Forged of Fire Page 4

  He could feel his father’s scrutinizing stare from where he stood. “Does this please you?” Zander smiled thinly through the smoke, his father still behind him.

  “Perhaps.” Dante answered. “Can you feel their pain? Do their pleading cries enthrall you?”

  Zander cut his eyes to Dante. “But of course.”

  Katara chuckled from their father’s side. “No, he doesn’t feel their pain. He is merely doing his job like a good obedient child.” Her wild eyes mirrored the destruction, hot red flames crackling in her heated orbs.

  Zander narrowed his eyes on his half-sister. “How the fuck do you know what I am feeling?” He hissed.

  “Easy.” She walked forward stopping in front of two remaining young priests bent in prayer, begging their God to save them from what was to come. “You’re only watching the show.” She smiled and yanked one male to his feet. “Strip!” The young man’s eyes grew in terror. “Do as I say without me forcing you and I may show you mercy.” His sister purred into the man’s ear. “Besides, you may need more time for those prayers to reach the ears of your God.”

  The mortal watched her closely as he slowly removed his robes to stand naked before them. “You!” She kicked the other more rotund priest over. “Stop chanting and do something worthwhile with those lips, suck him off!” The man coughed and sputtered in protest. “Do it or I will ask him to fuck you instead.”

  The man rose up to his knees and Katara pushed the naked male towards his face. “Go on.” Hesitantly the fat man opened his mouth and took the flaccid penis in. The naked one looked to the side as his face contorted in disgust. “You’re not pleasing him piggy.” His sister snapped. “Work harder!” The man began to pump his slobbery mouth up and down the tiny nub of his fellow brother. Tears sprang to the naked man’s eyes as his lips whispered words that would fall on deaf ears.

  “Is this supposed to be amusing Katara?” Zander said. He looked to his father only to find Dante’s eyes fixated on the sight before them, arms crossed and one hand lifted to his chin in contemplation.

  “Shut up Zander.” She chuckled. “You are supposed to be an audience member, remember.”

  Before he could retort she put her spiked high heel into the chest of the male on his knees and kicked him off, snagging his rosary from his neck before he collided with the hard earth. “You’re a disgrace!” She walked up behind the naked man and slid her arms around and up the planes of his chest. The male’s muscles tensed and bunched like tightened coils, betraying his pledged abstinence. Katara’s mouth found the back of his neck as her hands retreated lower, dragging the cold chain necklace with her. The priest went as still as death when Katara took his length in her hold. She began to slide her palm over his growing erection with one hand while the other cupped and pinched his scrotum.

  Zander stood mutely as his sister began to work the male, slow at first then faster and harder until the rosary beads bounced up and down, smacking angrily against his ball sac. The male released a tight groan as Katara squeezed and stretched his ruddy cock to its fullest before slamming her hand back to its base. “Get in front of him!” She ordered as the fat priest scrambled to do as bid. “Are you watching this?” He nodded as the naked man began to shake and buck, red welts appearing on his inner thighs and balls from the necklace’s wild thrashing.

  Zander’s own cock twitched in his jeans as the young priest’s erection grew in size, purple and aching with need. “Open your mouth!” Katara ordered the male on his knees. The fat one did as asked and she shoved the younger priest’s dick down his throat, just as he exploded his release. The force of the male’s orgasm made the larger man choke, his eyes bulging from their sockets. She continued to milk the sated priest with her hands. “Swallow every last drop like a good piggy.”

  A slow clapping sounded and Zander turned towards his father. “Very good daughter.” Dante said, clearly impressed. “Now what?” Zander wanted to kill her. This was his moment! He had found the secret coven protecting the benders. It was his time to finally prove once and for all that he deserved the second throne, next to his father.

  Zander’s sister chuckled and Zander’s gaze snapped back to her. She released the man’s prick and moved in front of him to grab the other man on his knees by the hair. “You are a waste of skin.” She sneered. “Make sure you tell your God what a bad little bitch you are.” Before the male could beg for mercy she tossed his body like a sack of potatoes into the fire.

  The fire roared to its fullest greedy potential from the juicy fat of the older man’s body. Katara turned to the male she had just raped. “Are you ready to meet your maker?” He shook his head frantically no as the screams of the other priest began to be swallowed up by the flames. “Are you willing to accept me as your new master?” The man swallowed hard before nodding.

  Katara turned to face Zander and their father before walking towards them, her new slave dogging her steps. She slowed when she got to Zander. “That is how it is done brother.” She grinned as she passed.

  “Yes, that is how to jack off a mortal.” He called after her. “Any well trained whore can do that. I am still the one that found the information that will lead us to the girl.”

  She ignored him and Dante chuckled. “You will never rile her the way she does you. You know that, right?”

  “She does not rile me.” Zander bit. “She annoys me. Everything is a fucking game to her. I am not even sure why she is here.”

  “She is here so I can see which one of you deserves the second throne.”

  Zander froze. “You would consider giving that half breed the throne above your first born?”

  His father stepped in close to him, his eyes hard and callous. “Yes!”

  Zander felt both angry and sick at the same time. “She has done nothing towards finding the girl. Nothing!”

  Dante grabbed Zander by the shirt and yanked him closer to his face. “But she could. Same as you! The only difference in the two of you is that your sister does not merely kill. She breaks others, destroys their faith and... She enjoys every second of it!” Dante snarled. “She is more like me!” With that he released Zander and stepped back. “I have changed my mind. The second throne will go to whichever one of you brings me the girl.”

  “I will kill her before that happens.” Zander’s fist balled at his side.

  Dante narrowed his eyes. “If she does not kill you first.”

  ****

  “No!” Ash uncrossed and re-crossed his legs. Despite the word leaving his mouth for the fourth time the others persisted in their reasons why he should claim the Fire throne. Ash looked at the Breitling on his wrist. Two hours now.

  “I knew he was too much of a pussy,” Dax added. The beefy earth bender had been silent the whole time up until now. “And to think that he could even go as far as to take Dante’s throne as well.” He rolled his neck cracking what had to be numerous bones in his spine. “All that power and what does he want? To hide in his cave.”

  “What the hell is he talking about?” Ash addressed the others.

  “Yes, well. I had intended on saving that tidbit but now that it’s out.” Bane paused. “As you know already from my Gilcolm, Samson, a girl has been found that possesses the ability to bend both fire and water elements.”

  Ah finally, the elusive mortal bender with the guardian Angel. Ash almost rolled his eyes. “You want me to help train her.”

  The room grew silent. “More than that.” Skyler spoke up. “We need you to mate her.”

  Ash choked on the sip of water he had just swallowed. “Absolutely not!” He motioned to a standing servant at the door. “Konik’s Tail on the rocks. Tall glass.”

  Marcus chuckled and raised his hand to signal a second pour of the expensive vodka. “Since we may be here longer, Ash has a good idea.”

  “A, I don’t want a mate. B, especially a child one and C, not a mortal,” Ash replied.

  “Ashdon listen,” Bane sat forward. “If she is mated and turned
by someone from a Fire or Water house that male will gain her strength once the consummation occurs, same as she will take theirs.” Ash was all too aware how the transfer of gifts went during the act of consummation for Vampires. It was like a brand. Both male and female transferred strengths, uniting their bond and gaining power. A bender turned Vampire had the added strengths of their natural gift to pass on, provided they shared the same element as their mate. “A royal bender as strong as yourself would be unquestioned in superiority, especially after you grow in strength from your mate,” Bane continued. “You could be chosen to rule over all four elemental houses.”

  “If I don’t even want the responsibility of one house, what makes you think I would want four?” The servant handed Ash his drink. “But, out of curiosity, would controlling all four houses not give someone a possible way to govern the entirety of Heaven and Hell as well?”

  “Someone could,” Skyler answered. “But it would not be you, since Angels and Originals do not abide by bender politics. They don’t elect officials. Angels and Vampires birth their Kings and Queens.”

  “It would be your child,” Bane finished. “A child born of this multi-bender and her mate could reign supreme over all because the baby would carry in its veins the ultimate immortal power. A unifying ability to control all elements and the power of its immortal birth parents genealogy,” Bane grinned. “The perfect blessed miracle.”

  Ash downed his drink and stared into the empty glass. Surely they were mistaken. This would mean that someone could actually come along with the power to end Dante’s cruel reign. His eyes lifted on the thought. “Only a Fire or Water bender huh?” He looked at Bane. “Why not you?”

  Bane’s lips curled into a warm smile as he looked across the table at Skyler. “I already have a mate.”

  “Surely there is another royal…”

  “There is.” The angelic one, Kizer, who had been silent the past two hours spoke up. “I could take her.” He smiled.

  “Well there you go, problem solved.” Ash pushed to his feet just as the doors behind him pushed open.

  A Gilcolm rushed up to Bane and bent to his ear. The older man’s face grew somber and his brows furrowed. “Tell him to bring her to the main parlor down here.” Bane ordered as he stood. “Seems we will be meeting her sooner than expected.” With a mad shuffling of chairs, the others rose as well. “And, an Angel as well.”

  ****

  Kielyn began to wake as if her mind was trudging through mud. “How long was she out?” Someone asked.

  “The better part of an hour.” Another voice responded.

  “How did you know to bring her here?” A third voice inquired.

  “You would not believe me if I told you. Let’s just say Zeus had a hand in it. Is she going to be okay?”

  Kielyn tried forcing her eyes to open. Ouch! She slammed them shut when the first intrusion of light hit her retina. “She is waking!” A female’s voice instructed. “Dim the lights.”

  Something cool and damp touched her cheek, then her forehead. The moisture helped chase away some of the fog her mind and body seemed trapped in. Kielyn tried again. Her lashes fluttered. She could see their outlines. Three men! She screamed, sudden fear driving her out of her comatose state and smack dab into a nightmare. Before she could get her limbs functioning in order to bolt, a woman’s face appeared in front of her. “You’re safe. We are not going to hurt you.” Consoling but firm hands landed on her shoulders. “Please, continue to lay still while we try and explain.” The woman smiled. “I am Skyler. Can you tell me your name?”

  “Her name is Kielyn.” One of the men said over the woman’s shoulder.

  How did he know that? Kielyn tried to shift into a sitting position just to feel her skin rubbing against nothing but loose material. My God! Am I naked? She was! Kielyn clutched the blanket to her chest and sat up. “Where am I?” She managed on a shaky whisper. “Are you campus police?”

  “No dear, we are not police. You’re at my residence in the garden district,” the woman answered. “No one can hurt you here.”

  “How does he know my name? Where are my clothes?”

  A man stepped to the side of the woman just enough so that Kielyn could plainly see him. He was beautiful. Shoulder length brown hair and sea-green eyes that seemed to see right through her. As if he knew her… “I heard someone call you by name in the park before you passed out,” he smiled with his eyes. “Clothing is being located for you as we speak but we have a few questions in the meantime. Do you remember anything before you blacked out?”

  “What happened to my clothes?” Kielyn felt herself begin to shake and she pushed away just to meet with the back of the sofa. “I need to get home!”

  “Shhh,” the man reached out as if he intended to comfort her. Kielyn jerked away. “We are here to help you but we need you to tell us what you remember,” he stared deeply into her eyes as if reading what he wished to know by looking into her mind. “I’m not going to hurt you, Kielyn,” his words were like a strange drug, soothing, safe, and she felt her muscles relaxing as if she had taken a nighttime cold medicine or been given nitrous at the dentist. It was as if he were hypnotizing her. “Just search your memory and tell me what happened.”

  Kielyn’s nerves dulled to all previous tension and her mind did as asked, racing backwards in time for information to provide an answer. Becca had been snoring. I went to work on my painting. Then cut through the park. The fraternity boys! “They were going to rape me…” She was uncertain if she had even spoken the thought out loud. Her eyes glanced to the woman’s. The softened understanding residing in them confirmed that she had. Shame and embarrassment climbed up her spine at the admittance and she drew her legs under her body. She could remember nothing else. Tears sprung to her eyes and her hand fluttered to her mouth. “Did they?” Her voice broke on a half sob.

  The man stepped forward like he might attempt to touch her and Kielyn scooted further down the leather, wedging her body into the crock of the couch. He stilled where he was. “No. They did not hurt you.”

  A flood of relief washed over her senses then immediately crashed hard like a wave against rocks when a second man Kielyn had not noticed stepped into the light. His piercing blue gaze fixed on her and a muscle in his tightly clenched jaw pulsed. He might have been the most handsome man she had ever seen if not for the simple fact that he looked so dangerous. Like a wild predator the way he stood, rigid as stone just staring at her with those haunting eyes. Eyes that seemed to be judging her. Judging her for being the idiot whore that got herself in trouble in the first place. Kielyn wanted to hide. To get away from his scrutiny. She forced her eyes to break from his.

  Kielyn looked to the left. There stood a third male. He was older than the others and his face was kind looking, understanding. “Please forgive Ashdon. He is a very serious sort of old chap,” he smiled. “I am Walter. Are you hungry?”

  “No. Thank you,” Kielyn answered, trying to gather what little courage she could muster. What she needed was a way to get out of here. “I just need to be on my way.”

  “That’s not an option,” the mysterious dark haired man named Ashdon bit out. “It’s not safe for you. You will stay here until I have trained you.”

  Not an option! Trained me? “Train me?”

  “Yes,” his voice offered no room for debate. “You are ill prepared for the life you must lead.”

  Kielyn felt her mouth fall open. What fucking rabbit hole had she slipped and fallen down? “Look, I’m not sure who you think I am but I promise you, I’m just a girl that will surely be reported missing soon if I don’t get home.”

  “We will take care of that but first you must heed our warning and learn from us.” He said.

  Kielyn shook her head. Had she hit it when she fell? Surely this man was not for real. “Ah, tell you what,” she wrapped the blanket tightly around her body and stood, stepping around the edge of the sofa. “Why don’t we all meet up for coffee in town in a few day
and discuss whatever martial arts class you are selling. I have a midterm that’s due…”

  “Sit down.” The dark one ordered.

  “No!” Kielyn stood taller, incensed at his lofty tone. “I’m leaving,” she looked around hoping to see a door that would lead her to safety. “With or without my clothes.”

  The man’s piercing blue eyes drilled into hers as they narrowed. “You will do no such thing!”

  “What he means,” the woman introduced as Skyler stepped between them. “Is that we would really like to explain a few more things to you first,” she offered. “Something happened between the time when the boys were threatening you and when Stefen found you in the park.”

  “Can we not go over the rest of this tomorrow?” Kielyn wanted to scream the words but instinct told her she should at least try and pretend to be cool headed with these strange people. She did want to know what happened to her clothes and why she had passed out, but she also wanted to be in her own bed. Surely anything they had to say could wait until she was sitting in a protected police station. “I have a paper due and I really must study,” she began to really survey the room for the first time. It was a giant library of sorts. Beautifully decorated. Clearly these people had money. “I thought someone had my clothes?”