by Terra Snover
“Oh, come on, Amber, I was just-” Thaz started.
“No, Thaz you may speak but we are not bothering Queen Var with anything business related this evening. Understood?”
“But-”
“Understood?!”
“Ugh, fine!” Thaz crossed her arm and pouted.
“Aren't we feeling spunky this evening?” Hell’a glared at Amber. “But, little thing, remember that I’m your superior and I will not be spoken to this way.”
“I’m a Hand of the Queen. When it comes to her interests I will speak however I wish.” Amber moved closer to Hell’a.
“May I remind you what I did to the previous Hand when he disrespected me.” Hell’a smiled and bared her teeth. It was true, when Leon insulted her at that dinner party she had bitten him, almost killing him, and turned him into a Vampire.
“Hell’a, stand down. Amber is right, I don’t want to think about any of this at the moment.” I postured a bit, flexing my lean mussels and bringing my wings out to seem bigger then I was. Hell’a and Amber glared at each other for a few moments before Hell’a turned her head and made a huffing noise.
“May I ask what we should be talking about?” Ral asked, trying desperately not to look at anyone’s naked body.
“Anything but business.” I submerged myself back into the water, letting the tips of my wings and my head poke out.
“Alright then, if not business I want to know if you have any attention to betrothal?” Hell’a gave me a sly look.
“What?!” I gasped.
“It has been years since the King passed and I was wondering if you planned to fill his place?” Hell’a had the predatory demeanor she was so skilled at giving.
“Oh, damn, you going to hook up with someone?” Thaz said a bit too loudly.
“Yes, are you going to be marrying anyone?” Lily added. I was especially flustered about this topic with Lily and Amber in the room. Lily had confided her love for me and Amber and I had a history; I think we both wanted the same thing but because she was under my command we couldn't act on it...
“If you haven't made a choice, may I suggest myself?” Hell’a placed her hand between her breasts.
“Hot,” Thaz said. “I would ship that.”
“I wouldn't.” Lily frowned and looked down at the water.
“Hell’a, I haven’t thought about this at all.” I put my hands up as if I was deflecting her words away from me.
“It makes the most sense, Var, we are both powerful, nobility, and let’s face it, there is no better person in the Empire.” Hell’a bit her lower lip.
“Hell’a, I-” But I stopped talking when a message popped up in my vision. ‘N0-2244, Var Zargronith, The Red Queen, accept request from N0-0991, Hell'a Oll’don, The Mistress.’ I was stunned; the System was demanding I get engaged to Hell’a!? I looked over to Lily, she looked uncomfortable, did she do this? If so, why would she? I started to feel a soft pain in my gut, the System was telling me I had to act, I had to do this or feel pain and then accept anyway. I gulped, and looked Hell’a in the eyes. “You are right, Hell’a, I accept.”
“What?!” a chorus of confused women said simultaneously. Lily’s voice was particularly loud and shocked. So it would seem she wasn’t the one behind this.
“Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise.” Hell’a’s predatory demeanor grew even more. It was like she was ready to pounce on me and rip out my jugular. I looked away from Hell’a and caught Amber’s expression, it could be only described as anguished. She refused to look at me. Lily, on the other hand, looked pissed. If she were a cartoon character steam would be shooting out of her cat ears. I wanted to tell them I had to do this, I wanted to scream and curse, but being the slave I was I had to follow my master's will. Hell’a took the last few steps to me and wrapped an arm around my lower back and grabbed my chin to force my face to look at hers. She pulled me close and placed her lips on mine. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch what was happening. My heart was pounding. Her cold lips lingered on mine for a long time. I was expecting this to feel horrible but her lips were soft and a little enjoyable. Eventually she moved her head away from mine, and whispered, “Long live the Queens” in my ear.
Chapter 5
The Predator
The snow flew past the window of the maglev. I watched as the little white specs darted past, adorning the trees and mountains that lay beyond. “So, who was that girl you were talking to?” I looked over to Papa; he was giving me a wry smile.
“What girl?” I asked, knowing full well who he was talking about.
“The cute one with the nose ring.”
“Oh her, what about her?”
“Her name?”
“Oh, Frida.” I looked away from him and back out the window.
“Frida, that’s a nice name.”
“Uh-huh.” I was actively trying to disengage from this conversation, I really didn’t want to get into this with my dad.
“From where I was standing, it looked like she was into you.”
“Ugh, Papa, really?” I sighed.
“Well, was she?”
“Yes, okay, she gave me her contact info and we’re going to go on a date.” I still wasn't looking at him.
“Oh, you got digits, nice work.”
“Digits? Papa, no one has used phones for years.” I glanced at him for just a moment to see him giving me a teasing look that only he could pull.
“It’s an expression, kiddo. So when’s the date?”
“I don’t know... whenever she’s in town.” I blushed a bit and looked at my lap. This was so embarrassing. Why did he insist on doing this? “I mean, she’s all the way in Kristiansand.”
“Couldn't you two do one of those virtual dates? I saw on my feed that they are very popular with the youth.”
“First off, the youth, really? Second, you know how I feel about that kind of stuff.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, if it didn’t happen in the real world it didn’t happen.” He raised his voice a few octaves like he did when he was imitating me.
“Oh, shut your dumb face.” I rolled my eyes and pushed his face so it was looking away from mine.
“Oh my, I’m going to kiss Frida and swoon whenever I see her.” He was still annoyingly imitating me.
“I need to butt my way into every aspect of my daughter's life.” It was my turn to imitate him.
“I’m going to smooch her all over the real world, no online kissing!”
“I use outdated references and can’t get in touch with the youth.”
“I’m going to marry her.” He made kissy sounds.
“Well I can marry whoever I want,” I said, crossing my arms.
“But Hell’a?!” Drac exclaimed. Wait what were we talking about? Where was I? Was I talking to Papa or Drac? Drac, I was talking to Drac. Papa was not around anymore. I had to focus, I couldn't keep letting these memories, or visions or whatever, keep taking me. I took a deep breath and rebutted, “Why not Hell’a?” I could think of a million reasons why not but that didn’t matter, I had to do this.
“I, I, I really don’t know what to say.” Drac looked to the ground and furrowed his brow.
“Well, I think congratulations are in order, my Queen.” Tilln placed her right arm across her chest and gave a deep bow, “Long live the Queens of the Empire!”
“Thank you, Tilln.”
“Mother, I implore you to reconsider.”
“I made up my mind, Drac, this is happening.”
“Your will be done,” Drac grumbled and looked away from me.
“Oh, by the dark gods, there is so much to do!” Renny’s voice bounced around the throne room. “We’ll need to get the castle ready for the wedding and get ready for her to move in and-” the little Imp started to talk so fast I couldn't understand what he was saying.
“Renny, calm yourself,” I ordered. “We haven’t set a date for the wedding yet.”
“My Queen, no matter the date this will be a massive e
vent and will require an insane amount of planning and-”
“Alright, but I don’t want that to be the focus right now. The city has only just stopped burning. I need your attention on reconstruction. Understand?”
“Yes, my Queen.” Renny bowed.
“And that goes for you as well.” I looked back to Drac. “I got the immediate situation under control, but I need you to get the reconstruction underway and make sure everyone is seen after.”
“And why must I do this?”
“For one, because I told you. Second, you are good at this kind of thing so it makes sense that you would be the one who handles it.”
“Sigh, fine.” When he was annoyed Drac acted like a petulant toddler.
“Now, if you'll excuse me, I had an extremely long day and I need to get to bed.” I wanted to keep healing in the bath house but with what had just happened there I decided it was probably better to get out of there and just heal up in bed. I waved the three goodnight and walked slowly up to my bedroom. This had all gone to shit. First, the insanity with Lily and Thaz, then the attack on the city, and now this whole marriage thing. I let out a sigh as I passed the painting of Drac, my fake husband, and I. “What am I going to do?”
“Well, I would imagine picking a wedding date.” Hell’a came out of my bedroom.
“Hell’a, what are you doing in my room?!”
“Oh, Var. We are betrothed, why wouldn't I be in your bedroom?”
“Well, it's improper, I mean we're not married and, and, and…” I stuttered, my brain had just decided to stop working.
“Oh Var, we're both rulers of Hellspawn and Vampires do you really think that the idiotic rules about sexual relations that the Alliance dictates is something we should even pretend to care about?” She slowly walked over to me, her hips moving with every step. “We make the rules, we can do whatever we want.” I wanted to shout bullshit at her, the System and GMs made the rules. “So, Var, why don’t we simply do whatever we desire?” Hell’a brushed a loose strand of hair from my face.
“At this moment I just want to sleep.” I pushed Hell’a’s hand out of the way and moved past her to my bedroom.
“Well, sleep we will then.”
“Sigh, fine, you can join me but sleep is all that will be happening.” I moved to my bed and started to strip, but I stopped when I realized Hell’a was watching me do so. “Do you mind?”
“Var, we were nude together only a few minutes ago in the bath, I have literally just seen this.”
“Whatever.” She had a point. I finished undressing and moved over to the bed and lied down, Hell’a joining a moment later. A message appeared in my vision asking me if I wanted to sleep and I whispered, “yes,” and I went to sleep. I was expecting to find myself seconds later having Xor opening the curtains to awaken me, but instead I found myself standing in a white void. It took me a moment to realize where I was; this was the Nothing Hell’a could make by casting an ability on someone who was sleeping. It was a place where the System didn’t care what you talked about, the only problem is that your only company was Hell’a. I turned around and saw her. “Hell’a, or should we come up with some dumb pet names now?”
“Hell’a’s fine.” She smiled, “That is, unless you want pet names. I could start calling you my pet.”
“How about not.” I crossed my arms. “So what’s the reason I’m here today?”
“Well, a lot has happened and I thought it would be best to talk about it where we are free to speak.”
“Sigh, I hate to say it but you are right. Where do you want to start?” Even if I didn’t like Hell’a much, she was an ally.
“Well, I wish to know why the Game Master Lily is pretending to be a player? Or why we were attacked?”
“Oh, that one is a long story.” I shook my head.
“We have nothing but time.” Hell’a sat on the ground and patted the area close by her. I also sat down, but not where she indicated where she wanted me to sit. I spent the next hour or so filling her in on what had happened to me over the past few days. The expansion that was coming out, Oracle and her Machina, how Thaz was being held hostage by the System and Lily, and any other thing that I could remember. After I got through everything, Hell’a pondered for a moment. “So when you moved into the invisible wall, why could you go into it again?”
“It said I was a Hivemind admin or something like that.”
“Really? So you have some kind of admin power?” Hell’a stroked her chin. “Interesting.”
“After everything I told you, what you find the most interesting is the fact I may have some kind of admin powers? Not the fact Thaz is going to die, or that the GMs sent Oracle to kill me?”
“If you have admin powers we’ll be able to use it.”
“I guess, but all I was able to do is let Thaz, Amber and Ral past a wall.”
“That’s all you know you can do so far.” She moved a bit closer to me. “Remember when we were first here in the Nothing and I asked you to keep an eye out on how to break the game?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, we may have just found out a way to do so. You were able to screw with two Ns and a player’s privileges with some ease. Could you imagine what we could do with this power if we trained it?”
“How in the world will we be able to train me to use this?”
“I don’t know at the moment but I’ll figure something out. Lucky, I have an excuse to be close to you now.” She smiled at me.
“Yeah, what the hell was that?! Asking to marry me?”
“Why not ask you?”
“Because you don’t randomly ask people to marry you! That’s something a crazy person would do!” I shook my head. “But I forget you are a crazy person and I should expect this shit from you.”
“Well, why did you say yes then?”
“I got a GM order to say yes.” I sighed. “I had zero choice in the matter.”
“I wouldn't say I was displeased with this turn of events, I have made it clear from the moment we met I found you desirable.”
“And every other moment you could.” I frowned at her.
“Oh, and why not? You are beautiful.” She again closed some distance, growing closer to me. “And don't tell me that you don’t feel the same way, at least on some level. Remember our dance last year at the party? You seemed to be enjoying my company then.”
“A single dance isn’t something to build a marriage off of. Hell’a, most of the time I feel like you are hunting me! You scare me!”
“Well, I was hunting you.”
“What?”
“I have always hunted people I wanted, whether it be here or back when I was in the real world. I see what I want and stalk until my prey is mine to take.” She snatched up my wrist and held it firmly. “But being caught by me can bring you a world of pleasure you can't even fathom.” She moved in close, her mouth moving to my neck; I could feel her breath on my skin. My heart started pounding. I was afraid… no, not just afraid, excited? Both? “Will you let me catch you, Var? Will you let me show you a new world filled with pleasure beyond your wildest dreams?”
“I… I…” I truly didn’t know what to say. Part of me was screaming to run away and never stop running, that Hell’a was someone to fear and could never be trusted. But then there was another part of me. The part of me that lusted for her. It didn’t matter that she was a predator, it didn’t matter that she was frightening. This part of me just wanted her, her touch, her everything. “I… Okay,” I managed to mumble, my mind racing. Even if I was frightened, the touch of a woman felt amazing. I hadn't felt this way in a long time. The only other time I was with a woman sexualy was when I was 16, with my girlfriend Frida. So even if this was a bad choice, my urges for intimacy were winning over logic.
“Good choice.” Hell’a grabbed my other wrist with her free hand and pulled me down to the ground. She then proceeded to hold my arms above my head and lightly bite my neck. I felt a small trickle of blood flow out
. Hell’a wrapped her mouth around the wound and softly sucked on it. I let out a small moan of pain and pleasure, it was an odd feeling. Suddenly I felt a surge of something, maybe an energy course through my body. I broke my hands free from Hell’a’s grip. I kicked her off me, she went flying back and landed on her back. I heard a whisper in the back of my mind. “She’s not the predator, you are.”
I moved to my hands and the balls of my feet. I growled, embers emitting from my mouth. I flexed my wings and jumped, claws out. I landed on her, my legs holding hers down, my claws holding her arms in place. Her eyes went wide and for the first time I saw fear in her.
Damn right she feared me, I am the Red Queen! I could end her with a word! I moved her hands above her and grasped both her wrists in one of my claws. I took my free claw and sliced a shallow cut in her cheek. She let out a moan and closed her eyes. I licked the dripping blood from her cheek; it was an odd flavor, it had the flavors of all the races that we would drink from, but instead of a warm sweet fresh flavor it was cold and fermented like Lambic.
I then moved my hand down to her dress and sunk my claw into the fabric, tearing into the thin silk. I moved my hand down the dress, cutting it in two. Once I reached the bottom, I pulled away from her cheek to admire my handiwork. The blood from my neck dripped onto her now bare, pale chest. Her eyes were watching mine, as if she was checking who was in charge. I bared my teeth and locked eyes with her; I needed to remind her I was the dominant one here, I was the pack leader. We glared for a moment at each other, each trying to prove our resolve. She slipped one of her hands free and grabbed my shirt, ripping at it. I tried to grab her hand again but suddenly she jerked to one side, putting me off balance. I rolled to my side and slid on the white floor. I watched as Hell’a pounced on me, tearing at my clothing like a wild animal.
We rolled across the floor, both fighting for the dominant position, ripping and tearing at each other's clothing until there was nothing but tatters of cloth clinging to us. She went in for another bite, this time going much deeper into my neck. I let out a cry and scratched my claw across her back. She flinched and gave me an opportunity to gain back control. I took her by her shoulder and pushed her back under me. I wrapped my legs around her hips, my tail wrapped down one of her legs, my arms pinning her shoulders to the ground.