Chapter 1: Silence

Something disturbed Merrie's oblivion. One moment there was nothing and then in the next, she felt her thoughts began to coalesce into coherence. She couldn't tell when it happened, only that in one sudden, terrifying moment, her consciousness woke up and she was aware. The memories of the event up to her oblivion were hazy---flashes of sex and violence---but then welcoming stillness.

She tried to move her fingers but nothing responded. She concentrated on them, remembering how her digits felt as they wrapped around the handle of a door or caressed across the sheets as her lover knelt between her legs. She remembered having hands, a long time ago.

More memories rose through her thoughts, coming into focus more than anything else. They were of a massive wolf biting down on her wrist, shearing it off with a single exciting bite. A name came with the image, Tabitha. Tabitha had ripped off Meris' hands and feet, that was why she couldn't move them.

A shudder of lust and fear ran through her body. It coursed along the limits of her limbs, mapping out where each one ended at her wrists and ankles. She was both elated and despaired when she thought about how the wolf had taken her limbs after a brutal chase through the woods. Then, as more memories poured in of the years after she was amputated, more shivers of desire rippled through her body. Flashes of violence, starvation, and tears flashed across her mind.

She focused on the sensations of her own body. She tried to move her shoulder, that part she still had left, but it responded sluggishly, painfully. The movement brought her fresh smells, rotting plants and the earthy smell of moss.

Taking a deep breath, she was surprised how much it hurt to move. She had to concentrated on the muscles drawing cold air into her lungs and then even more to exhale. It tasted of alcohol in the back of her throat and she remembered how her magic tasted like that when she was using it. She smiled at the memory, she had magic. Powers beyond anything she had ever expected when she was growing up.

A smile took almost all of her energy. More of her body was coming back. It felt like she was still pulling herself together, drawing her essence together with nothing more than her will and desire.

She tried to open her eyes but couldn't. After a few more attempts, she gave up and focused on dragging her body through the leaves and along the ground. The cool earth felt good against her skin and she used the sensations to anchor herself away from oblivion and solidify her thoughts. The movements scraped against her skin, revealing sensitive breasts, hips, and nipples.

After an eternity of inching her limbs around, she focused on listening to her surroundings. A cool wind blew across her body, tickling her skin. It whistled through branches above her and rippled the leaves that surrounded her. The smell of moisture tickled her nose and she was thirsty.

She reached out for it, not knowing where it was, but all she felt was moist earth grinding against her breasts and branches scratching her outstretched limbs. She shivered at the sensations, enjoying the pain that mapped out the limits of her own physical form.

A heavy ring pressed against her throat. It took no effort to remember that: it was her collar. The adamantite ring was sealed to her very soul by terrible magics. She remembered someone telling her only a god could break it.

A god tried. A goddess actually, Merrie couldn't forget Lemetri's beautiful face as she shoved her hand into Merrie's chest and wrapped around her heart. The goddess stole her breath away when her delicate fingers tightened around the beating organ.

Merrie froze, the pain bringing her consciousness further away from the oblivion. She strained her ears, listening for her heart.

Silence.

No heart beat in her chest, no thump coursed through her veins. She remembered listening to it, her fear should have caused it to beat rapidly against her ribs, but there was nothing. No beat, no rhythm, nothing besides terrifying silence.

Fear rose, this time it was unwelcomed and terrifying. She brought one of her severed arms to her chest and pressed it against her large breast. Raw muscles protested against her movement, but she ground down until she could feel the hardness of her ribs.

Her heart refused to beat.

Whimpering, she focused on opening her eyes again. Despite the ease that the rest of her body returned to life, her vision took longer. She used the smooth end of her arm to force the eyelid opened and then cried out at the brilliance around her. Everything was hazy and shades of darkness, but the light streaming through the leaves above her were painful.

She cried and pulled her arm away. The darkness of her eye closing was a welcomed relief, but the seal had been broken. This time, when she steeled herself and opened her eye again. The brilliance blinded her, but she forced herself to keep it open until the glare faded.

Merrie was in a bowl of the earth, surrounded by rotted leaves and dead trees. A spring bubbled up from a pile of rocks about two or three meters away before bubbling away along a rocky stream. The water splashed off the rocks and splattered into the earth around her. She could feel splatters caressing her skin.

As she listened for her heart, she lifted one limb up to look at it. When she saw nothing more than coiled darkness and shifting shadows, she gasped. Her pale arm was no longer there, only the shape of it being held together by some force. It looked like her body or, more accurately, like the shadow of her body.

Merrie lifted and turned her arm slowly, staring at the dark, boiling form with wonder. The rest of her was the same, the shadow of her former self.

Seeing herself as nothing more than animated darkness made her uncomfortable. She let her arm drop out of sight and turned her head to stare at the stream. It was better than looking at the light above her or her own disturbing shape. The stream appeared to be like every other stream she had seen before, though she couldn't remember much of her time before she was kidnapped, raped, and amputated by a massive thriban named Bass. He had done it at the Paladin Puppy Mill, where he and Tabitha and the others lived.

Then she noticed the plants on both sides of the water. They were wilted and sagging, as if the life had been leeched out of them by the water that streamed past. Even the trees were beginning to droop around it. Whatever was killing them was recent, maybe a day or three she guessed.

Merrie never really grew plants but she had flower gardens by her own house. She remembered how they died during a drought, when she couldn't get enough water in their planters with her long days. The plants on both sides of the stream were doing the same thing, but there was water, they should have been thriving.

Blinking, she glanced up. The haze around the light was beginning to fade and she could make out burning points of light on a field of darkness. They were stars.

Merrie frowned in confusion. Stars were never that bright, they were never so painfully brilliant that it hurt her eyes. She blinked and focused on them, struggling as if she was staring into the sun itself. It took her a long time to focus on the field of sparkles above her, a familiar sight of stars on a moonless night.

She laughed to herself, though it hurt. She could see in the dark. She remembered how the shadow magic had seeped into her mind and body of over the years. She was able to see in the dark for a long time. Then, whenever that was, the stars were enough to see by but not to blind. She blinked past her tears and looked around.

Despite getting used to the starlight, it was getting brighter around her. She peeled her head from the moist ground and lifted it. Her aching muscles strained to keep it up as she inspected her surroundings. She found the new source of the brightness, light streaming through the trees and the underbrush. It was warm and brilliant, filled with colors besides shades of gray.

It also burned. Not only was it too bright for her eyes but she could feel the warmth against her skin like a brand. Heat beat against her and the light hadn't even touched her skin. She whimpered and tried to move, but her body refused to slid fast enough as strands of morning light speared through the underbrush and began to paint the ground around her.

Merrie cried out as the light grew too much and it blinded her. There was no place she could look that didn't hurt. As more sunlight speared through her little shelter, the world became a haze of brilliance and heat. She sobbed and ducked her head, smashing it against the earth and digging into it. It was too bright to do anything.

The heat continued to rise until it felt like it had set her on fire. She cried out into the mud, screaming through her raw throat as she fought to move against the light.

A searing pain cut through her senses, someone was tearing her arm off. She flailed it around, thumping it against the ground painfully but the burning only increased.

Sobbing, she lifted her head and peered through the blinding haze at her limb.

It wasn't someone ripping her limb off again, it was sunlight. A beam of light had finally pierced through the canopy of the trees and came down across her shadowy limb. The black mist burned away in the light, boiling away into nothingness as the light easily pierced clear through her.

It only took a second, but the moment in time drew itself out until it was in slow motion, every searing iota of pain tearing through her senses as the sunlight burned away the end of her arm and continued up, igniting the black shadows of her form until it reached her shoulder.

Merrie screamed. She couldn't help it, it was the only thing she could do against the agony that tore her apart.

More sunlight speared through the canopy, catching her thigh, stomach, and chest. Each time it burned away her shadowy body. More flames ignited across her skin, peeling back the darkness like mist burning away with the sun. Heat and black flames consumed her as she was immolated in the brilliance of the morning light.

Whoa, this looks promising! Eventhough there's not much yet, I like the concept of her shadow body. Not like in a guro sense, just like in normal literature sense. If this were an opening to a regular novel, I'd buy it just from this alone.

Where can I read the first series?

>>10885
Gurochan seems to think I'm a bot.

The original series and the first fifteen chapters for this one are at "tsade.com nine-sisters puppy-mill" I'll catch up as fast as I can (throttling and strange behavior slows me down) but then I'll go back to my usual weekly cadence for posting.

Chapter 2: Nesting

It happened again and again. Merrie would somehow wake up to silence and have to pull her body together again. By the time she started to regain her senses, the sunlight came and set her on fire.

It was torture, slow and inescapable. Every time she woke up to the silence in her chest, she knew she would be immolated before she could rescue herself. The silence became a terrible dread, a fear and loathing for whatever kept her coming back to life only to suffer again.

Time slowly intruded on her mind. When she first awoke, it was a moonless night. Later, she watched the moon rise as a brilliant shard of light that she couldn't suffer to look at. She knew that she would grew accustomed to the stars, but the moon refused to be anything other than painfully blinding. At least it didn't burn her skin away.

She also saw that she had limited time. The trees and plants were still rotting away, the leaves falling to the ground as they died. The poisoned stream continued to rot away at the forest. It also removed more of her protections from the sunlight; it speared her body faster every morning. Soon, she wouldn't have much time to do anything besides die if she didn't do something.

After a few cycles of pity and death, Merrie realized she couldn't give up. She learned how to coalesce her body faster. Her waking wasn't just regaining consciousness, it was also pulling her body together from the darkness around the trees to regain her shadowy form. The anchor was her collar, the shadows naturally gathered around it as soon as the evening light faded.

Punctuated by the rhythm of rebirth and immolation, Merrie began to change her environment. She spent an entire day pushing leaves into the pit. She took another day to drag a branch over to her waking spot before she burned away. Day after day, she created a nest to protect herself from the shadows.

Each time, she worked in silence. She wanted to hear her heart beat in her chest, to feel it straining as she shoved a pile of leaves with her face and breasts back into the pit. The stillness hung around her, a dread that did nothing to darken her life.

She remembered her master, Kine. He used to finger her when they had a quiet time together. It was the same rhythm: beat, beat, beat, silence. It was his favorite part of a song that she couldn't remember anymore. Just three notes and silence, but he used it when he fingered against her, when he drummed against the table in impatience, and that rhythm kept with her long after he was gone. She remembered how the collar had thumped against her chest with the same beat before the Lord of Shadows had consumed her.

Memories of Kine's death haunted her. It kept playing over and over in her head, the agonizing emotions and sensations of having her heart and spirit ripped out clawing through her consciousness. She cried out silently as she pushed herself to create a shelter. She felt the tears on her cheeks splashing down against her skin and along the ground. The trail behind her was always rotted away from her sorrow.

It was easier to face his death when it was sealed away in a pit of despair. But her fight with Lemetri had cracked open the mental barriers that prevented her from experiencing the full onslaught of the memories.

She couldn't stop. Tears continued to rot the ground as she force herself to push more leaves and branches into her shelter.

Just when she had enough leaves and branches to shield herself from the day, she lost a day just thinking about her former master. She missed him. She craved the times when she teased him and when he caged her. The fighting, the fucking, the loving. It was supposed to be the end for her, a peaceful life where she finally had everything she wanted.

It was a new despair that held her down as she just watched the sun rise up. She didn't even cry out when the light burned away her body, sending her into a torment of light before the darkness took her.

Chapter 3: Heartbeat

Merrie woke up crying. Hot tears ran down her shadowy cheeks as she stared up at the light. She felt her body still gathering for the night, the darkness around her pulling together to give her shape and form. It would be an hour before her ears worked again or she could feel anything. Until then, she had nothing to do but wait.

She missed Kine so much. She relived his death, dredging it up from her memories and playing it in her mind with a sick fascination. He crawled toward her as the Lord of Shadow pulled him back. He died next to his other love, Rimmy. Both spirits had escaped, she knew that, but the Lord of Shadows had not returned either spirits to Merrie.

The rawness of the events gnawed at her senses. She couldn't do anything but listen to them as shadowed darkened and gathered into a solid shape. She listened to the silence and let the tears splash down.

Merrie thought about Kine's rhythm, the triple beat that echoed in her life. If she couldn't have the beat of her own heart, maybe she could replace If she couldn't have a heart in her chest, maybe she could feel that instead. Focusing her attention on her being, she thought about the burnt-out wound where Lemetri had ripped out her heart. It was empty and aching, it only needed something to replace it. Even if it was just something beating inside her body, a clock.

Focusing on it, Merrie tried to gather the darkness into the hole in her chest. However, the image faltered and she felt the gaping wound once again. The goddess' flames had burnt her heart. She had seared it from her mind and sense of being as much as her body. Like her missing limbs, the ripped-out heart had been torn out from her very spirit. No magic, short of a god's, would ever restore it and even then, it might not be possible.

More tears splashed on her cheeks. She pressed both severed arms against her breast and held on to the silence. She wanted something there, something to beat three time and pause, just like Kine had done for her.

She took a deep breath and tried again, trying to form her thoughts into a spell to shape the shadows around her. But, as the calligraphy of a shadow spell began to swirl across her mind, she lost her concentration and it crumbled with a shiver of power.

After another hour of trying, she gave up. With a sob, she let her limbs grow slack and leaned against the pile of leaves. She knew she could burrow underneath them, that would shield her from the light, but the pointlessness of her torture stilled her body. Why was she trying to survive? Why was she trying to do anything? The sun would come and burn her away, there was nothing she could do about it.

Only a god could stop her agony.

She froze.

The Lord of Shadows was the Shadows Realm's equivalent of a god. Maybe the being of utter darkness would be able to give her a heart.

Inspired, she reached out for it. Her mental probing pressed against the veil between her world and the darkness. It resisted her, though the veil was thin around her. She pushed harder, driving her will and fear into it.

The barrier between the worlds strained as she shoved through. Memories of stepping across rose inside her and she used them to remember the twist of sensation whenever she crossed over. She could feel the icy coldness of the Shadows seeping around her along with the ether taste in the back of her mouth.

Merrie pushed harder, ripping the veil with the force of her desire.

Darkness poured around her, instantly corroding the branches and leaves around her. She could feel the pile shuddering as it crumbled over her body.

Desperate, she reached through the darkness and called to the Lord. (Help me, please!)

The powerful intelligence responded almost immediately. Alien thoughts poured into her head with the force of a hammer, the overwhelming calligraphy and disturbing images. Both were filled with too much details than any mortal could ever comprehend: dimensions beyond height, width, and depth; calligraphy that extended beyond a flat page in a blossom of energy; and emotions that were born of a creature that had never had a flesh and blood body. The images and thoughts were spells and native to the Lord of Shadows, every thought manipulated the darkness around it.

Now it was inside her head. The Lord's presence dragged her down and dredged up all the horrors of Kine's death. Despair flooded through her as she struggled against the overwhelming force inside her mind. It was difficult to keep her own sanity with the dark powers inside her head.

Desperate, she reached out for her collar. The black metal felt icy against the smooth end of her wrist. Touching it brought a sense of calm as she managed to focus on it, squeezing her consciousness into a small part protected by the terrible magic of the collar.

**(Desire?)** The Lord of Shadow's thoughts were powerful, a punch in her mind that threatened to rip her sanity apart. The blossom of complex calligraphy burned her thoughts, drawing her focus into it and threatened to consume her.

She mentally clutched to her collar. Her physical body responded by dragging through the branches, drawing the sharp twigs against her face and chest. She tried to image her heart again, the beating in her chest. She craved to feel a rhythm inside her.

The Lord of Darkness drew its attention on her mental picture. She felt it forcing her attention on it. Details that she had forgotten in the haze of the years that had passed and the oblivion of her resurrection. Each one was brought to her forethoughts, rolled around in the mental fingers of the Lord, and then shredded by the power of the Lord as it consumed them. As soon as it finished one, it pulled another related thought out and did the same.

When she realized how through and quickly the Lord was going through her memories, she panicked. She couldn't afford to lose her life. She tried to pull her mind away, but the mental claws of the Lord has caught on her brain and held it in place.

She pawed at the ground, digging her limbs through the leaves and branches. A thin wail escaped her throat but she couldn't escape the darkness that burned away her memories.

Just as the Lord pulled for the raw memory of her master's death, it stopped. It pulled back for a moment, its aliens thoughts scraping across her consciousness.

Merrie whimpered, helpless to do anything.

The Lord's thoughts slammed into her, spreading across her mind in an explosion of black calligraphy and inhuman images. **(Shadow Bringer, light kills you.)**

She whimpered, crouched on the ground from the onslaught in her mind.

**(The light burns, your body melts.)**

(It hurts,) she managed to project, her thoughts only a ripple in the expanse of the alien creature. (I can't keep my body together.)

**(You living. Flesh. Bones. Blood. All missing in shadows.)** Images came flooding through her mind, of her own naked body before she had died. Details came as the Lord of Shadows visualized stripping away her skin and muscle. Her blood blossomed in a cloud of crimson before it became black and pitched and evaporated. Her arteries and veins remained in an empty shell, melting away along with her blood. Even her skeleton, the wrists and ankles polished smooth from Tabitha's cropping, remained for only a moment before they too evaporated into obsidian mist. Soon, the only thing left was a shifting cloud of darkness shaped like her body.

**(You cannot remained together without.)**

Tears ran down Merrie's cheeks. She had seen it already, when the sun melted away her thin skin and evaporated the dark mist within.

The Lord of Shadows reached out for her, not with its mind but with its physical claws. The sharp points pierced the veil between the worlds and directly into her heart. It clamped down to cup the empty cavern where her heart used to be. Ice poured in from another dimension, another plane. It gathered inside her, spreading sharp agonies through her body.

Merrie cried out but no sound escape her throat. Her body shook violently as she pawed at her own fragile self, plunging her limbs into the shifting shadows and melting together before reforming into the cropped bitch that she had become.

**(Shadow Bringer needs heart.)**

An explosion of black calligraphy raced across her mind, burning away apart of her very being as it poured energy into the space. She felt it weighing her down, pulling her shadowy form around it as the energies solidified into something more solid than any other part of her body.

When the Lord of Shadows pulled its claws back through the barrier between worlds, the weight of whatever it had created suddenly bore down on her.

She cried out as she was pinned to the ground by the first solid thing connected to her shadowy body. The crushing pressure was nothing compared to branches and leaves that she had moved but it was somehow connected to her. The connection made it heavier, a pressure that was unlike anything else she had experience.

Thump.

Merrie froze as her body shook. The vibrations coursed along her body and her shadowy form responded by solidifying. A paper-thin shell formed along her body, draping it in the first hints of something resembling flesh.

With a new skin came a burning as her nerves brought waves of burning agony. She pulled back her head and screamed as loudly as she could but no noise came out of her unformed vocal cords. She cried out, the black tears that ran down her face suddenly splashing on skin. She could feel each black droplet as a brand against her raw and reformed sense of touch.

Thump.

The fresh tears froze on her face as the world grew icy and dark. More trees withered and peeled away, crumbling in an instance as the Lord of Shadows loomed over her, blotting out the sky with its form. Massive wings that would never fly in the sun spread out and more of the forest died around it.

Inside her body, tendrils of darkness snaked their way through her form. The second beat surged them forward as they plunged into all of her extremities. The rush of black blood sounded from deep inside as more veins and arteries were grown inside her.

Thump.

The suffocating ice of its presence bore down on her. It squeezed her chest as the calligraphy and alien thoughts scraped across her mind. Her body solidified with the raw presence of darkness, but it was misshapen and twisted, formed by her random thoughts instead of her identity.

Merrie forced her thoughts into place, imagining what her body looked like before she was killed. She didn't have hands and feet anymore, but she didn't remember a time when she did. Those memories were lost when she bonded the first time.

Her body shifted around her visualization. This time, the shadows were strong but sluggish, they felt like they were growing more solid than before. Her skin still felt paper-thin but it held the shape like drying claw.

Elated, Merrie shaped out her body just as she remembered: smooth limbs, long hair, and even her face that she saw countless times in a mirror. As she did, her body mimicked her imagination and solidified, maybe for the last time.

Inside her new shape, bones grew. The heavy weights felt like crystal as they stretched into each limb and between the network of veins and arteries. They sealed into place, dragging her down but also giving her rigidness that she didn't think was possible.

The Lord of Shadow's thoughts scraped across her mind one last time before it withdrew. It left behind darkness in her mind and a cobweb of intricate calligraphy that refused to fade. They were spells, she knew that, but they were far too powerful for her to understand while she struggled to keep her body safe.

**(You are not done,)** came the drifting thought as the Lord withdrew back to the Shadows.

Merrie sobbed as the veil between the worlds sealed up. There was fear and comfort with the Lord's presence, but with it gone, she felt empty.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Merrie jerked. She knew that rhythm but she had never felt it deep in her chest. She held her breath for it to continue. It did after a second.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Silence.

Fresh tears dripped down her face. Her heart, or whatever was in her chest, had given her shape. She felt more solid with it, anchored. It was also icy, colder than anything else she had experience before in her life.

Gulping, Merrie wondered if she would be able to survive the sun. She doubted it, but this time she was inspired to roll over on the pile of rotted leaves that somehow survived the Lord of Shadows. Above her, there was nothing left to protect her; the alien being had focused its withering aura around her and stripped away all of her shelter from the killing light.

She used her severed limbs to dig into the pile, burrowing deep and rolling over until the rotted leaves and branches covered her completely.

The air around her quickly grew cold but she didn't mind. The hoarfrost that formed on her body felt good against the heat from the rising sun. She could feel the sun rising. This time, the leaves and branches shielded her and she felt safe in the darkness.

The tears froze on her cheeks as she closed her eyes and let her world drift away until there was nothing but the triple best of her heart pulsing through her black veins and her blacker heart.

Chapter 4: Discovery

Merrie felt their presence before she heard them. It was a caress of magic against her senses, like feathers trailing along her skin. But she didn't have skin to caress, only a solid mass of shadows that could barely handle the heat of the day. She remembered the touch of different magic, from crystal-like arcane patterns to the flowing pulse of holy magic.

She shivered at the memories. The paladins and Bass both used holy magic. It was bright and clean, filled with life and hope. For a creature of shadows, it also meant death. Even the aura of power felt like the sun, she didn't think she could survive the onslaught of those energies any more than the morning sunrise.

Freezing, she listened for her pulse. When she heard the triple beat, she let out a sigh of relief. Her heart had not disappeared nor it was her imagination. The Lord of Shadows wouldn't have given it to her if it was a temporary measure, but she didn't know what the alien being wanted from her. Nor did she know if it would grant her enough strength to survive the sunlight or simply keep her body together long enough for rescue.

A crunch of dead leaves drew her attention back. The ground vibrated with their footsteps as they came closer.

"Are you sure this is the place, sire?" The first one spoke in a deadpanned voice, somehow giving the impression of being both attentive and bored at the same time.

"Yes, I saw the petition with my own eyes. Halfway between road markers 1903 and 1904. Two hundred meters from a rock cracked in half to where three trees were blazed and painted with a white 'L'. That seems pretty specific, don't you think." The second speaker had a deeper, richer voice. Memories of it brought a ripple of pleasure coursing through Merrie's new body.

"Of course, sire, but what is here?"

"They didn't say."

"Then why are we here?"

"Because..." the second man's voice trailed off. "My spies say that there was a battle here and there is still a presence of dark magic here."

"Are you sure?"

There was a loud snap. "Large circle of dead trees not give it away? Take a deep breath. You can smell that? That's ether, Boz, shadow magic. You should be used to it. You've smelled her."

"In my defense, sire, most of the time when I was cleaning up after you, there was also the smell of sex also. It is hard to tell the two apart." Boz's voice never rose above a steady pace.

Merrie couldn't help but smile. She listened to the two men and tried to identify the third. She shifted slightly and rotted leaves cascaded around her. When she piled them up, they were full but either time or the shadows had rotted them into powder. The dust coursed along her skin and settled underneath her. She felt the heat of the day above them and winced in fear that sunlight would touch her and burn her away.

"It could be dangerous," said Boz.

"And that is why we have Loyal Alestri here. And if something defeats her, we also have Eolis and the duke. Don't worry, Boz, it won't take long."

"Yes, sire."

There was a pause. "Do you want to go back to the wagon."

"Please, these leaves are doing nothing for my shoes."

The second man laughed. "Go on."

Boz turned and walked away.

"Oh, and Boz?"

"Yes, sire?"

"Thank you."

"For?"

"You came this far. I know you liked her too and I appreciate the gesture."

"I live to serve you, sire. And you're welcome. Do you wish for me to summon the Loyal?"

"No," said the second man, "her idea of looking around is blowing up everything and inspecting the debris for what survived."

"I will not convey that message. Be safe."

Boz walked away, the ground barely vibrating with his movements. Merrie wanted to follow him, but there were two others close to her. She tried to concentrate on them, focusing all of her attention. Her senses tugged at her mind as if they could pull away from her. She wondered if there was a spell to do so but didn't think she had the energy to try.

"You really are hard on him, Claston," said a third voice. Unlike Boz's and Claston's, the third one was a deep rumble that caressed against Merrie's senses. It shook the ground and matched the heavy footsteps that took a step closer. "Even as a prince, you should treat your man better."

Claston grunted, his lighter footsteps crunching on the leaves. They went a few steps and stopped.

"Claston?"

"Eolis...? Doesn't this look strange to you? This dead section isn't a circle, it's heading that way."

"Yes, it seems to be following the water from that stream."

"Probably poisoned then, or touched by shadows. It sure smells like it. Come on."

Claston's footsteps headed closer to Merrie.

"And if there is a creature of shadows laying in wait?" asked Eolis, his voice a low rumble.

"Then I will scream really loudly and the Loyal will blow up everything."

Eolis groaned. "You know I can't tell when you are faking it, but when you say things like that, it makes me worry that I'm wrong about you."

"Faking what?"

"Being an idiot."

There was another pause.

"I know you aren't," said Eolis, "No one in charge of... what you control could ever be an idiot. Your mother trusted you because you proved yourself. Which makes you not a fool or a dandy. You put on a good face, but there is something about your eyes that tells me you are a lot smarter than you pretend to be."

Claston chuckled. "The duke said you were a hard person to deceive, Eolis. Have no fear, your boss is not a fool or a dandy. I have no interests on the throne until both of my sisters are done with it. And hopefully they will have kids of their own and I will just be the foolish uncle helping from the sidelines."

"Thank you, sire."

"Oh, don't you start that on me. Bad enough I hear it from Boz. Come on, I want to figure out where this water is coming from." Claston's boots crunched on dry twigs and sticks. He came closer, the ground shaking more with his footsteps.

He stopped. "Well, here it is. Fuck, it's just a little water coming out."

"What were you expecting?"

"I don't know. The Church of Lemetri has been really pushing to stake a claim on this place. Their requests are very specific including water, air, and stone rights. Not to mention a petition to create a holy spot. That seems wrong, being that all of them are only a glimmer of the power that they had before last year."

Merrie tensed at the hated name. It was Lemetri who killed her. Merrie still remembered the brilliance of the beautiful woman before she was torn apart by the Lords of Shadows.

"I was hoping there was something more. Reports said that her dog died here. The big black one that she kept?"

"Tamin?"

Merrie smiled at the name. She remembered Tamin. They were talking about her, not Lemetri.

"Yeah!" Claston sighed. "That dog scared the fuck out of me. From what I heard, he killed thirty men around here, just so Merrie could escape."

*Swords pierced Tamin's back as the other paladins joined the fight. Holy flames burned him from the inside and his guts ignited into flames. Gauntlets grabbed his body and threw him off Gillette. He got a single look of Gillette's face and felt joy at the sight of the injury. There was nothing but a bloody hole where the enemy's eye was. The edges of the shattered bone were black and corroded.*

*Gillette staggered to his feet, fueled by the holy magic that glowed from inside his body. The light came from his remaining bones, glowing from the inside. Injuries sealed over and healed in a flash. The tears in his armor sealed up and flowed over each other until they were once again solid metal. As the visor repaired, Tamin watched desperately to see if the eye would heal, but the magic couldn't touch the blackened bones. And, when the armor had completely repaired itself, Gillette's ruined face remained as bloody as when Tamin tore it off.*

*Tamin fought with all his might, his body burning away with every moment. He tried to bite, but there was nothing to sink his teeth into. He couldn't get off his back, not with the men holding him down and the swords punching into his body over and over again.*

*The last thing he saw with Gillette's scythe as it sliced him open from belly to the top of his skull, slicing through bone and skull in a flash of brilliance.*

The painful memory ripped through Merrie. She fought back a sob. The leaves over her shifted with her movement and she froze.

"Did you hear that?" asked Claston. He jumped over something and came closer, his footsteps crunching through the leaves. The crumbled pile began to slide off her and she was blinded by the sunlight that came pouring it.

"Claston, don't---"

A beam of sunlight caught Merrie's chest. The brilliance burned into her fresh skin which crinkled and blackened. Agony burned along the wounds as the gaping hole in her chest ignited into black flames. She screamed, she couldn't help it and tried to burrow deeper into the leaves.

There was an explosion and a burst of energy. The concussion wave blasted the leaves away from her, stripping the ground completely bare of her shelter against the sunlight.

Brilliance burned her, searing through her shadowy flesh as the sunlight cut through her body.

Merrie screamed louder, thrashing violently as she tried to hold her body together. Her skin was on fire, peeling away in waves of piercing agony.

"Oh, fuck me! That's Merrie!" yelled Claston as he stood there, holding a branch.

A woman in green armor surged forward, her large spear coming in an overhead swing. Merrie remembered her from before, Loyal Alestri. They had fought once, destroying a large chunk of the city before the fight ended. The spear glowed brilliantly with killing spells as it left a streak with its movement.

And then there was a large man in front of her. No, a thriban, a gray-skinned humanoid with broad shoulders and wearing a white shirt with a tie.

The Loyal's blade stopped centimeters from his back. The only part Merrie could see was the glowing weapon poised above his shoulders. Beyond it was the sunlight that bore down on her.

She screamed and tried to burrow into the ground.

Cloth draped over her. It was Eolis' suit jacket. The heavy material smelled of sweat and musk, but it shielded her from the light. The only bits that leaked through were the tiny pinpricks through the gaps in the fabric. Even those burned but it was pricks of pain instead of waves of agony.

Eolis scooped her up. "It must be the light, it's burning her!" His voice was a roar as he turned to shield her from the light with his body.

"Fuck," snapped Claston. "The wagon! In with the taxes, there isn't any light there."

Lost in agony, Merrie could only clutch to Eolis' body as she tried to keep her body together. Every pulse of agony, from the simmering sunlight fire, threatened to pull her apart and it took all of her will to keep herself bound to the black veins inside her body, the triple-beating heart, and the collar that thumped against her chest.

Chapter 5: Loving Pain (MF cons tort)

When Merrie woke again, she was on a bed of blankets. Her surroundings smelled faintly of sex underneath the cleaning solutions and Eolis' musk. There was another smell, another man. A name came up, Zeob. Merrie remembered Zeob as a slender, submissive male who traveled with Eolis and did all the cooking and cleaning.

She shivered and opened her eyes. It was blissfully dark around her. She was underneath a heavy comforter, the weight pinned her down against the mattress with a steady pressure that made her feel safe. She twisted around slightly before using the smooth end of her arm to lift it slightly.

Outside of the blankets, it was also dark. She blinked and stared at the room around her, inspecting it before she dared to peek out.

It was Eolis' room. She had seen it before but it had been years since she was inside it. She remembered the tapestry on the wall and how it smelled. There were new decorations, expected after so many years, but it gave her some comfort to be somewhere familiar. She took a deep breath and scooted out from underneath the blanket. Her ears caught on the way out and she felt delight growing at the pressure. She still had her dog-like ears. Curious, she reached down and stroked along her body toward her tail. When she felt solid skin, the delight grew despite the discomfort of raw nerves unused to being touched. The joy and discomfort peaked when she caressed her tail, stroking the silky strands with the edge of her arm.

She had a body, a solid one. She ran her wrist along it, exploring her skin as if it was her first. It felt smooth and solid, unlike the shadowy form that she pulled together. It was just like she remembered, except for a pucker of a scar above her heart from where Lemetri had burned it out of her chest.

Merrie held one hand against her scar as she continued to explore her body. She had forgotten her sense of touch and it took a moment for the sensations to come back to her; it felt like she was touching and being touched by a stranger at the same time.

Underneath her skin, her shadowy form was still there. Part of her concentration remained on it, keeping it in place to prevent it from leaking away. She was keeping herself together in spite of her skin. Curiously, she wondered if her new flesh could contain her.

Taking a deep breath, she relaxed her concentration. It felt like letting her bladder go free. The darkness inside her swelled and boiled, pressing against the insides of her skin with only a whisper of pressure. She closed her eyes and concentrated on her flesh, stroking around for any sign that she was losing her form. Her arm caressed against hard nipples and soft breasts that still felt like a stranger's. She trailed her hand down to between her legs, along the smooth mound of her sex and against the raw opening of her sex.

At the flash of pleasure and pain, she let out her breath. It felt good to touch herself, to feel her body responding once again.

A snore startled her.

She jerked and lost control of her concentration. Her shadowy body blossomed inside her skin but it held her. She panted for a moment, afraid that she was about to dissolve, but when her new body held, she let out a long whimper of relief.

"M-Mer?" A man sat up in the chair next to the bed. His dark hair was plastered against the side of his face but Merrie recognized him immediately. It was Borias, the mage and healer at the Puppy Mill. He was also a lover and a friend, though she had only seen him briefly before her fight with the goddess.

Letting out a shuddering gasp, Merrie reached out for him. The ends of her wrists couldn't grab him but she had a sudden and desperate need to touch him. Then she remembered how much she hurt touching anything and dropped her hand, her ears flattening against her head. A whine rose in her throat and she pulled back.

Magic sparked against her senses as he cast a spell. His eyes began to glow.

She flinched but then realized it was just her seeing his magic, not producing a killing light.

He turned to look at her. His smile stretched across his face as he slipped off the bed and sank to his need. "It be you, right?"

Merrie nodded and whimpered softly.

"Be thanking everyone." Borias rose up and reached out for her.

Merrie flinched.

He pulled his hand back. "Sorry, I just be excited. They found you yesterday. I be healing part of you but your body is fragile. It be just a wrapper around your... darkness."

Merrie rested her severed arm against the pucker of her wound.

Borias' eyes followed it. "I cannot be healing that. Divine magic be burning you and no mortal magic could be healing that. Are you solid?"

It would have been a strange question for anyone else. Merrie prodded her body for a second and then nodded. The movement made her dizzy and she had to lean back against the headboard for support.

Borias gasped and held out his hand. "You be okay?"

Merrie let out a gasp and nodded. She didn't think she could speak. Compared to pulling herself together every night just to burn away in the light, she was in far better shape than she could imagine. She looked at his outstretched hand for a long moment and wondered if she could risk him touching her. She didn't know if her shell, her skin, could take the pressure.

After taking a deep breath, she pressed the side of her face against his palm. As soon as they touched, the contact burned. She jerked back with a whine. Her nerves were raw like an exposed wound. Even the briefest touch hurt as much as a flame.

Borias snatched his hand back. "Oh, please be forgiving me."

Merrie nodded, tears in her eyes. She tried to gather her thoughts to project but something kept her silent.

"Your body be new. You... you... everything be new to you. It may be hurting because you have never been using it before." Borias' broken speech was the results of a geas that forced him away from Franome City. It had been cast in a hurry and it took part of his ability to speak with it.

Merrie licked her lips for a moment. She knew how to talk to him, but not with her words. She frowned as she remembered how and then reached out with her mind. She encountered a shield around his thoughts. It protected him from intrusion and spells; most people had them but powerful mages had stronger ones than most.

She pulled back and whined again.

Borias shifted and sat down on the bed. "I know it be hurting right now. And I not be knowing if the light will be hurting you, so we be taking you back to the mill."

He tensed for a moment and she remembered how violently she responded when someone tried to take her back. Fear and concern rippled in his mind and she could feel it lapping against her senses.

Merrie reached out and pressed her arm against his thigh. It hurt, a burning pain, but the touch also relaxed much of his growing fear.

"Sorry, you be cropping Havi. I be liking me arms and legs," he said with a chuckle.

Merrie blushed and ducked her head. She didn't know what she was doing when she ripped Haviston, Borias' cousin's, arm off his body. She was vulnerable to compulsions and Haviston's effort to keep her away from the mill had grown until it consumed her thoughts and she tried to kill everyone who brought her back.

"Me room be dark. I can be caring you down there until you are strong enough for sunlight. That is..." he paused, "... if you are willing to be staying with me and the others."

She remembered his room. It was deep in the basement of the mill house. There were barrels of beer that he brewed along with an entire kitchen where he made magical food. It was also dark, shadowed and muted without a single window. It was also far more comfortable than cowering under a pile of leaves. She nodded and touched him again, wincing at the pain that rose up from their touch.

Borias sniffed. He wiped his face with the back of his hand. "I be missing you, girl. Five years you be gone and we be hearing horrible things that happened to you. If I not be having all me organs burst out me asshole, I would have been coming with Bass to save you. Instead, I be staying here to avoid seeing death and having all me organs be spewing out of me nose. Though, one of them be gone now."

Merrie cocked her head, smiling at the familiar movement. Her tail twisted underneath her, but it was trapped on the pillows and her ass.

"The prince, Claston, he be taking off the death geas. I can be using real magic now, not have to be using spells and weaker charms." Borias sighed and gestured around the room. "But, I be kind be nervous since I think he be doing it right. I'm afraid to see if I can still be getting power from killing someone. Or I be dying painfully."

Merrie pushed herself up on her severed wrists to free her tail. Then, she crawled on her knees and knelt down on the bed. Her tail wagged once before drooping to the side. The position felt better, though she could feel the wagon moving underneath her. The ragged thumps and jerks was comforting, in a way.

Borias chuckled and smiled at her. "You be beautiful."

Merrie blushed and wagged her tail. She gave him a smile and arched her back slightly, lifting her heavy breasts to his view.

His desire washed against her senses and she twisted slightly knowing that it would turn him on the most. His lust brought the faintest of ripples of energy along her skin before it slid down to her pussy. Her vulva began to tingle with excitement.

"You be still an alpha? Do you still be getting power from sex?"

She thought about it for a moment. She hadn't thought about sex since she regained consciousness.

He smiled. "You be putting them lovely titties up for me. You be doing to turn me on? Or you be doing that because it be feeling good for you?"

With a shy smile, she took a deep breath and arched her back more. She spread her legs along the cool sheets until she felt the faintest touch of the lower sheet tickling against her sex. Unconsciously, she tightened her inner muscles.

"I be thinking, if you can handle the touch, maybe me be bringing you orgasm might help your body."

The thought of his mouth against her sex rose up followed by a wave of longing. At the same time, she cringed at the burning sensation that would come from his touch. She wanted it, now that he reminded her, but she didn't know if she could handle the pain.

Borias held up his hand. "No, not be pressured. I only be wanting to---"

(Please,) she projected into his mind. This time, her thoughts pierced his shield easily. At the same time, she brought her wrists up to her collar in the begging position she was taught during the early days at the mill.

He stopped with his mouth open. He slowly closed it with a choked sobbed. "I be missing you, girl. That voice be haunting me and I thought I never be hearing it again."

Borias shifted closer. "You really want me to be trying? It be hurting, your body is still new."

Merrie nodded hesitantly but she felt the longing building inside her. She inched forward on her knees, keeping them spread obscenely apart. Her slow movements brought her to the edge of the mattress. (Just a touch?)

He moaned and rubbed his hard cock through his pants. "I can be doing that. Just tell me when you need be stopping."

Borias stood up enough to slide closer before sitting on the bed. His weight sank down on the mattress.

Merrie shifting her position to avoid touching him but to have her body close him him. The anticipation, half forgotten in her agonies, rose up and she felt her pussy tingle with excitement. Her smell rose up around her, it was a strange mixture of musk and alcohol blended together.

"Tell me," whispered Borias as he reached out for her, "if it be hurting."

He carefully maneuvered his finger between her legs. His body trembled and his breath was hot against her skin as he held still for a moment. Then he touched her lightly along her vulva.

The first touch was fire, burning from the caress. Her muscles clenched and she trembled as a whine escaped her throat.

Borias snatched back.

(No,) she projected, (please.)

He looked at her, worry naked on his face. But he obeyed and brought his finger back against her smooth, hairless vulva. He hovered over her moist lips for a moment before giving a gentle stroke along one side of her pussy.

The touch was fire but so was the desire underneath it. He was right, the pleasure brought a ripple of power sparkling along her senses. She bit back her whine and focused her world on his finger as he slowly drew it up and down her slit, teasing it. The light touch was almost as much agony as being burned alive but the pleasure that blended with the pain made it bearable.

She let out a soft sigh and held herself still, enjoying every burning caress against the delicate folds of her sex.

It was dry at first, as if her body didn't know how to respond. She held her breath and sank into the pain, embracing it as she let her world focus on his digit.

Borias drew back and forth, teasing and hurting at the same time.

The tingling along her pussy grew stronger and the first smells of her sex wafted up to her. It smelled of pussy and ether, a strange mixture of scents that tickled the back of the throat. Her hips rocked against his finger but the pain caused her to cringe.

Seeing that he was looking at her with concern, she took a deep breath and leaned her damp sex against his palm.

Borias parted her lips and ran his finger along the inner opening of her sex. The burning increased as did the pleasure. He found her clitoris and circled around it. Tiny sparks of pleasure ran along her black veins, flooding through her.

With the pleasure came something else, a pulse of power. It flared inside her and then sank into her skin. She felt it shimmering around her, an invisible field of energy.

"There we be going," whispered Borias. "I can be feeling your cunt growing wet. Just a little more pain, k?"

Merrie fought against the discomfort and pressed her pussy tight against his fingers.

He stroked her gently, back and forth. After fucking so many women, he seemed to know exactly what she wanted. The pleasure grew, overwhelming the pain, and she began to pant.

She reached out for him but, at the first burning touch, she yanked her arm back. She used to brace against the headboard for balance and expose more of her body to his stroking fingers.

"This not be loving as much as I want," he whispered, "but you be a good girl."

Her inner muscles clenched at the remembered words.

"Oh, I be remembering what you like. You be liking being a good girl," he said playfully.

Her pussy spasmed again and the pleasure rose.

"Good girl," repeated Borias.

His burning fingers assaulted her clitoris and pussy, drawing through her ether-soaked lips. Inside her, the pleasure swelled inside her, rising to fill her body with the pleasure of something intense. The anticipation plucked at her senses. Between her legs, she began to drip with excitement and his fingering slurped quietly.

Merrie whimpered and clutched the headboard. Her naked body shook in the darkness, unseen by any light. She could feel the air against her aching nipples and the heavy weight of her breasts moving. Even the muscles, freshly formed from shadow and magic, strained to hold herself still as the pleasure continued to rise inside her.

His deep breathing punctuated the rapid triple-beat of her heart. Her collar thumped against her chest, matching the beat of her heart. The heavy ring that had been melted into it dug into her skin but it was nothing compared to the discomfort and pleasure of his finger teasing her.

Her whine filled the room as she held back her orgasm. It only took a few seconds longer.

Pleasure burst inside her. A black flame of intensity exploded from her clitoris and pussy and raced along her veins. Power and energy followed after it, blossoming inside her body as it sank into the shadowy mass underneath the skin and wrapped around it. She felt her form grow more solid as she cried out.

Borias yanked his hand back.

Merrie collapsed on the bed, panting heavily. Her orgasm hummed inside her, pulsating deep in her body. She felt cold and comfortable at the same time. With a happy sigh, she curled up on the pillow.

Borias pulled the blanket over her. "Good girl."

Merrie looked up at him and smiled. (Thank you.)

"I be never stopping loving you, Merrie."

She smiled again. Her eyes drooped.

"Go on, you be sleeping now. When you wake up, hopefully we be at the mill."

Chapter 6: The Mill House

Powerful arms scooped her off the bed, blankets and all. Merrie let out a gasp. She writhed and tried to escape before something attacked her.

"No, no, relax," said Eolis in a deep rumble.

She didn't stop. She pawed at the blankets, trying to find the opening to escape. She needed to breathe, she needed to move.

Eolis sighed. "For Rubin's sake... freeze!" Eolis' bellow shook her entire body and his command pummeled her mind.

Her pussy grew instantly wet as a flash of pleasure coursed along her body. She whimpered and clutched herself, obeying instantly as an orgasm rippled through her body. Captured in the confined of the blanket, she was inundated by the scent of her orgasm, alcoholic and sweet. Shuddering, she inhaled deeply and then relaxed.

Claston chuckled. "Fuck, that command was loud."

"Alphas need to obey, even if it isn't their master," explained Eolis. "Give them a strong enough command and they will do it. Or, as I suspect from the moans in here," he gave the blanket a gentle squeeze, "they will orgasm first and then obey."

"I'll have to remember that."

"With your highness' presence, I suspect you wouldn't have to yell loud. But you have to believe the command, force it. Their telepathic abilities means they can pick up when orders are not genuine."

"Like when Lady Anasome ordered Alestri to command Merrie and Merrie ignored it."

Eolis' arms stiffened. "I wasn't aware the prince was there."

"The prince," Claston said with another chuckle, "has very good reports."

The thriban grunted.

A door creaked open. "Be coming inside, please. The stairs are behind the stairs, either side."

Eolis' footsteps thumped on wooden steps. His arms were powerful as steel as they cradled Merrie. The heavy blankets prevented any light from coming inside and she wasn't sure if it was day or night when they arrived.

As he carried her through the entrance, she smelled the mill house around her. It was an old scent, one that she hadn't sniffed in over five years but the memories came rushing back. She remembered the night she was first kidnapped and raped out front. Bass had shoved his cock into her with brutal strength, showing the rest of the kidnapped bitches their fate. Later, when he took her up to the third floor, he had raped her face for using the bathroom and pretending to be human. Since then, the more she submitted, the more she acted like nothing more than a bitch, her power grew.

She craved the submission and the orders. She wanted to be told what to do, to be forced down and made helpless. Everything that ground her down make her more powerful. She squirmed in her confines and pressed one wrist against her wet and aching pussy..

Eolis carried her into the basement. She felt the cool air seeping in through the blankets and the scent of alcohol, urine, and shit tickling her senses. Borias taught the bitches how to swallow anything including noxious meals that looked far worse than they were. His room was musty but cold, something she craved.

"Little hard to see in the dark," Eolis said.

Borias said, "Take three steps forward, one more. Half a step to the left. Okay, there is a bed in front of you."

Eolis bent over and set Merrie on the bed. It was soft and comforting. She moaned and curled up under the blankets unwilling to peek out in case there was light. (Thank you,) she projected to both Eolis and Borias.

"Be safe," Eolis said as he patted her through the blankets. "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you have returned to the mill."

"Without you be killing everyone."

"Hush, Borias."

Merrie sent a pulse of thanks and affection. She felt safe in the basement. It shielded her from the light but she also was filled with the memories that came from the scents that surrounded her. They were all familiar as the day Borias first took her down there. The remembered submission warmed her and she closed her eyes.

"Come on, Eolis. We be having dinner in the great hall."

"Are you sure Bass won't mind us sleeping here?"

"No, but we be putting Claston in Bass' bed." A smaller hand pressed against her. "You be okay down here?"

Merrie let out a small pulse of contentment.

"Food? Water?"

Neither appealed to her. She shook her head.

"Can you call us up from upstairs?"

She thought for a moment, then reached out with her mind. It grew easier the more she was awake. She felt Claston, Zeob, and another man in the great hall. The third was familiar only by sight, it was Duke Natis. Eolis and Claston had powerful shields, but it was nothing compared to the skill of Borias who paled compared to Natis. She didn't even think she had a chance to project to the duke unless he wanted it. She tapped on Claston's mind and then projected, (Yell "yes" please).

A second later. "Merrie says yes!"

Borias leaned over and kissed her through the blankets. "You be showing off. Good girl."

The words brought a familiar pleasure. She smiled and closed her eyes, letting her mind drift back to sleep as the most powerful men in her life headed back upstairs to watch over her.

Chapter 7: Sweet Homecoming (MF cons tort oral anal)

Borias' snore woke her up. Merrie opened her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. She was nestled in his bed with the blankets drawn up to her breasts. Her nipples were hard and aching in the moist coolness that surrounded her. She stretched her feet out, dragging her severed ankles underneath the comforter until she found a cool spot and relaxed again.

She knew if she looked to left, she would see the entire wall filled with casks of lager. She turned her head and looked past her knees. On the far wall was a beautiful kitchen set. It was out of place with the rest of the house, but it had hundreds of tiny drawers. This time, she could see the sheaves of spells on parchment sitting on shelves. There was magic around the cooling boxes and more glowing faintly on the stove. The different colors and flavors of magic washed over her, reminding her when she was watching him cook vegetables for her while using magic to make them look like shit.

It was the first time she had someone piss into her mouth also, though he chased it with a load of cum and a glass of lager. She moaned softly at the memory of him holding her in place and guiding the beer into her mouth and down her throat.

Another snore interrupted her thoughts. She followed it to the source. It was between the bed and a brick wall where Borias slept with a blanket wrapped around him. He looked uncomfortable, sleeping on the hard-packed ground. At the same time, a swelling of affection rose inside her. He almost died for her and there was no question that he loved her as much as anyone could.

She smiled to herself. He would have been a good master to her. His mother begged her not to consider him, and Merrie obeyed the former wizard priest, but looking down at him and recalling all the sweet things he did for her, she couldn't help but wonder what life would be like if he was the one the collar bound her to instead of herself.

Merrie sent a pulse of love through her collar. It came back magnified, a wave of love that coursed through her body in a lazy wave of pleasure. She smiled and then rolled over on her stomach. Her short limbs made it hard to move but she inched over to the edge and then reached down with one hand to brush against his face.

The touch was fire against her raw nerves but she didn't care. She did it again, caressing his chin before sending out a soft pulse of warmth with her mind.

Borias snorted and froze, his eyes snapping open.

(Come to bed.)

Borias yawned. "No, the floor be comfortable."

Her tail wagged back and forth. (Now, I need you.)

He raised an eyebrow but then stood up. He wore only a pair of shorts and she took a moment to admire his slender body. He was beautiful, though scarred from all his years in Abbinkey Prison and solitary. She glanced down to his shorts. (You won't need those either.)

"You be sure?" Even as he spoke, he hooked his thumbs on the waistband. His cock grew instantly, swelling out the front. Moments later, she could smell his musky excitement in the air.

She stared at it and felt the familiar hunger coming back. It would hurt, but most of her life was about pain. What she needed down was to be fucked. She needed sweet and loving. Lifting her gaze, she projected her desires to him.

Borias answered by pulling down his shorts and kicking them off. He had a beautiful cock. It stood out straight from his body with only a little curve going up. His balls, two hair ones, hung underneath thought they were tight to his body because of the cold. He stroked it twice before crawling on the bed.

Merrie stared at his body and held out her arm. The smooth end hovered centimeters away from his body. Taking a deep breath, she touched him.

The caress was fire against her senses but she relented. She drew her body close to him as he settled into place. Every touch burned but she welcomed it as she snuggled against his body.

Borias reached down to kiss her forehead.

She tilted her head up to match his lips. When they touched, it was an electric fire that burned across her senses. She gasped and kissed him back, loving the contrast of his hot body against her cold lips.

It didn't matter if it hurt or not, she lost herself in the passion of the kiss. She caressed his arm, enjoying the muscle underneath, then used the tip to lever his arm away from his body and around her.

His palm against her shoulder brought fresh waves of agony but she felt better as he held her tight. She lost herself in the pulses of pain and pleasure that filled her, both seemed to pool in her pussy and she grew slick with need.

He broke the kiss and whispered to her, "Do you want me to fuck you as a bitch or a woman?"

Merrie answered by rolling on her back and spreading her legs. The cool air of the basement swirled around and she shivered at the touch. She felt exposed and vulnerable to him as she looked up at his body next to her. Her pussy tingled with desire and she felt the desire for his cock gathering deep inside her cunt.

Borias let out moan as he rolled over her, careful not to touch her. He looked down her body for a long moment before shifting away from her. His muscular ass rose up as he lowered himself to his elbows between her legs.

She held her breath as he brought his lips to her moist vulva.

The first touch of his tongue against her pussy was electric fire. It slammed into her, pleasure and pain. She let out a cry and slapped her arms against the mattress. She couldn't grab anything, but she could delve her limbs underneath the pillow as she focused on the wet tongue laving her from asshole to clitoris and back again.

Borias knew exactly how to lick her pussy. He dragged it back up and sucked on her clitoris. When she whimpered, he released it with a pop and lapped further down to tease her opening.

Merrie writhed on the bed, whimpering with need and the pleasure built up inside her. It was hard to resist, every touch was like the first time a man had touched her. But this was a man who knew exactly what she needed instead of some teenager fumbling at her jeans.

The only part of his body touching her was his tongue. He swirled it around and sucked at the opening of her pussy.

She planted her legs on his shoulder. The pain flashed through her mind and she grew even hotter. Whimpering, she arched her back and sent a pulse of desire coursing through his mind.

Borias shuddered and finally grabbed her. His hand seared his skin as he spread her legs obscenely apart and lapping harder and faster. The slurps filled the room, echoing the pleasure that wracked her senses.

He lifted her ass from the mattress and delved further down, slobbering against her asshole before shoving his tongue into it.

The wet pressure inside her sphincter pushed her over the edge. She let out a cry and let the orgasm slam into her, burning its way through her black veins and throughout her body. The magic from her ecstasy gathered along her limbs, giving them more strength and solidity that she didn't have before.

Borias continued to lap at her ass, licking hard and fast.

Before she knew it, another orgasm slammed into her. She moaned and ground her ass against his face using his hands around her severed limbs for angle. The pleasure of having her sphincter opened up by a wet tongue was almost too much to bear. She moaned and felt her mind shaking in its foundation from her pleasure. She knew that her orgasms could be more powerful and give her more energy, only if she came harder.

(Fuck me,) she ordered.

Borias looked up. His face would have glistened in the light, but she could only see it was damp. He smelled of whiskey and her pussy. Without a word, he spread her legs enough to hook them on his hips and crawled up her body.

She reached out for him, caressing his chest with the smooth ends of her arms. The pain grew but she wallowed in it, enjoying it as a precursor to the pleasure she was about to enjoy. Her breath came out in soft gasps mixed with whimpers of need.

Borias panted as he positioned himself, his cock poised millimeters from her soaked pussy.

Every point their bodies touched, from her inner thighs to her arms on his chest, burned. She felt it rise and fall, almost overwhelming.

He hesitated but she sent a pulse of need through his mind. He shuddered and rocked his hips forward. His cock pressed against her pussy and easily slid into the slick folds. It bumped against her clitoris and slid down, dragging along sensitive skin as he sought out her opening. His head was swollen and shiny pulsing with his desire. She could feel it through the vibrations of his heart against her nerves and the way he held her tightly with his fingers.

Merrie gasped and arched her back, silently begging for him to hurt her by sucking on her nipples.

Borias braced himself on the bed and pushed harder, driving his cock into her pussy.

It was the first time her new body had taken a cock. Even her insides burned with the rawness but it also felt good. She needed it, she craved to feel hardness inside her. With a moan, she lifted her hips to meet him, using his hips to pull herself up. Her smooth body, freshly made by magic, slid along his rougher skin and she moaned at the touch.

He pushed deeper, a single slide that brought almost his entire length into her.

Merrie cried out. She felt the entire length burning inside her but wanted more. "P-Please," she whispered in her broken voice.

Borias jammed his cock deep into her body, splaying her legs out obscenely in the effort. She didn't resist and almost came from having his hot, throbbing cock buried so deep inside her.

He drew out and drove it back home, quickly establishing a fast and hard stroke that filled her completely. His muscles flexed with every stroke that ended with his hips slapping against her inner thighs; her entire body slid up from the impact. Bursts of pleasure and pain warred inside her body, stealing her breath away as he drove into her.

She stared up into his eyes, seeing love and compassion in them. He was a silent lover but one that had her every pleasure in mind as he drove into her without slowing down.

As the ecstasy built, Merrie squeezed down his length with her inner muscles. The friction added to her pleasure but didn't increase the pain. She clamped down even harder and whimpered for more.

Her needs leaked out form her own shield and she felt others beginning to pick up on her own lusts. The first was Zeob in the wagon who was being fucked by Eolis. Claston and Eolis both responded by it wasn't as intense as the orgasm that left Zeob splattering his cum all over the sheets.

Borias grunted as his thrusts grew faster. "You... be.... coming?"

Merrie moaned and nodded. (Harder.)

He rammed into her, thrusting hard. It hurt, every centimeter of his cock plunging into her soaked hole was agony but she craved it as much as the pleasure. She needed to be hurt, beaten, fucked roughly.

Another orgasm rose inside her, a cliff of ecstasy that threatened to explode inside her. She held it back until it was a knife edge against her senses.

Borias let out a grunt and then flooded her pussy with his seed. The hot jets became a wave of agony as it painted her insides. Every touch brought more pain but it also overwhelmed her battered senses lifted them to heights she wasn't expecting before she exploded with an orgasm of herself.

Her pleasure rippled away from her, slamming into the others in the mill. She felt Claston coming in his hand and Eolis spewing his load deep into Zeob's rectum. Borias also came again, adding the flood of juices that poured into her and set her insides afire. Even Boz responded, though she didn't know what he was doing.

The only two not affected were the duke and Alestri. Neither seemed to respond, though Merrie knew there was no submissiveness in the Loyal to ever let her power hold sway.

Borias shuddered as the last of his burning cum poured into her pussy. Then he pulled out with a grunt and drew away from her.

Merrie moaned at the burning inside her. The afterglow throbbed deep inside her body as she shifted to the side and gave Borias space to lie down without touching her.

"You be okay?"

She shivered from the discomfort flooding her pussy. (Yes,) she said and meant it.

He kissed her once, a brand against her shoulder, before wrapping her in a blanket. "Be safe tonight, k?"

Merrie smiled and projected love toward him.

Borias wrapped himself in a blanket and rested next to her. The fabric didn't burn like his skin, only his naked touch. He chuckled and held her tight with the blankets between them. "Tomorrow, I be taking care of you."

Merrie smiled and closed her eyes. Even with his cum burning her insides, it felt good to have the glow of pleasure pulsating inside her. It made her feel like she could change the world. Or least herself.

Chapter 8: Wake-Up (MF oral ws)

Merrie woke up to a tingling in the back of her head, a sense that the man next to her was waking up. She opened her eyes and peered around the pitch black room, her eyes easily seeing through the dark. She breathed in the cool scenes of lagers, magic, and man before pushing herself up to her knees and wrists.

Her breath came quietly as she let her senses play over Borias' mind and body. He was still dreaming in the half-lucid state before he woke up fully. His body was stretched out on the bed with his blankets around his knees and his bare chest exposed to the cool air.

Life on the mill was hard. He didn't have heavy lifting but years of manhandling kidnapped girls and breaking them into a life of being a bitch had refined his muscles. Not to mention he cannibalized his own body for the small amount of magic that he was able to use.

She focused her senses on his talents. The last time they were close enough for her to inspect him, she was still learning magic. Now, after two masters and her improved skills, she could see the pulse of power beneath his skin. It was an alluring swirl of arcane powers, dancing among itself with such potential. It felt wild and structured at the same time, like waves on a beach that never stopped lapping up on the sand.

It was beautiful, more so with the contrast of his geas. The geas was a nasty knot that tied into every part of his body. It was attached to his very spirit and bound his body into place. Threads of the black spell were jammed into the swirls of his very being and she could see where it had torn through his powers. It also was anchored into his mind, cutting through his ability to speak. There was no elegance to the geas, just a spell that was brutally bound into him with no care for the restrictions.

From what she heard, the geas was the price when Bass broke Borias out of Abbinkey. She couldn't imagine what happened that would force the geas on him, or why not returning to Franome City was important enough to kill him if he broke it, but it was there, threaded into his spirit, body, and magic to ensure he never returned home.

Merrie knew that he had a second geas on him, the prison one that all mages got. It was supposed to tie into their magic and prevent them from tapping into the one thing that gave them strength. She remembered how Rakin had it put on him during his sentencing; it ensured he would never get angry again or die horribly but both Merrie and Rakin knew that he would never be able to feel rage again, not after their brutal rape of each other.

Her pussy grew wet at the memories. As much as Rakin hated her and she feared him, he was one of the few people in the world who could truly be her master. He was a legend for his magic and tactics, a three hundred year old warrior who could have taken over the world. He was also brutal, intelligent, and powerful. He knew how to command her, how to degrade and humiliate her until her powers blossomed.

With the alpha's ability to enhance their masters, he would have ruled the world. She let her mind drift through the imagination of the brutal rape and destruction he would inflict on her, but also the raw power that he would use to conqueror the known world. She would have been a bitch queen, the right hand of an immortal man who could destroy the entire Franome Army in hours.

Her pussy drooled with excitement, though the images was terrifying. She knew that he would have corrupt her, not only in the moment they bonded but as they both grew in power. He would torture her and push her to the very limits her mind and body could handle and she would reflect that brutality into turning him into a god. She would have become cruel herself, mimicking her master's powers until she would be feared as much as he was.

Merrie shook her head to stop her thoughts. She had a master, he was beautiful and kind. He wasn't, however, a good master for alpha. He didn't even know what one was, but she had his power inside her. The triple beat of the shadows thumped in her chest and flowed through her veins. She knew that she would bleed black now, the energies of the other reality corrupting her as it leeched the life out of her.

Both were powerful but neither were her life now. She would always be a creature of shadow, her gift from Kine, but she was her own mistress and alpha at the same time. Like the geas, her spirit was bound in on itself, endlessly ordering and obeying herself as the power surged inside through her collar.

Merrie looked back at Borias, curious to see what the prison geas looked like. She didn't find it though. She expected it to be another knot of power tied into his very being but she only found gaping wounds in his power that were beginning to heal. The energies were raw and unfocused, bleeding out into the air around him. His normally powerful shields were fractured from the leakage and errant energy washed over her body like a thousand fingers caressing her skin.

Her tail wagged back and forth as she watched and felt it dance along her senses. It was wilder than he had ever been. Over time, it would heal and he would once again be a powerful healer and blood mage. This time, though, he would be able to delve into the power that came from cannibalism and use that death to create far more powerful spells. She could feel it, the desire for women begging him to take their lives and the sweetness that came from the first knife wound and the last breath.

Her body grew hotter with her thoughts. Her pussy drooled down both sides of her legs and soaked into the mattress below her. He had shown her some of his memories before and she brought them up to remember the intensity of lust and hunger that echoed through them.

His cock twitched and grew to half mast. He was submissive enough that she could read the half-waking thoughts of his body. He had to pee, like most guys, but he dreamed of the bitches that he trained before. They had orders how to wake him up, it was part of their training that Merrie remembered herself, though she was given far more leeway than the rest of them. Her visit to Borias' room was to shield her, not to train her.

Licking her lips, she decided to finish her training from five years before. Settling on the mattress next to him, she brought her lips to his cock and kissed it lightly. Flares of heat caressed her lips, the agony burning her face.

His cock grew harder.

She pushed past the pain of touching him and levered her head so she could scoop up the tip of his cock and hold it between her lips. It felt like a hot pepper against her tongue but she ordered herself to ignore the pain and sucked lightly.

The command came through her collar, an order that she couldn't resist. She knew it was be agony to wrap her lips around his shaft but the anticipation brought a surge of lust coursing as she submitted to the command. She opened her mouth and sealed her lips around the ridge behind his glans. The agony increased and she fought the whimper rising in her throat.

The cock grew harder in her lips, lengthening and stiffening rapidly.

With a smile, she bobbed up and down. Saliva gathered in her mouth and she used it to lubricate his shaft before sliding it deeper into her mouth. The warmth and hardness in her lips threatened to bring up a moan, but she kept quite as she explored his beautiful cock. It was long and smooth, with a few ridges for his veins and a relatively narrow head at the top. It didn't take her long before she was sliding her lips up and down his entire length. She stopped with her nose buried in his pubic hair and took a deep breath of his musk.

A thrill coursed through her body. She turned slightly and pulled up, taking her time to draw her lips to the very top before pushing back down. The searing of their touch only added to the thrill coursing through her veins.

His cock thumped against the back of her throat and she reflexively gulped to swallow it so she could take his entire length once again. She pressed her lips tight against his base and felt the hairs on his balls tickling the side of her lips.

Borias was awake. She could feel his attention and lust burning in her mind but he was trying not to move.

She wagged her tail and let her entire ass move with it. Reaching out, she pressed the smooth ends of her wrists against his chest and thigh to brace herself. Taking a deep breath, she bobbed harder and faster, smacking her face against his belly as she took his cock deep into her mouth.

He moaned and pre-cum flooded inside her mouth. "That be feeling good."

She wagged her tail harder and shoved all the way down, grinding her face tight against his pubic and swallowing the pre-cum that dribbled down her throat.

He shuddered with pleasure.

She resumed pumping his cock, laving it with her tongue as she fucked it with her face. The willing submission sent ripples of pleasure through her as she continued to drool around his shaft. Her pussy was also dribbling down both sides of her thighs, soaking the sheets; she always got soaking wet when she submitted to anyone. The anticipation of the agony only added to her excitement and she could feel her entire sexy tingling with aching need.

He reached out for her and stroked his soft hands against her thigh as he reached for her pussy.

Merrie didn't stop pumping. An image flashed through her mind, either from him or her own imagination, but she liked it. Without taking her mouth off his cock, she lifted her body and turned around until she straddled his face. Her pussy continued to splatter down but she heard it splash against his face.

His breath was hot against her bare pussy. It contrasted with the icy touch of her skin and she moaned at the touch.

Her pussy dripping, she held herself centimeters over his face. She knew that she was dripping on him but she could feel his lust rippling from his mind as her juices coated his lips.

She settled down on him, grinding her large breasts against his belly. Her nipples caressed his stomach and it felt like claws digging into her sensitive tips. The touch of their bodies was painful but less. It seemed that it was only a discomfort, something easily pushed over in the growing intensity of the moment. She smiled to herself and spread her legs wider.

"Breakfast?" Borias said with a grin and reached up to cup her buttock with one hand and the base of her tail with the other. "I be liking to drink me meals."

She shivered at the sensation, her tail was sensitive. Willingly, she lowered her pussy down his mouth.

His cock surged with hardness as his lips pressed against her cunt. He lapped deep into the soaked folds, smearing her moisture across his face and sending sharp agonies radiating from her pussy.

Merrie finally moaned and ground down, shoving her entire hairless cunt hard against his mouth and nose as she bobbed faster and harder. More pre-cum poured out of his cock and she gulped it down greedily as she deep-throated him repeatedly.

Borias joined in, alternating between licking every folds of her vulva and sucking on her clitoris. His fingers caressed her asshole, teasing it and circling it as he assaulted her sex with a well-practiced tongue.

Pleasure blossomed inside her, coursing through her veins as the orgasm rippled through her body. The pain only added to her pleasure, pushing the orgasm to higher limits. She kept her pleasure tight in her head so he wouldn't be forced into an orgasm. She wanted to feel him come from nothing more than their bodies pressed together and their lips on each other.

His cock grew harder and his hips thrust faster past her lips. He didn't bother telling her that he was about to come, she felt it boiling in his thoughts as he strained to hold it back.

Merrie ground her aching nipples against his stomach and came again, enjoying the struggles and submission. Her juices came out in a flood and his body shook from the effort to gulp them down.

The cock grew hotter, almost searing. Her lips slid up and down it as it swelled inside her mouth, straining the tight ring. With a single surge, it exploded inside her mouth. Hot cum painted the back of her throat and she greedily gulped it down as a third orgasm wracked her body. The salty taste was one that she never grew tired of and she suckled his cock as it continued to pump hot jets into her mouth.

Borias moaned and thrust hard with his hips. He planted his feet on the mattress and thrust hard a few times before holding it in place, emptying his balls deep into her mouth. His tongue never stopped sucking on her clitoris and she felt every gulp shake through their bodies.

Slowly, their thrusts and grinding slowed to a stop. She let his cock rest in her mouth but pulled her soaked pussy off his face. The slurp noise of her breaking the seal brought a smile to her lips and she rested her head to the side to enjoy the afterglow of her orgasms.

"I be missing that."

Merrie sucked one to answer.

He jumped. "Carefully, we not be having a bitch in here for a year since... you be going away. I'm not used to pretties waking me up like this anymore."

(I'm sorry.)

"I be sorry and I not be sorry. Bass always be pretending to be evil, but now he's a baron and in charge of an evil man's farm. He doesn't have to be pretending to be evil. Plus, you know, he be wanted in Franome City for kidnapping that perfume lady."

(But he was protecting her against Gillette's men.)

"Reality and the courts don't always agree." A wave of sadness throbbed inside him; he was convicted of snuffing a girl who wanted to be, all because her father refused to let it go. "Though, eventually that be changing."

Merrie's ears perked up. She knew why the second geas was missing. (You were pardoned.)

Borias stiffened. "How you be knowing?"

(The geas is missing, ripped out. I can feel where it is healing.)

It was as if something drained out of him and he slumped back. "Oh, thank you."

At her quizzical pulse, he cleared his throat. "I know Claston be saying he be pardoning me, but I be living with this geas for so long, I not be thinking he could do it. I be still terrified of seeing a girl die, though now I really be wanting it. It be a long time since I be killing someone."

Merrie smiled and released his cock to kiss the top. (I'm almost immortal now.)

His cock twitched.

(I can be killed but I always come back.)

The length grew against her cheek, a burning brand that she adored. She kissed the side of the shaft. It was still moist from his orgasm and she lapped up a bit of cum that cling to the ridges.

(I want you to be the first one.)

"Didn't the goddess---"

(The first mortal to kill me. I want it sweet and beautiful, with lots of fucking, submission, and domination.)

His cock surged against her face, a splatter of cum smearing against it. "Oh, Merrie."

She kissed it again, lapping the cum that oozed out of the tip.

"But, we should be waiting until both of us recover."

Merrie sent a wave of agreement.

They both rested against each other. Merrie let her eyes drop against the throb of discomfort of their touching. The longer they embraced, the less it hurt.

Borias squirmed after a few moments. "I need to get up."

She could feel why, the prickle of his bladder was already rising in his senses. She smiled to herself and held herself still. (Why?) she projected as casually as she could. The only thing that betrayed her emotions was the growing wetness between her legs. The other bitches knew exactly what to do, he was the one who trained them to swallow anything presented to them.

"I gotta be going pee, k?"

Merrie opened her mouth and scooped up his cock again. It was still half-hard and she easily seated her lips against his base.

The shock and lust that exploded from Borias made her smile. She felt him concentrating on his bladder, preparing to relax to let the urine flow. "You be sure?"

She gave him a suck. (This is what your bitches do, right? Gulp it down?)

"You're an omega, the most powerful True Submissive anyone ever be knowing. You not always be following the rules."

(I'm a bitch serving her master. What does my master want to do?)

He moaned. "I be wanting..."

His cock throbbed and swelled between her lips. "I be wanting to fill your belly."

She moaned around his cock and made sure not a single drop would escape.

With another moan, he slumped back. The sensations and emotions rose inside him, he was well practiced from going between hardness and urinating at the same time. It was only seconds before a hot jet of urine shot into her mouth. The acrid taste flooded around her tongue and ran down her throat in a thick river.

Knowing it was coming, Merrie was already sucking it when it flooded her mouth. The heat poured down her throat and into her stomach, filling her as another orgasm rippled through her body. She gulped loudly, knowing that it would turn him on more, and drank from his cock until the steady stream slowed. She opened her mouth enough to let some cool air in, and then sucked his piss hole to ensure every droplet was safely in her now gurgling belly. The taste of his pee coated her tongue and she inhaled to drink in the sharp tastes.

Borias chuckled. "I don't think you ever be waking me up like that."

Merrie moaned and fought the urge to plaster her cunt back on his face.

"Though..." His thoughts grew smoldering with lust. His shields grew together as he tried to obscure his thoughts.

Merrie's ears and tail perked up. Her tail wagged back and forth.

"... I be thinking that you need the same?"

Merrie froze. She could picture it in her head, her straddling his face as she peed into his mouth. A surge of heat filled her, no one had ever done it to her before though she had frequently been a toilet slut for Rimmy before.

Borias laughed and hooked his arms over her buttocks. "Come here, alpha. I want to be drinking my breakfast."

He pulled her down to his mouth. His tongue swirled around her opening and teased her clitoris before he lapped at the tiny hole of her urethra. The discomfort of his touch swirled with the growing pleasure. The sensations were intense and it added a flame of desire to the smoldering heat boiling inside her.

Merrie gasped and pushed herself up, angling until she had her entire weight grinding down on his face. She knew not to ask for confirmation, his thoughts already told her everything she wanted.

She watched as his cock grew hard and aching. It took her only a moment to concentrate on releasing her bladder. When it did, she felt the icy liquid pouring out of her into his mouth. Where he was hot and searing, she was cold as icy.

His grip tightened and he gulped loudly, drinking as she peed into his mouth. There was an intimacy in their position, his helplessness and her domination pushe her toward another orgasm. She let out a tiny cry and ground down, rocking back and forth as he kept his lisp tightly sealed against her intimate of places. Her juices soaked his face. She felt every gulp as he drank down her piss, each swallow shaking her body and sending intense waves of pleasure coursing through her body.

It took her a long while to empty herself into his mouth. When she finished, she had come more than once. Panting, she lifted herself and he gave her one last lick to leave her glistening from asshole to urethra to clitoris in a single blow.

With a moan, Merrie slipped to the side and turned around. She nestled her body up against his, their lips nearly touching. The taste of her pee was on his breath, but it wasn't urine that she smelled but alcohol and ether.

"It be cold," he whispered.

(Everything inside me is cold now. I'm not human anymore.)

"No, but you be just as beautiful." He kissed her. "Though I be disagreeing, you not be tasting like smoke and whiskey to me."

(What do I taste like?)

"Beautiful," he said with a smile. "And also like Belkim wine be called sake. It be made from rice and has this tingle in the back of me throat. That be what you taste like."

(I've never had it before.)

"I should be getting you some. You bet you be liking it."

She smiled broadly and sent a pulse of love toward him.

"I be loving that smile. Even without magic, it be the only thing I can see."

Merrie hesitated, confusion in her thoughts.

"Your lips, they be glowing."

She stared at him in shock.

Borias pulled away long enough to pick up a mirror from the side table. Bringing it over, he held it in front of her.

Merrie stared at her image. It had been a while since she looked at herself. Her face was still beautiful but it was missing the signs of her age. There was no lines around her eyes or the sight of anything other than a young woman in her late teens or early twenties staring back. The problem was that she was twenty-nine years old, not nineteen.

Her thoughts caused her ears to shake. They were sticking out of the side of her head but they weren't human anymore. Instead, they were narrow edges with tufts of white hair at the tips. She remembered when she earned her ears at the mill and how they have been a part of her ever since.

She drew her attention to her lips. They were just as she remembered but they sparkled with a pale white glow. As she watched, she could see energy rolling across them, causing a strange but hypnotic pattern to dance along every curve. In her mind, she could feel a different type of energy pulsing along them, divine power, the power of a goddess.

"I be thinking that when you be biting Lemetri, you got some of the goddess' blood on your lips."

Merrie pursed her lips and then parted them. She licked them and tasted brightness against her tongue. It was Lemetri's. She had tasted a goddess' blood and it had marked her. It didn't burn like the rest of light but was a balm against her fading discomfort.

"Now, I be sure the rest of you not be glowing."

She looked up and smiled.

"Though, I be willing to inspect you much more. Claston and the others be leaving yesterday, Bass and the others not be back for a week. I be thinking we could spend that time seeing if we can be getting you use to the light. And maybe be fucking a little."

Gathering up her pleasure, she let it wash over him. It sank into his skin and thoughts.

"Or, we be fucking a lot."

She grinned at him and wagged her tail.

"Yeah, we be doing that too. But occasionally I must be going out to dump it. We can't drink forever." Images from his head rose up, back when she was first learning how to be a bitch. They were out in the front yard as he guided her to raise her leg and pee on the ground.

She projected the memories from her point of view, the rush of submission as she spread her legs while he watched.

His cock surged to full hardness. A low moan shook the bed.

Merrie smirked. (Good boy.)

Chapter 9: Senses (F-solo magic anal)

Merrie stretched out on Borias' bed and let out a content sigh. Her stomach gurgled with hot cum and hotter food. The rest of her body hummed with the afterglow from a quick series of orgasms before Borias had to return upstairs to finish his chores for the day.

She knew that it would take him a few hours. By then, the sun would have gone down and they could risk taking her out into the front yard to pee outside and get some fresh air. They tried bringing her upstairs the day before, but even with all the curtains drawn, it was still too bright. She shuddered at the blinding and burning light that leaked through the cracks of the windows.

Rolling over on her belly, she spread her legs as far wide as they would go and wagged her tail. She could wait. The darkness felt good against her skin. With a soft moan, she lifted her hips and let the cool air caress her damp pussy.

She considered masturbating again, but she didn't want to move. It felt good to have her breasts grinding against the mattress and her arms pressed against the pillows. It gave her a sense of presenting herself to unseen eyes which gave her a little thrill. She adjusted her body slightly, her knees sliding along the sheets, as she tried to present herself perfectly for a mistress who couldn't possibly see her from that angle.

With a grin, she tried to imagine what Borias saw when he came into the room. She knew she had a tight ass from so many years of crawling on her hands and knees. She used to pace back and forth in Kine's mansion for exercise. It wouldn't be long before she would have to do the same in the basement. She imagined the curve of her back and the rise of her shoulder blades. She swished her tail, rocking her hips back and forth just to enjoy the friction of her swollen labia as it rubbed against each other. At the right moment, her opening split wide enough for the cool air to caress her clitoris and opening.

In her mind's eyes, the image came clearly. She was beautiful and helpless, a cropped bitch laying on the bed waiting for her master. She could even seen how her pussy lips parted slightly with her position, giving just a hint of the delicate opening underneath. She imagined a droplet forming on her pussy before it slid down her folds.

To her surprise, she felt the droplet caressing her nerves at the same time that she saw it.

She moaned at the sensation.

Instead of hearing it from the vibrations through her body, she heard it from a distance.

Merrie moaned again, wagging her tail faster. She could imagine it directly, see it actually. She followed the movement of her white tail rocking back and forth, snapping in the air. The wind of her movement didn't caress her naked ass and back but buffeted against her body a meter away from her heart-shaped rear.

Elation poured through her.

Her concentration wavered and her senses pulled toward her body, sliding in the air before they began to sink back into her own body. She gasped and forced her concentration to hold it still. To her surprise, it stopped just as her sense of vision was only centimeters away from her glistening pussy.

With a grin, she admired her sex like no woman could. Then, with an effort, she imagined the focal point sliding through the air back to its original position a meter behind her ass and cunt.

She tried to use her eyes to look back but couldn't. The senses that were cast away from her no longer functioned from inside her body. She couldn't hear the triple beat of her heart or see anything besides her body.

With her mental might, she turned the focal point of her senses around. It was as if she was standing as she scanned the room, seeing it from a higher position than possible with her severed limbs. She smiled broadly to herself and concentrated on moving the focus of her senses again.

It was easier now that she understood how it worked but it took energy to move it. Her senses---the knot of hearing, sight, and touch---flowed through the air. She tried to pull them apart, to see if she could cast them in separate directions, but they remained locked together. She managed to guide her focus into the corner and then looked back at herself.

It was surreal watching herself from the gap between two beer barrels. At the same time, there was a thrill as she looked at herself as a stranger, seeing her body as someone else would see it. Her vision roamed over her skin, drinking in the sight of her severed legs, flowing hair, and large breasts. She wanted herself, desired it more than anything else.

She smiled and an idea came to her.

Merrie gathered her energy and shaped it into a spell that she knew by heart, an intuitive form that had helped her through many years as an extension of her body. From a distance, she could see the black energies gathering along her body, rippling from her skin and orifices. It coalesced above her, spreading out in ribbons of darkness that quickly blossomed into a rippling fabric of her unconsciousness, her cloak.

With effort, she managed to bring her senses to above her ass, imagining it was some snake-like beast that loomed over her and stared at her with lust. The cloak shaped itself to match her imagination, forming a long tendril with two points of utter darkness for eyes. The two spells merged together, her senses snapping into the body of the cloak and sealing into place. The effort to maintain both effects faded into a single one, one that required almost no effort to keep stable; she had used the cloak for many years without realizing it and it felt like a part of her very being.

She shook the cloak and her vision moved with it. She smiled as she imagined it above her and then guided it down to stroke along her thigh. The feather-light touch, the touch of Shadows, was alluring and seductive. Like seeing herself from a different point of view, the touch was a stranger's, different and unexpected.

She moaned and lifted her ass further from the mattress.

In her mind, her pussy lips spread open in quiet invitation. She reached out with her cloak and grabbed her buttocks, jumping when she felt it through her own skin. The wonderful touch was hard and cruel as it pried her open, exposing her dusky anus and drooling cunt to her own hungry gaze.

More of the cloak rippled against her body, stroking her clitoris to asshole with unnatural waves of pressure. Her pleasure grew from the touch and she could smell her excitement in the air, she wondered if she really did taste like Borias' sake.

She thrust up, silently begging for the cloak. She tried to clench her cheeks together, but the sharp grip of the cloak kept her forced open. She was vulnerable and helpless, only half sure of what she would do.

With another part of her mind, she send the commands. The dual nature of being an alpha and a mistress at the same time made it easy to view the cloak as her mistress and her bitch form as the alpha. The commands raced through the collar and then came back as her mistress. It took no effort to imagine it was the cloak giving the orders, not herself.

Merrie cried out into the pillow as she waited for anticipation. She wasn't even sure who was giving the cloak orders anymore, but she didn't care.

It struck. Her vision blurred as it drove deep into her sphincter, piercing it with only the bluntest of tips. It drove deep, almost a quarter meter before yanking out.

Merrie's entire body shook with the intense pleasure that slammed into her. She clutched the pillow, using her arms to shove it into her face.

The cloak stuck again, impaling her ass. With every stroke, it grew thicker and harder. It twisted together as it punched into her sphincter, the ridges of each loop riding against her sphincter as it forced her open.

She shuddered and cried out again, losing herself in the growing pleasure that formed as the cloak impaled her again and again.

The cloak continued to thicken with each thrust, more of its body joining the coil that impaled her asshole. She could see the tiny opening beginning to gape open between the rapid fire strokes that filled her deeply before yanking out. Her vision bobbed with each stroke, bringing her closer and closer to the impaled asshole.

Merrie's stomach thumped against the mattress as the cloak reached deeper into her body. She could feel the girth, now two fingers wide, as it thrust deep into her rectum and to the curve of her insides. The welcoming thump at the gate was a blast of discomfort and pleasure. She moaned and pushed herself to her knees, holding herself up as she begged her own cloak to fuck her harder.

It swelled as it obeyed her command. Soon, she felt her nether ring beginning to strain underneath the girth of the intruding cock. It didn't need lubrication, it was smoother than any mortal fabric. It drove deep with little resistance but she felt every ripple of cloth and darkness as it raced past her straining asshole.

When it hit the curve of her rectum, it simply bent and followed it deeper. It burrowed far into her organs, swelling her belly and making it hard to breathe before yanking out. As it did, her tiny little hole gaped open. It began to close but then the cloak was already impaling her again. She felt it curve almost up to her lungs before yanking out. Every ridge of its twist rubbed against her sphincter, sending bolts of pleasure coursing through her system.

Her body protested the intrusion. The cloak was almost as thick as her forearm and it plunged deep into her body. Her insides strained around it, stretching like a glove as it took meter-long thrusts into her body. Each one filled her completely before sucking out.

She moaned as she remembered how the cloak would pour into her enemies' mouths and noses before ripping out of their chest. The intimacy wasn't lost on her; if she lost control, it would drive so far into her ass that it could come bursting past her lips.

Merrie came hard at the thought of the cloak fucking her from sphincter to lips. At the same time, she was terrified of it but the image of it filling her to the point of bursting as it pumped in and out was too much. She screamed loudly into the pillow as her body exploded into black flames of ecstasy.

Her shields crumbled under the onslaught of her own orgasm. It rippled out from her, an unconscious wave of pleasure that easily shattered the wards to Borias' room and spread through the rest of the mill. There was only one person nearby, but that only meant the full brunt of her orgasm focused on him.

She felt his orgasm like a flame in the darkness. It exploded and rippled back with pleasure of her own. She welcomed it and felt his orgasm slam into her own. It added to her own pleasure as she writhed on the bed with her own cloak impaling her ass.

Shuddering, Merrie held herself up off the bed until the last of the pleasure faded. Then, with a happy sigh, she let the cloak pull out of her tortured ass and thumped down. The pulse of her afterglow ran through her veins as she let her focus remained on the cloak, watching a sated bitch spread out on the bed.

Above her, the front door to the mill house thumped open. "You be a bitch!" bellowed Borias. It sounded like he was smiling.

She wanted to see him. Before she realized it, the cloak had taken her senses as it raced up along the ceiling, fluttering as it floated across the boards until it found a tiny crack between the floorboards above her. Her vision and hearing both blurred as it squeezed through but then sharpened as it blossomed back into shape underneath one of the couches in a sitting room.

Light streamed through the curtains. It blinded her but didn't burn. Instead, it cast most of the room into a hellish glare that hurt to focus on. Fortunately, the front door was shadowed by curtains.

Borias stood there, his hand down his jeans. He had a smile on his lips as he pulled out his hand. Cum dripped off his grip. He sniffed at it and then wiped it on his jeans. "She need to be learning how to shield again. I can't be coming when I'm working with tools like that. Might be cutting off my dick."

With a grin, he headed for the back stairs.

The cloak followed, dragging Merrie's senses along it as it found a shadowed spot underneath a cabinet and then around the stairs. When he opened the door, she saw the inky darkness of the basement as a welcoming comfort. There was no glare of light blinding her down there.

As soon as Borias headed down the stairs, she sent the cloak flowing after him. It accelerated in the darkness and she used it to slide under the door. When it wrapped around her, she found it easy to release the spell that let her cast her senses away and they settled back into her familiar icy body.

With a gasp, her vision cleared and she could see again.

A throbbing in her chest drove her to crawl to her knees and pull her arms up to her collar. The icy metal thumped against the ends of her severed limbs, reminding her that she was submissive to any master, even Borias.

The door slammed open. There was the dimmest of lights behind him, he had forgotten to close the basement door, and it haloed his body with brilliance.

Merrie winced at the light, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Bitch."

Her pussy pulsed with the dominating tone.

"You be making me come."

Shivering with hunger, she barked once and wagged her tail. She knew the exact things she needed to do to turn him on. Lifting her buttocks slightly, she threw her hips and breasts into the movement, shaking her entire body back and forth as she panted.

Borias let out a strangled moan. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Come here, I'm going to fuck that pretty face of yours. And then I be fucking that ass of yours until you scream out."

She couldn't wait.

Chapter 10: Hidden (MF cons v)

Merrie smiled to herself as she slept against Borias. Touching his body still hurt, but it was now only a mild itching. The frequent touching and orgasms had helped reduce the pain as pleasure overcame her pain. It felt good to have his warm body against her icy one. It was comfort in the darkness and gave her hope that she would recover enough to see the light again.

It had been a four days since Claston and the others left for the fair. Bass would be back the next evening, which both excited and terrified Merrie at the same time. She knew that her hatred for him was because of Haviston's compulsion but she still had a fear she would attack him. She knew that she could hold her own against Sable, simply because she had become more powerful than the one alpha. It was different with two of them, between Dixie and Sable, they would easily win.

The last time, she was able to fight with Bass, Tabitha, and the two alphas because she had Lady Anasome's perfume with her. The scene, Complicated Bitch, was her own private scent but it also pushed away compulsions and commands. Without it, she didn't know if the compulsion to avoid the mill would somehow come back.

She wasn't sure why she was worried. She was back at the mill. She was in the basement with her naked body pressed up against Borias. The one thing Haviston didn't want was for her to return, that has already been broken.

With a sigh, she pressed her cheek against Borias' chest and listened to his heart beat. She wasn't sure what happened to her anymore. Was her recovery because of the collar's powerful regeneration or something else? Did the Lord of Shadows have some other plan for her? Someone once told her beings that powerful always had a cost when they helped her.

Not wanting to let her thoughts dwell on uncomfortable topics, Merrie cast her senses out to her cloak. It billowed out of the darkness and flowed over her, looming like a dragon over her head. When she gave her own vision to the cloak, it was much easier to sink inside it and use its body as her own.

A ripple of power ran down the length of the cloak before it flowed along the ceiling and found the crack to the next floor up. Underneath the couch, it stretched out along the darkness and peered into the room beyond. It was dark but long before the false dawn. There wasn't a single creature moving but she could hear the buzz of summer insects outside and the ripple of smaller life surrounding the house.

She smiled to herself. It was nice not to be trapped in the room, though she didn't dare find out if the cloak could handle sunlight. Even if she could figure out how to see in the intense glare, she didn't want to risk it being burned away or destroyed. It was part of her, but the effort to recover the cloak sapped her strength. She had created it only a few days ago but she still had not recovered the energy to create a new one.

Rippling along the ground, she slipped through the house and enjoyed the memories that came from each room. She recalled when she was fucked in the bathroom, raped against the stairs, and even when she was comforted by Borias on the stairs back when she was just accepting her new role as a bitch and an alpha.

Flowing up to the third floor, she slid underneath Bass' closed door and into his room. It was almost like she remembered it. Along one wall were piles of pillows scattered in a large pit. That was Sable's bed when she wasn't sleeping on the mattress with Bass. Merrie remembered her first night there and sent her body exploring through the gaps of the pillows before cascading up along the bed.

Moonlight speared through the window. It was bright and glaring, blinding her. She pulled away but not before lingering along the shadows of the mattress and the headboard. After a few seconds, she lipped down and along the line of shackles where he had bolted her into place before gently fucking her ass with his massive cock.

After a few minutes of basking in the remembered pleasures, she slipped through the open door and back into the hallway. Her cloak flowed down the stairs in a sheet of black. It felt good to just spread her power out across the surfaces of the house while it was empty.

She reached the second floor and froze.

The door was closed when she entered Bass' room. Now it was open.

Fear prickled her thoughts. Down in the basement, her physical body squirmed slightly.

She sent her cloak back up the stairs, no longer enjoying herself but keeping it tight to the edges of the stairs and as hidden as possible. As she did, she reached out for Bass' room to double-check the door.

Merrie couldn't find it.

Frowning, she stopped at the top of the stairs, a puddle of darkness, and looked around. She saw Rendi's old room but her eyes slipped away when she looked to where Bass should have slept. Her mind was convinced there was only one room on the top stairs, but she knew it was otherwise. She spent days in it, days of being raped and pounded, trained and broken. She had every orifice of her body impaled on his thick, huge cock. There was no way she imagined any of that.

A pressure built in her head, forcing her attention away from his door.

The fear built up. She experienced the same thing many times in her life, it was a repulsion spell. It was a way of pushing attention away from a person or location by forcing their eyes to shift to the side and twisting the mind to stop thinking about it.

Merrie had spent years with Rimmy, a master of the repulsions. She also had exceeded the dark-skinned woman when Merrie took over shading their house over the years.

A pang of sorrow flashed over it. Someone had broken her shade---her repulsion spell---the night Kine was murdered. The gaping hole in her heart when her first master died tore at her and she felt despair coming in along the edges of her thought.

It took all her will to force her thoughts away from the dark night. When she did, she looked around and found that she could see Bass' room once again. She didn't remember when it became possible, only one moment it was there and the next she was dragging her thoughts back to it.

Warily, she focused her attention on Rendi's room and found that it was impossible to find.

The repulsion had moved but she sensed no magic.

Someone was in the house.

The hackles on the back of her neck rose up and a low growl shook her body.

She felt Borias waking up next to her. Frustrated, she yanked her cloak back and it raced into the basement, using the cracks in the house to hopefully avoid detection. As soon as she could, she released the spell and let her hearing and sight return.

"---wrong?" Borias whispered next to her.

Merrie let out a shuddering breath. She reached out and probed the shields around Borias' room. He was skilled at creating shields, but she didn't know if they had been pierced. She looked around, wondering what the stranger was doing in the various rooms.

"Merrie?" he asked again.

Merrie reached up and pressed her wrist to his lips. With a soft moan, she crawled up on his body and slid down until her damp pussy pressed against his limp cock.

He started to ask something but she silenced him with a thought. (Someone is in the house.)

The muscles in his body tensed.

(I don't know if they are watching or how long. They were in Bass' room and now your mother's.)

Borias tensed, the muscles of his body locking. He glanced around and she could feel him cataloging any spells he had nearby that could be used for defense.

Merrie sent a pulse of pure pleasure into it, forcing it along his veins.

His cock grew instantly and painfully hard.

Without letting him respond, she sank down on it and impaled her cunt on the hardness. With their bodies intimately together, she opened up her connection with him and felt the intimacy that only an alpha could have with their lover. (Fuck me,) she ordered.

Borias did after only a heartbeat of hesitation. He gripped her waist, his palm burning along her skin, and began to thrust. The pleasure slid into her thoughts and she felt the swelling of energy.

(Harder, dominate me.)

Borias grabbed her hair and rolled over. As soon as he was on top, he began to pound into her pussy, slamming it home. "Be taking this," he snapped as he fought with fear, anger, and lust at the same time.

Merrie moaned and writhed underneath him, enjoying the hardness that impaled her. With each thrust, little burst of pleasure and energy coursed along her body. She let her mind drift as she inspected his shields for any sign of intrusion. They were solid as she remembered it, a shimmering wall that would keep out any magical intrusion.

Borias grabbed her throat, squeezing down as he accelerated his thrusts. Her entire body shook as he drove her into the mattress.

Not expecting his hand or being choked, she came as his cock pounding into her pussy. She sank into the helplessness and the difficulty breathing and thrust up against him, meeting each stroke with her own wet smack. Her body strained to keep up, she was still weak from recovering.

A heat rippled from the door. She looked at it but saw nothing but her eyes slid away. With a start, she realized that the intruder was about to enter Borias' room.

Frantic, she grabbed all the energy from her orgasm and wrapped her own mental shields around her. Darkness plunged into her thoughts as calligraphy swirled across her mind. The ink darkness flooded through her veins as she pulled a shade right around her body but left Borias exposed.

Borias faltered. (Where are you?)

(Keep fucking! Just pretend you are masturbating.) She knew her thoughts were tinged with her fear. She could feel the light coming under the door but couldn't see it. It burned at her skin as it peeked through the cracks. Whoever was coming had a lantern but was using their own repulsion to shield her attention away from it.

He struggled for a moment, his cock slipping out.

Merrie used the intimate connection between them to give an image of her body underneath him. She threw everything she could into giving it as much detail as possible. (Dominate me! Be a fucking master, now!)

He realigned his cock and drove it hard into her pussy, slamming it home. "Fucking cunt!" he snapped as he clamped down on his hand. He grip wrapped around her throat and choked off her breath.

Dark pleasures surged through her body and she fed it into the shadow, wrapping herself in a repulsion that she hoped was stronger than the intruder's ability to break it. Her attention was forced away from the door and she knew they were inside. Her body burned with their light, black mist rising off her skin as it began to darken and peel.

Merrie almost screamed out. (Don't scream!) she ordered herself. The command rippled away and came slamming back, a powerful command from her mistress. Her throat seized up as she continued to project her agony into Borias' mind.

He continued to slam into her, driving hard and fast. "Fucking bitch! Fuck, fuck!"

Knowing that an active spell might break the shade around her, Merrie cast out her senses and let them wait. It was a passive sense, not as powerful but much harder to detect. She focused on the places her mind would go but mapped out the places she refused to look. The moving heat and the burning of her skin confirmed their position. More of her skin peeled away, revealing shifting blackness that made up her core. Veins, dark as pitch, pulsed with her orgasms and the rapid beat of her heart as agony tore through her. She could feel her glass-like bones coming dangerously close to the invisible light.

The repulsion field moved across the room at a steady pace. It didn't rush, it didn't stop.

She bit her lips against the agony. Blood dotted her lip and she could taste the ether on her lips. She could barely concentrate with the rapidly pounding cock that slammed into her, driving her hard into the mattress. Pleasure and agony warred with each other. Her vision blurred as she mapped the intruder's circuit of Borias' room.

When it stopped, it was right at the foot of the bed. Whoever it was, it was looking straight at Borias and maybe her. The light from its lantern or torch tore along her skin, peeling back more of her flesh. Black blood poured out across the sheets, staining it almost instantly. Wavers of energy rippled off it as the shadows seemed to gather around her own life's fluids.

The fear rose inside her, choking her as she prayed her shade would keep against who ever was less than a meter from their bodies. She didn't know if they would attack or try to kill them, she only tried to shield herself from their attention and be ready to strike if they did.

"Why be fucking leaving me!? Why you be sold!?" Borias' cock was larger than it had ever been before. It slammed into her hard and fast, splashing cum everywhere. He had already emptied his balls into her and the wetness splashed everywhere. Each thrust of his hips ground against her pelvis. His knuckles creaked as he strangled her, the pressure on her throat threatening to collapse it.

There was a flash of energy, a detection spell. It slammed into her shade and slid off. A second spell went off, this one was lost in her shade, sliding to the side without even a ripple of power.

She studied the magic floating around her. It felt and tasted differently than her shadow or psionics. She thought it was related to Borias' magic but it was more dynamic and threaded with energies that were otherworldly but not divine. Borias' energies was controlled and structured, this one wasn't. She knew it meant that the person watching her had learned it intuitively instead of being trained to use magic.

The energy waved over the bed as the intruder focused one spell after another against the bed.

(Don't stop!) she commanded, driving pure lust through his veins.

Borias groaned and came again, his cock swollen and hard as he drove into her. Each thrust slammed his head against her cervix, punching it with incredible force that added to her agony.

Merrie screwed her eyes tightly close, fighting against all the pains that sparked along her pussy and throat. Her legs were burning, the air burned in her lungs, she was bleeding, and her shadows were leaking out. She could feel the black veins of her heart struggling to keep her inside her shell but it wasn't going to last much longer. She bit down harder on her lip, her teeth cutting into her divine lips.

The intruder pulled away.

At first she thought they were going to attack but it was a leisurely movement. The long agonizing moment for them to leave the room was torture. She could feel every beam of light as it burned away her skin, tearing away her only way of surviving.

Every slam of Borias' hips threatened to break her control. When the door closed, she tried to project to him but he was lost in his fantasy. She almost let her shade down to let him down he was killing her but then realized the intruder might have left something behind. She screwed up her courage and focused her attention on Borias.

His mind was a ragged mess. Her desperate projection and command had burned into his thoughts, driving him to masturbate with the image of her. It took her long moments to pry his mind away from her domination. With the telepathic intimacy, there was nothing to shield him from the full brunt of her command. (Stop!)

Borias slowed down and then stopped. Panting, he shuddered with one final orgasm and pulled out. The coppery scent of blood filled the air and she could tell that some of the stickiness that poured out of her wasn't cum but his own life.

"F-Fucking... bitch," he gasped and rolled over.

(Heal yourself,) she projected.

Borias shook violently as he reached down. Energy rose around his hands and they began to glow.

At the first touch of light, Merrie jumped and realized she was vulnerable. With a cry, she rolled off the bed and hit the ground hard. Heart pounding in her chest, she crawled underneath the bed and summoned her shadow to wrap around her.

Even with the darkness suffocating her, she could feel the light against her skin. It only lasted a few seconds but those moments were agony with her burned skin ground into the hard-packed earth underneath the bed.

(M-Merrie?)

Merrie wiped back the tears and peeked out of the room. It was dark again. She kept the shade tight around her as she crawled into bed and nestled up against him. He didn't respond to her until she projected her position to him.

He wrapped his arm around her as if he was cradling a pillow. "G-Good... girl," he gasped. (Merrie?)

(I'm here.)

(Why can't I see you?) It was always strange how Borias could communicate clearly via telepathy but not while he spoke.

(I shaded myself. They were in the room with us.)

(Did they see you?)

(I don't think so.) She projected memories of what she saw through his mind.

He stiffened for a moment and then groaned. (I've never come so hard that I started to bleed.)

(I'm so sorry,) she sent only a fraction of her despair at him, (it was the only thing I could think to do.)

He leaned back on the pillow. The air wavered around him as he exhaled hard. (Good girl.)

The remembered phrase rippled through her body, giving her a bit of strength.

(Do you think they left something behind?)

(They didn't attack and they didn't take anything I saw. What else would they be doing?)

(Detection or remote sensing. Mages used to put them on bugs to spy on others. It could also be a trap.) He held her tight against his body.

The movement caused pressure on her wounds and she winched from the agony. (Wouldn't they just set them off.)

(It depends on what they want. Sometimes it's better to have them ready in case you need them at the right moment. At school, I heard how some mages would leave killing traps hidden in an embassy for years until they were needed. By then, everyone stopped looking and never realized their death was only inches from their head.)

Merrie shivered at the thought. (They were in the rest of the house. I felt them moving around but I don't know for how long.)

(There could be dozens of traps or bugs then. No chance we would catch them all.) Frustration and fear rose in his thoughts. (We wouldn't even know if there were any in here. Is that why you are still hidden?)

She thought about it. She was just using remote sensing herself, it made sense that someone else would do it. She coudln't drop the shade without risking being caught. She nodded and projected her thoughts through the intimate connection.

To her surprise, sadness and helplessness came back through their connection.

(Borias? What's wrong?)

(I can't heal you.)

Surprise rippled through her. (What?)

(I felt what the light did to your body. I felt your pain. I can't heal that without revealing you. There is no way to heal those injuries without using magic.) The sorrow deepened and she felt it echoing in her own thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Merrie looked down at her skin. It had peeled back to reveal the dark shadows again. Wisps of obsidian rose out of her body, blowing away with the faint breeze from both of their movements. It hurt but she knew she could take it.

Turning back, she looked up into his eyes and smiled. (Just tell me to survive.)

Tears ran in his eyes. (You be a good girl.)

She moaned and let the pleasure ripple through her body. It may take a while but she would recover. She had experience far worse already since she was reborn.

Chapter 11: Bugged

Merrie didn't sleep well. Keeping the shade wrapped around her was exhausting. Back in the day, she had a house to anchor it to but in the basement room, she had to keep it flowing around her to avoid causing Borias to disappear suddenly. Neither were sure if the spells left being were watching them or traps, or if there were any, but it seemed better safe than sorry.

(Can't sleep?) asked Borias as he curled up on the blankets. His toe touched her as she slept on the foot of the bed to avoid any behavior.

She sighed and closed her eyes. (No, I can't tell if there is something here or not.)

(I know what that is like. In Abbinkey, I was sentence for life. I didn't even have a chance to escape but I also knew that it was only matter of time before someone came for me. Mages were always wanted in the prison, usually as something to toy with or torture.)

The remembered horror and fear resonated along their telepathic connection. Merrie shivered as years were compressed into seconds, a montage of him jumping at every shadow and every opening door. (Why?)

(Because we couldn't use our magic. Every mage in Abbinkey was geased to never use their source of power or have their insides liquefy and pour out of the nearest orifice. I saw it happen once, it was terrible since the spell also kept the poor bastard alive for hours while blood and gore spewed out.) The memories grew dark. (They laughed at him. All those fuckers just sat back and laughed. I heard the making bets on when he stopped screaming or if they could identify the organs that came out.)

Merrie closed her eyes tightly. The memories were raw inside Borias, a pointed remainder that he suffered a lot before Bass rescued him. (I'm sorry.)

(It is what it is.)

She projected nothing in return. Instead, she just basked in his affection and let his presence keep her company. Slowly, she started to drift to sleep again but her fear pricked her awake. She opened her eyes and stared out into the room. It looked just like it always did, but there was the threat. The darkness gave her no comfort because she couldn't discern if she was safe or not.

Slowly, she pushed out her senses, spreading them along the shadows. Her world grew thin as she caressed the wood and floor, tracing every centimeter with her mind. Billowing with her mental command, her shadow cloak spread out across the ground and her senses attached to it. This time, she sank deeper into her spell until she lost connection with her body and felt everything through the cloak.

She was gliding. She could feel every bump alone the ground and every ridge in the bricks. To inspect each one would take forever but she didn't know how to find something that wasn't there. Frustration hummed inside her as she swept along the surface without a clue of how to find it.

Merrie didn't know what to do if she found it. If it was watching her, why? Why did someone need information about the mill? The only thing she could think of was to wait for some admission of guilt or a weakness and then use it against them.

She also didn't know if the intruder was aware of her presence. She hid the best she could, but there were far more powerful people than her when it came to creating and breaking repulsion spells. She worried her lip and switched her attention over to the kitchen area. Years ago, she had enjoyed the different spells that were embedded in the parchment. Borias used them since he couldn't tap into his own power. They were spells that altered the nature of thing, usually to make healthy food look and taste like shit.

With a smile, Merrie remembered how Borias crafted each meal for maximum disgust. He was skilled in making something look like a bowl of diarrhea but be made only out of carrots and potatoes. He has other spells to prevent disease, sickness, and infestations. She had one of his runes on her inner thigh, or did before her body was completely destroyed.

Curious, she looked inward to herself. The plague rune, as it was known, was gone as was the rule of cleanliness. She also had a rune of sterility added by Kine. Before the goddess, they were small marks on her inner thighs but when she looked at her own magical aura, she saw nothing of those spell. Instead, there was only a shadowy darkness that boiled inside her, an inhuman core to her very human shell.

Somehow, she doubted she was capable of having children anymore. And the Shadows would corrode anything living, she suspected the same was for any disease that entered her body.

"Uh," Borias said as he crawled out of bed. "I gotta pee."

He didn't look at her as he headed around the bed and then up the stairs. She listened to him, counting the steps as he headed out near the kitchen and then to the front door. Unlike Bass and the others, Borias preferred to pee outside and only use the bathroom on the floor above when he had to shit.

She closed her eyes again and tried not to think about being watched. It was hard enough keeping the shade on her, she didn't want to---

Her thoughts froze and she lifted her head again. Turning, she looked toward the wall with the stairs. Counting. If there was a bug, it was probably being hidden by a repulsion spell. She needed a pattern she could count and maybe she would be able to find it.

Turning back, she looked at the room. Seeing the casks, she counted each one but it looked right. She tried counting off the cabinets but the number looked right.

Then she focused on the bricks. There were too many to count without walking along them. She smiled, she could. With a surge of power, she gathered up her cloak and sent her senses along it. As the black shadows flowed over each one, she tallied up the count to run a circuit of the room.

(... 215, 216, 217.)

Frowning, she tried again but went a row lower.

(... 218.)

Borias came down the stairs, his bare feet scuffing on the wood.

Merrie finished another row. (... 217.)

When he crawled into bed, he brushed against her just as she finished another row.

(... 218.)

(What are you doing, Merrie?)

(I'm seeing if there a repulsion on of the bricks. Do you know how many there are?)

(Either 217 or 218 bricks in 12 rows. From the bed, there are 81 or 82 visible bricks on the far wall.) The memories that came up of long hours watching over bitches crying themselves to sleep. The number had been burned into his memory.

(Can you also count?)

He started at the bottom, counting the bricks that were visible from his bed. She did the same from the top as they focused on the same wall.

(81.)

(82.)

(81.)

(82. Are you sure this will find it?)

(81. Yes,) she projected with little confidence.

(80. Same as usual.)

(81.)

(82.)

(Wait!) Merrie's ears perked up. (Go back two.)

(80, so that's the right number.)

She smiled to herself. She held her breath as she counted the same row. (... 78, 79, 80. Just as I... no, there is 81. There has to be.)

Surprise and elation rose inside Borias. (Really, it was that easy.)

(I haven't found it yet.)

Merrie frowned and then began to inspect the wall. She started by counting the bricks, comparing multiple rows and stopping when the numbers were different. It took her minutes, maybe half an hour, before she isolated it down by a single brick. The only way she could look at it was to order herself to look at it at all costs; the power of her adamantite collar was far stronger than any domination from a repulsion.

Heart beating in her chest, a triple beat, she sent her cloak up along the wall and to the bricks. Concentrating, she focused all of her senses through it and kept her attention locked on the brick as she worked her way through the barely visible repulsion spell that tried to push her eyes away.

Chapter 12: More Bugs

Hours had passed while she focused on the spell. The focus was innocuous, a single shard of glass wrapped in spider silk. It was light enough that it clung to the crack of the wall with the sticky web. Like the design, the spell was small but complicated. There were at least five layers to it, the outer being the repulsion spell that made it difficult to concentrate on.

It wasn't shadow magic, she was sure of that, but it had a foul taste to the magic. It also matched the energies she picked up from the intruder; each of the layers had the same touch of magic. It meant that a single person created the spell and bound it to the glass.

The repulsion itself wasn't powerful but it was precise. The larger the area, the more energy it took. A single splinter was easy to protect, it only took about the same amount of energy as maintaining a light spell.

It was the spells underneath that worried her. Each layer was bound into the others, creating a tightly woven pattern of magic that depended on the others to remain stable.

The next one was sensory, it passed information along a delicate-looking strand of power that traveled only a millimeter before it disappeared between the gap between dimensions. That scared Merrie because she only knew how to step across to the Shadows and this spell was using a similar technique to continually provide information. The connection went both ways, she could almost feel a sense of telepathy coursing along the trans-dimensional strand.

One of the final layers she could identify also had to do with telepathy, but it was patterned to only pick up telepathy. Judging from the energies, it was aimed for a very specific type of telepathy but she couldn't identify which one. Must of the spell was designed to pick it out from other forms of mental communication. She thought about Haviston and how he communicated almost exclusively with telepathy. From what she could tell, the spell would ignore his projections along with her communication.

She had to be careful to explore the weave of magic to get to the inner layers. As far as she could tell, the first ones were holding the inner one in place. It was a trap of some sort, one that could be triggered by any of the other ones failing. Remove the repulsion and it would fall apart. Sense something specific, it would open. Even an outside command could drive it to fall apart.

The inner most layer was too protected by the others. She only got a taste of the power. The foulness clung to the tip of her tongue, staining it with something poisonous. She tasted it with a frown, trying to remember where she had felt that same type of energy before.

(Merrie?)

Merrie let her concentration drift back to Borias. (I'm back.)

(Do you have anything?) He was worried and nervous. His mind kept going through scenarios of running to Bass to tell him or calling Tabitha to help. Mixed into those scenarios was Merrie destroying everyone as a cloud of darkness.

She sent a comforting wave back to him. (I'm not going to destroy everything again.)

(Again?)

Guiltily, she gave him a brief image of the Shadowed District when she brought the shadows into Franome City during a bout of depression and suicidal thoughts. Thousands had died before she managed to clear it again.

Fear and sadness rose up from his thoughts. (I'm sorry. I wish I was there.)

She thought for a moment. (I'm glad you weren't.)

Surprise. (Why?)

(When I was alone, I went to a dark place. I came back damaged and helpless. But I survived. I survived starvation, torture, and loss. The woman who joined the fight against Gillette and help defeat Lemetri---)

(You killed Lemetri.)

She remembered the boiling darkness as the Lords of Shadow burst out of the world and pulled her back. Careful not to let Borias see it, she shook her head. (I helped. But if I didn't go through what I did, if I didn't lose Kine, didn't have Rakin rape and torture me, if I didn't bind to myself, then I wouldn't have been there to help you.)

(But you lost so much.)

Merrie sniffed at the memories of Fang and Tamin. (Yes,) was the only response she could give.

He stroked his foot against her side, sadness and love resonating along the connection of their bodies.

She basked in it for a moment. (I'm scared. I don't know if I can win this.)

(What did you see?)

She gave him a compressed analysis of the spell, breaking down as much as she could. There were some things that couldn't translate from either of her innate magics, alpha and shadow, to his crystalline and patterned wizardry, but there was enough for them to work together.

There were too many questions. She knew enough to dispel it but that would trigger the innermost layers which she couldn't identify. She let part of her mind work on some way of detecting the spell without breaking the spell, that would at least let identify where the glass was.

(This telepathy sensor bothers me,) Borias said.

(Why?)

(Because there is only one person who uses telepathy here, Haviston. Everyone else speaks.)

Merrie frowned, pondering it. It came to her in a flash just as she felt the the same epiphany burst along her connection with Borias. (The alphas. It lets someone hear the alphas talking with their masters.)

(Fuck,) snapped Borias.

Dread filled her. The connection between alpha and master was intimate and powerful, more so than almost any other form of communication. She was told that it couldn't be broken into but she had done that in the fight with the paladins. She had briefly bonded with the other alphas and turned them into a single gestalt fighting force, capable of coordinating instantly with the full experiences of all five members.

She brought her senses back to the cloak and stared at the pattern. Her heart pounded faster, the triple beat slamming against her chest. She already knew the answer but she had to see it for herself. After a few seconds, she confirmed her dread and pulled back.

Taking a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes. (Someone stole my spell.)

(What?)

(The gestalt. Part of my spell is in there, I can feel the pattern. It isn't the whole thing, not enough to create a full bond, but they stole enough to partially connect. Just enough to listen on the connection between the alphas.)

(How?)

She sniffed as a tear ran down her cheek. (Someone was watching our battle. It's been a year, I bet it took them that long to puzzle through it and to enchant that glass shard.)

(Does that mean it can hear us?)

Merrie pulled the spell apart in her head. (No, I have to touch you for this. This is an intimacy that would require one of those shards to be stuck between us. Between that and the shade, I can project to you but only if we are touching.)

Borias groaned and rested his arm over his face. (Someone has been planning on attacking this mill for over a year. They are prepared to take on two alphas, their masters, and no doubt me and Haviston. These are the plans of someone who understands strategy and no doubt has backup plans.)

(Like knowing there is a shadow being in the house?) Her mind rippled with fear and growing anger. It pulsed around her, swirling in a black cloud that teased her senses.

He projected darkly, his own emotions beginning to be colored by dread. (We have to assume that they are prepared to take you on. They may not know the limitations but even saying your weakness once, or letting the alphas know about it, could risk everything.)

Borias sighed. (Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I'm in prison again. There are traps all around us and they are waiting until the right moment to set them off.)

(When?) but Merrie already knew the answer.

(At the worst possible moment. I have a feeling we are going to find it soon.)

(What do we do, master?)

Borias' attention drew into sharp focus. (First we find out how many there are and see if we can shield ourselves from them. Bass and the others are walking into a trap.)

Chapter 13: Ambushed

Time was beating against them. Merrie frantically worked through the components of the spell, trying to get them to fit together that they wouldn't fall apart in a burst of energy that would trigger the trap. She used her own powers, the calligraphic swirling of shadows while Borias worked on his own version based on arcane patterns. They traded information in half-shaped words and concepts.

It was like working with a true master. They didn't need to finish sentences or even acknowledge each other. Their minds plucked knowledge from each other as they translated the foreign concepts into their own magical system and integrated the results into the spell.

Merrie alternated her senses from the cloak to her own body and back again. It quickly became second nature as they inspected the shard for details. They had to trust her shade from letting whoever was on the far side from detecting her attention. It was harder than she thought and the haze of exhaustion was fraying her concentration. More than once, she almost set off the bug and whatever spell was wrapped inside.

They had been at it all night and most of the day. They were expecting Bass and the others in early evening which meant they had only a few short hours before they walked into the traps.

(Do you have a plan?) asked Borias.

(Not really,) Merrie projected as she wove her spell together. It was almost coming into a stable pattern but she needed more time.

(I think these traps must mainly be in the house. It would be the best place to set them off. We need to get everyone as far away as possible.)

(Can't we just meet them out by the road? No, they would be waiting there for something unusual like that.)

(And I'm betting that if we act like we know, they'll set off just enough to take me out. That would give you a chance to leave and warn them but then---)

(No!) snapped Merrie.

Borias forced his thoughts from their suicidal spiral into something more cheerful. (And here I was hoping for a blow job for volunteering.)

Merrie grinned at him. (I'll blow you if we survive. In fact, I'll let you snuff me if we survive.)

A wave of desire slammed into her. He tore his thoughts away, a reflexive action after so many years of having a geas that would kill him. Slowly, he wrapped his hand around his cock. He pumped slowly with his mind distracted so Merrie sent a pulse of pleasure to get him dripping wet. That way, it looked like his thoughts were focused on some fantasy instead of trying to decipher a spell in his head.

(Thank you.)

Merrie sent a pulse of love back. (Why don't you and Tabitha go on a date? I remember when you sneaked out of the house to visit the pond.) She followed by her memories of watching them talking, it was five years ago and the memories were faded with disused but they brought a wave of affection coursing along the connection back to Merrie.

(That was a long time ago.)

(She'll remember. It will get her away and then you can talk.)

(What about Bass?)

Merrie thought for a moment, pausing as the components of her spell refused to mesh together. She frowned and wiped it clear from her mind before rebuilding it. (Maybe I can dominate Ass Licker and Fir? They don't have telepathy and I should do it if I can touch them with my cloak. There is the other pond, Ass Licker tried to run away from it one day.)

(She's called Cinthia now unless she's being naughty. Cute girl, she's really grown since you left.)

She remembered picking up the memory of that from a few years ago. The last time she saw Licker was the day that Rakin had almost bought her. Only a surprise purchase by Kine saved her from a lifetime of pleasure, submissions, and pain. She nodded to herself and let her tail wag. (I love you,) she said before the dread could fill her.

Borias sighed and stroked harder. (Be safe, Merrie. This is going to get nasty quickly. If we screw up, then whatever is in that trap is going to set off.)

(Let's hope there is only a few. Then we can stop them before whatever ambush is coming.)

(I think I have it. Hold on.) He gathered his power together, forming an invisible pattern between his fingers.

Merrie reached out and gave it a little power, enhancing his ability like all alphas could do.

The pattern snapped into place and then disappeared. His eyes began to glow with magic. Slowly, he looked around but then froze.

(Borias?) she asked.

(Fuck me piss hole with a broadsword.) Along with his swear, he sent an image through his own eyes.

His spell painted a rune over the glass shard. The faintly glowing image was hard to miss in the dark, though only he could see it. But there wasn't one of the, there were dozens. Dozens of glass shards scattered across the room, they were dropped between the parchments and on the ground. More had bounced under the casks while a few stuck to the door itself.

Merrie froze, her heart stopping for a long beat. Despair burned her thoughts, there were too many of them.

(Is there a chance that they only put that many down here?) Borias asked but he already knew the answer.

Merrie finished her own spell. It was a bit more complicated than Borias but it was designed to also disconnect from her and follow her cloak. The knot of magic rose up as the cloak swooped around and caught it along with her vision and hearing. Together, they flowed across the ground.

The spell showed the shards as red spiders, it seemed to fit with the energy inside it.

Able to see them, she easily maneuvered her cloak around the tiny immobile creatures still in their eggs. The cloak flowed up through the ceiling and underneath the couch. She paused only a heartbeat and saw far more spiders markers laying in wait. There were hundreds of them poised to go off as soon as something triggered them.

Frantic, Merrie sent her cloak to the window and looked out.

There were far more surrounding the mill house. Thousands or even millions of glowing red spiders laying in wait. They had been spread out at least five hundred meters from the house. With her spell, wherever she could see past the moonlight, she saw nothing but spiders.

A wave of energy rose up, the first buffets of a storm about to strike.

Brilliance rose up along a hill and then ducked below it. In the afterimages of darkness, she spotted two wolves sprinting toward her at unnaturally speed. Their passing left a wake of leaves and dirt flying.

The light came back and she could see it was a wagon. The brilliance came from Bass and Sable who were crouched on top of it. Both had their tower shields up and they were armored.

A sick feeling slammed into Merrie. She yanked her cloak back and slammed her senses back into her body. As soon as she could, she projected as strongly as she could. (We have a problem.)

Borias jerked at the image she set. (This is too well planned. Time to change our own plans. New one, you get Tabitha and Dixie far away as possible.)

Merrie gathered energy for her shape-changing spell.

(No!) snapped Borias as he jerked.

Merrie held herself still.

(They can't know there is a shadow creature here. Everyone knows that the Omega came from here. We don't know if they are prepared for you or not. If you reveal yourself, then they will be prepared.)

Tears burned in her eyes. She pawed at the ground, anxious to lash out. Around her, the traps were quiet but that wouldn't last for long. (I can drag you out.)

(I would be looking for that. A creature bursting out of the basement that I already inspected? One that I couldn't see until it decided to be seen? What does that sound like to you?) His mind was already furiously working through other plans.

Merrie's ears flattened against her head. (What do I do?)

(This is too well planned. Even if we run out to stop them before the field, they are going to hit us with everything they have. I would have done that, contingency plans for contingencies. Anyone who spent this much energy to make that many shards must have planned for everything. We can only hope that you are an unknown and can disrupt that. But you need to get out of here.)

She shook her head. (No! I can't leave you.)

(Merrie, leave. Get Tabitha and Dixie away. Bass won't leave if they are running this way, don't even try. You and Dixie are both alphas, you can do a lot of damage but they can't know you are here. Please, it is the only thing that may ruin this ambush.)

Tears ran down her cheeks. (Are you really going to let them walk into a trap?)

Borias sniffed and buried his face into the pillow. He shook violently and she could feel the fear staining his thoughts. (Please, please do this. Get her to the place where you killed Lemetri.) An image came with it, of a dark plot on the land. They could see it from the porch but no one had been able to find it. It had a natural repulsion on it, like most things of the shadow. (There probably is no one there, even if there is, no one would enter a shadow land willingly.)

Above them, there was an explosion as the front door was knocked in. The impact shook everything, even the foundation. "Borias!" screamed Tabitha. "Get your fucking ass up! Fir is dying!"

Around them, the traps began to gather energy.

Borias sat up. He stretched out, his hand brushing against Merrie. (Be safe and I will give you as much time. Maybe whoever has set this trap will let me heal the girl before springing it.)

Desperately wishing there was another way, Merrie got to her knees and brought her cloak around her. It comforted her but also shielded her from observation. Drawing up another familiar spell, she let her body melt into the cloak and merged herself with the darkness. Her view shifted as she flowed off the bed and show along the ground. She reached the stairs and surged up it and out the back door as fast as she could. Less than a heartbeat, she was away from the house and slithering through the grass between the red spiders that were beginning to wake.

She could feel the energy inside the innermost shell now. It was the foul taste of otherworldly power. She had felt the same type before. It was in a little girl, Count Blood's daughter, Dith. The duke and other said she was an infernal, a devil.

Inside the house, there was another crash. "Damn the gods, Borias! Hurry the fuck up!"

Struggling with her fear, Merrie rushed around the house. She saw the wagon coming to halt.

Bass jumped out. He was holding a slender young woman in his armored hands. Her blood dripped off his white armor but left no stains. His massive body was barely contained in the plate armor. The only part visible was his gray skin and yellowed eyes. Even from a distance, she could see the pain his gaze as he rushed toward the house.

Behind him, Sable landed heavily on the ground. The armored dog was larger than a mastiff with the same armor covering every inch of her body. A massive tower shield hovered over her back as runes danced around it. The energy that coursed between her and Bass was brilliant, filled with holy energy as it ricocheted between the two as she enhanced the former paladin.

She thought about the beasts that she had read about but she couldn't easily picture any of them. But she had seen an alpha transform into something other than a dog. Lady Anasome's Alpha, Rose, could turn into a tiger and snake.

Merrie grinned and gathered her energy, combining her shadow and psionic powers together to shape her body. Fresh skin and flesh tore and reformed. She used her cloak to hold her insides together as she forced herself to take on a great cat's shape. Powerful claws and a barrel chest. She struggled to give it colors, the shadows leeched everything out of her, but she managed to force her fur to be white with black strips. A long, spiked tail came out from her rear. The end hovered above her head, ready to strike. She knew her large teeth were glowing with the faint divine power inside Lemetri.

In front of the house, she spotted Cinthia crawling out of the wagon. Years ago, she was a young teenager who fought against her collar. Someone prevented her from being sold at the auction and she remained at the mill with Fir as her mistress. Like Merrie, she was cropped but it was at her elbows and knees instead of ankles and wrists like Merrie. She crawled on the ground after them, her naked body shimmering in the moonlight that threatened to blind Merrie.

She was also terrified. Fear radiated away from her in waves. It sickened Merrie, but Merrie didn't think she could rescue her and still draw away the alpha.

The last person coming out was Haviston. The balding man struggled with one arm missing. He had a neat robe, but it was stained with blood. He started toward the house but then stopped, a frown on his face. Psionic energy gathered around him, the sharp logic palatable to her senses.

Seeing Haviston gave her an idea. Praying he would forgive her, Merrie fixed her form in her memory with a spell. Then, she accelerated toward him as fast as she could. Her body thudded against the ground, the energy of her cloak pulling her as much as she sprinted toward him.

As she ran, she gathered up everything she knew about the traps and her recovery. Forming them into a parcel of information, she compressed it down as far as she could.

Merrie burst into the light of the front porch with a snarl that shook the windows. The light burned but she was moving too fast to stop and let it burn.

Haviston turned around and his eyes grew wide. Psionic spells slammed into place, defensive spells that would protect him from physical harm.

With a surge of power, Merrie raced past him and slashed out. She tried to graze him but she needed to touch his body. As soon as she did, she punched the mental message through his shields and directly into his mind. Her claws snapped through bone and there was a burst of blood that sprayed after her.

Merrie cringed but she had to keep running. She used her magic to accelerate her body, racing directly to the grove where she died the first time. She knew that no matter how fast she was, Tabitha would catch up. It was only a matter of time if they could get past the spiders before they woke up.

Seconds later, the dual howls of the magical wolves rose up behind her. Energy rolled across the ground as Tabitha and Dixie charge after her. The power was palatable, a wave of terror before they struck.

Merrie had seen how both had removed heads with their sprints. She wasn't sure how she was going to defend herself. She kept racing as fast as she could. Thankful there were clouds in the air and she used the shadows along the ground to leap forward a hundred meters at a time.

There were still spiders along the ground. They were a lot fewer of them the further she went but she wasn't sure of their limits. She was surprised how far they were though; whoever had set them down had planned for someone moving quickly.

Even so, she could almost count the seconds before the druid and alpha struck.

Even thought she was already hitting her limits, she drew calligraphic spells ran across her mind and cast spells to enhance her strength, speed, and defenses. The drain on her resources sapped her strength and she stumbled before regaining her pace.

Panting, she used her cloak to glance over her shoulder to see how close Tabitha and Dixie were.

Tabitha was the easiest to see. She grew with every few steps, her tawny fur rippling as she charged forward with bared teeth and a blast of energy. She accelerated constantly and Merrie knew that she could break the sound barrier with enough time.

Dixie was far faster and raced ahead of her. His tiny, wolf-like body cut an arrow through the grass and left a wake of flattened grass and kicked up dust behind him. His eyes glowed brightly as he aimed straight for her.

The spectral lead between the two wolves was thin and stretched out. Energy bounced back and forth, rippling slower than Sable's energy but still enough for Dixie to enhance Tabitha. It was only a matter of seconds before he struck first.

Merrie panted and glanced back at her destination. The withered black trees were too far away, she wouldn't make it in time. Cringing against the pain that was about to strike her, she prepared another shape-changing spell. Her cloak tightened around her form as she prepared for cast the spell while moving as full speed.

Just as he reached her, she released the transformation spell. Her body melted and reformed in the opposite direction. She was already swinging her paw and her magically enhanced strength caught Dixie on the side of his head and threw him to the side. The impact knocked her back meters as he flew across the grass in the opposite direction.

Transforming again to turn around, Merrie burst forward. She caught a shadow and jerked to the side just as Tabitha blasted past.

The wind following the magical wolf almost picked up Merrie's large fake body and pulled it along. Merrie inwardly screamed at the agony that her speed was stressing her body. She was being ripped apart, her new skin unable to handle even the opening blows of the fight. She jumped through the shadows, careful not to cross over, and landed a hundred meters closer to her destination.

There were still spiders around her, only a few but it only took one to reveal information.

With a whimper, she dug her paws into the ground and sprinted for the glade. It was only a kilometer away but the thousand meters felt like a million with a hell-bent druid and her alpha after her.

The second attack came from all directions. Dixie had multiplied himself and the eight tiny wolves launched themselves at her. Teeth dug into her spine and tail, snapping the fragile illusions. Their teeth snapped on each other and they fell back, no longer biting down on solid flesh.

Merrie cried out as her body hemorrhaged obsidian mist. Agony spread out across her body and her limbs grew heavy with a wave of weakness. She stumbled and tried to regain her momentum. She knew that it was only seconds before Tabitha struck and the druid wouldn't hestiate to take off her head.

(Move!) she snapped at herself.

Tabitha slammed into Merrie's side, shattering her fragile ribs. The impact yanked Merrie off the ground and threw her over a hundred meters on the ground. She landed hard, smashing her body against the ground. Her fragile shell rolled into a beam of moonlight and one of the open rents in her skin began to smolder.

Screaming, Merrie flung herself into a dark patch.

She wasn't ready when Dixie slammed into her, sheering through her back leg. It cut against her real skin, opening up another grievous wound in her delicate form. Black mist burst out of her injury and black blood hit the ground with a sizzle.

Merrie wanted to call out to them but she spotted one of the spiders the ground a few meters away. Swearing at whatever bastard had set them out so far, she scrambled to her feet and surged forward.

Tabitha caught her again, flipping her over with a powerful smack of her paw.

Before Merrie could respond, Tabitha jumped on top of her and bit down.

Terrified, Merrie lost control of her bladder but lashed out with her one good back claw. Powerful points dug into Tabitha's stomach, tearing open her abdomen. At the same time, Merrie threw all of her magical strength into a blow with her fore claw that cut across Tabitha's throat. Blood exploded around them.

Dixie jumped over Tabitha and came down on Merrie's forearm. The pain exploded across her senses as she felt bones snapping and her skin tearing. Black mist exploded from her wound, darkening the world around her.

Praying that no one was watching, Merrie used the darkness to melt and reform less than a meter away. Flipping over, she scrambled to her feet and sprinted toward the grove.

It only took a few seconds for both wolves to recover. Tabitha gained her power through the chase and the worst thing Merrie could do was attack while fleeing. The energy rolling from her body was a storm that beat against Merrie's heart, a wall of power that threatened to consume her. Every time Merrie resisted, the druid and alpha would gain more power to kill her.

The grove was in front of her. She could feel the shadows staining the trees inside. They were all dead now, the life sucked out of them by whatever force was inside. It called to her and she raced forward it, stretching out her senses for the darkness.

The shadows from the dead trees stretched out and became hard-edged. They raced along the grass, a thousand sharp claws that traced every millimeter of the ground as they reached for her.

Merrie whimpered and fought through the pain. Every moonbeam she passed burned and she felt her limbs beginning to fall apart. She needed darkness, she needed the shadows.

Tabitha slammed into her from behind, launching her forward.

Merrie flipped over helplessly, windmilling in the air as clouds of darkness traced her descent. She saw the ground coming up but there was no way her fragile form could handle the impact. She tried to curl up but her body refused to respond, it was broken and bleeding too much.

Darkness swallowed her, a thousand claws of the shadow lands yanking on her body and pulling it deep into the darkness. They pierced her skin and tore open her cloak.

Merrie let out a cry of pain as the momentum slammed her into a tree. It snapped in half and she rolled over, scratching her face and chest along the ground before coming to a halt against a rotted stump.

Tabitha and Dixie came to a halt only meters away. The wolves were glowing with raw and wild power. It beat against the suffocating pressure of the shadows, pushing them back with the excitement of the hunt. Merrie could see a cropping spell dancing in Tabitha's teeth.

Merrie's pussy grew wet with her fear. She had lost her limbs in the same way, but it wasn't nearly as violent. Then, Tabitha had easily sheered through her limbs; the spell had ripped them from her spirit and she would never have them back.

Gaping for breath, Merrie backed away. Every part of her body screamed out in agony as her transformation melted away, leaving her a naked, injured woman backing away from the two approaching wolves.

Her collar thumped against her sweat-slicked chest. She could feel the slow regeneration taking place but there was no way it would heal her fast enough. She focused on it for a second, she had energy stored in it for a single spell but only a single one.

Both wolves growled even louder. Combat spells rippled along their fur as the rage took over. They were there to kill, not to talk. They stalked forward, Tabitha's huge paw crushing trees while Dixie slithered underneath branches.

Merrie gathered the darkness into her. It flowed into her injuries and filled her broken skin. The welcoming ice filled her body and stilled her rapid beat of her heart. She managed to gulp for air a few times. "T-Tabitha."

The large wolf shook her head. hj

Merrie reached out but there was nothing but killing fury in their thoughts. No longer did either have coherent thoughts, not after being attacked twice. They were already imagining how they would rip her apart. The lust of their violence beat against her and her body warmed with anticipation of being their victim.

Merrie gulped. The shadows were calming her down and she was still backing further into the darkness.

The wolves followed, unaware of the pressure that surrounded them.

She glanced around, there were no spiders among her.

(Dixie,) she projected.

Dixie snarled and snapped his teeth. He either didn't hear or wouldn't listen.

(Please, Dixie, it's me, Merrie.) She force the thought into his head.

(You look like her,) came the sharp response. Dixie was a Copir silfae, a tiny man barely a meter tall. His voice was high-pitched and lilting, except that it through as a sharp growl. His voice was also overlaid with Tabitha's, the dual tone was the alpha and master blending together in thought and power.

(I am her. Please, I had to do that.)

(She's dead and we will not let you take her form!) They both lunged as one.

Desperate, Merrie tapped the energy of her collar and shoved it through a domination spell. She boosted her own power as an alpha and let it flow through the collar. It rebounded back into her, gathering up power until the air grew black around her. She projected it with both her mind and voice at them, screaming at the top of her lungs, "Sit!"

The spell pierced both of their shields, shattering them instantly as the domination spell plunged into their consciousnesses.

Instantly, both wolves sat down hard, snapping broken branches with their rush to obey.

Dixie's cock spurted, splattering the ground with cum. His aura surged with power from his submission.

Tabitha lost control of her bladder, a single squirt of urine painting the leaves underneath her.

A quizzical look crossed both of their faces.

Merrie panted and held herself still. Her body hummed with power but also screamed out in agony. Her shell was ripped and torn, black shadows clung to her wounds as the darkness around her slowly seeped back into her form.

There was a rippling of power and then there were two silfae in front of her. Tabitha was a Silvr, a slender woman with small breasts and a thick thatch of hair over her naked mound and underneath her armpits. She stared at Merrie with a look of disgust and fury. "Did you just fucking dominate me!?"

Cringing, Merrie nodded. (S-Sorry.)

Dixie snarled, his tiny hands dug into the ground. (Why?)

Merrie gasped for breath and then sent what she knew over to them. She included everything from the infernal spells, their ability to listen to conversations between alpha and master, and also what Borias and Merrie puzzled out about the spells. It took longer, neither were as good at telepathy as Borias or Haviston. Painful seconds later, both of them settled back.

"Fuck," they said as one.

Tabitha looked around with narrowed eyes. "Dixie, check the wards."

Energy rippled between them, bounding back and forth as it grew in power. Then, it shot out in all directions as it traced the various spells that warned the mill of intruders. It didn't take long for a response.

"Down," Dixie said with a growl. "Every single one. I sense at least a thousand warriors gathered on this side."

Tabitha sighed, "Same on this side. It's a fucking ambush."

"Fir was just to trap us inside."

With a growl that Dixie mimicked, Tabitha stood up. "Bitch, come with us. I don't want to get lost in here."

She didn't wait for an answer but strode sideways around the perimeter of the shadow land.

Merrie followed, her strength rapidly returning as the shadows continued to pour into her. She remained on her wrists and knees, crunching the dead leaves and grass.

Dixie crawled in step with her. (I'm glad to see you are still alive. We all thought you were gone but we couldn't return here to look for you. You left a fucking shadow lands and we couldn't figure out how to get inside. Wait, how did we?)

(You were chasing me.)

(Yeah,) amusement and lust flooded through the connection, (that was a good fucking hunt.)

He glanced at her again. (Why are you bleeding black clouds?)

Merrie winced. (I'm having trouble keep this form. Borias' spell wasn't designed for abuse.)

(You are leaking shadows.)

(I can't be in the light, it burns me. I think sunlight can still kill me.) She lowered her ears to her skull. (Any bright light.)

Dixie though for a moment. (That will make things far more difficult.)

(I'm sorry.)

He grunted and patted her on the shoulder. (That was a good chase. There was blood and violence. I'm hard. You gave both of us a lot of energy to fight tonight.)

Merrie could feel it. It bounced back and forth between a intangible line between the two of them. The energy continued to build until scraped against Merrie's senses.

Tabitha crawled up on a rock and crouched down, her eyes narrowing as she looked in the distance. A low growl shook her slender form.

Merrie followed her gaze. When she saw thousands of men gathered, she inhaled sharply.

(That's their main forces,) said Dixie. (I always told you I'd gather them here if I was going to attack the mill.)

"Yes, and that is why we put more of the wards there."

(Someone knew about them. I can't feel them,) came the low growl. As he did, images flashes through his telepathy as military plans laid themselves down and he started to break apart the various troops that were gathered. Merrie didn't even know there were uniforms but somehow Dixie could identify them even from a distance.

"Who's fucking us over, Dixie?"

(Lemetri, at least. I see a lot of their warriors ready to charge. There is also a couple clans of hunters from the Silver Lands. Druid-hunters. Shape-shifters. Heavy military, shield breakers. There are at least three backup troops including artillery and a nasty-looking druid who has a walking tree for a chair.)

Tabitha sighed. "Fuck, that's a lot of people to kill."

Dixie smiled, a fierce joy rising up. (Yes, mistress.)

Merrie could barely see any of that, even with Dixie's identifying them for her. Her attention drew to the side, to one of the few groups that didn't look like they were preparing for war. Instead, they were chanting and preparing something that looked like a large white bell.

(What is that?) asked Dixie.

Merrie frowned for a moment. She had seen it before but it took her a moment to place it. (It's to break shadows. They used it a few times to clear the shadow district I created.)

(Did it work?)

(Yes, but it is fragile. The entire thing is glass.) She frowned as she recalled the details. (It also took a lot of energy to prepare. They would charge it and then carry it into the shadows as far as they could before setting it off. They needed a lot of guards to protect it because the shadows attacked them. Gillette....) The image of the man who betrayed her choked off her thoughts.

Tabitha sighed. "At least the priests of light are distracted. None of them are armored or wielding weapons, probably think they are safe. That will make the fight easier."

Merrie perked up. (They will?)

"Yes, if don't think they are needed, they will trust the paladins to defend them. They also won't have as many defensive spells since that energy could go into powering that artifact. Some of them will still have power despite Lemetri being gone. I suspect they are getting latent powers from their pantheon or there is some small connection to the goddess." Tabitha gestured behind her. "This shadow land has been here for a year, something is keeping it around. I'm betting it's fillet of goddess."

Merrie thought about the sight of the shadow creatures feasting on the light. She shuddered at the memory. She wanted to reach through the shadows but didn't dare so close to the edge. She could feel the power of the lands, it was being kept in place by the feasting.

Dixie looked at her and nodded. For a moment, he looked old.

Merrie sighed and bowed her head. (What about the devil? Borias said that someone was creating those traps and it felt infernal.)

"No," Tabitha said with a shake of her head. "I keep looking but I can't see it. I doubt I will but I'm hoping the bastard doesn't have attack powers. Probably a sneak and most likely a mercenary."

(He stole my spell.) It hurt Merrie that her own magic, corrupted as it may be, was being used against her friends.

"Then he's patient and waited a year to do this. No, if this goes wrong, he'll probably slip away and try again. We don't have time or energy to deal with things we can't fight. Same goes for those light fuckers. While they are polishing their bell, we can ignore them."

Merrie glanced at them, a dread filling her. (They are going to remove the shadow land.)

"Yeah, probably. Which means you are going to stay here in case we lose."

With a jerk, Merrie shook her head. (No, I can fight.)

Tabitha looked at her, her green eyes almost burning. "You are vulnerable to light and injured. There are at least three different troops out there who are capable of creating enough light. If you are that fragile then you can be killed just by being near their magic. Fuck, you're another fucking Borias!"

Merrie shook her head. (I had to abandon Borias and Bass, I can't leave you too.)

Tabitha turned away, her pointed ear quivering with her movement. "Either you die quickly out there or have a chance here. I'll let you decide but if you get in our way, I will kill you myself."

Sorrow clutching her throat, Merrie bowed her head.

"All right, old man, how much life do you have left before that cancer eats away at your body?"

Dixie shivered, a ripple of fear running through his body. He gulped and then steeled himself. (Fifty years at least.)

Merrie sobbed. The only thing keeping Dixie alive was his submission to Tabitha. If he walked as a human, his body would begin to eat itself at a rapid past. The last time he stopped acting like a bitch, he thought he lost years of his life.

Tabitha was struggling with her own emotions. The sorrow rippled away from her like wavers of heat on a black rock. Both of them knew what was going to happen but they didn't have the words.

(Why are you doing this?) Merrie asked, barely able to control her own sorrow.

The elf woman opened her mouth to say something but then closed with snap.

Dixie answered for her. (We've been companions for many years, us two and Bass and Sable. We've fought battles and wars, adventured and grew old together. Just as he will do everything he can to save us, we will do the same. It is the only way companions can treat each other.)

His eyes were shimmering as he looked at Merrie. (When it comes down to it, save Fir and Cinthia first. Borias. Then Bass and Sable. In that order. Fuck Haviston, he's a dick. The girls aren't warriors, they can't handle this. Borias... may not survive with his geas, but I know you are sweet on him.)

(It's---) The words froze in her throat. Something stopped her from saying he was pardoned. It was a compulsion, but she didn't know the source. The pressure relented as soon as she stopped trying. She opened her mouth to say something else.

Brilliance exploded straight up, a beam of the brightest white speared up from near the mill house and pierced the clouds. The darkness around it peeled back, melting away the clouds as it shot further than Merrie could see. It lit up the ground around them and Merrie's skin began to bubble.

With a cry, Merrie dove further into the darkness as the ground began to buckle.

Tabitha stood up. "Well, that's someone pissing off Bass. I hope it wasn't one of the girls. Dixie, where's your artifact cache?"

"Under the blond asshole scratching his ass by the stump." Dixie's voice was scratched and strained. It came with a flash of pain. His body twisted and reformed into a wolf but there was a terrible intelligence in his eyes.

"Well, then he's about to have a new hole ripped through his chest. Dixie, kill."

Dixie burst forward, his body blurring and splitting apart into multiple wolves. The many streaks of darkness charged directly for the front ranks.

Tabitha looked back Merrie. "I'm glad to see you. You were always a good girl."

A rumble shook the ground. It began to buckle underneath Merrie's feet.

Before Merrie could regain her balance, Tabitha had transformed into a wolf and was charging. With every step, she grew larger and larger until she was taller than the house.

Wind howled around Merrie, expanding out from the mill house. She glanced over and then jerked back. The beam of light had gotten even brighter. It turned all the shadows into hard-edge points but the edges were beginning to fray underneath the onslaught of holy magic.

In the gathered troops, paladins and clerics began to glow as they prepared for battle.

Merrie sobbed. The light burned and blinded her. She couldn't survive against any of it but the knowledge didn't make the knife in her heart any duller. She turned and fled deeper into the darkness of the shadow land.

Chapter 14: Shadow Lands (?+/F gb oral anal v tort cons)

Merrie crawled through the darkness. Her supernatural vision made it easy to avoid the larger of the rotten trees and crumble rocks. Everything had corroded with the touch of the Shadows, even the ground itself. It crumbled underneath her touch, the sterile grains no longer clung to itself and it shifted with every movement.

With so much darkness around her, she easily restored the shadows of her body and patched up her wounds with bands of darkness. It wouldn't hold underneath the light, but it kept her from leaking more of her insides until her skin could heal.

Sorrow radiated from her and the shadows flocked to her misery. She could feel the beat of spirits on the other side the veil, there was little keeping the Shadows from invading the world. She could feel it stretching all around her, as if some creature's claws were pressing against fabric over a door. It was a terrible feeling but, at the same time, she wanted to slip over and embrace the death that was on the other side.

She didn't know what she was looking for, only that she could no longer see the brilliant column of light from Bass. She had seen it before, it was one of his more powerful attacks. She was thankful that he was still alive, but Tabitha's last words worried her. He would have only used it in times of crisis or maybe someone died. Images of Borias, Fir, Cinthia, and even Sable flashed through her mind, each one sending her darker and deeper into her despair.

Merrie already knew how low she could get. She almost killed an entire city with her sorrow over losing Kine. Thousands had died because of her and she would have easily killed ten times that if she didn't try to undo her mistake. It took her a long time to accept Kine's death. It was Rakin, of all people, who gave her the ability to work out her emotions against him until they both came out of that cell, bloodied and broken.

Her thoughts brought more sorrow and shadows around her. She tried to cheer herself up, but it was difficult. She had finally brought herself back to life only to lose everyone before they could ever have a reunion. She spent years trying to return to the mill, if it wasn't for Haviston's compulsion, and now she couldn't even be with the family she loved.

She continued to crawl through the rotted world of the shadow lands, vainly looking for some forgotten artifact or spell that would let her change the battle. Instead she just saw death and destruction. It washed over her, the scent of rot flooding her nostrils along with the burn of ether in the back of her throat. It was her scent, her smell. It flowed through her veins as the shadows corrupted everything including herself.

Coming around a tree, she scraped her back against it before she managed to come free. She could have easily pushed it aside if she had hands but she didn't. She didn't even use her cloak.

She stumbled free.

Seeing an empty circle of nothing, she stopped. There was nothing in the center, No rotted leaves or branches, Not a single stump or rock. Just a flat, featureless circle of death. It hung in the air, a stillness that had suffocated even the wind around it.

She let out a soft cry. She knew what was in the center. It was where Lemetri had ripped out her heart before Merrie pulled both of them into the Shadows. The last and greatest of her spells, giving her soul to the Lord of Shadows.

Trembling, Merrie started toward the center. She had nowhere else to go. The silence pressed down on her and she felt the veil between two worlds grow paper thin. It would only take a single thought to cross over. She shook violently as she reached the center and looked down. There wasn't even a scorch mark from where the goddess died.

She could feel the pressure of the veil against her. The Shadows were close, almost ripping through on their own. It bore down on her heart and head. She felt it seeping through her magical energies and her heart quickened with it.

It was the darkness, the Shadows. It reached for her, strained to cross the thin barrier between worlds. She wondered if she stepped aside if it would rupture the opening. Would the Shadows burst forth, would they be able to take on the army poised to kill her family?

Merrie knelt in the center like a proper bitch. She spread her knees and let her tail rest on the ground. Lifting her head, she looked into the inky void above her. "Why? Why did you bring me back?"

Her voice didn't echo, it was muted by the stillness in the air.

Any icy wind brushed against her bruised and battered body, teasing her nipples and sliding in the valley between her legs.

She brought her wrists up to her collar. "Please? I'm begging you."

Unsure of what to do, she bowed her head until her hair touched the ground. She planted herself and lifted up her ass, presenting herself to what she hoped was the Lord of Shadows. Though having her pussy and ass lifted up seemed inappropriate for a being that could rend the World Tree in half.

A tingling tickled her rear.

She shook her ass, sweeping her tail aside.

The tingling grew stronger and quickly became an itch. She jerked and sat up, pulling herself away.

A flash of light caught her attention. She looked up and realized it was her hair. Light had caught on the ends and was slowly following the strands to her scalp. It was a shimmering silver, the faintest of lights. She had seen it before, when Borias showed her lips in the mirror.

Balancing on her knees, Merrie looked down. She scanned the earth but couldn't see anything. But she knew what it was, Lemetri's blood. It had soaked into the ground but was hidden in the darkness.

Her scalp began to tingle. She cringed and looked up as the shimmering spread out along the strands of her hair, giving her a shimmering silver appearance.

Her ass still tingled. Whimpering, she yanked her tail and pulled it forward. When she saw the shimmering strands coloring her ass, she let out a whine. She needed darkness, not to have her body glowing all the time.

The burning increased. The divine light was fighting with her shadowy nature. She squirmed and tried to pull at her hair, snapping strands. The shimmering glow continued to follow the strands until her ass and scalp were burning.

Merrie cried out and pawed at her hair, trying to escape the blood of the goddess. Her whine rose in volume until it filled the air around her.

And then it stopped.

One moment, she was crying out and then the next there was nothing but overwhelming pressure and ice against her body. Merrie shook as fear filled her. She slowly looked up to see the towering form of the Lord of Shadows looming over her. Terrible wings spread out across the sky, blotting out even the darkness. Claws larger than her body flexed and tightened. She had seen them tear through buildings and people, both had rotted away in an instant.

Fear gripped her heart. She felt the hot trickle of urine splatter down her thigh but there were no splatters as it rotted away before touching the ground.

(Lord of Shadows, help me.)

**(Shadow Maker. Light Snuffer. You have fed.)** The power of the Lord of Shadows' voice was overwhelming. It crushed Merrie's own thoughts as it projected directly into her brain. It felt like shadowy claws were scraping against her very mind, corroding everything it passed as the words echoed endless in her head. There were more, alien thoughts that she had no chance of understanding but they had a pattern similar to the calligraphic spells that danced across her thoughts.

Merrie whimpered and held herself still.

The Lord of Shadows flexed one claw and loomed closer. She could feel the ground dissolving around her, blowing way into dust as she sank down around him. The raw power of the creature was overwhelming, it both filled and drained her body at the same time. Her heart beat faster, the triple beat shaking her form.

(W-What do I do? How do I save them?)

**(Save. Shadows. Give. Sanctuary.)** Each word felt like a torture for a creature trying to communicate with a lesser being. The Lord's immense thoughts threatened to shatter her sanity.

Tears ran down her cheeks only to blow away into black mists. She inhaled the sharpness of Shadows into her lungs and trembled at the icy scrap against her lungs. When she exhaled her, her hair began to glow brighter. It flickered with every breath, snapping back and forth in the silent wind that rose up around her.

**(Shadow Maker. Give sanctuary to your children.)**

The veil between the worlds strained. She could feel a thousand claws pressing against it, trying to break through the barrier between the worlds. She pictured the other creatures that the Lord of Shadows had created. They were formed when her own energies had ripped through the roof of her mansion when she collared herself. The terrifying moment had repeated itself when the Lord of Shadows had pulled Lemetri with Merrie into the darkness. The last thing she saw was it splitting in half and two more beasts being created from the light as they feasted on the goddess' body.

The Lord reached down with one claw. It was larger than her. It touched her collar with surprising delicateness. Everything other than her and the collar rotted with its presence. **(Open the gate.)**

It projected with the force of a command. Her pussy grew slick and dripping in an instant. She shuddered with her orgasm and spread her legs further on the fine sand of dead ground.

Calligraphy raced through her mind, patterns she had already seen before far more complex and intricate than she had ever seen before. As she watched the Lord imprint the knowledge directly into her mind, she considered the spell. She didn't think it was beyond her limits for skill but she didn't have nearly enough power to cast it.

The Lord kept drawing the spell across her mind. The longer it took, the more she could feel her sanity being threatened by the alien thoughts that pummeled her thoughts. The Lord saw the world differently, both in a scale that treated her as barely significant but also from a view that had no basis in her reality. It was terrifying see the world different and she struggled to keep her own perceptions intake with the Lord invading her mind.

When it finally finished, it withdrew rapidly. It reminded her of an immense cock being yanked out of her cunt, with an empty ache left behind. As much as the Lord's presence threatened her sanity, it was also as if a god was inside her mind.

She lurched forward with a sob, her wrists catching her from falling to the ground. Tears splashed down as she drew her thoughts together and considered the spell. It would rip a permanent hole between the world, not unlike what she had done to the district in her sorrow. The only difference was the spell would be deliberate and focused, far harder to break than just an orgasm and blast of pleasure.

It would corrupt the world around the mill, probably destroy every living thing within the shadow land. Creatures of the night would roam free in the cover of darkness preying on not only the mill and the bitches there but also the surrounding villages.

She wanted to say no, but something stopped her. It was a longing. The creatures in the shadow district were friendly to her, loving even. Even the most fearsome beast would have obeyed her and it tore her heart when she destroyed them.

Fresh tears ran down her cheeks. She hated the feeling that gnawed at her when she killed the creatures of the shadow. They fought for her, defend her, and even sheltered her. They were her kin, but ones of the black blood that flowed through her veins.

Far away from Franome, there wouldn't be as much danger to others if a small part of the shadows remained in reality. Maybe the mill could move? She felt guilty for even considering asking.

Before her, the Lord of Shadows drew back. **(Open. Sanctuary.)**

Something twinged inside her, a promise to save Franome. It was her geas, the promise she made to the queen of the country to protect the land. She couldn't let the Shadows take over, even if she wanted. But, at the same time, she wanted to open the gate. It was more than a longing, it was a hunger to have the shadows swirling around her body, ice against her body.

The geas fought with her longing. It wasn't a boiling in her stomach like the last one but an overwhelming pressure to obey, to submit. Her body grew slicker with her excitement as she struggled against it, letting her ideas shift and slide in an attempt to find some way that would let her protect Franome from the darkness while still obeying the Lord of Shadows.

She knew that the shadows would spread out from the portal, they would continue to eat away at reality until there was nothing left but darkness.

Her geas responded powerfully, crushing the idea.

The only way was to limit the shadow lands from forming. If they couldn't invade, then there would be no threat to the rest of the country.

Suddenly, the geas relaxed.

Merrie let out a gasp and then smiled. She had an option, a way of obeying both the geas and the Lord of the shadows. Lifting her head, she addresses the most powerful being in her world. (I have a request.)

The Lord's attention was a lead weight against her mind.

(I-I will give you sanctuary but you can't claim all this land. You must have a limit, places you can't go.)

**(There are shadows everywhere.)** The alien thoughts pummeled her mind and she could tell it was not happy.

(Not everywhere,) she said as she almost lost control of her bladder again. She was about to bargain with a god. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. Instead, she wiped the dried tears from her face. She tried to think about how to frame her response. (There are shadows and then there is... home.)

The attention intensified. She trembled under the Lord's will.

(What if... what if...) She struggled with the idea in her head. She felt ashamed for asking but it was the only metaphysical measurement she knew. (What if you limit yourself as far as my orgasm will travel?)

Silence.

(I radiate pleasure when I come. It affects people. That will be your limit.)

The Lord loomed over her again. **(You are strong enough to consume the world.)**

Her heart skipped a beat. (Y-You aren't good enough to make me come that hard.)

The Lord's silence was painful.

(Promise. By whatever you honor, by your own being. By the Shadows, by the darkness. You will go to my limits and no further. Not as long as Franome exists.)

The Lord pulled back. Its powerful wings spread out and she felt its alien emotions grinding down on her.

Merrie bit back a whimper. She had gone too far, she knew it.

**(Agreed.)**

She gulped. (How do you make a promise?)

The Lord only pulled back further. **(Cast the spell, use the light. A promise has been made.)**

(Use the....) Merrie looked around. As they had talked,the ground had rotted underneath her. It was nothing more than fine sand except for droplets of shimmering light that had gathered on the surface. It was Lemetri's blood. The same color flowed through her hair.

She could picture the gate spell in her mind but it was too complicated to keep in her head. She needed it to be drawn on the ground.

Panting, she bent to her side and brought her tail to her mouth. Taking a large hunk of the shimmering hairs in her mouth, she braced herself and yanked hard. They snapped out and she jerked at the pain that shot up her spine.

With a whimper, she worked the hairs with her lips and the ends of her arms to create a makeshift brush tied with a sliver of darkness from her cloak. Holding it firmly in her lips, she leaned over and tipped the end into the blood of the goddess. The shimmering light surged up the strands until it glowed brightly in her mouth.

Wincing at the brightness and the prickle of divine power, Merrie began to draw out the gate spell on the ground. She had to crouch, her ass in the air and her breasts scraping on the ground, but she could draw. Her brush held and a ragged line followed her tracing.

The spell in her head both incomplete and too complicated at the same time. It was created by a mind born of Shadows not her mortal frame. But she had cast similar ones enough to know where to fill in the gaps. She crouched as she drew, spreading it out in calligraphy on the rotted ground.

It felt like she was writing on the world itself. Power surged around her as she followed the lines precisely, using her intuition more than her memory to finish the swirls and whorls that made up the spell. The power pulsed along the color painted on the ground. A wind picked up but somehow didn't disturb the lines she had already drawn.

As she traced out the lines, she felt her life pouring into the spell. The very core of her being was being painted on the ground and she could see black streaks through the shimmering light of the goddess' blood.

When the blood ran out, she dipped it into the gathered pool until it was gone. Whens he still had more, she squeezed it out of her tail and hair to wring one last precious droplet out.

The world wavered around her, both from the veil between Shadow and reality straining but also from her vision blurring. It hurt to breathe. Her limbs felt heavy when she moved them for the next whorl of power.

By the time she was on the last swirl of the spell, her entire body shook with effort. Her energy had rapidly drained with the effort to keep the brush in place. She was also out of blood. She imagined the last loop and held her breath as she hoped the color would hold. It was only seconds of painting before either the spell or color would fade.

She gasped and forced the line steadily. Only two more curves, only one more curve.

One centimeter from the end, the color stopped.

"W-What? No!" Her throat ached from speaking.

Only a centimeter of color was needed to finish the spell. Merrie looked around for any more droplet but there was none. No more blood of a goddess left. No more energy for the spell.

She felt the energy beginning to dissipate. She didn't have enough. The spell was breaking apart.

Whimpering, she looked around again, pawing at the ground. She needed just a little bit more, a single droplet would be enough.

The wind picked up around her, howling as she felt the air being sucked out of her lungs. She didn't know if the Lord was happy or not, but she could imagine a thousand shadowy beings screaming to escape. They would tear her apart if she didn't finish.

Merrie whined as she looked for more shimmering. She just needed a tiny bit more. She scanned the ground for the same color as her lips and hair.

When she found none, she slumped back. "No, this isn't fair."

No answer but the overwhelming pressure. It ground down on her, forcing her toward the rotting ground. She licked her lips to moisten them and then smiled. She had a bit of color left.

Reaching up, she grabbed her collar with her wrists. She brought her lower lip up against her teeth and then sent the command. (Bite. Bleed.)

Unable to resist her own commands, Merrie chomped down and sliced into her lip. At the same time, her pussy surged with lust and submission. As the ether-laced black blood and shimmering color gathered on her lip, she bent over and kissed the last part of the spell.

Energy exploded from her, throwing her back. She saw blackness rip open between the worlds and a thousand claws burst out of it. They spread out from the magic circle, a boiling mass of unnatural creatures and shadowy beings that she had seen many times in the last few years. Claws and teeth swarmed over her, a boiling sea of black on black.

She was ripped off the ground and tossed into the air. Screaming, she fell back down but they were already swarming over her. Teeth scraped against her nipples and tore at her sides. The pain sparked against her senses as claws were dragged across her buttocks and back, a lover's scratch instead of a killing blow.

Merrie gasped as she felt an icy mouth filled with teeth pressed against her sex. It was large and easily took her entire pelvis inside. A tongue slathered against her, leaving behind hoarfrost that tickled against her skin.

More claws were on her, scraping against her body, covering every inch with sharp pains.

Merrie tried to twist out of the grip but she was couldn't. There were too many creatures holding on her. The helpless ignited a flame inside her.

Teeth bit down on her breasts, piercing the flesh as the sucked on the aching mounds. The pleasure and pain blurred together, overwhelming in how fast they assaulted her body. There was no gentleness, no kindness, only brutal speed and strength.

Something thick and rough was shoved up against her asshole. It slammed forward, tearing open her ass as it drove deep into her body. She felt every millimeter of the icy length as it plunged deep into her rectum and slammed against her organs.

She screamed out without wanting to, but the sound ended in a muffled gurgle when a tentacle jammed down her throat. She choked on it, but then a second and third forced their way past her cheeks and into her mouth. Her neck swelled by the brutal intrusion. She tried to breathe but couldn't as the tentacle thrust erratically into her, fucking her throat clear down to her stomach in a rapid fire series of thrusts.

The hardness in her ass was yanked out, tearing it open further before something larger pressed against it. There was no way so many creatures could reach her but the shadows were flexible and fluid. The massive intruder tore into her, ripping her rectum wide open as it began to pound a fist-sized hardness into her body.

Merrie cried out as the pleasure and pain grew. It was hard to tell the difference, it was impossible to wrap her mind around her brutal rape with the exhaustion of casting the spell. Her body was adrift in the sensations, unseeing as every centimeter of her body was assaulted.

Her pussy was invaded by a dozen claws. They scraped against her insides as they tried to reach her cervix. She felt it tearing into her insides and tried to force them out, but she was growing too wet with her helplessness and it only added to the friction. The thickness filled her up, stretching her insides as they pounded into her ass, her pussy, her mouth.

She was helpless to do anything and her lusts ignited for her inability to do anything. Crying out around the thrusting tentacles in her throat, she writhed and twisted, silently begging for more even as they bit and scratched.

Her collar glowed with its healing power but it wasn't enough.

More mouths clamped on her breasts, a hundred nibbling teeth. More caught on her sides, stomach, and buttocks. They gnawed on her body, adding to her pleasure.

Merrie choked on the cocks raping her throat. She couldn't help but feel pleasure from the intensity. They were brutal but also fucking her. They were dominating her like no mortal person could ever do. She couldn't identify the bodies only a swarm of cocks, tentacles, and teeth. The surrealism only added to her pleasure.

It didn't matter how she writhed and twisted, there was something thrusting into her. More tentacles shoved into her mouth, ripping her throat open as they forced their way in. As one drew out, two more were forcing their way inside. The constant thrusting and pulling of the b lack tentacles was too much to bear. She clamped down on them but they forced her mouth open.

They were using her, raping her. There was no part of her body that wasn't being impaled or bit.

Something gnawed on her clitoris, tiny teeth teasing the hard nub of pleasure until it ached. It wasn't drawing blood but it was close. She tried to rock away from the pain but the creatures had pilled her arms and legs away form her body. Teeth nibbled along every centimeter of her limbs, against delicate flesh and skin.

The pleasure continued to grow, it was an orgasm stronger than she had in a long time. The sudden helplessness and brutality pushed her to higher heights. She started to orgasm, but then every mouth bit down hard on her, interrupting her pleasure.

As soon as the wave past, they were once against nibbling and touching her.

She cried out, her ruined orgasm still growing in pleasure. It threatened to rip about her mind as she lost herself in the thrusting cocks and tentacles. The claws in her pussy reached her cervix and scraped against it. The entire effort for the fingers to get deeper strained her entrance with the endless back and forth of a hundred hands jamming and pulling back.

Merrie jerked violently and tried to escape. Her body shimmered as she tried to melt away but the shadows had her pinned. They would have just raped her in any form she took.

With a rush, the pain disappeared. It became nothing more than ecstasy that burned brightly in her black veins. She cried out as her orgasm rushed up and then was halted by a thousand teeth chomping down on her body. They brought her to the edge of pleasure again and again, each time it rose in power as the Lord of Shadows taught her how much her body could take.

They continued their assault on her, brutalizing her body as they raped her. She thrashed back and forth, trying to escape. Her helplessness only added to the fires, they were black inside her body, burning her insides as her entire frame clenched and relaxed in rapid.

Sheets of her juices coated her thighs, stomach, and buttocks. Her body had been flipped and twisted around that she could taste her excitement on her lips. She sucked on them, tasting blood, cock, and her pussy. Her insides clamped down as an orgasm rushed up.

A thousand teeth bit down, stopped her orgasm.

Merrie whimpered and cried out. (Please!) she begged. (Let me come!)

Just as fast as they came, the shadows pulled away. Only the ones holding her limbs held her in place.

She shuddered and gasped for breath. The suddenness was overwhelming as was the desperate hunger for an orgasm. Every part of her skin was raw and bleeding darkness. The mist swirled around her, covering her body in darkness. The parts that weren't bleeding glistened with her juices and pleasure.

She tried to pull her arm free but tentacles wrapped around her shoulders and elbow only tightened to keep her in place.

Frowning, Merrie looked around for why they stopped. And then stopped when she realized the Lord of Shadows was looming over her. She shook as she looked up.

It was holding out its fist. The limb was larger than her body but there was no question it was pulling back to thrust inside.

Merrie whimpered in fear. Her body was already dripping with need but the terror rose into a knife-like edge. She clenched.

The Lord thrust forward. Its hand slammed against her cunt and asshole, exploding into streamers of black mist. They poured into her, filling her pussy and swelling it open as icy pressure forced its way up Merrie's rectum.

She screamed out as it continued to pour into her, filling her insides until she thought she would burst open. Seconds later, it streamed out of her mouth and nose. She felt every millimeter of it scraping her insides, dragging back and forth along raw nerves.

Her ruined orgasms ignited into the purest black flame. It seared along her veins, surging as the Lord shoved deep and yanked out. Every thrust of its unnatural fist pushed her higher and higher.

Fear sparkled in her mind. The Lord was going to make her come hard enough to touch the world. She cried out and tried to hold back the pleasure, but the bites and thrusting made it impossible. She wanted to come, she craved it. When the Lord thrust into her, she lifted her pale hips up to its fist and accepted it. When it burst out of her mouth, she shuddered with ecstasy. She needed to come, it was her nature, it was her power.

The Lord of Shadows continued to assault her ass and cunt. The streamers of mist caressed every inch of her body inside and out. It danced along her veins and throbbed along her bones. It set off a thousand pleasurable sensations and she couldn't stop her orgasm even if she tried.

It exploded inside her body and mind, a pure wave of ecstasy that threatened to destroy the world. The black orgasm seared her veins but it wasn't enough. It exploded from her mind but a sudden twist of darkness and she felt it funnel through her collar, the collar the Lord of Shadows had help bind her.

Knowing that anything that went through the collar would be magnified a hundred-fold, Merrie came even hard as she dreaded the explosion. When it came, it pulverized the shadows around he before spreading out in a black wave of visible energy.

In the black field of her mind, her orgasm also rippled away from her. She could feel the hearts and bodies of everyone who ever submitted among a field of stars. All of them would be affected by the intensity of her orgasm.

The Lord slammed its fist home again, impaling her completely on obsidian mists. It burst out of her throat and set off another orgasm that rippled out for her.

Merrie screamed out and followed the energy as it burst out of the glade and slammed into the armies around them. Every man and woman who had ever obeyed a command exploded into orgasm. As one, they dropped to the ground as their bodies were wracked with the most powerful pleasure they had ever experienced. Commanders dropped as did the priests and other warriors. The smell of cum flooded the air as it soaked into robes and leaked out of armor.

The ripple of pleasure continued to expand.

The Lord of Shadows hammered its fist into Merrie, driving the obsidian mist through her entire being and setting off wave after wave of pleasure. Her entire body burned brightly as she thrashed violently, snapping free of her bounds and thumping toe the ground.

Each burst of pleasure was forced into her collar by the Lord's alien mind. Each one that came back magnified and stronger was sent out to add to the Lord's growing domain.

Pressure ground her into the earth as the Lord thrust again and again, driving the pleasure higher and higher as she was rapped from ass to mouth in rapid fire blows.

Merrie felt her orgasm reaching further, spreading out until it approached Maddy's Dairy and even the villages in Blood County. It was only a matter of seconds, a few thrusts of the Lord's powerful fist, that they would be swallowed by the shadow lands that would follow. After that, more of the county would be swallowed by darkness.

She tried to pull it back.

The Lord's hammering made it impossible to stop it. The pleasure of having something so hard, so fast, and so flexible driving deep into her orgasms was too much. It touched every pleasurable nerve, set off every sensation of being filled that she had. She cried out, her eyes no longer seeing, as she came again and again.

Merrie whimpered as she imagined all the people who would die when the shadow land swallowed them up. She couldn't hold back, she could only force it somewhere else. In desperation, she threw it into the one thing she had left, her collar. It could store energy.

With all her mental might, she drew back the pleasure and forced it into the collar, commanding it to store. It poured into the artifact.

For a moment, she thought it would stop.

The collar reached the limits of its storage and the excess energy poured out magnified even more. It circled back into the collar again and again, gathering energy and strength with every loop before the Lord of Shadows finally let it explode out from Merrie's helpless body.

Merrie screamed and drew it back, forcing it into the collar again and again. Power surged through her as her entire body glowed from the inside. The black flames seared the Lord itself as she became a black inferno of lust and shadows.

Unable to take it, she directed it up. A black beam of pure darkness burst out of her body and speared up. It was grew around her, spreading out rapidly as it pierced the cloud. Unlike Bass's column of light, darkness surrounding the beam as the sky blotted out the stars and moon with a supernatural storm that rapidly formed.

The Lord yanked out its fist and looked up. Without a thought, it launched itself into the air and into the beam of darkness. Its form swelled and then exploded into hundreds of other creatures like itself. They split themselves until the air was thick with the powerful begins that swarmed in the cloud of darkness.

Merrie hit the ground hard, the energy drained out of her. Black cum poured out of her mouth, pussy, and ass. Her body shuddered violently from her rape. But there was a smile on her lips. She managed to keep the shadows confined though she had accidentally summoned thousands of creatures to roam the shadow land she had permanently affixed to the world.

The Lord landed heavily, its body glowing with dark energies. **(The limits of your pleasure and no further. No being of darkness and shadows will leave through its own will from the boundaries you have established. Thank you, Shadow Maker. You have given us sanctuary. We will honor our promise.)**

Its alien thoughts were clearer now. Or, Merrie wondered, had she been changed to understand them more.

Merrie cried out at the empty feeling. It was the strongest orgasm of her life and she already felt like there was nothing but an empty void left in her body. She curled up in a fetal position and let the tears blow away into black mist.

Chapter 15: To War

Merrie flowed along the ground, her body tracing every curve and bump of the rotted ground. Her shadow form didn't need light inside the shadow land, only the power that rippled along her. Fragments of calligraphy raced along her head, unformed spells and possibilities dancing among the afterglow of her dark orgasm.

It only took seconds for her to reach the original limits of the shadow land. One moment there was nothing but crumbling trees and rotted leaves, the next she was racing along wilting grass and between trees just beginning to lose their leaves.

She slowed and stopped, reforming her body. For a second, she saw her shadowy limb in front of her and worry sparked along her senses. What if the darkness had stripped away the shell that Borias had created for her? Then, as she watched, her pale skin formed over the shadows and sealed it back into place. Even the small measure of protection gave her a respite of peace and a sense of safety.

Shaking her head to clear the shimmering hair from her face, she peered around. She was near the bottom of a rolling hill. To her right, she could see flashes of light bursting along the edge. Small explosions shook the ground and the air stank of expended magic, flames, and lightening. To her left, there was nothing but a solid light. Neither felt right in a land of shadows and darkness.

Her land.

She needed to go to the mill and help join them. With the shadows surrounding her, she knew she could survive battle even against holy power. However, when she looked at the solid light, she felt it pushing her away. Something was there, something powerful and terrifying for the darkness inside her.

Worrying her lip, she made a decision. She crawled up the hill toward the solid light, her naked body swaying with the movement as her tail remained pressed against her inner thigh. She kept her ears perked up as she listened for whatever was over the hill. When she heard loud chanting, a prickle ran along her skin.

She lowered her body to the ground as she reached the top of the hill. Grass scraped against her nipples and thighs, tickling her. If it wasn't for the danger, she would have stopped and just enjoyed the play against her body. Instead, she lowered herself further until her breasts ground into the earth and she inched over the top and peered over.

In the midst of the darkness, the bell stood in a pool of liquid light. Twenty priests surrounded it, holding their hands up in supplication and chanting loudly. Holy energy poured through them and into the white glass artifact.

Surrounding the priests were paladins. None of them were Lemetri's. They had the same symbol at the chanting priests. She thought for a moment, trying to remember through the thousand gods that every child was supposed to remember but came up blank. She gave up most of her memories when she bonded with Kine.

Around the circle of light were shadow creatures, the simple beings that were formed when a creature died among the darkness. Their shadows were imprinted on the realm of Shadows and sometimes their death would manifest as animated forces. Normally, the shadow creatures remained in the realm of Shadows, safe from mortal man, but with the portal and the newly expanded shadow land, the two realms had merged and now they surged forward against the light that burned the darkness.

The creatures were the first to respond. Thousands of animals who only thought of eating, fucking, and fighting. They threw themselves at the bell, a black wave of death. She saw squirrels and wolves, raccoons and moose. Each one charged against the circle of paladins and into the light.

Each one died. Either by glowing weapon or melting away in the light of the bell. She felt their spirits dissolving and the final screams of their second lives withering away in an instant.

Tears glittered on her cheeks as she watched them die. Individually, the shadow creatures weren't capable of attacking the bell. She remembered that from the shadowed district. They swarmed against it, but they weren't strong or organized enough to get through the ring of protectors much less the light. The danger came when too many came, when the swarm became a black river of death and it overwhelmed the forces protectin the artifact. Then the bell would crack.

Until then, more and more would come until the larger beasts came, like the reaper or the Lords of Shadows... no, they weren't the Lords of Shadows. She cocked her head as new understanding flooded through it. They looked like the Lord of Shadows but as she concentrated on them, she could see differences. Feeling the Lord in her mind so long gave her a different way of viewing them, not by physical appearance but by the complexity of the shadows that made up their being. The new beings were barely sentient, dull creatures with some of the powers of the singular Lord. They were closer to her hounds than the sentience of the Lord.

Merrie gulped, she was being changed again. The touch of the alien being had altered her, twisted her thoughts and perceptions to be part of the Shadows more than ever. She shivered at the cost and wondered if it was just a side effect of something more terrible.

Trembling, she brought her attention back to the battle. She didn't have a name for them, so she simply thought of them as her children, her shadow kin. It seemed to work when the Lord of Shadows called her "Shadow Maker."

Thinking of them as her children made her worry. They would die when they threw themselves against the bell. Even she could feel the desire to eradicate it from the world, it was a threat to her very being, a twisting of something that she could only call evil.

She sent her cloak and perceptions ahead. It flew across the air and then snapped to the ground, tracing along it as it danced between the stomping feet of the charging creatures. Up close, she could see the stylized bell on the paladins. They were lightly armored, chain shirts and steel boots. Their weapons were too bright for her, glowing with holy magic as they slashed through the swarming creatures.

A weapon slammed into the ground next to her cloak. She dodged out of the way and surge away, only to barely miss another sword. The blades were too bright. They created brilliant glares that erased everything around them in a halo of holy magic and power.

Merrie cringed and sent her cloak further along, moving with more agility than the other creatures were capable of doing. She knew where the bell was but all she could see was a wall of brilliance. It burned her, searing at her vision and smoldering her cloak's body.

She managed to slip past the feet of a paladin and got into the inner circle but it was too much. The cloak ignited into flames.

Screaming, she yanked it back. Her vision blurred from the brilliance and she flailed around until it managed to fall back into the swarming creatures, shielded by their bodies away from the light. The stench of magic and death filled the air.

The cloak shook its head to clear Merrie's vision. She looked back at the paladins, inspecting the nearest one as the creatures swarmed around her. They had gaps in their armor, she could send the cloak in through their orifices and tear them open from the inside. She had done it before many times, it was an effective attack.

Steeling herself, she surged forward. The cloak swirled around the swarming creatures and she caught on the nearest paladin's leg. It was a man, but that didn't matter for long as she flowed through the gaps of the chain armor and against his hot skin. Sweat soaked her as she crawled along his hairy leg.

His scream shook his body. He staggered back, beating his thighs. The impacts stung her body, almost dazing her, but she bore down and surged up into his crotch and into the tight sphincter of his ass. His scream grew shriller as she forced her way into the tight opening and then began to tear out his insides, ripping through intestines and stomach and lungs in a surge of death and brutality. Claws ripped out his lungs as she crawled up his throat. The heated pressure and darkness was a contrast against the brilliance outside but then she was out of his mouth and into the blinding light.

Merrie gasped, she had never imagined what it was like for her cloak to kill someone. It was brutal and terrifying. She felt sick using it and promised herself she wouldn't ever do it again. At least while she was watching.

As the man collapsed to the ground, the nearest paladins attacks attacked her. Their glowing weapons slashed out, she was too distracted from her own disgust to dodge them. Burning blades sliced through her cloak and igniting it into flames. Her vision blurred with the flashes of light and the agony of her body on fire.

Dazed, Merrie tried to escape them and accidentally got closer to the bell. Her cloak shredded and burned away along with her vision. Desperate, she yanked back and the cloak fluttered out of the light and into the darkness. Only a few long strands of darkness survived the attack.

As soon as it was protected from the light, she pulled it back. It didn't fly as fast as it used to. Instead, it limped and crawled to her before settling back on her skin.

Down in the battle, she heard one of the paladin's yell out. "We just lost Rog! Something just ripped him out from the inside."

"Personal wards, now!" came two other replies.

As one, the paladins suddenly slammed their fists together and exploded into light. Energy coursed along their bodies, bright and clean holy magic.

The shadow creatures pulled back, the light pushing at them.

The magic sank into the paladin's bodies and each one began to glow from the inside.

It only took a second but then the creatures were able to overcome their aversion and they surged against the paladins again. Nothing changed other than they were glowing.

The one of the second speakers yelled loudly. "Get ready, there is a shadow mage coming!"

More defensive spells rose up as the various paladins braced themselves. Their blades slashed through the darkness but it was almost rote actions now. There was no need for anything graceful, only sweep through the creature to kill them.

"How much time, Mar?" asked the paladin who was speaking. He had mousy brown hair peeking out of a dark green bandanna with his holy symbol on it. Underneath his chain armor, she could see that he was slender but muscular, the lines of his pectorals strained against his chain armor.

A female priest stopped chanting long enough to yell back. "Three minutes! Now shut up, Jace!"

The paladin shook his head and grinned. "Time to purge this evil! Galladin!"

The others took up the cry. "Galladin!"

Merrie snarled, her body wavering as she looked down at the paladins. They were going to destroy her shadow land, her children, her promise. Delving into her thoughts, she found a spell to control the shadow creatures and drew it across her mind, the calligraphy coming easily as she pulled in the shadows around her. Energy flowed through her black veins and beat against her insides. She channeled it through her collar and let it build up, gathering in energy until she was surrounded by a black cloud of utter darkness.

Jame, the paladin who spoke, suddenly looked up. "By the gods, incoming!"

Merrie snarled and released her spell. Bursts of shadowy tendrils shot out of her body and swarmed over the gathered forces. The light from the bell erased it, but for for every tendril that was blasted by the light, twenty sank into the hearts of the creatures around her.

Their barely coherent thoughts flooded through her mind, but she shoved them aside and shielded herself from the din. Her spell caught more, twenty, fifty, a thousand. Thousands of tiny creatures, each one not capable of getting close enough to the bell to do any damage.

One of the tendrils caught a larger shadow creature, it was one of the shadow kin. Instantly, it became a thick tentacle as she felt a flood of power come through it. It was larger than a bear and she could picture its black wings spreading out as it came over the hill. Powerful claws dug into the ground as it approached.

She split the spell, pushing the horde into a corner of her mind and giving her attention to the kin with the bulk of her attention. She shifted her senses to the cloak and let it fly around her, taking in the battle. The kin was still over the hill but it was passing next to some large rocks.

An idea hit her. She commanded it to pick up the largest rock and get ready to throw. With the rest of the creatures, she pulled back with all her mind.

The mindless horde suddenly stopped attacking, they pulled back into a black carpet of evil.

The fear and nervousness instantly rose from the paladins. A few swung their glowing weapons aimlessly until they realized no one was attacking. Many of them stood ready, staring at the mass of darkness that was only meters away from them.

Jace yelled out. "Get ready! Defensive up front, the mage take charge!"

The paladins began to swap positions, moving with practiced grace as they shifted the brighter glowing paladins toward the swarm and the darker ones near the back. Merrie cast her senses across them and saw that they all had different level of wards surrounding their bodies. The ones in front were the strongest and the ones in the back were wanting.

Merrie sent her cloak to slithered through the ground near the back. She didn't send her senses along with it, but she could feel it in the back of her mind. As it flowed, she gathered the shadows around it to repair some of the damage don by the light.

And then she waited.

Seconds passed by as the priests continued to chant. Her skin crawled and her mind ached as she strained to keep the creatures at bay. She wanted to lash out, to kill, to swarm over them.

Energy continued to gather in the bell. The light burned at the creatures in the front, searing them away. She almost pulled them back but didn't. Instead, she let the first ranks melt away in silence.

The fear continued to rise. They were all trained to fight against it, none of them would break ranks, but the long seconds were torture for them as long as the others.

"When are---"

Jace, at the point of the formation, shifted his weapon. "Pray."

"How---"

"Pray if you have to say something. They will strike, be ready."

Merrie focused her attention on the back two paladins. Both of their wards were beginning to falter. She saw the glow inside their bodies flickering and dimming.

She sent the horde forward a meter and then pulled them back.

The paladins brought up their weapons and held them ready.

The chanting continued to fill the air, the energy growing into brilliance.

Merrie feinted again, wishing that the weaker paladins would lose their wards faster.

Finally, she couldn't risk it anymore. With a surge of power, she threw strength and protection spells down the thousand connections in her mind. They surged with the darkness as the cloud around her poured into their connections.

A thousand creatures grew darker as they surged forward. Each one only had a smallest measure of increased strength but against so many, the paladins would be struggling.

"Brace!" screamed Jace and then they were on him.

Holy energy burst out of the paladins and they attacked.

Merrie threw her cloak forward, bracing herself against the light. It burst out of the darkness and surged forward, slamming into the weakest paladin. The female paladin's wards burned her cloak, searing it but it wasn't enough to prevent her from forcing her way into the sweat-slicked sphincter into her organs.

The paladin dropped her weapon and screamed, clawing at her stomach as the cloak burrowed deeper into her body. Blood poured out of her mouth and nose.

Merrie concentrated on the cloak, driving its actions. She couldn't feel the wetness of her body, but she had enough control to force it down one arm of the paladin and then the other.

Her scream grew shriller as the cloak tore through muscles of her legs, forcing an opening before it could wrap around her bones

The horde continued to die, surging against the light.

Suddenly Jace was sprinting toward the paladin Merrie was attacking. His weapon rose up and there was no question he was going to kill her.

Merrie drove her puppet yank back. At the same time, she had it clamp down on her weapon.

Raggedly, the female paladin staggered back.

Jace's weapon barely missed her. He continued the swing but backhanded her toward the darkness.

Merrie's strength wavered from the impact. Jace had enough holy magic that it burst through the meat shield she was using. It burned her cloak and frayed her control. She forced the woman to charge forward, not toward Jace but to swing her weapon at the bell.

Jace interrupted her, plunging his weapon into the woman's chest.

Merrie switched her attention to the shadow kin. (Now.)

The boulder launched itself over the hill, directed by Merrie's command. It sailed through the air, unseen by the paladins or the priests.

Pain ignited from her cloak. She felt the holy energy rippling back toward her, using the tendril of control as a path to burn her out. She severed it and felt a part of her life burn away as the female paladin's body burst into brilliant, holy flames along with the cloak, an extension of Merrie's being.

The boulder smashed into the bell. Both exploded in an explosion of light and shards of glass. The gathered energy radiated out in a rapidly growing sphere of the brightest light Merrie had ever seen. It moved too fast for her and she couldn't dodge fast enough, though she scrambled back toward the top of the hill.

Her world grew white and blinding, the glare too much to see anything. All she could feel was the heat beating against her skin, burning away her flesh and searing at the obsidian underneath. She cried out, straining to keep her form together as she flailed helplessly toward the curve of the hill.

Darkness enveloped her, the icy pressure of inhuman wings wrapped around her as claws dug into her skin. She gasped and tried to open her eyes but she was blinded. She felt the energy of the shadow kin still in her thoughts as pain raged across its system. It had sacrificed itself to protect her and she felt its dying as the blast threw both of them away from the explosion.

They hit the ground with a crunch and the last thing Merrie remembered was her limbs cracking from their impact.

Then oblivion.

I would like to thank you for your fantastic stories once more. In this particular case, the way you depict a kidnapped, mind broken, amputee sex slave, something pitiful by definition, as a dignified individual, proud in her submission, is fantastic.
Merrie is a powerful female character: no matter how she is raped, humilliated, debased, tortured... she has accepted who she is, what she is meant to be, and draws immense power from that acceptance.
I really love those kind of characters, and you write beautifully that evolution from despair to fulfillment so, again, thanks.

Chapter 16: Jace

Merrie was alive but couldn't see. The world was too bright and it burned her eyes even though they were closed tightly. She whimpered and rolled over, plastering her face against the ground and breathed in the smells of rotting earth. The alcoholic scent teased the back of her throat from the rapidly dying plants. In a matter of days, it would be rotted and crumbling.

Her entire body burned. The concussion blast had scraped her thin skin raw, bringing her shadowy insides dangerously close to the burning light. Icy blood oozed out of deeper scratches, tickling her skin as it bubbled in the light. She had no doubt it would be pitch as night before the heat evaporated it from her body.

Cracking open one eye, she saw nothing but light. With a cry, she snapped it shut. She didn't see anywhere to escape. Panting slowly, she dragged her legs up to her chest and curled them underneath her. The movement exposed her naked sex and ass to the light; it burned her like a torch. Crying out, she clamped her tail over her exposed holes and yanked her arms tight against her breasts, crushing them.

Gulping, she tried to cast out her senses to find some shelter. The calligraphy in her head burned away from the discomfort. She tried again, but the agony of her body in light made it impossible to concentrate long enough to cast the spell.

Her skin began to peel under the light. She could feel it crinkling and rippling, the first sensation of her shadowy insides beginning to melt under the brilliance.

Crying out, she tried to open her eyes against the blindness again. There was nothing but glare, a white that was too bright to be anything other than holy power raging around or above her. She couldn't even identify the direction to avoid it, there was nothing to position herself except for the space of rotted grass underneath her naked body.

Merrie knew she had to move. She forced her arms out against the burning light. When the searing heat raced up her limbs, she bit her lip and drove them into the ground. The smooth ends of her wrists sank into the moist ground. Trembling, she kept her tail firmly against her pussy as she pushed forward and dragged herself a few decimeters.

To her right, she felt the holy energy gathering. It felt like standing next to a bonfire, a heat rippling along her side and ripping at her skin. It was getting stronger.

She peeked at it, just a flash of movement. The light was too bright for her and she felt it searing her eyes but she spotted a human staggering toward, limping with heavy movements. Their entire body was only a brilliant halo, visible only by the relative darkness that surrounded it. It was one of the paladins, she guessed it was Jace from his previous actions.

Unable to look into the light further, she closed her eyes and blinked away the tears. Fear surged through her body as she frantically tried to clear her vision. She imagined Jace was almost on her. He may have been injured by the explosion, but she had no doubt that he was capable of killing a naked woman cowering in the middle of the light.

"I... I..." His voice was hoarse and grating. The former confidence that boomed in it was gone, but she could still hear him straining to approach and the determination that vibrated in his chest. "I know of you. You're the shadow woman, the so-called omega. The Shadow Hound."

Fear surged through her body. She had to protect herself. She turned her head away from him, cringing at the terror that spiked inside her. Cracking open one eye, she tried to spot some shelter that gave her shadows.

The world was cast in sharp-edged lines of light. Some radiated from Jace, she could tell by how they swayed back and forth, but there were other ones that rippled along the ground. The shadows from the second light were shorter and she guessed it was a pillar of holy flames.

Sharp pain exploded from her right arm. She jerked away from it, terrified that Jace had caught her. Shielding her body from the light, she peeked at it and saw obsidian smoke rising from the burnt edges of her skin.

"I knew, I knew that I was right," growled Jace. "They were all so confident that you weren't there. That damn spy said... there were no... shadows in the house. She either lied..." Jace swallowed hard before he continued, "... or you were able to hide from her. Either way, they were all fools for trusting her."

Merrie inched away from him. Every tiny crawl lengthened the time she was in the light. It would only be moments before more of her skin ripped open from the light.

She tried to summon her cloak but it was destroyed. There was only a dull ache where she had been mentally connected to it.

There was a thud and Jace grunted. "Go for the goddess, they said. If we save her, then she will defeat the traitor, they said." He snorted between the heavy gasps.

A scraping noise filled the air. She cringed but no attack came. She started to peek but the light was too bright. She turned her head sharply away and looked around for shadow.

There was nothing in the valley that she had fallen. The only darkness was the boiling blood that came from either her or the shadow kin that had protected her. The black blood was painted thick against the grass, crumbling it clear down to the earth even as it boiling and misted away in the light. The choking smell of death burned in the back of her throat, tickling it with the fading taste of ether.

Jace grunted. "That was a pretty good trick, girl. You just about killed everyone with that sacrifice play. The problem is," he snarled, "that was my sister you killed."

Merrie tightened her grip. She looked up along the ridge of the valley she was in. If she could get on the other side, there would be darkness.

Gathering up her rapidly fading power, she drew her transformation spell across her mind. The familiar calligraphy needed little concentration and easily swirled across her thoughts, fueled by her fear and the energy that rippled inside her.

Her body began to shift, the skin rippling and peeling.

Agony exploded in her body as the light poured into her body. The spell snapped and the energy raced along her body, peeling her open further before she could throw herself into a fetal position and roll away from it.

"Yeah, yeah. You can't escape the light, blah, blah. I'm tired of explaining it. You just keep whimpering there, I just need a few more moments to get over there and kill you properly." He made sounds of pain and the light grew brighter as he approached. "I told them they should have prepared for you. All because everyone is so anxious to save the goddess and have her owe favors for the ass kissers."

Merrie sobbed into the ground. Her entire body was on fire from her attempted shape-changing. It burned inside her, her shadowy insides were twisting and boiling inside her skin. It took all of her concentration to concentrate on her black heart and let the triple beat solidify her insides.

"After this, I'm going to spend a week healing myself," Jace grumbled. His voice was growing rougher and hoarser. He coughed wetly.

Fighting the agony, Merrie tried to come up with something to save herself. He was closer, she could feel the ground shaking with his staggered footsteps. He was also limping badly, a rapid pair of footsteps before he paused for a second. She guessed that both of his legs were injured but not broken.

As he approached, she smelled fresh blood drifting over the wind. It mixed in with the searing taste of holy magic. It felt like liquid glass against her tongue.

Merrie mentally gauged the distance to the hill. It was only a handful of meters but it was further than the ocean with her pinned in the light. She could do it with her human body but turning into a hound was too much.

An idea darkened her thoughts. She screwed up her face and forced a command through her collar. (Present!)

There was an infinity as the command shot through the connection in her head. It rippled through her collar and became something more, an irresistible order form her mistress. The anticipation grew as her pussy heated up, a liquid gathering in her insides as the order came back changed.

What hit her was the thoughts of someone else, her own mind transformed by the collar into the orders of her mistress.

She obeyed, she couldn't do anything else. Agony tore at her flesh as it peeled away. The pain coursed through her as she forced herself to obey, to slam her ankles into the ground and spread her legs wide. Her tail snapped up, removing all the protection as her bare pussy and ass was exposed to the light.

Everything inside her screamed to curl back up but she held herself. The surge of pain blossomed into pleasure as she fought to obey her mistress. Waves of holy energy seared her skin but it only drove more pleasure to fill her, gathering into an orgasm that pushed back her suffering.

It exploded almost instantly with the taste of blood in the back of her mouth and her entire body burning. Black energy exploded from her sex and raced along her black veins. Her insides solidified around it and pulsed.

"What are you... damn!" Jace raced forward, his foots thudding loudly against the ground.

Surging energy through the aching connection with her cloak, she cast the spell to create a new one. It pulled from her very being, sucking part of her life away, as the darkness blossomed into rippling fabric. Before he could attack, she cast protective spells through the link. She had done the same for her master, her mistress, and her own pack. Now, she gathered up the power and brought it surging across the lit ground toward her.

The holy light peeled away the flesh of her pussy, exposing her sex to the searing light of the sun.

Merrie screamed out as she held herself still.

Jace reached her and she felt the energy rise above her with the whistle of a sword.

(Dodge!)

She was obeying before even the command slammed into her. Throwing herself blindly in the light, she managed to slip past the blade as it plunged into the ground. Liquid glass splattered against her as the magical blade sheared through rotted earth.

Jace's steel-tipped boot slammed into her sex. Her pelvis cracked from the impact as he drove almost half of his foot into her sex. The impact tore open her pussy, ripping skin and sending out a gouge of black blood to splatter against him.

Merrie's cloak snapped between his legs and enveloped her. The icy darkness was a balm against the light as the supernatural cloth wrapped tightly around her body, sealing over her misting wounds and over her face. A knot jammed into her mouth, gagging her but also sending little waves of helplessness to fuel her magic.

She frantically cast the transformation spell. Her body twisted and ripped, her delicate flesh peeling apart like parchment. She felt her insides beating against her cloak and was thankful it shielded her. Moments later, her body reformed into her other form, a Bel Dark hound with a massive chest and a huge head.

A rush of excitement poured through her. She turned toward Jace as her cloak plastered itself over her eyes. The darkness shielded her from most of the light but it was still powerful enough to seep through the darkness. She couldn't focus on him, but she could see his outline from the shadows around him.

Jace yanked his sword up. "Damn, damn, damn!" He swung.

Merrie almost missed the weapon coming at her, it was glowing too brightly. She dodged to the side. Her energy poured into the cloak, keeping it together with the force of her will. A painful throbbing in her head and the taste of her blood in her mouth told her that she only had a limited time to fight in the light.

Jace's weapon left a glowing slash in the air.

She ducked underneath it as she stepped away. Her powerful muscles easily pushed her back.

"I will hunt down if you run," said Jace.

Merrie thought about Bass and the others fighting near the mill house. (I have no fight with you.)

Jace had powerful mental shields. They weren't psionic but a cloud of prayers and guarded thoughts. She could feel him gathering energy for spells, flashes of symbols rising out of the boiling depths of his mind.

He grunted. "You have their goddess."

(Lemetri is dead.) She projected memories of her death into Jace's thoughts.

*Moving with desperate strength that she didn't know she had, Merrie surged forward. She slammed into Lemetri's body, every shattered bone grinding into each other in a singularity of pain. She snarled and slammed her head down to bite down on Lemetri's neck with all her might.*

*Canine teeth shattered against the soft, delicate neck of the goddess, but the shards cut through the divine flesh. Blood, brilliant and shimmering, flooded into her mouth and she felt burning its way across her tongue.*

*Lemetri screamed out and lost her concentration. With a sucking noise, the Lords of Shadows dug their claws into her beautiful flesh and pulled her into the darkness.*

*The world grew black as Merrie fell into the shadows. Claws of a thousand Lords of Shadows tore at her and she fell into them, no strength left in her silent body to resist.*

He pulled back with a hiss. His thoughts grew more guarded, the cloud tightening into a mass of storm clouds and lighting. "No, they said the traitor killed her."

Merrie sent images of the promise she made to the Lord of Shadows along with the images of the shadow kin feasting on the remains of the goddess. She let the details fill in as she pushed the thoughts to the side and wrapped them in a quick psionic spell to keep them flowing.

Jace let out a long breath, his thoughts growing angry. "Then you are the enemy, not that traitor. They were all fools, blinded by their own desires."

She said nothing. Slowly, she backed away from him and prepared herself to run.

"No one is above the gods!" Jace charged, his blade becoming a holy brilliance. It burned her cloak, melting it away into obsidian mists as he charged the few meters to her.

Merrie let out a gasp and threw herself to the side, her body transforming briefly into shadows.

His sword slammed into her right leg, pinning it into place.

She screamed and yanked at it as her body reformed. The noise of it echoed against the valley sides, bouncing back in a shrill sound.

Jace released the sword and punched her, throwing his entire weight into slamming his fist into her chest. The impact cracked bone and she was thrown against the ground.

"By the holy light!" He slammed into her again and again, a brutal pummeling that drove her into the ground.

"You will not survive!"

He had steel gloves on his knuckles. Each impact exploded with tiny flashes of holy light as the blessed knuckles crushed her furry chest and tore away at the cloak. Black blood poured out of the impact as he punched her again and again.

Merrie tried to defend herself, her hound form melting away from the impact.

The fists didn't slow as they crushed her naked breasts and slammed against her stomach, sides, and pubis. Each impact shook her body as he brutalized her without pausing or slowing.

She could see the insane fury in his eyes. It scared her to see the intensity burning in his gaze, the way he fought against the wound that left the bones of his arm exposed to the air and shredded his chain armor. One eye was swollen shut and his brown hair had plastered against it.

"Be vanquished, creature of darkness!" His fist caught her jaw, cracking it. The delicate shadow insides, desperately trying to reform into her bones, shattered and she felt it swelling from the impact.

Merrie fought to regain her senses. When she could, she managed to force a single command through her collar, a desperate need to get energy to escape her attacker. (Orgasm.)

It was weak but confident, she knew exactly what she needed. Her body grew liquid as she felt the order circling and coming back. It slammed into her.

Her entire body exploded into pleasure, turning Jace's attacks into pleasure as she accepted it. It surged through her body as she came, thrusting her naked hips into his fists as he pummeled her sex. The wetness gathered along her pussy as the energy flowed through her, filling her body and holding it together.

It did nothing to shield her from his attacks, that was what kept her coming, but she gathered her pleasure and scraped a spell across her mind.

Her body melted into darkness.

It exploded into flames.

Unable to scream, she flowed out from underneath Jace and up along the hill. The pain and agony followed her, ripping her shadow form in the brilliance as she reached for the crest.

"No!" screamed Jace. He snatched up his sword and jumped after her, bringing the weapon in a brilliant arc over his head and down at her body.

She reached the crest but wouldn't escape the attack.

On the far side, she spotted a shadow kin only meters away. The shadowy creature ducked under the light that streamed over the hill but it was waiting for her. Three others were arranged along the valley. Their claws and tentacles wavered just under the light, as if it was a glass ceiling above them.

Merrie silently sobbed with relief. She reached out for the nearest and sent an order through a hastily formed connection.

The nearest one attacked, lashing out with tentacles and claws.

An explosion of light burst underneath Jace and he slammed into it and then jumped back just as the claws slashed through the air right where he would have been. He landed heavily on the ground and sank to one knee.

Merrie sobbed as she finished flowing over the hill and into the blessed darkness. With a sob, her body reformed into her human shape and she curled up against the cool air.

"I will hunt down, girl. I will destroy you for daring to kill a god." Jace snarled.

Merrie reached out and pressed her hand against the icy ankle of the shadow kin. Its energy flowed into her, filling her with sweet darkness and relief. With a sob, she let her senses drift and they sank into the creature, rolling for a moment before she was seeing out of its eyes.

Jace glared at her from the bright sight of the hill. His eyes were glowing points of white light. His sword burned at the ground at his feet.

Merrie projected the image of the shadow kin next to her.

"I'm aware of the dark creatures that protect you."

She reached out for others. She felt them coming out of the copse of trees that formed the original shadow land. They were her children, her protectors, her guards. She sobbed and rolled to her body, her injuries throbbing.

Jace sighed and stood up. He brandished his sword as he took a limping step back. "This is a battle that neither of us will win."

She panted as she looked up at the four shadow kin looming over her. They were powerful but also untrained. Jace was a warrior, no doubt spent many years hunting the creatures of the night. She wasn't sure which one would win, not with her body screaming out in agony and her skin only seconds away from bursting open again.

Merrie transformed into hound and back again but it did little to heal her energies. She frowned and tried again, but her skin remained ragged and torn as before.

Through the shadow kin's eyes, she saw Jace back away.

(Are you retreating?)

Jace stopped and tightened the grip on his sword. "Do you wish to fight?"

(I want to protect my children and my family. I want to call this place home and not worry about attack or invasion.) Careful not to think of Borias, she projected an image of the shadow kin and Bass, who she hadn't seen since she recovered.

"No," Jace said in a hard voice, "I'm not retreating. Your family is being slaughtered right now. An army rises against them and you may be their own hope."

Unwillingly, fear and determination began to rise up inside her.

"Fighting me means that one of us will die. I don't know which one, but I do know that your loved ones will die without your help. Defending them will leave you weaker. Then I'll be back to kill you. What do you chose? To sacrifice yourself to save them or to defeat me and leave your loved ones to die?"

Merrie tightened her jaw. (And Lemetri?)

"The goddess is dead, as you said. There is no reason for you to lie, it fits with their desperation for a rescue, and also their weakened powers that have increased when they approach this place. They are all fools to attack like this and they blinded by their own desires. Let them die first, then you and I will finish what we started. And when I slaughter you, I will come back properly prepared for battle to destroy what you have let loose on this world." The last few words were spat out.

She struggled to consider his words. Her entire ached but it was unlike the injuries she had acquired in the past. The pain came along her torn skin and the burn of light against her shadowy insides. Her bones ground together with each breath, she could feel the burning sparks along her ribs, pelvis, and thighs.

Merrie asked the shadow kin to look down at her. She saw herself, a naked woman with black-streaked body shaking violently. She looked like she was on the edge of collapse with her shimmering hair plastered against her shoulders and back. Long rents ran along her skin exposing the living shadow underneath and she could taste the black mist that seeped out of her wounds.

Turning, the shadow kin looked back to the lights flashing near the mill. The light was painful for even the spectral creature but she could sense that the battle steadily continued. Various energies rippled along the ground.

Merrie sighed and turned the kin's attention back to Jace. He was also injured, but she couldn't tell the extend with the pure energy rolling off him. It would be a hard battle, one that she would survive no matter what---her collar promised that---but death would take days if not months to recover. By then, she may find her loved ones dead.

Tears ran down her cheeks. Jace was the enemy but he was also offering to pull back. Or least appeared to be, she didn't know if he would try to betray her later.

Behind her, she heard an explosion rock the ground near the mill house and the smell of burning wood wafted past her.

Shaking her head, she swayed. Ribs ground against each other and she tasted blood in the back of her throat. She couldn't take on two battles. With a sigh and a sick feeling twisting her stomach, she projected a pulse of agreement.

Jace continued walking backward away from her and the kin. "We will fight again, girl. Galladin is patient and the light never fades."

He backed away for a hundred meters before he disappeared into the glare of the bonfire that centered where the bell used to be. Through the shadow kin's eyes, she saw hints of the bodies that were scattered from the center of the explosion. Their twisted bodies and gaping wounds would have scared her one day, now they were just victims of the senseless battle from the forced of Lemetri.

Once she was sure he wasn't going to return, Merrie lifted one bare wrist and started toward the other battle. Every movement burned at her senses.

She swayed, a wave of dizziness rushing through her mind.

Merrie shook her head. She couldn't stop, Borias and the others needed her. She reached out and planted one wrist against the ground.

Before she could crawl toward the fight, the dizziness swelled up and she crumpled to the ground. The last thing she felt before the darkness was her bones grinding together as her insides boiled from her injuries.

And then there was darkness.

>>10914

Thank you! I was lucky that a number of people liked the original Puppy Mill enough to encourage me to write a sequel. It has been a lot of fun so far, but I have a long way to go.

>>11009

It's you again.

tSade, the degenerate artist. Girl gets kidnapped, tortured and mutilated, and loves her kidnappers who also have a split up from "morality" where the "moral" side goes to live with their mothers after a "party"

How old were you when you wrote that, 12?

You have a gift for writing that is no debate, but your convoluted sick brain would be a real benefit if I could dissect it to make a batshit immature and crazy shit plot like this. Of course a helicopter ride would substitute that.

Oh why am I here? I'm for the occasional exotic /freak/ show after I realized how deep off I was sliding in guro love. But I just noticed you, when I was like you guys.

Anyway, I hope you die painfully.

tSade, I just want you to know that I still love your writings. I know I don't post often enough to let you know but I do love your stories.

Don't let the person above me get at you, I'm sure there are plenty more silent admirers like me about that just don't post.

>>11013

I will translate your message for all those people who don't understand dumbspeak:

Hey! Hey! Hey! It's Me! Pay me attention! Over here! Is anyone listening? Why does nobody listen to me? Hey? Somebody there? I'm here! Listen to me!

Repeat ad infinitum.

Chapter 17: Respite

Merrie woke up with a gasp. When her ribs scraped against her insides, she let out a cry and froze. Fresh tears glittered on her face as she blinked frantically, trying to clear the wavering world around her.

It took her a painful moment to realize she was staring up at the sky. Smoke and mist swirled above her, flashing with the light of combat spells in the distance. The stench of blood and ozone filled the air and she choked on it. Beneath her, among the rotted leaves that were already crumbling with her presence, she felt the vibrations of explosions, fighting, and war machines.

Terrified for the mill, she brought up her timekeeping spell. She had only blacked out for a minute but it was enough for her shaking body to slump on her back.

She tried to roll over but her injuries prevented her. Every movement caused her bones to grind and her skin to rip. A thousand agonies danced along her nerves. She could do nothing but let out a cry.

Ice pressed against her body. She flinched at it and looked up as one of the shadow kin settled down next to her, lining up its massive shifting body against her own. It was cold as death and just as silent, but the ice felt good against her senses. It matched the coldness that filled her, they were made of the same shadows.

The kin stopped moving for a heartbeat and then leaned into her, pressing its icy body against her own.

When her injuries scraped against its body, she winced. She started to project a command to it but then realized that the icy pressure felt good against her. It shielded her from the flashes of the combat, the reflections of the flames that still burned over the hill, and gave her something solid to rest against.

Merrie's cry faded in her throat. Hesitating, she pressed her face against it. The cool touch felt good and she let out a soft moan. The cold seeped into her body and filled her with darkness. She could feel her shifting insides solidify around her black veins once again. The weakness from her fight slowly faded.

Another shadow kin knelt down on the ground on the other side. She watched it silently as it settled into place and rolled against her, pinning her naked body between their two forms.

The icy touch of death and shadows perked her nipples. The tiny aureole crinkled up until the points stuck out with aching hardness. The confinement and her own helplessness sent little waves of icy pleasure along her skin, it caressed her body before sinking between her lips and along her clitoris.

It wasn't the intense pleasure of fucking or submission, just a moment of being pinned to set off the curls of pleasure rising inside her cunt. She closed her eyes and enjoyed them.

An explosion shook the ground.

She jerked out of the moment and looked up at the sky. There was a gout of magenta flames rising up. She thought of Haviston, his psionic magic frequently burned the bright purple-like color. Taking a deep breath, she reached out for him.

Her thoughts struck a mental shield that was unlike she had ever encountered. Instead of protecting one person's thoughts, it covered the entire battlefield in a cloud of glittering diamonds. Her project crumbled against it. She tried again but couldn't penetrate it. If she knew how to zero on Haviston, she knew she would be able, but without having the psion's thoughts in her mind, her aimless probing was futile.

Desperation rose up, choking her. She reached out to pull herself out from between the two shadowy kins but couldn't find purchase on their shifting, icy bodies. She projected a command for them to move apart but both creatures only looked away and pinned her tighter.

(Move away, I need to rescue them.)

One of the kin let out a silent growl, she felt it in her mind more than from the vibrations. The thoughts that came through were alien and twisted, they had no basis in her reality. It was like projecting into the mind of the Lord of Shadow but not as overwhelming.

(They need me.)

One of the tentacles sticking out of the shadow kin swirled down along her thigh. It was as thick as her wrist and the tip was cold enough to leave frost sparkling along her skin.

She batted it away but another took its place. She gathered up an order. When she looked down,t he command faded from her thoughts.

Darkness was seeping out of the shadow kin and rolling across her skin in streamers of obsidian mist. It moved unnaturally, like wind blowing snow across a road, but instead of falling off her almost white skin, it seemed into her wounds.

She stared in shock, her body trembling as she watched the shadow kin giving part of itself for her. It wasn't just the cold of their bodies, it was of their shadowy selves, the common darkness that shaped body of their bodies.

Merrie looked up at the nearest shadow kin.

It looked black, its shifting body twisting and boiling. It didn't have any strict form or shape but it looked canine and feline at the same time. The angular head had two black shimmering eyes. Tentacles rippled along its body, tracing its spine down to a spiked tail that had curled protectively around Merrie.

Alien thoughts scraped against her senses. It beat against her with only the slightest of commonalities of emotions. She felt them wash over her as she let her mind drift in the kin's thoughts, trying to find some way of asking it to release her.

She only got a strange sense of affection. There was more to it but she couldn't identify the emotions. It felt like awe and protectiveness and... love. She looked into its place eyes and felt the same feelings radiating from the two kin surrounding her. It felt strange but comforting despite the pressure to join into the fray, a sense of respite and quiet before the blood.

Merrie blinked and tried to escape again but it was a weak attempt, partially because her body could barely hold her own weight but also because she knew she couldn't escape. They were holding her down because she couldn't fight.

She reached out toward the combat one with blood-streaked, shaking arm. Black blood, her blood, dribbled down the bottom edge as a few streamers of obsidian slowly slide into the rents in her thin skin.

Helpless, she stared at her arm. How could she help in the fight? Any light would kill her. She looked at the mist and darkness seeping out of the shadow kin. It was helping her. As much as she desperately wanted to race to Borias and save him, she needed to survive the fight. The only way was to recover some of her energy and strength.

With a sigh and tears in her eyes, she slumped against the icy, shifting skin of the shadow kin. Black mist and cold seeped out of its body and into her own. She breathed in the thick scent and tried not to think about her loved ones dying in combat while she was helpless to stop them.

Merrie let her mind drift back through the surrounding area. She found her cloak. It was a manifestation of her will, but it was also independent. She could feel the rents and burns from their fight; it was the same injuries her own paper-thin skin suffered. She summoned the cloak to her and felt it fluttering across the ground, slithering like a snake until it rested against her thigh.

One of the other shadow kin pushed its head closer. It looked like it was sniffing from its angular head and sharp, black teeth.

The cloak reached out for it.

Black mist puffed out of the kin's mouth and across the cloak.

It fluttered and drew it in, taking the obsidian mist to repair some of its own damages. With a shudder, it slithered forward and spread out across the shadow kin, disappearing into the black-on-black of the animated cloak and the inhuman beast. A ripple of power and energy swirled around it as it began to heal just as Merrie was.

The ground shook from an explosion.

Merrie closed her eyes tightly and thought to herself, (Please live, please?)

She ground against the shadow kin and prayed that the shadows would fill her faster.

Chapter 18: Bloodbath

Twenty minutes later, Merrie felt like a new woman. Most of her injuries were bound with shadows and the rent in her flesh plastered over with spells. The shadow kin's energy hummed inside her, the darkness of the shadows filling her almost as much as the sexual excitement of obeying her mistress.

She bounded across the grass in her hound form, followed by the four shadow kin. The unnatural creatures' fluid bodies had changed when she did, taking on a hound-like appearance though there was no hiding the tentacles along their backs and tails or the long, jagged claws that dug into the earth. Each one was twice her size but moved with unnatural silence that didn't shake the ground or whistle the earth.

She moved like they did, using the darkness to flow as much as move along the ground. The triple beat of her heart was the only noise she could hear. Her bare paws whispered along the grasses. She could feel the plants dying underneath her, wilting away with her presence.

They slowed as they came up to the top of the final hill next to the mill. It was still a kilometer away but she knew it would give her a view of the house and the surrounding battle. Before she reached the crest, she could see the flashes of light and felt the shaking of spells as they struck each other.

When she reached the top and looked over, she froze in shock.

There were still hundreds of attackers alive but there were far more dead and dying on the ground. Bodies were scattered in all directions and rivers of blood soaked into the dying ground. Mist clung to the curves of the earth and seeped through the splayed limbs and severed heads.

The mill house was standing but the entire great hall along the side had collapsed. Flames burned brightly in the debris of the hall and along the third floor. She could see sparks of energy rising from the flames where magical devices and burst of infernal energy faded away.

A flash exploded from the front of the house. Merrie winced at it and then forced herself to look, dreading seeing one of her loved ones dead on the ground.

When she saw the massive form of an armored white thriban swinging a great sword, she let out a sob of relief. Bass was unmistakable even from a distance. His powerful blows hammered at the two men in front of them. All three wore the same holy symbols on their chest, all three glowed with holy energy, but Bass wielded it with a skill of a centuries of practice. His weapon sparked and flashed with every impact. He didn't miss, unlike his opponents who were obviously suffering from exhaustion.

Behind him, a large hound guarded his back, Sable. She wore a dog's version of Bass' armor including the same holy symbol on her chest, but it was shaped for a powerful beast instead of a two meter tall man. Four swords hovered over Sable. As Merrie watched, they launched in the gap between the shields of the three men trying to break past her. The weapons streaked across the front yard and punched into the chests of archers who were trying to get a clear shot. Scattered throughout the yard were more bodies with gaping chest wounds and severed limbs.

Tears of joys gathered in Merrie's eyes. (Sable.)

The armored hound's tail snapped up. (Merrie!) The voice filled with smoke and whiskey slammed into her with a wave of intense affection. Even as Sable was ripping the throat out of a man, her thoughts were as bouncy as her demeanor. (Dixie said you were alive! I missed you!)

Merrie basked in the affection. She sent a condensed version of her memories through the mental communication with the other alpha.

The other alpha didn't even pause as she yanked back her head to avoid sword blows from her opponents. Their glowing weapons glinted off her blood-streaked armor. She lunged forward, her body a blur. She chomped down on the nearest paladin's wrist. The connection between her and Bass flared up and then she yanked back, throwing the man high into the air with his wrist flying in the opposite direction.

She glance around and then bore down to growl at the remaining opponent. (Dixie said you were vulnerable to light?)

Merrie's ears lowered. (Yes, it burns. I can't handle your magic's or any other bright light. It....) Unable to find the words, she sent an image of her skin burning in the light and the black obsidian mist evaporating.

To Sable's credit, there was only a flash of recoil before her thoughts bounce back with an intense wave of affection and love, the mental version of a tight hug. (Poor baby. After this, want me to lick it make it better. I'm good at feeling in the dark.) Following the playful response was a surge of lust.

Merrie shivered at the intensity of the projection, Sable was one of the strongest alphas she had ever experienced in her life. She was passionate and loving, but also a brutal killer when her master's life was threatened. Like Merrie, she was cropped but it was at the elbows and knees. Even so, she gave a sense of bouncing even when slaughtering her opponent.

(Stop fucking teasing her,) snapped Dixie as he came racing around the corner of the house as a pack of wolves. Only one of them was his real body but it was almost impossible to identify him in the racing duplicates without using magic. The black-furred creatures sprinted in a blur as they raced through the front yard, taking out the knees and limbs of the attackers. Explosions of blood and metal shot into the air as they disappeared along the far side.

(That isn't going to work again,) Sable projected. Her attention was on a pair of paladins hanging beyond the direct fighting. Both had their weapons ready to strike, but it was impossible to see where they were looking at.

Dixie snorted. (I bet I can get one more charge before they get ready.)

Sable grinned, sending an image of Dixie with his face slammed into the ground. He was a tiny humanoid, barely a meter in height and slender like all silfae. Tabitha was in her wolf form, fucking his ass with powerful, brutal strokes.

Dixie's response with simple. (Fuck you.)

(Later, sweetie.) Sable seemed completely unfazed by his violent thoughts or the attackers she was fighting against. The connection between her and Bass glowed brightly. Sable's thoughts began to blur, a rumbling man's voice blending with her own.

Merrie felt her heart surge at Bass' voice. It was mixed with Sable's thoughts, a blending of master and alpha, but Merrie remembered the joy of the powerful thriban when they had a chance to be together. Tears burned in her eyes, this time joys of pleasure.

(Haviston's compulsion is gone?) Sable seemed even more excited, if that was possible.

Merrie nodded and then sent a wave of affection.

(Then after this, we want to fuck you so hard you won't be able to walk for a week.)

(She can't walk,) snapped Dixie, (she was cropped.) His thoughts faded. Merrie glanced to the side of the house where Dixie's duplicates were down to three. All of the wolves were attacking fighters on their side but there was a lot of blood.

Tabitha snarled as she fought off six men on top of her. She was in her larger wolf form, almost as large as the house. Her tawny fur was matted with blood and her back right leg looked like it was injured.

A few hundred meters away, a line of archers and mages were shooting at both Dixie, Tabitha, and a crystalline shield that was barely visible on the far side of the building. The streaks of power rippled through the air, leaving trails of sparkling energy behind as they slammed into all three.

Like the other alpha and master, there was a spectral lead that connected Dixie to Tabitha. It wasn't as powerful and didn't glow as brightly. But Merrie could sense energy bouncing back and forth, magnifying Tabitha's magic with every passing second. It enhanced both of their healing powers to keep up with the constant onslaught.

Merrie took a deep breath. (I'm on the ridge to the south of the house, what can I do?)

Sable's thoughts became more structured and ordered as she took on more of her master's thoughts. (Our magic is too flashy if you are vulnerable.) Her thoughts were equally male and female. (Going around the back side would shield you and Haviston could use some help. We've been fighting for a while and he's the least trained in combat.)

Strategies and layouts pushed up from Sable's thoughts as she imagined the lands around the house in terms of slopes, shelter, and protection. It was the thoughts of a great warrior who had fought on almost every terrain.

(Getting rid of those fucking archers would be great!) snapped Dixie. He limped back with four arrows sticking out of his chest. With a snarl, he transformed into a tiny naked silfae and then back again. His body blurred as he transformed repeatedly, each one sealing up the injuries. Seconds later, he was unharmed but his thoughts were exhausted from the effort.

Merrie glanced at her kin. The four hounds were already pawing at the ground, their silent growls shaking the air as they looked back at her. She reached out for them, not able to speak to them directly but she could feel their awe and desire for her. They wanted to please her and protect her. She caressed their thoughts and felt sadness. (Will you kill for me?)

All four of the kin snarled silently. A fierce wave of bloodlust filled her thoughts.

She stared at them, a strange sense of protectiveness coming over her. She never had nor would she ever have children. The shadows corrupted her and her body would would not bear children. The creatures before her were the closest thing she had to offspring, they were formed by the dark powers of her collar and the Lord of Shadows. Their strange affection felt like love for a creature who never felt the touch of a mother.

One of them had already died for her, throwing itself in the light without a single word or thought. She felt the loss still in her heart, an empty hole. It wasn't nearly the gaping void that Kine had left with his death, but she still felt the one death like a knife wound. Would she mourn the others too?

They had emotions too, but they were alien and inhuman. They wanted to kill for her, to slaughter beings of light that invaded their new home. They were territorial and protective, like her old pack.

Turning her back on the battle, she padded over to them. Reaching out with one paw, she rested it on the nearest one. The cold from the shadowed body seeped into her skin, resonating with the darkness in her own veins.

Drawing calligraphy in her mind, she cast spells of protection, speed, and strength into each one. She channeled it through her collar, magnifying the power until their bodies swelled and grew pitch with her powers. She cast the same spells into herself, shivering with pleasure as the energies sank into her form.

Looking up into the black eyes of her kin, she smiled sadly. (Be safe.)

The nearest one pawed the ground.

(Kill with me) She projected the location of the archers and the other groups that fired at Tabitha, Dixie, and Haviston. Without waiting for a response, she spun on her heels and sprinted across the land. Footsteps later, she melted into the darkness and became a living shadow tracing along the ground, flowing along the grass and rocks without leaving even a whisper of movement.

The four shadow kin follows after her, melting like her until it was only five shadows racing across the ground without a shape to form them.

When they reached the archers, Merrie only needed a second to assess their position. The archers were focused on firing steadily at the defenders of the mill. Each one fired in perfect rhythm. Merrie's time keeping spelling identified that each archer fired only a tenth of a second after the one to their left. Their movements were precise as they plucked the next arrow out of their assistants hands, drew back their bow, fitted it, and fired. The entire action took only four seconds to complete but the large number of them ensured there wasn't even a hint of a pause from the rain of arrows that speared toward Tabitha and Dixie.

Without pausing, Merrie burst out of the shadows and took out the assistant. It was a young man, slender and delicate. He didn't even slow her down as she slammed into him. Before he hit the ground, she tore out the soft skin of his throat and was already leaping over the next assistant for the one after that.

Her cloak burst out from the shadow kin's shadow and took out the one she jumped over. There was a wet gurgling sound as it forced itself into the young woman's asshole and burst out of her throat in a shower of blood. Fluttering, it sailed over the one Merrie slaughtered and plunged down into the eye socket of the fourth.

They tore their way through the assistants, scattering quivers and arrows in all directions.

In the corner of her eye, she saw the archers turning around. They still held out their bows, but as they pulled back, shimmering arrows formed. She felt the scrape of their energy, it was druidic like Tabitha's but far more structured.

The other three shadow kin struck the archer's back. There was a boiling mass of tentacles and claws. The powerful creatures ripped through flesh and bone as easily as paper. There were no screams that rose out of their dark bodies.

They made it almost two-thirds through the line before the archers managed to rouse a defense. Glowing arrows shot through the air toward the shadow kin. None of them were aimed toward her.

Merrie snarled silently and melted into darkness. Using the grass and bodies for protection, she and her cloak slid around to the far side of the line. Building up speed, they charged it from the far side. Just as she reached their feet, she burst out of the darkness again and began to slaughter assistants and supplies.

Less than two minutes later, there were only corpses of archers on the ground.

(Fuck,) Dixie projected with just a hint of awe. (How do you managed to do that after only being an alpha for a thief. Are you sure he wasn't an assassin?)

Merrie flipped her hair back and looked around. Blood steamed from her jaw, it was hot and coppery. She licked her lips and panted. (Kine only killed a few people and always with magic.)

(Kine...)

There was confusion from both Sable and Dixie.

(My master.) An intense wave of sadness filled Merrie. (My first master.)

They would have projected more but suddenly Sable's connection trembled. (They hurt my master!) Anger and raged poured out of her.

Merrie gasped and looked up but she couldn't see anything other than brilliant white light coming from the front of the house. It hurt her eyes and her vision blurred trying to focus on anything near the holy spell.

Fragmented images came through: Bass clutching his side with blood pouring through a tear in his plate armor, men charging into the the fight and interposing themselves between Sable and Bass, and the paladins who were holding back suddenly casting combat spells.

Sable's thoughts were incoherent but brimming with fury. Prayers echoed along the connection as she began to cast magic.

A cheer rose up. Merrie jerked and looked over thinking they were celebrating Bass. But then she saw Haviston's crystalline shield cracking. Hunks of sharp energy fell off the force field and exploded in a shower of sparks. She gasped. (Haviston!)

Her thoughts connected to the psion. The older man, Borias' cousin, didn't seem surprised when they caught each other. (Merrie... you do not have a last name anymore? How?)

Merrie sent a pulse of fear.

Haviston's thoughts stopped for a second and the shield brightened but it only slowed the falling of the chunks. (I cannot keep this up for long. My attention and focus is fading with them hammering me with both physical and magical attacks. The onslaught is giving me very little chance to catch my breath.)

Ears flat against her skull, Merrie whimpered. She glanced at the mages attacking the house. Their spells were slamming erratically into the shield as waves of fire and lighting. She could see what Haviston meant, they attacked so fast than he couldn't even catch a breath, much less regain his thoughts. The mages were also scattered among the hills, none of them were close enough to slaughter them in a line as she did with the first group.

(Master!) screamed Sable, her thoughts burning with fear and pain. Images of Bass falling to the ground filled her thoughts, the details terrifyingly accurate as Sable watched her master fall with a sword buried in his back just to the right of his spine.

Dixie snarled and his thoughts began to separate from Tabitha's, taking on the high-pitched voice of the small silfae. A different set of thoughts, alien but terrifying, rose up in his mind. Flashes of him wearing armor as he lead armies into battle swam across as he dredged them from a past life. (I have to do this.)

Images of him planning his attack drifted through his thoughts. He already know how he would kill the first nine men, the rest were gathering together as he began to think as a warlord and not as a bitch.

His submission was also the only thing holding back the disease that ravaged his body. Even his recollection of his past life as a silfae warrior woke the cancer. It burned along his body without waves or points, it was spread completely through his tiny body.

Dread darkened his thoughts. He knew he was going to die.

Merrie gasped. (No!)

(We don't have a choice, they are killing us out here. I'm---)

(I won't let you die, Dixie!)

(We have no---)

Merrie gathered up all her mental will and slammed it through her collar and through the connection between them. The absolute dominance of the collar was magnified by her powers(Sit!)

She was racing toward the house as both Tabitha and Dixie sat down heavily, a bewildered look on both of their faces. Her feet whispered across the ground as her massive Bel Dark hound form ate through the distance rapidly. She didn't know what she was going to do. All she knew was that she couldn't lose Dixie if she still had a breath in her chest.

(Did you just fucking---) snarled Dixie.

(Master! They are killing my---)

(---tell me to sit!? Again!?)

(---master! They are going to cut his---)

An idea blossomed in Merrie's thoughts among the panic and anger from the other alphas. She glanced at Haviston's shield. If he could keep it up, they could isolate Bass and his attackers. With only a few opponents in isolation, they would be easy prey for Tabitha and her alpha.

All Haviston needed was help. That was what alphas did for their masters.

Merrie smiled grimly. She dug her paws into the ground. Casting a rapid speed spell, she launched herself down the hill. She took on the aspect of her mistress and began to throw commands through the collar, magnifying them into powerful compulsions that would dominate an alpha completely. (Sable, kill the guys on your master! Dixie, clear the attackers away from near the house!)

Sable's agonized thoughts hit her, filling her mind with sorrow. (There are too many, I can't clear them fast enough.)

(Just the ones near your master, Haviston will get the rest.)

(I will?) asked the psion, his monotone voice steady in his mind.

Merrie ignored Haviston and sent out her most dominating thought. (Kill them!)

The other alphas's thoughts grew bright with lust as they were slammed by the irresistible command. Energy crackled between them and suddenly there was a visible line of power between Merrie's heart and them. It wasn't as thick or bright as the ones between the alphas and their masters but it was just like the connection she had forged during the battle before her breath.

Black energy crawled through the connection to the alphas and then rippled back. In her mind, she saw black mist rising out of Dixie as Sable's armor turned smoky. It only took a second for them to take on her aspects and their thoughts to grow closer to Merrie's.

Sable's power surged back toward her, liquid light streaked with darkness. It plunged into Merrie who accepted it as an alpha and reflected it back, magnifying it even more. It surged back rapidly, plunging along the leash that connected them.

The entire front of the house light up in painful brilliance.

"Bitch Cutter!" screamed Sable in a broken voice. It sounded of smoke and whiskey even from around the building. Merrie could also hear the terror for her real master and the lust of obeying the sudden mistress who was in her thoughts.

White swords shot out from the front, peppering the entire front yard with streaks of glowing blades. They slammed into the chests and bodies of the attackers, splattering more blood among the flashes of light. Everything in front of Sable, from the bodies to the wooden fence that framed in the yard, exploded in a shower of magic, gore, and splinters.

Dixie sprinted around the house, splitting in two and then four. His bodies continued to pull apart as he drew power from Merrie, the circuit of increasing energies growing brighter as he became a sea of snarling wolves that raced around the house. Black mist boiled of his bodies and left a trail that marked his passage.

Tabitha shook her body and snarled at Merrie as the Bel Dark hound raced past her. She then charged in the opposite direction, aiming for anyone near the house.

No thoughts were passed as Merrie came skidding to a halt next to Haviston. The older man was weak, leaning against a stump. Blood poured out of his nose, mouth, and ears. He tried to wave to Merrie but his body was shaking too violently. He finally shook his head and held out his hand toward the rapidly disintegrating crystalline shield. (I do not have sufficient resources to maintain the shield longer, Merrie.)

(Do you trust me?) Merrie asked.

(Yes, with reservation.)

Panting, Merrie thumped against him. She looked up at him and realized she knew what to do. With a grin, she pressed her icy body against his leg. (Here, then accept what I can give you.)

She turned her thoughts inwardly. With a deep breath, she sent out a command to herself through her collar. (Connect to him.)

It was a terrifying command, one that ordered her to open up herself completely to another person, to reduce the barriers to the core part of her that made her an alpha, a bitch who needed to be dominated and would give everything to her master.

The order punched into her with a finality that tore her apart. Her entire body grew liquid with desire, a heat exploding inside her pussy. Juices dribbled down her swollen lips and her clitoris ached with desire. Energy rose inside her, a new lust surging through her. She had felt it before, back when she almost bonded with a brutal man who killed her best friend at the mill and then later when she bonded with Kine.

Trembling, she looked up at Haviston. Then she opened her heart to him.

Alphas were powerful because they bonded with a single individual. That connection, more intimate than any telepathy and far more powerful any spell, forged a connection between the spirits of two people. The alpha lost part of their self in the connection but, in exchange, they found the perfect master. Someone who would order and command them, someone they could take their power and magnify it, pushing their masters into unparalleled heights.

Merrie had two masters in her life but only one remained, herself. She simply let the natural between an alpha and a master to open up again, to reach out through Haviston's shields and sank into his thoughts. As she did, the connection with the two alphas faded away.

(Merrie, I cannot be your---)

Memories slammed into her.

> Haviston struggled to keep his thoughts calm as he stared at the red door. He was bound with set of crystal cuffs, the psionic shackles were scraping against his senses as much as the geas the judges placed on him. He could taste the bindings in the back of his throat, a sharp taste refused to go away no matter much water he drank.

>

> The red door was the curse of the Kivas family. Generations ago, his grandfather had built the prison to contain his own brother. From that point on, every Kivas, everyone who shared the same blood, had entered the prison through one of two doors.

>

> His emotions threatened to crack his control. Years of mediation came up but they were just empty thoughts as a tear burned in his eyes. The gravity of the moment bore down on him, he was finally going to face the consequences of his action. He was going to enter the red door and be marked as a criminal for the rest of his life. For years, he would suffer. He deserved it, he took it on himself, but that didn't make walking up to the door any easier.


(What are you doing, Merrie?) Haviston's thoughts were disturbed.

Merrie felt his thoughts deep in her intimate mind. He was close, closer than anyone except for two other beings in her life. His psychic energy was low, barely enough to keep the layers of defensive spells in place. She could feel every struggle that he took to maintain control over his emotions and his thoughts. Everything had to have a place, everything had to have an order otherwise he couldn't use his powers.

With a smile, she sent a calming wave and took the defenses spells from his mind. The power caressed her thoughts as she fed them energy, repairing them and strengthening them. Haviston was her first teacher of magic and the endless lessons came back as she brought structure. It was a way of giving something back to him even though he was responsible for her trying to kill Bass and Sable.

(Merrie, you cannot bond with me. You already have a master.)

(Haviston Kivas,) she hesitated, afraid that she wouldn't be able to refer to him by name. None of the alphas could ever refer to their masters by anything other than a title, it was almost impossible to separate their sense of self from their masters. The same blurring of two thoughts hadn't happened. She smiled and continued. (This isn't a true bond, just enough to let me help you.)

(Your thoughts are chaotic and dark. There is too much sex. It is disturbing.)

(Then cast a spell with me, master.)

The response was immediate, a quickening of his breath and a surge of excitement. His penis grew harder though he tried to keep that part of his body tamped down with his concentration.

Merrie sent a pulse of lust toward him and then reached out, gathering his power and taking it into her self to magnify it. It came pouring back, faster than Sable could ever reflect power.

Haviston channeled it into his spell, working with renewed strength and focus as he repaired the cracks in his shield. The glowing wall increased in intensity as it sealed into place. Then, with the urging of Merrie and her power, it spread out in both directions in a circle that would surround the entire mill.

Crystalline patterns rocked through her thoughts, solidifying the shadows of her mind into smoky crystals like the one around her collar. She fueled his power, magnifying and enhancing it. The act of submitting herself brought more heat to her pussy, a pulsing of desperate lust that spread out to every part of her body.

Haviston held up his one good hand and slid it to the side.

His shield shot out to the end of the house and curved around it, cutting off the entire west side before racing for the front.

"Bitch Cutter!" screamed Sable as she launched another attack of swords against her opponents.

Dixie came racing by himself, followed by Tabitha in her wolf form. (All the assholes are away from---by the fucking trees, did you just fucking bond again!?)

Merrie shuddered with her orgasms. Her pussy was soaked with Haviston's thoughts wrapped among hers. His energies rippled along her body, changing it. She grew more solid but she felt the bones in her body turning to glass. Her thoughts grew more structures and analytic, seeing the world not as trees and grasses but exact names and locations, distances that were measured in thousands of a meter. The details were overwhelming but her rapidly adjusting thought took it in easily.

The shield swooped around the house and stretched up to form a massive dome that surrounded the entire building. The air grew suffocating from the fires.

Sable's thoughts were incoherent as she rushed over to her master. Through the connection, it was obvious that she had dropped her armored spell to be closer to his body. The sobbing shook the connection as did flashes of her large breasts grinding against the blood-streaked metal of Bass' chest plate.

The connection between Haviston and Merrie snapped.

Merrie jerked violently, her orgasm stopping in an instant. She let out a whine and stumbled back. There was an empty hole in her heart, a gaping wound where the intimate connection Haviston had just been. She pawed the ground and fought the despair that threatened to consume her.

(That was risky,) sent Haviston. (Tactically sound but it could have gone terribly wrong.)

With his thoughts, he pushed back the despair. Kneeling down, he patted her on the head. "I am so glad to see you safe, girl."

Merrie whimpered and rubbed her face against his hand. (Sorry, I needed to save them. I can't let Dixie die.)

(I'll die when I'm fucking good and ready!) Dixie trotted up to Merrie. He looked at her for a moment, his eyes boring into her. Then, he lifted his leg and peed on her.

Merrie stared at the hot urine splashing on him. It was a wolf's dominance, not an elf warlord's. A shiver of lust and desire rolled through her. With a smile, she threw a wave of pure lust at him.

Dixie's tiny cock snapped to full length, cutting off the pee. He made a quiet whimper.

Merrie grinned and shook the pee off her severed leg. (You're welcome.)

Dixie gave her face a lick before heading back to Tabitha who snarled at Merrie. (My mistress is furious that you ordered her.)

She couldn't help but let her amusement leak through her thoughts. (And that she obeyed it?)

Anger and amusement blended together. There was a bit of lust, he was turned on by the unexpected submission. (More than furious. She is going to kill you when we get out of this. Or maybe crop you further.)

Merrie's cunt grew even wetter. She had lost her wrists and ankles to one of Tabitha's hunts, a brutal race that made it past the gates of the mill before Tabitha caught and cropped her.

Haviston shuddered. His mind was unreadable with his shields but Merrie could tell that he was struggling with emotions and the closeness they briefly shared.

(Come on,) Merrie said, (we need to get Bass into the house and figure out what to do next.)

(My mistress wants to know how long the shields will last.) Dixie's mind was still sharp from the adrenaline pumping through his veins.

Haviston slipped into the conversation. (Two hours and nine minutes. It is anchored properly even if I am unconscious.)

He headed toward the front of the house, projecting his thoughts into the house. (Borias Kivas, Bassimar Sarmo is gravely injured. We're bringing him in.)

"You be hurrying then!" yelled Borias from deep inside the house.

Joy and anticipation hummed through Dixie's connection. It was a counterpoint of Sable's sorrow. The tiny silfae didn't seem phased by Sable's misery. (Then let's heal up and get ready to kill every fucking one of them.)

Merrie shivered at the intensity of his thoughts. She turned and headed back around the house. She didn't need telepathy to know that Sable needed her.

(Oh, Merrie?) Dixie's thoughts sharpened as he reached out for her again.

(Yes?) The part of her that could anticipate the orders of her masters grew tight as a dread rose over her.

(Where are those infernal traps that you told us about?)

A red light speared out of the basement windows. It was too bright and sharp to be natural. A wave of heat and the stench of sulfur blasted after it, shattering the glass and scorching the wood. The grass against the house burned away almost immediately.

Merrie gasped sharply, spinning on her knees as she stared at the house with growing fear.

The skittering sounds of a thousand tiny legs filled the air, punctuated by the hissing of more eggs bursting open.

(Fuck,) projected Dixie with surprise and annoyance coloring his thoughts.

She glanced at the shimmering shield surrounding the house. In an instant, it had turned from protection against their opponents to a trap sealing them in with the meticulously planned spells designed to kill each one of them.

(Fuck,) she sent back.

Chapter 19: Swarm

Merrie braced herself as she raced around the corner of the house. From Sable's thoughts, she knew that she would be see Bass collapsed on the ground and she dreaded the worst. That didn't stop her from charging toward the large body slumped across the front steps.

For a large thriban, there was a lot of blood pouring out from ragged rents in his armor. It sheeted along his white armor before splattering loudly to the wooden steps and pooling on the ground beneath him. Large rents had been torn out of the armor, revealing blood and pale gray flesh underneath. Bubbles formed along the cuts near his chest, matching the ones that dotted the side of his mouth.

If he was anyone else, Merrie would have been convinced that he was dead but Sable's wail rose and fell as the naked alpha pawed at her master. Blood streaked the naked woman's body, smearing along her breasts and stomach. The blood splattered on her face traced the faint wrinkles, giving her mask-like appearance.

Sable's sorrow slammed into Merrie, staggering her back.

Merrie had to shield herself to clear her thoughts. She mentally bound herself in leather, wrapping it around her body, throat, and face until Sable's cries faded. The sight of Bass' made her sick but she had to protected the others. (Borias! The trap was sprung!)

Borias was already moving. "I can't be getting to the kitchen! Havi!"

Haviston said nothing but he projected a wave of acknowledgement.

Merrie jumped over Sable and Bass, her paws smacked in a puddle of the thriban's blood. The door leading into the house was half-open, she slammed her way into it.

She wasn't surprised to see that the infernal traps were actually spiders once they were released. Each one was only four or five centimeters across with long, spindly legs. However, there were hundreds of them forcing their way through the cracks in the floor and pouring from the kitchen in a swarm of the unnatural red light and flashing legs.

Borias swore violently as he stomped on the floor, smashing one or two spiders with a strike. He had blood soaking his sleeves but she didn't think it was his. When she saw a bloody trail leading into the kitchen, she knew it came from carrying Fir's body back to the room to rest, that is where she would have put the young woman with the great hall still smoldering.

Merrie continued to follow the trail with a quick glance. When she saw the glow of a spider swarm already boiling inside the room, a fresh wave of fear raced through her veins.

Haviston stumbled after her, but he struggled to get around Bass' bulk.

"Merrie! Licker and Fir be in the kitchen! I cannot be getting to them!" Borias' voice cracked with fear and pain. He swore and slapped at the spiders crawling up his legs. His palms smoked when he drew them back and she could see that the blood from the infernal creatures had blackened his trousers. The smell of burnt hair and fabric filled the air.

She snarled and charged forward. As she raced through the dining room, she drew the darkness around her and summoned her cloak. Though she was tired and exhausted, the fear for the two helpless women gave her strength. She leaped on the dining room table and then over Borias' head into the kitchen.

Inside the room, the light from the infernal spiders was blinding. She winced at the brightness and summoned her cloak to wrap around her body. It gave her only a small measure of protection but she hoped it was enough.

She landed heavily in the middle of the swarm, crushing spiders in bursts of infernal energy and burning blood. She dug her paws in and spun around.

Cinthia and Fir were both on a plush chair set in the middle of the room.

Fir was slump to the side, most of her chest and throat covered in bandages. There were bruises covering her body and bloody cuts. Borias' healing energies still pulsed inside her body, lighting up her skin from the inside as they repaired the damage to her insides.

Cinthia had crawled over Fir's body in an attempt to shield her. The naked bitch had the ends of her knees braced against the leg as she frantically beat at the spiders crawling up.

Merrie stepped forward, crushing more spiders. Tiny bursts of infernal energy exploded along her paws, searing the pads underneath her feet and burning away her black fur. The agony was brief and unexpected; she stopped in stunned agony.

Before she could move away, the spiders swarmed up her legs. The legs seemed to pierce her skin, punching through the thin shell of her form. Agony blossomed from a thousand claws and her vision blurred from the onslaught.

She tried again, but the swarm of spiders swelled up before her. Thousands of burning red eyes stared at her and she could almost sense the malevolent intelligence behind them.

As much as Merrie wanted to reach out for the infernal behind the spiders, there were two helpless women who needed her more. She lunged forward, but the spiders met her in a wall of biting agony. The pain increased long after she drew back. She could feel the agony spreading underneath her skin, soaking through the boiling darkness. It was poison of some sort.

Just as the dread started to hang over her, the burn of the poison faded. She guessed it was dissolved by her shadowy core. It only meant agony for her but neither Fir nor Cinthia wouldn't be as lucky if too many spiders bit them.

Unable to pass through them as a hound, Merrie drew on the darkness around her and let her body melt into darkness.

Renewed agony washed over her. Her body was two dimensional, flowing along the ground but the energy of the spiders baked her. She could easily pass through the legs of the spider with only burns along the edges of her incorporeal form. It felt like someone dragging burning brands along every centimeter of her skin.

She forced herself to move underneath the sea of spiders and toward the chair. It only took her a moment to reach one of the legs and then crawl up. She stopped long enough to send tiny pulses of icy and darkness into the spiders crawling up the side of the chair.

As they fell into the boiling swarm of creatures, Merrie gathered herself underneath Fir's body for a moment to calm herself in the heated darkness between her buttocks. Then she flowed up between Fir's thigh, along her naked vulva, and then up to her breasts. She spread herself across the shivering woman and then let her body swell out of the darkness, sliding into place along Cinthia's body before the bitch realized Merrie was there.

Cinthia gasped as she stared directly into Merrie's eyes. The alpha saw hope shimmering in the young woman's eyes.

Giving her an comforting smile, Merrie glanced around. She could step across into the Shadows but she knew that the other dimension would hasten both Fir's and Cinthia's death. Fir was already unconsciousness with her injuries, even seconds in the shadow realm could kill her.

"I'm scared," whispered Cinthia. There were tears in her eyes.

Merrie nodded and braced herself, her naked thigh sliding against Cinthia's. She looked around, trying to find some way of dragging the two girls to safety.

In the other room, Haviston and Borias held back the swarm of spiders with magic. Haviston's crystalline spells contrasted with the flowing discs of power that formed in front of Borias. The swirling arcane energies blinded Merrie and she had to look away.

As she thought furiously, she used the shadows around her to form tendrils that pierced and tore apart the spiders that continued to crawl up all sides of the chair in an endless march.

Cinthia cried out sharply.

Merrie looked at her in concern just as the younger woman shook one of the spiders from her arm. The short, stubby appendage ended smoothly at her elbow but the spider bite was already swelling into a knot of red.

(Borias,) Merrie said frantically, (these are poisonous. Cinthia just got bit!)

Fear rose inside him. He called out over the rustle of the spiders. "Be getting her outside any way!"

Turning his head slightly, he yelled louder. "Where be you, Tabby!?"

No answer came but there was fear and pain radiating from outside. It felt like Dixie but there was no coherency in his mind.

Fear growing, Merrie reached out for him and found his mind. Shoving past his shields, she let her senses with merge with his.

> A massive spider had crawled out of the great hall. It's body shimmered with tiny points of light and its edges flickered with the have of a thousand tiny legs. The spiders had bound themselves together into a giant form.

>

> Dixie could barely focus on it as he cried out in agony. There were spiders still crawling on his muzzle from where he tore out the leg of the combined spider but a few of them had gone down his throat. He wasn't expecting them to keep moving but now they were tearing and biting his throat and stomach.

>

> Everything burned as the poison surged through his veins. He tried to transform to heal but the spiders were pinning his form, a sickening twist of magic that prevented his shape-shifting while they were attacking him from in the inside.

>

> Despite the agony and fear, it was his mistress suffering that made it impossible to think. She was only a few meters away, on her back and screaming out in agony. She had been in her larger form when she bit down and there were dozens of the infernal creatures tearing her from the inside.


Merrie ripped out of his mind with a gasp. "Fuck," she whispered hoarsely.

Cinthia slumped against her, her eyes glazed and her body cold but slick with sweat. The spots where their bodies touched were beginning to frost over, the hoarfrost sparkling along Cinthia's naked skin.

(Sable!) Merrie reached out for the other alpha.

When she only got a wall of fear and terror, Merrie pulled back and slammed her way through Sable's mental shields and forced herself into the older bitch's mind. A storm of despair and agony crashed back, Sable's entire world had been focused on keeping Bass alive as he struggled with his mortal injuries.

(Sable, we need your help!)

No words came, only the storm of emotions.

(You must fight. Without you, we're all dead. Including your master!) Merrie's frantic thoughts pummeled Sable.

(If I leave him---)

A few spiders caught Merrie as she focused on her thought. The burning poison raced through her veins even as she crushed them out of existence.

Merrie withdrew long enough to let her mind assume the mantle of a mistress. She crafted a domination spell and then threw it through the mental connection she had with Sable. (Fight, you damn bitch!)

Sable's sorrow snapped in an instant, followed by intense wave of lust. The order had woken up the part of her that all alpha's craved, the command that could not be resisted. It gathered through the alpha and filled her completely.

Through the window, a pure white light rapidly grew brighter. It speared through the glass and lit up the room.

Merrie tried to duck away from it but it caught her body, burning away the thin veneer of her flesh. The black mist of her body evaporated in the light and Merrie almost lost consciousness in the blinding glare of Sable's power.

Sobbing against the pain, Merrie gathered every shred of darkness left in the room. The hard-edged lines of darkness poured together into a shield of utter darkness between her and the glowing alpha. The spiders near the base withered and crumbled away from the enervating power of Shadows.

At the same time, she could feel Sable's power eroding at her darkness. It was only a temporary measure.

Merrie focused on the spiders being killed by the darkness. An idea grew and she sent out a quick projects. (Borias, Haviston, the girls are coming, be ready to catch them.)

(I can only see a wall of darkness. I cannot see them coming, Merrie.) Haviston's monotone thoughts somehow gave the impression of his exhaustion and concern.

Controlling her tendrils, she stopped crushing the spiders and wrapped them around both Fir and Cinthia. (They are coming in three, two, one!)

With a surge of power, she threw both of them through the screen of darkness. Their bodies sailed over the spiders who tried to jump after her, but they passed through the darkness just as it was burned away by Sable's light.

The full brunt of Sable's holy energy caught Merrie in the chest. She screamed as every millimeter of her body ignited into flames. Blind and in agony, she fell to the ground. Black mist trailed behind her before being burned away.

Merrie wondered if the spiders or the light would kill her first.

Chapter 20: Countless Bites (?/F tort)

As soon as Merrie hit the ground, the impact and the light broke her concentration on her transformation spell. She let out a strangled gasp as the fur melted off her body and her canine form reformed back into a cropped, naked woman.

She didn't have time to scramble to her knees or regain her dazed senses when the spiders swarmed over her. Their weight pressed down on her as their tiny, needle-like legs scraped along her skin. Even though each one was no heavier than a handful of rice, more of them kept crawling on top of her until the pressure squeezed her ribs and ground her body into the ground.

Merrie tried to pull herself up to her wrists and knees but the carpet of spiders held her in place. She knew she could move them individually but somehow the creatures linked together and she couldn't find the leverage to get more than a few centimeters of leeway underneath the blanket of spiders pinning her to the ground.

They wasted no time attacking. Tiny pricks from their legs became sparks of pain as teeth dug into her skin. Those increased rapidly as more of them began to feast on her helpless body. It wasn't just one bite, though. They all attacked at once, turning her world into a sparkling cloud of agony as they bit at her nipples, breasts, and inner thighs. With every bite, their poison seeped into her body and set her nerves on fire.

Merrie cried out and tried to wipe them away. The smooth end of her wrist smashed against them but the spiders bowed underneath the weight and dug their feet deeper into her burning flesh. She needed fingers to pry the small bodies away but she hadn't had them for years. Instead, she flailed uselessly against them as they crawled up her arm and began to feast on her wrist, elbow, and even shoulder.

It was too much for her. She screamed out in agony as she thrashed back and forth, trying to crush them with her body. The only thing she did was grind them into her breasts where they tore into her nipples, sides, and thighs.

Her helplessness set off a flame between her legs. Despite the agony and pain, being pinned to the ground caused her pussy to grow slicker and desire to the curl in the back of her thoughts. The urge to surrender to the attacking spiders fought with her senses. It would be a painful ending to her life but she would come harder than ever while it happened.

Merrie clamped her eyes shut and fought with her desires. She couldn't give up, no matter how much she desperately wanted to wallow in her helplessness. There were too many people who needed her, her friends were in danger.

Gathering up her willpower, she managed to force an order through her collar. (Don't give up!)

The command came back as a hammer, slamming into her mind and shoving her desires away.

She tried to send out another command but couldn't think of one. The countless pricks and agonies from the teeth and legs assaulting her senses made it impossible to find a command that would work. Desperate, she tried to cast a spell to melt into darkness but the poison pouring into her body made it impossible to concentrate on the calligraphy. She could only create a few swirls of shadow across her mind before a sharp wave of agony interrupted her.

Merrie tried again but couldn't form the spell.

Her attempt to command herself failed, even thought was nearly impossible with the teeth gnawing at her flesh.

She beat at the spiders, smacking them with her useless arms and rolling back and forth.

The spiders tightened their bodies across her, cutting off her movement until their heavy weight crushed her body. The weight of them ground her joints together and squished her breasts tight against her ribs.

The lust between her legs grew hotter. She could feel her juices soaking the spiders that were crawling between them. The squirming bodies that slickly moved against her pussy made it harder to concentrate between the pain and her helplessness.

A thud of a combat spell interrupted her struggles for only a bit. She cringed, waiting for the flash of light to strip away her flesh but only darkness surrounded her. The spiders, somehow, had saved her as they crawled over her body and crushed her.

To her horror, the spiders continued to force themselves against her. Among the countless bites and scratches, she felt them prying their way against her openings. Pin-like legs levered open her buttocks as they forced themselves in between her cheeks and up against her vulva.

Her slickness betrayed her as they slipped into the tight holes, sliding their bodies to jam into her openings.

She screamed out for only a second before they started to squirm their way past her lips and teeth, scraping her tongue and cheeks as they pried her jaw apart.

Merrie thrashed hard, pawing at her mouth and body. She tried to force them off, but the needle-like legs were pinched against her body. She couldn't get the smooth end of her wrist underneath the attacking creatures enough to force them off. She needed fingers to pull them off, fingers she hadn't had in years.

It was impossible to concentrate with so many creatures attacking her. She tried to focus on getting the spiders out of her mouth, but the infernal burning seared her tongue as they gnawed at her inner cheeks. More of them were driving themselves into her mouth as they reached for the back of her throat, scraping against the delicate flesh as they crawled toward the back of her throat.

At the same time, they were forcing their way into her pussy and asshole. Sharp pains of being pried open by needles followed by biting that traveled further. The thickness of the spiders was nothing compared to the burning agony of their bodies and the sharpness of the poison that surged through her body. She tried to squeeze her muscles down, but she couldn't maintain the pressure to keep them out when the rest of her body was being attacked.

The only relief she had, though small, was that the carpet of spiders attacking her blocked out out the brilliance of Sable's holy magic. Her skin no longer burned and crinkled from the light; it only suffered countless bites.

One of the spiders managed to slip into the tight channel of her pussy. The agonizing bites were somehow more intense as it tore into her insides. It didn't stop crawling further into her, clawing its way deeper into her body where it's tiny claws ripped into her delicate inner walls and along her cervix.

Merrie's entire body locked from her suffering. Her back arched back when she wanted to curl in a fetal position. It exposed everything to the spiders who didn't hesitate to attack her. She felt the poison filling her body, staining her insides as they tore into her nipples, ribs, and every delicate part of her body.

More spiders were in her throat, ripping it open as they clawed own for her lungs and stomach. There was pressure at her asshole as spiders surged deep into her body; her attempts to keep them out were disrupted when one of the spiders clamped its mandibles down on her clitoris. The flash of agony was enough for the creatures to breach her opening. Now, there were at least three of them forcing their way as they chewed against her insides.

Merrie tried to concentrate to cast a spell, it was impossible. The spiders, the sheer number of them, made it impossible. She couldn't form a coherent thought with the panic surging through her mind.

With a flash of inside, she realized that the panic was part of the spell. They were forcing her to struggle against them. The fear of the swarm, the countless attacks that couldn't be steeled against, and even the sharpness of the poison. They were crafted to prevent casters from using magic.

The idea that Borias and Haviston would suffer the same way brought tears to her eyes. She already knew that the spiders were clawing their way into Dixie's and Tabitha's organs, no doubt to kill them from the inside.

That left only Sable as the lone defense against the spiders. There was no way the alpha could defend anyone but herself and her master. If the spiders attacked, they would die.

Despair filled her, filling the gaps of her thoughts between the flashes of agony and pain. She thrashed and sobbed, choking on the spiders tearing into her throat and shaking violently as she tried to squeeze out the creatures invading her pussy and ass. She was being violated, violated in ways no mortal creature could even comprehend.

There was nothing she could do besides writhe in the last few seconds of her life as the moment stretched into an infinity of agony.

Black despair of her situation roared through her mind, muting the agony as she considered just stop moving and let the spiders feast on her corpse.

But she couldn't.

There were spells bound into her psyche to prevent her from killing herself.

It didn't stop the darkness and hopelessness.

Then there was the lust of being pinned and violated.

She was helpless, unable to do anything.

Unable to stop the agony.

Unable to free herself.

The pain began to increase as she twisted against it, embracing her helplessness as much as she suffered by it. She was an alpha, she gained power by being ground down and surviving. She only had to embrace it.

It took all of her willpower to force her body to stop moving. She concentrated on the sensation of being violated: the spiders choking her throat, the biting against her cervix and inner walls, and even the chewing of her intestines. The boiling swarm of creatures, both inside and out, were overwhelming but that only magnified the growing energy inside her.

For the briefest of moments, she found an equilibrium of pain and pleasure. It was only enough time for a single rapid spell.

A thousand spells from domination to defense raced across her mind but only one gave her what she needed. With all her might, she gripped against the thin barrier between the world and tore open reality.

As the realm of Shadows poured around her, the spiders screamed out as they crumbled away. The floor joined it, withering away into dust in a heartbeat.

Grateful and despite, Merrie fell sideways into the rip and let darkness comfort her agonized body.

Chapter 21: Blessed Darkness (MM/F oral anal tort inc cons nc asphyx)

The spiders came with her in a choking, biting blanket of agony. They gnawed on her body while the ones crawling inside attacked her insides. Flashes of heat and pain exploded along her senses.

The sensation of a hundred spiders crawling and biting inside her cunt and bowels was maddening. She tried to force them out with her muscles, but the spiders only slid around the slickness of her pussy and bit down on new places.

Merrie wasn't sure if she successfully shifted into the Shadows but she thought she felt the comforting icy seeping through the carpet of agony that surrounded her.

The spiders in her mouth forced their way deeper, prying open the tight confines of her throat as they squirmed deeper. They reached the point where her breath and stomach split. Some of them started to crawl into her lungs while others forced their way deeper toward her stomach.

She jerked violently and pawed at her throat. She couldn't breathe. It was agony as black spots form across her vision. Despite being blind in the carpet, the darkness of her suffocation was surrounded by a haze that was invisible but somehow visible at the same time.

The weight and pressure of the spiders attacking her lessened slightly. A small bit of hope rose inside her but she continued to paw at her throat, trying to clear her throat.

The spiders in her pussy were maddening. The thousand legs pricking and poking her from the inside were almost as distracting as the slid of thick, heated bodies as they rolled and twisted inside her. It was a hundred fingers stroking her inner walls that forced more juices to pour out of her cunt.

The spiders in her intestines were just as painful. They were forcing their way deeper into her body, swelling her stomach as the spiders pried their way into her sphincter and pulling themselves deep. Waves of pain rolled across her nerves. She tried to clamp down, to stop them for violating her further, but they continued their march through her lower organs.

A wave of icy wind slammed against her body. She shuddered at the pleasure of it, it sparkled along her pussy and along her agonized limbs. Not willing to give up, she pawed at her throat with one hand and at the spiders with her others.

To her surprise, the spiders were brushed away. She snapped open her eyes to see black claws flashing over her body. They were ripping the spiders from her body. As her vision cleared, she saw that it was a swarm of shadow creatures. They were smaller ones but their inky forms and small claws were large enough to pluck the spiders off one at a time.

Despite seeing an end to her agony, she couldn't stop the spiders inside her body. They continued to violate her, biting at her inner walls and intestines. They were forcing their way into her lungs and more had slipped into her stomach and were biting her innards.

Tears burned her eyes as she thrashed violently.

And then one of the shadow kin loomed over her. She froze in shock as it slammed its claws down on her shoulders and pinned her against the ground. An intense wave of lust burst across her senses as she stared into the black voids of its eyes.

She tried to reach out for it, to read its intentions but the squirming and biting infernals inside her body made it impossible to read thoughts. Instead, she looked up at it helplessly, unsure of why it pinned her to the ground.

The answer came soon enough as a massive black cock grew between their bodies. It was a meter long and shimmering black. The head was an arrowhead, a narrow point that looked like it was designed to impaled a tight orifice.

Her body shuddered at the sight of it, the lust rising up. The familiar sensation of wanting to surrender to being pinned grew up. This time, when she looked into the eyes of a creature she had created with her own energies, she knew that it was going to happen no matter what she did.

When the shadow kin drew his cock back, she fought against the agony of her insides and lifted her hips to meet it. The thick head, large no matter how sharp of an opening, slipped down along the valley of her slick vulva and then over the small bump to press against her sphincter.

Deep inside her body, the spider continued to gnaw.

She didn't know what it had in mind, but the unknown loomed over just as her child, her get, was prepared to impale her.

Black spots swimming her vision, she silently urged him to hurry up.

Powerful muscles gripped her tightly and his claws dug into her shoulders. Then her entire world exploded into pain and pleasure as the cock drove into her. It was thick, more than she thought it was. It tore open her sphincter and plunged deep into her body.

An explosion of pleasure coursing through her senses. It doubled when she felt the infernal spiders being crushed against the walls of her bowels, the girth impaling her grinding them violently as the shadow kin drew back and slammed its cock home again.

The crushed spiders twitched feebly against the icy hardness that impaled her. She could almost feel the energies crumbling under the pressure.

Merrie shuddered with her pleasure.

The shadow kin drew back and slammed it hard, ripping open her asshole even further and plunging deeper into her bowels. Its powerful claws dug into her shoulder as it put more of its weight on her, holding her tightly as it built up to powerful thrust. Every second, he rammed his cock deeper into her body.

She could feel her abdomen swelling from the spiders and cock impaling her. The sensation of being stuffed to her limits slammed into her, adding to the juices that poured out of her cunt and lubricated the pitch black shaft that impaled her.

A wave of giddiness rolled over her as the darkness encroached across her vision. She resumed her pawing at her throat. She tried to project to the shadow kin, to free her lungs before raping the spiders that had impaled her sphincter.

Something grabbed her head and tilted it back. She blinked past the black spots to see herself staring down the hard length of another cock. It was a second shadow kin, this one holding her skull firmly in place as it lined up its cock toward her mouth.

Her mind growing dull with suffocation and the storm of pleasure and pain from the first one, Merrie did the open thing she could think of: she opened her mouth wide.

The second shadow kin wasted no time in slamming its cock home. The thickness forced open her mouth as it drove into the back of her throat. Spiders were crushed against her inner walls as it pounded her face hard, tearing into her throat as it fucked her.

Merrie's world became nothing but the two cocks slamming into her and the growing desperation to breathe. She couldn't thick, her mind was a dazed swirl of sensations as she bucked against the two members. She could feel the spiders being crushed as her organs were stretched around the thick cocks, but the one impaling her throat pounded too fast for her to draw in even a single breath.

The first kin's balls slapped against her lust-slicked thighs. The cock head rammed against her diaphragm, adding to the pressure of the cock that drove into her mouth, down her esophagus, and was forcing its way toward her stomach. Her entire body swelled with the girth of the two shafts, the pressure growing intense with the tiny pops and crushes of spiders being destroyed.

Claws dug into her head as the second shadow kid drove deep into her. She saw the long shaft disappearing into her, felt it as it stretched open her throat, and then the strain of her body to contain it. The balls, three of them, swung toward her fast; they came closer with every stroke. The base of the shaft was even thicker and her jaw threatened to dislocate from the pressure.

Her body grew tight with pleasure. She was helplessly, impaled from both ends by two cock that rammed deep. Knowing that they were her own children, her shadow kin, only made it more intense as she willingly accepted their lengths.

Both kin's balls slammed against her as they buried their entire length into her body. She could feel every thick ridge and pulse of icy pleasure as they drew out and then rammed home again.

The spiders were crushed by the battering lengths that rammed into her. Even the ones in her pussy were crushed as she began nothing more than a cock sleeve for the two immense creatures fucking her.

It was almost impossible to concentrate. The spiders in her lungs were still there but it was the cock she was suffocating on, not their bodies. Violent tremors coursed through her body, reflexive actions as she tried to eject the cock that raped her throat with hard brutal strokes that threatened to tear open her insides.

The shadow kins pounded faster and hard, splatters of pre-cum pouring out of her ass and mouth. The icy liquid poured into her stomach and seeped into her lungs. She felt it corroding at the crafted bodies of the spider, dissolving them with energy-draining properties of th the Shadow.

Merrie twisted violently but the shadow kin pinned her tighter.

Tight claws dug into her throat, squeezing it around the cock that impaled her. The cock impaling her throat began to drive faster. His balls punched her face, the icy mounds of the three testicles beat against her face; each one was the size of Bass' fist. The impacts only punctuated with the tightness in her throat and the sensation of being impaled from lips to stomach by hard, unbendable cock.

The kin drove faster and faster, flooding her body with pre-cum as the cock swelled inside her. She felt it tear at her insides as it grew, stretching her throat further apart until the taste of blood flooded her mouth.

The shaft pounded her face.

The joints of her jaw threatened to dislocate. Her teeth scraped against the entire length of the shadow kin but it didn't seem to care or notice as it fucked her brutally.

The cock swelled to inhuman thickness and then exploded. A jet of icy cum blasted inside her stomach, swelling it instantly as her stomach grew. The pressure grew rapidly as she felt more jets of cum force its way down the shadow kin's cock.

It didn't stop thrusting and the cum poured out of her stomach and up into her esophagus. Icy liquid flooded across the plunging cock, lubricating it as it flooded up and into her lungs.

Almost instantly, the pitch-black cum of the shadow kin dissolved the spider bodies. The blessed coldness poured into every nook and cranny of her lungs. Her chest swelled with the pressure as she strained to keep her jaw from popping open.

The thick ridges of the cock scraped along her lips and throat, tracing their way down as the shadow kin continued to pump liters of cum deep into her body.

It took her a moment to realize that it was withdrawing withe very stroke. She couldn't see but she felt the hard jets of cum pulling back. It soaked her insides and then her lungs, and finally it was in her mouth, spraying out from her cheeks as the kin withdrew completely.

Confused, Merrie opened her mouth to beg for help but then the first shadow kin drove hard into her body. The cock head slammed against her diaphragm and a thick gout of cum was forced out of her lungs. It surged out of her mouth in a thick sheet of icy liquid.

When it withdrew, her lungs were pulled down and sweet air flooded into her lungs.

The brief moment of respite and fresh air was all it took to see off her orgasm. Pleasure exploded inside her as she inhaled sharply,t hen exhaled as the first cock worked her lungs. The cock drove deep, forcing her to exhaled. When it pulled out from her ass, she inhaled.

The helplessness of controlling her own breath was intense. Pleasure coursed along her senses as she cried out, gurgling from the cum that still flooded her lungs.

Her pussy clenched with the hard thrusts of the cock that impaled her. With the spiders gone or crushed, she sank into the icy liquid of the shadow kin's cum and let the pleasure washed over her. Her entire world focused on the shaft that impaled her asshole. Every ridge and bump traced its way along her insides, scraping at her raw skin and igniting her orgasm into higher limits.

She let her mind spread out with her pleasure. A ripple of ecstasy spread out from her, catching the inky darkness of the shadows that surrounded her . They came themselves, creatures of shadows coming from pleasure.

A wave of icy liquid, cum from a thousand creatures surrounding her, poured down. it traced through every centimeter of her skin, soaking her completely.

It also pushed her into another orgasm. She cried out, choking on the cock that forced cum from her lungs, and then sank into the pleasure.

The shadow kin slowed down. Instead of pounding her brutally, it slowed down into a sensual thrust that took meter-long strokes inside her spasming depths.

Merrie sank into the pleasure, moaning and letting out soft whimpers as orgasms rippled through her body. She smiling and looked into the black eyes that stared down at her.

Reaching out, she caressed both of the shadow kin's minds with a wave of thanks and love. She looked around at the other surrounding creatures; the shadowy beasts of the woods that had rescued her before. They were all fro her. She sent out a wave of love toward the shadow creatures, her children.

The first shadow kin slowly pulled his shaft out of her asshole. An explosion of cum followed faster it, pouring out on the ground in a thick puddle of black liquid.

Merrie slumped back. (Thank you.)

The love that came back warmed her heart. She panted in the last of her afterglow and thought about how to rescue the others.

Chapter 22: Second Wave (MM nc anal oral, MMF nc anal oral)

As much as she wanted to remain in the Shadow realm and enjoy her afterglow, Merrie couldn't. She crawled over on her knees and wrists and stretched out. Her abused skin, burnt and bitten, sparked with pain. She could see where Sable's holy magic had peeled back her thin flesh and revealed the smoking darkness inside.

She gathered the darkness around her, forming it into ribbons, and wrapped it around her injuries. If she had time, she would have poured it into her body to let it fill her but she didn't think she'd have the time to let it set and replace her insides. She only hoped that Sable's holy energy wouldn't strip away the darkness before she could recover.

With another surge of power, she reformed her cloak. The familiar construct rippled out of the darkness and fluttered to envelope her. It tickled her skin as it wrapped right around her body, sealing up against her leaking pussy, ass, and skin. The pressure felt good and a startling contrast between the blanket of spiders that had recently attacked her. It would also give her a second layer of protection against the light.

Glancing around, she saw the massed creatures and had an idea. The smaller shadow beasts were capable of pulling off the spiders. The corpses on the dark ground were proof of that.

Hope in her thoughts, she reached out with her mind and asked the creatures if they would help her.

They weren't intelligent like other bitches or humans, but they responded with a cloud of love and trust. They were hers, her children and her army. They would die for her.

Nodding, she took a deep breath and steeled herself for battle. Her spectral bandages tightened around her body as she summoned the energy to transform herself back into hound form. Surrounded by the darkness of the Shadow realm, it only took a flicker of movement before she was once again covered in fur with her massive paws grinding into the ground.

Bolstered, she casted her familiar combat spells: speed, strength, and protection. Using her connection with the shadow horde, she let the spells envelop the gathered creatures. The energies of the Shadows helped her and she layered them quickly on the beasts. Each would wouldn't be able to fight against a well-trained individual but she hoped it would be enough to allow them to eradicate the spiders that infested her home.

Merrie focused her attention on the last spell: the one to create a portal between the worlds. With the drain of the horde's protection spells dragging on her senses, she concentrated on the complex calligraphy that would create a bridge between the planes.

The world darkened around her, even more for Shadows, as she pierced the veil and pried it open. Planar energies rolled around her, defying colors or comprehension. Her spell grew stronger as she layered spells to keep the opening gaping wide.

She couldn't help but imagine it was her fingers sliding into a lover's pussy, spreading them open. The constant pressure to seal the opening brought a smile to her. She reinforced the spell until there was a glowing portal shimmering ahead of her.

Taking a deep breath, she anchored her spell and then charged forward.

Energy sparkled along her pitch-black fur as she crossed between the world and then landed heavily on shattered floorboards of the mill house. She snarled.

The spiders were still there, swarming over everything. As one, they focused their attention on her: countless glowing red eyes focusing on her with hatred and anger. Energy rolled over their bodies, a haze of too-bright red flames reflecting off the walls and windows.

Ignoring the threat, she quickly cast out with her senses to find the others.

Haviston and Borias were protecting Fir and Cinthia. Their minds flashed with their efforts to maintain their shields but both men were at the last of their energies. She could tell their spells were cracking from their effort and the injuries that burned along their thoughts.

Cinthia and Fir were safe between the two men, but their minds were glowing with terror and pain. There was also blood on their senses, both had been hurt in the moments it took for Merrie to recover.

Guilt slamming into her, Merrie cast out her senses for the others.

Both Dixie and Tabitha were almost dead. Both of them were clawing at their bodies as they fought against the spiders that swarmed over them. Dixie's lust of helplessness, the hallmark of all alphas, wasn't enough to overcome the agony of being torn apart from the outside and inside at the same time. Both were alive only because of crumbling druidic magic that kept them breathing.

Sable, on the other hand, was incoherent with fear. She stood on Bass' prone form, her entire body a pillar of light as she used the last of her energies to protect her master. There were spiders clawing at her body, not harming her armored form, but trying to reach for his body.

Tears burned in Merrie's eyes. She wasn't too late, but it was close.

Around her, a wave rippled through the spiders. They started forward, a cloud of burning darkness and too many eyes.

Merrie smiled and yanked open the portal behind her. A tsunami of darkness burst out of it as countless shadow creature poured out. They slammed into the spiders, shadow against infernals. The sake and sharp scents of the two dimensions quickly choked the room.

She jumped over the battle and toward the Dixie and Tabitha. They were in the back, away from Sable's brilliance. (Dixie, I'm coming!)

Only agony came back, sharp pain as the shape-shifting alpha struggled to transform to keep his body healed enough to avoid dying. Unlike Merrie, it was second nature for the silfae and he managed to keep his body shifting to avoid the spiders from tearing out critical organs or his body from being torn open.

Merrie also reached out for Sable but the elder alpha's mind was too inwardly focused. Immediately she shifted it to Haviston. (I need to help Dixie and Tabitha.)

(We can hold off,) came the remarkably strained voice of the psion, (but we are---)

Fear prickling her skin, Merrie summoned two of the shadow kin after her. They squeezed through the portal and came chasing after her, their bodies all tentacles, claws, and wings. Together they burst through the back door of the house and toward Dixie's thoughts.

When she saw a towering mass of spiders, four meters high in the vague shape of a giant wolf, her heart almost skipped a beat. The spiders were glowing violently, flickers of too-bright red and too many squirming legs as they pinned the two wolves to the ground.

Merrie grew hot with the memory of being pinned to the ground and violated. The same thing was happening to her two friends.

Spells of strength and armor danced across her mind and she let the darkness fill her body with ice. She threw more power into the spell, charging it beyond what she had ever done to protect her against the spider's bite. Beneath her feet, the grass withered and crumbled away.

She brought her cloak over her mouth and nose. She sealed up her pussy and asshole at the same time. The pressure reminded her of how she build up her mental shields. It would also give her time to rescue the others before she had to breathe.

She twisted her thoughts into a new spell, to give her the ability to holder her breath. It failed but she tried again and succeeded before she reached the mound. Just as her lungs filled with the searing cold ice of the Shadow realm, she plunged into the squirming mass of spiders.

Heat and pins scraped at her body, clawing at the black cloak that protected her body. Her heart beat faster, the triple beat drumming in her chest as she clawed her way toward the others. Her large paws crushed through spiders but they were on her, gnawing at her cloak and clawing their way through her defenses.

She brushed against a squirming body and a sharp wave of fear poured through her mind. It was Dixie.

Merrie reached out with her mind and caught one of the shadow kin's attention. Directing it to grab Dixie, she gave it the strength.

Black tentacles plunged into the boiling mass of spiders. They wrapped around Dixie's wolf body and then yanked it brutally out.

(What the---?) came the sharp fear.

Merrie sent a wave of apology to him even as she directed the shadow kin to get the spiders out of his body. There was only way they knew to create them.

She gave Dixie only a brief image of what was going to happen, the black tentacles plunging into his asshole and mouth.

(Merrie! No, don't you---) His world exploded into shameful pleasure as the shadow kin began to rape his tiny body. Pleasure and hatred radiated from his mind, focused on her. His thoughts were also projected the sensation of the spiders being crushed against his insides while the darkness withered away at their spells.

She only smiled grimly to herself and clawed her way deeper into the mound of spiders. She swatted spiders blindly until she smacked against Tabitha's weakly thrashing form.

(Save... her!) snapped Dixie as sensations of his body being violated filled his connection. The thick tendrils were plunging deep into his throat, choking him off as they sought out the spiders to crush them.

Merrie directed the remaining shadow kin toward Tabitha. At the same time, she summoned whatever swarm of creatures she had brought with her to come for the spiders that would no doubt chase them once Tabitha was rescued.

Black tentacles plunged past her vision, wrapping around Tabitha's body. With a surge of power, they yanked her free, ripping a gaping hole out of the spider mound that Merrie chased after.

Merrie hit the ground running toward the house.

Dixie was already being slammed against the wall, tentacles of the first kin plunging into his now humanoid form. His tiny body, barely a meter in height, shook violently as he was plunged in from both sides. His tiny cock was hard and splattering against the wall. Black cum from the shadow kin poured out of his ass and squirted from his mouth as the creature eradicated any of the spiders still inside.

(I will kill you,) he promised before another orgasm slammed into him. (I will fucking kill you!)

Merrie gave him a wave of apology and raced around the house. Her hound form easily covered the distance but she could see weak light pouring out from the beginning. With her mind, she could tell that her creatures had finished killing off the spiders inside. Thankful, she reached out for Sable. (Dim your magic, I'm coming around!)

Incoherent fear and terror blasted her. Light flared up from the front, painting brilliantly across the ground.

Even reflected of the blood and gore, Merrie could feel it burning her skin. She skidded to a halt and panted. (Haviston, I can't survive that.)

(I can't reach her either. She thinks Bass is dying.)

Merrie's blood ran colder. (Did they?)

(No, but he is dying. I don't know how but her thoughts have been crumbling rapidly.)

Another blast of holy light flared into existence. Inside the house, the shadow creatures too close to the window burned away from the intensity of it.

Merrie winced and tried to reach out for Sable. (Please, I can help. Just let me up there!)

Only terror and fear came out. There was nothing, no coherent though, no negotiation. Only a primal need to survive and fear for the one person that mattered most.

Tears burned in Merrie's thoughts. She pulled back the swarm of creatures from the windows, protecting them with the house. As she did, she looked around desperately. (Haviston, can you knock her unconscious?)

(If you do, we will die.) A detailed image came over. Both Borias and Haviston were up against Bass. They were using Sable's holy blasts to handle the wall of spiders poised to swarm over them. Cinthia and Fir were between Bass' legs, clutching them tightly as if his large body could shield them from the attack. Numerous cuts and burns scored their body. Both shook from poison that ravaged their system. (She is unconsciously healing everything within a few meters of her, which is keeping us alive.)

(I can get in there.)

His mind flashed through scenarios, painting out options in rapid succession. As they did, Merrie's hopes dropped.

(You can't defeat them in time. I don't see a way.)

(Can she protect you enough to survive?)

(No,) came the definite reply.

(Then you die or we find a different way.)

(I cannot.)

Merrie thought furiously. She drew her attention back to the swarm of spiders. The two shadow kin were raping Tabitha now, much to the annoyance of Dixie who was slumped against the ground unable to move. The spiders were almost crushed but it took longer because Tabitha remained in her giant wolf form.

Another flash of holy light blasted the area, searing away the shadows.

Haviston showed how the light pushed back the spiders but it only gave him and Borias precious seconds to reinforce their shields before the spiders came back.

An idea came to Merrie but it sickened her. (What if... what if you make her think Bass died?)

Shock and horror radiated across the connection.

Merrie shivered at the memories that slammed into her. The devastation that tore into her soul with Kine died had scarred her for years. It still haunted her to that moment. Tears burned in her eyes as she recalled what happened.

(No alpha besides you has ever survived the death of their master.)

(He won't really be dead. The spiritual leash will still be there. But, she will either go catatonic and I can come. Or she will lash out at the creatures and kill them.)

(Or she could kill us all.) Even as he projected, Haviston was thinking about options. (No matter what, she will be damaged for the rest of her life.)

(You will die if we don't do anything.) Merrie hated the idea but she couldn't come up with anything.

Haviston's thoughts broke off for a moment as some of the spiders managed to charge forward and attack him.

Another blast of light burned Merrie. There were tiny screams of agony.

Inside the house, her creatures were ready to attack but they couldn't survive the light any easier than they could. She also didn't have enough to swarm over Sable to darken her.

Merrie flinched and looked away. Reaching out for Dixie, she started to give him her idea but remembered the spiders could read it. Instead, she focused on him. (Dixie? Can you fight?)

Dixie sobbed as he projected back. (I... I don't have anything right now. Those... things are done with my mistress. She's alive but we have nothing left. It was....) Memories of choking panic rose up.

She sent a comforting wave. (I might have to hurt Sable.)

He only sent a wave of agreement before withdrawing.

Haviston's thoughts brushed against her own. They came back pained and streaked with agony. (Spiders bit me again, this poison is hard to concentrate. I only have moments before I might collapse.)

(Borias?)

(His spells are keeping him up but if I fall, my cousin will fall too.)

The moment rested on Merrie, she had to make a choice. No matter what she chose, someone was going to hurt or die. She gulped and raced back toward the end of the house. At the same time, she guided her creatures into the most protected parts of the ruined mill house.

(Haviston,) she projected with sorrow and fear. (Make Sable think Bass is dead.)

Merrie raced around to the back.

Tabitha was finally in her silfae form, naked and shivering. She and Dixie clutched each other. Black cum poured out of their nether holes and coated their faces but they were alive. She looked up at Merrie as the alpha came around the corner.

Merrie skidded to a halt. Fear rose inside her as she thought about the damage she had done.

Tabitha gave her a hard smile. "When this is done, you fucking bitch, I'm going to rape you so hard you will wish you died."

She coughed and black cum bubbled out of her mouth.

"But thank... you." The last bit came out through gritted teeth.

Merrie gulped, her throat was dry. (Shield yourself.)

Tabitha frowned. "Why---?"

Any question was interrupted by a single scream that ripped out of the air. "No!" It was the tortured sound of whiskey and smoke, a woman who just lost the most important person in her life. It came with a mental blast that slammed into Dixie and Merrie.

Merrie, prepared for the onslaught, had been shielded but she felt it crack under the intense wave of agony and sorrow that blasted her.

Dixie, on the other hand, wasn't prepared and he burst into tears before the eyes rolled into the back of his head and collapse.

Light exploded from the front in a pillar of holy flame. It splashed against the shield surrounding the house before punching through it, shattering the powerful spell as if it was tissue paper.

Waves of emotions slammed into Merrie, the force them pushing her physically back as she fought to retain her own sanity under Sable's sorrow.

The light continued to grow brighter, burning so intense that the reflections off the bodies and ground and crumbling shield were enough to direct it against Merrie's form.

Merrie's cloak ignited into flames. It seared away and soon the light was burning away her bandages. Agony coursed through Merrie's body as she struggled to retain her sanity under Sable's despair.

She tried to reach out for Sable but there was nothing to connect, no intelligent though, no consciousness, only despair and pain.

Guilt slammed into Merrie.

Powerful tentacles grabbed Merrie and yanked her off the ground. The two shadow kin slammed her through the back of the house and toward the stairs leading into the basement.

She only had a glimpse of the formerly dark kitchen lit up brilliantly. The creatures that were cowering in the further rooms were screaming as the light burned them away.

The shattered door of the basement scraped her back and then she was plunged into darkness. She didn't have time to even scream before she hit the hard-packed ground which drove the air from her lungs.

Mouth gaping but her air refusing to work, Merrie saw darkness pour into the basement. It was the shadows, creatures and the kin, as they rushed into the basement. They slammed into her and piled on top, shielding her body from the light even as Sable's holy flame began to spear through the cracks in the house.

Merrie sobbed. It was one thing to lead the shadow creatures into a fight, another to have them sacrifice themselves to save her. (No, no, not again!)

The shadow kin that loomed over her looked into her eyes. (You will live, Mother.)

(Why? Why are you doing this?)

Her world grew darker as more of the creatures piled on top of her. The weight bore her down, grinding her bones together and making it impossible to move her lungs. The spell she used to keep breathing remained, it was the only way she could get air in the suffocating pressure of the creatures, her creatures, as they protect her from Sable's sorrow.

The shadow kin groaned and planted his arms on both side of her, straining to keep the pressure from crushing Merrie to death. His thoughts burned in her mind and she could feel him dying even as he shield her. (You are the Light Snuffer. Our deaths is for what you have given the Shadows. You are not done. You must live because the Lord of Shadows---our father---told us.)

The kin's body crumbled but the thoughts remained. They were washed with agony and pain. (Even... without him, we love you. You are the mother, the lover, the darkness that surrounds us. You are the reason we exist and...)

The sound of cracking bones filled the air. The pressure on Merrie's ribs increased and she felt the muted sound of her own insides fracturing from the weight.

(... we love you more than life.)

Then the world became nothing but blessed darkness.

Purifying Flames

Heat beat against Merrie's body. The waves of burning ripped at her raw nerves, reminding her of the tiny cuts and scratches that peppered her body. She could feel the heat against the rents in her thin skin and the contrast of the icy darkness inside her with the smoldering air.

She whimpered and tried to roll away from the heat and back into the cold embrace of the shadow creatures that protected her. The movement caused agony to spark along her senses. She managed to roll up on her side and then down on her front, crushing her breasts against the hot ground.

Her rolling also brought her into contact with the sharp edge of something wood or metal. It cut into her skin, peeling it open and allowing more heat to pour into her fragile body.

Merrie gasped as she woke up fully. Inhaling, she choking on ashes and embers. With a cry, she doubled over and slammed her head into a heavy barrel before slumping to the ground. Still choking, she covered her mouth and winced as her raw skin scraped against the wood.

Blinking, she peered underneath the barrel. Light flickered across the room, yellows and oranges painted on the ground. Wood smoke and sharp smells swirled around her. It dragged streamers of embers and sparks around Borias' prized possessions.

Merrie pulled back and peeked up from her vantage point. The entire ceiling was on fire, the flames already blackening the timbers and ashes poured down. She pulled back from the flickering light and crawled further underneath the barrel.

Fear sparked in her mind. She reached out for the shadow creatures, to make sure they were okay. Instead of brushing against a cloud of thoughts, there was nothing.

Her heart beat faster in her chest. She tried again, extending her senses beyond the burning basement and up into the area above her. She felt where the portal to the Shadow realm had been, the fading magic felt like a healing scar along smooth flesh. But there were no shadow kin or even the smaller creatures around her. They had all disappeared, no doubt killed by Sable's holy magic.

Tears burned in her eyes and she let out a choking sob. They had sacrificed themselves for her again. It wasn't the first time but that didn't diminish the ache she felt in her heart. She could still feel the places where their minds connected with her own. The thin leads that lead to each one had been burned away and left gaping holes in her psyche.

She started to sink into despair but then heat flashed over her. She opened her eyes to see that a hunk of the ceiling had fallen less than a meter away from her. Sparks rose up from the wood as it blinded her with its brilliance.

Merrie looked away and blinked furiously to clear her vision. When it did, she caught sight of her own body. About half of her skin still clung to her body. The pale white was a painful contrast to the boiling black mist that made up her innards. She could see the black veins that connected her heart and felt the triple beat of it pulsing through her body. The taste of the collar's powerful regeneration magic tickled the back of her throat but it was quickly fading. She didn't want to think about what it meant, of the two healing spells in the collar, one was for bringing her back from the death and the other was the slow torture of recovery.

She shook her head and looked for shelter against the flame. She braved the firelight and crawled out from underneath the barrel. The heat bore down on her, prickling her skin and tugging on her hair. She tried to transform into a shadow but her injuries and lack of energy refused to let the spell take hold. Instead, she had to work her way across the room with her naked body. Her breasts teased the warm ground, nipples scraping against the rocks. Her limbs shook from exhaustion and injuries but she managed to make it to the bed and then to the shattered door.

As she moved, she could see how the shadow creatures had shoved her further away from the stairs and into the room. The books, furniture, and even bed were shoved aside. Black ash and the faint smell of sake painted the floor to mark where the creatures died in their attempts to save her.

Her cold tears splashed on the ground as she leaned against the door frame. The hallway outside of Borias' room was cooler but not by much. The flames hadn't reached it. Thankful to get away from the suffocating heat, she crawled around the wall before slumping against it.

Above her, the roar of fire filled the air and she heard glasses and pottery shattering from the heat. The mill house was destroyed.

Merrie took a deep breath and calmed herself. Closing her eyes, she carefully expanded her senses to identify the situation above her. She also hoped to find the rest of her friends were still alive, though a fire in the house didn't give her hope. She started by searching for the infernal traps but every sign of the spiders, large or small, appear to have disappeared. She didn't know if one was being shaded beyond her limits but otherwise she could safely use her psychic abilities.

Opening her mind, she listened for submissive thoughts surrounding her. As her senses rippled out, she felt the thoughts of warriors as dim lights in a field of black. They must have approached when the shield went down.

There were also priests. Their minds were brighter because they submitted themselves to a higher power. It gave Merrie some leeway into their minds and she could feel their triumph and joy bright against her skin. It sickened her knowing they were celebrating their victory.

She frowned and reached further, pushing as quickly as she could with the air growing hotter around her. She panted softly, sweat sliding down her breasts. Her thoughts traced along more individuals, at least a hundred celebrating.

And then she brushed up against a field of brilliance. It was a ward built from prayers and faith, a shimmering cloud of light. The creator, whoever it was, had given themselves completely to Lemetri and her name whispered endlessly in the cloud.

Merrie flinched at the light but then explored the ward. It took her precious seconds to find a weak spot and ease into it---Borias had called her a shield breaker for her talents. Inside, there were multiple minds speaking out in conversation.

When she felt Bass' consciousness, she almost sobbed with relief. With a hesitant tendril, she reached out for him and connected. (Hello, master.)

(Merrie.) Bass' thoughts were analytical but fractured. Most of his attention was directed somewhere else; she could feel a storm of despair raging against his other mind. It was Sable. The other alpha had cracked when she thought Bass had died and she could feel him frantically trying to piece together his alpha's thoughts with love and affection.

Guilt slammed into Merrie. (I'm sorry. I---)

(No,) came the command. The intensity of it, raw power against her mind, sent a flash of liquid heat coursing along her body. It came with a welcomed rush of power as her submissive side rose up to obey.

She gulped and wrapped her short arms around her chest.

(I can't help both of you. Sable needs me and I need you to be strong for yourself.) His thoughts were structured but she could feel his own emotions leaking out through the cage of his willpower.

Merrie nodded even though Bass couldn't see her. She took a deep breath and then did it again. Her breasts rose and fell with the effort as she struggled to calm herself. Her collar, heavy against her collar, thudded against her chest and she was reminded that she was her own mistress.

The despair faded. It may never go away but it could wait until they were no longer in danger.

(Good girl.)

She moaned at the compliment. (Thank you, master.)

He sent a wave of affection toward her, brief but intense. It felt like curling in a hot bathtub with strong arms around her. (Are you safe?)

(No, I'm trapped in the basement.)

(After Lemetri's army captured us, they set fire to the house. It has been burning for about a half hour so you don't have much time. Do you have an exit?)

She frowned and glanced up at the flames. They were getting brighter and the heat was making it hard to breath. She looked up at the stairs but the kitchen was burning brightly. She sighed and sent an image of what she saw to Bass.

(Damn,) he projected sadness. (That place has been my home for half a century.) His mind focused away from his emotions. A blanket of logic and strategy muffled his sorrow.

He opened his eyes and she saw the inside of a blanket tent. Only a few streaks of light came in through the stitches of the heavy canvas. He blinked and looked away from the light but his eyes couldn't focus on anything other than heavy barrels and supplies. (Not much to see here, they are keeping most of us helpless.)

Bass continued. (Both alphas are bound by spells to keep them unconsciousness. I can reach Sable but she is suffering from terrors in her sleep. I can't hear or feel Dixie.) There was a strange edge of discomfort in his thoughts; Sable had been his mental companion for decades. Her agony raged against his mind and he withdrew for a second to comfort her before going back. (She is very damaged, both mind and body by that attack.)

She stared to respond but he interrupted. (It was a battle. Haviston told me you gave the order. Thank you.)

Merrie's thoughts drew back in shock.

(If given a choice of losing my friends and compatriots for decades verses spending the rest of my life comforting a wounded lover, I would have done the same thing. Without hesitation.)

She sobbed with relief.

(This is a war,) his thoughts grew darker, (and the battle isn't over.)

Merrie let his thoughts sink into her own, trying to give comfort without leaking her own fear into his mind. Her eyes focused on the flames, watching as they grew closer.

(They are beating Tabitha every few minutes to keep her dazed until they can figure out a way of keeping her bound. She's escaped at least four times already.) Memories of the screams rose up and fell. (Haviston and Borias are both bound, blinded, and gagged.)

Embers cascading down and she backed way from them to avoid getting burned.

(What happened to Borias?) asked Bass.

> Images of the mage rose up, sharp with fear and surprise. Borias had just come down the stairs in a moment of silence between the fighting.

>

> "Get back inside, you idiot!" snapped Tabitha.

>

> Bass growled and kept one eye focused on his own opponents. He reached out for Borias with his own hand, as if it could stop his friend from being too close to death and killing himself.

>

> Borias winked at him.

>

> Bass stopped, stunned with surprised. Something had changed, Borias had always run away from fights before. He had too, if he was in the presence of death, it would have killed him also. Now, there was something new to his demeanor, a fear that had been stripped away. He cocked his head slightly and then gasped, Borias had his geas removed.


Merrie flinched at the memory seeping into her mind. It only took a second for Bass to figure out the geas. She wished she could tell him the details but the bonds of her own geas prevented her.

> Instantly, it felt like a weight had been ripped away from Bass. He had spent years worrying that the wrong turn would kill Borias and there would be nothing Bass would be able to do stop from every organ pouring out of his young body.

>

> Borias raised his hand.

>

> Two paladins in front of him hesitated. They kept their weapons away from him, no doubt because they were told of his limitations.

>

> Red energy spread out from Borias' hand. It was a magical disk about a half meter across. It was also brighter and more intense than any spell Bass had seen Borias cast before. Energy curled around Borias' body, warping the world as he stared at the two paladins. Sweat beaded his brow the swirling energy sharpened into arcane runes floating in the air before him.

>

> The spell ignited into twisted whips of power. They shot across the distance and wrapped around the necks of the paladins.

>

> They let out strangled cries which ended abruptly as Borias yanked his hand back and blood exploded from their mouths, noses, and ears. It streamed out of their bodies and formed into long ribbons of crimson.

>

> Borias ripped the gore out of the two warriors. The blood whip cracked against the house, exploding it violently. He snapped it forward and the blood lash whipped through the air, bisected the two paladins, and then burst the chest of a priest rushing up to heal the two victims.

>

> Bass let out a gasp of surprise and relief.

>

> Borias stared at a moment, the spell crackling along his air. Even from Bass' vantage point, he could see that Borias' cock was hard. "Be fucking me," said Borias, "I be living."

>

> "Great!" snapped Tabitha. "I'll fuck you later for not telling me! Now go kill the fuckers!"


Bass withdrew his memories. (Borias had his geas removed recently. Did you know about it?)

She opened her mouth and then closed it. A pressure on her mind refused to let her project anything other than, (I can't tell you.)

Bass' mind worked for a moment. (It would take a Royal Family to pardon that geas. The queen would have never left Franome City and Borias couldn't go there with his other geas. One of the princesses is warring with Emberka and the other is at home. That means it had to be Prince Claston, who I heard may be friendly to you. It was him, wasn't it? Probably while we were at the Blood County Festival.)

She shivered, he was remarkably accurate.

(You don't have to tell me either way) His thoughts were wry. (I know how these spells work. If it was Claston, I bet he traded the prisoner's geas with the Royal Protectorate. You accepted the same geas, right?)

Merrie didn't think the spell binding her thoughts would allow her to acknowledge it, but she tried anyways. She managed to send a wave of acknowledgement before the geas drew her thoughts back.

(Good.) There was relief in his thoughts. (Protecting the country is a noble goal. Though,) he added with a wry thought, (I'm curious how you summoned a shadow land while keeping the country's best interest in mind.)

With a blush, Merrie ducked her head. (I don't know. I had to let the Lord of Shadows through but I limited how far they could go.)

Bass didn't answer for a moment, then responded curtly, (We will deal with that later. Iolis, the former high priests of Lemetri, is going to kill me.)

An image of the woman came with the name. It was a woman wearing a blood-soaked, long-sleeved shirt and black jeans. Her small breasts tented the fabric but the swelling only emphasized the symbol of Lemetri that was nestled in her cleavage. Her heavy boots contrasted her slender form, they looked like bricks. She had no obvious weapons but Bass could feel the intensity of Lemetri's power filling her.

(She is probably going to drag me into the original shadow land, to where the goddess died in hopes of rescuing her. I suspect she is going to sacrifice me.)

(Lemetri is dead.) Merrie sent an image of the goddess' corpse and the feeding shadow kin.

(I know. Iolis doesn't want to acknowledge it. She clings to the fading shreds of magic that we have as proof that Lemetri exists. I have never felt that she survived. That moment when you killed her....) Nightmares began to rise up in his thoughts but he forced them down. (She is going to hold Sable's life to ensure my cooperation. If any of us attacked, she promised to kill Sable, Dixie, and the others.)

Merrie shivered at the intense hatred that rose inside her. Bass had suffered enough for his faith, he had hid himself for decades to avoid the Church of Lemetri. Once again, they forced themselves into his world with violence.

Bass' mind grew dark with a howling rage. (I will destroy that woman for threatening my Sable.)

She blinked at her tears, Sable was her friend too. (What can I do?)

(Get out from the house by any means. It will take the priests another day or so to heal up everyone to prepare to invade Lemetri's Grave.) It was the name he had given the shadow land that had surrounded the former battle.

Merrie took a deep breath, wincing at the heated air that pricked her throat. She looked around again but there was no new way to escape.

(I will kill them but I must keep my Sable safe. You are still an unknown, I hope that she assumed you died during the attack. The infernal must have told her that you had returned because she has protection spells against darkness wrapped around her but I don't know how long she'll maintain them.)

Merrie looked around at the basement. There was no place to escape the heat.

(Be safe, be a good girl.)

A little surge of pleasure rippled through her body. She smiled and let her mental communication fade. Drawing her attention back to her body, she inspected the basement but couldn't find an escape. The only thing she found were barrels of Borias' lager stacked up near the foot of the stairs along with tools and supplies. He had rolled out one of the barrels in preparation of celebrating when the others approached.

She looked at one of the barrels and then smiled. If she had a day, she might be able to survive inside one of them. It would be risky but she had no other escape. Grabbed one of the chisels with her mouth, she crawled over to the nearest one.

The heat around her burned her skin as she jammed the chisel into place between the spout and the wood. She had to use her teeth to pull at it, it was loose but she was weak. The long minutes it took her to pry off were some of the longest in her life. Her shadowy body kept melting away, stripped away by the fire that roared above her.

When the spout finally fell off, lager poured out. It was icy cold and she gasped for relief. It bathed her parched skin. Even though it stung, it was nothing compared to the heat and light peeling away her skin. She panted softly and sank down into the puddle, enjoying every second of the coolness.

Before long, the lager had poured out of the barrel and left it nearly empty. Inside, it was dark and cool. Merrie forced her body melt and poured herself into the barrel. A single tendril wrapped around the spigot and pulled it back into place, sealing her tightly inside.

Encased in darkness and surrounded by the powerful fumes, Merrie gathered the darkness around her until the inside of the barrel began to ice over. With a groan, she let her body relax and prayed that she would heal enough before the basement burned down around her.

Chapter 24: Exhaustion

The world roared around her, muted only by aged wood. The barrel rocked back and forth from the winds that buffeted it, shaking it loose as the rest of the mill house burned down around her. The heat seeped in but she managed to hold it back with a shield of shadows that frosted the inside of the wood.

The cold from the shadows didn't last long against the heat. It only had time to ice the wood for a few minutes before the fire melted it. Waves of heat seeped through the barrel and swirled around her as she struggled to keep her attention moving from one warm patch to the other. She laid down a thin layer of ice and shadows against each one before moving to the next and then the next. By the the time she had painted the entire insides of the barrel with her spell, the first parts were hot again.

It was exhausting but mindless. Her mind drifted slightly as she swirled her attention around. There was nothing to focus on, she didn't have someone to dominate her or even time to masturbate. Instead, she ended up going over the battle over and over. Each time, she thought about the things she missed or mistakes she made: she could have used her collar more, she could have dodged in a different direction, what if she opened a portal first, could she have saved Sable without making her think Bass was dead? She doubted every choice and decision.

The heat continued to seep through the wood. As it melted the frost, the steam swirled around her and tickled her reforming lungs and skin.

She couldn't sleep or let her mind doze. Her need to sleep and heal throbbed in the back of her head, plucking at her attention. She had to fight it, knowing that if she missed too many sections, it would be harder to recover. If she stopped, then she would be boiled alive.

Merrie groaned and twisted slightly. The beer at the bottom of the barrel sloshed around her. Some of it leaked into her wounds and she felt the sting of it burn across her skin before it faded in the boiling darkness of her core. More of it lapped at her ass and pussy, teasing the sensitive flesh. She wanted to finger herself, to build up pleasure to give herself more energy but couldn't afford the distraction.

Groaning, she twisted around again and redoubled her attempts to focus on the spell keeping her cold. Sooner or later, the fire would finally die down and then she could save her friends.