Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2017 02:03:48 +0000
From: Michael Offutt <kavrik@hotmail.com>
Subject: Chapter 47-The Orb of Winter-Gay Science Fiction

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				   *****

			    Chapter Forty-Seven

   "Hunter should have been back by now," Ephram said to Annie.
   He wore loose-fitting trousers tied about his waist with a hemp rope;
across his muscle-laden body wound many bandages. Whereas Hunter was lean,
Ephram was thick, even beefy.
   She kissed him on the lips to soothe his frayed nerves and marveled at
his beautiful white teeth; Last night, Henna had planted a rubber tree and
grown it to full height by the light of the moon. Now dead, the sap had
provided enough material for her to create a base to which molars could be
attached (using magic). Annie couldn't tell they were fake. As for the
other surgeries, Ephram would bear those scars with pride until his death
by old age many years from now.
   For example, she noted still a slight bend to Ephram's nose, a little
curve where before there was none. His height and gait had been restored,
but he had six more scars on his body than had been the case only a week
ago. None of them knew the necromantic spell that kept scars from
forming. Annie did, but she was not ready to reveal that she had necromancy
training. That, and she had no confidence in her power. Just using that
spell on a few of Ephram's wounds would have left her drained for an entire
day.
   "Just have some patience," Shae said. "Jareck's gone to his cousin to
get your armor fixed."
   "Jareck has a cousin here?" Brunhilda asked.
   "Dwarves have cousins everywhere," Fiver said. "Anyplace there's
mountains, you'll find dwarves. Even ones shaped like teeth."
   The door to the chapel opened, and Dallin Christopher walked in wearing
a thick cloak covered in fresh snowflakes. At his side stood Renfro. The
lad had cleaned up some, though his new boots looked a bit scuffy
now. "Timeron knights are doing some searches along the shore, asking a few
people if they'd seen either you or Hunter. They don't mention Brittain by
name," Dallin said.
   "I wonder why an alarm hasn't been sounded," Akagi said.
   "That's easy," Renfro offered. "Mr. Hunter embarrassed Skellhaundar
Romax, and the army's getting set to march within two days. They're not
committing the resources to look for him."
   Dallin nodded. "The lad's got eagle eyes, a sharp enough acumen, and
ears that could hear a mouse fart. It's true. A large part of the Zandan
army's already headed for the southern gate. And late last night, dragons
started showing up."
   "Dragons?" Henna asked. "How many?"
   "Thousands," Dallin said. "All from Noremost. The gold spurs are taking
to the skies."
   "I need to go and look for Hunter," Ephram said. He gazed upon Annie
with a pair of pretty hazel eyes, and she pushed the auburn locks from in
front of his fair face. He had a strong chin with a cleft in it, and the
many days at war had not broken the spirit she saw whenever she gazed into
his soul.
   "I have business in the city," she said. "You should wait here and
rest. You're still weak from your ordeal and Jareck has yet to return your
armor to you. I will look for Hunter."
   "I can't let you go into the city by yourself," Ephram protested.
   She looked over at Henna and Akagi, who sat at a table playing a game of
chess. Near the altar, the venerable Markain Kragar read from The Book of
Tethyr. Unbeknownst to them, Annie was from Zanda, and she knew her father
controlled the hell birds in the skies above the Bone Wall. If they stood
any chance of escaping, an amulet he wore around his neck needed to be
stolen or destroyed. The least she could do was find where he kept it. If
she had to, she'd even speak to him.
   Should I tell him about my lineage? Annie thought. She looked at Ephram
as he walked away, stretching his muscular back. He would never have lain
with me if he knew I was a Zandan, and if he knew I was a dhampir. My
mother was a vampire, my father the most powerful necromancer of his
age. How could I explain that I can change into mist, rat, wolf, or bat?
Would he even understand that I needed to flee my father because he would
have tapped into my soul to fuel his magic? Necromancers need a source for
their power. My father would have sucked me dry just like he did my
mother. But I still love him.
   "Where will you look, Annie?" Fiver asked her. He was inspecting his
arrows, polishing his bow.
   "The hand of Thomas will guide me," she said.
   Markain Kragar put his book down. "Hunter is the Black Dragon of the
Silver Rose. He'll not be found unless he wants to be found. He's one of
only three, though a fourth one has been promised to us. The Lord of
Jackals has seen it fit to whisper a name to me that only Hunter may know."
   Annie stepped back from Ephram, admired his lean bare chest a moment,
and then turned to look at Markain Kragar with more purpose. She fingered
the long sleeves of her powder blue gown. "Hunter may be the Black Dragon
of the Silver Rose, but Thomas is the god of wolves. If Hunter leaves a
scent, Thomas knows where he is right now. If Hunter is in danger, which
Ser Ephram suspects, then Thomas will guide me to him. I doubt any of his
skills at hiding will throw the god of wolves from his trail."
   "I had a dream while I was unconscious," Ephram said. "If you recall,
you told me I'd have them."
   "I did say that, yes," Markain Kragar said. "But I did not promise
they'd be prophetic."
   Ephram shrugged. "I saw the youth as he appeared yesterday...the first
time if you can believe that any of us had seen his face."
   "I accused him of being ugly once," Annie said, laughing. "Gods was I
ever wrong."
   "Hunter's the most beautiful lad in the world," Markain Kragar
said. "Everyone who's not a eunuch who dares to gaze upon him will see the
best years of their life reflected back. Everyone wants to be his friend
and his lover. But there are few in this world that could allow themselves
to be owned in such totality. That's his curse. If he ever found that one
special person, he would be loyal to them and never stray. I feel that
inside him. That's the key to Hunter's heart. A person must allow
themselves to be owned by him and consent to let him take care of
them. He's a thief of hearts, but he's also a thief of time. Hunter would
take all of your time and attention. It would mean allowing him to call the
shots and in a way, to let go of any dreams that run contrary to personal
ambition. But, ambition's a vice and not a virtue. Too many people fail to
understand that. His perfect partner would have to travel with him, consent
to being his constant companion, and always be ready for sexual
intimacy. For that, he'd devote himself utterly and completely. And as far
as I can tell, he's actually not shallow. He finds many body types
attractive just so long as they're into him. That's what really gets him
hard between the legs." Markain Kragar laughed.
   "You ever hear of too much information old man?" Akagi asked.
   "I could never give myself up to just anyone," Annie said. "Hunter's
beautiful, yes. But he's no god of war."
   "Can I be apprenticed to Mr. Hunter?" Renfro asked.
   Markain Kragar laughed. "You want to know how to kill do you? That's
what Hunter does, little Ren. But I'm afraid your name wasn't whispered to
me by the Lord of Jackals. You're too young, but if you want to go down
this path, we have one here in the guild that can teach you some things
first. And in the meantime I'll pass your name to the Disciple Luminara for
her consideration. Perhaps Tiburon could become your teacher."
   That made Renfro very excited. He looked up at Dallin Christopher and
said, "Tiburon is the Black Dragon of the Green Rose, and he's Hunter's
friend."
   "He's a bit more than `friend,'" Markain Kragar said, "but I'll spare
your young ears those details. Suffice it to say that Tiburon likes Hunter
very much, and as far as I know the feeling's mutual."
   Ephram clenched his jaw in obvious jealousy. "What is it that you find
beautiful about him?" he asked Annie. "I want to know your thoughts in
particular."
   "Don't go down that path, Eph. Remember the talk we had that night in
your tent on the far side of the Bone Wall? I was jealous of you that
time," Akagi said. "It's not good to pry into the thoughts of a woman."
   "I object to that," Henna said, sitting back from the chess table. "If
men picked women's minds more often the world would be a better place."
   "Everyone knows that women are all sirens and sluts," Fiver said. "As
soon as they start to bleed they're lookin' for a cock to get stuffed in
'em."
   "You truly know nothing about humans, don't you?" Shae asked the
hare-foot. "I pity you."
   The ranger shrugged, hopped down from his perch, and pulled on the
drawstring of his bow to test it. "Lad," he said to Renfro, "my advice is
to learn how to use one of these and how to track. Poisons are tools for
assassins and women. Ser Skye here, like me, faces down his enemy and kills
him fair and square. There's no dirty fighting, no tricks."
   Annie reached out and brushed Ephram's cheek. "What do I find attractive
about a boy whom age has never touched? Everything," she said. "His
sparkling eyes, his lean and thin body, his white skin and white-blond
hair. The shape of his hands, the hook of his thumb, and his glorious
Adam's apple. Hunter's tall, he has the most incredible nose...I feel him
watching me as if he's a predator that wants to consume my meat. But we all
have an inner beauty that I'm able to see. Your inner beauty shines just as
bright as his, and you're a Crimson Guard of Thomas."
   "Ouch," Akagi said. "Inner beauty's usually code for `butterface' if you
know what I mean. I'm straight, and Hunter's the finest man I've ever
seen. I'd consider sucking his dick if he was naked. You, on the other hand
Eph, should probably stick to wearin' armor." Akagi winked at him. "It was
your sword arm that got you where you are, not your looks."
   Ephram's cheeks turned red.
   "You're handsome," Henna said. "Stop comparing yourself to Hunter. That
just isn't fair, not to anyone. You're a normal person, quite fit, and in
his mid-twenties. Hunter's unearthly and a teenager; it's...disturbing to
look on him. It makes you self-conscious and you end up hating all your
flaws because he has none."
   "He's perfect," Annie whispered.
   "Well he's perfect for our mission," Ephram said with a little
irritation. "I can agree to that. And in my dream, Hunter was hurting
somewhere in the dark. It was cold, but not a bitter cold like the
outside. Just somewhere in a room away from the hearth. He looked as if he
lay in a ruin of some kind. The people that were with him were too selfish
to see to his needs. At least that's how it seemed."
   "I asked for a vision of Hunter's activities in prayer this
morning. Tethyr gave me none. I confess...I don't know what that means,"
Markain Kragar said.
   "Ruins did you say?" Annie asked. "There are quite a few of those in
Zanda, but only one that I can think of that might hold necromancers strong
enough to fix your egg."
   "The Lianon Pard Academy of Necromancy," Markain Kragar said. "Ah...so
that's where he's gone. I should have drawn the connection myself. That's
an interesting choice, but why the ruins? Necromancers over the years have
filled those halls with undead. Some are quite dangerous. If he's hurt in
there, it could be that he very well may need saving."
   "Then it's settled," Ephram said. "When Jareck returns with my armor,
I'll go and find him. Undead have no chance against a paladin of Thomas."
   "No my love," Annie said. "I know a thing or two about this city. I'll
go and find him...you must trust me on this. Thomas will protect me." She
threw a gray cloak over her shoulders and pulled up the hood.
   Ephram stared into her eyes and finally said, "Okay. I'm going to trust
in Thomas, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you."
   "You're such a gentleman," she said. "I'll see all of you later."
   Annie walked out of the room. However, instead of leaving through the
secret entrance that emptied out into the kitchen of the Spendthrift
Mistress, Annie asked a girl scrubbing floors in the hallway to show her to
the roof.
   "I've got chores, miss," the child said.
   Annie took out a silver coin and held it in front of the girl, who
smiled and grabbed it. "Good. Now just direct me to the roof please."
   "Just take those stairs there to the top," the girl said. "There's four
flights. They go all the way to the roof."
   "Thank you child." Annie straightened out her cloak, closing it tight in
front of her, and followed the girl's instructions. She climbed those
well-worn wooden steps, counting them off in her head. So many feet and
shoes had passed over them, that they sagged in the middle and shone as if
polished. Once at the top, she opened a door onto a small flat space. Cold
wintry air blasted her in the face. A few boys with their backs turned
toward her sat watching the festivities on the street below and looked to
be trading illustrated cards between them. Above, storm clouds threatened
and were darker still over the Librarium Apocalypto and the Palace of the
Dreaded Irtemara.
   Lightning flashed in the distance.
   She closed the door and went around to the back of the building that
housed them. The shingles underneath her feet cracked under her heels and
the footing was treacherous with snow and ice. She moved to the edge,
demarcated with stone crenellations. She stood behind the sign of the
Spendthrift Mistress and saw many bird nests, piles of pigeon shit, and old
jars with cigars half burnt inside them. She looked to make sure no one
watched her, and then willed her body to change. There was no flash of
light, just a metamorphosis that happened within seconds as she shifted
into something much smaller and light upon the wind. Her equipment
disappeared and a tiny bat flew out from behind the sign, winging its way
toward the Lianon Pard Academy of Necromancy.
   It took Annie about fifteen minutes to reach the academy. Deserted now
because the school year had ended, Annie flew to a large tree that grew
outside her father's office window. She settled upside down on a branch
near the balcony. A foul smell ushered from the glass doors below, which
were open on this blustery day. Grinning concrete gargoyles stared at her
with gaping mouths, their lower jaws dangling icicles several feet
long. She saw Ivan Boritsi speaking to a girl dressed in pink twill. This
plain thing looked barely sixteen, but had beautiful long black hair. A
little plump, she had no breasts at all and Annie thought at first that
this was a boy dressed up as a girl.
   What a strange creature? She even has an Adam's apple, Annie thought.
   "You have it do you? Where'd you get it?" Her father asked the
girl. Ivan glared from behind spectacles leaning upon both hands, his long
beard flowed between his legs and vanished behind a massive desk. He wore
midnight blue robes embroidered with silver stars and moons. His black skin
had many wrinkles, time had not been kind.
   "My boyfriend gave it to me. He had a contact in the Church of Taleta,"
the girl said. She reached inside a purse and pulled out a sealed flask
filled to the top with white milk that sparkled in the sunlight. Ivan's
eyes widened. Carefully, he reached for it, popped the stopper, and then
took a dropper to extract some in order to examine it on a glass slide.
   The girl took a seat and waited patiently. "It's genuine," she said in a
kind of falsetto. That's odd, Annie thought.
   "I'll be the judge of that." Headmaster Boritsi took a piece of special
litmus paper to it and mumbled an ancient spell to activate shadow taint
believed to reside only in the fabled Dragon's graveyard.
   No, Annie thought. That's not possible. Does he think the boy's brought
him golden galactorrhea? The milk is impossible to manufacture without
Atlantean goldens, and all of them are dead. But there before her eyes, the
litmus paper turned charcoal and black fumes arose from the drop thus
exposed. There was power in that drop of milk, and what she'd just
witnessed was a sliver of darkness brought over from the shadow realm.
   A great satisfied smile crossed Headmaster Boritsi's lips. "Can you get
more, Alexi?"
   "I'll try," Alexi replied. "It's very rare."
   "I know how rare it is," Headmaster Boritsi said, hands trembling. He
got up and walked over to a picture, which he moved out of the way to
reveal a safe. He cast a spell upon the lock, and it popped open, inside
which lay a ledger, several bags, and...the Amulet of Bones.
   That's it, Annie thought. That's the thing that controls the hell birds.
   As she thought this, a raven cawed from a wire above Headmaster
Boritsi's desk. Annie knew that was no ordinary raven, however. It was a
demon enslaved by the Amulet of Bones, and it so hated her father that it
swore to take his soul directly to hell when he died. This threat alone had
convinced him to try and achieve immortality, and he started by draining
all of the necromancy out of her mother. For all his power, Ivan Boritsi
only managed to blacken his own skin in the process. Now he resembled the
void between stars more than anything human. He hadn't become immortal that
day, but he had pulled within himself enough necromantic energy to become
the mightiest necromancer of the age.
   Ivan reached past the Amulet of Bones and seized a bag. Then he closed
the safe and reapplied the necromantic lock that fused the door of the safe
with its own walls. Pushing the picture back into place, he walked back
over to Alexi and handed her the pouch.
   The girl emptied the contents into her palm. It brimmed with precious
diamonds worth tens of thousands of gold crowns.
   "It's all there," Ivan Boritsi said. "If you get more of this for me,
I'll pay you. Go back to your boyfriend and fuck him good and long...play
with his balls a bit...get him to reveal his source. Come directly to me
with the information. I'll reward you for that, Alexi...with twice what you
see here. Or alternately...if you can't stomach it...bring your boyfriend
here. Everyone bore witness to your ravishment during the Ball of Moon's
Blood, and even by historical standards it was incredible. But facts are
facts. No one will miss one Timeron knight, even if he does wear the gold
spurs. They're vermin and don't belong in Zanda. Perhaps we could do each
other a favor. If you play your cards right, Alexi, you'll never have to
work a day of your life. This is a rare opportunity I'm presenting to you,
so don't waste it."
   "I won't," Alexi said. A long pause followed. "You'll be hearing from me
soon. Thanks for this." The girl put the bag away in her purse and left via
the bone stairs. That's when Annie decided to follow her.
   Annie took wing and flew to the other side of the school, where the
courtyard offered a view of the girl as she took off down the vacant
corridors now bereft of students and faculty. She glanced often over her
shoulder to make sure no one followed her. Annie perched on rafters, flew
down probably a quarter mile of hallways, and when she infrequently lost
the girl, she used her echolocation to find her once more. When she passed
through an iron door that led from a large well-kept solarium and into the
ruins, Annie flew outside through a chimney in one of the classrooms. Then
she circled around to watch Alexi pick her way across debris strewn floors
thick with rubble smothered in snow and ice.
   Annie flew in through one of the hundreds of broken windows and saw
Alexi go down a long corridor filled with undead. To her surprise, this
girl ordered the zombie herd to either side of the hall with a powerful
demonstration of necromantic control. She'd literally enslaved almost a
hundred undead at this point, and it boggled Annie's mind.
   Who is this girl? she thought.
   The girl crossed a chasm, turned right, and headed over to a door with
yellow light streaming from under it. But another door straight ahead also
had light coming from under the door, and the snow on the ground showed
many tracks that had gone back and forth between the two rooms. Since it
had snowed last night, these tracks were fresh, and Annie saw the
unmistakable footprints that would have matched Hunter's Timeron knight
boots. Narrow, long, and deep, they looked as if he'd been carrying another
person, and they disappeared into that room.
   Annie dropped to the ground and pushed herself under the door. Warmth
and the smell of decay filled her bat nostrils. She heard a woman's voice,
maybe a little husky around the edges, talking to someone.
   "That's it," the female said. "Take it in your mouth, Kian. It'll make
you feel better."
   Annie flew into the room and found a suitable perch from which to view a
most bizarre sight: a young girl breastfeeding a gorgeous teenaged boy. She
put the girl at probably fifteen or sixteen. She wore clothes but they'd
been hiked up (so that her butt showed) and the bodice ripped to expose
both boobs. Out of jealousy, her mind criticized them as unnaturally
spherical.
   It took her a moment to realize that this boy was Hunter, and that
realization piqued her interest even more.
   This girl combed Hunter's sweaty white-blond hair with her fingers, and
cooed to him softly as if he were a baby; the boy lapped and suckled from
one of her enlarged nipples with animalistic desperation. White milk
occasionally spilled out of his mouth and dribbled down his chin. She held
his other hand atop her right breast and just the slight squeeze of
Hunter's fingers was enough to send streamers of milk shooting all over his
bony hands. She occasionally rubbed the skin of his neck, flicking the ends
of his hair with her fingernails, and scratched at his skin with ecstasy
induced by a tongue that Annie longed to feel on her own private parts. A
potent smell in the room lying somewhere between cum, blood, sweat, and sex
stifled her nostrils. She couldn't decide if it was pleasing or vomitous.
   Then she caught site of the girl's small dick...a brief glimpse as it
were...as Hunter hiked up her skirt to finger her genitalia with a
milk-drenched hand.
   By the howl of Thomas she did it, Annie thought. That girl did the
ritual. This isn't a woman but a she-male...a man in transition to the body
of a woman, which means Hunter's Atlantean? By all the gods, he is. But not
just any Atlantean...no, he's a prince of the royal house. By the cry of
the wolf god, I'm gazing on perhaps the last living pureblood Atlantean in
the entire world.
   Her eyes admired Hunter, as she'd never seen him like this. Smooth skin
and the silver tattoo of the rose at his throat (that wound around his
shoulder and arm) captivated her because of its lifelike detail. As she
watched, the rose on his throat opened its petals some. She'd never seen a
tattoo behave like this. Then she dropped her eyes down his shredded
abdomen to seek out his waist, and she found herself following the trail of
the sexiest "V-lines" she'd ever seen on a guy. They framed his belly
button as if cut marble. Annie almost let go of the rafter she was
clutching when she saw what lay between his legs.
   Quite simply, Hunter's enormous boner gleamed with proud veins—thick
and covered in yellow and purple bruises. The sexual abuse he'd endured was
as obvious as the suns rising in the east. His huge purple balls looked
like they belonged on a bull and not a human, dangling between his ragged
and very slender thighs like low-hanging fruit. Somehow, these beastly
genitals were attached to this boy that had (at most) a twenty-eight-inch
waist. The she-male sat atop it, keeping his meat between her thighs
instead of her butthole (where it obviously wanted to go) and kind of
squishing it onto a filthy mattress with her weight. Annie had never seen
anything more disgusting than their bed. The top was stained with puddles
of yellowing semen, blood, and other fluids.
   Did they fuck on that? She thought. He's beautiful but he's also a pig.
   Hunter pulled his head back in a kind of daze. She could see one of his
blue eyes was spotted with a tiny bit of red where a vessel had
exploded. The other seemed fine.
   What happened to you? Annie thought. The golden galactorrhea had
legendary properties, one of them being an incredible boost to the immune
system. The other was far crueler, as in males it would double the amount
of nerve endings in his body over the course of a week.
   He'll have to wear his armor all the time just to dull his touch, Annie
thought. But as long as he's got access to the magic milk he'll never
suffer in pain.
   The girl kissed him on the sweaty forehead.
   "Do you want some more?" she asked. "Do you feel better, Kian. I'm so
sorry about last night. We should have told you to stop and just got caught
up in the moment."
   He nodded, milk falling from his lips, and she offered her other nipple
up to his mouth. As he suckled on it, the girl arched her back moaning in
pleasure. "God that feels good," she uttered. "You're going to make me
cum."
   Milk drizzled down Hunter's exquisite front. It looked like molten wax
on his white skin, but it dripped and flowed over veins and muscles, over
small bruises on his body. Kian rolled her onto the filthy mattress and
climbed on top of her, his erection running along the outside of her soiled
dress. He had some angry red scratches on his back.
   But the girl's body also bore many bruises.
   A night of rough sex, it would appear. So that's what he's been doing
instead of getting the egg fixed, Annie thought. I think it's time I went
and talked with our necromancer friend.
   She did pause for a few minutes to watch the play of muscles to either
side of Kian's bony spine and those on his glutes and legs. She loved how
his butt dimpled in with every stroke and thrust of his hips. He was softly
thrusting his cock on the girl's satin dress while she moaned in
pleasure. And the entire time, he licked, sucked, and swallowed the milk
that poured from her breasts. It's like he couldn't get enough, and lapped
it up like a starving puppy.
   Ephram looks like a troll next to him, Annie thought, watching Kian's
long toes dig into the mattress and the corded flare of his Achilles
tendon. How could I have been so wrong?
   She flitted out of the room, went back under the door, and once she was
outside she turned human again. Then she walked along a treacherous pathway
in the snow and ice to the door in which Alexi had entered. As she
approached, she heard talking.
   Annie didn't hesitate and walked inside, closing the door behind her
once she entered.
   Alexi and a small shadow drake stared at her from a cosmetics
table. Next to him on a shelf was Ephram's silver dragon egg, now made
whole.
   Alexi quickly jumped to his feet while the shadow drake went back to
lapping milk from a saucer. She saw wooden shavings on the floor and a doll
that looked a lot like Hunter lying in a small box just to the left next to
a hair brush and some paint. The doll had a chest made from burlap, and she
recognized it immediately for the straw-colored hair.
   This is a homunculus...the darkest of magic, she thought.
   "Who are you?" Alexi asked. Then his eyes widened in surprise. "You're
the headmaster's daughter! Has he followed you here?"
   "Relax," Annie said. "No one's followed me here. I found you of my own
volition. I'm with the knight that asked Hunter to fix that egg there."
   "You mean Kian," Alexi said, relaxing a little bit.
   "Yes, I didn't know that was his name but yes. We're talking about the
same person," Annie said. "We got worried about him and decided to come
look for him."
   Alexi swallowed and said, "He's in the other room, sleeping."
   "Oh I assure you, he's not sleeping," Annie said. "But he does seem to
be enjoying himself."
   "Paul's feeding him then?" Alexi asked and she nodded in response. Alexi
sat down and said, "We had a bit of a rough night. I'm glad he's getting
something in his stomach."
   "I can imagine. You created a homunculus of him. Does he even know?"
Annie asked.
   "How do you know about that?" Alexi asked.
   "I'm the headmaster's daughter. I studied at this school, and I'm a half
vampire. So are you, in fact. I can sense it about you," Annie said.
   This made Alexi gulp. "I'm not a dhampir. Both of my parents were
human."
   "At least as far as you know," Annie said. "I imagine your father or
your mother wouldn't be necessarily forthcoming with that kind of
information. Dhampir are very rare. And ones with your kind of necromantic
strength are rarer still." Annie looked at the shadow drake and said, "I've
never seen one. Does it have a name?"
   "I do," the shadow drake said, milk falling from its jaw. "I'm called
Ziggy, miss."
   Annie smiled. "You're cute."
   "Thank you, miss," Ziggy said.
   "Why are you here?" Alexi asked.
   "I should ask you the same, but I won't. My intention was to bring that
egg back, and to bring Hunter with me because we need his skills to rescue
my lover's friend from the Palace of the Dreaded Irtemara. However, now
that I know he's okay, I think I'll just let him bring it back on his own."
She paused to arch one eyebrow and regard Alexi with a discerning
eye. "There've been many interesting revelations today, not the least of
which has been you."
   "Me?" Alexi asked.
   "Yes, you. Are you a boy or a girl? The androgyny fascinates. I'd long
suspected that boys attended school here dressed up in women's clothes. For
what it's worth, if you are a boy, you could use a bit more stuffing in
your bra."
   "I'm a boy," Alexi said. "I only wear this because I have to. Now that
I'm graduated, I'll be changing into clothes that I've wanted to wear for
years. I've finally got the money to buy them, too."
   Annie nodded, holding a finger to her lips and never taking her gaze off
Alexi. "I never thought I'd have a conversation with a boy that knew how
oppressive patriarchy can actually be. When Hunter decides to return to us,
come with him. I've a feeling we'll need your powers in the Librarium
Apocalypto. And if you have information on how to get inside without being
spotted, that would be even better. Once we rescue Beryl Loftcrag, we'll
flee Zanda and take you with us," Annie said. "But there's something you
can do for me too. Now that I see you've got the golden milk, I want some
of it, young necromancer. I'm with child, and I want it from your science
experiment in the next room fucking your supposed boyfriend...I assume
that's who you meant when you spoke to my father?"
   "You saw that?" Alexi asked. "And Paul isn't a science experiment, and
Kian IS my boyfriend! Paul isn't supposed to be screwing him, just feeding
him. Blast, he's..."
   "In love with him? You should expect that from a man that looks like
Hunter. He turns heads...every head there is. If you don't want to share
him, tell him to stay hidden behind his armor. He likes doing that
anyway. And yeah, I saw you. I was in the form of a bat outside the
window. I saw how much my father paid you. You've got a lot of secrets
Alexi, and I promise you that I'll keep them all in exchange for you
telling your science experiment I want to suckle from her breasts too. Just
not now. I prefer privacy, and I want Paul all to myself. I won't breathe a
word to Hunter when he starts feeling sick as a result of you splitting his
soul. That's worth something right? That and a promise that you'll keep all
my secrets. I've told no one I'm a half vampire or the daughter of the
Headmaster. I've revealed these truths to you to gain your trust."
   Alexi was silent for a moment, and then said, "Stop calling him a
science experiment."
   Annie laughed. "If he's a friend, I should remind you that friends don't
treat friends like you've treated Paul."
   Alexi looked downcast. "I'll talk with Paul. I think it's safe to say I
can arrange a tryst between you two."
   "Good," Annie said. "I'm not interested in a romantic relationship, just
to be clear. I only want the milk. Pleased to meet you Alexi and
Ziggy. Now...you'd best go and break your boyfriend apart from Paul before
they start to get down to business, as if they hadn't done that
before. From the bruises on Hunter's gigantic cock...I think he'll thank
you for it. Be careful with him, Alexi. As far as I know, he's the only
pure blood Atlantean left in existence. He belongs in a zoo where he can be
forced to breed with a full blood Atlantean girl. There must be one left
somewhere in the world, don't you think? But barring that, bruising his
balls until their purple is a good way to make him sterile. That would be
the world's greatest tragedy. He's rarer than a five-hundred carat flawless
diamond. He should be fucked gently and no more than once a week."
   Alexi looked down at his hands and said, "I've been bad...things kinda
got out of hand. I'm going to treat him better."
   "It makes no difference to me. He's worth a fortune...more than my
father paid you for the galactorrhea. Nykorans would pay millions in gold
just to have him."
   "I would never sell Kian to a Nykoran," Alexi said.
   "Then perhaps you're not the evil wretch I originally assumed you
were. The milk he's consuming will help him recover from whatever you put
him through, but he won't be the same now that you created that
homunculus. Not for a while at least. A split soul requires a lot of rest
and unfortunately, there's no time for that. If he doesn't come up with the
idea himself, urge him to return to us by tonight with the egg. Otherwise
Ephram will come looking for him, and you don't want to face his
wrath. He's a Crimson Guard of Thomas, and he protects all those whom he
believes himself responsible for. If he saw what you did here, he'd kill
you."
   "You say I'm not an evil wretch, but I have to ask...are you?"
   Annie toyed with her red hair. "There's no true evil and no true good in
this world. We all serve our interests. Mine is with Thomas for he and I
are destined to be man and wife. A more perfect union has never been
dreamed. I will see you again soon, Alexi," Annie said. She exited the room
with him in tow, but she did not follow him as Alexi went to disrupt Paul's
lovemaking and to save Kian from a possible ruptured prostate.
   She turned into a small bat and took to the sky, dodging snowflakes on
her way back to the Spendthrift Mistress. The afternoon could not have been
more perfect.

				   *****

The complete novel is now available for your reading pleasure at
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