Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (73 page)

Borrik enjoyed the act of killing. It was as if it was something he was born to do, and as such he tried to the best of his ability to make an art form out of it. It was not a revelation he would share with any of his human counterparts, however was common knowledge among his troops, and Borrik knew they weren’t going to tell anyone. The joy of killing made Borrik uncomfortable, though. As a priest he had sworn off all things pleasurable, and yet now he found pleasure in creating death. Killing as well was commonly forbidden to a priest, yet here he was, killing not only for necessity, but also for sport. The thought of such deeds would have once made Borrik retch, but now he was beginning to understand. Ishanya had told Borrik to swear his loyalty to Seth and to serve her through him. Ishanya had promised Borrik that Seth would reward him for his service and so he had. Ishanya knew all along that Seth would bestow these blessings upon him, and as such had arranged the meeting between the mortal men. Ishanya had simply wanted Borrik to reach his potential. Not as a priest, but as a warrior. Seth had made of Borrik an amazing warrior, both cunning and vicious, and for the first time Borrik realized that he was no longer a priest of Ishanya but a general to the Death Mage's army. He could not be both, so as Ishanya had sworn him to do, and as he would have done in any case at this point, Borrik steeled his resolve to be the most valuable asset in Seth’s arsenal. He would be both his lord’s faithful servant and most respected warrior. He would be protective yet merciless, honorable and horrible. Borrik swore to himself that he would become the fiercest warrior upon Thurr to best serve his master. Finally seeing his fate for what it was, Borrik released all his moral ties to Ishanya, and hearing all sounds of battle subside, gave the order to resume their trek eastward once again.

In the dark, cold, solitary confines of their stone chamber, Sara sought to express her appreciation to Seth as passionately as she was able. Seth found himself both amused and concerned at Sara’s sudden advance. As she straddled his body kissing him first upon the lips, then working down his neck to his chest, Seth, though becoming aroused, could not help but to notice that Sara’s body barely pressed into him. It was a slight oddity as Seth realized that Sara lay upon him completely, yet her weight against his body was far less than it should have been. Although he did not want to worry or upset her, Seth couldn’t help but to start making a mental list of the alterations Sara’s body had been through. Amazing as they were, Seth was beginning to wonder at the implications of her multitude of physical alterations. Since altering the building blocks of her life in an effort to preserve it, Sara had become lighter, stronger, faster and more graceful. This combination of assets might not be as negative as Seth had previously thought, and so far as he could tell the woman he loved had not altered at all mentally. Comforted with his findings Seth decided to focus himself on the situation at hand and succumb to the pleasures Sara was so happily bestowing upon him.

Reaching down to cup the back of her head in his hand, Seth pulled Sara’s lips back to his own as her hands sought to unbuckle his trousers. In the throes of passion Seth and Sara worked to undress one another without sparing their lips a moment's reprieve from each other’s flesh. Sweating and panting Sara carried out her blissful duty of thanking the man she loved for restoring her life to the utmost best of her ability. Just as Seth was brought to the most absolute peak of physical pleasure that Sara could bring him to however, something both unexpected and horrible happened to the young lovers.

* * * * *

Sara, caught up in the ecstasy of giving herself to the man she loved, concentrated solely on the pleasure that they brought one another. Engrossed in the act, Sara had not noticed the urge within her, fighting to be satiated. As Sara worked atop Seth to bring both of them to the height of their pleasure, Sara’s body, seemingly operating of its own accord, reacted by instinct. Grabbing each of Seth’s wrists in her hands, and using her newfound strength, she pressed down with all of her might driving his arms to the stone floor, effectively pinning him to the ground. Though she still worked towards their pleasure she found herself once again leaning down to kiss below his ear as she had felt inclined to do several times already. But this time Sara noticed something that before she had not. As her lips touched the flesh of his neck she could feel the racing of his pulse beneath the flesh. Not only could she feel it, Sara also could hear the pounding of Seth’s heart as if her head were pressed firmly to his chest. Most unnerving, though, and thinking herself mistaken, Sara believed she could smell the blood coursing through his veins. Try as she might to resist it as she continued to bury his neck in kisses, and caught up in the bliss they shared, new instincts took over for Sara, and she reacted, not of her own accord, to fulfill a need both horrid and foreign to her.

* * * * *

Just as Seth felt the release that brought with it the amazing gratification that only Sara could bring him, he was assaulted by both immense pain and intense pleasure. Seth noted immediately that simultaneously his power was being leached yet new power was being infused within him. Unable to release himself from Sara’s unimaginably strong grasp, Seth began to panic as he realized his predicament. Sara had indeed changed in an un-foretold way though the signs had been there, and sadly they had even been obvious. Sara had gained amazing new strength that belayed her size. She had retained the bat’s natural ability to heal as well. But most obvious had been the stubborn canine-like teeth that refused to relent to Seth’s many attempts at altering them. As a necessity to sustain the bats' lives, the enlarged teeth were essential for their ability to feed off the blood and life forces of their prey. Having retained the teeth Seth should have foreseen sooner that this could have been a likely result of Sara’s alteration. However, it had not occurred to him before now that the woman he adored would attempt to feed off him. Seth continued to struggle with the small woman he loved, thrashing and kicking his body in an attempt to free himself. Light as she was, Seth’s attempts availed him nothing as Sara clung to his wrists with her hands, his torso with her legs and his neck with her teeth. Knowing not what else he could do without harming Sara, in a final attempt to get free Seth screamed, "Sara! Get off me!"

* * * * *

Sara suckled at the bleeding flesh of Seth’s torn neck awash in the ecstasy that his power brought within her. As she drank in his blood she too drank in the immense aura of his power, lending even more life to the already bloated aura that was her own. So lost in pleasure she was that Sara did not have a conscious thought for many moments as instinct drove her body to continue feeding until satiated. As her teeth bit deep into his flesh Sara could actually feel his hot pulsing blood flowing through the hollow tubules inside her sharp canine teeth. Each beat of his heart pumped more blood and more power directly into Sara’s bloodstream, and with it came pleasure unlike anything Sara had ever known before. She clung to Seth’s body even as he began to thrash and kick. It was his voice that helped Sara to escape the pleasurable intoxication that drove her to continue sucking the very life from his flesh. As Seth screamed her name, Sara snapped back into conscious control over herself. As realization struck her of what she had done, she released Seth. Doubling over while turning to the side, Sara began to vomit as her body began to shake and tears began to stream from her eyes.

* * * * *

Finally free of her grasp, Seth pulled away from Sara momentarily in an effort to assess the damage. Physically he was not badly off. There were only two puncture holes, and so far as Seth could feel, they were quite small and already beginning to clot. Beyond physical, however, was another matter. Seth had felt pleasure upon first being bitten and had recognized immediately the familiar sensation of foreign life being drawn within himself. Reaching inward in an effort to capture the power to prevent it from altering him, Seth realized immediately that he was in a dilemma unlike any he could have imagined before. Sara had not simply infused him with power; somehow she had infused him with her own blood, and that blood, being a part of her living body, carried with it a small portion of her life's power. Now the blood coursed through his own body, mingling with his blood. If he drew the life force from Sara’s blood within himself he would effectively kill the blood, causing himself unknown physical problems. Seth had no idea what could happen if a portion of his blood were to actually turn to ash within his veins, nor did he know if he could survive the consequences of such an action. He was therefore forced to watch within himself as Sara’s blood became diluted within his own and spread throughout his entire body and all of his organs.

Feeling as if there was nothing he could do, and knowing that Sara’s actions were only a result of the process he had used to heal her, Seth closed the distance between himself and the woman he adored above all others. Now she had finished retching, Seth pulled Sara into his arms in an attempt to comfort her. Though crying and wracked by sobs with blood staining her lips and chin, Sara pulled out of Seth’s arms and turned to face him.

"What did you do to me?" Sara questioned, the pain clear on her face. "What have I become? What kind of person drinks someone's blood?"

"It's OK my love, we will figure it out," Seth tried to reason with her. "Look, I am unharmed." He added pointing to his neck. "It's barely a scratch."

"This is not all right, Seth, I bit you like an animal," Sara replied still crying, her voice rising in a near scream. "I drank your blood, that is..."

"I can fix it Sara," Seth pleaded cutting her words short. "I told you that it wasn't complete, that I would have to finish at a later time. I didn't know this would happen, but I can fix it." Seth tried to pull Sara back into his arms.

"But why would I do that?" Sara asked. "It's like I didn't even have control over myself."

"It must have been an instinct passed to you from the bat," Seth replied. "Sara, I am sorry that I did this to you. I'm sorry that I'm not a healer who could have just mended your wound, and that things have changed about you. I did the best I could, and I promise that someday, when we are away from here and find our way home, that I will repair it. I know I can fix it, I just need time." Seth said tears now streaming from his own eyes.

The young couple, deciding that there was nothing else that they could do about it at least for the time being, found comfort in each other’s arms, working through their fears and uncertainties together. This time around, Sara was extra cautious not to put her face anywhere near Seth’s neck again. After calming down, and having had time to think the events over, Sara decided she needed more answers.

"So the bats drink blood?" Sara asked.

"I would presume so. One bit me earlier in the leg," Seth replied.

"I could feel your blood actually flowing inside my teeth," Sara said.

"Inside?" Seth asked.

"Yeah, inside my teeth, all the way up my jaw," Sara returned.

"Let me see." Seth took Sara’s chin in his hand.

Opening her mouth, Sara tilted her head back to expose her upper canine teeth to Seth, but with almost no light remaining in the room Seth could see nothing. Raising his other hand beside her face Seth summoned a magical blue green fireball in his palm to illuminate Sara’s face. As he had suspected, in the center of each of the razor sharp teeth was a small hole, like a tube leading up into her jaw where it connected directly into her blood supply. The discovery lent another question to Seth’s mind, the answer to which he imagined was important. When Sara had bitten him, a portion of her own blood had managed to mingle into his bloodstream, yet when the bat had bitten him no such thing had occurred. Thinking it over a minute, Seth determined that this too was his fault. He had altered the bat's bone structure in its head, jaw and teeth so much he had obviously created a flaw. Whereas the original creature must have a means in place to keep the blood flowing into its teeth going in one direction, through his alterations of those systems, Seth had inadvertently also corrupted them and now the direction of the blood flow could no longer be maintained.

"Yup, it looks like you have little tunnels through your teeth that go up into your jaw," Seth assured Sara. "Did you happen to notice anything else?" Seth asked hoping for more clues as to the extent of Sara’s change.

"Not really," Sara answered. "I feel fine now, nothing unusual or out of the ordinary, besides a bit sick to my stomach and I'm still shaken up a little. So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," Seth admitted. "My sole goal up until now was to save you, and now I only hope you won't end up resenting me for the means by which I did just that." Seth added with honest concern in his voice.

"I love you Seth," Sara began. "I will always love you no matter what the consequences may be. You did what you had to do out of love for me. How could I ever resent that? You said you can fix it, and I believe that if there is anyone on Thurr who can, it is you. As for me, I will simply have to try and fight those urges if they surface again. I will have to be vigilant and keep track of how my body is feeling and reacting until we know exactly what I have become. Until that time, though, let’s focus on learning what this change has done to me and try and deal with it," Sara concluded, sounding more determined than ever.

"You know, you are absolutely the most incredible woman I have ever met," Seth said with a smile. "Do you feel up to trying to get out of here?"

"Like I said, my love, I feel amazing. I'm stronger and faster and I feel light as a feather," Sara explained.

With that Seth stood, and taking her small hand pulled Sara to her feet. She had been right, of course. She was extremely light belaying her size. Raising his palms upwards, Seth summoned forth a large fireball. Forcing his will upon the power, he slowly sent the crackling inferno levitating upwards towards the ceiling for a better view. Seth and Sara watched as the ball of fire approached the ceiling above, and neither were able to distinguish any useful detail to assist in their escape from their would be prison.

"So what now?" Sara asked again.

"I have an idea," Seth told her.

Without further explanation, Seth stepped forward motioning for Sara to stand behind him. With his fireball still levitating well overhead to illuminate the room, Seth reached inside himself and stole away a portion of his own huge life force. He unleashed it into himself to feel the ecstasy of the power within him. Focusing the power to his purpose, Seth placed the heels of his hands together, his palms facing outwards, and unleashed a column of fire unlike any other he had created before. Concentrating to keep the column focused, Seth poured his power into the inferno directing its heat into the stone wall of the chamber. As the stone began to heat it steamed and hissed as it first began to glow a deep red slowly brightening to orange and then yellow as the stone itself began to liquefy and run down the wall like wax on the side of a candle. Now that it was molten, Seth separated his hands. Controlling the fire column with his right hand he began to turn slowly to the right. Using his free left hand, Seth issued forth a powerful blast of air in a column equal in power to that of the fire in his right. As he heated the stone and it became molten, Seth blasted it with air both creating a depression in the stone as well as quickly cooling it to keep the molten stone from puddling. As Seth completed his first cut into the stone, he began working on another line above the first. Continuing the pattern ever higher on the wall, he created in essence a stone ladder all the way to the portal above. As Seth worked the stone chamber became hotter and hotter to the point where the heat was near unbearable and both he and Sara began to perspire at an alarming rate. Fortunately for the both of them, the process did not take a prolonged amount of time, though Seth warned Sara it could be some while before the stone was cool enough to touch.