WIZARD 14

John walked up to the man standing next to the pile of bodies. He did a double take when he realized it was Matthew. John’s eyes dropped to Matthew’s arm that was cradled in a sling across his belly. An arm that ended in a bandaged stump a few inches below his elbow.

“Gold or no gold, I’m going no further,” Matthew said and turned slowly so John could see the bandage across his head. A bandage that covered his left eye.

John winced. “I understand.”

“I want to be mad at you,” Matthew said. “I probably am, to be fair, but I saw the hole in your chest. You got no right to be standing right now. Even with Sadie’s help, you should be on this pile.”

“Seems I’m hard to kill,” John said.

“That’ll come in handy if you mean to see this madness through.”

“I do.”

Matthew snorted and shook his head.

John moved closer to the stinking corpses. Flies buzzed about the pile as the midday sun warmed them and hastened the rot that was setting in. Matthew cursed and waved his hand in front of his face as though he could make the smell go away.

“Thought I’d get used to their stink,” Matthew choked out. “It was the reek after a big battle that made me realize being a soldier wasn’t for me. That and all the bastards trying to kill me with no proper reason other than somebody told them to.”

John smirked and allowed, “That’s a better reason than most.”

“Saints, John, how can you stand so close?”

“They stink,” John allowed, “I know it and smell it, but it doesn’t bother me as much as I’d expect it to.”

Matthew grunted and shook his head. “I’ll leave you to it. I’m taking my crew back to Rock Haven today. I’ll give you a few days before we leave and head south though. I expect these demons will be more interested in you than me by then.”

John nodded. “I expect they will.”

“You really mean to continue on? Just the four you?”

John turned and looked at the women that had accompanied him. They stood behind Matthew a few paces and only now did Helleen clear her throat and step forward. She batted at a fly that circled her head before she spoke.

“We’re not going back with you,” she said.

Matthew’s shoulders drooped. He turned slowly and looked at her. He eyes took her in from head to toe and then back. “You fought these things… you know what they can do.”

Helleen nodded. Roxanne came to stand at her side and took her hand in hers.

“Sisters,” Matthew muttered. “You know what they can do. By all rights they had John in an early grave!”

“He saved my life,” Helleen stated. “Helping these people is the right thing to do. They’re not craven or cowardly, nor are they able to handle this on their own. They need us. They need John. My sword is his now— no, more than my sword, I’ve pledged my life to him.”

John frowned.

“And since she’s your sister you’re with her too,” Matthew said to Roxanne.

“She’s more than that,” Roxanne said.

“That’s it?”

Roxanne shrugged. “No, there’s more, but I don’t need to explain myself and even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. We’ve had good times working for you, Matthew, but that time is over.”

Matthew sighed. “Damn. You two were a bit part of the attraction. And I don’t dare try to find another tiger or bear or something.”

“You’d better not,” Jennaca warned, earning a chuckle from all of them.

Matthew looked the twins over a final time and nodded before turning back to John. “Take care of them… well, as best you can.”

“I will,” John vowed.

Matthew shook his head a final time before turning and walking away.

“Well, that sucked,” Jennaca mumbled once he was out of earshot.

Heads nodded in agreement. Jennaca stepped forward and came to stand beside John. The twins tried to do the same but the stench made them gag at the same time and forced a retreat.

“What are these?” Jennaca asked. “They don’t have enough in common with any single animal I’ve ever seen. Not bears or great cats or wolves. Closest to reptiles, maybe, but they’re not as heavy as I’d expect.”

“Not as heavy?” John asked.

She nodded. “I helped to drag many of these here.”

“The stink doesn’t bother you?”

She shrugged. “It’s like I can turn it off.”

John grunted and knelt down so he could poke and pull at one of the bodies. They’re hide was thick and tough but having found a gash in it he could pull it back easily. The meat inside was more pungent than ever.

“Their hides are tough, but the meat inside… they’ve been dead half a day? How could they be so strong and fast? All this bloody slime… They’re bones seem sturdy enough but… wait.”

John laid his spear down and drew his dagger. He sawed at the leathery hide to open it further which was no small feat in itself. Once the gash was large enough he reached inside and scowled as he felt the creatures innards. “It’s not a viscous jelly with chunks of something firmer in it.”

Roxanne gagged, prompting her sister to turn and gag with her.

“They’re decomposing,” Jennaca said. “I’ve never seen anything rot away so fast!”

John grunted as his fingers wrapped around a bone. He tugged on it and frowned, it wasn’t giving way. He had to widen the cut some more and put his dagger in and saw away before he could break off a rib and pull it out.

“I kind of want to go with Matthew right now,” Roxanne whispered to her sister.

John studied the bone a moment before he called on a fragment of his infernal nature to clean his arms, dagger, and the bone itself. With the gore removed he studied a cross section of the rib and then rose up and stepped away. He handed the now-clean bone to Jennaca and said, “Hollow, but very strong. Like a bird. Well, birds don’t have bones this strong.”

Jennaca looked at it and nodded. “You’re right. That explains why they weren’t as heavy as I expected.”

“And they rate of decay, it’s not like a regular animal. The hide seems unbothered though.”

Jennaca nodded. “We could skin a few and tan their hides. Imagine how sturdy it would be if worked into some armor?”

John stared at her and then turned back to the pile of corpses. He smiled. “Jennaca, you’re brilliant!”

“Of course I am!” Jennaca said with a grin. “Um, what makes you realize that all of a sudden?”

“I think I might have an idea what these are.”

Jennaca’s brows went up. “Ooh! Do tell.”

John held up a finger. “I will… but I need to make sure first.”

She turned her head. “How are you going to do that?”

“My books… and a little bit of an experiment.”

“What experiment?” Jennaca wondered.

John motioned for her to back away from the corpses. Once she was clear he lifted his hands and began to cast a spell. A flame grew in his palm and he used his other hand just as he had when he fought the demon to project them flame into the pile of bodies and the kindling beneath them. He fanned it back and forth, making sure the kindling was burning well before dismissing the magic and stepping back to stand with the others.

The fires spread and were soon raging. Their hides were resistant at first but the rotting meat inside seemed to welcome the flames. They had to back away again from the heat as the flames reached into the sky.

The funeral pyre reached for the heavens and then, after burning so bright and so fierce, began to wane. John watched, fascinated, as it shrank and soon was little more than flames flickering off the ground. Soon those disappeared and left behind ground scoured of anything but rocks that cracked and split from the heat. The air shimmered above the superheated ground, promising blisters or worse to anyone brave— or foolish— enough to walk across it.

“I must consult my books,” John spoke at last.

“What should we do?” Helleen asked.

John hesitated. “I’m not sure? Check with Artesia. See if she needs help training or fortifying the town.”

Helleen and Roxanne looked to one another. They grinned and said in unison, “Yes, Master.”

John stiffened and heard a muffled giggle from beside him. He turned and saw Jennaca struggling to keep a straight face. “At a time like this you ladies still seek to torment me?”

“You are our Master,” Jennaca said. “It’s not official and all that with Roxanne yet, but it will be soon.”

John snorted. “I don’t have the strength to bind her right now… and even if I did, what I did with Helleen yesterday was incredibly short-sighted and foolish. I could have gotten us all killed!”

“But you didn’t,” Jennaca said. “And now we are stronger than ever.”

“I’m not,” John said. “As a team, yes, but I’m so drained I don’t even have the strength to fight with myself over being hungry for more power.”

“Power that you gain from fucking one of us?”

John raised an eyebrow. Jennaca only talked like that when… well, when it was just the two of them, really. It usually happened that when it was just the two of them they were being intimate though.

Jennaca took his hand in hers and kissed his fingers. It wasn’t an act of subservience, it was an act of emotion. “John, I know you’ll say this is inappropriate and hardly the time, but we can all see how exhausted you are. Let’s go back, somewhere safe this time, and then you can fuck me properly and recoup some of that power you need.”

John stared at her. “How, um, selfless of you.”

Jennaca grinned. “My lord, I’ve been aching for you for days now. All this fighting and knowing that you were with Helleen? I’m struggling with it.”

“Struggling? Why? Have I upset you?”

“If there was even a hint of normal about any of this then upset would be a good way to describe it. But there’s not. No, John, I feel incurably horny. Insatiably. I want to drain you dry over and over again right now. I’m so happy that Helleen is with us now— you answered my unspoken prayers by taking her, you know?”

John stared at her.

“Shut your mouth, my lord,” Jennaca teased him. “It should be my mouth that’s open and waiting for you to spend yourself in it.”

John choked at her bluntness.

“I know, I sound mad. Helleen is like my sister now. Not like what she and Roxanne have, but a chosen sister that share a bond. I will protect her and care for her as I do for you. Well, maybe not quite as much as you… Anyhow, I know she will do the same for me. We’ve talked some already. It’s real, John. I keep doubting myself but all this is real. It’s happening.

“Oh! I almost forgot,” she said while continuing to pull him to town and back toward the smith’s house. He hadn’t even realized thanks to Jennaca’s ability to dazzle him with her unending stream of words. “Helleen and I kissed again… while you were sleeping. It was… oh John! It was amazing. Like that first time but without the guilt. I knew you approved. I felt it, even though you were asleep and recovering. I knew it made you happy to have Helleen and I happy together.”

John let her pull him into the house and over to the room he’d spent his brief convalescence in.

“See what I mean, it does make you happy!”

John followed her eyes down and saw his robe was tented out. He looked back up at her and saw her lick her lips. He grinned and pulled his robe up and tossed it on the ground. Jennaca was already sinking to her knees. Research and planning could wait. She was right, he did need to recharge.

“I’m more than ready,” John pointed out.

She rubbed his cock along her cheeks and kissed along its length before she looked up at him and said, “I know. So am I, but I want to do this. I missed it.”

John raised an eyebrow.

“You’ve turned me into your whore, John,” she said. “You’re whore, Master. Only yours. I love it. I… I love you.”

John shivered and fought to keep his gaze locked with hers. He nodded slowly and said, “I’m afraid I’m not worthy of your love. I… what I am… I can never—”

“You love me too, I know you do,” Jennaca said.

John realized he was nodding and stopped himself.

“See?” she said while nuzzling his throbbing erection.

“Is what I do to you and other women love though?”

“Love isn’t an action, it’s a thought. A feeling. An intention,” she coaxed him. “We’re bound to you, but you’re bound to us too. Would you bind a woman you cared nothing for?”

He shook his head. “No, never!”

“Could you?”

He hesitated before answering. “Yes. I could… or rather, it’s possible. I don’t know if I could.”

Jennaca smiled. “See, that’s what I mean. You do love me. And Helleen, though it’s more a matter of infatuation now, you have the right feelings for her and it will grow into love.”

John thought it over as best his situation allowed. “I’ll think on it, but you make a lot of sense.”

“Of course I do,” she said. “Sometimes all your knowledge gets in the way of knowing what’s what.”

John chuckled. “Well then, if that’s all sorted out, why don’t you stop teasing me and get to work… my love.”

Jennaca grinned. “About time you made some sense!”

He opened his mouth to retort but instead of words he could only moan. Jennaca’s cheeks drew in and her throat bulged and she swallowed and tried to bury him on her first try. She pulled back and tried again, trying to stuff his thickness inside of her. Slowly, one thrust after another, she managed to take him deeper and deeper until her nose was tickled by his hairs. She held herself there and swallowed repeatedly, milking him and driving him into a near frenzy.

“Jen,” he growled. “I can’t finish until you do and if you don’t stop, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop myself either.”

Her eyes met his. She pulled free and kissed his weeping slit before licking her lips and stripping off her weapons and clothes in record time. She crawled onto the bed on her hands and knees and looked over her shoulder at him. “If I’ve woken the beast, would you like to take me like a beast?”

John grunted and guided his cock to the split in her thighs. His breath caught in his throat as he saw her flesh was bare. He rubbed his cock against her, smearing her spittle and the juices from her pussy all around the smooth flesh.

“Mmm, Master likes what he sees?”

“By the darkness and light, yes,” John hissed. “What… why…”

“Helleen is shaved bare. Roxanne too, or so her sister claims. I loved it when I saw her and wanted to try it. It feels so good!”

“You’ve made me a believer,” John said. “It looks good enough to eat. Well, it always did, but now even more so.”

“Ooh, is that what you’re going to do to me?”

“Another time,” John said.

“Then whaaaaaaa!”

John buried himself inside her tight sheath in a single, long, toe-curling thrust. Jennaca’s arms collapsed and her face was buried in the bed. John pulled back and thrust again, rocking her on the bed and never giving her a chance to recover. If her natural wetness hadn’t been a giveaway then the bond they shared allowed him to feel her peak growing. It wouldn’t take long.

John rode her in long, firm strokes. She panted and moaned into the bed, the mattress muffling her squeaks and shrieks as he brought her higher and higher on her wave. He toyed with her stretched slit with one hand, tickling and teasing her when his loins weren’t pressing against her thighs. Jennaca hiccupped and shuddered as she began to crest and held on, right on the verge of falling over into oblivion.

John slid his fingers up the cleft in her bottom and tickled her puckered arse. He pushed and poked his lubricated fingertip inside of her and Jennaca’s mind shattered. She howled into the bed and thrashed on his impaling cock. John held on tight while she shuddered and shook. The energy she released into him took all of his focus to channel and absorb lest it burned him.

When Jennaca finally came to her senses a few minutes later she picked herself up to her elbows and craned her neck to look at him. She pulled forward, slowly, and bit her lip at the absence his cock inside of her left her with. When she pulled free at last she rolled onto her back and spread her legs and lifted them up, exposing herself.

John raised an eyebrow. “Get back inside of me,” she demanded. Impishly she added, “Please, Master?”

John chuckled and shuffled forward. He guided himself between her swollen lips and slid deeper and deeper inside of her until there was no easy telling where he ended and she began. “Better?”

She groaned and nodded. A tear ran down her cheek.

John checked to make sure. He could tell he hadn’t hurt her through their connection, but he wasn’t sure he understand the cause of the tear. “Did I hurt you?”

She smiled and shook her head. “No! Saints no, John. You… you’re wonderful. This is so wonderful. I have so many feelings. So many thoughts… I can’t even put them into words. Crying is the best I can do, but they are tears of joy and love and… and… ugh! I wish I knew half as many words as you do!”

John chuckled and kissed her tears away. “Words are fine and fancy, but you tell me so much more without needing any.”

Her legs wrapped around his back and pulled him even more snugly into her. “I need you to fuck me, John. I need you to make me peak again. Twice more, I think, then I will drain you dry.”

“Jen…”

“You told me once I was special, remember?”

“In so many ways,” he agreed.

She grinned. “Not like that, silly, I meant that I have some bright soul or something. Different from most people, right?”

He nodded.

“So, you made my toes curl once and I don’t feel the least bit tired because of it. Take me again, Master. Drain me again. Feed on me… let my heart pour the sustenance you need into you.”

John stared into his loving girl’s eyes and he had to blink back a tear of his own. “Remind me to tell you of Little Red sometime.”

“Little Red? Another one of your conquests?”

“Another girl I loved,” John said. “I still do, but… that’s for later.”

“I want to meet her. I want another sister!”

John smiled sadly. “She’s gone… but I think you two would have loved each other.”

Jennaca pouted. “Well, let me make love to you for her then.”

John smiled and kissed her. Jennaca began grinding her hips up at him and, in seconds the gentleness was gone from their kiss. John’s hips took on a life of their own and soon they were rutting against one another. Her legs prevented him from the long strokes of before so he made up for it with speed and force. Each slap of flesh echoed in the small room and drove the breath from Jennaca.

She held out as long as she could but lights danced in her eyes and the heat and pressure growing in her belly wouldn’t be denied. She clung to him, her legs interlocking with each other around his back and her slit grinding against his flesh. The lights turned into soundless explosions of color that shook her to her core and spread throughout her body and left her fingers and toes tingling.

The brilliance of the moment faded at last and left her sinking deeper into the bed. She felt it this time, the way John gently cradled something inside of her. Not his dick in her belly, but in her soul. She imagined herself cradling him and urging him to drink from her, like a mother cuddling a nursing baby.

She swooned and, for a time, lay dazed and happy. It wasn’t until John lifted himself up a little that she roused and blinked her sleepy eyes open. “Oh,” she murmured, smiling at his bright eyes. “You look better. Happier. Rested. Did we fall asleep?”

He shook his head. “You’re an amazing woman. Any time spent with you would brighten anyone’s day.”

She beamed at him. “Flattery will get you everywhere, you know.”

John laughed.

“Oh! Did I fall asleep? My legs were wrapped around you…”