Blood and Madness Page 6

  Casting the spell, I inscribed new commands on her sigil.

  In the distance, I heard Azlin yelling, but I couldn’t make out her words.

  Taesa’s bubble shook and stopped spinning, screwing up the other sigil’s preordained path. They began to dance wildly in her mind, as the sigil I had changed moved above them so it was situated directly over the mana vent.

  The pierced sigil began to glow, absorbing the vent’s ambient energy, instead of just letting it flow around it.

  Azlin was yelling louder, but all I could make out was one word, no.

  While I watched, the sigil grew larger, throbbing madly.

  Then, with a whoosh, it sent power directly into my brain.

  Azlin grabbed my arm, pulling herself against me.

  But, all I could see was the result of my spell. When I had drawn energy from Hana, one new sphere of mana had grown in my head.

  However, Taesa was a lot more potent than my Hidden-Goblin wife.

  Three spheres of power pressed into my already overfilled mind, burning with strength and purpose.

  What happens when you overfill a balloon with water?

  It either expands…

  Or, it explodes.

  My head began to pound and throb, as the mental landscape in my mind broadened and expanded dramatically. Sharp, intense, rips tore up and down its length, like stretch marks on a pregnant woman’s belly.

  Taesa’s orbs glowed with a soft ivory light. Cords of the color of snow now wrapped around my connection with her. And, down that new path… a blizzard raged.

  Snow.

  Ice.

  Torrential sleet.

  All of them hammered my Goblin brain, freezing my thoughts like icicles. Snow raged around her three sigils, making frost dance on the walls of my mind. My teeth began chattering, and I could feel my body’s temperature plummet.

  So… cold.

  Thinking became hard, as I fell to the ground, dragging Azlin and Taesa down with me. I started shivering and just couldn’t stop. Deep in the core of my chest, I felt ice forming.

  All of my sigils began to slow down, as ice formed between them.

  And, the blizzard of energy never stopped flowing into my soul. My eyelashes began to freeze, making it impossible to see. And, my breath came out in a cold mist.

  Taesa and my magic weren’t compatible.

  That’s what it felt like.

  Wrong.

  Different.

  Alien.

  I felt like my mind was rejecting her and going to sleep. Everything was frigid and dying. Hana was a Hidden-Goblin, like me, so mixing our magic had worked, even if it had hurt.

  But, Taesa was a Cailleach.

  She was a Ghost Witch that lived in the Bogs. Cold and death were part of her. Hell, she was more spirit than flesh. That was why she could turn into a mist and possess living and non-living flesh.

  Everything turned white in my brain. I couldn’t see or feel anything. My fingers and toes went numb, and I could feel the intense cold racing toward my heart.

  I was going to die.

  Screaming, I tried to stop the flow of magic. But it was too strong. It just kept roaring into my mind.

  Suddenly, someone slammed a bloody wound against my mouth and held it tight. Choking, I tried to push it away, but I felt too weak and drained. Liquid poured down my throat.

  Heat filled my stomach and chest, like a robust, fine brandy. The warmth pushed away the cold that had been advancing on my heart.

  It tasted like honey, mixed with a bit of apple. The more that I drank, the warmer I felt. Suddenly, I could feel the call of the Earth itself. I could taste pine in the air, and the pull of the wolf in my mind.

  Fuck.

  It was an Elf’s blood.

  My mind thawed enough that I could hear her screaming.

  “Drink you Fool!” Azlin shrieked, as she held her bloody wrist to my mouth.

  Her warmth wrapped around my mind and flowed through my veins, chasing the last dregs of winter away. Then… it wrapped around Taesa’s sigils and flowed into our link.

  Heat blossomed in Taesa’s chest.

  “Oh,” she mumbled, feeling warmth in her chest for the first time in decades.

  Then, she moaned as her skin warmed, as well.

  Azlin still had her wrist pressed against my mouth. But, she didn’t have to hold it there anymore. I was drinking freely. In the distance, I saw endless forests under a beautiful moon. Elves ran naked through the trees, laughing and hunting together. Huge beasts ran with them, as their pets and friends.

  My pulse picked up. I wanted to run with the Elves as well.

  Suddenly, the wrist was pulled away… and replaced with soft, warm lips.

  I felt the Dark Lady of the Malignancy bury her tongue in my mouth. Her skin felt like it was on fire. Her blood had banished the cold in my heart, but I was still chilled. The frost on my eyelids began to melt, as I felt her rip and tear away the remnants of my clothing.

  Then, I felt her warm hand caressing my length.

  The heat in my mind grew, as more of our skin touched. Taesa shivered, as the last of her cold evaporated. I felt human skin touching mine, instead of the coldness of a Cailleach.

  The Elf slid down on top of my engorged penis. I leaned back in shock, as the pleasure drove the rest of my pain away. My eyelids popped open, and I saw the beautiful woman straddling me. Her crimson hair was spread out behind her shoulders, and her lovely breasts were only inches from my face.

  Azlin’s eyes blazed as she thrust downward. Gasping, I leaned back and shuddered. Her warm was throbbing through my mind. Instead of agony, my mind was now expanding without pain… and, I could feel Azlin’s pleasure. Her emotions poured through the three of us, linking us in a way that I didn’t understand.

  She wasn’t tamed. This connection was something different.

  Taesa’s surprise flowed over me… as her heart started beating for the first time since the Witch Coven had taken her by force. Moaning, the newly created woman pressed against me, eager for warmth.

  “Come here,” Azlin demanded, yanking on Taesa’s arm.

  Azlin stopped kissing me and suddenly pulled Taesa into her arms. She kissed the now human woman with a ferocity that surprised… and excited me.

  Taesa didn’t know what to do.

  She had enjoyed making love to Brynn… but that was before when her skin had been cold. The coldness had kept her emotions locked up and controlled. Taesa had been more of a predator than a person.

  Witches didn’t have sex with people, usually.

  Instead, they ate them.

  But, now Taesa felt the Elf’s mental and physical heat, and it stunned her.

  Azlin placed her left hand on my chest and began to shift her hips back and forth.

  Dammit.

  That felt so good, especially when I saw her other hand slip down to caress Taesa.

  The witch almost fled. The feeling… of those warm fingers… pressing into… there… was more than a promise of delight. It was something different, almost bordering on commitment. All three of our emotions were storming through each other’s minds.

  I saw Azlin’s thoughts.

  Lyeecia had been her first lover in a century. She had long, graceful limbs and full breasts that tasted so good after a run. The younger woman had swept the Ancient Lady of IronHold off her feet with unexpected bliss. They had made love almost everywhere in the keep and the city.

  Azlin had been swept away in emotions she had almost forgotten about. She wanted to marry the exotic Cambion. But, Lyeecia Balroais had betrayed her instead.

  Grief and pain flowed deeply though Azlin’s mind, ripping her apart. She needed a new anchor. Something to hold her mind together.

  Azlin had chosen us.

  She could have left Taesa and me to die. The energy transference would never have worked. But, with her Elf blood… anything was possible. Her blood had the miracle of Genesis hidden within its depths. When it was
shared… connections were made, and miracles happened.

  Taesa saw everything that Azlin had revealed. And, when she felt her hurt and betrayal by her lover… it broke the walls around Taesa’s heart. She reached down and cupped Azlin’s fingers that were playing with her feminine curls… and then she pulled them inside of her.

  Gripping the back of Azlin’s hand, Taesa began to move the Malignant’s fingers in time with Azlin’s hips.

  Thrust.

  All three of us gasped.

  Azlin began to use her thumb on Taesa’s clitoris. Somehow, she was thrusting, feeling pleasure, and twitching her thumb all at the same time.

  More heat flowed through us as power began to flow in a circuit, gaining strength and energy, as it passed from one of us to the next. Acting on instinct, I stopped the magic from dancing between us and directed the flow into Azlin’s mind.

  Suddenly... it began to burn within the Elf, creating something new.

  Azlin arched her back and thrust backward, screaming my name. Power crackled in the air, reminding me of when Blister had…

  Oh, shit.

  Azlin had no sigils, not in this body.

  But, now her mind was pregnant with power. It flared within her and then dove down burrowing into her soul.

  With a shriek, she came.

  And… a new mana vault burst into life.

  - 14 -

  Azlin gasped, as green energy flowed into her mind, awakening the magic within her new skin. She moaned and shifted on top of me, as the new power source in her head bubbled and gurgled like a newborn baby.

  Taesa suddenly clenched and climaxed hard, pouring white magic through the three of us. It was cold, but now it was the cold of a sunny day in spring. Winter had fled her body, and now it was breathing again. The once-paladin screamed and cried in happiness as the cold within her disappeared and was filled in warmth.

  Laughing, Azlin grabbed her female lover and kissed her hard.

  Seeing their lips touch, and tongues meet was too much for my sex-soaked mind. I climaxed hard inside of my new lover.

  And, that seed of power, the font of creation, poured into Azlin.

  Gasping, she broke her kiss and shuddered… as a sigil poured out of her mana vault. Green energy spiraled through her thoughts as she stared at it in shock.

  The once Lady of IronHold shook. Her fingers slipped out of Taesa. Then, her mana vault puckered and spilled forth one… nope, two more bubbles.

  Azlin’s skin grew hot again, as I sat up and held her tight. Nonsense words poured out of her mouth, as her mind expanded to make room for the new spheres.

  Taesa wrapped her arms around both of us, as Azlin laid her head down on the other woman’s shoulder. I focused on the Elf until I felt her body begin to cool down. Apparently, only my mind felt like it was being poked with hot pokers when it expanded.

  I looked over at Taesa. Her skin was warm against mine.

  “You’re alive,” I said with surprise.

  Tears dripped down her face, and then she laid her head on my shoulder and sobbed with happiness, as she held onto both of us. Somehow the Elf had saved us, even though she hadn’t had any magic… until now.

  --M--

  I held both girls until Azlin could hold herself up. She had a stupid smile on her face like she was pleasantly surprised that we were all alive.

  “You saved us,” I whispered. Taesa had lain down almost half an hour ago and had fallen asleep next to me. Listening to the living woman, snore, felt like a miracle, and I didn’t want to wake her.

  Azlin slid off of my lap and laid down next to Taesa. The other woman turned over and cuddled against Azlin, which surprised her. She looked at Taesa with shock and a little bit of awe. The possibility that someone might care for her again, was nearly unthinkable to the ancient Malignant.

  “Why?” I asked, pressing the subject.

  She looked up at my face. “You saw what happened with Lyeecia.”

  “I did.”

  She looked away and thought about her answer. For a few moments, she shut her eyes, and I felt like she would go to sleep as well. But, then her eyes popped open, and she scowled at me.

  “I’m old, Bazal,” she finally said. “If I don’t have someone to anchor my thoughts, I glide off into my memories. Or, at least, I have in the past.”

  I just sat and waited. I felt like there was more that she would say. Reaching up, she pulled me down next to her.

  “When you took my soul and moved it, I lost centuries of thoughts. They were left behind in my old body.”

  Sighing, she snuggled in closer. “It felt good to let all of my past go. I was angry when I first arrived in my Elf-skin, but now, I see it as a new start.”

  She looked over at me. “With you.”

  Wow.

  Holy shit.

  That was a lot of pressure.

  “Elves can connect with other creatures without familiar bonds or magic. The power is in our blood. When it is shared, especially with the earth touching everyone, magic happens.”

  She snuggled in closer.

  And I grew a bit scared.

  I wanted to tie women to me so I could become more powerful. But, now there were all these… emotions… swirling through all of us.

  Maybe that was the real cost of the path I had taken. If I didn’t mind control them all, then I had to be open to their… feelings, and desires... their fear and pain, and their elation and excitement.

  Was I really ready to have relationships with five women?

  The number five distracted me. It was also the number of new, unused sigils in my mind.

  Five.

  I had access to five more sigils, I thought with glee. That thought dominated my thoughts, driving away all of my worries.

  I held Azlin, as she held Taesa until all three of us were sleeping.

  - 15 -

  I opened my eyes in a dream, or at least, it had to be a dream.

  The ruins of Columbia spread out before me. I could see the river on my right, and the destroyed heart of the city on my left.

  My hands were on a metal railing.

  Then, I realized that they were a woman’s hands.

  Brynn.

  She was awake, and I was seeing through her eyes, but I was still dreaming.

  “Give in,” I heard a woman demand.

  Brynn turned around, causing the sheer white negligee that she was wearing to swirl around her ankles.

  A woman stood behind my wife, but the scene behind her drew my eye like a moth to a flame.

  A thick marble pillar lay on its side. Strapped to its broken length were three naked human women. Rope bound their hands and feet, stretching them across the rock so that their feet hung down toward me.

  “Kill them,” Brynn said with a shrug of nonchalance. “I don’t care.”

  I refocused on the other woman, as Brynn walked towards her.

  “I told you, Candace, I won’t marry you.”

  Brynn’s words shocked me.

  “Your husband is dead,” Candace snapped. “You have no reason not to.”

  She was tall and thin with light blonde hair that was tied back in a ponytail. Green eyes stared into Brynn’s brown ones with irritation. Candace was wearing a red dress that accented her lack of breasts and thin hips, but at the same time, I saw a fire in her eyes that would make fucking her a savage, exciting experience.

  “He was a foolish Goblin,” Candace insisted. “You need not die here with him.”

  I wanted to kill her.

  No one threatens my wives.

  “Marry me and return to Ashmouth as my wife,” Candace insisted. “We can easily still make the Naming Ceremony. You don’t need to die as a pauper or a slave.”

  “My husband may be dead,” Brynn snapped. “But, I will not marry his killer.”

  She thought I was dead.

  I instantly tried to let her feel my emotions, swamping her mind with thoughts of…

  Love?

  Di
d I love Brynn?

  She had mind raped me and then had convinced me to marry her. My wife had also used me so that my own brother could impregnate her.