~o~O~o~

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the Author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

~o~O~o~

Chapter 16

“But father!” Cara begged, “It hurts to see him so unhappy.”

“Your human appears to have adjusted quite well here.” Jibril ran his hand through his neatly trimmed beard, glancing down to the docks to see Tom aiding the workers who were unloading their catch from one of the larger twin masted boats. “I have seen to it that he is treated with the same respect that our kind is shown. It is by choice that he toils alongside the other humans.”

“It’s been almost three months, he feels like he is a prisoner here Father!”

Jibril’s eyes met Cara’s, she could feel the loving warmth her father held for her and her sisters in his gaze. “He has free run of all our lands, nothing is denied to him my daughter.”

“You don’t allow him to go out with the boats.”

“You know that is for his safety,” Jibril grimaced, Cara was correct, he did not allow Tom free access to quite everything. “The waters are dangerous.”

“You’re afraid of what would happen to me if he got hurt, not him!” Cara huffed.

“That’s correct.” Jibril didn’t deny it, “I believe his death would cause your own.”

“So you put him into a gilded cage to protect me?”

“Why does this conversation continue to speak of incarceration?” Cocking his head to one side as he asked, “What of the benefits he has been granted by living here? Has his lifespan not been lengthened by the waters of life? Was I forced to give him that gift? No daughter, I gave him that gift willingly so that he could enjoy a greatly extended life, free of the pains and problems that come with human aging.”

“You expect me to believe that was done out of unselfish kindness father?” Cara leered at her father.

“So I am now a villain because I have found his continued existence to be mutually beneficial? Did I not commission our leather smiths to create him his own set of wurm armor? Is he not the first human I have done that for? And what of the masters that I have instructing him in the sword and Bow?” Smiling at Cara, “While my reasons for his continued existence are not the same and yours, his survival has become a priority to me.”

“Isn’t there some way you could convince the council to let me take him back to earth?” Cara pleaded, “I’ll do anything they want if they’ll allow me to take him home.”

“The council has no obligation to your human and will never agree to such a request unless they have something to gain from it.”

“Then take me with you to the next meeting” Cara crossed her arms under her breasts, “I can give them something they do want.”

Chapter 17

“What’s the meaning of this Jibril?” Cara saw one of the fathers angrily shout and he stood from where he sat behind the long narrow table on the left. The man’s dark gray robes only slightly darker than the gray feathers of the large folded wings attached to his upper back, “Why have you brought this proselyte with you?”

Cara cringed as she looked out from behind her father at the men that sat at the two long tables positioned in the shape of an inverted ‘V’. With the widest part of the ‘V’ closest to the door they had entered. Several of the men held the same look of anger on their face. ‘How can I make a request of the council if my mere presence here angers them?’ Cara thought to herself, ‘What chance do I have of them accepting my offer if they will not even allow me to speak?’

“If you would be so kind as to sit down brother Bathin,” Cara’s father’s voice was soft but carried an underlying authority with it, as he looked directly into the man’s eyes before turning his gaze to the rest of the winged men sitting at both tables, “you will find that my Daughter’s presence here is necessary.”

“Is she not of Morgan’s bloodline?” The man sitting directly to Bathin’s right, his wing feathers even darker than Jibril’s, asked. “Her presence here is a violation of the blood pact.”

“The pact that Morgan made does not include her heirs,” Another spoke from the opposite table.

Cara couldn’t help but notice how this man’s wings were lighter in color than all the rest, so light they appeared almost as if they were white but had never been cleaned in years. While she had never met this man before she knew that he must be Chac, the father of the Popol tribe as the sisters of that tribe wore furs very similar to the ones this man wore.

“Brother Chac is correct,” Yet another spoke from the same table Bathin was still standing behind, “Morgan’s pact as eloquent was it was binding simply stated that she that she would never directly oppose the council again.”

Her pact stated her blood would never oppose the council,” Bathin insisted, “which means the pact is passed along the bloodline!”

“Morgan’s pact and its wording is not the issue at hand, this daughter has not done anything nor does she intend to do anything to oppose this council.” Jibril paused long enough to look upon each of the men in the chamber, “She seeks a boon of this council and is willing to provide a concession that all here will want to hear.”

“What concession could a Kynlif have that we would wish to hear?” A man brown robes at the far end of the table on the right. Cara looked over at the elder, his long gray beard and hair did not appear as if it had been cut in a decade. If not for his gray wings she would have thought he looked like Gandalf from.

“I believe it best to allow my daughter to speak of this.”

Bathin shouted, “So she can try to use her power over men on us?”

“Bathin, the Kynlif have no power over us,” the Gandalf lookalike spoke. Looking toward Cara he nodded, “Come forward and speak child.”

Before Cara could move Bathin interrupted, “Morgan’s has such power and she is her descendant.”

“Enough bickering!” Another of the elders, his robes a dark drab green, who had been watching the exchange silently until now, “Bathin your words seem highly prejudice toward a proselyte that you have never met. Is there something you would wish to share with the council before she speaks?”

“Her bloodline--”

“Has been noted,” The man glared at Bathin then turned to look once again at Cara, “Now child please step forward and ask your boon.”

Cara chewed on her lower lip as she stepped up beside her father, looking up at him as if waiting for permission. She could tell from the expression on his face that he disagreed with what she was about to do, although he nodded his approval for her to speak anyway. Looking to the green robed man Cara trembled at the thought of the council refusing her request. Cara had prepared a long explanation along with her request but instead she blurted out, “I, I need to take Tom back to Earth.”

“NO!” Bathin, who had finally sat back down shouted, “No human may ever go back once they have seen our world.”

“Who or what is ‘Tom’?” The Gandalf lookalike grinned, at Bathin’s outburst. He knew Bathin had become very underhanded over the centuries although could never prove it. It is possible that this could be the issue he had long waited for, the one where he could prove his fears to the other council members and finally have Bathin replaced on the council and as father of the Cibola clan?

The green robed elder glared at Bathin although his voice was calm, “You know who this ‘Tom’ is that she speaks of brother Bathin?” Bathin glared back but remained silent. Turning his attention back to Cara, “Child is your ‘Tom’ human?” Cara nodded. He continued, “You realize that law was created to protect you and the rest of the Kynlif. As of now humans think of their contact with the Kynlif as nothing more than an erotic dream, if they were to learn the truth and of this world they would find a way to come here and exterminate your race or worse, the Kynlif could become enslaved again.”

“Jibril stated you had a concession you were willing to agree to if we granted you this favor,” Gandalf look alike spoke up.

Cara looked up at the long gray haired man, “I, I’ll remove my mark from all crystals on our world and go to Earth with Tom.”

The gray haired man raised an eyebrow, “You would exile yourself away from your own people for this human?”

Cara nodded, “Because of the prophecy I am treated as a pariah by the other clans.”

“What do you know of the prophecy?” Bathin quickly got in the question before any of the other elders could ask the girl another question.

Cara looked over at Bathin, “That someone from the bloodline of Morgan would cause the fall of Kynlif tribes.” Averting her gaze to the floor, “Morgan has sworn a blood pact so it’s impossible for her to fulfill the prophesy. I am the only remaining descendant of her bloodline so I must be the one the prophecy speaks of. If I exile myself…”

“Then the prophecy cannot be fulfilled,” Bathin couldn’t believe his luck. “I agree to the girl’s request! Let the records show that I agree to grant this boon as long as the self-exile is enforced.”

“There are some that may see such exile as an open season to interfere and possibly do harm to my daughter or her human. If such a pact is agreed upon,” Jibril continued, “I will insist that any that wish ill toward my daughter be forbidden from intruding into her life on Earth and that this protection encompass all humans she has interaction with.”

“How would we even begin to police our tribes for this Jibril?” The dark winged man sitting beside Bathin asked.

“I agree with brother Jibril,” The long gray haired man spoke, “and as for policing the tribes, allow them to police themselves. Make the punishment dire and include everyone in the tribe.”

“Yes,” The green robed man chuckled, “With a punishment such as five centuries of not being allowed on the human world, I think the tribes will do a very nice job of taking care that none of their sisters forget.”

“Five centuries, are you mad?” Bathin gasped, “My daughters would starve!”

“There are other worlds,” the green robed man continued grinning. “None as rich with emotions as the human world but no one would starve.” Looking toward Cara, “And while your offer of removing your sigil from all the crystals is well intended, it will not be removed from the Afallach crystal.” The man held his hand up when Bathin stood to object, “This is as long you agree in your pact that when on this world you vow to never leave the shores of that island.” Watching Bathin sit back down, he turned his attention to Cara, “It is my understanding that you have not seen three centuries yet. This makes you the youngest of the Kynlif by more than twice that amount. I believe the majority of the council will agree that with your youth, you still require the guidance of your father, to deny this to you would be an atrocity against the council’s core function of guiding the Kynlif.”

“Thank you.” Cara smiled at the green robed man, “I will honor that arrangement.”

“Good then,” The green robed man smiled, “Let us adjourn while the proper parchment is prepared to transcribe the pact. We can then go over each point of the accord before scribing it to the contract.”

Cara watched as all the men rose from their seats, some began talking among themselves while some left out the door behind her, Cara wasn’t the only one that noticed Bathin was the first out the door. Jibril led Cara out the door behind several of the other men.

~o~O~o~

The green robed man walked over to another door that sat off to one side behind the two tables. Opening the door he stepped out onto a balcony that gave a nice view of the clay tiled rooftops within the city and the fertile lands of the rolling hills beyond the walls. To his left the outer wall was covered in vines with small but abundant leaves. Reaching over he held his hand up to the vines, moments later the leaves moved and it appeared as if part of the vine slithered over into his hand. Although it was no vine that crawled into his hand, it was a small reptile it’s color matching the vine so well that it was impossible to see it until it left the vine onto his hand. No sooner than its tiny forelegs touched his hand, it began to change color to match his dark tanned skin. No longer than three or four inches in length, it became all but invisible against the palm of his hand within seconds. Even the veins within the double row of long gossamer wings changed color to match the background of his palm. At least three fourths of the creatures length was all in its long snake like neck and tail.

Smiling down at the tiny lizard the green robed man spoke softly, “I have a feeling brother Bathin is plotting something. I need you and your friends to follow him, see who he speaks to and also follow them. Bring me news of what he is hiding from the council.” The small creature’s wings began to beat fast enough to become a blur to the man’s vision as it lifted off out of his hand and darted away, its color changing quickly to obscure it from even his view.

As the tiny creature passed by the vines, several more of the creatures sprung forth from the dense foliage, their chameleon-like ability quickly changing to obscure them from sight as they flew off in the same direction as the one that hand been in his hand.

~o~O~o~

Once outside of the council building, Bathin glanced across the street to the small shops until he spotted two of his daughters at a table outside of a pastry shop. Walking past the two girls into the shop, he ordered himself a tart and a cup of tea. While waiting on his order he continued to watch the council building to see if he was followed. He had almost said too much during council, Grgori didn’t appear to have caught his slip, but Grgori had earned the nickname of stone face eons ago. He caught Bathin’s slip and knew that he had prior knowledge about the human in question. ‘Thank Heaven we’re in the city and not out where his creatures can spy for him. No, here I can spot one of his birds sitting, watching and eavesdropping on conversations or even a cat pretending to ignore its surroundings while it napped.’

Paying for his order, he went out and sat down with his daughters all the while his senses keen on any creature that may casually come by within hearing range. Leaning over the table with a smile he spoke in hushed tones, “Travel as close as you can without using the Afallach crystal, find your sister and stop her before she continues with the plan. Let her know she is not at fault here, a safer means has been provided stop the prophecy from occurring.” Looking deeply into each girl’s eyes, “No matter what, do not get seen by the Afallachians.”

“Yes father,” The two chorused

“Now go, time is against us.”

~o~O~o~

“I am so glad that is over,” Cara sighed as her father and she stepped out onto the cobblestone street outside of the council building. Looking up at the star filled night sky, “I never knew it would take so long.”

“It’s not over yet, tomorrow the contract will be inscribed and the wards cast upon it.”

“Wards?” Cara looked over at her father, “What wards?”

“Safeguards the council places on all our documents,” Jibril explained. “Protection from damage, intentional or accidental along with binding spells that provide adherence to the contract and punishment for any that do not abide by their agreement.”

“So we’ll come back again tomorrow for all that?”

“No,” Jibril frowned, knowing Cara wanted to get back to her love. “It is already after midnight in Afallach, we will stay in the quarters provided to me as a member of the council. First we eat,” Jibril smiled. “I know of a small tavern nearby that serves the best fillet of Wyvern you have ever tasted.”

Chapter 18

Turning away from the shorter but stockier man Tom picked up a small towel before sitting down on the low stone wall. Wiping the sweat from his face, Tom tossed the towel down beside him on the wall. “You are coming along remarkably well. Your technique has improved greatly over the past weeks,” Subutai held out a wooden cup filled with water toward Tom.

“It feels like you’re still beating the crap out of me,” Tom shook his head while looking over at the man he first mistook for a Klingon due to his wide flat nose, goatee and long black hair that left the top of his head bare. The only thing missing was the ridges down the center of his forehead. Although Tom had later found out that Subutai was quite human and had been originally from Mongolia before he came to live here on Afallach.

“Of course I am,” Subutai chuckled, “but you are making me work harder to beat you, which means you are improving.”

“I’d just like to go to bed one night without all the bruises.”

“Better to have the bruises from these dulled weapons now, than to feel the edge of an opponent’s sharpened sword later,” Patting Tom on the shoulder as he sat down beside him.

“When it comes to fighting, I’m still going to want to grab a gun first,” Tom chuckled.

“As would I if one was available,” Subutai confessed. “Although becoming proficient with many weapons give you more versatility which equates to better survivability.”

Tom nodded, realizing how true the words of his instructor were now that he had learned the universe was so much bigger than most people could imagine. From the stars Tom could see at night, he knew wherever he was now was not earth, the stars were all wrong. While Tom was no astronomer he could easily pick out several constellations in the night sky. Those constellations did not exist in the sky above him now, he had looked for them while trying to figure out exactly where here was. While everyone had been quite open to any questions Tom had, it almost seemed they lacked a common vocabulary to describe exactly where they were in relation to Earth.

The best Tom could determine from the answers to his questions was that he was now in some alternate dimension where Earth doesn’t exist. As heavily as Tom’s mother was into Church and the Bible she would have insisted it was either hell or purgatory especially as the Kynlif looked so much like the demons of the Christian religions.

Although this island he was on looked nothing like biblical underworld his mother and the church taught about. No instead of the fire and brimstone this island was a lush paradise filled with fruit trees. The vast majority of which were apple trees but Tom has seem pears, peaches, olives, oranges and others he could only guess at what they were.

Tom had also found out the humans on the island outnumbered Cara’s people over thirty to one with over 800 humans living on the island to the twenty-five or so Kynlif that called it home, a good half of which actually lived on Earth and only visited the island which meant that there were normally no more than a dozen of them on the island at any one time. Tom has also learned that Cara’s father wasn’t actually her father.

From what Tom had learned of the race his wife was a part of, they reproduced quite differently. He still found it hard to believe that all Kynlif were born asexually. While whatever process they used in doing so was a closely guarded secret he had learned that the females only had a mother and the males only had a father. Also there was only ever one male in each of the tribes and his title was, ‘Father.’ Which form how Tom understood it, loosely meant King.

“Breaks over, Pick up your sword!” Tom was brought out of his thoughts by the rough looking man that had been training him for so many weeks now. Picking up his sword Tom took a few steps away from where he had been sitting and took a ready stance facing his instructor.

Tom had been sparring for several minutes when he felt a gust of wind and a shadow cross him from behind. “Duck!” Subutai yelled at Tom as he threw the dulled training sword straight at Tom. Ducking forward to the right, Tom perform a shoulder roll, coming back up to his feet as Subutai pulled the two scimitars that he always carried at his sides.

“I’ve come for what belongs to me!” Tom heard the female voice scream at Subutai.

Tom turned to see one of the Kynlif in full demon form, large bat wings on her back, scaled lower legs and forearms with large long claws. Looking up at the creature’s face Tom gasped, “Christie? You, you’re one of them too?”

“Lower your weapons and stand aside little human,” Christie spat.

“Leave our home and go back to your tribe before I put your wings in my trophy case!” Subutai glared.

Backhanding Tom out of the way as she charged, Christie engaged Subutai with her claws. Subutai blocked her attack with his swords and countered with an attack of his own.

Dazed from how hard Christie had hit him, Tom rolled over onto his hand and knees coughing after having the wind knocked out of him. Finally able to stagger back to his feet, Tom saw the two engaged in a fierce battle of claws, tail and wing against Subutai’s scimitars. Holding his sore ribs, Tom limped over to the wall, grabbing a long bladed spear leaning against it he tried to slip in behind Christie. Just as he thrust the spear toward her exposed back, she twisted causing her wing to deflect the spear tip away while one of her clawed hands raked back toward him. The 18 inch long claws severing his right arm and digging into his chest. Tom yelled in pain and fell.

Seeing who she had eviscerated Christie screamed, “TOM!” Forgetting about the battle, Christie dropped to her knees beside Tom, whose body was already in a large puddle of blood that pumped out of the stump of his arm and the large gashes in his chest. Cradling the dying man in her arms Christie threw her head back and screamed, “NOOOOOOO!” Holding the dying man tightly against her chest, Christie’s form began to soften, her wings and claws growing smaller until she sat holding him in her human form, her tears flowing like a river down her cheeks onto his dying form.

~o~O~o~

“TOM!” Cara screamed sitting up in bed, the thin sheet she slept under flying off to the side as she jumped out of the bed. Her blond hair hung tangled around her shoulders, the oversized shirt she slept in, hung loose around her body the shirt tails reaching her knees. The right sleeve of the shirt was rolled up to a point about halfway between her wrist and elbow, while the left sleeve had unfurled in her sleep, the cuff of which hung loose several inches past her hand. Quickly rolling the sleeve back up, Cara stomped toward single entrance to the room.

The door shot open right as Cara was reaching for it, the figure of her father filled the open doorway, “I heard a scream.” The panic he saw in Cara’s eyes informed him it was her scream, “Are you alright my child?”

“Tom, he’s dying!” Cara wailed.

“Go!” Cara’s father saw the young woman begin transforming to her natural form, “Use our home crystal, go quickly!” Concentrating on the home crystal Cara vanished.

Chapter 19

Cara stood beside the inert form of her husband, who was lying on a stone slab in one of the lower levels of the castle, tears flowing down her cheeks. Looking hopefully over where Merla stood at the head of the slab finalizing a spell she had cast.

After several long minutes Merla slumped and sighed heavily, “It is done.” Looking over at Cara with a heavy heart, “He will not die today.”

Taking a deep breath, “I claim the right of vengeance!” Cara sniffed back the tears, “Where is she!”

“She is gone sister,” the purple haired Lea informed Cara.

“Then I will hunt her down!”

“You can’t,” Lea tried to inform.

“Watch me god dammit!”

“No, Cara you don’t understand,” Lea tried to explain. “We found her body with him.”

Cara turned to their Mongolian arms master, “You avenged him?”

Subutai shook his head, “No my lady, when she saw that she had mortally wounded your man she stopped fighting and began pouring her magic into him.”

“She died keeping him alive until we got there sister,” Merla stated.

Lea shook her head, “I can’t understand how or why she could do that.”

“I can,” Cara stated, “I would do the same for him.”

“Unfortunately she wasn’t strong enough nor had enough essence within her to do anything more than stave off death. And now that he is tainted with her essence none of our healing magic will work for him, so what would have been a quick death will now take months maybe years,” Merla stated.

“There’s got to be something we can do?” Tears began flowing down Cara’s cheeks once again.

Merla looked at the others in the room, “Leave us!”

Once the door clicked shut leaving only Merla, Cara and the unconscious Tom in the room Merla came over and hugged Cara. “There is one thing that you can do my dear daughter.” Cara gasped at hearing Merla their true relationship. “You can do for him what I did for you. But if you do Father may be forced to banish both of you.” Merla explained. “The council fears our bloodline, because of the prophesy the council would have had you killed but father and a couple others were able to convince them that in doing so would break even greater laws of our people. I fear if you do this father will not be able to stop them this time. So the only way is to do this by yourself with no help from your other sisters.”

“I’ll do anything to save him,” Cara stated. “I don’t want to live without him.”

Merla gave Cara a squeeze, “Now you know how I felt about you. Now go, feed, gorge yourself on every scrap of energy you can as you will need more than you have ever held before to do this.”

Chapter 20

Getting back into the bar past the bouncer that was checking IDs and suck was no problem and just like the last three times Cara came in, leaving him with his tongue hanging out toward the floor. Cara was still amazed at the amount of sexual energy there was to feed from. Had it been under normal circumstances Cara or any of her sisters could have easily sat around absorbing the ambient energy and could have gone without eating for close to a year. But then this was not a normal feeding trip, Cara didn’t need to satisfy herself, she needed to stuff herself to the point of sickness. Having several hours before her sister would have her Wyvern leathers ready, Cara would feed as much as she could until then. While the extra enchantments the wyvern leather would give to her feeding would help to draw in the men faster it did nothing to allow her to feed faster. One of her kind could only feed so fast from a human without killing them. Three hundred years ago or more it was normal for their kind to kill when they fed but that had led to problems finding humans to feed from. Of course that was all before Cara’s time as she had only been around for the past two hundred years. Cara had never fed off any emotion other than sexual energies which of course is strongest during the act itself. She knew her kind once fed on other emotions, fear being the strongest emotion of all, but Cara couldn’t understand how anyone could have ever fed off that emotion as the smell of it made her sick.

Walking up to the bar Cara spotted a group of men that absolutely glowed with sexual energy that screamed for release. Veering toward the group Cara leaned up against one sitting at the bar, quite obviously brushing the back of her hand across his crotch as she brought her hand up to his chest, “What’s a girl gotta do it get a drink around here?” Winking at the long gray bearded man wearing biker leathers, a confederate flag bandanna tied around his head holding his long greasy black hair back.

While Cara was working to increase the lust the five men were radiating Cara began taste the aura of fear close by. Looking around Cara spotted the source, two women sitting at a table the furthest away being the one that was souring the taste of the bar. Cara tries to ignore the taste of the girls fear but finds it difficult. Suddenly the taste of fear increases tenfold. Looking back over to the two sitting at the table Cara sees they are both looking her way and the one is radiating a disgusting amount of fear as the girl would have fell if her friend had not caught her. ‘God dammit,’ Cara thought to herself, ‘Why do they have to spoil it. The other is not human she should know better than screwing up our feeding!’ Taking a stance, Cara prepares to walk over and give them a piece of her mind. As she does the other younger looking one stands up allowing me to see her full aura. “Fuck me!” Cara muttered under her breath, immediately losing her defensive stance. ‘It, it’s, no it can’t be! Merla told me the last one died in the great cataclysm.’ Remembering the tomes she had read about the great Sidhe war, a war that came close to destroying everything. Cara sighed in relief that the war did have at least one good thing come of it, the Sidhe were no more and thus the old ones who they threatened had gone back to sleep.

Turning her attention back to the men Cara found they had gone, ‘Dammit, I almost had them reeled in!’ Looking around for another group, she desperately wanted groups as the men in a group would feed off each other causing their emotions to heterodyne into more than she could individually take from anyone. It was the only way she would gain enough essence to complete the ritual that Merla had given her.

Tasting fear and anger Cara turned to see some large biker at the table with the two girls, ‘Jesus flipping H Christ! I’m never going to finish this at this rate.’ Walking quickly over to the table Cara saw the large burly man shrug off the young guardian’s glamour. ‘If I don’t stop him that guardian will have the whole town running in fear!’ Reaching out, Cara placed her hand on the hand he was holding the guardian’s human with and released enough pheromones into him to make a room full of men forget about everything but Cara. “Come on, I am much more willing to please you than these two.” Cara pulled his hand gently, purring seductively, “Come on with Cara, I will give you everything you want lover.” Looking over her shoulder Cara could see the guardian and her human get up to leave as Cara pulled the large ugly biker over to the bar. Pushing him down onto one of the barstools Cara spread his legs apart so that she could slide between them and work on seeing how much arousal she could get out of him before she took him someplace private.

Cara had his whole attention when the bartender walked by and snapped his shoulder with a bar towel he had in his hand, “What’ll it be bud? No sitting here without ordering!” The bartender breaking the spell she had over the man.

Staggering off the barstool the man yelled pushing Cara away, “Hey bitch I wanted a piece of that sexy ass and her little sister!”

Already out of her reach Cara was unable to hit him with more pheromones as he staggered away, “Hey come back,” Cara pouted seductively, “You and I can have so much fun!”

“F-you I want that and I’m going to find her!”

“Hey” someone put their hand on Cara’s shoulder, “Screw that guy, come on and I’ll buy you a drink.”

Feeling the intense need for sex coming from this new man Cara snuggled in close under his arm, “Sure, I’d love one.” As he led her back to the bar Cara looked up into his deep blue eyes, “You have any friends here with you?”

Chapter 21

Leaving her latest feeding to sleep it off in the tent he had set up in the campground Cara made her way toward the temporary merchant staff where her sister had set up her leather clothing tent. A gorgeous redhead shouts from the other side of the tent as Cara enters, “Cara perfect timing lea just dropped off your new leathers!”

Cara jogs over to the read head, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her into the back area of the tent, “Kora we need to talk,” Cara quickly explains what she had seen and her plan.

“Are you sure it’s one of them?” Kora asks again, “I mean, I don’t think any of our tribe has ever met one, well maybe Marla she might be old enough?”

“I’m positive, and once you meet her you’ll be sure too.”

“Okay but how am I going to get to take them?” Kora stammers, “I mean, you can’t sell them they have to be given freely and accepted as a gift or all the enchantments are nullified.”

I’ve got an idea,” Cara grinned as she leaned closer to whisper in her sister’s ear.

“You’ve got to be kidding!” Kora gasped, “If, if she is what you think she really is, she could kill me without breaking a sweat.”

“Yes but she is a guardian and if you give her the gift of a peace offering not only will she be forced to accept it under her own sense of right and wrong, giving it in such a way will increase the enchantments.”

Kora giggled, “You may be my youngest sister but I swear you are the most cunning, I love it,” Kora grinned.

Just as Kora flipped open the tent flap to go back out in the open are Cara saw the two women walk into the other side, “That’s them!” Cara whispered grabbing the flap and closing herself off in the back section of the sales tent.

Cara stayed quiet in the back of the tent until Kora stuck her head in, “All clear, they’re gone now. And you were right sis it had to be one of them, I’ve never tasted such a pure aura like that before! I can’t believe one still exists. Where has it been for so long?”

“Only she can answer that, I just want to make sure we’re on her good side.” Cara grinned up at her sister, “Oh and I heard that crap about how it fit and made her look better in it than it did me!”

Kora grinned, “It was sales pitch honey.”

“Uh huh,’ Cara grunted, disbelieving her sister.

“Don’t you have some feeding to do?” Kora shooed her younger sister out of her tent.

~o~O~o~

Later that night Cara is so full it hard to draw in more of the much needed emotional essence. She finds a quiet place where some empty crates have been stacked behind one of the bars near some rental cabins. The essence of sex was radiating from all the occupied cabins and Cara fought to soak it in as best she could. Cara’s mind was having trouble focusing on her task as the amount of over feeding had a similar effect as alcohol does with humans causing her to become drunk on lust. From the other size of the fuzzy curtain of her mind Cara heard a voice. Forcing herself to open her eyes and look she saw the fuzzy image of the two girls from the bar, “Hey, Um Kyley right?” I’m not doing nothing, just sitting here.”

“Yea when pigs fly, but you’ve got the name right, you must have overheard us talking?”

“Yep!” Cara leaned forward on the box almost falling off before she caught herself, “I was just giving them a little more incen, incent, spark in their re-lay-shun-chip. But I’m not saying that I did anything like that,” Cara giggled as she slurred her words. “But if I did I don’t hear them complaining, do you?” Peering at Kyley like she was having a hard time focusing on her, “And you changed your clothes.”

“Yes, not by choice.”

“What? Why?” Cara caught herself before she fell over sideways on the crate.

“That guy back at the bar...he attacked us. It got bad and bloody"

Cara's eyes open wide, as she looks at Kyley in fear, "You're here to get even with me?"

“Nope" she shake her head to the question, "I am not that vain! I am just seeing what you’re up too?"

“You can tell! God this bunch is a buffet!"

“Well they should be, by all the 'whammy' you're laying on them!"

“You don't hear them complaining, do you?" Cara giggles.

Becky lets out a moan of ecstasy herself from the spillage that Cara is having such a hard time holding in. Kyley pulls her close and does something that Cara can’t quite concentrate well enough to care about.

Kyley stood at the sound of someone walking along in gravel, “It’s cool, she’s no threat.”

“What was that?” Cara asked her smile twisted into a drunken grin.

“Friends,” Kyley replied unable to tell from Cara’s expression if she understood her or not. “We are leaving, I guess you’re here gathering for something big, like a spell?”

“Yessss, big something, have to save him, only way.”

“Well then,” Kyley stepped over placing her hand between Cara’s breasts, “Let me add to your well, fill it for you for trying to stop that moron.”

The energy Cara felt pulsing into her was nothing like she had ever felt before, it was better than anything she had ever fed on, so much purer than anything else she had ever tasted it felt like how she felt about Tom. “Oh my god, that was good!” The transfer of energy sobering her instantly, “Wow, I could have never fed on anything so pure and powerful what are you?”

“Old.”

“Are you Daemon like me or Mythos?”

“No, but yes in a way.”

“You are a strange one Kyley,”

“You’re telling me!” Becky grins.

“Well Cara I think I will see you again sometime. Thank Kora for the leather outfits as I am sure she is one of your sisters?”

Cara watches the two walk away. ‘I can’t believe I came so close to going into a feeding overdose. If Kyley had not shown up and purged the sexual energy from me, replacing it with her energy I would have forgotten about everything but sex. I would have forgotten about everything important to me, my mind would have been lost. I would have lost Tom!’ Cara made a promise to herself right then and there as she watched the two walk out of sight around the corner, ‘If you or yours ever need anything I will be there for you.’

Chapter 22

“MERLA!” Jebril shouted as he entered the courtyard where several of her sisters were, “Where is Merla?” he asked the small group who all shook their heads.

“Sorry father none of us have seen her this morning,” a brunette answered.

“If you see her send her to me immediately!” Jebril stormed off into another section of the castle.

Several hours later Jebril was sitting in his study, still fuming about the whereabouts of Merla and Cara when the door opened. Merla rushed in, “Father I am told you wanted to see me?”

“Here have you been!” Jebril demanded.

“It was my turn to escort the fishing fleet, we just got back.”

“When was the last time you checked on Cara’s human?”

“This morning, why?”

“I went down there this morning and found him missing,” Jebril glared.

“Why would someone want to move him?” Merla showed no emotion.

“You put wards up in the room, did you not?”

“Yes father.”

“Then how it is he was moved without your knowledge?”

“I will attempt to find out for you father,” Merla turned toward the door.

“Merla?” Jebril said as she reached for the door handle.

Turning around to face him, “Yes father?”

“I may not have your age or experience but I am not stupid. There can be no more of your bloodline.”

“Father on my oath to you and the council I swore I would never cast that spell again,” Merla stated then left the room. As she proceeded down the stone hall a grin spread across her face.

Jebril cupped his chin in his hand while staring at the door Merla had left through, ‘You’re not as clever as you think my dear,’ Jebril thought to himself. ‘I could see you were playing with your words but then it’s easy to see when you are playing with words as your lips were moving.’ “Kirsee!” he bellowed.

A small girl, less than five feet tall appeared from behind a tapestry. Her face showed a remarkable resemblance to that of a fox. To add to the appearance she had fox ears atop her head and a long billowy white tipped tail extending from under the short skirt she wore, “Yes father?”

“Find Cara!”

“Kora was the last to see her, she was in Sturgis South Dakota getting drunk on essence.”

“She is here. Don’t ask me how she got back without being seen, probably Merla’s doing. Follow Merla she will lead you to her, then bring Cara to me. Drag her here if you have to.”

“Yes father,” Kirsee vanished.

~o~O~o~

Merla walked around the castle, backtracking herself many times before finally going down and opening the door to the chamber where Tom had been kept. Walking into the empty room Merla turned completely around in her tracks before closing the heavy wooden door and bolting it shut. As soon as the bolt closed barring all entrance from outside the air began to shimmer. Tom slowly faded into view on the same slab of stone that he had been on for several days. Off to one side a table faded into being with several flasks and small ornamental boxes sitting on top of it and behind the table Cara. Kirsee’s invisibility was also stripped away by the magic of the room.

“Your second and final eyewitness has arrived my daughter,” Merla grinned.

“What!” Kirsee shouted, “I never agreed to be an eyewitness to any ceremony!”

“You walked into the chamber of your own free will,” Merla smirked at the younger fox girl, “This in itself is all the ritual requires.”

“But I have to bring Cara back to father!” Kirsee cried, “Unlike you I cannot disobey.”

“Did father tell you when you had to bring her back?”

“Well no but it was implied that I should do it as soon as I found her.”

“Are you sure he didn’t imply that you do it as soon as it was possible for you to do so?”

“That’s the same thing!”

“No actually it isn’t,” Merla grinned. “That door is warded so that it will not open again until after Cara has completed the ritual, therefore the soonest you can take her to father is after she is finished.” Merla laid her double talk on thicker, “Since you and Cara are stuck in here until she is finished, the fastest way for you to obey father is to help her complete the ritual or at least stand quietly, not interrupting until she is finished.”

Kirsee sighed, knowing doing anything else other than what Merla said would only lengthen her confinement in the room. “Alright I’ll help.”

“Kirsee do you know why the council hates me? Why I am not bound by the geas?” Merla asked the small fox girl. “It’s because my bloodline predates the tribes and the council. None of my bloodline can be held to any geas or other magical binding that we do not accept. Therefore I and Cara have the one thing the council fears most, we have free will. If father tells me to do something I dislike, such as spying on one of our sisters, I can refuse to do it.”

“What about the prophesy?” Kirsee asked. “They say one of you will destroy all of us one day.”

“Mumbo jumbo told to the council ages ago by a human oracle that was pissed off because I slept with some horny guy she was in love with but wouldn’t have sex with because she had to remain pure and hoped by spouting off a load of bullshit about my bloodline bringing an end to the council, not our race by the way but the council which are two different things, they would have me killed and she would have her revenge. Hell I thought I was helping the poor couple out, he had the worst case of blue balls you have ever seen and would have left her for another if I had not intervened.”

“I’m ready,” The two heard Cara softly say from across the room.