Chronicles of Eden - Act IV (40 page)

‘Whatever I’m going to do, I need to make a decision soon.’

Kroanette raced out of the forest and headed towards Eston, with the bright red glow from the burning town lighting up the fields around it with a soft light. The centaur galloped into the town and passed by the darkened buildings on either side of her, the monster then turning down a road to head towards where Daniel’s friends were located on the other side of the village. Daniel looked around at the burning district near them with a distant gaze, not caring about the village burning to the ground but only what he would choose to do tonight. Kroanette looked around carefully then suddenly stopped, with her and Daniel seeing a house next to them having its lights on inside while also having colorful green and blue ribbons strung up around the windows and doorway. Standing in front of the building Apoch and Astreal were seen smiling at Daniel while a lamppost near them was lit to brighten this darkened section of the village.

“This place is all set for you two,” Apoch said softly with a wink.

“So, are you really going to fuck the Wildfire Witch tonight?” Astreal asked with a small laugh of derision.

Kroanette looked back to Daniel as the boy just stared at the house with a blank expression, remaining silent as the quiet burning and crackling of the district that was ablaze a few houses away was heard. After a while Daniel hopped off of Kroanette’s back and walked over to the house, looking in through the window to seeing that it was a normal human residence that had been cleaned up for them. There were no dead bodies of the poor humans that were cut down by the deathmare from earlier; rather it had a living room with a couch and few chairs, a kitchen which was bare, a few lit lamps to light the interior, and a room in the back that he presumed to be the bedroom.

“Daniel?” Kroanette asked worriedly.

Daniel closed his eyes with a quiet sigh then looked back to her with a small smile.

“Kroanette, could you please go fetch all of my friends and bring them here for me?”

“All of them?” Kroanette asked.

“You only need Ms. Alyssa here,” Apoch and Astreal mentioned.

“I know,” Daniel replied. “But this is something we all need to discuss, and I need some time to figure out
how
to discuss it. So could you please go and bring them here for me? I would really appreciate it.”

Kroanette looked to the building then to Daniel before nodding a few times.

“Alright, if that’s what you wish, I’ll go and bring them here. I hope you know what you’re doing though,” she said before taking off down the road.

Daniel watched her go then glanced to Apoch and Astreal, the sisters motioning him inside with sly grins on their faces. He held in his grunt of annoyance then walked into the building, being followed by the sisters as they glanced to each other with quiet giggles. Daniel looked around at the home picked out by the girls then walked back to the bedroom, opening the door before he jumped with surprise at looking inside.

“We prepared it just for you, do you like?” the sisters asked together before giggling again.

Daniel slowly looked around at the room they had set up for him, which was obviously given some magical flair to it as it didn’t strike him as the kind of room a human would have in their home. It had a soft white carpet along with long crimson satin drapes over the window, a large bed set in the middle of the room against the wall which had white sheets with a pink satin comforter on it, with a few fluffy white pillows neatly set on it along with rose petals sprinkled on the top of the bed. Candles were lit and hovering about near the sides of the room while a few more were set on candlestick stands that were placed near the wall on opposite sides of the bed.

Daniel tried to keep his thoughts in order as he gazed around at the room where he was expected to have sex with Alyssa before he glanced back to the sisters as they eyed the interior with curious smiles.

“I think we did a good job fixing this place up for you,” Apoch mused.

“Yes, I believe the rose petals were a nice touch,” Astreal agreed.

Daniel just stared at them with a dull glance then noticed a black cat walking up to the girls from behind, the animal mewling before hopping up onto Apoch’s back and sitting on her shoulder. The animal hissed slightly before its eyes gave off a soft crimson hue, with Daniel then looking at the animal cautiously as he turned to face them. Apoch and Astreal giggled then gestured to the cat with a twitch of their eyebrows each.

“Ms. Charlotte will be watching the show as well, if you don’t mind,” they announced before the cat mewled and hopped off of Apoch’s shoulder and trotted over to the bed, the animal leaping up onto it before turning to face Daniel and sitting down.

“That cat looks familiar,” Daniel mentioned carefully, remembering seeing a black cat that ran across him and Kroanette’s path in Rystone earlier.

“Ms. Charlotte has many pets that help her see what goes on in her territory,” Apoch replied.

“Feel free to speak to her if you wish,” Astreal said with a gentle wave of the hand towards the cat. “She can see and hear you just fine through her seer.”

Daniel chose to remain silent and merely look around at the room to avoid eye contact with the cat while the sisters watched him with amused smiles. After a while a thought crossed his mind.

“What of the fires burning in this village?”

“Don’t worry,” Apoch said glancing to the window with a careless shrug. “The main roads dividing this village will keep the fires contained to the south. This residence will not be burning down in the middle of the night.”

“And if by chance a few cinders do manage to ignite this portion of the village, well, you will have the Wildfire Witch with you,” Astreal chuckled. “Surely she could offer you some comfort before you burn to death.”

Daniel nodded slowly as he contemplated whether or not they would be safe here from the fires, hoping that Charlotte would have made sure her helpers picked a building that would indeed be safe from the firestorm raging to the south of them right now.

“I guess if your alpha really wanted me dead she would have killed me by now,” Daniel reasoned with a shrug. “Not to mention if it were in danger of burning down then I certainly couldn’t prove anything to her on this night.”

“So, does that mean you have decided to honor Ms. Charlotte’s request tonight?” Apoch asked.

“To be honest, you could do much better than that
letchyask
that you travel with,” Astreal mused. “If you would prefer, I’m sure you could choose another witch to make love to instead of her and still win Ms. Charlotte’s favor with your act.”

“Let me guess, you want me to pick you instead?” Daniel asked flatly.

“No no,” Astreal giggled while shaking her head. “I do have standards, Mr. Daniel. I wouldn’t grace you with my body even if you begged for it.”

“But if you were to beg us on your hands and knees enough, perhaps we would give you the honor of pleasuring us with your mouth,” Apoch added before the sisters started laughing together.

Daniel breathed out slowly then glanced to the cat which was watching him constantly from the bed.

“If I am to prove my belief to you on this night, Alyssa would be the only witch I know of so far that is indeed kindhearted enough for me to be with,” he stated before walking back out into the living room, with the cat mewling at him while the sisters watched the boy with sly smiles on their faces.

*****

Sitting near their campfire Triska was watching the fire burn with a distant gaze, her mind thinking about the boy she loved and wondering what he was doing in Eston that was taking this long. Next to her Specca was going through Daniel’s books with a sharp eye, trying to figure out who or what Jovian and Jacqueline really were before Daniel returned. Alyssa was standing near them while watching Eston with growing distress, seeing the fires spreading around a large portion of the village with still no sign of Daniel or Kroanette. Squeak was sitting down near her and casually digging her hand around in the dirt, her expression being blank as she toiled the soil about and seemed to play with it while her antennae twitched a bit.

And sitting near her Falla was holding her sister close as Luna was whimpering and holding onto her with closed eyes.

“It’ll be okay, Luna, it’ll be okay,” Falla gently reassured while brushing her sister’s hair.

“My butt hurts still,” Luna whined. “It really hurts. I can’t believe Emily would do such a thing to me.”

“Oh, Luna,” Falla said sadly. “You poor thing. I knew from the start that Emily was trouble for us, I just knew it. We never should have taken her with us.”

“I’m sorry, Falla, I’m so sorry,” Luna whimpered, with the other girls looking to her with sympathetic eyes.

“Luna, it’s alright now,” Specca reassured her. “The important thing is you tried to help someone who you thought was a human child in distress. That was very brave and kind of you.”

“Yeah,” Triska agreed. “Don’t be sorry for trying to do what was right, you didn’t know Emily was a monster.”

Luna whimpered and shook her head while holding Falla close.

“No, I’m sorry Falla’s plan got ruined again, this isn’t what she planned on happening,” she sobbed, with Falla blinking then glancing to her questionably while the other girls looked at her with puzzlement.

“Plan? What plan?” Alyssa asked.

“Her plan with Emily,” Luna said sadly. “Falla wanted us to save Emily so Daniel would trust us and let us get closer to him. She could have gotten him alone and then his seed if he trusted her.”

Falla smiled nervously at the other girls who watched her with dull stares.

“Of course, I knew it,” Alyssa said flatly.

“Hey, that’s not… I mean, I wanted to save the poor brat too,” Falla nervously stammered.

Luna trembled then broke down screaming and crying, with Falla looking to her with surprise as the broken up butterfly held her hands to her face and shook her head.

“Luna? Hey, c’mon, it’ll be okay,” Falla tried to reassure her with.

“Yeah, don’t worry about telling us this,” Triska added. “We had a feeling from the start Falla was up to something.”

“It really is no surprise to hear that she only wanted Daniel’s seed and didn’t care about a human child,” Specca mentioned with a dull glance to Falla.

“No more! No more!” Luna cried out shaking her head.

“Luna?” Falla asked worriedly.

Luna wailed in sorrow then grabbed her sister by the shoulders, shaking her with a pleading expression and teary eyes.

“I don’t want to rape a human!” she desperately pleaded. “I don’t want to rape anyone, I hate it! I don’t want to live like this!”

She broke down sobbing into Falla’s chest, the stunned sister then holding her before looking to the others with discontent.

“Goddammit, look at what you did to her! Now she thinks raping humans is bad!”

“Raping humans
is
bad,” Alyssa said flatly.

“She has a conscience, that’s a
good
thing,” Triska pointed out dryly.

“If only you could be more like your sister, there would be hope for you yet,” Specca asserted.

Luna sobbed uncontrollably and shook her head in her sister’s chest before leaning back with a twisted smile on her face and wide eyes, laughing hysterically all of a sudden while shaking Falla by the shoulders.

“I HATE WHAT I AM! I CAN’T FIND JOY IN LIVING LIKE THIS! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” she laughed as everyone stared at her with surprise, the butterfly girl then shoving her face into her sister’s bosom again and crying out of sorrow while Falla just watched her with bewilderment. Specca paused for a moment then slowly shook her head.

“Okay,” she slowly corrected. “Perhaps you would be best not being like her in a few other ways.”

“What the hell is wrong with her anyway?” Alyssa asked.

Falla blinked then looked to the girls with discontent while holding her sister close again.

“What’s wrong with her? What’s wrong with
you
? We’re monsters, we need to rape men to get pregnant, if we don’t we’ll die off! Stop confusing my sister with your stupid ideas!”

“They’re not stupid!” Triska shouted back. “Daniel’s idea of peaceful coexistence is going to save countless lives and make Eden better all around!”

“You don’t need to rape humans to get their seeds,” Specca insisted. “If you show love and compassion for them rather than treating them so callously then they would be more inclined to
choose
to be with you on their own free will.”

Falla growled then shook her head while shutting her eyes.

“Dammit, humans will
never
want to mate with us willingly, we’re monsters! That’s never going to happen and you know it!”

The girls started to argue with her again before all looking over to the side as Kroanette galloped towards them. The centaur ran up to the group of girls before looking back to Eston with a worried expression, with Triska and her friends then standing up as they saw the centaur was alone.

“Kroanette, where’s Daniel?” Specca asked.

Kroanette looked back to the girls, glancing from one to another before stopping on Alyssa, the witch watching Kroanette carefully before the centaur took a steady breath forced a calm and collected expression on her face.

“Daniel has asked that I take all of you into Eston to meet him, right now.”

“What? Why is he still there, that place is burning to the ground,” Triska asked urgently.

“Why did he even go back there anyway?” Alyssa asked.

Squeak pointed to Eston and squeaked something while shaking her head.

“Listen,” Kroanette replied while holding her hands up. “Daniel will explain everything to you, I promise. For now, you all need to come with me right away, time isn’t something he has to waste.”

She turned around and motioned to her back, with the girls looking to each other confusedly then back to her as she sighed impatiently.

“Right
now
,” she sternly ordered.

Triska and Specca quickly hurried over and hopped onto her back, with Triska holding onto Kroanette’s waist while Specca held her arms around the human. Alyssa ran over to Lucky and quickly hopped onto him along with Squeak, the ant girl holding onto the witch who grabbed hold of the horse’s reins.