Huntress

by Elizabeth Hartwell

  Wordlessly, he reaches for his belt and undoes it, pushing his pants down. I expect him to spring free, but instead, his cock is trapped, straining against the bright white cotton of his new ‘Fruit Of The Looms,’ so huge that I wonder how the fabric hasn’t torn already. “I’m going to fuck you, Cerena, deep and hard, and you’re going to cream all over me.”

  He hooks his thumbs in the elastic of his shorts and pushes them down, and my heart stops, my breath catching as the largest cock I’ve ever seen comes into view. It looks like he’s as big around as my forearm, with a bulging flared head that could hammer me into submission if he wanted. Veins run up and down his immense shaft, hard squiggles that make me shiver as I think of them rubbing inside me, setting my nerves on fire.

  He doesn’t have a cock. He’s a fucking machine down there, obscene and huge, and as he grabs my hair and pulls my head up into a kiss, I know that he’s going to fill me with it. He lies on top of me, letting me feel every hard muscle in his body as he grinds against me, my wetness coating him until he pulls back, pausing with the head of his cock pressed against my pussy, waiting.

  I blink, wondering what he’s waiting for, and then I realize what he needs. I wrap my arms around his neck and spread my legs wider as I pull him down into a deep kiss, his body trembling with barely repressed hunger, licking his earlobe and nibbling on the curve of it. “Yes.”

  The single word is all he needs, and he thrusts into me hard. I thought his fingers would prepare me, but nothing can prepare me for the experience of being taken by Tym and his huge cock in one savage, hard thrust. I tighten my fingers around his neck, grunting in pain and pleasure as he fills my hungry pussy with all he has, holding still inside me once his hips are pressed against mine.

  I’m gasping, sheets of pain and pleasure rolling up my body, and in the dim recesses of my mind, I hear him gasping too. It reminds me that this man, no matter how strong or savage, is giving to me just what I want, and what he wants is to give me more. I wiggle my hips, letting him know he can do what he wants, and he pulls back, thrusting again.

  The pain’s gone in two more strokes, replaced with the overwhelming, body-clenching pleasure of being taken and fucked hard. Tym’s heart hammers in his chest so hard I can feel it, feel the tension in his muscles as he pounds my body, his hips rising and falling, hard and fast. His hand’s wrapped in my hair, but I wrap my fingers in his long dreadlocks and pull him in tighter, our sex just on the border of savage.

  He’s right. I can’t hold back, and my pussy clenches, creaming around his cock as my first climax shoots through me, but still, I want more, planting my feet and pushing up into him as he thrusts downward. “Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me,” I chant over and over as his hips slap against mine. “Fuck me, goddammit!”

  Tym speeds up, my body overwhelmed as he reaches down, pushing my knees up to my chest and rolling my body up, hammering me deep and hard. “Take it, take my cock deep inside . . . gonna flood you so full of my cream.”

  “Come for me, Tym. Come for your Huntress,” I moan as my body quakes, trembling on the edge of another hard orgasm. Tym somehow finds a higher gear, thrusting and grinding and obliterating my body. My eyes roll back, everything overwhelmed as he sends me flying apart, my orgasm ripping me apart and shattering me. I hear him cry out, and thick heat fills my pussy, sending me tumbling, falling into black ecstasy.

  As I lie senseless, I feel him roll, gathering me onto his chest as his cock slips out and he holds me in his arms. His body shudders, and I can feel him quaking with the intensity of what we just did, but it’s okay. I wrap my arms around him and hold him until we’re both together again, and I look up into his eyes, which are clouded and shocked. “I . . . I’m sorry if I was too rough.”

  I chuckle, cupping his face and kissing his scratchy cheek. “You weren’t at all. But I think I’ll use some of that water to wash up and maybe get some fresh clothes on. It’s been a very long day.”

  Tym nods and cups my face for a moment before sitting up and walking into the shower area, most likely to wash up himself with a little bit of the unexpected luxury of water. I watch his flawless bubble butt disappear as I lie there for a moment, biting my lip as I feel him start to ooze out of me. I’ve never felt that before, but instead of feeling icky, it feels sexy. I was thoroughly and completely fucked . . . and I loved it.

  It’s confusing, really. I’ve never had a partner do what Tym just did. I’ve always been on top, loving to tease and grind my pussy on my men until they almost beg to fuck me. Nobody’s ever grabbed my hair, pinned me down . . . and nobody who’s been left with his balls intact has ever dared to call me ‘bitch’ as he fucked me.

  But Tym did, and I liked it. It’s different from how Lance and I fucked, but at the same time, just as satisfying.

  While I hear Tym pour out a bowlful of water to wash up, I lie back, musing. I’ve broken the no-sex rule twice now, with two totally different men in two totally different ways. Neither has given in to me. Even Lance, as I smothered him, was playing with me, teasing and using his tongue in ways that electrified my body with pleasure. At the same time, though, Tym was dominant but still giving me control, waiting for my ‘yes’, my encouragement before taking over.

  Which is better? Playful and teasing, daring me to be wanton, or intense and dominating while still giving me the final say-so?

  I don’t know . . . and I don’t think I want to be forced into a decision.

  Honestly, as long as they’re both okay with it, and I think they are from the way they seem to act about things, I could keep this up all trip.

  Yeah, I’d have to stop once we got back to Solace. Crassus, as much as I don’t like him, is another Hunter, and if he found out, it could cause trouble.

  Fuck it. I only agreed to marry him because Edward said it’d be best for me. In fact, it was the closest I’ve ever come to outright disobeying him, rebuffing his arguments again and again that I should accept Crassus’s pleas for my hand.

  It took a long time, nearly six months and approaching the end of Edward’s last cycle as Elder, before I gave in and accepted Crassus’s offer . . . on the condition that while I would be his betrothed, that didn’t mean we would get married right away. I was barely of age anyway at the time. I’ve held him off so far with the excuse that I want to wait until Edward is awake again, but the truth is far different.

  I just don’t like him. Crassus might be a genetic match for me, and he might be from a well-respected family in the Hunter community. He might be a team leader, and he might be influential in Solace . . . but where other people find a leader, I find a manipulative ass-kisser.

  Where others find a good match, I find a man who just wants me as a possession. He doesn’t really listen to me except in the single area of our marriage date. I’m sure he’s cheated on me, not that I’ve cared, but I don’t even think he would care if I found out.

  So why can’t I have a lover or two on the side? It’s not like I’m thinking about actually cross-breeding with Tym or Lance. Delusions of demigod status aside, producing offspring with anyone other than a verified one hundred percent natural shelter-produced human is grounds for being cast out of not only the Hunters, but revocation of my Solace citizenship.

  But still, it’s just sex.

  And building a good team, right?

  Tym comes out of the shower area, still glorious in his slightly damp nudity as he goes over to one of the containers of clothes and starts getting dressed again. “Sorry, I guess I should have let you go first.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m enjoying the view from here,” I tease, getting up. “And Tym? You know this was just . . . fun, right?”

  Tym looks over and nods once. “Of course. Cerena, I know what the rules are for your people. I mean, it’s one of the things that I’ve researched before I took this job. I won’t try and interfere on that. In the meantime, though, I think I’ll go see if Lance has found anything up top. Clean up, rest . . . and we’ll make good time
tomorrow.”

  Tym finishes getting dressed and leaves, and I purse my lips. He’s right.

  This is just good team building.

  I chuckle and get to my feet. Maybe every good team should start this way. Go out on a team with people you don’t mind fucking.

  Might make things more interesting.

  Chapter 14

  Cerena

  Bane.

  Despite having Hunted quite a few of its inhabitants in my time, I’ve never actually seen the city before. It’s the result of being a soloist. There’s no way I’d be able to get into the city by myself.

  Standing at the top of the nearest hill that gives me a view of the entire city, it’s impressive and somewhat frightening.

  “How many people live there?” I ask, and Lance shrugs.

  “Depending on the murder rate this week? Guesses range from fifteen to twenty thousand or so.”

  I gulp, looking at Lance to see if he’s bullshitting me. Twenty thousand people outnumber Solace and Ringtown combined . . . twice over. “And how is it that they haven’t stormed the walls of Solace yet?”

  “When you’re just as worried about your neighbors coming to kill you as your enemy, it’s pretty easy to not mount a huge invasion force,” Tym points out. “For every soldier that any of the factions in Bane might send to try and attack Solace, they’d need to leave at least one behind. And no single faction in Bane is more powerful than the Hunters are in Solace.”

  It’s scant comfort, and I slip my travel pack off, sitting down on a nearby rock and taking a drink. “So, how do the city leaders plan on eventually gaining control?”

  “Something to do with the worship of Bane himself,” Tym says, sitting down next to me. “The details aren’t clear, but for now, they’re content with the current Darwinist balance of power. They even encourage it.”

  “Small comfort,” I murmur, setting my bottle aside. “So orient me to the city. The map I have is rather . . . raw.”

  “That’s because maps change on a regular basis,” Lance says. “Right now, we’re on the southwest side, which is good for us. That section of the city should be under the control of the Alliance, which is a fancy name for all of those that the vamps, the wolves, the trolls, and the wendigo don’t want or want to eat. It’s still not pretty.”

  “What can I expect?” I ask, and Lance shrugs. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means that it totally depends on what we run into. Even in the Alliance, there are a lot of very nasty characters. Some of the nastiest are the humans, actually. They’re the kind to shoot first and not even worry about the questions.”

  My sort of people, except that on this trip, I’ve had more questions than answers, and the people doing the shooting are most likely going to be aiming at me.

  “Okay, so we go in through the Alliance territory. Then what?”

  “My instructions were to bring you to the ambassadorial compound,” Tym says. “From there, I don’t know. The last instruction was to bring you so we could meet with Elizabeth.”

  I can’t help but do a double-take, the implication of what Tym’s saying becoming clear. “Wait . . . so you guys don’t know who or what we’re going after?”

  Tym and Lance shake their heads, and I feel a distinct urge to smack myself in the face. “Seriously, guys?”

  Lance shrugs. “I was told it’s secret Hunter business, so I figured you’d have some sort of secret Hunter code or something that would fill in the blanks on this job.”

  “I don’t have a damn thing. Didn’t I tell you that?” I ask. Tym and Lance look at each other, shrugging, and I realize it doesn’t matter. Whether we talked about it in the first few hectic hours after our rapid introduction or not, we’re outside of Bane now, and we’re short on supplies.

  “It seems,” Tym says in that calm, collected voice that provides an aura of control to my raging feelings, “that this mission, this secret, is so important that Elizabeth could not be sure until the last minute.”

  “Yeah, well . . . if it weren’t for the side benefits I’ve already had, I’d renegotiate my pay,” Lance quips, smirking. I roll my eyes, but at the same time, I’m almost flattered by his perverted banter. So he thinks I’m worth a dangerous mission, huh? I don’t think anyone’s ever said anything quite so strangely romantic to me before.

  “Come on. You guys know the streets better than I do,” I growl, standing up. “I assume we go in armed?”

  “Those gloves of yours will be useful, as will Lance’s knives,” Tym says. “The streets in Bane are narrow, with twists and turns being common. We will need to move quickly, and at least until we reach the embassy . . .”

  His voice trails off, and I see Lance grin widely. The meaning soon becomes clear, but I won’t let Lance’s imagination run too wild. “I understand. You’re the experts on the streets of Bane.”

  We start off again, and with every step the city becomes more intimidating. The city, like Solace, is dominated by a central area, but that’s where the similarity ends. The tower in the middle of Bane truly is a tower, rising into the sky much higher than anything would even be attempted in Solace. It’s dark, or black, and it seems that even the weather wants to contribute to the sense of foreboding.

  “What’s the haze?”

  Lance looks up, as if he’s noticing for the first time the way the air around Bane rises in a dirty, dusky column, almost straight up from the walls. “They say it’s the dark power of Bane himself, rising above his city to eventually spread out and take over the world. Really? Probably generator fumes. There isn’t any central power like there is in Solace.”

  “Fumes?” I ask, surprised. Ringtown and Solace might not be perfect. In fact, there’s some parts that are downright dangerous, but at least the water is filtered and the electricity inside the wall comes from the same shelter technology that powers the Elders’ cryochambers. “Not even solar?”

  “Kind of hard to do when you’ve got vampires chomping on your neck,” Lance points out, and I purse my lips, chagrined. Lance reaches over, patting me on the shoulder. “Like we said, it’s a whole different world inside Bane. But your skills are still useful, trust me. Just a hint. In Bane, the rule is simple. If you need to strike, strike first and strike hard, with no mercy. Because the other guy won’t have any.”

  “Still, we prefer not to fight,” Tym says, making Lance chuckle. “What?”

  “And they wonder why Tyrians don’t have a stronger position, considering the ass kickings you can hand out like candy,” Lance chides good-naturedly. “You guys don’t fight.”

  “We don’t start fights. We end them,” Tym reminds Lance, lifting an eyebrow, and I have to smirk. Except for his problem with wolves, Tym really is a one-man wrecking crew.

  I take a moment to think about what is going to happen next. Meeting an Elder is a rare occurrence except for the most senior of Hunters. Except for Edward, I’ve only exchanged words with Elizabeth and Thomas a handful of times, and always in very scripted situations that didn’t exactly allow for free conversation.

  And other than in official business, I’ve never heard of an Elder meeting with a non-full human. For Elizabeth to say that she’s going to meet with Lance and Tym . . . it makes me consider my two partners in a whole new light.

  They’ve already earned my respect in our time on the trail from Solace to Bane. They’ve each proven themselves time and time again, their bravery, their guts, their smarts. Whether it’s Lance with his knack for scavenging, Tym saving our asses from the vampires, or both of them with giving me what my body needed at the time, I’ve come to respect them. If all Hunters were like them, I’d have joined a small team years ago.

  But . . . they’re not Hunters.

  They’re demigods, at least according to them. Sure, it’s total bullshit, this whole idea of gods and this little chess game that they’re playing with the planet for whatever reason. But Lance and Tym are convinced that for both of them, their grandfathers are some sort
of eternal beings who came to Earth and impregnated a bunch of women and have been doing it for at least a few generations.

  I don’t really have time to consider it more as we approach the gates of Bane. Unlike Solace, there is no ‘Ringtown’ to speak of. The tall, vertical walls of the city rise up like an imposing barrier directly out of the dusty plains surrounding the city.

  It’s another thing I notice. In Solace, the walls are there, but there’s scrub grass growing nearby. There are even a few light animal pens built with the wall as one side. For Solace and Ringtown, the wall is part of life.

  If there’s any life involved with the wall around Bane, I can’t see it. Instead, all plants have dried up and withered while still fifty yards away from the wall, and as we pass between the immense steel pillars that hold the doors, I feel a chill pass through me.

  The guards look lax but still threatening, each of them sporting a combat shotgun. While I doubt they have many rounds, firearms being too precious in the Scorched Earth, the message is clear . . . don’t fuck with Bane.

  “They’re not checking identification,” I murmur as we pass through and into the dirty streets of the city itself. “Why?”

  “If you’re not wanted in Bane, the locals will take care of it quickly,” Tym reminds me, ending that line of conversation. Instead, we make our way through the streets, Lance and Tym ordering twists and turns as we go.

  “Left,” Tym says, his eyes cutting toward a mixed group of humans, mixed breeds, and a few others. “You don’t want to mess with The Rovers.”

  “Who?” I whisper, and Lance explains.

  “Mixed street gang. They don’t claim an area. They’re like locusts in Alliance territory. Come, take what they want, and leave. Most people know to just get scarce whenever they see Rovers. Not a threat, physically, but we don’t want the attention.”