The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (89 page)

“I hope that’s your hilt poking me in the back,” Jennifer laughs. Before Jewkes even has a chance to respond, they’re off. I really hope I see them again.

I turn to look at Becky, Sheila, Emmet, Alloria, and Gaia. Sheila has been so quiet, I’ve nearly forgotten about her. I’m torn for what to do next.

“If we can take out the one in Water’s domain first,” Becky says, coming to my rescue, “can we use that against the fire ants?”

“The realms are on opposite sides of this world,” Gaia says. “But that one should be the weakest one.”

“Then I’ll head there first,” I tell the room.

“I wish to go with you, Master,” Sheila says subserviently.

I look into her brown eyes and hate that I have to turn her down. “I would take all of you if I could, but you won’t be able to breathe under the water. Stay and help the efforts here. I want all of you to wear the Blublocker glasses Jewkes gave you.”

“As you wish, Master,” she says in a way that sounds more like, “But I still want to go.”

“I have summoned some Rocs to get you there,” Lysa says. “They will be the quickest way to fly. Even faster than your dragon form.”

“How are rocks going to fly?” Thomas asks, confused.

“You’ll see,” she says with a soft laugh I hope he doesn’t hear. Already I see the enigmatic ways of the pillars starting to come forth in her. A moment later, we hear a loud screech outside, and two massive birds land on the balcony. The two large avian creatures barely fit on something that Blue was able to rest on comfortably. Their wings are easily large enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if they are capable of lifting elephants into the air. “These are rocs,” Lysa says unnecessarily.

“Gawk later,” I tell the man, trying to hide my smile at his reaction. “Gaia, can you set Thomas up somewhere where he can watch both battles?”

“I can’t see most of what’s happening in the water,” she tells me. “But I can show him what I can see.” She waves her hand in front of her. The floor shifts, changing into small representations of hills, and mountains. I can make out TanaVesta’s, or rather Angela’s, mountain peak in one rainbow shaped area. Creatures are moving around, also in miniature, and I realize I’m looking at the entirety of Fire’s domain. Across from that is an oppositely bent rainbow strip. This one has fewer creatures on it, and I can only guess that most of Varun’s forces are swimming where Gaia can’t see them.

For but a second, I see a bright spot in Water’s half of the map and know it must be the other Outsider. Even though I know it won’t be there by the time I arrive, I still rush to the back of the nearest Roc and hop on.

“Thomas, Gaia, I leave everything in your hands. Becky and Sheila, please offer what help you can. Lysa, please take care of yourself. Emmet, Alloria. . . . Please try not to kill each other.” I don’t wait for a response as Areth lands on my shoulder. The other two mermaids climb onto the other Roc and we take off. We hold on tight to each other as the massive birds take flight.

Even when flying in my dragon form, I don’t move as swift or as smooth as the Rocs do. In less time than I would have thought, and definitely not enough time for me to get mentally prepared, the huge birds begin circling in the air, skimming just over the water.

“Areth. . . .” I trail off, not sure what to do with the fairy. I don’t dare send her to Marchosias, considering his anger with her before, but I don’t know if she can breathe underwater, either.

“I’ll take care of that big meanie demon,” she tells me. “He can’t scare me now that I’m free to be with you.” She gives me a chaste peck on the cheek, and then a not-so-chaste nibble at my earlobe. Despite how odd her words seem, I understand. With her maidenhood broken, yet still free to move about the demon can’t hurt her. At least, he’d better not!

“Take care of yourself,” I tell her. She zips up to give me a another quick peck on the cheek, but I turn my head in time for her whole face to land between my lips. As she splutters, I tell her, “I love you.”

Her whole body glows for a few seconds before she flutters away. Before she’s out of earshot, I hear her yell, “You’d better survive down there, dolt! There are some perverted things I want to do to you when we’re done!”

Despite myself, I blush as the two mermaids regard me. It doesn’t help when Brooke adds in, “Damn straight you’d better survive. There are more than just a few perverted things I want to do.”

“He does seem rather good at them, doesn’t he?” Ondine muses a moment later.

I dive into the water before I see Brooke’s imagined scandalized face. Thankfully Ondine wasn’t touching any earth, so I know Thomas hadn’t heard that through Gaia.

I create my dragon’s tail to propel me through the water, and open my lungs to the water as I did last time I entered this domain. I haven’t been swimming enough to get used to how weird it feels at first as the liquid fills and cools my chest, slowing my breathing. I ignore it, swimming for the spires of Varun’s castle below us. I marvel at how just a short time ago, I couldn’t stand to be in any water deeper than my knees, but now I’m swimming to the bottom of a massive ocean.

The only warning I have is Brooke’s gasp before something bites painfully into my tail. I spin around in the water, and see something that looks like a cross between a great white shark and a crocodile. That’s all the time I have for impressions as I see the thing open its jaws, revealing numerous rows of sharp teeth, and prepare to bite me again. I’m able to move my appendage away in time to avoid the chomp and grip Murasame, ready to draw my sword out.

Brooke beats me to the kill, her blue wavy blade invisible in the water. In less time than I can think, the monster’s shark-head is floating away from its body.

“That blood is going to draw a lot more of those,” Ondine says. I realize that both mermaids are topless above their long fish’s tail. Turning, I see that my tail is bleeding profusely from the bite, mixing with the blood of the croco-shark—shark-odile?—creature.

“Since the tail isn’t really a part of you, can you heal it?” Brooke asks.

Shaking my head, I say, “No. If I were to change the tail, my rear end would just end up with the wound.” Then something Gaia had said occurs to me, when she warned me about going up against Aldol. I might not be able to absorb the Outsider’s energy safely, but what about the ambient energy in the water? Can I use that to close my wounds?

Closing my eyes, I concentrate, trying to pull the energy of the water into me, to heal the damage. Gasping, I open my eyes and shiver. The water around me turned into a thin layer of ice!
I’ll have to remember that and be more careful
, I think as I break myself out of my little cocoon.

“I didn’t know you could make ice,” Brooke says, shocked and rubbing her arms to keep warm. Both mermaids’ nipples are hard as a rock in the cold water.

“Let’s go,” I say, giving her a warm kiss to get her moving. We don’t have the time for me to explain why pulling energy from the water turned it to ice. I was never good in physics class in college, anyway.

The sounds of battle greet us long before we reach Varun’s castle, even in the almost murky depths of the water. Lights flash as two groups magically battle one another, and swords clash as others are wounded and dying.

“Where would Varun or the other Outsider be?” I ask Brooke, but it’s Ondine that answers.

“They should be in the main courtyard.” Looking at Thomas’s girlfriend, I still have to admit that the Blublocker glasses don’t do her justice. Both women are beautiful in their own right, but the glasses almost add a comical air to them. Not the image we want to have going into battle, but better safe than sorry.

“Lead the way,” I state, waving my hand.

As we get closer, I pull Murasame free of his scabbard and immediately feel more confident.

Careful, son,
Shemhazau’s voice fills my head.
If you wound anyone with me, you’ll gain their powers.

And I should be careful about that?
I mentally ask him back.

What if their power drives them to constantly kill or harm those around them? Also, I don’t know how well my sanity will hold up as I continue to fight Muramasa and Masamune for dominance. Every kill you make, might make it harder for me.

I hadn’t thought of that. For just a second, I’m tempted to re-sheath the blade, but I keep him out. Murasame is my best weapon right now. I’ll do my best not to make my father’s existence any worse than it already is, but the fate of two worlds is resting on us. Like I said before, better safe than sorry.

Whatever you do, don’t use it on Varun. Not only will that transfer all of his power as the Pillar of Water to you, but it will most likely kill you. You’re not completely aligned with water as an element. That will also make it impossible for anyone else to become the Pillar of Water, for his mantle will become useless.

In other words, I need to be careful! I’m just glad that I hadn’t succeeded in killing TanaVesta with my claws when I fought her.

A group of mermen are guarding the water between what I think might be the courtyard and where we are now. Upon seeing us, they rush forward, ready to meet our attack. We’re outnumbered, three to five, but we don’t slow as they come on.

I hear Ondine’s name mentioned from the opposing side, and realize they must recognize her. My hope that this means they’ll let us pass is dashed when two mermen attack me. Even with the skill Marchosias gave me in his nightmare world, added to what my sword imparts, I’m hard pressed to defend myself without killing them. My parries are slowed by the water, making things even more difficult. They have no skill or finesse in their attacks, simply hacking and slashing in an attempt to get through my impervious defense. Their movements aren’t hampered, and I wonder if it has something to do with them living and training in the water.

One of my attackers stiffens, and a moment later boiling air pierces the other man’s chest. Looking past them, I see Ondine pluck an air dagger from the first one’s back before pulling her longer blade free of the second one’s chest. As she sheaths her blades, I marvel that her blades had been invisible while out of the water, but very noticeable while under the water, whereas Brooke’s is now invisible down here.

Speaking of Brooke. . . . I turn in time to see her wiping her blade on one of her attacker’s tail, cleaning it off. She doesn’t look happy, and I guess it has something to do with her having to kill her own kind.

“You fought well,” Brooke compliments the other mermaid. “Once this is over, you should apply to be an assassin.”

Ondine laughs, shaking her head. “I wasn’t always this good, and they underestimated me.” I wonder when she gained the extra skill. Has she been practicing? “Besides, I don’t want to use one of those blades. Plus, I only had to take out one. Unless you count the two that Lyden couldn’t handle.”

The women laugh at my expense for a moment. I let them. Goodness knows there will be little enough chance for laughter for the next little bit.

*     *     *

The three of us are breathless as we finally reach the courtyard. It felt like every time we turned around, there was another group ready to attack us. Where are all of the creatures fighting on our side? Luckily none of us have been seriously injured, only Brooke and Ondine are sporting various scratches. Nothing has been able to break through Murasame’s defense, despite the hardship of fighting underwater.

The sight of ten mermen surrounding a huge seahorse statue and a glowing colorful ball of light pulls all thoughts of previous battles from my mind.

The mermen shout when they see us, but I notice that none of them are carrying swords.

“Spellcasters!” Brooke shouts out her warning as one of them lifts a hand, aiming his open palm at me.

A ball of light shoots across the intervening space, too fast for me to dodge and strikes me square in the chest.

The force of the impact knocks me back . . . a couple inches. I look down at my chest, and smile as I remember that I’m mostly immune to magic. The look on the other merman’s face is priceless as he stares wide-eyed and open mouthed.

“KILL THEM,” a massive voice bellows. I swear the water shudders at the sound. Looking up, I see that what I’d taken for a statue is in fact Varun. He’s noticed us. The colorful light next to him is flashing in the way I know the Outsiders communicate.

I turn to Brooke and Ondine, worried that they might fall under the thing’s control, but they smile at me behind their glasses.

“That’s weird,” Ondine states. “It feels as though I should be able to understand it, but it’s all garbled.”

“Welcome to my world,” I tell her.

A column of force interrupts any further talking as it slams into us, and immune or not, I’m still forced backwards. The two mermaids seem to be in worse straits, and I curse myself, remembering that
they
aren’t immune to magic at all.

Well, if I can absorb external energy to my own uses, can I absorb this spell? A moment later, the spell fizzles out, and the three of us right ourselves.

“Your magic is useless,” I yell to the mermen, hoping to let them flee.

Then I notice the glow behind their eyes. They have no choice in what they’re doing.

Using my tail for propulsion, I speed forward, using the power I gained from absorbing that last spell to move even faster.

A dome springs up around the group. I slam into it, rebounding away. I curse my stupidity.

An idea occurs to me. I pull Murasame from my hip, bringing the blade down hard on the barrier. The impediment shatters like broken glass. All ten mermen collapse with it, knocked insensate by the backlash of power.

Only Varun and the Outsider stand before me.

The Outsider flashes again. I can see Varun growing angrier as he towers a good ten feet above me.

“I CAN’T! HE IS IMMUNE TO MY POWER,” the large seahorse shouts in response to whatever the Outsider told him.

Somehow I can sense the Outsider turn to regard me as Brooke and Ondine swim up to my back.