snarling wrought the air, in the swirling blackness, where the snows coated her clothes and her eyelashes. It jerked her awake, and she groped for her crossbow in the glow of the fire. Where was Linther? Her heart went out to him in worry, but she didn't have the time or place to stay focused on him. Not when she saw the ooze of Shadows forming just behind her barrier.
Silently, ghoulishly, they clustered, never displaying purpose beyond the mindless hunting of flesh, no matter how outnumbered they might be, or well protected said flesh was.
Raine grabbed a branch from the fire with the tip of it ablaze, and scoured the clearing, seeing around four, five Shadows. Groups were unusual. Shadows traditionally hunted alone, sometimes merging together by convenience. Groups, however, suggested intelligence. Organization.
Where was Linther? She got her answer in the form of a spitting werewolf, lunging past the encirclement to join Raine. His muzzle dripped with black blood, and the tip of his ear seemed missing. He morphed back.
“Went hunting. Deer. Not alone.”
Raine hugged him, stroking his hair hurriedly, before pulling apart to gauge the threat. She aimed her crossbow, swallowing her anxiety, remembering that her barrier would hold. That she had nothing to fear with such a powerful protector by her side. Plus, there was the fact she was a wastelands witch.
That had to count for something. Right?
The first Shadow collapsed with a hiss from her bolt, and she clicked the next round into place. The Shadows instantly recoiled, and sunk into the ground, becoming near insubstantial, making it hard for her to aim. However, their black patches still rimmed her protection, making it impossible to leave without stepping on one.
“That's not good.”
For good measure, she fired off a bolt into the black mass, but nothing happened.
“They can't hurt us in that form, either,” Linther pointed out. “So we can take comfort in that fact.” His nostrils flared as more Shadows seemed to form in the ground, joining their brethren, until the entire perimeter of Raine's spell was edged by blackness.
Her anxiety spiked. “Any chance you can just, you know, vault over all that?”
Linther wrinkled his nose, baring his teeth in a grimace. “We can try. I cannot jump as far and agilely with you stuck on my back, though. Know any good spells?”
“Like the lightning? Nah.” Raine scoured her repertoire of magic. She knew a repulsion spell, but that required skin contact with whoever she planned to repulse. Living barriers took all of her energy to form on just one person, and they didn't last for long.
A stray thought reached her. “Maybe I could try enchanting the snow into a weapon.”
Linther raised eyebrows in her in surprise. “You can do that?”
“I have no idea. Never tried with snow or water.”
Linther chuckled nervously, before morphing back into the werewolf form. He began to prowl around Raine. The black mass past her magical protection, and the charcoal line, seemed to be pressing themselves against it, like water sloshing behind a dam.
“I don't think I want to die here...” Raine took a deep breath, taking out her vial of black blood. She couldn't see the idea being effective past a small patch of snow, but she needed to do something. Even if it meant using up the last of the Shadow's essence.
“Don't you?” The voice hissed out of the gloom. Raine froze, inches from pouring the blood into the snow, and she saw it.
The Shadow that talked, wearing the corpse of her mother. It stepped into the light, enough for her to see the emaciated, near naked form, smiling with yellowed teeth and stretched, papery skin. “I have a connection to you, little child. As long as you use things with my blood, I'll always be able to find you.”
This thing can break barriers. Oh, curses! She scrabbled to Linther, whispering into his ear that they would need to make a risky sprint for it. He growled agreement, and she clutched at his fur.
“There are more of us, you know,” the creature said in a musing voice, carelessly trailing a finger above the magical protection. Her blackened feet had Shadows squirming around. “And we just want what is rightfully ours.”
Smoke seemed to fizzle around the Shadow's finger, which she ignored, smirking as the smoke intensified. In spite, Raine aimed at the Shadow and let loose with the crossbolt. It grabbed the bolt disdainfully in mid-flight, hissed slightly at the wisps of smoke that emanated from the hand that stopped the attack, before discarding it.
The barrier vanished. Raine let out a scream and scrambled onto Linther's back, and he sprinted off, snarling viciously as the Shadows inked across the ground. He took a huge bound, soaring above them, but abruptly jerked in mid-air. Raine saw in time the Shadow that talked raising her hand, aiming towards the werewolf – and the action caused Raine to fly off into the snow, skidding along it with a gasp. Linther jerked horribly in the air, his huge, powerful form reduced to helplessness as the Shadow grinned with her mother's mouth.
It ha
d access to her mother's magic.
The thought electrified Raine. Free of its bonds, it held Linther prisoner, as he flailed and snapped in mid-air. She saw the Shadows forming, shambling towards her. Terror pierced every nerve – with trembling hands, she poured the whole black vial into the snowbank around her, and let the magic slip out of her throat. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and the magic fizzled out of her, igniting the headache which accumulated in strength.
The black blood enchantment seeped across the snow bank, turning the mound she was buried in ashen gray. A brief notion caused her heart to stutter further – what if the Shadows could just merge with it? It was made of their blood, after all.
The first by her bank twitched, and crumbled into nothing. The others reacted instinctively, dissolving into their ground forms again, pressing against the barrier, only to also evaporate.
Linther howled as he flailed, snapping in a frenzy at his invisible bonds. The Shadow that talked appeared less than impressed at his attempts to escape. Pure evil emanated from her form, something ancient and cold and dark. A scope of evil Raine hadn't anticipated, as the Shadow had been neatly sealed behind Raine’s bindings.
So many things she should have done. Could have. Should have. Didn't.
Linther howled with fear, rage and desperation when the Shadows clawed at his hind legs, and the claws there kicked back. He looked so savage, so beautiful, even as he wriggled and scratched and snapped for his life, twisting and writhing, trying to get a good hold upon them. He stiffened when the Shadow that talked tightened her hold.
Moon curse it! Raine squeezed her eyes shut, plumbing the depths of her soul for the magic, the headache vibrating against her skull. Without the knowledge behind the magic, it was like wrestling with a storm.
Shouts entered the clearing, and her eyes snapped open. Rescue? Did the werewolves heed Linther's howl?
She blinked as she saw someone, encased in full black armor, clang through the clearing and hack at the Shadows beneath Linther's dangling body. Two werewolves emerged from the darkness behind the armored man, and they looked nothing like any werewolves Raine had seen. Their forms were warped, distorted, the skin pinched over their bones, and their eyes glowing an ominous yellow, leaving trails behind them.
The knight in black seemed to damage the Shadows just with the armor touching – the sword appeared as a happy addition. The emaciated werewolves tore into the other, squirming Shadows, with a mindless ferocity that sent ripples of fear through Raine.
The Shadow that talked smiled widely at the knight, though there was also barely concealed rage.
“Oh dear. It appears there must be a change of plan. Hup!” The Shadow held up her arms, and black tendrils of energy spewed out of her. The magic slapped against the knight's armor, its path diverting from the others.
The Shadow that talked hissed. A little slice of alarm went into her dead eyes, before she dissolved, barely avoiding the snap of one of the corpse-like werewolves, disappearing into the night.
Raine watched the whole event unfold, uncomprehending of what had just happened. Linther padded over to her, stepping in front of her as if to shield her from the newcomers. Raine glared at the knight in black.
“Wait,” she said, suddenly realizing. “Is your armor made of Shadow blood?”
The knight in black tucked his sword into his belt, and took off his helm for the first time. Blue southerner eyes stared at her. A mop of lank, dirty blonde hair grew past his ears. There was something gaunt and soulless in the way he examined her. The emaciated werewolves stood on either side of him, silent as ghosts.
“How do you know?” His voice came out surprisingly soft, with a melodic air to it.
Raine clung to Linther's neck scruff, and kissed him there. “Let's just say I might have had access to Shadow blood for a while. I can see the lick of magic on your armor. On the wolves.” She narrowed her eyes at the black, skeletal werewolves.
“I see. I'm glad to know I've not been the only one working on a solution.” He strapped his helmet to his belt as well, clanking closer to them. Linther growled warningly.
“Relax, werewolf. Are you two heading towards Lunehill? That's where I'm going for as well. My sense of direction is not quite so good.”
“Why not ask the wolves?” Raine said, indicating the silent guardians.
“Because they are not living. They are vessels of magic, after their bodies have expired. Shadow magic,” the man said, even as Linther's growling intensified, and his fur stiffened on end.
“Who are you?” Raine shook her head. “And you're a man. This is your magic? Men don't have magic.”
The man smiled coldly. “I'll explain later. And my name is Erlandur. I have news for Lunehill. News that is a long time in the waiting.”
Erlandur... why did that name sound so familiar? Raine scrunched her face, trying to remember where she had heard the name before.
Now Linther morphed, and his handsome face bulged in utter shock. “Erlander,” he said hoarsely. His throat sounded as if his windpipe had been suffocated thoroughly. “By the moon, you're actually alive.”
Erlandur nodded.
“I know why your name's familiar!” Raine barked suddenly. “You have a sister. Alyssa Malgrave. She dropped at my inn a while back.” Raine's face fell. “She was trying to find you at the Fractured City. I don't know of course if she made it.”
“I know,” Linther said, which instantly grabbed both Raine and Erlandur's attention. “She's in Lunehill now, actually. She wants to be part of the expedition that will scour the Fractured City.”
Erlandur heaved a sigh of relief. “I knew it. Not that she'd end up on Lunehill, but that she'd cursing well go after me at some point.”
Raine smiled. Linther's hand slipped into hers, reassuring her with his warmth.
“Guess we're going to have a lot to talk about, when we reach Lunehill, then.”
“Definitely.”
Madness, this whole thing. Absolute madness. Raine continued holding Linther’s hand for a moment, before they gathered up the pieces of their camp. No one would be sleeping again tonight. Erlandur nodded and slotted the helmet back on, before mounting on one of the undead wolves.
Raine bit her lip. Her new future lay in Lunehill, now. With the wolves. Fighting the Shadows by whatever means they could. Including the secret she had kept for years, now worn upon a man’s body.
“I’ll protect you,” Linther said. “Whatever happens, I’ll protect you.”
Raine kissed him upon the lips, before he transformed. She then mounted onto his back, and he loped off into the night, follow by Erlandur, as they headed towards their future.
The End
Nox’s Rescue
Guardians of Lunar Wasteland
Chapter One
Echo cowered in the rundown building. The market place, which resembled a ghost town at the best of times, shivered itself into non-existence as the Shadow parade filtered through the street. No one wanted to be picked, or to suffer the wrath of the upper class, or those finicky Supremes who meted out punishment as they saw fit. Didn’t matter if you were a model citizen or slave to them – sometimes the madness took over their souls and they’d lash out for no reason. Five mindless Shadows shuffled in front of a Supreme, who wore the face of an entitled bitch. Echo doubted the Supreme would pay any attention to her, but she didn’t want to conjure up any sort of suspicions her way. She was, after all, in the nature of doing illicit errands.
Living in the Fractured City wasn’t a life for the faint hearted. The Supreme herself appeared mildly disappointed that everyone had skittered off. They acted hurt, sometimes. Hurt that no one wanted to be around them, when they were known for their manic behaviour. Echo knew for a fact that a Supreme couldn’t feel. They mimicked emotions, sure. But basic human empathy? That lay beyond their skills.
Those poor, wretched souls though, the ones that ambled in front of the Supreme now – Echo wondered what slight th
ey had committed. Now the Supreme would unleash them into the Wastes, so they could wander aimlessly, trying to devour any souls they came across.
Echo scratched at her black veined arms, watching the Supreme disappear from the quiet street with their batch of former citizens.
Within a moment, the stalls and shops declared themselves open again, and hooded figures emerged from their respective buildings or rubble to sell their wares. Chewing upon a strand of white hair, Echo ventured over to the market stall responsible for selling medical supplies. “Ho,” she said, striking a confident pose, so she looked less like a street rat without money, and more like a shady underground dealer, which of course, most of them were. Out of hours, anyway.
“Ho,” the man responded, narrowing his eyes, before scratching at his armpit.
She looked into his dark brown eyes and smiled warmly. “I’m looking to buy the flesh pills that I know you have tucked in a hole in the floor somewhere.”
The man bristled, his gray beard almost crackling with suspicion. “Why would I be selling something like that, even if I did have it, to a street urchin like you?”
In response, Echo slapped down a vial of Shadow blood on his stall table. The trader’s eyes boggled at the sight. “Is that what I think it is?”
“It is. So, now you know I have something illegal as well, I’m also supposed to tell you that I’ve been sent by Helena herself.”
At the name drop, the man’s face paled. The slight hesitation told Echo everything she needed to know. “Right. Right. Well, if you wait here a second, I’ll just go in and grab the… pills.”
He turned and went inside the dilapidated building. Throwing caution to the wind, Echo vaulted over the stall and followed the trader inside. He glanced back nervously. “Why are you following me inside?”