by Lisa Daniels
“It's the corruption you're smelling,” Echo offered, a faint sliver of fear tingeing through.
Nox appeared doubtful, but he conceded the point. “I don't know enough, to be fair.”
Thank the moon for that. She didn't want to downgrade in front of his eyes. She wanted to be elevated, and important. Her mind drifted to other places. What would Nox be like, without all those robes on? Werewolves were supposed to be aggressive. Would he take her, stifle her protests, as he ripped off her clothes and punched through all her barriers?
A dark smile lingered about her lips. All she needed to do was to find a way to get Nox to agree to the idea. To experiment.
They chasm surfed with ease, Echo explaining as best as she could to Loras about the underbelly, and a little of life in the Fractured City, which seemed to boggle the werewolf's mind. So few people truly knew what went on there. Her casual drop of the Supremes working for them as well caused him to choke on his own tongue for a moment.
A glint of metal in the chasm caused Echo to pause their ride and venture deeper into the gloom. Monster's form teased around it, and Echo identified it as piping, possibly sewage piping from the Fractured City.
But this far out? Suspicion mounted. She made a mental note to come back here to inspect it. Nox and Loras didn't understand her change of direction, but didn't question it, when she urged Monster back into the chasm wall again.
The headache pounded her skull, growing worse and worse with each passing second. It took a lot of energy to maintain Monster. She began tapping into her reserves, draining out of the bracelets and crescent necklace she wielded, to boost them the last league or so before reaching the town.
Back at headquarters, she dismounted along with Loras and Nox, and let Monster trundle the rest of the distance into the med-bay, where it carefully laid the unconscious werewolves on two empty beds.
Faith slumbered in her bed, and didn't stir awake in their silent intrusion.
“You should rest too,” Echo offered. “I'll get the medics along. And our local friendly Supreme, so you don't freak out if you see her passing in the corridor.”
Loras twitched his nose in annoyance, but kept his manners as Echo brought three medics and Helena, who warmly greeted them.
Helena, though, didn't know warmth. Not really. Like all Supremes she knew no true emotion, but years of experience had taught her to emulate them.
“Once you're recovered, we'll send you back, with Echo, I think. She'll provide ample protection for you all, and we need a representative from the resistance to explain what's happening to your friends in the Spine.”
Loras nodded, but stared at Helena in hateful suspicion. “I'm not used to seeing one of you not attacking.”
“To be fair, there's only four of us. It's a long story. There used to be more. But let's just say it's not easy organizing a coup underneath the Fractured City's nose.”
“I don't understand your motivations. If we're killing your kind, what do you get out of it?”
Helena folded her arms, her brilliant white hair glinting in the firelight. “I'll explain later. Rest for now, werewolf. We've a lot of work to do later.”
Loras sighed and settled into the bed, where a human medic with black veins examined him, scowling at the bruises upon his skin.
“Laters,” Echo said, yawning. She stretched, before heading off to her sleeping quarters.
It was only when she'd opened the door and walked in, when she realized Nox had followed her all the way. A thrill of excitement and anticipation caused her to grin. She feigned indifference though, and said, “I can show you to your quarter if you want.”
Nox raised one eyebrow. “I'd prefer this one.”
Oh. It's like that, is it? “Come in, then. And close the door. I get cold easily.”
Nox did as bid, and Echo again examined the rugged contours of his face, the thin black stubble over his cheeks and chin, and a tiny flare of arousal stirred in her guts.
“Okay, first off, I just want to say thanks. You helped rescue my companions, and brought them back here without detection or harming them further. Nox settled down on one of her wooden chairs, never taking his eyes off her. “How big can you make that thing grow?”
Echo tapped her fingers on the rock wall behind her, just to have something to do, to conceal her growing excitement. “Depends how long I go without casting Monster for. But I could, I think, make Monster big enough to carry a lot more than just five people. I've never tried any larger before.”
“Is that all it does? Carry?”
“Monster does whatever I want it to. I've used it to attack before. I've also used it to run away. Just depends on what's needed.”
If you knew the darkness that resided inside me, Nox. If you knew I'm a product of the very thing you fight against. A Shadow soul in a shell of a body, the human soul devoured without mercy. Would you be so intrigued in me, then?
She wasn't destined for love. To have a relationship. Shadows didn't love. Shadows hungered.
However, Nox was unaware of this. He got up suddenly and advanced forward, an evil smirk upon his face, eyes intent. “Dangerous, aren't you?”
Within a second, he'd pinned Echo against the wall, and she tilted her head to face him, heart beating faster, thrill igniting her insides.
“I could kill you in the blink of an eye,” Echo said, her lips curling savagely.
“Me, too,” Nox said, allowing his teeth to run along her neck. She shivered at the touch. “I wonder if you're as dangerous in bed as you are in the flesh?”
“Give me everything you got,” Echo hissed back, now digging her hands into his robes. “And don't you dare hold back.”
Nox growled, yellow eyes flashing, and he crushed his weight against her, sucking hard at her neck. He rapidly pinned her arms back and pushed his knee into her crotch, limiting her chance to move. She moaned in pain and pleasure as he bit at her ear, squeezed her wrists hard, pushing his hip into her, so she could feel his erection growing. He didn't stop, and when Echo struggled against his grasp, he merely pinned onto her harder.
“If you keep moving like that, I'll have to punish you...”
“Punish me, eh?” Echo adjusted and ran her teeth over his cheeks, before biting at his lip, tugging at the tender flesh there. She then pressed her lips to his, kissing with ferocity, sometimes flicking out her tongue to touch his. The intoxicating scent of him burned through her nostrils, sending her senses crazy.
In response, Nox detached himself from her lips and began ripping at the bottom half of her clothes. Any attempts she made to take off his got batted away. Her wet core now exposed, he quickly took off his pants, then without any ceremony whatsoever, forced himself inside her as he crushed her against the wall, roughly thrusting, making her groan in pleasure, gasping at the pain, moaning at the way he possessed her, took her, overpowered her.
More pain. More strength. She gasped as he jabbed into her g spot with his erection, sliding her body up and down the wall. Then, he grasped her and moved away from the wall, taking himself out of her temporarily so he could force her to her knees on the bed. Then, he grasped her rear and buried himself to the hilt inside her, slamming into her sopping core over and over.
The motion rocked the bed, and Echo howled encouragement, closing her eyes from the relentless assault, the domination of the werewolf behind her.
“Yes,” she moaned, her fingers sinking into the bedcovers. “More. Harder. Take me.”
Nox adjusted position again, pushing her further along the bed and now arching over her back, his hands finding a way under her robes and squeezing at her breasts there. He massaged them and bit at her neck as he continued drilling into her, gouging into her g-spot with a precision that made her gasp and scream.
“You like this, don't you?” He whispered into her ear, before biting at it, and she moaned, uncontrollable shudders raking over her spine. “You're so wet. Your body is begging for me to do this. Begging for pain...” He bit
into the muscle between her neck and shoulder and jabbed into her hard, and she cried out, arching into him.
“Yes... yes!”
Something about Echo wanted this punishment. A small part of her believed she was evil, believed she deserved to suffer, but somehow, the way he teased it out of her made her feel less ashamed and more empowered. The darkness in her roared to life, and she moaned when his hand shifted from her breasts to dig at her bundle of nerves, slipping over the wetness there. He flicked at the nub there hard, and she gave a spasm of pain and pleasure.
He stopped thrusting in her for a moment to entirely focus on the nub, swirling and flicking until her body twitched into a powerful orgasm that weakened her limbs. He didn't stop there. He continued thrusting, even as her body released the overriding wave of pleasure, until he came inside her as well, filling her with hot desire.
He turned her around and pinned her down hard. “We're just getting started.”
She groaned mindlessly as his hand reached towards her nub again, sensitive and wet, to force another orgasm out of her.
Chapter Four
Nox came to Echo's quarters often over the next three days. Sometimes, all he did was just step in, without a word, and take her, sometimes under protest, but never strong enough to stop him from having his wicked way, because Echo wanted the brutality. She wanted to be taken, to be dominated by this werewolf.
In the times when they did communicate, Echo admitted she was planning to go back to the chasm at a point and check something. With everyone from the expedition significantly recovered now, Helena and Erlandur were preparing to send the expedition back to allow the werewolf army to cross over.
Echo wanted to explore the pipeline before she escorted the chosen ones back to the Spine base.
“If it's a pipeline, it shouldn't be anything special, right?” Nox lazily trailed his fingers over her arms as she lay down, but she pouted stubbornly.
“That's what I hope. But I'm not sure if the system stretches that far out from the city. Part of me wonders if it might be something else. Don't forget,” she said, flicking his nose, “we still don't know how the Shadows are making it so far. The Lunar Wastes should be hindering them. Helena says this as well. And I think she ought to know, being, you know, a Supreme.”
“How old is that one, anyway?”
“Old,” Echo replied, not wanting to elaborate. She didn’t know herself, really, but suspected it might be edging into a millennium.
“Hmph.” Nox examined her, gauging the intent in her expression. “Shall I come with you? It won't take too long, right?”
“It shouldn't. I'll need to inform Helena, so she doesn't have a heart attack if she finds me missing.”
Nox leaned over to nibble at her eyebrow, before kissing her on the lips. “Alright. Wrap up warm.”
She did so and sought out Helena, who was in heavy conference with Erlandur, Loras, and two other Supremes, Jael and Deyna. Jael had blonde, short hair and oddly blue glowing eyes in dark skin. The male Supreme, Deyna, had short hair as black as midnight, with white streaks through it. The Supremes struck an impressive presence, all clustered in the room.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Echo said, when she drew their attention. “There's something I want to inspect before we leave. It's an investigation into how the Shadows are able to get around the wastelands.”
Jael glowered at Echo. “Don't you think we've already tried everything on that?”
“What's your suspicion, child?” Helena said, interrupting Jael's gruff tones.
“A sewer pipeline.”
Now Deyna spoke, his voice soft and measured. “We already thought of that. We've scoured the systems under the city. There's nothing there.”
“It's a pipeline in the chasm.”
The Supremes fell silent a moment. Erlandur raised his eyebrow.
“It might not be anything,” Echo added. “But I'm not sure if the system extends so far out from the City. I'd like to check it.”
Jael nodded slowly. “Forgive my tone, child. You're right to follow up on any leads. Will it be just you going?”
“Me and the werewolf, Nox.”
“That should be alright,” Deyna mused. “You can defend yourselves well?”
“Deyna, she's the one who can split her soul into two,” Helena said.
“Ah.”
“Five hours,” Erlandur said. “If you're not back in five hours, we're sending a search party. We need you to take us back.”
Echo nodded. She would have said as much in Erlandur's shoes.
A few minutes later, she loped out of the underground to the snowy surface, holding tight to Nox's back. The notion of the pipeline kept nagging at her, calling to her. Surely she must have passed it many times before, without thinking about it, or considering the fact that it was so far removed from the Fractured City.
A mistake on her part. Now it nagged at the back of her skull. Nox whined questioningly, and she patted him behind his ear. A good man, really. They'd probably all die by the time they engaged in the war – Echo held herself under no illusions the takeover would be anything but easy. She planned to squeeze in a lot more sessions with him. She liked being able to feel something physical, when sometimes her emotions were dead inside. She liked that he didn't care about the danger he smelled from her – rather, he emulated it, and drew it out of her, encouraging her with his aggressive passion.
Monster growled in her head now, tumbling over her emotions, dampening the human part of her. She adjusted her goggles and watched the world roll by, the only place she'd ever known. She wondered sometimes what the south must be like, where they said the day lasted longer than the night, and the people were all blonde like Erlandur, with blue and green eyes, with darker skin tones, rather than the pale ghost white of the Lunar Wastes.
If we survive all this, I'm gonna look into retiring into the south so I don't have to deal with this moon-cursed cold all the time.
Soon enough, they reached the area where she thought she spotted the pipeline. She dismounted and summoned Monster, and they both hitched a ride on her darkness, gliding down the chasm into the gloom, pausing at the glint of metal that jutted half in and out of the rock.
The pipe looked tough, but Monster had a few tricks up its sleeve. Both Nox and Echo stood at the bottom of the crevice, as Monster transformed into a whirring, circular saw about thirty inches wide that spun around the pipe at dizzying speeds. Nox morphed into his human form.
“Wow,” he said. “That's a pretty versatile Shadow you got there.”
“Yes,” Echo agreed through clenched teeth. Precision work like this required a lot more energy than normal. Her head already throbbed hard within a minute of the sawing, but Monster managed to create a sizeable gap that they could squeeze into. The metal itself appeared to have been devoured.
Nox whistled, impressed. “Remind me to not get on the bad side of you.”
Echo smirked, before surreptitiously rubbing her temples. She advanced further into tunnel, instantly noting that there was no sludge or grime. If anything, the piping appeared immaculate, and big enough for several people to walk in it side by side, though the sewer systems and cisterns had always been massive within the Fractured City.
Absently, she reached for Nox's hand and held it, endorsing in his warmth, happy to not be alone. Without the light of above, they ventured into sheer blackness, and had to be careful with their process, in case any unexpected obstacles blocked their ways. Bit by bit, they made progress. Slow as it seemed at times, they kept silence, only their breaths and faint clanging sounds echoing through the metal corridor.
Presently, after a considerable amount of time passed, Nox whispered, “I hear something.”
Echo heard nothing at all, and fumbled for Nox, encouraging him to go in front, to follow what his senses lured him to. “I smell Shadows...” he growled. His voice echoed slightly, and she motioned by tapping his back for him to keep going, and stop talking.
H
er heart pulsed faster when she too heard noises. Something awaited them, something that might not be so friendly upon seeing a werewolf and Shadow tag teaming together.
Now she saw a flickering light in the distance, and suppressed a gasp.
Something was definitely there. Something ominous.
Close enough to hear it, Echo's ears picked up the sounds of guttural moans. Hisses. Screeches. The light brightened enough for Echo to see Nox's face, and she saw a deep loathing in his eyes.
That meant one thing.
Shadows.
She placed a hand on his shoulder. The tunnel only led one way, and silhouettes were cast upon the walls. She whispered into his ear, “Let me go ahead now. I will look more in place than you. You stay here.”
He nodded, swallowing his rage. “Be quick.”
Echo now ventured ahead, her hands pressing into the walls. Emerging from the end of the tunnel, she dropped into a wide, expansive corridor.
She gaped as she took in the sight of an enormous underground network.
This is it! This is how the Shadows have been making it so far in the Lunar Wastes!
The tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, disappearing into darkness. She almost jumped when she saw several mindless Shadows turn a corner from her right, and shuffle aimlessly down. They completely ignored her, but hesitated near where Nox hid, sensing him. After confused milling, they continued on with their primary directive, shambling into the murk.
Echo watched them go, closing her eyes for a moment.
This explains everything. I have to get back and let them know. The Fractured City has been building an underground that likely extends to near the end of the Lunar Wastes.
She inhaled sharply upon approaching a door made completely out of metal and... charcoal. A slit existed within the door. Her instincts told her something awful lurked behind it. She slid it open, and peered into an unlit room.
Growls and shrieks permeated the room at the light that beamed past her. Forms, black forms spilled over one another, and a myriad of blue, gleaming eyes stared at her like lanturns.