Gloom Rising (The Book Wielder Saga 1)

by Sean Davies

  She’d come to the isle feeling hopeless and doubting her own sanity, and now she felt a surge of pride and purpose once more. The Inquisition would succeed in their goals. She would make sure of it. Her regained sense of duty had almost made her forget about the notebook, but the thoughts still kept nagging away at the back of her mind.

  “I want you to stay here on Central Isle for a while, get fully accustomed this facility and acquainted with all of the staff.” He paused and then spoke solemnly. “In the highly likely chance that something should happen to me, I want you to take over here.”

  “Sir...”

  He cut her off. “You know the truth and you’ve seen how ferocious these unholy creatures are if left unchecked. The Councillors will elect a new Autocrat in the event of my demise but I’ve put everything in place to ensure that you have supreme power over the Inquisition.”

  “I’ll do my best, Sir.” Alice saluted but she didn’t know what else to say.

  “I know you will, Alice. You were always one of my favourites and I trust you completely with the future of the Inquisition.”

  Alice smiled and nodded but didn’t say anything. A wave of guilt had passed over her, and she spent the next few weeks on Central Isle debating whether or not to tell Edgar about her book.

  Chapter 7:

  Industria

  Winston was driving his white convertible sports car down the long straight highway. Industria’s barren sandy plains were either side of it with small shrubs and cacti dotted about here and there, huge Deep Vein Oil extractors, power cables, and tall smoke pouring chimneys prodded out from the horizon. He had one hand on the wheel and the other around Veronica’s shoulder. She was slumped comfortably in the leather seat soaking up the strong sunlight, and was wearing a loose red t-shirt, tight jean shorts, and cool black sun glasses. Her long black hair blew frantically as Winston gunned the car down the road. The high ranking Vampires of the Shadow Circle no longer had to fear the sun with the amount of Sunshield potions they had in stock.

  The gang had gone from strength to strength after their initial trade with the Gloom four weeks ago, and so much had happened in that time. Winston had travelled all around Imperia opening up portals in Shadow Circle territory, leaving them open but well-guarded so that trade could continue in his absence, only pausing for delivery of sugary goods and for the Gloom wildlife to regenerate. Winston had now learned to open portals at will. As long as he wielded his book in one hand and the quill in the other, he could open a portal of the desired shape and size with his mind.

  The Shadow Circle had been keeping the most of magical ingredients and reagents to themselves so that the market for them didn’t become saturated, and to keep the gang more powerful than the others. With the sheer amount of alchemical reagents available to the gang, Lucius had started paying Shadow Circle Supernaturals to create potions and drugs on mass, and plans were in the pipeline to begin steady mass production of the more basic formulas.

  The Mayor had dispatched his own people to the less civilised areas of the Gloom to assist, and in certain places the gang had permanent footholds inside the mystical realm like in Woodsholme. Gregory and his people had created ‘Fort Gloom’ inside the portal located in their gangs stash. It was a palisade walled fort that kept the ‘good’ Freaks safe and the crazier Freaks out. The Supernaturals liked being inside the Gloom; they felt energised and full of magical energy, but they discovered the hard way that it had its downsides. Apart from having an addictive quality, the Gloom also began to corrupt the bodies and minds of those who chose to stay inside too long. They realised this when some Supernaturals had refused to leave and acted violently against their comrades who had eventually pulled them out, but a young Mage named Robert had fled into the Gloom forest. He was next seen by chance with the Spider Demon, his body shrivelled, blackened, and deformed. Half of his face appeared normal, albeit psychotic, and the other half was covered with a blue mask in the same style that the Demon’s wore. Since then, any Supernaturals operating in the Gloom were on a tightly monitored rota.

  In light of the good relations with the Gloom, Winston had developed and spread a new name for the Freaks. They were now being called Alternatives or ‘Alts’ for short, at least to their faces. The uncivilized crazy ones were still keeping their old name of Freaks. The hope was to prevent any offense being caused accidently. Winston was now somewhat of a celebrity inside the Gloom and he didn’t want to ruin it on a matter of miscommunication. The Mayor now greeted him personally on his visits to Gloom City, and on one occasion he had generously given him an artefact as a gift that turned out to be a ring of protection. Winston hadn’t put it to the test yet but Alexander said it was quite powerful so it never left his hand.

  After the warehouse attack the gang had been laying relatively low, focusing on turning their bountiful quantity of ingredients and reagents into potent potions. Once they had a wide array of them, Lucius had called a massive meeting at the Hotel Noir. All of the members of the Shadow Circle had been invited, and he announced their new found advantage and congratulated Winston for bestowing it upon them. After that he spoke of his plan to wipe the Triumvir of Sorrow out of existence. It was a hazardous course of action considering that the Inquisition could be watching, but Lucius was furious after their attack on them in the warehouse. The powerful potions had been distributed evenly and the gang dispersed back to their respective territories. Then the attacks had begun – nothing as carelessly overt as the Triumvir’s assault, but stealthy, well placed tactical attacks with next to no Shadow Circle casualties. The sequence of violence had come to a bloody close when Lucius and a squad of specially chosen fighters had stormed their headquarters in the Capital’s Industrial area. Lorena and Richard had died in the fight, and Lucius had dragged Charlene kicking and screaming into the sunlight the following morning. Any low ranking Triumvir in Imperia that hadn’t been killed had surrendered, and some even defected to their side.

  The gang had tried to keep their deal with the Gloom a secret, but word had slowly begun to spread. Word on the street was that the Trinity was not pleased with their actions, and some members of the Circle claimed they had been followed or watched. It didn’t concern the gang, because with the amount of power that was being accumulated in potions and personnel it was only a matter of time before they moved against them the same way they had moved against the Triumvir of Sorrow.

  However, it wasn’t all bad; a few lucrative things had come out of their Gloom trading and portal secret spreading. The Archivists had got wind of the situation and made a deal with Lucius, so now they were paying the Shadow Circle for safe access into the Gloom so they could study it. Also, most of the smaller gangs on Imperia that had always had good relations with the Circle were giving cash to them to keep their Book Wielders safe inside the Gloom.

  Work aside, Winston had spent most of his time brewing potions and crafting drugs under the tutelage of Lewis or Veronica, studying his book, getting drunk and stoned while partying hard with members of the gang, having extravagant dates with Veronica and extremely kinky sex sessions, and doing some very serious spending. His relationship with Mary hadn’t exactly ended well, though.

  At first he had enjoyed spending time with Mary. He referred to that time as his ‘normal nights’ and would take her out to fancy places around the Capital, listening to her pointless conversations. Hearing about the world from a regular person’s perspective was a refreshing change and her naivety made him chuckle. He’d soon given up with the idea of talking her into a threesome with Veronica. After about two weeks, Mary had begun trying to get Winston to break up with his girlfriend. Subtle hints had turned to annoying nagging, and she would whisper unpleasant things to the other members of reception when she walked by with Winston. Veronica was obviously fuming to the point of physical violence, so Winston had tried avoiding Mary as much as possible. But one night she had popped up in Veronica’s room at the hotel.

  She had ans
wered Veronica’s door wearing nothing but a short see-through lace negligee, her pierced nipple rings all too visible, and her landing strip styled pussy hair completely on display. He could tell she had taken a lot of time to do her makeup, and her gorgeous brown wavy hair looked like it had been styled in a salon.

  “Hi you,” she had said seductively, grabbing him by his suit collar and kissing him on the lips.

  He broke free, asking, “What are you doing here?” He knew it couldn’t be good.

  Veronica walked up behind her. She was wearing nothing but a low cut corset with her massive breasts flopped out over the top, and a G-string. Veronica put her hands around Mary’s waist and pressed her bare breast into her back, reaching up and caressing her nipples. “Don’t worry, Winston. We’ve made peace, haven’t we Mary?”

  “You could say that.” Mary looked at Winston slyly and held onto one of Veronica’s hands, slowly moving it down to her pussy and trying to push it between her legs. Her eye contact never broke away from Winston’s.

  “There will be plenty of time for that later,” Veronica said coolly, and removed Mary’s hand. “I’m going to go finish getting ready.”

  Mary grabbed Winston as soon as she had walked away. “Oh, I’ve missed you. We’ll see each other more soon.”

  “What do you mean?” Winston said, pushing her away. “What’s going on?”

  Mary looked confused. “Didn’t she tell you?”

  “Tell me what, exactly?” Winston didn’t like where this was going.

  “Don’t worry – its good news! Veronica came up to me and told me that she’d move aside and let us be together if we could have one night all together.”

  “What…?” Winston really had a bad feeling about the situation.

  “Oh, and I have to do whatever she wants in this three-way,” Mary winked, “so I think you’ll be in for a good show, boyfriend.”

  That confirmed it. Winston had learnt in his sexual experiences with Veronica and others that you should never tell her you’d do anything she wanted. She liked going over the top and making an impression you’d never forget. Winston got it easy but what she planned to with Mary, who she hated, he didn’t dare to think.

  “I think you should go...” Winston said solemnly.

  “Come now, Winston.” Veronica had reappeared with a nasty smile on her face. “Be a good boy and come play with us.”

  She took Mary by the hand and led her into the bedroom. A wooden chair had been placed onto a white sheet in front of Veronica’s antique dressing table opposite its big oval mirror. A coffee table was next to the chair with a white blanket covering whatever lay underneath, and on the floor beside it were several spools of rope.

  Veronica kissed Mary passionately as she fondled her pussy. “Take a seat,” she said commandingly.

  “Okay. You know, your hands are always so cold. Kind of feels nice,” Mary said softly.

  “Oh, you’ll get to feel more of them later if you want,” Veronica purred.

  Mary sat down and Veronica began tying her to the chair with the rope.

  “This is kind of kinky,” Mary giggled.

  “Oh, the fun’s just starting. I need to make sure that my last night with Winston is a good one, don’t I?” Veronica continued roping her down until Mary could barely move.

  “These ropes are really tight!” Mary complained.

  Veronica hushed her and reached under the sheet, pulling out a ball gag. “This should help you keep nice and quiet.”

  Mary tried saying something but it only came out as a series of muffled noises.

  “See, that’s much better,” Veronica said with a sly smile.

  “What are you doing?” Winston asked. His patience was beginning to wear thin.

  “Tut, tut. That would ruin the surprise, sweetie. Now get those clothes off and start tugging that big cock of yours for me.”

  Winston did as he was told; Veronica was being pretty scary but he couldn’t deny that he was turned on.

  “I’m going to shave that pussy smooth for you,” Veronica purred to her captive as she pulled a pair of electronic clippers from under the sheet. “I borrowed these from Brooke, Winston, do you like them?”

  Winston nodded as he tossed himself off. Veronica slowly buzzed away at Mary’s thick landing strip, and every now and then she would pull a cluster of pubic hair from the clippers and blow them lovingly over the white sheet. Mary groaned in pleasure. She was starting to enjoy it. Soon, all that was left was a big rectangular patch of stubble.

  Next, Veronica produced a can of shaving foam, a disposable razor, and shallow bowl of water. She gently lathered up her pubic region and began shaving it smooth. Mary wriggled and giggled as Veronica delicately massaged her pussy with her spare hand before removing the excess shaving cream with a small towel, leaving it silky smooth.

  She swept away the cloth and all that was left was another razor, a roll of duct tape, and a large powerful vibrator. She turned on the vibrator and pressed it in between Mary’s legs. Mary threw her head back in pleasure and Veronica began sucking on her neck. She left the wound weeping for a while before closing it shut with her tongue. Then she crudely taped the vibrator in place and left it buzzing away. Mary writhed in pleasure, rolling her head about as it brought her to climax and continued to pleasure her.

  Winston looked up from Mary’s legs to see Veronica standing behind her. She pulled her head back to squish them into her firm breasts, and before he could even gasp she’d run the clippers straight down the centre of Mary’s scalp.

  Mary went silent in shock for a moment. She shivered as the vibrator continued on relentlessly, and Veronica laughed and sprinkled her curly hair down onto her lap.

  “You’ve been a very bad girl, Mary, trying to split me and Winston up, and now you need to be punished.”

  Veronica continued shaving the centre of Mary’s head. She whimpered and screamed muffled cries out of the ball gag but her tormentor carried on remorselessly. Veronica continued showering her with her removed locks, smiling the whole time, pointing and laughing in the mirror. Mary’s mascara was running down her face and saliva trickled down her chin.

  At first the sight terrified Winston, but his cock was still rock hard and his juices were flowing. The sight of his massive breasted and round arsed Vampire girlfriend shaving away at Mary’s head turned him on way more than he thought it would.

  “Now you look like a bald ugly boy, you cry baby bitch!” Veronica spat on her face as she finished removing the last bit of hair around her ears.

  Mary wept and wept, and tried to look away from the mirror. Her once beautiful curls now lay in a heap on her lap, leaving her with a headful of stubble not more than a few millimetres long. Baldness did not suit her one bit – Veronica was right, she did look like an unattractive boy now.

  Veronica violently yanked the taped covered vibrator off from between her legs, making her scream in pain as the sticky tape came free in one sudden motion. “Don’t think I’m done with you yet, cry baby.”

  The can of shaving foam came back into play. Veronica squirted it liberally all over her bare head like she was putting icing onto a cupcake. She spread it all round and grabbed the disposable razor again, and reaching out to the table she then grabbed the other one and passed it to Winston.

  “Give me a hand here, sweetie.”

  Winston hesitated for a moment before playing along with Veronica’s game. He got a kick out of running the razor over Mary’s scalp, making her head as smooth and shiny as her pussy. Veronica winked at him and grabbed his cock with her spare hand, pulling it as she very thoroughly removed every last bit of stubble from Mary’s head. She wiped her new skinhead clean with the towel and nodded appreciatively at her work.

  “Cum on the little cry baby’s head, Winston,” Veronica commanded.

  It didn’t take long – his juices had been flowing since the first line of hair had been buzzed away. He spilled out
all over her bare scalp and trickled down her tearful face. Veronica cackled and rubbed it in.

  Winston was overpowered by horniness and pushed Veronica onto her bed, pulling her G-string off and spreading her legs wide. She had grown a nice thick triangle of black pubic hair after Winston admitted that he liked Lynette’s style, starting from just above her clitoral hood and spreading upwards leaving the sides of her vagina sleek and smooth. Vampires had the useful ability of being able to fully control their hair growth since it couldn’t happen naturally, an ability he was sure Mary would’ve killed for now.

  He flicked his tongue against Veronica’s cold clit, squeezed three of his fingers inside of her, and began thrusting them in and out. It wasn’t long before she squirted out a stream of cool pussy juice all over his face. His cock was recharged and ready to go. He wiped his face clean, climbed in between her legs, and pounded away at her. They fucked long and hard, leaving Mary to sob, cry, and scream at her new unappealing reflection.

  After Winston had cum all over Veronica’s face by her request as reward for being ‘a good boy’, Veronica grabbed a handful of Mary’s hair and snapped the ropes with her bare hands before removing the ball gag.

  “Fancy joining in?” Veronica asked menacingly, licking Winston’s cum up playfully as it ran down towards her mouth.

  Mary screamed, sobbed, and ran her free hands over her head as if to check that the incident was actually real.

  Veronica threw the handful of hair into Mary’s face. “If you’re not going to play along with us, cry baby bitch, I suggest you fuck off!”

  Mary was hysterical. She frantically pulled the strands of her old hair off her face, but still managed to grab her clothes that she had removed earlier quickly, and ran out of the room still naked in under two minutes.