AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As the time on my phone ticked to exactly 23:30, a single oak door at the end of the hall opened and four people emerged. Abbess Atiana brought up the rear, her rich red robes flowing to the floor, adorned only with a thick gold braided rope, and an opaque red veil and wimple hiding even the most stray hair from view. She took her place at the table's end, allowing the guild ambassadors and scouts to find their places before she waved with one aged bronze hand that just peaked from the end of her wide bell sleeve. The room went utterly silent save for the scraping of chair legs on the stone-tiled floors.
Felix took his place at the table while Drew took the scout’s position at Felix’s right, allowing me to remain free to prowl the outskirts of the room, fulfilling the role of enforcer to any who would bother to pay us any mind. While Felix was here on my orders and had little care for the over proceedings, he carried an air of political superiority that all guild ambassadors did.
Lord Harseth remained standing in his crisp, old-fashioned cutaway tuxedo, a glass of brandy clasped in his right hand adorned with several platinum bands encrusted in tiny jewels reminiscent of aquamarines. A Sentori enforcer stepped from the shadows, pulling back his chair, but Harseth remained transfixed, studying all those present in a blatant power move.
Finally, he cleared his throat and took another long drag at his brandy before holding his right hand directly over the table. He spoke in a clear, distinct voice several long phrases inEnochian, the ancient language of the Angels, and visible wards appeared around the room inthe ancient script. I found the entire process pretentious. There were much easier ways to ward a room without relying on anything to do with the holier-than-thou mother fuckers.
“Salutations to all who have joined us,” Harseth called, his voice resonating in the purposefully constructed acoustics. “As you know, the Guild Council takes the training of young casters to be of the utmost paramount for the future of our race. Our higher calling from the Archangels -” he paused, allowing the word to settle in the room, “and the Archdemons is the only true purpose for the guilds you so graciously represent. May we set aside petty squabbles and personal grudges to remember that our purpose here is to ensure that we raise the next generation to be wiser than our forefathers and -” another drawn-out pretentious pause, “more gifted than ourselves. Please remember that the greater good of our race is more important than our own desires.” He raised his glass. “To our future.”
“To our future.” came a chorus of replies in many accented tongues. Only two voices were silent: the Abbess and the Sister who remained stoically poised at the other end of the table.
When Harseth took his place, the Abbess finally spoke.
“I assume that you all have read my welcome letter. If not, ensure you do and keep any of your ignorant questions behind your tongue. This may be a school, but I do not entertain children.” Her sharp quip brought a tug to my right cheek. “The next three days we will have trials for many of the students here. Please remember that these students have trained since birth for this. You must respect the outcomes, and I implore you to judge the candidates by their successes and failures. We are proud of our training, but now it falls to all of you to continue it. Do not disappoint." She looked to the woman at her side. “Sister Elenna.”
The woman sitting beside Abbess Atiana stood, her sharp amber eyes of justice taking in the crowd around the room.
“There will be two days of trials. Tomorrow’s trials will be for combat and have been arranged by Ambassador Kingston of Boralis. Because of the difficulty of this year’s trial, we will only allow for twelve students to compete in groups of three. Note that this is half the number of last year’s participants. We will hold a vote at the end of this session to nominate the twelve students for the trials, and these twelve students will go for a special auction at the end of this week.” She paused allowing the chatter in the room to die back down. “For this trial, Boralis has supplied four adult male Naga -” gasps of horror resounded around the room, and I furrowed my brow meaningfully.
Where the hell did they get Naga?Felix questioned his expression, an imperturbable blank mask as he seethed internally.
I didn’t bother responding, nor had Felix expected one.
I’ve never known any humans to have come across one before. Drew projected, confusion peppering his mental voice.I thought they were myths. They’re class three demons, aren’t they - why aren’t they banished to hell?
Most are.Felix replied.However, some have been allowed to stay in the Pacific Isles for over 2000 years, providing they stayed away from humans of any kind.
Why?Drew questioned.
Because in 66 BCE, they wiped out three whole villages in the Mediterranean over damage to an egg clutch.I replied, scratching at my jaw in agitation.
Four is no arbitrary number.Felix projected just to me, the seriousness to hit tone belying his concern.What the hell was a war band doing outside their islands?
I’ll send Liv and Thad to find out.I responded as the ruckus around the room died down with a sharp whistle from the Abbess.
“We are fully confident our graduates can handle them. If not, we will get to see a premature trial of the healers, won’t we?” Sister Elenna continued, her calm facade showing how much she didn’t want to deal with the shit around her. “Due to the makeup of this year’s class, we will have multiple trials on day three and four: healing and stealth on day three, with augmentation and soothsaying on day four. You may submit a maximum of two candidates per group. Unless there are any questions, I suggest we move on to the votes.”
Chapter Eight - Unforgivable
She was nearly frantic, the scent of fear permeating her small, curvy frame. I had to give it to her: that teasing little red cocktail dress accentuated the smooth outlines of ankles, wrapped in red ribbon from four-inch red stilettos like a bow on a gift made just for me.
I ran my fingers through her hair, gripping tightly at the short dark black curls that framed her exquisite dark face and deep oceanic eyes. It’s too bad she was of the chastity line instead of lust; her body was meant for the cock that strained against my trousers and pressed against her taut belly.
Salty tears streamed down from eyes that sparked with terror. I leaned forward, licking the trail that ran down past her jaw, humming in pleasure as the salt ran over my tongue.
One hand still gripped her hair, yanking her head back so I could bite at the spot just below her chin. I deftly released the buckle of my pants and pulled down my fly, causing my cock to spring free as I hadn’t bothered with underwear. I forced her down to her knees on the garden’s gravel path, stealing her voice so all she could do was pleasure me. Thank Hell for useful gluttony talents.
She wouldn’t open her mouth, no matter how hard I tried. Frustrated, I gripped tightly at the long, silky red strands of her perfectly straight hair, ripping her back up to face me. Her dark green heels clicked on the marble floors as I forced her up against the purple velvet walls. I lifted her leg, her dark green a-line skirt going with it as she struggled.
I wrapped my hand around the alabaster skin of her throat, squeezing as she thrashed. Her flat stomach tightened as she forced a wad of spit onto my right cheek. I snarled and spun her, flipping up the flowing black skirts of her ball gown as I slapped her ass and tore back her blond tresses. I would show this bitch respect. She was feisty, but I’d break her. They always broke.
She slammed down on my instep, and I ripped her away from the back of the chaise lounge. I had her bent over, throwing her to the ground with a flick of my wrist in her mink brown hair. Bitch needed to learn her manners. She should be honored that I would take her for a test drive before handing her off for breeding. It would be my ass on the line if she were terrible in the sack.
Her white tank top was torn in two places, revealing the pert pink of her small, pebbled nipples. Even naked from the waist down, she was defiant, her dark blue eyes morphing to a deep amber before blazing red. She stood, her long black nails curving into claws as fur sprouted from every surface. She was fucking pissed, the snarling venom dripping from her yellowed teeth with fangs so sharp I had no doubt they would crush my arm in a single bite.
Why the fuck had I agreed to go after those fucking cubs? The naga were enough to prove the point!
Nothing could possibly compare to the slash of the claws across my belly, and I watched with stunned horror as the great hell bear tore out parts of my intestines with her massive, hooked claws. I fell to my knees, my life flashing before my eyes as a silver halo appeared behind the monstrous fanged harbinger of death.
